OK, here be the somewhat belated review of Plans. Sorry for the delay, but I felt that I had to go back and re-read the whole thing all over again. You know, just to refresh my memory ^_^ and make sure I do your fantabulous series some justice.

To start with, I absolutely love how you started the fic. Introductions usually set the tone for the rest of the narrative, and the way you started it was fun and humorous and totally had me hooked before I'd even begun scrolling down the page. That first scene is just so strongly IC and typical of a night at Britin *g* Your Melanie is exactly as I envision her- wonderfully sarcastic and cynical and anti-Brian ^_^ Plus, any fic that starts with a sex scene that manages to be both hot and adorable at the same time is definitely worth reading through. Several times. Especially said sex scene bits.

Justin's 'Plan' completely fits the canon, in my mind, because it's just something Justin would do. It combines the tenacity and single-minded determination that was the trademark of his character pre-prom and post-Ethan as well as takes into account his years of experience of Brian (particularly the time spent in LA). There's always a danger with flashbacks in that it's easy for them to disrupt the flow of the narrative, but I didn't get that here at all.

I also love the idea of the others realising that Justin is no longer that teen with a crush that they first got introduced to, but a man who knows what he wants and is Brian's match in getting it. One of my favourite aspects of the show is how there's a clear character growth in all of the men, as reflected in Brian and Michael's recollection in 513 as they gazed out of the window of that restaurant. I agree that Mel and Linds may not necessarily see that growth in Justin, however (maybe it's part of that maternal instinct thing). One of my favourite paragraphs in this fic is:

Since Justin was seventeen years old, he’d been living his life in an elliptical orbit around Brian. It had been almost six years, though. With some ditzy airhead co-dependent mall chick, I’d figure staying six years with your older narcissistic boyfriend who you fell in love with in high school is a sign that you’re messed up. But Justin was smart and tough under the blond-haired, blue-eyed, pink-lipped thing. That wasn’t Justin’s story. Which meant it wasn’t the story Lindsay was telling herself, the one I’d pretty much believed for the last six years myself. It’s hard sometimes when you meet people when they’re kids, to ever really know them when they’re grown up. Gus is always going to be six years old to me.

in addition to this: And then he caught sight of Brian across the room and something inside him lit up. Instant sunshine. How many times must I have seen that, and thought, “Oh god, I’m going to throw up, when is he going to get over this stupid crush on Brian?” Crush? OK, I thought, I’m getting it now; this is the world’s longest running crush. I was starting to think we were in Princess Bride territory. You know. True love.

*happy sigh* That is just so characteristically Mel, and I think you're a genius for choosing her to do the story through, because without the cynism it would probably end up being too schmoopy. On that note, one of my absolutest favouritest (yeah, my English dictionary's just run off in terror ^_^) exchanges in any fic must be the one between Mel and Ben:

“No. I was just thinking. Were you surprised to see Justin?”

“No. Those two can’t ever stay apart long.”

“I only figured that out yesterday.”

Ben looked at me, surprised. “Yesterday? Mel, they’ve been together for almost six years. You just noticed yesterday?”

“You weren’t around for year one or you’d never say that.”

“Year one was a long time ago. Good thing you took another look.”

(to be continued...)