Davide

I think Brandon being nervous about Tyler seeing the painting of him shows how big Brandon's crush on his is. Because Brandon sounds like the kind of guy that normally doesn't care what people thing about his paintings, he does them for himself. But he cares this time because it's Tyler seeing a painting of him. Further evidence includes his momentary sadness at the idea of sleeping in a guest room, instead of with Tyler, and the fact that accepting Tyler's invitation to go to his house is practically breaking his rule of not hitting on straight or confused boys. There's also evidence of how big Tyler's crush on Brandon is. After being separated for years, he keeps basically looking for reasons to be with him, since he reconnected. It happened when he texted Brandon in the previous chapter and again in this one when, as soon as he was faced with separating from Brandon, he invited him to his place. Plus, even though Tyler keeps complaining about his smell, he actions almost make it look like he doesn't mind it. And that's because his feelings for Brandon are stronger than his dislike for the smell. We also learn why Brandon smells and it's the same reason he sleeps in that hot as hell place, instead of his room in the main house with a more reasonable temperature. He'd have to shower at the main house and he wants to avoid his parents as much as possible. Meanwhile, Tyler's shower is insane, I want to use it. Near the end of the chapter, there's a small gesture. Brandon, who doesn't care whether things end up on the floor or wherever at his place, went to put Tyler's tower back in it's place because he knows that's what he'd want.

Jeff is lucky about who is father is. While Chuck doesn't look like the kind to give him preferential treatment, other parents wouldn't have had access to showing him the sad facts about teenagers who go through juvy. This will benefit others too, but it was that connection that let Lester make him see this. That being said, Jeff needs to be careful now (he probably won't), getting in trouble again could be a lot worse. We also learn Jeff punched a teacher in the nose three years ago, which means he's been a problematic kid for a while. Michael and Stephen are progressing in their relationship, there's that sneaky hand very high on Stephen's thigh. But they're going slowly and that's good, both because of how young they are and because Stephen only just started to discover he's not straight a few days ago. Stephen's mom understandably wants to make sure she can support her son in whatever may result of him being gay, especially considering how much he has already suffered, something she only found out a few days ago.

The Ray and Charlie situation was strange, it's not exactly common to see the complainer and the target of the complaint both caring about each other's well being. The key thing for me was when we were told Ray "just didn't understand how anyone could enjoy being gay." That makes me think maybe Ray is gay and is unhappy about that, maybe because it clashes with some kind of beliefs he has. So then the way he acts towards Charlie is more about his lack of acceptance of himself, with Charlie's happiness with being gay reminding him of what he doesn't have. Hopefully the appointments help. Martin and Nathan together was sweet. Nathan is moving slowly, with not wanting to do anything the first night and going home after they did the second one. But this is still new to him and each person has their own pace. Finger crossed things will evolve into further intimacy between them. Now the barbed wire story was painful to even imagine.

Ah, I see. Then that's not homophobia, like I thought. It's sadness about what else he may go through because he's gay, on top of what he already deals with.

Fingers crossed they accept Jeff going to military school. While he's a problematic teenager, going to juvy for a few years (until he's 18, while he's currently 15) is way too harsh for what he did. To be clear, this isn't me criticising the writing, I definitely believe the too harsh punishment is realistic. He did know the police had been called, Leon told him. But it seems the adults are assuming he didn't know, so hopefully they don't ask and that doesn't make his punishment worse. Jeff told Brodie that Leon ratted him out, that could be bad for Leon if he runs into Brodie. And by "could" I basically mean "will be" because I know Lee wouldn't include this if he wasn't going to follow up on it. Meanwhile, Leon says he's maybe disappointed that Stephen is gay. That's incomparably better than hating someone for that, but it's still not good. But I think Leon can turn around and be fully supportive after some time.

Having some ground rules is a good idea, but setting a thirty day trial with a schedule for check-ins feels too formal for me. But if it works for them, that's what matters. The way Evan talks, I trust that he wants to act differently than last time. That's important, but there's a difference between what a person wants to do and what they actually do when the time comes. So fingers crossed, but we'll see.

Interesting premise. J clearly still loves Evan, so they should try again. But they need to set rules and J needs to be mentally ready to leave if they aren't followed, otherwise he'll get hurt more.

