Overview

Unavoidably, unapologetically, unbelievably... ON TIME(ish)! Hehehe! (Yup!) https://imagine-magazine.org/releases/volume-126/

Well there was this one boy…that was so into fitness and sports at like 12-14 he had a flawless chest and six pack. Lighter skin that had softness look to it. I just wanted to constantly stroke it. He had braces a while, then one day just a retainer. His lips looked so soft and he had a small very faint smattering of freckles under his sky blue eyes that I noticed went nearly navy blue at times. His hair was almost a chestnut brown and looked so soft too. He kept it in a side part and had a natural set . God he was beautiful.

We all remember that first stretch of warm weather each year when winter finally loosened its grip? Suddenly, heavy coats disappeared, sleeves got shorter, and everywhere you looked there was a little more skin and thin clothing than there had been just weeks before. When heavy coats get replaced with teeshirts, thick snow suits get replaced with shorts, and our imagination is suddenly replaced with a pretty awesome reality! For a lot of us growing up, it wasn’t just about the weather—it was about that quiet, electric awareness of finally not needing to use our imaginations as much. Being able to enjoy the show, and trying very hard not to make it obvious most of the time. For you maybe it was a matter of catching yourself staring when gym moved back outside, or pretending to be deeply interested in something else while very much trying not to look at someone walking by in a tank top. It was a time for losing your attention at finally being able to see that perfect set of legs or maybe getting treated to a pair of shorts that did little to hide the shape of that perfect butt. You remember that butt, right? Yeah, I see that grin. Hehehe! S0 this month, we’re asking: what are your memories of those early moments of noticing, looking, and maybe trying not to get caught staring? Was there a specific time or place that stands out, or a moment that still makes you smile (or maybe even cringe a little)? Share your story with us. 💜

Wow, looks like this question wan't a popular one on this forum Maybe next time... ** When I was A kid, I had too many responsibilities at home. Two younger siblings to watch out for, an overloaded mother who worked full time to keep a roof over our head and a father who started out an angry alcoholic but ended out letting his alcoholism destroy what good health he could have had, making him like another younger sibling I had to watch out for to help keep my mother from getting overloaded. You know... following about a decade of the man beating it into me that I was worthless and a disappointment. (Good Times) ::groan:: Winter was the worst as we would be stuck inside the house the majority of time but in the spring, I got a break. The kids could play in the yard or go to a friend's house to play. I occasionally got to hang out with one of my best friends, even if it was just to ride bikes, skate, or toss a ball around (or at each other, LOL!) I secretly had a crush on him so I hoarded each and every memory I could with him until we eventually moved away and I lost touch. Of the memories I still look back on, the most memorable were the times we spent when the weather finally let us go outside again. To this day, spring reminds me of him and makes it that much more special.

Something is off with Billy… https://gayauthors.org/story/mrm/brandon-smiling-from-the-billy-chase-chronicles-3/28 https://gayauthors.org/story/mrm/brandon-smiling-from-the-billy-chase-chronicles-3/29 https://gayauthors.org/story/mrm/brandon-smiling-from-the-billy-chase-chronicles-3/30

A rainbow, lots of green and gold, and cool stuff to read! Does it get any better than this? 🤭 https://imagine-magazine.org/releases/volume-125/

If so, that is one spectacular corner 😉

I fear that might be true @JeffsFort. Comsie may have written himself into a corner, bless him….

Hehehe, are we even sure Comsie even knew what Vampire Dawn was supposed to entail? I always pictured it as a change in leadership based on the focus on a newblood and the scope of his power. Taking overall control away from the elders and restructuring as more than just a subculture. What that entails? No clue, LOL!

