In May, after a little encouragement from some of his followers, Brayden started an account on OnlyFans, the subscription platform that allows creators to charge for photos and videos, notably explicit ones-a kind of Patreon of porn. Yet his foray into performing online opened his mind to certain new possibilities. He was earning around $2,000 a month, which was enough to make rent, but Twitch involved streaming himself playing video games for seven or eight hours every day. He turned to Twitch, the livestreaming platform popular with gamers, and he began selling merch-sweatshirts and hats with little weed jokes screen-printed on them. When the place reopened, it felt unsafe, and he made up his mind not to go back-even though he wasn't quite sure what else he'd do. The coronavirus pandemic temporarily shuttered the bar. Then, last March, Brayden's circumstances grew even more precarious.
