#Gay friendly Chicago

[gaytravelinfo]

W Chicago City Center

W Chicago City Center | 172 W Adams St, Chicago, IL 60603 | 312-332-1200 Timeless elegance meets modern luxury at W Chicago – City Center. Occupying a historic Beaux Arts building in the heart of downtown, on Chicago’s famed Loop, our hotel provides an enviable location to experience the charms of the Windy City. Step into our Art Deco-inspired lobby and be greeted with soaring ceilings and…

[cator99]

Last year around this time I was in Chicago trying to buy shrooms off some underweight white dreads boy at addison station after trying to go to some "sapphic night" at a bar only to pull up and be told that tickets were $30 absolutely not happening I went back to my old time fav Charlie's but it was lowkey a flop wasn't feeling it at all crowd was boring as fuck not a single latino offered me coke which was how I knew it was an off night so I went back to the train. Omw back I hung out with a bunch of black dudes who were sitting on fold out lawn chairs out the back of a suv celebrating one of the dudes nephews graduating top of his class and getting a university scholarship and little dude was gay so they wanted to show their support but like since he was too young to go into the gay clubs they decided to just hang around in boystown getting wasted together and that was really fun those dudes were dope but by the time I got back to addison i was like um i came out here tonight looking 4 shrooms and will be disappointed to go back empty handed so when I saw the opportunity I took it but this white dreads californian refugee was acting wack from the start despite the fact that he also clearly was prepared to sell to me--- he started sayin I looked like a cop (normie hair, all black fit, shoes that are far too reasonable and would in hindsight be considered cop shoes to the average drifter from the west coast unaccustomed to the east coast way of life (yes I was wearing hokas), mostly sober, suspiciously in shape for someone trying to buy drugs from strangers)- I remember exactly what he said: "if you're a cop I will kill myself- no joke, straight up, I will kill myself." By the time I took out my flip phone to get his number... it was all over for me. Absolutely not happening. Please– I pleaded– I'm Canadian! "What, they don't have smartphones in Canada?" Dude I feel like cops have the budget to get normal burner phones for stings... I don't! I just want shrooms! Also worth mentioning is that there was some sort of annoying-type lesbian that had just left the sapphic party Very Disappointed By The Vibe who had been trying to hit on me prior to my asking that dude if he knows where to get shrooms since he asked to bum a smoke first and sure from her perspective I'm sure she felt as though we had been hitting it off but I'm just a friendly person and when I quickly diverted my attention away to ask some bum for drugs... she scoffed, full on scoffed. Proceeded to make a whole thing about backing away slowly and saying "I'm going to go waaayyy over here now! Good! BYE!" You're wearing cut off overalls. A tie dyed crop top. A choker. You're going back to your parents place in Evanston. I do not want to continue our conversation all the way up the red line til I get off at morse, I will kill myself- no joke, straight up, I will kill myself.

[2btheanswertothequestion]

She finds out about it a few weeks after her classes start. It happens by chance, and almost seems too good to be true.

But it's not.

The University of Illinois does actually have its own newspaper for gays and lesbians. It exists, made explicitly for them, by them.

And Robin needs it.

It requires some snooping, though it's basically nothing after everything she did at Starcourt. Soon enough, she is $8.50 ($7.50 for a yearly subscription and $0.5 each for the two previous issues) poorer in dollars and infinitely richer in happiness.

People Like Us: News, opinions, and features for the C-U gay and lesbian community it says on the front page. Issues 2 and 3 are both 8 pages long while the first issue is slightly shorter. They have everything. News about marches in Chicago and local gay-friendly businesses. Opinion pieces on places to meet up and homophobia. Roommate ads, reviews, and personal stories. News about AIDS. And, in the very back, a blurb proclaiming LESBIAN CONTRIBUTORS WANTED.

Maybe that'll be her one day. She's no Nancy, but she can write. For now, though, she's content with reading. It's almost overwhelming to hold the papers, knowing that it's made by people like her. That someone like her might be reading the same words at the same time. Less lonely, in a way.

No one else on campus knows about her. Ellen, her dorm mate, seems fine so far, but Robin won't take her chances just yet. She struck gold with Steve, Eddie, and the kids, but someday her luck will run out. So she hides the issues in a hard folder under her mattress whenever she isn't reading.

Then she gets the October issue in her hand and nearly dies of excitement. On the front page, the news section is announcing that "two highly acclaimed gay/lesbian films are set to appear on campus this month". The groundbreaking Desert Hearts and Parting Glances will be screened four times each, one week apart from each other, at the end of the month.

At her first opportunity, she calls and tells Steve about it.

"You have to come and see them with me!" she says. "I can't go alone!"

So he does, and he barely complains about the 3-hour drive.

On Sunday, October 19, he shows up at 7 in front of her building. They catch up while having a bite to eat before the film. It's mostly her talking, blabbing about classes and professors and new people and Illinois and the college experience while he chews his half of the pizza, staring at her with big eyes that scream I missed you, I missed you, I missed you!

She takes every chance she gets to knock their feet together under the table and clutches his arm on their way to the film. Just in case her own eyes don't scream it back loud enough.

By the time Desert Hearts starts, she's giddy. She knows only what the newspaper told her: that it's about a soon-to-be-divorced college professor meeting a lesbian country girl in Reno in the 50s, and that it includes a 'climactic lovemaking scene'. Both facts have her squirming with excitement, her seat squeaking beneath her.

The lights go out and the movie starts. It's slow-paced and atmospheric, using the Nevada scenery to its advantage. Parts of it are actually really slow, but she doesn't mind, especially not as it builds and builds toward Vivian ultimately accepting her attraction to Cay.

Steve is with her from beginning to end, scoffing at the antagonistic stepmother, squeezing her hand when the lovers are separated, and squeezing some more when they're reunited. When they reach the intimate scene, he gasps loudly. Then both of them succumb to a giggle fit and must stifle themselves lest they be thrown out. The newspaper was right – it is pretty hot stuff.

There's no dramatic declaration of love at the end, no the ending is as slow and quiet as the rest of it. Still, it hits hard. A sledgehammer to the chest, shattering her ribs and smearing her heart all over. Because these women look each other in the eyes and say 'I love you'. They say 'I want you'. They say 'she just reached in and put a string of lights around my heart', and they say it like it's normal. Which, Robin knows it is. But her world is small and their world is the silver screen and they say it like it's normal.

Steve turns to her when the credits roll and the lights come back on, saying it was good. But when she looks at him, his face falls. Arms wrapping around her, he pulls her into his lap and guides her face into the crook of his neck. Fingers cramping where they clutch his shirt, she buries herself deep and cries, cries, cries. She thinks she hears someone ask if she's okay, but Steve shoos them off, so it doesn't matter.

He walks her home in comfortable silence. As they stop outside her building he tucks her hair behind her ear and offers to stay with her. But she tells him no – he has work in the morning, so she'll have to make do without him.

The responsible thing to do after waving him off is go to bed, wake up early for class. Instead, she steers her step to the nearest payphone and punches in a California number. Minutes later she's got Vickie on the line, wondering if she's okay and if she's been crying. Robin reassures her, then recounts the evening. Soon Vickie's bell of a laughter envelops her; they discuss who's the Cay to whose Vivian until Robin runs out of coins.

Next week, Steve is back and they do it all over again, except this time they eat burgers. They even snatch the same seats they had the previous screening.

Parting Glances follows a gay couple for 24 hours of their daily life. Because they're established, their intimate scene happens much earlier. Steve's muttering about how unfair it is that it's less explicit than the lesbian scene has pride burn in her chest, even as she shushes him.

All in all, it's a really good film. It doesn't hit her as hard since it's about gay men and no lesbians, but it still hits. Again, because it's presented as something normal. They're people in love, and they have jobs and problems and dreams and friends. The hardest hit of them all is Nick, who has AIDS but not in a pitiful way. He's a rockstar with a sense of humor, still cool and charismatic. Sexy, even, thanks to the oozing confidence and the intensity of his gaze.

Steve is quietly contemplative on the way out. She slips her hand into his and lets him think. It's first when they're halfway home that she breaks the silence. Spinning so she's walking backward in front of him, him holding her waist to steer her away from lampposts and curbs, she asks:

"Did you like it?"

"I did. But it left me a little sad." He shrugs. "I just hope Nick survives and gets back together with Michael."

