Fic Rec - We Were Bound To Get Together by @myrmidryad​

[larenoz]

We Were Bound To Get Together by @myrmidryad​

Writing a detailed fic rec without spoiling is hard! So there may be some vague-blogging to follow.

 

Upfront, I love a good slow burn fic. I love a long fic. And this one has both these elements. I love these types of fics because so often, the characters we love are flawed, with history and love and trauma and pain in their lives. And it can be hard to work through all that in a shorter fic. Longer format fics give characters more complexity and depth, and this is what we get with this fic. 

 

This fic is a story about how three people, who have all loved and hurt each other in different ways, work through that history to find themselves in a new, better, loving place. 

 

I love that this fic gives its characters time. Time to be angry, to be hurt, to feel betrayed, to hurt, to forgive, to apologize. This fic is very much about the journey.  Everyone gets the chance to have their say, to be angry, to be hateful, to be self-ish but they are able to get past that with communication and honesty. They act like the adults they are (and in many ways how we’d love them to be in canon - just talk to each other people!!)

 

It’s a process, sometimes painful. It’s not instant forgiveness after an apology. They all have different relationships they need to repair and that takes time. They aren’t the same people they were before, because of time that has passed, because of decisions they have all made, because of the things they have experienced. It’s about how they build new relationships with each other. Different from what they had before, but better, stronger.

 

This is a fic about Maria, Alex and Michael’s journey. 

 

Why did I leave it so long to mention who it was about? Because I think it’s very easy to get stuck in ship ruts in fandom. I think there are people who have very rigid ideas about what ships are acceptable. I think there are people who always need someone to be the bad guy. This story doesn’t work on that premise, and I love that. Making mistakes makes you human, not evil. How you deal with those mistakes is the important part. 

 

And in this fic they do that as adults who realise the world isn’t black or white, especially when none of the people involved fit neatly into any sort of binary.

 

What I love about Maria in this fic is that she finds that almost impossible balance between doing what is right for her and what is right for the people she loves, without compromising herself or them. That is such an important thing to see in fic. She drives the story but is never portrayed as just a tool for the men in the narrative. She is integral. It is all their story.

 

She really listens to people. She doesn’t just hear the words, she listens to what the words really mean, about the life experiences that led to those words. A simple “I….don’t know” from Michael speaks of a history of satisfying other people’s needs without really ever thinking about their own, and what that says about the people around them that let that happen.

 

Michael is a person who will flay himself open for those he loves and trusts. Often in a way that on the surface seems positive but really isn’t. It is action rooted in pain and trauma and survival. But when given the opportunity, and support blossoms.

 

Alex is the opposite, a study in control - mainly of himself. Again, a product of doing what he needs to survive, both physically and mentally. But who when he allows himself the opportunity, can find all sorts of love from people who truly want him to be happy. 

 

If I was to pick one word to describe this fic, it would be tenderness. 

 

Really good writing gets you out of your comfort zone. It creates characters and stories that you might normally pass by. It creates believable characters whose actions in the story make sense. You believe them. You want them to succeed. You come to love them. This is that fic. Go read it, you won’t be sorry.

 

We Were Bound To Get Together by @myrmidryad​

 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21852556