221b_recs | Entries tagged with content: ptsd

Title: A Home for Us
Author: sussexbound (SamanthaLenore)
Pairing: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Length: 30K
Rating: M
Warnings: Mentions of torture and suicidal thoughts, PTSD
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: He has been on the road for two years, and he is exhausted. He’s almost accepted that he will never see London (John) again—almost. But then there are nights like tonight, where he is weak, and all he can think of is the warmth of the flat they once shared, the crackle of the fire in the hearth, the teasing smile playing at the corner of John’s lips, the boxes of half-eaten Chinese takeaway balanced precariously in their laps. He aches at the memory of it, at the realisation that it is something he may never experience again.

Reccer's comments: Of all the cliffhangers the show has given us, I think the one at the end of series 2 is the most powerful for fans. There's something about the potential for anything to happen during the time Sherlock is away, both to him and to those left behind, and for an emotion-laden reunion when the Prodigal returns. This fic does a spectacular job of both, taking us into the minds, hearts, and bodies of both Sherlock and John as we see what a toll those two years took, and how they slowly manage to help each other to heal. (All episodes after Many Happy Returns are ignored.) This fic is truly a gem of its genre, filled with self-flagellating pining and aching regrets. The quiet rightness of them being together that neither can deny. The delicious, heady delicacy of the realizations and declarations and finally the swoon-inducing beauty of their eventual, inevitable consummation. Although there are some very angsty bits, the entire fic buoyed me up on a cloud of endorphins and just made me feel so serene and peaceful and comforted.

( Excerpt... )

swissmarg

Title: Unwind
Author: illwick
Pairing: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Length: 450K+
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Some very rough sex, including scenes gone awry; check individual tags
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: None provided by author, but this follows John and Sherlock post-series 4 as they expand their relationship to include BDSM practices.

Reccer's comments: On the surface, this looks like lots of filthy smut. And it is. But it's also so much more than that. The installments range from pure PWP to hurt/comfort, fluff, and casefics. Throughout, John and Sherlock deepen and reinforce their emotional connection through an exploration of a variety of kinks. They also work through issues from both their individual pasts and the trauma they've been through together. With very smart, sophisticated writing and consistently high emotional payoffs, this series definitely delivered far more than I expected.

The author is still adding to the series, but each installment can be read as a standalone.

rachelindeed

Title: The Men Who Talked Between the Words
Author: Odamaki
Pairing: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, Mycroft Holmes/Greg Lestrade, brief John Watson/Mary Morstan, Harry Watson/OFC, James Sholto/OMC, Billy Wiggins/OFC
Length: @460,000 words
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: past abuse (including implied/referenced child abuse), implied/referenced suicide (not of any character from the TV show), implied/referenced drug use
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: John expected to be a father some day; he expected to have the house, and the wife and the nice suburban job. Sherlock never expected to have children, in part because he never expected to make it past 30. As it turns out, you don't get a choice. Crammed into Baker Street with a baby, John struggles with single-parenthood and his own fears, while Sherlock treads the fine line between doing too little and saying too much.

Reccer's comments: It's hard to think of what I can say about this fic that hasn't already been said. Four years in the making, of a length comparable to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, this story took extraordinary commitment to create and the end result is simply astonishing. I've been reading Holmesian fiction for quite a long time, and I've never run across another story that felt quite like this one. There's something so authentic and keenly observed about the details. There's a realism here that reaches out and never lets me go. The characters - both the main and the secondary ones - have such distinct voices, and their lives and relationships are deeply grounded and believable.

This is a realistic parentlock fic, and it's the deliciously slowest of slow-burn romances, and that heart of the story is beautiful. But that's really not all there is to it. Odamaki doesn't allow Sherlock, John, and the baby to live in a bubble. The story is full to bursting with the many other people who know them, who affect and are affected by them. Both Sherlock and John have important inward work to do before either is ready to think about romance. It's a story about growth, about healing, about hard-fought and hard-won maturity. About friendships and familiar places that won't stay neatly unchanged, and about painful habits and histories that won't fade away without long and deliberate effort.