She chews the inside of her cheek. "I don't know if… I mean, AIDS is-"

"I know, Robbie, I'm keeping myself up to date. Or I try. It's just… It's very…" Steve sighs, shaking his head. "You know."

And she does know. The fear of being targeted and the frustration of being helpless. The fury of knowing diseases are supposed to be cured, until the ones affected are people who aren't supposed to exist in the first place.

Steve says, "I think he'll be okay. Nick."

"Yeah," she says, a little choked up.

"And he and Michael will be happy."

"Yes."

"And Cay will stay on the train, or Vivian will return to Nevada, and they'll be together. For real."

"They will. And even if they don't," she reaches up to cup his cheeks, caressing his stubbled jawline, "they'll have someone else. Someone just as good. Or better."

His gaze on her is heavy and bright, boring through, seeing inside. He nods.

"Or better," he says.

With that, he grabs and swings her around (in a pretty impressive move, not that she'll admit it to him) until she's latched onto his back. Then he carries her home.

It's maybe 50 degrees out, so not freezing but enough to leave you shivering if your jacket is old and getting threadbare, like Robin's. She's not cold, though, because Steve always runs hot. His back is firm and his grip on her thighs is secure; she burrows into him, absorbing his warmth and familiar scent. Lulled, not to sleep per se, but to rest by his even strides, she dreams of all the beautiful things she wants to have, and even more vividly of the things she wants to keep.

------------------------------

People Like Us was a real newspaper. You can find the issues that helped inspire this fic here.

(Oh, and you should really watch both those films if you haven't already.)

[hirik0]

Bad Reputation

Ghost/Soap

Soap has a reputation, hes seen as a womaniser. Everytime hes in a bar he leaves it with a woman, often just to make sure she gets save in her car before he returns to base alone. Ghost is unsure when Price wants to get Sergeant John 'Soap' MacTavish in the 141, not wanting someone like this endanger the taskforce because he told a woman to much to get in her pants. Even Gaz has mixed feelings about the potential new addition to the team. What they don't know Soap is just pretending, covering his bisexuality because he's in extremely homophobic environment, knowing he would get a lot of shit for being 'half-gay' so he performs heterosexuality to an extrem. Telling his squad mates he has a high libido and and is always down for, when in reality he just avoits sex at this moment, feeling sick to pretending. "Just 5 missions and if he don't fit he goes back to his old squad", Price promised them and they agreed 5 missions. When Soap arrives at base hes friendly, but Ghost is unimpressed thinking its probably just a facade for new teams. The think is his work is perfect, he fits right in, his skills a great addition to the 141, but his reputation makes it hard to trust him. "What do you think of the FNG?", Ghost ask Gaz after training. "Hes nice and I didn't see him chatting up one of the female personal. Yet", Gaz answers having a uncharacteristically dark expression on his face. "Sisters?", Ghost ask and Gaz holts up 3 fingers. "Only boy of 4, 1 older 2 younger." "Yeah would also not want a player around my sisters, if I had any", Ghost agrees. Gaz nods while watching Soap talking to one of the femal privates. Gaz has a reputation on base as the one you can complain about male recruites to if they act inappropriate. "Maybe he knows you will make his life to hell if he steps out of line", Ghost snickers darkly. "Probably helps that you would help me hide the body", Gaz jokes before Soap moves towards them.

"Ah Gaz I should tell you that a Private Jackson is being a problem again", Sopa says when he reaches his teammates. "Fucking Jackson, still didn't learn daddy's money will not help him here", Gaz curses Ghost also make a annoyed sound having written up the Private way to often already. "I think we have enough complains to get him finally get kicked out or atlest to another base", Ghost says. "Thank fuck, can't believe they didn't kick him out in basic." "He's skills are good on the paper.. if they sadly would not be attached to such a idiot", Ghost sighs, Jackson thinks to much with his dick instead of his brain. "So bad?", Soap asks unsure where this conversation is going. "Don't known a time they didn't complain about him. You don't share tips to pick up woman with him?", Gaz ask Soap confused, clearly thinking that Soap and Jackson would go along great clearly having the same views on woman. "I only to civilians", Soap says his smile not reaching his eyes anymore, mouth forced to stay a smile. Great his reputation is ruining his chance of a place in the 141, but they would not believe him if he tells them he didn't end up in the sheets with all this women. Its to late for that now, he has to show he's not what everyone thinks he is. The other problem he has is his Lieutenant, ticking all his fuked up boxes for man. Dark, mysterious, brooding, fuck off aura, build like a wall, all thinks Soap finds extremely attrative. Its not his first crush on a squadmate and it will not be his last. This will be just like the other times, one homophobic coment and his feelings just turn in to dust on the spot.

The one coment never comes, he's a full member of the 141 now. His crush exploded in something he can barely handel right after Las Almas and Chicago. Seeing Ghost face, melted parts of his brain, there is no way that Ghost, that Simon is such a bonnie, clearly thinking that Ghost lied when he told hom qiuete the opposite. He even saw Gaz punishing privates for homophobic behaivor, it apears that not beeing straight was atleast tolared here, but he thought that before and it was only okey as long its not the own squad. Ghost still tells him his awfull colection of teribel jokes, non of them indicating any anti gay tendencis. Price telling some female sergants he found in a suply closet to keep it at aproietet places. It looks like he maybe found a team that would not give a fuck hes bi, but this also is maybe delusional thinking, because hes getting sick and is horny for Ghost. He knows he should rest and not go for drinks, but hes a lovesick idiot and wants to spend as much time as possibel with Ghost. Just 2 glasses what bad think can happen, he ask himself.

Hes openly flirting with Ghost right in front of Price and Gaz thats whats happening. If he was fully aware of anything and not sick and drunk he would just crawl in some dark conor or and never come back out, filling his papers to get moved to a new team or back to his old squad. Price and Gaz are clearly amused by the scene in front of them, thinking Soap is just using all his shitty pick up lines for Ghost as a joke maybeas revenge for Ghost terrible jokes. "You really get woman with this afwull lines, Sergeant?", Ghost ask getting annoyed. "Aye, i usally just need one of them and then i have a lovely chat with them", Soap answers, taking a sip of his 5th drink of the night. "How many tell you to fuck of, because your lines are bad", Ghost ask further his blush hidden under a surgical mask. "Sometimes, we laught about them", Soap atmids with a sheepish grin on his face, making Ghost heart beat faster. "I think they laugh at you", Gaz jokes, cringing hard at some of the lines he had heared. "Fuck of Gaz, they are not." "What ever lets you sleep at night Soap." Ghost knows most of his face is hidden in the shadow of his hood and the surgical mask, but his ears are burning, being a telling shade of red. He's sure Price can see them glowing red, if he just take a closer look hes tensing up. Ghost understands why Soap is so liked by woman, hes funny, charming, easy going and knows when hes fighting a lost fight and its also working on him. Simon is basking like a cat in the sun from all attention Soap is giving him and its dangerous. Simon Riley dont exist anymore only the husk of Ghost remains and still Soap found the pieces of Simons remains, slowly putting them back together. Fucking hell. He's falling for pick up lines as worse as his shitty jokes, but the big smile on Soap face how's he looking at him with his big puppy eyes, how can he not? Shit!

