In the End

Title: In the End
Author: whitchry9
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John, Sherlock
Warning: PG-13, injury (Sherlock), disability (Sherlock), character death (John)
Length: Short
Status: Completed


When a brain injury leaves Sherlock unable to make new memories, John wonders how Sherlock will cope, and what it will mean for The Work and their life. Because after all, how can you live if you can't feel time passing?


AO3

Very sad story. The last chapter broke my heart.

Same author as:
Love Is Watching Someone Die

Got My Eye on You

Title: Got My Eye on You
Author: sevenpercent
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: Lestrade, Sherlock, Mycroft, John/Mary, OMC (Sam)
Warning: PG-13, suicidal (Sherlock), illness (Sherlock - autistic), injury (Sherlock)
Length: Novel
Status: Ongoing

Lestrade may have only "known" Sherlock for five years when the serial suicide murders started (Study in Pink), but he met him for the first time years before, when Sherlock was only sixteen. This is the story of their journey, both before, during and after. No slash, just friendship


FF

Brilliant paternal!Lestrade fic. Mycroft's a bit on the obsessive-brother spectrum, but I can see where the author is coming from.
It's a very good portray of autism. There's Sam, and there's Sherlock. The disorder is part of the story but it doesn't take over.

Same author as:
Periodic Tales

Two of Every Kind

Title: Two of Every Kind
Author: Nikoshinigami
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John/Sherlock, Mycroft
Warning: PG-13, AU, illness (Sherlock), character death (Molly)
Length: Novella
Status: Completed


A viral outbreak has caused the world to take doomsday precautions. While the best and brightest are locked away in the Ark, the rest of humanity has only death as a comfort to the pains of infection. John and Sherlock must either survive or die, but neither option is the easy way out.


AO3

A very angsty and apocalyptic story. I feared for Sherlock for some time. Great series though the last instalment is rushed and not as finely written.

Same author as:
The Circle of Fifths
Naked, Stripped, and Raw
The Ichor of Talos

Safe Distance

Title: Safe Distance
Author: merripestin
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John/Sherlock
Warning: NC-17, slash, injury (John)
Length: Novel
Status: Completed

The mother was apparently poisoned, the son seems to have killed himself playing Russian roulette. It's a murder and a suicide. Or is it a suicide and a murder?

At least the case is distracting John from the fact that sex with Sherlock was probably a mistake right from the start.

John will learn to cope, one way or another.

AO3


Heterosexual John in a homoromantic relationship with homosexual acts on the menu.
Basically, it's about him coming to terms with loving Sherlock, and accepting his masculinity when he does not particularly feel attracted to the male body. It's a very honest approach, and I love this story. I do. I've read well-done asexual!Sherlock in sexual relationships stories, and this is basically part of the trope family.

Naked, Stripped, and Raw

Title: Naked, Stripped, and Raw
Author: Nikoshinigami
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: Sherlock(/John), John/Mary, OFC (child)
Warning: PG-13, injury (John), character death (Mary)
Length: Novella
Status: Completed


Time passes, John moves on in love and life, but no matter of distance or separation can ever truly make him say goodbye to Sherlock Holmes.


AO3

For the records: I think John very cruel until the last part of the last instalment. It feels wrong. If he truly loved Sherlock, he'd have said goodbye, he'd have released him instead of burdening him with John's indecision.
It's a difficult fic.

 I'd have to say I'm going to my dealer. I can't change what I don't like about my life. It's more than just being lonely. You were more than just someone to pay the other share of the rent. I can't replace you the way you replaced me. But I can stop it from mattering for a few hours at a time.

I mean, that sums it up pretty well. It's difficult. And it's very true considering season three. In more than one way does this story resound with what we got last season. It makes for a horrible premonition...

"Grow up! Will you just grow up!"
"What for? So I can be like all the other friends you have? I'm not like them! I'm better than them! I am better than her!"
"I. LOVE. HER."
"So what are we doing out here!?"

