Fic Rec: Text Omitted
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221b_recsTitle: Text Omitted
Author: Waid
Pairing: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Length: @2,000 words
Rating: Teen
Warnings: discussion of past child abuse (physical abuse from a parent)
Verse: ACD Holmes
Author's summary: Watson learns something disconcerting about Holmes's past.
Reccer's comments: There's something about this story that has stuck with me for years. I'm not sure I can precisely articulate it, but it has something to do with its deliberate combination of intimacy and distance. The vignette takes place in the first blush of Holmes and Watson's new relationship - they are in bed together, joyous and lazily post-coital, learning the idiosyncratic details of each other's bodies. In the midst of this warmth, Watson observes a small scar on Holmes's neck, and Holmes tells him the truth about it.
Holmes suffered abuse as a child, about which he maintains ambiguous memories and feelings. And the story quietly and beautifully observes the complex reactions both Holmes and Watson have to sharing this knowledge. Something rings true to me about the double consciousness they both seem to feel. Holmes is at once vulnerable and guarded, drawing nearer to Watson but needing also to step back. Watson, for his part, is conscious of the thrill of a biographer presented with new insight into his subject, even as the lover in him reacts with profound emotion.
The author captures a deeply loving moment in the evolution of their relationship, which is not at all a simple moment.
Author: Waid
Pairing: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Length: @2,000 words
Rating: Teen
Warnings: discussion of past child abuse (physical abuse from a parent)
Verse: ACD Holmes
Author's summary: Watson learns something disconcerting about Holmes's past.
Reccer's comments: There's something about this story that has stuck with me for years. I'm not sure I can precisely articulate it, but it has something to do with its deliberate combination of intimacy and distance. The vignette takes place in the first blush of Holmes and Watson's new relationship - they are in bed together, joyous and lazily post-coital, learning the idiosyncratic details of each other's bodies. In the midst of this warmth, Watson observes a small scar on Holmes's neck, and Holmes tells him the truth about it.
Holmes suffered abuse as a child, about which he maintains ambiguous memories and feelings. And the story quietly and beautifully observes the complex reactions both Holmes and Watson have to sharing this knowledge. Something rings true to me about the double consciousness they both seem to feel. Holmes is at once vulnerable and guarded, drawing nearer to Watson but needing also to step back. Watson, for his part, is conscious of the thrill of a biographer presented with new insight into his subject, even as the lover in him reacts with profound emotion.
The author captures a deeply loving moment in the evolution of their relationship, which is not at all a simple moment.
