Heartwarming / Mysterious Skin

• Believe it or not there IS some!
  • Neil for all his self-centredness has a genuinely loving relationship with his mother, Eric and Wendy (although the latter is eternally suspicious of his feelings for her).
  • Eric is lonely once Wendy and Neil leave for New York but when Brian comes to him looking for Neil the pair form a real and asexual friendship, both boys glad to have some company.
  • Equally Brian's relationship with Avalyn has a sense of great relief about it for both of them, finally meeting someone who understands how they feel and may have undergone the same experience (although it is hinted not in the manner they first imagine).
  • Neil's AIDS ridden trick just wants to be held again, to feel human affection once more. Neil obliges.
  • Neil and Brian meet up in the end and confront the truth together. Perhaps there is no closure for either of them but at least they have one another, Brian can perhaps move on, coming to terms with his trauma and making peace with his family and Avalyn.