Shadow086

Well, Araziah did casually admit he plans to take over the world here: "if there is to be a new dominion, then I am the architect." He squeezed my shoulder, again. "Yes, that is what we will be doing." He's definitely not one for using tact and diplomacy to get what he wants, but I'm sure he'd learn quickly if he thinks it would be of use to him. Theo meant well, but I think 'Theosten' is done at this point. We also don't know if Torsten was able to resist the attack or not. I don't think he's that weak-minded, and that he'll be able to hold out long enough for someone to come help him.

What if this is Dave? Maybe he decided that his hands-off approach of letting Paula handle Billy wasn't working.

Even more amazing that he can still see his reflection when looking into it!

No wait, I'm so stupid sometimes. He's probably registered as "Anthony Reilley".

Oh, so Paula sent him to a different hospital, probably not the one she works at. What a bitch...

Well, Theo is dead meat... I get why Theo did what he did, but it's still disappointing. I wish he'd tried to find another way instead of breaking Torsten's trust. And now he better hope he can get somewhere safe before Araziah gets to him, because I'm fairly certain that the offer has expired. I'd be very surprised if Araziah didn't see this whole thing. His section implies that the only reason he's out of the house so much is to spy on Theo, so I'm sure he's nearby, waiting to pounce if Theo ever betrayed Torsten like he did just now. What he does next remains to be seen, but I'm sure it will involve hurting Theo. I'm not sure why I should hate Araziah. I mean, sure, he's an asshole and he treats Torsten like he owns him, but that's nothing new for him. Maybe it's not for the right reasons, but he does seem to have a level of fondness for Torsten, and he's being very protective of him. And he didn't compel Torsten to bend to his will, so that's another thing in his favour for now. Surprisingly, I think I like Araziah more after this chapter. He feels more authentic to me now. Araziah doesn't try to put on a mask and pretend to be something he's not, he's a condescending asshole and he embraces it. I like that about him. The contrast between Theo and Araziah in this chapter was very interesting. On one hand you have Araziah being very condescending to Torsten yet giving him another chance to change his mind, and on the other hand you have Theo being loving and affectionate yet taking what he wants by force. It's like each of them did what you'd expect from the other. I expect Araziah to have a bit of an 'I told you so' moment when this is over, but does Torsten still have that chance to change his mind? And if so, will he? It would be funny if Araziah just showed up one day with another boy and said "Torsten, this is your new boyfriend." Another great chapter, well worth the wait! PS: Would I be mistaken in assuming that Araziah is his true name? Because he certainly fits the second reason for sharing it, maybe even both in Torsten's case.

"This is all your fault, Roberts! You stay the fuck away from him!"

Yes, I'm sure he'll change his tune once he finds out that his self-absorbed half-brother tried to sexually assault Billy. As much as we all know Joey's an asshole, I still think there's a good person buried somewhere in there. Whether or not the 'Nice Joey' shows up again is anyone's guess, but I wouldn't count on it. I don't know, Paula did implicitly give Billy permission to stay at the hospital with Brett. Billy's little speech about not telling Brett has more to do with Billy knowing how jealous Brett gets when Dustin's involved, in my opinion. And like @Israfil said in the forum thread, Billy's self-blame is not going to be pretty.

I'm not happy, but it had to be done. As much as I hated reading that, I'm really looking forward to next week's chapter, because I feel that this is where the dominos really start falling.

Well... It was nice to see the three boys joke around with each other like that. I just wish it didn't lead to this, but it had to happen, I guess. In a way, I think Billy's right to blame himself this time. He probably knows Brett better than anyone, and he should've known how Brett would react to being goaded like that. I'm really happy to see Dustin hasn't given up on love just yet, he really deserves to have someone special. Paula looked like she finally got her head out of Carl's ass, let's hope she keeps it that way. Maybe nursing Brett back to health will help her see what really matters. I have no idea how the conversation with Jenny will go, but I see bad things happening. I just hope Jack McKenzie doesn't get involved like the last time Brett had an accident, that could be big trouble. Brett's lost a lot of blood and will probably need transfusions. I wonder if that's going to come into play later.

It is, because they had that talk where they promised they wouldn't keep any secrets about what happened while they were apart, and Billy lied by omission. Of course, Brandon didn't say anything about Stevie either, but the difference is that Billy Didn't ask him about it.

Maybe, but Brandon didn't have sex with one of his co-workers. For all his talk about trust, there's still a lot Billy hasn't admitted to.

