Fic Rec: After Love

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Title: After Love (The first two parts of the After Life series are recc'd here)
Author: afrogeekgoddess
Pairing: John/Sherlock
Length: 30,898
Rating: T
Warnings: None, but see "Additional Tags" at the link above for specific warnings by the author.
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: Sherlock and John's post-Reichenbach reunion, 3 years later. A chronicle of their reunion and their attempt to rebuild their life together. Angst, anger, forgiveness. Third story of a 3-part, post-Reichenbach arc. Sequel to "After Life" and "After Death."

Reccer's comments: There are numerous post-Fall reunion stories available. What sets this one apart? Three main things: 1) Consistently vivid and lush imagery interwoven into the prose. 2) The sense that the action is taking place simultaneously on physical and metaphysical levels. 3) The realism behind the process of forgiveness and healing. Together these features make AfroGeekGoddess's work aesthetically and emotionally potent.

After the bleakness and darkness of After Life and After Death, this story opens on an ecstatic note: John and Sherlock share a dream or vision that represents Sherlock and John's physical and psychological (re)union. Bits of that dream will vaguely haunt their memories over the course of the story, as Sherlock returns and he and John grieve for what was lost, share their experiences with each other, and slowly learn how to live together again. Forgiveness in this story is not easily given or swift. It arrives unexpectedly, the blessèd fruit of many, many actions, words, and gestures.

Excerpt: As Sherlock speaks, John closes his eyes, and inside him, his bones slowly vanish, his organs fading into a blue-black, velvet-smooth night. One by one, a thousand silver stars appear, until the whole Milky Way burns in his body. He opens his eyes, and he is standing on the cliffside, the sweet smell of sandalwood surrounding him, the rough, rocky mountains bright against the night sky. The wind caresses his skin, filling him with light and air and energy and a longing inexpressible with words. He breathes in Sherlock's voice as it flows over him, setting him aloft on a breeze that billows him around the world. He is in a hotel room in Minsk, another man's blood on his hands, his heart crumbling into glass shards, screaming. He is in a dingy van in Guadalajara, stitching up a chest wound by the light of a dim torch, the thread rough and needle dull. He is slumped in a shed in Kiev, the rain beating staccato on the tin roof, banging into every part of his soul. He runs down the back alleys of Tokyo, covered in leather and neon, the sweet pump of adrenaline in his lungs. He is in Sudan, pressing a wad of bills into a border guard's hand, the heavy weight of a Browning at his back. He is in the grass of Kandahar, clutching the hot, gunshot ruin of his arm, a deep groove in his flesh. He runs and sleeps and pines and hunts. He has blond hair and brown hair and black, he is rail-thin and shaking with fear and hunger and longing, he hides and crawls on the ground like an animal, he sleeps in fits and starts or not at all. He calls out his own name in Sherlock's dreams, cries Sherlock's desperate tears, Sherlock's memories burning into his heart as if they were his own, slipping into Sherlock's body so completely he doesn't remember where he begins and Sherlock ends.
(NOTE: If you have been waiting for the After Life series to conclude before reading it, this third part completes the series.)

Fic Rec: Restless Things

[swissmarg]

Title: Restless Things
Author: redhandsredribbons
Pairing: John/Sherlock, Jim/Molly
Length: 35,879 words
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Extreme violence, non-canon character death, dub-con
Verse: BBC Sherlock
Author's summary: John Watson and Molly Hooper are each paid a visit after Sherlock's fall. John, a visit from a very alive Sherlock, who's investigating the bizarre murder that's drawn him back to London. Molly, a visit from a very alive Moriarty, who only plans on a quick little interrogation—until he wonders if Molly's not quite as boring as she seems. (Johnlock first time fic/case fic.)

Reccer's comments: I almost didn't read it because of the Jim/Molly pairing, but I can't turn down anything with Johnlock in it, so I gave it a try, and I am so glad I did. This has something for just about everyone. You want Johnlock feels? This has Johnlock feels. You also like het? This has het. Do you want casefic with your smut? This has case. And smut. Can you not get enough creepy!unbalanced!Jim? This has creepy!unbalanced!Jim. Are you a fan of Molly? This not only has Molly, but BAMF!Molly, which. Obviously. There is even oblique Mycroft/Lestrade, although I don't want to get your hopes up on that count because it's really just a brief mention. Still.

Right, let's back up. First, a brief synopsis. As the summary says, both Sherlock and Jim survived the Fall, and both have come back to pick up their sidekicks to continue their 'game'. In Sherlock's case, it's not surprising that he's come for John, but no one was expecting Jim to choose Molly. Not even Jim. But things – and people – are not always as they seem...


( Excerpt contains unrealized threat of violence )

I loved Jim in this. Well, not that I was rooting for him or anything. He is completely bonkers. And creepy and evil and utterly manipulative and I gobbled up every scene with him.

The John/Sherlock part was a slow build-up to an eminently satisfying resolution. I appreciated that John was just as much of a dick as Sherlock, and not just the wrongfully slighted, long-suffering, secretly pansexual, all-round do-gooder. The banter between the two of them was the perfect blend of aggression and affection. And the pillow talk at the end, OMG! I was giggling so hard.

If you read this at the AO3 link, there are several wonderful illustrations embedded (this was written for the 2012 johnlockbigbang). However, they are spoilerish, so you may want to refrain from scrolling through the entire work before you read. Also, while we're on warnings, see how I put 'extreme violence' up there under the official warnings for this rec? Yeah, there's a reason for that. There was one scene that I couldn't even read all the way through. I got about halfway and said, 'Okay, I get it, the guy's toast,' and skipped to the next page. There's also torture (less graphic, but still present) and gore and basically a huge list of trigger warnings at the top of the fic, so just be aware.

The ending was another one of those stroke-of-genius things, both the main climax and then the little extra epilogue-type scene tacked on at the very end, where I just sat there for several minutes afterwards nodding and going, 'Yeah. Yeah. I can totally see that. Sequel please?'