Okay okay I know I’m usually the first to be like ‘dude!! He said no!!’ but y’all are going to have to hear me out on this one.
Reading this story was a delight. It was full of humor and never took itself too seriously. In a story where a strong heterosexual man get constantly beaten up and dubconned by a man who hates him but also sits perched right on the borderline of being a yandere you’d expect it to leave you feeling a little icky. But instead you get Mason, mercenary extraordinary who’s lifelong curses was being a bit too much of a himbo and yet always finding himself in the most unfortunate situations, waking up in the body of coked out holiday child star turned party twink. Genital piercing and all. And every moment of it is hilarious. From his genuine awe at the range of sex toys previously collected by Reese to the internal ‘was I always gay or am I gay because this body is gay??’. This story reads in the same energy as my much beloved SVSSS (the first novel written by MXTX) with many of the same tropes but even better jokes. The art itself is a joy. Hayley’s constant wide eyed and confused stare always left me cackling as it truly perfectly combined the body with the personality. Even the side characters were written as perfect little joys. The director’s shirt changing constantly, sometimes even between panels in the same scene, and the manager thanking amnesia over and over again.
Truly a joy. I can safely say that I’ve also joined the Hayley hype train just as ever other character in the story has xD
I will say that for me the sexy scenes are lacking. As with many people in the comments, they make me uncomfortable. The pair have a large age difference and it’s made clear time and time again that Mason still sees the young boy he saved in the current man. The sex also always feels like something that he’s just agreeing to rather than something that he actually desires and wants. It’s made clear that he agrees for two reasons: one, his body wants it (which still isn’t his choice) and two, blondie is desperate for it and will just keep begging. And since Mason still sees the boy he wants to save in him he just wants to make him happy. Even the man himself has a moment where he contemplates why he’s suddenly developed a strong sexual desire toward Mason. At the same time, I don’t believe the author has done a poor job of tackling it and if they change the way they have sex some in the future I can fully get behind it. Make Blondie actually listen to Mason and be more loving. Because as of now he’s basically having sex with Reese not Mason, since he’s doing what the body responds to and not what makes the person inside happy.
Kill the Lights