KKirk

Bleeding Hearts is a really beautiful story. It seems to have almost everything in 131,550 words. Killian is a teenager who befriends the new kid in school who turns out to be openly gay and gets bullied and abused and ultimately murdered for it. But Killian finds out he is (and has been) gay and is torn between his old friend Asher and a new friend Jake. And then there is Gilly, who is Asher's ex and Jake's sister. And it is chaos as all this coming of age and teenaged angst and who's doing who craziness happens. All in the shadow of an unsolved murder with a murderer the police don't seem to want to find but who keeps trying to get Killian alone. Add to this an abusive father and husband, a family you'll swear are cousins to the Munsters, a psychic who seems pretty "right-on", a ghost who visits Killian in his dreams, a murderous Halloween party, and ..... Yes, it is a very full story. And it has wonderful characters, many of whom you will love instantly, some it takes a while to grow to love, and some you will dislike immediately while some will become increasingly unpleasant. Who did it? The journey to the answer is a "long and winding road" that you will find spell-binding, I-can't-put-it-down intriguing, and full of the warmth of true love and true family whether its a family of origin or a family of choice. @empath has given us a story full of greatly drawn characters, plot twists and turns reminiscent of a roller coaster, and surrounding it all, a world in which love is sorely tested by hate but is not defeated. I can't wait to read the other stories in this series. You owe it to yourself to take this fun and exciting journey with Killian and his friends. Be sure you take your heart medication and grab a box of tissues before you start!

Thanks very much, @Josh Aterovis, for this beautiful story. I am hooked on this "universe" you have created. It's youthful and energetic, chaotic yet well organized (as far as the writing goes), sad and happy, devastating and uplifting, scary as hell and wonderful, too. I want to see everything that you have about Killian and his friends. Chronologically works best for my mind. But please don't leave anything out! Ken

@empath, I feel the need to respond to you and all your fans about this incredible story. Alas, the commentators before me have identified many wonderful aspects of the plot, the characters, and the tone of the story. So it would seem there is little to add. I would like to focus a bit on the characters. This chapter was wonderful in that you gave us a sort of status report of all the main characters in this ever-expanding community of rescuers and the rescued. In early chapters, this was a story about the amazing Roger Cicero (a very appealing initial hero for the story) and the poor waif he had set out to save from a life in prison. Now we have caring and empathetic police officers, mothers, psychologists, and even reporters who are now on a mission that seems to have lighted a passion within each one. Certainly Roger and Juan and Melissa and Sam and Dr. Fenton each seem to be finding an exciting new meaning in their own lives as they throw themselves into this extremely worthwhile cause. I'm fascinated by this plethora of characters -- the good, the bad, and the victims. (Sorry, the movie quote doesn't quite work here.) I look forward to the journey to wholeness I think we are witnessing in most of these distinct characters. Like @mikedup commented earlier, I also am afraid finding homes and help for all these victims is a daunting task. But you seem up to it, @empath. Thanks for this great story! Ken

Friday By the end of the week, Alan and I had a definite pattern going. That morning, during study time I spent a few minutes getting the gas service at the loft put into my name as well as setting up an internet package to include basic cable on the television. I realized our monthly utility bills were not going to be inconsequential. But, it was all necessities. I spent the rest of the morning on my English Lit term paper on Agatha Christie. She was a pretty interesting character

Vaughan, Thanks for your comment. I'm glad you are enjoying the story. I seem to be having trouble putting enough time into keeping it moving. Sorry it's going slowly. I hope to get a chapter ready to post tomorrow. Calvin and Alan are developing organically, so I'm not sure where the story will go. They seem to have taken on their own personas so they change and grow as they react to the situations that happen. There'll certainly be more sex and fun as well as some other kinds of interactions and experiences for each of them. I think Alan is a lot deeper than readers have yet seen. Maybe he's a closet kisser and maybe not. We'll find out! Ken

This chapter is quite a departure from the earlier parts of the story. I really enjoyed Gilly's kooky family. You showed your versatility, @Josh Aterovis. I was chuckling through most of it, but still chilled a bit by Judy's premonition. She seems to have a genuine gift which makes her unsettling pronouncement about Killian only having one path to survival, well, scary! I think Killian needs to get a gun. Or become the boyfriend of Todd. Damn, he sounds hot!

