In a war over the food court, an eager barista battles the confident competitor--and her own heart. *** Young barista Cora Chun takes pride in being a Cool Bean, even after years without a promotion. So when Farron Kam, the younger assistant manager of the competing smoothie shop, flaunts her hatred for her job, Cora is determined to crush her to a pulp. What she doesn't expect is for Farron to take her up on the challenge. With that declaration of war, the two begin a battle over the food court: who can serve the most customers, who can close up the fastest, who can grab the last loaf of bread at the supermarket... But as the rivalry begins to blend with romance, Cora has to decide if she is fighting a battle over beverages, or one over her own heart. *** Cover by the great @JustAWannabeWriter30! NOW SERVING: ✓ Sapphic workplace rivals-to-lovers ✓ Genderfluid love interest (with a cool tattoo) (and a motorcycle) ✓ First love and found family ✓ Opposites attract with a height difference ✓ PUNS GALORE FEATURED: ★ @Wattpad Community Pride Recs, Love Games ★ @FreeTheLGBT Pride Awards 2024 - Second Place ★ @Ambassadors Ambassador Reads, @ChickLit Serialized Spotlight, @ContemporaryLit, @lgbtq Word Count: +90k Genres: Contemporary Romance, Romcom, Comedy, New Adult ☆ This story is only available on Wattpad by @laurendoubleu

**WATTYS 2025 HONOURABLE MENTION** Cas and Vish are best friends whose feelings run deep. Whilst Cas is clever, sporty, and on the brink of a bright future at university, Vish has no such prospects. A painfully shy artist, Vish's horizons end at his daily routine of pills, sensory issues and panicking parents. When they celebrate what could be their final summer together by painting wildlife and swimming at a secret wooded wetland hidden in the Fens, the lads awaken something ancient and sinister lurking in the water. A voice in Vish's head -- Charlie -- tempts him to spend longer and longer in the woods. When villagers begin to disappear and Vish becomes increasingly secretive and distant, Cas is convinced that Charlie intends to claim Vish, body and soul. Lies, heartbreak and obsession push their friendship to breaking point, but nothing will stop Cas from protecting Vish from Charlie's onslaught, not even a fight to the death. --- This book started life as an ONC 2025 prompt: 105. Your childhood imaginary friend who disappeared years ago returns - only this time they're real.

I am very proud and delighted to announce I am one of 6 Honourable Mentions by Wattpad for this years Watty Awards! Keep writing and reading everyone. This inspires me to put out more work next year as I move into fantasy/sci-fi territory. Congrats to all the winners and everyone who made the shortlist. I've made new friends, discovered new stories, been amazed by so much talent, and thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. Can't wait to see what is coming in 2026! ******** Huge news! My story has been shortlisted for the 2025 Watty Awards! Thank you to everyone who's read and supported me along the way. Just making the cut was my birthday wish. To all who join me, I can't wait to read the other entries. And for those who didn't make it this time, keep writing! People need to read your story. There is an audience for everyone. Take it from the guy who has been working towards this day for 64 years. check out my FaceBook page for a few excerpts and insights: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61581292790967 Laugh and cry over the gayest Odd Couple you'll ever meet! Wendell Kingston is a fiftyish bachelor with a series of failed romances. After heart surgery, he enters cardiac rehab and meets Ben Carver, a young lothario with a congenital heart defect. For Wen, it's love at first sight. For Ben it's flirting to give Wendell a confidence boost. Ben doesn't do love, but he also doesn't know the extremes Wendell is willing take to win him over. Unfortunately, Wen's sister, Dorothea, disapproves. She has set her brother up with her assistant, Penny, to fulfill a necessary provision in their father's will in order for Wendell to receive his full inheritance and control of their family's fortune. Will she keep them apart? Or will it be Wen & Ben forever? Featured on @Wattpad Community Pride Recommendations June 2025. 😁 #Wattys #ShortListed

"After everything, you're... one of the few things that actually feels real." In 2030, the sky cracked open. By 2040, Earth belongs to the Biopods. In the present, 2049, humanity has mostly given up, trying to survive through this broken world. They arrived as silent meteorites, egg-shaped monoliths that burrowed into the Earth. At first, humanity thought they were dormant. But they weren't. Each Biopod is a living factory: it devours biological matter-humans, animals, forests-and reconfigures it into cold, sentient machines. The machines they make vary, adapting to terrain, resistance, and resource availability. They don't just kill. They convert. Matthew Riots, gunner from the Frontline, no longer wishing to fight, left the Frontline for Zeta. There he reunited with his sister, living out their quiet lives. But no peace truly exists in a world full of Biopods. Zeta fell, he and his sister completely lost contact. Promising to keep surviving no matter what, Matthew journeyed to the promised land of Athena. The story of Rust And Stardust gives us insights on what little humanity is left in the apocalypse. A story focusing on the theme of family, love and human's connection. In a broken world where survival is a luxury, will our main character finally find peace and happiness again?

