Robin J. Harrison

  The way the light of the setting sun washed over his face as he animatedly explained the plot of this new book in his favorite series made John look radiant, Thomas would go so far as to say divine, even, and when the light breeze blew John’s shaggy, chestnut brown hair out of his face, revealing his adorable freckles, Thomas almost felt his heart explode. Thomas wanted to tell John he loved him, but the thought of John being quiet, even just long enough to listen, didn’t seem worth it. So, Thomas just admired the man next to him on the pier, falling more and more in love with every syllable John spoke. “Boys!” The two men looked behind them to Susan, pushing the baby stroller past the pier. “It’s getting late, the twins are asleep, let’s go home!” John smiled at Thomas, who smiled back. They nodded to each other, and walked off the pier, hand in hand, back to their girlfriend.  During the short walk, Thomas squeezed John’s hand, trying to transfer all of his affection for John throu

  She knew he was an undead abomination er- a vampire. She had started completely avoiding him at all costs after he had told her, her necrophobia getting in the way of interacting with him normally anymore. Unfortunately, this professor’s random pairing for this project had forced her to be with him. Naturally, she sat as far away from him as she could while still technically being at the table.  “Jess…”  Her blood ran cold when he addressed her, but he sounded so utterly defeated that she couldn’t help but feel bad for him. She decided to let him talk. “I… I’m really sorry I scared you. You talked a lot about your love for paranormal romance novels, and how your favorite trope in them was the vampire that feels displaced in time, so I wrongly assumed that you would be excited to learn about who I am, forgetting that Who I Am is, well, a monster to most people.  “I should have waited to tell you until we were in a more public area. I know you must have been so terrified, feeling lik

  It was time. She'd fought against it for so long, but now, she was putting her foot down. “John. You are absolutely not naming the baby; ‘Justin Thyme’. Please. I am begging. Stop with the joke names. You’re hurting me.” “I’m going to be a dad, Susan, I have to get my funny bones dusted off and oiled up. I’m all rusty from my years of being an edgy shut-in!”  While it was nice to see John glowing and having fun with life again, Susan could not help but wish he would stop with the puns, they were becoming a bit much. “I, for one,” Thomas butted in, bringing the teas into the room, “am a fan of waiting at least until we know the sex for the baby before we decide on a possible name for the gremlin.” John huffed. “You’re not any fun. You don’t have any names in your life that mean something to you, or that you’d always liked as an idea for a future child?” Thomas sat on the couch, blowing on his teacup in thought for a moment. “Well, to be honest, I never thought I’d make it this f

  To save his own life, he would have to kill. That’s what the game master had said. Arlo had been thinking about this, letting it stew in his mind for a very long time, and he’d finally come to a conclusion; the game master had never specified what exactly he had to kill. So now, here Arlo stood, anxiously waiting for the large, iron bars to slowly rise so he could enter the arena and see if he could get away with this. There came the thunderous applause, which was his cue to run into the arena and gather the attention of the audience, which he would really be relying on to help him survive. He was all too aware of the fact that having the audience’s favor usually secured your survival, and he needed all the help he could realistically get. The excited screaming of the audience, clearly fueled by alcohol, was easier than Arlo anticipated to bring to a decibel that felt like if it went on for too long, it could deafen a man, and more importantly, shook the arena a not-insignificant amo