I unlocked the chain on the door on the balloon once we landed. He stepped out and looked at me. He memorised my every feature as if his life depended on it, and I did the same to him. I made sure to remember the little scar on his nose and the wrinkle in his forehead. I knew the freckle on his neck and the swift auburn of his hair. I didn’t know if he was single, as he didn’t know if I was. I wasn’t even sure if his name was really Sebastian. I did know that I would never forget today. ϟ Michelle Heights is a seventeen-year-old hot air balloonist. She had been fascinated by the colours and sights since she was little and has been working at Blue Skies Balloons’ since she was fifteen. But after an encounter with a stranger one thousand feet above the ground, Michelle is not so sure about what she’s always known. And when she meets that stranger again, will he remember her? - And will she be disappointed if he does? [cover by @taceturnity]

Sometimes all you really need is a place to call home. *** Claire is lost and scared and utterly alone. Her family is in shambles after the death of her older sister Ina, and she's left to pick up the broken pieces of herself as her life heads into a downwards spiral of loneliness. Her heart leads her to 5:48, a little cafe by 33rd street, where she finds her new home. With a broken heart and a speech disability, Jasper has his heart and mouth sewn shut by the winding threads of hurt and fear. Painting and serving coffee in cafe 5:48 are one of his last few saving graces, but the smile he's been painting on himself will soon fade away as everything he's ever held dear slips away from his grasp. Ezra is out-of-sync and oddly cold by the way life has treated his young self. Abandoned by his single mother at an early age, he has grown up thinking that he is a mistake. His constant shaking hands are a reflection of what he often thinks of himself, but the delightful pastries he bakes for 5:48's customers are a reflection of what others see of him. Drew is a quirky rarity. He is a dash of loud, a pinch of exuberant, and a cup of eccentric - just like the meals he serves in the cafe as the only chef there. Behind his playful grins and outlandish clothes, however, are his jutting ribs, hollowed cheeks, and too-thin arms. Sometimes he cannot stomach being in his own skin as much as he cannot stomach food. This family has gone a long way from finding each other, and they'll be going a long way together too as reality comes catching up to them, threatening the newfound happiness they've found with each other. Secrets are revealed, pasts become presents, and lives are changed. Slowly but surely, they find their way back home. *** NOTE AS OF 08/2026: This is the old version of the story from 2012, posted in FULL. Another story that will be considered a reprise of this old version is in the works, and will be posted under the name "Hiraya House."

With summer just around the corner, Coraline's prepared for another busy tourist season at her family's hotel. What she's not expecting, however, is England's hottest up-and-coming music sensation, Leon McCarthy, showing up at the check-in desk.

“My sister passed away over a month ago. The last time I saw her was yesterday.” When eighteen-year-old Reese Washington dies of an undetected heart defect, she leaves a bucket list behind: ten things, all incomplete, detailing the stuff she never got to do. Struggling with her grief, Reese’s twin sister, Callie, sees no other option but to set out to complete what she had planned; she’s determined to finish the list, however slowly, on behalf of the person who made it. The ultimate tribute to her sister. Reaching the end is something Callie’s always been counting on. Finding help in the form of Mitchell Hunt, the candid editor of the school newspaper who's way too keen on sharing, certainly isn’t. Then again, neither is the unexplained psychic connection between her and Reese. Think twin telepathy, and then think again.

"Not just a flavour, but a way of life." When seventeen-year-old Flo Kennedy is forced to up sticks and trade her life in London for a sleepy seaside town on the south coast, she's anything but excited. Walden-on-Sea could win awards for being Britain's dullest town, and with a population consisting almost entirely of over sixties, teenagers are an endangered species. Silently struggling with her parents' death and separation from her sister, Flo's convinced she's in for the worst summer of her life. But when she meets the guy in the ice cream shop, things start to change. It's not long before she lands herself a job, a new set of friends and maybe even the beginnings of first romance. For the first time in several years, she's happy. But Flo knows all too well that things can't stay perfect forever, and after all, being on top of the world only gives you further to fall.

The next December, they were apart. [Sequel to December]

They met in December.