Just took out a chunk of time to get caught up with this series, so this is just an overall arching comment. Love the slow build and character detail, in case you're thinking it's too slow -- it gives each of your characters more depth.

I can see why my school days were boring and not worth remembering. I never had this whole `crush' business going on, so I was relatively hormone free -- emotional and mental changes not withstanding. Love the obliviousness of Matt -- it's so typical of a boy. Then again, I don't think I'd be able to identify these crush overtones in real life either, sooo...

Tony has it bad... Well, they both have it bad for each other -- one just hasn't realized it yet. Tony is definitely afraid of `coming out' -- probably a bad past experience or something? We'll see when he feels more open with other people than just Matt!

I can't identify with the language barrier issue, though I didn't learn English until I started school, so maybe I can -- I just can't remember what it was like. We did have a student that recently moved here, so interacting was fun -- it wasn't awkward as all, though maybe it was because I kept the language barrier in mind during our interactions together. Tony seems to be dealing with everything pretty well, though.

I really love the simple friendship aspect of this series. Sure, romanticism is butting its head in, but there's the whole `let's be friends before everything else' that's pretty cool. I never understood why two boys hanging out was always an awkward thing, beyond the whole macho/machismo crap that usually seems to be the extent of it all. Then again, most of my friends (90%?) were all girls anyway, so I suppose I am no different. As a blind person, I happen to be more of an internal thinker, so back when I was in school, boys of my age just seemed too immature for the most part. Plus, I was content with having just a few close friends, and everyone else were just... surface acquaintances. Never really cared about fitting in either, so I guess I am wired differently than most people. LOL.

As always, love all the animalisms you put into your stories -- from soft fur, to scents, to differences of species. It really makes it a more immersive experience, and it doesn't feel bolted on at all. I'm curious if the scent Matt couldn't put his finger on was the scent of attraction or arousal? Guess we'll find out sooner or later.

By the way, you mentioned in the first chapter that Matt put together a so-called lunch, but when lunch rolled around later that day, he ended up buying a school lunch because of a lack of preparedness. It's nothin' major, but figure I'd let you know about it in case you wish to edit it in a later revision or something.

Okay, I think I'll end this comment right here, since I spent most of the space talking about me rather than the characters of your intriguing story. As always, keep up the great work and stay well!

Fy

no need to apologize, I love your comments! <3 and as for that continuity error - that's the second lunch-related one that my patrons haven't caught! Whoops! I'll see about fixing that sometime later when I can get the chance. Though actually, now that I think about it - Chapter 1 took place on Monday, and I think this one was Tuesday? I don't have my timeline document open, so I can't check! But I do remember that on Monday he did buy a lunch like he said he would in the morning (since that was the first continuity error! mac and cheese or spicy chicken sandwich!)

The "simple friendship" you mentioned is coming through really strongly simply because that's what Matt is seeing it as right now! He's got no reason to suspect otherwise, and hasn't had any experience or knowledge with anyone who wasn't straight, so it's really kind of the furthest thing from his mind. As for the language barrier, Tony's had a lot of experience in different places with having to deal with that - and he does trip up every now and then, forgetting the English word for something or just slipping back into Spanish for things he's more comfortable with, but it's nothing big.

And your comment about having close friends! That's actually what my patrons voted on for the first poll of this story - Matt's got a small group of close friends that he hangs out with pretty exclusively, while everyone else is just people he met in class or did a project with or whatever, and he doesn't actively try to maintain those friendships. We saw that when he was in the library that one day, and bumped into an old classmate. Being nice 'cause that's the way you're supposed to be.

Also, this is just my curiosity - I didn't know you were blind! How do you go about handling that? You give me more complete and in-depth comments than any of my other watchers!

Oh good. It looks like most writers are okay with my rambles for some odd reason. They're not that well organized and have little structure or detail, but I'm glad someone's liking it to some degree, if not just outright ignoring it. :D

I was not talking about today's (Tuesday I think?) lunch mixup, though I don't think there was one, but rather the first day (Monday). I do a lot of archiving as that's habit of my fanfiction days -- when I had little access to internet when I wanted to read between (or during) classes -- so you may have fixed that one already, but I have not checked. Just in case though:
Chapter 1 -- Monday morning: ... threw together something that might be able to be called a lunch...
Chapter 2 -- later the same day: I'd forgotten to bring a lunch (read: had been too lazy to put one together),
Fix: You could just delete that fragment entirely, such that the sentence reads: Stumbled out of bed and got my clothes on; brushed down the most rebellious sections of my fur, and then lurched my way out the door to the bus stop.

I normally have an issue with continuity most of the time -- as the little indicators of time seem to be skipped over by my brain -- so we'll see if I'm just muddying the waters even further. LOL. I'll probably check in a few days to make sure, or when you post the next chapter -- I'm an expert procrastinator.

Experiencing non-heteronormative relationships: No, Matt never did have any personal run-ins with homosexuality, but he does remember Mike the grey-furred cat (current chapter), but yeah, I do understand what you mean.

Language: I still find myself sometimes frustrated by the inability to have direct translation for certain concepts between the two languages I know relatively well -- because of a lack of knowledge or otherwise -- so I totally get Tony's rare frustrations.

As for me being blind, I did write about it in one of my comments to your story "Shelter For A Heart,,"and to correct my misinformation, I am listening, on average, at about 800 words per minute. Here's how the screen reader rendered your comment, and this is how I listened to it -- saving me just about a minute of time. have to keep up somehow, right? And yes, it says the exact same thing, I promise! 😁

By the way, visually, what's the difference between replying to a post and just writing a new comment? I can't seem to figure it out at all. How do you know if a comment is a reply or an unrelated one?