Between The Lines Chapter 6: Chasing The Darkness Part II of II, a wrestling fanfic

Disclaimer Dean Ambrose is the property of the WWE and/or the actor / sports entertainer / superstar that portray him. This story is intended as tribute only and is not intended to infringe on any copyrights.

Original characters are the property of me, and the children of my own imagination. Any resemblance to any real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.

Author's Note: I know this appears to be a very very long chapter. It isn't. Half of it is my author's notes where I respond to one of my "readers" who took me to task for having the nerve to suggest that if you read and like a story, maybe you ought to let the author know you liked it. Apparently, this was the last straw for her, so she blasted me out for my nerve and also told straight out lies about me. Feel free to skip it if you wish to avoid drama. I know I should be the bigger person and ignore her, but she told lies as if they were facts about me. That I will not let go.

Chasing The Darkness

Part II

"Okay, that's enough for one day," Dean said. He went over to the edge of the ring, sitting down on the apron so his feet dangled off the sides. "Sit."

It wasn't a suggestion, and Neil knew it. "That was cool," he said, sitting down next to his father.

"It sure was," Dean said. "I need to thank your WVW buddies, they've really showed you a lot."

"Uncle Jasper showed me the most," Neil admitted. "He comes over here and shows me in my ring and he shows me when we go to the meets early, if he can. Sometimes he shows me stuff when the matches are over, too."

Dean had, what he described as a "Grateful jealousy" towards Jasper. He was jealous that Jasper got to spend more time with his son than he did, jealous that he had only known Neil for less than a year, but Jasper had known him since he was a toddler. But, as jealous as he was, he was grateful too, grateful that Neil had not lacked for a positive male role model in his life, as Dean himself had lacked. Grateful that Jasper had help nurture that spark inside him that was leading Neil down the road to becoming a professional wrestler. "I'm glad," he said.

"But it isn't as cool as having my dad, the amazing Dean Ambrose teaching me his finishing move," Neil said.

"Yeah, just make sure you don't do that unless you're with someone who knows what they're doing," Dean cautioned. "I'm serious here, Neil, if you screw up you could seriously hurt yourself and someone else and vice versa. I trust you, which is why I showed you how to do it, but you have to promise me you won't betray that trust."

Neil nodded. "I won't, Dad, I promise. I'll only practice doing it with the guys from the WVW, I promise."

"Okay."

They sat in companionable silence for a few moments, then Dean decided it was time to get to the heart of the issue, the reason he'd come out here in the first place. "Your Mom and I were watching you through the window before I came out here," he said. "You looked pretty upset. Are you ready to tell me what's bothering you?"

Neil fidgeted for a moment, kicking his feet along the sides of ring, and pulling at the bottom rope until he finally said, "Gym and E-class."

"Gym and E-class?" Dean repeated, having no idea why the first would upset his son and having no clue what the second one was.

"I'm in middle school," Neil said. "We get to pick what we want to take for gym out of a bunch of stuff. And we get E-class, which means Elective Class, and we can pick what we want to take from a list of stuff. Then, mid semester we can pick something else. Today we got to pick."

"Okay," Dean said, still not understanding why this had upset Neil, but encouraging him to elaborate.

"Last time I took basketball for gym," Neil said, "And I oceanography for my E-class. Because Cory, Marcus, Sam, and Javier all wanted to take them."

"You all wanted to take oceanography?" Dean asked, a little surprised.

"Yeah, we learned about sharks," Neil explained. "Sharks are cool."

"Oh," Dean nodded. "Did you all take basketball, too?"

"All of us but Samantha," Neil said. "She took dance."

"Okay," Dean said. "So, that was fine, right? Now what's going on?"

"Everyone wants to take wood shop for E-class, and even Sam wants to take volleyball for gym."

"Everyone?" Dean tipped his head to one side to study his son.

"Everyone but me," Neil admitted. "I was going to just go along with them, but then I - I realized I've been doing that all year. Only taking what they wanted me to take, what we all 'agreed' to take. And I haven't taken anything I would have picked."

"Okay," Dean nodded, trying to understand where Neil was coming from. Dean had never been one to follow the crowd growing up. He either was the leader or he followed his own path. He didn't reject company, but he didn't pursue it or change the path if it wasn't available. But he knew there were kids who were extremely concerned with what their friends thought and did and didn't want to be seen as someone who was outside of the norm. Neil had shown signs of being both types to Dean, so he wasn't sure what he should advise him. Suggesting Neil tell his friends to piss into the wind didn't seem like the wise thing to say right now. "Do you have to take these things with them? Are you a group that can't be separated?"

Neil shook his head. "No, we just like to stick together because we're friends. We all used to be in the same classes back in our old school, but now that we're in middle school we don't see each other as often, so we wanted to get into the same free period and gym classes."

"What classes do you want to take, then?"

"For E-class?" Neil scratched his arm. "I wanted to take public speaking."

Dean was surprised at this. When Neil had fallen down the well and been rescued, for awhile he had been a bit of a public figure in their small town. The local paper had caught wind of the story and printed an article about it. Fortunately, Dean's name hadn't been brought into it, which meant the story stayed local, but still, for awhile, when they went out, total strangers were coming over to Neil asking him how he was doing. Neil had shied away from the attention to the point of avoiding going out in public until the excitement of being the kid who fell down the well had died down. Dean couldn't imagine why Neil would choose to take public speaking if he didn't have to. "Why do you want to take that?"

"Because you have to take public speaking before you can take other things," Neil explained. "Like drama or debate."

"And you want to take drama or debate, because?"

"Because the idea of talking to crowds terrifies me," Neil blurted out. "And if I'm going to be a wrestler, I've got to be comfortable with it. If I'm your son and a professional wrestler, everyone's going to hold me to high standards because you're one of the best on the mike. So, I thought that if I took classes that helped me learn to speak in public, I'd feel more comfortable with it."

Dean's eyebrows raised and he nodded. The kid had obviously put some serious thinking into this, which surprised and impressed Dean. In his years with the WWE, he had spent time with fans around Neil's age and while many of them professed to wish to be professional wrestlers, most were doing nothing but watching wrestling. If they thought of what they'd have to do in the future, most were convinced that they could go to a wrestling training school for a few weeks and be ready for the ring. And while it was true that good schools did teach you how to have presence in the ring, most of these kids thought it was going to be nothing but training to wrestle. They didn't worry about the talking part, even if they were painfully shy, they seemed to feel that somehow, that part of it would magically come to them. Dean didn't know if Neil was just a lot more intuitive than other kids or if his time hanging around with the guys at WVW had given him more insight into what it truly took to be a wrestler, or if it was a combination of both, but either way, Neil's dedication combined with his natural talent would get him far in the business. Dean knew he could open doors for his son, but it would be up to him to walk through them. "I think that's a good plan," Dean said. "So, can't you take public speaking and your friends can take wood shop?"

