Everything you want to know about 'Unconditional love'

[yblue]

I'm on a roll, people! I think this really is the first time ever I post a new chapter in less than 3 days. I believe my record stood at 5 days, back when I wrote 'Feed my hunger' in, I don't know, 2006 or something, and those were shorter chapters. So really, I feel like I finally made it back, determined to finish my unconditional love story.

For those who haven't read it, this is the link to the summary and the complete story:

Unconditional Love

Now on to the review responses for Chapter 21:

First I want to say: OMG! I really hadn't expected so many reviews whilst I'm still wiping the proverbial dust off my old fic. It feels so great the get all this feedback. You guys made my days, especially Rosei and Lisa for reviewing twice. You're awesome!

@ Rosei: You really are fabulously awesome. I just know. Thanks for sticking around for all this time and thanks for your awesome reviews! I'm glad you made the comment on Brandon 'throwing himself on Cal's sword *snicker* When writing in first person it's hard to give any hints on the actual feelings or motivations for the other characters. I try to make it obvious that Tim often misjudges situations and conversation, just so you would indeed wonder what is really going on. So I applaud you for verbalising your thoughts on what truly happened between Tim, Brandon and Callum in chapter 21. Oh, and I loved the sword metaphor. :-)

@ Raven: I don't know how long this sudden writing drive will last or how long I'll feel comfortable on AFF but I am pretty determined to finish 'Unconditional Love' in the coming weeks. The story arc is very close to it's total climax. I can't tell you how it ends, but I guess I can confirm Brandon's view on Tim is changing. I guess it's been in a fluctual state since chapter 4.

@ Anon: Sorry for making you worried. I'm glad you've been patient ^^

@ carmen: Oh my Brandon! XD

@uchihasasuke: I'm afraid giving a concrete response to your plea will kind of give away the whole story. But I can say I really love Cal too, I put quite some effort in creating him, considering he's only a character of minor importance. But then again I love most of my characters, including Brandon, though I do understand why a lot of people hate him. I'm sorry to tell you that I wasn't planning on using him after this chapter.

@Lisa: Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the story. I really don't mind you reviewing older chapters. I just edited the complete story so it's nice to get some feedback, that way I'm certain I didn't leave too many plot holes or inconsistencies. You're right about most of my characters deserving a smack on the head. Maybe all of them, lol.

@Anon: I'm glad you mistapped. And I plan on making your day a couple of times more soon. ^^

[yblue]

Chapter 24 has been posted! Be prepared to get blown away!

Unconditional Love

Seriously though, it took me a lot to write this plot-heavy chapter. I had the outlines summarised a long time ago, but now, during the actual writing it turned out a bit different than I always had thought it would go. I'm content with it as it is now, however. (otherwise I wouldn't post it) I'm really curious on how the reactions are going to be. After all, this is probably the most important chapter of the whole story. That's how I feel about it anyway.

Review replies for Chapter 23

@ eroburn: Good to have you back on board! You may want to sit down before reading this chapter (if you haven't already)

@ lividfire: Sorry about the sharp poke then. Callum does act a lot tougher than he really is, because I like Tim too much to actually set him up with someone with cruel intent. And oh yes, Tim is thoroughly confused. About the smooching speculation I can't say much, but you'll find a partial answer in this chapter.

@ Rosei: Tim got too confused to remember his own thoughts, otherwise he'd know he frequently contradicts himself. Tim is indeed overcoming a lot of things. I kept a lot of stuff to myself for a long time, but now I've started to reveal more and more of the underlying layers of the story. Through Matt in last chapter and through Brandon in this one. This means the conclusion might be drawing near *insert dramatic music* I hope the deadness on AFF is gone now the Olympics are done. Can't say I'm a fan, since I live in this puny country that hardly wins anything (Belgium) In spite of that, though, almost everyone I know was watching (and sobbing) :-s

@ Mannah_Pierce: Yes, the distorted lenses are so much fun to write. I guess that's why I enjoy writing in first person. It keeps everyone wondering what is really going on. I'll do all I can to finish this story. I hope to get it done over a couple of weeks. I might be a little too optimistic here, but I'll try.

