recs of the spn variety

[norwich36]

Only one of these is actually bigbang, but the others are long enough they could be. The theme for today is sweet J2 AUs.

Dissonance by surevesta. (Jared/Jensen) I love J2 high school AUs, and I've read dozens of them, but after a while they all start to blend together in my head. Not this one, though; the author has created such a powerful and compelling Jensen backstory that it really stands out for me. Jensen has been in foster care since his parents were killed in a car accident when he was seven. After bouncing around to many different homes, he finally has a stable one as well as a passion in life: playing the viola. Between school, rehearsals, working to save money for college and helping out with his foster-sibs, he doesn't have much time for a social life until a school assignment means he must shadow Jared Padalecki, the star quarterback and golden boy. He initially worries that when Jared learns about his life, he'll become the target for mockery, but slowly they develop a friendship that turns into something else. Long, sweetly romantic and very satisfying, though I probably could have read another 70,000 words in this 'verse and not been unhappy. A few typos, but otherwise a really enjoyable read.

Just So You Know (Beautiful Soul) by lostt1 (Jared/Jensen). Jensen has been in love with his best friend's straight younger brother since they were kids; he finally had to move to California to remove himself from temptation, where he is a music teacher by day and a songwriter by night. Nobody knows about the songwriting, though, since that might give away the fact that all his songs are about Jared. When Jared gets a scholarship to an LA college, though, Jensen can't say no to putting him up, and that's when things become really complicated. Lovely and sweet.

The Third Third by insane_songbird. (Jared/Jensen) This one doesn't start out sweet; in fact, Jared and Jensen hate each other on sight. Jared's a smart gay college student, completely uninterested in sports, who gets roped into tutoring a star hockey player who has a reputation for violence. Jensen is an aggressive player, to be sure, but his violence mostly comes from the fact that he is openly gay and won't stand for being gaybashed on the ice. Jared doesn't know that, though, and misunderstands an incident which leads him to believe Jensen is a homophobic bigot. After lots of conflict and misunderstanding, the two of them finally get to know each other on a deeper level. Sort of like Pride and Prejudice, if Jane Austen had been a big hockey fan.

Comments

[syllic.livejournal.com]

I'd seen The Third Third mentioned somewhere else, but I hadn't read it, yet--if you say to do so, though, I will. And I'd never ever heard of Dissonance, and considering my passion for high school AUs and my obsessive fic-searching personality, this is really saying something.

No, seriously, Nora--I feel that you have exactly the same sort of taste that I do. I can hack a little over-cheesiness if it's done well, and can hack the angst with some requirements, but I'm always hesitant to follow up on recs for either, because it can go very wrong indeed. But whenever you say something is good? It really is. So thanks.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

I think both Dissonance and The Third Third were WIPs that recently finished. (Except in a couple of cases when I accidentally have gotten sucked in without realizing a story was a WIP, I'm trying to avoid unfinished ones these days). Dissonance is really, really good, though in need of a good line edit; The Third Third has a few problems (I got annoyed about the fact that we never find out what subject Jared is tutoring Jensen in, for example) and the author rather shamelessly begs for feedback after every part, which would have driven me insane if I were reading it in parts, but the emotional through-line is engaging enough that that stuff didn't matter to me.

I'm really happy that these recs are helpful for you! (My own go-to reccer for SPN is always musesfool, whose recs I always like, so if you think you and I have similar tastes you might like her recs too. Her recs journal is http://unfitforsociety.livejournal.com/

[roxymissrose.livejournal.com]

I've been wondering about Dissonance, I'll give it a try now, thanks! And The Third Third did turn out to be much more entertaining than I thought it would.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I tried The Third Third mainly because I was bored an had a temporary lull in bigbang stories I hadn't read, but it turned out to be better than I was expecting. (I will almost always *start* long completed fics posted to the j2 comms, though I rarely make it very far into them). But Dissonance is really good.