Davide

Regarding Miguel and Yeison hooking up, Zack should have either told Hunter before he dumped Yeison or never said it and Miguel should have told him because it was a relationship with the guy Hunter dumped to date him, but neither of these are big deals. Maybe Hunter was making a big thing out of it as a subconscious excuse to not get closer as part of his fear of commitment, resulting from wondering if he'd end up cheating again. Miguel knew exactly what to say to snap him out of it, his confrontational words did the trick. Meanwhile, Yeison is such a great guy, him genuinely wishing the guy he loves good luck in his relationship with another guy is a lot. I'll be very sad if he doesn't get a happy ending. During dinner with Hunter's father, Miguel was very articulate for a sixteen a year about a serious topic, which makes me wonder is sone of what he said actually comes from his father. But not all of it, his passion in wishing Colombia was known for more than drug cartels feels very real, which means what he says about how to achieve this must be something he cares about. Which puts him in a strange position if real, he appears to genuinely hate what drug cartels did to his country, while his own father seems to be working with one. That would explain why he wants to leave so much, he can't be in Colombia without being tied to that world in some way through his father. Finally, I have a thought the dynamic between Hunter, Miguel and their respective fathers. Hunter's father asked Hunter to get close to Miguel because he knows Miguel's father is tied to the cartel he's pursuing. And that's something he's obviously not telling Miguel, but that doesn't change that he really is in love with him. Similarly, there's a possibility of Miguel's father knowing Hunter's father works for the DEA and wanting Miguel to get close to Hunter for that reason. But, even if that's the case, which it may not be and Miguel obviously can't reveal it if it is, it doesn't change that Miguel seems to genuinely be in love with Hunter too.

When I got the screen asking me to fill my preferences, all three would have been left as Action/Adventure if I had just clicked next without reading. That's probably the only reason it's so high, it's the first one alphabetically. But it seems they fixed it after a few minutes, based on a comment above.

I see I caught up to the story (about a month ago) on the precise timing to end up on a long wait for another chapter. Although this was essentially the ending of the first part of the story, so it's actually a good time for a break. But please don't take this as a complaint, I'd be out of line to complain about how long it takes you to give us something write do for free. It's just about how much I like this story.

I sometimes click on a story, follow it if it seems interesting, but only come back another day to actually read it. (This specifically happens when I only found it after a few chapters are already out, which was the case with Frosted Hearts, and it's a result of me prioritising stories I can still comment on in real time.) That means my first hit on the story page doesn't continue into a chapter, even though the story didn't lose me as a reader. This works against your calculations of views to only the story page always being readers you lost.

I think Hunter can simply trust them to tell the truth, considering both of them love him.

I always think about each chapter with the first one in mind, as we learn more about Ryan. He's always thoughtful of saying the right things about Jamal and, more importantly, not saying the wrong ones. This contrasts with the events of what we know will make Jamal break things up, which makes me curious about it. Whatever the details of what will happen later are, I think it's clear that Ryan wouldn't have made the joke he laughed at. He must have known it was the kind of thing people shouldn't say, but he still laughed. Like Jamal says in that chapter, this may be worse than not realizing it's harmful. I hope the story will continue past the events of the first chapter, I'd like to see how Jamal handles seeing Ryan at work later. And part of me hopes Ryan can redeem himself in Jamal's eyes, although it's a lot harder to regain trust after losing it.

I'm sorry to be pedantic, but Columbia is a US cite, the country's name is Colombia with a second o. I saw a couple people use the wrong one. I believe Miguel is genuine about his attraction to Hunter, regardless of whether his father is the reason he initially approached him. From a narrative point of view, Miguel's father eventually learning the truth about Hunter seems inevitable and then things will be bad for him and Miguel.

I'm questioning more Miguel not saying anything because the specifics of the circumstances. Miguel knows Hunter broke up with Yeison to be with him, which makes his own past history with Yeison more relevant. But he's still under no obligation of saying it when they barely started dating. Unrelated to that, something I forgot to say, I feel so bad for Yeison. This sentence shows how painful this is for him: "Yeison showed up looking wrecked – red eyes, bruised circles, a smile that didn’t land." But, at the same time, I do think Hunter needs to be with who he wants and that's Miguel.

The part with Brayan and Miguel Ángel was very sad because it's not just a story, you're clearly depicting something a situation that happens too much in reality, with people being forced into it because they need the money to survive. Hunter was very nice by giving them money, and I also appreciate the way he didn't treat them any differently from guys he met at school when he talked about maybe becoming friends. But he should be careful about where he goes and what he tells people. I don't think those guys will do anything with their guess that Hunter may be the son of a DEA agent but, if they considered that option, other people could do it too. Miguel having had sex with girls or women, while being gay, to keep appearances is rough, especially with a prostitute at such a young age. It also makes me wonder about what else he must do to keep appearances, maybe that's the reason for how differently he acts in public and in private with Hunter. With his father being tied to a cartel in some way, maybe they way Miguel acts in public is simply what he's expected to be like. Him wanting to leave Colombia could hint at him being tired of that stuff. Hunter, in internal monologue, says that Miguel and Yeison dating ended before he arrived in Colombia. But Zack's actual words were that they "were kind of a thing – right before you got here" and "Miguel ended it when you showed up". They way I read this, the actual ending it part happened after Hunter arrived. I went to look at old chapters and saw that Miguel first mentioned Yeison among a list of his football friends and him being kicked out of that group happened the first school day after Yeison spent a night in Hunter's place. Maybe Miguel broke up with Yeison because he was interested in Hunter and no longer wanted to hang out with Yeison when he saw him seemingly go after the same guy. I don't know what to think about neither of them mentioning dating, I'll need more information from, presumably, the next chapter.

They're very sweet to each other, they're great together. Ryan noticing and caring about things like the halal food is great. And they both have supportive families. Just like Jamal was afraid to tell his family and it ended up going very well, I bet the same will probably be happen if he tells Ryan he fell in love. But he's insecure about it and that's normal. As for the prologue, what will happen later doesn't erase that Jamal is getting to spend some time being happy with a boyfriend. It will suck later, but the good times are still good.

Interesting premise. That's some really difficult stuff for Adam to move past. Thankfully, he has Adam's support, which he's probably really going to need as he finally goes back to places that bring more memories. I should have probably read In My Mind first, but I want to read while I can comment in real time. I might just read both stories at the same time, no matter how weird that may end up being.

I have a question for @ChromedOutCortex. This appears to be the same character from In My Mind. But can I understand this story without reading the previous one? I'll read it at some point, but I'd prefer to not wait until after that to read this one. And don't mind if I get spoilers for In My Mind.

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.