Tris

I loved this. I could relate to so much of this, though it was much more elaborate, shall I say, than a short episode from a long time ago in a place rather far away. We are all in touch, and on good terms, all these decades later.

This just might work; the gods seem gentle, at least for now.

One of the best things I've read in quite a while. Makes me think I should have attended a class reunion a long time ago. If only!

The good @drsawzall speaks for me at this point ... or as an acquaintance of mine decades ago put it, "the mind boggles, reels, and falls."

Clearly, these boys have it Bad for each other. I'm jealous of them 😉

When I began reading this chapter, the thought suddenly occurred to me that this could be, well, exactly as it turned out to be. Finally!

Tangentally, the (medieval?) legend of the (undying) Wandering Jew came to my mind in "all this." I'm not up on my medieval legends, but I remember my father mentioning The Wandering Jew in a "once upon a time" sort of way when I was growing up. That story doesn't seem to be related to this tale - not that I know of, anyways. But fascination with not dying has entertained humans for quite sometime, cf. Tuck Everlasting, inter alia.

I am left with a heaviness of heart. Is it inexplicable? Yes, and no. With this ever resolve itself?

Good for mom! And hopefully bio-dad Anthony will prove be a bit more of a human being.

Life can be complicated, eh?

I think that maybe - just maybe - I might be making sense of this. Might be. And so, I soldier on.

??!?

This is getting wonderfully agonizing.

Zounds!

This all strikes very close to Home for me. It definitely has the Ring of Truth.

Gripping from the outset.

Misty-eyed here. The ride has been magnificent. In a way, I'm envious of these guys. I hope we all get to enjoy each other more/again/soon. Thanks!

One cannot say Owen's parents were gracious. But then, they were shell shocked. But what else would one expect? I'm amazed they were able to hold it together to the extent that they did. Owen is gone, but not permanently. Doors were left open - even with Dear Ol' Dad's financial calculations and declaration hanging in the air. He was trapped in that world of his own making. Maybe Eric showed him possibilities that Owen's dad would never have entertained otherwise.

Both of these guys have been victimized by their families - mainly their fathers. Who knows whether either of them will emerge from their entrapment. If they do, neither of them will emerged unscathed. Both yearn for "liberation" but, alas, the price is high for both.

Exactly. Both men are so attractive in their own way. They are so easy to empathize with. Kudos @mastershakeme for having brought thein both into our world.

i hesitate to criticize because I don't think I'm very good at this kind of composition. In all my years of consuming gay porn, I have only once ever submitted to.a Third Party something I've written: a few short decades ago I wrote an autobiographical piece about one of my earlier gay experiences. To me, the results struck me as almost clinical in tone rather than homoerotic. I guess I didn't have the knack. The story presented here in GA seems somewhat similar. It isn't bad; it seems simply uninspired and rather formulaic. I am always in awe of well-written and stimulating homoerotic material. That adds to my hesitance to join the many masterful writers I have encountered online. And when I run across a story that has a formulaic feel to it, the first thing that crosses my mind is a suspicion that a machine has been involved rather than a good, old-fashioned human brain overflowing with talent.

I hesitate to express this opinion - and expect a lot of readers will fault me for it - but I cannot see Margot as negatively as most of our fellow readers. And Jules is not the only one who finds some redeeming value in Margot. Owen, for all his shortcomings, also finds something of value in her friendship. In some ways, Owen and Margot are two kindred spirits. While what binds them cannot be solely chalked up to "misery loves company" among the legions of the closeted, Margot was the one who initiated the process to bring Owen out of his shell. She may not have been adept at it, may not have been pure in her motives, and she may have complicated.a number of lives in the process, but as my own father might have said, "her heart was in the right place." But then, my dad (God rest his soul) was an old softie. Heck, I think my dad would have liked Ryder - but that's another story.

Poor Owen - is he not a Victim. if not THE Victim? I guess there's enough blame to go around, but wasn't Owen groomed to be the way he is - by his parents and family, at least to begin with? Of course, his personality made him an easy target, so easy to gang up on. Good grief!

One can see why Owen can't stand up for himself. He never has. Why start now? He wouldn't know how. Life can be so much easier when you let someone else make all the decisions. But if that's the way Owen goes, he'll learn that's a helluva way to "live." One can only hope against hope that someone pulls a rabbit out of a hat - though that's a way to have someone else make decisions, eh? It feels like it might be too late for Owen - except that he has already "tasted" freedom from spending an afternoon with Ryder.

It was uncharitable for Ryder to point this out. Poor Owen - won't anybody cut him some slack?