Chapter Summaries (because this comic is 13958713045718374 pages long.)
**THIS PAGE HAS SPOILERS.** Also, I included my own sarcastic comments within the summaries. Take them with a grain of salt, hah, they’re not meant to be serious commentary.
Chapter 1 – The introduction to our protagonist, Louis Beau. While shredding on his guitar, he meets his classmate, Daniel York who wants to “interview” Louis for extra credit at school. It’s obvious as all dang that Daniel has a SUPER BIG CRUSH on Louis. They plan to eat lunch at school the next day together so Louis can continue helping Daniel with his “paper” (*SPOILER* There is no paper). CUE SCENE CHANGE, Louis is at work at the Music Emporium where his “manager” and friend, Chris, tries to meddle into his love life until Daniel CONVENIENTLY shows up at the store. They CHAT and it’s still OBVIOUS that Daniel likes Louis, which Chris points out after Daniel leaves. Louis is like NOOOOO WAAAAY but DEEP DOWN, he knows Chris is right and doesn’t want to admit he likes that Daniel likes him. When Louis gets home, his dad gives him a lecture about having someone over when he wasn’t home and it’s revealed that Daniel left his notebook at his house.
Chapter 2 – Louis starts off the chapter strong with a very vivid and disturbing dream that ends with a CENSORED kiss between him and Daniel because I am not that giving and you have to wait many chapters until you can actually see a kiss between them. ANYWAY, Louis is very bothered by his dream because he kind of enjoyed the dream, but he tries to rationalize it away because he is a confused bisexual in denial (I would know, I ripped this off from my own life LOL). While at school, Louis finds it difficult to concentrate because he keeps thinking about his dream and is nervous about facing Daniel again. Daniel is also nervous as heck and we get introduced to his best friend, Mia, who does not like Louis, but supports Daniel in his quest to “get to first base.” (I JEST, but not really bc that’s literally what she says). ANYWAY– Then it’s ~LUNCH TIME~ and while Louis and Daniel FLIRT, his “friends” look on because they are Nosey Neds with no lives. But before that, we are introduced to Shelley and Chloe, two best friends who apparently went to some party and Chloe apparently hooked up with some dude there. HOW STEREOTYPICAL. Shelley is kinda annoyed by this, huh. WELL, ANYWAY…Oh yeah, I forgot at some point Lori was introduced and she flirted with Louis and doesn’t like Daniel. LOL OH LORI, YOU’RE SO FORGETTABLE EVEN *I* FORGET ABOUT YOU. ANYWAY, FOR REAL THIS TIME– when Shelley and Chloe get back to the table to join Lori, their other friends Evan and John appeared, too. WHY DID I INTRODUCE ALL OF THESE CHARACTERS IN THE SAME CHAPTER?! NO WONDER NO ONE REMEMBERS THEIR NAMES. SO, the friend group talk SHIT and tease Daniel because they are jerks. The chapter ends with Shelley explaining to Lori that while she thinks she likes them, she doesn’t have chemistry with Louis. And yeah. MOVING ON…
Chapter 3 – Louis invites Daniel over to his house after Daniel CONVENIENTLY misses the school bus home. At Louis’s house they BOND and FLIRT some more. Basically just a chapter where they get to know each other more. It is this chapter where Louis reveals his mom is dead (is this a D*sney movie?!) and apparently died in a car accident a “long time ago.” Daniel also awkwardly tells Louis that he’s gay.
Chapter 4 – PILLOW FIGHT!!!!!! And then Louis’s dad comes home, which freaks him out because he’s not supposed to have anyone over when he’s not there OOPS. After Daniel leaves, Mr. Beau gives Louis a lecture and there is yelling involved, with Louis ultimately getting grounded…yikes. That night, Louis sneaks out of the house (WHAT A REBEL) to return Daniel’s notebook and is disappointed when he doesn’t get to see Daniel after dropping it off. He berates himself and feels anxious over his developing feelings for Daniel.
Chapter 5 – It has been a couple of weeks since Louis and Daniel formally met. Louis reflects on this and plans on asking Daniel to hang out with him that next weekend. His former best friend, John, confronts him about hanging out with Daniel because he’s a DOUCHE. Shelley later confronts John about his confrontation with Louis, and basically calls out the fact that he’s acting like a douche because he’s jealous. HMM. INTERESTING.
