In this post:
Story recap refreshers:
It was a chilly but sunny day in Malibu, though Matthew Forrester and Garfield OโBannon seemed unaffected by it, with or without the cameras.
“We were small-town kids,” Garfield, or Gar, elbowed Matt. Both born and raised in Pierre, South Dakota, a farming community.
“We met in first grade,” Matt said. “My mom showed me a picture of us once. We were so skinny, boney-knees and all.”
I asked Matt if he still had the photo. He shook his head. “One of the biggest regrets I have is not taking any mementos from my old house in Pierre when I left after graduation. And they were all gone when I came back years later.”
The Matt and Gar sitting across me on one of the benches overlooking the El Matador State Beach was a far cry from thin kids in South Dakota. In movies, they’d both be men who’d bully those who donโt quite fit, collect trophies on and off the fields.
But life isn’t the movies.
“It was in tenth grade,” Gar reminisced. “Matt was still a twig. A buck ten at the most. His face was more pimple than, well… a face.”
Matt shoved Gar, both men laughed in that hearty, almost annoyingly masculine way.
“That still didnโt stop him from taking on three older boys after theyโd called a girl the d-word for gay women and shoved her around.”
“That was the only time my dad was ever proud of me,” Matt pursed his lips.
For standing up for a girl?
“No,” Matt said. “For beating other kids.”
Matt was almost expelled, but his grades were too good and other students were in his corner. The principal made him help the custodian clean the school after class for three months, even with his black eyes and swollen hands. The bullies hovered close, but kept their distance, unlike the girls.
“And thus began our journey to bulking up,” Gar rubbed Matt’s back. “Silver lining.”
“That was also around the time when I knew for sure I was gay: I kissed a girl and I hated it.” Matt chuckled. “Sorry, Katy Perry.”
Matt wasn’t a particularly feminine kid. But he was emotionally sensitive, which his dad didn’t appreciate.
“I don’t know how I didn’t grow up having internalized homophobia,” Matt scoffed, but admitted he still had trouble relaying emotions.
Gar’s awakening, on the other hand, didn’t come until later.
They parted ways after high school. Gar joined the Army, enlisting in a hybrid infantry-engineer program. He trained at Fort Benning, learning the discipline of frontline combat, but also rotated through engineering exercises: building fortifications, clearing obstacles, juggling logistics like a madman. It was both exhausting and rewarding.
“We were cadets, doing drills,” Gar giggled, a mischievous delight sparking in his eyes. “There was this senior sergeantโone of those guys whose neck veins looked like heโd swallowed a bunch of cables. He tried to teach us to parachute from a truck and nearly fell off himself. Someone snorted, and before we knew it, none of us could stop laughing. It was totally worth the five-mile run with rucksacks.”
Deployments sent him through US training grounds and across various continents, where every day was a mix of adrenaline, drills, and banter. He thrived on the camaraderie, on the kind of teamwork that either made or broke you. But there was another challenge: Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was already in effect when he enlisted in 1998 and he had to keep his sexuality under wraps.
So why did he still enlist anyway, I asked.
“It’s clichรฉ, but… I wanted to see the world. And as someone who grew up in a place like Pierre, it seemed like the only option available.”
Gar did see the world, but it was a Tom of Finland poster at a bar in Berlin that changed his life.
“It wasn’t even a gay bar. But those men in the poster were… Virile. Their muscles and bulges almost tearing through their clothes. It stayed with me even after going back to Bosnia.”
From then on, he couldnโt ignore how central his sexuality had become to who he was.
“I loved the Army. I still do. I have a deep appreciation for those who serve. But back then, a tiny rumor of you being gay could make you lose your career. I didnโt have to flaunt my sexuality. Why should I? It doesn’t have anything to do with life in the barracks or anywhere you work. But when other male soldiers could talk freely about their girlfriends, their wives, or any women theyโd slept with, I should’ve been able to say the same and not worry about losing my pension.โ
Matt was one of the few people Gar wrote to during his deployment, and the person he confided in about him wanting to leave the Army because of his sexuality.
“He told me about his adventures. Kosovo, Kuwait… And I was fretting in the US like I was his boyfriend,” Matt beamed at Gar. “That was another reason why I supported his retirement.”
“I don’t want to date myself, but we were so glad that emails and texts were invented. No more waiting for snail mail for us,” Gar chuckled.
In 2005, Gar considered leaving the Army. A year later, he was honorably discharged. He was Staff Sergeant.
Matt was already settled in Los Angeles when Gar retired from service. After high school, Matt took vocational training in construction and started out in masonry, eventually rising to structural concrete foreman at one of LAโs leading construction companies.
Gar returned to South Dakota, spending twelve months earning certifications in personal training and bodybuilding coaching before working his way up to head trainer at a chain gym in Sioux Fallsโlarger, busier, and a world away from Pierre.
Matt’s father’s passing in 2011 was a turning point not just for Matt but also for Gar.
“Dad and I never really reconnected even when I went home to spend the last two months of his life with him,” Matt looked away. “He was still as bitter as the day Mom died when I was ten, and still resentful that I’d left him alone in Pierre to fester.”
“Wasn’t your fault.” Gar squeezed Matt’s broad shoulder.
“I know. Still.”
“When I came to Matt’s dad’s funeral, we finally saw each other after maybe five years of sporadic texting,” Gar said. “We shot the breeze like no time had passed between us.”
Gar helped Matt sell the ranch, and he joined Matt in LA to start his career in the health industry. “I was more emotional about losing the ranch than Matt was.”
“Dad left the property to me. He didn’t have anyone else, so I guess he didn’t have a choice. There was still a significant chunk of money after all the taxes and hospital bills, and I decided to launch BILT a year later.”
