NimirRaj

Ok, this chapter was full of surprises. I mean first Sadie is still not 100% ok with it but is accepting Artie being gay fairly easily and I expected the not-so-grand-parents to pull some underhanded trick yet they won the court case just as easily as Adam said they would. I had expected Artie’s bio-dad to show up yet just like @droughtquake I was expecting him to be there to help discredit Adam. Clearly someone from Artie’s hometown told him about the court case for him to show up there and like Dizzy I’m worried about his motives. Dizzy could just be paranoid yet I don’t think it’s a great idea to hide this from Adam. I mean obviously Adam would advise against him talking to Ezra yet I doubt he’d forbid it so it seems ridiculous to hide the fact they met. I don’t know if he could possibly win a custody battle either not having been in Artie’s life ever before “today” though as a biological parent I’m sure he could get something like court ordered visitation rights considering he’s the only living biological parent Artie has. Still, people do change so I could see him wanting to be in Artie’s life in a positive way though his choice of timing just sets off warning bells in my head.

The future is going to be tough for Woody & Lucas though I’m not sure who will have it worse. Unless his mom steps in a lot Woody will not only have it bad at school but will likely have a tough time at home as well vs Lucas who will have the support of his family. There’s always a chance his family will rally around him but while a situation like a son being blackmailed for sex might change some people to the point of them becoming more sympathetic overall I don’t expect Woody to receive a positive welcome when he returns home. The only tiny silver lining I can even dream of school wise is maybe Woody & Lucas will get support from other kids that Mr. Dewberry was blackmailing as well as guys like Connor who are somewhat popular so maybe having a popular kid or two will help diminish some of the bullying they’re likely to receive. Then there’s the small matter of Woody’s brother who already wanted to beat him up for being gay and is liable to now realize Woody stole his ID to get on that camera website making him even angrier. Yikes, life is going to be hell.

This was a good chapter and Connor might be a good influence on Robbie. I mean he’s not apparently interested in alcohol, he’s down to earth, and I suspect he won’t want to rush into a physical relationship which I’m sure will frustrate Robbie yet he needs a true relationship not more meaningless sex. I do see some potential drama unfolding when Connor inevitably meets Nathan due to Nathan’s flirtatious attitude as he’s liable to flirt up a storm upon meeting Connor. We just met Connor yet I doubt he’s the type to cheat rather I’m worried Robbie will throw a fit over it regardless of how Connor reacts to Nathan’s advances...unless he tells Nathan to jump off a bridge which would be a fun moment for all. Originally I thought the dizzy spells were simply stressed induced due to when they initially occurred yet now it does seem like a potentially serious medical issue. It could still be linked to his nerves and emotions as he was nervous about meeting Connor though overall even if it’s a condition triggered by his emotional state it’s definitely not stress on its own. At one point Robbie seemed to realize it’s something potentially serious so I hope he uses common sense and goes to the doctor though knowing him it’s sadly unlikely he’ll seek help before he passes out again. I want to say that things are looking up yet despite the new...almost boyfriend the unknown medical condition along with the never ending trouble with Don & Sue means things are still mostly downhill at this point.

I don’t get what you mean when you say Billy’s “idea” of forcing Brandon to come out as while Billy was a little disappointed when he thought Brandon was against the idea Brandon himself clarified he’d been thinking about it and was for it. It’s not like Billy is planning something sneaky like kissing Brandon in front of the party guests without his prior knowledge as they’ve had a thorough discussion about it. Brandon said he was nervous but felt that it was worth it and towards the end of the chapter Billy himself is nervously thinking about what’ll happen after they’re out as he himself is worried about negative backlash so I wouldn’t say Billy isn’t thinking about the ramifications of coming out. Billy isn’t forcing Brandon to do anything and Brandon is choosing to come out at the party despite his worries over the reactions of everyone else especially his father. In the end though we don’t know that they actually will come out at the party as they could change their minds before then so we shouldn’t assume it’s a done deal until it actually happens. Overall I’m not certain it’s a great idea but thankfully they do have friends that will support them through the negativity if they do come out compared to some who end up losing their friends along with everyone else.

I’m worried for Woody’s future as I can’t imagine his father’s reaction will be any better than he expects it to be. He already seems disappointed in his son and ridicules him on a daily basis before his being gay was known so throwing him out for being gay doesn’t seem to be an impossibility. I don’t know though if it would be better or worse if he didn’t throw Woody out as I can imagine his home life which already seemed hellish only getting worse going forward as his family as a whole is likely to treat him terribly as even his younger siblings seem to care little for him. I think the kiss between Lucas & Woody was inevitable and cute if potentially drama filled. I mean it was a sweet moment but I have a feeling that Connor may secretly want more than just a physical relationship with Woody so this would turn things into a bit of a love triangle if Lucas turns out to be potential boyfriend material rather than just a one time thing as I doubt they’ll stop at a kiss. It’ll be interesting if we see a jealous Connor in the future vying for Woody’s attention.