I need to start from the end. Jeff is stupid for stealing beer, especially while being underaged. Leon said he could have given him one from the refrigerator, but he goes and gets himself arrested. Leon is also stupid for playing along with Jeff's plan, but less so because he doesn't take the fall for something he was only accompanying while Jeff did it, he told the officer the truth. Now let's see how screwed Jeff is by this. I get the need for Michael's mom to be more careful with his safety because of his blindness, but I think she goes too far. Sleeping in a tent at a friend's backyard is very safe, it would have been fine for him to do it without needing Jeff. And now Jeff won't be able to go, so she might actually say no. Meanwhile, Stephen and Michael were caught by Jeff and Leon, but it doesn't seem like that will lead to anything bad for them.

It was clear from previous chapters that Tyler is attracted to Brandon. Now Brandon changed his tone when Tyler mentioned Christine, which he identified as being caused by jealousy, I think correctly. Based on that, Brandon is also attracted to Tyler. He also once practically ran home to paint Tyler jacking off, but I wouldn't put past Brandon to have done that for the sake of art, rather than feelings. But that's not the only thing making Brandon want to be careful. Tyler is only now discovering his sexuality so, from his point of view, there's a risk he's just experiment and wouldn't want a full relationship with him. Plus he disappeared on his once, they didn't talk for years, he could do it again. Brandon has this cool unique art project, but the goal isn't showing it to people, is for him to improve on painting in unusual conditions and using the darkness as a tool. When Tyler texts, Brandon takes him there, to what seems to me like he's letting him in to something personal that he wouldn't show most people. Regardless of any romantic feelings, I think this is sign of the friendship they had still being there all these years later. After showing he knows a shortcut, Tyler implies he had spied on Brandon there before, although that's still different from actually having Brandon explain things. But it also shows a common interest of sort, wandering around in the dark and creeping on people.

An entire chapter where nothing bad happened, this sounds like the calm before the storm. And the trial starting tomorrow probably means having to remember stuff they'd rather not think about. Meanwhile, Sam and Virgil are on a streak of not getting caught, after being unlucky a few times in a row. They had actual sex this time and it went well, the advice they received was helpful. Art's dads seem cool and it's nice that him being the biological son of one of them doesn't seem to affect his relationship with the other one. Fingers crossed things go well with Seth. Art needs a boyfriend and Seth needs friends. If he's gay or bi, it sounds like he'll like Art, but there's still that question left. And, given how easily the group accepted Art, I expect the same will happen with Seth, but we'll see.

There's no need to worry about that in this story because, the more obvious and even overdone something is, the more you should do it in a parody.

I'm glad you decided not to end the story in the previous chapter, there's still so many tropes left that can only be done after the events of Homecoming. This is a weird story in that things that I would normally not like, such as coincidences that are too convenient for the plot, are actually positive aspects here because they fit the trope and that's what a parody should be doing. So yeah, Ryan being away in the morning of the next day of school for a completely unrelated reason was good, and it thankfully got resolved quickly. Them not texting over the weekend added to this situation, but it's unsurprising with these two. I think Skylar is the one who should have taken the initiative, considering Ryan was likely overwhelmed by everything that happened. But Sky is an emotional wreck, so of course he was insecure about what Ryan could be thinking. Seeing Madison be that mad is very satisfying, but I'm worried for Sloane. I'm sure she's having the time of her life seeing Madison suffer, but it could get ugly for her if someone manages to prove she's the one who did it. This was probably used before, but I still laughed at the term "Bubble-Gum Brigade", it fits so well. Nothing beats "God bless the tragic twink" from one of the early chapters, thought, that was perfect. Skylar actually took the undesired attention from being blamed better than I expected, including while he didn't even know what Ryan was thinking. He didn't get affected that much and, very important, didn't let it show that it did affect him to some extent, especially when facing Madison. Secret boyfriends is the best arrangement for them now, but surely someone will see them and out them, and that will be very bad for Ryan.

That's so stupid. Here in Portugal, the consequences are mainly for whoever gives or sells alcohol to minors and a lot less for those minors. I know I'm replying to a comment from almost a year ago, but whatever. And I'll comment on the actual chapter tomorrow.

"What am I, you’re new fucking toy" *your I'll comment on the story later, probably tomorrow. First I want to reply to an year+ comment because why not? But I'll say now that this is the best chapter so far. I do that when I'm walking around the house, I usually don't bother turning on the lights because I know the way and where things are. But, unlike what you said in another comment, I prefer to have good light in the place I'm going to stay at. Especially if I'm going to look at a computer screen, the contrast crested by doing it in the dark bothers my eyes.

