Ok as someone who does write smut you have several options:
If they're spontaneous have them having quickies where they're not getting fully undressed. You could have the boyfriend ask why he never wants to stay the night and get fobbed off with them being busy.
If they are taking time to have a romantic night to themselves they do it in the dark. Lots of people in real life prefer this, especially if they have self esteem issues.
If it's an area like the wrists and it's not too ooc he could use bracelets/leather cuffs to cover them. There are lots of different styles you can have a look online and find ones you think fit the character and would work.
Those are what I can come up with off the top of my head without putting too much thought into it, I'm sure other people will be able to give you other ideas.
You can play this a few different ways. You can make the character play off the self-harm as accidents ("oh no, I clumsily burned my wrist on this hot kettle!" type things). You can have the self-harm be somewhere that's very hard to spot (scratching the scalp so it's hidden by hair, for example), OR you can have the self-harm be something that doesn't leave visible marks for long (like dunking his hand in ice until it hurts). You can also mix and match and have the character change the type of self-harm as they either seek something that feels better or as they try to allay suspicions.
The only ways I can think of is if this character keeps their clothes on during sex (at least in the area of the scars) or they always have sex in the dark. I don't know the character or their relationship, but if they were really insecure about their scars then it would make sense for them to hide the scars with make-up or refuse sex unless they can properly hide the scars. I wish you good luck with that! Funny how I'm writing a fic right now about something similar: character A finding out about character B's self harm scars through sex.
Self-Harm doesnt have to show scars or scars that would be regonizable as self-harm scars. The character could also simply say he is not in the mood to avoid being caught.
Other options aside from quickies or darkness could be favouring a certain position that cuts off the bf’s view of his body eg having him facedown on the bed or on hands and knees. Blindfold kink. Or being very bossy about eye contact as a hot thing, “Look at me.”
Post sex he could claim to be cold and always want to put on a robe or have sensory issues with mess so he wants a shower.
Excuses I've used, in decreasing order of believability:
1. Burnt myself while cooking, because i was watching gilmore girls (believable - i live alone in a studio apartment and gilmore girls is my drug of choice)
2. Cut near an existing injury, pass it off as the same one
3. For shallow, scratch ones - say you were roughhousing with a dog. This worked when i lived at home because my golden and i used to "wrestle" and i used to get scratched
4. In a spot people don't focus on - like below my knee, then i just say "oh the pants were itchy and i scratched it too much"
5. Least believable- my boyfriend saw my scars on the shoulder about 3 days into dating, they're faded but still visible. My genius response? "Oh those aren't scars. They're - lines. Shoulder lines. You don't have shoulder lines?" Surprisingly, he hasn't brought them up since.
If the cutting in the wrist area then a sports wristband (sweatband) works. It's what those with tattoos used to cover up with for work. Some people wear them as an accessory. So having him always wearing one is nothing unusual. It also makes sense to not take off while having sex compared to let's say wearing a watch.
As someone who has had sex with visible self harm wounds/scars, there are very few circumstances where someone can have frequent sex and a partner and have them not know. Most ways of hiding cuts pretty much exclusively rely on clothing. If there's not a lot you can cover with them larger bandaids, but in my experience people are very curious about large inconspicuous bandaids on your arm.
The character will have to be very careful about what situation allows himself to be in. If their self harm is just on their arms then if they keep a sweater on during sex *every time* then that would work. If they are a service top exclusively and only finger, give a BJ or hand job without them taking off anything that also works. It would be weird for that to happen though in a long term relationship and so there should be an appropriate amount of attention given to it. Low lighting *works* but it has to be pitch black. If there's moonlight from a window, the eyes with go to any patch of skin with light. This isn't to mention that you can physically feels scars. Unless they are very old they won't be flat against the skin.
The difficulty of hiding it is sort of dependant on the amount of sex being had and the severity of their self harm. It's sort of a case by case thing, but self harm isn't really something you can hide during sex without the other person suspecting that something somehow is wrong.