This author is killing me. God. There are so many raw emotions floating about.
I mean, let's face it: John does not stick around anymore. He seeks out Sherlock at times but they are not as close as they once were. While John enjoys Sherlock's company, he actively decides against him. So why is he still accompanying him? This story leads to the same question: What are they doing there? Stress on they. I hate it when John is indecisive. I hate it in general when people run with the hare and hunt with the hounds instead of choosing what they want and face the consequences. It's cowardly.
John's a coward throughout this story. He stops being one in the epilogue, I think. When he stops reacting and starts acting.


Same author as:
The Circle of Fifths
Two of Every Kind
The Ichor of Talos

Five Times Mycroft Failed Sherlock

Title: Five Times Mycroft Failed Sherlock
Author: WordOfAll
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: Mycroft/Lestrade, Sherlock/John, Mycroft/OFC
Warning: PG-13, injury (Mycroft)
Length: Medium
Status: Completed

Follows Mycroft Holmes from the age of seven up to the time of the series. Dark and sad.

Basically just Mycroft desperately trying to be a decent human being and a good brother - and often failing miserably.

AO3

This has got one of the most chilling scenes starring Sherlock and Mycroft when Mycroft contemplates killing his brother. It's something I remember most vividly. There are few scenes that stuck with one and this is one of those.
The sequel is nice but Mycroft got somewhat sappy. The first half is very good, though.

Little Boy Blue and the Man in the Moon

Title: Little Boy Blue and the Man in the Moon
Author: ariana_paris
Fandom: Sherlock / House (crossover)
Characters: John/Sherlock, Mycroft, Wilson, Irene
Warning: PG-13, illness (John, Sherlock)
Length: Novella
Status: Completed


Sherlock's unexpected visit to Princeton-Plainsboro, ostensibly on a case, threatens to turn House’s life upside down as he has to face up to a secret he has kept for thirty years.


AO3

This story is fun to read but not that deep.
Well-done crossover, that's for sure. If you like House, and if you enjoy crossovers sometimes, that's your cue.

The Circle of Fifths

Title: The Circle of Fifths
Author: Nikoshinigami
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John/Sherlock, John/Mary, OFC (Billie), Mycroft, OMC (Church), Jim, Moran
Warning: NC-17, slash, injury (John, Sherlock), character death (Mary)
Length: Novel
Status: Completed

John writes a blog entry.

E-mails between John and Mr. Sigerson.

John's life is not only in danger but caught in a delicate balance between love, friendship, and his own desires. A supporting character in his own life's story, it may already be too late to affect his life's course.

Nothing is ever simple for John Watson when it involves Sherlock Holmes. With the world doing its best to outdo even its only consulting detective, can the things left unsaid ever finally be spoken?

John has enough to deal with in his normal life as it is, but when a stranger arrives with a new case that cannot be turned down, can he juggle his choices with their repercussions well enough for them all to survive?



AO3



Oh God. Oh God.
I just have to quote.

I don't come first anymore, John," he admitted, not as blind to the fact as some of his actions seemed to indicate. "Things come up, girlfriends or wives make requests. Schedules aren't as flexible. I'm asking you to save a date for me. I want, when this is over, one more day where I am the most important thing you have planned for that evening."

Then there's the brilliant ""hurt my brother.." talk with awkward Mycroft, more awkward John, and uncomfortable Sherlock.

John would wait. John would always wait. Because Sherlock couldn’t come to him if he didn’t.

Just have to love that line. Especially when you remember it from the second instalment, the one when Sherlock tells John that he will be waiting because if he won't, John can't come to him.

You have to love this story. Everybody does.

Same author as:
Naked, Stripped, and Raw
Two of Every Kind
The Ichor of Talos

Paper Doll

Title: Paper Doll
Author: numberthescars
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John, Sherlock
Warning: PG-13, injury (Sherlock), disability (Sherlock)
Length: Short
Status: Completed

Sherlock fell straight to the ground, but he didn't die. And John didn't get knocked over by the bicycle. He made it to Sherlock, and was the first doctor on site.

