#retirement!lock

Our Featured Article this week is Sussex Retirement!

A popular trope in Sherlock Holmes fandom, Sussex Retirement imagines what happens after the great detective leaves Baker Street behind. Inspired by canon references to Holmes retiring to the Sussex countryside, fans have spent decades reimagining his post-detective life, often with Dr. John Watson by his side. Whether Watson retires with Holmes, joins him later, or reunites with him for one last case, Sussex Retirement stories blend domesticity, nostalgia, romance, and mystery.

The trope appears across countless adaptations, from the original stories to Sherlock Holmes (2009), BBC Sherlock, and more. For many fans, Sussex Retirement represents the ultimate happy ending: a chance for Holmes and Watson to find peace together after years of adventures. The setting has inspired everything from emotional reunions to late-life love stories, making it one of the most enduring concepts in Holmes fandom history.

Want to learn more? Check out its Fanlore page!

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fluffinity edition. 14-11-2024

(i wrote this yesterday i swear!)

prompts: cuddle - happy - spell

special thanks to @totallysilvergirl @lisbeth-kk and @fluffbruary for reminding me to write 😩🙈

i am sitting here in the armchair. my cold feet covered by the body heat of redbeard, our dog. his - sherlock's - head lays on my chest. arms wrung around me. i feel his deep breaths through my jumper, on my skin. even after all this years, it tingles.

the fingers of my left hand are raking through his slowly thinning, grey but oh so luscious curls. my other hand - on his belly. it had grown a bit. he isn't quite as skinny as he used to be. you can barely see it. but i love the feeling of that tum underneath my palm.

the dying embers are shining weakly into the living room. putting everything in a spellbinding light. always loved that. love it now even more it seems. i smile about that thought.

sometimes i still can't comprehend how i got so lucky. how i found this man. how he died for me and then came back for me. how he raised my daughter with me.

rosie - she will be here. only a few weeks until christmas now. we'll be having dinner. she will give both of us terrible christmas sweaters. i'm looking forward to that look on sherlock's face after i convinced him to wear it. absolutely completely miserable but then those odd, gorgeous features breaking a smile.

and i will be as besotted as i have been since the beginning.

i press my lips to his forehead, close my eyes, breathe in his scent.

being old and happy. what a beautiful thing that is.

read "that stuff called fluff" (fluffbruary ficlets) on ao3!

(if you could show some love to this i would greatly appreciate it as i am in a massive writer's block and seeing people reblogging etc. might actually motivate me to write. thank you ✨) (i sound desperate, but- well, i am. ngl)

☕︎☕︎☕︎

John and Sherlock are happily married, have become old and are now retired. Currently, they prepare for an important anniversary and there will be slices of their life in Sussex and memories of what happened in the decades since they got together.

read it here Anniversary in Sussex 

*everyone is old but also happy and healthy

*no angst, no pain, no hurt - just fluff

28 chapters of fluff, slices of retirement life, gifts from Rosie, sexy times, various glimpses into Johnlock's past, what happened to Greg/Molly/Mycroft/Harry, Christmas, Sherlock's birthday and a wedding anniversary

written by meet_me_in_samarra for Fluffbruary 2025

Five hives of bees, entitled (not named) Mary, Elizabeth, Anne, Charlotte, and Victoria

Marmalade, an orange and white cat

Toby II, a lurcher

Percy, a green parrot sometimes referred to as a pair of gardening shears

Irene, a tortoise

Trevor, a shih tzu pup

Various mice, that Marmalade is disinterested in catching and that are seemingly too intelligent to be trapped

A pond of frogs, that delight the local children

Sparrows, that nest in the thatch

A hedgehog, that lives in the potting shed

The occasional grass snake

Dr John H. Watson M.D., General Practitioner (part-time), Author (Age 67)

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Sherlock (TV) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson Characters: Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, Mycroft Holmes, Greg Lestrade, Molly Hooper Additional Tags: Angst, Reconciliation, Misunderstandings, Eventual Happy Ending, Romance, Post-Season/Series 03, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Minor Character Deaths, Retirement Summary:

The shock of that name being spoken aloud, after so many years of neither speaking nor hearing it, sent the equivalent of an electric shock through John’s body. All the air was sucked out of his lungs. His left hand tightened around the phone and his right fist clenched on his knee. Hyper-awareness of his surroundings flooded in, from the rocking of the carriage to the clacking of the wheels on the tracks.

Some lovely retirement!lock seemed fitting for this one. Thanks again! 🥰

“Nothing I can come up with seems to be enough!” Molly heard Sherlock pronounce loudly from where she stood discreetly, peering around the side of his cottage.

He marched around his bee hives, the scattered silver in his hair glistening in the sunlight.

“She’s done so bloody much for me and been so kind since I bought this place, and I haven’t been able to show a fraction of my gratitude...or my feelings,” he added as an aside, making Molly clasp a hand over her lips to keep from reacting aloud.

“I don’t suppose you lot could make yourselves useful and be trained to fly in formation and somehow express my thanks and affection for me.”

Title: The Final Deployment

Words: 1104

Status: Complete.

Summary: A one-shot detailing Sherlock and John's retirement in their Sussex cottage and how it came about. (Not as sad as the title sounds.)

While the future of BBC Sherlock is uncertain, I know our boys will one day be allowed to retire to Sussex. I have been dying to get back into writing but couldn’t get over the initial fear of taking on a big project, so I spent the past hour putting this together. I hope you enjoy!