What can be some signs to show that a father is learning that his wife is cheating on him with her son?

[SnakeKing100]

At the moment I'm thinking more on physicals evidence but I am more than happy to talk about non-physical ones. I'll start basically with say a 4 out of 10 on the subtly scale:

1. A pair of his wife's earrings in his son's room
2. Wife's perfume on son's clothes, even if subtly.
3. Noticing that the "recently watched" section on their shared Netflix account shows a romantic movie played during the day when only they are home alone
4. Living room couch cushions are unusually disheveled from the morning before
5. His shared bedroom with his wife is slightly rumpled than the morning before
6. A man's t-shirt (that isn't his) mixed up with the bathroom laundry

All these signs are very subtle and can be considered under the radar but I'm pretty sure everyone can guess what it is.

On a scale of 1 to 10 on the subtlety scale why don't you list some examples of some signs a father could pick up to know his wife is cheating on him with his son (even if it's not direct evidence)?

 

[MillieDynamite]

OMG, really, you're going there? LOL

 

[Euphony]

At the moment I'm thinking more on physicals evidence but I am more than happy to talk about non-physical ones. I'll start basically with say a 4 out of 10 on the subtly scale:

1. A pair of his wife's earrings in his son's room
2. Wife's perfume on son's clothes, even if subtly.
3. Noticing that the "recently watched" section on their shared Netflix account shows a romantic movie played during the day when only they are home alone
4. Living room couch cushions are unusually disheveled from the morning before
5. His shared bedroom with his wife is slightly rumpled than the morning before
6. A man's t-shirt (that isn't his) mixed up with the bathroom laundry

All these signs are very subtle and can be considered under the radar but I'm pretty sure everyone can guess what it is.

On a scale of 1 to 10 on the subtlety scale why don't you list some examples of some signs a father could pick up to know his wife is cheating on him with his son (even if it's not direct evidence)?

Not trying to burst balloons here but my experience with readers is you may be in a bit of a no-man's zone.

I'm assuming son is live-at-home (for coupling ease's sake) so let's work from there.

1. Yes but unusual for Dad to root around in son's room. I wonder how many men know their wives earrings? I'd add some specificity, like he gifted them or (better) other reasons for him to know.

2. Odd he'd be sniffing around the kids clothes. If he has enough suspicion to be engaging in that level of investigation, it feels like he's long past 4 out of 10 on the suspicion scale (which is incongruent with your subtly narrative need)

3. Is Netflix rom'ing solo so odd? If my S.O. fills the history with Hallmark channel, should I assume she's leaving her big city corporate job to open up a Christmas themed Farm/B&B and will leave me for the windower handyman? Asking for a concerned "friend."



4. This can work. I'd lay in earlier how fastidious she is in keeping house. Make it out of character/odd enough to trip his radar.

5. I guess this is the same as #4 with a little more stakes? I dunno. Who are helping infer taboo action is happening? If it's the audience, I could see it working. (but then, I'm lost as categories leave little room for such subtle unraveling of surprises) Dad? I'm struggling. Taboo isn't a big leap for the audience but *should* be a BIG leap/conclusion to draw for Dad. It is real easy to feel in sync with your audience and accidentally gloss over things characters don't reasonably have knowledge of. Would Dad reasonably jump to an huge/outlandish assumption given the information he has so far? It's a question you need to settle.

6. This doesn't seem weird to me at all. Or more rather, you'd have to prop the narrative up with so much excess information to make it odd, it's sort of self defeating. If the son lives at home, clothes finding themselves everywhere BUT a hamper is par for the course. If it were just a singular outfit of hers and his shirt, then maybe? I willing to consider my experiences/lens give me a different viewpoint on this but it would take some needle threading (sexy singular outfit, something son wears regularly enough Dad would notice, etc.) I'd worry would seem tightrope walking and/or might read as too try hard.)

Feels like the important thing here is to realize prior and certainly context is critical and does a lot of defining of what is/isn't out of the ordinary, would be concerning, solid evidence of affair, etc.

