methodwriter85

Chapter 29 -When Stefan lies in a coma after getting shot, drifting in and out of consciousness. "If You Could Read My Mind" by Gordon Lightfoot -When Roger talks to Stefan in his coma, willing his friend to wake up. "Cherish" by David Cassidy -When Brad talks to Stefan in his coma, willing his blood brother to wake up...and he does. "Daniel" by Elton John -When Stefan and Greg are reunited at the hospital. "Your Song" by Elton John -When Stefan talks to one of the guys who were involved with the shooting, and shows mercy. "I'd Like to Teach The World To Sing" by the New Seekers -When Stefan and Greg make love to each other at the end, healing from their experience. "I'll Have to Say I Love You In A Song" by Jim Croce

Chapter 28 -When Scott and Armand develop a good friendship so that by Thanksgiving, he's staying with the family, and Armand helps give him a makeover. "You've Got A Friend" by James Taylor -For when Armand tells Scott he's gay, who freaks out, and then Stefan helps the two boys deal with their teenage angst. "Baba O'Riley" by The Who -When the new power couple hosts a party celebrating homosexuality being taken off the mental illness list, and Stefan helps Armand and Scott sort out their relationship. Again. Gotta love teen angst. "Cum on Feel the Noise" by Slade -When Stefan and Greg get shot at. "What's Going On?" by Marvin Gaye

Chapter 27 When Stefan describes the trials of 1973- the Yom Kippur War, the economy, the Long Gas lines, and Richard Nixon. "Devil's Answer" by Atomic Rooster -When Stefan and Greg go to one of Jackie's famous Hollywood "networking" parties. "China Groove" by Doobie Brothers -When Stefan and Greg find Armand, who is completely strung out after too much drugs and sex. "The Jean Genie" by David Bowie -When they deal with the fallout the next morning, which includes the discovery of VD and Stefan moving Armand out of Jackie's house. "Morning After" by Maureen McGovern -Armand moving in with Stefan, being forced to live like an actual teenager, and making friends with a nice 17-year old boy named Scott. "Stuck in the Middle With You" by Steve Miller Band

Chapter 26 -When Greg and Stefan meet briefly with Roger at Alamaden, who approves of the relationship. "Friends" by Elton John -When Greg and Stefan confront Al, Greg's college roomate. And Stefan uses his innate charm to calm the guy down. "Little Willy" by the Sweet -When the happy couple travel to Australia on one very long flight. "Midnight Rider" by Greg Allman -When Greg and Stefan make a love pact. "I'll Be There" by Jackson 5

Personally, I don't find it necessary to actually see Will's graduation ceremony because he was already so checked out of high school. It's not going to summon up the deep emotions that it would have if Will had actually been emotionally tuned into his school environment the way someone like Matt Carrswold was. Of course it's always up to Mark but I kind of love ending it this way. He could always cover the graduation in an epilogue or a prologue to the next story.

Chapter 25 -When Brad talks to Stefan about coming to terms with his gay identity, with Stefan offering him guidance. "All the Young Dudes" by Mott the Hopple -When Greg surprises Stefan at Escorial, where they retire to the bedroom and finally exchange "I love you". "I Want to Be With You" by The Raspberries -In bed, when Greg asks Stefan to move in with him, and become husband and "wife". "We've Only Just Begun" by the Carpenters

Chapter 24 -When it's announced that Israel is being invaded, causing chaos. "Life on Mars" by David Bowie -When Greg and Stefan fly back to the U.S., having to change planes several times and staying overnight in a hotel, while falling in love. "Starman" by David Bowie -When they get back to California, and Greg informs Stefan informs him that he's seeing his old college love for the weekend. "I Don't Know How to Love Him" by Helen Reddy -When Stefan gets to wine country, finds Roger, makes some amends, and sleeps with him. "Angie" by the Rolling Stones

