Unrequited

Summary

RISK! Podcast – "Unrequited" (February 10, 2026)

Episode Overview

In the "Unrequited" episode of RISK!, host Kevin Allison curates three deeply personal and raw stories exploring the sting, messiness, and surprising lessons of unreturned affection and sexual awakening. Told with the show’s signature blend of unfiltered candor and bittersweet humor, the episode features first-time and returning storytellers sharing moments of longing, rejection, heartbreak, and, ultimately, self-discovery. The stories span adolescent summer escapades, an exquisitely awkward college crush, and a closeted midshipman's journey toward self-acceptance at the Naval Academy.

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Key Stories & Insights

1. Connor O'Donoghue: "I Was the Appetizer"

[03:46–15:27]

• Setting: The story opens in a psychiatric hospital in Ireland, summer 2002, where Connor, dealing with depression, seeks belonging among the teen patients.
• Experiences of Isolation and Longing: Connor recounts the loneliness of summer camps as a fat, gay teen and how, at the hospital, he finally found his own "summer camp tribe."
• Forming Intimate Bonds: The young adult group engages in both innocent and charged activities—music, confidences, playful sexual experimentation—forming a cocoon of acceptance and wildness.
• Unrequited Love:
  • Connor develops a crush on David, a straight boy, who nonetheless allows a certain intimacy:

  "He knew I was in love with him. He allowed me to be in love with him." — Connor O'Donoghue [05:51]

  • He relishes small tokens and moments—even David’s used underwear—without reciprocation.
• Climactic Birthday Encounter:
  • During David's 18th, the emotional triangle with Jojo (an 18-year-old friend) comes to a head.
  • Connor gives David a blowjob, but is left as a bystander when David's attention returns to Jojo.

  "My mouth was the appetizer. He wanted her vagina to be the main course. Of course I was sad, but not surprised." —Connor O'Donoghue [11:17]

  • The story descends into awkwardness and heartbreak, with Connor relegated to observer status.
• Impact and Reflection:
  • Though he doesn't get what he hoped, Connor feels “lucky to have even got that much”.
  • For years, he discounts his own desirability, internalizing that fat people weren't objects of desire.
  • Moving to London at 35, Connor discovers the world of chubby chasers, embrace, and finally self-acceptance:

  "...at the age of 44, I'm still very single, still living in hope that just maybe the next penis might actually be the one that sticks around." —Connor O'Donoghue [15:21]

Memorable Moments

• Connor’s detailed, vulnerable depiction of adolescent sexual curiosity and pain.
• A nuanced view of found family, and the way unrequited love shapes self-perception.

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2. JC Cassis: "Casualties of a Crush"

[15:58–21:34]

• Setting: College, first co-ed, social environment after an all-girls schooling.
• The Crush: JC becomes enamored with Bobby, an impossibly sophisticated boy with a “romantic backstory.”
• The Confession:
  • Despite nerves, she resolves to tell him how she feels:

  "'I have something to tell you.' He was like, 'Yeah." And I was like, 'Well, I like you, and I think you're really cute…'" —JC Cassis [17:39]

  • Bobby's response, “Well, I know that, and I have known that. And unfortunately, I don't feel the same way.”
• Brutal Honesty:
  • As JC tries to lighten the mood with, "Let me know if you ever change your mind," Bobby responds, "I'm never going to change my mind," shutting down any hope.

  "'I'm never going to change my mind.' I’m just like, oh, my God. Like, dude, I just took a big risk telling you…" —JC Cassis [19:37]

• Lingering Impact:
  • The moment haunts JC over two decades later, teaching her about risks in vulnerability and the often unintended cruelty of honesty:

  "It's 22 years later, you guys, and I'm still fucking thinking about that moment." —JC Cassis [20:23]

  • Lessons learned: Don’t get crushes without really knowing someone, and vulnerability is both risky and illuminating.

Memorable Moments

• The relatable, mortifying humor of trying to salvage dignity after rejection.
• The “collateral damage” of formative embarrassment that outlasts academic learning.

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3. J. Michael: "Ready for Asking"

[32:13–44:44]

• Setting: U.S. Naval Academy, early 2000s—the era of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
• Describing the Closet:
  • J. Michael depicts extreme fear of discovery, isolation, and creative self-denial, including elaborate rituals to evade detection—sleeping on top of made beds, stashing banned items, etc.

  "I was both Catholic and closeted, and that's a real train you don't want to ride on." —J. Michael [34:20]

• Yearning for Connection:
  • Even browsing gay content online feels perilous, but longing drives him to the site XY.com—coded messaging, cryptic personal ads, and paralyzing fear.
• First Encounter:
  • During a hurricane-induced power outage, he dares to meet “Jeff” from XY. Their tryst is awkward and brief but momentous:

  "I ejaculated so quickly, I set a world record." —J. Michael [36:45]

• Liberation:
  • Jeff later invites J to DC, leading him—unknowingly—to his first gay bar.
  • The joy and shock of seeing “so many people there...like me,” culminates with shirtless dancing and a first passionate kiss on the dancefloor.

  “He kissed me in a way that was...he knew what he was doing. I fell in love… everything in my little brain exploded.” —J. Michael [41:36]

• Aftermath:
  • The romance fizzles immediately, but the heartbreak shifts from existential (“being punished by God”) to the mundane (“a Naval Academy junior fuckboy”).
  • J begins to allow himself to ask, if not fully tell, who he is.