"That's what I suggested," Neil said, grabbing onto the bottom rope again and pulling at it in an agitated fashion. "And they weren't happy, but they finally agreed to that."

"Okay," Dean said. "So, that's solved. What happened with gym?"

Neil twanged the rope a few times before speaking. "Every summer Cory and I take a summer sport. Last summer we took swimming lessons. But the summer before then, we wanted to take swimming, but it filled up too fast, so we took gymnastics instead. We got there kind of late, I forget why, but gymnastics and tennis were the only things open, and we took gymnastics. We were kind of pissed - uh, I mean, ticked off about it, but when I told Nathaniel, he's another wrestler at WVW, he said gymnastics was good for wrestling. That it encouraged flexibility and a lot of the stuff I learned in gymnastic would be really helpful in learning wrestling moves. So, after that, I was a lot more happy about it. And I found I liked it. I learned to do all sorts of things, like headstands and handstands, which was really helpful in learning things like the spike bump. I mean, I already take mixed martial arts classes, because it's good for wrestling and mom says it teaches discipline, but I like gymnastic too. It's like the better I get at gymnastics the easier MMA gets, and the better I get at MMA, the easier gymnastics get. I don't get that with anything else, so I want to take gymnastics again."

"Okay," Dean said, for what seemed like the billionth time in the last ten minutes. He had already learned on leave that being a parent meant a lot of listening. His first reaction to Neil bringing problems to him was to go, "Let me fix this.." and he still found himself wanting to do that. Cinnamon had taught him that sometimes, quite often in fact, the best thing to do was listen and let Neil discover the solution. "Okay" was one of the 'good' words, the words that showed Neil he was listening, but not ready to jump on him with solutions. "So, you want to take gymnastics." That was another thing he'd learned, find the best way to sum up what Neil had just said and say it back to him.

Neil nodded.

"So, can't you do that?" Another trick he'd learned. Don't make statements, ask questions instead.

"That's what I thought," Neil said, his voice rising a little. "But when I suggested that I wanted to take gymnastics, they started making fun of me."

"Why?" Dean actually had a pretty good idea why they might have made fun of him, but he didn't want to offer any suggestions. Let Neil tell him.

"They said gymnastics was for girls," Neil said, refusing to look at his father. "Even Cory agreed with Javier and Marcus, even though he liked it when we took it a couple summers ago. He said it was okay back then, because we were babies and gymnastic is for girls and babies. But now that we were in middle school, we were too old."

Dean fought the urge to roll his eyes. He remembered those days of junior high, where life seemed to be full of pitfalls among your peers. You could do this, you couldn't do that. This brand of sneakers was okay to wear, this brand made you look stupid. Or, the ultimate insult-

"Marcus said guys doing gymnastics was gay!" Neil blurted out and Dean heard the pain and anguish in his son's voice. "Then they all agreed and Javier asked me if I was - if I was a fag."

"He asked if you were a cigarette?" Dean asked, deliberately pretending to misunderstand.

"Huh?" For a moment, Neil forgot his misery, and stared at his dad in confusion.

"In England they call cigarettes, fags." Dean explained.

"Oh," Neil said. "Well, that's not what he meant. He was asking if I was gay."

Dean nodded. "Are you?"

Neil's eyes widened. "NO!" He exclaimed, almost horrified.

"Oh," Dean said, keeping his voice casual and even. "Because it wouldn't matter to me if you were. Or your Mom."

"Yeah, right," Neil said, rolling his eyes.

"No, seriously, it wouldn't," Dean said. "I mean, at least not as far as how we felt about you. We'd still love you just as much."

Neil studied him. "Are you really saying you wouldn't care?" he asked, "that even deep down you wouldn't wish I was straight?"

"I didn't say that," Dean said, knowing he had to pick his words very carefully now, least he gave his son the wrong idea. "We might at times wish you were straight, but not because it would make you a different or better person. We would wish it because it's easier to get by in this world if you're straight. We're getting better as a species, but we've still got a long way to go. And as long as middle school boys think the worst insult they can toss at someone is to accuse them of being a homosexual, it's never going to be as easy to be gay as it is to be straight. I don't know what will happen by the time you're an adult, but right now, in most states, if you're gay, you couldn't marry the person you love, hell, you couldn't even have them at your bedside if you were dying in some hospitals. It's not easy being homosexual in a country that thinks that having rights means that you have the right only to have what most people want, which is to marry someone of the opposite sex. So, maybe I put that wrong. Maybe what I should have said that we wouldn't wish you were straight as much as we would wish the world would be more fair to you."

"Really?"

Dean nodded. "Yeah, really. We love you, little man, you know that, right?"

Neil nodded.

"Well, if you told us you were gay, it wouldn't change who you were. It just would mean we know something about you we didn't know before. But if you were gay, would you still love the fried pickles from Sheetz?"

Neil nodded. "They're the best."

"Okay, would you still like chocolate ice cream over vanilla?"

"Yeah."

"Would you still think grapes were better than cherries?"

"Grapes are the best fruit in the world."

"Okay, then." Dean grinned. "So, you'd be exactly the same as you were. The only thing that would change is that now we would know something about you we didn't know before."

"What if I told you I murdered someone," Neil asked. "That would be something you didn't know about me."

Dean grinned, appreciating that Neil didn't just take everything at face value. "Well, actually, we'd still love you. We wouldn't approve of what you did, if it really was just straight up murder for no reason other than self defense. But we'd still love you. And, we'd tell you to do the right thing and turn yourself in. But Neil, it's not the same and I think you know it."

"Some people around here would say it is," Neil muttered.

"Some people spend way too much time judging their neighbor instead of loving them," Dean said. "And since the ones who scream about it the worst usually claim to be the biggest bible readers, I find that rather interesting. So, were your friends right? Are you gay?"

"No!" Neil shook his head. "I'm pretty sure I'm not gay."

"Pretty sure?"

"Well," Neil's brows furrowed. "Cory talks about girls and wants a girlfriend, but I don't think I'm ready for a girlfriend. But, I don't want a boyfriend either. And, if someone came to me and put a gun to my head and told me I had to lock lips with one of my friends, the friend I would pick was Sam."

"Good choice," Dean said, nodding his approval. "She's a cutie. Much better looking than Cory. Much better looking that Marcus, even. And Marcus is a handsome bastard."

