Fic Rec: You Promised Me Two Years

[swissmarg]

Title: You Promised Me Two Years
Author: prettyvk
Pairing: John/Sherlock
Length: 42,302 words
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major character death
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: John isn’t scared of Sherlock or of the adults around them. But he is scared of this Message. He is scared he’ll be there, in two years, right next to Sherlock, watching and unable to do a damn thing when he dies. Because the true Message was, “Don’t expect to make a career out of this interpreter thing. I’ll die in two years.” For the first time in his life, John wishes he’d never taken the Cassandra Tests.

Reccer's comments: This is a wonderfully creative teenlock/boarding school AU in which Sherlock is a Prophet (like an oracle, not a religious leader with a following) who speaks only in riddles, and John is his interpreter. This is what a conversation between them looks like:

After a little while, Sherlock stops convulsing. He feels very cold. John sits with his back to the wall under the window, in a pool of warm sunlight, holding Sherlock with both arms around him, his back to John’s chest. One of his hands is pressed over Sherlock’s heart, feeling his heartbeat jump and stutter.

“Sparrows fly upside down,” Sherlock mumbles much, much later, when his heart has calmed down.

“Yeah? I don’t care. That was stupid. You’re not doing it again. Ever. You hear me?”

“The wind leaves no mark.”

John’s arms tighten. “You’re a bloody idiot and I don’t give a damn what you think. You’re not doing it again. If that means I have to remain glued to your side day and night—”

“John.”

It’s the first time Sherlock has ever said John’s name, and there’s an entire discourse in that one syllable. John closes his eyes tight.

Part of the fun of reading this is trying to figure out all the associations of Sherlock's words, and how John gets to the meaning within them. But it's not all as cryptic as this. Sherlock's proclamations are usually clarified in the text, either by John or another of the characters who are able to understand them (and there are several).

The main reason that I'm reccing this, though, is the story of the prophecy given in the summary. How does it affect the course of John and Sherlock's lives? What does it mean for their relationship? And, most importantly, can anything be done to change Sherlock's fate?

Moriarty of course can't help becoming entangled in it all, and I loved how the author sprinkled in bits and pieces from the first two Sherlock series, without rehashing any of the actual cases or plots.

The resolution was a fantastic tying-together of several threads, and without wanting to spoil the ending, all I can say is don't be scared off by the character death warning. It is all for a purpose.

By the way, I'm tagging this with asexual Sherlock, although it's never stated, as he seems to me to be portrayed that way in this fic. There is sex, though, and it's not dub-con. I'm also giving this an underage tag as Sherlock is 16 at the beginning when he and John begin their relationship, although no actual sex happens until he is 18.

Comments

[leenah.livejournal.com]

i'd marked this to read when finished, and missed when it was finished. so thank you for reccing it, now i'm back to it.

i've read two chapters so far, and i'm completely taken over by it. enchanted, enthralled, all of it.

[swissmarg]

That's great, you're welcome!

chapbook

[chapbook.livejournal.com]

It's a wonderful premise executed quite well (especially the first 3/4 of the story). I really liked how the prophets' speech was handled, as well as the slow undermining of Sherlock and John's position at the school.