Please finish this story. I have been waiting and waiting for it to be done.

your story is wonderful.  more please.  thanks

Author's Response:

Thank you, Deb! I'm diligently working on the next update and hope to post it soon.

Cheers,

Vin

 

I loved it that Justin has matured in everything, especially in his relationship with Brian- he's not "subservient" anymore. Loved the chapter, period. Thank you, Vin.

Author's Response:

Thank you. I had hoped that both characters showed some progression and growth. I am happy to have succeeded.

Cheers,

Vin

     That was a terrific chapter and wonderful conversation between Brian and Alex. There were so much said, but what I remember most is that line about ‘relationships’.

             It doesn’t have to be defined by hetero-normative 

            standards, or by how your parents, friends, family, or

             anyone else define it.”

     I hope Brian gets that, though his reply is basically that the way things seemed to be defined has worked for him.  As the song goes – “then along came Justin.”  Ok, maybe that is not the title of a song – but Alex made that point. 

     Again, thanks for this chapter.

     DavidR

 

 

 

 

Author's Response:

Thank you so much, David. I'm so glad you liked the bit between Brian and Alex. I was uncertain how well this chapter would turn out within the bigger framework of the story. If it didn't work, I would have had to throw it out, probably, but since it was well received and seems to be leading me in a good direction, I'll happily keep it.

Thank you again for your kind words.

Cheers,

Vin

Oh, there's quite significant progression in Brian's feelings toward his Sunshine. He doesn't care to be always "dominant" with him. He craves to spend time with him- as much as possible, to wake up together, etc., etc. Wow. That's love, my friends, even if he doesn't yet think of it as such.

Thanks for taking me to Russia and Paris, Vin. I really enjoyed my vicarious trip to both places. Well done!

I loved this yet another accidental meeting of the two lovers and can't wait to read about their next one- "next year" - thanks, Vin.

Author's Response:

Thank you so much for your lovely words, NMS! I'm so happy you liked my descriptions of Russia and Paris.

Cheers,

Vin

This story made my pulse quicken while reading about Justin and Dafne's exploration of Europe - I've BEEN to all those fantastic places, and thanks to you, Vin (or rather these two friends :), I visited them once again (I even felt like "tasting" Sarche Torte in Vienna again - mmm... delicious!). And Justin's meeting with Brian was just as delicious :). Thanks, Vin

Author's Response:

Thanks for a lovely review, NMS! It was fun reliving my own travels in Europe through Justin and Daphne's adventure. As for B/J's meeting in a London hotel...well, I'll have to agree, it couldn't have been anything but yummy! LOL.

Cheers,

Vin

well V in...you have me at a crossroads

while I hate that you have been so uncomfortable and inconvenienced, and would never make light of that in any way - I would be hard pressed to wish away whatever brought on this absolutely adorable chapter!

the gangs reaction was a hoot - once again Brian is both typically BRian and yet so very OOC  - and this was an ingenious way to introduce Alex and bridge the gap for the boys to move foward

I really really love it - and can't wait for more!

loving life,

Charle

 

Author's Response:

Oh, Charle! I am so very happy you liked this chapter. As DavidR mentioned below it is turning into a bit of a comedy. I am glad it didn't take away from the overall mood, for lack of a better term, of the story as a whole. I do enjoy writing funny scenes, though, especially those involving the gang. Sometimes those scenes work out better than others.

Again, thank you for reading and reviewing!

Cheers,

Vin

     Thanks for the chapter.  It sort of gave us a good hint

as to where this story could be going.

     It is turning out to be part comedy.  Ted and Michael

spitting out their food as Brian talked about possible

dating, and to top it off, Deb dropping her trey of food,

now concerned that the cancer has returned.  Later,

when Alex thought:

                “This is equivalent to capturing Big Foot or making

                  first contact with an intelligent alien life-form!”

Great line, it was really very funny.

     Um, well I hate to be picky – but – empiricist?  Geeez, I

had to stop reading and look that word up.  I read about

it and still don’t quite understand it.  That was the first

time I have ever encounter that word, and it may just be

last time. (Just trying to  add my own humor. ( think?)

