KJames

Hence, why everybody from the South calls everybody else, "Cousin"....and why everybody else IS each others cousin...

Read Ch. 22 today...faked photos huh? The only person similar enough to Robbie's size that would be able to help fake a photo would be, if I'm thinking right, Max! A cleverly worked photo, with Max, and substituting Robbie's frontal, with Max's back profile and Robbie's face in overlay, the belt could have been obtained from the apartment if it was with them there--which begs the question of who got it, or he could have left it in the apartment Neil had during that meeting in his haste to leave, or it could have been stolen by Neil while Robbie was still at Princeton--which is more than likely! On the other hand, if it's Cambronne, then this whole plot is getting royally f'd up--but how would HE know about, or who the f' Neil was--in the first place?!? HOWEVER! Robbie's mom, the pastor, and Neil, were all at that one Christmas party together at Escorial....could Neil have gotten together with Robbie's mother? Who then used funds from the pastor's church to send Neil and his "gang" over to Paris with the intention of trying to extort money from Brad, while angering Brad enough to send Robbie back to Ohio? Then the plan fell apart, when Neil's photographer "gang member" killed him, and the belt the police have was actually one that Neil had made for the photo stunt? Does the belt even fit Robbie, or does it fit Neil Gardner? (THIS was not mentioned yet!) It's OJ's glove syndrome! I seriously doubt that Robbie would fit in one of Neil's belts, after all, Robbie's a BIG, buff football player (probably a 38-42 waist...Neil's a petite, little twink (probably a 26-30)! Mark, if you're going to write cliffhangers like you've been doing now for a few episodes, you're going to have to practice typing...you're going too slow to keep doing this to us!

Funny thing is I voted that it was Jerry...but it couldn't have been him if he was waiting at the Luxembourg when Brad got out of the cab...no way the timing would ever work, unless Mark is now writing Sci-Fi...(doubtful, hm?)...However, Connor's presumption of Marcel following Brad and entering Neil's apartment after Brad left is also, probably off. Neil stated that there were "others" involved, as well...some of Neil's other 'friends' were also in Paris...and the photographer probably went back to talk to Neil and found him unconscious in the tub and made sure he was dead, and also mailed the photographs to the police!

He might have been, but I gave him the benefit because he posted a sufficient amount of time after I did...

Just hold your finger over your lips in the universal "Shhh"...if he's gay, he might get it...if he's dense, give him one of the "Day of Silence" notes.

Actually, Gal', I did it first at 9:57am, Connor's following comment wasn't until 11:17am...check our posts on page 9 of this thread...

Not to be insulting, but it reminds me of a picture of an Old English Sheepdog....there's got to be eyes in there, somewhere!

I think I was right...Marcel was a bad boy... On Ch. 17: Yay for Brad and Robbie, and for Robbie being (-)! I do hope that Brad gets back into the Sorbonne, though...when he started with all of this it was under an exchange program through Stanford, so his education will suffer if he doesn't go back...

Lacey, it grew more out of solidarity with them than anything else...those of us who were already out, and done with school did it to show them they were not alone in their struggle to be who they truly are, or who they truly can be.

But the thing is that Brad, in his drunken, tired state, couldn't discern the voice from Robbie's...and Mark didn't say whether they were speaking English or French...perhaps Marcel and Robbie sound alike in French? The only other one I can think of that it might have been would be Mouse, but he was never narrated as being anywhere close enough to big enough for Brad's liking. The people getting drunk whilst going out with Brad were JP, Mouse, and Marcel...I don't think JP would have fooled around with his own son, adopted or not, but Marcel HAD been watching Brad and Robbie a couple times, which probably made him bold enough to try this, and he is--after all is said and done--a horny 16 year-old. However, you do bring up a good question, Connor: Why was Robbie out 'til 2AM? The library, as previously stated, is only open until midnight (which seems to be a universal constant as CSULB's library is only open until midnight during the week, also), so where was Robbie for 2 hours? I thought the library was only about 30 minutes away from the Ile' apartment? Is it possible that Robbie might have set Marcel up to do this with Brad? Hmmm....given his temper when he came in, I'd have to say no, he didn't.

