the story of a man who learns you can’t outrun a fetish

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1. the slip

Meet Brandon, a closeted shoe/boot/mud fetishist who has befriended Anthony, a YouTuber who makes mudding videos. Brandon is hoping to push past his fetish with Anthony’s help and lots of exposure to his triggers. But Anthony unwittingly sets a whole new saga in motion.

2. the plunge

Brandon has lost control over Anthony—who is completely unaware—for the first time during a video shoot.  But the session isn’t even over yet.

3. A tiny kernel

Brandon is determined to put a momentary lapse in control behind him until Anthony invites him over for the evening.

The thing about a fetish is that it happens in the mind. So the fantasy is where it truly lives. The moment one of these fantasies is actually played out, it tends to be unsatisfying. Brandon, however, was not disappointed in this moment. 

The Adidas & the Weed Eater

4. Cat sitting

Having given himself permission to indulge in his fetish, Brandon looks forward to some time with Anthony’s footwear while he cat sits for him.

5. happy hour

During a carpool from work, Anthony decides to pull over for a spontaneous mud adventure.  Brandon plots to lure him unsuspectingly to the deepest place.

6. iron & suede

Brandon agrees to help Anthony decorate his house for Halloween.  The visit grows interesting when Anthony decides to don a pair of shoes that Brandon had been certain he had forgotten about.

7. The Joyland Man

Brandon’s morning routines are interrupted by a construction worker outside his loft window.  

8. stretching too far

When Brandon decides to help Anthony declutter the house, he finds himself tortured all day by Anthony’s sneakers, eventually leading to a slip up.

9. upcycling

After pilfering a bag of discarded shoes from Anthony’s house, Brandon shares a moment with a particular pair that sets itself apart from the rest.

10. Lawrence

A glimpse into Brandon’s youth offers his first experiences with seeing a man in rubber boots.

…his thought was interrupted when his right boot suddenly met little resistance from the ground. Not paying attention, he had come to a gravely mixture of wet sand and clay, which had gladly accepted his unsuspecting boot as prey.

The Shoe on the Other Foot

11. Monkstraps & Houndstooth 

Anthony visits Brandon at work with a plea for design help with his house.  Brandon’s coworker thinks that there’s more to Anthony’s request than meets the eye.

12. Agreeable Gray

Brandon presents design options to Anthony after wrestling with the idea that Anthony’s friendship might go deeper than he thought.  His visit becomes unexpectedly messy.

13. Snow Boots in July

In this flashback to Brandon’s teenaged years, we see him have his first moments in mud wearing a found pair of boots.

14. Gay apparel

After a mysterious communication blackout from Anthony over Christmas, he spontaneously reappears to Brandon’s work with a gift.

15.  sown seed

Recovering from a car accident, Brandon receives a house call from Anthony.  Things get awkward when Anthony makes a discovery in his bedroom.

16. the Water Pad

Nine-year-old Brandon has an experience he doesn’t understand when his cousin encounters some muddy terrain in the woods.

Brandon took it all in. The crease in the canvas where his foot rested on the gas pedal. The slight pucker in the collar as the padded edge parted from Anthony’s white sock. The white elastic at the sides of the shoe that flexed like gills on either side of a black fish as Anthony squeezed and released the accelerator. 

Vans Slip-ons, Part I

17. The Neighbor & the Pea

Brandon’s interest is piqued when he meets his new neighbor.

18.  The Delivery Window

Brandon enjoys the view at the construction next door to the gallery before having to contact Anthony for the first time in months.  Anthony persuades him to come over in order to share a secret.

19. The Shoe on the Other Foot

It’s the first video outing of the season, and the first time Brandon has made one with Anthony since coming clean about his fetish. This time, however, Anthony has decided to put a little twist on how they do things

20. The Show

Anthony stumbles across a gloriously deep deposit of soft clay and decides to entertain for an audience of one. 

21. Small Discoveries

Anthony makes a confession in the ride home after an intense mudding session. Brandon shares a small moment with Dell in the building lobby.

22. Wrestling With the Truth

Brandon and Anthony continue to work on the farmhouse in spite of of tension that has formed since Anthony’s revelation of what turns him on. But an incident in the garage brings Anthony’s struggle to the surface. 

23.  Taking a Leap Sitting Down

Brandon approaches Anthony at work to talk about their last fraught encounter.  When Anthony is not receptive, Brandon plants the seed that they are more alike than he may think.  Anthony puts this theory to the test.

Swearing, Anthony extracted the Hunter, which came up with ease, sheets of the slurry cascading down the no longer pristine rubber. Brandon quivered with the realization that there was just as much ooze cascading down the inside of the boot.  

Quid Pro Quo

24. The Phone Call

Brandon leaves town on business just after Anthony agrees that there might be something between them.  When he calls Anthony at work to check in, both of them take the conversation too far.

25. walk a mile

A brief departure from Brandon and Anthony’s storyline, we instead focus on neighbor Dell in a day of his toils at a construction site and follow in his footsteps.

26. Quid Pro Quo

Things take an interesting turn when Anthony decides to give Brandon a taste of his own medicine.

27. Come Again

Anthony struggles when he realizes that some of Brandon’s proclivities may have rubbed off on him. Brandon helps him realize that it may be time to make a decision on the nature of their relationship.

28. One Man’s Trash

In this short flashback tale, Brandon endures an odious neighbor during his pre-loft days. But the story doesn’t get truly interesting until after the man has already moved out.

39. WIPE YOUR FEET

Much like the bridge of a song, this chapter takes a step back from our regular storyline to reveal just how much of a transformation has taken place in Anthony’s life since Brandon has become a regular influence.

30. Weekend Getaway

Anthony and Brandon spend some time away together on a weekend retreat where a lakeside stroll becomes a mutual expression of passion.

31. one step forward, all steps back

It’s Brandon’s birthday, and Anthony has a special surprise in store. Will it represent another step forward for the two of them, or will the other shoe drop?