Amateur

Content Warning: Sexual themes, discussion of exploitation

Skylar choked on his coffee and slammed the laptop shut. Nobody was around to look over his shoulder, but it was a reasonable response to what he'd just seen. There was, of course, the primal instinct to hide the porn when something unexpected appears. The weight of the potential shame is worth the risk of drawing attention with the frantic maneuver. Close on the heels of that instinct was a twinge of recognition swelling into a sickening sense of dread. That photo was definitely, absolutely, without a doubt, of his partner, Erin.

He took a deep breath and opened the laptop again. Don't panic. Assess the situation. Look for context clues. Skylar cautiously examined the photograph. There was Erin. She looked young, but not "this photo is a crime," young. Something like that wouldn't be floating around the surface web anyway, right? She was lying on an unfamiliar orange carpet. Her hair in the photo was longer than present-day. Her facial expression said "I'm trying to be sexy." And that was all he could gather on visual data alone.

Skylar sighed. The hour-and-a-half he sat thinking before Erin arrived home felt like one long exhalation. His brain felt like it didn't have enough oxygen for this conversation.

Erin came through the door and dropped her large purse on the floor with a thud.

"Rough day?" Skylar wanted to get the first word in to make sure his vocal cords still functioned.

"Just busy. Nothing I can't handle." Coat in hand, she kissed Skylar on the cheek on her way to the closet. "Did you have a relaxing day off?"

When there was no answer, Erin turned to look at Skylar. His face said "uhh..." but he didn't actually vocalize it. He gave up trying to speak, smiled and shrugged.

"Nope."

"Oh, that's ominous."

They made their way to the dining table. It was called a dining table, but they rarely ate there. Too stiff - better to eat in comfort on the couch. It was a great place to sit for a serious discussion, though. So, they made their way to the talking table.

---

Skylar began. "Okay, we're both adults."

"Right."

"Adults who are dating."

"Accurate."

"So we don't need to feel weird or ashamed or embarrassed about... stuff." He started strong, but Skylar didn't make it to the end of that thought without turning chicken.

Erin smirked. "Skylar, what the hell could possibly have happened while you were jacking off that warrants a capital-T Talk?"

"Hey, you think you're joking, but actually, yes, that's exactly the direction this is going." He took a long breath in. "I came across something unexpected on Reddit today."

Erin wanted to crack another joke, to say that weird Reddit porn shouldn't surprise anyone in 2023, but Skylar's obvious discomfort made her check herself.

"Which sub?"

"r/thick. Any guesses?"

She looked to be thinking of an answer, but she was mostly suppressing another joke. "Ok, well, I have to assume you saw someone we know, right? Otherwise this conversation would be happening on very different furniture."

Skylar unlocked his phone and placed it on the table. Erin picked it up and examined the photograph.

"This pic has to be, like, six years old. This was uploaded yesterday. What the fuck?" Erin sounded genuinely confused. That was disconcerting.

"I was kinda hoping you could tell me that."

They went quiet for a moment. Erin continued to scrutinize the image.

Skylar spoke up again. "You did know this photo existed, right?"

"Yeah. OH. Yeah, no, yeah. I recognize this."

"Okay good," Skylar sighed. "That would have been the worst-case scenario."

Another moment of quiet. Skylar knew that a quiet Erin was usually an upset Erin.

"You don't have to talk about it if it's painful. I just wanted to make sure you knew, and that this wasn't, like... something you were keeping from me."

Erin shrugged and set the phone back down. "I mean, I don't want to, but there's no good reason to leave you wondering. It's the second-worst-case scenario: revenge porn."

Skylar kept his eyes on the table as he mumbled, "Is it the terminally-online paranoid alcoholic ex-"

She cut him off. "Yes, it's the terminally-fucking-online stupid paranoid drunk ex-boyfriend," Erin growled.

"But it's been-"

"Three years." Erin stood up and stomped toward the bedroom. "Possessive, selfish, petty, obsessed, narrow-minded..."

After a moment, Skylar followed and cautiously peeked into the room. Erin was digging through containers, looking for something. She continued muttering adjectives that he couldn't quite make out.

"Revenge porn is a crime, right?" offered Skylar. "You know where he lives. We can just call-"

"What, like small-town cops can do shit about cyber crime?"

"Well." He didn't have an answer for that.

"You know what else he can be?"

"What?"

Erin found what she was searching for. She tossed a tripod and a ring-light onto the bed.

"Jealous." Erin acquired a small whiteboard and wrote something very insulting, addressed to her ex. Then she began to undress.

"I'm confused," Skylar admitted.

"Revenge-revenge porn. Revenge porn-ception. Reverse-revenge porn. Get your ass over here."

Skylar sheepishly complied. He was going to have to stay off of Reddit for a few weeks.