Reviewer: PuffingNoise Signed 
10
Date: November 26, 2008
Title: Chapter 1: mike and me
Wow. Wow. I thought I'd read all of your stories, and I don't know how I'd missed this one. This is amazing. Like someone else said, you made me feel for a character I don't even know.
And Michael... oh. What a character exploration you have here. I've always loved those glimpses of the real him that we see once in a while of his vulnerability and honesty, and this is such a wonderful, sad and kind of bittersweet exploration of that. Michael's so obnoxious and oblivious a lot of the time that the people in the office (and us) sometimes feel like he can't get honestly upset about not being included, when in reality, he's deeply hurt by it. He seems to exaggerate too much, so no one believes he really feels the way he does. So it's surprising how honest he can be with someone he doesn't know, and someone he'd just met. But it makes sense because she doesn't know the other side of Michael- the part that tries too hard to make everyone love him. Also, the sex scene here is surprising in a way, but also makes total sense. Of course Michael would be sweet and attentive. He finds a like soul in Susan, in her lonliness, so he grabs onto that, and of course he'd try to please her, it's one of his less obvious traits- his need to please everyone, which comes out of his need to be liked and his need to be close to someone. That scene killed me and brought tears to my eyes. Also, it was kind of hot because it brings to mind the fact that Michael is probably really great in bed despite the way he is portrayed as unlucky with the ladies, having only dated four women in the past 10 years, losing his virginity at 28... stuff like that.
Thank you for taking on this exploration of Michael's character, for expanding on the depth that we know is underneath his in-your-face exterior.
