Anyone else want the author to let Joe and Ian go together then end the main story but sto...

I’d actually like that a lot. I tend to be far more interested in stories that have TJ’s storyline. It gives me the vibe I was craving when I was waiting for Under the Green Light and Shutline to come back

Yeah I just read it for TJ
The author is wasting his character
I want see him happy and not chasing after a man who doesn't really want him
Give TJ someone who actually wants him!
A waste of a handsome face!

As if tj is capable of love the story is about Ian

It's comments like these that remind me where the author failed to get certain points across.

Be so extremely serious lmao. The entire story shows Tj choosing the gang, power and money over the ONLY person in his life. 69 whole chapters of this to the point the author had to make Tj explicitly say what he thinks of Ian and whats he's done to him. Tj doesn't care about Ian as a person; he doesn't know him (hence the luxury house when even Jamie knew it was immensely too much), he doesn't understand him (hence why he goes against him leaving the gang even tho it's where Ian lost everything and got abused), he doesn't take care of him (he fucked him for days after Ian killed his abuser and was in a disturbed state because he's been lusting over him like a dog), he doesn't respect him as a person (repeated talked about him derogatorily, even in front of other people), or his agency (sent him to prison, broke his leg, stopped him from seeking other men while he gladly fucks women) and more! I'll never buy the 'he just loves with flaws' he literally only wants to own Ian, lock him up in a stupid house in the city of his dream to remind him everyday he shouldn't want more than him and fuck him for the rest of his life.

Y'all should say thank you Jo for getting a pic of him because after two decades Tj has none of him (but he loves him so much!). The day tj and ian have a meaningful conversation and show genuine feelings for each other will never come I fear, they had two decades and 2 seasons for that.

I wrote my own reasons for the drawbacks I have from this story maybe two comments below this one. It’s long enough and it should explain why I don’t agree with your statement, so I invite your to read it because I don’t really feel like repeating myself since I expanded on the entire story. All I know is that if you genuinely believe that TJ Is incapable of love, then either the author missed the mark or you just ignored/refused to see a few things to satisfy the base idea you have of his character. I’ve seen so many people do that, that one would think his character doesn’t have layers and that all he is, is bad. I couldn’t imagine what it would take for me to read this story and only draw that as a conclusion.

Here’s a copy/paste, if you actually care to have a different perspective:

Seeing the comment section reminds me of why I’ve only been skimming through this for the last 10 chapters or so. The reason why I’m personally no longer as into the story as I used to be is because I feel like the non-stops non-linear flashbacks are way too easy to confuse and don’t offer an experience that’s immersive and comprehensive enough. We spend so much time in the back-and-forth and redundancies that the decisions made by characters like TJ in real time get lost in the growth he’s gone through because of flashbacks concerning the past. We already knew that TJ was using Ian’s guilt to keep him attached to him. We’ve known that since season 1 and it was better explained in the beginning of season 2. But then they repeated that same shxt at least two more times since (not counting this chapter), just in different ways.

Ian felt guilt because he felt responsible for TJ being in that life with him when they were 15 and orphaned. Then he felt responsible for TJ getting wounded when TJ had arranged to leave the boss they were under because he was a piece of shxt who allowed scums like the guy who r*ped Ian to be around. Although Ian did kill someone in self-defense, TJ could’ve arranged for Ian not to go to jail, or for someone else to take the fall. He allowed it to happen only because he thought Ian told him that he was no longer feeling anything about murder and wanted out before he fully became a monster. TJ was convinced that Ian only needed time to sit in it and that he’d change his mind once he was out of jail. Then he kept Ian attached to him by making him indebted to him because of the protection money provided in jail.

One thing that’s important to acknowledge here is that Ian has always been aware of it. He just allowed TJ To keep doing this and pretended not to know. That’s why they had this huge fight midway through season 1. It’s also the scene where TJ leaves, Ian cries and then eventually goes after TJ Just as TJ is going back to him. Except Jo spotted that moment and got in between, which halted their reconciliation up until TJ’s accident at the end of season 1. After his accident, TJ questioned what he’d been doing. He realized that he never would’ve forgiven himself had Ian actually been in the car with him since he was a target for other gangsters. That’s why he asked Ian to stay away, but Ian wouldn’t let that happen, so TJ walked away. Yet ever since he made that choice, all we’ve had were flashbacks about them when they were in their twenties and I can tell a lot of people either failed to grasp that TJ had a character growth or they refuse to see it (I had someone tell me he was lying and trying to hook Ian in when he left. Fkn be foreal).

When I had to re-read the whole thing to make sense of everything, I was excited because I felt the layers in Ian and TJ especially. But then the flashbacks kept coming and the comment section was nothing but people warring about ships, so they stayed stuck on seeing the characters one way. That’s where the story lost its appeal to me. I also wanted to believe in what drove Ian to choose Jo, because I had a hard time believing that in a dire situation, he wouldn’t run to TJ again. I just wanted to be sold on the love they had, but it felt more like he resigned himself to the fact that TJ really let him go and then looked forward at the only person who loved him and showed him something new about life. Nothing wrong with that, but basically I’m unimpressed with them as a couple. I would’ve preferred if it didn’t take TJ ghosting him to make that choice.

Honestly, the only thing that drew me back in is knowing how season 2 ends. I’m curious about how season 3 will unfold because of that. Maybe I’ll be sold on the Ian x Jo ship then. It now has the potential to sway me, based on the ending of season 2 alone.

