For Day One’s Challenge, I decided to start an ongoing series of short(ish?) stories around what the characters of the Dark Little Town series would be doing during Quarentine. Please keep in mind that these are not edited (at all!). For these, I’ll just share excerpts. Short Stories will be published in full.
Remember: These are being written as a self-challenge and are not really up to my usual par or editing standards. They may change drastically from any future official publication.
I hope you enjoy them!
Challenge: Kyle/Markus During Quarantine. (Excerpt).
“Kyle, I’m bored,” Markus Whittaker moaned as his boyfriend of nearly a decade entered their Alphabet City apartment. “I hate this quarantine. I just want to go see our friends.”
“Why don’t you?” Kyle asked. He shrugged out of his coat, hanging it near the door. He toed off his sneakers before he stepped out of the entry, still wearing his rainbow patterned mask. “Everyone is home. Obviously. There isn’t any reason we can’t visit each other in the building at least. We all agreed on a bubble situation, here.”
Markus pouted, watching as Kyle unhooked the mask from his ears, holding it carefully with one finger. “I hate this.”
“I know, Babe,” Kyle sighed. “I hate this too. We’re lucky we’re still able to work.”
“I miss the office.”
“It’s been a week and you barely went into the office before anyway. You loved working from home.”
“No, I loved being able to work from wherever,” Markus argued. “Now I have to work from home because all of the cafes are closed or take-out only.”
Kyle sighed. He’d known the minute the Mayor of New York had declared the city under quarantine conditions, effectively shutting down everything but the most essential of businesses, that Markus was not going to cope well. He was social person. He liked flitting around, meeting and talking to people. Flirting. If he was already this bored and on edge after a week, he hated to think about what it would be like in a month. Or even longer.
He also knew they were incredibly lucky to have jobs that weren’t entirely dependent on industry. As a writer, Markus could work from anywhere. His online news job was flexible. Kyle’s art was mostly freelance and creative. As long as he was still making sales, he was making money. He knew his commissions would dry up, but he had a lot of inventory and plenty of supplies. He also knew that even if his sales did take a hit, he had plenty in savings as well as his income from the family business. He and Markus were going to be just fine.
“Let me change. Take a quick shower. Then we’ll do something together, okay? What do you want to do?”
“Is that even really a question?” Markus asked.
Kyle felt the smile pull at his lips. “Video games? A movie? Netflix binge? I brought some pieces home with me to work on here tomorrow. You could help me with painting.”
Markus’s guttural groan made him laugh as he disappeared down the short hall to the bathroom. He didn’t bother closing any doors as he stripped. He shoved his clothes into the lidded hamper before he jumped into the shower. After a quick scrub, hopefully getting rid of any potential trace of the virus that was killing the world as they knew it, he dried off. He draped the towel over his head as he walked back to the living room.
“Did you decide?” He massaged his hair dry as he looked down at Markus on the other side of the couch.
“Fuck me.”
“Eh. Do I have to?”
“Yes.”
Kyle feigned a grunt. He whipped the towel off his head, flicking it at his lover. “You’re wearing far too much clothes if that’s what you want.”
Markus laughed, tugging on the towel. It Kyle gripped it, letting him tug him playfully over the back of the couch and on top of him.
“Augh, you’re still all wet.” Markus scowled.
Kyle caught his lips and the scowl turned very quickly into a smile. The man’s arms wrapped around Kyle’s shoulders before nails trailed down his back. Markus’s palms came to press flat against his chest.
“I love you.”
“I love you too,” Markus murmured against his lips. “So please, fuck me?” “Kiss me first.” Kyle coaxed him into the back of the couch so they could lay side by side together on the wide seat. They’d purposefully looked for an extra wide sofa, just for such lounging. While neither of them was particularly wide, one of their other partners; Heath Gibson, was a substantial bit of man. Canoodling with him on a sofa definitely required more room than the average couch –and it was worth every penny.
Sam LaRose, Author 