@ Risika: Usually I don't really mind reader's threats but with you I'll be careful, since you actually know where I live... So, sure you can be in the Matt fanclub! You can be captain of the Matt fanclub, I don't mind. He's not going to be of much significance for the remainder of the story though. You can always write a spinoff :-P

@: LTC: Thank you for hanging on for so long, it's nice to see familiar reviewer names come back after all this time. Tim is indeed on a learning course he can't escape. And Brandon's falling from his pedestal. Whether Tim will attempt to/succeed in capturing him is, of course, the big question.

@ Narcoleptic: Thank you for reviewing! Thanks to his recent insights, I think it's safe to say Tim won't end up as a copy of Brandon. And I deliberately tried to make Callum likable, so I'm glad that worked. Friendly and nice Ryan will be back in the next chapter, I can't give you any hints about how that's going to work out though.

@ Lisa: Matt is a likable guy and you're right with your assumptions about him. Callum didn't slip Tim anything. Considering his profession and intent with Tim, Callum was as nice as he could be. Tim was just his screwed up, confused self, indeed gravely misconceiving the phrase 'get a (fucking) life'. It's true that Tim was there first in the coffeebar (chapter 19) but he only sat there for the sake of Brandon worshipping. It's not like he regularly goes for coffee or something. When Brandon sat in that spot before, Tim often sat on the bench outside, watching him, and Brandon knew. So now he moved even closer into Brandon's personal space. The fact that he sat at Brandon's table, in his seat is therefore viewed as a threat. I hope that makes sense. And indeed, Ryan is too good to be used. He deserves a lot better than Tim too I suppose...

@ Yllimilly: I'm revealing the levels, little by little. And yes, I am deliberately keeping you in the dark on how the story might end. With Ryan or Brandon. Or neither. (Or both! :-P) I would say: 'All will be revealed shortly' but I can't make that kind of promises just yet. We still have a couple of chapters to go before the end. So I'll go with “All will be revealed eventually.'

@ loverofyaoi: Another familiar name returning! Glad to find you're still here! I honestly laughed out loud at your summary of what it took for Tim to get his epiphany. He's so messed up, and he's a creation of my brain, so that probably means I'm messed up too. He's working things out right now. As you can find out in this chapter.

Edited August 15, 2012 by yblue

[Guest yblue]

Chapter 25 is up! Please be kind and R&R!

I replied to the reviews of chapter 24 in the a/n before the chapter. I don't know but somehow I've got the feeling I get a lot more response if I reply in the chapter itself.

If only this forum were a little more lively....

Anyway, someone asked who said they didn't like chapter 24. I can assure you, nobody literally told me it sucked. I kind of assumed it wasn't received very well just by the lack of reviews. I went from 11 to 3. That means 8 people either didn't bother reading the chapter, or they did read it but didn't really have anything good to say about it.

Personally, when I'm reading a story, I review every new chapter I read. When the story suddenly goed into a direction I don't like, or worse, if a sudden event outgrosses me so much I stop reading then and there (curse those authors who fail to put the Mpreg warning in their summary *shutter*) I generally don't feel the need to say 'I didn't like this.' I rarely get mean, and if I don't have anything positive to say I rather don't say anything at all. I just go away and find something else to read.

I'm worried this happened to some of my lovely reviewers. Which would of course be sad. I won't change my fic. I'm not going to go in an other direction just because some readers would have liked to see things develope differently, but, yea, it's a little sad. There's a lot of me in this story. Not that Tim's life in any way resembles mine, there's just some similarities between our characters, which makes me love it so much. The nack for obsession, the fondness of the colour red, that sort of things.

Oh well, if I'm right about some readers losing interest, I hope some new ones find the way to my fic. That or I'll go and subscribe to a review exchange project...