Davide

“…doesn’t make sense that the Clan would attack the school with the possible target inside.” So Hunter's father knowingly put him in a school where there's a DEA target? That could be dangerous. And he didn't tell his teenage son about the risk he was put in. As for the Clan targeting the school, despite that, the target could simply know about the attack and not be there at the time. Speaking of dangerous things, Hunter using Grindr in his current situation, a gringo son of a DEA agent, is pretty reckless. Especially when his plan involves lying to the guy who's there to protect him. The difficult for Hunter of dealing with everything that's been happening recently, plus the return to mind of the past stuff with Rory, was well explored in the story. So, when he cried, I felt how much pain he's in. And then there's Ricardo, who had a difficult life with his own pain resulting from his poor family. Hunter says they're different, but both of them having dealt with pain helps them help each other, even though they're different pains from different situations.

Thank you for not ending the chapter on "For the first time in years, he felt truly alone." That was a whole journey for Dean, but he managed it at the end. In the previous chapter, it seemed Dean had managed to move past the bad stuff he learned from his father. But this stuff doesn't happen linearly and he fell back into his usual avoidance. He avoided Kris for fear that talking to him would confirm Dean lost him, but, ironically, that itself was what almost made him lose Kris. If he waited longer, Kris could have moved on with Ethan, Dean arrived when things weren't yet too serious between them. Dean being mad because Marcus was leaving was a dick move, but it only lasted briefly. Dean caught himself and Marcus understood that it's difficult, but Dean is still happy for him. And Marcus moving have been what made Dean not lose Kris, being left alone was what probably gave him the courage. He still didn't manage to do it straight, but he got there in a roundabout way. Then Kris' mom probably sensed they needed to talk and that was the push Dean needed to be fully honest. Of course, Kris is mad at being ghosted for weeks. But him being so understanding, despite that, shows how much he cares about Dean. And that's probably what made him realise he loves him. And that love was presumably what had made him be unsure of moving faster with Ethan before Dean returned, Kris' feelings for him still lingered. There's still more to deal with, namely how will things be between Kris and Ethan, and whether Dean can simply go with Kris to Toronto, but he's rightfully focusing on the happiness for now.

That thing with the money was a good plan from Jordan to try to convince Madison, we'll see if it works. But it's possible she may be convinced Uncle Phil was lying about the money and still not believe the child porn accusations. Lying to get more money is the kind of crime people expect can happen from who seem to be upstanding members of society, the rest can be a lot harder to believe when she's clearly already predisposed to think it's all lies. So it may take more work to try to get through to her.

I'm proud of Dean. He had two difficult conversations, and mad sure to do them in person, which is both the right way and harder. With Leah, he should have talked to her several chapters ago. Of course the combination of the radio silence and breaking up with her after a few dates that always seemed to go well would lead to her getting upset. But throwing things at him when they hadn't even stated they're in a committed relationship is way too much. Plus she didn't even acknowledge him saying he was lying to himself too, he went to those dates thinking that's what he wanted. And her reaction to him being gay is they could have figured it out? Figured out how a gay man could continue to date a woman? Oh, hell no! Then there's the conversation with Kris. This one was probably even harder for Dean, harder to admit to this things to himself, not just to Kris. His father really did a number on him. This doesn't excuse what he did, Dean's actions are his own, but it gives it context that attenuate it. Kris was very good, he gave great advice throughout. Him not being mad at Dean can help him accept that he can forgive himself, which is an important step. The part about Dean having to make a decision isn't easy, this is all still very new to him, but Kris is right about that. And Kris is allowing him to take his time if he needs it. Kris also needs to tell Dean about the job offer in Toronto. But now was not the right time for that, it would have diverted them from the topic Dean had to discuss. And maybe Kris wants to know whether Dean wants something serious with him before he tell him about Toronto, to not let that influence his decision.

I'm tired just from imagining how many activities Evan was part of during a single day. Nate surely has to be the future boyfriend, although they both have girlfriends and seem to think they're straight. So it will probably take some time, but they're already about to sleep in the same room, maybe a first step can happen.

“You’re the son of a DEA agent! You’re a target! I’m sure the cartel already knows who your dad is, who he really works for, and who you are. That’s why the fuck I’m here!” I think Juan Camilo was probably wrong about the cartel knowing who Hunter is. The headmistress was the first death, she was the main target and the notice were the posters. Now the question is whether Juan Camilo saying that in public blew his cover or if people were too busy and shocked with what was happening to hear.

