WATTYS 2023 SHORTLIST | WATTYS 2023 FANS CHOICE AWARDS NOMINEE Initially looking for nothing more than a feelings-free summer fling before college, reckless Harris McCammon and anxious Seb Krause might have stumbled into more than they bargained for. --------------------------------- When a graduation party takes a risky turn, Harrison McCammon finds himself in the passenger seat of Sebastian Krause's truck. When the two virtual strangers agree to begin a friends with benefits kind of situation, neither expect anything more than maybe a fun situationship before they leave for college. But as their casual entanglement turns into something slightly more, the two of them are forced to push down their real thoughts on this non-relationship. Add in sketchy ex-boyfriends, concerned parents, and a small dash of existential dread, there's no such thing as no strings attached. TW: underaged substance abuse; mentions of/attempted SA; (fade to black/non-explicit) sex; homophobic figures/abandonment; hospitalisation ^that sounds like a lot, wow, i'm sorry, it's ... it's mainly fluff ---ONC Ambassadors Round 2 Pick, 2023---

Kitty Cohen and Felicity Campbell are soulmates. Fliss has been sure of this ever since they shared a room their freshman year of college, when their friendship emerged fully-formed the moment they met. They've seen it all together: disastrous house shares; shitty post-grad apartments; too many relationships to count. Now everything's about to change. Kitty is getting married and Fliss didn't think she'd be this heartbroken. Levi's a nice guy. He understands his fiancée's friendship, and he and Fliss get along just fine, but he's just a guy. He isn't special enough for Kitty. But then a shaken Kitty turns up on Fliss's doorstep a few weeks before the big day: the wedding is off. Fliss didn't think she would be so relieved to hear that. Weird. The honeymoon is all paid for, though, so Kitty has a proposition: a girls' trip to Las Vegas, just the two of them and two weeks of drinking and overheating and exploring everything Sin City has to offer. Why not, right? Fliss has barely left the east coast and it's about time she took advantage of her company's unlimited PTO. It'll be nice to have an uninterrupted vacation with her favorite person. Then they get to their all-expenses-paid honeymoon suite and the hotel thinks they're married and it's easier to go along with it than explain the situation. It's not like it matters, right? It's a bit of fun. Until, slowly but surely, Fliss realizes her feelings are more than platonic. Maybe they always have been. And now she's stuck sharing a bed with her best friend, who is pretending to be her wife. © Elle Carrigan 2023

"When I first saw you, I thought I'd have to kill you." "Uh, excuse me?" "But now I'll kill anyone that even thinks of laying a finger on you," he said, a dry laugh escaping his lips. "How times change, huh?" ~~~ Atlas, a young chef, was simply trying to survive in the big city. When a mysterious intruder, Emil, breaks into his apartment, Atlas is thrust into a life completely different from his. As Emil takes a liking to Atlas, will the chef run away? Or will the crime boss give him a reason to stay? ~~~ [mxm]

Eighteen year old Sasha isn't ready to live independently, but his parents didn't give him any choice. Too anxious and unsure of himself to really live, he sits alone in his tiny apartment and tries to stay distracted. He stays quiet, hoping to go unnoticed by the world. Next door, Cooper shares an apartment just as small with his two roommates. He knows his friends love him, but he's loud and impulsive and easily distracted, and sometimes he feels like a burden. He thinks the apartment next to theirs is empty, until one day he hears a sound from next door...

COMPLETED [boyxboy] After his religious mother kicks him out for being gay, Elijah Ellis moves in with his father, where his step-mother, step-brother, and half-sister also welcome him. Elijah aspires to continue doing what he loves and play hockey for his new school, but his past hookup with the closeted hockey captain, Fox Ridley, complicates things. While Elijah just wants to get through the season unscathed, Fox is hellbent on hating him. Elijah is unsure whether he will ever overcome Fox's hatred, or if he will remain on thin ice. ~171k words

Sam's job is to make a record of cultures before the drones come and destroy them. He's supposed to take artefacts, not people. Kias doesn't know what's going on, but there are metal monsters flying around killing people and he doesn't want to be next, even if to live he has to give up the freedom he's only just reclaimed.

When things with his step brother finally escalate too far and Gabe gets seriously injured, he's sent to stay with another family for a while. Unfortunately the guy Gabe's sharing bunk beds with has taken an instant dislike to him for no apparent reason.

[BXB] Nate Pembroke makes an offer that Denver Hughes can't refuse. ✩✩✩ Ever since tragedy struck Denver Hughes' family two years ago, nothing has been the same. As a result, already apathetic Denver decided his best move was to push his feelings aside and avoid them completely- until he decides to seek them out again. Nate Pembroke acts without thinking and has the bruises to show for it. He's impulsive; a hurricane; a whirlwind and he's Denver's golden opportunity. When he offers to help Denver embrace all of his messy and complicated feelings, Denver knows it's an offer he can't refuse. But as their friendship begins to blossom into something more, Denver is forced to face his feelings- and his grief- in a way that he never expected. [ November. 2021. - February. 2022. ]

When Charlie gets away from his drug dealing father and is sent to live with his grandparents, things aren't suddenly okay. Charlie's broken. He's not sure he ever wasn't broken. When things get unbearable, the only thing that helps Charlie feel grounded is music. What can he do when he runs out of batteries for his old walkman? At school crowds of people gather to watch Travis perform, but when he goes home his only company is his cat. He escaped his abusive parents, but now he lives with his older brother who is usually away working. Will the strange, quiet boy he finds sitting on his porch trying to listen in on his music put an end to his loneliness?

Jonah Moshe knew working over Christmas break would be awful, especially at Happy's 24/7 Pharmacy, where he'd get to start his day in a dimly lit convenience store that smelled like cat food and cigarettes, listening to his co worker blab on for six hours straight. But then Nicky Haddad comes in. And he comes again. And again. And again. And suddenly, working the morning shift doesn't seem all that bad. (Double POV story)