  “…while I wasn't ready to do any of the telling, I definitely had started asking.” —J. Michael [44:08]

Memorable Moments

• A humorous, poignant retelling of navigating forbidden desire under oppressive rules.
• The electric sense of community found in a crowded queer bar for the first time.

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Host Reflections: Kevin Allison

[22:12–26:39, 44:44–end]

• On Patterns & Openness:
  • Kevin notes that experiences of heartbreak or mishap often lead to “limiting stories” about love or sex:

  "I always hope that people...remain open to possibility, you know, because chemistry, timing, hormones..." [23:03]

  • He recommends holding onto hope, staying alert to red flags, but being open to “giving it another chance with this new fella.”
• Comparison with Stand-Up:
  • Tells a joke about comedians bombing and succeeding with the same material, reinforcing the message: don’t generalize from one heartbreak or failed attempt.
• Film Recommendation:
  • Praises queer director Jun Lee’s "Queer Panorama" for its nuanced take on intimacy found through random hookups, not just the usual narrative of soulless sex.

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• "He knew I was in love with him. He allowed me to be in love with him."
  —Connor O’Donoghue [05:51]

• "My mouth was the appetizer. He wanted her vagina to be the main course."
  —Connor O’Donoghue [11:17]

• "'I'm never going to change my mind.'"
  —Bobby (quoted by JC Cassis) [19:37]

• "It's 22 years later, you guys, and I'm still fucking thinking about that moment."
  —JC Cassis [20:23]

• "I was both Catholic and closeted, and that's a real train you don't want to ride on."
  —J. Michael [34:20]

• "I ejaculated so quickly, I set a world record."
  —J. Michael [36:45]

• "He kissed me in a way that was...he knew what he was doing. I fell in love..."
  —J. Michael [41:36]

• “…while I wasn't ready to do any of the telling, I definitely had started asking.”
  —J. Michael [44:08]

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Important Segment Timestamps

• Connor O’Donoghue’s Story (“I Was the Appetizer”): [03:46–15:27]
• JC Cassis’ Story (“Casualties of a Crush”): [15:58–21:34]
• J. Michael’s Story (“Ready for Asking”): [32:13–44:44]
• Kevin Allison’s Host Commentary: [22:12–26:39], [44:44–end]

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Tone and Takeaways

• Language & Tone: Stories are told with raw honesty, wit, and self-deprecating humor—there’s vulnerability in each confession (“crush my soul... but I have a joke, you know?”), alongside moments of wry reflection and emotional wisdom.
• Themes: The pain of longing for love or acceptance that is never returned; the formative, sometimes humiliating, ways those moments linger; and the paths to self-acceptance and future readiness.
• Final Message: RISK! encourages listeners to “take a risk”—to remain open to possibility, even after heartbreak.

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This summary captures the episode’s rich tapestry of emotional storytelling, preserves the speakers’ voices, and highlights the vulnerable, hilarious, and sometimes painful reality of unrequited love and longing.

Transcript

[Kevin Allison]

On this episode of Risk, you'll hear.

[Unidentified Female Storyteller]

You didn't just crush my soul like I have a joke, you know?

[JC Cassis]

And you'll hear, I ejaculated so quickly I set a world record.

[Kevin Allison]

And me, Kevin Allison, on the show where people tell true stories they never thought they'd dare to. We'll be right back. Hey, Sal.

[JC Cassis]

Hank.

[Kevin Allison]

What's going on?

[JC Cassis]

We haven't worked a case in years.

[Kevin Allison]

I just bought my car at Carvana and it was so easy. Too easy.

[Connor O'Donoghue]

Think something's up?

[Kevin Allison]

You tell me. They got thousands of options, found a great car at a great price, and it got delivered the next day.

[JC Cassis]

It sounds like Carvana just makes it.

[Kevin Allison]

Easy to buy your car, Hank. Yeah, you're right. Case closed.

[Unidentified Female Storyteller]

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[Unidentified Female Storyteller]

We're back.

[Kevin Allison]

One, two, three, go. Hello, folks, this is jimmit behind me now. And today's episode is called Unrequited. But I'm going to tell you two things before we jump in. One, there's still time to sign up for my online storytelling workshop that starts on February 15th. It'll be on Sunday mornings at 10am Eastern time for eight Sundays in a row. Email me at kevinrisk-show.com to learn more. And two, in a little bit, we're going to hear a story from a beloved member of our team who's been hosting the Risk live shows in New York recently, JC Cassis. JC will be hosting the next one on March 17th, but before that, a story from Connor O'. Donoghue. It's Connor's first time on the podcast and we are so thrilled that he pitched us. Here he is now with a story we call I Was the Appetizer.

