Fic Rec: Traffic Lights series

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Title: The Traffic Lights series, consisting of two stories, Traffic Lights for the Colour Blind and The Sky for the Reaching
Author: lavvyan
Pairing: Sherlock/John
Length: 14,600 words for the two stories combined
Rating: T
Warnings: suicidal ideation
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: 1) Traffic Lights for the Colour Blind: In which it's not the war John is missing, Sherlock needs to find new ways to hang on to his flatmate, and Moriarty tries to get himself a pet of his own. Features also: guns, tea, the reason Sherlock Holmes won't take the tube, cell phones, a budgie, and one obnoxious older brother. 2) The Sky for the Reaching: In which John isn't quite living in a war zone, Sherlock experiments, and Bill Murray (not the actor) wants to get laid. Features also: pins, sponges, the question of whether or not Sherlock Holmes likes to cuddle, nightmares, a case, and seventeen steps.

Reccer's comments: This story series begins in a dark place but ends in amazing light. It was written after Series 1 and portrays John as being a little too in love with danger and as quietly managing a persistent death wish. Sherlock is still wedded to his self-image of high functioning sociopathy, and his early management of John's risky tendencies is cavalier at best. But the stories chronicle the ways that these men begin to find their peace as well as their war in one another. Though the series is not long, it manages to include vintage BAMF John and a few words and gestures from Sherlock that simply took my breath away. The second story in particular becomes an asexual and dazzlingly unconventional romance. This series never fails to make me happy.

I also love the author's writing style with its many casually insightful turns of phrase. Lavvyan hits so many lovely character notes, the familiar domestic scenes feel fresh. (I believe English is not lavvyan's first language, which makes their elegant prose all the more impressive). A lovely series.

Fic Rec: We Wear This Mask

[frozen_delight]

Title: We Wear This Mask (also on AO3)
Author: impishtubist
Pairing: Mycroft/Lestrade
Length: 3,700 words
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Character death
Verse: Sherlock BBC

Author's summary: DI Lestrade is assigned to investigate the murder of Mycroft Holmes; Sherlock is outraged.

Reccer's comments: Basically, the summary says it all. And at the same time it tells us very little about just how marvellous this story is. impishtubist always has an excellent grasp of the entire male cast of Sherlock in all of her stories, but here she really outdid herself. This story dealing with the aftermath of Mycroft's murder offers us profound insights into the character, history and emotional inner life of Mycroft, Sherlock, Lestrade and John, as well as some very interesting glimpses of their relationships with each other. Most of all, it thereby contains my favourite portrayal of Sherlock and Lestrade's friendship in a non-romantic setting.

It is also one of the most convincing and moving H/C fics I've read. First it creates a tremendous ache, even though or maybe because for a large part of the story the characters try to dance around the fact of Mycroft's murder and ignore just how badly upset, shocked and bereft they feel, and then when the gravity and tragedy of the situation has finally sunk in it offers us something that is too realistic to be comfort but which manages to be comforting all the same. The way Sherlock and Lestrade try to be there for each other in this unprecedented situation, always realising that it's never going to be quite enough, is incredibly sad and beautiful.

Recommended most heartily for those who like a story that encompasses the full range of interpersonal relations and that is heartbreaking in a very down-to-earth sort of way.