Most of those scenarios had me asking for more context to make any determination. This is good as it means you aren't using overworn tropes but you do want to be sure to shore up your "evidence" with plenty of context because these aren't standards that are easily assumed.

 

[EmilyMiller]

They make Mommy and Son appointments at the STI clinic?

Em

 

[Euphony]

They make Mommy and Son appointments at the STI clinic?

Em

 

[MillieDynamite]

The satisfied look on their faces, as they smoke cigarettes together, naked, on the couch when daddy gets home, is usually a dead giveaway. I mean, for god's sake, the boy's an athlete. Why else would he be smoking?

 

[Djmac1031]

Mom makes pasta for dinner and starts doing that "slow, sexy slurp" thing with her noodles while giving Junior the gaga eyes across the dinner table.

You could even take it a step farther and have her gently massage a pair of meatballs in her hand.

Meanwhile Junior heavily butters a bun and spends an inordinate amount of time running his tongue along the split.

 

[Stimtheone]

I'm gonna give some hints that I feel approach this from a more realistic angle. How you go with them is on you. But...

1. Wife is not giving as much attention, no mood for sex, kisses feel like chores. Much more noticeable if she was doing it in healthy amounts before that
2. Her phone and conversations are off limits. She'll be texting with the screen away from him, the thing shut down when he might so even glance at it. If he goes in it when allowed, no logs of texts with son, but there might be a lot of calls.
3. They keep finding reasons to have him be away. Or for them to be away. Possibly lies. Have to go and sign something over in the next town with him, he's going out with friends and she's making sure they don't get in trouble, need a designated driver... so on. Keeping him away from the house or being away together. Sometimes they might not leave together, both having something at the same time
4. Seeing the woman be FAR more affectionate to the son, to the point that he's getting all his favorite food whenever he wants, gifts, so on.
5. Son can't look him in the eye.

 

[lovecraft68]

So glad to see someone coming here with an actual question about how to write a story and getting so much helpful advice.

I started to type some advice, but I won't waste it here.

Op, you're welcome to PM me if you want to discuss the story. Rumor has it I know a little about the category.

Or you can listen to the children snicker and mock you.

I suggest some of that so when you publish this and it gets more views and votes than anything they've ever written, you can get some satisfaction out of it.

 

[lovecraft68]

I'm gonna give some hints that I feel approach this from a more realistic angle. How you go with them is on you. But...

1. Wife is not giving as much attention, no mood for sex, kisses feel like chores. Much more noticeable if she was doing it in healthy amounts before that
2. Her phone and conversations are off limits. She'll be texting with the screen away from him, the thing shut down when he might so even glance at it. If he goes in it when allowed, no logs of texts with son, but there might be a lot of calls.
3. They keep finding reasons to have him be away. Or for them to be away. Possibly lies. Have to go and sign something over in the next town with him, he's going out with friends and she's making sure they don't get in trouble, need a designated driver... so on. Keeping him away from the house or being away together. Sometimes they might not leave together, both having something at the same time
4. Seeing the woman be FAR more affectionate to the son, to the point that he's getting all his favorite food whenever he wants, gifts, so on.
5. Son can't look him in the eye.

#5 is a great touch. A lot of these stories make it seem like the son or daughter is just so lust struck they're blind to the fact they're doing something wrong.

 

[8letters]

Does the mom go to work every day? Or does she stay at home? Some mix in between? When do you picture them having sex?

Does the dad have a regular night out like a poker night that the mom and son can take advantage of?

 

[Stimtheone]

There's ways to do it right and ways to do it wrong. I'm writing the story of this colony that is one big family that fucks everyone openly. But they do so openly. Doing it behind someone's back is the wrong part. And there can be plenty of other wrong things. Some like it when it's wrong, some like it when it's right.

 

[Euphony]

There's ways to do it right and ways to do it wrong. I'm writing the story of this colony that is one big family that fucks everyone openly. But they do so openly. Doing it behind someone's back is the wrong part. And there can be plenty of other wrong things. Some like it when it's wrong, some like it when it's right.

That sounds like a fascinating use of sexual context. Even only lightly thinking on it, it seems like quite the sandbox.

