Davide

They haven't known each other for king, but they already developed a great friendship and it's evolving towards more. Most importantly, we see the importance of what Jamal's narration says, that Ryan sees him without stereotyping him, allowing him to be himself without needing to be careful about everything he does. The same thing he sadly feels like he lost in the prologue, which takes place later on.

"Miguel was a surprisingly good cook. I could’ve used some hot sauce, but the warmth of the food – combined with the company – made everything taste better, even the arepas." The real test that Hunter is in love with Miguel is it made @LittleBuddhaTW write something somewhat positive about arepas cooked by him. "boiling water and mixing in brown chunks of panela and lime juice." This taught me a new false friend between Portuguese and Spanish. In Portuguese, panela is the word for a cooking pot. But I didn't know the identical Spanish word with a completely different meaning until I googled it while reading the story.

I was so focused on the romance aspect that I forgot about that part. Hopefully, Miguel will have enough confirmation that Hunter genuinely loves him by the time that stuff blows up, which would hopefully lesses the impact.

Please, I need this. Yeison is such a sweet guy who was dealt a bad hand in regards to his family's financial status. I hope Yeison gets some help for a hope at a better future, even though I know most people in that situation don't get that. Hunter should have broken up with Yeison before agreeing to meet his parents, taking that step made their relationship feel more official, but it ended shortly after. But, from a reader point of view, I liked that we got to see how he lives. I expected in advance that whatever they served Hunter would but be significantly more expensive than what they normally eat, but Juan Camilo estimating two weeks of salary for that is heartbreaking. Especially because I'm sure it's realistic. Hunter finally did the right thing in talking to a psychiatrist and especially the difficult part, breaking up with Yeison. He should continue his appointments to talk about Rory and whatever else happened in his past. Hunter didn't tell the full truth to Yeison and I'm worried about how he'll react when he learns about Miguel. Hunter things Yeison will hate him, while I think he loves him too much to be able to feel that way, at least not long term. But he will probably be hurt even more than he was now and I just want to hug Yeison. Meanwhile, what we saw from Hunter and Miguel makes it clear that they love each other romantically in a way that between Hunter and Yeison was only on Yeison's side.

We know there will be more, although not right away. The ending text says there will be a story focused on Daniel and Kevin, obviously without ignoring the other characters.

It's a relief that Nate recovered, I didn't know which way it was going to go. The first undeniable sign of Nate coming back being on Ev's birthday was a sweet touch. EV's emotions when he thought it was false hope we're heartbreaking, that was a great inclusion.

We continue to follow Jordan and Cameron from part 1, but now they have Josh in their care. Josh has dealt with some truly traumatic stuff in the past and this story deals with the mental health impact from that. But it does so in a way that's full of love, handling a difficult topic in a wholesome way that makes it easier to deal with.

There's one other thing I want to say as a separate post, which is not a criticism. I'm an atheist, so I don't believe in any kind of afterlife, which means the scenes that them hearing Adam doesn't match what I believe would be possible in reality. But that's fine, I can enjoy plot elements that don't line up with my believes. And both times they heard Adam in the surf, now and the previous time they went to Stingray, where very sweet, although sad, moments that helped them cope with their loss. I really enjoyed reading them.

That was a wholesome ending to a very good story. The four younger characters are more comfortable with talking about sex with parental figures, which is great because what Josh and Daniel went through makes it important that they can talk about sex if they need it. I'm happy to see you'll write a follow-up focused on Daniel and Kevin, it does feel they're the ones with more story left to tell.

This chapter does a great job of capturing the magnitude of Evan's pain. I'm glad there will be an epilogue and I hope Nathan recovers. But, whatever way this ends, I'd rather know his fate for certain.

Mr. Rhodes is the reason Nate was driving during a storm, but that wasn't the cause of the accident. It was a drunk driver running a red light, which could have happened on a different day or a different time. So Mr. Rhodes isn't to blame for the accident, but he is to blame for what could have happened as a result of driving during a storm. As for Evan, I feel his pain resulting from asking himself if Nate would have been fine if he had done things differently, but he doesn't have any in regards to both the accident and the dangers of driving during the storm. He had no way of expecting his actions could result in any of this, he could only have been blame if he knew there was a risk to his actions, which he didn't.

Fuck! Things with Nate's dad when as bad as they could and now that cliffhanger makes me really worried for Nate. Things would have probably gone less bad if Ev had waited for Nate to arrive before confronting his father, at least they'd leave the house together. But I only know this with the benefit of hindsight, and Ev's logic that Nathan's father wouldn't beat him up like he did Nate was a good reason for what he did. I think Ev should have stopped somewhere near the house on a different street, called Nate to tell him what happened, and waited to see how things between Nate and his father would go. Then at least he'd be physically there for support if things went very badly, which they did. But of course he's not going to be able to think rationally in the middle of the flurry of feelings in that situation, so it is what it is.

I get that it's difficult for Hunter to break up with Yeison because he's a great guy and it will hurt him when he does. But Hunter can't keep this up forever and the longer he waits, the more it will hurt Yeison when he inevitably does it. Plus it's already hurting Yeison, he knows something is going on and not knowing what it is makes it worse. Yeison initially thought maybe he had done something wrong but, now that he knows it's not that, there must be something else. And he's not stupid, he sees that if Hunter isn't telling him why he's acting different, what is wrong, then it's probably related to himself. That leads him to "I feel like I'm losing you and I feel so, so sad", but Hunter still doesn't tell him the truth. I think this chapter makes it clear that Miguel's feelings for Hunter are genuine and strong. He's not changing in the ways Hunter wants just for long enough to hook up with Hunter before changing back to his old self and moving on to other guys, I think he's truly trying to become a better person because he has actual feelings for Hunter and wants them to become boyfriends. He even used the word "love" and I'm convinced he was being fully honest that he feels that. Even the way he asks Hunter to please not do drugs is coming from how much he cares for him. And saying that sometimes it's hard to change is because he doesn't want to lose Hunter if he slips up into his old ways once in a while.

