I met my boyfriend on Reddit

You’ve heard of Tinder and Grindr, but have you ever heard of anyone finding love on a ‘gaybros’ Reddit thread?

It all started when Nate (not his real name) posted his details on a Reddit thread called Me Monday.

‘It’s this weekly thread on the gaybros subreddit,’ Nate explained. ‘It asks for some basic information, including a photo and social media links if one is so inclined to share.’

Basically, gay men post details like their name, age, location, social media links and one interesting thing that happened to them that week.

Nate posted: ‘[I] spent the majority of the week on the beach in Tenerife. Life ain’t half bad. Although the hostels weren’t anywhere near as social as I hoped they would be.’

The post then caught the attention of Phil, a 27-year-old television lighting technician from London.

Phil immediately began following Nate on Instagram and he followed straight back.

‘I remember clicking through to your Insta and being taken by how handsome you were,’ Phil recalls. ‘You had me hooked and double clickin’ pics left, right and centre.’

He added: ‘[I] couldn’t believe my luck you were in London.’

Porridge: A love story

After about a week of lurking on each other’s Instagram stories, one particular story about porridge caught Nate’s eye.

Nate explains: ‘He posted a series of stories about porridge, of all things – [I] think he threw together a new flavour combo or something.

‘His first story was him all excited and the second was saying how bad it tasted.’

He added: ‘[I] thought that was funny, and I replied: “What a rollercoaster of emotions that was.”‘

Phil replied the next day and it snowballed from there, moving the conversation to WhatsApp within a few hours.

But trying to actually meet up couldn’t have come at a more inconvenient time.

The day after they properly started talking, Nate was heading home for the holiday season for a week. And then Phil was off to Miami for 10 days with friends after that.

But they managed to squeeze in a date in-between.

‘We had our first date between holidays as soon as I got back,’ Nate said. ‘But we had a very lovely first date at a great pub in London by the Thames.’

He added: ‘We spent a good five hours together, although remained quite virginal – not even a goodnight kiss!’

Then Phil went off to Florida.

Nate said: ‘We ended up texting literally every single day – a streak we still haven’t broken, six months later.’

‘He makes me happy, pure and simple’

The pair went on a second date when Phil came back from the States and then a third date soon after.

On their third date, Nate joked: ‘I invited him over and cooked for him. My cooking was obviously so great I couldn’t get rid of him since.’

The cute couple made it official and have been taking it nice and slow ever since.

Nate jokes: ‘We didn’t even sleep together until the third date (*cough* my cooking skills *cough*)’

During this time, they went on a romantic long weekend away during the Easter holiday and have trips to Thailand and Edinburgh Fringe coming up.

Nate said: ‘Also, judging by the amounts of hints he’s dropped, think I’ll be meeting the parents fairly soon.’

They’ve also said the big ‘L’ word.

Nate said his type is a male version of Phoebe from Friends and that’s exactly what he sees in Phil.

‘I wanted someone sort of kooky and full of wonder and up for anything,’ he said. ‘I cannot tell you how many times Phil’s made me laugh out loud in real life.

‘And I’m not the sort of person to laugh out loud at a text.

‘He makes me happy, pure and simple,’ he said.

‘Thanks gaybros, we owe you one!’

The couple took to the gaybros Reddit thread to update the group. Nate wrote in the title: ‘It all started on gaybros. Here we are six months later.’

He said in the comments: ‘Fast forward to six months later, and here we are, totally in love.

‘Thanks, gaybros! We owe you one,’ he wrote.

On finding someone special, Nate said it’s important not to put too much pressure on yourself.

‘Previously, I’d jumped into relationships, cause maybe I thought I should lock that shit down before they get bored or something,’ he said.

‘[As] corny and annoying as it sounds, don’t be looking to meet your man – not on Reddit, not on The Apps(tm), not anywhere.

‘The amount of pressure and expectation you put on yourself and your potential beau, surely that ain’t healthy for a potensh relationship.

‘Just let whatever happens happen organically, embrace it, and be prepared to let go of what isn’t happening,’ he said.

Want your own Reddit love story? You can post on Me Monday today!

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You can follow Nate and Phil on Instagram.

See also:

Gay and bi men hilariously reveal their worst marriage proposals

This adorable dad asked Reddit how to connect with his drag-loving son