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Prompt #265

Write a story that begins with a phone call at three in the morning.

Trevor insisted the house phone be on his side of the bed. There was one problem with that; Trevor was nearly impossible to wake up. One night, the phone rings at three AM. Julius has a hard time waking Trevor, but finally succeeds. Trevor finally answers the phone on the ninth ring. The phone call starts something they never could have expected.

Jesse King is fit, forty and frustrated. His midlife crisis and his wife's dare sparks a journey into uncharted territory. One bold night leads him into the arms of another man—and a new solution to his desires.

This one comes from Prompt #71.

Write a short story featuring only one character. No secondary characters at all. You might drop them in the woods and see how they fare, or come up with your own idea, but only one character is allowed.

Fraser Vogel knew it was dangerous to parachute in high winds. He wasn’t left with too many options in his Cessna 182 Skylane when its yoke seized and the engine failed.

Jump or crash? Pretty easy choice.

L & L Investigations is a detective firm run by Lars Wrede, middle-aged and of Dutch-Swedish origin, together with his younger partner Lennart Torstensson. The firm is based in Stockholm but Lars in particular has strong links with the Netherlands from his youth. By coincidence they get a job to find out the truth behind a mysterious death in the Dutch university town Leiden. This brings them in contact with various aspects of Dutch society, including the experiences of gay young men.

Welcome to Highland Park, Texas. Where every teenager is expected to know exactly who they're supposed to become.

Josiah Crawley, Christian Berkeley, Elijah Payne, and Leonard Sanchez share little in common. One is a golden boy. One is new in town. One grew up with strict rules. One is known to break them. On the night of homecoming, a powerful storm brings the four of them together for the first time. But when they witness a horrible accident, they become bound by guilt, grief, and a search for answers.

A Roman noble born for music, not war. A Cherusci warrior born for duty, not desire.

Sent to the Rhine frontier under an ambitious governor’s wing, Marcus Valerius Pulcher finds in Ingomar something Rome never taught him to want, and something Ingomar’s people would never forgive.

Their bond grows in stolen hours, firelit and unspoken, while empire and tribe both close in around them. Then the forests of Teutoburg swallow three legions whole, and everything either boy was raised to become burns with them. What’s left isn’t safety. It’s a choice, made in the open, at a price neither can take back.

Begin Again starts with one coffee. That had been the whole plan.

Evan wasn't looking for complicated. He had enough of it—a life he'd never settled into, a house in Wicklow he didn't know what to do with, and a habit of leaving before anyone could ask him to stay.

Then he meets Cian, an Irish arborist who is steady, direct, and clear about what he wants.

One night becomes another morning, a spare shirt, and a man who won't pretend this is less than it is. The sex is easy. Letting Cian see him afterward isn't.

Evan knows how to leave before anyone matters. Cian knows how much of that he'll tolerate.