Fanfic / Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Grove Street 4 Life

"...Five years I've been gone from Los Santos, doing my best to earn paper in Liberty City, working from one shitty job to the next and trying to stay righteous... and now death bringing me back.

My name is Carl Johnson. I was born on Grove Street in Ganton, lived there most of my life till my brother Brian died and my Moms sent me out to Liberty City, get me out of the game, away from the gangs... Made sense to me to get out too, seeing Brian die convinced me that there be only one end on the gang road, and it an early grave... I don't want no part of that shit."

— Excerpt from the introduction of part one.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Grove Street 4 Life is a Let's Play slash Fan Fic hybrid of hit Rockstar video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas originally posted on Something Awful by Jerusalem, who is also known for a similar project made for Medieval II: Total War called A Scotsman in Egypt. By taking the already acclaimed storyline and flipping it to CJ's perspective (well, mostly), this story remains the same over the top adventure, this time with CJ's commentary on the craziness, as well as fleshing out the surrounding world of San Andreas, and some behind the scenes commentary from the author in regards to the game.

Tropes mentioned here only apply to this Fanfic. For tropes mainly relating to the original game, go to its respective page.

This media contains the following tropes:

• A-Team Firing: OG Loc can't hit the broad side of a barn, "spraying his gun all over the place, hitting roads, walls and buildings but not getting near Freddy" while he and CJ begin chasing him.
• Adaptation Expansion: The whole premise of this fanfic is to expand on certain events in the game, even side content like buying safehouses. Jerusalem even makes up his very own story mission, detailing how Sweet fucked Tenpenny over and became his mortal enemy.
• Adaptation Origin Connection: In the game, it's never mentioned how CJ and Tenpenny met. Here, CJ states that they first met when he was a kid.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: CJ is far more torn up about being nothing but a slave to Tenpenny's will and the deaths of Brian and his mother. This culminates in the mission Management Issues ending with CJ sending the car to the bottom of the ocean with himself in it, only to come to his senses only moments after he does the deed.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • CJ is already a badass in the source material, but this time, he is only ever slightly so different from canon in that he's Obfuscating Stupidity by pretending to be pushed around by C.R.A.S.H. in order to take them down. Of course, this only starts happening after CJ recovers from his Heroic BSoD (see below).
  • Toreno somehow got wound up into this AND earned himself the position of a god-tier Chessmaster. While it's implied that he has the powers and many connections in the original game, this story not only confirms it to be true, he's also seen pulling off massive favors for CJ as the latter works for him.
• Adaptational Heroism: The Let's Play makes CJ's Noble Demon trait more apparent, most notably sparing Alan Crawford's girlfriend in Management Issues, is unaware of the foreman in the portable toilet (CJ thinks he's just vandalizing an empty stall and pushing it into a cement pit to make a statement) during Deconstruction, and he gives Hernandez a proper burial after his Heroic Sacrifice against Pulaski.
• Adaptational Intelligence: Jerusalem portrays Pulaski as smarter than he was in the game, being able to intelligently explain to CJ how he and Tenpenny knew what he was up to during the events of High Noon.
• Adaptational Jerkass:
  • Despite also being an example of Adaptational Heroism on a whole, CJ also gets a bit of this at the beginning, with him referring to some characters of other ethnicities and sexual orientations in his narration using rather offensive labels, which is one thing he didn't do in the game. During the chase after Freddy, CJ notably reacts with disgust towards Freddy's constant double-entendres.
    • CJ chases down a Vato who'd insulted Smoke, notes that the guy isn't a threat and is begging to be spared through a broken nose... and murders him point-blank.
  • Jerusalem noticeably plays up Pulaski's racism in his interactions with CJ.
  • Jimmy Silverman, the executive at Blastin' Fools Records, is revealed to have been ripping off Madd Dogg under their prior contract when CJ faxes it to Rosenberg for review.
• Adaptational Karma: This version of the story sees OG Loc get exposed as the fraud and plagiarist he is, leaving his career and reputation in ruins. CJ considers it a Fate Worse than Death.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Jerusalem turns Toreno into this. While he yanks C.J. around and threatens to have a well-hung rapist transferred to Sweet's cell if Carl doesn't finish flight school, he also makes good on his promise to make sure Tenpenny can't touch Sweet (threatening Tenpenny to sic an FBI task force on him should he try anything against the Johnson brothers) and expresses genuine appreciation towards Carl as time passes, advising him to let go of his hatred against C.R.A.S.H. out of fear that he destroys himself alongside Sweet and Tenpenny. He concludes their work together by wishing Carl to have a good life after Tenpenny's death.
