People have gone viral on TikTok for a million different reasons. From someone like Jools Lebron creating the “demure” trend to gay diver Tom Daley and his thirst traps to people listening to Chappell Roan for the very first time, there is a viral video for everyone.
But for two hot gay men, their viral fame came from a cute video of them having a little subway flirt sesh that scored them millions of views.
The popular TikTok video features actor and model Garrett Swann exchanging smiles, winks and knowing looks from across a subway car with Bennett Chin, who works to fight climate change in his day job by helping companies reduce their emissions.
But the cutest part of the now-viral video? The two smoking hot men are married in real life!
The pair, who have been together for a little over five years, met when Swann slid into Chin’s DMs. They quickly started dating and then tied the knot after only knowing each other for a year. “We were total lesbians,” Swann jokes while speaking to PRIDE.
The couple’s flirty little video has quickly attracted an overwhelming amount of attention. The original TikTok was posted less than a week ago and already has over 1 million views at the time of publication. It has also been reposted multiple times on other social media platforms, where it has garnered more than 11 million views.
Swann seems at ease with the couple’s newfound fame, likely because his career has been putting him in the limelight foryears, but Chin is a little wearier. “It’s like I’m in a weird TV show, and I don’t know that I’m on it. So it’s a little surreal,” Chin explains.
Courtesy of Bennett Chin (Instagram @bebetter_tryharder)
Of course, there are the normal internet detractors and homophobes, but the response to their TikTok has mainly been positive. Their comment section has been flooded by people who love the cute couple, calling Swann “daddy” — he’s not a huge fan and would rather be called “Guncle” aka Gay Uncle — and fans obsessed with how hot the two men are.
“I’ve had more butt shots and penis pictures sent my way over the years than I need,” Swann says, adding that while he “appreciates the love” and finds it funny, he doesn’t “need a library” full of dick pics.
People who have discovered that the flirty guys in the video are actually married have also commented on their age-gap relationship. Swann, the silver fox member of the couple, is 18 years older than Chin, who is 37. Swann jokes that Chin was his “graduation present” because he was born the very same week his now-husband graduated from high school.
Courtesy of Garrett Swann (Instagram @thegarrettswann)
“People were saying, ‘Oh, you’re that typical older guy and younger Asian man,’ and I was like, ‘So, Ben is just an amazing human being.’ Ben was the first person I found in my life who understood me, and I understood him, and we just had a lot in common,” Swann says. “It was the easiest relationship.”
Swanns TikTok account is full of fashion content and funny videos of the adorable couple, but they are also both partial to posting drool-worthy thirst traps — including countless shirtless pics and shots of them in their underwear or tiny swimsuits, which is fitting considering Swann co-founded an underwear brand for men called ALPHX.
“At home, we typically just don’t wear a shirt, so I don’t think it’s always intentional,” Chin says. “We have the benefit of traveling a lot also, so we just typically find ourselves in situations where we just don’t wear shirts very often.” Swann adds that his motto is “Have a swimsuit, will travel.”
Courtesy of Bennett Chin (Instagram @bebetter_tryharder)
Swann says that while many of his videos are silly and fun, he hopes that seeing a gay couple be loving and happy positively impacts the world. “I just want to be a human being,” he explains. “My sexual identity is just a portion of who I am and a portion of what our relationship is. We’re just human beings who love each other.”
Chin says he tries to have “gratitude in the little moment” and appreciates that “just us winking at each other has made people happy.”
