Fic Series Rec: This Is Not a Love Song (Except That It Is), by yaycoffee
Title: This Is Not a Love Song (Except That It Is)
Author: yaycoffee
Pairing: John/Sherlock; John/Mary Morstan (but not the Mary of S3)
Length: 20,469 for part 1, "This Is Not a Love Song"; 6303 for part 2, "If These Walls Could Speak"
Rating: T/PG for part 1; M/R for part 2
Warnings: Nah.
Verse: BBC Sherlock
Author's summary: Part 1: Sherlock left London to keep John safe. John's life kept moving forward. When Sherlock returns, will there still be a place for him in John's new life? Post-Reichenbach.
Part 2: 221b Baker Street would have a few stories to tell. Or, snapshots of a growing partnership. [The author has linked these two fics as a series, but also remarks that part 2 could work as a stand-alone.]
Reccer's comments: First things first: This was written before S3 aired so of course it has been jossed. Except for the punching. John does punch Sherlock, although not right away.
TINaLS is one of those pleasingly complicated reunion fics in which John hasn't spent the entire hiatus pining away with his face in Sherlock's pillow -- not that the pillow doesn't have its moment, mind you. By the time Sherlock reappears, John's just about to give his clever, interesting girlfriend, Mary Morstan, her own key to 221B.
About that punch: I much prefer the punch in this fic to the punch in TEH; there's a delayed-reaction thing going on that to my mind is emotionally richer and more telling than the assault in the restaurant. See what you think.
A common theme in Johnlock is John's self-deception, his unwillingness or inability to acknowledge how he feels about Sherlock. One of the things that interests me in this story is how, as soon as Sherlock reappears, a false note enters into John's previously quite real relationship with Mary. And then there's the matter of what Sherlock sees and knows that Mary doesn't, not because she doesn't care but because she can't -- she isn't Sherlock.
In the following passage, Sherlock is trying to clue Mary in to the resurgence of John's PTSD:
He doesn’t quite know how to begin, so he just starts. “His hand has been shaking a little, and he’s favouring his right leg, have you noticed?”
“No,” Mary says flatly, and she is looking at him, as ever, with thinly veiled distaste (more pronounced tonight).
“He has nightmares sometimes,” Sherlock continues.
“Yes,” she says, still guarded.
“Haven’t you noticed that in the days preceding his nightmares, he presents symptoms in his hand and in his leg?” She says nothing, and he can’t help but turn and mutter, “No, of course you haven’t.” He waves a hand dismissively.
“I’m sorry,” she spits. “If his leg is bothering him, why did you take him bloody running today?”
Sherlock fights the urge to roll his eyes. “Exercise helps,” he says, wheeling back toward her, and then he just lays it out, “Exercise and work help the most. He didn’t have a shift today at the surgery, which might be problematic, but from the looks of things, you two have quite obviously had a shag, so it is possible that he is physically spent enough that tonight won’t be an issue, but do make sure he keeps busy until the symptoms pass.”
Her face is red, from anger and, likely, embarrassment, but Sherlock isn’t concerned with her.
She takes a deep breath before speaking. “Don’t talk to me like I don’t know him. It’s you I’ve only just met. Tell me this, Sherlock-what sort of toll do you think watching his best friend jump off a building took? Do you know that I met him nearly a year after you’d gone, and what do you think he shouted in his sleep? ‘Sherlock, no.’” She steps in close. “Don’t you dare talk to me like I’m fucking new.”
Read on the AO3 (link goes to part 1).
Or here (link goes to series page).
Author: yaycoffee
Pairing: John/Sherlock; John/Mary Morstan (but not the Mary of S3)
Length: 20,469 for part 1, "This Is Not a Love Song"; 6303 for part 2, "If These Walls Could Speak"
Rating: T/PG for part 1; M/R for part 2
Warnings: Nah.
Verse: BBC Sherlock
Author's summary: Part 1: Sherlock left London to keep John safe. John's life kept moving forward. When Sherlock returns, will there still be a place for him in John's new life? Post-Reichenbach.
Part 2: 221b Baker Street would have a few stories to tell. Or, snapshots of a growing partnership. [The author has linked these two fics as a series, but also remarks that part 2 could work as a stand-alone.]
Reccer's comments: First things first: This was written before S3 aired so of course it has been jossed. Except for the punching. John does punch Sherlock, although not right away.
TINaLS is one of those pleasingly complicated reunion fics in which John hasn't spent the entire hiatus pining away with his face in Sherlock's pillow -- not that the pillow doesn't have its moment, mind you. By the time Sherlock reappears, John's just about to give his clever, interesting girlfriend, Mary Morstan, her own key to 221B.
About that punch: I much prefer the punch in this fic to the punch in TEH; there's a delayed-reaction thing going on that to my mind is emotionally richer and more telling than the assault in the restaurant. See what you think.
A common theme in Johnlock is John's self-deception, his unwillingness or inability to acknowledge how he feels about Sherlock. One of the things that interests me in this story is how, as soon as Sherlock reappears, a false note enters into John's previously quite real relationship with Mary. And then there's the matter of what Sherlock sees and knows that Mary doesn't, not because she doesn't care but because she can't -- she isn't Sherlock.
In the following passage, Sherlock is trying to clue Mary in to the resurgence of John's PTSD:
He doesn’t quite know how to begin, so he just starts. “His hand has been shaking a little, and he’s favouring his right leg, have you noticed?”
“No,” Mary says flatly, and she is looking at him, as ever, with thinly veiled distaste (more pronounced tonight).
“He has nightmares sometimes,” Sherlock continues.
“Yes,” she says, still guarded.
“Haven’t you noticed that in the days preceding his nightmares, he presents symptoms in his hand and in his leg?” She says nothing, and he can’t help but turn and mutter, “No, of course you haven’t.” He waves a hand dismissively.
“I’m sorry,” she spits. “If his leg is bothering him, why did you take him bloody running today?”
Sherlock fights the urge to roll his eyes. “Exercise helps,” he says, wheeling back toward her, and then he just lays it out, “Exercise and work help the most. He didn’t have a shift today at the surgery, which might be problematic, but from the looks of things, you two have quite obviously had a shag, so it is possible that he is physically spent enough that tonight won’t be an issue, but do make sure he keeps busy until the symptoms pass.”
Her face is red, from anger and, likely, embarrassment, but Sherlock isn’t concerned with her.
She takes a deep breath before speaking. “Don’t talk to me like I don’t know him. It’s you I’ve only just met. Tell me this, Sherlock-what sort of toll do you think watching his best friend jump off a building took? Do you know that I met him nearly a year after you’d gone, and what do you think he shouted in his sleep? ‘Sherlock, no.’” She steps in close. “Don’t you dare talk to me like I’m fucking new.”
Read on the AO3 (link goes to part 1).
Or here (link goes to series page).