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Missed Connections || Steampunk - SciFi Hoshi!AU

Title: Missed Connections

Series: Between The Dusty and The Sparks

Member: Hoshi/Soonyoung x Female Reader

Words: 15.6K

Genre: Steampunk, Sci-fi, Romance with Angst

Blurb: They’re from different societies, meant to hate each other. But when you don’t know where the other’s from...there’s always the possibility of love. But when they find out, what are they meant to do?

A/N: So, this was meant for E’s last brithday, and now it’s this year and a few days late. Whoops. I hope everyone enjoys.

On with the story!

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

Your blinds were drawn shut although the sun had gone down hours before you had even gotten home. Inside your own home, all the doors were closed and locked, the same vied true for the windows. There were no lights on either. The house was pitch black.

To find you, the owner/resident of the house, one would have to travel deep into your house—underground, into a second basement that had been built underneath the original. There and only there would anyone be able to witness you committing a crime so utterly heinous that if anyone were to find out, you'd be ostracized by society and driven into the lands of Dust where the ‘dusty’ lived.

You were part of the Sparks, a socially acceptable citizen, living a comfortable life in a house without dust, on a street without a speck of dirt. To be thrown into the lands of Dust, to live with the Dusty in their tan trousers and dark vests and sweaters, to use their bare technology with all their gears and oil visible….

And yet deep in your cave, a flickering blue light shone from a thin, unpainted piece of wire and glass that made up a monocle. A long brown chain link connected it to you, wrapping itself around your ear; two small sound receivers were in your ears too, producing small sounds of static before going silent.

It was an old piece of technology that connected to the social nets. It was called the Monet. It belonged to the Dusty.

You smiled and reached out tentatively, excitement bubbling in your stomach. “Initiate connection.”

“Connection Established.” The Monet responded, words appearing on the hologram it was projecting on the wall you were facing.

You extended a hand and grinned when it responded to you. A grayish-white box popped out towards you like a three-dimensional object begging to be touched. It was the entrance to the net.

Your finger hovered over the hologram in a second of hesitation before you made a motion as if you were tapping it. It expanded into a list of suggestions— sites that the Dusty visited.

Connections (a dating site), the Cyc (for information searching), and a gaming module with a plethora of sites. Although the Dusty were known to only use old mechanics, it was all they could afford, the Monet was significantly older. You doubted anyone still used it.

Gaming, you decided that would be the first place you explored. You flicked your finger upwards, still hovering over the list, and scrolled through all the titles until you came upon one that piqued your curiosity. <<Missed Connections>>

You tapped on the title. The image changed into one of a loading screen, a small avatar dancing at the bottom of the hologram. Then the image flashed, and you were staring at a set-up screen.

>> Create a Connections account to experience the game fully.

<<Create the Connection>>

<<Maybe Later>>

You stared at the options for a moment, only blinking every few seconds like a fish out of water that was nearing its end. You couldn’t make a Connections account that would mean having to say who you were, what district of Sparks you were from. You couldn’t do that! That would mean lying and you were a socially acceptable citizen!

Wait.

You smiled embarrassed though no one was there to see you. One of your fingers made its way upward toward your left eye where the Monet rested and toyed with it.

You had already broken about five different laws…

What was one more?

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

1 Year Later

You were a graduating student in the most exclusive school Sparks had to offer. Under your belt, you could brag that you had taken more than half of your required courses as an electrical engineering student under honors. Even more, unlike most of your fellow classmates, you had an internship waiting for you to graduate.

There was only a month left before graduation and it seemed that they couldn’t wait any longer; You were to report to a zone in the Dust that was being rezoned and reconstructed to be part of the Sparks. It was a great ego boost, to say the least.

Unfortunately, you were completely and utterly lost. Even the map they had sent you seemed to be missing a few twists and turns.

To make matters worse, there were no fellow Sparks to be found anywhere. As far as your eyes could see there was only red-brown dirt, dust and--

“Are those tumbleweeds?” You exclaimed, eyes widening. “I thought those were extinct.”

“They were.” A smooth voice piped up behind you, causing you to jump and whip around, almost tripping over your own feet. A man, most likely only a couple of months or years older than you, stared at you. He was clad in Dusty construction worker regulated clothes: a dark tan jumper, gray shirt, old leather shoes, and a yellow hard hat. It seemed safety was mostly irrelevant to the Dusty.

“Until your kind of people decided they wanted to be “funny” and reengineered them. Something about their visual irony.” He gave you a tight, forced smile.

You stared at him, eyes wide and blinking rapidly. Your fingers twitched as you brought your files and binders up to your chest to hugged them tightly. He seemed to be done talking as he gave you a once over, rolled his eyes, and turned on his heels.

You gaped at him. Words seemed to fail you, you couldn’t think therefore none left the space that was your mouth. ‘That man probably stole them.’ You thought to yourself.

A sudden spark of anger ran down your body. You glared at him. Your mouth clamped shut and your lips formed a tight line.