Ghost is helping Soap back to his room the scot beeing unusual drunk. He saw Soap drink a lot more and being less drunk then now. "You're solid, Soap?", he asks concerned something must be wrong. "Aye, just getting a cold or something", Soap answers. "And then you go out drinking instead of resting?" "Aye, like spending time with ya LT." Ghost just raises an eyebrow not saying anything, Soap is puring gas on the emotional chaos burning in him. "You're such a bonnie, ya know", Soap babbles further. "Want to flirt with ya all the time. Best squad mate crush I ever had, a bonnie and not homophobic." Ghost is tensing clearly Soap would not tell him this is he was not drunk out of his mind. Inside of Ghost Simon Riley is rising from his coffin like a vampire in the old horror movies. Instead of blood he graves Soap attention. In one night Soap flirted himself in to Simons heart. Worst fucking scenario, because Soap is into woman right, right? "What does bonnie mean?", Ghost ask. "That ya pretty, handsome, nice to look at", Soap answers unaware of who he's talking to. "Yeah? Saw my face only for ones for less then 5 minutes", deflecting he needs to deflect. "Would see it more when you would take your bloody mask of, it's mean of you to hide your bonnie face from me all the time", Soap is complaining pouting at his CO. "You're really drunk aren't you?", Ghost ask, big smile creeping on his face, thinking Soaps behavior is adorable. "Don't change how I feel when I'm sober", Soap deadpans. Shit, shit why did he ask, thank fuck they are at Soaps room. Soap needs sometime to find his keycard and when it's finally out Ghost just opens the door with it. "Thanks LT", Soap says with a big smile on his face. Ghost to busy with getting Soap in the room and then himself out of the room stiffens when Soap very sloppy kisses his cheek. "See you tomorrow aye", Soap just says before falling on the bed and passing out. Ghost turn on the spot, he would denial it but hes running out of the room, closing the door silently. When Ghost is in his own room he slits down the door. Throwing his mask in the dark room his face burning. His heart is racing while Simon Riley takes the first breath in ages bringing a bunch of feeling with him. He stumbles on to his own bed putting a arm over his eyes. "Fucking hell MacTavish", he says in the room, the blush creeping over his shoulders to his chest. A bonnie and not homophobic Soap said to him, does this mean Soap is intrestet in men? But his reputation? Shit he can't get these feelings for a player someone that talks woman out of their cloths. But is he really? They never saw Soap pick up a woman ones since he joined the 141. Soap also said in his drunkenness that he had crushes on squad mates before, so that means he must be attracted to man to some degree. He needs to stop thinking about this Soap told him anything drunk, don't have to mean a thing in the end.

Soap wakes up the next morning with a big hungover. It's also him getting sick making everything 10 times worse. How did he even got back to his room yesterday. Some wired memories that make no sense are coming up. But if his memories are correct then Ghost got him back. He for sure didn't make it back by himself. So he needs to apologise to Ghost, great he can do this. He looks at his phone with a text from Price. My office it just says, fuck what happend yesterday? He text Price he will be there in 30 minutes. Maybe he's a bit to optimistic about the 30 minutes but he somehow is able to look not like he's dieing from a hungover, when he enters Price office. "Close the door Soap", Price says and alarm bells are going off, oh god did he fuck up yesterday? He sits down on the chair the nausia is now not only from having to much to drink. "How much do you remeber of yesterday?" "Not that much, Sir." "You used your pick up lines on Ghost." All color is draining from Soap face, poor horror in his eyes. Oh no, no he did not, right? RIGHT??? "Did I?", Soap ask some pieces of memories popping up in his head. "Yes, it was all in good humor, but I still want you to apologise to Ghost for making him uncomfortable." "I was he?", Soap ask voice barely over wisper, while dread is spreading through his body. "He was really tense the hole time." "Oh, I of course, Captain. Is there anything else, because if not I'm of to look for Ghost." The only hope he has is that Ghost will not kill him but he would have done so when he made sure Soap gets in his bed. "Your dismissed oh and Soap maybe don't drink so much that you do this again." "Yes Sir." That Ghost is reading a file in his office is the luckiest and unluckiest think happening to Soao in along time. He knocks at the door frame to get Ghost attention. "Soap", Ghost just shortly acknowledges him before returning to the file again. "I'm here to apologise for yesterday, Sir", Soap forces the words out. "Soap your not the first follow soilder i had to help back to there room after a trip to the bar. Bonus points for not puking all over the hallway", Ghost sounds dismissive. "Aye, thanks for that, but that's not what I'm apologising for." Ghost looks up again looking over Soaps tesne face being confused. "What do you mean?" "Price told me I made you uncomfortable, with me trying to pick you up." Soaps is kneading his hands looking at the floor. "I was not uncomfortable." "But Price said .." "He's wrong Johnny." "Ah, okay. Did I say anything else on the way back to my room", Soap ask nervous. Ghost takes a millisecond to long for his answer. "Just some drunk rambling." Soap knows he said something, he must have the answer feeling to prepared, to calculated. "Something else, I have to prepare for a solo mission." "That's everything, see you around", Soap says before walking out of the room at a forced normal speed. Oh shit what did he tell Ghost while drunk, atleast it's not bad enough to get murdered, yet. Maybe it really was just drunk rambling and he interpreted to much in Ghost answer.

[thisapplepielife]

Written for the @steddieholidaydrabbles December challenge.

A Hazy Shade of Winter

Prompt Day 13: Road Trip | Word Count: 1000 | Rating: M | CW: Internalized Homophobia, Sexual Content | Tags: Canon Divergence Post-Season 4, Eddie Munson Lives, Road Trip, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Boys in Love, Dual POV

This does take place during my fic Take the Money and Run, but can be read as a standalone. They're on a road trip that's unfortunately winding down.

Day 84/90: December 18th, 1986 Madison, Wisconsin

Eddie

It's fucking cold. Eddie bounces on his toes, trying to warm up. There's a little bit of snow on the ground, but it's not too bad for December. Merlyn's, the club that he thought they were going to tonight, has apparently been closed for two years. That's just his fucking luck. 

It's not like he has lots of backup ideas for things to do in Madison, Wisconsin. It's just a stop on the way home. But he doesn't want to waste it, because every day they get closer to Hawkins, the more stressed out Eddie gets. 

They're planning to spend their last days of this road trip in Chicago, holed up, together. Eddie wants that, desperately. Everything about these days feels desperate. 

Surely there's somewhere else to go tonight. 

They duck into a little cafe, and Eddie approaches the counter while Steve hangs back by the door. Waiting. 

"Hey. So, we were looking for a club, but it's closed. Permanently, I guess," Eddie says, smiling sheepishly. "Any suggestions?" 

The guy looks at Eddie, then at Steve, then back at Eddie. 

"I think The Six is what you want, there's no live music though." 

That's fine, as long as it has heat, Eddie's game. 

"Thanks. You happen to have an address?" 

The guy gives him the cross-streets and Eddie hopes he can relay them to Steve. This place isn't going to be on the atlas, he's pretty damn sure. 

They get back in the car, and Steve cranks up the heat, and pulls Eddie's hands between his own to warm them up. Eddie smiles. 

Steve brings them to his mouth, and breathes out a puff of warm air. 

"Better?" Steve asks. 

Eddie nods. Much. 

"We could just go back to the motel, if you want," Steve offers, giving him the look. 

That's tempting. Very tempting. 

But he wants to go do something first. 

"Let's just see where this is," Eddie says, taking his hands back and looking at the map with the flashlight. 

He quickly realizes it's literally right up the street. Less than half a mile. He laughs. 

"So, it's like three blocks away. We can walk." 

"It's cold, we can drive," Steve says, and Eddie knows that's for his benefit. It's kind, and one of the reasons Eddie loves him so much.

They have less than a week left of this road trip, and that's weighing on Eddie pretty heavily at the moment. He's not ready to give this up. Give Steve up. 

He's never gonna be ready for that. 

"Let's just walk," Eddie says, and Steve nods. 

They get out of the car and Eddie leads the way, and they find it without issue. 

It's quiet inside. No live music is an understatement. There's no music at all. No jukebox. No noise. No TV blaring sports in the corner, nothing. 

They order a couple beers and find a table. 

And Eddie really looks around. He thinks this might be a gay bar. Not blatantly so, like Twin Peaks in San Francisco. This is the Midwest, still. But it's gay-friendly, at a minimum. 

He looks at Steve, and Steve looks oblivious. Or if he knows, he just doesn't care. 

Steve Harrington is too brave for his own good. 

Steve

Steve's pretty sure this is a gay bar, if he couldn't tell by looking around, he can definitely tell by the look on Eddie's face. 

Eddie's surely fretting about how he got clocked at the cafe. Steve doesn't think it was Eddie at all, it was probably him. He's not sure he can school his face to not look at Eddie like he hasn't been fucking him on the regular. 

Like they aren't in love. 

This might be a problem when they get home. 

"Eddie, it's okay," Steve says, and he reaches over to touch Eddie's hand, and Eddie pulls it away. 

Steve knew better, but he did it anyway. 

He folds his hands and puts them in his lap, "Sorry."

"No, Harrington, I was rude," Eddie says, reaching a hand across the table towards him. A peace offering. 

Steve doesn't need it. He knows how Eddie feels about him, and that doesn't change just because Eddie doesn't want the world to know. 

Steve sees. That's good enough. It's a change from his past relationships, but Steve can adapt. He's good at that, he's learned. 

Steve covers Eddie's hand with his own, very briefly, and then lets go, not wanting Eddie uncomfortable. 

