John Henry

A really good way to help understand pansexuality, it to watch a clip from the Canadian show Schitt's Creek, where the character David, whom is perceived to be gay, has sex with his cis female friend, who also assumed he was gay. Stevie and David use the variety of wine as a means to explain it. In the end, David simply says, "I like the wine and not the label." For Bryan, it isn't about the gender or sex of the person, but the person themselves. For example, a bisexual person may only be attracted to fem men and cis women only; however, for a pansexual person, it wouldn't matter if they were cis, fem, butch, trans, non-binary, etc. Bryan is still trying to figure himself out and isn't going to limit himself to social norms. He likes who he likes, because he just does.

I believe Stephen King wrote in his memoire/"how to" book, "Write what you know." I know disfunction, so that's pretty easy to write. Since I know about that, also, I know how to write a life without it.

I wish I had that skill, but then I wouldn't have fodder for my stories. Not sure it's worth the inspiration, but it is what it is.

Thank you, and yes, and he didn't get to just sit on his ass, either.

I wanted to imply that the bigger talk was rather embarrassingly detailed, so the one presented needed to have that threat of potential humiliation. Being an openly gay dad, I didn't feel it would've been appropriate for Diego to make a big deal out of the boys' sexuality, while also setting boundaries and expectations. Kenny is an emotionally sensitive kid, while Bryan can be emotionally shut off, so I think Diego would want them to not rush into anything that could create baggage or harm each other. As for Bryan learning his lesson and to "engage his brain before mouth"...well, he is a teenager, so....

Luckily, I never experienced the problem, but I can imagine it would be extremely painful. Lol It would also definitely be a bigger point of gossip in a junior high a fight, regardless of who was involved. Lol

Unfortunately, that's not how society works, just or not.

Lol. Yes, except I wasn't thinking the kid was uncircumcised. It was a call back to the "franks and beans" scene from There's Something about Mary. If you haven't seen or heard of it, check out the clip on YouTube. Lol. Despite mundane nature of the chapter, though, it is important.

Honestly, I think it was fair. I had a brother very much like Dan and he was constantly in fights, but wasn't ever really punished, even by our parents. An administrator can only do so much, but having cameras is an important tool I think all schools should have.

The week went by slowly. Bryan was given some pretty hefty chores, including cleaning the kitchen from top to bottom, which meant pulling everything out of the cupboards, wiping those down, washing all the dishes—whether needed or not—cleaning out and scrubbing the refrigerator, and cleaning the oven and stove top...and that was just the first day. By the end of the week, Bryan had landscaped the front and back yards, cleaned out and scrubbed the bathroom and garage, cleaned and re-organized the

Bryan is a teenager. He's not even sure what his true emotional state is, so there will be many confusing actions and contradictions between his actions and internal dialogue. Diego has already mentioned and Bryan has hinted (for want of a better word) that he doesn't want to connect to his own emotions. Every time he starts to feel big emotions and hard feelings, his stomach hurts, so he tries to suppress them.

I don't know if I've mentioned this in the comments or in the story prior, but it is/will be a theme of the story; Bryan has major attachment issues. He doesn't dislike Steve, he's just keeping the man at arms length, so if things don't work out, Bryan won't get hurt, that's why nobody has said anything to him about it. Steve has prior experience dealing with boys who've had a lot of trauma in their lives (he's a minor side character from a novel trilogy I'm finishing over on Nifty.) Bryan's fear of attachment is his biggest motivator, and Calvin's abandonment is key to it. Bryan not mourning his mother's death isn't healthy, because he kept himself from getting attached, and there are reasons for all that which will be addressed later on, among other problems with Calvin. There are reasons why Diego got custody. Caleb maybe young and immature, but I'm hoping to convey that, through Diego's love and influence, the boys have flourished in every way, especially intellectually.

Bryan does have a high awareness of his issues, but he lets fear guide his actions.

Bryan, currently, doesn't have a therapist. He refuses to engage, which adds to his issues. I can't remember if that's been addressed already or not.

Diego made spaghetti and meatballs. Bryan and Kenny sat next to each other, while Steve and Diego flanked them, with Caleb on the opposite side. Bryan could feel his ears burn as he thought back to his make out session with Kenny a few minutes before. Both teens kept their eyes on their plates. Bryan was painfully aware that Diego was looking his way. “So Kenny,” Diego said, with a hint of playfulness in his voice, “How was school?” “Good,” Kenny said, shifting uncomfortably in his sea

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Thank you for noticing the bit of meta humor I added. I was beginning to think it would get missed. Bryan's awareness of himself and his sexuality is largely due to being raised by an openly gay man. Though it hasn't been discussed and there's no real need to do so, I assumed the boys would have questions about why Diego didn't have a wife or girlfriend, and why his "guy friends" stayed the night and shared his bed. Diego's family is liberal minded, as Diego's parents wouldn't have tolerated anything less, so he would've been out of the closet for a long time, making the conversation less awkward. He would've discussed various sexualities on a level they could grasp, and no doubt, would've discussed gender and gender identity. A large part of my influence for this non-scene in the backstory came from the "Red Wine" scene in the show Schitt's Creek. If you haven't seen it, I you can watch the show on Hulu or find it on YouTube. Diego is the type of parent that most kids should have. He's firm but fair, with love and responsibility pretty much viewed as the same thing. It's Diego's devotion and patience with the boys, especially Bryan, that allows Bryan to open up and gives the boy permission to be himself, flaws and all, which will be more prominent later on. As for questions, you can ask them here, but don't expect spoilers. If you're looking for spoilers, though, you can either DM or email me, and see what you get.

