JOHNLOCK - THE EARLY YEARS
There is simply no way to list EVERY single fabulous work written in the early years of the Sherlock fandom but here’s a hit or miss list of things I enjoyed …
The Blog of Eugenia Watson by Mad_Lori, 95 k, gen. John and Sherlock are an adorable old married couple raising John’s teen-aged daughter along with his ex-wife who lives in the flat next door. Stellar characters, plot, and romance.
The Great Sex Olympics of 221B by XistentialAngst, 58 k, explicit. John and Sherlock have a bet on who knows more about sex and devise a contest with people they find online willing to play. PWP. Truly one of the hottest things ever written.
Faithful Compass series by KeelieThompson1 (4 works) Uni!lock. Sherlock meets a younger John while he is still in college. We get to see the two mature together through John’s drinking and troubled home life, and Sherlock’s drug use and shady dealings. Lots of angst and violence, great plot and characters and smut. Some great new characters appear as John’s flatmates, particularly Andrew Harrison. Thumbs up.
The First and Last Trilogy by Phyona. A night at the pub with drinking games leads to John waking up in Sherlock’s bed wondering WTF happened. A fever leads to some sweet sick!fic and hot times in bed. A trip together helps them cement this budding relationship.
The Paradox series by Wordstrings. Sherlock POV. Crazy!lock. A crawl through Sherlock’s odd brain as he and John connect. BDSM, blood sharing, kink and all kinds of crazy. Dream sharing. Brilliant and bizarre. Sweet in the creepiest of ways. What is sane, what is real, what is love? This turns it all inside out in the most profound of ways. Wow.
The Road Trip series by stupid_drawings. Crack!fic – absolutely LMFAO, ROTF stuff. Sherlock and John go on a road trip to solve a crime with Lestrade, then others of the police force. The last fic ends with some pretty heavy angst but I just pretend that “what to do when your flatmate is homicidal” is a sequel.
What to do When Your Flatmate is Homicidal by hyacinth_sky747, 58 k, explicit. This work is divine silliness. Through a stream of consciousness from Sherlock ostensibly writing in a diary, we see the lives of John and Sherlock as they build a relationship together amidst the insanity that is John and Sherlock. This work is sweet, weird, sexy, adorable and addictive with lots of fluff, but beware the bit of angst slipped in.
The Progress of Sherlock Holmes by ivyblossom, 62 k, explicit. Sherlock POV well done. Sherlock and John fumble, and John leaves to marry Mary though Sherlock knows she will cheat. John and Mary settle on a rocky, open relationship, and slowly John and Sherlock find their way back together. Feels so in character with love, sex, and angst, angst, angst.
Electric Pink Hand Grenade by BeautifulFiction, 67 k, explicit. Sherlock suffers cluster headaches that lead to synesthesia, and John nurses him through it. Snuggles ensue.
Cooperative Principle by bendingsignpost, 56 k, explicit. Slight AU. A very angsty, mind-fuckery courtship between John, a teacher at St. Barts, and the elusive, cunning consulting detective who wants him. Some porn, and lots of angst. Did I mention angst?
The Road Less Traveled by verityburns, 56 k, mature. Mycroft inspires Sherlock to start Project Retention - make John fall in love with Sherlock so he doesn’t marry some stupid woman and move away. Much angst, but fluff and smut too. Very sweet.
Northwest Passage by Kryptaria, 95 k, explicit. AU – John is retired from the Canadian army living in an isolated homestead. An old military connection, Mycroft Holmes, calls in a favor. He must house his younger brother Sherlock while he detoxes from drugs. BAMF!John, PTSD, hunting, flirting and sex – oh my.
There’s A First Time For Everything by kate_lear, 21 k, explicit. Wonderful background info on John and Sherlock’s past as they negotiate a casual sexual relationship and tiptoe toward a committed one. Hurtfic and violence, romance and porn. Has a 3 Garridebs moment as John bleeds in an alley. This is a GOOD one!
Maybe series by mildredandbobbin – 3 parts. Almost heartbreaking angst. Post Reichenbach. Sherlock at large checks in with Molly and hears that John’s pregnant wife Mary died in a car accident six months earlier. Sherlock realizes John is not okay, and decides to return. It’s very believable as they pick up the pieces and build a beautiful life together. (locked to AO3 users)
The Cold Song Series (6 parts) by Eldritchhorrors. Edgy, BDSM, drug use, scary, amazing. Casefic. Much is explained about Sherlock when we find out his childhood was shattered by a serial killer taking a family member. Now, the killer is striking again, and Sherlock must deal with things long locked away to solve the case. Sherlock only accesses his emotions through music, but a BDSM relationship with John that is moving from sex into love is healing Sherlock in ways he can’t comprehend. Philosophy, Buddhism, knife play, opera as metaphor – a heady mix of crazy and sublime.
The Bang and The Clatter by earlgreytea68, 137 k, mature. Delightful AU with John and Sherlock as baseball players. Sherlock is a hot young pitcher, and John is an old catcher on his last year before retirement when they find themselves together on a new team. Some plot, great character development, romance.
Ease Your Way into Occupied Spaces by joolabee, 11k , explicit. Prescient version of series 3 posted before the series aired. An angsty, pining, infidelity fic that is beautiful in its pain. Told from Sherlock’s POV.
Against the Rest of the World by SilentAuror, 151 k, explicit. Sherlock escapes a cell in Turkey to return to London before he manages to destroy all of Moriarty’s network. John is engaged, but choses to come with him to complete the mission. Pre-relationship to relationship. Feels like a spy novel, achingly romantic.
Lacuna by coloredink, 15 k, explicit. Lacuna means a blank spot or missing piece. John is back in 221B after an accident that leaves him with amnesia. He and Sherlock deepen their relationship, as John struggles to regain his memory from Before.
Imagines Morti series (2 parts) by SwissMiss. Set in a magical AU in which people’s life experiences spontaneously appear as tattoos on their skin. John and Sherlock grow to know each other until Sherlock must fake his death via Reichenbach.
Beauty Shot by Mazarin221b, 4 k, explicit. Sally discovers some of Sherlock’s old modeling pictures - including the ad he did for Calvin Klein back in the 90s. John recognizes that ad, oh, does he ever.
The Speed of Objects in Motion by holyfant, 48 k word, explicit. This story is an exquisite multi-year sweeping epic drama of John and Sherlock getting together, breaking up, but always orbiting each other in all that they do. So well written, with tons of angst, but light at the end of the tunnel. SO MUCH ANGST.
Nothing to Make a Song About by emmagrant01, 36 k, explicit. 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.
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