      Again, thanks for the chapter, it was fun to read.

 DavidR

 

Author's Response:

Hi, David!

Thanks for an awesome review as usual. I appreciate you reading AND commenting on my stories very, very much!

Regarding some of my...ahem...unusual word choices in this chapter. Well, I did warn everyone that this was a weird one. LOL! I'll do my best to explain how a couple of words found their way in here. I PROMISE you I was not trying to be too smart for my britches, as it were.

First, empiricist (if you are reading my response, then I'm sorry for putting you through it again. Kidding!) - that one popped into my head and ended up in the chapter for two reasons. One - I was interested in psychology as a field of study in college for about 5 minutes, so I took Psychology 101 my freshman year as one of the electives. Within 2 (yes, two!) weeks I was absolutely certain this was NOT the field for me, but for reasons I no longer remember I couldn't drop the class and had to endure 3 more months of a subject I truly didn't care for. The actual professor was an all right guy, but his TA (it was one of those auditorium classes with 150 + students, so he actually required a TA) was a pompous ass of a doctoral student who fancied himself to be the next Freud and referred to himself as an empiricist REPEATEDLY. So, let's just say he made an impression and not a very good one, I might add. More then 10 years after taking that class I pity the patients that end up having this "God's gift to Psychology" as their shrink every time I hear or read that word anywhere. Which brings me to the second reason that word came to mind when writing that scene - NPR. I just happened to hear the word used on the radio last week (we have our clock radio tuned to an NPR station because my hubby likes to wake up to death/mayhem and weird info, aka THE NEWS, rather than music).

Now, don't get me wrong, I DON'T think that Alex is a self-important a-hole like my old TA and I wasn't trying to portray him as such. Alex Wilder is a psychologist/psychiatrist (can't remember exactly which one he was in canon), which immediately brought those two things to mind and the word sort of wrote itself. Despite my personal encounters with psychologists in that Psych class, I've always thought that really good psychologists/psychiatrists would have to be excellent observers of human nature and experience at their core; so when writing the scene the word seemed to fit. On the other hand, I probably should've just used the word "scientist". Oh, well...

Anyway, the second word not usually used in regular conversation that jumped out at me (I had to re-read the chapter and look at it from a different perspective after a couple of comments, not just yours) was amorphous. That one I've actually heard used a couple of times in museums to describe abstract art - "amorphous shapes", etc, etc. Since Justin is an artist who sometimes does abstract art (as per canon), and Brian & Justin's relationship in my story as well as in canon was described as undefined, the word sort of seemed to fit as well.

Again, I wasn't trying to appear "smart" or be pretentious with my word usage, it just sort of happend that way while I was hiding away from the heat in various public places, doing my best to focus on writing and not on the fact that my brain and body felt totally baked. You've read my other stories, David, and if you remember them, you know that my writing is normally pretty simple. I'll attribute this chapter to nothing but a heat/power outage enduced fluke. LOL!

OK, my War and Peace sized response is done! Whew! I just wanted to say thank you, again, for reading, reviewing, enjoying and finding the humor in this story of mine. I hope you'll read it until the end.

Cheers,

Vin

Oh so ridiculously romantic - still loving this! TAG

Author's Response:

I was worried that it might be a bit too much romance, but so far everyone has responded well to this chapter, which makes me so, so happy. I am very glad you enjoyed it too.

Cheers,

Vin

Utterly engaging & so sweet, but I actually have tears in my eyes too. TAG

Author's Response:

Thank you so much! I didn't mean to make anyone tear up, but it means a lot to me that you were so affected.

Cheers,

Vin

Hi, Vin!  First of all, you have my sympathies regarding the terrible storms and the power going out.  We experienced a little of that Friday night, but thankfully no power outtages, although back in 2008 we were without power for a week in September, so I certainly know what it feels like.  Nothing like the oppressive heat and humidity that the mid-Atlantic and midwest (our state included) has endured lately, though, and at least we had air conditioning this time.  I'm glad to hear that your power has been restored now, however.