[Connor O'Donoghue]

In 2002, the summer after my 21st birthday, I spent about six weeks as an inpatient in a psychiatric hospital being treated for depression. First night in hospital was terrifying. I started out under 24 hour observation in one of a group of beds and directly in front of the nurses desks. And a lot of those nurses were big strong men. They had huge bunches of keys and they were never alone. But after a few days I was given a private room. I wasn't under 24 hour supervision anymore. And after about a week I began to enjoy the hospital. No one really expected anything of me. Life was easy here. I had space to breathe. The counseling I was getting was really good, even if the medication didn't seem to be making much of a difference. And after meals we'd all line up to receive our pills like some kind of bizarre Holy Communion ceremony. What I really enjoyed, though, was the young adult program. Although I was 21, I was put into a group with teenagers as that seemed to be the closest fit for me. And this was the summer camp experience I'd never had. For three summers as a teenager, I'd gone to an Irish language summer camp in the west of Ireland, and every summer I had come home without a single new friend. I'd been called smelly nerd and fat and gay. I'd had other boys refuse to share a bedroom with me. I'd had girls refuse to dance with me. I'd walked along country roads alone while all the other teenagers walked in packs coupling up, singing songs, having the best summer of their lives. Summer camp was a lonely hell for me, but now was my chance to do this right. I befriended the other members of the young adult program with gusto and we were wild. We hid from nurses, we teased elderly patients. We compared the cuts on our wrists even though I didn't have any. We played Colorblind by the Counting Crows over and over and over again and we closed our eyes and we felt the music. We shared confidences with each other. Boys kiss girls. Girls kiss girls. Boys kiss boys. I had my second ever kiss and my third ever kiss, both with straight boys, both with a female audience. We condemned our parents. We played with each other's hair. We sat in each other's laps. We put our hands down each other's jeans. We shared every secret we had. We held hands. We we fed each other chocolate and we licked each other's fingers. Afterwards, we cried. We had black days when we ignored each other. We read each other's text messages. We wore each other's underwear. We were encouraged to do activities together, so we modeled things from clay. We cooked together in a kitchen where the knives were numbered and locked up. We did guided relaxation exercises. We did creative writing. And we had group counseling where I used my age and my articulacy to make myself sound more fucked up than any of them. I fell in love that summer. Leaving was really weird. I was so sad that it was ending, but I was glad not to be a mental patient anymore. And I stayed in touch with the people from the young adult program for a while, especially David. David was 17 and he lived over 200 miles away. I was 21 and I could borrow my mother's car. He knew I was in love with him. He allowed me to be in love with him. He had very pale skin with long black emo hair and a big rugby player's nose. He was typical of the deliberately weird type of guys I met in hospital. Although he was straight, he was happy to admit to me that he thought Johnny Knoxville from Jackass was really sexy. While we were in hospital together, he'd allowed me to have a pair of his underwear that he'd wanked into for weeks afterwards. I'd take them out, sniff his long dried cum while I was alone. And I would dream I wouldn't touch myself while doing this. I'd just simper and sigh and imagine kissing him and imagine getting to watch him come. Eventually, the dried cum crumbled into dust and disappeared. David didn't love me back. He was infatuated with a girl called Jojo from the young adult program, an 18 year old with anorexia who had a boyfriend at home. Jojo and I both visited David's hometown on his 18th birthday. His dad was very pleased with me. He thought I was a good influence on David. I was older, I was steadier, I was doing a law degree. I was able to hold a conversation with adults. David had the keys to his recently deceased grandmother's house. We escaped there after lunch with his parents. The three of us sat in the front room of David's dead granny's house. We drank peach schnapps, and for a while, the real world didn't bother us and it felt like we were still in our hospital bubble, safe from the pressures of real life. As we got drunk, David dared Jojo to take off her bra. She said she would if he took off his top. It was electrifying. I drank in David's pale, slim, shapeless torso with my eyes. His body wasn't thin enough to have any bones jutting out, and it wasn't fat or muscular enough to have any curves. An artist could have drawn his body with three pencil strokes because he was all straight lines. But I loved it. I was on the sofa next to Jojo. David was opposite us both on an armchair. They upped the stakes and they each took off more clothing. At one stage, Jojo asked why I got to keep my clothes on. I answered that no one wanted to see me naked. We'd all discussed our issues, including my body issues, many times in hospital, and Jojo and David shrugged and didn't dispute what I'd said. I was sure no one in the world wanted to see me naked, and neither David nor Jojo said anything to contradict