Neil giggled, then frowned. "But my friends now think I'm gay and they think being gay is bad."

"Well, if they try to tell you that you're gay again, ask them why they think you are." Dean suggested. "Don't get mad, don't get upset. Look them straight in the eye and say, 'I'm not, but why should that matter?'"

"They'll laugh at me," Neil whined.

"Yeah, they might," Dean said. "But if they do? Then they aren't very good friends are they?" He almost cringed as he said it. It was the truth, but it was an adult truth and a hard one for a child. Kids had to deal with so much change all ready, just from growing up, they tried to keep everything they could the same. And no child wanted to walk away from his friends, friends he'd grown up with.

"I guess." Neil sighed. "I-I don't understand why it matters so much. I mean, we'll still get together at lunch and after school. I just don't want to take the gym class they want to take, and I don't want to take the same E-class they do. Why is it so important?"

"That's something you have to ask them," Dean said.

"I guess," Neil frowned, looking at the bottom rope that he was still twanging once in awhile. "I'll probably call or text Cory after dinner and homework and find out if he's still mad at me."

"If he is, he's an idiot," Dean said.

"Why?"

"Because you're much cooler than he is," Dean said. "If he rejects you as a friend, his cred goes down considerably."

"Uh, Dad, you might favor me just a little," Neil said, but he was smiling. "'Cause, like, you're my dad and all."

"Oh," Dean pretended to ponder this, then shook his head. "Nah, you're cooler. You wrestle."

"Cory sometimes says he wants to be a wrestler," Neil said.

"Yeah, but is he willing to risk the scorn of his friends to take classes that will help him? Even if one of those classes is him facing a fear, like you're doing with the public speaking class?"

"No," Neil said, shaking his head. "But he is in my MMA class."

"Yeah, well, you're cooler, you're more dedicated," Dean said. "And don't argue with me, I'm your father."

Neil chuckled. Dean knew he was still unhappy about the events of the day, but he was getting over it as best he could. Dean was also pretty sure he had done everything he could about the situation. The only thing that would make Dean feel better would be if his friends accepted him and his choices. And Dean couldn't make that happen. On that, only Neil and his friends could work it out. But, there was another issue at stake, the reason why he came out in the first place.

"Neil, when your mom and I were watching you through the window, you were more than a little upset," Dean said, choosing his words carefully. "I know why you were upset, but what was going on in your head?"

Neil frowned. "I was angry," he said. "And I didn't want to be angry, but I did."

"What do you mean?" Dean's voice was quiet, not wanting to startle Neil, but wanting him to continue.

"I know I shouldn't get angry," Neil said. "And when I get angry, I should do whatever I can to calm down. And a lot of times, all I have to do is walk away from whatever is angering me, and I calm down and the anger goes away. But, sometimes..."

His voice trailed off, and Dean saw the look in his eyes. He wasn't chasing the darkness, as he had been when Dean first came out, but Dean knew he was listening to the darkness. The darkness was a bitch of a mistress. She taunted to you, called to you, then made you chase her, looking for the reward she promised. And yeah, she gave you that reward, she let you forget who you were for awhile, but you paid her price. When she left your mind and let you take control again, if you were lucky, you might be having sex with your girlfriend. If you were okay, you'd find bruises on your body. If you were unlucky, you might start feeling the pain of broken bones. You'd know how it all happened, but what you wouldn't understand was why it happened, why you let yourself get into this situation. In the case of having sex with your girlfriend, well, that wasn't too hard to fathom. But when you felt the pain of a battered body and realized that you had deliberately started a bar fight, just to fight through the injury, to reward the darkness with what she loved the most, pain, in particular, your pain, you knew that in some ways, she had you by the balls. He didn't want that for Neil, but he was afraid he might not be able to spare him from it. "Sometimes, what?" Dean asked.

"Sometimes, I want to be angry," Neil said, his voice ever so slightly off, as if a tiny part of him was lost somewhere. "It's like... it calls to me. And it's telling me that if I totally lose it, it'll feel good. It will be like... wiping something out of my mind."

"Does this happen often?" Dean asked.

Neil shook his head. "A few times, but not too often. And every time I've been able to push it away."

"You know I have the same thing with me," Dean said.

Neil hesitated, then nodded. "I thought so."

"Oh?"

"I watch you on TV," Neil reminded him. "I know you're usually faking that anger, faking the crazy, but you learned it from somewhere. And yeah, maybe you could watch someone else and copy what they do, but when it started happening to me, I realized you didn't copy anyone but yourself."

Dean knew Neil was smart, he got excellent grades, but what never ceased to amaze him was how intuitive Neil could be. "Yeah, you figured me out."

Neil sighed. "Am I gonna go all the way crazy and hurt someone?" he asked. "Like become a serial killer or something?"

Dean wished he could laugh and tell him he was being foolish, but he wouldn't do that. He owed it to the kid to be honest, since Neil had gotten this cursed gift from him. "I admit I've gotten into a few bar fights when I was chasing the darkness, but I never permanently damaged someone. Broke a few limbs? Yeah, a few fingers. A couple arms, but that's about it. And I don't do that anymore, a least I don't start fights. But, I've never wanted to kill anyone. I can't answer for you, but I don't think you have that in you. You have a lot of empathy, which cold blooded killers lack. If you're like me, you're in the most danger of hurting yourself. Are you worried about that, too?"

Neil nodded. "Yeah, wh-when I'm fighting it, I find I tighten my fingers until they hurt, they're so tight. But I don't stop, because the pain feels kind of good. And I know if I fell into it, I might really hurt myself."

Dean nodded. "Yeah, that all sounds familiar."

"So, can I do anything?" Neil asked.

"Well, if I have it correctly, you're pretty good at pushing it away for awhile. Am I right?" Dean waited until Neil nodded, then continued. "So, if you're in a situation where you can't do anything, like school or something, push it aside. Then, when you're able to, work out. Go running, go bike riding, but don't just go for a jog or a casual ride, really give it your all. Come out here and run the ropes for awhile. Exhaust your body. You'll feel the burn, because any hard work out gives you the burn. The Darkness likes to see you in pain, but she'll accept the useful pain of a work out."

Neil looked at him and nodded slowly. "I-I didn't think of that," he said. "I could practice my MMA stuff too! And do other stuff like push ups, sit ups, that stuff!"

Dean nodded. "Yeah, you've got it. Back before you were born, when your mom and I were together, she used to get me to take her dog out running. Sometimes she even went with me. But if she wasn't around, I'd go to the gym. Lifting weights was always a good thing. If you do that, though, promise me you won't ever up your weights when you're chasing the darkness. Only lift or work with a weigh you know you can handle. You'll still get the burn, but you'll be less likely to do something your body will need more than 24 hours to recover from."

