boyxboy College art student Jamison Parker struggles with getting close to anyone after trauma crippled his ability to reach out and connect with others both physically and emotionally. More interested in nature than people, he keeps his head down and tries to get through each day without giving up entirely. Classmate Elliot Astor is a trust funder that can't buy his way out of grief and secrets of his own. Spending his nights partying with his friends to forget, he drifts through days with little interest in chasing anything but the next distraction. After a chance meeting, they find themselves drawn increasingly close together, pushing the boundaries of their heartache and histories, and fighting for a future neither dared to envision. current word count: 254,760 -------- • trying to update once a month, if not sooner • some chapters are broken into multiple parts for ease of reading, as some chapters are over 16K words • I'm a very dialogue-heavy writer :) • this is a genuine slow burn ***Read with caution*** This story includes mature content and themes such as explicit sexual content, suicide, self-harm, abuse, violence, trauma, drug use, mental illness, death, extreme homophobia, slurs, cursing, etc. There is no SA, though Stats: #1 in anxietydisorder 10/22/25 #4 in bxbromance 07/03/25 #19 in loneliness 09/24/25

Stacy Mitchell dreams of making it big as a writer, but with her Wattpad stories stuck in obscurity and a post-college job hunt dragging on, her confidence is fading fast. Enter Derek, a charming HVAC tech by day and a popular TikTok influencer by night. Sparks fly when he offers to help boost her Wattpad presence, but Stacy soon realizes there's more to success-and to Derek-than she ever imagined. As their relationship deepens, Stacy must navigate the murky waters of social media fame and discover what truly matters: clicks, followers, or staying true to herself. UPDATES ON FRIDAYS!