What to Read This Weekend!

5/9/2026

Daniel stepped back up to Kyle, pulled him close, and pressed his mouth to Kyle’s, tongue sliding inside with ease. His other hand wormed between them, found one of Kyle’s nipples, and circled it with light, teasing strokes. “Not the only reason,” he exhaled as he broke their kiss.
He released Kyle, who was breathing hard and leaning into him. Grinning, Daniel slipped out the door before the kid came up with any other distractions. He was almost immediately hit with cold, crisp air. Walking out to the fencing surrounding his, their, building, Daniel stuck his hands in his pockets and nearly doubled over laughing.

One pocket had a half-eaten chocolate bar wrapped in foil. No doubt put in there by Kyle. Three months ago, when he’d accidentally found Kyle while on a routine patrol, Daniel was the guy who had no attachments, lived his life alone, and wanted no one close. Then he’d brought Kyle here and the guy who was half-man, half-child had ingrained himself into every fiber of Daniel’s being and every tiny bit of his life.

Listening to the sounds of the lake water slapping the shore, Daniel checked the gates, grabbing hold and giving them a rattle to convince himself they were securely locked. His orderly life had been upended by Kyle; there were signs of him all over the building, in his Jeep, even in his pockets.

Lately he wondered how he’d gotten along without Kyle before.

Walking slowly to the back of the building, he double checked the security system, ensuring it was functioning properly while replaying their most recent mission in his mind.

He and Kyle had gone out with a team on a mission, returning early since it appeared to be a bust. They’d found their targeted facility, gotten in and out without incident or the data they’d been sent to retrieve. Their entire team was puzzled.

Daniel sighed and leaned against the fencing, gazing out at the choppy lake. The whole thing had been off. At least Kyle had stopped pestering to be included on assault teams and was content to be part of the surveillance team. Daniel had enough pull that they were always on the same missions. Some couples preferred to work separate missions, some did not.

He rubbed at the back of his neck when he realized he was now and had been for a while thinking of Kyle in terms of his partner; they were a couple.

As he’d gained Kyle’s trust, he learned more of his background. The plague had hit around the same time Kyle’d been born, and as a result he, like so many of his age group, had been taken from his parents to be raised in a secure location, educated as needed, and tested for reproductive abilities, though sterility was always the answer to the tests. Daniel, when he thought about it, chalked Kyle’s almost immediate attachment to him up to the fact he’d saved Kyle from a situation completely alien to anything he’d experienced before. Daniel had likely been the first person to really care about Kyle, offer him friendship and affection.

Not that Daniel minded. In fact he was damn happy about it.

What Kyle had discovered proved he wasn’t among the youngest generation of humans left and that the population hadn’t become entirely sterile. Daniel could still see, quite clearly, the pictures Kyle had given him in those first few days. Compounds with playgrounds, schools—children. Young children, most less than age ten, he’d guessed. Dozens of them.

They’d come from somewhere, so Daniel was betting reproducing couples were being kept in secret locations as well. Everything their government had told the general population for at least the past decade was a lie, or at least a half-truth. It explained why they wanted Kyle dead. Daniel was also willing to bet the compound they had pictures of wasn’t the only one.

Daniel’s initial desire to simply protect this young man and prepare him for life outside a government facility, teach him to fight and survive, had turned into a deep, powerful love between them. If it’d been someone else, he’d have told them to stop thinking the kid would hang around very long, that Kyle was feeling nothing but a crush for someone who’d saved him one cold night. That wasn’t what had happened, however. Kyle seemed to grow warmer, more loving, and more attached every passing day.

If he’d have to suffer a life without Kyle, Daniel knew now he’d have no life at all.