Fic Rec: Colors

[swissmarg]

Title: Colors
Author: Quesarasara
Pairing: John/Sherlock with others along the way
Length: 140,840 words
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: None
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: Everyone on earth is born with eyes that see in black, white, and an endless series of greys. When you meet your soulmate, you finally see the world in color. We're all searching for the person who brings color to our lives. John and Sherlock are no exception.

Reccer's comments: This is a soulmate fic, but it's not your standard 'soulmates mean twu wuv' kind of story. In this world, soulmates are not de facto the one true path to happiness. I especially liked that the fic explores what it means to have - and to be - a soulmate, and that we see that it's entirely possible to live a happy, fulfilling life without ever having met one's soulmate... or having met them and subsequently lost them, either to death or simply the vagaries of life. And, on the other hand, that having a soulmate doesn't necessarily guarantee a happy end.

Beyond that, the language is a pure pleasure to read, as in this excerpt of a young John talking to his mother:

“Mum, what color is the ocean?”

“The ocean is so many colors, Johnny. It’s cool green, and soft grey, and glittery gold. Some days it’s stormy indigo, and others it’s fiery turquoise, and then sometimes it’s the most peaceful blue you can imagine, the kind of blue that makes you want to wrap yourself in it and sleep for days. The day I met your dad, I saw all those colors in the sea for the very first time. It was so beautiful.”

John sighs and leans more heavily against his mother. He looks out over the waves—at the white hot ball of the sun in the sky and the striated clouds in shades of grey shot through with silvery rays as it sinks beneath the black line of the edge of the smoky charcoal water that churns and runs white with surf over the grey sand of the beach—and wants to believe that Harry is wrong. That one day a chance meeting with a stranger will finally let him see all the colors that his mum has worked so hard to explain to him when he asks.

“Someday,” he whispers (pink) against his mother’s shoulder, “I want to see all the colors in the ocean.”

“Oh Johnny,” she says as she kisses (red) his forehead. “You will.”

The fic is a mixture of cases from the series re-worked and original cases, as throughout John and Sherlock try to figure out what they mean to each other and how having 'gone color' for each other will change them, for better or worse. It's a fascinating world that the author has created, one of those that you wish would go on forever.

Comments

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

I also enjoyed this story very much, lovely to see it recc'd. Thank you! :)

[keerawa.livejournal.com]

That was a lovely story; great rec!