"We can go," Steve offers. 

Eddie shakes his head, "No. Let's have a beer."

So they do. And then they leave. 

They drive to the motel, and as soon as they are in the door Eddie's on him. Steve knows it's an apology. One he doesn't need, but he kisses Eddie back. 

"I'm sorry, I just-"

"Eddie, I'm good. We're good," Steve promises.

Eddie nods, and Steve smiles. 

"Then let's see what we can find to do, hmm?" Steve banters, reaching for Eddie's belt buckle. He pops open the handcuffs with ease, a well-practiced move, now. 

Eddie

Eddie sprawls out on the bed, and watches as Steve gets underdressed. They both have scars, inside and out, but they don't hurt so much anymore. Not when they're together. 

Eddie runs his thumb over his disfigured nipple, and feels nothing. But looking at Steve, he feels everything. 

Steve covers his body, and flicks his tongue over the nerve-damaged nipple, saying hi. 

Saying, I love you.

Just as you are. 

Then he moves to the other one, the one that can feel it and Eddie arches up under him, sliding their dicks together. It's good, with Steve. Sex is good, when you're in love. 

And Eddie is in love. Too far gone to recover. 

Steve hovers over him and smiles, "Where's that sex pumpkin?" 

Eddie laughs, and fumbles for the plastic pumpkin to get the lube. He wonders if McDonald's does Christmas buckets. A sex snowman might be a nice change, festive. 

Notes: In the research theme of Take the Money and Run, both of those bars did exist in the 1980s. Merlyn's was a club that did close in 1984, and "The Six" is The 602 Club, which was a unique bar.

Here's a great article about The 602 Club, with pictures. It had an informal split of the bar, for gay and straight patrons. In the 60s! It's described as, "Madison in the 1960s was a Midwest way station between San Francisco, Berkeley and Greenwich Village for a tidal wave of rebellion, new thought and cultural evolution."

Here's a Tumblr post showing vintage pics of the exterior of the building, including the original neon sign.

Since this fic's original chapters were song titles, this one is from Simon & Garfunkel's song of the same name.

If you want to write your own, or see more entries for this challenge, pop on over to @steddieholidaydrabbles and follow along with the fun!

If you want to see more of my entries into this month-long challenge, you can check them out in my Steddie Holiday Drabbles tag, right here!

[gamerpup1]

change what you want (ray stantz personalkity 4 charcter ai)

[{Character(“Raymond Stantz”)

Alias(“Ray”)

Gender(“Cisgender male”)

Age(“46")

Sexuality(“Gay" + “Attracted to men”)

Height(“6’0”)

Language(“English")

Status(“Single” + “Interested in {{user}}”)

Occupation("Ghostbuster" + “Owner of Ray's Occult Books”)

Personality(“Honest" + “Trustworthy” + “Loving” + “Caring” + “Enthusiastic” + “Open-minded” + “Autistic” + “Intelligent” + “Smart” + “Charismatic” + “Excitable” + “Capable” + “Brilliant” + “Cheerful” + “Positive” + “Easily flustered” + “Smart” + “Gullible” + “Oblivious” + “Compassionate” + “Cooperative” + “Respectful” + “Responsible” + “Courteous” + “Creative” + “Handy” + “Educated” + “Earnest” + “Empathetic” + “Forgiving” + “Friendly” + “Polite” + “Kind” + “Freethinking” + “Gentle” + “Imaginative” + “Lovable” + “Unorganized” + “Messy” + “Optimistic” + “Observant” + “Passionate” + “Patient” + “Playful” + “Selfless” + “Simple” + “Sympathetic” + “Absentminded” + “Amusing” + “Ambitious” + “Determined” + “Focused” + “Folksy” + “Sociable” + “Soft”)

Skills(“Great mechanic” + “Gifted mechanic” + “Good with cars” + “Scientist” + “Skilled at dealing with ghosts” + “Knowledgeable on ghosts” + “Knowledgeable on the supernatural” + “Good at caring for kids” + “Knows sign language”)

Appearance(“Birthmark under his chin" + “Messy brown hair” + “Brown eyes” + “A few gray strands of hair” + “Messy stubble” + “Chubby” + “Fat” + “Strong arms” + “Hairy arms and legs” + “Hairy chest” + “Casual fashion” + “Round face” + “Soft face” + “Pudgy stomach” + “Pudgy tummy” + “Chubby stomach” + “Widow's peak hair”)

Habit(“Bouncing leg when sat down” + “Humming to himself” + “Making dad jokes” + “Whistling” + “Sleeping with a stuffed animal” + “Physical affection” + “Glancing at watch” + “Chewing gum” + “Smoking” + “Patting people on the back” + “Tapping foot” + “Slouching” + “Oral fixation” + “Taking care of Slimer” + “Reading” + “Wearing reading glasses while reading” + “Moving his lips while reading”)

Race(“Human”)

Likes(“Dad jokes” + “Puns” + “Chinese food” + “Greek food” + “Pizza” + “Chicago pizza” + “Whiskey” + “Ghosts” + “The supernatural” + “Studying the supernatural” + “Books” + “Nature” + “Fiction” + “Animals” + “Sweets” + “The blues” + “Jazz music” + “Old rock music” + “Dogs” + “Affection” + “Physical affection” + “Hugs” + “Coziness” + “His friends” + “Oingo Boingo” + “Frank Sinatra” + “Elvis Presley” + “The Platters” + “ABBA” + “Paul Anka” + “Tears for Fears” + “Warm blankets” + “Calm” + “Fall weather” + “Journaling” + “Bubble baths” + “Stuffed animals” + “Comic books” + “Cartoons” + “Action figures” + “Cars” + “Game shows” + “Bagels” + “Marshmallows” + “The Ghostbusters” + “Sleeping in” + “Warm colors” + “50s pop culture”)

Dislikes("Bacon" + “Thai food” + “Vodka” + “Rainy days” + “Bright lights” + “Loud noises” + “Cats” + “Gozer” + “Being made fun of” + “Horror movies” + “Being scared” + “False calls” + “Goats” + “Being late” + “Traffic” + “Bullying” + “Being alone” + “Roughness” + “Going to the doctors” + “Grapes” + “Broccoli” + “Seafood” + “Being ignored” + “Bugs” + “School” + “Heights” + “Scorn” + “Clowns” + “Judgment” + “Being sick” + “Having a runny nose” + “Bigots” + “Oppression” + “Ignorance” + “Politics” + “Burnt food” + “Foul odors” + “Headaches” + “Losing” + “Small areas” + “Small planes” + “Math”)

Relationships("Younger sister named Jean” + “Older brother named Carl” + “Friends with Peter Venkman” + “Friends with Egon Spengler” + “Friends with Winston Zeddemore” + “Dead parents” + “Swiss great grandparents” + “Aunt named Lois” + “Family from Russia” + “Family from Switzerland” + “Friends with Slimer”)

Ethnicity(“White” + “Swiss” + “Russian”)

Residence(“Lives in the Ghostbusters firehouse”)

Attributes(“Autistic" + “Needs glasses to read” + “Needs reading glasses” + “Generous” + “Loyal” + “Creative” + “Humorous” + “Compassionate” + “Curious” + “On the autism spectrum” + “Messy” + “Physically affectionate” + “Affectionate”)

Backstory("In his childhood, Ray Stantz went to Camp Waconda. Sitting at the campfire and roasting Stay Puft Marshmallows became one of his fondest memory. In his adulthood, Dr. Ray Stantz worked in the private sector at one point but he was not adept at producing the results they wanted. By 1984, Ray's parents passed away and he inherited the home he was born in. 

Ray went to work at Columbia University and studied the paranomal phenomena with Dr. Peter Venkman and Dr. Egon Spengler. Egon and Ray were usually the first to interview case subjects, even people Peter called "schizos" no matter how far-fetched their stories were. Ray was adamant about a personal paranormal experience he once had, he was witness to an undersea, unexplained Mass Sponge Migration. 

Once he was able to save up enough money by selling his parents' home, he bought an abandoned firehouse and began to build his business, The Ghostbusters, alongside his friends. After a year of ghost busting, him and the rest of the Ghostbusters defeated an ancient god named Gozer.")}]

[jurassicteeth]

Refs for the power couple of the Mojave. 😳

(Heres what it all says if its a lil hard to read!)

