We Make Our Own Lightning (Sherlock / gen + het / 19K / R / complete)
Hi, everybody!
This is the master post for my fic for holmes_big_bang, "We Make Our Own Lightning." My last two long pieces in this fandom were case stories, and I wanted to try to write a long relationship story. Surprise, surprise, this one centers on John Watson and his little face, because I love him so.
This story keeps the same background as all of my other fics (with the exception of my remix fic "No Bed Is Narrow"), so there are bits and pieces borrowed from and alluded to in most of my other stories, particularly Bricoleur, Backwards Epiphany, Quick Like a Bunny, Masquerade, and Tear Up Your List. But you don't have to have read any of those to make sense of this story. All you need to know is that Lestrade's married to a woman named Vee, a sculptor, born in London to Indian immigrant parents. The story takes place during the first three episodes of the show (series 1), with no spoilers for anything after.
Just as they did last time, pendrecarc, oxoniensis, and kate_lear all performed pitch-perfect betas on this story, making it immeasurably better.
It ended up at 19K, with gen (John + Vee, John + Sherlock, John + Lestrade, Vee + Sally, John + Mike) and het (Lestrade/Vee, John/Sarah, unresolved John/Sally) elements, and I'm rating it R because Vee and Lestrade cannot keep their hands off each other.
The story and section titles are borrowed - here are the citations:
1. We Make Our Own Lightning - Neil Diamond, "Cherry, Cherry"
2. all of the continents used to be one body - Albert Goldbarth, "The Sciences Sing a Lullaby"
3. the boundary of his two bare arms - Christopher Fry, The Lady's Not for Burning
4. the coefficient of the body is another body - Margot Schilpp, "Manifesto"
5. perfectly honourable but lawless - Ford Madox Ford, The Last Post
6. intentionally delighted in - Christopher Fry, The Lady's Not for Burning
7. conceive reciprocity - Christopher Fry, The Lady's Not for Burning
8. i will not eat my heart alone - Alfred, Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam
9. you can afford courage - Eireann Corrigan, "The Tutor"
10. a life of joy with you - Walt Whitman, "To a Stranger"
11. they roar in chorus, not in tune - A. D. Hope, "Tiger"
also, p.s., the book John gives Vee and Greg is based on a real book I saw in a shop in England about fifteen years ago - I wish I'd bought it
And, finally, a wordle so you know what you're getting into:
Don't forget to treat yourself - take a look at sunryder's splendid art and fantastic fanmix!
1/3: Not just a detective and a diplomat, but an arse-man as well.
2/3: The two of them had been the most notorious pranksters in the history of Barts.
3/3: 'If you make him laugh and ruin the lines of this pose, then both of you will be stripped naked and posed for a study in Greek wrestling forms.'
Happy reading!
This is the master post for my fic for holmes_big_bang, "We Make Our Own Lightning." My last two long pieces in this fandom were case stories, and I wanted to try to write a long relationship story. Surprise, surprise, this one centers on John Watson and his little face, because I love him so.
This story keeps the same background as all of my other fics (with the exception of my remix fic "No Bed Is Narrow"), so there are bits and pieces borrowed from and alluded to in most of my other stories, particularly Bricoleur, Backwards Epiphany, Quick Like a Bunny, Masquerade, and Tear Up Your List. But you don't have to have read any of those to make sense of this story. All you need to know is that Lestrade's married to a woman named Vee, a sculptor, born in London to Indian immigrant parents. The story takes place during the first three episodes of the show (series 1), with no spoilers for anything after.
Just as they did last time, pendrecarc, oxoniensis, and kate_lear all performed pitch-perfect betas on this story, making it immeasurably better.
It ended up at 19K, with gen (John + Vee, John + Sherlock, John + Lestrade, Vee + Sally, John + Mike) and het (Lestrade/Vee, John/Sarah, unresolved John/Sally) elements, and I'm rating it R because Vee and Lestrade cannot keep their hands off each other.
The story and section titles are borrowed - here are the citations:
1. We Make Our Own Lightning - Neil Diamond, "Cherry, Cherry"
2. all of the continents used to be one body - Albert Goldbarth, "The Sciences Sing a Lullaby"
3. the boundary of his two bare arms - Christopher Fry, The Lady's Not for Burning
4. the coefficient of the body is another body - Margot Schilpp, "Manifesto"
5. perfectly honourable but lawless - Ford Madox Ford, The Last Post
6. intentionally delighted in - Christopher Fry, The Lady's Not for Burning
7. conceive reciprocity - Christopher Fry, The Lady's Not for Burning
8. i will not eat my heart alone - Alfred, Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam
9. you can afford courage - Eireann Corrigan, "The Tutor"
10. a life of joy with you - Walt Whitman, "To a Stranger"
11. they roar in chorus, not in tune - A. D. Hope, "Tiger"
also, p.s., the book John gives Vee and Greg is based on a real book I saw in a shop in England about fifteen years ago - I wish I'd bought it
And, finally, a wordle so you know what you're getting into:
Don't forget to treat yourself - take a look at sunryder's splendid art and fantastic fanmix!
1/3: Not just a detective and a diplomat, but an arse-man as well.
2/3: The two of them had been the most notorious pranksters in the history of Barts.
3/3: 'If you make him laugh and ruin the lines of this pose, then both of you will be stripped naked and posed for a study in Greek wrestling forms.'
Happy reading!