fics by Erin Ptah

Title: Shout*For, Act II, Chapter 14: What Love Can Do
Characters/Pairings: Jon/"Stephen", Jimmy/Tina, Olivia/Kristen, Steve, cameos, OCs.
Rating: Soft R
Contents: Teen/teen sexual contact, references to abuse
Disclaimer: See series Table of Contents.

Stephen decorates his new home, fights through mood swings, and tries to pull his life back together. Olivia gets out of her fake relationship and on the right path. Jimmy and Tina deal with tinhatters. And Jon inches toward the door of the closet.

Songs referenced: Seasons Of Love; Mother Knows Best; Best Of Friends.

( Stephen pressed the unfollow button a few times, spent a while in the 'colbewart' tag spitefully liking and reblogging everything he could find, then left the site entirely to go browse interior design retailers. )

Title: Shout*For, Act II, Chapter 13: The Rising
Characters/Pairings: Jon/"Stephen", Jimmy/Tina, Olivia/Kristen, Brian, Charlene, Trevor Potter, family, others
Rating: PG-13
Contents: Discussion of child abuse
Disclaimer: See series Table of Contents.

Olivia's got all her ducks in a row, personally and professionally, and is set to make a fresh start. Meanwhile, Stephen still has some serious hurdles to climb...but now he has Jon's ruthless, righteous ferocity on his side, and there are more allies to be found when he gets brave enough to start looking.

With a cameo from Stephanie Tubbs Jones. The details of legal emancipation for child actors are based largely on the memoir Diary of a Stage Mother's Daughter by Melissa Francis. Those events happened in the 1980s, and don't line up with 2011 law as I understand it (if, indeed, they were strictly in line with 198X law in the first place); but hey, it's already an AU.

( He would have to put that on his to-do list. Item One: brush the dog. Item Two: anything other than volunteering to be known for the rest of his life as That Teen Pop Star Who Got Molested. )

Title: Shout*For - The Best Of
Fandom: Fake news, Saturday Night Live RPF
Subject: The fake news boy band AU
Rating: PG

Part affectionate boy-band parody, part soundtrack for the Disney teen pop star AU. A sampling of the kinds of music written for our dubiously-well-adjusted heroes (and breathlessly misinterpreted by the more enthusiastic shippers among their fans).

High-res version of the cover art.

( I'm like a shooting star / I've come so far / I can't go back to where I used to be )

Title: Shout*For, Act II, Chapter 10: One Step Up
Characters/Pairings: Jon/"Stephen", Olivia, family members
Rating: PG-13
Contents: Homophobia, alcoholism, verbal abuse
Disclaimer: See series Table of Contents.

Dinner with the parents for everyone! With their mothers in town, Jon and Stephen get a chance to reminisce about their bandom-AU backstories. Plus, Stephen and Olivia get brave and take steps toward being more honest with their families (and themselves)...and deal with the blowback that follows.

(Still very fictional families, still not connected to the actors' relations.)

( 'I had a little unplanned fall on the set one day earlier this year, and Jon here is such a worrier, aren't you, Jon? Total hypochondriac. He's got like ten different medicines in his coat pockets right now, I bet.' )

Title: Shout*For, Act II, Chapter 8: This Depression
Characters/Pairings: Jon/"Stephen", Jimmy/Tina, Steve, others.
Rating: soft R
Contents: Mental health issues, trauma symptoms
Disclaimer: See series Table of Contents.

Tina gets picked on by tinhats who are convinced she's a beard. Steve has some suggestions, and learns a few new things about his friends. And Stephen's ongoing emotional crash continues, with Jon left fumbling in the dark trying to figure out how to help.

New art: Teenage Jon and "Stephen" cuddling.

( 'So, these Stimmy people. Have you thought about just trolling them? Because apparently nothing is going to make them see reason, so you might as well go for broke.' )

Title: Shout*For, Act II, Chapter 6: I'll Work For Your Love
Characters/Pairings: Jon/"Stephen", Jimmy/Tina, Olivia/Kristen, Anthony, Tucker, others
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: See series Table of Contents.

Tina and Jimmy are in a much-too-sugary honeymoon phase. Everyone else is putting in some effort, with romances and friendships alike. Also, the guys ease into life on Twitter.

The boys' dance coach, as per this clip, is Betty White.

( 'Hello, 15K new followers! Be the one to RT me the most times in the next 24 hours, and I will PM you @Shout4JStew's favorite variety of shampoo.' )

Title: Shout*For, Act II, Chapter 4: Hollywood Kids
Characters/Pairings: Jon/"Stephen", Jimmy, Olivia(/Kristen) and family, Tucker, cameos, OCs.
Rating: PG-13
Contents: Tiger mothering, underage drinking.
Disclaimer: See series Table of Contents.

Stephen's not sleeping well. Olivia's drinking gets bad enough that people are starting to take notice. And the band has a Q&A involving some fans whose impression of them is close to the truth, and yet so far.

( 'I think you may be confused? We're best friends, but that's all. Anything else you've seen is just fanfiction.' )

Title: Shout*For, Act II, Chapter 2: Dancing In The Dark
Characters/Pairings: Jon/"Stephen", Jimmy, Olivia(/Kristen), cameos, OCs.
Rating: R
Contents: Emotional abuse, non-con events (mostly offscreen)
Disclaimer: See series Table of Contents.

Dicey goings-on at the band's album release party. Jon stews all by himself, Olivia flutters from drink to drink, and Stephen is more popular than he wants to be. And what did Stephen do while he was sleepwalking?

Features a new Newsroom cameo; all you need to know about Leona Lansing is that she's played by Jane Fonda.

( 'Olivia, I realize that as a member of a boy band I sing some pretty deep lyrics sometimes, but that doesn't mean I have answers for all your philosophical questions.' )

Title: Shout*For, Intermission, chapter 4/4: The Ties That Bind
Characters/Pairings: Jon/"Stephen", Killer, Anthony, family, others
Rating: PG-13
Contents: Foreplay, alcohol
Disclaimer: See series Table of Contents.

In which Jon finally has a couple of coming-outs, along with a couple of much-needed heart-to-hearts.

With a brief detour involving cameos from The Jaquie Brown Diaries, a New Zealand comedy starring a self-centered, status-obsessed, needy, pouty, and hilarious TV news correspondent played by an actress of the same name. If you enjoy shows with that premise, look this one up some time.

( 'And before you ask, yes, Olivia is faking her side of the relationship as a way to support him, and no, you still do not have even the tiniest sliver of a chance of getting with her.' )

Title: Shout*For, Intermission, chapter 2/4: Seaside Bar Song
Characters/Pairings: Jon/"Stephen", family, Anthony, Killer, others
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: See series Table of Contents.

Jon juggles awkward and/or truthy relationships with friends and family. When the whole group heads out to the shore for a few days, it just adds the complication of trying to guess which public places he can visit safely. At least Anthony's got his back. (And, increasingly, his merchandise.)

Involves some callbacks to the Stewart-versus-Cramer interview. The song given to Shout*For is Michael Stanley Band's "All I Ever Wanted"; just imagine a more sparkly-pop cover, with lyrics tweaked to fit California in the '10s rather than Ohio in the '80s.

( The shirt is just the kind of thing I wear when nobody professional is dressing me )