Mattyboy

Yeah, but EVERY protester has a camera these days, and everyone's trying to get a clip of somebody taking a poke at them so they can run off and justify an assault claim. It's stupid as hell, but we live in a fallen world. And we also live in a world where if you utter a threat, and then a really stupid accident happens caused by someone close to you, the person you threatened is gonna own your house.

Diego needs to get his shit together. He did two unlikeable and foolish things in this chapter. Even thinking about assaulting Raul in the courthouse was fucking dumb; Billy had demolished Raul, and that'd lose Diego the kids to CPS on summary judgement before anyone left the building. And the joke "I'll give you 100 per adult." One moron runs in front of the car and both Diego and Steve are up for murder 1 and conspiracy. No more jokes at court, Diego. None. He's enforcing that rule on Bryan, he should think about it for himself.

I'm there that Billy isn't close to losing. It's a considerable advantage that Billy/Diego has that if the judge is going to be a stickler for the letter of the law (as he seems to be and is a reasonable way to judge), it's going to be hard to get past Calvin signing away his rights. Bryan-wants-to-do-it would be a reason to vary from letter-of-the-law, but it's clear that isn't the case. It didn't get settled officially, but the judge has to be pretty aware that "kids-must-be-on-their-best-behavior" isn't legally or practically enforceable. It feels it might be Debra Thomas' church bankrolling this nonsense.

Thank you for this excellent and fresh story. Fine storytelling working through this arc: the issues your characters faced at the start (🌦️) have been sorted (☔). But where that arc has taken us is that your characters now have positive futures. 🌈 So returns to Netherwich to check in on your ensemble would be fun and - I'm pretty sure - popular.

Yay for people working it out and coming together!

I imagine this will be worked out by tomorrow. Hehe, well done, John.

It took a while to explain to Alec and Finn, I seem to remember. Maybe there's a dom/sub phase to this coming up, but I find master/brat enormously easier to read about characters I like. And more fun. Because neither of them loses themselves in their relationship-role. I'm finding that to be something I like a lot about this story... I know it's a romantic comedy (possibly on the wildly sexy side). I Hate This Town spent a long time looking like maybe it was going to be a tragedy. But we can trust have faith in Riv-Ken, Ken-Er, Kenver whatever we're calling this is going to be alright.

Ken is so different from any of your other characters - powerful source of potential story-energy there.

Liam offered a kind of B- welcome at the beginning, but hitting-on or getting handsy with a cancer refugee on day one would have been awful behavior, because he was obviously vulnerable, and where could Mike go if he said no? I see it as a pretty good ethical choice from Liam to let Mike set the pace on how intimate sharing a room was going to be. Mike wanted Liam early, but it might be better that didn't happen on day one.

You're making a good choice. The journey itself is the point.

This feels like "category 3" might be a modestly charming understatement.

This is fine, the comments gang seem to be enjoying puzzling this out, and I don't want you to tamper with the pacing just to settle this down. Further on this, though- Caleb was curious and tried a bit first visit, and didn't this time. Did he get what he wanted? or is he feeling pressured into following Bryan and everyone else's cues now ?

Very weird about Calvin. Even if he's after some chance of money (or whatever other external motivation), it's odd that he isn't even trying to fake it. I feel that stunt with the gun, as entertaining as it was, might come back up in court in a bad way. Does Calvin have a case on "there wasn't supposed to be anyone here"?

Wow, short, but a lot just happened, and Kenan (and us) learned something about Moses

We're coming up on the climax! Thank you for the note Laura, acknowledging that "these chapters are not the easiest to read." I feel from pretty early on you signaled everyone that this was noir and it was going to get dark. It's a detective thriller. It's bad to be in the clutches of evil psychos (and their many minions) But it's an extremely refreshing twist that you've set this up so we can skip the stupid scene where the hostage won't cooperate with their rescuer because they don't understand the situation or can't get over themselves. Being a hostage to evil psychos is kinda the only thing that Otis isn't naive about. And even Jackie, who still might screw up, isn't trending stupid. The army of minions outside might actually help the cops identify that there's something on in the building, and I hope they've had enough warning to bring a big enough hammer. Otis lives and we have hope!

Sounds a bit like Don't Blame the Band by Lee Wilson

"Later, when I was deep in the closet" is a fun double-entendre

David! tell Grandpa! So someone will know what happened if Burch and Johnson murder you to keep you quiet.

well, "rationalize" but also one of his friends was murdered a few weeks ago and being gay was a big part of it, and someone tried to murder him today (not thinking about that much) but being close-lipped might be a smart safety play in Daleville.

David! Send the BARF file to Grandpa!

Yeah, I suspect that too. David, tell Grandpa and/or Sarah RIGHT NOW

Yay, Jackson, Luke, and the Best Year did go back to the clearing! Nicely resolved with Cindy (assist to Pastor Alan, likely). Thanks for throwing out the tidbit that Jackson swept the freestyle races at State. Congratulations on completing the epic of the Best Year.

Cool. It's been a fun feature of this story. Also, yay new guy!

Who's the new guy in the profile-picture-of-the-week?

The brat-dynamic is a lot of fun. And excellent fun that they both seem to be into it.