Fic: Action Man

[thesardine]

Title: Action Man
Genre: ​ Gen
Characters: Mycroft, Sherlock
Word Count: 2,000

Summary: Post-Reichenbach. He’d known long ago that Sherlock would never see forty.

Warnings for angst and raw un-beta'dness.  All feedback is welcome!

Comments

[thesardine]

"Jounced" is an excellent word; thank you!

It's always seemed to me that intellectual alienation would get to Sherlock more, even though he's intrinsically more emotional. (Obviously we're getting into head-canon territory here.) He doesn't lead a self-examined life, or else he would have drawn the connection between massive sulking, manic glee, profound ennui: Emotions, Sherlock! Ding ding ding! He despises them and yet he's easily the most emotional person on the show.

Mycroft, on the other hand, strikes me as more self-aware. I don't think he quite needs people the way Sherlock does or he would have found his own Dr. Watson by now: he's certainly more socially capable. But, he can recognize the emotional disconnect even if he isn't emotionally savvy enough to rectify it. Take the Holmes brother's feud for instance:

There's no doubt in my mind that if Mycroft extended the olive branch and apologized for whatever it is Sherlock thinks he should apologize for, Sherlock would gloat, act like a brat, tell Mycroft to sit and spin, then never think of the feud ever again and forgive his brother completely. If anyone's keeping that feud going it's Mycroft, because he's managed to rationalize it somehow. He understands emotions better than Sherlock, but that still leaves him way behind the curve. Because of this, he comes up with intellectual solutions for emotional problems (unlike Sherlock who doesn't come up with any solutions), which is like pouring vegetable oil into your motor. Yes it needs oil, but now you've just fucked it all up!

[aphyde]

That's a good head-canon. I'm fond of your Mycroft. I know people like that Sherlock, for sure.