slightlymad

I love Will, and I broadly think the system he and Travis have (free to fuck around, but power of veto over each other’s partners) is as reasonable as it can be under difficult circumstances. I also think it’s always going to play out better for Will - he obviously has much easier access to fuckbuddies, but he can also read and exert influence over Travis much more easily than vice versa. I think fundamentally that Will is maybe a bit too ‘much’ for Travis in the sense that idk if their relationship can ever be one of equals. He’s lowkey running rings around Travis taking advantage of the system they have set up - it’s probably true that he can compartmentalise feelings much better than Travis, and that Austin is less of a threat to their relationship than Kendo, but he’s being a bit manipulative in trying to make sure Travis doesn’t use his veto on Austin. Ngl if I was Travis I’d be a bit pissed off if my partner was claiming this magical ability to compartmentalise: ‘He’s not a threat, babe, I just have this great box I put him in.’ Also feels like Will is having his cake and eating it all the time - I am not a Will hater; he’s literally my favourite CAP character, but even I was a bit like ‘Really, he wins the lottery again?’ when he found out about his practical immunity to HIV. Anyway, hope he and Travis resolve the current issue, but not sure how this pattern of jealousy and oscillating between fighting and making up actually gets broken before Will graduates lol. Look forward to seeing what’s in store!

Loving it! (Haven’t commented in ages but will do a better job of showing my appreciation.) I love and feel a bit sorry for Travis; the whole present fiasco with Travis passive aggressively (or subconsciously?) acting out his frustration at the relationship between Will and Austin and his own entrapment is beautifully done - hope it gets resolved quickly (at least Will, flawed though his bull-in-a-china-shop approach sometimes is, doesn’t tend to let things fester). Also excited for Travis’s first move role and the building tension between his increasing fame and the necessity of staying in the closet (every time I see Matt Bomer on screen it makes me a bit sad about the degree to which being open about his sexuality 20 years ago probably compromised his career). Love the New York scenes (particularly any of Jeremy’s interior monologues). Also loved the whole fashion and Will becoming an ‘it’ boy plotline (although Ngl it makes me uncomfortable every time Will gets with child rapist Patrick Christian). Curious to see what his career plans are (he now seems to be doing more econ modules at Harvard?). Think he’s said in the past to Stef that he doesn’t want to join the VC game (though his spontaneous investments kinda mean he already has) - is he gonna start an NGO after the Katrina experience? Become CAP’s first non-abusive politician? Super excited to see what u have in store!

Hi! Thanks for giving me a great last couple of weeks (albeit less productive than they should have been because I was caught up reading this). I remember reading the OG version on nifty maybe 15 years ago (?) as a pretty young teenager and being mesmerised at an actual full-length gay fantasy novel existing amongst the wank material (not that this isn’t, but…). Also remember my disappointment with the literal cliffhanger things were left on at the end of Book 1, and wondering whether I’d ever know what happened next. Well now I do, and am beyond glad about it. (I was genuinely really fucking excited when I rediscovered this.) I love fantasy. I love gay. I love college. Even without that venn diagram, though, this is awesome. Every character is great and hot and distinctive and I love the architecture of your world and Q and Jacob and their relationship (though I remember wanting Jacob and Arsen to get together when I read this originally). I also love how long you’ve kept the lore and plot threads running and weaving through the story (and am lowkey bouncing to see where this whole new chaotic Skailer narrative spins to). Thanks so much for coming back! ❤️

Loved it - been catching up with the series over the last week (had about 50 chapters to cover) so thanks for brightening the start of the new year! As a pretty solid Will/Zach stan I admired how deftly you undermined my support for Zach (I always liked his ruthlessness, and understood why he kinda had to keep choosing football over Will beyond just love of the game - it’s the only mechanism he had to be on a social/financial level with Will by his own efforts - can’t imagine Zach ever being a kept man). Anyway, he was abusive and Will drew his red line immediately with me cheering (literally the only thing I hate about Will is his willingness to continue sleeping/consorting with a rapist - I appreciate he has feelings for Patrick and it’s difficult to switch those off, but that whole situation is still a massive ick for me). Interested in whether there’s any specific reason behind Zach’s sudden rages (you drop so many Chekhov’s guns I never have any idea which is about to go off). Kinda glad these ones were the most recent chapters as I get to comment on them still fresh and have fucking loved them. Curious about a couple of things at the moment: The Insurance Policy How the insurance policy came to be - Curtis Buck (a man who clearly intended to live forever) taking out a policy and paying premiums in the last, financially straitened year of his life? At the very least it looks sus enough for an insurance company to spend a LONG time investigating Does the fact that Zach appears to have known about this focus suspicion onto him - we only have his word that Taylor killed Curtis, and that Taylor chose her relationship with Curtis over her relationship with him. It’s an unlikely an high-risk strategy, but at the moment it looks like his rival for Taylor (a man he hated, a girl he loves) is dead, and he’s guilted Travis/Will (and by extension Will’s family) into both helping covering up the murder and paying out a $100m insurance policy that might be difficult or impossible for Taylor/Big to claim Slightly confused by Will’s willingness to go in on the insurance payout with Travis - I appreciate family/honour/protecting the people he loves are immeasurably more important to him than money, but it’s a huge amount, and the decision seems to have been made so quickly and easily by him? Particularly when idk how big the genuine risk to Zach/Travis is At the very least, I’d imagine some hard-nosed negotiating is possible - given the relative weakness of Taylor/Big’s position I’d imagine an immediate payment of considerably less than the theoretically possible $100m insurance would buy them off The CCTV Seems weird that Jake would plan his assault so meticulously, and forget about/ignore the risk of it being recorded Would also seem to be mutually assured destruction: Big/Taylor potentially having concrete evidence of Jake’s assaulting Curtis, but then having to deny (somehow) that the tape was running when Curtis was murdered (which, if Zach is telling the truth, would prove Taylor guilty of a far more significant crime) Having just got everyone’s late night/instinctive responses to the situation in this chapter, I’m curious to see how things pan out when it gets more calculating in the morning! (Loving your work, as ever, and braced for the inevitable 15 more twists before this is all resolved ❤️)