Adam's eulogy was heart-rending on several levels. For a young person like Seth to be taken, I think one of the really sad things is that they lose the chance to do so many things most of us take for granted. He'll never have a relationship. He'll never get to have the pleasure of acting and the world will never have the pleasure of experiencing his work. He'll never have all the friends he should have had and those people will never even know they missed out on a precious relationship. I was in tears throughout that service. You are giving us a great mystery, @Josh Aterovis, with wonderful characters and several who could easily turn out to be murderers, too. And you certainly know how to construct a cliff-hanger! Thanks.

Thursday The next morning, Alan and I had our usual quick blow job in the shower and breakfast at the Food Center before returning to our rooms to study separately until lunchtime. Alan had volunteered to call Brandi to tell her we want the loft and to make arrangements for getting the deposit to her and to set up our move-in date. Back in my room, I looked around to estimate how much effort it would take to pack up my stuff for the move. I judged that two hours would be sufficient,

Two sections of this chapter really stand out for me, @Josh Aterovis. I loved the conversation between Killian and his mother over dinner. In a short conversation, you gave us the whole story of her life and her motivation and her incredible strength. She is an amazing character. Let's hope that strength carries her through the days ahead as she deals with what just happened to her son and the reasons why. The second great section is the description of Killian's walk up to the lake, the attack, and his finding Seth. From a writing perspective, it is incredibly real, very tightly written, very dramatic, scary as hell, and an incredible cliff-hanger. It's late and I need to go to bed, but nope, I'm going to the next chapter now. Awesome job, Josh!

@drsawzall and @Summerabbacat, you actually have good eyesight, I'd say. You've spotted one of the weird things about using AI to make "photos." It doesn't seem to know how to spell anything. Since it is just pulling together features that look natural, it does recognize that stockings have letters on them, but it cannot spell. There may be a way to specify in the prompt enough to get proper spelling, but I'm not a highly accomplished AI-jockey to know how to do that. Sorry for keeping you guys guessing! I almost rejected the picture for that reason, but it was so perfect otherwise, so .... AI image generators also seem to know what fingers look like but occasionally lose count. I once created a dude with nine fingers. And if you put a couple of people in an image together, sometimes there are missing legs, extra hands, and other oddities. I do think Mage.space is a lot better than it was a year ago. It can be pretty hysterical to spend an hour asking Mage to give you two gay men sitting in a porch swing.

Welcome aboard, @Anton_Cloche. I hope you will enjoy the evolving situation between Calvin and Alan as they adapt to the roller-coaster ride of the lockdown and a new sexual connection. Ken

My great pleasure, @drsawzall!

Mother “Christensen residence.” It was Carrie. “Hi, Carrie.” “Cal!” She screamed loud enough to hurt my ears. “Oh my God!” “Yep, it’s me. Is Mom handy?” “Oh, Cal, they closed our school and cancelled everything until next fall. It’s horrible. My life might as well be over. It’ll be months before I can see anybody. I can’t wait to see Justin. What am I going to do?” She finally took a breath as, I swear, she started sobbing. “That’s awful …” I coul

Thank you @Cane23, @Summerabbacat, @Danners, and @Ticklishboy30, for your response to this story. Through the 4 decades since I met Gil, I have thought about that particular Christmas Eve many times. He was so beautiful on the outside (and much above my self-perceived status) that I couldn't believe he had any interest in me. But it isn't really that surface beauty that makes me think of him when I am sitting with a spiced tea or eggnog and contemplating a well-decorated tree. It is the acceptance and (I'll say it) love in his heart that he so freely projected to me. My experience of being treated so lovingly by Gil brought so much healing to my heart that it changed my life in some ways. Not only did I feel that maybe I did deserve to be loved but I also felt maybe there could be a mutually loving relationship in my future. Those approximately 24 hours with Gil showed me that a person can receive a profound positive impact from someone they had not met before. Actually, I have had a couple of other experiences to underscore that obscure fact about relationships. Ultimately, in spite of all the sex (embellished a bit for dramatic purposes!), this story is a romance. But more than that, it is a story of hope. Even if your family and friends cannot mend your broken heart, there is the possibility (the hope) of healing coming from encountering an unknown person. There was an underlying spiritual healing going on. I hope we can all find the sources of that hope in our lives. And I hope to offer that kind of hope to the strangers I meet as I go through my life. Cheers, my new friends. Ken

As so many have said before me, @empath, the story has been excellent from the very beginning but continues to get stronger and more compelling as it goes. There's a lot of possibilities for where the story will go and I feel very lucky to a seat in the peanut gallery! Great job, Sir!

