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rainbowfic2026-02-11 03:47 pm
paradoxcase) wrote in rainbowfic2026-02-11 03:47 pm
Warm Heart #25 [Tales From the Neighborhood]
Name: First Kiss
Story: Tales From the Neighborhood
Plot Thread: Singularity
Colors: Warm Heart #25: Spite
Styles and Supplies: Gesso, Silhouette, Life Drawing, Tempera ("Seven of cups is the card for day dreaming, illusions, wishful thinking, and fantasies. This card usually shows up when you have plenty of choices and need a vision to make them a reality. This card prompts you to prioritize your values and goals, and differentiate between what is truly important to you and what merely appears enticing in the moment. It serves as a gentle warning not to lose yourself in a maze of illusions and distractions."), Oils ("I wish I had your confidence."), Stain ("Treasure your relationships, not your possessions." - Anthony J. D'Angelo)
Word Count: 2405
Rating: PG
Warnings: Teenagers (Also, there is another trans character in here who is being misgendered/deadnamed due to not having figured out they are trans yet. However, since they don't actually figure themselves out during the course of this piece, which character it is will remain a mystery for the time being.)
Characters: Garrett Thomas, Benjamin Thomas, Casey Hanby, Victor Thomas, Matilda Bren
Summary: Garrett and Benjamin make a bet.
Notes: The full name of this plot thread is a slight spoiler at the moment, so for now it will just be known as "Singularity". This is related to the Grant/Scott/William plotline in that it is partly about Grant and Scott's younger relatives (see the Sim Notes for how all these guys are related), and I'll be leapfrogging these two plotlines for a little bit. One other thing to note here is that these are supposed to be fairly young teenagers at this stage in the plotline, but I wasn't really thinking about whether they'd be able to drive yet or not, since Sims teens can all drive as soon as they age up from children. So please just imagine that the driving age in Sim World is like 13 or something.
It was Saturday night. Downtown, at LuLu, the under-eighteen club, Garrett’s friends would be out dancing and drinking juice and pushing each other into the hot tub, and for once, Garrett might get to do that with them. His dads had reluctantly allowed him and Benjamin the use of the car for the evening. The trick now was just to convince Benjamin that LuLu was a better option than whatever was playing at the theater.
“What is so great about this show, anyway?” Garrett asked, as they walked out to the car.
“It’s a musical! There are world-famous dancers in it.” Benjamin seemed off in his own world.
“Why watch some dancers when you could be doing the dancing yourself?”
Benjamin frowned at him, and then walked around to the driver’s side. “You know nobody we know actually knows how to dance, right?”
“So? Who cares? That’s not the point.” Garrett stopped outside the open car door and put his hands on the roof of the car, watching Benjamin look at him from the driver’s seat. He wasn’t getting in until Benjamin agreed to take them to LuLu. It wasn’t fair; Dad could have given him the keys. Benjamin was maybe a month older than he was, and for most purposes people considered them twins who just looked nothing alike and shared no DNA. But it seemed like their fathers never forgot about that one month of age difference.
“Are you getting in, or not?” demanded Benjamin.
“If we go to LuLu, you might be able to meet a girl,” said Garrett, trying a new tack. “I bet you’re not going to do that at a play, right?”
Something in Benjamin’s face twitched beneath his black hair. “You bet?”
“Yeah, I bet,” said Garrett, scenting the offered challenge. “I bet that if we go to LuLu, I can find someone to kiss me before you find someone to kiss you. And if you drive us to the theater instead, I’ll know that you know I’m right.”
Benjamin’s eyes narrowed. “A girl,” he clarified. “The bet is to find a girl to kiss you.”
Garrett hesitated, then shrugged. “All that’s important is that it’s romantic,” he said. “Agreed?”
“Agreed,” said Benjamin. “Now get in the damn car.”
A little while later, they pulled up to LuLu and bought passes for the evening. It was early, yet; just a few people on the dance floor, a couple at the juice bar, someone looking contemplatively at the dance sphere but not daring to try it yet. Benjamin started talking to a girl who was leaning against the bar, his movements and speech suddenly awkward and ungraceful, as they always became in social situations.
Garrett sat on one of the couches that lined the bar area and looked around for anyone he knew. His eyes passed over a few people who were only acquaintances. Truth be told, he didn’t care that much if he won this bet; he was here now, so he’d already gotten what he wanted out of it. He didn’t need to kiss someone he didn’t actually care for just to show Benjamin up. Probably.
