Davide

I know "you absolutely kill me" is a common expression, but it's a funny one because it implies it's possible to partially kill you.

No worries, I know this story generated a lot of comments and that's on top of everything else you had going on. And yes, I'm looking forward to more of that.

The bullies ended up in juvy, great news. But I get how knowing that doesn't magically make everything fine for Bobby. Going through that was scary, so of course his natural reaction is to be worried about it happening again. The situation not even being about him means he had no reason to even worry about anything happening, there hadn't been any indication of bullies having something against him. Meanwhile, Pete was a good help, he had to trust Sam not to talk and he did it because of how much Steven helped him. Things then got tense between Sam and Virgil, but I wasn't worried about them breaking up, although I expected it to take a while for them to get over this. Thankfully, Virgil saw how much this hurt Sam and resolved it. But I get Virgil's reaction, he was taken by surprise, while Sam had time to think about it.

The truck in that one other story, I think it was Darren's New Life, was epic. Although I wouldn't wish something so final for teenager villains.

Brandon's father wants him to have dinner with them to try to have a normal family interaction with his son, but then he makes zero effort in attempting to make it remotely pleasant, so that was going to be a fail from the start. Admittedly, Brandon is very antagonistic from the start, but the difference is he has a good reason to be pissed, their homophobia. His father claims he moved on from those ideas, but I don't see him apologising, plus he doesn't deny Brandon's claim that he thinks his son is going to hell for being gay. If Brandon tried to be nicer, maybe his father would do the same and things would be better, but I can never place the burden of taking the first step on the guy who faced bigotry. I don't know why Brandon went to that cabin, wether he was there to do something and was distracted by what he saw or that's a spot stuff like this happens in and he was hoping to see something. Dylan feels a bit too insistent of not being gay, especially when he says "I can’t be gay". "Can't" is an interesting word to use, it makes it sound like he doesn't want to be gay, rather than him thinking he isn't. That being said, enjoying a blowjob from a guy doesn't make someone gay, a mouth is a mouth and there's a biological reaction. But it seems Billy is attracted to Dylan, considering he was crying at the end. It sucks for him, with Dylan, the guy he wants, seemingly being straight and having a girlfriend.

I really like that you have a scene with Michael exploring Stephen's body. While the masturbation is the catalyst to Stephen discovering he's gay or bi, this exploration is an important moment for them as what will eventually be boyfriends because, with Michael being blind, this is the only way he can get to know Stephen's body. It's a sweet intimate moment. Jeff is improving more than I expected, he even threw Stephen to the pool this time. Although he still used a homophobic word, but he apologised. We'll see if the military school helps or hinders his evolution in how he treats Michael and Stephen. Meanwhile, Stephen is already getting close to Pete and Alex. Him willingly showing his dick to his new friends is a big step because of his feelings about it. He's embarrassed about it's size, but yet he still does it. That willingness to do something embarrassing shows how much he trusts them, that's great to see. Of course Stephen and Michael were going to end up together, but Stephen figured out his sexuality quickly, after just one night sleeping in the same bed. So his isn't a case of a guy who thought he was attracted to girls and started to get confused after one night physically close to a guy. Maybe he would have known he's gay sooner if he had the opportunity to experience closeness with anyone that isn't family earlier in his life, but he didn't have friends. Stephen being worried about his parents' reaction is natural, but I think they'll be fine, they're very supportive of him.

There are machines in this world, but the people we met avoid them. So who built them and where are they? Maybe some advanced race once lived there, but then moved somewhere else and some machines got left behind. If the machines in the mountains including anything like the ones in the Hazardous room, no wonder they say they're dangerous, people being sent through a portal would just disappear from their perspective. But it could be anything, maybe even Earth technology sent through the portal Malik went through. Malik trying to fight them wouldn't end well for him, he needs to think of a strategy that goes beyond just fighting. But they're not going to let him go the mountains to see if the machines are useful for him, so he will have to escape at some point. I think, for now, the best he can do is stay with their hosts temporarily, while he studies their routine to try to find some kind of opening. A couple of them hate him, but they're balanced by the ones who think otherwise, plus the priest's order. They won't do anything too bad in these circumstances. The Selma look and Malik's bedroom was a cool way to communicate. But it also means that, although they lack technology, the priests have an ability human don't, one that's very useful to communicate with aliens (from their perspective, Malik is the alien).

Congrats, it's deserved. Comparing Encrypted, Black Sun and I'm Gay: A Nifty Story, it's crazy how fompletely different they are.

I only translated one sentence and Google Translate guessed Albanian. It's possible, and likely from what you said, that other sentences are meaningless in Albanian. That does sound difficult, but also interesting, and you did a good job of it in this chapter.

