Mark Arbour

Alright, let's be fair. Chapter have been coming out about every 4 days, and this one was early because I had cliffhanger guilt. You're right about JP and Brian, but you forget about Brad. He's the other guy who can sometimes make JP lose perspective.

I'm glad I was able to deliver! I think that sometimes people are just waiting for that call to action, or call to duty. Frank was probably wallowing in his own misery (justifiable) but Brad made him realize he had a bigger calling.

Sorry I kept you up! Recommended sleep aid: masturbation. :-)

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October 31, 2001 Escorial We watched Wade walk out of the room, and I could not help but be proud of the young man he had become. He was grappling with so many things, yet he was managing to juggle all of those challenges very well, with one exception: Matt. “Good luck,” Brad said, as he got up to leave. “Before you leave, I wonder if you would allow me to make an observation,” I said. He sat back down. “Go ahead.”

You raise an interesting issue/question: why is Wade mad at Matt? There are a number of reasons. The first is, as Wade noted, Matt has ignored him. From Wade's perspective, Matt is out slutting it up on campus (which is "allowed" as part of their relationship), but he's also ignoring Wade. And you can imagine how much that pisses Wade off; to not only be ignored, but then to have to complain about it and sound pathetic. The second is that Wade's looking around at his world, and he's had to take on the mantle of responsibility for his whole family. That, combined with his graduation in June of 2002, is pushing him into real life adulthood. In his mind, he's already out of college. Meanwhile, he looks at his partner and he sees a frat boy that won't grow up. And finally, the deal with Will would really bug Wade because it's an issue of honor. Think about how hard he fought to defend Beau from his father, and what he was willing to endure to keep his brother safe. That kind of bond is sacrosanct to Wade. In this situation, Matt is messing around with a guy Will was into, and whom Will had asked Matt not to sleep with, and that was a no-brainer for Wade. Will was like a brother to Wade, and was technically Matt's brother as well. It was a betrayal, in Wade's mind, on multiple levels. So you're right about their relationship imploding before Tony came along, but it was a crucial nail in the coffin.

Too funny. And true!

I think that Granger is much more exalted and powerful than he was before, so it would take a bold man to raid the Abbey. I'd say those guys are relatively safe.

Thanks so much! I'm glad you're enjoying it!

Thanks for the review! I think you summed up the situation quite well: Will has the moral high ground in this issue, but there are some mitigating circumstances with Matt, based on what he's dealing with.

Will hasn't said anything like that at all. In fact, the overriding push here has been for him NOT to do that, and from his conversation with Wade, it seems that he gets why that's a bad idea. I think that Brad sleeping with Wade would have pushed into the same basic moral arena as sleeping with someone your brother was into, with one major exception: Matt was fine with it, and encouraged Wade. The only one who had grounds to object was Robbie, and he had his own issues to answer for. Everyone has a right to their opinion on this, but these arguments are disingenuous. The issue here was that Will asked his brother not to sleep with a guy he was into. That's a pretty simple request, since Matt had no prior romantic/sexual relationship with Tony. The other comparisons you make are irrelevant, but I'll point out why: Zach slept with John (Will's cousin) and caused problems with their relationships. This one comes closest to the Matt-Tony thing, IMHO, but Zach has the benefit of being 14 at the time (Matt is 20). I'd note that Zach spent over a year ostracized by most family members. Maybe that's a just punishment for Matt? With Ethan's friend you're stretching the relationship limits pretty far. The friend of a brother of a guy Will considers to be his brother, even though Will just met the guy (Ethan) and doesn't really like him all that much. And of course, that assumes that Ethan and his friend have some kind of relationship, when there was no indication that they did. And it ignores the fact that Ethan's friend was actually more aggressive in hitting on Will, than Will was with the friend. If they had a relationship, shouldn't Ethan's friend have said something? And finally, JJ telling Will not to sleep with anyone when they were in Norway was a little extreme. It is the equivalent of Will telling Matt not to sleep with anyone he knew: it's too broad of a range to have an objection to. When JJ did single out Evan, Will left him alone. You argued before that it wasn't fair for Will to tell Matt who he could have sex with; doesn't this fall into that same category? And none of these examples or issues overrides the basic issue here: It's a shitty thing to do to sleep with someone your brother has a romantic relationships with, ESPECIALLY when he tells you not to.

:wizard: HAPPY BIRTHDAY! :wizard: I hope your day is perfect too, but if it isn't, at least you'll have something to bitch about. Enjoy!

You make some great points. I can't see Wade putting up with a Robbie-Brad rollercoaster ride, but JP handled a few of those in his day (Jeff and Sam come to mind). I think Wade is very rational, but he tends to let his emotions get the better of him at times when he's dealing with Matt. I think the big question here is how forgiving he is. The grammar issues are hard to pinpoint from what you posted. If you have something more specific, let me know. One thing you should be aware of, though, is that I don't worry about proper grammar in dialogue, because I'm more interested in it sounding realistic. If it's in quotations, it's possibly intentional. I hope you chuckled at Wade's reference to Joe's name. I meant no offense.