this. I was fat, they were thin, and they're busy playing sexual mind games with each other. And in the end, JoJo was just in her knickers and David was naked and erected. This was my second ever time seeing a real live erection. I asked if I could suck him. He said I could. So I maneuvered myself onto the floor. Jojo lay back on the sofa and started touching our breasts and watching us. I licked David's penis and I put it in my mouth. He was squirming with anticipation and his penis throbbed. It must have been what every boy dreamed of getting for his birthday. An almost naked girl and an enthusiastic blowjob. He had to tell me at least three times to be careful with my teeth. It had been three years since my only other sexual experience, which was an unfinished, drunken blowjob in a dark laneway. I'd had three years to think about how I could be better at blowjobs. David certainly enjoyed me playing with his balls. He very much did not enjoy me playing with his asshole. I don't think it was because he didn't enjoy the feeling, but because he was worried it might be clean. David got really excited by the blowjob and eventually Jojo was completely naked. He didn't come in my mouth, but I could feel his penis pulsating. He asked me to stop before he came. He wanted to play with Jojo. My mouth was the appetizer. He wanted her vagina to be the main course. Of course I was sad, but not surprised. I knew this was actually all about her in his mind. They started rolling round on the couch. I could see they were both really turned on. David asked her if she'd have sex with him. She asked if he had condoms. He said he didn't, but asked me if I could go around the corner to the shop to get some. I refused. I couldn't bear the thought of missing out on the sight of him naked. And also, I was just terrified of buying condoms. What was I meant to do? Just walk up to the shopkeeper and ask for condoms? What if they asked me what type I needed or how many I wanted? How was I supposed to know the answer to either question? What if they refused to sell them to me? How much did condoms even cost? How would I actually get the word condom out without turning bright purple? And I KNEW I was 200 miles from home. But what if my mother found out I was trying to buy condoms? No, I just couldn't do it. David got a text. Some of his friends from his town were on their way. He asked them to bring more alcohol and some condoms. While we were waiting, Jojo and he got dressed. They disappeared to a bedroom. Later on that day, while the rest of us were drinking and they had sex. David's dad popped round while they were upstairs. And David came downstairs in a rush with his T shirt on inside out, like a scene from a teenage sex comedy. Later that afternoon, I tried to kiss David again. He was receptive at first, but later pushed me away, telling me that I tasted a vomit, which was unsurprising. I had puked up a lot of peach snaps earlier. Jojo went home, as did David's friends. It was just me. And I stayed for dinner with his family, and I pretended not to be drunk, and there was a cake with candles, and we all sang Happy Birthday and I stayed the night. I was hoping that I'd get to see him naked again, maybe even to get to do some more stuff. But I didn't. Jojo rang us when she got home, and David overheard her telling me that she thought he had a small penis. He went to bed hugging his dog, really upset. His penis was definitely bigger than mine, and I thought it was perfect. And even though all I'd done was give a second man an unfinished blowjob, I added it to my mental list of times that I had had sex. I wasn't heartbroken in any way. I hadn't expected to ever do anything with David. And so I felt lucky to have got to see and taste his penis, lucky to have got to kiss him, lucky to have been involved, even tangentially, in his erection. And so, in spite of my disappointment at only getting to Give a partial blowjob. I was still delighted that I had even got that much. It took me years to realize that fat people might actually be desired or lusted after or loved. David and I stayed in touch. Every time he had a fight with his parents, he told them he was going to move to Cork and stay with me. His father rang me one day and told me to stop encouraging him. But as it turned out, I didn't need to. David and I stopped texting after about six months and we never saw each other again. I went back to university again that autumn and I told my friends that I'd had a threesome with a boy and a girl. Life is messy and this story doesn't have a neat little bowl that I can put on the end. I've had my ups and downs with my mental health since that summer and luckily I. I've never had to go back to hospital. And as for sex, I didn't actually have a beautiful sexual experience after David that I can point to and say this was the moment I first had sex with someone I loved. Throughout my 20s and my early 30s, sex was something I only had once every few years and continued to be brief and continued to focus on the pleasure of the other men involved. I had something of a sexual coming of age when I was 35 years old and I moved to London and I embraced the world of chubby chasers and of being fetishized. I actually started having frequent hookups and dates and even one or two tentative relationships. And that has made me a much more complete person. And now at the age of 44, I'm still very single, still living in hope that just maybe the next penis might actually be the one that sticks around.

