The houses are the same, the cars are the same, and their aspirations are the same. But Ian is different. Openly gay in his bigoted high school, Ian doesn’t exactly fit in. But he’s not worried – he’s been training in dance for a long time and soon he’ll be able to leave town and train to become a professional. Then he falls in love with Jess, the high school quarterback…

    In a twist of fate, she accidentally bumps into Jenny O’Connor, the most popular girl at school. They strike up an unlikely friendship. As their trust in each other develops, they share their darkest secrets, and their relationship blossoms into a secret romance.Jenny loves Nicola, but she is fearful that if their secret relationship is discovered, she might lose her family, friends, and her seemingly perfect life.Nicola confronts her abuser and blackmails him to leave for good, but things go terrifyingly wrong. Jenny is left with a life-changing dilemma: should she face her fear and accept who she is, or let Nicola take the blame and pretend their relationship never happened?

    A smile across a counter at a coffee shop or video store. A secret revealed in a song from another place and time. Or in a love ballad crooned at a high school dance. In this anthology of never-before-published sweet LGBTQ+ stories, six authors explore the beginnings of love between young and new adult couples. All proceeds will support The Trevor Project's work with crisis intervention and suicide prevention for LGBTQ+ youth.

    Then, when her friend starts dating a boy, Noel’s world collapses as she sees her chance at love slipping away. One night, in a moment of desperation, Noel ends up confessing her feelings for Elena to a complete stranger — but as fate would have it, this stranger turns out to be a girl named June, Elena's other best friend... and Noel's rival in love! Worst of all, now June knows Noel's secret. With everything suddenly going wrong, how can Noel ever win the girl of her dreams? The heart-pounding romantic drama by breakout Spanish artist Ana C. Sánchez!

    She’s trying her hardest to follow in her lawyer parent's footsteps to make them proud, but in all honesty, the only family customs she truly feels inspired by are the ones that involve cutting down a giant Christmas tree, walking through the forest as the snow falls, and sipping eggnog next to the fire, surrounded by loved ones.She’s grown up alongside the Payne children, including her best friend Dylan, the young twins who exist solely to make her life harder, and, uh, the oldest Payne daughter, Stevie. Stevie, a firefighter with perfect hair and a kind heart. No big deal. Cass hasn’t had an unrequited and unconfessed crush on Stevie since she was eight-years-old or anything.When Stevie gets her heart broken, Cass doesn’t expect to be the one consoling her. And after a series of unfortunate events and a last-minute road trip bring her closer to Stevie, Cass starts questioning more than just her feelings for Stevie… like her path in life. Still, she definitely shouldn’t be trying to casually catch Stevie under the mistletoe, right?

    Fifteen-year-old Verdad doesn't think she has time for love. She's still struggling to process the recent death of her best friend, Blanca; dealing with the high expectations of her hardworking Puerto Rican mother and the absence of her remarried father; and keeping everyone at a distance. But when she meets Danny, a new guy at school--who happens to be trans--all bets are off. Verdad suddenly has to deal with her mother's disapproval of her relationship with Danny as well as her own prejudices and questions about her identity, and Danny himself, who is comfortable in his skin but keeping plenty of other secrets.

    Because if there was ... my little brother would still be fishing or playing basketball instead of fertilizing cemetery vegetation."Matthew Turner doesn't have faith in anything.Not in family—his is a shambles after his younger brother was bullied into suicide. Not in so-called friends who turn their backs when things get tough. Not in some all-powerful creator who lets too much bad stuff happen. And certainly not in some "It Gets Better" psychobabble.No matter what his girlfriend Hayden says about faith and forgiveness, there's no way Matt's letting go of blame. He's decided to "live large and go out with a huge bang," and whatever happens happens. But when a horrific event plunges Matt into a dark, silent place, he hears a rumble … a rumble that wakes him up, calling everything he's ever disbelieved into question.

    Fellow student Miu witnesses the accident, and Fujiwara begs her not to tell. In exchange, she'll do whatever Miu wants. It turns out that what Miu wants is to date Fujimaru! Although this wasn't an arrangement that either girl expected, the two soon discover that breaking the vase may have been destiny's way of bringing them together.

