What Remains by Kristophine (PG-13)

[periwinkle27.livejournal.com]

The "Sherlock Holmes" books have been a favorite of mine since childhood and I'm pleased that the fandom is featured this month.  The originnal stories have lasted through time and Sherlock Holmes was an inspiration for writers long before "fanfiction" was a word. 

The stories can be divided arbitrarily into four groups:
     1.  canon tales which are a continuation of the books (like "The Seven Percent Solution")
     2.  parodies and pastiches (Schlok Holmes)
     3.  Holmes/Watson slash 
     4.  Holmes/Mary Russell het.  (based on Laurie R. King's books)
I will select a few stories from each group.

Fandom: SHERLOCK HOLMES
Pairing: Homes/Watson
Subcategory: First time
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: unknown


Holmes is searching Watson's room to find the cocaine bottle that Watson has hidden. Instead he finds something so unexpected that his whole world suddenly totally realigns. He travels to the seedier side of town to learn more and ends up totally confused, as well as hurt by the thought that he didn't know Watson well at all.  When he returns home, he is unable to face Watson.

Kristophine does a good job of writing in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's style and Holme's and Watson's voice read true.  She also keeps the Victorian setting intact without any anachronisms creeping in.

Holmes?"

"Yes?"

"Holmes, you have been reading the same page for the last ten minutes. Are you quite all right?"

Counterfeiting my usual tone of aggrieved tolerance, I replied, "My dear Doctor, I assure you as to my excellent health. I am merely wrestling with an intellectual problem that distracts my attention from my immediate surroundings."

What a lie, oh, what a lie. I wondered if he would see through it at once. I dared not let my eyes linger on his face too long, lest I betray the agitation of my thoughts. Disregarding my will, my eyes wandered spitefully to his lips. Those lips, I thought, have kissed a man. I felt at a loss for balance, and at once brutally dragged my gaze back to my book, praying he had not noticed my lapse.

He seemed not to, raising one eyebrow and replying, "Indeed. Then I shall cease to draw your attention back to them."

Ah, Watson, you could not do that were you to cease breathing.


What Remains

Comments

[periwinkle27.livejournal.com]

You and I pop up everywhere, don't we? You should put in to do recs on Holmes sometimes.

I never slashed him because all of my stories as a kid were Mary Sue. Holmes was one of my first crushes.

[franciskerst.livejournal.com]

Sure, I was a Holmes/Watson lover for ages and I had gathered a wide collection of about everything Holmesian, including most of the literary studies published upon the topic, and even some original issues of the Strand Magazine, a collection which was destroyed by a fire in 1999 and which I still mourn. However I can't do recs for the very simple reason I have never read a single fanfiction story until now! I intend to start now.

[franciskerst.livejournal.com]

"Slash" here is just a way of speaking; I mean I was strongly focused on the "exclusive and intimate friendship" aspect of the stories, as much as I was thrilled by the mystery solving one. And the various plots I imagined then were only in my head. I never experienced the Mary Sue stage; I always tended to identify with both the halves of a pairing and moreocer I believed I was a boy!