Neil nodded, a flash of something closer to happiness showing in his eyes. "So, you took a bad thing and made it work for you, that's pretty cool."

Dean shrugged, trying to look modest, but loving the admiration in his son's voice. "Well, yeah, I guess I did. But, don't think this means you should go looking for it. In other words, don't deliberately try to get pissed off, okay? I don't think that's healthy. And if you feel you're really in danger of hurting yourself, if you can't work it off with a work out, you have to promise me, you'll go and tell your mother or if I'm home, tell me. Will you promise me that?"

Neil hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah, I'll do that."

"Cool." Dean nodded. "That's all I ask. I just don't want to see you hurt, okay? I had enough of that when you fell down the well."

"Yeah," Neil said, "That was-"

Dean would never find out what Neil was going to say about his time in the well, because the kid paused, tipping his head to the side, then Dean realized there were voices coming from the side of the house, getting closer.

"God," a young girl's voice was saying, "You can be so stupid,"

"Oh? You were there, too!" A young boy's voice rose in defense of himself.

Dean was pretty sure he recognized the voices, Neil's rising to his feet and leaning over the top rope further confirmed he was right, so he wasn't surprised when Cory and Sam walked into the back yard. Sam looked determined, Cory looked reluctant as if he was afraid of facing Neil but more afraid of what Sam might do if he didn't face Neil. They walked up to the ring.

Neil leaned against the rope, looking almost bored, but Dean was standing next to him now, and could feel the tension in the kid's body. He looked at Cory and Sam, but said nothing.

"Neil?" Sam said, when they were right in front of them. "Cory has something to say to you."

"Why do I have to go first?" Cory asked, looking irritated.

"Because if I go first, you'll just say, 'ditto,' because that's the kind of idiot you are!" Sam said, rolling her eyes.

Dean tried not to laugh.

Cory glared at Sam, then turned to look at Neil. "I'm sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have made fun of you for wanting to take gymnastics. That was wrong of me so please forgive me and don't be mad." The last sentence was said in a mad rush and he turned to look at Sam. "See? I said it, happy now?"

Sam glared at him, then looked at Neil. "I'm sorry, too. It was wrong of us. We don't always have to take every course together and if you want to take some other stuff for E-class or gym, that's your business. And we can either take it with you, or let you take it without us. And I hope you forgive me."

Dean watched as Cory turned his head away from Sam and Neil and pretended to stick his finger in his throat and throw up. Fortunately, Sam or Neil didn't see this.

"You didn't make fun of me," Neil said, shrugging as if he didn't have a care in the world.

"No, but I didn't defend you, either," Sam said, pushing her long black hair off her shoulders. She really was a pretty young girl. Dean had the feeling that in a year or two, she might cause a rift in the friendship between the little group of five, because all four boys would want to date her. "And that was wrong. I should have told everyone to back off. But Marcus gets started sometimes and it's hard to get him to shut up. But, anyway, I was wrong. And I'm sorry. I can't make you forgive me, but I hope you do."

Neil hesitated for only a few seconds, then nodded. "We're cool," he said.

Cory looked over at him. "Are we cool?" he asked.

"Yeah," Neil said. "I mean, we've been friends since preschool, if anyone knows you can be an idiot, it's me and Sam. I'm not going to break up the three of us for something I've known for years."

"Hey!" Cory objected, looking angry, then he saw the grin on Neil's face, and shook his head. "Yeah, yeah, tease me."

"Yeah, yeah, you deserve it," Neil said. "But yeah, I forgive both of you. I mean, we were once Shield Jr, we have to stick together.

"Yeah!" Cory said, enthusiastically, "I was Seth!"

"I wouldn't brag about that if I were you," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "Remember, he's the weaselly traitor."

"Hey!" Cory said, glaring at Sam, "he didn't sell out, he bought in!"

"Oh please!" Sam said, rolling her eyes. "If he gets any more weaselly, he's going to start sneaking into chicken coops."

Dean tried not to laugh. "So, are you three cool?" he asked instead. When all three children nodded, he looked at Cory and Sam. "I'm glad you guys are friends again. And, if my boy is cool with you, then I'm cool with you. But, there is one thing I want to say, because it's bothering me."

"What's that, Mr. Ambrose?" Samantha asked.

"You guys are growing up," Dean said. "Doing that whole puberty thing. And I know when you're with your friends, it's easy to be crude and to say mean things because everyone else says them. I don't care if you guys call each other idiots, dumbasses, or dicks. That doesn't bother me at all, Neil can confirm that." He paused, and looked at Neil, who nodded as if on cue. Dean turned his attention back to the kids. "But, I'd really appreciate it if you kids would at least try not to call each other fags or accuse each other of being gay as if it's the worst thing in the world. I know you probably don't understand, but you know, some of your friends in school might be dealing with that issue, wondering about themselves. Statistics say that there will be kids in your school who will be homosexual, bisexual, transgender, and possibly even asexual. And they're probably having a rough time coming to terms with being... well, not like most of their friends. They're probably scared of what their parents will say, what teachers will say, what their friends will say. And, hearing you kids insulting each other by calling each other things like 'fag' or 'queer' or any other derogatory terms isn't going to make what they're going through any easier. So, as a favor to me, can you guys, like, lead by example and not talk and act like being gay is awful? You never know who might overhear. And in return? I can't answer for your parents, or even Neil's Mom, but when you're around me, I don't care if you accuse each other of having shit-for-brains, or being a fuck-faced moron. I won't tell a soul."

Samantha looked at the ground as if ashamed. Cory looked at Dean. "We don't mean it," he said. "All the kids at school call each other names like fag, faggot, or bull dyke, it's just the way it is."

"Just because everyone does it, doesn't make it right," Dean said. "Maybe instead of following the crowd, you should try to rise above it. Be the three kids at school who don't do that. Be the three kids at school that are better than that. I'm not saying that every time you hear other kids do it, you have to run over and make a stand, I know that's tough. But just don't go along with them. If they say things like that and you can, walk away from them. Don't encourage them to keep doing it. Don't do anything to make them think that you approve."

"But what about Marcus and Javier?" Cory asked. "They do it all the time."

"Three against two," Dean said. "Since they're part of your crowd, just tell them you would rather not hear them talking like that. You don't have to make a big deal out of it, just tell them you don't find it funny." He looked at Sam, who had stopped staring at the ground and was looking at him. "Hell, Sam, you're an expert eye roller. Roll your eyes at them, they'll get the point."

Sam smiled. "Okay. I can do that."

