In Becoming Who We Are by errant_jane
Main Pairing(s): JDM/Jensen, Jensen/Jared
Summary: Fresh out of school with a degree from the University of Washington, Jensen meets and falls for Jeff Morgan. He may not know what he wants to do with his life, but for the first time since leaving Texas, he feels like things are coming together. Jeff seems like the perfect guy, right up until it all falls apart, and Jensen is left wondering where he went wrong. A couple failed relationships and a few years later, Jensen’s decided that one-night stands are preferable to dates. He’s got his friends and his roommate, Sophia, for everything non-sex related, after all. Until Sophia decides to move in with her boyfriend and Jensen’s stuck trying to find a new roommate. At Sophia’s insistence, Jensen meets Jared Padalecki and the two become fast friends. Only, the more they get to know each other, the more obvious it is that there’s something there. But Jensen is unwilling to risk losing Jared’s friendship for the possibility of more. Unfortunately, if he doesn’t get things figured out, he might lose Jared anyway.
Comment: Y’all, this is the fic I was babbling about last night, a little incoherently I might add. It was recommended to me by @souslelys after I was whining about needing JDM/Jensen to read. So now, my actual comment: This. Fucking. Fic. I can’t remember the last time I stayed up all night reading a fic, but I started this one at 1 A.M and finished around 7 A.M. Okay, so one of the first praises I’ll sing is that the dialogue was fantastic. I’m a huge dialogue fan so it was one of the first things I noticed and it didn’t disappoint at all. Next was how good the character introductions were. Jensen’s introduction (the first paragraph) immediately grabs you into the story and he’s quickly followed by Misha, Misha’s girlfriend (an OC who is fantastic btw), Jeff, etc. Every character was introduced so well and so good in accordance to their characterization. The story also flowed insanely well due to the amazing writing (it was uncomplicated yet narrative) and the plot itself. It had the potential to be really melodramatic and a bit annoying but the author was so good at not allowing that to happen. I never once felt like any characters’ reaction was too out-there; everything made sense.
It was super nice to see all the age differences play out as they do in real life. Misha was just a few years older than Jensen, Jeff was the full twelve years older than Jensen (22 year old Jensen and 34 year old Jeff, ohmygoodness yes please), and Jared was four years younger than Jensen. I like when fics stay in the correct age differences (even though I sometimes don’t do that when I write lol). Jeff and Jensen are just so wonderful together in this fic and they were so wonderful I was worried as to how the author was going to break them up. I mean, Jensen was crazy in love and Jeff seemed to be the same. When it happened though, it was painfully good. So well done that it made you hate Jeff quite a lot, but even that gets resolved a little eventually. Now, Jensen and Jared; I’m not going to spoil too much (or anything really) but these two fuckers. Ohmygod, I think I yelled ‘Communicate!’ ten times while reading this. They are adorable and their entire friendship and relationship is so so so fantastic. Jeff says some things about them that reign really true when you finish reading the story. The greatest point I can make is that at the end of chapter eight, I cried and it wasn’t because anything sad happened, not really, but because I was so fucking frustrated with Jensen and Jared. And my tears of frustration continued, let me tell you.
The point, however, is that this fic made me feel a range of emotions I haven’t felt reading a fic in a long time. It’s got amazing humor and plot and drama and romance and friendship and understanding and situations and, of course, a happy ending ❤. This one will go on my re-read list most definitely.
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