When I think of this fic, the love story and the family Sherlock and John make together stands at the center. But I also think of Sherlock and Molly's quiet happiness working on her research together at Barts; James Sholto walking John through his fledgling orchard; Billy playing chess in hospital; Harry lounging with her girlfriend on the couch; Greg's tiepin; the moms in John's playgroup; the voice at the other end of a helpline.

This is a compelling fic about love and family, but it's also about all those other nooks and crannies of life that too often get left out of love stories. There's a village of vivid people wrapped up in this story, and I love them all.

(Also, I should add: 1) the story is complete. It ends at chapter 27. There are still new chapters going up, but they are 'bonus material' like deleted scenes and FAQ responses from the author. 2) The story goes AU after series 3, and incorporates no elements of series 4. The baby is a girl, but she is not the canonical 'Rosie' of the TV show).

rachelindeed

Title: Soldier, a tribute to Captain John Watson M.D.
Music Title & Artist: "Soldier" by Fleurie
Vidder: i-am-adlocked (on tumblr), a.k.a. OneAllysa (on YouTube)
Pairing or Character: John Watson
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Link: Soldier vid post on tumblr

And here is the YouTube link, if you have trouble viewing the vid on tumblr: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjQsp8TAy9w

Reccer's Comments: *deep breath* So, this is a BBC John Watson character study through all four seasons but with emphasis, I would say, on the later seasons. It offers a careful, insightful, and emotional exploration of the John Watson that angered many fans both of the BBC show and of the original Doyle stories, myself included: the angry and sometimes violent man who is, in important ways, 'not okay' and who knows that about himself. The vid touches on a host of issues - trauma, PTSD, alcohol dependency, trust and anger issues, violence, loss, addiction to danger. The vid highlights many of John's worst moments - both as a person suffering and as a man lashing out - but it also remembers his strength, his desire to heal and protect, and the hellish experiences he has been through that have shaped his emotional landscape. This tribute refuses to minimize his flaws, but nonetheless approaches his character arc with respect and empathy.

As in many well-edited vids, I was struck by a number of the vidder's visual storytelling choices. With a keen eye for parallels and a confident touch in the layering of song lyrics, dialogue, and imagery, it's a powerful work. Sometimes I find that fanvids, by condensing a narrative and developing tone, mood, and emotion with greater immediacy than a fully mounted episode, can succeed in making certain characterization or story choices work better than they do in the source material. For me, this vid does that for John.

EDITING TO ADD WARNING: The editing style includes cuts that flash briefly through a white screen. There's no strobe effect, but if you are sensitive to white flashes then you may want to avoid this one, or try it out carefully.

swissmarg

Title: He Was a Friend of Mine
Author: SinceWhenDoYouCallMe_John
Pairing: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, John Watson/Alma Watson
Length: 38,387 words
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Suicidal ideation, infidelity
Verse: BBC Sherlock/Brokeback Mountain crossover
Author's summary: Sherlock presses his nose into my hair and inhales. “Told myself the whole way here we wasn’t gonna get into this again,” he says low. His breath moves soft against my scalp, and his words rumble deep into my bones. It sounds like the open sky throwing wind against the boulders up on Baker, rattling the thin walls of the tent with the rushing force of the mountain. I hum. I don’t believe him for a second – steppin’ out of his gleaming white Ford back in Signal with his best shirt on and his curls all combed lookin’ up at me like he just took a breath after five years of holding it. I know because I did the same.

Reccer's comments: Stunned silence. What. This author. What. This author writes better than Annie Proulx. I just. ??

Okay. Trying to put together words coherently here. This is a fusion with Brokeback Mountain, and the author says at the beginning that they “borrowed heavily” from Proulx’s short story and the screenplay. So when I started reading the first paragraph I thought, yeah, okay, they’ve copied all this description stuff from Proulx to set the mood. I mean because look at this:

There’s a place up round near Bighorn where the little streams all crisscross each other like a handful of grass tossed down onto hot summer pavement. You can walk alongside the water in places where boots and hooves and moccasins and bare feet and whatever other goddamn footwear there is have been trampling for hundreds of years, and nobody pays you no congratulations for finding those paths.

