Rainbow Shorts ( my LGBT Short Story Collection)

The Coming of The End (LGBT challenge)

Author's Note - Written for Rae Kitano's April challenge  

Prompt - "The coming of the end."

THE COMING OF THE END

"Can I spend the night with you?" asked Stefan wearily. "I'll sleep on the couch, I'd just really like to be with you tonight." 

Nick got ready for bed, thinking that Stefan sleeping over was getting to be a habit. A habit he could easily grow used to. Maybe next time he could ... hmm. Third time lucky? 

The End"

What the f-? How could that be the end? What was going to happen to Stefan and Nick? Were they going to get together or not? Where was the sex scene, for god's sake, a chaste kiss on the lips hardly counted. He had been so looking forward to Nick finally losing control and making a move. Grabbing Stefan from behind, pulling his uniform down, pushing him forward over his desk and ... or at least something! Matt flicked through the last few blank pages of the book, hoping for a few extra pages to be hidden away at the back.  

Nothing. 

He tossed the book onto the coffee table in disbelief. 

How could LV leave him hanging like that? True, his sex scenes were always understated, leaving him wanting more, much more graphic detail, but this was PG even for LV! This just wasn't good enough, he could write a much better ending himself and he was the first to admit he wasn't much of a writer. Fuming he opened up his laptop and went online searching for the author's website. Surely there was a contact email or something? He was going to have to have a serious word with that young man. 

Ah good, here was a section on the home page to provide feedback.  

"Dear LV, The ending to Suns sucked big time. Please write a better ending, Love Matt." 

He looked at the comment a bit doubtfully, a bit too blunt maybe? He'd heard writers were sensitive souls. He deleted the comment and tried again. 

"Dear LV, I love your all your books except for Suns. I thought the ending came too soon, I want to know more about what happens to Nick and Stefan. Love from your biggest fan, Matt." 

He smiled. That was better! No-one could take exception to that could they? 

He pressed "Send". 

The very next morning he had a reply.  

"Dear Matt, I'm sorry you didn't like Suns. As you know, the book is already in print so I am unable to change it (Smiley face inserted). Unfortunately I can't please everyone. I suggest you get over it (A second smiley face inserted.)! Cheers, LV" 

Matt frowned. He'd been certain his comment was as tactful as possible but LV sounded a little miffed. He guessed writers were even more sensitive than he'd thought. 

He sent back a reply, "Pretty please, with chocolate chip cookies?? **looks up with big puppy dog eyes**."

Who could possibly resist that? If that didn't work, he didn't know what he would do. 

The reply came back a few minutes later. "Sorry!" There wasn't even a smiley face this time. 

Damn. He sat back how was he going to get through the week without knowing how Stefan and Nick got on? Sure he could use his imagination but it wasn't the same. He wanted a proper ending, with his two favourite characters in bed together. 

He looked crossly at the paperback. 

Damn Amazon publishing. Once an author got their book into print it was fixed in concrete, no room for additions or epilogues or fun chats at the bottom of chapters with other readers, some of whom were pretty hot, too. At least they were if their profile pics were accurate. He was pretty sure CK for example was using photoshop ... hastily he brought his wayward thoughts back to the topic in question. 

If only LV hadn't taken that step forward from wattpad to Amazon, he felt sure he could have persuaded him to change the ending. A light bulb went on in Matt's head.  

XXX 

Two days later, he received another email.  

"Dear Matt, You will be glad to know I have had it up to here with Amazon. You wouldn't believe the number of crappy reviews I've received for Suns in the last two days. In fact, I have decided to take the book down (sad face inserted). The good news is I can now have another look at the ending, I must say that on reflection you may have a point. I'll be putting the revised story back up on wattpad over the next few weeks. Wish me luck, LV."

 The End

Author's Note - If anyone hasn't already read my story, Suns, can I suggest you read Pirate first as the two go together! :)