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ChromedOutCortex

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  1. ChromedOutCortex
    The client’s offices were sleek and intimidating—glass, steel, and a boardroom table that looked like it could seat twenty. I sat at one end, laptop ready, notes stacked neatly. Jeremy was beside me, but this time, the spotlight was squarely on me. The client entered– two executives and a lawyer, all business. They didn’t waste time with pleasantries. “All right, let’s get started,” the senior executive said, flipping open a folder. “We’ve reviewed the outline you sent. And to be
  2. ChromedOutCortex
    After clearing security, the receptionist led me to a small meeting room. I parked my suitcase in the corner, pulled out my laptop, and tried to shake off the stiffness from the flight. Just as I opened the lid, my phone buzzed. Evan: Hey, how was your flight? Me: Long. In the office now. Just waiting… oh, I hear them. I’ll call you later. Evan: OK. ♥️ I slid the phone away as the project team filed in. Smaller than I expected, maybe a few ducked out early to beat traffi
  3. ChromedOutCortex
    Saturday came and went. We spent most of the day together and I dropped him off just after dinner. Nothing messy: one quick kiss and he was gone. Back at the apartment, the silence felt strange after a day with him. Maybe he could move in sooner? No. Comfortable wasn’t the goal. I wanted him to work for it. I wanted to see that this was what he truly wanted. We’d agreed to do our own thing on Sunday. I didn’t need to meal-prep because I’d be out of town most of the week, so I fi
  4. ChromedOutCortex
    Growing up, I never really enjoyed heavy metal - more into the alternative scene (local bands) or stuff like Slayer but as I got older, I started listening to Ozzy, Black Sabbath and others and actually liked most of their music. Whenever my kids come with me and we're out, and I play something I definitely get the look ... like, WTF are you listening to??? LOL!
  5. ChromedOutCortex
    Wasn't expecting something so polished! But brings back memories.
  6. ChromedOutCortex
    Totally! Every relationship thrives on ground rules - or understanding each other. Both have to be invested, otherwise one is doing all the work which can get exhausting.
  7. ChromedOutCortex
    It's too easy to fall into old habits. You really have to want to change. 🤞
  8. ChromedOutCortex
    Sunday: prep day for the next week. Except I wasn’t in the headspace for anything. If I skipped it, the produce would wilt and the meat would go gray at the edges by midweek, and weeknight prep was a non-starter. Either do it now, or freeze everything and live off delivery. Practicality won. I pulled the meat, chicken and veggies from the fridge and set everything out in rows: fruit to rinse, veg to chop, chicken to portion, beef to trim, salmon for tonight. I lined the counter with two
  9. ChromedOutCortex
    Sorry... 💕
  10. ChromedOutCortex
    @Modified Cub - Thank You and everyone else for reading!
  11. ChromedOutCortex
    Evan and I had been together since our university days, an age when the apps reigned and monogamy felt like something you had to defend. We met in second year: Evan was working toward law; I was grinding through civil engineering. First in our families to make it to university, both from modest homes. By the time we finished undergrad, we were joined at the hip. Then life got hard. Evan still had years of law school. My days started early and ended late: field work, desk work, drawings
  12. ChromedOutCortex
    James reunites with his ex, Evan, now a determined law student, and they slowly rebuild their relationship with new boundaries. While James is sent out of town to rescue a failing engineering project, his homophobic family crises erupt: his father’s cancer and death, and his brother Sam’s years of manipulation and financial abuse. Supported by Evan, James protects his mother, pursues justice, and begins to imagine a shared, hard-won future where love, not fear, defines the rest of his life, one cautious step at a time, finally choosing himself.
  13. ChromedOutCortex
    @Doha, @riccardo - Thank you both for the kind words. It means so much to me.