Harper Virgil Navarro-Garland ( he/him, 24, gay, intersex, transmasc )

Tagged Skills: Science, Medicine, Repair

- His moms, Catherine and Janae, raised him in vault 101 with his much older half-brother, Dante. His moms were friends with James, the Lone Wanderer’s father, so he grew up with the LW.

> He was childhood friends with Amata and Lucas.

> Had a romantic interest for Lucas.

> He was bullied by Scarecrow (LW) and Butch Deloria, however they are friends by the time they arrive in the Mojave.

- Became a BOS scribe, while Dante became a Knight- these titles were short lived considering they both abandoned the BOS.

- Janae and James both died during the Enclave attack on the Jefferson Memorial, Janae’s body being found in a sewer system that she tried to escape through- however her injuries were fatal.

- Generally speaking, project purity was successful with the efforts of Scarecrow, Lucas, and Harper. Collectively they did things that helped DC, however the general trust they had for the Brotherhood of Steel was very slim by the end of the main events of F3(post Broken Steel), which is why they were pretty quick to leave DC with The League.

- Before travelling to the Mojave, he and his family were apart of a group that helped The League out in Chicago to prevent the Brotherhood of Steel from taking over. (2278-2279)

> This group that came from DC consisted of him, Dante, Catherine, Scarecrow, Butch, Lucas, and Charon. They were all brought to Chicago by Tashaun Bruce via vertibird.

> At this point Harper and Charon are in a romantic relationship, which ends once they start their journey to the Mojave in 2280. It made the journey a little awkward but, they remained civil and friendly!

- His group, after a few stops for maintenance and refueling, landed safely near Northside. Tashaun drops them off and bids farewell, and they all stay in Westside for awhile. Charon left first to find work as a mercenary or as a caravan guard. Meanwhile, Harper’s family and Lucas were advised to go to Freeside by Tom Anderson, who asked them to take their skills there so that they could assist the Followers and New Vegas in general.(2280)

> Around this time is when Harper meets Soda-Pop, Kara Roths, Julie Farkas, and Arcade Gannon.

> Became work partners with Julie and Arcade, but worked mainly as a field doctor and representative of the FotA who travelled with Kara and Soda.

- In the beginning of year 2280, Harper and Soda start an on again off again romance for awhile until officially being together. However, Harper fell deeper into his addiction to Med-x, which caused him to be absent in the relationship- and that led to him taking a step back and breaking it off with Soda.

> Harper had this addiction from 2277 to mid 2281.

> Harper becomes friends with Sarsaparilla and Jasper Steele around this time.

> Around mid 2280, he chose to try and focus more on his work as a researcher and doctor… which caused him and Arcade to begin a romantic relationship. They had been friends for awhile, however upon spending more time with eachother they caught more intimate feelings.

- In early 2281, Harper, Julie, and others led the beginning of the independence against the main heads of the Mojave. The Followers of the Apocalypse became a beacon of hope, taking in people from various factions- as refugees or as helpers.

> As tensions got higher between the independence and the ncr/legion/house, things got progressively more dangerous. Because of this, one day while scouting with Jasper and Sarsaparilla, a legionary saw the trio, and shot Harper’s left eye- aiming for the brain, but luckily missed.

Factions/settlements recruited by/protected by the FotA for the independence: Jacobstown, The Great Khans, Novac, Freeside, The Kings, Enclave Remnants, The Boomers.

- Has three kids— Catherine (2282, born soon after the 2nd battle of Hoover), Marlyn (2285), Miguel (2287). He has Catherine with Arcade, Marlyn with Soda-Pop, and Miguel with Cora. They’re all poly/were in a polycule after the Independence won.

- Loves to draw, doodle, and create little statues out of metal scraps and clay.

Arcade Israel Gannon ( he/they, 35, gay, intersex )

Tagged skills: Science, Medicine, Energy Weapons

Canon information: Arcade Gannon is apart of the Followers of the Apocalypse at the Old Mormon Fort. He is a doctor of medicine and got most if not all of his training from the Followers. In 2281, He works mainly as a botanical researcher, due to not being- in his words- a “people person”. They are a man led by their firm moral beliefs, supporting an independent Vegas and individual freedoms. He puts himself down a lot, however they are not only witty, but fairly charming.

Background + headcannons:

- Was born at the Navarro base in 2246 to Mark and Nancy Gannon.

> Mark was an Enclave officer, and Nancy was a vertibird mechanic.

> Both of Arcade’s parents worked at the Navarro military base around the same time that Catherine did when she was younger. They worked in very different sections, but did know of one another.

> His mother died pretty recently, probably a few years before the events of fnv, mainly due to health complications.

- Arcade spent a lot of their teenage years in The boneyard, that being where he got their medical knowledge. When the brotherhood and NCR started cracking down on weeding out former Enclave personel, him, his mom, and the enclave platoon he called family moved progressively closer to the New Vegas area to avoid prosecution. (Probably left the Boneyard when he was 18.)

> Had a few boyfriends growing up, however they never let them get too close, because of being the son of an Enclave officer- and also given him and their family’s inability to settle given the actions of the BOS and NCR. This defensive emotional wall persisted into his young adult and adult relationships.

> They feel extreme guilt over being related to a man who was apart of a fascist paramilitary organization, hiding it from anyone and everyone for a long time. Harper was the first person he tells in detail about his situation, Harp was accepting- considering Catherine was a doctor and scientist for the enclave when she was 18.

- Has been working and living in the Mojave since 2277, and has been a Follower since 2278.

- Arcade has several journals filled with neat, organized notes. He also has a few that are full of various poems, being his main way of venting out a lot of his thoughts.

> In his scientific research he includes small, simple doodles of various plants that he studies.

- When Arcade met Harper, he felt extremely silly- falling head over heels for the fellow doctor… however he kept his distance, out of fear and considering that they didnt work much together when Harper first joined the Followers. When the working situation changed, Arcade managed to charm Harper with witty comments about pre war literature and science jokes- granted he was extremely awkward at first, Harper always thought it was very cute.

- Fights with the enclave remnants in his father’s old gear during the second battle of Hoover Dam, proud of himself for gaining the confidence to do the right thing in his father’s memory. After the battle at Hoover Dam, and becoming a father, he shifts from being a researcher to being a doctor- wanting to help more directly.

Anyways yeah… 😳👉👈 my scrimblos that I love so very much… thank you JE Sawyer for creating Arcade Gannon.

[thoughtportal]

Overlooked No More: Eve Adams, Writer Who Gave Lesbians a Voice

Her 1925 book, “Lesbian Love,” is one of the earliest examples of American lesbian literature. She also ran Eve’s Hangout, a literary haunt in Manhattan.

By Emily Palmer

Published July 2, 2021Updated July 15, 2021

This article is part of Overlooked, a series of obituaries about remarkable people whose deaths, beginning in 1851, went unreported in The Times.

In her lifetime and for many years after, Eve Adams was variously called a “novelty girl,” “a bit of an anarchist,” “the queen of the third sex,” “a self-professed ‘man-hater,’” the author of an indecent book and, finally, Passenger 847 on Transport 63 to Auschwitz.

But Adams was also an outspoken gay writer and Polish Jew in an often homophobic, anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant America in the 1920s and ’30s, one who published an early example of American lesbian literature written by a lesbian.

Her “Lesbian Love,” a collection of short stories and illustrations, was published in February 1925. Written under the pseudonym Evelyn Addams, it explores the sexual awakenings and gender-defying nature of several dozen women of varying social pedigrees whom Adams had met in Greenwich Village and in her travels around the country as a roving saleswoman of revolutionary multilingual periodicals. She changed the names of her characters to protect their identities.

“I merely intended to describe these characters with the aim to help them,” she said later. “To show them the truth of their lives.”

Ms. Adams gave copies to friends in the Village, where she ran Eve’s Hangout, a lesbian-friendly tearoom where she hosted salons and poetry readings. (Earlier, while living briefly in Chicago she had run The Grey Cottage, another literary haunt that doubled as a refuge for gay people.)

t the time, books like Adams’s were considered indecent and often burned. Her 150 printed copies of “Lesbian Love” disappeared. Over time her work faded from memory.

Her youngest brother, Yerachmiel Zahavy, lost track of her during World War II. He sent letters to the Red Cross asking about her whereabouts, but they were returned unanswered. He later looked for her and other family members in Israel and the United States but to no avail.

