Solace and Joy, Ch. 102: With this ring
(Fluffbruary, July 14, 2026)
Summary: John and Sherlock marry without witnesses, church, or state. [This continues Ch. 100, which is short enough to reread if you ... you know. Ch. 103 will be ]
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I grasp Sherlock’s elbows, not his hands, which I watch startle and then settle. In the millisecond before I open my mouth to speak, a hundred memories push in to stop time.
His hands on his violin, on the bow. His calluses, known by touch and by heart.
His hand cuffed to mine in the most terrifying chase of our whole, terror-rich career.
His hands gripping mine when we strain and thrust to melt the boundary between us.
His hands newly scoured by some caustic chemical or other, the small wounds a matter of indifference to him but not to me.
His hands, dexterous as a magician’s (illusionist, John, he’d say impatiently, magic isn’t real), quick and precise as a surgeon’s.
His hands, the unseeing version of those mercurial eyes: both are like no one else’s, hungry for data that they can shuttle to the sense-making organ faster than most people can even register its presence.
read the rest of Ch. 102 on AO3
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The @fluffbruary prompts for June were grove, arbor, and formal, and a glorious patch of crocuses. June blew past me so um here we are.
Thanks for reblogging--let me know if I should tag or untag you.