The door banged open and Casey Hanby walked in, arm in arm with Victor Thomas. Garrett smiled. Alright. While Benjamin tried in vain to get some random girl to kiss him, he’d be spending his time with his friends. He got up and walked over to them.
Victor saw him, and waved, and then turned to whisper something in Casey’s ear. Casey looked over at Garrett, and then turned to say something sharply to Victor, breaking away from him in that moment. Victor just shrugged.
Garrett waved back. Victor was family; technically he was their dad Richard’s much younger brother, though he was Garrett and Benjamin’s age and had little to do with many of his much older siblings. Casey had been good friends with all of them since they had been small. Garrett knew he had some sort of thing going on with Victor now, though whatever it was, it wasn’t serious. Garrett got it; Casey may be green, but he was good-looking, too. Benjamin was completely oblivious to it all, of course.
As Garrett approached, Casey rolled his eyes at whatever little argument he was having with Victor and said, “Oh, get out of here,” in a mild, good-natured way. Victor laughed, flashed a smile at Garrett, and headed off towards the dance floor.
Casey’s gaze drifted across to Benjamin at the bar, still trying to talk to the girl, who did not seem impressed. “You got him out of his shell?” he asked. “Good on you. Seems like I never see him here, these days.”
“Got him to make a dumb bet,” said Garrett. “Now he’s trying to get that girl to kiss him, I think.”
Casey grinned. “That doesn’t seem likely,” he said, amused. He turned back to Garrett. “Are you trying to get kissed now, too?”
Garrett shrugged. “I don’t care if I win that, to be honest. Not what I’m here for, really.” He looked across at the dance floor. Still too small a crowd; he’d wait a little bit longer. They went back over to the couch.
Casey’s eyes flicked back over to Benjamin before turning to Garrett again. “You sure? I think it would be fun for us to get one over on him. Don’t you think?” He wore a mischievous expression, now.
It wasn’t a bad thought, by any means, but… “You’re always looking to start some drama,” said Garrett. “I’m the one who has to put up with him later.”
“It’d be fun drama, though, right?” Casey seemed unwilling to let go of the idea, for some reason. “He wouldn’t expect it to be me. It’d be like you pulled an ace out of your sleeve. And you’ve never kissed anyone either, have you? You holding out for someone in particular?”
"Not really. I’ve just been busy with other stuff.”
“Like what?”
“Dad’s been showing me around the electronics store. I got to help him run it last week, it was a blast. We sold the big expensive robot to some rich dude. Those are worth so much money, Casey! And next week, he’ll show me how to make a new one.” And when he did have a night out like tonight, he didn’t want to spend it kissing or chatting up strangers. But Casey probably wouldn’t empathize with that thought.
“But you gotta have the first one eventually, right?” said Casey. “So would you rather it be me, or would you rather try Benjamin’s strategy?” He looked back over at the bar to where Benjamin was; the girl looked like she was trying plot an escape route. “Look,” he continued. “I practically collect boys’ first kisses at this point. I know what’s what.”
Garrett raised an eyebrow. “How many have you collected so far?”
“Well, there was Victor. And Leonard. And…” He stopped, and frowned.
“I don’t think two things counts as a collection.”
Casey fixed him with a more direct look. “It will when I’ve got yours.” He gestured back over to Benjamin again. “And if not, then maybe his.”
“Sorry,” said Garrett, “are you threatening to kiss my brother so that he wins the stupid bet?”
“Well, you don’t seem very interested in winning it.”
Garrett’s mouth twisted. “He’s not winning it,” he said, and then he grabbed Casey and kissed him on the lips.
When Casey kissed him back, it wasn’t what he’d expected, not really. Well— it wasn’t like he hadn’t known he’d wanted this, not really. But didn’t everyone think Casey was hot? It had always felt like just a fact of life to him, not something that needed an immediate resolution. But somehow, this felt different than he’d expected, and now he was starting to reconsider that. Maybe— maybe he’d spend a little less time at the store, and make more time for this.
They pulled apart, and Garrett just looked at him for a bit, not really caring for the moment that he probably looked completely floored.
The mischievous looks were gone from Casey’s face now, and he wore a softer expression when he said, “Victor was right about you, after all. Thought he was bullshitting me.”