Cory nodded. "Okay, I'll try too."

"Good." Dean nodded.

"So," Cory asked, looking at Neil, then the ring, then Dean. "Uh, what are you guys doing?"

"My dad was showing me some wrestling stuff," Neil said, and you could hear behind the casual tone he was using, there was a lot of bragging. "He showed me how to do his old finisher."

"Really?" The envy in Cory's voice was almost palatable. "Can you show me?"

"We can show you the move," Dean said. "But, I can't train you to do it, because it involves learning some basics first and I'm assuming you've never learned to do the basics, right?"

Both children nodded, confirming that their wrestling knowledge came only from watching.

"Okay," Dean said. "Get in the ring and Neil and I will show the move to you. Then, maybe we can train you how to run the ropes. That's the first thing you need to learn."

"Thank you!" Sam and Cory spoke in unison as they climbed up and into the ring. Dean ruffled Neil's hair and the two of them took their places to show Cory and Sam what Neil had learned about wrestling that afternoon.

The End.

Author's notes: I know this might have gotten a bit "preachy" but I think it's something that needs to be said. I think Dean and Cinnamon would want their son to be the kid who did not make fun of people and think the worst insult in the world would be to accuse someone of being homosexual.

Special thanks to:

Everyone who reviewed: Those who have accounts here were thanked with responses. Those who do not are mentioned below. But really, guys, you're fantastic. I can't even begin to explain what reviews do for me. They keep me going. Lauraxxx gets a lot of credit for this story, but I'd say at least 20% goes to people who actually take the time to review, who take the time to let me know that you enjoyed my stories. It means the world to me, because you are the ones that understand that this is a give and take situation and it isn't fair to constantly take without giving something back. If it weren't for you guys, I would be keeping my stories on my hard drive and I'd never know if I had any talent or not. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you!

Nancy: First, I am so glad you left this note to let me know your son is doing better, I've been concerned. And six months old? Oh wow, that's a lot to put on his plate and yours. I hope his recovery continues to go well and that this will soon fade into a distant memory. I'm glad though, that this is something he won't remember, but it still was very hard on you. Thank you for taking the time to review when no one would have faulted you for not doing so.

I'm glad you like the story too. Lauraxxx gets 60% of the credit for this story even existing. But I do admit, I had a lot of fun writing about Neil in the ring with his dad. I hope you liked the second part as much, too. I do plan on writing more Neil/Dean/Cinnamon stories and I am hoping to do one with them on the road the summer after they get married. I would like to try to finish my big project first, but you never know when an idea might hit me in the face and demand it gets written,

I'm glad you liked my little argument at the end and didn't take offense to it. As I said earlier, I am beyond impressed and almost in tears that you took the time to leave reviews with your son so sick. No one (unless they have no heart) would ever think to fault you if you hadn't, but yet you still did and that is just... touching and sweet. Thank you.

Beadsoap: I hope all is going well for you. Thank you so much for your review. I'm glad you like the Cinnamon series. For what was supposed to be a one shot story, it sure has caught on. I hope you like part two of the story too. I do hope to write at least one story of Dean and Neil on the road, where Dean gets to show his WWE buddies what his ten year old son can do. I think it would make a pretty cute story.

This is normally the part where I'd put up my counter argument to arguments I've heard from real life RODR's (Read only, don't review) as to why they treat fanfiction like it's an endless buffet of free entertainment to them, and expect everyone else to do the work.

However, my last argument for reviewing upset someone so bad that she felt the need to blast me out for having the nerve to try to pressure her into leaving a review. She said some things that were out and out lies about me and my reading/reviewing habits, and she also did this anon, so I have to put my response here. If you really dislike drama, please feel free to stop reading now, I completely understand.

Madison: Since you took the time to write me a very long rant and either do not have an account or decided not to sign in to do it, I can't have this discussion with you in private. So, we'll take it here.

To make things easy for Madison and my readers who wish to follow along, this is how it goes.

Parts that are written in italics are Madison's "review" to me. I feel obligated to copy it to here, so I can answer each point individually, because Madison has some very strong feelings about things.

Parts in Bold are from the original author's notes that Madison is commenting on (The original rant can be found at the end of Part 1 of this story, if you would care to read/reread it.)

Parts written normally are my responses.

Also, since Madison is an anon reviewer, the only assumptions I can make about her are based only on the "review" she left me. So, Madison? Please don't come back on me and say, "But I review a million people's stories under another name!" I don't know that. All I know is our interaction. I've never had anyone called "Madison" leave a review on my stuff. And since when reviewing anon you can pick any damned name you want, I have no proof that you've ever reviewed anyone elses stuff on this site either. So this response is based entirely on your review to me.

Okay, let's go!

Hi,

Well, hello, "Madison," nice of you to drop by.I hope we shall have a pleasant and harmonious exchange of words today.

I have been reading the story for awhile and is it rude to say that I did not like your story simply because I just don't like it?

I'm not quite sure what you are saying with this sentence. Are you saying you don't like my stories? Okay, that's your right, although I find it curious that it took you until now to figure out you don't like it. And that you obviously read it down to the very end to find my argument. Why are you reading my stories if you don't like them? That seems stupid. One chapter, sure... maybe even one story, but the Cinnamon Saga has a lot of stories. Did it really take you this many to figure out you don't like them? How strange.

Or, are you asking me if it's rude to just say, "I don't like it" and that's all? If it's the second, yes, that's rude. Negative reviews are another topic all together and I addressed that at the very beginning of my argument when I wrote:

I am aware that most of my arguments are based on if you like the story. Negative reviews are another matter entirely and I will tackle them another time.So, for now, all arguments will be based on the idea that you like the story. You may not be in love with the story, but you like it and you read it whenever it's updated.

I don't think I need to revisit this, do I? I mean, you made your point and I read it, so this must just be a fluke that you mention negative reviews when my entire rant was not talking about leaving negative reviews. Whew, glad we got this issue resolved and we won't have to revisit it again. I sure would hate to have to keep cutting and pasting the same thing over and over again.

Since you constantly trying to assure readers to leave any review so I would leave one.

Really? How nice of you, and I really appreciate it. I'm just glad it's not an angry ranting flame where you completely misunderstand what I was saying and keep making the same point over and over again, a point that had nothing to do with my original argument, because you called it a review. So, I look forward to the review part of this. You do know that reviews are not flaming rants about author's notes, right? I mean, there's nothing wrong with ranting about my author's notes, that's fine. But you specifically called this a review. So, let's see when the review part comes.

Everyone has different taste of reading materials so don't assume they all would like your story.