Mark M: Yeah, I guess they got lucky when they found him...sort of...see the next comment on Ch. 16... Mark Arbour: Marcel has been a naughty little boy, hasn't he?!?

Got this from a website concerning the exchange rate for buying French Francs using US Dollars Average (365 days):8.98359 High:10.56000 Low:7.55500 This means $1 would buy 8.98359FF (on average for the year), and would have gone from a low of 7.555FF to a high of 10.56FF. So, 600,000FF, would be, roughly Average: $66,788.44 High: $56,818.00 Low: $79,417.60 While it seems that high and low look reversed, it refers to the exchange rate of Francs to $US. High is the highest amount of francs per dollar (the franc was cheap, the dollar strong), while low is the lowest amount per dollar (the franc was expensive, the dollar weaker). The average refers to the average exchange rate for the entire year, based on each day's rate, not between the high and low. So they got Marcel's "freedom" for, roughly the cost of two automobiles, the way Brad buys them maybe 1 - 1 1/2...

YAY, MARK!!! Ch. 15 was great! But I still feel really bad for Mouse...too bad he couldn't have a similar situation...or could he? What if his system has just been compromised by the drugs and drinking he was doing, ?

ch. 14 was a nice treat in Paris...nothing too eventful for a change...Marcel was a nice twist...although I was sort of expecting Jeff to have left a son behind somewhere...just a coincidence that it was the city they moved to, hmm? I'm feeling really sorry for Mouse...there's never been any indication of either JP or Mouse being on any retrovirals or early cocktail drugs to keep the HIV at bay...so Mouse may have one of the faster mutations of the HIV virus...sorry to see him go if that's the case..."Abuse victim falls to AIDS" as a storyline, even a backstory, is such a hard thing...

That would be his story Unbreakable Faith...very nicely done...but earthshaking in the terror that it induces... There's one that I would ask you to read, I'll have to find the title for you and get back...it's not a VLista or Mark Arbour, but is well written, albeit definitely fantasy...the relationships in it are wonderful.

California all my life...up till my senior year in HS I'd lived one place for every year in school...three before starting school, then 6 after...Lived in Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange and Los Angeles Counties....those are the only 4 counties...

On the contrary, the twins fool around with each other, too, and are nearly identical in mannerisms...to the point of being nearly the same person in two bodies--I wouldn't be surprised if they're telepathic, they talk the same--often finishing each other's sentences, they look the same, they are identical, except in how they each physically make love to this other person in their lives...one loves his hair, the other loves his ass...they kiss the same way, they taste the same--even their cum, they smell the same, they even laugh the same. When the sex is done, the other twin goes in and cuddles so that they are all three together when falling asleep--all three of them sleep together, all the time.

You're simmering in a stew...with an occaisional boilover...

What about the odd situation given in one of the stories here: A guy falls in love with both of a set of twins, and they both love him as well...but he'll only have sex with each of them separately...

Mark M, I agree, MA's writing isn't near a brutal in descriptives as VLista's...but VLista's is also very real...the real horrors of child abuse are not to be discounted. His story Shane was the first I read here that had me in tears...I was belted by my stepfather (only the first one), but through Vlista's story, realized it for what it was...abuse from an uncaring person.