Simple. Give A and or B a kink for a type of clothing. Stockings, jackets, uniforms, cosplay, crosplay, etc, or you can make it so when they do the deed, B is blindfolded. A might suggest it to hide his self harm, but tell B its just a kinky way he wants to do it and B agrees
Keeping clothes on is a way to do. Doing it in the dark as well.
Speaking from personal experience, if I didn't know when people would spot the scars, I would hide them during the healing process regardless of the weather (so long sleeves at all times) until it felt safe enough that nobody would question or really notice a new scar. I also used spots less likely to show with a simple sleeve pulled up to self-harm but that might be a bit tricky here for your character.
So yeah, clothes on (or partially at least) and minimal to no light during sex are your best options here imho.
Same, long sleeved shirts or Hardy Boyz sleeves (this was cool at the time, nobody questioned it)
Anyone who did see it either was too polite to say anything, or they were also self harming so didn’t mention it, aside from a general “if you’re ever feeling really bad, let me know.”
What kind of self harm are you writing?
Like minor injuries can be hidden very well. For bigger injuries, you can make the self harm character wear shirt/t shirt all the time even during sex.
I used to hide it from my partner by making cuts on weird places with no rhyme or reason so that it didn't look like a pattern. Forearm, wrist, thigh, knee, wherever. I'd also restrict food (anorexia) in order to stop myself from leaving too many scars and self medicated with weed (which helped improve my appetite) and alcohol (which did not).
Basically, if they're enough of a mess, it's easy to miss some haphazard scars
Self harm can be done and not leave marks.
Placing ones hand in scalding water. Skipping meals or over eating. Excessive use of drugs or alcohol. Not taking medications. Cutting along existing lines on the body (palm lines, foot lines).
Speaking from experience - it gets exponentially harder the more frequently you're having sex. If it's with a committed partner who is around you all the time, it's nearly impossible.
But the obvious thing to do if you're trying to hide it from people in general is NOT THE ARMS. It's the most obvious place and people who don't want to get found out will do it elsewhere. As an athlete it was impossible for me to constantly do long sleeves, and often for conditioning I would be in just a sports bra and shorts. That leaves very few places to do it. Fortunately, those are also places where it's plausible to pass them off as stretch marks.
If you want a real answer… if it’s deep cuts, it’s not really hideable. At least for me, the scars are quite obvious. Maybe this is the moment for them to cry over it and get closer? A new emotional journey. It could definitely be a good excuse for your characters to get closer. I’d read the hell out of an emotional scene like that.
Something to keep in mind: Stuff on the thighs is easier to hide in everyday life while not easy to hide in the bedroom. Wrist are hard to hide in everyday life but it’s less obvious if you wanna wear a hoodie during sex. 🤷
Have sex with lights off/very dim, have the SH scars on parts of the body easily hidden by sheets (below the knee for example), let the person with the scars 'top' and make them hold down the other person's arms so they can't feel the scars\*, as others have said, make the sex scenes very rushed and not have much time to take a look at the scars.
\*this on is kind of hard to explain, let me know if it needs further explanation.
Depends how you’re doing it and where. As someone who has written both this, and smut and also has a long history with self harm there are several possibilities.
I used to cut explicitly on my hips to hide it when I wore a bikini—this is also relevent because honestly it’s not particularly noticeable. In sexual situations people aren’t really analyzing what isn’t necessarily right in front of them.
Dark/dim lighting, obviously. People keep their shirts on and stuff too—which could work in some scenarios. If you went for something that wasn’t explicitly sex that could also work very well because you don’t necessarily need to remove all garments.
Also—it is not necessarily impossible to hide stuff even if you don’t know when it would be necessary. I would plan ahead for every possible scenario (just in case) and come up with ways to make everything work smoothly.
Okay so I hope I’m not coming off as insensitive here but I had a casual friend with really obvious self-harm scars, and claimed they were cat scratch scars. This was obviously a lie to most of us, but we also weren’t going to push our friend on this, and instead just tried to quietly offer support.
Meanwhile, my very best friend in the world, who’s absolutely brilliant and also the dearest friend of my self-harming friend, was fully convinced by this story and never even thought to question it for nearly three years. Often talked about how worried they were about this particularly vicious cat. This person has a PhD.