“Who the hell do you think you are to talk to me like that?!” It was a rhetorical question. You didn’t really care. But there was hell to pay.

Nonetheless, it was the same to the man who chose to ignore you. He didn’t spare a single glance at you, choosing to stare straight ahead, head held up high confidently.

That only made you angrier.

When you had reached the edge of Spark territory and the concrete ground began turning into dirt and dust, you had taken extra care to watch your step. They were slower and calculated as you didn’t want your pristine, leather white boots to be coated and stained in a rusty red because you were carelessly kicking up dirt. The same could be said about the rest of your outfit but as you were crossing the city limits, the patrolling officers had handed you, and everyone else in line, a long transparent plastic overcoat.

Now? Now you felt like kindling was being fed to the fire in your stomach, making it grow big enough to reach your now red cheeks and shoes.

Underneath your feet clumps of dirt crunched. They alerted the man that you was still following him. So, he stopped, and without turning around he answered you.

“You know, around here Sparks like you don’t live to see another day.”

The disdain was clear in his voice. You froze. The way his voice seemed to be holding back from a growl spooked you. His words, sounding much like a threat to you, frightened you.

Content with your lack of a response, he smiled to himself and resumed his walking. In no time he was disappearing behind the body of a dune, leaving you to yourself.

When you came to, the sun’s shining light had scorched your entire body and heated your plastic coat. A single touch reminded you of where you were and where you were supposed to be. Blinking, you tried to activate the communicator that was embedded in your eye.

A funny sound, a plung, alerted you that there was no signal. Gulping, you decided to check the time instead. 08:59.

“Hey! Hey, wait!” You screamed running and climbing, struggling, up the dunes to catch up to the man. You were about to be late.

“Hey! Please! I need--,” you paused, swallowing your pride, “your help.” A sharp clang shocked you enough for you to drop onto your knees. Slowly—cautiously, you lifted your gaze and found yourself staring at a hoard of Dusty construction workers. Dumbfounded as you were, no words made their way up to your throat and out of your mouth.

A man approached you, dressed in pristine white clothes you worried he was one of your bosses. “Choi Seungcheol. Are you the e-technician we’ve been waiting for?”

You jumped to your feet, plastering a smile onto your face, and dusted off your clothes hurriedly. “Yes, sir.”

“You’re late.” He responded.

His face, devoid of emotion and unblinking, made you uncomfortable. Struggling not to fidget under his stare you nodded. “I- I know, sir. I apologize. I d-didn’t really know where I was going.”

Seungcheol did not reply, keeping you and the rest of the construction site in utter silence. A single exhale through his nose came after what seemed like an eternity but was really only five seconds at the most.

“Next time make sure to know where you’re going. Now follow me.” While he turned around to look at the site, you let your shoulders slump.

“Back to work!” He screamed, and you jumped, tensing all over again.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

“You’ll be meeting most of the technicians during lunch, but there are a couple of people that I’ll have to introduce to you personally later. For now,” Seungcheol said to you as he led you down a concrete path that had already been built, “you’ll need to look at the building plans and designs on your own and figure out where the e-tech will be embedded.”

You nodded frantically. In the moments that he talked, you took seconds to look around, trying to memorize the layout of the site. A couple of feet away and nearing, you could see a small, strikingly white building sitting on a floor of concrete.

“That is the technicians' office, built-in advance. Dr.Hong will be your mentor—” he stopped where the path connected to the block of concrete the building sat on, “he’s probably already inside,” and motioned for you to continue on your own.

It was on the first step you took onto the concrete the office sat on that you realized your white, leather boots were stained in red. That damn dirt.

The edge of the sidewalk had never been so inviting. You hit the edges of your shoes against them frantically as your teeth chewed on your bottom lip. It was painful to watch minuscule amounts of dust and dirt fall off your once white shoes.

“Mmhmm.” You froze as you heard a throat clear behind you.

You licked your lips. You needed options. Fight - turn around and face whoever had just caught you trying to salvage your defaced boots. Or flight - run anywhere else to hide from whoever was standing behind you.

Great.

Straightening up and slowly turning to face your audience, you forced a tense smile to turn into a timid one. “Hello.” You said to a tall, tan man in a white suit much like the ones the residents of Sparks wore. Small vein-like decorations running up the middle of his coat were the only indication that he wasn’t like any other citizen of Spark. They were the mark of the e-technicians.

It was a mark of pride. A mark of reached accomplishment.

The man’s round eyes, finally traveling farther than your stained boots, studied you from head to toe. After a couple of seconds, he finally stopped, and let his gaze rest on the cuffs of your own coat. Even under the dusty, plastic overcoat, your own decorations were visible. One individual vein, much like his own, the only difference being your were only at the cuffs and he had more than one line, blossomed from the tips of your coat and stopped at your elbow.

A single brow rose on the man’s oval face in question. He leaned forward, as to look you in the eyes, and stared at you.

You gulped. He was handsome, yes, but he was staring at you without uttering a single word. His brown eyes seemed to grow more intense with every second that ticked by (though that feeling could have also been your growing uncomfortableness).