A first chapter is always more about set up, I need more before I can properly start to judge a story. But this seems like an good premise, it sets up an interesting dynamic between the two main characters, without forgetting to set up other aspects of the story too.

I Google terms and add the word Spanish or Colombia if necessary, instead of using Google Translate. Even if it's slang, some search results will explain it. As for the story itself, fuck. The posters were obviously trouble from the start, but I didn't expect it to go this bad so soon. At least until I read the chapter title. I don't know if it was just the posters or, like Juan Camilo suspects, Hunter's cover has been blown. The second one would be serious trouble for him.

As I keep saying, Dean needs to talk to Leah. They went on multiple dates, that's enough that she deserves for him to say something, which he should have done multiple chapters ago. Kris also needs to talk to Dean, but I get that it's difficult and he only got the news today. But he shouldn't let it stretch, that conversation will get harder if it doesn't happen soon. They want things went between Kris and Dean caused some tension that Dean can't understand because he doesn't know the reason, repeating this for too long could be risky. The job is an amazing opportunity, but maybe him and Dean can work something out that's compatible, I'm not sure. What I know if Kris being with Ethan could end up being satisfactory to some extent, but the 'what if I had chosen Dean' would keep nagging him, plus he would enjoy being with Dean be a lot more.

Seeing some early stuff from Noah's perspective would definitely interest me. Maybe something surrounding that party in an early chapter and it's aftermath, when Nick got rightfully pissed at him. There was also the spring break, where multiple characters went on holidays. I don't remember where they went, but maybe one of them could be interesting for one of these. As for a Jonah perspective, what I'd be most interested in would be when he kissed Nick and his internal thoughts in the aftermath of Nick's negative reaction. Jack's perspective could also be interesting on very early scenes, which would give us his internal thoughts on Nick and on the episodes he was dealing with, plus maybe hear the phone call where he yelled at his mom. He was extremely closed off back then, so we had no idea what was going on in his mind. Hmm, probably too many of my ideas include a good chunk of seeing things we already read from a different perspective. But I said what came to mind.

Oh, boy. Everything happened, the All At Once title is accurate. Dean is still being a dick to Leah, she's a good person, she didn't deserve this. Even has he was still figuring himself out in regards to Kris, it was clear he wasn't interested in Leah, so he should have told her. Meanwhile, Marcus is great. I'm glad he showed support for his brother, giving him the final push to letting go of their father's bs. And he even did it after Dean punched him, his brother is lucky Marcus is like that. Kris is in a tough spot, that salary is very attractive and he wouldn't have questioned it if this happened before he met Dean. But now he has an offer for what he wanted, an opportunity to leave the financial slump he was in, except it comes with a cost that can either end or complicate things with the guy he loves. And there's Ethan's confession on top of it to make everything more awkward. There's an interesting parallel here. When this story started, Dean was dealing with trying to escape his past, while Kris was dealing with trying to chase a future. Now they both escaped that, Dean in regards to his father and Kris in regards to the job. But their relationship puts them again in a similar situation. Dean has to deal with a relationship from his recent past, while Kris has to deal with a relationship that's being offered for his near future.

I had indeed forgotten that. I get that it's hard for people to believe someone who presents as an upstanding citizen to believe he's very much not that, but he's her own brother and that should have been enough for her to believe him or at least hear him out. I don't know if there's any kind of ulterior motive behind Madison's actions but, even if it turns out she was genuinely fooled, I'll be upset that she didn't give Joshua a chance.

I guess I should comment on the actual chapter, or at least the last paragraph. If I remember correctly, Madison left the country right after her parents died, meaning before Uncle Phill made Joshua and Daniel do those despicable things. Not being there to see what was happening, maybe Uncle Phill fed her lies about her brothers and she believed him. Joshua and Daniel didn't have any way to communicate with her to give their side of the story, so all she had was what a guy whose experienced at pretending to be an upstanding citizen said. If I'm right, I'm angry at her for jumping to conclusions without asking to hear Joshua's side of the story, but this is my guess as to what led to her acting like this. And this gives me hope they, with the help of Jordan and Cameron, can manage to eventually convince her she's very wrong, although that would probably be a slow process and require some kind of proof that would be painful for them to relive.