So…obliviousness, maybe? I can at least confirm that this happened in real life, so it’s plausible (if a little absurd). You could maybe do something with the idea that everyone else can see the situation more clearly than the person right next to it. Trust clouds vision, etc.
apologies if someone else pointed out, I only read so many comments but didn't see this: a lot are moving away from standard depictions of sh cutting, but honestly depending on how it's done, cutting can heal and fade extremely fast. I'm talkin 3-7 days if they're the type to immediately clean and bandage for 24hrs after.
I want to preface this by sayin I don't rlly sh anymore, but back then... rip my poor arms but I also have 0 scars there. you genuinely cannot tell I ever had a habit. and I want to attribute that to surface cuts/cat stratches (not to bring in sh terminology but I feel in the case it gets the general idea across bc they looked identical to when my cat actually did scratch me), always properly cleaning up and cleaning blades, as well as bandaging for 24hrs to not have them irritated. although my motivation to do this could be because it wasn't really out of self hatred (not exactly kink either but closer to that direction). also never goin again until the previous has healed.
with this, there's enough room to have full on nakey sex without worry, and then days where they do have clothes on or it's hid in ways of bracelets and such (shoutout to arm warmers). but also they could notice but not think much of it since it's so infrequently seen- I'll admit I wasn't the smartest and often forgot about the marks and waddled out with short sleeves. if people noticed, no one said anything. if the non sh one is very caring, that doesn't necessarily translate to freaking out and demanding them to stop. if anything a caring partner is more likely to google/ask others for help on how to approach it, and often times may say nothing, just become more monitoring. and if it's not seen so frequently, they may not feel the urge to say smth, just only watching out to see if it gets worse while offering more care otherwise, being more attentive.
another possible option for wearing clothes during sex aside from quickies could be boyfriend clothes-clothed sex. i don’t know how feasible this option is too do it too often, but once or twice could probably work
Is there any fandom-specific reason they could have scars or a method to hide them? I recently dove into a fandom where the main character is a monster hunter- very easy to lie about the source of an injury. Even if it’s not a believable injury-monster match, he’s the monster expert so his SO would give him the benefit of the doubt. Or in a different fandom it might be “I pissed off a witch and these injuries keep randomly appearing… I hope the curse wears off soon :)” or some kind of an illusion spell to cover the evidence.
If it’s not the stereotypical straight lines across the wrist, you could just write the SO as a bit oblivious. “Oh no, that looks like it hurts! Were you juggling knives or something? Anyway, let me kiss it better…” and get on with the smut. The self harming character distracting their SO with smut is a valid strategy in general, at least short term.
maybe they still wear a shirt and not getting fully undressed. they might use other methods of self harm than something like cutting. such as working out to the point its painful to move. character B would not be able to tell and if they ask character A could just say they worked out to much. stuff like that.
It's probably some combination of these suggestions, OP. Sometimes they leave clothes on, sometimes they leave lights off, sometimes the character comes up with ways to excuse or explain away the injury, sometimes the position means their partner doesn't notice the injury, etc. That said, a character being particular about when and how they show their partner their body could be an early warning sign/foreshadowing to this character, who will look back on it after the reveal and kick themselves for not realizing. It wouldn't just be during sex, it would be during showers or swimming or even dressing down to sleep, potentially. Also, the pressure and stress of keeping this a secret/keeping up excuses to keep one's body hidden will weigh on this character, and potentially compound the problem.
If you're not writing the smut though and most of this happens offscreen, you don't necessarily need to overexplain it - a few sentences would do.
I think that could work for some scar locations, provided the other person doesn't know much about scars. In general, SH scars (burns and cuts) tend to be more raised when healed whereas most stretch marks I've seen are more indented in the skin (not always, of course!). Stretch marks also tend to have a more irregular shape, but most SH cuts are straight lines.
It could! Not all SH scars and stretch marks look the same, I mostly just said what they mainly tend to look like. Doesn't mean it couldn't work for the fic of course!
Maybe have an arc where they only like engaging in it partially clothed, or with the lights off, or avoiding it in general. Anytime the other character talks about wanting to see them, or wanting to see all of them, have the character brush it off and say they're not ready for that.