Chapter 6 – THE CHEM LAB INCIDENT. Lori is a homophobic jerk and no one really does much to stop her. Wow. I’m currently rewriting this chapter and some things are changing, BUT something that stays the same is Louis gets A CHEMICAL spilled on him and he panics, fleeing to the safety shower. It is there where he and Daniel have a heart-to-heart and these summaries are terrible I’m so sorry. They make this story sound so boring…it might actually be this boring. Damn. Well, anyway–
Chapter 7 – Louis and Daniel go on a DATE to the park, except neither of them calling it a date. In fact, Daniel insists to his mom that it’s not, even though he wishes it was one. While at the park, the two get to know each other more and establish that they are friends. MEANWHILE, Shelley and Chloe are walking around town when they stop into the Music Emporium where it’s revealed………Chloe’s hookup that was mentioned back in Chapter 2 was with Chris. YIKES. Chris doesn’t remember at all and Chloe wishes she didn’t remember. Shelley doesn’t know wtf is going on, but she thinks Chris is a total creep after he just offers Chloe a job willy nilly.
Chapter 8 – Louis confronts Chloe about…an incident on her first day of work that involved her trying to smooch Chris which he unfortunately walked in on. Chloe PANICS and spills the beans on EVERYTHING to Louis and Louis is basically like…okay whatever idc, but he does kind of care because he warns her about Chris. Chloe is adamant about her feelings for Chris and insists that it must be fate that they have been brought back together…GIRL NO. Louis continues to try to be like NO, YOU DON’T WANT THIS and in the process of trying to invalidate her feelings for Chris, Louis accidentally mentions Daniel and realizes that he likes him. Oh yeah, we’re also introduced sort of to Louis’s ex-girlfriend this chapter, Lauren (HAHA……….I might stick her in chapter 2. Why not? Everyone else is introduced in that one, too 🙄)
Chapter 9 – TRIGGER WARNING: Anxiety, panic attack. After realizing that he likes Daniel, Louis gets very anxious. The chapter opens up with him in the nurse’s office in the midst of a panic attack. Louis is eventually able to calm down, in part because of Daniel distracting him with texts that make him laugh. At the end of the school day, Louis is exhausted from his anxiety attack and mentions his “bad thoughts” to Daniel. Louis appreciates Daniel being there for him by being his dorky self and comes to terms that he does like Daniel and that while his feelings for Daniel gave him anxiety, Daniel being in his life also helps him to get through it (HOW CONTRADICTORY.)
Chapter 10 – Daniel seeks help from Mia to see if she thinks that Louis likes him because he suspects it and wants to ask Louis out if he does. Mia is critical of Louis and does not like him, but tells Daniel that yes, she thinks that Louis likes him back. Mia is worried that while Louis might like Daniel, he might not want to go out with him. While walking through the halls at school by herself, she gets lost in her thoughts, and suddenly Lori barges by, knocking her to the ground. Mia yells at her, but stops herself mid-yell. She has selective mutism because of being bullied in the past for having a deeper than average voice compared to other girls in her grade. Mia panics and thinks about how she and Daniel first met in middle school, having both experienced bullying. Mia decides that she won’t let Louis become another bad memory for Daniel and gets the courage to confront Louis on her own.
Chapter 11 – That afternoon, Louis and Daniel are back at Louis’s house working on homework. Louis gets stuck in his thoughts recalling Mia’s warnings to not hurt Daniel. Daniel snaps Louis out of his thoughts and basically spend the rest of the chapter flirting and almost kissing LOL. About halfway through the chapter, Daniel reveals why his dad is estranged from him: he cheated on his mom and walked out on the family 3 years before the story began and suddenly wants back into their lives. He is angry that his mom and younger brother give his dad a chance, but Daniel wants nothing to do with him. Louis empathizes with him, telling him that someone can’t just walk out of your life and then back in, acting like nothing happened. He then tells Daniel how his dad similarly left him, at least emotionally, after his mom died because he drank a lot. The two boys decide that they won’t let the past weigh them down and the chapter ends with them playing in the rain.
Chapter 12 – Louis has fallen hard for Daniel and is not subtle about it at all. While at work, Chris teases Louis about Daniel. He suggests the possibility of being bi to Louis in a bit of a roundabout way, which Louis shrugs off. He still is unsure if he should tell Daniel about his feelings, but knows that they can’t play this “will they, won’t they” dance forever.
