Hall Pass: Epilogue (Patreon)

Here's the final instalment of my draft of Hall Pass. This epilogues' a bit different, because after hearing the whole story from the perspective of the cuck and his husband, we finally get to hear from the perspective of the bull, Luca.

This section is intended to read like he's responding to a question in a media interview. I'm keen to know if that's apparent from the text or if you think it needs some kind of heading in the book to make that clearer. So please let me know what you think in the comments.

People ask me about my love life all the time. I guess it just goes with being in the public eye; it’s like you’re not just a person anymore, you’re just a blank slate for people to project their fantasies onto. So I think that whether you’re available becomes important to people even if they don’t know you. Even if you’re just some guy acting a part in a movie. So then when you do date someone, when it’s clear you’re an actual person with human relationships, people really fixate on them, you know?

I try to keep my personal life somewhat private. It doesn’t work all the time obviously. And to some extent you have to just be open about it, because with social media and all that, it’s hard to be authentic in letting your fans into some parts of your life without other parts coming into view at the same time. 

So I think my relationship is pretty common knowledge now. It’s funny, he used to have like three hundred followers or something and now he’s got more like ten thousand, even though he’s not even an actor or an influencer or anything, he’s just some guy going about his life.

I mean, he’s really hot so I’m not surprised he’s getting thirst followed, regardless of whether he’s my boyfriend or not.

His name’s Bradley. We met in Sydney just over a year ago. We were both there for Mardi Gras, and I had some public events and stuff on while I was there. We happened to be staying in the same hotel; we just started talking in the hotel gym and I asked him out on a date.

It got a bit crazy for a minute when we first met. And to be honest the public scrutiny almost put a stop to the whole thing. We got photographed on a red carpet on like our second or third date, and people started speculating immediately — I’m talking like just a few hours after the photos were posted. And it caused a bit of controversy when people realised that he was already married.

The judgement was intense. People were speculating about whether he was cheating on his husband with me, or whether I’d broken up their marriage. 

Fans can be intense some time. A little too intense. Critics too — I think some of the people piling on the scorn weren’t doing it because they were actually bothered by the morality of what I was doing, they just disliked me and saw an excuse to dump on me.

But I think sometimes people —fans especially — want you to be this paragaon of moral virtue. You have to be the person who proves that the gays are respectable, that we aren’t depraved or sex-crazed or whatever. And when I’m everyone knows I’m fucking a married man it challenges that.

And that was definitely hard on Bradley, and on his husband. Facing that level of public visibility, feeling like they have to explain themselves to the whole world. Especially for Bradley’s husband. It’s one thing to suddenly be in the public eye for dating a celebrity, but being in the public eye when everyone knows you’re the one in the couple that’s not even getting any — 

Uh, wait, can you cut that bit? I didn’t mean to say that. That came out wrong. What I meant to say was, it’s hard on both Bradley and his husband to feel like they have to explain the dynamics of their own relationship to the whole world as like, a by-product of having to explain my relationship with Bradley.

But we worked it out, you know? Like, the relationship’s evolving and we continue to work it out as we go. Just like everyone in any relationship I guess.

He and I don’t live together or anything. I mean, we’re in different countries for most of the year, so it’s not what you’d call a normal relationship in that sense. But my career’s just taking off, you know? So I’m really busy right now, and I have work all over the place, I’m never in the same spot for more than a couple of months at a time. I couldn’t do the type of relationship where you live together and you work a nine to five day and then go home to your partner, that’s just not realistic for us.

So what se’ve got works well for us, you know? Because for most of the year Bradley and his husband have each other to themselves, and I’m busy doing my thing wherever I happen to be working. And then sometimes I’ll fly Bradley out to where I am for a few days, or we’ll meet up for a particular event — like I’m flying him out to LA for the Oscars in a couple of weeks, and I just flew him over to meet with designers for fittings and all that, which was a nice opportunity to spend some time together. Sometimes I’ll fly his husband over too if he’s free, and the three of us will hang out. And I’ve been to stay at their place a couple of times, which is nice because it’s really out of the way and a bit more relaxed than my usual day-to-day schedule.

I mean, yeah, it’s probably a little unconventional. But in this day and age it’s not like a polycule is groundbreaking, right? And honestly, I don’t really care either way how conventional or unconventional it is, I have no need for it to be either of those things. What matters is that all three of us get something out of it, you know? Bradley and I get this connection that never ceases to blow my mind with its depth and its energy. And Wade, he… well, it’s not really for me to talk about what he gets out of it.

Anyway, we’re here to talk about my movie, right? So, next question please.