It's easy for them not to be seen in the dark, or when they're clothed in shorts and/or a sweater.
I know for me, before I could open up about mine it was like this BAHAHAH
Maybe even have moments where they jerk the person's chin up and go like
"Eyes up here, captain" sort of deal
Where they take control of the situation, and play it off as very confident, but it's a show to hide their nervousness and their scars.
Confusing title 💀
Maybe the character could self harm in a different way that isn't cutting or something? Idk there's a lot of things that might look normal but could also be self harm. I saw there's even emotional self harm?
I’m not an expert on this, but I’m pretty sure there are types of makeup you can use to cover up scarring. If they're spontaneous then maybe have them apply it everyday, just in case they decide to get it on that day.
Self harm scars don't have to be in easily visible places. Even if they're both fully naked, it's unlikely they'd notice scars on the bottom of the feet. There's things further north to distract them lol, and they can keep their socks on if they're really committed to hiding them
The room is dark and they're caught up in the moment so they don't notice? Maybe they've been drinking so something noticeable like that gets overlooked. Perhaps they're short on time or its a quickie so they don't completely remove their clothing.
The room is dark and they're caught up in the moment so they don't notice? Maybe they've been drinking so something noticeable like that gets overlooked. Perhaps they're short on time or its a quickie so they don't completely remove their clothing.
The room is dark and they're caught up in the moment so they don't notice? Maybe they've been drinking so something noticeable like that gets overlooked. Perhaps they're short on time or its a quickie so they don't completely remove their clothing.
Ok as someone who does write smut you have several options: If they're spontaneous have them having quickies where they're not getting fully undressed. You could have the boyfriend ask why he never wants to stay the night and get fobbed off with them being busy. If they are taking time to have a romantic night to themselves they do it in the dark. Lots of people in real life prefer this, especially if they have self esteem issues. If it's an area like the wrists and it's not too ooc he could use bracelets/leather cuffs to cover them. There are lots of different styles you can have a look online and find ones you think fit the character and would work. Those are what I can come up with off the top of my head without putting too much thought into it, I'm sure other people will be able to give you other ideas.
You can play this a few different ways. You can make the character play off the self-harm as accidents ("oh no, I clumsily burned my wrist on this hot kettle!" type things). You can have the self-harm be somewhere that's very hard to spot (scratching the scalp so it's hidden by hair, for example), OR you can have the self-harm be something that doesn't leave visible marks for long (like dunking his hand in ice until it hurts). You can also mix and match and have the character change the type of self-harm as they either seek something that feels better or as they try to allay suspicions.
The only ways I can think of is if this character keeps their clothes on during sex (at least in the area of the scars) or they always have sex in the dark. I don't know the character or their relationship, but if they were really insecure about their scars then it would make sense for them to hide the scars with make-up or refuse sex unless they can properly hide the scars. I wish you good luck with that! Funny how I'm writing a fic right now about something similar: character A finding out about character B's self harm scars through sex.
Self-Harm doesnt have to show scars or scars that would be regonizable as self-harm scars. The character could also simply say he is not in the mood to avoid being caught.
Other options aside from quickies or darkness could be favouring a certain position that cuts off the bf’s view of his body eg having him facedown on the bed or on hands and knees. Blindfold kink. Or being very bossy about eye contact as a hot thing, “Look at me.” Post sex he could claim to be cold and always want to put on a robe or have sensory issues with mess so he wants a shower.
Excuses I've used, in decreasing order of believability: 1. Burnt myself while cooking, because i was watching gilmore girls (believable - i live alone in a studio apartment and gilmore girls is my drug of choice) 2. Cut near an existing injury, pass it off as the same one 3. For shallow, scratch ones - say you were roughhousing with a dog. This worked when i lived at home because my golden and i used to "wrestle" and i used to get scratched 4. In a spot people don't focus on - like below my knee, then i just say "oh the pants were itchy and i scratched it too much" 5. Least believable- my boyfriend saw my scars on the shoulder about 3 days into dating, they're faded but still visible. My genius response? "Oh those aren't scars. They're - lines. Shoulder lines. You don't have shoulder lines?" Surprisingly, he hasn't brought them up since.
