Luckily I don't know the hippopotamus song, and based on what has been said about it, I'll decline the invitation to find out what I have missed! While it isn't Christmassy, 'How much is that doggy in the window' is plenty sufficient earworm for me. 😁
A very neatly crafted and enjoyable story. Great start to the twelve.
A powerful story. Made even more realistic by recent events. One can only hope that type of legislation will be introduced, although in reality it is a very faint hope. Luckily I live in a country that, following the only occasion such things happened, took drastic action to prevent a recurrence.
Thank you for all your comments. Pleased that you discovered and enjoyed it.
I often find it hard to decide when to end a story and leave my characters, but with this one the appropriate point seemed to be with the first time they made real love on Wayne's sacred land.
It was a tough read and I can only imagine how tough it was to write. One's characters do take on a life so it is hard to have such things happen to them.
Pleased to hear that you've stuck with it, James.
Yes, their intimate relations do face serious difficulties because of what happened to Troy. How they work those out will become a significant part of the story.
Adam has spent a large part of his life being made to think he is not a good person. As he sees it his presence is causing problems for Troy, so the solution is for him to leave - as he intended before. He really hasn't thought over much about how he will survive.
I understand your problem and can only suggest that you try skipping over them. It is basically a gay teen relationship story in which the main characters are faced with various unexpected problems. Their sexual orientation is the cause of most of those and they draw more and more together as a result.
Thanks for the comments @quttzik. Glad to know you enjoyed the story.
I think it is best to leave the reader to decide if Ben really did foresee the future while has was in a coma.