Davide

I already commented on the chapter, but now I have thoughts about the future. I feel sad for Tommy that he doesn't go to Harrison West. Partially because of the better education, but especially because a long distance relationship with someone at a boarding school is difficult. Also because I'd like to see more of him. Nick avoided picking swimming because Noah is there, but we were told Noah will appear more in the sequel. I wonder if Nick will have the unpleasant discovery that Nick is also in one of his clubs, maybe the Gay Straight Alliance.

This story is about gay teenager going to a new school. But it explores the themes in it's own way, avoiding feeling repetitive of other stories in this genre. The aspects that stand out for me is how introspective the story gets at times and it dealing with mental health.

I like the Tommy-Jonah situation, it's great to see a character who thought he straight be willing to open to going on a date with a guy and see what he feels. I'm looking forward to the Extra Innings focused on them. The section where Nick thinks back to the ways himself and Jack grew throughout this year is perfect for a final chapter. But it's also important that you had a section after that to set up the new year. This is a way to frame this as the ending of one part of the story, not a final ending.

This job interview is an amazing opportunity for Kris, that's a lot of money. But, if he doesn't get the job, I worry about the impact that would have on him mentally. Seeing the hope of escaping the financial issues of his whole life, only to see it slip, could be a lot worse than not being presented with that hope. Meanwhile, Dean in a denial, but it looks like his feelings for Kris are strong enough that he'll be forced to admit them to himself eventually.

So Christian will basically have negative free time next year. Maybe he should look into cloning himself to be able to do all that in the same year.

Good job at conveying how awkward the first time having sex can be, without going too far that the focus moves away fromthe characters' enjoyment. And I'm surprised you had Jonah feature heavily in a chapter without the story ever saying 'tiny butt'.

A gay guy loading his virginity to a gut he knows is straight is unusual. But losing it to James makes sense for Olly, he's is his oldest friend and that makes it special.

while I think what Kris did was a caring gesture, it's not something I can expect people to do, putting your own safety first can't be wrong.

Dean disappointed me in the way he reacted after kissing Kris. But those homophobic feelings were probably drilled into him young, I hope he'll manage to move past them. But Kris surprised me in a good way, most gay people would have yelled back after being called the f word. But he realised there's as aspect of self hate in Dean's sentence and tried to help him, instead, when he said "You don’t have to pretend." It's a bad timing for Kris, while he's already dealing with the emotional and financial impact of his mother being in hospital, even with the help from Ethan practically force him to take days off of work. But I hope he'll try to get through to Dean after giving him time to see if he cools down.

A great day for the group, something Nick and Jack really needed. And it's good to see how much better Jack is doing.

This is so difficult for Kris. The scare of what happened to her, him being questioned to see if he did it and worry of whether he'll be able to afford making the money they need to live by himself. Fuck!

I'm sorry to hear that you went through parts of this. Despite me saying I hoped you hadn't, I suspected writing about it this well probably required some first hand knowledge. I get you on the writing helping you through it, it makes a lot of sense, I'm glad it did. As for this story helping people, I think it can, through seeing a character recover from a hole that he thought impossible to climb out of. And your content warning should be clear enough to stop people who aren't ready to read something like this.

It always baffles me that some people who experience bigotry would themselves be the source of bigotry towards others. They experienced what it's like, that should make them more aware of the damage they can do.

This is an incredibly dark story, but I love it. Capturing what Simon was feeling throughout the story in such a dark state, to the point where I can feel it, doesn't seem like an easy task. And it's made harder because it's the central aspect of the whole story, but you did an amazing job at it. I hope you weren't capturing your own experiences, no one deserves to go through anything remotely close to what Simon did (this isn't a question, that would be way too personal).

This is a great story and I recommend it to anyone who can stomach it's themes. But this is the darkest story I've read by a mile, so think it through carefully before deciding on whether to read it. The reason I love this story is because it digs deep into the emotional impact of what happens, but the reason I warn you is the nature of themes it digs into. If you can handle it, you should definitely read it.

Another aspect is we sometimes see writers abandon a story because they get stuck, not knowing how to continue it, or lose interest in continuing. That can't happen if the story is fully written before posting it, any issues like this would result in the story not even start to get posted.

I meant to talk about it, but something pulled me away while I was writing my comment and I forgot when I returned. The main thing that stroke me is how serious the diagnosis is. PTSD, depression and anxiety already feels like a lot at once, but he has, if I understood it correctly, strong versions of all three. The fact that he was function as well as he was for most of the year, comparatively speaking, makes me proud of him for how much he fought internally. But I lack the technical knowledge to comment more specifically. I'm looking forward to seeing character dynamics from different angles, I like seeing how things shift with the way they're perceived by different characters. I don't know if that one will be a Tommy or Jonah perspective, I'm hoping for the first one because I want to see an outsider perspective to part of the main group, but the other one would also be interesting for different reasons.

“So…” James’ voice was calm. “Is this where you make your move on me too?” I like the role reversal of this last line in comparison to Olly's experiences with other friends.

I forgot to say one thing. I love that, both when Jonah asked if Tommy has a boyfriend and throughout all his flirting, he never felt the need to say he's straight. Unlike some guys, Tommy is comfortable enough in his sexuality that he doesn't need to shoot down any chance of someone thinking he may be gay.

Great chapter. Huge progress for Jack, the biggest signal of that for me is how he acted around Tommy. And Nick is finally going to get help, he should have gone to a psychologist years ago, but better late than ever and now he also has the impact of helping Jack through his hard times. Tommy has good chemistry with Jonah and Jack, and it feels like he would have it with the rest of the group as well. I'll miss him when the SftF sequel starts and they go back to school, I wish Tommy would start going to Harrison West too.

Thank you for the detailed description. When I say pizza is best in Italy, I mean on average. Naturally, individual restaurants will vary. And yes, pizza is ultimately great around the world. A cool thing is how much it differs from country to country, and sometimes within a country, while being very recognizable as the same food item. Two of the pizzerias you mentioned are Una Pizza Napoletana and Leggera Pizza Napoletana. It's interesting to note that they both include the expression Pizza Napoletana meaning Neapolitan Pizza, but it's not surprising that pizzerias would like to name themselves after it's birthplace, Naples.

I would not have caught that, but it makes a lot of sense with the passage you highlighted. Of course it's not certain but, if your guess is true, I agree with the guess of her doing matchmaking.

The ending with Kris's mom seems ominous, I hope Phillipe is right and it's actually something good. And Ethan's sudden disappearance makes it two things to worry about regarding Kris. Seeing his thoughts about being gay in a small town, I think he needs someone he can talk to freely without hiding being gay. The way Leah figured him out, wasn't homophobic and got sad for him, I hope she can be that person.

"His old man used to say, “You want something, you take it. You don’t ask.” Dean lived by that rule. Better to take than to need. Better to be the one who walks away first. Nobody leaves me, he thought. Not anymore." Dean keeps lying to himself, but it seems like it's getting harder to ignore, considering he thought about Kris multiple times during a date. But seems like Leah is playing an important role for Dean, and maybe that's something he needs before he can be honest with himself about love. Leah is making him slowly start to dispel the outlook at life and dating from the quote above, which is just bad for himself. He needs to let people in, but he keeps his walls up whenever Leah tries to ask anything remotely personal. But the way he acts in the morning, by staying, that's a start of something.

When it comes to pizza, Italy wins at their own creation. (I'm not familiar with the regional variations within Italy, so I can't comment on those.)