“Are you still planning to add Benjamin’s first kiss to your collection?” Garrett asked. The only other thing he could think about now was that this was just another thing that Benjamin was going to find some way to take from him.
Amusement crept back into Casey’s expression. “Oh, nah,” he said. “That was a bunch of bullshit. Not that I’d mind, honestly. But that boy?” He gestured at the bar, without even looking. “He’s straight as a board. Don’t waste time worrying about shit that’s not gonna happen.”
When Benjamin looked over at the couches and saw Garrett kissing Casey, all the energy went out of him at once. Of course Garrett had had some way he was planning to cheat at the bet. This probably wasn’t the first time, was it? They’d probably been secretly dating this whole time and this was just a big joke to him. He’d tricked Benjamin into coming here instead of going to see the ballet, and now he’d won this stupid bet, too, and Benjamin had gotten nothing. Typical. Garrett always got the best stuff. It wasn’t fair.
By the time he looked back, the girl had disappeared, too, but there hadn’t really been any chance they’d hit it off, if he was being honest. He slumped onto one of the bar stools and looked mournfully at the bartender.
She gave him a sympathetic look, and poured him a glass of juice. “What’s got you down?” she asked.
“It’s my brother.” Benjamin gestured back at the couches without turning his head. “He always gets everything, and I get left behind. Even though I’m older.”
“How much older?”
“A month. But still.”
The bartender squinted past him. “I’m going to be real honest with you, I’m not sure which of those boys looks the least like he might be your brother.”
Benjamin sighed. “Garrett’s the redhead. We’re both adopted.”
The bartender smiled. “Ahh, I see. Did you want to kiss the alien boy? When I was your age, I knew a boy who stole away someone I wanted to date, too, his name was Michael, and the boy I wanted was named Archie. Then Archie broke up with Michael anyway, and came back to me all apologetic, but I was too proud and told him to take a hike.” She sighed. “I’ve been regretting that for a long time now. That was the last time a guy ever came to me like that.”
“No, I don’t want to date him,” said Benjamin. “He’s just a friend. But… it’s not fair that Garrett gets someone and I don’t.”
“You’ll find someone,” the bartender said. “As long as you get a day job that’s not running a club full of teenagers, I’m sure you’ll do just fine. See, you weren’t really jealous of what he has, you just need to find something that you want for yourself.”
“There are other things too, though,” said Benjamin. “Like, our dad is giving him his electronics store when he retires. What did Garrett do to earn that?”
The bartender leaned down on her elbows. “Well, let me ask you again. Do you actually want to run the electronics store? Running a business is a lot of work. I can tell you that personally. And all I have to do here is just manage the bar, and pay a couple people minimum wage to play music and mop up spilled juice. Retail sounds like a bitch and a half.”
“I guess it doesn’t sound that great,” admitted Benjamin.
“What do you want to do? If you could do anything.”
Benjamin looked up at her cautiously. “Anything?”
“Anything.”
“Promise you won’t laugh at me?”
She smiled. “Never.”
“I want to be a dancer,” he said. “A real dancer, not,” he gestured over at the dance floor, “whatever they’re doing over there. You know?”
“That sounds so cool,” she said, and maybe she was just putting him on like a lot of adults did, but it really did sound genuine. “Do you know how to do any moves now that you can show me?”
He hesitated, and looked around the area, but it seemed like for the moment, everyone else had cleared out and gone over to the dance floor except for Garrett and Casey, who seemed to be having some really intense conversation with each other and not paying attention to him. “Yeah,” he said, cautiously. “A couple.”
He showed her some of the things he’d learned, and she smiled and laughed and clapped for him. “That’s really good,” she told him. “I think you’ll be famous some day.”
“No I won’t,” said Benjamin, sitting back down and taking the juice again. But he managed to laugh a bit, anyway.
Garrett never did wind up doing any dancing that evening; he spent the time with Casey instead, but that was just fine. Victor joined them for a bit, and then left again. He had no idea what Benjamin was up to, and he didn’t think about him again until it came time to drive home.
When he did start thinking about that drive, he dreaded it. Benjamin was going to be pissed.
He didn’t dare look over at him when he got in the car, but the anger he’d expected didn’t come. He snuck a glance over at him as he drove, but he didn’t seem angry. More… contemplative, like he was busy thinking his own thoughts. Seeing that, the silence seemed less oppressive, and almost comfortable, which was never a word he would have put on their relationship, before.
