Title: Light Our Own Fires
Author: BlackEyedGirl
Pairing: Sherlock/John
Length: 7,800 words
Rating: M
Warnings: none
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: Sherlock won't give up looking for Moriarty; John is losing patience. Neither of them are coping as well as they would like. (Post episode 1.03, The Great Game)

Reccer's comments: This is another of the first stories I read in the BBC fandom, and I still find it wonderfully emotionally complex and intriguing. Like many authors in the hiatus between S1 and S2, BlackEyedGirl imagined a scenario in which the bomb at the end of The Great Game did explode -- Sherlock and John each emerge alive and to some degree traumatized, but the fact that they shared the same inciting experience does not mean that they understand one another's reactions to it. They are each aware that the other is hurting, but they don't know how to talk about it and they misread one another repeatedly while still doing their best to protect each other.

John, in particular, is very worried about Sherlock's seeming obsession with catching Moriarty, and he thinks it is a sign that Sherlock is captivated by the challenge he represents even though it is likely to get both John and Sherlock killed. The truth, of course, proves to be more complex than that.

This is an insightful character study, an ambiguous but beautiful romance, a journey through the aftermath of trauma and a story that kept surprising me the further I read. There were a few lines and turns of phrase that felt like they swept a rug out from under me.

(That being said, the story is unbetaed and there are a few SPAG errors, if that kind of thing bothers you. But it really is cleanly and cleverly written, and I encourage you to give it a try.)

I hope you'll enjoy it.