Kendle's Fire

Even though Kendle is an openly gay ex-Marine, he's been questioning his masculinity all of his life. He's always been what people expect a man to be, in spite of the fact that he's never been completely comfortable living up to these expectations.
He also has a few secrets. The kind of secrets a man can only talk about with the most intimate people in his life. One of those people is his best friend and part time lover, Dale. And their relationship is not without a few unusual quirks and ironies either, especially when it comes to the way Kindle explains his relationship with Dale to his own parents.
After a string of bad career decisions and awkward mistakes, it's not until Kendle meets a young guy named Walter that his life begins to come together. It's a journey filled with as much joy as heartbreak, with a few bittersweet twists in between. As Kendle opens himself up to new possibilities, he finds himself in the midst of life altering changes that leave him devastated. And there's a point where he's not sure he can get through any of it.
At the defining moment in life when Kendle Morgan realized he had to be aware of his mannerisms and speech, he began to overcompensate. This started at a young age, around three or four years old. Although he wasn't completely sure why he had to be so careful, he acted and reacted with determination in order to safeguard his survival as a man. Or rather, as society tended to define men through masculinity.
As a child, he chose superhero and military costumes on Halloween. Even though the princess and fairy godmother costumes made his eyes open wider, he always chose the manliest characters to portray. Barbie dolls fascinated him, but he played with guns and trucks instead. High heels gave him a thrill that was hard to describe, but he chose athletic shoes and army boots. Whether or not he was trying to gain approval from the world didn't really matter all that much to him at the time. For the most part, he was trying harder to gain a sense of self-approval, without even knowing why.