Excerpt: Chicago.

“This page is the canvas. Each word is drawn from within—the picture is already here, you see?” Jack said, leaning over Brian. “It’s just buried beneath, you have to find it.”
Brian looked at his typewriter. The thing daunted him. It made him want to go away. There were no words in the blank page before him. Jack’s sleeves were rolled up, his sweater unbuttoned and his shirt unbuttoned half way down his chest. His metal necklace hung from his neck like a noose that was too loose. A noose that was a fashion statement.
Brian chuckled. That might not have been uncovered from the paper, but it was good. He typed it “A noose that was a fashion statement.” The words clicked out onto the paper, making a satisfying click with every key. He finished the sentence, then reached for a cigarette and lit it.
“Like it?”
Jack took the cigarette out of Brian’s mouth and took a drag, then handed it back to him. “It’s a start,” Jack said, then kissed Brian on the temple. “It’s a start. Just let it come out.”
Jack stood up and walked away, stretching his arm. His shoulder was still sore, black and blue from who knows what. He heard silence for a beat, then the satisfying clicks of the typewriter. Each word coming out, sentences beginning to flow. “A noose that was a fashion statement.” It was a good line. There’s been better, hell, I’ve written better, Jack thought to himself. With Brian under his wing, who knows what was going to happen with this novel. Logan would be coming later that night with beer and cigarettes. He might stay, he might not, Brian told him. Logan was the short one, the one with the glasses, Jack remembered. He was cute. So was Brian, though his beer was starting to show. Not the waif that he used to be. They were each getting older. Brian was no longer the little first-year grad student at school, trying out love with a man for the first time on his teacher. They drifted apart. Sex was good. Monogamy was not. It was simple. Sex with boys, sex with girls, sex with whoever was around.
Logan would be bringing the beer and cigarettes, some Ramen Noodles, perhaps some drugs… it did not matter what it was, as long as it was good.