[Kevin Allison]

Sam.

[Unidentified Female Storyteller]

When I was a child I went to a small all girls school from kindergarten through 12th grade. And so I was woefully unprepared for dealing with boys and crushes and dating and all that kind of stuff when I went to my mid sized co ed college. So I came to college not knowing jack shit about that stuff. And I met this very beautiful boy in one of my classes whose name was Bobby. And Bobby was very impressive to me because I was very dorky and I like did not know what I was doing with myself. And I was kind of figuring it all out very, very slowly. But Bobby was kind of suave and he dressed very well and he just seemed like he knew how to be in a way that I didn't know how to be yet at that time in my life. So he Always looked great. And he was hanging out with the cool kids. And he had this romantic backstory where he had grown up in Europe, and his mother had died young after giving birth to these five beautiful children. And he had these sisters that looked like models, and his heroic dad raised them all on, like, a rural farm in the south of France, and they would all paint landscapes together. Like, it was that kind of thing where it was just like, who are you? Like, we're supposed to be, like, dorky little kids who don't know what's going on. Like, why are you so sophisticated? But so I developed this crush on Bobby, and I was very happy to find that he was very friendly and nice. And so we kind of became, like, casual friends. And I got this huge, huge crush. And so, a year and a half into knowing him, middle of sophomore year, I was, like, thinking to myself, I was like, I have to tell Bobby how I feel. I just have to tell him. Because back then, I didn't know what I was doing with, like, dating and crushes and all those things. And I had this, like, thing inside me that was like, you must tell your crushes how you feel. And, like, I don't know what I was expecting to write. Like, I don't know what I was expecting to get out of that, because I think I knew, like, if they wanted something to happen, they would ask me out or they would say that they liked me or whatever. But this thing inside me was like, no, you must tell them how you feel. And I was like, but why? And it was like, because you must. And I was just like, okay. And so I was like, bobby, can I, like, you know, come by your room and talk to you? Because I have something to talk to you about. And he was like, sure. And so one afternoon, I went over to Bobby's room, and I knocked on the door, and I came in, and the sun was streaming through the window, and Bobby was sitting there, you know, reading some highfalutin book that I wasn't familiar with and looking all glamorous and stuff. I said, you know, Bobby, and my mouth was dry and my hands were sweaty, and my heart was pounding, and I was just. My stomach was all up in my chest, and I was like, I'm gonna tell him. I'm gonna tell him. And the voice was like, you must tell him. And I was like, I'm telling him. Shut up. You know? And so I said, bobby, I have something to tell you. And he was like, yeah. And I was like, well, I like you, and I Just, I think you're really cute, and I like you. And, like, I looked to him for his response, hopefully, and he was like, well, I know that, and I have known that. And unfortunately, I don't feel the same way. I'm sorry. You know? Yeah. And then so, like, my heart kind of, like, disintegrated in my chest, and I thought, gotta go, you know? So I was like, oh, okay, that's fine. Bye. You know, So I got up and I, like, ran to the door, and I got to the door, and I'd gone, like, through the door frame, and I was just pulling the door closed, trying to get out there as fast as possible. But I have this thing where it's like, when I go through a very embarrassing moment like, that, I kind of want to, like, put a funny little button on it to kind of like, be like, you didn't just crush my soul. Like, I have a joke, you know? And so as I was, like, closing the door, like, trying to inch my way out, I was like, you know, he had said, you know, I'm sorry, but I don't feel the same way. And so I was like, well, let me know if you ever change your mind. And then I was, like, going to slam the door and run away forever. But before I could, he goes, I'm never going to change my mind. And so I was like, oh, my God. Like, dude, like, I just took a big risk telling you how I feel. You said no in a nice way. I just tried to, like, make it a little lighter for both of us and get the fuck out of here. And then you, like, drop a bomb on me and blow me to smithereens. Like, what exactly was the point of that? So, you know, he said that, and I was just like, okay. And then I just, like, closed the door and run away. And so that was the damage in the moment. And I feel like the collateral damage is like, it's 22 years later, you guys, and I'm still fucking thinking about that moment, you know, like, and I still think about that all the time. They're like, I'm never going to change my mind, you know, And I'm just like, oh, like, it still hurts a little bit even to think about it now. And I feel like now when I like people, like, certainly there have been people who have liked me and I haven't liked them, and that's fine and whatever, and, you know, times when it's been mutual and whatever, but I feel like now every time where I'm like, ooh, this person is really attractive. I'd love to, like, approach them and maybe see if they want something with me and dah, dah, dah. And then I think of, like, I'm never going to change my mind. And I'm like, like, maybe I shouldn't tell them. Like, you know, what if that happens again? What if they feel the same way Bobby does? You know? And so it taught me two important lessons. One is don't get crushes on people without, like, really knowing them. But then it's like, very hard to get crushes on people once you really know them, you know, haven't had a lot of crushes in the last, like, 15 years. But, you know, Bobby kind of showed me who he was in that moment of, like, I've already done what needed to be done, but now I'm gonna, like, crush this person just because, like, that's my honest feeling. And I'm just not gonna hold back, you know? And so it's like, I don't wanna be vulnerable and be in love with somebody like that. So now I know that. I also think about how people go to college to learn stuff in their classes and prepare for a career or grad school or whatever. I don't remember jack shit that I learned in college and classes, but I will never forget what I learned outside of class from dealing with my classmates. So that is the collateral damage that I deal with in my life every day. So thank you. We'll be right back.

[Rachel Braethon]

Life can feel overwhelming, but you don't have to go through it alone. On my podcast, from the Heart with Rachel Braethon, I share openly and vulnerably about everything life brings us and what we can learn by living with our hearts a little bit more open. Every Friday, a new episode brings you a new story with topics on self care, motherhood, healing and more. You are enough just the way you are. This podcast is a reminder of that. Follow and listen to from the Heart with Rachel Graythan, wherever you get your podcasts.

[Unidentified Female Storyteller]

We're back.

[Kevin Allison]

This is Risk. This is Ariel Shalom behind me now. And we just heard from JC Cassis. Little story she told while hosting a recent Risk live show in New York. She's @JC Casas on Instagram. You can find her music on all the music streaming platforms at JC Cassis. And she'll be hosting the next Risk live show on March 17. She also hosts and sings in Electric Moon Cabaret, a burlesque sort of show with singing. And before that, we heard from Connor o', Donoghue, a Pleasure to listen to his one person show home How My Fat Gay Body Made Me has toured the UK and Ireland. He is on Instagram onrisnotbad. Both of those stories reminded me of something I think I've said before on the show. I always hope that when folks share stories about, you know, when something happened in their romantic life or their sex life and they derived from it, a conclusion like, well, I'll never do that again, or oh, I guess for the rest of my life they'll all be like that, or oh, well, I guess I found out how these things really work. Or oh, now I know I'm not the type that can ever be compatible with that particular kind of person, all that kind of stuff. I always hope that people still remain open to possibility, you know, because chemistry, timing, hormones, other things happening in people's lives or the world, parts of people's personalities or backgrounds you just haven't learned about yet. Changes in your own psychological development. There are so many, many variables. You know, a comedian, for example, can get up on stage and do a three minute joke in front of one audience and it bombs horribly. Worst bombing that comedian has ever bombed. That comedian can then grab a, an Uber to another show, get up in front of an audience, do the same three minute joke the exact same way they did it in another room 45 minutes ago and it gets huge laughs. So it's just universally understood among comedians, you don't have a difficult experience once and then decide, okay, I'm never attempting to make that joke work again. We all have experiences where we got badly hurt or felt mortified that we'd made a mistake or even seriously got mistreated. And so we all need to develop our own standards and boundaries and specific red flags. We especially know that we should have our antenna up for. But at the same time, in my experience, pretty much all of the most passionate, the most surprising, the most intimate, the most breakthrough sorts of experiences I've had around sex and romance have come from moments of saying, you know what? This didn't work before with so and so, but I'll give it another chance with this new fella. Or oh, I've been told this sort of thing can end up being awkward, especially for someone my age or whatever the fuck it is, but I'll give it a try, you know, that's why I was so happy when Connor in his story, found himself finally simply letting go of a lot of his sexual anxiety after he turned 35 and embracing the world of chubby chasers. You and me are in the same boat there, Connor. And finding that many of the hookups and dates and tentative relationships he had later made him feel like a more complete person. You know, my friend Jun Lee made an amazing movie called Queer Panorama which won all kinds of awards at the film festival circuit last year.

