BigBen

This is a great story. I love the characters, and especially Rowan's sense of humour. His banter with his boss is a lot of fun. I hope you are planning to get back to this story eventually. It would be a shame not to read more about these sweet guys.

As a Christian myself, I really find the bigotry of Brian's parents to be a violation of the most basic of Christ's teachings. The hypocrisy of preaching hatred in the name of the Lord of Love is really hard to understand. I consider myself blessed to have discovered that most Christians don't think this way. It's really unfortunate, though, that the ones who do are so vocal about it.

Cute story, even if the boys are almost too precocious to be believable. On the other hand, I knew a few young people, many years ago at Columbia, who could almost have been models for these boys, so no complaints here. I'd like to challenge the assertion about the effects of ruminants on the environment, however. Alan Savory and Peter Ballerstedt both have credible data to suggest quite a different picture. But that has no bearing on the charming effect of this story, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Well done!

This story packs a real wallop! You had me weeping at the end. The only possible criticism of the story is how neatly everything gets tied up, but I won't go there. Instead I'll just say it's a beautiful story, and what a fucking shame it is that not every such story in real life gets to have such a happy ending. You really got me with the line about how maybe this was a family that needed to be destroyed. My heart goes out to all the kids who feel just as trapped as Clarke, and who don't have a Joe to step in and save the day. Thank you for having the courage to write and post this story.

This is a very realistically-written story. I would never judge anyone else's relationship, and I've seen couples put up with things I'd never have been able to cope with. Or perhaps "put up with" isn't the right phrase. I was told, as a very young man, that a marriage can survive anything but the loss of respect, and that's what you've shown here. Scott never had any respect for Dan, and his behavior has dissolved the respect Dan had for him. Dan has nothing to be ashamed of here. True, he discoverers he has given his heart to someone unworthy, but that's not a reflection on him. It's Scott who should be ashamed, for entering the relationship under false pretenses. I consider this a happy ending, because Dan is leaving the relationship with his self-respect. He gave the relationship his best shot; not his fault that things weren't working.

This is a common trope in the thinking of classical antiquity, with which Tolkien had to have been familiar. Montaigne's famous essay on friendship makes a similar point. He speculates that no married couple could ever be as close as he and Etienne de la Boëtie were, because sexual relations and raising children were distractions that prevented mixed-sex couples from achieving that degree of closeness. (This is actually an echo of something Plato wrote in "The Republic" about finding the other half of oneself.) On the other hand, it's hard to read that essay in light of our current understanding of sexuality, without seeing it as a gay love letter to his deceased friend. Whether the relationship was or was not a sexual one, it is clear they loved each other deeply. Why they felt so close to each other and not to their wives is something Montaigne is trying to figure out by writing the essay.

Snuggles is right; everything's better on the floor. Our cats certainly seem to think so.

He drank so much because he was an alcoholic, not because of how empty his life was or how abrasive he was. And in my experience, if there's not a moment of complete surrender in an alcoholic's story, the likelihood of achieving permanent sobriety is almost nil. Jake's abrasive personality is a consequence of his addiction. Alcoholics are notably self-centered in the extreme. It's possible to learn and change, fortunately. It usually can't be done on one's own, however. Being an active addict is pretty bleak, though fortunately it's not an entirely hopeless situation. Many people can achieve permanent sobriety and/or abstinence, with help. Cole, this is very well done. If I don't stick with it, it won't be because of the writing, but because I don't really want to relive those days. Nevertheless, thank you for taking on this story.

Now cut it out, Val! I'm running out of tissues . . . (sob)

Like Droughtquake, I tend to avoid this type of story, but this one was cute. Myself, I wouldn't want a meal-sized portion, but this aperitif was lovely.

Poor Josh, then! 😝

I can walk into a party and within 8 seconds find the one guy who's really wrong for me. I can tell, too, just how dysfunctional he is, by how hot I find him. Such is life, sigh.

Late to the conversation, I know, but anyway . . . 😄 I'd dearly love to have a Jody in my life. A close friend like that is more precious than gold. I hope Galen has the sense to look around at his options. Ethan seems like a lovely chap. Granted, we know nothing about him yet, but I'm smitten anyway.