Makes sense. There are some who don't see this as a big deal, but I do. But as you noted, we all come at this with our own value systems, so we're bound to have different reads. To my way of thinking, which is similar to RJO, I really don't think Will should have even had to ask Matt to stay away from Tony. Matt knew that Will and Tony had some sort of thing going on, and that should be enough of a reason. Maybe Matt thought Will was being a drama queen about the whole thing? But then again, when Wade pulled Carl off the table in Paternity, that didn't really stop Matt either. Matt treated Will like he'd treat a bud he didn't know all that well, where you go out and bang that guy's girl/boyfriend and hope they don't find out. Mark certainly can change his mind. I think that it would seem, at face value, that JJ wouldn't do something like that for a couple of reasons. First of all, JJ's a sexual neophyte, and he's also pretty uptight about anything sexual, so it's unlikely he'd be the predatory kind of guy to do that. The second thing is that after seeing what happened with Matt, he's definitely not going to want to go down that path. He has his own life, and isn't overly tied to his brothers at this point, but he does seem to rely on them and respect them. To lose both Will and Darius (or have those relationships damaged) is probably something not worth any sexual gratification. That being said, things certainly could change. I could see a 17/18 year old JJ, with hormones raging, being much more tempted, especially if he were annoyed by Will (or Darius). You raise another issue, and that is one of Will hooking up with Alistair and Evan. I think that if JJ had a relationship with either one of them, it would have been a big deal for Will to mess around with them. In Norway things were pretty discombobulated, but Will didn't do anything with Evan after JJ told him not to. I don't see how Will fooling around with Ethan's friend falls into the same category, since Will really doesn't have a sibling relationship with Ethan. I try.

That's not the big issue with Matt and Will, and like many others have said, I can't see Will going there. Will has a very strong sense of family, and he looked to Matt in that capacity, and Matt let him down. It's unlikely that Will would turn around and do something similar to Wade. I don't think it's unresolved sexual tension, but then again, that wouldn't be the first time it's been an issue with Matt (think: Brad). Regarding colliding planets: you're a sadist. Will's a convenient whipping boy, because he's spoiled, bratty, and opinionated. I find it humorous to watch how people react to him, even when he's right, because they can't get beyond those basic features. Maybe I'm a sadist like B1ue. Matt's been less obnoxious lately, but he had his share of scenes when he was younger...I'm thinking of when he beat the shit out of Brian.

The end of college (undergrad years) can be one of the most stressful times. Matt and Wade are heading toward that, toward May, like a rocket, and they're at completely different places. Wade has fast forwarded, and he's already living the grad student life. He's at that level, and he's ready to be serious about life. Matt's stuck in the past, a perennial sophomore, determined to make the most of the 6 months or so he has left. It's really a collision course. Now add onto that the impact of grief on both of them (which probably influenced their relative maturity), and it becomes pretty ugly.

I think it's about growing up, and about grief. You also said that Matt doesn't have a brother, and I think that's part of it too. As an only child, he probably didn't really think about how to be a brother.

I think that the degree to which Will is still hung up on Tony will be assessable based on how much/often Will thinks about Tony. Something to watch for in upcoming chapters. Matt is, I think, a lot more together than Robbie, but I think he's one of the people most damaged by 9-11. I'm not sure everyone realizes that.

Thanks. That's a really bizarre turn of events: Brad ends up with his former step-son in law. I wonder how Will would rationalize that?

A scene with Tim: "Look Tim, I got you a new Bentley!" Tim looks at the Bentley with disapproval: "It's the wrong color." :-) ________________________________________________________ I think there are a lot of reasons why Will is falling for Zach besides the sex, and if you think about it, he's actually focused on those things too. With Tony, it was pretty much only the sex. With Zach, it's a lot more. Regarding the short time frame, I'd refer you back to my comments on young love, and how quickly it can develop and how passionate it can be.

Now settle down. Kicking and screaming is only a slight notch above whining. :-) The split in chapters here would have been unfortunate, except that the author is a sadistic bastard and likes inflicting that kind of pain. :-)

I think if I were Will, I'd be so tempted to just say "fuck it" and move to Maui, go to school there, and forget about all these other people. Only that's not his way, because his sense of family is much too strong for that.

1. Thanks!2. Regarding quitting everything else and only writing: No. :-)

Thanks Rachel. I think there are a couple of reasons why these guys push over the line in the sand. First of all, it's almost a challenge. It's that mountain climber mentality: it's there, so I have to climb it. I think another reason is just to be bad, to break the rules, and to rebel. Think of how hot that must have been for them in their current modes.

Thanks for the review! So it's like going up the hill of the roller coaster, knowing the drop is coming, but still looking forward to it? Cool.