[Connor O'Donoghue]

He.

[Kevin Allison]

He won the Golden Horse for Best Director. That's like the Oscars of Taiwan. And I was just so surprised and moved by this film. It's about a young man in Hong Kong having one grinder hookup after another. It's basically 90 minutes of hookups between this young man and various other men. And I assumed that because of the messaging society gives us day in and day out, we've seen so many movies and everything else about it. This was going to be another movie that was was gonna be about how soulless and seedy and compulsive and completely meaningless casual sex is or random hookups. But then I started sinking into this movie and began to realize that no Jun Lee, the director, is actually paying homage to how many fascinating and curious and surprising and even beautiful hues and shades and textures of intimacy he's experienced through random grinder hookups. And yeah, there's a few nightmarish moments in the movie, but overall it's kind of this tribute to being open to giving people and experiences a try and even giving aspects of your own personality you've never shown the world before. A try. So those are my random reflections on this sunny afternoon in Bangkok in February. Be careful not to get hurt to an extent of course, but also be careful not to hurt yourself by telling yourself too many limiting stories based on past experiences or how people say things should work. Sex and romance work in mysterious ways, folks. Patreon.com risk is where you can find a check in that. I just posted last week about how I'm doing in Thailand now and how I'm feeling about stuff going on in the States. But since I uploaded that check in, a Patreon member reached out to say a quick thank you from Minneapolis. Less than a year ago, Kevin emphasized the importance of community in preparing for and resisting state sponsored atrocities. He promoted a particular group, no Small act, as a place you could go to engage. I just wanted to say thank you for your inspiration. As a resident of Minneapolis who took your exact advice and joined no Small Act. I have been on the streets and prioritizing the work that needs to be done in this city since the afternoon of Renee Good's killing. And being connected with no Small act as a part of that has been an asset. Thank you for helping us prepare. I was so grateful to get that message and I'm so grateful to anyone who is learning about the wide variety of ways people can get involved and slowly but surely turn things around for the US. And yes, no small act is in 45 states so far and can help you meet folks in your community and help you learn about little actions and big actions and all kinds of ways to support one another. And we just put this bonus story on Patreon also, it's by Melanie Hamlet sounds something like this and then one.

[Unidentified Female Storyteller]

Day I'm like rehabbing my knee in the pool and I go get in the hot tub and I'm sorry if I out any ladies here. Maybe I'm the only maybe this is a pervy thing to do. I don't know. No one's in the tub. It's fine if you position yourself just right on those jets. It's the best sex of your life. Glad I took my shirt off because it's get hot thinking about it anyway.

[Kevin Allison]

And there's plenty more where that came from. Watching our live shows from anywhere in the world, getting an ad free feed of the podcast, and most importantly, making it possible for Risk to continue to keep on keeping on. You can do all of that by joining our [e-mail] risk or upping your current support [e-mail] risk or you can make a one time donation at paypal me riskshow Next up, a story from Jay Michael. Now this was recorded at our dear friend Julia Whitehouse's show Top Shelf Stories at UCB in New York City. Top Shelf Stories is such a fabulous show. Julia just does such a great job with it. So definitely look it up. And J. Michael shared this story there. It's a story we call Ready for Asking.

[JC Cassis]

