150+ Best Short Stories Featuring Gay Characters to Read Online for Free - Reedsy Prompts

Unlikely Reunion

Weekly Contest #365

I sat at my hometown coffee shop staring down at the black liquid, its glossy finish almost smooth enough to reflect back to me my tired expression. I had been up late last night and while I had wanted to sleep in, that urge was overruled by my obligation to catch up with some old friends this morning. I slouched back into the oversized upholstered chair, careful to not spill any of my coffee. I closed my eyes and laughed to myself, surprised that in a few hours I’d be at my twenty year reunion. A bunch of my old friends were coming in for t...

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Benny

Mark Arnold

Weekly Contest #363

Hi, my name is Mark, and I’m a 60-year-old gay conservative Christian from Arkansas. Isn’t that a real oxymoron? I sit in my recliner often and review my life, contemplating how I reconciled my gay side with my conservative Christian side growing up in the 70s and the 80s. As anyone who grew up in the late 20th century knows, reconciling the two isn’t an easy task. I’ve never had a problem with being a Christian, far from it.I grew up in a traditional, conservative Christian American family. I love God and my Savior, Jesus Christ, and when ...

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The Gay Gene

Eric Manske

Weekly Contest #362

I remember that day some decades ago when we fell in love. We were in a cooking class together, and I was fumbling with the coq au vin. You arrived late--no partner, no ring, and bronzed skin. You were given charge of the berry coulis. I noticed the stretching of your shirt over your chest and biceps and felt hunger stirring in me then. If you had not sat across from me, we might not have locked eyes. But you did. And we did! That month was the highlight of my life. That was also the year they discovered what was euphemistically called the g...

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A Perfect Pu'erh

Jarred Stephen Meek

Weekly Contest #362

“I haven’t had coffee for an entire year. I’ve been drinking matcha and pu’erh tea almost exclusively. Pu’erh tea is fermented black tea, so it’s richer and earthier in flavour. Is earthier a word? I don’t know, but if it isn’t, it is now. Anyway, Coffee Pu’erh has unroasted coffee beans in it, so you get the flavour of coffee without the actual caffeine. “In the mornings, I always start with a matcha latte. Usually vanilla flavour, but sometimes I’ll have blueberry or maple, which tastes like pancakes. Or, if I want it cold, I’ll do an iced...

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Wonderfully Made

Kevin Lind

Weekly Contest #362

Wonderfully Made The sky over Hargrove Street was the color of a fresh bruise. Three weeks outside taught a person things, and Eli Turner had maybe twenty minutes before the darkening sky opened up on top of him. Above the rooftops, the clouds were now drawing themselves up like his father's shoulders used to before a beating… tight, swollen, and full of danger. The wind came up hard off the river and flipped the leaves silver-side-out. Eli pulled the strap on his duffel tighter and made for the only lit doorway on the block. EASTSIDE COM...

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Three in One (And Then Some)

Jarred Stephen Meek

Shortlisted for Weekly Contest #361 ⭐️

Summer 2026 Bucket List [✓] Get a new tattoo [✓] Try three different hot dog trucks [ ] Go to a bar alone [✓] Watch fireworks [✓] Go skinny dipping [ ] Introduce yourself with a fake name [✓] Ride the ferry [✓] See a movie you think you won’t like [ ] Kiss a man [✓] Go to an amusement park [✓] Hike a mountain [✓] Watch the sun set [✓] Visit family [✓] Drink so much you almost forget to check this one off There are only three things left on my Summer 2026 Bucket List, and I’ve got one night left to check them all off. Tomorrow, I go ba...

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The Hike

Josh B

Weekly Contest #361

Summer was over, and so were we. My sunscreen and I had enjoyed a good run, but the bottle was all but empty, just a few clumpy drips clinging to the bottom of the teal plastic. I’d used most of it on an ill-advised last weekend. Just a quick jaunt around a mountain, Jake had assured me. We’d be back by lunchtime. No, of course we wouldn’t need bug spray. My ankles still itched. Did you know there are flies that bite your skin? I didn’t. I also didn’t know that sandals aren’t advisable for a trek through the woods, even strappy Birkenstocks ...

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The Summer of '72

Kevin Lind

Weekly Contest #361

The padlock was nearly rusted shut. I worked the key back and forth a full minute letting out a series of exasperated grunts before it gave. Inside, the darkness smelled of cardboard and mustiness. I swatted around in the air at nothing before finding the pull-cord for the bulb on the fourth or fifth try. Unit 114. The number was painted on the cinderblock next to the door. Three rows of boxes against the back wall, a folded cot beside a push broom worn down to a wedge. Silas Krane lived a long life, but had packed the better part of it int...

