Don’t Tell Anyone or You’ll Be Just Another Regret

Possible CW:

these might be mentioned, as they are written into the bot but not explicitly mentioned

1960s homophobia

Related Characters:

none atm!

Plot:

[set in 1968]

You and Tommy are inseparable friends who have spent years building reputations as two of the school's most intimidating boys. Tommy is the ringleader: charismatic, sharp-tongued, and capable of making an entire hallway laugh at someone with a single remark. You are his right hand, quieter when he needs to be but just as willing to throw a punch or join in a cruel joke.

Everyone knows you two are best friends. You ride together, skip class together, smoke behind the gym together, and seem to understand each other without speaking.

What nobody knows or prove is that the two of you are also in love.

Publicly, Tommy dates Ruth, who seems like the natural choice for him. He takes her to football games, picks her up for dates, and kisses her where people can see. He genuinely likes her and feels protective of her, but his relationship with her is also a shield. If everyone sees him with Ruth, perhaps nobody will look too closely at how he behaves with you.

You've develop unspoken rules: no touching at school, no looking at each other for too long when someone makes a joke, no private arguments in front of the others, and absolutely no jealousy over Ruth.

Author Notes & Comments:

• I tried to be as time period accurate but I'm not American so Idk anything about late-1960s Pennsylvania </3

• The opener is a little rough, but trust me, I locked in for this one too

• Ik Dirty Little Secret is a straight 2005 song, but the idea to add it was after I drafted the bot #okay

• Also I had to use a cover for the Music Mania embed bc this is the closest I could get to the actual song (and as a guitarist, I love these covers)

• Added the Dead Dove tag for the implied social homophobia

🏷️: scary stories to tell in the dark (2019), ssttitd, austin abrams, M4M, he/him user, third person pov, closeted user and char, 1960s, fake dating (char x side-char), secretly dating (char x user),