methodwriter85

Well, yeah. I think it's telling that Will has never been with a Golden Boy type, or at least got really serious about one. I think Will is attracted to guys he wants to "fix" in some way.

I was looking at Beau Mirchoff in something and he kind of gave off a loveable Hayes vibe. Like who was the cousin with the dark hair that fixed the 1968 El Dorado? I think Gathan's brother?

You know, it occurred to me that Will's two most serious relationships in the series (Zach and Travis) were with guys who WEREN'T the Golden Child type. Zach may have been a talented football player but he was enough of an asshole that nobody really liked him and he was somewhat of an outsider with the Hayes family. Travis was downright the black sheep of his family. (Maybe why Travis seems to sympathize with Jeremy because he knows what it's like to not be the favorite son of a family?) And I think that's interesting. Would someone like Will really be able to have a relationship with a guy who has also never been told no, always been the favored child, and never really failed at anything he tried to do, or would it drive him crazy? Would Will even be attracted to a guy like that? Will seems to be a "fixer" type- if he were with a Mr. Perfect type I think he'd get bored really easily.

I used Grok to make my Jack fancast (Louis Partridge) look 40 years old and with hazel eyes. This was the base photo:

Did you get an invite to Bryan Singer parties? (Just kidding, Bryan Singer wasn't a thing until about 1997 and you were already too old for him at the ripe age of 20.)

Chapter 22 -When Will absolutely hates his life as the new It Boy. "I Just Wanna Live" by Good Charlotte I'm so glad we're in 2005 now. I think music goes on an upwards trajectory for about the next 10 or so years. The fact that it coincides with the fact that I go from 19 to 29 in that time period is just a coincidence, right? -When Jeremy decides to go and have a talk with Will and charts his helicopter. You know, like any average 19-year old boy. "Change Your Mind" by the Killers

I mean, a Jensen Ackles or David Boreanaz type of career (starring roles in television shows that go for a really long time) is a probably the most stable type of career you can have as an actor (and they say that type of acting career is probably the most conducive to a personal life), but our Travis is definitely going to take some risks, I think. You're right that he's going to aim higher. Hey, it doesn't have to be a preppy lacrosse player with a perfect face. I can also go for a tall, kind of goofy-looking comedian type. My current infatuation is this comedian on TikTok named Tristan Green and I just find him adorable because of his humor. Although a previous recent infatuation was an Old Spice model named Grady Eldridge and WOW am I not helping myself with Private Tim's "you only like a certain type" allegations in regards to that one. LOL

Okay, true, but I think he should have been at the level Hugh Jackman hit.

To a point. Neil Patrick Harris has had a wonderful career, and his musical theater background really helped him stay in the public eye in drier years for him, but he's also never been an A-list leading movie star. Matt Bomer is another example of an openly gay man who has had a wonderful career but he undeniably hit a glass ceiling. It's especially jarring in Matt"s case because there is no way he wouldn't have gotten the leading man push if he had not been outed. I mean, that face card is insane. Luckily for him Ryan Murphy adores Matt and has kept him pretty gainfully employed. In Travis's case, he has to figure out if he's aiming for Tom Cruise/Leo DiCaprio type fame, or if he's going to go for a working actor type of fame, which would allow him much more personal freedom.

This is where I'm kind of just like, "And how exactly does Travis plan on keeping this relationship secret? Uhhh...."

I am shocked the copy hasn't gone for broke and stated something like "Young Mr. Schluter, who's stunning good looks bring to mind the late John F.Kennedy Jr..." I mean if there ever was an eternal It Boy, it'd be John John. Would it be factually true that Will looks like a Kennedy? Probably not, but would a tabloid puffing him in order try to sell tabloids invoke the name? Hell yeah they would.

Eh, I tried. Any time I tried editing the hair color it disappeared the headband of the crown so I was just like, oh well. Here he is with a nice buttery blond! I used a photo of when Dylan Sprouse had bleached hair and then brought it to a nice warm blond color which works well with his skin tone.

I actually disagree. The sexiest he's willing to dress is a pair of tight leather pants and an unbuttoned shirt. He wasn't trying to look sexy. He was trying to look fierce and outrageous.

For funsies I put my JJ fancast in the golden gladiator outfit using Grok. This was fun!