I never did assume that everyone likes my story. Again, I refer you to what was posted at the top of my rant:

So, for now, all arguments will be based on the idea that you like the story.

If someone clicked on my story, read a few paragraphs and didn't like the story, I would assume they would say nothing, unless they wanted to leave a negative review. Again, I said negative reviews are a subject for another rant. But, I also believe that on almost every story, every chapter of every story, I have told my audience that I am not adverse to negative reviews. I believe I've said things such as, "How will I improve if I don't know what I'm doing wrong?" That should tell you that I'm not going to freak out because someone doesn't like my story. But again, my entire argument was written assuming the reader read the top of my argument which said:

So, for now, all arguments will be based on the idea that you like the story.

I believe there were many readers like me who read a story, found they did not like it and just skip away rather than to drop pipebomb on the author, 'hey your story sucks. I don't like it because I just don't like it.' Do you really wanna hear that kind of stuff?

Are we visiting this again? Darn it. Okay, let me remind you again of what I wrote at the top of the rant:

So, for now, all arguments will be based on the idea that you like the story.

Apparently, I didn't make this clear enough. Had I known, I would have repeated this at the top of every paragraph I wrote. But, I thought that people who would comment on my argument would actually, you know, read it? I did address this twice, actually. At the end of my rant, I wrote:

So, if you are one of those people who can't bring yourself to say anything negative and see nothing positive about a story, and don't think anyone should waste their time reading it, you should not leave a review.

And it was interesting that you constantly asking for reviews but I barely noticed you yourself leave a review on other stories.

I don't? Seriously?Yes, I do. Do I read thousands of stories on this site? No, I do not. Why? Because I don't have the time. You see, I won't read stories unless I have the time to review them, even if it's just to say, "Hey, good story!" If you don't see a review from me, it's because I have not read the story. OR, instead of giving a public review, I have chosen to message the author in private instead. I don't do the "review by PM very often, but I have done it. So, yes, I do leave reviews. Do I leave negative reviews? Well again, that's a rant for another time, but in a nutshell, no I don't, unless the author has made it clear in his/her notes that he/she is not adverse to receiving them. Something I addressed in the original rant:

Then again, if I don't like a story, I rarely read beyond the first three or four paragraphs and it wouldn't be fair to write a negative review on only a part of the story, would it? I honestly think that if you had read this and the beginning where I addressed the issue of negative reviews and wrote:

So, for now, all arguments will be based on the idea that you like the story.

Your rant would either be much shorter, or much different. But, we'll continue. Hey, when's the review part coming? Because all I have right now is an angry ranty response to my argument. But, I have faith! You must know what a review is, because you're so smart you claim to know everything about me, like why I write, how many stories a day I read, and how many reviews I don't write. Surely someone with such amazing mental powers knows what a review is.

Sure, you had your list of favorite stories, but only on that stories you like. See, even you had taste in reading and surely there must be other stories you skip away from reading, right?

Okay, I'm confused again sorry. Do you think I have read every single story in this archive? No, I haven't. When would I have time to write, or go to work or do anything if I read every story on this archive? Even if the only stories I read were wrestling stories, that would be an awful lot of stories I'd have to read.

Or, maybe you're implying that the only stories I've reviewed are on my favorite's list. Nope, not true either. There are a few one shots I've read and commented on and not put on my favorite's list, simply because they weren't my favorites and being one shots, I didn't have to worry that they would be updated. I even have a few stories I follow and haven't favored, again, because they aren't my favorites. This isn't to say I didn't like them, I did. And, I've reviewed them, too. I even have stories I love, I've reviewed, but that I haven't favored, because if you favor the author, then everything they publish you'll be notified of. So yeah, it's lazy on my part, but I figure the reviews are telling them I like their story, better than a favor/follow button. But, if you want to chew me out for not clicking on the follow/favor option, then you do have a point and I will try in the future to remember to do that. Thank you for your gentle nudge to remind me of that oversight. Your kind, thoughtful, diplomatic ways are such a joy to my heart.

Maybe you're saying I think people should leave reviews on stories they haven't read? That's just silly. If I "skip" away from reading a story, I don't feel obligated to leave a review. I even said that if you don't take one of Sausage Lady's samples, then you don't have to feel obligated to do anything:

-of course if you don't take a sausage, you don't owe Sausage lady anything.

Or if you open the story and you be like, this story doesn't interest me. Right?

Again:

So, for now, all arguments will be based on the idea that you like the story.

And also:

I don't know how much clearer I could have made it. The entire original argument, was based on if you readers should review stories that you liked. Not stories that you didn't like. Yet, your entire so-called "Review" (which is actually a flaming rant isn't it Madison? Can we be honest about that now? Or do I have to keep pretending it's a review?) seems to come down to, "But what if I don't like a story!" And I made it pretty clear if you don't like a story that it was an entirely different matter when I wrote:

What else could I have said to make you understand that stories readers don't like were not the subject of my argument? I wrote something at the beginning, and the end of the argument. Madison, I can't come to your house and force you to read all of the argument, that just isn't possible!

If you are pressing readers for review, then you yourself are also obliged to leave a review on other stories, which I noticed you yourself barely did. Is that fair to other readers and authors?

Of course I'm obligated, and I do. Again, have you looked at every single story on this site to see what I have/have not reviewed? I find that hard to believe. In fact, looking at the time I published the story to the time it took you to post your little denouncement, I know it would be impossible. So, what you are doing, is making assumptions about me and about my reading and reviewing habits. No, more than that, you are telling lies about me. And they ARE lies, Madison. Make no mistake, lies. Even if there is one story I've read and not reviewed (I can't think of one if there is, but it could be possible. We lost internet a few times in the last few months, so maybe a review or two got lost then) you are saying I barely review. I would like to ask you where you got that proof from, but I won't bother. Because it's a nasty, mean spirited, lie. It's something you pulled out of your ass in an attempt to slander me to my readers.

Now, I do admit there are two stories on my favorite's list that I have not reviewed ON THIS SITE. These are stories I first read over at AO3 and I hit the Kudo's button on AO3 site and left a comment over there. I do plan, someday to reread them on this site and review them again here too, but since I have read and reviewed them somewhere else, I feel perfectly justified in putting that on the back burner. The author knows how I feel about her stories. And I don't understand why that's any of your business, but since you like to point fingers at me and accuse me of things, I guess I have to defend myself. Such a pity you'll likely not even read it, because you have a habit of missing the point.

Don't tell me you are reviewing because they reviewed yours, because I checked some of your reviewer's work, and you did not leave a review on all of them. You just picked the ones that really caught your interest. Oh wait, that was exactly how readers of FF picked their favorite story to leave review on.

