Hi Steph! I just finished an amazing fic where the boys had broken up but got back together in the end and I wondered if you had any lists of this sort? 🌺
Hi Lovely!!
You know, I get asked this a lot so I FINALLY SAT DOWN and compiled all the fics I have on various lists relating to this! So this list is a mix of the ones I remember on my bookmarks, and the ones suggested to me in past posts!!! Hope you'll enjoy this list!! :D
SEPARATION THEN RECONCILIATION FICS
See also:
Reunion and Other Post TRF Fics
Reunion and Other Post TRF Fics Pt. 2
Reunion and Other Post-TRF Fics Pt. 3
John Finds Out About Hiatus
John Joins Sherlock During Hiatus
Sherlock Returns from Hiatus Injured
Serbia / Aftermath of Hiatus Fics
The Empty Hearse-Related Fics
A Shipless Ocean by myswordfishmind (M, 22,135 w., 4 Ch. || Post-TRF, John has a Kid, Angst, Reunion, Falling in Love, Open Ending) – Ten years after the fall Sherlock goes back to London to find that John no longer lives there. Instead, he resides in a seaside town, a widower, and the father of a seven year old son. Now, Sherlock must struggle with the fact that there may no longer be a place for him in this new world.
carrying up his morning tea by darcylindbergh (E, 34,504 w., 5 Ch. || Post S3, Minor Character Death, Grief/Mourning, Wakes/Funerals, Estranged John, Pining Sherlock, Depression/Insecurity, Slow Burn, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Chronic Pain/Injury, Reconciliation, Awkwardness, Loneliness, Scars, Angst With Happy Ending) – His fingers tremble as he dials and he can’t force them steady. Familiar number, even though he hasn’t used it in two years. He isn’t even sure he should be calling it now, but she’d asked. She’d made him promise.
Nothing to Make a Song About by emmagrant01 (E, 36,833 w., 10 Ch. || Post-TRF, First Time, Reunion, Jealous John, Pining Sherlock, Romance, Angst with Happy Ending, Sherlock Has a Boyfriend) – When Sherlock returned from his faked death, John could not forgive him for the deception and broke off their friendship. Ten years later, John returns to London in search of yet another new beginning. Sherlock, not surprisingly, is waiting.
The Homecoming Series by sussexbound (M, 51,744 w. across 12 stories, WIP || Domestics, PTSD, Love Confessions, Hurt/Comfort, Cuddling, Jealousy, Family Issues) – Sometimes home is all you need. After three years of horror, betrayals, and crushing loss, John and Sherlock find their way back home to one another, and together find new footing in a world that has changed forever.
Albion and the Woodsman by Glenmore (NR [E], 54,437 w., 50 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Post S3, Parentlock, Pining Sherlock, Angst, Family, Drug Use, Depression, Sherlock POV, Light Humour, Reconnecting, Declarations of Love) – Sherlock and John are devastated after Mary Morstan makes her final moves. Sherlock relapses at the crack house, John walks around the world … and a lot happens in between. Parentlock, in the good way.
MARKED FOR LATER / WiPs
The Walking Man by suitesamba (T, 2,200 w., 1 Ch. || Post S4, Retirement, Fluff and Angst, Sussex) – When it was all over, when the east wind had blown through and they picked themselves off the pavement, Sherlock said enough. Eighteen years later, the real journey begins.
The Tarmac by Calais_Reno (T, 5,662 w., 1 Ch. || HLV / Tarmac Scene, Separations, Angst, Pining, Love Confessions, Reunions, True Love) – There are things that need to be said.
Solstice by Calais_Reno (T, 6,875 w., 1 Ch. || Post S4, POV Sherlock, Winter Solstice, Separations, Lost Love, Eventual Happy Ending) – It feels like the onset of winter, so gradual that you wake up one day and see ice decorating the windows and wonder when it suddenly became so cold... He lost John slowly, without either of them deciding that’s what would happen. The way to come back together must be so gradual that it’s almost imperceptible. Part 12 of Just Johnlock
Unsettled by suitesamba (M, 7,879 w., 3 Ch. || Pining, Angst, Jealousy, Retirement) – Recently-widowed John takes a look at his life and finds it lacking. It's been twenty years since Sherlock returned from the dead, but he's never stopped thinking things should have turned out very differently. Sherlock has been living in Sussex for five years now, but it takes the news that he has a new partner in crime to get John out of London. A tale of pining, and jealousy, jumping to the wrong conclusion, and old men in love.
Always a Neverland by suitesamba (M, 11,375 w., 1 Ch. || Post TRF, Drug Use) – John is living a quiet life at 221B with his son when Sherlock Holmes, dead and gone ten years, appears at his door. There’s an excellent reason he’s been gone, and several very good ones for taking him back, but the best one of all is Will, who falls in love with Sherlock as surely as John once did.
Where You Hang Your Heart by suitesamba (M, 13,524, 2 Ch. || Post S4/S4 is Canon, Angst, Sussex, Injury, Aging, First Kiss) – When it was all over, when the east wind had blown through and they’d picked themselves off the pavement, Sherlock said enough. When it was all over, when Mary was dead and Rosie didn’t have enough family left for John to risk even an adrenaline high, John watched Sherlock go. Eighteen years later, the real journey begins.