Poetry, right? This author has obviously won numerous writing awards, right? But. Then there’s a link to Proulx’s story at the end and I checked and this is all this fic author. 100%. I went so far as to google those phrases because good goddamn. This fic is the only hit in the entire internet. The only hit for the handful of grass on hot summer pavement and no congratulations for finding the paths. And it just goes on like that for 38K words. Yes, there are a few lines of dialogue that are cribbed but that’s really about it as far as I can tell. So. Maybe they have won writing awards. Worth reading just for that. But then there is the story.

The plot largely follows that of the movie but there are a lot of deviations, some minor and some major, as Sherlock and John’s characters and back stories meld with those of Ennis and Jack. It was a tricky line to walk, I think, to bring Sherlock and John as we know them to the rural American west of the 1970s and 80s, including the speech patterns. But they are definitely there, with John’s anger and struggle between wanting outward normalcy while craving adventure, and Sherlock’s paramount loneliness and underappreciated brilliance seeking an appropriate outlet but getting sidetracked in violence and illicit substances.

For those who are afraid of how the movie ended, check out the “eventual happy ending” tag. ;) Eventual being the key word here because believe me, you will go through that box of tissues on the way. We are taken on a lifelong journey that hurts with every step as the two men drift between moments of happiness with each other. The characters may be fictional, but their emotions are made real through the telling, and that to me is the mark of a truly great story.

write_out

Title: (Never) Turn Your Back to the Sea
Author:

DiscordantWords
Pairing: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Length: 39968
Rating: Mature
Warnings: None
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary:

Baker Street is very much the same. Only different.

And Sherlock is just trying not to drown.

Reccer's comments:

The smiley face was wrong.

No, not wrong exactly, it was impossible for such a thing to be wrong but—

Perhaps different was the better word.

The smiley face was different.

It had been a good effort. An excellent effort. He'd found replacement wallpaper in the same design as the original. John had even gone out and purchased a can of Michigan hardcore propellant in the proper shade. He'd gotten the placement mostly right. Sherlock had provided the bullet holes himself.

And yet it wasn't quite the same.

The differences were subtle. The yellow paint intersected with the wallpaper pattern slightly lower than it had before (likely due to John's shorter stature.) The paint had been applied with a heavier hand, a more measured, controlled spray compared to his own broad bored sweep all those years ago.

The effect was—unsettling.

Full disclosure: I bid on this author for the Fandom Trumps Hate charity auction on on Tumblr and this is the story that came out of it, so I have a very personal connection.

This amazing post-S4 story deals with the aftermath of all that has happened, particularly the events in The Final Problem, from Sherlock's perspective. To crib some of what I've said about this fic elsewhere, I love how this story ties together so many of the loose ends we were left with once the series ended. This story approaches TFP from a canon viewpoint: TFP is real and this is what happened during and after. It has some of the most chilling scenes (featuring Eurus Holmes), some of the most heartbreaking (featuring Gloria Trevor), and some of the most uplifting (featuring Sherlock and little Rosie Watson).

This is a beautifully written story that runs an emotional gamut from anxiety and unease and fear, to healing and warmth and brotherhood and so much love. We come full circle with Sherlock as he works to heal himself and to make Baker Street truly home. Yes, it's Sherlock/John endgame, but the focus is more on Sherlock and how he deals with all that has happened. I don't hate TFP as much as some- in fact, I found much to love- but this story has given me answers I needed, the emotional closure I craved, and it has made rewatches that much more enjoyable.

lijahlover.livejournal.com

Title:Bury The Bells
Author: unknownsister
Pairing: Sherlock/John
Length:71,673
Rating:Explicit
Warnings: None
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary:AU set after WWI in 1922. John is adrift in a loveless marriage. He takes a holiday to the country and meets a difficult patient. The spark that ignites between them might relight John's life or burn it to the ground.
Reccer's comments:This story was stunning and brilliant through out until the ending. What a glorious time period this was and it flowed beautifully. She had such a way with words, the flow of the story was perfect. This story was exquisite and all the little details made it come to life.

This fic was a delicious slow burn and I do looooooove those. All the secondary characters were lovely. Mrs. Hudson was the sweetest.