• Asshole Victim: A number of people CJ runs into are turned into this to ensure he keeps some sympathy (one of the people whose house he burglarizes is a Dirty Old Man using insider information to get rich and has a thing for date-rape, the Army soldiers are racist rednecks, etc.).
• Because I'm Good At It: Early in the story, CJ admits that as much as he wants to go straight, he is objectively very good at the gangsta life.
• Book Ends: Lampshaded in the final phone call between CJ and Toreno, when they mention Carl is "Back where it all began", at the same street and even wearing the same clothes.
• Butt-Monkey: Hilariously enough, CJ when it comes to his love life. Every single one of his romantic pursuits ends poorly in a comedic fashion for one reason or another.
• Canon Foreigner: Two original characters are introduced in Los Santos, to give some sobering realities of lower-class citizens.
  • Cody, a 40 year-old single black man who's Loved by All in Ganton, especially children (and their widowed mothers). CJ briefly joins him as a volunteer firefighter (explaining the Fire Truck Missions) and confides in him about his life before returning to Los Santos and finding it unfair he can't make an honest living. Cody unfortunately drops this bombshell:
    "You a black man in Los Santos.... what the fuck made you expect fair?"
  • Curtis Dowd, who CJ knew back in school as a popular model student, until his father was killed in a drive-by, after which Curtis had to drop out and become the man of the house. Unlike CJ, he's never involved with gangs, and while CJ tries to go straight before turning back to crime, Curtis stays a law-abiding citizen, working two jobs to support his unmarried sisters with their own children, and is all the more miserable for it.
• The Casanova: Subverted for CJ, who ends up having the worst of luck around women, who all tend to be way too much for him, giving us some moments of funnies:
  • While he and Denise had something developing, he's kicked out of Los Santos by Tenpenny before it can go any further, and when he hears her calling for him on Radio Los Santos many chapters later, he's surprised and decides it'd probably be too awkward to just show up after. A scene in the riots suggests she moved on pretty quick though.
  • Catalina, well, speaks for herself. And her attempts to rouse Carl's jealousy by openly flirting with Claude is all just a show for her to get the last word in.
  • Katie boldface admits that she got horny over watching a man die a miserable lonely death in her ambulance right to CJ's face as if he'd be aroused by it too. Naturally, he's not and he decides to call it quits the next morning.
  • Michelle was almost perfect, albeit with a temporary breakup while Carl was dealing with the Loco Syndicate, since it was dragging her into danger. They reconcile and go on a yachting trip...only for Carl to accidentally let slip that it's his garage that's nearly running Michelle's out of business. She's not happy about this at all.
  • Barbara seems okay despite being a cop (CJ even finds that a bit of a turn-on.) and even her ex coming over doesn't really seem like an issue. Hearing that she has kids coming over with said ex as well causes Carl to run almost bare-assed for the hills.
  • Helena is far too right-wing for Carl's tastes, and finding blatant evidence that she murdered her previous left-wing husband for his views is enough for him to steal her car, flip her off and drive off laughing.
  • Millie was more of a business relationship and probably the least disastrous, even helping with the Caligula's heist with no strings attached. Though an alternate universe does have Carl go very nuclear on her for violating city fire safety laws.
• Chubby Chaser: Zigzagged by Michelle. She clearly prefers fat men like in the game, but she happily dates CJ owing to his fame in the Los Santos motor circuit. Yet she still would prefer he meet her preferences, as she cooks him an almost comically big breakfast and gives him a mechanic uniform that's a bit too big for him.
• Cluster F-Bomb: CJ lets out a string of one during the "Supply Lines" mission.
• Compromising Call: During CJ's first attempt to return to Los Santos, while looking for Big Smoke, he finds two Ballas walking down the street he is in and has to hide to keep them from recognizing him and telling Tenpenny. Then Cesar calls him, giving him away, and CJ has to flee the city again.
• A Day in the Limelight: Although this LP is mostly played from CJ's perspective, we also see events that happen from other characters such as the time Sweet outsmarted a young Tenpenny from doing a drug deal and making Grove Street one of the most powerful gangs.
• Death by Adaptation: Guppy is stated to be the pilot of the helicopter in "The Da Nang Thang", instead of Little Lion. After his death, his position as Woozie's bodyguard is replaced by an unnamed Triad member.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: The game takes place in The '90s, and the rather liberal and casual use of what are now considered rather offensive labels reflects that.
• Didn't Think This Through: CJ has to help the Truth burn down his marijuana crops to keep some approaching police helicopters off his back. CJ immediately nearly passes out from the fumes. As it turns out, setting fire to plants known for making people high through inhalation without wearing a mask wasn't exactly the best call. Even Truth himself belatedly lampshades this:
  The Truth: "Oh man... maybe burning a giant field of weed without masks wasn't the best idea."
• Due to the Dead: After Hernandez dies at Pulaski's hands, CJ goes out of his way to give him a proper burial.
• Drugs Are Bad: A message repeatedly pounded out by CJ after seeing his childhood friends' lives destroyed by crack. Marijuana doesn't count though.
• Even Evil Has Standards: CJ's a ruthless criminal, but he draws the line at murdering civilians.
• Exact Words:
  • When Toreno tells Carl to buy the airstrip, he specifically instructs him to offer the owner one dollar, and if he refuses, kill him. Not being willing to do that, he instead buys it for 80,000 dollars (which still was far less than the place was really worth), and to keep with Toreno's instructions, he tricks the owner into selling him the airstrip for one dollar on paper, while giving him the remaining 79,999 as a "incentive fee" to move out of there immediately.
  • After CJ and Sweet get back to Grove Street and take the first step in reclaiming their neighborhood from the Ballers, Sweet still gives CJ grief about not doing so wearing Grove Street colors. CJ decides to comply by dressing in a fine, well-tailored green suit with matching hat — Sweet calls him The Riddler.
• Extremely Short Timespan: CJ can't help but laugh at OG Loc falling into Situational Sexuality after three weeks in prison.
• Foreshadowing: When CJ and Cesar meet at Angel Pine, the latter rants about the "bad guys" - Smoke, Tenpenny and Pulaski. He excluded Hernandez because he warned Cesar of the attack, foreshadowing his morals.
• Gender-Blender Name: A nickname variant, with "Suzie" (Su Xi Mu), one of Woozie's bodyguards, and "Freddy" (Winifred Hu), Woozie's spy at the Pleasure Domes.
• Girl on Girl Is Hot: How Katie convinces Carl to take her dancing to the best club in San Fierro, which also caters to the LGBT community:
  CJ: "This a fag bar? What if a dude comes onto me?"
  Katie: "What if a GIRL comes onto ME?"
  CJ: "Let's get in there!"
• Heroic BSoD:
  • Having had barely any sleep since his arrival in Los Santos and with everyone wanting favors from him, Carl slowly begins breaking down, the breaking point being OG Loc using him to get into Alan Crawford's good books, and Tenpenny using and abusing him. Even when he attempts to take his own life along with the aforementioned Crawford's, Carl's survival instinct kicks in and he almost resigns himself to being Tenpenny's loyal, heartless slave... until he saves Denise from a burning building and FINALLY gets a good night's sleep.
  • On "Snail Trail", Tenpenny and Pulaski manage to track CJ in San Fierro, appear in his garage with no warning, and threaten Sweet's life to force CJ into helping them; as a result, CJ is forced into killing an innocent journalist and a cop informer. CJ has absolutely no problem or remorse killing people when he has to, but murdering two innocents (even if under duress) causes him to completely break down in remorse and fear.
• I Want Them Alive!: Quoted almost verbatim by Salvatore when asked how he wants the heist to be dealt with:
  Salvatore: "Send in the boys, I want these bastards alive.... barely."
• It Gets Easier: Specifically why CJ's mom wanted him away from the life of a crime. As CJ himself acknowledges, he just settles into the life of a criminal way too easily once he gets into it.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Due to being in prison for most of the game, Sweet has no idea what his brother has been up to. He's therefor more than a little surprised when CJ (who Sweet thought had been softened by life in Liberty City) swiftly and efficiently guns down enemies without a second thought.
• Loser Leaves Town: A Las Venturas subplot has Carl getting involved in an escalating series of races with a Spoiled Brat Manchild named Brent. After their final race, Brent leaves the city a broken man.
• Murder-Suicide: CJ attempts this with Alan Crawford after suffering a mental breakdown from going days on end without decent sleep, being constantly forced to do favors for everyone around him, and being verbally abused by Tenpenny. Survival instinct kicks in before the "suicide" part can happen.
• Named by the Adaptation:
  • The janitor who takes part in the Caligula heist is named Tito here.
  • Similarly, the two guys who heckle Madd Dogg when he's about to jump off a casino roof (and turn up again in another mission) are named Paul and Tony Patrelli here.
• Never Hurt an Innocent: Downplayed, but made much more explicit compared to the game. CJ doesn't have any problems shaking unarmed people down for their property or transportation, but he draws the line at killing them. The first time he compromises on this, he's too sleep-deprived from constant night terrors to object. The second time, it's to save Sweet, who's being held at gunpoint by Tenpenny.
• Noble Demon: It's suggested in the game but emphasized much more here that CJ is an unrepentant criminal that happens to have principles. He has no problems gunning down rival gangsters and shaking down unpleasant people, but he draws the line at murdering civilians, best exemplified when he vomits in fear and self-disgust after Tenpenny holds Sweet at gunpoint to force CJ to kill two innocent journalists.
• No Communities Were Harmed: Handwaved in-universe, where C.J. states that, in order to not promote gang violence, rappers are legally obligated to use made-up names for the various hoods in their songs (the "made-up" names being their real names), but this doesn't fool anybody.