Who said I read every story that every person who has reviewed my stories have written themselves? Did I say that I had? I haven't. Again, stop telling lies about me. And yes, you are telling these things as facts about me, that are not true. Saying things about someone that are not true and stating them as facts is lying. So, cut the crap, Madison.

I didn't think I would have to explain this, but apparently, since I rubbed a nerve raw on you, and you feel the only way to make yourself feel better is to accuse me of things. Let me tell you what I do when someone who has stories on this site reviews my work. WHEN I HAVE TIME, I go and check them out. It seems fair, right? And, I figure if they like my stuff, we must share some things in common so I'm more likely to like their story than I am by just clicking on any random story in the front page. I go and find a one shot story to read, if the author has written one. If I read the first couple paragraphs and don't like it, I don't leave a review. And again, I will remind you of what I said in the original argument that you are attacking:

So, for now, all arguments will be based on the idea that you like the story.

And at the end:

But, let's say I do like that story. I do leave a review on it. Then, if I have time, I go on to their most recent story. If it's a multiple chapter saga, I read it. In some cases, I don't leave a review on every single chapter, but I do leave them on many of them. Then I at least follow the story so I can keep up with it. Chances are, I will continue to read any further stories they write, but as for getting to the backlog? That's something that might happen in the future, if I have time.

So, in other words, Madison, you're telling lies about me. You're saying that every single author whose reviewed my works I have read every single one of theirs. I have never said that, ever, so why are you saying I did? Again, you're giving out facts about me that are actually things YOU have made up. Which makes them lies. Now, why don't I read everything these authors have written? Again, TIME. Because... as I wrote before, with real life and my own writing, time is limited and, unlike you, I will not read a story unless I have time to also leave a review. I consider taking the time to leave a review, as important as reading the story. If, because of this, I only have time to read two stories a week instead of two hundred? So be it. I would rather only read two stories and leave reviews to encourage the authors than to read two hundred stories and take the attitude of, "Well, the only thing that matters is that I read them, not that I review them." Lately, I have so many multiple chapter sagas that are being updated so regularly, I don't have time to add new stories to my list. Do I hope to some day read every story these writers have written? I do. But some of these people do a lot of writing and it takes a lot for me to keep up with their current stuff, never mind the stuff they wrote before I was writing/reading myself. Again, since I won't read a story without leaving a review, I have to figure in the review time as well, so no I don't have hours and hours to read stories.

Trust me, Madison. I practice what I preach. I admit, not all my reviews are long (but some are) Some are quite popular with the authors too. I would point them out, but I don't want to do that without the author's permission. If you go looking through my favorites, you'll see some of them. Some stories inspire long reviews (action stories seem to be the easiest to inspire long reviews) some don't. The size of the review doesn't indicate my like of a story. But trust me, if I have read the story to the end of what is written, or even if I only read one chapter and haven't had the time to read the other chapters, you will see I have left a review.

Lets say that there were 20 authors like you pressing readers for review uploading 20 stories per day, so every reader was obliged to leave a review on each one since they came with free samples of sausage (your analogy.)

First, no, that totally is not my analogy, that's you being an idiot. I said the stories were like sausages. Cut the attempt at cheap insults, thank you. It's bad enough you tell lies about me.

Anyway, let's go on. First, no. My analogy did not say these stories came with a sausage sample. I said let's say the stories are the sausage samples. Are you saying the writer owes you something else besides the story itself? Because that comes across as greedy. Oh wait, you are greedy, at least when it comes to fanfiction. You think it's perfectly okay for you to take as much as you want and never to give back. So, I'm not surprised that you not only expect a story from these authors, but you expect something else from them too. And I even know what it is you expect, you expect them to never ever prod at you for reviews. You expect us to sit by quietly and let you enjoy all your free reading without ever even attempting to make you feel bad for taking and taking and never giving.

You can't expect a reader to read 20 stories a day and leave review on each stories because they owe the author 'a sausage' (like your analogy).

WTF? A story is a sausage, a review is like saying, "Thank you." What part of that can't you grasp? And, why must you read twenty stories a day? Did someone put a gun to your head? Why can't you read fifteen and take that extra time to review at least SOME of the stories you're reading. You seem to be saying that it isn't fair for me to expect reviews because it cuts into your valuable time stuffing yourself at the all you can read fanfiction buffet. You read twenty stories a day and never review? What do you give to the fanfiction community that you take from so greedily? I'd like to know. What's your contribution to a community that works hard and helps each other? Are you a beta reader? Are you a writer? We know you're not a reviewer. Or if you have left reviews, no one has seen them.

Even you yourself won't bother to review the 20 stories you read on FF per day.

Okay, gloves off. Who the fuck told you I read twenty stories a day on FF? Again with the lies. I don't. I never said I did. I don't have time to read twenty stories a day. I do have to work, I do have various domestic tasks, I do want to write. So, my reading time is limited. Even if I didn't leave reviews, I wouldn't have time to read twenty stories a day. If I didn't leave reviews I might have time to read 5-8 stories or chapters per day. Add the time to do reviews and I've knocked that down to 2-5. And some days I don't have the time to read anything at all.

Again, I practice what I preach. If I liked it enough to read the whole thing, I have reviewed it.

I would like to ask you, if you come across a story you just don't like, would you have the guts to tell the author so?

Oh for Pete's sake, would you stop flogging this dead horse? Didn't I address this? Wait, I did! At the beginning of my argument I wrote this:

So, for now, all arguments will be based on the idea that you like the story.

And at the end, I wrote this:

Is this your only defense to my entire argument, Madison? "I won't leave reviews on any stories because I don't like some stories?" Or am I misunderstanding something, because that's what I'm hearing here. And that's a dumb argument. What about the stories you liked? Do you have an obligation to review them? Yeah, honestly, I feel you do. Can I force you? No, of course not. But, just as you have the right to make your stand (which apparently is normally, silence and by god, I wish you'd stuck to that) I have the right to point out that I think your stand is invalid. And make no mistake, Madison, you do make a stand on every story you read and don't review. Silence speaks as loudly as words. The message you're sending is, "You are here for my amusement, but I owe you nothing." And with this rant, you're further saying, "Even though I read your stories, you STILL owe me more than that. You owe it to me to never tell me that I should leave reviews. You owe it to me to always always always treat me, the reader that won't say thank you, with gentle kid gloves because I read your stories. You have no right to offend me."