One of my favorite moments well one of so many is the turning point in chapter 9: "They watch each other closely, the scared doctor and the quiet detective. John's hand hovers between them, paused in indecision like his brain. Sherlock, eyes still locked with John's, reaches up to encircle John's wrist, slow and careful. His fingers are warm against John's pulse point and the contact soothes him more than he thinks it has any right to. “John.” John makes a quiet noise in the back of his throat, almost a question. “Mm?” “Let's go home.”

*happy sighs* If you have never read this you should you will love it soooooooo much.

verdant_fire

Title: History, Repeating Itself
Author: gyzym
Pairing: Sherlock/John, Mycroft/Irene
Length: 45489 words
Rating: Mature
Verse: BBC
Author's summary: John Watson is a med student, a war veteran, and, by and large, a fairly sensible person. He had every chance to run.

Reccer's comments: Perhaps fittingly for Leap Day, this fic is a bit of an odd one, but I've never forgotten it. Though it's tagged as RDJ-verse, I think it's really more of an original fic based on ACD's characters than it is any established verse, but it's fantastic writing no matter how you categorize it. This is a sort of Unilock, with John and Sherlock meeting as post-grads and moving in together while Sherlock does a lot of chemistry and gets in over his head, both professionally and romantically. Mycroft and Irene are also great in this, even though, again, they're not really the ACD characters but an original version of them. John's long-suffering affection and pining over his manic, stoner, genius Sherlock is really well-written, and Sherlock is both endearing and exasperating (and also instigates one of the best Johnlock clubbing scenes I've read). It's an engaging and unique take on them and their relationship.

verdant_fire

Title: The Guarded Secret
Author: mycapeisplaid
Pairing: Sherlock/John
Length: 95184 words
Rating: Explicit
Verse: BBC
Author's summary: After his war injury, John feels broken, small, and useless. On a whim, he takes a position as a security guard of sorts at the gorgeous Holmes Hall in Yorkshire. As it turns out, he is not as broken, small, or useless as he thinks. A story of beauty and blossom, murder and mystery, loss and love.

Reccer's comments: This Secret Garden AU was one of my favorite fics of last year. Sherlock and John's growing friendship and love for each other is beautifully done, and the garden as metaphor is just as gorgeous as it was in the original book. This has family secrets, a case very close to Sherlock, well-drawn supporting characters, and Sherlock on a motorcycle, all wrapped up in a Johnlock bow as he and John help each other heal. The slow unfurling of their emotions is lovely to watch, and a pleasure to read.

swissmarg

Title: A Study in Scarlet
Author: tiger_in_the_flightdeck
Pairing: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, John Watson/Stamford, Sherlock Holmes/Tobias Gregson
Length: 49,977 words
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: None
Verse: ACD Canon
Author's summary: An indiscreet photograph ends up online, forcing Watson to postpone his pursuit of a medical degree. Turning to the life of a soldier, he takes a bullet through the shoulder and is sent home to London a lost and broken man. Friendless and facing homelessness, he is introduced to an eager young man in the chemical labs at Bart's Hospital.
As a friendship begins to form between them, a murder investigation pulls Watson into Holmes' world. Between crime scenes, a killer with an eye on revenge, and frustrating police officers, their friendship grows into something neither of them had expected.

Reccer's comments: This is an independent modernization of the original canon that has nothing to do with the BBC version, recasting Conan Doyle's characters in a 21st-century setting and basically giving them free rein to live out their natural inclinations. It's an exciting, smart, raunchy adventure with lots of casual sex, dark humor, and questionable morals. The author has done a fantastic job with bringing things into the modern era, with enough tweaks and surprises that even a reader who knows STUD backwards and forwards will find plently to hold their interest. Not least of which, of course, is Holmes and Watson’s relationship, which is given a chance here to flourish naturally without any of the hangups and dancing about that is often seen in the BBC version.

