This story was written for the 750 Word Project 2024. The story below is exactly 750 words.
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Being gay was hard.
At least, it was for me. Growing up in a system of repression, fear, and self loathing. Being taught that what I was is a sin, an abomination, unnatural.
To be me in this life would mean I'd be ostracized, shunned, a social pariah. And in the afterlife? Well, I'd burn in Hell, of course.
And so, I wasn't me. I was someone else. I was who they wanted me to be.
That is, until I was twenty-five, working my first job at a mattress factory. It was brutal, back breaking. But I was young and strong. Like the rest of my life, I hated it, but work was scarce when you were the poor son of a divorced mother in a pissant town in Bumblefuck, U.S.A.
Teddy Bear's Adult Book Store was just a few blocks from the factory and along the path of my walk back to the apartment I shared with two roommates; both of whom would kick my ass if they found out about what I'd be doing in the very near future.
The place was clean, and well lit, at least in the front. The lights were dimmer in the viewing booths section; I assumed for the illusion of privacy.
It wasn't my first time there. In the 80s, places like that were the only way to get your porn fix. Especially the kind of porn I enjoyed. Because I certainly couldn't risk bringing it home.
And so I plunked my quarters into the slot and undid my pants with one hand while flipping through the channels til I found one that caught my attention.