He's so still now. That's the thing that bothers John most.

AO3

A very sad oneshot. Sherlock!whump at its most angsty.

Things You Don't Tell Me

Title: Things You Don't Tell Me
Author: etothepii
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John/Sherlock, Lestrade/Sherlock
Warning: NC-17, slash, bdsm
Length: Medium
Status: Ongoing


The first time he sees Sherlock's driving license, Lestrade is sure it's a skilled forgery, though why Sherlock would want the little black S as his role instead of a D, he has no idea.


AO3

No, I am not adding it for the smut's sake. Sherlock's insistence on not being property is a beautiful entry to Sherlock!whump. It hints at bdsm gone bad, and that's something I like in these stories. Some depth to it.


Same author as:
Westermarck, Refuted

Harry Potter and the Curse of Durand

Title: Harry Potter and the Curse of Durand
Author: Nomad
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Harry, Hermione, Ron, Snape
Warning: PG-13
Length: Novel
Status: Completed


When Harry returns to Hogwarts for his sixth year, he finds the entire school under an ancient and deadly dangerous enchantment.


AO3

A nice mystery story set in Hogwarts.
Well-written by an author, I have to admit, I did not know before this story. I dabble a lot in ships, but once in a while, you find these gen gems, and they make you wonder why you spend so much time reading cheesy, horrible ship fics...

An Age of Silver

Title: An Age of Silver
Author: ImpishTubist
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: Sherlock/OMC (Stanley Hopkins), Sally, Lestrade/John
Warning: R, slash, injury (Hopkins), mention of character death (Victor), illness (cancer - Lestrade, chronic disease - Hopkins), marriage
Length: Novel
Status: Completed


Sherlock Holmes is adapting to the pace of a more sedate life when a series of gruesome murders pulls him out of semi-retirement. Meanwhile, a burgeoning relationship with one of Scotland Yard’s own forces him to confront ghosts he thought he had buried long ago.


AO3

I've rec'ed another instalment of this series. This is outstanding enough to warrant another mention. Truly.
I am rather wary of OCs, as probably the count of the "oc" tag shows. I ship Sherlock with a lot of persons. Irene, Lestrade, John, heck, his own brother at times. Then there's the odd Molly/Sherlock story around... Sally, Anderson... Yes. You get the picture. And it is quite easy to notice that my current OTP is Victor/Sherlock which is ridiculous but... well. My excuse.. um. I ship it? Okay, not a strong argument.
Probably as weak as any I could bring up to justify Sherlock/OC. Hopkins is a beautiful OC (and partly canon, so...). Sherlock's grief is shown from a variety of perspectives. I like it. And yes, he deserves some happy end. The previous instalment was sad. I love the fact that Victor would have told him to move on. It's my head canon. That something happened but that Victor, in the end, loves Sherlock enough to let go. Their love is... I should write a meta about it. Why this idea is so beautiful.

Same author as:
They're Gonna Be All Right (Lestrade/Sherlock)
Winter's Child (John/Sherlock, Lestrade)
The Coming of the Night (Lestrade/Sherlock)
The First and Only Convention of the Scotland Yard Matchmaker Committee
A Memory That Never Forgets
The Fall of Gods

Bodies and Minds

Title: Bodies and Minds
Author: NezumiPi
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John/Sherlock, Mycroft, Lestrade, Moran
Warning: PG-13, disability (Sherlock)
Length: Medium
Status: Ongoing

 Watson, Lestrade, and Mycroft go back into Sherlock's life to try to understand his death. 

Molly Hooper visits a still-grieving John Watson with the news that Sherlock is alive, but he's disappeared. John, Lestrade, and Mycroft travel to America in search of him, but what they find is not what they expected. Includes no fewer than 6 characters named John.


AO3


Sherlock!whump. And an interesting ethical question is being raised.
I rec this for everybody. The pairing is barely graspable.
Everybody who wants to see Sherlock at an animal shelter surrounded by a rabbit, a gold fish and several dogs. All of them named John. No. It's not crack.

