A counterfeit claim against a legendary wine ignites a high-stakes investigation in which a neurodivergent restaurateur and a forensic wine analyst must navigate forgery, deception, and their own unexpected connection to save a century-old legacy. Luc, owner of London's prestigious Le Rêve restaurant, faces a devastating crisis when a valued patron declares a prized vintage a fake. To protect his family's century-old reputation, he enlists Izzy, a brilliant but socially unconventional forensic wine analyst, eager to prove her mettle. Their shared autism initially creates an unexpected but undeniable spark of attraction, challenging their focus. But as they delve deeper into the complex world of wine fraud, they suspect a widespread conspiracy that threatens to destroy Le Rêve. Together, they must harness their unique abilities to expose the truth, safeguard the restaurant's legacy, and navigate their intensifying relationship, even as they battle their own internal worlds.

ONC 2026 Prompt 84: You were hired to be their companion, nothing more, but as their illness worsens, you're caught between responsibility, longing, and the ache of knowing you can't save them. ***************************************** (UPDATE May 2nd 2026 - I dedicate this story to the F1 driver and paralympian Alex Zanardi who sadly passed today. Alex's story is a real one of triumph over disaster.) ***************************************** Cat's nursing career has been tanked by her strength to call out a senior colleague who was under the influence of alcohol in an emergency operating theatre. It is Cat's nature to stand up for what she believes in regardless of personal cost. Planning her next move a recruitment notice catches her eye and she responds to it. Jeremy Churchill, a distant relative of Winston himself. At 27 years old and a fly-half for the Northampton Saints Rugby Club a routine xray after a heavy tackle has blown his world apart. She slowly starts to battle professional detachment for friendship, and attraction and desire for something more. He trades sullen silence and self pity for moments he realises it's not the sword of damocles hanging over his head. Final word count : 32,694 UPDATE The Bucket List has a soundtrack on Amazon music https://music.amazon.co.uk/user-playlists/71bfeae09df64bdc8c306192fdef981bengb?ref=dm_sh_7VfGpXGh0jYuWvAGPfQmHD5Fx

In 1966, sixteen-year-old Jade has spent most of her life in hospital rooms, her world defined by illness and routine, and by the storm-wrapped mountain she watches from her window. After a dream bleeds into waking life and a group of strangely dressed hikers invite her to climb the mountain's legendary trail-the Eighteen Pawns of the Dragon King-Jade follows them into the forest and becomes lost in Spirit Land. As she faces trial-like stages carved into the mountain, she encounters spirits who guide and deceive her, and a watching presence known as the Black Soul King, an ancient entity who longs to live again by stealing the bodies of the living. Blending folklore, horror, and coming-of-age fantasy, this novella explores fear, resilience, and the terrible price of wanting to survive.

They say there are many victims. They say I destroyed lives. But that wasn't me. That was the monster in my head- the one who knows exactly what people want, and exactly how to take it away. I just listened. For ONC 2026 Novella Contest #ONC2026 #opennovellacontest2026 #psychologicalthriller

Prompt #109 A professor realises a student's mystery stories mirror real missing persons cases in town and the newest one points to them. ****** A record-breaking winter shuts down Massachusetts. Classes move online. Roads ice over. And people begin to disappear. Emma Remington studies narrative ethics at an elite college where crime is discussed as theory. Her professor encourages all students to be creative. Emma delivers until her writing starts aligning too closely with real events unfolding beyond campus. What begins as an academic exercise becomes something else entirely. As missing persons cases multiply and the storm isolates the town, Emma is forced to confront a question she's spent her life avoiding: when does observation become complicity? And what happens when the wrong person is paying attention?

Blue Rose and Origami Cyclone know their fellow Pro Hero from their hero agency is undercover, yet when he goes missing they trace Blue's undercover work to the crime lord of the Shie Hassikai yakuza family, but he says Blue, or Dabi as he knows him, is no hero, being more than willing to steal something super important from said crime lord and that they should give up on such a Villian. Disclaimer - I don't own My Hero Acadmia or Tiger and Bunny. This is written for ONC, prompt 51, "While in search of a missing friend, you accidentally kidnap the most feared crime lord."

Aizawa Shota, the Pro Hero called Eraserhead, discovers a message from his future self telling him he's the only one who can stop something, to change things. And as a Pro Hero, his job is to save people when he can. Disclaimer - I don't own My Hero Academia. This is written for ONC, prompt Number 66 as mu main, "A strange message arrives, written in your own handwriting, but it's dated years in the future. As you read, you realize it warns you about something only you can change." I'm also using parts of prompt 111, "With a single touch, you can slip into someone else's memories. But when a stranger shows you a future crime involving you, you must uncover the truth before it comes to pass."

Always the perfect princess expected of a daughter of the Todoroki family, despite everything going on at home, Fuyumi always made friends easily, and she expects something similar when, on a bold move, she decides to enter the Pro Hero course at U.A. High. Only, there's another in her class, who is polite to everyone, and her friends who also ended up at U.A. find him charming, only -- only he takes one look at her and becomes cold as ice and distant, but given how easily she makes friends, Fuyumi feels something is up, something she can't quite place, and she plans on figuring it out no matter how antagonistic he may be. Disclaimer - I don't own My Hero Academy. This is written for ONC 2026, prompt number fifty-seven, "Everyone loves the polite, charming student on campus. Except, when you walk into the room. For some reason you're the only one they treat with icy distance. You're determined to find out why."

Dabi exists and yet doesn't, is thirteen yet sixteen, three years lost with home no longer being a home, feeling like a burned-out shell of his former self with no real identity, everything having been burned away the night he lost control of his Quirk. Blair, in turn, doesn't expect to find out this burned-out shell of a kid digging through his dumpster in need of a good meal, to know he's no failure, and deserves to be loved, one step at a time, starting with a much-needed meal. Disclaimer - I don't own My Hero Academia or First Descendant. This was written for Open Novella, Number twenty-eight, "Self-love often starts small, like planting a single seed. With time, patience, and a bit of light, it will blossom" as the main, and forty-six, "»We love broken, beautiful people. And it doesn't get more obviously broken and more classically beautiful than you.« (A slightly modified quote from »Daisy Jones & The Six« by Taylor Jenkins Reid)" as well.

A man with a golden heart, tries to become worthy of the one who loves him but ends up losing himself entirely in the process. Will his dearly beloved garden continue to bloom with flowers of defeat, or finally grant him the empty field he has always yearned for?