Hi everyone, and thank you so much for bearing with me through this monster. I never anticipated that this little plot bunny would turn into something so long and unwieldy. Since I wrote most chapters in one quick pass, I'll probably go back through and clean things up (big time), come up with a damn title (suggestions are welcome!) and then de-anon and post it on AO3.

Until then, thank you again for all your kind words and encouragement. It's really meant the world to me, and helped steer the direction this story took. Oh, and just for shits and giggles, I thought you guys might appreciate the mental image I had of Freddy and Larry as I wrote it:

19 year old Freddy: http://i49.tinypic.com/2ue4pro.jpg

39 year old Larry: http://i45.tinypic.com/16kbcir.jpg

Hugs and kisses!

I can't tell you how thankful I am for this fic. Not just the time you put into it, but the characterizations that went even beyond Freddy and Larry. The slow build up of sexual tension and the culmination of it... MY GOD. (Thank you for including multiple sex scenes and not just making it the final denoument between these two.)

EEEK!! First of all, thank you so much for the detailed feedback. It's like oxygen to me. I was so worried about the UST I tried to build between them... did it progress at a reasonable pace? Was the first sexual contact between them believable? How did it change their power dynamic? I swear, the age difference is part of the reason I'm so attracted to this pairing in the first place.

As for Olivia, my heart just broke for her. The entire time I was reading, I was waiting for the scene where she would "discover" them and lose it... and I'm so glad you didn't go that route. It's so much sadder to have it end with her mourning what she thought was a stable relationship and a healthy father-figure for her son.

MTE. Of course, I hinted at Freddy's fear of his mom discovering them in that nightmare he had, but that was the closest I strayed to that idea. I didn't want to paint her as "oblivious" either, because that would be a disservice to her character; so I deliberately included moments of real anger/tension between Larry and Freddy (largely motivated by guilt/jealousy). She could see that they communicated well, but there were still some underlying issues there, and she attributed those issues to a son's natural resistance to a "replacement" father... not due to the complexity of their secret sexual relationship.

But Freddy and Larry... OMG. So many issues, so little time. And that ending!! To have Freddy's final scene take place on that sidewalk just KILLED me, not to mention Larry's heart-breaking recording. Simply extraordinary.

Thank you! I was really wrestling with whether or not Freddy's final scene was appropriate, but in the end I felt that it needed to be a quick sever; it mirrored the same sudden and irrovocable sense of loss that he experienced when Larry left. As for Larry's recording... that was among the hardest moments of the entire fic to write. The tone and sentiment had to be just perfect without seeming maudlin. I'm so thankful that it worked for you. :)))

Hugs!!!!

OMG thank you so much! :)) I couldn't think of a better compliment. And thank you so, so much for sticking with me through this fic. :D