Stories

Former policeman Dan and art critic Vaughan’s relationship has an unfortunate start, but second time around they find that life has something different in store for them. Amidst interfering family members and lively friends, their relationship develops. But then Dan’s employer, Francis Heyward starts to take an interest. Heyward is seemingly stupendously rich, a giver of notorious parties and the possessor of an enviable art collection. There’s a question of whether a line should be crossed, and whether Heyward can even be trusted at all.

My name is Todd. As a college dropout with a minimum-wage job, I just live in the moment with aspirations of becoming an artist one day. That was until Barrett, my older brother's sexy best friend and a paramedic, walks into a gay bar I frequent. And guess what, he's also a homophobe who crushed my interest in him during my teen years. What's he doing here? And I keep seeing him. At my job, at my dad's cookout, and at the bar again. No way is he going to convince me that he's a better man now who can steal my heart away...and possibly break it in return.

Prompt #385 –

Brendan Nelson had a tough week at work. He is a Project Manager at a small software company. Nothing went well on his current project. The last delivery to QA (Quality Assurance) was a total failure, the techs couldn't even install it. Add to that, a serious problem in the development of a new feature arose. Finally, on top of that, the customer was screaming about a bug that hadn't been fixed for months, and now it apparently crashed the system. As if things weren't bad at work, he had to come home to a surprise.

Liam Henderson is the king of Montgomery High. He’s a student body president and a captain of the football team. His family comes from old money, he’s very handsome and smart. Though Liam is a near perfect creature, he made a mistake. He grew up best friends with a nerdy kid named Dylan, who just couldn't fit in with the right crowd once they got into a high school. Liam ditched him and spent the next three years bullying Dylan with his jocks.
Senior year rolled in and Dylan blossomed into a beautiful swan. Liam found himself lost in his eyes. The only problem - after everything Liam did, proud blonde boy wouldn't even look his way.

Someone buys a house and receives a belated letter from the son of the previous owner. He is a Navy Seal, wounded and recuperating, unaware as he sent it that his parent has passed away. An unexpected friendship forms..

James Toranaga is a twelve year old boy dealing with the aftermath of sexual assault. He’s doing okay. The memories are tough, and the world feels a little rougher than it used to, but he’s a strong kid with a loving family to support him.

It sure makes his emerging sexuality harder to deal with, though. He doesn’t want to think about it.

Luckily, he has the perfect distraction: he can fly.

But these strange new powers may bring dangers of their own. He is not the only one who has them.

Mike finds himself in an unexpected and uncomfortable situation. New school, new town, new family, and most notably, new roommate. And life seems to only get crazier every day.

Newly coming to terms with being gay, following an abusive childhood and a failed relationship with a girlfriend, electrician Keith meets Thomas, who runs a local arts charity. Despite coming from vastly differing backgrounds, the two discover much in common, not least the need to come to terms with complex relationships to their fathers. But they also learn to enjoy exploring life together.

14-year-old Bryan Padilla is caught between worlds he doesn't feel connected to. Having been abandoned by their birth parents at a young age, Bryan and his younger brother, Caleb, were adopted by a family friend, Diego Padilla, and raised in a culture not of their own. Though it is the only life Caleb has ever known, Bryan inwardly struggles with his feelings about life, death, race and sexuality. Things escalate shortly after the death of his birth mother. Can Bryan come to terms with his situation as a figure from his past tries to upend his entire life?

After his parents are killed, TJ's world is flipped upside down by what he discovers.