So even before I joined the military, I was living don't ask, don't tell. Very internally I was doing lots of things I wasn't asking myself about and I definitely wasn't telling anyone that I was doing them. A lot of people that know me think that I went to the Naval Academy because I come from a military family or because I was recruited recruited to ROE there. But what really was happening was I had figured out that if I went to what I thought was the toughest school in the country, in best case scenario it would cure the thing I wasn't thinking about or acknowledging or it would make me so tough that no one would ever be able to think that I was that thing. So my logic at 18 was to go to a school with communal showers and was 90% men because I was afraid that I liked looking at naked men. It actually started, surprisingly, in the beginning, it worked during plebe summer. Plebe is what you call a freshman at the Naval Academy, and summer is before fall. So during. During plebe summer, it's eight weeks before the fall semester where they basically break you down so that they can spend the rest of the year mentally and physically abusing you to build you back up. And so during that entire year between all that was happening and crew practice, I didn't really have enough time to think about maybe the fact that I might be gay. And I say maybe because this was 2002. And so even outside of don't ask, don't tell, gay wasn't really said in a positive way or even to acknowledge someone's sexuality. I mean, look, I had watched Will and Grace, but at a very low volume and very scared that someone was going to walk in on me. And I had one time stumbled across an AOL man for male chat room, in which I chose water sports because I was a swimmer and thought that's where I belong. And then logged out very quickly when a man told me he was 24 and liked to be peed on. And the thing that I thought weirdest about that conversation was, why was that old man talking to me? So I was really good at sort of, you know, wrapping my head around and denying situations. In high school, I was actually in like a circle jerk club and had convinced myself it was just boys being boys because we're experimenting. And I have a girlfriend, which also made it worse because the first time that she and I had sex, I then got hit by a car and thought that it was God punishing me for not waiting till marriage, which is how I justified not having sex with her again. I was both Catholic and closeted, and that's a real train you don't want to ride on. All right? So I end up finishing plebe year in the school where the homoeroticism is at an all time high and my internal homo homophobia and fear of getting caught or even acknowledging who I am is higher. And something started to mess with my plan, and that was that I didn't realize when you feel like you're the only person in a situation, how isolating that is and how much that starts to eat away at you. So as I headed in to my sophomore year, I felt very alone. I had friends and I had a life, but I felt like I was the only one in this entire academy that was dealing with this. And the thing about the military is even though the physical and mental abuse had sort of slowed itself down a little bit, it's still a lot of rules. So I didn't have a phone and I couldn't listen to music. And you know, we had room inspections all four years at the academy. I slept on a sleeping bag on top of a pre made bed that I would make in the beginning of the year and taped down, so that way when they came in for inspections, I didn't have to ever make the bed. So I literally, in all my college, never got between two sheets. I just slept on a sleeping bag. And then the morning I'd roll it up and put it away. And the scariest thing besides the whole what's going on with am I gay? Is one time during a room inspection I had a Walkman or like a CD player and when I heard them coming, I shoved it in the tile and they were inspecting the room and they lifted up to look if anything was in the ceiling and it was the one right on the tile. And I thought, well, this is how I die. Like it was I was just in a cotton state of fight or fright. The other thing that was really hard was that they monitored everything that you did on your computer. So when you're 19 and everything that you look at, you know, someone else might be looking at, it's really hard to use the Internet to escape or explore this sort of deep seated question of what's going on with me and why do I feel so different. But I also was 19, so every once in a while I would slip up and I'm sure you're all thinking porn, but you have to remember it's don't ask, don't tell. So even just looking up anything gay could get you in just as much trouble. But yes, also very generic porn. Rest in peace, dudes. Off campus. That's that site got me through some hard times. No matter what happened, it would always end with me being fully terrified that someone going to pound on the door or get me an email that said, hey, we need to see you at the disciplinary committee. Now if my friends or other classmates got in trouble at the disability committee, they'd get put on restriction. If I got caught for looking at anything remotely gay, I'd get kicked out of school, which would A, end my college career and B, tell everybody something I didn't want them to know. So I lived with this fear. But I also Lived with, like I said, with the fact of this complete isolation, loneliness, horniness, sort of peace. And so I found a workaround, I thought, and it was this site called XY.com now, for those of you who are not of The Homosexual Possession, XY.com was a magazine that existed for basically, like, high school and college gay kids. And I knew this because I had gone to Barnes and Noble and secretly looked at it two or three times, shoving it in a hunting magazine so no one else could see it at the Rack. And so xy, though, when you logged onto the site. And again, this is before Facebook hit. We're a year away from Facebook and eight years away from Hilary Duff telling everyone not to use gay as a slur. So to have a website was insane. And so they also had built the website so that it didn't, like, if you logged onto it, it didn't seem like it was a gay site. So I thought, well, if I get caught, I can always be like, I don't know. I thought it was a guy magazine. They also had personals, and this is way before apps and Craigslist and Manhunt and all that sort of stuff. And so I would go into the personals and I would type in Annapolis, Maryland, and then have a brief moment while it was loading to be like, maybe. And then just disappointment because obviously no one was there. And then I don't remember why, because I'm a lot older than this story, but I decided one day that I was going to post a personal ad on XY.com. if you were outside the academy and you saw this ad, you would assume that either this man was insane or a serial killer. It was written so that only someone who also was at the academy would understand it, but also said there was nothing that could come back to me. So it was not only vague, it was cryptic. There was obviously no photos. And I posted it and immediately started to think I should delete this. But also, what if someone responds to it? But also, oh, fuck, what if someone responds