Chapter 23 -When Stefan mopes around J.P.'s house, feeling bad about the break-up with Roger and wondering when Greg will call him. "It Never Rains in Southern California" by Albert Hammond -When Stefan and Greg go out to dinner, and Greg explains his own personal baggage. "One Bad Apple" by The Osmonds I'm going to take a moment and comment here. Whippersnappers? The Osmonds were to the 70's what the Jonas Brothers are to this (2000's) decade. It's amazing how the more things change, the more they stay the same... -When Greg and Stefan make love, and Stefan promises to never hurt him. "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" by Carole King Goddamn, this is such a beautiful song. -At the Hollywood party, where John Bartlett hits on Stefan, but Stefan turns him down to stay true to Greg. "Betcha By Golly, Wow" by the Stylistics -When Greg has to leave for Israel, and Stefan decides to go with him. "Leaving On A Jet Plane" by John Denver

Chapter 22 -When Stefan and Roger get to the swinger's party in Hollywood, and Roger immediately drops trou to partake in the orgies. "The Children of the Revolution" by T. Rex -When Stefan meets Greg Anders, Hollywood Whiz Kid, feels an immediate attraction, and gets asked out. "Wig Wam Bam" by The Sweet -As the party goes on, and Stefan meets up with Armand, and they have sex. "Dancing in the Moonlight" by King Harvest -When Stefan gets with Greg Anders. Post-coital, they talk about how they aren't the monogamous type. "Desperado" by Linda Ronstadt -For the night of the American Graffiti premiere, and the crazy sex that ensues. "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" by Elton John

Chapter 21 -When Stefan is at the 4th of July Claremont festival, and runs into Vivienne. "Everday People" by Sly and the Family Stone -When Stefan talks to Sam, who smacks some sense into him about Roger. "Everybody Plays the Fool" by Main Ingredient -When Stefan gets back to Los Angeles, sees Roger at the bathhouse, and then they talk about their relationship. "I'll Meet You Halfway" by The Partridge Family -When Brad talks to Stefan about his sexual abuse, and Stefan lays out why what Josh did was wrong. "Teach Your Children" by Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young

Chapter 20 -When Roger decides to bottom for Stefan, and they make love. "Make It With You" by Bread -When Stefan talks to Brad about how Josh died, and Brad admits that Josh molested him. "Ooh Child" by Bruce Ruffin (1971 Cover of the Five Stairsteps hit) -When Stefan visits the bathouse, and sees all the crazy sex going on. "Get it On" (Bang A Gong" by T. Rex -When Stefan confronts Roger, and then, over in Claremont, effectively screws over Nick and Bitty in terms of inheritance. "No More Mr. Nice Guy" by Alice Cooper

Chapter 105 -When Will walks off, leaving Taylor smiling. "I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman" by Britney Spears I can't believe I'm closing the book with this, but whatever. It fits. LOL

Chapter 105 -When Will walks off, leaving Taylor smiling. "I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman" by Britney Spears I can't believe I'm closing the book with this, but whatever. It fits. LOL

Chapter 104 -When Taylor Buck kills her father. "Butterfly Kisses" by Bob Carlisle You know, I kind of love taking a sweet song and applying to a twisted moment. LOL I feel like it needed to be something that would be played during a daughter/father dance. LOL

Chapter 104 -When Taylor Buck kills her father. "Butterfly Kisses" by Bob Carlisle You know, I kind of love taking a sweet song and applying to a twisted moment. LOL I feel like it needed to be something that would be played during a daughter/father dance. LOL

As Joan Crawford would say, "This ain't my first time at the rodeo." People have been having "accidental" overdoses or "suicides" in this story since at least 1968. (Can't remember if JP had any people killed during the original CAP story, but he definitely did in 1968 and The Land Whore.)

