Okay, firstly: Gerard and his body image issues. To be honest, that's something I wasn't (at least not consciously) thinking about at all, but fuck if fits really well and I may now introduce some of those elements into it. For me the whole "tell Pete what it feels like" part was about vocalisation. I have a thing about... well, not "dirty talk" per se (although sure, that's definitely part of it) but having people/characters put their feelings and thoughts into words. Doing that makes them real, unavoidable, undeniable. Once you've said something out loud, it's much more difficult to push away after, and I think the emotions evoked during a power exchange such as spanking should be confronted and verbalised in order to accept them. And of course, it's about stripping someone naked in a way that goes beyond clothes and skin and body image... IDK, part of me thinks I've put it better in the comment fic to which I've added more now, a lot of it owing to what we've been talking.

Jon - What you say here is absolutely fascinating. Especially this They've been around so long, have had opportunities to perfect submission in the many and varied manifestations that exist, carefully cultivated a submissive response that is dynamic, changing to suit the course of the current situation. Maybe it's that IDK they have surrendered to the scene itself, and the top is in some way just a conduit of the power exchange. - but at the same time I find it immensely sad, because what is missing here is the personal connection, the intimacy that should exist between the people involved. Intellectually I can see the spirituality of it, surrendering to the scene as you so aptly put it. But emotionally... I can't help but feel that it's also an awfully cold and lonely place to be. It makes me wonder about Jon, how he has managed to separate what he is from who he is to the degree that if the top is nothing more than the conduit, then Jon himself is nothing more than the vessel of the power exchange. It almost makes me weep for him.

I love that snippet of Brendon's childhood and I would totally encourage you to write it up as a ficlet. Or if you really don't want to, maybe you'd let me have a go? I'd give full credit to you for the concept and idea.

Ryan - I would, love love love an analysis of his wardrobe through this prism of power/control/privacy we've discussed here. Will definitely go and look at magdalyna's picspam... And this he negotiates real life in character, like, asserts his right to choose who he wants to be on any given day, even though it might be taboo, say, or inconsistent with who he was yesterday. is so very spot-on, echoing deeply what I said earlier about how it's obvious that he always holds a part of himself back in the public eye. It's a role he's playing, sure, but that doesn't make it a lie or made-up, just a carefully revealed sliver of his whole self that he allows to be seen when needed. More than anyone else in that band (and the whole FBR/DD group) Ryan knows the value of disguises, of distraction. That boy has layers and to have them peeled back, to watch him either surrender control/power or fucking own it (and I maintain that he would be capable of both), would be something else.

Okay, wow, I seem to have gone on and on again. This meme has completely blown me away. I never imagined such a wonderful response, all this fic, not to mention the conversations I'm having with people... Like this one I'm having with you: full of fascinating insight and omg, so wonderful to talk about these things with someone who knows their shit. Absolutely love it.