Now when I wrote this question, I had a semi-funny memory in mind that was destined to be my answer but I knew it wouldn't be short. So I figured, yup, you people need to have this inflicted on you. ::grin:: So, normally with almost everyone I would do the quick gaze redirect or pretend I was looking past the person at something or someone else. But this time I got caught staring at a really awkward time; at someone I had a secret crush on for at least 4 years at that point even though we were very close friends. We'll call him Shawn. Now I met Shawn in the 4th grade and we just clicked. He was kinda goofy, really athletic, good looking, and quickly became a really close friend. At first, I was simply enjoying the craziness that seemed to always be in the room when he was. Then about a year later, I realized that it was absolutely more than that. He was cute, like seriously cute. Light skinned, blond hair that even on a windy day would fall back into place and look perfect, always on the run when it came to sports or anything that had any kind of competition to it. I found myself letting him talk me into doing things that I had no real interest in doing. All it took was his whined "Oh come on Jeff! It'll be fun, I promise!" and I would follow him anywhere. I often found myself wondering why I was putting myself through it all. Baseball after school, football on the school front lawn, kickball with the group of us who hung out. In Jr. High he talked me into playing field hockey which I did enjoy but also wrestling. At thirteen years old, I was not built for wrestling, like, at all. LOL! I was short and skinny and the rest of the boys wrestling for the most part, were not. But I followed him anywhere. In high school, he talked me into trying out with him for the swim team and the football team. I didn't make it for football (I did go for track so I could be close by during his practices and I could run.) but did make the swim team. Which is where I had the most epic "What are you looking at?" moments ever. So, we were running drills that day. I forget what we were getting ready for but we were seriously dragging ass afterward. Now since we played quite a few contact sports over the years, we had showered in open showers and changed in front of each other enough times for me to have images of him burned into my memory, it was just pretty common place though. This day I had grabbed my stuff to shower up, pulled off my swim suit, wrapped around my waist and then sat down to wait for Shawn to grab his stuff because let's face it, I was not missing out on clowning around in the showers with him if I could help it. That was what I was in it for over all anyway, LOL! He finally wandered in and I sat quietly while he started to peel his bathing suit off. I didn't realize it at the time but I partially zoned out and was staring at his 'fun zone' pretty hard. He turned and noticed, tilted his head and then started to laugh. "What are you staring at, you gay today?" (That was a thing, long story, LOL!) I was a little startled because I was lost in thought (they were of him but, that's not the point ) and he had just snapped me out of it. Me being who I have always been reflexively shot back "Huh? Oh um, I was waiting to see if it's finally big enough to see without a microscope. Can'rt be gay for something that isn't there." which honestly wasn't out of character. His response, he just dropped his shorts and jumped up and down a couple times so it would flop up and down. Not huge but, ::sigh::... Shawn: "Any bigger and you could see it from space." Me: "What? It takes up no space." Shawn: "You take up no space." Me: "Well, you are waving it around. You sure you aren't gay?" "You're gay!" "You wish I was gay!" "You wish I wished you were gay!" (I really did ) A normal Wednesday for us honestly and all these years later, I remember secretly trying to memorize every single feature that was uniquely him. He was one of the very few I didn't worry about when it came to being physical. With little to no boundaries or shame from either, he was the only person I could be caught staring at like that and get out of it without getting my nose rearranged Unfortunately, we lost touch after my family moved halfway through high school. No idea where he is today but thanks to my staring, I can still see every inch of him in my mind and smile. Well, you know, after in my mind we get into the obligatory wet towel snapping war coming out of the shower leading to either involving innocent bystanders or getting yelled at by our coach. That's how it's supposed to go, hehehe!

I’m seeking ideas. I want to finish GFD, but I have no idea what Comsie wanted the Vampire Dawn to represent. I’ve spent the past couple of years scouring for answers, but none come! Please respond with any thoughts you might have on the matter. It may help me bring GFD to its conclusion!

There’s something about the first warm breeze of spring that can send your mind wandering back to grade school. The snowbanks shrinking along the playground, the smell of wet pavement after recess, the way the classroom windows were finally cracked open after a long winter. Maybe it was the excitement of field trip coming up, doodling in the margins of your notebook while the teacher talked, or the secret little daydreams that helped the school day pass a bit faster. For many of us, those early springs also carried quiet moments of figuring ourselves out—feelings we didn’t have words for yet, or ones we learned very quickly to keep tucked away like a folded note in a desk. Looking back now as adults, those memories can feel sweet, awkward, and maybe even a little funny, all while we consider the 'what if' moments in some big events. Spring had its own kind of magic back then: the first crush that made your stomach flip, the friend you always hoped would pick you for their team or even just come over and hang out, the walk home when the air finally smelled like grass again. Whether your memory of it all is silly, shy, or secretly sentimental, those small moments often stick with us far longer than we expect. So this months question is... What did you get excited for when spring finally arrived when you were still in grade school? 💜

Ok confession time. Yes I still stare bc honestly why are the guys who work as transportation assistants in the hospitals always like super cute and hot?! Oh that’s be that age again sigh

But yes I did have those experiences early on and it was not safe to act on them in public. Not back then. Not with that school.