The author has also continued the story as an RP on tumblr, although I admit I have not gone through those blogs thoroughly. If you're interested, though:
Holmes can be found here: http://bakerstreetbranch.tumblr.com/
While Watson is here: http://medschoolandmysteries.tumblr.com/

rachelindeed.livejournal.com

Title: Beneath These Skies
Author: bendingsignpost
Pairing: Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, Molly Hooper, Bill Murray, Mike Stamford; gen
Length: 37,000 words
Rating: M (for violence and themes)
Warnings: references to past rape, trafficking, and torture, depictions of attempted genocide
Verse: Sherlock BBC, fusion with Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Author's summary: An ex-soldier-turned-healer, a priest, and an unhorsed knight flee for their lives after the invasion of their homeland. John didn't expect the road to safety to be easy, but the addition of a petite mage and a scowling former prisoner to their small band opens his eyes to horrors beyond imagining.

Reccer's comments: Bendingsignpost is one of my favorite BBC Sherlock authors. He excels at layered world-building, subtle characterization, well-paced reveals, and powerful prose. His John POV is among the best in the fandom, in my opinion, and I particularly appreciate the way he keeps the characters' emotional expressions trimmed down and indirect without reducing their profundity.

Though basically all his stories are widely read, in comparison to his other works this one has been relatively overlooked. I imagine there may be several reasons for this. It is gen. It is a fusion with a video game universe. And it has some serious warnings attached. But, although it is at times a grim story that deals with very dark subjects, pretty much all of the most disturbing themes are dealt with indirectly through implication and we only glimpse the aftermath. I found it much less harrowing to read than I had initially feared. The elements taken from the video game are a constellation of magical creatures and a political setup for war; to me it simply read like magical realism and my unfamiliarity with "Fire Emblem" was no obstacle at all to my immersion into the story, the political, natural, and supernatural contours of which Ben sketches with great skill.

A romance in the context of this story would have been inappropriate given the level of trauma Sherlock is dealing with, but the power of the relationship he forms with John is striking -- their mutual trust grows quickly, they work well improvising together in the midst of danger, and they wind up protecting each other and making sacrifices to save each other in ways that pay tribute to the depth of their connection. In addition to the lovely character work done on its two protagonists, this story reaches further to examine the ambiguities of warfare, where basically decent people can find themselves in the ranks of an army bent on atrocity, and where even justified battles for self-defense can descend into indiscriminate slaughter. A compelling, imaginative, well-grounded story that leavens its sadness with touches of humor and the healing that comes through friendship and loyalty.

rachelindeed.livejournal.com

Title: Watershed
Author: finangler
Pairing: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Length: 40,000 words
Rating: E
Warnings: the crimes investigated include human trafficking, rape, and murder, though none are graphically portrayed; also has themes of drug use/abuse
Verse: other
Author's summary: In the year 2207, John Watson went to war. (Written in response to the shkinkmeme anon-prompt: SH in Space.)

Reccer's comments: This fic is remarkable for many reasons. It combines economical yet expansive world-building, clever plot twists which impact both the case and the relationship of the characters, a gritty futuristic setting, and a love story which does not run smoothly and is all the better for its frictions and false starts. Its happy ending, once reached, feels earned.

It is also remarkable because it presents a version of these characters which does not fit entirely within any particular established 'verse. The story was completed several months before the BBC series first aired in 2010, and this author independently undertook, not only a modernization of the Doyle characters, but a projection of them into the future. It is fascinating to see the characterization decisions here made, and to meet versions of Holmes and Watson who are in some ways quite similar to what the BBC characters became (in some instances the parallels are astonishing), but who remain in some respects unique, while at other times reminiscent of the Ritchie or Granada versions.

This fic begins as a version of Doyle's "Man with the Twisted Lip," but the case quickly takes on a life of its own. It offers a new version of Holmes and Watson's first meeting, and throughout the story Watson's issues surrounding self-perception, illness, and trust are dealt with in a complex and compelling way. I find this a rich and rewarding read.