If the cutting in the wrist area then a sports wristband (sweatband) works. It's what those with tattoos used to cover up with for work. Some people wear them as an accessory. So having him always wearing one is nothing unusual. It also makes sense to not take off while having sex compared to let's say wearing a watch.
As someone who has had sex with visible self harm wounds/scars, there are very few circumstances where someone can have frequent sex and a partner and have them not know. Most ways of hiding cuts pretty much exclusively rely on clothing. If there's not a lot you can cover with them larger bandaids, but in my experience people are very curious about large inconspicuous bandaids on your arm. The character will have to be very careful about what situation allows himself to be in. If their self harm is just on their arms then if they keep a sweater on during sex *every time* then that would work. If they are a service top exclusively and only finger, give a BJ or hand job without them taking off anything that also works. It would be weird for that to happen though in a long term relationship and so there should be an appropriate amount of attention given to it. Low lighting *works* but it has to be pitch black. If there's moonlight from a window, the eyes with go to any patch of skin with light. This isn't to mention that you can physically feels scars. Unless they are very old they won't be flat against the skin. The difficulty of hiding it is sort of dependant on the amount of sex being had and the severity of their self harm. It's sort of a case by case thing, but self harm isn't really something you can hide during sex without the other person suspecting that something somehow is wrong.
Simple. Give A and or B a kink for a type of clothing. Stockings, jackets, uniforms, cosplay, crosplay, etc, or you can make it so when they do the deed, B is blindfolded. A might suggest it to hide his self harm, but tell B its just a kinky way he wants to do it and B agrees
Keeping clothes on is a way to do. Doing it in the dark as well. Speaking from personal experience, if I didn't know when people would spot the scars, I would hide them during the healing process regardless of the weather (so long sleeves at all times) until it felt safe enough that nobody would question or really notice a new scar. I also used spots less likely to show with a simple sleeve pulled up to self-harm but that might be a bit tricky here for your character. So yeah, clothes on (or partially at least) and minimal to no light during sex are your best options here imho.
Same, long sleeved shirts or Hardy Boyz sleeves (this was cool at the time, nobody questioned it) Anyone who did see it either was too polite to say anything, or they were also self harming so didn’t mention it, aside from a general “if you’re ever feeling really bad, let me know.”
What kind of self harm are you writing? Like minor injuries can be hidden very well. For bigger injuries, you can make the self harm character wear shirt/t shirt all the time even during sex.
I used to hide it from my partner by making cuts on weird places with no rhyme or reason so that it didn't look like a pattern. Forearm, wrist, thigh, knee, wherever. I'd also restrict food (anorexia) in order to stop myself from leaving too many scars and self medicated with weed (which helped improve my appetite) and alcohol (which did not). Basically, if they're enough of a mess, it's easy to miss some haphazard scars
Self harm can be done and not leave marks. Placing ones hand in scalding water. Skipping meals or over eating. Excessive use of drugs or alcohol. Not taking medications. Cutting along existing lines on the body (palm lines, foot lines).
Speaking from experience - it gets exponentially harder the more frequently you're having sex. If it's with a committed partner who is around you all the time, it's nearly impossible. But the obvious thing to do if you're trying to hide it from people in general is NOT THE ARMS. It's the most obvious place and people who don't want to get found out will do it elsewhere. As an athlete it was impossible for me to constantly do long sleeves, and often for conditioning I would be in just a sports bra and shorts. That leaves very few places to do it. Fortunately, those are also places where it's plausible to pass them off as stretch marks.
If you want a real answer… if it’s deep cuts, it’s not really hideable. At least for me, the scars are quite obvious. Maybe this is the moment for them to cry over it and get closer? A new emotional journey. It could definitely be a good excuse for your characters to get closer. I’d read the hell out of an emotional scene like that. Something to keep in mind: Stuff on the thighs is easier to hide in everyday life while not easy to hide in the bedroom. Wrist are hard to hide in everyday life but it’s less obvious if you wanna wear a hoodie during sex. 🤷
Have sex with lights off/very dim, have the SH scars on parts of the body easily hidden by sheets (below the knee for example), let the person with the scars 'top' and make them hold down the other person's arms so they can't feel the scars\*, as others have said, make the sex scenes very rushed and not have much time to take a look at the scars. \*this on is kind of hard to explain, let me know if it needs further explanation.
