"That's not the same thing."
"The principles of effective information transfer remain consistent across subjects."
I bite back a laugh. "Dude, you can't PowerPoint someone into being gay."
"I'm not trying to—" He stops, color rising in his cheeks. "That's not what this is. I told you you can't make someone gay… I'm trying to teach you common terminology."
"I know." I keep my voice gentle. Psychology 101, when someone's defensive, you don't push harder. You give them space. "How about we just talk? Like normal people?"
"I don't—" He closes his laptop with a sharp click. "Fine. What do you want to know?"
I pull out a crumpled piece of paper from my back pocket that has a list of words I've been too afraid to Google. "Well, what's a twink?"
The question catches him off guard. He blinks at me. "You don't know what a twink is?"
"I mean, I've heard it. Sounds like a snack cake."
"A snack—" He stares at me like I've grown a second head. "How do you not know this?"
"Small town, Idaho, remember? We had exactly zero out gay people. I've tried googling, and my browsing history is terrifying. The internet is a scary place, man." I try an innocent expression to get a laugh outta him, but nothing. "So are you gonna tell me or not?"
He shifts in his seat, suddenly looking everywhere but at me. "It's a young, slender gay man. Usually hairless. Often considered conventionally attractive in a... delicate way."
"Delicate?"
"Smaller build. Lean. Think—" He gestures vaguely at himself, then seems to realize what he's doing and drops his hand. "—someone built like a runner versus a linebacker."
I look at him, really look. He's not wrong. Lean muscle, probably from all that running he mentioned. Definitely way smaller than me, but in a way that makes me want to?—
Nope. Not going there. He's here to tutor me nothin else.
"So you're a twink?"
He scowls. "I'm twenty-four. I'm aging out of twink territory."
"There's an age limit?"
"It's more about the vibe than… why am I explaining this?" He pulls out his phone, types, then slides it across. "Here. Visual reference."
It's a Google image search that's definitely going to fuck up his browsing history.Unless that's what he likes...Lots of young, thin guys in various states of undress. I scroll for a second before sliding it back.
"Got it. So if that's a twink," I look down at my notes, "What's a bear?"
"Take a guess."
"Like... a big hairy guy?"
Doc actually looks impressed. "That's exactly right, actually."
"Wait, seriously? I was joking."
"No, that's the term. Large, hairy gay men. It's a whole subculture with its own events and everything."
I try to picture it. "So like, lumberjack types?"
"Sometimes. Bears can be anything from construction workers to CEOs. It's more about body type and presentation."
"Huh." I'm already storing this away in my brain. "So what about guys who aren't either? Like not small and smooth but not big and hairy?"
