Chapter 1
Trent
“Ok, hear me out,”Magnus says, bursting into my room without bothering to knock.
Fucker.
I love the guy, butjeezus. “I could have been naked.”
“Probably would have made this conversation less awkward if you were.” He shrugs, slinging his backpack onto my bed and flopping down like he owns it.
I put my highlighter in my textbook and swivel in my chair to face him. “Is this an I-accidentally-fucked-my-professor level of awkward or an I-insulted-a-straight-jock-by-assuming-he-was-gay level of awkward or an I-alienated-the-nerds-because-they-have-passionate-but-wrong-opinions-about-science-fiction level of awkward?” Because we’ve already talked about all those things in the year and a half that we’ve been roommates in the dorm.
“Um, possibly the second option, but I know you’re not gay, so I haven’t insulted you yet,” he replies, pushing his curly bangs out of his eyes.
They immediately return to their position, stubborn about any style that doesn’t include hiding his face.
“Ok, I’m genuinely concerned about that ‘yet.’ What’s going on?” I’ve gotten over how different he is, but that’s not to say I’m impervious to his awkward way of saying the wrongest possible thing sometimes.
“I don’t want to live in the dorms next year. I want to get an apartment or house or something with you, but I’m aware you planned to use financial aid to take care of your living expenses. So, I’ve come up with a plan for how to pay for off-campus housing without you having to get a job or take on debt while you work on your master’s degree next year. We’ll still work, but it won’t take up as much time, and if we start now, we can build our business up and save the money we make from it this semester so that when we move, it’ll be a steady source of income and we’ll have a safety cushion in savings if we have difficult months.”
Ok, that all sounds reasonable, except the business part, which sounds a lot like having a job that will take up valuable time I need for studying. “You remember that I’m a double major with a minor and I don’t have time for building up a business, right?” I’m taking twenty credit hours this semester to finish my degrees so I can graduate before my scholarships run out.
He waves off my concern with his tiny, little hand. “I’d take care of the business side; I just need your participation.”
Magnus, despite the name his parents gave him, is a small, fit dude with a compact, muscular body, super curly platinum blond hair, and dark, almost black eyes. He is the nerdiest person on campus, has been here since he was fourteen, and has a PhD in Theoretical Math with multiple bachelor’s and master’s degrees in various other disciplines, and while he does teach in multiple departments, he’s also a student here, always taking a few credit hours of classes “for fun.” This year he decided topursue a PhD in Psychology or Sociology or both… I’m not sure. His educational vector is difficult to keep track of.
I won the dorm lottery when he requested a suite and a suitemate because “he needed someone to help him learn age-appropriate social behaviors.” Aka, no one he knew would talk to him about real-life sex, and he gambled on getting a roommate who would.
“What do you need me to do?” I question cautiously.
I’m not sure when he thinks he’s going to have time for building up a business between taking the classes he does, working on his research for the university, and teaching, but I’m willing to listen.
“Statistically, if you want women to fawn over you, this is a legitimate strategy. Women enjoy porn just as much as men do, and it’s easier to build a platform with women than it is with men if you don’t have a woman acting with you. The known and rumored problematic trafficking practices within the porn industry often discourage women from enjoying video productions with women in them, so this could potentially be a huge ego boost for a straight man.”
Magnus tends to jump around, but this appears to be purposeful prevarication. “Why are we talking about porn?”
“Because if you and I made porn together, we could potentially make enough money to pay for housing and all our living expenses without having to work even part-time. I have enough money from my work that I can buy the lighting and camera equipment, and we can use this semester to build up our savings and subscribers, and by the time we move out, we’ll be set. Gay for pay, and we can market our content to appeal to women.”
Seven semesters of college did not prepare me for Magnus Rochester Lancaster the Fourth.
“Look.” He pops up, unzips his backpack, and hands me a stack of papers butterfly-clipped together. “I did the research and built a business model and plan. The only thing I need is for you to agree that you like living with me and this is a legitimate strategy for staying together while moving away from campus. Will you just read my proposal and think about it? This will work.”
“My man, even if this business plan of yours is amazing and a sure thing and I agree with your assessment, there’s a flaw in your strategy,” I point out without even looking at the papers.
“Look on page three,” he says with a huff, rolling his eyes.
Unfortunately, when he does shit like this, it means he’s anticipated my argument. So, I flip to page three. This page is titled “Heteroflexibility,” and below it, he’s bullet-pointed research and statistics on heterosexual people engaging in homosexual activities, including an approximate percentage of the number of heteroromantic men creating homosexual porn. So, basically, he knew what I was going to say and did a bunch of research proving that I could create gay porn even though I’m straight.
Fucker.
“How are you going to market gay porn to women?” I ask, deciding not to argue with the 22-year-old whose presence at the university funds three different departments’ research.
He smiles, affecting wide-eyed innocence. “We’ll be the cute straight boys who don’t realize they’re in love. We’ll have to start out as friends just fucking around, making content for fun, but we’ll have an emotional evolution arc of our content that will attract women subscribers. They’ll basically be on an emotional journey with us, and that will keep them invested. I have the timeline for the first two years outlined on the last two pages, and I have scripts ready for the first ten videos. Obviously youcan look them over, and you have veto power on anything I put in the timeline or the scripts.”
“That’s devious.” I’m not sure if I’m proud of his marketing strategy or repulsed by it.
“Porn is fantasy. We’re providing escapism through visual media. We are the actors in this fantasy. We’re playing the part of straight boys falling in love, but that doesn’t mean that’s what we are. Chris Hemsworth does a fantastic job as an actor, but he’s not actually Thor. This is the same thing.”
