Krista

I mean, with his friends out of the picture Luke has his opening. If Jackson didn't go sliding bare assed across the gym floor covered in soap, this story wouldn't have happened. 😮 My opening line to this story could've been: It all started when I got a floor burn on my left ass cheek. If that's not a hooking sentence, I don't know what is.

I do remember people thinking that Jackson was going through the motions with his friend groups, that he didn't really see them as significant friends. Although, I think it was the distance I placed between them that caused that, as they didn't seem to look to engage with Jackson whenever he was grounded.

Aww, I'm glad you liked it. It took me literally a couple of years to write it... I felt so bad for the people that had to wait on me.

I don't think you'd like a story where I wrote their college years. It would only be interesting, in knowing the ending, right? They're happy, safe, sound. There are some transitions within the friend group. Heather and Toby didn't make it as a couple. Connor and Olivia didn't make it. Toby and Olivia are secretly dating. Simon and Charlie surprisingly made it. Somewhere along the way Cindy comes around and accepts Luke's choice in Jackson, and semi-okay with his sexuality. Grace has the twins. Oliver and Tara join him at the university of Georgia. Oliver first, then Tara later. We know Oliver and Tare end up engaged/married. We already know what 'has' to happen. What we don't know, is 'how'. Was it messy? Did Luke and Jackson break up at any time, then reconcile. There are hints that their summers were full of sex, partying, togetherness in the last chapter. I think it would have to be messy though, right? Distance is a challenge and the relationship is deep, but new. There's a promise and certainty that also hangs over them, to marry. That promise between them could keep them reconciling through the mess... but will you be interested in reading a mess? I say mess, because Jackson has lived in a world where everyone knew him. He 'thinks' everyone likes him to a degree, except for the people he doesn't care for or respect. He carries a lot of confidence with him because of that. What college means for Jackson though, other than Luke, is a blank slate. He is a nobody. Swimming isn't like football or basketball where the players come in with their names already known. He is not used to that. He will have to navigate isolation at first. But that navigation is also very much pointed in a conflicting direction - a big one. Like having two North's on a compass. That's Luke. I honestly don't know if I could get back into his voice for a story of that nature. It would feel very different, I think.

I know you excluded parents, but Henry is my top tier character in this story. He is my number one. lol. Thank you for reading through this story. Luke and Jackson being one and two is nice as well. Some people get a bit annoyed with protagonists, especially in first person POV's because of their actions/reactions throughout the writing. Jackson being second, because I challenged people who read his character, is nice. I wanted to see if I could write a story worthwhile with a protagonist that can be a bit difficult at times to like. Charlie slipping into third is interesting. I think if I were to ever expand this story and branch away from Jackson/Luke to write a story based on a different character it would be him. He's cheeky, he's a bit narcissistic, he has no filter. Simon struggles at times to deal with his energy, but we also know Simon and him stay together despite the differences and distance between them. He's also more elite of an athlete, I see him getting medals in olympics. I also know I don't have it in me to write those swimming scenes anymore. All the unrealistic tension that I created around it, plus trying to reconcile it back to plausible realistic outcomes was a stressful way to go about it. But I need the tension, otherwise I'm writing endless paragraphs about a dude mechanically swimming. Or no paragraphs of him hopping in and out, winning or losing. I don't know if one can fade to black a sporting moment, it would read horribly, I'm thinking. Anyway, sorry to ramble. I also saw that Tara was missing and she was also a favorite of mine. If this were a heterosexual story Tara would've been the choice. Jackson certainly liked her. If I were an evil author, Oliver would also be in the running during the college years as a temptation. *whistles* Probably a good thing I didn't write the college years.

Yeah, poor Olivia.

Oh, I stand corrected. I think you're now officially the president of that club. I remember there being some people who privately reached out and told me it wasn't realistic for Luke to be the bottom. I think they were working with the stereotype that Jackson was this hyped up on energy jock-type, so he couldn't be the one bent over. I wrote him as someone confident enough to try when Luke wasn't... and he ended up liking it. Sex to me is never in shades of black and white, I think it shifts. I mean I know it shifts really, as we become more comfortable with sex. And yes, there are strict tops and there are strict bottoms in M/M relationships. But I like to show the experimentation of learning personal preferences with sex, I don't want to slam a door just because someone acts a certain way or the writing is screaming at me to write them a certain way. Luke to me never presented as a full on bottom, or top. He presented as a person that wasn't comfortable. Jackson presented himself as someone who was overly comfortable, but only in a world he has control over. I don't think Jackson questioned himself as often as Luke seemed to, he liked the kiss. He liked Luke. They continued to kiss. I think at most, he said a "guy wasn't in his plans..." a few times, and that he didn't know what that made him. I can't remember really, this story is a bit old for me and I'm removed from it. If it wasn't such a daunting read, I'd want to someday sit down and read it, but I also need to be writing. Neither screamed raging bottom, though. At least to me.

Since I went into the writing of Jackson for him to read negatively, even through rereading so you know what to expect, I'll collect the win in 2026 too.