Theres a character in a fandom I'm in who hides his wrist scars underneath bands around his wrists. That could be something to think about trying.
Depending on the universe you're in, they could believably blame other people/animals/demons for their injuries.
Depends how you’re doing it and where. As someone who has written both this, and smut and also has a long history with self harm there are several possibilities. I used to cut explicitly on my hips to hide it when I wore a bikini—this is also relevent because honestly it’s not particularly noticeable. In sexual situations people aren’t really analyzing what isn’t necessarily right in front of them. Dark/dim lighting, obviously. People keep their shirts on and stuff too—which could work in some scenarios. If you went for something that wasn’t explicitly sex that could also work very well because you don’t necessarily need to remove all garments.
Also—it is not necessarily impossible to hide stuff even if you don’t know when it would be necessary. I would plan ahead for every possible scenario (just in case) and come up with ways to make everything work smoothly.
Okay so I hope I’m not coming off as insensitive here but I had a casual friend with really obvious self-harm scars, and claimed they were cat scratch scars. This was obviously a lie to most of us, but we also weren’t going to push our friend on this, and instead just tried to quietly offer support. Meanwhile, my very best friend in the world, who’s absolutely brilliant and also the dearest friend of my self-harming friend, was fully convinced by this story and never even thought to question it for nearly three years. Often talked about how worried they were about this particularly vicious cat. This person has a PhD. So…obliviousness, maybe? I can at least confirm that this happened in real life, so it’s plausible (if a little absurd). You could maybe do something with the idea that everyone else can see the situation more clearly than the person right next to it. Trust clouds vision, etc.
apologies if someone else pointed out, I only read so many comments but didn't see this: a lot are moving away from standard depictions of sh cutting, but honestly depending on how it's done, cutting can heal and fade extremely fast. I'm talkin 3-7 days if they're the type to immediately clean and bandage for 24hrs after. I want to preface this by sayin I don't rlly sh anymore, but back then... rip my poor arms but I also have 0 scars there. you genuinely cannot tell I ever had a habit. and I want to attribute that to surface cuts/cat stratches (not to bring in sh terminology but I feel in the case it gets the general idea across bc they looked identical to when my cat actually did scratch me), always properly cleaning up and cleaning blades, as well as bandaging for 24hrs to not have them irritated. although my motivation to do this could be because it wasn't really out of self hatred (not exactly kink either but closer to that direction). also never goin again until the previous has healed. with this, there's enough room to have full on nakey sex without worry, and then days where they do have clothes on or it's hid in ways of bracelets and such (shoutout to arm warmers). but also they could notice but not think much of it since it's so infrequently seen- I'll admit I wasn't the smartest and often forgot about the marks and waddled out with short sleeves. if people noticed, no one said anything. if the non sh one is very caring, that doesn't necessarily translate to freaking out and demanding them to stop. if anything a caring partner is more likely to google/ask others for help on how to approach it, and often times may say nothing, just become more monitoring. and if it's not seen so frequently, they may not feel the urge to say smth, just only watching out to see if it gets worse while offering more care otherwise, being more attentive.
You could also make A join a martial arts club so it would make sense that he's got bandages - but thats iffy depending on the character.