I'd be okay if it ended here because it wraps up almost everything, although I'd prefer an epilogue dealing with the 90 days. But, even though that could work, I think it has a lot of potential for a continuation. Basically, the story continuing versus it ending isn't a case of good versus bad in my view, it's great versus okay.

Of course it makes it easier to know the basics in advance, although you can get by with English at the start in most places. But, past that, it's easier to learn a language when you hear it around you every day.

Stephen's parents took the news well, as expected, they love their son a lot and didn't seem like the fundamentalist type. All they wanted was to be sure he wasn't being taken advantage off, that's just parents protecting their son. But Stephen was very convinced it would go wrong, that has to be a big relief. Meanwhile, I understand Michael wanting to be careful. It would suck for him if he caught feelings, only for it to turn out Stephen was only experimenting and ultimately concluded he's straight. Which isn't the case, but Micheal can't read Stephen's mind. Stephen trusting Leon and Jeff to see him naked is a big step and a surprising one. Maybe knowing he finally has supportive friends makes him more likely to accept the risk of how they may react. Then Leon, in conversation with Jeff, uses a homophobic word. But I don't get any malicious vibe from the way he talks, I think he probably just doesn't know the word is offensive. This leads to a conversation that, unfortunately, fuels Michael's doubts because of how vehement Stephen is that they aren't boyfriends and then saying he doesn't know if he's gay.

Right, even though I read the other comments, I forgot she's a real person until you reminded me. True, it is a good quote. Plus I was joking, I can survive mentions of [redacted female body part].

The moment I saw the moderator approval thing, my reaction was "I think I know what word is causing this, I wish I could just retract the comment and submit a new one with a different word choice". I was mainly worried I might have been in trouble for using a word that isn't allowed, but now you're telling you approve it on mature rated stories, so I was fine in this case. Thanks for the clarification.

(Edit: Nevermind, what I said here is now irrelevant, but it seems I can't delete it.)

I like Christine. She says what she wants, I don't like it when people start hinting at stuff, I'm terrible at reading signs, except maybe if I already know the person very well. She's willing to listen to Tyler's Dilemma without blabbing about it to other people. She has a good sense of humour, “Are they going to come up for air sometime soon?” was hilarious. Plus she has great taste in tv shows, and so does Tyler, I love Community. Tyler is very honest with himself about his feelings and resulting confusion, which is refreshing. But, while talking to someone tends to help, it's not easy to do that and keep it a secret in a town where everyone knows everyone. That's why having someone new to town, Christine, is refreshing. Tyler is clearly not straight, even if he's not sure yet, but that still leaves gay and bi as options. Him not being interested in a woman he says has spectacular tits* could indicate he's gay, but not necessarily. Another option is him being so attracted to Brandon that no one else interests him anymore. The banter between Tyler and Devin is fun, I like the back and forth about Tyler doing this to help Devin. Devin saying "I got you a blowjob last night, fair is fair.” is the funniest part for me, considering they both know how much Tyler didn't want to do it. But it's all in good fun, they both knew Tyler would help out Devin and Devin would have done the same if the roles were reversed. It's a good friendship. *I can't believe you made me talk about spectacular tits on a website focused on gay male stories.

Noted, I'll remember it. Ah, so it's a scene you had in mind because of a real situation that you decided to put in a story, not something integral to the plot. I see. Damn, that sucks. I'm very sorry to hear that. I'm aware of what you said and what you didn't say. Brandon's parents are like yours, you didn't comment on the way Brandon acts towards them. But I stand by what I said about him, the burden of trying to reconcile things is on the people who acted wrong in the first place. The person who was wrong can attempt it, but they shouldn't be expected to.

It helps a lot to have an incentive to learn a language, such as having moved to country that speaks it or dating someone who has it as a native language. Without that, I'd get bored too. And learning English as a second language, which I did, is different because we need it for so many things.

I wish the story was being posted here so that we could talk about it. The more AwesomeDude gets ahead, the less I'll remember which chapters each of my thoughts were associated with.

@Jason Rimbaud on Encrypted chapter 2: "I can't binge this story as I have a very busy time right now". 9 chapters later, still on the same day: That's how you know the story is addictive.