  14. ChromedOutCortex
    The next few days went by faster than I wanted them to. I tried to make up for fifteen years in a handful of mornings and afternoons, visiting everyone I’d missed, sharing coffee and laughter that felt both new and familiar. Every meal, every walk, was like unearthing a small piece of who I used to be. We stopped by Sam and Jason’s place. They’d built a beautiful life together: a cozy home filled with laughter, the smell of coffee always in the air, and two kids who seemed to have in
  15. ChromedOutCortex
    Wow. @Jkeeletupelo - Thank you so much. I am truly humbled by your words. Knowing that my story can provide a moment of calm in a chaotic mind is honestly the highest compliment I could receive. I know it was a tough read in places, so hearing that it earned a priority spot alongside your other favorites means the world to me. Thank you for reading. 💕
  16. ChromedOutCortex
    @irivera, @VBlew, @chris191070, @Steve Farner, @Lynx003 -- thank you all for the kind words! This was another tough story to write, and I know a few people found it difficult to read due to their own personal circumstances but I am glad that everyone was able to get through it.
  17. ChromedOutCortex
    The first month back in Vancouver was the hardest. I'd wake up in my childhood bedroom disoriented, reaching for someone who wasn't there, before remembering why. Then the memories would flood back—the letter, the confrontation, that final phone call—and I'd have to convince myself all over again that getting out was the right choice. I finally gathered the courage to tell my mom and dad what happened. All of it. The subtle manipulation, the way he convinced me of who he was. I showed them
  18. ChromedOutCortex
    Although I’d built a life for myself in Toronto–career, routines, even a kind of peace–I realized how much I’d missed this: the smell of Mom’s cooking drifting in from the kitchen, the low hum of overlapping conversations, the laughter that filled every corner. I sank into the couch, letting the familiarity wrap around me like a warm blanket. Everywhere I looked, there was life. Jay was crouched by the coffee table, showing his son how to play a game, the boy’s tiny fingers gripping the c
  19. ChromedOutCortex
    I was mindlessly doom scrolling on IG and found this gay comedian. He actually includes gay stuff in his routine and the audience is mixed. I found him pretty funny. His name is Yi Ren and I found him on Instagram.
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  20. ChromedOutCortex
    This has been my experience with all the AIs out there. They give you correct information to start but slowly start to drift (hallucinate).
  21. ChromedOutCortex
    I spent three days on Sam's couch, existing in a fog of grief and rage and disbelief. The pull-out mattress was lumpy and the apartment was small, but Sam never once made me feel like I was imposing. She brought me food I barely touched, sat with me when I needed company, gave me space when I needed silence. My phone was a constant source of anxiety. I'd turned off notifications from Andrew, but I could still see the messages piling up—dozens of them, the number climbing every time I checke
  22. ChromedOutCortex
    The week before the trip, my apartment looked less like a home and more like a staging ground. Suitcases half-zipped, piles of clothes I wasn’t sure I even wanted anymore, gifts wrapped and rewrapped. I tried to focus on the practical, but underneath it all, my nerves buzzed like a low-grade fever. I’d stop in the middle of folding shirts, suddenly paralyzed by the thought: What if this is a mistake? Jamie’s voice would come to me sometimes, soft in the back of my mind: It’s not a mi
  23. ChromedOutCortex
    This one was tough - especially this chapter, and the next. I'd read a lot about how young gay men were bullied, and spoke to a few people that lived through it. I came out late in life, and while not bullied - I was shunned by a lot of close family friends (many of whom still do not speak to me - almost two-years later). Life does get easier for Marcus. 💕
  24. ChromedOutCortex
    Reluctantly I opened the door, and there he was standing in front of me, just like in high school. “What’s wrong, Marcus? What’s happening?” he put his hand to my forehead and I flinched. He noticed. “Marcus, what’s going on? Did I do something?” What should I say? Should I accuse him of being the bully that tormented me for 18 months? That it had gotten so bad I was going to kill myself? “Nothing… I must have had something that didn’t agree with me. I’m OK.” I replied, trying to
  25. ChromedOutCortex
    The next morning, sunlight spilled through the blinds before I was ready to face it. I hadn’t slept much–too many thoughts, too many memories stirred awake by what I’d told Alex. By what I’d decided. He made coffee while I sat at the table, my phone in front of me like a weight. One by one, I’d have to make the calls I’d been avoiding for fifteen years. Alex didn’t push, but he didn’t leave either. He sat across from me, his hand close enough that I could reach for it if I needed to.
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