i love the romance of crime

25th June 2012

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Fic Rec: A Study in Winning

Okay, I don’t normally review highly-popular fics like this, just because I figure most people have already read or at least heard of them.  And also I’m still working on a list of violin!sex fics…But in honor of today being the start of Wimbledon and also because I LOVE THIS FIC YOU HAVE NO IDEA, here goes…

“Oh god,” he groaned as the lips brushed against his neck and the sensitive skin behind his ear. He could feel the warmth of Sherlock’s body through their clothing and he was already itching to be able to feel all that bare skin against his, to kiss and lick and breathe against it, against the lips, into the mouth. He hadn’t felt like this in… hell, he couldn’t remember feeling like this for anyone, let alone for someone who was literally an extended one night stand.

“Jean,” he heard whispered softly, “que m’as-tu fait?”

A Study in Winning, by Jupiter_Ash

(Sherlock/John, explicit, 106,697 words)

Oh.  Oh.  I cannot even begin to explain to you how much I love the Tennis series.  I cannot.  It’s probably definitely in my top three fics of all time.

So where do I begin?  This is a casual-sex-turning-into-love fic.  I adore those (recs are totally welcome, guys).  Sherlock and John are tennis players at Wimbledon and…I never ever thought that I would have so many feelings over a tennis AU.

I have never before felt such tension while reading anything.  By the end, I was literally scrolling one line at a time to keep myself from peeking ahead and seeing what happened.  And I am so ambivalent about sports.  I do not care who wins what.  But the tennis scenes in this fic!  I was grinding my teeth, sitting on the edge of my seat, gripping my ipad with white knuckles…They were tense, man.  And it wasn’t only the tennis matches - there were some tense character moments that had me basically flailing and yelling at the screen.

THE FRENCH, YOU GUYS.  THE FRENCH.  Sherlock plays for France in this fic, and so he speaks in French sometimes (often during sex, nnngh) and….oh gosh.  In many places, if you hover over the words (on AO3, anyway), the translation will pop up as alt text.  But there are some parts that are not given translations.  This is a brilliant little writer-device.  Because the bits that are not translated are things that John is not meant to understand, and as such, they are huge revelations as to what Sherlock is thinking and feeling.  It’s like a Greek chorus.  In French.

And the best part of this fic is…there’s a WIP sequel: A Study in Doubles.

So do yourself a favor, and get over your ambivalence regarding tennis, and just read this fic.  I don’t think you’ll be sorry.

Tagged: sherlockbbc sherlockjohnlockfic recs