I tapped on his profile and saw that he was close. Probably a few houses down. Before I could even decide what to do next, I got a message notification. It was him.

"Dtf?" he asked.

I've never been with any man before. The gay groups I've been in always joked about headless profiles but surely no one would be deceptive enough or desperate enough to pretend to be someone else before meeting up with someone in real life, right?

I know what it's like to not be honest with myself. I've denied I was gay for years and even now that I'm confidently out, I still feel that religious shame that I was brought up. That's probably why I still had a cross above my bed. So I know this is why he would use a headless profile. Plus, his pic looked real enough. You can always tell if it's like a stock photo, right? His looked like it was taken in a bedroom. In fact, it actually seemed familiar. The neighborhood I lived in was LGBTQ+ friendly. My buddy Aaron lived a few houses down. The poster in Mr. Headless' profile photo looks distinctly like the poster in Aaron's brother's room, down to the creases and tears. I guess Aaron and I were right. John really is bi-curious.

Should I go through with this? What if this makes things messy between me and Aaron? He was one of the first friends I made when I moved here, and we don't play that hookup game.

Screw it. Why am I setting up these arbitrary rules for myself. It's just a hookup, right? And it's not like I'm sleeping with Aaron, I'd be sleeping with John. You know what? I'm blowing this whole thing out of proportion. I have John's number.

"Hey John," I texted. Just then, I got a notification from the dating app. It was Headless.

"Hey," he typed. Then, he followed up with "?", and then "What's up?"

So it is John. A smile crept up on my face as I felt myself getting excited. Except. I looked at John's profile and saw that he was closer. Earlier, he was five houses down. Now he's two houses down, and his profile picture changed. He still appeared as he did in the last photo but it's still a headless profile. It was him standing shirtless, in jeans. From the shoulders up, he's obscured by the bright light of the street lamp. Overexposed photo?

I know where the shot was taken. It's the street lamp that's two houses down. I think I can see it from window.

KNOCK
KNOCK
KNOCK

That was my front door! He's here already? I was about to get up when my phone buzzed.

"Don't move," John said through the app. "I'm coming up"

I sat there on the bed, unsure of what to do. I don't even know if there's any etiquette for this or whatever. Wait, how will he get in if the door is locked? Before I could think another thought, I heard the front door unlock. The door opened, and in came heavy footsteps. Like the person coming in had heavy boots. No word was said. I couldn't even say a word. The steps sounded close. Closer. Then I heard the steps creak. Someone was coming up. Closer. The closer he got, the slower and heavier his steps became. And then he was standing there, in the doorway to my bedroom. He appeared like he did on the app. He was headless.

---

Jimmy's phone buzzed. It was the dating app that he used for hookups.

"Dtf?" a headless profile asked.

Jimmy doesn't usually go for headless profiles but this one had an amazing body. And unlike those obvious stock photos he's seen before, this one looked real. Then, Jimmy saw something that probably gives the headless profile any sense. A lot of religious people are low-key. The cross above the bed in the profile photo gives him the confirmation he needs.