And, so far (because I'll bet you're keeping score) you have said nothing to convince me that I'm wrong for my opinions. In fact, you've actually served to reenforce my beliefs that most people who are RODR (read only, don't review) are a pretty selfish lot that not only want to be able to read whatever they want whenever they want without ever giving back to the community that makes this possible, but they also want to make sure they are never called out on their rude, inconsiderate behavior, because if they are, then they are going to blast that writer out.

I think it was not fair for you to pressure every single readers that clicking on your story in leaving a review.

Well, considering that you RODR's don't exactly tell me who you are, if I'm going to pressure any of you into leaving reviews, I have to do it in a way that all my readers can see it. Or, should I next time go, "Hey, every reader BUT Madison should leave a review!" Because I get what you're saying here, you're not really upset that I'm pressuring every reader to leave a review, you're upset that I'm pressuring YOU. You couldn't give a flying fuck in a rolling doughnut about any other RODR, all that matters is you.

I know you write for feedback or whatever,

First, I don't write for feedback. I post for feedback. I write for me. Don't get snippy. If you're going to take offense to something I write, the least you can do is actually read it before you go off on me. Oh wait, you've already proven you don't read, you just skim and look for chit to bother you.

but you can't expect 20 readers to review on each of your story just because they clicked on your story.

If they merely clicked on my story, read a bit of it and said, "This isn't my type of story" then I don't expect them to leave a review. Can I make it any plainer? Apparently, not.

If they read the story and liked it? No, I can't expect it, because there are too many Madisons in this world who not only won't review, but get all pissy if a writer has the nerve to say, "Hey, maybe you ought to review, if you like a story!"

And why do you keep bringing up numbers like it makes a difference? If a hundred people or ten people review my work, it doesn't change how much time it took each one of them to make that review. You keep talking like "Well, you're expecting twenty people!" like that makes a difference. Would it be okay to expect one? Ten? Oh I got it, how about if I pressure everyone BUT you, Madison? Isn't that what you really want? Okay, Madison, in the spirit of indulging your self centered greedy little heart, I hereby tell you that you are under no obligation to read and review my stories ever again. Because, Madison, I don't want to put any pressure on you in your perfect little world there. Your world that is so awesome that my having the nerve to suggest that maybe you ought to show some consideration once in awhile, is enough to messy up your day. So, while I hope you still consider reviewing those authors you like, I am telling you that you never ever ever have to even think about reviewing one of my stories, ever again.

The readers are simply readers, they were not review machine programmed to leave a review on every story they clicked on just because someone with a lots of free time cooking a sausage for them.

Wow, Nice comeback, implying that we writers have no lives! It's nice to see you paid attention in "Horrifying insults of the Internet 101!" "Lots of free time" I'm surprised you didn't fall to the normal insult and say, "Unlike you, I have a life!" Actually, I have very limited free time, so nice try, but no dice. And again, no one is forcing you to read anyone's story. The writer puts it up. You make the choice to read it. You decided that being able to read twenty stories a day is more important than only reading 5-15 stories per day, and leaving reviews on them.

And really, to show minimal politeness is turning you into a machine? Saying things like, "Nice story," and "I liked it," is horribly time consuming and unfair and treating readers like machines? The whole point of my rant was that it doesn't matter the size of the review, that while longer IS better, even the shortest of reviews is appreciated too.

If they open a story, they did not like it, it was up to them to walk out without telling the author, I just don't like your story.

*Sigh*

Negative reviews are another matter entirely and I will tackle them another time. So, for now, all arguments will be based on the idea that you like the story. You may not be in love with the story, but you like it and you read it whenever it's updated.

And:

It was just my opinion, feel free to bash me in response after this, because you are the one that asked for a REVIEW.

Oooh, nice try! Good effort at trying to make me feel guilty if I respond in anything other than, "I'm sorry, I'm wrong!" I'm impressed. It's still a fail, but I'm very impressed by the effort.

First of all, again, this isn't a review. It's a flaming rant about my opinion. Let's not mince words here, Madison. You flamed me. Calling it a review doesn't make it a review. You insulted me personally, and you lied about my reading and reviewing habits.

Let's get to the irony of this. In the time it took you to write this review, you could have reviewed a lot of stories. Especially if you just went with, "Good story" or, "Liked it" or, "Looking forward to your next chapter" But, you're way too busy for that right? You have such a busy life, to expect you to thank these writers providing you with all this free entertainment is too much for you to fit into your busy schedule. I mean, you're not a writer, we writers have all the time in the world, according to you. You're a reader! Your time is valuable, and quite limited. Unless, of course, one of us writers steps out of the subservient role you want us in and have the nerve to call you RODR's out on your behavior. Then you have all the time in the world to write an anger filled, insulting diatribe. Limited time is not your real excuse for not leaving reviews, is it Madison? The real reason you don't leave reviews is because you just don't want to. Because when it comes to fanfiction, you are a taker. And, well you know, I can't stop you. But I'm not going to stop defending my position that yeah, it would be damned nice if some of you takers would give a fraction of what you take back to the community. And if that puts you in a tizzy, so be it.

And yes, in the time I wrote this, I could have read at least one story and written a review, but, I felt I had to address this, and in the future, any stories I read I will review, just as I have been.

One more thing, Madison, I want to repeat something I've said on both of the rants I've written so far:

I know I can't force you to read this and I'm sure most lurkers won't, but I can convince one person who was lurking to step forward and review (or, if on AO3, at least press the damned Kudos button) then I've done good. If I can convince that same person to review someone elses work that they've been reading and enjoying as well, then I'll consider this a major success.

I'm deadly serious about this. Half the reason why I'm doing these rants is because I've found some really fine stories on this site that are not getting the reviews they deserve. Would I love more reviews? Sure I would. But just as much, I would like to see some of these "Unsung greats" get the reviews they should be getting.

So, I understand if you're pissed off at me and will now never dream of leaving me a review on my stories, that's cool. To be honest, I don't respect you very much and doubt if your reviews would mean much to me anyway. But please, if I did make anything inside of you twinge, any part of you think that "You know, maybe I should leave a review at least once in awhile," then please, leave a review on another writer's work that you enjoy. Show them that you like what they're doing.

EVERY argument I am writing are things that your fellow RODR's have said when asked why they do not review. Do I think there are valid reasons not to review? Yes, I do. I'm not going to address them, because they're valid resons. But, I think there are a lot of excuses said because people try to make themselves feel better for something that part of them knows is wrong. If you really and truly feel that you do not have to leave reviews, and your reasons for not leaving them are justified, then why do my words upset you? Why did you even briefly skim them looking for stuff to be upset about read them? If you are absolutely sure you are in the right to read and never review, then wouldn't you just ignore what I wrote and go on?

To any reader who followed this to the end?

Peace Out, take carefully

Willow