I was sorry to read about David/Mouse in Ch. 11...what a bombshell for him to drop in the middle of JP's announcement! I thought that being the bullied, abused kid, that was rescued way back in later Be Rad! chapters, that he might have also made it through all this crap to end up happy for a change. Mark, I did ask others to pick up where there might have been holes in the description, but...sometimes the takers don't crawl out of the woodwork so fast... Well...when fisting is "kink" it's usually being associated with the Dominant/Submissive or S&M sex practices , and the debasement, discipline and control , that it's usually associated with... I don't even pretend to know what Robbie's issue was with needing to have someone as worthless as Neil taking control of him, I thought Robbie was better than that . Maybe his issue was that, being separated from Brad, he thought that Brad had fallen out of love with him and he was trying to find someone to fill that role, but couldn't. Some fisting is done for that prostate stimulation...without control issues, and where the two partners are really in love with each other and really are partners (or married, for those of us lucky enough) and don't have any worries about breaking up to think about--this is where fisting is done with full, true, unspoken trust--to completely pleasure the other partner, and then it's not about "kink"....it's about love...and THAT is a wonderful experience that should be experienced . It's been a long time since I was, the guy was one I had met at a bar--he was one of the bartenders, and cute--and I ended up closing the place that night since my grandmother, who I was living with, was on a cross-country trip for 3 months...I just was ready to leave, 'cause I know they just want to clean and go home, when he walked up to me and asked me to stay and then go back to his place with him...so I stayed through their closing cleanup...flourescent lights all of a sudden after nightclub lighting hurts the eyes...we went to his place, we had a good time...then he started by fingering me...eventually working up to three, then four...then he started twisting his fingers to different angles...and before I knew it, he was in...Wow! Good thing I had a size fetish at the time...I was used to larger sizes, or many fingers. I was glad I emptied at the bar. Then he started stroking my prostate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I must've floated for hours--he was really good at this!!!!! Any guy who's gay should try it if they've ever bottomed, maybe even if they haven't--total tops should know how to do this, although I don't think there's any such thing...how would they know they're a total top if they've never tried anything associated with being a bottom? Done right, fisting is something that shouldn't be missed in the gay "maturity" process...imagine fisting as though someone, no matter what length dick, regardless of their thrusting, was constantly massaging your prostate...and not just as their head or shaft passed by...fingers are much more manipulative, and gentle, than a cock head!

It was my suspicion, too. I surmise that Roger never got tested, until he ended up in the hospital...so neither he nor JP knew. If Stefan turns out to survive and not become infected, I would consider it an extremely fortunate stroke of luck... I hope that Robbie's test in Oct. comes back negative, too, after all they've been through, Brad and Robbie do deserve that "happily ever after". All this discussion of Robbie's like of fisting...now that those chapters are over and done with...when someone surrenders their control in allowing an act of power over themselves by someone else because of a lack of self-confidence, that is different than allowing that same act because of love and trust in the person performing that act. Fisting, while an odd practice to some...does have it's very pleasurable moments... just trust me on this, done it once on the receiving end...but should always be entered into with an understanding of limits...Robbie likes it for direct prostate stimulation--he's hooked on the actual act and pleasure of orgasm--but he doesn't necessarily like or enjoy having whole hands "up there"...although he enjoys Brad's cock and three fingers... This is the simplest explanation...it's difficult to actually explain all the concepts invovled, since there's not only sex involved, but an element of kink and control, but not necessarily without trust and true love. Those who fist regularly have a much more complex, loving relationship than those of us with "regular" gay-sex and love relationships, and not being in a relationship where fisting occurs with any normalcy, am not prepared to explain it further. Can anyone else elaborate better? Knowing David/Mouse's lifestyle habits, I'm now worried about him as well...he started out in the story so sweet....and now seems really messed up... JP's in for a rough time...though...the early drug cocktails were enough to make people very ill in their own right...'cause they didn't have the optimum effective dosages narrowed down until the later '80s, and were basically overdosing people on the stuff... Hopefully, David/Mouse will come back to go (wherever that may lead) with "The Boys" and get his act cleaned up (thought I was gonna say "straightened out" didn't you?--GFB!). Maybe Jake will bring Darius out to California, and hook up with Mouse to get everyone back together again.

We seem to be similar in our results...also an ISTJ here, 61 25 12 11. Supposedly an Investigator Guardian.

While gay adoption may be prohibited by law, there are exceptions to every rule. The state's goal is to place children in homes where, "the best interests of the child are being met, for their mental and physical safety and upbringing." therefore it can be argued that their restriction is contrary to their goals in such cases. Given your location in the Bible Belt, most gay teens awaiting adoption will grow up "in the system", since no Bible thumping family will adopt a gay identifying teen, resulting in a poor record of adoptions for the state.

I don't know anyone else in my family who is gay, I have a suspicion my half-brother is, but no one's heard from him in several years. His being gay might be the reason for his "ducking out" of the world...I sure wish he'd pop up again...