Scotch

Title: Scotch
Author: earlgreytea68
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John/Sherlock, Mycroft/Lestrade, 
Warning: R, slash
Length: Novel
Status: Ongoing


Post-Reichenbach fic with Sherlock's return and reunion with John.


Scotch

A very simple story, but earlgreytea68 is amazing with details and interpersonal relationships.
I adore this Mystrade couple. Not my usual cup of tea, here, though.. Yes.


Same author as:
The Bang and the Clatter
John Watson's Twelve Days of Christmas
Nature and Nurture
Saving Sherlock Holmes

The Fall of Gods

Title: The Fall of Gods
Author: ImpishTubist
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: Victor/Sherlock, John/Lestrade, Moran
Warning: NC-17, slash, injury (Sherlock), illness (Victor), character death (Victor)
Length: Novel
Status: Completed

Sherlock remembers a time before Moriarty. It seemed to go on forever. It was over all too quickly.

Sherlock finds an ally in death and begins the slow process of dismantling Moriarty's network, not knowing if he'll ever be able to return home. Meanwhile, back in London, John and Lestrade mourn, remember, and move on.

AO3

And when it rains, think of me.
Think of me, and know that you were loved.

This fic is cruel. It is. One of the few stories that made me cry.
I knew he'd die from the moment he joined Sherlock. He was too perfect, too big a character for life...
Still it hurts. I ache for Victor, and I ache for Sherlock.
Marked classic because this is... the story.

Part of the Until the Night is Gone Series. To my shame, I haven't read all instalments yet. I felt like this piece of fiction is too valuable and emotional to "taint" the rec with the almost fluffy instalment before it, and the pondering mood of the following one...

ImpishTubist managed to make me cry once again.
God damn, I hope they'll give Victor an appearance in season 4. I feel ridiculous crying over a OMC. If this continues, this will be my favorite pairing... with one character that has never appeared in the actual series. I begin to see why so many Mystrade fans went crazy when Mycoft and Lestrade finally were seen in the same room.

Same author as:
They're Gonna Be All Right (Lestrade/Sherlock)
Winter's Child (John/Sherlock, Lestrade)
The Coming of the Night (Lestrade/Sherlock)
The First and Only Convention of the Scotland Yard Matchmaker Committee
A Memory That Never Forgets
An Age of Silver

End of the Story

Title: End of the Story
Author: kres
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John/Sherlock, Lestrade, Moran
Warning: R, slash, injury (Sherlock, John), murder (Sherlock), character death (Mary)
Length: Novella
Status: Completed


He return, the fallout, the pieces you pick up.


AO3


T'is a difficult patient.
There is no way to deny that the mood is very gloomy. The feelings are raw. The characterization very fragile, broken.
Still, I think the end is still too raw. I missed some feel good moment.
I liked it when John came around and asked just the questions that bothered me from the beginning of their, well, affair?
And I have a hard time to decide against labelling this a PTSD (Sherlock) story. I think it's there, but they don't talk about it. So it's no big part of the story.


Same author as:
Terms of Service

Terms of Service

Title: Terms of Service
Author: kres
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John/Sherlock, Lestrade
Warning: NC-17, slash, bdsm, injury (Sherlock, John)
Length: Novella
Status: Completed

John finds out from the telly.

AO3

The story is well-written...
and yes. Well. The BDSM is somewhat... dubious consent, I guess. The NC-17 parts feel a bit wrong until they sort themselves out. It's more like the process leading up to the final "understanding."
However, I totally buy into John's violent side. And when Lestrade notices Sherlock's wounds, I had a small bout of Sherstrade :)

Same author as:
End of the Story

Off on the Wrong Foot

Title: Off on the Wrong Foot
Author: Unloyal_Olio
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John/Sherlock, John/Jim, Mycroft, Irene
Warning: NC-17, slash
Length: Medium
Status: Completed

John and Sherlock aren't flatmates. Instead, John gets a job in Bart's morgue, and Sherlock attempts to abscond with body parts.