I started reading this story recently and this is the first chapter after I caught up. I like that, while it has characters dealing with difficult stuff, it manages to keep a hopeful tone most of the time. Of course, multiple years of Joshua and Daniel's loves were just awful, but the present say of the story has plenty of positive moments, while dealing with the negative repercussions of that past. I don't think I could stomach reading about them being on the run from that life if it wasn't balanced by the good side that other characters provide them with.

I love this. Seeing the quiet version of Jonah that doesn't have to be about memes all the time. Seeing Tommy be attracted to a guy and think about how he hadn't even considered that before. Seeing them express their insecurities to each other and bond over them because there's some similarities. The distance will be a challenge, but I hope they can make their relationship work. And I hope Tommy tries and manages to get a scholarship for Harrison West. Both because it would be good for him to have his boyfriend nearby and because I'd like to see him in the story more often. In unrelated news, we learned Danny is leaving. Losing a character is always sad, but I guess you need to make space for new ones and he was among the ones being given less importance out of the main group. And we got some information about the future new character Kai, I like that the three brothers are all very different from each other.

[Deleted]

I don't think Dean would actually be violent against Kris, otherwise I would absolutely be in favour of Kris cutting him off. I think the first one was an idle threats coming from him previously being in denial to himself of being gay or bi. He's snapping out of that, but he's not ready to be public, and I think this one came from a fear of being outed. But I wouldn't fault anyone who, in Kris' position, considered what Dean said to be a deal breaker.

Just don’t,” his voice dropped “don’t go telling people. You do, and you’ll see your dad. Understand?” Kris flinched. He wasn’t sure if Dean meant it or if it was just armor, the kind of cruelty that came from fear. I forgot to comment on this bit. It's fucked up and I'd have been angry at Dean if I were Khris. But Kris is right about why Dean said it, it's the second option. And that's why wouldn't be a deal breaker for me.

So instead, Kris said softly, “Well… maybe this time you can stay longer. See what it’s like.” And then he did. I guess Dean is..learning to stay. The stuff between Kris and Dean was sweet. Dean made good progress in being able to admit how he feels, to both himself and Kris, after his denial of being anything but straight in the previous chapter. But Leah is going to figure it out soon and it may not go well for Dean, especially as he wants to remain in the closet. And I wonder how Ethan, with him being Kris' boss, will feel about him pushing back and whether he will do something.

I still don't normally comment on stories posted years ago, but I feel like I need to after my comment on the previous chapter. Now we know why James' mother acted the way she did and it's understandable, parents are also human. And she saw that what she did was wrong and not only removed the rest of the punishment, but also came clean with him about the trigger and apologised. I respect her for this, not every parent would be willing to flat out admit to their own kind that they were wrong about something related to parenting them.

I don't normally comment on stories I read that were posted years before but, after what some of the comments on this chapter say, I want to stress how much I agree with @Summerabbacat here. The punishment from James' mother is blown way of our proportion in comparison to his single transgression from an otherwise well behaved teenager. Any words and thoughts from him that may sound like entitlement come from his justified anger at the size of the punishment, which is a mild reaction compared to how some other teenagers would act after this.

I also don't know how reliable it is, but checked it out and saw very recent tv series. Plus it includes a lot of more common triggers than just the dog one.

Dean is dealing with hating one part of himself as a result from the homophobia his father drilled into him. And, from what we learned of his past experience, he has been repressing that side of him for a long time. That's difficult stuff to handle but, thankfully, part of him is starting to realise he doesn't have to believe in everything he father did. He's still wresting internally with himself and I expect Marcus will give a push to help the good side win. That being said, Dean is being a dick to Leah. I get that he needs times to figure himself out, but he should do that without leading her on. He's using the relationship with her to try to convince himself he's straight, but what he's doing will eventually hurt Leah and that's why he's in the wrong on that. He could come up with an excuse to break up with her if he's not ready to admit the truth to himself, but he needs to do something.

Hunter befriended three characters, all different from each other. It will be interesting to see how those friendships evolve, and possibly into more than that. I'm starting to suspect the real reason @LittleBuddhaTW wrote this story was to have a vehicle to complain about Colombian food, while gushing about it's beauty, lol.

(I wish I could delete comments)