When he got out of the car back at the house, he looked up at the stars and felt at peace for the first time in a while. He turned to where Benjamin was headed into the house, and said, “Hey.”
Benjamin stopped, and turned to face him, but didn’t come closer, his face shrouded in shadows.
“I just wanted to say thank you,” said Garrett. “For taking us to LuLu tonight.”
Benjamin still said nothing, but dipped his head in brief acknowledgment, and headed into the house. For that night, Garrett figured, it was enough.
Gesso Notes
LuLu Lounge: LuLu Lounge is a nightclub that came pre-made with the Nightlife expansion in the Downtown subhood. I pretty much always use a mod to restrict it to teenagers only and make it my teen hangout lot for the neighborhood, and often, as in the case, it's also owned and run by someone in the neighborhood, as well.
Juice: Canonically, all of the bars in the game serve "juice", that's what the game calls it, and it's not age-restricted at all. (It's a little funny to reflect on which set of things EA considered to be PG-13 enough to be in the game and which they felt were too adult for that, 20 years later.) When the actual adults in this set of stories are talking about bars, I don't specify that, but figured it was important to do that here.
Sim Notes
Garrett Thomas is technically a premade sim; he began his life as Garrett Newson, a toddler from the premade Newson family of orphans, which I mentioned earlier that I had broken up and seeded into the townie and adoption pools in Crimes Against Romance. I did the same thing in this neighborhood, and Garrett wound up in the adoption pool and was subsequently adopted by one of my playable families. His sister Georgia, who is the other toddler in that family, wound up getting adopted by the same couple, though at a different point in time, so she is now his younger sister.
This is his college portrait:
The sims who adopted him are Richard Thomas, who is Grant Thomas's much older brother, and his husband Hector. Richard does actually run an electronics store, which he inherited from his own dad (Grant's Dad J), and used it to satisfy his want to earn $100,000. Garrett is the one other sim besides Bethany Ramirez who rolled the Five Top Level Businesses want and actually gets to keep and fulfill it. I have plans for him to eventually come in and buy up businesses that other sims have inherited from their parents but are unenthusiastic about actually running (probably eventually including LuLu).
Benjamin Thomas was actually born into my game more naturally. Biologically, he is the son of Edith Curtis's cheating ex-husband and the woman he got engaged to after Edith divorced him. They gave him up for adoption, and Richard and Hector adopted him. He was actually adopted first, but as a baby; Garrett was adopted a few days later, as a toddler, and by plain dumb luck it worked out that they wound up being exactly the same age. His lifetime want is actually to be a world-famous ballet dancer.
This is is college portrait:
Casey Hanby is Scott Hanby's younger brother, by a couple days. This was his teen portrait:
By human standards, he is one of the ugliest sims in my neighborhood, due to I think just an unfortunate clash of his parents' facial genetics that his siblings seem to have avoided, but my sims cannot get enough of him. At this point in my game, he really does have a substantial collection of first kisses, and for every single one of them, I got to sit through an intimate closeup of his ugly mug that always happens during the first kiss cinematic. The "Leonard" who's mentioned here is an unimportant townie teen who I believe was actually Casey's first kiss, from way back before I realized that a whole bunch of my playables were actually going to be lining up for him. This is still pretty early in his story, though.
Victor Thomas is Grant's one and only younger sibling, so technically Garrett and Benjamin's uncle. If I look through my notes, Victor, Garrett, and Benjamin are all exactly the same age, while Casey is a few days older.
This is his college portrait:
He looks very much like he's going to wind up being a similar kind of romance sim to Michael Wolf.
The bartender/owner of LuLu in this story is Matilda Bren, who is one of Robert's first cousins. This is her adult portrait:
She was indeed good friends with Michael Wolf when she was a child and teenager (and I believe they were actually exactly the same age, at least until Michael began drinking cowplant milk), and I was originally thinking of doing some poly thing with the two of them and Archie Daniels, before Robert changed all of my plans for Michael. I could have let her have Archie anyway, but I just didn't like him enough to include him in the neighborhood story if he wasn't going to be the lynchpin in a poly threesome, so I didn't go for that. Matilda then proceeded to have terrible chemistry with everyone else she met for most of the rest of her life. There will eventually be more stories about her, and one of her kids is actually going to get sucked into this plotline here, too.