Oh boy! Things are getting nicely complicated. Galen did a good job of dealing with the mutual attraction between him and Josh, and we know that's not the end of that story, but there are so many lovely ways things could work out. I'm not invested in getting the two of them together, but I do want Galen to have a happy ending, whatever it may be. Josh hasn't completely won me over, yet. I'm really glad there are plenty more chapters till the end. Can't wait to see how you tied it all together, @Valkyrie.

Yes. Many people consider themselves slaves of their passions, because it relieves them of moral responsibility, whereas the reality is that rational human beings can master their passions when necessary, and are therefore responsible for their actions. A lot of the oppression of women is based on the notion that guys simply can't control themselves. I find that to be an offensive view of men, actually, quite apart from the burden it imposes on women. Galen needs to get a grip and remove himself from temptation. Josh either needs to keep his hands off Galen or ask Roger to let him go. And they both need to admit their infatuation to the people around them. Secrecy is no one's friend in situations like this.

Well, I'm really glad to hear that. It's nice to know that some things really do change for the better. The American media are so insular, that news like this never makes it across the ocean.

The saddest part for Jack has got to be his mother's reaction. Your mother is supposed to stand up for you. I'm so grateful that, even when we were at our worst with each other, my mother was always my rock, right up to the end. I hope Jack's mother comes to her senses by the end of the story.

Ah, good! Stephanie's on Jack's side, and Darren is going help, too. Let's hope they can stand up to the parents. Sheesh! I'm also hoping that Dad is going to be more receptive than Mom.

I have a feeling Darren is going to turn out to be gay. I've suspected that right from right from the first mention of him.

Jeff's dad for the win! I'm glad not everyone is against the kids. Whew!!

Honestly, I do realize this is fiction, but I'm so invested with these kids that I'm living it along with them. Jack's parents' reaction is exactly what I was afraid of, back when I was his age. Fortunately, by the time my mother figured things out, I had been out of the house for several years, and she had dealt with a lot of stuff in therapy, so we were good. But Dad and I didn't speak for a decade after I told him I was gay, and although we have more or less reconciled, he still thinks gay people are in the thrall of Satan. Yet I have learned that the vast majority of Christians don't believe that crap any more than I do, and these days I have enough theology under my belt to be able to argue with him pretty effectively. I thought I had dealt with all this years ago, but boy, does it still hurt. Guess that means Ronyx is doing a good job, huh? 😢😢

This is so much like the family I grew up in, fifty years ago. Hasn't anything changed since then? I thought things were better, nowadays. These poor kids! This is not a complaint about the writing or the plot, just so that's clear. It's a very gripping story, and I certainly can understand why Jack, who's basically a good kid, doesn't want to get caught in the gears. It would just be really nice if kids didn't have to endure this same old bullshit anymore. 😪

British television seems to do a better job with gay characters, because so many British actors are out of the closet that it doesn't tarnish anyone's reputation to play a gay character. I've heard it said that in Britain, actors can come out with no ill effects, but politicians would lose their careers, whereas in the U.S., there are openly gay politicians, but a gay actor's career would end upon coming out. (Michael Ontkean and Harry Hamlin, two straight actors who played gay men in Making Love, didn't work for a decade after that movie came out.) My favorite British show is Torchwood, because of the way all the characters were screwing one another right and left. And the sex scenes worked, because all the actors were good enough to carry it off. By contrast, Will and Grace drove me nuts, because Eric McCormack made a very unconvincing gay man. (Though perhaps it wasn't completely his fault, because the character wasn't all that well-written, either, when you get right down to it.) Not to mention that the publicity for the show emphasized McCormack's heterosexuality out the wazoo. Granted, there has been progress. Madam Secretary has two characters, Kat Sandoval (Sara Ramirez) and Blake Moran (Erich Bergen), highly-placed State Department officials who aren't afraid to be themselves, and it has dealt with queer issues in a number of episodes. B.D. Wong also appears occasionally as the head of a gay rights lobbying organization, and his character is portrayed as a fairly close friend to the Secretary's chief of staff. But as far as I'm concerned, there aren't enough shows like that on the air.

Thanks for the tissues. I might just need another box, lol!

@valkyrie Keep calm and keto on, as we say. You've made some wonderful progress.