In “A Goldfish Named Graham” by IBegToDreamAndDiffer (2500, G), Sherlock gives Mycroft a pet. It’s a goldfish. But Sherlock can’t remember its name... was it Graham? Giles?
Regardless, this is adorable. I love it when Sherlock plays matchmaker.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/1124285
Art by @alifetimeaheadtoprovethat - https://alifetimeaheadtoprovethat.tumblr.com/post/631894691865100288/13-goldfish-sherlockinktober
“Hmmm,” Sherlock agreed, noting the colour of the abdomen, the hairs prevalent on the thorax. “ Anthidium maculatum. Wood carder bee,” he added at John’s mildly exasperated look. “One of many species of solitary bees.”
“I thought bees live together in a hive?” John said, watching the little creature as it clambered up a stem.
“That’s a common misconception,” Sherlock said, rifling through a cabinet in his mind palace for the correct information. “In the UK, there are around two hundred and seventy species of bee, and two hundred and fifty of those species are solitary bees.”
“Huh,” John said, peering even closer. “So this little lady doesn’t have a family and friends to go back to?”
“Little gentleman,” Sherlock corrected. “And no, probably not. He might spend some time with a mate, if it suits him, but for much of his life he will be alone - flying from one flower to the next, foraging, and doing exactly as he wishes.”
“Sounds a bit lonely,” John said, and Sherlock snorted.
“No need to romanticise the bee, John. I assure you, he is quite content with his solitary life.”
“I’m not so sure,” John mused, and they both watched as the bee moved on to a different stem. “It’s all very well visiting all these places, seeing all these things. But with no-one to share them with? Not sure I’d like that.”
“Really? I would like it just fine,” Sherlock said, and this time it was John who snorted.
A bit peeved, Sherlock eyed him. “What?”
“You? You go mad when you don’t have someone to talk to - so mad that you start talking to inanimate objects. You love explaining about things you’ve seen, things you’ve learned. And you like having a place to come home to every night, with someone familiar there. We’re flatmates, remember - though I’m pretty sure you don’t need help with the rent. You are no more a solitary bee than I am.”
Sherlock stared at him.
John was still watching the bee, though his cheeks had gone a bit pink. “What’s it doing now?”
With some difficulty, Sherlock brought his attention back to the insect. “It’s collecting the tiny hairs from the stem of the plant. Wood carder bees use those to build their nests.”
“So… this one did find someone to go home to, after all,” John said slowly. He was watching Sherlock from the corner of his eye, and inexplicably, Sherlock blushed.
“I… I suppose he did,” he said, and made sure to keep his eyes fixed on the delicate fluffy body in front of him, that flew around against all laws of physics.
******************
The lovely @alifetimeaheadtoprovethat drew this little doodle for me, so I decided to write a little ficlet to go with it <3 This is our entry for the @sherlockchallenge this month (prompt: One).
It’s so beautiful, I am in awe... it’s gorgeous, I love it.
Big thanks to @alifetimeaheadtoprovethat for the design and for making it real, and of course many thanks to @clueda for being such an inspiration, for someone to make this!
Hi everybody! It’s day twenty! We’ve got three fantastic stories for you today, with some gorgeous accompanying art thrown into the mix as well.
Let’s get going. <3
First off, we’re bringing you another magnificent writer/artist combination. The wonderful @lmirandas and @alifetimeaheadtoprovethat have teamed up for A Christmas Story? Not Quite So...
We hope you love this gorgeous ghostly tale. We won’t spoil anything for you, but tags include ‘Inspired by Groundhog Day’ - and Uncle Rudy must be played by Stephen Fry.
Read ‘A Christmas Story? Not Quite So...’ on AO3.
Here comes the beautiful accompanying artwork...
And, as we’ve gotten into the habit of seriously spoiling you, we have two more festive stories to enjoy.
Huge thanks go to the incomparable @green-violin-bow, who has written us this glorious piece of beautiful magic-realism - Gloves.
Greg’s magical abilities only manifest each Christmas Eve, but they’re still very capable of causing him trouble - especially when the chance of a date with Mycroft has finally come around.
Read ‘Gloves’ on AO3.
Finally, we’d like to thank the lovely @penaltywaltz (known on AO3 as afteriwake) for this fab edition to the Never A Dull Holiday series: The Second Best/Worst Christmas.
Family fluff, breakfast in bed and Mycroft feels. Enjoy. <3
Description: A three panel comic showing John and Sherlock by a river. Sherlock stumbles and falls into John’s arms. The pansexual pride flag colours of blue, yellow and pink are shown in the river and sky.
Woohoo! We have a new Podfic up and it’s CONSULTING FOR CHRISTMAS, written and narrated by @ohlooktheresabee !
Summary:
The Louvre Museum in Paris is planning to host the celebrated Winter Fabergé Egg for its winter exhibition - quite the feat as it has not been on public display since 2002. However there is a snag: whispers of a world-renowned master-thief with his eyes set on the valuable prize. The curator has asked the famous Sherlock Holmes to consult on security, but the detective needs a lot of convincing: he is after all a bit busy with trying to woo a certain clueless ex-army doctor…
At the same time, John is attempting to balance work, missing Rosie who is off on her gap year, a volunteer gig at a local London orphanage, and seething jealousy upon the arrival of an apparent old friend of Sherlock’s. Attempting to foil the heist of the century while remaining friendly and objective might just be a step too far...
A Christmas crime caper packed full of misdirection, miscommunication and mistletoe, set against the romantic backdrop of London and Paris in the winter. Thrown into all this, will our two idiots finally manage to see what has been right in front of them all along?
Tags:
Thriller, Case Fic, Pre-Relationship, Christmas, Christmas Fluf, fPOV Alternating, Paris (City), Fluff, Light Angst, Sweet, Fun, Pining, Mutual Pining, BAMF John Watson, BAMF Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Being Sherlock, Sherlock's Heart, Friends to Lovers, Pre-Slash, Idiots in Love, Sherlock Holmes and John Watson Being Idiots, John Watson is a Bit Not Good, Sherlock Holmes Needs a Hug, Jealousy, Misunderstandings, MistletoeIce, Skating, Heist, Awkward Romance, Romance, Eventual Romance, Eventual Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, It's For a Case, Background Case, Tropes , christmas tropes, All The Tropes, seriously just a tropey fun fluff-bomb, Background Mystrade, Fluff and Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending
Notes from the author:
I originally wrote this fic as a response to the Johnlock advent prompt 'opening gifts' - as you can see, it kind of got away from me! Suddenly there was all this fun stuff going on - intrigue, misunderstandings, original characters, and of course our two favorite idiots-in-love doing their best to mess everything up. Sometimes I plan fics out in great detail, and other times the characters just take the reins and say, "Sit back, we got this." This was definitely the latter, and the reins they grabbed just happened to be attached to Santa's reindeer. I hope you enjoy listening and reading as much as I enjoyed writing and recording! Part 2 and 3 on the way soon.
Original work at Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28193601/chapters/69085467
Coverart by: @alifetimeaheadtoprovethat
Music by: @randomwordsonpaper
Listen to the fic on our Soundcloud page here: https://soundcloud.com/johnlock-podfic-club/consulting-for-christmas-part-1-of-3-narrated-by-ohlooktheresabee
You can also follow Ohlooktheresabee’s own Soundcloud account at https://soundcloud.com/user-268368455
Thank you @ohlooktheresabee for recording this awesome story of yours!