It should be noted that the story is a complete and satisfying whole, but although it is listed as being part of a series, the sequel fic was abandoned after only one chapter so you may be happier simply stopping at the end of this story. (The sequel makes quite an interesting epilogue, though it raises important character issues which are never resolved). If you are interested in seeing more of this author's work, and in particular how they engaged with the BBC characters once that series aired, their excellent BBC adaptation of "The Devil's Foot" has already been recc'd on this comm. Authors who can skillfully entwine original mysteries with nuanced relationship and character drama are treasures, and I hope you enjoy finangler's work as much as I have.

pipmer1.livejournal.com

Title: An Innocent Man
Author: Fangs_Fawn
Length: 183,531 words
Pairing: Gen
Rating: Teen
Warnings: Violence, attempted suicide
Verse: Sherlock BBC

Author's summary: "And what about John Watson?" Sherlock had asked. He had expected a rather dull answer...after all, he had been away. He had not expected to hear that John had spent the past two years in prison. Series 3 AU. Not slash.

Reccer's comments: If you like John whump, this is certainly the fic for you. Sherlock comes back after two years of being away, only to find out that John has spent that entire time behind bars, convicted of being an accessory to Sherlock's supposed 'crimes.' He's exonerated and released just before Sherlock's return - but not before going through some pretty traumatic experiences at the hands of certain guards and prisoners.

This is a Series 3 AU, but you will still meet some of the characters from that series, only under different circumstances. And some of the same dialogue takes place as well - only, again, in different scenarios than in canon. I particularly liked Bill Wiggins here, as he happens to meet John while they are both serving time, and ends up in a happier place than his counterpart does as a result.

I really liked Lestrade's character her as well, as he ends up being the loyal friend and champion that John needs to secure his eventual release.

A big part of the story is John coming to terms with the fact that the people who knew about Sherlock's fake death - Mycroft and Molly - never came forward with the truth so as to exonerate John before he ever went to trial. Sherlock is off the hook in this regard, at least, since he had no idea what was happening with John while he was away.

Throughout all of this, there is also an actual "Empty House" scenario unfolding through it all. We get an actual Sebastian Moran and an actual, very tense confrontation, something I really missed in the BBC's version.

And one final warning: There is mention of John having attempted suicide while in prison, although the event itself occurs offscreen. Just be aware.

Enjoy!

pipmer1.livejournal.com

Title: A River Without Banks
Author: Chryse
Pairing: Sherlock/John, John/Mary
Length: 203,286 words
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Violence, rape/non-con, character death (Please keep in mind that this is a time travel story, and unfortunate occurrences are not necessarily permanent)

Verse: Sherlock BBC

Author's summary: "You love this, being Sherlock Holmes." He had once. When had it all gone so wrong?

Reccer's comments: First of all, I will directly quote the author from their beginning notes: "I assure you that there WILL be a happy ending, by which I mean John and Sherlock, together exclusively and forever, world without end, amen. (Just so we’re clear.)" So if the warnings scare you, know that EVERYTHING IS TEMPORARY AND IT WILL BE FINE. But the bad stuff still happens, so if it's triggery be aware that parts of this fic get very intense. The first half has a lot of angst, but never fear; there are also happy, romantic times as well.

This story is by the same writer who gave us "The Frost is All Over". The fic begins right where HLV left off, with Moriarty supposedly returning from the dead. In essence, it is a time-travel fic, with Sherlock going back in time in an attempt to put the universe back on its correct course after being shifted out of alignment by Moriarty's actions on the rooftop of Bart's. I am a *sucker* for time travel stories, with all of the paradoxes and twists and turns that that genre entails. And boy, does Chryse deliver in spades. Because not just one journey back in time is required; each failed attempt ends with Sherlock's death in that timeline kicking him back into his own (hence the character death warning). And every time Sherlock makes another attempt, his memory of all the previous timelines is erased, making each journey back its own self-contained story with its own adventure and ending, some happier than others. There's also a case that keeps showing up in subsequent timelines, just biding its time until the 'correct' version of Sherlock Holmes shows up to solve it.

My heart ached for Sherlock during a large portion of this fic, as I watched him struggle, literally time and time again, with the emotional fallout of each and every timeline. The storytelling is vivid and layered, with each timeline building on the previous ones and moving the story forward in Sherlock's search for the 'true' timeline that will set everything to rights. The perfect 'fix-it' fic for Series 3, in my opinion.