I do strongly prefer when characters who go through a lot of problems have at least one positive aspect in their lives, and Tyler has great supportive parents.

Pete and Alex are good guys. Martin warning them was a good idea for them to not be shocked but, with the way they acted, I believe them when they claim wouldn't have said anything mean, regardless. Jeff is still a dick, but it turns out the cause is him being an idiot. He was actually afraid of catching "the gay" via genetics, despite never having seen evidence of him having those thoughts, and afraid that Stephen's birth defects could be contagious like a freaking virus. The potentially good news about that is maybe Jeff can change if he learns he won't can't be "infected". While the military school punishment may seem harsh, we were told a couple chapters ago that the discussion at dinner where Jeff said some homophobic stuff was a "three or four times a month ritual", so his parents must have already tried everything else and it didn't work. Leon is fiercely protective of his brother and this chapter showed us the extent of that. Jeff was very confident on his ability to win a fight against Leon and maybe that would be true in vacuum, but it all changes when Leon has personal and important motivation, it gives him extra strength.

Absolutely! I can read between the lines. I'll be waiting for that trope with a different character when you go further back in time. But wait... When a character comes out as gay to his parents, uncles and grandparents pop out of nowhere to join his parents, forming a full on troupe to perform a dance number about not accepting him. My brain may need sleep.

Tyler was surprisingly okay with waking up to a guy grabbing his dick while poking him with a boner. It seems he enjoyed that and, like you told me in the previous chapter, he's not in denial because the reaction would have been very different. He's probably just genuinely unsure about his sexuality and that's fine, that sometimes takes time. As soon as Brandon said “Pissing on people doesn’t really do it for me”, I knew what was about come and I was waiting to laugh at Tyler's shock. Tyler is also discovering what he likes, not just which gender(s), it seems he's into smells. Tyler's parents were upset for a good reason, they just want to know he's safe. But they're great parents, they didn't take it far, they made their point and moved on. Even with the waffles, his mom only made him believe he wasn't going to get any for a short time before she started making them. The fake courtroom exchange was hilarious, I like that his mom immediately played along when Tyler called his father counselor. I lost it when Tyler got to the “My doctor informed me I should watch my dairy intake and absolutely avoid all processed cheeses" part.

Oops, how did I not quote this one? Thank you! That's wild. It felt like such a clear reference.

Noted, I'll make sure to not take funny retorts at face value. I'll reply to all three at once. I like to make theories, so I'll keep speculating about things I know will be answered later. I see on the confusion, that does fit better. Interesting on the dilemmas, I'll keep an eye out. Pretend I included the rest of the text, I cut it because there's no point in repeating everything. I was aware that Glacier Bay is a connected world but not the rest. Based on what I read of this story and the Christmas ones, I thought it was all separate stories that place in the same town and sometimes share characters. A connected story being told in reverse order is wild, I'm very curious to see that play out.

Google Translate suggests the language is Albanian, but I'm going to assume it's meant to stand in for an alien language because, of course, you weren't going to invent a whole new language. And I'll refrain from Google Translating it because I'm not supposed to understand it, even if it's somehow intended to really is Albanian. Malik was very wrong about what happened to him before he saw the two moons, but that's the natural reaction, people don't assume science fiction stuff until they see proof that everything else is impossible. So that thing in the Hazardous room was some kind of portal that took him to another world, but the people he came across are clearly not aware of that or they would have realised Malik is another person coming through the portal. There's no point in escaping, as he wouldn't know where to go, plus, judging by Rhaelce's reaction to the flying animal, it would be dangerous because there are predators out there. So we're not doing the thing sci-fi tv shows and movies like to do where all aliens magically speak English, I like that. I liked having to interpret things through voice tones and body language. There was a variety of opinions, with adults varying between welcoming and suspicious, and children between curious and shy. But it was also nice to get Rhaelce's inner thoughts at the end to give us some context. Now we know there are valid reasons to think Malik could be a criminal or a spy, let's hope he can gain their trust.

I forgot to say I love the punny title referencing Smells Like Teen Spirit.

Stephen's parents learned something about him, it can't be easy to find out their son has been going through that for so long without them noticing. But it's unfortunately realistic for kids to not tell their parents about this, because of misconceptions about how they would react. But now they know and Stephen will get to be homeschooled away from what would likely be a return of that. Stephen and Michael are becoming good friends quickly. Which is good for both of them, but Stephen, in particular, really needed that. It's good that they cleared up the last thing that was bothering them both, and of course they both accepted it. Worrying about how the other would react if they found out would have kept affecting them. Now we're going to meet two of Michael's friends, let's hope they're nice to Stephen. The other thing that was important to have put in the open, which they did, was Jeff's false accusations about his own brother. So now Stephen knows Jeff said Michael may try to molest him and doesn't believe him, and Michael knows both of these things, plus he clarified to Stephen that Jeff just thinks this about all gay guys. All this being cleared up means Jeff can't hurt his brother via accusations to Stephen or Leon.

