The Creators of SlayTV on Finding Love at First Night

Sean Torrington, Co-creator, Slay.TV

We met on a beautiful summer night in 2010, when I was invited to a house party in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. I was on the prowl looking for someone to call my lover. I told all my friends that I was gonna find my boyfriend that night. Suddenly, Terry storms the party with these pretty white teeth. As I was lurking in the darkness, watching him drink beer after beer, I decided it was time to make my move. He couldn't resist my charm, so I got his number, and the rest is history.

For our first date, we went to Cafeteria in Chelsea. He told me he had never been before, so I knew he would think I was fancy or whatever. After that date I knew we would be legendary lovers. We had so much in common.

We're still trying to figure out how to balance our professional and personal lives. We separate business from personal by not bringing or talking about work in the bedroom. That is our sanctuary. I also meditate before looking at my phone in the morning. I used to wake up and the first thing I would do was check my emails. Now I ground myself before engaging in anything work-related.

With the series Love @ First Nightand Slay.TV, our mission is to accelerate acceptance of the LGBTQ community by not only normalizing same-sex relationships, but humanizing our experiences in all our relationships. I think people tend to forget that we're more than who we're intimate with. We have family issues, we have personal issues, and we have relationship issues just like everyone else.

Terry Torrington, Co-creator, Slay.TV
We met at a random house party -- I don't even know whose house -- and I was in the kitchen getting drinks when I saw Sean walk in. His smile caught my eyes. A few drinks later I'm on the dance floor and I get a tap on my shoulder from my friend Mush, who introduces us. We exchanged numbers, and the next day we went on a date. We've been pretty inseparable since then.

Our first kiss happened on our second date when we went to see Shrek the Third. Now, I'm not the type to do things in theaters -- that was never my thing -- but it was super romantic and I remember his lips felt like the softest place on earth. They still do.

I think we're at a place where creating our dreams and helping each other succeed is how we express love to each other. Love @ First Night is very, very loosely based on our relationship, but with it we're trying to change the conversation around black queer love, especially when it comes to the media. Like, we're pretty fucking normal -- our issues are not that unique, and we're deserving of love. Love @ First Night is just one of many stories within our community that should be told. This is for my 19-year-old self, who needed to see it.

The most challenging thing in our relationship is communication. I'm often misunderstood, which can be frustrating. The most rewarding thing is growing and creating a life with someone I love, someone I cherish. It's about those little wins we get to celebrate with each other, visualizing our future together, and working towards it.

Photography: Menelik Puryear