The crisp autumn breeze carried the scent of fallen leaves as Frank stood on the porch, taking a long drag from his cigarette. Exhaling a plume of smoke, he watched it dissipate into the dusky sky, his mind a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions.

Since coming out to Samantha and Oliver, a weight had lifted. No longer hiding his truth, he had his ever-supportive son Oliver's encouragement to embrace this newfound freedom and put himself out there.

"Dad, you've gotta get on one of those dating apps," Oliver had insisted. "You deserve to find someone who loves and accepts you for who you really are."

Frank had laughed it off at first, the mere thought of navigating the world of online dating seeming as daunting as scaling Mount Everest. But Oliver's persistence had eventually worn him down, and so here he was, staring at the screen of his phone, trying to figure out how to set up his profile on Grindr – a dating app catered specifically to men like him.

Furrowing his thick brows, Frank contemplated his profile picture. The rugged hiking shot or the suited one for Oliver's school event? He settled on a workplace photo, capturing his burly physique. The bio section stumped him. "What do I even say? Hello, I'm a recently divorced, closeted gay man well into his thirties, just tryin’ to figure this whole thing out?"

He chuckled dryly at the thought, shaking his head. Honesty had always been one of his strongest suits. With a sigh, he typed out a simple introduction, highlighting his love for the outdoors, something he liked enough to mention, and his close bond with his son. "Hi, I'm Frank. I like hiking, craft beer, and bad puns, also a proud dad."

As he scrolled through the seemingly endless parade of profiles, Frank couldn't help but feel like a fish out of water. Some of the profiles made his cheeks flush with their overtly sexual undertones and nudity. While others left him scratching his head at the plethora of acronyms and slang terms he had yet to familiarize himself with. Was a "twunk" different from a "twink"? And what exactly did it mean to be a "power bottom"?

Just as he was about to give up and delete the app altogether, a profile caught his eye – handsome, with a warm, inviting smile and a mischievous glint in his eyes. Intrigued, Frank clicked through the photos, his breath catching in his throat as he took in the man's beautiful features.

Without overthinking it, he typed out a message and sent a: "Hey."