[B4T] A romance from the 1990s (longterm, very slow build, story centered literary roleplay)

Hello, guys.

Picture this: a bus rattling over uneven pavement as the city lights bleed through scratched bus windows after a day at work at a shitty job, a forehead resting against cool glass while Dreams by The Cranberries floods our hero's ears through his Discman in that bright, aching way it does. The world outside moves in slow motion: telephone poles ticking past like a metronome, a basketball hoop silhouetted against the sinking sun, someone's laundry snapping on a line in a backyard they'll never see again... Cool, right?

So, is it any wonder that I’m looking for a writing partner who wants to step back into the late 90s with me?

Online conversations after midnight on a dial-up connection, the glow of a CRT television playing reruns of My So-Called Life, and the quiet rebellion of two guys falling in love in a world in which "That's so gay" is substitute for "That's so lame" and "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is the policy not just in the military. So yeah, I'm craving a story steeped in atmosphere. Think flannel shirts, the height of Abercrombie and Fitch and mixtapes with carefully chosen tracks from Nirvana, Oasis, and The Smashing Pumpkins.

I want angst. I want longing. I want stolen glances in a hallway and the panic of almost-touching hands. Maybe they're former best friends meeting again as adults. Maybe they're workplace rivals. But I want the very discovery of our guys' romantic orientation as men from that era navigating life to be part of this. The 90s weren't polished. They were messy, tender, uncertain, and that's exactly the energy I want. Emotional slow burn. Identity struggles. Internalized fear. First actual love and not just pretense that feels like it might ruin them.

I write in third person, multi-paragraph responses and I love collaborative plotting. I want us to build the soundtrack, the wardrobe, the setting and everything else, planning every detail. Most of all, I want a romance that earns its softness. That aches before it heals. That captures what it felt like to grow up queer in a decade balanced between silence and change.

As for kinks, I'm very enthusiastic about those like domination/submission, teasing, public play, light hazing, bromance, characters that identify as straight before getting involved with one another, and the dynamics that are specific to dom/sub relationships, particularly certain forms of dom worship (which might include voyeurism/exhibitionism, body/muscle worship, and other displays of devotion from the submissive character). Of course, our characters would both be over 18. Also, limits include gore, vore and huge age gaps.

So, shall we rewind the tape and press play?