Reading this comment after Frosted Hearts is funny. But, like I said before, each sex scene in that story is important for either the plot or characterization. It's just interesting to see how much can change in less than a year. Anyway, on to this chapter. Before anything else, sleeping with the face on a pillow with dried cum? EWW!! Tyler and Brandon have a fun friendship dynamic going on, but this makes me wonder why would they have drifted apart for multiple years. We know from the previous chapter that Tyler wasn't secure in his sexuality, he was only lying to himself that he was. Knowing that he slept in the same bed as a gay friend, maybe that was making it too hard (possibly even hard in a literal sense) for Tyler to keep denying he's into guys. He would have had to come up with an excuse for himself about the reason he drifted apart, but brains in denial are good at that. In that conversation, Tyler is struggling with things he doesn't want to admit to Brandon, but especially to himself. He knows he enjoyed the blowjob, but's not ready to accept that it being given by a guy was part of why he liked it more than others given by girls. Meanwhile, Brandon has figured this out and that lets him be in control of the conversation, even when Tyler storms off. He has a bit of fun here and there by poking Tyler with the right questions, but I'm glad he knows not to confront him directly with what the conclusion that Tyler seems to like guys.

I would have advised against making bets with open ended options for what the winner can make the loser do. But, Tyler, since you agreed to it, you pay up, that's how it works. It should also have been predictable that, after you made Devin shove a marker up his ass when he lost a bet, he would make you do something worse on your next loss. Although you ended up liking it a lot, so there's that. And yes, I'm talking to a fictional character, what about it? The banter between Tyler and Devin was fun. There's a bunch of ribbing back and forth, but nothing malicious intended. Devin even eventually agrees to not watch the video after seeing it would make Tyler uncomfortable, but, of course, only after making him suffer a bit. Speaking of the video, it was Tyler who suggested it, but I feel like that's worse than Devin watching it. Because what if someone gets a hold of it? I wouldn't be surprised if we find out the answer later. News flash, Tyler, if you feel the need to make sure you don't think of guys in a sexual way, you're not secure in your sexuality. But people doing this is common and the forfeit Devin came up with led Tyler down the path of hopefully coming to terms with his sexuality, which means it probably helped by accident. When being unsure about his sexuality, Tyler's plan of talking to a gay guy is a good one. And that leads us to blue hair and paint, it's Brandon.

Ah, I see, I misunderstood what you meant. I'm not the correct person to give an informed comment on the technical aspect, so I won't.

I read Christmas In Glacier Bay, but I don't remember everyone's names because there's too many to memorize in a single chapter. But now I looked, the catering guy was an interesting character. Also, this is the first time I hear about Captivated By Kai, I'm interested in reading more Glacier Bay when you get to that. Yes, I've been reading the comments. Both because I like to see what people think about stories I read and because I know you drop hints and behind the scenes comments. Interesting tidbit about his condition.

I'll comment on the chapter later because I need to sometimes work while I'm at work, but I wanted to comment on this. I've interacted with you enough on GA to say you're probably right about not being humble in general. But you are humble about your writing skills in particular, I think you're a better writer than you give yourself credit for.

The difference is, while Stephen will still face abuse, there will also be positive things in his life. That makes it easier for me to deal with what I will read.

Stephen had really tough time so far with the bullying and not even having any friends, but that's about to change. For my own sake, I'm glad we skipped all that until we reached a point where he'll have some positive stuff to counterbalance the negative ones that I'm sure will sadly continue. Michael can't see the things other kids bully Stephen about, but he still wouldn't make fun of him if he did, he's a good kid. Michael being blind also comes with it's own challenges, we haven't gotten much into it yet, but we saw his mom not trusting him to be able to return home alone because he's blind. I understand her point until he's a bit older, but I also get that it can be frustrating for him to be so limited. Michael's brother, Jeff, is a dick. Implying that, just because Michael is gay, he'd molest another kid is super homophobic. And it's a recurring thing, we're told things like that scene at dinner happens multiple times per month. Stephen's brother, Leon, also used a homophobic slur but I think he's not as bad as Jeff. It initially seemed that he's the kind to think all gay guys are risks of molesting people but, after paying more attention, I think he only got that impression about Michael because of whatever shit Jeff told him. Jeff was probably the one who brought that up and Leon's protectiveness of his brother kicked in. So I think Leon is more likely to be receptive to being taught to not be homophobic.