( Read Excerpt )

venusinthenight

Title: Conversations Around a Couch
Author: beanarie on AO3
Pairing: Sherlock Holmes & Joan Watson
Length: 3495 words over four chapters
Rating: Gen
Warnings: None apply (see reccer's comments)
Verse: Elementary
Author's summary: After Kitty leaves, Sherlock visits Joan to find an apartment in disarray and a friend coming undone.

Reccer's comments: Very rarely does Elementary let us see Joan as anything other than a woman who has it together. She's typically portrayed as a rock, the one who is there for everyone, especially Sherlock. She rarely lets her emotions out.

Here, we see the opposite: Joan, in a state of disarray, drunk, unburdening herself to Sherlock, with him being a listening ear for her, looking after her. And it is beautiful.

(Content notes, derived from fic tags: alcohol use, mention of drug use, PTSD)

rachelindeed.livejournal.com

Title: Light Our Own Fires
Author: BlackEyedGirl
Pairing: Sherlock/John
Length: 7,800 words
Rating: M
Warnings: none
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: Sherlock won't give up looking for Moriarty; John is losing patience. Neither of them are coping as well as they would like. (Post episode 1.03, The Great Game)

Reccer's comments: This is another of the first stories I read in the BBC fandom, and I still find it wonderfully emotionally complex and intriguing. Like many authors in the hiatus between S1 and S2, BlackEyedGirl imagined a scenario in which the bomb at the end of The Great Game did explode -- Sherlock and John each emerge alive and to some degree traumatized, but the fact that they shared the same inciting experience does not mean that they understand one another's reactions to it. They are each aware that the other is hurting, but they don't know how to talk about it and they misread one another repeatedly while still doing their best to protect each other.

John, in particular, is very worried about Sherlock's seeming obsession with catching Moriarty, and he thinks it is a sign that Sherlock is captivated by the challenge he represents even though it is likely to get both John and Sherlock killed. The truth, of course, proves to be more complex than that.

This is an insightful character study, an ambiguous but beautiful romance, a journey through the aftermath of trauma and a story that kept surprising me the further I read. There were a few lines and turns of phrase that felt like they swept a rug out from under me.

(That being said, the story is unbetaed and there are a few SPAG errors, if that kind of thing bothers you. But it really is cleanly and cleverly written, and I encourage you to give it a try.)

I hope you'll enjoy it.

dioscureantwins.livejournal.com

Title: Impossible to Feign
Author:

achray
Pairing: Sherlock/John
Length: approx. 49,200 words
Rating: mature
Warnings:none
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: Sherlock leant forward, his long fingers curving round to grip John’s.
“I won’t let him win,” he said, eyes hard. “I will do whatever it takes to get you out.”

Reccer's comments: This story is a very clever twist on TRF, every bit as fast-paced and thrilling as that glorious episode. After a gruelling intro it all begins innocently enough with Sherlock whisking off to Las Vegas where Mrs Hudson has been arrested for murder. It’s the first loose brick and in no time at all the whole life Sherlock has so carefully built for himself comes crashing down around him, with Lestrade suspended, John dead and Mycroft as usual being no help at all.

I really can’t tell you any more for that would reveal too much of the incredibly crafty and clever plot. This fic is part casefic, part thriller and part psychological character study, brimming with angst and emotions and agonising choices and decisions. It will have you biting your nails and desperately reading on even though there are probably a thousand other things you should be doing. Should be, yes… but reading this is so much more rewarding.

swissmarg

Title: Four Corners of the Western World
Author:

pennypaperbrain
Pairing: John/Sherlock
Length: 100,480 words
Rating: Mature to Explicit
Warnings: None
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: None provided for the series. Summary for part 2: Four months after his best friend and unrequited crush apparently committed suicide in front of him, John’s life has been turned upside down again by a voicemail from Sherlock in the US, saying he is covertly tracking down the remains of Moriarty’s network, and asking John to join him. Two days on, John is on his way to meet Sherlock in Malta. Everything seems to have changed between them: not only is Sherlock being overtly affectionate in his texts, but he quite explicitly wants sex. But there’s just one problem (apart from the small matter of the international assassins etc): Sherlock’s behaviour is getting steadily stranger, even by his standards. John starts to worry his friend may be on drugs again…

Reccer's comments: This is a raw, intimate look at bipolar disorder (manic depression) in the context of the aftermath of The Reichenbach Fall. The insights to Sherlock's thought processes and states of mind as he see-saws between highs and lows are in turns fascinating, exhilarating, and devastating.