Which is just not on.

AO3

Quite nice.
It's something new, a new approach to how Sherlock and John meet. So it goes here.
The slash has a nice dom/sub touch.

Be Here Now

Title: Be Here Now
Author: Todesfuge
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John/Sherlock, Irene, Mycroft, OMC (James Moriarty)
Warning: NC-17, slash, illness (Sherlock), drug abuse (Sherlock), injury (Irene, John), PTSD (John), suicidal (John), amnesia (John), locked (John)
Length: Novel
Status: Ongoing


John Watson was already fighting demons when he and Sherlock met. With Sherlock's suicide, it all comes flooding back, forcing Sherlock to intervene before he's solved the persistent riddles of Jim Moriarty and his game. Together they find that something darker lurks behind Moriarty, forcing Sherlock, John, and Irene Adler into an even deadlier game with a much more dangerous foe.


AO3

Amazing series, for sure.
Todesfuge has got the ability to make the story seem really dense, no matter how long it takes for things to proceed. There are many facettes to this work that make it worthy to be read. There's revenge, love (mutual, unrequited, brotherly), anger, despair, a case of sorts, meeting old friends, saying goodbye to them, mental problems, health issues, recovery, ... and so on. Dense, as I said, but by no means overloaded.

Leave the Signs and the Sirens

Title: Leave the Signs and the Sirens
Author: out_there
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John, Sherlock
Warning: PG, PTSD (Sherlock), injury (John)
Length: Short
Status: Completed


After John's released and back home at Baker St, Sherlock still feels it. Down the centre of his chest there's an ache like a healing wound. A physical awareness of a body he usually ignores as much as he can. It's psychosomatic, nothing more interesting than that.


AO3


Same author as:
Seventeen Letters
The Whore of Babylon Was a Perfectly Nice Girl

Possessions

Title: Possessions
Author: lostwithoutmydoctor
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John/Sherlock, Mycroft, Jim, Mrs. Hudson
Warning: NC-17, AU, vampire, animal ( bat, cat), character death (John, John Watson)
Length: Novel
Status: Completed

Sherlock Holmes was a bored, socially isolated vampire living in London, and John Watson was just a bloke looking for a flatshare after returning home from a war that left him a wounded, broken man. Lets all take a moment to thank Mike Stamford for bringing them together. Maybe, just maybe, they'll survive together instead of fading away apart.

AO3


I loved the first part, the second part was a bit mushy. Still, one of the best vampire fics out there. Deserves to be rec'ed.

And All My Pirates Share the Grave

Title: And All My Pirates Share the Grave
Author: cathedral_carver
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John/Sherlock, Mycroft, Mrs. Hudson
Warning: R, slash, character death (Mrs. Hudson), illness (Sherlock, John)
Length: Short
Status: Completed

Where shall we adventure, to-day that we’re afloat,/
Wary of the weather and steering by a star?

Work Text:

“Aye. Maybe it’s the black plague,” the Captain whispers at last and he no longer sounds obstinate. He sounds very small and very scared. His hand slides along the tabletop and takes the First Mate’s hand. The First Mate takes it and squeezes it, hard. “Maybe.”

The First Mate doesn’t reply, because in all honesty he doesn’t know, and it very well might be something just like that.

AO3

This is very similiar to another apocalyptic story I am reading. I'll rec it when I am done.
While it does not compare to the gloomy world the other story offers, this one is unique in its own way. It is difficult to create an apocalyptic setting that does depict living, death, and fear in a combination people will believe it to be true. To manage that in less than 6000 words. Brilliant.
Sherlock's mental escape is believable, too.

Above, Below (Through the Cracks)

Title: Above, Below (Through the Cracks)
Author: doodle
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John/Sherlock, Mycroft, Jim/Moran
Warning: NC-17, slash, character death (Mycroft, Jim, Moran), murder (Sherlock), AU, crossover (Neverwhere - book)
Length: Medium
Status: Completed

London is a city with two faces. There is Above and there is Below. And Below is the city of people who have fallen through the cracks, the lost, the forgotten and the broken.