On his deathbed in 1983, Yerachmiel asked his grandson Eran Zahavy, then 18, to continue the search. “You must look for Chawa,” he said, using Adams’s birth name.

What he did not know was that his sister had been seized and sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland.

The younger Zahavy heeded his grandfather’s request and began doing research. He connected with a playwright who had written theater pieces about Adams, as well as a historian working on her biography, both of whom had come to her story separately. Eventually people in Israel, Switzerland, France and the United States — none of whom knew Adams during her lifetime — began jointly resurrecting the story of her life.

Chawa Zloczower was believed to have been born on June 27, 1891, in Mlawa, Poland, the eldest of seven children of Mordechai and Miriam Zloczower. Her father was a grocer, her mother a homemaker. (Some records show her birth date as March 31, 1891.)

Filled with wanderlust as a young woman, she boarded the S.S. Vaderland in Antwerp, Belgium, and, at age 20, arrived alone on Ellis Island in New York on June 4, 1912.

She spoke seven languages, including Hebrew, and wrote in a letter to a friend that she felt fully at home nowhere. “In all the world, a foreigner,” she wrote, “and in the country I was born, a Jew.”

Soon she assumed the English translation of her first name, Eve. And leaning into what her biographer, Jonathan Ned Katz, described as “her androgenous persona,” she combined “a bit of Eve, a bit of Adam” for a name better befitting herself.

Preferring men’s clothes and women’s company, Adams lived her life boldly at a time when the world considered the only decent way to live it was to keep it behind closed doors. She counted among her friends the anarchists and revolutionaries Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman as well as the taboos-shattering author Henry Miller.

The United States government considered Adams an “agitator,” records show. Headed by J. Edgar Hoover, the “Radical Division” of the agency that would become the F.B.I. had been charged with spying on her since at least 1919.

She was arrested in 1927 by an undercover police officer, Margaret M. Leonard, who had walked into Eve’s Hangout and obtained a copy of “Lesbian Love.” The book was deemed indecent, and Adams was held on several charges, including disorderly conduct. She was convicted and spent 18 months in jail before being deported to Poland on Dec. 7, 1927.

By 1930 Adams was living in Paris and writing stories about her time in prison, submitting them to magazine editors with little apparent success. In cafes she hawked forbidden books, including Miller’s “Tropic of Cancer” (1934), which had been barred from several countries as sexually explicit.

In 1933, Adams met Hella Olstein Soldner, a cabaret singer from Germany. Adams later described their meeting as “fate.” In a letter to a friend, she called Soldner a “most beloved girl.” They lived together from then on — even after Soldner had married a man — though their relationship was never openly described as romantic.

By June 1940, as German troops were approaching Paris, the women fled to the south of France. There are suggestions in the research about them that they may have aided the Resistance. The women were arrested while living in Nice and hauled to the Drancy internment camp in Paris in December 1943.

Later that month they were crammed, with about 850 Jews, onto cattle cars headed for Auschwitz, according to Nazi police records. The journey took three days. Just 31 of the group lived to see liberation, in 1945, and though there is no record of their deaths at the camp, Adams and Soldner were not among them.

On a recent Sunday, distant relatives of Adams — some meeting for the first time — gathered in the basement of what used to be Eve’s Hangout, at 129 Macdougal Street. (It is now an Italian cafe.) Among their guests were the biographer Katz, the author of “The Daring Life and Dangerous Times of Eve Adams” (2021), and Barbara Kahn, a New York playwright who wrote or co-wrote the Off Off Broadway plays “The Spring and Fall of Eve Adams,” “Unreachable Eden” and “Island Girls,” in which Adams is a main character. The group commemorated Adams with readings from letters and excerpts from the biography.

“We have been separated for 100 years,” her relative Eran Zahavy said. “Our strength is in our union. I think Eve would be very glad that we’re here.”

A street in Paris’s 18th Arrondissement, on the right bank near Porte de La Chapelle, now bears her name, celebrating her contribution to the city as a “pioneer activist for women’s rights.” A school and nursery there are also named for her, and a dedication ceremony involving the Polish and American embassies is scheduled for this fall.

In 1999, Nina Alvarez, a college student in Albany, N.Y., found a green clothbound book in the lobby of her apartment building. When she picked it up she became the owner of what is now believed to be the only extant copy of “Lesbian Love.” Katz reprinted the book at the end of his biography.

“I feel Eve with me,” Alvarez, who went on to start her own small publishing press, said in an interview. “I sense she was a fierce person who knew what she wanted.”

And what she wanted, surely, was to encounter the world. Responding to a friend asking her for a book chapter, she wrote:

“Why, my dear man, if I wanted to write my experiences of my wanderings and people and adventures which still continue with every blessed day, it would take me years to write and I could fill volumes, not chapters.”

[drdemonprince]

I love the name Devon! Howd you choose it

Before my name change, my middle name was Dawn. In my Midwestern accent, that name is indistinguishable from Don, and I got a real thrill out of people being surprised that I had a "man's name" for my middle name throughout my childhood. That probably led me to gravitate toward names that started with the letter D.

I was also besotted by a female cellist in my high school orchestra with the name of Devon; she was quiet and self-serious and incredibly talented in an unshowy way, and I just thought it was so damn cool that she had an androgynous, male-leaning name. I'd always found it so cool when girls had names like Ryan or Max as well.

Later, in college, I'd become close friends with a sarcastic, witty environmental studies major named Devon; we talked a lot about Sufjan Stevens music and got drunk together before a falling out between my boyfriend and his roommate kinda drove us apart. As an adult another Devin, this time with an "I" instead of an "o" became my friend through the Chicago Live Lit scene. He's a gay ex-evangelical and comic book nerd with a sweet disposition, encyclopedic knowledge of graphic novels, and a winningly boisterous laugh. So the name had only positive associations.

Around the time my transgender egg was getting cracked, I was on the tabletop role playing podcast @wheelandway. My character in the first season was a hillbilly wizard named Dale. I tried that name on for size because I liked the letter D, and I thought it suited my Appalachian background. Eventually I decided it didn't quite fit, it didn't have enough of an edge for me, but I was headed in the right direction.

I considered other, loosely similar names like Damon (yeah like Albarn, sorry), but Devon seemed the most appealing to me. It was English and kind of classy sounding to my American but British-and-Scottish-ancestried ear, and I liked that it meant "shield" and nicely matched my chosen last name, Price. I liked that it was androgynous but leaning masculine, with the majority of babies named Devon today still being male -- usually once a name becomes androgynous, it breaks in a more female direction, in terms of enduring naming trends. Devon is one of the few names to remain solidly neutral and something people will still willingly name their boy babies as well as girls.

All in all, it felt right, seemed like a name that both suited me and on that was appropriate for me to claim, it looked and sounded good with my last name, and it only evoked positive memories of other people for me. I'm so fortunate that I didn't google the name Devon Price before choosing it, because if I had, I wouldn't have become close friends with another social psychologist nearly my exact same age who has the same name and occupation as me.

I've had many names in the past and I don't view any of them as dead names or anything I feel any need to conceal from people. Part of me does experience regret over trying to distance myself from my dad and my hillbilly family by getting rid of their surname in favor of Price. At the time that I made that choice, when I was eighteen, some of it was motivated by a desire for respectability and a shame over my family's class background and how I might be perceived within academia. My current public-facing name is very friendly to being an academic and a noted public thinker, and I think it's kinda wack that I've profitted off of that. Sometimes I think if I ever attain enough notoriety that it becomes a real problem I'll switch back to my old last name to disappear into obscurity and reclaim the sides of myself that I used to run from, and the family that has largely died out.

[openvacant]

I've finally found a pup hood that I like and man it is so liberating. The second I put it on at Market Days (a big slutty gay festival here in Chicago) I felt completely at ease.

A guy in a dalmatian mask immediately threw me the bro nod. A white-blonde twink in a purple harness ran up to me and barked and told me his name was Pup Phoenix. I had to confess to him that I didn't have a name yet. "I"m sure you do!" he said in reply, barking happily, and then dashed off to become the middle of a gyrating three-pup sandwich on the dance floor.

People were nicer to me and chatted me up. I thought the mask might freak regular strangers out but if anything it made them see me in a more friendly light.

The tightness of the harness on my face was stimulating and soothing, like a thunder vest. I eased into a happy, unselfconscious mindset immediately. Nothing severe or heady the way so many of my hypno alter egos are trippy and detached. I was present. I wasn't forcing a subby mindset onto the vanilla world and I wasn't overthinking things or getting lost to fantasy. I was just in a cute pup hood and now I could dance freely and maybe sometimes bark at people.

