NEW!!! "Hazard Pay - Final Chapter"

[willwork4dean]

Title: Hazard Pay - Chapter Thirty-One

Pairing: Noah/OMC

Rating: M

Prompt: Action!Noah in action ripped from the headlines!

Disclaimer: Don’t own ‘em. Don’t make no money.

Comments

[jb1183]

I've started reading this story late in the game, so firstly, forgive me for not having commented on previous chapters and secondly, forgive me for my forthcoming verbosity since I want to comment on the story as a whole.

I have to commend you on completing such an epic fic. I am a huge Nuke (and especially Noah) fan, and you took Noah (and the readers) away from the familiar setting for much of the story and created intricate new worlds for him to inhabit. I am in awe of the way you palpably brought to life the various settings through the richness of your detail.

Speaking of rich detail, everything I love so much about the character of Noah Mayer is on full display here. This is unquestionably one of the most wonderfully complex, insightful, and fully realized portraits of him that I have ever read. It's actually more than a little bittersweet for me that this absolutely triumphant portrait of Noah happens to occur in a story where he and Luke do not ultimately end up together and where Luke plays such a minor role.

But then that leads me to Jeff, who is another triumph-an original character who is written with such depth as to come fully alive for the reader. By the time the story came to a close, I felt like I KNEW him, and that's entirely because of your care in crafting him. His relationship with Noah was developed with tremendous depth and insight, and you made it absolutely impossible to root against them-although my ideal ending would probably have needed to involve a polyamorous arrangement since I also couldn't ultimately root against a Nuke reunion either.

I have to admit that I spent the entirety of the story absolutely *sure* that the catalyst for Noah leaving town-Luke not telling him about the party the Snyders planned for him, would eventually be revealed to have been a huge misunderstanding, since it just doesn't ring true for me that Luke would ever do something so cruel, even during that period in 2010 when a lot of us were disappointed in him.

Speaking of Luke, I'm sure I'm not the only one who would be very interested in reading some "missing moments" to this story involving him, should you ever have the desire to write them-in particular his "long talk" with Lily and the phone call with Jeff. Your dialogue comes across completely natural, so I'd love to see these conversations given a "voice."

Sorry for the dissertation! This story was quite an achievement on your part!

[willwork4dean]

I'm so glad you feel that I accurately portrayed Noah! As a fic writer, there is no higher praise.

Like you, I'm a huge Nuke fan and have written tons of fic where they end up together. (I just reorganized my Master Fic post to make it easier to find my completed stories, if you're interested in reading them.) This story was definitely a departure. I usually hate OCs, so it means a lot that folks have enjoyed reading about Jeff.

Also like you, I believe there is no way that Luke would deliberately do something so cruel. But it wasn't totally a misunderstanding either. What happened was that Luke felt like his parents put him in an awkward position with Reid by asking him to invite Noah. So he did a very Luke thing - he meant to tell Noah but accidentally/conveniently/carelessly "forgot," or put it off, or assumed that he would find out by some other means, since everyone Noah knew was invited and no one in Oakdale can keep a secret. The end result was a very Luke-like situation - by trying to make everyone happy and not hurt anyone's feelings, he ended up making no one happy.

I honestly tried to write a scene where Luke and Noah discussed what happened, but it always ended up feeling forced. Plus, it hurt Noah's pride to have to admit that A) In his entire life, no one had ever thrown him a party before, and B) He was so upset at Luke basically he ran off and joined the Circus/Foreign Legion. Luke didn't want to be so petty as to point it out, but nor was he completely ready to admit that he maybe kinda forgot on purpose.

In the end, I decided it didn't really matter what happened and why, because both Noah and Luke were ready to forgive each other their failings. But I hope the explanation helps.

Thanks so much for your kind comments!

[jb1183]

That explanation really does help, so thank you for taking the time to give it. I do wish that explanation had somehow made its way into the story somewhere, since without knowing there was truly no genuine malice intended on Luke's part, I think a little more negative shadow is cast over him throughout the story than he probably deserves. But I'm a fic writer myself, so I also definitely understand trying to write a scene or conversation and finding it coming across as forced.

Thanks again and you're very welcome for the comments!