Dodger

Robbie has shown this side of his character before with Alex when he was injured, and more recently, with Jamie, the boy he met in the hospital. Looking after people seems to bring out the best in him. Maybe he's found his place in life.

This made me even more curious.

Thanks, @Wesley8890. Torrential rain and the presence of a creepy stalker still wasn't enough for Robbie to trust Mr Symmonds.

Thanks, @AquariusGuy. After reading this comment I had to find out more about this character and his odd tendency. It sounds interesting so you have a new reader.

Your comment in the Cockney Canuck fired up my curiosity. I wanted to find out about this character first-hand. I have to admit I haven't read any of your work before, and judging by this chapter, I've been missing out. I like the way you started the story, giving the reader just enough information without bogging it down with unnecessary detail. I'm pretty sure I'm going to enjoy this story.

I had never held another boy's penis while he peed before, so I was having fun directing Nathan's steady stream around the toilet bowl, much to his annoyance. For the first time since I was a young boy, a monotonous and uninspiring task that I performed half-a-dozen or so times a day for my own necessity suddenly became interesting again, but it was a recipe for disaster. I got carried away attempting a figure of eight, overstepped my artistic licence, and created a small puddle on his bath

My apologies to anyone anxious for an update of the Cockney Canuck. I'm running a little late and still have to edit. Perhaps midday was a little optimistic of me. Watch this space.

Thanks, @Freerider and @wenmale64 I've been well but busy. I'm not sure where the time went, but I haven't had a lot of it lately. After spending much of the year at home due to the lockdown, I've been trying to catch up with work and make some money before the winter sets in, and slows everything down again. I don't mind the winter, even when the temperature drops to minus something ridiculous. I know how to keep warm. This town looks beautiful in the snow, but there's none at the moment, and we had an unusually warm November. Okay, enough of this nonsense. I'm sure you're not interested in the weather situation in Canada. Robbie's the one you want to hear from not me, so I won't tease you anymore. You'll be pleased to know our cheeky protagonist, his dysfunctional family, and collection of oddball friends have also been busy. The good news is, you'll be able to read all about it in the latest installment of the Cockney Canuck, which will be posted tomorrow (Sunday Dec 13th) at midday eastern time. I hope you enjoy.

I tip my hat to you, Carlos. You did a great job with this feature from the very first month. Thank you for your good work. You're going to be a hard act for someone to follow.

Another great chapter but incredibly frustrating. I hope this cry for help works because I can't see any other way out for Zack. I'm disappointed in his friends. No, I'm really pissed off with them, especially Brody. They could help him but they choose not to and I can't understand why. Maybe they're not the smartest kids in the world, but they must realize by agreeing to keep his secret, they're risking his life. Now they know for certain what's going on they absolutely must tell someone. Their parents, the police, the school principle, older siblings, helplines. There are a lot of people they can turn to who will be able to help Zack, before it's too late, but the one thing they absolutely must not do is nothing. Makes my blood boil, but I love the story.

Nice move by Leo. Choosing the right time to opt out, even if Chris didn't get it at the time. I'm enjoying this story.

Thank you, @mg777. Funny you should mention 'General Hospital', I have always seen the Cockney Canuck as more of a soap opera than a story, but readers tend to prefer some kind of ending and some will not start reading without one. Despite several long detours I have remained true to the original ending, which was originally written in 2013. All I've done is bring it up to date and edit out most of the bad grammar. There was a lot. I have, however, left plenty of options. I didn't want to box myself into a corner by tying up too many loose ends, because I'm still not sure how I'm going cope without Robbie. He's been a big part of my life since I wrote the first chapter seven years ago, and although sometimes he drives me crazy, I know I'm going to miss him.

Thanks @Caramel8. Robbie and Nathan do work quite well. I can't help you with the unknown story, but it sounds like I should be reading it. You would do better posting this on one of the forums where you will reach a lot more people, and stand a better chance of finding the story. Good luck.

When you put it like that, Conner probably needs therapy too. Rory may be destined to be the one that got away for Robbie. Ironically, personality wise, they would probably make a very good couple. If only. Rory's good fun and has reached a stage where he's completely comfortable with Robbie's sexuality, and even willing to encourage his little games. Was he flirting with Robbie when he asked if he should pose with or without clothes? Robbie could do with having a friend who's just a friend.

You make a valid point here, because it's possible, despite claiming otherwise, that Robbie has no intention of hiding this from Don. He may feel he has enough support from Jo and his family to openly defy Don and maybe even push him into doing something stupid. If this is the case then it's a dangerous game to play. Don has so far been good at staying just within the legal boundaries to keep Jo at bay, and he's unlikely to risk losing everything, no matter how annoyed he may be with Robbie. There are quite a few loose ends to tie up, but not everything will be known. We will only see what Robbie sees and as in real life some things will remain unsolved. In these cases, like Robbie, the readers may have to draw their own conclusions. As for the date. It would have been nice to finish on Canadian Thanksgiving, but it may not be feasible considering there are still five chapters to post. It may drag on to Christmas, but it needs to be a holiday. It will make sense in the end.

Yeah, Robbie may have surprised a few people in this chapter.

Well said @Israfil Conner is only sixteen and still a novice at relationships. Robbie hurt his pride but he didn't break his heart. He should get over this fairly quickly without holding too much of a grudge. Robbie and Nathan may compliment each other in many ways but they're far from a perfect match and they're unlikely to grow old together. If Stephanie is in the family way, then this would be a logical choice. We don't know if there are any reasons preventing this or who else knows if anyone. She certainly hasn't confided in Nicola, although this would not be a bad thing. Robbie, of course, will be blissfully unaware until someone actually spells it out to him. For Don, it would be a gift he would never have predicted.

I'm assuming you're referring to Stephanie. Is it even worth me denying it at this stage? Probably not, but I'm going to anyway, because we still don't know for sure if this is the case.

This is entirely possible. Robbie is relying on Conner having enough decency not to do this, and it's one of the reasons he wanted to part on good terms. Despite Conner's initial brat-like reactions, Robbie should feel reasonably happy with the way it went. After licking his wounds, Conner would do well to look at this objectively and realize there was no malice in Robbie's actions. In fact he did everything he could to lessen the blow. Conner knows what Don thinks of Nathan and it will be easy for him to throw a spanner in the works if he chooses.

Robbie could be forgiven for thinking the cards have finally fallen for him. He's due a slice of luck, so maybe this is where he turns the table on Don. He knows it's only a matter of time before word gets back to his adopted father, so Robbie needs to have some kind of plan in place.

Robbie did the honorable thing, which seemed to go down well with Conner's mom and will probably impress Nathan.

Robbie could have avoided a difficult situation by simply not going to the farm and telling Conner over the phone and perhaps he would have done that in the past. Robbie proved he has principles and he wants to do the right thing, but he also needed to show Nathan he meant business.

Conner's behavior was definitely immature but probably no more than most sixteen-year-old kids after being dumped. I think it could have been a lot worse and even Robbie wasn't sure how he would react.

I think Robbie will be pleased that he doesn't have to go back to Conner's farm. Their relationship was doomed from the start.

It was eight-thirty on Saturday morning, and I was still half-asleep when I stumbled out of bed to pick up my phone. I had two missed calls from Karen, and a voicemail message, which I listened to in the bathroom. “Hi, sexy. Nathan told me the good news. I’m so happy for you guys. You should never have split up in the first place. You're meant to be together, I mean it. But really, I’m glad you worked out your differences. Call me later, baby, okay.” I giggled at her message, but before