 

[Tomh1966]

>Op, you're welcome to PM me if you want to discuss the story. Rumor has it I know a little about the category.<
LOL. OP take the offer of help. Holy crap. Lovecraft has stories with 400K reads and mostly H ratings. I don't read the category but I'm not gonna preach cause... I do this cool thing and not read the category. IE change the channel to one I like.

I would go with a lot of the standard 'signs of cheating' and then he slowly goes down the rabbit hole with it. Keeping phone attached, deleted texts. Of course if you want to be evil in your disrespect for the dad, a son's sock (or something) in the marital bed.

 

[SimonDoom]

There are a ton of ways to do it, but I'd emphasize personal interactions more than physical evidence.

For instance, dad finds a stain on the sofa, and he's pretty sure what it is, and he confronts son and has a conversation about being careful about bringing girls over because mom could find out, and son acts somewhat strange about it.

A lot of it depends on things like timing and household roles. If the dad doesn't do the laundry, then laundry isn't likely to be a telltale sign. If dad is not observant, as many men are not, then subtle clues left around the house could fly by unnoticed. Mom suddenly being less interested in him, or too tired for sex, is something he's likely to notice.

Also, is dad the main character, or a side character? Usually in these stories, and in mine, dad is a foil. He's a somewhat negative character whose negative qualities contribute in part to the incest.

 

[LoneMilf]

Most of the obvious suggestions only hint at the wife cheating, but not really with whom. Socks, stains, changed habits can all support that - but you'd need something really substantial to make the leap to suspecting an affair between the wife and the son (for most people, this would never even cross their mind).

If you still want to keep it somewhat subtle, I think your best bet is to focus on how the mother and son interact with each other. Maybe let the son and mother have a history of arguing/fighting a lot, which would make even regular affection stand out. It would also give the husband and wife a reason to be discussing her relation to the son in more detail, which can let the husband notice changes in how she sees the son etc.

 

[onehitwanda]

Conversations that stop when the husband appears.
Text messages that the wife deletes.
Shopping trips with mom that would usually be atypical of the son.
Mom changing her wardrobe.
Teasing, touching which would be inappropriate with a stranger.
And, the perennial favorite - walking in on the Mum riding the son like a prizewinning stallion at the Derby - that's usually where most people start to suspect that mum and son are not just really good friends.

 

[NoTalentHack]

Are you writing this as an Incest/cuckolding story or as a LW story? Because the evidence has to be different levels of “in your face” for the needs of each type of story, due to the expectations of the audience. Things that might inspire a husband to think “my wife is cheating on me with my son” in an incest story are usually a lower bar than in LW. “My wife is cheating on me,” sure. But adding “with my son” to that sentence?

Most of the ones Wanda mentions, for example, are good indications that the wife is cheating in either story. And in an incest story, where the reader is there for that, they’ll follow right along. But in an LW story, jumping straight to “with my son” is going to be a hard leap.

In Fathers, Brothers, and Sons, I had the MMC learn that his son wasn’t his biological son. He spent a big chunk of the early part of the story trying to figure out who his wife had cheated with, why, and whether it was ongoing. I even mentioned that she had spent a lot of time around her stepbrother—who both the MMC and the wife referred to as his brother—at the time of her son’s conception, due to his illness. Here on Lit, where it was written as one long piece, I never really got much feedback on how successful that misdirection was. But when I reposted it to another site in their LW analog, I had to split it into pieces. I did one break at the reveal, and I got a bunch of “holy shit!” comments.

So, yes, these suggestions have all been great. But remember who you’re writing for and notch the “difficulty” up or down as a result.

 

[SnakeKing100]

Well the reason why is because I wanted to make it a Standalone story. Basically about a novella length or 30,000 words. The mother and son work from home four days a week. Three days they share together. Tuesday to Thursday for 8 hours. Father works outside of the hosie for these days. Just the three characters for now in speaking roles. The mother is 47, so even 23 and Dad 51. I'm just trying to show like a bit of suspicion. 45% from the sons perspective, 45% from moms and 9% from dadz