Coffee Boy

by Austin Chant

“Yeah, sorry. I do get it. You’d rather not have to be queer at work.” Seth winces. “I’m not overly fond of the word ‘queer’, either.” “Oh.” “It’s not that I don’t identify with the general idea, it’s more that I can’t help thinking of it as…” Seth’s face closes a little. “As the kind of thing boys call each other when they can’t think of anything worse.” Oh. That’s the kind of experience Kieran can’t really identify with, since he never got much of a shot at boyhood. Although he doesn’t want to, he feels a prickle of resentment. “I guess I think of it as what we called each other in college when we didn’t want to use gay to refer to everyone who’s not straight and cisgender.” Seth ducks his head. “I understand that. It doesn’t bother me so much when other people talk about the community, about themselves. I suppose, since I didn’t come out until I was older, I just never had much of a chance for positive associations with being called queer.”