The flashbacks were primordial though— readers until now refuse to accept what Tj did to Ian even with the flashbacks clearing everything up. They had to happen to get where did tjian exactly come from too, and for the whole 'tj sacrificed himself for ian, saved ian, cares for ian' narrative to be countered.

If tjian were to be endgame I'm sure Doyak would make sense of it, but the whole story is about Ian moving forward and that includes moving away from Tj, even if he's not yet free from him as we can see. I still stand by my point that Tj is absolutely incapable of genuinely loving anyone let alone Ian, and that even if he "changes" or "tries" it'll always be abusive or have abusive roots anyway. I don't see Tj as this complex, interesting character who deserves a good and happy ending when he's another obsessed gang leader who plays with people and their lives.

You can of course be disappointed with the story though, a lot of people are and will continue to be as the last season unfolds. Personally I think Doyak's writing is top-notch, and that you might dislike the flashbacks because they precisely show everything tj lovers wants to ignore or forget lol.

want*

The flashbacks are primordial, yes, but they should not bring about confusion. They begin to lose their effects when more people question what event occured before the last one. I know from research and currently being on the hunt for an editor so I can publish my first novel that it's very easy to drown out your plot and oversaturate it with so much of the same information that it feels as though your story is stagnating rather than advancing. All these selfish decisions TJ made were years ago. In the begining of season 2, he comes to a realization that readers who have come to hate him either choose to ignore, or call manipulative. It could've been true, only we're reaching the end of season 2, so we know it wasn't true and that he was very honnest in that decision. So what I realize is that people are so focused on past decisions that they can't look at current ones. That's where the failure I'm talking about comes into play.

I don't understand where the abuse you keep bringing up is about, but TJ IS capable of love. I think it's easy to forget that love isn't a concept that anyone can properly define. Most times, it is irrational and a lot of times, people have role models that show them how to communicate that love. He didn't communicate his well. He fell in love at first time as a teenager, but after losing his entire family, it turned out that the person he loved became the only person he could trust, rely and depend on. Since Ian felt the same way about him, their co-dependency began. Meanwhile, all TJ knew to do was hold on to that person by any means necessary, which gave his love an obsessive streak. Ian knowingly fed on that; he loved being looked at that way. First time it was brought up was season 1, and last time it was brought up is when Ian recognized that same look in Jo's eyes as he associated it with the way TJ looked at him.

In the years that led to them being in the gang together (19 years old), TJ became convinced that in order to truly thrive in life, he actually NEEDED Ian. That without him, he couldn't truly succeed. Both Ian and he came to genuinely believe that. Ironically, it took TJ putting Ian in jail to realize he could thrive on his own. That he had what it takes. That's why during the funeral, when TJ told Ian to stay away, Ian's response was something like "you need me; you can't do anything without me," to which TJ's response was something like "I've actually recently discovered that I can in fact rely on myself." For the first time since TJ fell in love with Ian, his act of love was to let him go. Yes, he probably would've struggled to do so if it wasn't for his own ambitions, but then again, the story wouldn't be what it is without those ambitions. So it's not that TJ isn't capable of love, it's that his love tapped into his insecurities and selfishness. His own accident opened his eyes into what that selfishness could've caused to the person he loved. As far as I'm concerned, all three of those men deserve all the love they can get. I just know I was getting bored by the story the way it was being told and that people who are actually here for Jo, somehow share my sentiment on how it isn't as top-notch as you're implying it is.

tf are these long ass essays

I like to make sure I get my points across as clearly as possible

the fanfiction community would love you guys wth these word counts

I didn't find the flashbacks all that confusing, they made things clearer to me and no information was repeated. I'm also extremely biased so I might refuse to see Tj's honestly, but I don't think he is honest the way you do. He knows his resolve will crumble the next time he sees Ian, and time will tell if his present decisions mean anything.

I know calling Tj abusive is controversial but I stand by it. I've already listed all the reasons why he is and I'm even missing a ton.

Everything you say about love and what it entails for Tj is true— he is human thus is inherently capable of love and affection and how he shows is flawed because of his life story, him and Ian complimented each other, I agree. Now, when people say tj should be the final relationship or find someone else because he somehow deserves happiness, I truly wonder if they're serious. Tj ruins tons of people's lives by being a gang leader, hurts the one he 'loves', and would hurt anyone he'd be enamoured with, which he has no right to... unless he's an abusive partner! Gang leaders don't deserve their happy ending to me even in fictional stories when the consequences of said gang are repeatedly brought up.


You're fond of Tj so you see acts of love or insecurities where I see cowardliness and meanness, this can't be helped. I don't think he, who can't show an ounce of kindness or softness, deserves any of it back either, nor get "all the love they can get". I'm not moved by his realizations either even if they're part of his growth.. It's truly bland and helps no one and no situation at the end of the day, since Ian still suffer from him indirectly.

Wet San is one of the rare well written bl out here to me and it hasn't disappointed me yet, and I'm extremely picky, so it's surprising even if fair when I see people not liking it anymore because I'll always think it's because it's taking a turn the majority is against, and I've never see Jo fans disappointed yet outside of the times where tjian have nothing but repeated sex scenes lol.

Good luck with your own novel though.

well i do write fics and the other poster is a whole writer sooo

how he shows it* complemented**