@Summerabbacat, the story, thus far, has a heavy focus on Diego and Bryan, and the reason why will be apparent throughtout the story. Caleb and Bryan are just some examples of how kids cope under similar situations. It's one of the failings of psychology to assume that people react similarly to stressors, which often makes it more akin to astrology. As for more Caleb, he is present and not ignored but, for the moment at least, isn't a central focus. Since I'm not really keeping notes or plotting this story out, Caleb's role and focus may change in the future, as it could for Steve and anyone else I bring in.

@drsawzall, yeah, Bryan's abandonment issues will be a focus.

Thank you, @chris191070. I'm glad you like the chapter. A lot is starting to occur (I'm working on Chapter 11), so we'll see what Dan gets up to. Bryan and Diego are my focus with this story (so far), so it's important that they get established in depth.

I think George R. R. Martin had a good idea about having an appendix in the back with the nicknames, places, houses, etc. that he referenced to help readers. The same could be accomplished on here with notes and the prologue sections. One of my favorite animes, Bastard, turned heavy metal band names into locations but used puns to do it. On a personal note, avoid the remake. It sucks compared to the original. I think names should also be pronounceable. If it doesn't "roll off the tongue" it isn't worth reading, in my opinion.

Okay. There are many nuances when it comes to Fair Use with copyrights and trademarks. So let's establish a few ground rules: 1. You can passively mention a real person, place, product or company without issue. For example, "Jimmy prefers Coke over Pespi." That's fair use. 2. You cannot/should not use a person, place, product or company with frequent occurrences. For example, "Jimmy works for Cocoa-Cola" is fine, but if the story is centered around Cocoa-Cola, you will infringe on Cocoa-Cola's trademarks since it isn't happen stance or incidental. 3. You can bypass Rule #2 when using it in parody. For example, you can't write a fantasy world that in habits Hobbits, as that is still owned by the Tolkien estate; however, if you're fictional world parodies Lord of the Rings (such as National Lampoons' Bored of the Rings book), you can get away with it, as long as you make the necessary changes to the original materials to qualify as parody. 4. Mentioning a famous or real life person is okay, but you cannot make them into main or frequently used characters without violating or triggering Likeness Rights. For example, Jimmy could be a huge Mark Hamill fan so he's on a quest to meet his hero, but you can't make Mark Hamill a regular character without risking likeness rights problems. There is nuance to this, such as basing characters on real people to the point that it is clearly said person, name change or not. A good fictional example can be found in the movie Chasing Amy regarding Jay & Silent Bob being used as the basis for Bluntman & Chronic. 5. Publicly owned places, like parks, and government agencies (for almost all of them) are always fair use. Space Force is the exception. Space Force's copyrights and trademarks are actually owned by the people who made the Netflix series, Space Force, since Donald Trump's administration didn't secure any of that when creating the agency. It isn't very likely they'd go after you, but they technically still could. 6. Fan fiction can still violate copyrights and trademarks. Ann Rice, Wizards of the Coast (owners of Magic: the Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons) and others have tried to stop fan fiction from being made, so you may want to do some research before writing in those worlds. 7. When in doubt, change it all together. Not that we have that established, we have to discuss Fair Use vs. Public Domain. Public Doman deal with two essential issues: Expired copyrights & trademarks and common uses in language, such as slang (in particular). There's a great video by Devin from Legal Eagle on YouTube that goes over this in better detail than I will (he's also a lawyer, and I'm not), but until a copyright or trademark expires, you cannot legally use it without permission (preferably written). Any attempt to do so, can leave you open for a lawsuit. As for Disney, a lot of their older materials were taken from sources what were already in Public Domain at the time. For example, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. You can write a story using Snow White and Disney can't stop you; however, you cannot use the seven dwarves as depicted in the film, since Disney came up with the names of each one. Under fair use, you can casually mention the dwarves by name, but that it has to be as brief as possible and they can't be reoccurring characters. You can use Whinny the Pooh from the original book, but you cannot use Disney depiction of the character. Steamboat Willy is set to expire next year, so you can use that character in your stories, but you cannot use Mickey Mouse, who is essentially Steamboat Willy. As for Common Use in Language, anytime a copyright or trademark become so synonymous with a particular item that any like-item is called by that copyright or trademark, it basic overrides the rights and becomes Public Domain. For example, "aspirin" and "band-aids" are technically trademarked (Baer owns Aspirin and Johnson & Johnson owns Band-Aids), but since the product name is also used to describe other, similar products the trademark doesn't hold unless you are specifically referring to the brand names themselves. This is where grammar is very important. "Aspirin" is trademarked, but "aspirin" is not. In a story, you can say, "could you get me coke?", meaning any cola, or, "could you get me a Coke?", meaning Cocoa-Cola, the specific drink. One is public domain while the other is fair use. Each country has their own rules and laws regarding all of this, so it's good to google it for your place of origin. Disney is constantly trying to extend the length of time to hold its copyrights and trademarks, which they have done a lot, so just do a quick search and you should find it.

Diego, Bryan and Kenny got into Diego's truck and headed away from the school. Kenny said that he ran into Diego and asked for a ride. “Bryan—“ Diego started but Bryan cut him off. “Dad, can we just move on? The fight was so last chapter?” “Oh, you've got jokes now?” Diego asked with a small smile on his face, while Kenny giggled. “I'm mean, I've always had jokes, so....” “Well, I'm glad you think all of this is funny.” “Thanks Dad,” Bryan said with a wide smile. “I

It's sad to say that this is far more common than it should be.