    Until I became a gay porn star. This is how I got here. The Instagram message came out of nowhere: “Hey, I’m Mike from Broke Straight Bros. We’re a gay porn site, but we specialize in finding unknown straight guys like you. We came across your profile and really like your look. We’d love to explore your interest in doing a shoot with us! PS: the $$$ would be substantial.” Of course I laughed it off and moved on. I mean, I’m straight – why would I ever do that? But fate had other plans. When my mom’s health issues took a turn, her doctors said she needed life-saving surgery – and her insurance wouldn’t entirely cover it. So since I was already broker than broke, I swallowed my pride, crawled back to Mike, and made an offer: one solo video. No sex. No other guys. Just me, my hand, and some lube, all in the name of helping my mom. My first shoot went surprisingly well – so well, in fact, that it went viral. So Mike came back with an even more shocking offer: $10,000 for a shoot with a guy. And with my mom’s bills mounting, I pushed the anxiety out of my mind, watched some gay porn for research, and then had dinner with my potential costar, Justin Kane, just to feel things out. But that created the biggest problem of all: Justin turned out to be funny, kind, charismatic, and has a bubble butt sent from the gods… And against all odds, I think I might like him. According to Mike, though, the #1 rule in porn is never to fall for your costar. Ever. If I catch feelings and make things weird, I could get fired on the spot and lose my only shot at saving my mom. But the clock is ticking, the shoot is tomorrow, it’s too late to back out now… And Justin’s gooey brown eyes are getting no less mesmerizing.

    His plan is to finish high school, get a football scholarship, and come out to his family and friends when he has the cushion of being away at college. But none of that is going to happen if his failing grades get him kicked off the team. His saving grace comes in the form of Tommy Peterson, the smartest kid in school, who also happens to be the Triple S that Dylan crushes on: smart, short, sexy. Dylan falls hard and when his feelings seem unrequited, he accidentally outs himself to his entire team, expecting them to oust him. But it’s anybody’s game as Dylan learns how to be honest about who he is and keeps his eye on the prize—the heart of Tommy Peterson.

    Every summer my only form of entertainment is to ogle Miles Winters and count ceiling tiles while I mark off days on the calendar until school starts again. The last thing I expected during my last summer before college was to somehow fall in with the cool kids. Actually, the last thing I expected was for Miles to suddenly notice me. It doesn’t make any sense the way he’s looking at me and coming around to hang out every day. I don’t understand it, but I have the feeling this just might turn out to be the best summer of my life. **This is a short (~10k words), low angst, YA romance.

    The start of middle school is making him feel increasingly anxious, so his favorite person in the whole world, his grandfather Bhai, gives him some well-meaning advice: Find one thing you’re really good at. And become the BEST at it.Those four little words sear themselves into Rahul’s brain. While he’s not quite sure what that special thing is, he is convinced that once he finds it, bullies like Brent Mason will stop torturing him at school. And he won’t be worried about staring too long at his classmate Justin Emery. With his best friend, Chelsea, by his side, Rahul is ready to crush this challenge. . . . But what if he discovers he isn’t the best at anything?Funny, charming, and incredibly touching, this is a story about friendship, family, and the courage it takes to live your truth.

    Scott, a modern arts curator at a museum in Chicago, relishes the finer things in life. Julian is a strange photographer whose hair color changes as frequently as his mood. As far as Scott can see, Julian is an erratic know-it-all who lives his life one day to the next. To Julian, Scott is an uptight, too-coiffed perfectionist.As the two men continue to run into each other, their dislike grows, but beneath that animosity, a fire is beginning to spark. Scott is baffled when he realizes he is falling for Julian, a man who burns hotter than a wildfire. Scott will have to decide, for the first time in his life, if he’ll let the flames take over.

    It hasn’t been an easy year for us, but we’ve made it. Please give us a story.This picture of us can represent the beginning, or the end, of your story for us. How did we make it to this point or where are we going from here?Photo Description: The photograph shows us two blond teenage boys on a sunny day, in front of a stadium. Both are quite buff and wearing identical maroon-colored rugby jerseys. The taller boy has an arm around the other in a gentle embrace whilst pressing a soft kiss to his forehead. Both appear to be happy and not the least concerned about their public display of affection.This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group's "Love’s Landscapes" event. Group members were asked to write a story prompt inspired by a photo of their choice. Authors of the group selected a photo and prompt that spoke to them and wrote a short story. This story may contain sexually explicit content and is intended for adult readers. It may contain content that is disagreeable or distressing to some readers. The M/M Romance Group strongly recommends that each reader review the General Information section before each story for story tags as well as for content warnings.

    There was that one glitch, years ago, but he's back on track now and determined to reach his goal of becoming a veterinarian and building his own practice.Shane Black's hard life has taught him there's no point in looking forward and even less in looking back. He takes life as it comes, and his only real need is medical care for his young pup, Dodger.When Shane stumbles into the clinic where Noah volunteers, Noah’s instincts tell him to run away from the dangerous, unpredictable ruffian. But the puppy needs help, and maybe Shane does, too.The young men soon discover that Dodger was poisoned, and so were several street people Shane knows. As they search for the source of the poison, Noah learns about the dark underside of the city where he’s spent his whole life, and Shane learns that there is light in the world, even when he’s stuck in the shadows.But when their relationship begins to grow from a partnership to a romance, new challenges appear. Their worlds are so different—can they ever make sense together? Is there any room in Noah’s carefully planned life for someone as unpredictable as Shane?