When I finally woke, I still spooned the sleeping beauty within my arms, my hard cock pressed against his firm melons as a reminder of yesterday’s pleasures. Startlingly bright sunlight shined through the tree. The insistent aroma of coffee filtered in from the kitchen along with quiet voices and some muted cooking noises. I guessed it was time to get up. Gil and I endured some more good-natured ribbing about what we had given each other for Christmas and about keeping everyone awake hal

Dear @Ticklishboy30, you are so kind! I do love writing and try to make it as good as I can. Being able to create a world with characters I discover and let reveal themselves in interesting situations is really an addictive way to spend some time. Thank you for reading and for commenting!

The laughter and applause coming from the hallway following our noisy climax prompted Gil and me to laugh, too, in the midst of our gasping for air. That weird mixture of physical responses caused some very unique sounds, which kept us in stitches for a few minutes as we separated and came down from our sexual high. I plopped onto my back and Gil collapsed into the space beside me. We lay heaving and giggling for a while until we returned to a modicum of normalcy. “Shower?” I asked.

Apartment-Hunting during Lockdown As soon as we got back to the dorm, we hurried up to my room and logged into my email account. Sure enough, there was a message from Lily.HousingOffice@UMN.edu with an attachment called Off-Campus Housing Registry. The document was 2 pages long and listed 42 properties with address, brief description, monthly rental price, and a phone number. In a few cases there was also an email address listed. I printed two copies of the listing and passed one to

Thank you, @Ticklishboy30, for that comment. I had fun making the photos on Mage.Space and I think they added to the story. I'm glad you enjoyed them! Ken

Downstairs Gil and I faced the expected cat-calls, whoops, and “atta-boys” from the peanut gallery that had finally put away the cards and begun to focus on creating dinner for the six of us. Jim put on some soft Christmas albums to put us in the mood for presents and eggnog. With the activity in the kitchen occupying the others, Gil sat on the loveseat in the den while I got us each a cup of spiced cider to fuel some private getting-to-know-you time with my new fellow. When I was s

I wasn’t sure how I would get up the stairs in my condition, but I nodded because I, too, needed more. We were so overheated from the hot water and the hot make-out session that I didn’t feel the freezing air during the 10-second walk back into the house. Quickly we dried off enough to prevent dripping, then wrapped our towels around our Speedos. Gil and I hurried through the den and up the stairs without interacting with the card players except to nod in response to their comments about it g

Very loosely based on a true incident. It was the Christmas season of 1983 if memory serves me right. I was visiting a gay couple in their early 30’s, Mike and Jim, whom I really didn’t know well. I was staying in their home as the guest of mutual friends, my BFFs Rob and Larry, who were allowing me to tag along on a holiday vacation. All four of my hosts were kind and gentle with me since I was only two weeks post break-up with my partner of nearly 3 years, Wayne, who had been my first

A few minutes past two, Gil arrived in a flurry of snowflakes, hugs, and laughter. Initially, I couldn’t see him well, but finally he had his parka, Cossack hat, scarf, and gloves deposited in the hall and came into the den where we were all camped out in front of the fireplace while Mike, Jim, Rob, and Larry played more Spades. When I could finally see him, I saw that Gil was stunningly beautiful! He was several inches shorter than my 6’1” height, maybe 5’9”. He was small in stat

I was young and still naive. I had just been dumped by my first love. It was Christmas. There were good friends, a mountain chalet, a spectacular Christmas tree, a roaring fire, a view for a hundred miles, snow falling, carols playing, and I was miserable. Until a friend of my friends stopped by. Until he changed my life.