In which Elliot picks up his broken pieces and Kaden promises not to let him fight alone ever again

Jake hates roses. Each time he feels unaccomplished and discontent with his life, another rose blooms in his garden. He's grown to loathe the sight of it as the flowers keep multiplying as his passion for writing dries up and the dread stews in him. Xavier loves roses. He adores all things beauty and bright and soaking it all up. So when he stumbles into Jake and his field of flowers one summertime, he's eager to welcome him into the simple sunshine of his world. They find they each have something they can give, and can't quite get enough of each other. But can you keep holding onto flowers if the thorns are digging in? ONC 2026 Submission - Prompt 10 (Every time you feel like you've failed at something, a flower appears in your yard. You now have the most spectacular flower garden in the neighborhood, yet all you want is grass.)

Simmie was 12 when her world ended. She was 17 when everyone else's did too.

The most painful lie was the one you lived, and yet the truth was just as desolate. Ever since he began to experience the world around him in full, Versailles had felt like nothing but a complete and utter misfit. While everyone ran to their counterparts like moths to a flame, he was always left wondering when it would be his turn; or if he even had a counterpart. As he grew older, Versailles wanted nothing more than to find the one person that could give him the affection he so badly wanted. He wanted to live a romance worthy of being a movie, but had been cursed to a life of waiting. Pure, torturous waiting. It was like he was a beating heart, holding the ribcage surrounding him like it was a jail cell. And far after Versailles had given up all hope, he met him... Kye Rosenheim was nothing more than a discarded tool left to collect cobwebs in the garage. Once something so shiny and new, it was like he could conquer the world with just his fingertips-but it all came crashing down quicker than it had risen. After losing the one boy he'd managed to call a best friend, Kye had no choice but to anchor himself to the bottom of the ocean and sit there for the rest of time, waiting. He could wait till the day he died just to have the water freeze over him before the truth could be brought to light. Only after Kye was locked in a dangerous, romantic game of cat and mouse would he realize that waiting wasn't so bad; a crack in the ice for him to escape through. But when he breached the surface once more in search of a new beginning, he found that his new, insatiable need for love was being held at gunpoint-and he was the target. Or was he?

[BOOK THREE] Ethan Reed has always been the golden boy. The favorite son, the captain of the volleyball team. Perfect. He has to be perfect. But after everything, Ethan finds himself crippled by the pressure of it all. It builds and it builds all the way to a breaking point, so eventually, when Ethan finally cracks under the pressure, no one is surprised. What is surprising however, is the boy that arrives to pick up the pieces. When Ethan struggles to hold it together over the road to the finals, June is there, and together, with him, his friends, and a twin brother desperately trying to heal their broken family, Ethan starts to finally feel like there might be hope after all. [NOTE - this is the THIRD book in the head over heels trilogy. it isn't a stand alone, read the others first!]

Content to live in his superstar twin's shadow, Evan Reed never expected to join the volleyball team-or fall for his brother's best friend. But one accidental collision sets off a whirlwind of spikes, secrets, and unexpected feelings that just might pull him into the spotlight for good. *** Evan has spent his entire life living in the shadow of his twin brother and volleyball prodigy, Ethan Reed. And to be honest? He likes it there. No expectations, no pressure, just quiet. That is, until one day he trips and falls into a boy, and subsequently triggers a highly dramatic series of events that starts with him reluctantly joining the volleyball team, and ends with him dating his brother's best friend. (And unfortunately, after all of it, he's still on the volleyball team.) *** NOW COMPLETED

Eden Woods has spent his entire life searching for something. He spends his days working at a cafe in France, taking photos to pass the time, then going out on weekends, losing himself in the nights. Only, despite all the soul searching, he can never quite shake the feeling that he's missing something. Then, after a drunken, almost definitely accidental tattoo, Eden meets Avery. The one who did it. He's a tempest. Blustering and bold. Fiery and flirtatious. Avery Romano is a mystery in a bottle, and all Eden wants is to figure him out. Slowly, Eden starts to think that maybe Avery is exactly what he's been searching for. When Avery begins to frequent Eden's cafe, the two begin to forge a bond, and slowly but surely, their paths begin to grow together like intertwining vines climbing up the same wall. For a while, life goes on. Then obviously, things get complicated.