part 2 of my feb round up! that's a wrap on february 2022, folks. even though this one is much shorter than part one, seeing as these are mostly the fics i read near the end of the month, i've still decided to spotlight two, very different fics, because i can't pick one 🤷🏽♀️ the more the merrier!
key: ✨ elements of magic/fantasy • blue highlight: reread
spotlight recs
✰ Your Daughter by agirlsname (9k, G)
Five times Sherlock held John's baby and one time he held John. John didn't forgive Mary for shooting Sherlock, so the end of HLV didn't happen. When the baby comes John lives with Sherlock at Baker Street, and they take care of the newborn together. Sherlock adores her more than he's prepared for. Oh, and he might have something important to confess to John...
this fic very neatly ignores all the aspects of canon i think i are messed up, and gifts us with: the softest sherlock, a (subtly) smitten john, glorious parentlock, and an absolutely adorable rosie 🥺 seriously, rosie and sherlock's relationship here will make your eyes well up. he loves her so much, god. i love it when fics lean into sherlock's soft side, and while there are different interpretations of it, i think Your Daughter does it perfectly.
✰ In Dreams by @calaisreno (18k, teen) ✨
After Sherlock’s death, a strange dream makes John wonder what really happened that day at Barts.
i've been steadily falling in love with @calaisreno's catalogue, and this fic is no exception. such an imaginative and tender way to write a post-trf fic 🥺 the level of devotion sherlock and john have for each other is what really makes this fic stand out for me. and john's dreams! so so tender, i love a bit of soft hurt/comfort, and In Dreams delivers it in spades. they just love each other so much, and in case y'all haven't figured it out from past recs, i'm a sucker for romance 💞
bite sized (5k and less)
41. I’m not drunk enough for this. by @kitten-kin (1k, teen)
Sad truth was, smirks and sneers and scoffs that translated anywhere near to "I knew you didn't have the balls, Watson" were essentially a lit match tossed onto the turpentine-soaked ragpile that was John's competitive streak.
Mark Your Calendars by @therealsaintscully (3k, M)
John happens upon a box full of Sherlock’s old yearly planners.
Luminous by unicornpoe (1k, teen)
John hovers, silent, and Sherlock knows that he is thinking. He loves when John thinks; when John puzzles and wonders. He’s dazzling like that, even if Sherlock never says. (Should say it someday.) John touches Sherlock’s knee with careful, gentle fingers; Sherlock gives in, and takes the bottom hem of John’s t-shirt in his hands. “Tea?” John asks him quietly.
short fics (5k-15k)
over our spoken words the words unspoken by @thetimemoves (6k, teen)
Over our spoken words the words unspoken Shouted like trumpets, and like violins Were the deep after-tones that circled round us. Now a new year begins!
Solstice, Josephine Johnson (1936)
***
On the longest night of the year, John finds his words and takes a chance.
mid length (16k-50k)
What Friends Do by agirlsname (23k, E)
Sherlock has never had a friend before. He didn't even know he wanted one until John moved into 221B. But John quickly becomes essential to him, and their friendship turns more and more intimate.
It's all platonic, of course. All perfectly normal for close friends.
A Singular Friendship by agirlsname (28k, E)
Sherlock is closer to John than anyone has ever been. It's almost like a relationship - but John isn't gay, so it's clearly not.
Not even when they hold hands and hug every day, not even when they sleep in the same bed, not even when they cuddle every morning...
Companion story to What Friends Do, from John's POV.
The Real Meaning of Idioms by feverishsea (21k, teen) After two weeks away, John finally texts Sherlock. He doesn't expect Sherlock to respond. He doesn't expect Sherlock to keep texting him. And he really doesn't expect things to spiral out of control so rapidly.
More Things Than Are Dreamt Of series by 1electricpirate (37k, 3 works, marked incomplete but feels complete) {harry potter crossover} ✨ There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. - Hamlet, Act 1 Scene 1 In which John is (reluctantly) a wizard, Mycroft is (apparently) omniscient, and Sherlock is (surprisingly) oblivious. A magical AU, in which I probably abuse timelines and distort characters and basically indulge my own interpretation of magic, Hogwarts, and what it means when two worlds collide.
All We Do Is Fall by vitruvianwatson (keepyoureyesfixedonme) (16k, teen)
There's obviously a very good reason for Sherlock to take over John's bed in the middle of the night. It's absolutely not just because Sherlock is a drama queen, no siree, not at all.
long fics (50k and above)
A Firm Hand by Ellipsical (63k, E) I started writing this fic in a hotel room in Japan two years ago after asking for prompts on Tumblr. This began as a one-shot for the prompt: Make me. And...I kept writing it. Hahaha, I really should know myself better by now. I know many are turned off automatically by the Daddy kink tag, and honestly take care of yourselves and have a blessed day, if that's a hard no for you. But I will say that this fic begins as a Daddy kink fic and then transforms into something else. It's mainly an exploration of consent and identity and vulnerability and communication and agency and trust building and and and and.... I'll let the tags speak for the rest of it. This happens through sex. Lots and lots of sex. Some of the sex is kinky, but it is always switchy, switchy sex. Neither character is exclusively a top, neither one is exclusively a bottom, in fact I aim to make you question what those things mean. The Moriarty plot was very tangential to my wanting to write this story, but provides much of the urgency, so take it as you will, squinting from far away, perhaps ;) Your comments are very important to me. If you enjoy this story, please let me know. I'm sending love and peace to you and yours <3 <3 <3 <3 You Might Just as Well Be Blind by @arwamachine (56k, E) When a serial killer starts targeting couples, Sherlock and John must do what they have to do in order to get to the bottom of things. Unfortunately, John already has a girlfriend. Surely pretending to be in a relationship with Sherlock won't pose any problems with his relationship, will it? How Novel series by StarlightAndFireflies (56k, 11 works, incomplete) AU in which John is an author, and Sherlock is a fan who comes to his book signing.
Rosethorne by suitesamba (98k, M)
John Watson, WWII army doctor, is injured in the line of duty and can no longer wield a scalpel. Sherlock Holmes, Britain's best code-breaker, is side-lined by his own devastating injury. In a work inspired by Frances Hodgson Burnett's "The Secret Garden," the two men must find meaning and purpose in a world which seems to have taken away all they hold most dear.
But of course, it really hasn't.
Thank you so much for reccing Mark Your Calendars, @my-johnlockficrecs ! And thqnk you for adding a bunch of fics to my MFL 😂