Good point about the pretending, it's hard to continue to do that after the way Five reacted to Percy's injuries. At least that's the one good thing in the middle of how bad that was, because those two would have otherwise kept pretending, including to themselves, until five minutes before leaving.

So Michael is not just an asshole, he's also an idiot. He's one of those people who are smart in their specific field and clueless about everything else. Especially safety in his case, Jesus! When Percy saved that kid, he didn't do "what anyone else would have done", that was very brave. There's no chance in hell I'd have the courage to attempt anything close to that, I'd have stuck to calling 911 (actually 112 in my country, but I digress). The way Five reacted to Percy's injury, both running with him to help him and staying next to a sleeping Percy for eight hours, that's how you see how much he loves him. I know Five has a girlfriend, but I think him Percy belong together, what they have is way beyond a friendship.

Fuck! I'd like to say I hope things will go well with Nate's dad now, but I don't believe that will happen. He was too furious to change his mind that fast. But maybe they'll be less bad, since what he was probably doing was being alone to try to clear his head.

It took me way too long to realise you were talking about choosing a reaction, not choosing between World Of Warcraft and Love, lol.

The talk with Gigi went well, Nathan reacted correctly by stopping her. But now this thing with his father, fuck! The way he shouted, the only question is how awful will his reaction be.

Ev meeting Nate's high school friends and seeing where he grew up in must be cool, plus the guys were all nice. It was probably good for Nate that he wasn't present during the Gigi encounter.

So Connor basically cut things off completely, I guess I can see why. It must be difficult for him to be around a guys he loves as more than a friend, while knowing he can't be his boyfriend and seeing him with another guy, on top of knowing Connor's own actions hurt him. Ev's family would probably be fine if him coming out and saying Nate is his boyfriend, but the last sentence means they need to be very careful around Nate's father to not do anything that could give him hints.

Nate's been reading the comments, lol. Just kidding, but he reached the same conclusions. Ev was a lot nicer to Connor at the end than I would have been, considering what he did while Ev was sleeping, followed by lying and blaming it on Toby. What he did was messed up, but the damage to our friendship would have much more reduced if, after realising he shouldn't have done that, he had admitted to it right away without needing to be confronted.

I do think that sounds like an awful combination, but I had so many things to say that I forgot this one. I was also going to point out that it's funny that Miguel thinks boba tea is weird because there something to eat inside something to drink, but then it turns out that cheese in hot chocolate is normal in Colombia, which is also something to eat inside something to drink. I'm looking forward to the Noah chapters, I'm glad we'll get to read from his point of view because I want to understand him and his motivations better. You did say that somewhere in the comments of an early chapters. I imagine he'll become more likeable later as he learns from mistakes. But it's interesting to see a character like this.

I know Hunter had no one else he could talk to about his doubts, so talking to Rory is what had to do for his own sake. But damn, it must have been super hard for Rory to see a guy he still loves talk about dating other guys, it's different from vaguely knowing he's probably doing it. And then Rory seeing the guy who cheated on him talk about having feelings for other guys while having a boyfriend hits too close to home, it probably brings back those memories. And I think Rory is spot on, he knows Hunter very well, when he says "Look, Hunter -- you’ve gotta pick: stability or excitement. You can’t have both. You want love, but something in you won’t let it stick—maybe you don’t think you deserve it." After Hunter's inner thoughts say he doesn't really love Yeison, at least not as a boyfriend, he looks like he loves him as a friend, his thoughts while spending time alone with Miguel confirm he's clearly attracted to him. His brain says he shouldn't be Miguel's boyfriend because of the multiple red flags, but his thoughts and feelings tell us that his heart disagrees, even if he doesn't realise it because his brain doesn't want it. And Miguel being attracted to Hunter isn't surprising, it explains why he acts differently towards him than other guys, for example, in chapter 2, when Zack said that Miguel isn't a fan of gringos or him being willing to skip a party after Hunter said he doesn't like them. In chapter 8, Hunter's father says that Miguel's father is "very wealthy, very influential" and "He’s been walking the line between legal and illegal for years". I wonder if Miguel wanting to leave Colombia suggests he doesn't want to follow in his father's footsteps of whatever illegal stuff he does. Hunter is on the path of very much failing the other part of his father's request, "try not to get emotionally attached". But Hunter is just a regular teenager, it's not like he can control his emotions, they just happen naturally and he can't avoid them. I'm worried about what could happen in potential future getaways, like the one in this chapter, where Hunter and Miguel go outside the zone deemed safe without Juan Camilo knowing.

That was a wholesome chapter. The moment to remember Adam was emotional and perfect, the dolphins were a great touch. The plans for the new building in Stingray Heads sounds good for everyone in both families. And they're all getting some deserved time with mostly not needing to think about uncle Phill, the lawsuit and everything involved. I'm glad Daniel is progressing faster than Kevin expected in regards to working towards being comfortable with sex after what he went through. It's also good that they're able to talk about this with Jordan and Cameron. It's topic teenagers and young adults normally don't like to cover with people of a generation above, but what Uncle Phill made Josh and Daniel do makes it important for them and their partners to be able to talk about it.

This was hot, but there isn't much to say besides that. And Nate doesn't get pleasure from bottoming, but now he knows, experimenting is how you find out.