Story: Tales From the Neighborhood
Plot Thread: Singularity
Colors: Warm Heart #25: Spite
Styles and Supplies: Gesso, Silhouette, Life Drawing, Tempera ("Seven of cups is the card for day dreaming, illusions, wishful thinking, and fantasies. This card usually shows up when you have plenty of choices and need a vision to make them a reality. This card prompts you to prioritize your values and goals, and differentiate between what is truly important to you and what merely appears enticing in the moment. It serves as a gentle warning not to lose yourself in a maze of illusions and distractions."), Oils ("I wish I had your confidence."), Stain ("Treasure your relationships, not your possessions." - Anthony J. D'Angelo)
Word Count: 2405
Rating: PG
Warnings: Teenagers (Also, there is another trans character in here who is being misgendered/deadnamed due to not having figured out they are trans yet. However, since they don't actually figure themselves out during the course of this piece, which character it is will remain a mystery for the time being.)
Characters: Garrett Thomas, Benjamin Thomas, Casey Hanby, Victor Thomas, Matilda Bren
Summary: Garrett and Benjamin make a bet.
Notes: The full name of this plot thread is a slight spoiler at the moment, so for now it will just be known as "Singularity". This is related to the Grant/Scott/William plotline in that it is partly about Grant and Scott's younger relatives (see the Sim Notes for how all these guys are related), and I'll be leapfrogging these two plotlines for a little bit. One other thing to note here is that these are supposed to be fairly young teenagers at this stage in the plotline, but I wasn't really thinking about whether they'd be able to drive yet or not, since Sims teens can all drive as soon as they age up from children. So please just imagine that the driving age in Sim World is like 13 or something.
It was Saturday night. Downtown, at LuLu, the under-eighteen club, Garrett’s friends would be out dancing and drinking juice and pushing each other into the hot tub, and for once, Garrett might get to do that with them. His dads had reluctantly allowed him and Benjamin the use of the car for the evening. The trick now was just to convince Benjamin that LuLu was a better option than whatever was playing at the theater.
“What is so great about this show, anyway?” Garrett asked, as they walked out to the car.
“It’s a musical! There are world-famous dancers in it.” Benjamin seemed off in his own world.
“Why watch some dancers when you could be doing the dancing yourself?”
Benjamin frowned at him, and then walked around to the driver’s side. “You know nobody we know actually knows how to dance, right?”
“So? Who cares? That’s not the point.” Garrett stopped outside the open car door and put his hands on the roof of the car, watching Benjamin look at him from the driver’s seat. He wasn’t getting in until Benjamin agreed to take them to LuLu. It wasn’t fair; Dad could have given him the keys. Benjamin was maybe a month older than he was, and for most purposes people considered them twins who just looked nothing alike and shared no DNA. But it seemed like their fathers never forgot about that one month of age difference.
“Are you getting in, or not?” demanded Benjamin.
“If we go to LuLu, you might be able to meet a girl,” said Garrett, trying a new tack. “I bet you’re not going to do that at a play, right?”
Something in Benjamin’s face twitched beneath his black hair. “You bet?”
“Yeah, I bet,” said Garrett, scenting the offered challenge. “I bet that if we go to LuLu, I can find someone to kiss me before you find someone to kiss you. And if you drive us to the theater instead, I’ll know that you know I’m right.”
Benjamin’s eyes narrowed. “A girl,” he clarified. “The bet is to find a girl to kiss you.”
Garrett hesitated, then shrugged. “All that’s important is that it’s romantic,” he said. “Agreed?”
“Agreed,” said Benjamin. “Now get in the damn car.”
A little while later, they pulled up to LuLu and bought passes for the evening. It was early, yet; just a few people on the dance floor, a couple at the juice bar, someone looking contemplatively at the dance sphere but not daring to try it yet. Benjamin started talking to a girl who was leaning against the bar, his movements and speech suddenly awkward and ungraceful, as they always became in social situations.
Garrett sat on one of the couches that lined the bar area and looked around for anyone he knew. His eyes passed over a few people who were only acquaintances. Truth be told, he didn’t care that much if he won this bet; he was here now, so he’d already gotten what he wanted out of it. He didn’t need to kiss someone he didn’t actually care for just to show Benjamin up. Probably.
