Quarter Two
The Board would like to invite you to read our newest Quarterly Report. We’ll review the latest chapters below. The Board also has an important announcement at the end of this post.
Chapter 6: London, England
We decided to open Quarter Two with another Gaspard-centric chapter, as we’ve been following his confusing emotions regarding Xavier’s relationship with Erol for quite some time now. Justice did play at The End (the club where Erol Alkan’s Trash was hosted) a few times, and we wanted to explore what that meant for Gaspard as a functional third-wheeler.
We’ll address the elephant: Gaspard having sex with Ron initially came about as a hypothetical. We were brainstorming ways to really drive home the jealousy he was feeling, how we could emphasize his repression. Eventually, we decided on the slightly unconventional (for fanfiction, anyway) route of having Gaspard sleep with someone who wasn’t Xavier for his “first time.”
It brings up a lot of important realizations for him. This is an affirming experience, as it’s the moment where he realizes most clearly that he definitely, absolutely is gay. He also attempts to deal with the realization that he does, in fact, enjoy bottoming.
We had written this chapter initially as a normal hookup. The Erol lookalike came semi-naturally, but Gaspard using Xavier’s name didn’t come until the chapter was nearly complete.
Chapter 7: Paris, France
What better way to celebrate your first time than by splitting up?
Xavier really did move to London at some point around this time. (We chose to alter the dates a bit for privacy’s sake.) This chapter seemed like the perfect time to have them properly have sex with each other; once again, Xavier chooses to run from his problems instead of confronting them. From Gaspard’s point of view (and limited knowledge), it all feels unbearably cruel. And perhaps the reader might think so, too. Sooner than later, we’ll start getting some insight into what makes Xavier act in these ways.
There’s a lot of Gaspard point-of-view in the early quarters, and we felt it would be best to continue this here because of the last chapter with Ron. He had come to the realization that he wanted Xavier to fuck him in London; naturally, we should follow through.
This chapter also has their first real kiss. A lot of firsts here!
Chapter 8: Paris, France
Our first Xavier-centric chapter in a while, we colloquially called this “Christian breakfast” when outlining. We’ve spent a lot of time looking into how Gaspard deals with their relationship, but what about Xavier?
Christian seemed like the perfect person for him to speak to. Generally, The Board has a very strict rule about keeping their real families out of our works; however, Christian is very publicly their manager, which is why we felt comfortable adding him here. (All other allusions to their families in this work, along with our others, are fictional. Consider them original characters.)
In a very early draft, we did have Xavier mention his relationship with Erol to Christian. This didn’t really fit the tone of the chapter, though; he’s in enough trouble as it is, being outed, and it felt best for him to minimize his experiences as a generally avoidant person.
Chapter 9: Paris, France
Our third chapter in Paris, this set was the release party for Audio, Video, Disco. It took place at a gay club! How fitting.
Even with the distance between them over the past few years, the lack of tour for an excuse, and their individual stressors, when they find themselves in a show-like atmosphere, they can’t seem to keep their hands off each other. It’s a bad sign; they want each other badly, but refuse to acknowledge that they each have their own issues that
If you spotted the Succession reference, congratulations! The Board awards you a gold star.
Chapter 10: Osaka, Japan
Set in the depths of their tour, this chapter is a bit of a departure from our last few. We’ve seen glimpses of Xavier’s struggles with masculinity, and we know very little about the inner workings of his self-hatred. (Mostly because Gaspard has been our narrator for a while.) Here, we can see a little more about how, and why, he acts out.
Xavier, to us, has always had a very complex relationship with gender. We thoroughly debated how far we would emphasize this in our text. Would we use specific language? Would he speak about this to Gaspard? Ultimately, we decided to keep it vague, because he keeps it vague. He doesn’t have the terminology to explain what his internal struggle is (after all, it’s 2012, and the internet is not nearly as deep and wide as it is now), so we don’t elaborate much on the what or why.
To this day, the Board members discuss this particular theme internally; perhaps a future Refinement or Microcosm is in order, delving more in depth into it. For now, Xavier’s haircut is our way of introducing another very-prominent elephant into Xavier’s already packed room.
Chapter 11: Morrison, Colorado
This chapter is Xavier and Gaspard’s second-lowest point in all of Corpus. Xavier on tour is always at the height of self-destruction, but here, coupled with his increasing gender-identity issues, he really gets in over his head.
Xavier tends to freak out most when something goes wrong at a show, and this was the most wrong that things can go. You can watch the clip of the soundsystem failure here. It’s worse than you’re probably imagining it. And Xavier, who relies so heavily on Justice as a means of reassurance, can’t really handle when things go so totally wrong onstage.
We chose not to write the entire fight out for two reasons. One, it becomes redundant; we’ve already seen how Xavier’s fights pan out, so we felt there’s no need for another graphic fight yet. Two, Xavier likely wouldn’t remember the fight in much detail. Between the blood loss and the head trauma, the main brunt of this memory will actually be held by Gaspard.
Speaking of, what kind of consequences will Xavier’s actions here have on Gaspard? How will a near-death experience affect not just their own mental well beings, but also their relationship with each other? One can only wait to see. It’s also a major turning point for both of them; at this point, they’ve both said the big words, which will surely have no impact on their already-complicated relationship.
Final Thoughts
Thank you for joining us in the breakroom for Quarter Two. Please be sure to tune in at the end of Quarter Three for more insight on Corpus.
The Board would like to also announce that we will be pausing updates for approximately two months. We have some final things to iron out in the final chapters, and would like to ensure that all our loyal shareholders receive maximal returns. We look forward to seeing you again come this summer.
With love, from The Board