Well with the current facts the expected should be that those ancient idiots shouldn’t even be trying to get custody as the odds seems stacked against them yet we know that Adam & Artie shouldn’t let their guards down as the less-than-grand-parents seem confident that they’ll win. I’m just spitballing in this and the last chapter all the tricks they might pull and considering Adam gave the impression Artie’s dad is homophobic plus we don’t know why he split I’d bet money he’d support them taking custody away from Adam especially if they offered him a cash incentive. I don’t expect them to play fair despite their so called Christian beliefs as they likely are as wily as the most experienced sinners. We’ll have to see what tricks they have up their sleeves.

Adam did need a night to unwind though overall I’m not sure how much that night of drinking really helped. He’ll just be bombarded with the same emotions when he sobers up plus a hangover if his hangover cure isn’t as successful as he claims. Call me a pervert but I think a better outlet for his frustrations over the situation would have involved Mason and a bed 😂. This was just a minor intermission for the dinner show coming up which has me worried. The reference to them being certain they’ll only be in Texas for 2 days reminds me of how uncertain the future is despite how things seem to be in their favor. Beyond the chance of a biased judge and attempts to make Adam look like a bad guardian I’m also concerned the less-than-grand-parents will pull a surprise twist like having Artie’s bio-dad show up or even the minor possibility of Adam’s ex showing up as a character witness against Adam because I wouldn’t be surprised if his ex was spiteful enough to lie in court in exchange for money. Being is biological father if Artie’s dad shows up supporting the less-than-grand-parents his opinion could help sway the judge in their favor or he could even try getting custody himself as unlikely as that seems. I can’t wait to see what bombshells the opposing lawyer drops and how Adam & Artie deal with being back in Texas. Here’s hoping they get through this as unscathed as possible.

Ugh I get from personal experience not wanting to be direct and beating around the bush when coming out to a friend though that seemed ridiculous. Even after finding out Aiden is ok with gay people Jordan still couldn’t just tell him and then he forgot to mention to Noah about using Jenn’s picture. I knew as soon as Noah was talking to Jenn about her coming that a massive load of drama was about to come their way. If it wasn’t for all the other guys being there and Jordan not wanting to come out to them the best thing to do right now would be to say “Sorry man, I lied about that photo. This is Jenn who isn’t my girlfriend as I’m actually dating Aiden.” but we know that likely won’t happen. Thankfully he told Noah that he lied to Aiden about dating a girl so he should realize that the mistaken identity is linked to that and shouldn’t get jealous/suspicious, though Jenn is going to be majorly confused. Jenn’s a smart girl though and will probably go along with the lie as she’s liable to pick up on why he thinks she’s Jordan’s girlfriend. Even if she doesn’t go along with the lie that they are currently dating the fact the two of them did date in the past means the truth of them being exes will just have Aiden thinking there’s a new girl Jordan didn’t tell him about. Overall Jordan just needs to come clean ASAP but I doubt that’ll happen.

A very sweet and tender chapter. Daniel is already a great kid but with this new confidence he’s going to be a new man...well new boy. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for these two though it’ll still be a bumpy ride.

Even though he has no proof Jeff was the other boy and a shot of him from the below the waist won’t out him I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before Mr. Dewberry goes after Jeff. I’m surprised that if Mr. Dewberry was blackmailing Lucas that he cared if Lucas knew what he was doing or trying to do with Woody as I figured he’d just have had sex with both of them right then, though that girl showing up definitely stopped it. I don’t know if Ross is angry at the situation or angry at Woody specifically over whatever has happened now. I hope nothing has happened to Connor but that’s the main conclusion I can come to as to why he’s likely upset. I hope he hasn’t been outed now though I don’t see how Connor could be unless some football player he hooked up with has proof and is working with Brandon & Mr. Dewberry.

I knew they were going back to Texas obviously but until now I didn’t realize the custody battle will apparently take place in their home town. A cynical part of me says the odds are not in their favor when it comes to finding a fair & impartial judge in that town. I was hoping as small as that town seemed to be that the court case would be held in a bigger town and that it would be a judge that wouldn’t be biased like everyone in that town seems to be. This does note bode well and I’m also worried Dizzy & Artie won’t be able to control themselves causing Artie to get outed which would result in more drama as well as possible ammunition for the grandparents to use against Adam.

