Fic for pagimag: I-L-O-V-E-Y-O-U

[holmesticemods]

Title: I-L-O-V-E-Y-O-U
Recipient: pagimag
Author: hp_swl_cumbercookie
Verse: BBC Sherlock
Characters/Pairings: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, Sherlock Holmes & John Watson
Rating: Teen and Up
Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Vulgar Language
Summary: Sherlock gets kidnapped. He's drugged, beaten, and delirious. In his delirium he comes to some conclusions. When John finds him he also comes to some conclusions, but will it be too late for them to tell each other how they really feel?

Read on AO3: I-L-O-V-E-Y-O-U

Comments

[pagimag]

Wow! More than 7000 words!
I need to apologise for my late comment on this. I read it in a hurry when it came back up, but life’s been very busy and I really wanted to make sure I had time to sit down and read it again, uninterrupted, before commenting.

At first this seemed to be a fast paced criminal story with a bit of angst and action, but I really appreciated the added bonus of serious talk that came after the rescue.
Here follows my thoughts while reading, and some favourite sentences:

First of all, I’m a sucker for vivid descriptions, and I loved yours, it really put me in the environment, feeling the grit and the cold.
Poor Sherlock being stuck in such a place, and poor worried John.

GREG! Well that is a sign if any of something being very very wrong.

The phone - I can clearly see Sherlock acting unaffected while tossing things about, as if he wasn’t tied down and in a life threatening situation.
His seeming nonchalance bites back at him when he realises the severity of his predicament and, getting that panic and thinking back to his post-Reichenbach absence - ooh, that hurts.

And him crying out for John when the dire situation gets worse and more violent ;_;
We rarely see him this uncomposed, which tells us that he’s really at the end of the line here, fuelled by the state he’s in after being drugged.
And ouch, his arm. Maybe he’ll have matching scars with John? I hope he can still play the violin.

Again, your evocative depiction of John and Greg’s descent through the building really upped the suspense.
Of course John would run headlong into danger if Sherlock was hurt :D

Doctor John, holding it together but eventually being out of his depth when Sherlock flatlines.
I love how he tells Sherlock how many people do love him. Quiet John Watson who never talks about these things, saying the very important strong words:
”Goddammit Sherlock, you are loved!”
And then a few minutes later he still can’t answer what his relationship to Sherlock is. Oh John… you’ve got a long way ahead of you.
And Greg’s the same, trying to hold everything in. Sigh.

Oh Sherlock, he always seems to get himself all hooked up in a hospital bed. Please learn to take care of your transport.

”I swear, those two” - don’t we all, Greg.

John’s realisations, so needed. <3

I love Mycroft turning up at just the right moment. Prim and posh indeed.
I like it being him delivering the ”news” of Sherlock’s long infatuation. These words in particular:
”You opened up your heart to him, John Watson. You gave it to him to hold and protect, whether you realised it or not, at that very first crime scene all those years ago.”

And this part I think goes for both of them, though they have different kinds of armour (I see John as mostly closeted bisexual):
”Many people couldn’t truly understand him or see the man behind the armour he had spent so long building. It hurt him dearly. You broke right through it, John, broke right through a seemingly impenetrable wall years in the making; appealed to emotions long since hidden away.”

Yeah, I love all of Mycroft’s speech. It’s so on point and beautifully put, and somehow it being Mycroft saying all this also has it’s own beauty, because he is also letting his armour down a bit here.

And of course Sherlock would profess his love by morse code.

Thank you!