I doubt he’s even gay tbh

Hell I still catch myself with a guy at work. I’m too chicken to act on it though. He may have caught once or twice and maybe suspects but we’re all waay too busy to catch each other privately to interact. Oh well.

That is so sweet.

That's not boring... That's awesome

On becoming a true vampire… https://gayauthors.org/story/mrm/the-seducer/47 https://gayauthors.org/story/mrm/the-seducer/48 https://gayauthors.org/story/mrm/the-seducer/49

This is probably gonna sound boring, but if someone said to me, "Dude, you're staring." I'd just give myself a mental shake and say, "Oh. Uhhh, sorry. Just... lost in my thoughts." At thirteen years old, I used to visit a roadside store that sold ice cream. More than once, the kid scooping ice cream behind the counter would wave his hand to get my attention, because I was just... staring at how pretty he was. I didn't know it at the time, but that kid later grew up to be my husband. We only met that one summer, then reunited by chance, in 2016.

ON TIME!!! Mark this date in the calendar and DO NOT get used to it, LOL! https://imagine-magazine.org/releases/volume-124/

I knew this was a bit of a loaded question when I wrote it. I mean to simply pick one person feels like intentionally leaving out a decent sized list of past heart breaks but, for this I will focus on one that I occasionally think of and remember because of the way he made me feel. To add clarity, when I was a kid and my parents were dealing with one of the roughest points in their marriage, we would live out at my aunt's house with her three kids anytime they split up. They weren't actually related to us, my mother and theirs went to school together and simply became family. Just like our family, two boys, one girl, and all of the same ages and with 4 boys in the same house, there was plenty that went on at night, LOL! Ah, good times... But one summer, a new family moved in right up the street. A couple with one son, we'll call him Chris for the sake of this post. He was like a year older than I was and totally looked like a surfer. Bronze tan, shaggy blond hair, rarely wore a shirt and had the rattiest looking sneakers but refused to wear anything else. I crushed so hard on him and when he started hanging out at our house, I went out of my way to keep his attention on me. We bonded over skateboarding and because I sucked at it, he would come over to make me skate more. I was all of like 12 years old at the time and had no real explanation as to why having his attention felt so urgent, but it really did and we got along so well that it didn't take much to hold it. Because there was sex play going on in the house, I really wanted to try to get him involved because, I guess I was a little pervert back then, LOL! But, I never got up the nerve to ask him and I really can't explain why. He did camp out with us a few times that summer and early fall. He fell asleep using my lap as a pillow watching TV a few times and twice I got to share a sleeping bag with him which meant I got NO sleep either time and totally didn't care. He was a serious addiction, for one year, then just as sudden as his family appearing in the neighborhood not even a full year earlier, they had to move again. I don't remember if we ever talked about why outside of it being his father's call but that last goodbye felt too fast, too soon. I moped around for quite a while feeling like I had been mugged or something for the longest time. Even to this day, just thinking of him and some of the stupid fun we had, I remember a little of what that crush made me feel back then, and really wish I knew where he was and what he was up to. So, my impossible valentine would be that crush from so long ago. The one I only ever got up the courage to tell how I really felt in my imagination many times after he moved away. Well, that was one of the things we did in my imagination. Did I mention I was a little pervert? LMAO!

Thinking back to your younger years, did you ever have a crush you absolutely were not ready to admit existed or simply frightened to put it out there—so instead you perfected the art of ‘casual’ peeks you were certain were completely stealth? The quick side-glances, the reflected looks in windows, the sudden deep interest in literally anything else when they turned your way. Looking back now, you were probably about as subtle as a blinking neon sign—but at the time, how did you handle it if they caught you looking? Did you freeze, play it cool, panic internally, or invent a totally believable excuse on the spot? And with the benefit of hindsight, what would you tell someone navigating that same heart-racing, quietly obvious moment right now? Not that they're sneaking a peek at you right now ::grin:: 💜

One day late! I'm calling this a win and you can't take that from me 😋 https://imagine-magazine.org/releases/volume-123/

I would send a Valentine to my friend and childhood neighbor, Jesse. We weren't romantic, but he was the first person who made me feel loved unconditionally. He accepted me without question or judgment; someone who made me feel safe. If my childhood was a stormy sea of emotional disregulation, then Jesse was my rock and my lighthouse. Though we fell out of contact several years ago, I'll always treasure my memories of him because of what he meant to me.