I would be too. Welker is the softest of kittens by comparison, if I'm remembering correctly.

You may be moving up in the ranks... lol. There were some people that were like... "WHyyyy, Luke's an obvious bottom... why did you do this?"

Because he's just Jackson and most people don't change, they remain on their own... for the lack of a better word... spectrum. We may adapt, we may accept things differently, soften, change our minds, etc... but there's always bits that makes us who we are. I didn't want to change that about Jackson just because he's showing growth. Growth isn't linear, it's a mess. Also, Jackson getting into trouble was fun to write... lol.

I think I know what we're talking about, without me skimming the reading/comments. I think I remember surprising a lot of people.

Good luck! I find I need to forget 90% of something that I've read, I'm good until my brain starts to remember all the smaller details that I'm reading the story for in the first place... then it's like... "Krista, we've already been through this...."

Well this is a good example of the AI I use to give me editorial assessments of the chapter being a hypocrite. Not only does this over explain everything, it is too formulaic, slightly repetitive, and over explains the limited emotional scope it attempted. So, how dare it tell me that I over explain something my writing is already telling the reader. HOW DARE! 🤯 --- Seriously though, unfortunately this first part is as far as I can go with it. I couldn't get further than a few paragraphs in. It reads as someone writing extremely early in their understanding of writing. Knowing that it is AI generated, I can't forgive it like I could a newer author. It is formulaic, because it is drawing from billions of sources. When it does that, it only works in trend results. It will always feel formulaic at it's baseline. What scares me, you can then correct it. You can tell it to try again with specific parameters in the sections that feel out of place, obvious, or otherwise over told and clunky. You can argue that eventually the time it takes for the human prompting it to do something, probably could've organically created something similar. Not the point. AI's are built to be tweaked and advanced, based on 'user' feedback. It is the most parasitic thing in that regard. The more you give it, the more it can throw it back at you. For example I gave it 5 examples of my writing. 5 different chapters from 5 different projects. Then I told it to write a couple paragraphs in my style. It copied my writing style. Not to the letter, but enough that 'most' of it read like me. The theme, presentation, structure, and some writing elements is what made it seem 'off,' but I could also go in and easily spot edit those things, read it again, and not feel as much of a divergence. Mind you, I did this with an AI that I did a Free 3-day trial with, so it was more advanced than the "free" stuff. People who are lazy with AI can create this. People who systematically can use it more freely can do something a lot more thorough and more aligned with organic fiction. Especially if they're paying for higher-end functioning AIs. That's the scary part. That's the part that authors need to fight against. If you broke portions of this writing down, told it to clean things up in steps, edit it yourself, then the product is cleaner, it's better. And the argument then becomes - is it no longer AI generated, despite being the product of an AI's baseline creation. I am going to say that it is AI generated, even if the author edits 85 - 90% of what it generated. That is opinion though, and opinions only hold weight in the voice it comes out of, no one else has to listen.

N*Sync Fanfictions you say. That's what my little fourteen year old self and my friend started reading back in high school. 😮 I could've read something from you, but back then I was so young, I didn't want to leave an e-mail/comment as I knew I was dealing with very adult people. Although, I was firmly all about JC - voice wise at least for that era I still am, Justin was produced into fame, JC had the voice, but not the production backing. I said what I said. There was actually a decently written one, or at least to my undeveloped fourteen year old hormonal brain it was anyway. I actually still remember the title. I don't remember sex in it, it's a longer story called, "JC's Hitchhiker." It got a bit strange in the end about kidnapping plots/blackmail, and such that totally missed the tone of the beginning and middle parts. Even my young eyes read the words and thought... "this just gave me whiplash.." There are times you made me gasp and wonder... "did I just piss this man off and he have the nerve to say this?" But I am also well aware that I am blunt, I pick at people, and I use words like knives. So yeah, it is more or less I get what I give. It made me laugh when you discarded names and said mean things about characters in the comments. Even that humbled me a little, because I saw your point in the joke. And I gave a certain character by the name of Five a lot of long-winded rants. But I've never read him in a character or story before. He upset my 'romance' lens entirely. I must admit though I did not read very many stories, or discuss with other authors much back then. I typically stuck to the Chatroom and Lounge. I was managing my own stories. I think I quietly read a few people like Dom and ShadowGod. The site was a bit restrictive back then as well. Before the archives, I think we were forced to interact with authors through forum posts, PMs, and such. Some authors didn't have forums, "Hosted," did, that was a perk - which got very cliquey and vicious at times. Otherwise, everyone else were competing to have their stories and their discussions of them visibly accessible. I don't think my Promising/Hosted forums ever had much of a discussion in them, I wasn't the best at communicating either, especially with readers. The Chapter comments addition that came with the overall Archives rework likely saved GA's viability. I'd have to confirm that with Myr. Other sites that adopted GA's former stifling practices and didn't transition to a more expanded communication platform struggled or went away. I was banned from AuthorsHaunt, because I didn't fit that clique when they were at GA, so I can only be bothered to say, "well bless their hearts."