The door banged open and Casey Hanby walked in, arm in arm with Victor Thomas. Garrett smiled. Alright. While Benjamin tried in vain to get some random girl to kiss him, he’d be spending his time with his friends. He got up and walked over to them.
Victor saw him, and waved, and then turned to whisper something in Casey’s ear. Casey looked over at Garrett, and then turned to say something sharply to Victor, breaking away from him in that moment. Victor just shrugged.
Garrett waved back. Victor was family; technically he was their dad Richard’s much younger brother, though he was Garrett and Benjamin’s age and had little to do with many of his much older siblings. Casey had been good friends with all of them since they had been small. Garrett knew he had some sort of thing going on with Victor now, though whatever it was, it wasn’t serious. Garrett got it; Casey may be green, but he was good-looking, too. Benjamin was completely oblivious to it all, of course.
As Garrett approached, Casey rolled his eyes at whatever little argument he was having with Victor and said, “Oh, get out of here,” in a mild, good-natured way. Victor laughed, flashed a smile at Garrett, and headed off towards the dance floor.
Casey’s gaze drifted across to Benjamin at the bar, still trying to talk to the girl, who did not seem impressed. “You got him out of his shell?” he asked. “Good on you. Seems like I never see him here, these days.”
“Got him to make a dumb bet,” said Garrett. “Now he’s trying to get that girl to kiss him, I think.”
Casey grinned. “That doesn’t seem likely,” he said, amused. He turned back to Garrett. “Are you trying to get kissed now, too?”
Garrett shrugged. “I don’t care if I win that, to be honest. Not what I’m here for, really.” He looked across at the dance floor. Still too small a crowd; he’d wait a little bit longer. They went back over to the couch.
Casey’s eyes flicked back over to Benjamin before turning to Garrett again. “You sure? I think it would be fun for us to get one over on him. Don’t you think?” He wore a mischievous expression, now.
It wasn’t a bad thought, by any means, but… “You’re always looking to start some drama,” said Garrett. “I’m the one who has to put up with him later.”
“It’d be fun drama, though, right?” Casey seemed unwilling to let go of the idea, for some reason. “He wouldn’t expect it to be me. It’d be like you pulled an ace out of your sleeve. And you’ve never kissed anyone either, have you? You holding out for someone in particular?”
"Not really. I’ve just been busy with other stuff.”
“Like what?”
“Dad’s been showing me around the electronics store. I got to help him run it last week, it was a blast. We sold the big expensive robot to some rich dude. Those are worth so much money, Casey! And next week, he’ll show me how to make a new one.” And when he did have a night out like tonight, he didn’t want to spend it kissing or chatting up strangers. But Casey probably wouldn’t empathize with that thought.
“But you gotta have the first one eventually, right?” said Casey. “So would you rather it be me, or would you rather try Benjamin’s strategy?” He looked back over at the bar to where Benjamin was; the girl looked like she was trying plot an escape route. “Look,” he continued. “I practically collect boys’ first kisses at this point. I know what’s what.”
Garrett raised an eyebrow. “How many have you collected so far?”
“Well, there was Victor. And Leonard. And…” He stopped, and frowned.
“I don’t think two things counts as a collection.”
Casey fixed him with a more direct look. “It will when I’ve got yours.” He gestured back over to Benjamin again. “And if not, then maybe his.”
“Sorry,” said Garrett, “are you threatening to kiss my brother so that he wins the stupid bet?”
“Well, you don’t seem very interested in winning it.”
Garrett’s mouth twisted. “He’s not winning it,” he said, and then he grabbed Casey and kissed him on the lips.
When Casey kissed him back, it wasn’t what he’d expected, not really. Well— it wasn’t like he hadn’t known he’d wanted this, not really. But didn’t everyone think Casey was hot? It had always felt like just a fact of life to him, not something that needed an immediate resolution. But somehow, this felt different than he’d expected, and now he was starting to reconsider that. Maybe— maybe he’d spend a little less time at the store, and make more time for this.
They pulled apart, and Garrett just looked at him for a bit, not really caring for the moment that he probably looked completely floored.
The mischievous looks were gone from Casey’s face now, and he wore a softer expression when he said, “Victor was right about you, after all. Thought he was bullshitting me.”