And now about the chapter - I don't know about the rest of your readers, but I thought this was actually one of if not the best chapter you have written so far, even though it did not contain any direct B/J action.  The writing for each character was spot on, including Debbie in the diner, and was soooo well written!  The vocabulary you used was amazing, and the talk between Brian and Alex was extremely well-constructed, logical, and very believable.  Sure you weren't a psychologist in a previous life?:) 

I'm actually in awe of your gifted writing in this chapter; I may have to go back and rewrite my next updates now to keep up with your level of writing here, my friend, seriously!

This story is a blue-ribbon winner, at least IMHO, but alas, I do not have that power myself.  But consider yourself an 'imaginary' winner for the time being, anyway!  I'm looking forward to Brian's eventual confession to his 'love.'  Thanks for this amazing story, Vin.  *Hugs*  ~Kim

Author's Response:

Hi, Kim!

Thank you for the sympathies. It was my first experience with a power outage here in the US (although I could tell you stories about interesting things that happend in Russia when I was a kid) and it was "exciting" to say the least. I am beyond ecstatic that we got our power back on last night. My mother, who's also in Virginia, still doesn't have power yet and from what my parents have heard there's a possibility that their area will be without power for the rest of the week. Thankfully, that's just a concervative estimate and I truly hope they'll get their power sooner. The worst part is that I can't have them stay with me because my apartment doesn't allow dogs (or any pets) and they have two of them. At least their basement is naturally cool and is actually comfotable enough to sleep in, so they are OK for the time being. At least none of us got hurt, unlike some people... so, thank God for that. 

Anyway, off the depressing shit and onto something a bit fun - your awesome (as always) review of my latest chapter. I am truly glad you enjoyed it, Kim, though it was a bit of a departure for me writing-wise... Thank you very much for complementing my writing here, but I must admit that this REALLY WAS a fluke of a chapter, vocabulary choices included. I've already written a thesis-sized explanation (LOL) for a couple of the words in my response to DavidR, so please see above. Even though I do have an actual explanation for why certain words were used, I promise you I wasn't intentionally trying to find obscure terminology - it all sort of happend on its own, weirdly enough.

That being said, it does make me super happy that you consider this story "blue-ribbon" worthy. Whether or not that happens in reality, I'm very flattered by your compliment and will gladly be an "imaginary" winner.

 

Cheers,

Vin

"...the Mid-Atlantic region of the US was hit by a pretty bad strom on Friday night and about 1.5 million people were out of power all weekend."

OMG!!! I've been under a rock, apparently. I had no idea. I happy you are OK and I hope you have power soon. I'm going tohave to watch the news once in a while. I'm so sorry to hear that.

In the meantime, you work well under pressure. I thought this was the most light hearted and well written of any of the previous chapters. That date was HILARIOUS!  And, yes, this chapter is very meaningful and relevant. Justin was pretty sure of what he wants from the relationship. Brian was right. He's in a boat without a paddle. He needed Alex. You did an ingenious job of geting Brian to a psychiatrist and made it entertaining at the same time.

BRAVO!

 

Author's Response:

Thank you for the sympathies regarding the storm/power outage. It was the most severe one I've experienced personally, but it all turned out OK in the end. We got power about two hours, give or take a few minutes, before I posted this last chapter, which made me very happy indeed.

As for the chapter itself, I am truly happy you enjoyed reading it and thought it well written. Originally, Alex wasn't supposed to show up in this story AT ALL. I am truly not certain how I came up with this plot point. When starting this chapter I had vague thoughts of a shocked and confused Mikey telling Ben about Brian's sudden desire to date and the two of them cooking up some sort of matchmaking scheme, but that somehow seemed too difficult and didn't pan out. I was trying to come up with a simpler way of getting Brian on a "practice date" ...and voila, Alex's character came to mind out of nowhere and I just wrote, and wrote, and wrote until I was done.

I am truly happy it turned out well overall.

Thanks again!

Cheers,

Vin