This gave me some much needed closure after the film. I saw it once ages ago now, though it still haunts me and I don't think I'll ever be over it. I'll always be left wondering what happened to Neil and Brian, and if they could ever find any sense of happiness. This fic is beautiful, truly, I love it a lot and the relationship between Neil and Brian is beautiful in its own, broken kind of way. You deserve hundreds of reviews for this fic, it's truly amazing and I thank you for writing it.

I've been listening to the song Samskeyti by Sigur Ros and I sincerely recommend everyone to stop whatever they're doing and listen to it; it's the song that played during the final scene and credits and it just breaks me. I listened to it while reading chapter 16 and I cried, I legit cried and I have a pea sized, blackened heart. Mysterious Skin is a film that hurts. This fic makes it hurt, but it kind of soothes and relieves at the same time... I really needed to read this after rewatching that film because it feels like my heart has been punched. Weird how something like a movie or a fic can make me feel so strongly, but yeah... it does. Well, I'm pathetic. I hope you go onto writing, because you're a fantastic writer.

Oh my god this was Amazing! If there is a part 2 to this movie they should go based off this!

Hi, I don't know if you still check on your fanfic account but if you do here I go:
I stumbled upon your story sometime last year
year, red it in one go, then twice and moved on. I had such a fond memory of the fic I wanted to read it again today. I have watched the movie and read the book and both left me with feelings I didn't know what to do with. Emptiness, loneliness, I felt out of place. And with you fic, you bring the fulfillment and happiness of a good ending and a story well crafted. You bring to the reader the closure the characters will never truly have. It's such a hopeful satisfaction.
I'm not an expert, just your humble reader but the characters are so spotted on they just blend with the movie, like a sequel. I can't imagine any other way for them to deal with the future than the one you've led out for them. It's too alien to think another path, like it doesn't fit. You pretty much captured their personality, without making them a joke, a stereotype. I loved how Neil and Brian antithesis personalities complete each other. The way Neil hesitation to leave the comfort of his ignorant bliss makes him vulnerable while Brian new found answers reveal a strong and courageous part of him. Eric gentleness and Wendy carefulness. The moments of comfort balancing those of doubts while everything is chaos but also equally hopeful.
My favorite parts are their moments of tenderness and the whole fic is lies and raw emotions.
I don't know if what I wrote makes any sense, I just wanted to tell you I loved it and I'm going to read it again for a fourth time. Thank you so much for sharing this with us

the emotional whirlpool are myriad
in this story. it feels like oh my god even though you're happy, you can always sense the imminent danger looming in. i love it, i just love it more when it is a completed work, thank you.

Oh my got, this was so intense! My chest was gripped so tight while reading this story. The way they interacted and how they dealt with their own demons together, but separate at the same time! It was simply marvelous. You kept the atmosphere of the movie intact and you kept going, pushing all these little fucked up facts to the surface. The best example is explaining, through Neil, that he really loved coach because he gave Neil someone to love in more way than as a lover (as wrong as the whole notion is), but coach was, after all, the center of Neil's universe and the whole thing left him broken beyond repair. It's kind of sad that he and Brian would remain scarred, but at least they had each other.
An amazing read! it was an experience I won't forget very soon. It pains me to think exactly why you can write trauma so well...

Thank you for being this good and putting so much effort in pampering readers with such delightful stories.

I know I'm a few years late but that was a fantastic first chapter!

This is so great, it made me cry

thank you for writing this...it was great

OMG this was amazing! You so need to do a sequel! That is if u find time but a sequel to this would be freaking amazing!

Wow is all I have to say for this story. It was amazing! And the end was so sweet. You left kinda open but still ended it. It was amazing. A sequel would be interesting to this. Just saying. Anyway awesome story!

That was absolutely perfect, and in a way poetic. I loved that you didn't wrap it up with a "they all lived happily ever after" ending. This type of storyline would not work for that, I think the fact that you were able to grasp that Mysterious Skin is supposed to be about a them getting dealt shitty hands in an even shittier game. I love the way that you did not stray from the characters, and you made people be able to sympathizes with things we didn't really even understand. Like how Neil could possibly not hate him, despite everything, but you were able to make us completely understand why they were the way they were.

And I MUST say that the way that at the ending you made them basically say I love you but not actually say it at the same time was poetic genius. It made you have this happy bittersweet thought, where you knew they still had their issues, but at least they could face them together. Your story is definitely one of the best I have ever read. Thank you, for showing me that fanfiction isn't all perfect little disney endings.

That was the most amazing piece of literature I've ever read outside a published novel. Well done.
Thanks

This was such a perfect ending! I'm happy that it is an open end that predicts a long but hopeful path to a promising future. It's realistic and touching and I'm glad it's not a "happy ever after" kind of ending (but I wouldn't have expected that from you anyway) but matches the atmosphere of the whole story. Even so I'm still a little sad that it has come to an end, I've never followed a story for such a long time! Congratulations on finishing the story!

Well hi there :P

I very rarely post reviews, and when I do, mostly it's because there was something really special in the story. I've been wanting to review this particular story ever since I found it before it had been uploaded to fanfiction (must have been at part 7, then), and for some reason I wasn't able to.
It's probably been some years, but I found the incomplete fic lingering around my files, and I thought I'd search for the story.
Something very special lit up inside me when I found out it was completed and that it had been posted to fanfiction.

So, first of all, thank you so much for this wonderful piece. I've read a lot of fanfictions, and this is, without any kind of doubt, one of the very best I've ever read. I love everything about it - the way you portray the characters, the tone of the story (so perfectly set, in my opinion), the pacing, and the unique way you present the narrative. Everything fits together so well that it just snakes its way through to you and absorbs into the atmosphere, the struggles, the experiences. Even if the plot at times seems like it is about to hit a wall, and you really feel a tiny bit of hopelessness, (which is a good thing, because it means you're feeling something that the story is trying to transmit), they are all different - both characters' struggles play out a bit like rollercoasters, no single turn is the same as the last one. Your writing, though, makes them all equally thrilling, and it's all worth it to see their evolution.

I'm sorry I could only post this review now and not sooner, but well, here it is. Thank you, and may you keep getting better and writing more of these wonderful stories!

I don't even know what to say other than this entire fanfiction was perfect. I love that the ending was happy in a way that was believable and all in all, it was thoroughly satisfying.