Some connections don't arrive loudly. They don't need labels, explanations, or turning points. This is a story about staying close-about long hugs, shared silence, and choosing comfort without questioning it. Between busy days, quiet rooms, and moments no one else notices, Charlie Bushnell and Walker Scobell build something steady and unspoken: a bond rooted in trust, gentleness, and presence. This isn't a love story. It's something softer. A bromance that doesn't ask for more-because it's already enough. --- Author's Note This story is about softness. It's about male closeness without tension, affection without escalation, and connection without labels. There is no romance here-only care, presence, and trust. Please read this as it's meant to be read: slowly. Kindness only. This story centers platonic intimacy-please respect the genre and the tone. Thank you for choosing gentleness. 🤍

Ollie Ashcroft has always worn his emotions where everyone can see them. At sixteen, his eyes change colour with every feeling - fear, sadness, joy, overwhelm - betraying him long before he can find the words. In a world that asks him to be quieter, calmer, less, Ollie learns to survive by shrinking. Then Elliot Mercer transfers from Canada. Eli doesn't stare. He doesn't ask Ollie to explain himself. He simply stays - steady, observant, and unafraid of what Ollie's eyes reveal. What begins as shared silence grows into something quieter and deeper than either of them expected. As Ollie learns that calm doesn't have to be earned - and Eli learns that love doesn't mean rescuing - they're forced to confront what it means to choose each other without losing themselves. Set in the late 1990s, The Colour of Staying is a slow-burn coming-of-age story about emotional truth, gentle love, and the bravery it takes to remain present - even when leaving might be easier. Trigger Warnings / Content Notes * Emotional overwhelm * Anxiety and panic responses * Sensory overload * Themes of mental health and emotional vulnerability * Discussions of homesickness and change *(No sexual content. All romance is PG-13.)* This is a quiet story. There are no grand declarations here - just moments of choosing to stay, again and again. The Colour of Staying is about emotional honesty without spectacle, love without urgency, and learning that calm doesn't mean empty. Please read gently. Please comment kindly. This story is PG-13 and centred on emotional growth, not explicit content. If you're here for softness, steadiness, and slow-burn connection - you're in the right place. 🤍

They don't mean to stand this close. It just keeps happening. A glance held too long. A shoulder brushing without apology. Silence that says more than words ever could. Jacob notices first - the space shrinking, the quiet tension, the way proximity starts to feel deliberate instead of accidental. Zach doesn't ask questions. He doesn't rush. He just stays. Nothing is named. Nothing is taken. Everything is felt. Standing Too Close on Purpose is a slow-burn story about restraint, awareness, and the quiet gravity of two people learning how close they're willing to stand - even when they're not ready to say why. TRIGGER WARNINGS * Emotional slow burn * Prolonged unresolved tension * Intimacy through proximity and restraint * Touch-adjacent scenes (PG-13) * Quiet emotional conflict (No explicit sexual content) AUTHOR'S NOTE This story lives in the space before anything happens. It's about restraint, about noticing, about choosing not to cross a line even when you could. Touch is minimal. Silence matters. Proximity carries weight. If you're looking for instant payoff, this isn't that story. If you're looking for slow tension, quiet intimacy, and moments that linger longer than they should - welcome. Please be respectful in the comments. No pressure for escalation. Let the stillness speak. Thank you for reading.

When Nick Nelson transfers schools, he expects new classes, new people, maybe a fresh start. He does not expect Charlie Spring. Charlie is quiet, strange, and keeps his distance like he's afraid of something. He never eats lunch. He never gets cold. And sometimes, when Nick is close, Charlie looks like he's fighting something inside himself. Charlie has survived centuries by following rules: don't get attached, don't lose control, and never fall in love with a human. Nick doesn't know the rules. Nick doesn't know what Charlie is. But he knows how Charlie makes him feel - safe, seen, chosen. Some love stories begin with a kiss. This one begins with a heartbeat that shouldn't exist... and ends with a choice that changes everything. Trigger Warnings Graphic violence (vampire attack) Blood and feeding Loss of control Near-death experience Emotional distress Grief and trauma Death (implied / staged) Immortality themes This is Book One of How to Date Your Vampire Boyfriend (and Not Die). This story is a Heartstopper AU with original vampire lore. It's a slow burn, character-driven romance focused on love, choice, and the cost of immortality. Each book in this series is designed to be read on its own while building toward a larger story. Please mind the trigger warnings, and thank you for trusting me with these boys.

Some names are easy. Some names are chosen. Some names are never meant to be spoken until everything is ready to change. Rowan Hale believes that language is intimacy - that the words you use can keep someone close or push them quietly away. Lucas Whitaker doesn't think much about names at all, until he realises there are some he's afraid to say, and one boy he's terrified of losing. Set over the slow shift from summer into autumn, *What We Called Each Other* is a soft, slow-burn boys' love story about proximity, silence, and the weight carried by the things left unsaid. Through borrowed clothes, shared nights, and the careful shelter of nicknames, Rowan and Lucas learn how closeness can exist long before it's named - and how one word, spoken at the wrong moment, can change everything. This is a story about almosts and accidents. About learning when language becomes truth. And about how sometimes, love begins not with what you say - but with what you dare to call each other when it finally matters. Trigger Warnings / Content Notes * Gender dysphoria (non-graphic, internal) * Miscommunication * Emotional vulnerability * Fear of rejection * Mild internalised anxiety (No explicit sexual content. Romance remains tender, emotional, and PG-13.) Transphobia, misgendering, or debates about trans people's legitimacy will be deleted. This space is for respectful discussion only.