Fic Rec: End of the Story

[swissmarg]

Title: End of the Story
Author: kres
Pairing: John/Sherlock, background John/Mary
Length: 54,029 words
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: None
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: Post-Reichenbach. The return, the fallout, the pieces you pick up.

Reccer's comments: The angst! Sherlock returns, suffering from a nearly fatal case of foot-in-the-mouth disease. John is hardly better, being congenitally unable to do anything but beat himself up. Together, they are a trainwreck of monumental proportions. Never really able to express themselves in words and unpracticed with each other in the language of the body, it is nearly physically painful to watch them desperately attempt to connect and give the other what they instinctively know they need.

Excerpt:

John comes into the sitting room. He sits in his chair, sets down the sandwich plate on the side table, and drinks his tea. Sherlock pretends to read the paper.

It's better this way, really. John is wearing a grey t-shirt and black pyjamas that are a little too long. He hasn't shaved, but he has used the toothbrush Sherlock had bought and left for him in the upstairs bathroom last week.

"So," says John, and Sherlock rolls his eyes.

"No," says Sherlock. "And you won't convince me to go."

John runs his hand through his hair. It is in need of washing. Sherlock expects John will tend to it after breakfast. All the necessary toiletries are in his bathroom. John must have seen that while brushing.

Sherlock wants to know what John's hair feels like when wet. He wants to run his fingers through it, and tug at it, and see what John's neck would look like, bared.

He turns the page. There's an insurance advertisement that takes half of it; some drivel with a dog in it. The dog is wet. Sherlock ponders what that has to do with insurance. Flood, maybe?

There is so much going on beneath the surface throughout this fic. We get glimpses of backstories and motivations like flashes of light through a latticework screen. There are also cases running along beneath everything else, the trundling undercarriage of the story grimly keeping things moving forward while the relationships and the emotional issues pose and smile their fake smiles and jostle against each other in the tired, threadbare compartments above. Mycroft gets his digs in, and Lestrade and Irene both do what they can, but the final destination is entirely up to Sherlock and John.

The author has not put any warnings on the fic (on AO3) other than 'Dark', although I don't really consider this dark!fic. There is, however, infidelity, dub-con, and unnegotiated BDSM, in addition to the usual murder and mayhem, in case any of those are sensitive areas for you.

Comments

[call-me-ishmael.livejournal.com]

I read this just when I thought I'd become tired of Post-Reichenbach fics. Man did this one prove me wrong. This fic was so wonderfully fucked up. Their inability to communicate was painful and brilliantly handled.

[todesfuge.livejournal.com]

Loved that, thanks!

[swissmarg]

You're welcome. :)

[chapbook.livejournal.com]

Yet another one to add to my list! It sounds like it's heavy on the psychological realism? I really love fics that manage to incorporate psychological and physical realism into the characters, relationships, and plot.

And yes, you're right about the length of that list. My Evernote database now is mostly Sherlock fics.

[swissmarg]

*looks up 'psychological realism'...* Um, I don't know, but if I've understood it correctly, then I don't think it's really like that. It's not really inside their heads so much as showing their emotions and internal state through their actions. The focus for me wasn't on introspection, but on interaction. I think the excerpt above is pretty representative of the story. There's so much that isn't said or made explicit. Really good writing, though.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_minxy_/]

Kres is an absolutely brilliant writer; if you don't know her from Stargate or Supernatural fandoms, meet her now! Fans, you won't regret it.