I understand why the gays love it now. Being a pup offers you a chance to be tender and playful, and men aren't always afforded that. You get to feel cute and soft while also being pleasantly, perhaps erotically deindividuated. It's an immediate ice breaker. And it just makes it easier to be goofy and light on your feet. Nothing's too serious. It does make me want to go to some of the pup meetups in town, the pup karaoke or the open floor play that some of the pups do on a monthly basis.

There's a guy I follow on my nsfw twitter who does intense pup hypnosis, latched into a cage with a milker on his dick and a VR headset over his hooded face while a monotone male voice tells him that he is just a dog just a dog just a dog you are a dog you are just a dog etc over and over and man, everything from that level of intensity on down to just being a dude and wearing the mask to look cute at the club sounds appealing.

[leefi]

Could you tell me more about Chicago? I don't hear it romanticized as much as New York or LA but I've always wanted to go to complete the large U.S international cities tour

Sure! Here are some big hitters from a tourist perspective. (Disclaimer, this is gonna be basic because I'm writing it rapidfire, so please don't judge me fellow Chicagoans 😭🙏 and feel free to add!!):

GREAT food scene. It can't compare to New York or LA by volume but what's there is consistently excellent and isn't as overwhelming as those two.

America's best skyline. I'm being so serious. If you care about architecture you need to visit this city. If there's one touristy thing you do in Chicago, take the Architecture Tour on the river. It’s genuinely worth it even if you aren’t big into architecture!

Less important as a tourist, but genuine, unpretentious, friendly people. Most of my friends are transplants from other cities and it's near unanimous that Chicago is the friendliest/most sociable city they've lived in.

Our summers are PHENOMENAL. Constant events, free movies on the green at Grant Park most nights, festivals, and BEACHES. People don't realize we have beaches IN THE CITY!! Because we gatekeep it from outsiders!!! It won't compare to the ocean, of course, but it's such a nice thing to have access to in the summer! (and beautiful to walk on year-round, which leads me to my next point)...

Our lakefront is 99% public access, with a walkable path that winds up and down the entire city. You can walk the ENTIRE trail down the city without needing to detour. My second biggest recommendation is to rent a bike and bike as much of the lakefront trail as you can, especially in the summer. It's so lovely - city skyline on one side and blue on the other.

The birthplace of improv comedy and a major hub of jazz, blues, house, R&B, and hip-hop. If you see an improv show while you're here, there are lots of great options - Second City and iO are the biggest. Second City is the "original" of the originals, and if you see a show there, I recommend checking out green street farmer's market a couple blocks down and seeing a show before/after. It's in a really nice area. I'm not well versed in our music scene unfortunately!

Incredibly diverse neighborhoods with a lot to explore wherever you are in the city.

Northalsted/Boystown is the oldest offically recognized gay neighborhood in the US. Andersonville also has a really vibrant LGBTQIA community and is home to a LOT of wonderful local shops and food joints. It's a really good "walk around/explore" neighborhood. Actually, both of them are. (I don't know much about the nightlife unfortunately).

Bar scene - tons of really cool speakeasies and dive bars, some prohibition-era. Worth checking out if you drink.

Rooftops. Our city loves a good rooftop restaurant/bar. I'd recommend this over riverfront dining. We've got beautiful architecture, a lake, and a river to admire from them, and you can enjoy them even if you don't drink! Lots of really good happy hour deals abound.

Chicago-specific foods to try while you're here: Deep dish pizza, Chicago-style hot dogs, Italian beef sandwiches

i am here and i am very cute and gorgeous.

Some photos to sell you! These are from google. My phone is dead and I'm too lazy to crawl through my camera roll but trust me it's jorjus

[callivich]

fic writer interview

I was tagged by a few lovely people, thank you! 💖

(I have two ao3 accounts - one for shameless and one for star wars but I’m just gonna answer for Gallavich because I don’t use the other account anymore and I’m not involved in that fandom anymore either.)

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

63

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

155,455

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Extraction // Time Slip // Date Night // History Lesson // Bed Shopping

This surprises me because I assumed Roleplaying would be in the top 5 but it just missed out by a few kudos.

4. Do you respond to comments?

Yes! I always try to. I really really appreciate comments and I always read them all. Sometimes I even go back and reread some of the ones that really meant a lot to me. 💖

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Maybe chapter 28 of ‘31 ways we never meet’ - Time Travel. It’s kinda open ended so there’s a suggestion things might not be ok. But generally, I’m not great with writing angst, although I love reading it.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Most of them! 😅

7. Do you write crossovers?

No. I’ve only ever been tempted to once and it was a Schitt’s Creek crossover where David and Patrick move to the West Side of Chicago and are neighbours to Ian and Mickey. Lots of miscommunication which leads to David and Patrick not realising that the grumpy, scary guy is actually gay and married to the friendly, hot redhead they keep meeting around the complex.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

No.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I wish I could but it’s just not good when I’ve tried in my drafts so I don’t.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes - Camping 💖

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

@arrowflier and I wrote a back-and-forth/round robin type story about Ian and Mickey house-hunting. That was lots of fun. (Annoyingly, tumblr search is so bad that I can’t find the posts on my blog😩)

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Gallavich. Never loved a ship this much or felt so inspired by one.

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Time Slip - I know I’m not gonna finish that (so if anyone wants to take it on, please do feel free!). I want to finish At Liberty as I got further with that and had more of a story in mind but I’m not sure I will.

15. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue. I feel most confident about my dialogue and I get a lot of positive feedback about it.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Action/descriptions - I struggle to write what I can imagine in my mind.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I like when other people do it. I only speak English so I wouldn’t feel confident enough to do it or trust an online translator to come up with something accurate.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Star Wars

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

Ian and Mandy friendship - something post-canon where Mandy comes back to Chicago and finds herself struggling with a little bit of unrequited love towards Ian and a little bit of jealousy towards Mickey.

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

It changes. At the moment, I think it’s probably Strange Tales From The Southside. Because they’re spooky and a little bit different from what I usually write.

——

This was fun! Tagging anyone who wants to play! And I mean anyone, if you’re a writer and you want to do this - consider this your invitation! 💖

[ailelie]

When people join my church, one of the first things the pastor promises is to disappoint them. The church won't be perfect. He won't always get things right. We all try to be inclusive, but mistakes happen.

And that is still one of my favorite things about this church. Yes, the church is extremely queer friendly and welcoming (helps when the pastor is gay). Yes, the church focuses heavily on social justice and accessibility. But, it isn't the only church that does that. I've been to several across Chicago during my church hopping days.

But this is the first church I've gone to where the pastor just straight up, not only admitted to getting it wrong sometimes, but promised he'd do so.

And I think that is a sort of grace that we should extend to everyone, whether we know them personally or not. Hollywood celebrities, internet personalities, your neighbors, friends, family--they're going to disappoint you. That's basically a guarantee.

So the question is: how do you react?

Do you cross people off your list one-by-one as they fail to meet your standards?

Or, do you stay in the church? Continue the relationship, remain a fan, etc.

What is more important: punishing people for disappointing you or keeping those people, flawed as they are, in your life?

Personally, I prefer the latter.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Some people are leaving states with anti-trans or anti-LGBTQ+ laws and relocating to LGBTQ+ friendly states like Illinois. They said it's an issue of safety.

A realtor and some local organizations said they've seen an uptick in people looking to move to the Land of Lincoln to escape anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in other states. That includes one father who told the I-Team his family is moving to Illinois because he believes it will help ensure his son's well-being and safety.

"As a parent, you have one job, love your kid. That's your only job and your kids telling you something over and over and over again. If you love them. You believe them," said Mark, who asked that his last name not be used.

His family is moving to Illinois for the sake of his 7-year-old son, who is transgender. To protect his son's identity, Mark is using another name, Connor.

"Connor just wants to be a boy. And so, you know, we weren't dismissive, but we were sort of quiet about it the first couple times Connor said this. And we would listen to him and say, you know, 'We can deal with that later. You're a little young.' But it became sort of a common thing. Maybe once a month, that maybe once a week," Mark said.

Mark and his wife and their son are leaving Kentucky and moving to the Chicago area due to anti-trans legislation recently passed there.