Great chapter, Com! So the Monday thing was just like what most of us thought. And Billy actually managed to keep his cool and talk things through, that's almost a first for him. Hopefully Sam is doing what he said he'd do, and we can put this whole Jimmy drama behind us. Now I wonder how long until Billy's not telling Brandon about anything AJ related comes back to bite him.

Him and Carl Stevens fit the description of the biggest fish in a very small pond.

Great story, loved it, Com!

It'll be fun to see the fallout from that incident. I can see a bit of a parallel between Miss Winston resigning and the way Paula tried to scare Billy by threatening to take away his insulin. I have a feeling Mr. Taylor might realise he went too far and tries to backpedal, but I'm not holding my breath. I still think Joey knows more than he lets on about his father's indiscretions. If that's the case, I think he's want to protect his good friend/half-brother, even if it means putting up with Billy in the process. I don't remember what chapter it was, but Billy pretty much explicitly said that he expected something like this to happen. So it's no wonder he's not surprised. What's more interesting to me is if he'll let it go or fight in on principle even if he knows it won't benefit him in any way.

Like a mother wanting a good Christian son, and the son deciding to bring his relationship with his boyfriend out in the open during church, for example?

I'm not sure how the US school system works, but wouldn't there be somewhere they could file a complaint against the trustees? Not like they're going to do any of that, they'll just let them get away with it because they don't think they can do anything.

It'll be interesting to see how far they go to get Billy and Joey out of the running for valedictorian. What I think will happen is that Carl and Fuckface Taylor will become so confident that they'll start making mistakes. I can see them setting themselves up for a discrimination lawsuit with the way they treat Billy and the other members of the LGBT alliance. It would be kind of funny if Jack McKenzie of all people sued the school district on Billy's behalf (to get Sarah disqualified and put Joey in the lead, of course).

I thought there was going to be a hidden gay porn collection in there.

There's the regular small-town bullshit that goes on all the time. I have to wonder though, whether being so obvious about it wasn't a mistake. I get the feeling that Joey's still popular in the school, and if he teamed up with B&B, they could brew a real shitstorm in there. And Dustin. Imagine if he started talking about what he knows. I think that Billy will try to discredit the Valedictorian position since it's obviously rigged in Sarah's favour. Hell, I could even see Billy going in front of the whole school demanding that they give her valedictorian right now, since they don't plan to award it on merit. I also think this is the beginning of Pastor Carl's downfall. Maybe Carl's more powerful, but Jack McKenzie still has influence in the community, and he won't accept having his son be cast aside for such petty reasons. And the school? Does Carl think taking over the school board will give him magic powers to turn all the students against gays? They didn't care before, and it wasn't just because Miss Winston was there. You can only abuse your power so much before people start fighting back. Just a little correction, Pat should've started teaching in 1975, since I was under the impression that the story took place in 2005. I'll be curious to see what Paula will think/do when she sees her beloved pastor trying to destroy Billy's future because of his sexuality. She'll probably take Carl's side, as usual. But what about Dave? He hasn't really had his time in the spotlight yet. The Erotic Adventures of a Boy and His Bike: I have no idea what that's supposed to be about. Maybe Brett gets a motorcycle?

That's about right. I'm not going to start on how stupid I think the whole macho masculinity and "real men" mentality is. If you're so confident in your masculinity, you shouldn't need these things to prove it.

Actually, it's just that I don't like facial hair. Especially on people Brett's age, since they usually grow them for the same stupid reasons Brett grew his. I don't know how Billy put up with it for as long as he did.

Now we finally know what happened to the coin collection. There's a lot of memories in those boxes. I'm so glad you got rid of Brett's annoying beard, I think he looks much better without it. I loved seeing Brett and Billy teasing each other like an old couple, it really shows the strength of the bond between them, and that it's not just about sex. Even if they get plenty of that as well . There's not much drama to comment on this chapter, but I get the feeling the next one will make up for that. After all, I think there's a very good change that one or both of the McKenzies will be involved, probably Jack more than Joey.

Excellent chapter, as always, Com! Ethan's getting ready to take a big step, I can't blame him for hesitating. But, as Wesley said, it sounds like mom already knows and is okay with it. And I'm sure Ethan will need all the support he can get in the near future. And I'm sure mom and dad can't wait to meet Ethan's dream boy . EDIT: Oh yes, there's some drama coming our way. Let's just hope it doesn't become too much for Ethan to deal with all at once. I look forward to reading the next chapter, whenever it comes.