to it? And so I just left it and waited and no one came and busted down my door and took me away. And every couple days I would check it and obviously no one responded. And then one day I came home from class a little bit earlier because they had sent everyone home because there was Hurricane Isabel was coming down the Chesapeake. And I got back to my room before my roommate and I logged on and I checked XY.com and there was a message there, and it said, hey, are you at the academy? I'M at the Academy hit me up. And he sent their AOL instant message name. And I copied the name down, and then I deleted the message. And then I went to AO instommessage and I created a whole new profile name because I didn't want it to be tied back to me in any way. And then I thought to myself, I'll just say hi, because he probably won't respond. And then I waited for a while, and then I was like. And I said, hi. And then he immediately responded, which makes sense because everyone at the Academy had been sent back to the dorms. And we started chatting. And it was a very vague conversation. We were feeling each other out without giving any sort of information back and forth. And then he said, hey, man, let's meet. I'm going to go to Nimitz Hall. The basement study room is always left unlocked. I'll be there in 30 minutes. I used to think that by going to meet him, God punished me with this next part. But now, looking back on it, I don't believe in God, but if he exists, I think he was basically being like, get off your ass, gay boy. Because I was so scared that I know I probably would have never met this guy. But before I had the chance to come up with an excuse or talk my way out of it, the entire power went out at the Naval Academy. So I couldn't respond. So I just sat there in the dark for like 10 minutes in my room. And then I was like, fuck it. And I put shoes on and I ran across a kind of flooding parking lot to the Nimitz study Hall basement. His name was Jeff. He was a junior. I thought he was very attractive. We talked for a while. Mostly he talked because I was so nervous. I basically was like this. Then we moved on to the salacious stuff. And by that I mean nothing, because I ejaculated so quickly. I set a world record. And also God was flooding the Naval Academy for me to be at this meeting. So I really had to get the F out of there. So nothing really happened. I got back to my dorm room and I sort of, like, panicked, relaxed, everything's fine, the water's receded. The Academy was cleaned up. A few weeks later, I didn't hit up Jeff on Instagram. He didn't hit me up either. A few weeks later, I'm doing my homework, and suddenly I get an IM from Jeff, and Jeff says, hey, why don't you come by my room tonight at 8? And he sent me his room number, and I was like an idiot and thought, okay, I'm going to do this. Maybe a repeat because it was so good the first time. So at 8pm, I go to his room and he is there and he's with two other guys. And so I walk in and I'm like, oh, not a repeat, because I hadn't reached the porn stage yet, where I realized there could have been other options, including these guys. So I was like, oh, okay. So that wasn't why he had asked me. He said, hey, my buddies and I, we're going to go out tonight, and we thought maybe you'd want to come. And he made it clear that his two buddies were just like, Jeff and I. I couldn't leave the academy because I was a sophomore. I didn't own any civilian clothes because I was a sophomore. I didn't know these three guys at all. And so I asked no further questions and said, sure, yeah, I'll do it. Let's do this. So I ran back to my dorm room. I got my id. I told my roommate, hey, just cover for me. And then got out before he could ask any questions. We went to D.C. and I changed clothes in his car. And when we got to dc, we pulled up into a place called Apex, and we got out. And I was like, oh, wait, I don't have, like, a fake id. I don't think I can get in. And Jeff said, don't worry about it. It's college night. Just use your military id. And so then I was like, oh, I guess we're going to a straight bar or like a straight club because you can use your military id. So I gave him my military id and the guy put an X on my hand. And we walked in, and it was not a straight bar. Jeff ran me to the bathroom and washed the X off his friend Spot Coronas. And then he walked me out to my first gay bar. And my mind was blown. It was so much. And everything was exciting and new. The lights, the drag queens, the shirtless bartenders, but mostly the crowd. There were so many people there. And I kept being like, just looking at random individuals and being like, these guys are like me. They're literally like me. And I couldn't get over it. And then Jeff brought me off to the dance floor, and we were dancing. And then he did the sexiest thing that ever happened to me up until that point is that he took his shirt off. And then he lifted my hands up and took my shirt off. And then he pulled me in, and I could feel his hand on my back and he reached in and he kissed me. And he kissed me in a way that was like very much he knew what he was doing. And I fell in love and was like everything in my little brain exploded. And I thought, this, this is the man. I'm going to marry him. I am fully not willing to admit that I am gay, but I have naming the children, we're getting a dog, white picket fence, the whole thing. And then Jeff and I dated for a number of months, which is a lie. Jeff was making out with someone new like 15 minutes later because I had that thing when you're newly gay where your first love immediately is your first heartbreak. But something was different because what was different this time was I wasn't being punished by God or I wasn't punishing myself. I was dealing with a Naval Academy junior fuckboy. And that set me off this path to start to realize that it was going to be a long time before I started to come out to my friends or my family or myself. But while I wasn't ready to do any of the telling, I definitely had started asking. So thank you very much.

[Kevin Allison]

This is Risk. This is a bunch of behind me now and we just heard from J. Michael. Jay does all kinds of stand up and storytelling and everything in between. You can find a lot of his storytelling right there on Instagram jisnotoninstagram. Thanks so much to Jay for letting us run that recording. And thanks to Julia Whitehouse for sharing the recording of Jay's story with us. It was recorded at the UCB Theater in New York as a part of Julia's Top Shelf Stories series. For tickets to upcoming Top shelf shows, visit UCB comedy.com folks, don't forget there's still time to sign up for my online storytelling workshop that starts on February 15th. It'll be on Sunday mornings at 10am Eastern for eight Sundays in a row. Email me at kevinrisk-show.com to learn more. This episode was directed by Taj Easton and edited by Jeff Barr. Connor o' Donoghue's story was also coached and sound designed by Taj, who edited all the stories on this episode. Thanks to our business director JC Cassis, who you heard in the middle of the show, and our casting director Cindy Freeman, who would love for you to send us your story pitches at risk-show.com submission and I am telling you this folks, today's the day. Take a risk.