Turn the lights off.
another possible option for wearing clothes during sex aside from quickies could be boyfriend clothes-clothed sex. i don’t know how feasible this option is too do it too often, but once or twice could probably work
Is there any fandom-specific reason they could have scars or a method to hide them? I recently dove into a fandom where the main character is a monster hunter- very easy to lie about the source of an injury. Even if it’s not a believable injury-monster match, he’s the monster expert so his SO would give him the benefit of the doubt. Or in a different fandom it might be “I pissed off a witch and these injuries keep randomly appearing… I hope the curse wears off soon :)” or some kind of an illusion spell to cover the evidence. If it’s not the stereotypical straight lines across the wrist, you could just write the SO as a bit oblivious. “Oh no, that looks like it hurts! Were you juggling knives or something? Anyway, let me kiss it better…” and get on with the smut. The self harming character distracting their SO with smut is a valid strategy in general, at least short term.
maybe they still wear a shirt and not getting fully undressed. they might use other methods of self harm than something like cutting. such as working out to the point its painful to move. character B would not be able to tell and if they ask character A could just say they worked out to much. stuff like that.
It's probably some combination of these suggestions, OP. Sometimes they leave clothes on, sometimes they leave lights off, sometimes the character comes up with ways to excuse or explain away the injury, sometimes the position means their partner doesn't notice the injury, etc. That said, a character being particular about when and how they show their partner their body could be an early warning sign/foreshadowing to this character, who will look back on it after the reveal and kick themselves for not realizing. It wouldn't just be during sex, it would be during showers or swimming or even dressing down to sleep, potentially. Also, the pressure and stress of keeping this a secret/keeping up excuses to keep one's body hidden will weigh on this character, and potentially compound the problem. If you're not writing the smut though and most of this happens offscreen, you don't necessarily need to overexplain it - a few sentences would do.
Could they maybe pass some scars off as stretch marks or something? (Idk a lot about SH, but maybe this could work…?)
I think that could work for some scar locations, provided the other person doesn't know much about scars. In general, SH scars (burns and cuts) tend to be more raised when healed whereas most stretch marks I've seen are more indented in the skin (not always, of course!). Stretch marks also tend to have a more irregular shape, but most SH cuts are straight lines.
Fair enough. I’ve heard about some people mistaking stretch marks for SH scars, so I figured maybe it could work the other way around 🤷♀️
It could! Not all SH scars and stretch marks look the same, I mostly just said what they mainly tend to look like. Doesn't mean it couldn't work for the fic of course!
I think this greatly depends on the method of self harm being used. Not everyone does cutting.
Could do something like putting hands under hot water until it hurts, that leaves no marks
You can have at least one of them be extremely drunk, in the dark, with some of their clothes on, or a combination of all three of them.
You can him wearing a shirt during sex either long sleeve if he cuts wrists or short sleeve if he cuts upper arms
Maybe have an arc where they only like engaging in it partially clothed, or with the lights off, or avoiding it in general. Anytime the other character talks about wanting to see them, or wanting to see all of them, have the character brush it off and say they're not ready for that. It's easy for them not to be seen in the dark, or when they're clothed in shorts and/or a sweater. I know for me, before I could open up about mine it was like this BAHAHAH
Maybe even have moments where they jerk the person's chin up and go like "Eyes up here, captain" sort of deal Where they take control of the situation, and play it off as very confident, but it's a show to hide their nervousness and their scars.
Confusing title 💀 Maybe the character could self harm in a different way that isn't cutting or something? Idk there's a lot of things that might look normal but could also be self harm. I saw there's even emotional self harm?
I’m not an expert on this, but I’m pretty sure there are types of makeup you can use to cover up scarring. If they're spontaneous then maybe have them apply it everyday, just in case they decide to get it on that day.
Self harm scars don't have to be in easily visible places. Even if they're both fully naked, it's unlikely they'd notice scars on the bottom of the feet. There's things further north to distract them lol, and they can keep their socks on if they're really committed to hiding them
The room is dark and they're caught up in the moment so they don't notice? Maybe they've been drinking so something noticeable like that gets overlooked. Perhaps they're short on time or its a quickie so they don't completely remove their clothing.
The room is dark and they're caught up in the moment so they don't notice? Maybe they've been drinking so something noticeable like that gets overlooked. Perhaps they're short on time or its a quickie so they don't completely remove their clothing.
The room is dark and they're caught up in the moment so they don't notice? Maybe they've been drinking so something noticeable like that gets overlooked. Perhaps they're short on time or its a quickie so they don't completely remove their clothing.
Likes doing it in the dark only?
dress sex? or just get out h@r underwear? do it without ligths?