I guess we could go with Zach being 6'1" and 210. Travis could be 6'1" and 185. So a sizeable difference, but not to the point that the hoodie disguise scheme wouldn't work, especially at a distance. This is reminding me of the behind the scenes discussion we had about Big's height. You originally wrote Big as being six inches taller than Darius, which would have put him at about 6'6" because Darius is canonically 6 feet tall. (Annoying JJ that both his brothers are over 6 feet tall, while he's stuck at 5'6".LOL)

I went back to the clothes scene in chapter 90. Here's the monologue about Travis's body: A lot, but not enough,” Stef insisted. Now that he’d stopped shopping, he looked exhausted, which wasn’t surprising considering the energy he’d put into getting Travis outfitted with a new wardrobe. Travis wasn’t as easy to shop for as some guys. I thought back to when Stef and I had taken Ryan Grafton out to look at clothes. Everything seemed to fit Ryan perfectly, while Travis was the kind of guy where things either fit him really well or looked like shit. I pondered that most of the clothes seemed to be designed to fit men who looked like JJ or Kevin Carmichael. Travis was definitely not a twink, so maybe that was the reason. Stef, rather than finding it frustrating, seemed to thrive on it. “It’s not as easy to shop as it used to be,” Travis said, reading my mind. “That is because you have a bigger body frame,” Stef said, stroking his ego. “Like I’m fat?” Travis asked, confused. I rolled my eyes at him. “You are most definitely not fat, and you have an amazing physique,” Stef said, stroking his ego. “Contrast yourself to JJ, who is quite muscular and fit, but that has a slimming effect on his frame. He does not have muscles that bulge out, whereas you do.” I looked at Travis and could see that. “You’re more like Zach in that regard,” I noted. Going by that, I'm guessing it's safe to assume that Zach and Travis are pretty close in size. Zach is probably bigger, but not a 35-pound plus difference, I don't think.

You did write that Travis is somewhat beefier than Will, right? I doubt he's that much tinier than Zach.

I would have agreed with you, but Mark described Zach as having a lean "Hemsworth" type of body in one scene early in the story. I almost flagged it as anachronistic but Mark countered that Will spending time in Australia meant he could have become very familiar with the charms of Chris Hemsworth while watching tv there.

Without going into spoilers...you sure as hell met it.

All this talk about past characters made me remember Alexandra Carmichael. The official fancast is Sigourney Weaver. Of course, to align with the age, we need to go with 2010's Sigorney Weaver when she was still in her 60's. (Alex would have to be at least in her 60's, right? She should be close to the age of Isidore, JP, and Fred, who are all late 50's/early 60's.) Such a stunning woman! She's aged incredibly well as a 70-something. I'm assuming she's gone to the school of, "don't do much, keep it subtle."

Wade, Tiffany, Matt, and their kids Riley, Madison, and Bobby are currently in Boston. Brad's brother Ace divorced his wife and moved to Italy to be with his college fling, Bianca. I'm guessing Courtney splits time between her mother and father. The Ohio contingent (the Cramptons, the Hendricksons, the Hayes, and the Schluters) still seem to be doing what they do in Ohio. I think Gathan Hayes should be graduating from Stanford at this time. I would guess he'd probably move to Chicago after graduation, as it's close enough to home but also in a big city with big city opportunities. I believe Ella Hayes (really a Crampton) is modeling in New York City. No clue if she's bonded with Uncle JJ or if she even realizes he's her uncle. Wade Danfield's sister Mary Ellen and Alexander Granger are currently setting up their family dynasty in England. So far there's at least one son named Freddie (who I believe was born sometime in the summer of 2003), and I would guess Mary Ellen and Alexander are already working on the spare. After which, I'm sure Mary Ellen will go on birth control (or even get her tubes tied) and then start screwing around with impunity when she realizes that Alex isn't going to stop slutting himself around. The Carmichaels (Brad's biological paternal side of the family) seem to be mostly based in San Diego because of the whole navy thing. We haven't seen much of them since Alexandra Carmichael got defeated.

Re: the hoodie scene. How convenient that Travis and Zach are both 6'1" athletic blondes who would look similar from a distance. LOL JJ's old room. Given the traumatic event that happened to JJ there, I don't blame JJ for never coming back. LOL

Great work, Private Tim. I do believe that Ace divorced Cass and got back with his European fling from Man In Motion. That was basically how Mark wrote off his character. Can't remember which book that happened in- maybe Flux? I feel like Ace was around for 9/11 but dipped out after that.