“Are you still planning to add Benjamin’s first kiss to your collection?” Garrett asked. The only other thing he could think about now was that this was just another thing that Benjamin was going to find some way to take from him.
Amusement crept back into Casey’s expression. “Oh, nah,” he said. “That was a bunch of bullshit. Not that I’d mind, honestly. But that boy?” He gestured at the bar, without even looking. “He’s straight as a board. Don’t waste time worrying about shit that’s not gonna happen.”
When Benjamin looked over at the couches and saw Garrett kissing Casey, all the energy went out of him at once. Of course Garrett had had some way he was planning to cheat at the bet. This probably wasn’t the first time, was it? They’d probably been secretly dating this whole time and this was just a big joke to him. He’d tricked Benjamin into coming here instead of going to see the ballet, and now he’d won this stupid bet, too, and Benjamin had gotten nothing. Typical. Garrett always got the best stuff. It wasn’t fair.
By the time he looked back, the girl had disappeared, too, but there hadn’t really been any chance they’d hit it off, if he was being honest. He slumped onto one of the bar stools and looked mournfully at the bartender.
She gave him a sympathetic look, and poured him a glass of juice. “What’s got you down?” she asked.
“It’s my brother.” Benjamin gestured back at the couches without turning his head. “He always gets everything, and I get left behind. Even though I’m older.”
“How much older?”
“A month. But still.”
The bartender squinted past him. “I’m going to be real honest with you, I’m not sure which of those boys looks the least like he might be your brother.”
Benjamin sighed. “Garrett’s the redhead. We’re both adopted.”
The bartender smiled. “Ahh, I see. Did you want to kiss the alien boy? When I was your age, I knew a boy who stole away someone I wanted to date, too, his name was Michael, and the boy I wanted was named Archie. Then Archie broke up with Michael anyway, and came back to me all apologetic, but I was too proud and told him to take a hike.” She sighed. “I’ve been regretting that for a long time now. That was the last time a guy ever came to me like that.”
“No, I don’t want to date him,” said Benjamin. “He’s just a friend. But… it’s not fair that Garrett gets someone and I don’t.”
“You’ll find someone,” the bartender said. “As long as you get a day job that’s not running a club full of teenagers, I’m sure you’ll do just fine. See, you weren’t really jealous of what he has, you just need to find something that you want for yourself.”
“There are other things too, though,” said Benjamin. “Like, our dad is giving him his electronics store when he retires. What did Garrett do to earn that?”
The bartender leaned down on her elbows. “Well, let me ask you again. Do you actually want to run the electronics store? Running a business is a lot of work. I can tell you that personally. And all I have to do here is just manage the bar, and pay a couple people minimum wage to play music and mop up spilled juice. Retail sounds like a bitch and a half.”
“I guess it doesn’t sound that great,” admitted Benjamin.
“What do you want to do? If you could do anything.”
Benjamin looked up at her cautiously. “Anything?”
“Anything.”
“Promise you won’t laugh at me?”
She smiled. “Never.”
“I want to be a dancer,” he said. “A real dancer, not,” he gestured over at the dance floor, “whatever they’re doing over there. You know?”
“That sounds so cool,” she said, and maybe she was just putting him on like a lot of adults did, but it really did sound genuine. “Do you know how to do any moves now that you can show me?”
He hesitated, and looked around the area, but it seemed like for the moment, everyone else had cleared out and gone over to the dance floor except for Garrett and Casey, who seemed to be having some really intense conversation with each other and not paying attention to him. “Yeah,” he said, cautiously. “A couple.”
He showed her some of the things he’d learned, and she smiled and laughed and clapped for him. “That’s really good,” she told him. “I think you’ll be famous some day.”
“No I won’t,” said Benjamin, sitting back down and taking the juice again. But he managed to laugh a bit, anyway.
Garrett never did wind up doing any dancing that evening; he spent the time with Casey instead, but that was just fine. Victor joined them for a bit, and then left again. He had no idea what Benjamin was up to, and he didn’t think about him again until it came time to drive home.
When he did start thinking about that drive, he dreaded it. Benjamin was going to be pissed.
He didn’t dare look over at him when he got in the car, but the anger he’d expected didn’t come. He snuck a glance over at him as he drove, but he didn’t seem angry. More… contemplative, like he was busy thinking his own thoughts. Seeing that, the silence seemed less oppressive, and almost comfortable, which was never a word he would have put on their relationship, before.