Years of working in construction helped Matt spot a market still largely untapped, even in California. BILT was one of the first construction companies that championed green technology.
“We start from practical and relatively small things like building accessible compost areas and efficient insulation to help regulate indoor temperature, to more sophisticated measures like planning gray-water irrigation systems and designing dedicated spaces for solar panels.”
Mattโs explanation sounded like a pitch, though he credits most of the know-how to his younger business partner, Brandon Jackson, the CEO of BILT, while heโs perfectly happy running the company behind the scenes as COO.
As BILT was cementing its reputation, Gar opened Garโs Gym in 2018, seven years after moving to Los Angeles. It quickly became a fixture in the Glendale area, a melting pot of yuppies, creatives, college students, full-time moms, and Garโs leather buddies.
“Matt was hands-on in turning the space into a legit gym,โ Gar said. “Around then, he mentioned heโd just started dating a graphic designer. Next thing I knew, the logo was done, the brand identity fell into place, the social media was running, the website was up and ready for online sign-ups. That was Chrissy. All of it. I said to Matt, ‘Boy’s a keeper.'”
To Matt, his dadโs grip on his emotions wasโand still isโstrong. That tension surfaced when Gar heaped praises on Matt’s former fiancรฉ of seven years, Christopher Fields, or Chrissy. For a brief moment, his eyes lit up.
I asked him about the video involving Chrissy that went viral last summer. It was a blip to the world, but a blight to those caught in itโdamaging enough that BILT issued a statement.
“It wasnโt fun, but we did what we had to do.” Matt swallowed and looked at me squarelyโequal parts pleading for me to believe him and signaling he wanted to move on.
Over the course of the day, I noticed his tell: his Adamโs apple. He swallowed when he was nervous, and it always gave him away. Something bubbled beneath the surface, hot like molten lavaโjust contained enough not to erupt.
“Those two weeks were challenging, both personally and professionally. It was overwhelming. The bad reviews hit fast, and for a moment, it felt like the floor had dropped out from under us. But something unexpected happened at the same timeโreal clients, vendors, suppliers, they started posting their experiences. Without us asking. They justโฆ showed up for us. It meant a lot. It reminded me why we built the company in the first place.”
I asked Gar if he was worried that the same campaign that had targeted BILT would also affect him, but he shook his head firmly.
“Look, I made it through deployments. I made it through DADT. I made it through the lockdown. If people want to tank my review page because Iโm friends with Matt or because Matt loved someone they think is a villain? Iโll live.”
But he didn’t stop there.
“For whatever reason, I cannot think of a single line from Rocky or Rambo. But wisdom comes from all sorts of places, and this is from Legally Blonde. All that pink reminds me of Chrissy and he used to say this quote all the time to push himself during bootcamp: โExercise gives you endorphins, endorphins make you happyโand happy people donโt spend their lunch breaks review-bombing a strangerโs business.โ Of course, Iโm paraphrasing.”
I glanced at Matt just in time to catch a faint smile flicker across his face.
Ultimately, BILT never really suffered from the review bombs. They had years of solid reputation. The fake reviews were removed, and the glowing, truthful ones stayed. The board was happy, the employees relieved. They were shortlisted for the prestigious Best in Doll Living Award in the Sustainable Residential Construction category (at the time of publishing this article, BILT is now a finalist). And Matt, it seemed, was more than ready to put that incident behind.
“I’m… exploring something meaningful with someone,โ Matt said when I asked how he was doing these days.
“They met at my gym, actually,โ Gar said. There was no flourish to it, no grinโjust a careful offering of fact. No more than a footnote.
“Garโs still very much eligible,โ Matt added, elbowing him.
“Single,โ Gar’s cheekiness returned, “but not ready to mingle.โ
Malibu turned golden. Dusk was approaching. The photographer told me that it was time for their final look. The two men changed into their swim trunks, posing and flexing as the cold water lapped at their muscular calves.
Just before the winter sun dipped in the horizon, Gar dared Matt to take a full plunge. Matt pushed Gar into the water and followed after him. The crew laughed with them.
For a moment, they werenโt men in their mid-forties with hulking, imposing silhouettes. They were just school kids who had left the second-smallest city in the US and carved a name for themselves in the countryโs second-biggest city.
Complete photos:
Matt: Shirt by Hot Toys; trousers by MC Toys; hat model’s own with accessory by Dollsexposed; swimsuit, bolo tie, belt, beaded bracelet by Dollsexposed.
Gar: Boots by Hot Toys; gloves by VTS Toys; trousers by MC Toys; spurs and peak cap model’s own, modified and accessorized by Dollsexposed; turtle neck, harness, swimsuit by Dollsexposed.
Shot on location at El Matador State Beach, Malibu, CA.
Hey, you gorgeous thing!
Keeping this space sizzling for free isnโt easy (think: hosting costs, doll accessories, and lubeโlots and lots of lube).
But we realized itโs almost impossible to keep going without your help. And we get itโtimes are tough, so any support you can offer means the world.
If weโve made you horny, laugh, cum, or feel something special, why not give a little love back? ๐
Every donation keeps the smut (and culture) goingโand trust us, at this point in our lives, weโre so grateful we’re able to produce this content regularly.
Thanks. You’re a doll. ๐
Dollsexposed showcases homoerotica and kink through twelve-inch doll photography. Their adventures in the doll world began in 2011 before establishing a home on dollsexposed.com eleven years later.
Dollsexposed's works have been displayed at the Seattle Erotic Art Festival, Los Angeles Kinky Art Show, and Los Angeles Leather Getaway.
If you enjoy this site, please consider tipping to keep the website afloat.