An Inquisitive Reader's Guide to "And Many Happy Tomorrows" (spoilers)
NB: Spoilers are for the other fics in this 'verse, not for "And Many Happy Tomorrows"
An inquisitive reader’s guide to “And Many Happy Tomorrows”
Or
What you really, really, absolutely need to know if you haven’t read “The Story of How We (*really*) Met” and its sequels
The back story (spoilers, but with minimal details):
- Jared and Jensen met in July 2004 shortly before Jensen started filming “Smallville”
- Chris and Mike met in August 2004 though Jensen and began dating around American Thanksgiving 2004
- Mike proposed to Chris on election night 2008
- Chris initially wanted to wait until California’s Prop 8 (prohibiting same-sex marriage) was repealed before getting married
- Jensen was a victim of gay bashing and (among other damage) broke four ribs, which now ache whenever it’s going to rain
- Chris has saved or helped save Jensen’s life three times: once after a nearly successful suicide attempt, once after Jensen went on a drinking binge after suffering intense public humiliation, and once when Jensen was in the hospital and Jared was getting harassed by bigoted and inconsiderate doctors
- Jensen has a number of chronic health problems including kidney and liver issues (in case that wasn’t clear); Chris has been mother henning Jensen about his health for years
- Jared and Jensen have been married for a little over a year-and-a-half at the time this story takes place