It should be a slam dunk but nothing is ever certain plus how many people other than Artie witnessed how they treated him? The judge would have to accept Artie’s words as truth and with him as the only witness to their verbal assault the lawyer could argue Artie is lying. Even if someone else heard them I can’t imagine very many people from that town if any would actually stand against them as they all despise Adam. The only person from that town who might support Artie staying with Adam is Sadie and I’m not certain she’d support them in court despite how her attitude seems to have changed especially if she were to learn Artie is gay as she might blame Adam. Overall prejudice is going to be a major factor as sadly not everyone follows the law properly so if they get a judge who’s homophobic they might end up having trouble winning despite all logic indicating otherwise. They’re going to argue that Adam is an unfit guardian who’s a bad influence referencing his sexual orientation as well as the fact his vandalism was composed of satanic symbology. If they’re sneaky they may also have evidence that he drinks and smokes weed which while both are legal in California could still be used to imply he’s an unfit guardian. As far as we know they may even have photos of Adam & Artie at the Tavern which while it’s ok for Artie to be there is technically a bar and a gay one at that so they could use those photos to once again imply that Adam is an irresponsible guardian. In the end it all hinges on how fair and impartial the judge is.

Well, I’m a fast reader and this is a good story...plus I have no life 😂 so I got here fairly quickly. I honestly never expected this as the town Artie & Adam are from is so backwards I figured all the hate was just because Adam was/is gay. I have a bad feeling that this case is going to be a lot harder than it should be and it won’t help if they end up with a homophobic judge. I’m a Christian and while I don’t like what he did I’m not I guess a good enough Christian that his actions bother me that much. Don’t get me wrong as I don’t like it one bit but he was a teenager who was angry & probably on some level afraid. I can empathize a little bit with these characters as while the people here aren’t as cold hearted I do come from a small, rural town in the south where we don’t exactly have pride parades. It can be scary being a closeted gay teen in the south so I can understand especially with his parents why he’d rebell against organized religion as it can sometimes feel like the enemy to many members of the LGBTQ+ community. Sadly some people just don’t follow the doctrine’s core philosophy of love and acceptance rather they allow prejudice to guide them. On a side note I am a tiny bit disappointed that Adam still isn’t being fully honest & open with Artie though I understand that he probably felt no reason to share this info until the lawyers brought it up. It’s a painful and shameful event in his past that he likely wants to forget yet it is an important part of his past which I suppose Artie had a right to know about. Still, it’s not as if Adam is obligated to tell Artie everything about himself just as Artie isn’t telling Adam everything about himself. You might call it a lie of omission yet everyone has their secrets.

I’m happy Trevor hit the road and that Dizzy’s mom has a job now though it sounds like she’s had them before only to lose them because she didn’t follow through. I hope history doesn’t repeat itself as Dizzy doesn’t need to live his life feeling like he has to protect his mom and take abusive because he feels like he has to in order for her to be happy. Everything is looking up which means it’s time for the other shoe to drop as ye old grandparents are bound to cause a stir soon despite it seemingly like they have no grounds to win custody of Artie.

Sounds like Artie’s gut instincts when trying to find Adam a boyfriend resulted in a good match for him and he managed to pull off a very sweet evening even with the meager ingredients on hand. 🤦🏻‍♂️ Artie needs to do the grocery shopping going forward and Adam can pickup his beer & weed when he needs to restock because Artie is liable to starve with Adam’s grocery buying. I suppose they could live off day old donuts. 😂

Hmmm well Ky’s attitude was a bit overwhelming for the situation as while I get he’s Dizzy’s best friend his comments almost make him sound jealous whether it be jealous because he deep down wants to be more than friends with Dizzy or fears Artie is taking his place as Dizzy’s best friend. I’m not sure if Dizzy actually wanted to keep his location a secret from Ky but I’m betting Artie read the situation accurately in the sense that he probably didn’t want Ky to know he’d been beaten up. He seems to be secretive about certain things even from his friends so I doubt that was information he was eager to share. Still, while I feel Ky had a right to worry about his friend as well as not being sure Artie’s lying was for the best Ky’s attitude especially throwing his history of sex with Dizzy in Artie’s face was definitely uncalled for. I do want to think that there’s a error in where the information originally came from though as I thought Dizzy himself told Artie that he had hooked up with Ky while in this chapter Artie supposedly heard about it from Charlotte. Either way hearing they hooked up was one thing but hearing from Ky’s own lips that he sucked Artie off is another thing entirely as I would still feel a little weird hearing that about my boyfriend and my friend. Obviously “that man” in the photo is likely Artie’s dad who Adam doesn’t want to talk about. He made it clear the first and only time Artie mentioned him that he was happy Artie didn’t know anything about him nor wanted to talk about him. Still, while I get his abandoning Artie & his mom when she discovered she was pregnant was horrible I still think that Artie should know something about his biological father as like it or not he’s part of Artie.