When he got out of the car back at the house, he looked up at the stars and felt at peace for the first time in a while. He turned to where Benjamin was headed into the house, and said, “Hey.”
Benjamin stopped, and turned to face him, but didn’t come closer, his face shrouded in shadows.
“I just wanted to say thank you,” said Garrett. “For taking us to LuLu tonight.”
Benjamin still said nothing, but dipped his head in brief acknowledgment, and headed into the house. For that night, Garrett figured, it was enough.
Gesso Notes
LuLu Lounge: LuLu Lounge is a nightclub that came pre-made with the Nightlife expansion in the Downtown subhood. I pretty much always use a mod to restrict it to teenagers only and make it my teen hangout lot for the neighborhood, and often, as in the case, it's also owned and run by someone in the neighborhood, as well.
Juice: Canonically, all of the bars in the game serve "juice", that's what the game calls it, and it's not age-restricted at all. (It's a little funny to reflect on which set of things EA considered to be PG-13 enough to be in the game and which they felt were too adult for that, 20 years later.) When the actual adults in this set of stories are talking about bars, I don't specify that, but figured it was important to do that here.
Sim Notes
Garrett Thomas is technically a premade sim; he began his life as Garrett Newson, a toddler from the premade Newson family of orphans, which I mentioned earlier that I had broken up and seeded into the townie and adoption pools in Crimes Against Romance. I did the same thing in this neighborhood, and Garrett wound up in the adoption pool and was subsequently adopted by one of my playable families. His sister Georgia, who is the other toddler in that family, wound up getting adopted by the same couple, though at a different point in time, so she is now his younger sister.
This is his college portrait:
The sims who adopted him are Richard Thomas, who is Grant Thomas's much older brother, and his husband Hector. Richard does actually run an electronics store, which he inherited from his own dad (Grant's Dad J), and used it to satisfy his want to earn $100,000. Garrett is the one other sim besides Bethany Ramirez who rolled the Five Top Level Businesses want and actually gets to keep and fulfill it. I have plans for him to eventually come in and buy up businesses that other sims have inherited from their parents but are unenthusiastic about actually running (probably eventually including LuLu).
Benjamin Thomas was actually born into my game more naturally. Biologically, he is the son of Edith Curtis's cheating ex-husband and the woman he got engaged to after Edith divorced him. They gave him up for adoption, and Richard and Hector adopted him. He was actually adopted first, but as a baby; Garrett was adopted a few days later, as a toddler, and by plain dumb luck it worked out that they wound up being exactly the same age. His lifetime want is actually to be a world-famous ballet dancer.
This is is college portrait:
Casey Hanby is Scott Hanby's younger brother, by a couple days. This was his teen portrait:
By human standards, he is one of the ugliest sims in my neighborhood, due to I think just an unfortunate clash of his parents' facial genetics that his siblings seem to have avoided, but my sims cannot get enough of him. At this point in my game, he really does have a substantial collection of first kisses, and for every single one of them, I got to sit through an intimate closeup of his ugly mug that always happens during the first kiss cinematic. The "Leonard" who's mentioned here is an unimportant townie teen who I believe was actually Casey's first kiss, from way back before I realized that a whole bunch of my playables were actually going to be lining up for him. This is still pretty early in his story, though.
Victor Thomas is Grant's one and only younger sibling, so technically Garrett and Benjamin's uncle. If I look through my notes, Victor, Garrett, and Benjamin are all exactly the same age, while Casey is a few days older.
This is his college portrait:
He looks very much like he's going to wind up being a similar kind of romance sim to Michael Wolf.
The bartender/owner of LuLu in this story is Matilda Bren, who is one of Robert's first cousins. This is her adult portrait:
She was indeed good friends with Michael Wolf when she was a child and teenager (and I believe they were actually exactly the same age, at least until Michael began drinking cowplant milk), and I was originally thinking of doing some poly thing with the two of them and Archie Daniels, before Robert changed all of my plans for Michael. I could have let her have Archie anyway, but I just didn't like him enough to include him in the neighborhood story if he wasn't going to be the lynchpin in a poly threesome, so I didn't go for that. Matilda then proceeded to have terrible chemistry with everyone else she met for most of the rest of her life. There will eventually be more stories about her, and one of her kids is actually going to get sucked into this plotline here, too.