( Excerpt from part 1... )

When Sherlock realizes he needs John's help - both to complete his quest and to get a handle on what is happening to his brain - we get to see the other side of the picture, with John struggling to deal with everything Sherlock is throwing at him. Not only his illness and the mortal danger they find themselves in, but the new aspect of a sexual relationship - and one shaped by BDSM practices at that.

The series is a whirlwind of sex, danger, murder, mistakes, and through it all, unwavering love and devotion. One of my favorites.

swissmarg

Title: Fly Very High
Author:

yalublyutebya
Pairing: John/Sherlock
Length: 46,533 words
Rating: Explicit
Warnings:
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: John Watson was born to be a racing driver, and even a crash isn't enough to keep him out of a car for long. But coming back is not that easy, especially when he meets his new teammate, Sherlock Holmes.

Reccer's comments: In the honored tradition of sports AU's, this one shines right up there with the best of them. In this incarnation, John and Sherlock are Formula 1 racers, competing both with and against each other in a high-powered season that takes them around the world.

Part of the fun of this story is the introduction to F1 racing, from the technology to the strategy to exotic venues including Melbourne, Malaysia, Monaco, Bahrain, Shanghai, Barcelona, and Sochi (where Putin is in for quite a shock!). The fic is also peppered with real people from the racing world like Kimi Raikkonen, Sebastian Vettel, and Lewis Hamilton, giving it an extra layer of authenticity.

The author is a self-proclaimed fan of Formula 1, and that enthusiasm comes through in the emotional investment of the characters as well as every exciting race commentary. Don't be put off, though, if you don't particularly like racing or cars; the technical stuff isn't overdone and never detracts from the insanely intense relationship between John and Sherlock as their on-track rivalry spills over into some of the hottest sex this side of Silverstone:

( Excerpt... )

What starts out as just a bit of fun eventually turns into something much more complicated, as these things tend to, and the path to victory is fraught with more than a few pitfalls. Reading this fic is like watching a race, in fact, from the nervous anticipation at the start to the nail-biting moments when things get shaky in the middle to the fist-pumping celebration at the finish line, complete with champagne showers.

swissmarg

Title: In War
Author:

ceywoozle
Pairing: John/Sherlock
Length: 32,010 words
Rating: Mature
Warnings: None
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: Two weeks before Christmas, Sherlock is back from the hospital and John is there to take care of him. John is always there to take care of him. What Sherlock forgets sometimes is that occasionally, John needs to be taken care of, too.

Reccer's comments: This is a duet of two views of the same night at Baker Street, when John brings Sherlock home from the hospital after being shot. Either part would already be strong on its own, as is exemplified by the beauty of prose such as this:

They are a warm bay of heartbeats, pulsing at the shore. Capillaries and veins of currents that suck at their feet and drag them deeper. Deeper. John would stay here forever, waiting for the hurricane to descend. He thinks of Mary and remembers that storms used to be named after women. There was a reason for that, he thinks, but knows that's unfair. Thinks of the tsunami that is Sherlock, the long string of his disasters. John floating face down in his wake.

Taken together, though, the mini-series attains an extra dimension of depth and emotion. Especially fascinating is how each man appears so distant and controlled to the other, but when we see their point of view, we realize what an absolute mess each of them is. It packs a tough emotional punch, but the resolution makes it all worth it.

Contains infidelity and nonconsensual drug use.

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A Sherlock Holmes Recs Community

Entries tagged with content: ptsd

Fic Rec: A Home for Us

Series Rec: Unwind

Fic Rec: The Men Who Talked Between the Words

Vid Rec: Soldier

Fic Rec: He Was a Friend of Mine

Fic Rec: (Never) Turn Your Back to the Sea

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fic rec: History, Repeating Itself

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Series Rec: Four Corners of the Western World

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Series Rec: In War

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