I’m glad Dizzy came clean to Adam and maybe his mom will get the help she needs going forward now that an adult knows what’s going on. Dizzy can’t protect her from this no matter how much he might want to.

You know all Artie has to do to discourage the custody battle is to reveal he’s gay. I mean if they threw Adam out for being gay surely they wouldn’t want Artie under their roof....though on the other hand they’d probably use that as supposed evidence that Adam is an unfit guardian saying he turned Artie gay and then they’d force Artie to undergo conversion therapy in order to “straighten” him out. 🤦🏻‍♂️ Grandpa and Grandma need to find Jesus ASAP as clearly they’ve lost their way along with their common sense.

This is a very sweet chapter but I’m wondering about Dizzy’s undisclosed home situation. I mean Artie didn’t meet the boyfriend and while Dizzy may just simply not like him I’m wondering if he has a really good reason not to. I mean he’s supposedly protective of his mother and doesn’t even like having his friends over much which is telling. I’m worried his mom’s boyfriend is abusive either physically, verbally, or both plus apparently he almost never sleeps at home which his mother isn’t happy about not that she says he has to. The fact he seems to never sleep there is also telling. Eventually Artie & Dizzy are going to get caught by Adam because if it wasn’t for his early hours along with being so tired he’d have caught them already.

I’m glad Lindsay was able to get through to Adam that his pity party was a bit overly dramatic for a barely existing relationship between him and a major jerk. I’m also thrilled to see more bonding beteen Adam & Artie plus it’s nice to see that Artie is a good wingman for his uncle helping him snag a cutie who apparently doesn’t mind that Adam is raising a 15 year old kid unlikely our hopefully eternally departed Bradley. I’m not saying Mason is Adam’s forever guy but he seems like a nice guy.

Well Bradley pretty much just told Adam that what they had wasn’t serious anyway with his comment about how few guys would want to date someone with a 15 year old kid as I mean uh you’re already dating him Bradley so why are you giving him advice on finding another boyfriend? I mean clearly he wasn’t happy Adam took Artie in and was implying Adam had to choose between them which he did. Sounds like Bradley was a real piece of work and I hope Adam doesn’t get too depressed over dumping that loser.

That was a nice bit of bonding and I loved the line - - as that’s just perfection. Adam was sounding kinda parental but at the same time part of me is wondering if he was getting a laugh out of that because we did. 😂

When Adam told Artie he wasn’t gay I was like hmmm ok. It seemed like he was but I dunno that blush when Artie mentioned how close he seemed to Lindsey made me think he actually had a crush on her causing me to think ok maybe he’s bi. I figured when he mentioned keeping some things secret for now it had to be he that he was either gay or bisexual so it’s not exactly a shocking revelation. He was probably worried Artie was homophobic which for a short time he seemed to be so his worries were somewhat justified. I’m glad it’s out in the open now in regards to both of them though Adam may be keeping his eye open for Dizzy’s late night visits as well as spontaneous daytime arrivals now that he knows that’s who Artie is dating. Oh man I just realized Artie will surely now get the relevant but uncomfortable sex talk from Adam after that confession of “messing around” with Dizzy.

Dizzy is exciting so I get why Artie likes him but I have to agree with the sentiments that it feels like Ky would be the better boyfriend. The thing is he was being a jealous jerk and we can’t know he’d be the better boyfriend for certain just because Dizzy is a little wild. It is almost a little unfair though that Artie really didn’t give Ky as much attention as he did Dizzy in my opinion as he seemed more captivated with Artie from the very beginning despite also being attracted to Ky. I kind of feel a little worried about Dizzy as I feel like they’ll inevitably breakup and with Dizzy claiming everyone dumps him he’ll be heartbroken if Artie dumps him as well especially considering how much he seems to like him. Of course there’s always the likelihood the breakup will be because of something Dizzy does and then my pity for him will evaporate.

Sounds like Adam has a crush on his best friend and Artie...I don’t know if I should clap for him or feel sorry for him. I mean having two guys sorta fighting over you must be nice but it’s also a lot of added drama on top of recently losing his mom, moving to a big city & new school, and moving in with a uncle who you just met. Artie hasn’t shown any obvious attraction to girls so far so I don’t know if he’s 100% in denial or just now discovering his bisexuality, though regardless once again that is added drama to an already emotional situation. He’s got a lot of changes and discoveries coming all around the same time which are rocking his world.