The thing to remember is that Will is the type of character that will pretty much always steal the show- that's just who he is as a character. He's so intensely charismatic and reactive that he's always going to take up a larger than life space wherever he goes. It's why Mark clearly loves writing him so much, and why Will has played a large part in almost every single book since Poor Man's Son. Travis, however, by virtue of being Will's boyfriend, can't also be a larger than life character because otherwise it'd be too much. He's more of an introvert, mellow, observant type of guy. You see similar dynamic with Matt Carrswold and Wade Danfield.

I feel like this is the risk when you have Irish twins like Jeremy and Will. They can be really close because they're going through all the same milestones at nearly the same time, or they can be combative because one always feels like the other is hogging the spotlight. Darius being 3-4 years older than both of them makes him the perfect buffer. LOL

Damn. All I did for Halloween 2005 was puke my guts out in front of the lacrosse party house because I was stupid and 19 and did tequila shots. (I was dressed in a failed Jeff Probst costume that absolutely no one got. Or it could have been a soldier costume. I will do multiple costumes sometimes.) As for Will, I can't picture someone LESS suited for modeling than Will. Models need to be able to maintain a still pose for hours upon hours while somebody directs them on how to move.

Good point. His background is middle class Brit who's Dad made his money writing a soap, so he wouldn't really have that old money vibe.

What do you think of Tom Blyth as a possible Wade fancast? (I had Tom Blyth in mind as Young Mark Arbour, but he didn't seem to bite on that one.) He does uptight yet charming as hell really well.

Knowing the Matt character, I think he'd have an existential crisis about not being included in the young whippersnappers comment. LOL

This chapter really reminds me of how much things have changed. When I was this age, there was SUCH an emphasis on putting a spotlight on gay men that didn't fit the stereotype and were like, football players or some such thing. it had a whole air of, "Look, there are good gays too, not just the effeminate ones who prance around in dresses at Pride parades!" I don't think that gets feted as much anymore now that gay marriage happened. I vividly remember watching the Brian Simms video around 2009 and being both thrilled that he was an athlete but also feeling a bit let down that he had the gay voice. LOL Although Heated Rivalry definitely wouldn't have been the hit that it would have been about two effeminate men, so I can't say that the whole "masc4masc" thing isn't still very much here. We did have a whole era of the Timothee Chalamet "twink" thing that seems to finally be fading out so who knows if the whole masculine brodude thing will come back in style again.

Chapter 19 -When Will and Austin destroy the other team. "Run It" by Chris Brown -When Will and Austin and their team steadily build a fanbase. "It's A Long Way to the Top" by AC/DC -When Travis and Will explain their relationship to Austin. "More Than Words" by Frankie J I'm really not a fan of this cover, but it feels right. LOL

Apple is already waaaaayyyy past the "get in on the ground floor" point in 2005.

Chapter 18 -When Will meets Austin, another blond surfer god. "Surfer Girl" by the Beach Boys When Will and Austin click at volleyball. "California Soul" by Marlena Shaw -When Will struts after owning Finn at the LGBT club. "Rip Her to Shreds" by Boomkat I've actually really agreed with you about this. I think Will probably would have had a better time at UC San Diego. I also think that pretty much the only places that Will was going to consider were Ivy League schools, because Will wants to impress JP THAT much. I feel like Mark is really firm on this, and I get it from a character standpoint. I also think it's good for Will to experience living on the East Coast for a few years before going back home. It's sweet that his homesickness is being manifested by Austin. LOL

A year after Katrina (so circa September 2006), I actually had a cross country teammate who transferred in from Louisiana. I was talking to him about it. I said something along the lines of, "Instead of rebuilding the 9th Ward, I think they should all get relocated and the area should be turned into marshy wetlands so they can use it to absorb water for future floods." Colin looked me straight in the eye and said, "You are an unimaginable asshole." LOL No but seriously 20-year old me had that idea in my head because a neighborhood in my area was bought out after it kept flooding. It was a 50's development that had been built on a filled-in creek area. By 2003, a big tropical storm happened and it was kind of the final straw for the residents. They were bought out by the county (or state?) and the homes were demolished. It's back to being a wetland again. The whole ordeal was pretty much burned into my memory because my bus route went through that neighborhood so I'll never forget the devastation and the signs of people begging for a buyout. I imagine Katrina was like that, but times a thousand.