John Watson returns to London from the war, broken and lost until fate leads him to a man who calls himself the consulting detective and the mercenaries who are hunting him. As the result of a single act of kindness John finds himself pulled in the strange, and wonderful, world of Below as the consulting detective attempts to get to safety and solve the string of violent deaths plaguing Below before he is next.

AO3
also on LJ

Brilliant AU. Truly. The universe is fascinating, and the plot is a bit thin for the great setting, but the characterizaton was on the spot.
Mycroft as a baddie, well, okay. I prefer him to be besotted with Sherlock but he is a terrifying power. I buy that because it's an AU.

A Plea Concerning Series Four

I love Sherlock.
I love the first season because it is fast-paced and quirky.
I love the second season because it focuses on John and Sherlock's unique friendship.
I love the third season because Sherlock is human, so human, and you just want to hug him. Even knowing that he'll bite off one's head for it.

I had no doubt when series three was announced that it would be anything but good. With series four, I have concerns. Very much.
There have been enough discussions and questions raised concerning John's decision, Mary's inexcusable actions, and Sherlock's deed. I am not going into that. No point. Done is done. Theorizing is fun, but it must be kept from the "hard facts."

Season three brings forth two major issues that might prove dangerous to season four:
Mary and her plus one. And Jim.
Facts, no theorizing, no accusations: John is settled with Mary and that kid. Should it be born, John will be a father. I wonder how many people want John to run around with Sherlock and neglect his child. As a good father, he should not risk his life when he has got a family to think of. I, for one, do not want to see such an immoral man. And John's not like that. The entire family setting could prove fatal for the idea of Sherlock.
Jim. Some already dislike his return, others want to see something clever. And yes. Season four must have a clever twist. The fans are not going to accept anything but that. The concept of fake deaths has been used twice, and a third time will not gain any applause.

Two major issues nobody can refute.
And that's why I worry for season four. Unless Mary is dealt with at the beginning, I fear people will not accept her further meddling. They don't want her off-screen either. Seasoun four did not resolve the issue around her, and if season four ignores it, this could destroy Sherlock. Reintroducing Jim as a villain will not work. Introducing a brother, sister, fellow villain needs to be clever. The writers have proven over and over that they can do it. On the other hand, they have set the stakes rather high with these two issues. I just hope they know what they are doing.

And that's why I wish for two things. With all my heart:
Get rid of Mary before it's too late and the family theme kills the series.
Be clever about the return message.

The Holiday

Title: Th Holiday
Author: Scriblit
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: Sherlock, John(/Mary + baby), Mrs. Hudson, Jim, OC (Gruner - criminal), Lestrade, Molly
Warning: R, non-con (Sherlock)
Length: Medium
Status: Completed


A month following an horrific, sadistic attack during a case, Sherlock is still physically incapacitated and emotionally damaged. A holiday is suggested, but even stuck out in the middle of nowhere, he and John happen upon a case that could make Sherlock begin to feel like his old self again - or could kill him.


AO3

The only thing I find distasteful in this fic is Mary plus baby.
Still, it's too good not to rec it. I actually would quite like a sequel. Without murderous wife and unnecessary baggage, to be honest. Just makes me scream "decide John, either solve murders, or be a father. Don't be an ass of a father who risks his life for fun without thinking of his child".
Okay, ranting contained...
This fic has got the entire set go on holiday without it being crammed. There's still enough screen time for every character, and no character is being neglected. Liked that.

Never Have I Ever

Title: Never Have I Ever
Aurhor: A Wandering Minstrel
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John, Sherlock, Mycroft
Warning: PG
Length: Short
Status: Completed


John finds himself alone in the flat and decides to enjoy the quiet. At least until a very intoxicated Sherlock Holmes shows up.


FF

Sherlock overthrows a government when drunk.
And is really bad at drinking games.
Yes. Read it. Good twoshot.