Stories

Dean had spent most of his life pretending not to feel. It was easier that way, easier to fight, to fix, to fuck, than to face what was underneath. His father taught him early that softness got you hurt. So he built a life of noise and distraction: engines louder than his thoughts, nights that ended before morning could ask questions.

Kris had spent his life quietly holding things together. After his father died, it was just him and his mother, small home, smaller dreams, and the fear that one more break would undo them.

Neither expected love to expose what they’d buried, loneliness, guilt, and the need to be seen.

A chance meeting in a park on a sunny day changes the lives of Tanner and Branch.

(This is a story I wrote and posted on tklfrat about ten years ago. I ran it through Google Gemini to fix the grammar mistakes.)

After the death of his wife, Creek is left to raise their newborn son as a single dad, lost in grief and routine. But when new people enter his life—unexpected, complicated, and full of heart—his world begins to shift. Amid family tensions and personal doubts, Creek discovers that healing isn’t about forgetting the past... it’s about making space for what comes next.

A tender story of love, loss, and the quiet courage it takes to begin again.

Boyfriends Alex and Casey have a lot to be thankful for. Especially, the love that surrounds them and flows between them.

It was meant to be a break, a few peaceful weeks in Ireland and a chance to reconnect with his brother. But things don’t go according to plan. Businessman Russ can cope, just about, with his football-mad nephews, but add in a punishing encounter with a group of yobs, and the results are not quite what anyone expected. Though his brother has difficulty accepting Russ’ rather different personal life, ultimately the two bond over shared memories, Josephine Baker and bad poetry.

Ben Gay just wanted to tell the truth and get his story straight.

That was his first mistake.

The second was thinking anyone would believe him.

Jason first meets Konstantin, a first generation immigrant from Ukraine, in 2006. Konstantin is deeply in the closet and holds some deep-seeded internal homophobia. Despite their differences, Konstantin is drawn to the very out and proud Jason.

Their story is told through journal entries, a first person account filtered through Jason’s many addictions. It’s raw, uncensored, and painfully honest as Jason chronicles their story in an attempt to understand himself and his addictions.

Sometimes to move forward one has to relive the past. These entries have not been altered or edited in any way.

Elisha has struggled mightily and unsuccessfully for years to make peace with his faith and his flesh. It’s a battle Marcus knows all too well. When they are brought together unexpectedly by a mutual four-legged friend, each sees something of themselves in the other which leaves them both uncertain and unsettled on a day destined to impact many lives forever.

Originally a throwaway parody in The Straightest Lies We Tell Ourselves, this story lassos the cowboy trope of a city boy in search of himself and drags it straight, or not so straight, into a cowboy crisis.

A decade after drifting apart, four millennial friends who once bonded online reunite at a secluded cabin, answering an invitation from the friend who always promised they would one day meet. As old memories resurface and new ones take shape, one question lingers:

Where is Chris?