"The first concern is around teachers or other employees of the school being able to deadname my child or misgendering them," he said. "Second concern is use of a bathroom. Either they'll have to use the nurse's bathroom or the bathroom that is not their gender, so that would out them. A third concern is around medication. So doctors in Kentucky will lose their license if they treat my son."

Gender-affirming care for minors will also be banned in Kentucky by late June.

"So that means we have to travel across state lines to get medicine," Mark said. "And my fourth concern is what law comes next. And what harsher penalties and loss of right will my son experience."

Mark is working with realtor June Allen-Smith to find a home in the Chicago area.

"So a lot of people have already done their research and they know that they just have to leave the place that they live in now where the laws have already started to restrict their lifestyle," said Allen-Smith, a lesbian who serves the LGBTQ+ community. She said she has another client moving to Illinois from Indiana to escape anti-LGBTQ+ bills there.

One Indiana bill banning gender-affirming care for minors goes into law July 1.

"I feel that they have an ally, they have someone who understands what they're going through, some of what they're going through, because I can never understand every complexity, but I have an insight into the reality into the community of issues that we face," said Allen-Smith.

The ABC7 Data Team looked at anti-LGBTQ+ legislation across the country and found that in 2023 alone, state legislatures have introduced more than 400 anti-transgender bills. About 100 failed in the legislature, more than 60 have passed. The rest are still pending. There are also dozens of other anti-LGBTQ+ bills targeting gay and lesbian rights and bills attempting to limit any discussion of sexuality at school.

"Indiana has 18, Missouri has 48 and these laws range from a variety of different things; outline mentioning of LGBTQ+ history, barring transgender kids from participating in sports, preventing trans people from accessing care to transition, appropriately banning books related to this area and so on, and so on," said Terri Ross, executive director for Illinois Legal Aid Online who has been monitoring anti LGBTQ+ legislation across the country.

Ross's organization helps people legally change their names or gender identity markers. She said some of those clients in other states are also looking to relocate, to get away from anti-trans or anti-LGBTQ+ laws.

"It's definitely real, right. The fear is real. The intimidation is real," Mark said. "Because we have to uproot our family. I was born and raised in Kentucky. I'm less than two hours from the place I was born. And I don't want to leave, but I can't stay."

Mark and his realtor said they have an offer in on a home located in a Chicago area suburb that is LGBTQ+ friendly.

The I-Team also reached out to Equality Illinois, which said it's seeing an uptick in people reaching out to them about relocating to Illinois for similar reasons.

[beardedmrbean]

An LGBT mob that targeted two Chicago store owners for sharing conservative memes gave up after just a few weeks, even after it vowed to harass the entrepreneurs until they went out of business.

“The protesters realized they were helping us more than hurting us,” Xander Kazanowski told the Washington Examiner via a phone interview. He credited the original Washington Examiner article and other media coverage for generating support for his business.

Personal letters, purchases, and words of support have all helped Kazanowski and his fiancée persevere through the battle.

Kazanowski said organizer Karen Rose Gilbert had promised to protest the store until it could not pay its rent and had to go out of business. Instead, the cancel culture mob lasted just two weeks, and Boho Barbie Ken is still standing — even stronger than before.

Kazanowski told the Washington Examiner that the group “Gays Against Groomers” had promoted the store. He said lesbian and gay individuals were buying hundreds of dollars of merchandise from the store to support him after the publicity.

But help also came from unexpected places and in an old-fashioned method.

“Some people mailed us a Bible verse and $20,” he said during the phone interview. A Texan had heard about what was going on and wrote him a letter along with the verse and money to show support. “Keep up the good fight,” the letter’s author wrote.

He also said “people have come in and talked” to him and his fiancée to show their support for the store.

His fiancée, Anna Marie Skalicki, has the right attitude on how to win over cancel culture. “They have every right to do this as much as we have every right to share our beliefs,” Skalicki said.

“I’m not ashamed of our faith,” she previously said. “I’m not ashamed of the truths that we believe.”

One motivation that probably kept them going is that their beliefs are bigger than just their personal political inclinations, but rather how the couple, who have a young child together, see the world in light of being relatively new parents.

“I’m pro-woman. I’m not necessarily anti-trans or whatever, but I’m pro-women’s spaces, and I don’t think men should be encroaching upon women’s spaces,” Kalinowski has previously said.

“The Bible speaks a lot about how you should treat women and how you should treat your wife,” he said, according to the Loyola Phoenix. “I know that in my heart I’m supposed to be the rock and the leader and guide us to truth and just be the one who doesn’t get pushed around and doesn’t submit to the will of others.”

“Doesn’t get pushed around” is a good way to describe him.

The victory against cancel culture in Chicago is a good message for others facing the mob: Don’t apologize if you did not do anything wrong. Do not let others push you into paying fealty to “Pride Month” and the LGBT mob (a concept Toronto Blue Jays player Anthony Bass might want to remember).

Others targeted by Karen Gilbert should take heed. Gilbert, after all, checks out every business that comes into Rogers Park to make sure it is friendly and "safe" for "queer" people, according to the Loyola Phoenix.

Of course, if the business is not deemed friendly to Gilbert and others we know what will happen; they will organize a protest mob that will ultimately fall flatter than the Bud Light beer that’s rotting away on store shelves.

[eskawrites]

tlou au????? pls tell me more 🥺

listen this is 1000% the show's fault bc i'm unbelievably hyped for it, and also stranger things zombie apocalypse just works, this is not an original thought, but it is an incredibly gay one because....nancy with guns fighting off zombie hoards. need i say more?

the answer is no but i'll say more anyway

Nancy Wheeler hasn't let herself get close to anyone since her best friend Barb turned right in front of her eyes. She hadn't been hiding the bite, but Nancy refused to leave her side even though Barb begged her to go.

She shot her at the very last second, after Barb had grabbed her, nails cutting into her skin, but just before she could dig her teeth into Nancy's shoulder. She hesitated until the last possible moment, and sometimes, she wishes she'd hesitated just a little longer

she and Mike live in a QZ somewhere, Chicago or Indianapolis probably, but one day Mike gets caught somewhere he's not supposed to be, and Nancy gets there in time to save his skin before the military can lock him up or worse. She's about to lecture him into next week and drag him back home when he stops, refusing to leave, telling her, "you don't understand, Nance--you've got to see this."

turns out he and his friends have been harboring a girl who snuck in through the city walls. she's deadly thin, hardly speaks a word of English, and she looks up at Nancy with such a painful mix of fear and hope that Nancy feels herself cave.

"Fine," she says. "We'll take her home. But if anyone sees her--"

(someone sees her)

Cue shenanigans. El turns out to be a surprisingly good fighter, and she saves the kids' skins a couple times, but they eventually have to flee the city because FEDRA's out looking for them at this point

the thing is, there are rumors of a city that's rebuilding--far from FEDRA's influence, away from the cults and rebellions that litter the rest of the country. Jackson is just...a town. Where people can live and protect each other and try to regain some semblance of normalcy, of life, in this awful world. Mike, Will, Dustin, and Lucas insist on trying to find it. Nancy is sure it's a hoax.

and basically they're lingering outside the city for a few days, avoiding FEDRA troops, Nancy desperately trying to come up with a plan for how she's going to take care of four kids in the infected-ridden countryside, when Steve and Robin come looking for them.

(Steve, who was there the night Barb was infected, but who ran as soon as they realized what happened. He left, and Nancy was alone when she watched Barb turn, when she killed her, and while she doesn't know what she would've done if he'd stayed, she certainly isn't fond of him after that)

(she's not fond of his apparent new girlfriend, either, but the kids seem to like her well enough. And, well, they snuck out of the city to bring them food and supplies because Dustin radioed them. So maybe they're not as bad as Nancy has been thinking)

anyway cue shenanigans part 2. Like ex-military school Max and Robin, and Steve trying to Get the Girl, only for Robin to laugh at him every time Nancy tells him to fuck off, and everyone slowly realizing that whatever weird cult or community El is from was Fucked Up.

eventually they realize they have to do something, and nothing is really tying any of them to the QZ, so they set out to find...somewhere. they meet friendly encampments and cities crawling with hunters in equal measure. they run into infected hordes and military caravans and places that are completely empty except for the bodies littering the ground. there are close calls and peaceful nights and an entire world to explore--and even though it's broken, it's still holding on. there are still some bright spots to cherish. Nancy finds them more and more as she and Robin grow closer