When All is Said and Done by sussexbound (E, 19,570 w., 3 Ch. || Post T6T, John’s Letter, Estrangement, Reconciliation, Hand / Blow Jobs, Make-Up Sex, Frottage, Inconvenient Erections, Implied / Referenced Drug Use, Implied / Referenced Alcohol Abuse, Light Bondage, First Kiss, Love Confessions) – Sherlock sits down on the bench in the middle of the pod and fishes around in the pocket of his coat for the cigarettes he keeps there. There’s a decal on the window that says ‘no smoking’ of course, but… “Do you mind if I smoke?” He sees the sound of his voice register in the man’s body like a bolt of lightning.
The Golden Cottage by AlessNox (T, 20,201 w., 10 Ch. || Post S3, Injury, Cabin, Composing, Sherlock's Violin, Love, Friendship, Hope, Platonic Life Partners, Music) – In a golden cottage deep in the English countryside a man comes to visit and to ask what went wrong with a friendship that once seemed so bright.
The Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Misfortune by Sherlockwatsonholmesblog (M, 20,455+ w., 4/7 Ch || Post TLD, Five Stages of Grief, Estranged Friends to Lovers, Implied / Referenced Suicide, Self Hatred, Slow Burn, Emotional Trauma, Recovery) – There seems to be something tragic in a friendship so coloured by romance, for they have loved each other immensely. However, Some Days, love isn’t enough. Sherlock and John persevering, as always.
Something Like Love by Calais_Reno (M, 28,553 w., 7 Ch. || Alternate Universe || Pre & Post TRF, Canadian John, Victor Trevor, Texting, Hotel Sex, One Night Stands, Guilty Pleasures, Angst with Happy Ending, Grief/Mourning, POV Alternating, Separations, Infidelity) – A year after a one-night encounter in a hotel in Germany, Sherlock texts Watson.
We'll Meet Again by isitandwonder (E, 29,306 w., 7 Ch. || 1940′s WWII AU || Semi-Public Sex, Blow / Hand Jobs, Anal Sex, Period-Typical Homophobia, Love Letters, Prolonged Separation, Implied/Referenced Rape, Epistolary, War Crimes, Infidelity, Reunion Sex, Magical Realism, Ghosts, Suicide, Sad with Happy Ending) – London during WW II: Doctor John Watson has a hot, anonymous brief encounter with a beautiful stranger during blackout. But they get interrupted. Will they ever meet again? Bittersweet Johnlock WWII AU with a twist to the present day in the end.
This Time No (Forgiveness) by AtlinMerrick (E, 29,464 w., 2 Ch.|| Angst, Redemption) – It was Sherlock's fault. It usually is. And though he'll ask forgiveness for what he's done, for the very first time John will say, 'This time no, Sherlock. This time, never.' And maybe, just maybe, John Watson is going to mean it. [TRANSLATIONS: Русский]
If Equal Affection Cannot Be by blueink3 (E, 31,156 w., 3 Ch. || Post S4, Family, Retirement, Grown Up Rosie, Angst, Reunion, Loneliness, Sussex, Fluff, Sexy Times, Happy Ending) – Sherlock fled London a couple of years after John left him in hospital with nothing but an old walking stick and a half-hearted goodbye. Rosie grew up thinking that Sherlock died when he committed suicide in front of her father by jumping from Barts' roof. So it's somewhat awkward when they run into each other in a Sussex general store between the loaves of bread and the Mars bars...
Little Contributions by DiscordantWords (T, 43,710+ w., 39/? Ch. || Ficlet Collection) – Rounding up my Tumblr ficlets and odds-and-ends to keep them all in one place. Some are Johnlock, some are gen, each one stands alone unless otherwise indicated. (Chapter 27: The One to Leave)
Borrowed Ghosts by DiscordantWords (M, 57,216 w., 10 Ch. || TLD Divergence / TFP Doesn’t Exist, Minor Lestrolly, Pining Sherlock, John’s a Mess, Heavy Angst with Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Ghost Mary, Guilt, Forgiveness, Drinking, No Hug Scene) – In the aftermath of the Culverton Smith case, John spent one painfully stilted afternoon hanging out with Sherlock. He counted the minutes, finished his tea, and left for home without ever clearing the air between them.And once he'd left, he found it very hard to go back.
The Sweetness Makes the Smoke and Stings Worthwhile by 221b_careful_what_you_wish_for (M, 70,032 w., 31 Ch. || Historical 1920′s Unilock AU || Summer Romance, Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn, First Kiss/Time, Inexperienced Sherlock, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Drinking, Period-Typical Homophobia, Sexual Tension, Hand/Blow Jobs, Dancing, Secret Relationship, Skinny Dipping, Angst with a Happy Ending, Closet Sex, Hotel Sex, Emotions, Falling in Love, Mutual Pining, Letters/Epistolary, Heartache, Minor Violence, Separations, Reunion Sex, Love Confessions, Victor & Mary in this Fic) – After nearly being expelled from university, Sherlock is banished home to Musgrave Hall for the summer. A friend introduces him to John Watson, a handsome medical student visiting the area. Sherlock and John find themselves drawn to each other, falling into a summer romance that may be as painful as it is sweet. Although they follow different paths, their feelings for each other still haunt them, their love finally coming full circle years later. For those concerned about Mary and Victor, they appear only briefly and as very background characters. My version of Mary is not modeled on the BBC version. She is more of an original character, if anything.
The Case of the Green Gown by splix (E, 209,261 w., 29 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Post S3, Case Fic, First Time, Action/Adventure, Angst, Peril, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Slow Burn, Torture) – ...Watson had at that time deserted me for a wife, the only selfish action which I can recall in our association. I was alone. –– Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier