Reviewer: It Was Me Signed [Report This]
Date: January 22 2024 1:32 AM Title: Chapter 4: Boyfriend

Well that went even worse than I thought it would!

I mean, I figured the odds that Jake would end up being the understanding type were pretty low, but there was a small chance (in my mind, at least) that he would at least try, which would have muddied things up with poor Dr. Black. But man, Jake turned out to be an even bigger asshole than I thought he was probably going to be.

I thought you did a nice job of selling us on the idea that Jake was a douche right from the start, when he was actually trying to be nice. The way he casually insulted the town without even realizing it and how he shrugged off doing the exercise telegraphed right away that this wasn't going to go well.

Trish's reaction to Jake's arrival made a lot of sense, too. Obviously there's her need to take out her anger at Jake rejecting her (especially since she wasn't ready to accept that yet). But even beyond her scapegoating the hospital staff and even Thomas himself for having "tricked her to being okay with this," I think the way she responded to Jake fits Thomas's initial conclusion that she's a "type 1" patient.

Trish has so far relied on the firm direction of Dr. Black to deal with this difficult time in her life. Taking so much of the immense pressure off of her by telling her what to do, even though he makes it clear that he isn't (and can't) actually make her do anything. That authoritative direction is exactly what the confused and scared woman needs right now to gain some semblance of order within herself, although I do think she's going to outgrow (Yeah, it's a pun, what about it?) this as the story progresses and the good doctor helps her build her confidence (I'm of the impression that this is going to be a 180-degree improvement).

But, for now, Jake stepped in and, due entirely to his previous role in Trish's life, took that role of authoritative guide away from Thomas, his voice instead directing her to lash out at the people who, in his mind, weren't working hard enough on his girlfriend's problem (with zero knowledge of what has actually been done). So it makes sense that Trish would become so adversarial, and it also makes sense that Jake's guidance would lead to her falling into maybe a worse mental state than when she first arrived at the hospital.

I'm also pretty sure this is the reason why Thomas was able to pick up where he left off so easily. With Jake out of the picture, she responded to his gentle commanding quite well (I thought him turning the doorknob to signal he was coming in and simply waiting for her to move was a nice touch). In this depressing ordeal, she trusted him to assume control of the situation, and he, in turn, showed that her trust was well placed, not only by helping her cope with Jake's betrayal, but doing the same with the much worse news about her growing prospects.

Maybe more importantly, I think that this whole thing is starting to teach her to rethink her situation. That line about not wanting to see a hypothetically apologetic Jake shows a shift in her mentality. While she still hates what's happening to her, she's starting to care less about the people who are having a negative influence on her mood and focusing more on what makes her happy (which is why hearing that Dr. Black is dating made her feel like shit again, for a completely different reason).

To me, this is what her imagining of her growth within the hospital and, later on, her fantasy about Dr. Black is all about. Breaking through the hospital entryway with a "fuck it" is a sort of liberation and her envisioning him at knee height when talking to him was a symbol of the comfort she finds in knowing that he'll accept her like that. And her fantasizing about him coming onto her at the same size when she was 30 feet tall moments before further hits that point home, among other, more obvious things.

But in short, I would be surprised if we saw Trish squeeze herself into a ball again. This whole thing will help her truly build her confidence, I think.

While Jake certainly isn't going to be muddying things up for Thomas like I thought he might, it looks like Melanie will be taking on that role instead, and in a completely different way, too. Having him be the one with feelings for two people probably makes more sense storywise anyway, particularly given the moral quandary him being in a relationship with Trish presents. I kind of expect him to lean into that connection he was starting to feel for Melanie in an effort to stave off his feelings for Trish, which isn't going to end well for Melanie. It's really only a matter of how far along they take things and how much she's going to get hurt. Well, nobody said stepping out of the background to become a major character was easy.

By the way, I also really like that Thomas is actually starting to feel something for Melanie, instead of just running into a relationship to stop thinking about Trish. I also like that it was noted that he's found common ground with Trish through their similar sense of humor. It would have been pretty easy to just focus on Trish's size and to use Melanie as a prop to add drama to the story, but these little details make them feel more human and the story easier to invest myself in. Again, these are small things, but they're appreciated.

Finally, I'm starting to change how I think how Thomas's secret getting revealed to Trish is going to go down. Up until this chapter, I kind of figured that he would either confess out of guilt or slip up and say something accidentally. Now, given her reaction to his erection jabbing her stomach and subsequent thoughts afterward, I'm thinking she might figure it out on her own and use the thing she's hated this whole time to win over the man she's infatuated with. It would be pretty rewarding to see her go from not wanting to stand up when he's looking at her to having the confidence to use her size to make a move on him. Anything's still possible at this point, obviously, but this chapter got my imagination moving in a different direction for some reason.

But yeah, if it wasn't obvious already, I was a big fan of this chapter. Awesome work!

Author's Response:

Thank you once again for a very thorough write up! I hope you enjoy the next chapter.