Still Here (Soft Places)

Ellis Carter has spent his life clinging to the places that don’t ask him to be louder.At twenty-six, the queer punk record store where he works is more than a job—it’s a refuge. The old man who owns it gave Ellis his first steady ground after his father died and his mother disappeared into alcohol. The store taught him rhythm, routine, and how to exist without apology. So when the store is sold to Issaky Jones—a wealthy, charming outsider known for buying up independent record stores—Ellis is certain of one thing: this is how safe places die.Issaky is everything Ellis distrusts. Confident, unapologetic, impossible to ignore. He renovates, restructures, and insists Ellis stay on—with benefits Ellis has never had and patience Ellis doesn’t know how to accept. Attraction sparks where resentment should be, and soon Ellis finds himself drawn into something he never planned for: a man who listens, who waits, and who stays.As the store is rebuilt, Ellis uncovers a hidden box of letters—love notes written decades earlier by the store’s original owner to his lover. Each letter tells a quiet story of queer love, fear, and devotion, mirroring Ellis’s own in ways he isn’t ready to face. When loss strikes and grief threatens to close Ellis off for good, he must decide whether to retreat into silence or risk trusting the steady hands reaching for him.Still Here is a tender, slow-burn queer romance about legacy, grief, and learning that love doesn’t demand you change, only that you stay. Read more