• Noodle Incident: At Cesar's house, when having a conversation with Cesar about cooking, CJ recalls a time Kendl tried to make cookies, until receiving a Death Glare from her.
• "Not So Different" Remark: CJ finds himself developing a taste for outlaw country, much to his chagrin. He sees thematic similarities with gangsta-rap, songs about hard men living on the outskirts of society, doing what they have to to get by.
• O.C. Stand-in: A lot of random NPC's are given much more characterization here.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: CJ has a mild case of this. He doesn't outright reject those of other ethnicities or sexual orientations or treat them worse, but he rather commonly refers to them in narration using rather offensive labels. Being thrown flirtatious comments by the flamboyantly gay Freddy also disgusts him. Given the whole game was set in The '90s, this is perhaps a case of Deliberate Values Dissonance.
• Rich Language, Poor Language: CJ narrates in an Urban accent early in the story, but gradually drops it as he advances through the story and up the socioeconomic ladder.
• Right-Wing Militia Fanatic: The Los Santos Civilian Defence Force is a non-villainous example of this.
• Real Men Can Cook: It runs in Cesar's blood. He even namedrops the trope, sort of:
  CJ: Where you learn to cook like this, Cesar?
  Cesar: My Uncle teach me when I was growing up... Besides, my Uncle tell me all the best cooks are men, anyway.
• Refuge in Audacity: There's only one way Carl can keep things together during the riots, one way he can keep Grove Street safe while helping the people out and earning the people's faith in the GSF: call in Woozie to have his boys airlift in a goddamn TANK. And it works. Even Toreno, watching events from far away, can only compliment Carl's ironclad balls (and resourcefulness) on this.
• Running Gag: Take a shot every time CJ says "Well, shit."
• Secret Handshake: The Los Santos Civilian Defence Force has one - running one's hand up the lapel of the shirt and tapping just beneath the collarbone with two fingers.
• Seduction as One-Upmanship: Catalina calls CJ to tell him how much more sex she's having with Claude than with him. Some he ignores, but when she does it during a race he nearly crashes the car.
• Shame If Something Happened: A rare example of a somewhat heroically-ambiguous villain pulling this on another villain. Toreno threatens Tenpenny to sic the FBI on him should the latter attempt anything against CJ and Sweet.
• Spared By Adaptation:
  • The foreman survives the experience when he was trapped in the portable toilet by CJ. He later dates Katie... who starts hiding his heart medication from him.
  • This is also the case for Little Lion. In the original game, he was the helicopter pilot who initiated the attack on Da Nang Boys' freighter and killed by one of the gang members; however, in this version, he survives the storyline as his role is taken by Guppy, who eventually dies in the attack.
• Stress Vomit: CJ after "Snail Trail", having had to murder two innocent journalists just for trying to bring Tenpenny down while he has Sweet over a barrel.
• Suspiciously Apropos Music: After CJ gets the FBI dossier Tenpenny wanted, "Freebird" starts playing on the radio, which he sees rather appropriate as he finally has the key to getting Tenpenny off his back.
• This Is Reality:
  • Betting on horse races, a huge exploit in the game to make tons of money in a short amount of time, is lampshaded early on in the story. Ryder brings up the idea of making a quick buck by betting on horses with the highest odds in races to CJ, who calls the plan and Ryder stupid on the basis that reality does not work that way:
  CJ: "I don't believe I never saw how FUCKING STUPID YOU ARE! Are you fucking kidding me, Ryder? Math don't work like that! Horse racing don't work like that! The horses have long odds because they fucking suck, nigga! They pay out big because they're never fucking pay out! Holy shit! 240k? 240 fucking k? We won't have no 240k, we'll just have a new name, and it'll be Jack fucking Broke!"
  • This trope was the main reason why Millie is spared in this main storyline instead of being killed. As mentioned by Jerusalem, having Millie killed would in real life create quite a few complications on the heist.
• Title Drop: CJ's last line of the LP is the title, showing how content he is in his life now.
• What Measure Is a Mook?: Averted. Probably because he was brought up by the Hood mentality, CJ is saddened by the death of Guppy, a named Triad Red Shirt the former has associated with, who dies during an assault against Da Nang human traffickers. When asked about his body, the Triads said that they have sent his remains back to his family and reassured CJ that his sacrifice was not in vain.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: Each of CJ's (ex-)girlfriends gets a scene during the riots showing what they've been to. Life has mostly been same for them, with some exceptions:
  • Michelle hooks up with Ran Fa Li.
  • Katie is in a relationship with Colin (the aforementioned foreman in the portable toilet), with whom she indulges her fetish by hiding his heart medication.
  • Millie, after getting her cut of the heist, moves to Germany.

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