Chapter 12.5 – Daniel’s mom asks him about the status of his relationship with Louis and is concerned that Louis might be stringing Daniel along. Daniel argues that it’s not about that and he’s just not ready and that Daniel doesn’t want to push him.
Chapter 13 – SO. MUCH. FLIRTING. Daniel also confesses how much he likes Louis to him, which makes Louis upset because he can’t bring himself to tell Daniel the same, causing him to begin spiraling into another anxiety attack.
Chapter 14 – *TRIGGER WARNING* Graphic anxiety, panic attack. Louis has a major anxiety attack that causes him to feel like he is losing control of himself and his thoughts. He is terrified of the idea of being alone, especially when thinking it could result from his dad drinking again because he is worried or finds out about him and Daniel. Daniel supports Louis through the attack and afterward, they talk about it. Louis ends up confessing his feelings for Daniel and they agree to go out. …I am so bad at summarizing I managed to make this chapter that is full of feelings sound so basic LMAO.
Chapter 15 – Louis and Daniel are officially going out and it is now two-ish weeks later. John is NOT HAPPY. At the end of the school day, John gets roped into helping Lauren hang up a banner for the upcoming prom. It’s revealed that before she dated Louis, she and John dated. Evan then confronts John about why he doesn’t like Daniel and they have a ~moment.~ At the end of the chapter, John is shown that while he’d like to talk to Louis, he can’t bring himself to because he’s scared of realizing there’s really nothing left of their friendship.
Chapter 16 – Louis asked Daniel to prom and fusses over not having a tie. His dad offers to help him find one and they look through his box of ties together. They get to talking about Louis’s mom and how he has so many ties because she would gift him one for every birthday and Christmas. When the topic of Louis’s relationship status is brought up, the two end up getting into a yelling match because Mr. Beau doesn’t think Louis should be dating and only focusing on his grades, whereas Louis defends his relationship as being more than just a “fling” that won’t last. Louis tells his dad that he’s not in a relationship and is going to prom with Daniel. Mr. Beau doesn’t like that he’s going with someone he doesn’t know and demands to know why he’s not going with his other friends, ultimately accusing Louis of having done something to make them mad at him. Louis goes into a rage and wants to go for a drive, but his dad yells at him, telling him that he’s too angry. Louis ends up just going into his room where he feels very overwhelmed by his emotions and falls asleep. He has a dream about Daniel leaving him, his friends and ex, and his parents. At the end of the dream, he reaches out to his mom as she runs away and the string that ties them together rips, turning into a tie that chokes him. Louis wakes up gasping for air and realizes that his dad gave him a blanket. He goes back to bed, crying after this realization.
Chapter 17 – Louis and Daniel have a dinner date at the park. Louis confesses that he is not sure what to label his sexuality yet, not sure if he’s bi, but saying he’s gay doesn’t sound right to him either because of his past relationships and ongoing attraction to girls. They get to talking about past crushes and Louis reluctantly admits his first “guy crush” was on John, which leaves Daniel feeling annoyed. Daniel presses Louis that it’s okay for him to talk about it, though, but Louis becomes irritated by this and ends up making an embarrassing confession taht leaves them both speechless and leads to a big argument. Daniel accuses Louis of still liking John, but Louis insists this isn’t the case. Louis explains the events of the last year of his life: he liked John and was jealous when John started dating Lauren, he began developing feelings for Lauren himself and ultimately asked her out after her and John broke up, and that his relationship with Lauren was intimate but short-lived. Louis is distraught how he feels the confusion about his sexuality messed up his friendships because of how he couldn’t handle it all, but is also mad at his friends for not realizing what was going on with him. The chapter ends with him telling Daniel how the only one he likes and wants is Daniel.
Chapter 18 – Mr. Beau discusses the previous night’s fight with Louis (from chapter 16). He sort of apologizes without apologizing (WOW), but (at least) acknowledges that he shouldn’t have made so many assumptions about Louis’s relationships. Louis is surprised that his dad knows he has a relationship, although he thinks Louis is using hanging out with Daniel as a cover for hanging out with his girlfriend. Louis tells his dad that it’s Daniel he’s been hanging out with and tells his dad about their friendship and how Daniel is someone he can trust. He also tells his dad that he can trust him, too. Mr. Beau ultimately agrees to trusting Louis about his relationship and being able to handle it with school.
Chapter 19 – ONGOING…CAN’T SPOIL.