When a scandal forces hockey star Amelia Bennett into a fake relationship with guarded photographer Harper Lane, neither expects the headlines, or the feelings, that follow. What starts as a PR stunt begins to spark into something real, threatening to expose more than just their hearts. *** She's the world's best hockey player. She's a heartbroken photographer with nowhere else to go. And they were never supposed to fall in love. At 24, Amelia Bennett is the most talented hockey player on the planet-chaotic, impulsive, and the last Bennett standing without a ring on her finger. After a very public scandal threatens her sponsorships and reputation, the team's PR crisis plan is simple: clean up her image fast. Step one? A fake relationship. Something that should be easy, right? Harper Lane has no interest in fame, or falling for another golden boy-or girl-with a spotlight stitched into their skin. After catching her long-term boyfriend cheating, she's sworn off chaos and charm. But when her best friend Audrey begs her to stay with Millie temporarily, Harper finds herself in the middle of a media storm-and somehow agreeing to pretend to be Millie Bennett's girlfriend. It's only for the cameras. Just long enough to fix Millie's image. Just enough to keep Harper's ex boyfriend off her back. But fake smiles turn into real moments. Cold shoulders warm under shared blankets. And the girl Harper was warned about-the reckless, beautiful mess, is nothing like the one who makes her tea when she's anxious and kisses her like she means it. In a house built on secrets, one accidental love story is about to mak

✅COMPLETED✅ Wings, blackened and bruised and broken. Fated to never fly again, angles are casted down from heaven and titled the Fallen. Such a topic is forbidden in the Holy Lands; no one ever knows what happens to those angles. No one, except for Cassius. Cast down from his home in the heavens, Cassius finds himself in the care of someone he leasts expects. He is determined to find a cure for the Falling before it claims his life, all the while falling in love with his caretaker.

Wish knew the rules of survival better than most-learned them young, with bloodied knuckles and empty stomach nights in Midas's unforgiving underbelly. The city was a glittering lie, its promise of fortune thin as a hologram, reality lurking beneath: grime, corruption, and the unspoken brutality of those who wielded power like a blade. He'd climbed from gutter rat to Desire's most coveted possession, a sleek predator hidden behind the polished facade of a high-priced escort. At Desire, he learned the art of manipulation, sharpened his charm into a weapon, and turned his own body into a carefully constructed illusion, perfected to draw out the dark desires of Midas's elite. Now, those same skills were keeping him alive-but barely. Hunted by government agents and Solstice Corp enforcers, Wish was caught in a tightening noose, each breath of Midas's polluted air heavy with paranoia. Corporate mercenaries stalked his every move, and the gleaming towers around him felt more like prison walls, closing in inch by inch. Yet Wish thrived in chaos, his heartbeat strongest in the storm's center. Survival was never enough; he needed answers-why was he the target? What sinister game was playing out behind the corporate curtains? His only path was straight through the web of secrets choking the city. Trust was scarce currency, allies fleeting shadows. He would leverage every trick he'd ever learned, twist every whispered confession collected in Desire's velvet rooms into weapons of his own. The hunted would become the hunter. Wish knew the odds were steep, but then again, danger was his oldest friend. And in Midas, beneath neon-lit skies bleeding into smog-choked streets, the only way out was to fight-not just to live, but to tear down the gilded cage around him, piece by corrupted piece.

𝐵𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝐼: 𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓃𝒶 𝒷𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇𝓈 series. ---------- When Mark, a reserved and self-assured loner, unexpectedly reunites with Josh-the man he shared a mind-blowing kiss with seven years ago-his carefully constructed walls begin to crumble. What starts as a tense encounter in a nightclub spirals into an unforgettable turn of events for Mark. Can he navigate this intoxicating pull, or will it lead to a downward spiral he can't escape?

[COMPLETED] [2025 Wattys Honorable Mention] Danny's neighbor should be illegal. There's no way someone should be that attractive. They've lived next door to each other for over a year. As a skinny, clumsy, sweater-loving, Modern Poetry professor, Danny never believed someone like him could catch the eye of someone as perfect as Brett. But when Danny (accidentally) RSVPs to a destination wedding he never wanted to attend, he realizes he's in a bind-he needs a plus-one. And somehow, Brett becomes his unexpected solution. Brett's MMA career was on the brink of greatness until an injury stopped him cold. Now, trying to reclaim his spot in the octagon and live up to heavy expectations, the last thing Brett expected was to build a friendship with the neighbor he's been crushing on. However, Danny is undeniably gorgeous and way out of his league, so he needs to maintain realistic expectations. But, when Danny needs a date for a destination wedding, Brett's first instinct is to offer his help. Being his fake boyfriend would not be a hardship. A romantic beach, a fake relationship, and one bed... what could go wrong? Genre: Contemporary Romance / Fake Relationship / Friends to Love / HEA Guaranteed / Dual POV There will be mature scenes between two men that I will mark accordingly. These scenes are intended for mature audiences. This is a spin-off of the worlds of King of Hawkings/Death & Tequila and A New Song/Beats of the Heart, but it is a stand-alone novel, so reading the other novels is unnecessary. However, some old characters will appear, so you may enjoy it more with the full background.

In the not-so-distant future, the world is experiencing a moment of peace. The rate of violence has dropped to almost zero thanks to technological advances by the company Icarus Inc. Drones with surveillance equipment patrol the streets and police officers trained and equipped to neutralize any type of threat provide an air of security for the world's population. But everything changes when a wave of kidnappings takes over the globe. Strange events intrigue society, bringing back a fear that has not been felt for a long time. Amidst the chaos, Will Shepherd realizes that his insecurities at school are the least of his worries. Upon discovering that he is a special teenager, he must join forces with others like him to unravel the mysteries behind the disappearances and reveal the true intentions of the largest technology company in the world. An epic battle in a modern, but not promising, future.