The last one was nec. or this entire set would have been just... painful with no payoff, without even a glimmer of hope.
and yes, i'm trying to write michael, and the rest of the characters canonically, it's the least i can do since i sort of assasinated Justin (and to a lesser extent, Brian).
but i usually LIKE michael, so it's not hard to do. he was usually nice to Justin and very understanding of Brian, although he did also just shake his head and call brian on his pathetic attempts at manipulation.
so that's the Michael i went with. the one who really did know and love Brian kinney.