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“Love is a superpower we all have, but it’s not always a superpower I’d be able to control. Especially as I get older. Sometimes it’ll go crazy and I shouldn’t be scared if my power hits someone I’m not expecting it to.”
Just before the climax of the novel, Mateo quotes his father to Rufus when they are in Open Bookstore talking about relationships. Rufus’s revelation that Aimee was his first relationship and Mateo’s admission that he’s never dated anyone illustrates their mutual inexperience in matters of the heart. Their conversation reveals that their growing realization that they love each other and foreshadows Mateo’s later confession that he loves Rufus. By that point, both Mateo and Rufus have grown enough to approach their love with courage rather than fear. Mateo’s words emphasize that he believes love is a powerful force beyond anyone’s control. The quote also emphasizes the idea that some people, like Mateo and Rufus, are simply fated to cross paths and fall in love. The idea of fate and choice is often juxtaposed throughout the novel. The novel presents the idea that though Mateo and Rufus were fated to meet, it is the choices they make that allow them to go to their deaths having known and experienced love.
“You may be born into a family, but you walk into friendships. Some you’ll discover you should put behind you. Others are worth every risk.”
At the end of the novel, the narrator presents this quote as an overarching lesson about the role of different relationships in a person’s life. Although the love between Mateo and Rufus is central to the story, there are other relationships that show how powerful and complicated love can be. In his friendship with Lidia, Mateo is initially not willing to risk hurting her by telling her he is a Decker. After ignoring her for most of his End Day, however, Mateo realizes that loving someone means taking chances. When he finally reaches out to his best friend and invites her to be with him before he dies, he learns that it was always Lidia’s choice to be his friend and that denying her the opportunity to be with him wasn’t protecting her at all. Similarly, the Plutos demonstrate the power of friendship. Since Rufus, Malcolm, Tagoe, and Aimee got to know each other as foster children, they form a found family. While Malcolm and Tagoe risk their freedom to ensure Rufus has his, Aimee learns to let Peck go while holding close to Rufus and his memory
“People have their time stamps on how long you should know someone before earning the right to say it, but I wouldn’t lie to you no matter what little time we have. People waste time and wait for the right moment and we don’t have that luxury.”
At the climax of the novel, Mateo shows how much he has grown and what risks he’s willing to take when he tells Rufus that he loves him. At the beginning of his End Day, Mateo was so crushed by anxiety that he wouldn’t even tell his best friend Lidia how he felt or share with her that he got his Death-Cast alert. After spending the day with Rufus, however, and being encouraged to take risks and express himself, Mateo’s development culminates in this moment of vulnerability. Not only does Mateo express a central theme that love can’t and shouldn’t be put off despite any fallout, but it also shows Mateo’s self-love. Not only did Mateo never come out to his father or Lidia, but he admits that being gay was a secret he kept even from himself. Embracing his identity is not only a declaration of love for Rufus, but a declaration that Mateo is embracing and loving himself as someone deserving of love.
