Being True To Ourselves

Drake Von’s sitting on his cot, nose in a book, when Adam Awbride slips through the door and scares the shit out of him. They’re both here because their families thought a conversion camp would “fix” them. Adam looks guilty. He couldn’t walk away from the fight they had this morning, when Drake told him he was busting out and Adam called him reckless. Adam apologizes, but he still means it—running is too dangerous, and he wants Drake to stay where it’s “safe.” Drake won’t hear it. This place calls them unnatural, makes them ashamed of every hard-on and dirty thought. That isn’t conversion, it’s cruelty. Adam swallows hard. “What about me?” he asks. “What about us?” Turns out Adam’s been crushing hard; if Drake disappears, he’ll be stuck here alone—or worse, Drake could get caught and shipped off somewhere else. Drake feels the same heat, so he throws out the obvious fix: come with me. Adam wavers but shakes his head. Still, he helps Drake shove clothes into a bag, fingers lingering over every zipper and fold like he’s trying to stretch out the seconds. Before Drake walks, they both know what has to happen. They strip fast, hungry, and Drake takes Adam’s tight hole for the first time—raw, desperate, forbidden. Adam drops to his knees after, mouth open, and Drake paints his pretty face white, the last taste of everything they can’t keep.