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The Skeptical Children

Nick Matsas

Weekly Contest #361

A coiled mass of muscle whispered to one another beneath the canopy of the jungle. Images of home grew in the shade as the sun rose and tried to get a look at the starry-eyed soldiers who had fallen asleep during an artillery barrage. They spoke about their wives and girlfriends, and how easy life used to be. Both graduated from high school and played football. Both had never voted and had been drafted. Jacob said, “We’ll never be thanked for this,” and Robbie replied, “They never said there would be a reward.” They shared a kiss and stroked...

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To Do It Scared

Crystal Ware

Weekly Contest #360

"I'm scared." My heart tugs in that unfortunate, all too familiar way, and I tug the sobbing teenager toward my chest so he can cry it out that way. He is me. At least he used to be, only existing amidst the feeble tendrils of my own brain. Now, as I write feverishly each night trying to put the stories in my head to paper, he - CJ Williams - has become something more concrete. His own person, set apart. Bit by bit, between the black and white glow of the computer screen, he has become something real and breathing and alive. Something separ...

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An Afternoon Without Lunch

Justan Peterson

Weekly Contest #360

Trigger Warning: Gun violence, fear and terror, political themes The lawn is yellowed with neglect—freshly cut and straw-like. Someone could drop a lit cigarette and all of the Capitol grounds would go up in flames. Thank god there’s snow in the forecast. I make my way east and settle on the Pregnant Eagle Benches, just outside the north end of the Library of Congress. It’s fucking cold out, so I tighten the scarf around my neck and pull my beanie completely over my ears. The street noise muffles. I like this spot for reading and people-w...

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Going Everywhere

Joseph Keener

Weekly Contest #360

It had taken thousands of years, but for the first time since the birth of human civilization: silence had fallen over the Earth. Anticipation filled the atmosphere, more potent in its effect than oxygen as they waited on the enemy. It misted the skin like a waterfall crashing down, the inevitability of its gravity pulling each man into its orbit. Leo sat out by the ship's hanger bays, watching the slow trickle of people’s last-minute decisions fill the stomach of the Lucky Rabbit like a litter of kits. He sighed, searching the crowd of grum...

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The Tale of Two Flags: It's the Third One that Matters

Alex Ghani

Weekly Contest #360

I hesitate to contribute this story in honor of Pride Month given widespread prejudice. I mean to share a story. If it offends the editors or readers, you are welcome to stop reading. Back when I used to live on Halsted Street in Chicago, my roommates and I would display two large Pride flags outside the bay windows facing the famous street of Halsted at the beginning of June for the month. Over the years, the brilliance of their colors faded from the monthlong sun exposure, perhaps a reflection of our own brilliance. And then there was th...

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In Four Words

Joselyn Kessler

Weekly Contest #359

CW: Non-graphic drowning "Have we met before?" It's so simple the way she asks it, her head tilted to the right, eyes slightly unfocused. Her coffee is halfway to her lips. She's itching to leave, but somethings keeping her still. I can barely form a word around the knot in my throat. The "No," I finally settled on, couldn't be easier than swallowing glass, though there's a million things I wish I could say instead. Yes, in every sunrise, in every sunset, yesterday, in the park last winter when the snow first fell, beneath the sway of the s...

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Around for Western Appropriate

Story Time

Weekly Contest #359

I knew that heat was closer to sunset than my dance shoes. I knew that he left me a note saying he was lonely. We lived together. We had two rooms and a painting that was half-finished. We bought it at a yard sale along with an air fryer and a doll that was missing a nose. I knew he hated Friday nights. I knew he didn’t like that I worked at Western Appropriate until closing time, because it left him to fend for himself. I knew that he loved how he looked in the bathing suit I bought him when we went to Bradley Lake. I knew that he snuck awa...

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Discover weekly, the best short stories

Gay Short Stories to read

Gay Short Stories – Page 2

Unlikely Reunion

Benny

The Gay Gene

A Perfect Pu'erh

Wonderfully Made

Three in One (And Then Some)

The Hike

The Summer of '72

The Skeptical Children

To Do It Scared

An Afternoon Without Lunch

Going Everywhere

The Tale of Two Flags: It's the Third One that Matters

In Four Words

Around for Western Appropriate