Fic Rec: Give Me the Quiet Things

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Title: Give Me the Quiet Things
Author: lady_t_220
Pairing: Sherlock/John
Length: It doesn't say, but I'd guess around 12,000-15,000 words
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: description of traumatic injury
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: John had never been afraid of asking "What's the worst that can happen?" He was pretty sure he'd already seen it.

Reccer's comments: In this story, John has amnesia in the aftermath of a terrible injury he suffered during a case gone wrong. I love that the story captures the strangeness of John's experience, his sense of frustration at the expectations of those closest to him who want him to be the person he was before, the way he feels like a stranger in someone else's body. Sherlock's reactions are so different from everyone else's, so free from expectation, with a low-level constancy that John comes to rely on without realizing it. He's restrained, just muted enough to be soothing when John finds most interactions uncomfortable and overcharged. Eventually, though, John sees that he is living Sherlock's nightmare more than his own, and begins to suspect that Sherlock's silence has more than one motive.

I can't put my finger on precisely what it is about this characterization of Sherlock that I love so much, but it feels very real to me. Also, I personally enjoy that the story pulls off the amnesia trope with no dub-con, and that Sherlock and John actually talk through a load of complicated issues, without wrapping everything up in a bow either. Probably my favorite hurt/comfort in the BBC 'verse.

Comments

[frozen_delight]

Seconding this, it's terrific.
What I like so much about the story is how Sherlock's big smile at the beginning is used like a leitmotif, with John trying to find out what it means and wanting nothing so much as to see it again.

[catko]

Agreed, thanks for reccing this. A gem.

[persiflager.livejournal.com]

I love this fic but it's been recced here before (which is where I found it): http://221b-recs.livejournal.com/81362.html

Re:

[unovis.livejournal.com]

Thanks for catching that. I noticed when I entered recs this morning.

Re:

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Sorry that I missed the earlier rec -- I put together a list of possible recs a few weeks ago and I thought I checked them all against the spreadsheet, but apparently I skipped "Quiet Things" somehow. Thanks for pointing it out, I will be more careful next time :)

[innie_darling]

This is one of my absolute favorites as well, for how perfectly it maintains that balance.