Then he smiled. “Are you the new tech?”

For a second you were glad that his eyes were closed. But, his change in character was enough to make one of your eyes twitch.

You let out a small breath, “Yes, sir.”

He hummed, eyes sparkling in the sun. “I’m Doctor Joshua Hong. I'm assuming the project leader Choi Seungcheol has told you…” he trailed off.

“That you’ll be my mentor.” You finished off, eyes widening as you realized who he was.

“Good.” He nodded and turned around. “Follow me.”

Scurrying behind him, you realized the block the building sat on was virtually empty. Judging by the absence of sound, you were beginning to assume that there was also a protective barrier around it.

Doctor Hong came to a sudden stop, causing you to stumble into his back. To your surprise, even the force of you crashing into him didn’t cause him to stumble. It seemed like he was perfect. Like nothing could cause him to lose his composure.

He was a Spark.

“Leave your shoes and protective coat in the box next to the door.” His light and airy voice sent a shiver down your spine.

Without waiting for you to respond, he entered the building and disappeared behind the closing door.

You were still, staring at his retreating form. When his words and actions finally registered, you kicked off your shoes and took off the plastic protector. Then, after enveloping the shoes in the coat, you put them in the box and scurried inside to an airy lobby, where a pair of white slippers waited for you.

Inside there was cool air and soft white lighting, it almost made you feel like you hadn’t left Sparks. If it weren’t for the windows you may have been able to fool yourself into believing you were still there. But you weren’t, you were in Dusty territory. The rusty red hills outside made sure to let you know where you were.

It felt wrong.

“Quite a view isn’t it?” Doctor Hong spoke up behind you. “Barren, dead. The Dusty should be thankful we’re taking this land and making it useful.”

You hesitated to nod.

“They’ll be constructing the buildings one by one. We’ll each be distributed to one of them. For now though--” he waved a hand for you to follow him down the hallway, “we have the models of their design.”

You entered a small white room at the end of the hallway, empty save for a white chair and the Panet on the wall.

Doctor Hong smiled, “This’ll be your office. Have fun arranging the designation of the technology for your building.”

You were left alone in the room soon after, your mentor Dr. Hong giving you a single nod before leaving and closing the door behind him. Letting out the breath you had been holding, you let yourself slump into the chair.

The chair, one just like the rest of the office chairs in Sparks, had wheels attached to the legs. Things like this, wheeled chairs or gravitating tables (Sparks had to go retro sometimes too) made life in the Sparks all the more special.

You pushed yourself with your feet toward the Panet on the wall. You placed your left hand on the silver panel screen and grinned when a soft hum filled the room. A soft blue light fell from the roof and filled the room instantly, covering the floor and walls alike.

“I don’t feel like moving.” You sighed and lazily reached toward the images hovering over the wall. It took a total of four taps to get the model of the building you were responsible for projected into the middle of the room. “Let’s get to it, then.” You said, then immersed yourself in your work for the next five hours.

The sound of loud knocking interrupted your robot-like concentration. Sliding over to the Panet, you slapped your hand over it and rushed to the door. The image disappeared as you opened the door and both of your bosses, Mr. Choi, and Dr. Hong greeted you with fixed smiles.

“It’s break time.” Dr. Hong said.

“We’ll take you to the ‘canteen’ as the Dusty have dubbed it.” Mr. Choi finished off as if routine, eyes, and head tilt matching that of your mentor.

You smiled hesitantly, starting to realize that these smiles you were giving were probably going to be a constant in this work environment. You couldn’t help it though, apart or together, both Mr. Choi and Doctor Hong had a look in their eyes that seemed as sharp as knives.

With their dark brown eyes and pitch-black hair, even their softer and more delicate features couldn’t stop them from giving off an intimidating sensation. The tall and stiff way they walked didn’t work either.

“Alright.” You nodded and followed them.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

It was weird.

It was weird to see the composed white of the Sparks contrasted against the rustic browns, reds, golds, and blacks of the Dusty. To see them using items that only the Sparks were capable of having…

“Do not mind them.” Mr. Choi said in a steady voice, waving over a man and a woman in suits like Dr. Hong’s. “They keep to their own. Considering this is the only time they are allowed to eat the food typical to us and abide in an area meant only for us, they are quite curious beings.”

“Why are they allowed to be here?” You whispered. How you hoped no one could hear you.

“Pity, I assume.” Dr. Hong chimed in.

“No bother,” Mr. Choi began as he imputed his order on the meal panels, “let them have their curiosity. They aren’t going to be allowed here forever.”

The man and woman that he had waved overreached them after that comment. They gave him a small nod in greeting. “Ah, Mr. Jeon, Miss Lim. I’d like for you to meet the newest member of our team.” The man and woman, both of equal stature, both wearing the white outfits of a Spark, blinked and turned to look at you to give you a thin smile.

“Y/L/N, this is Lim Nayoung, second in command at the construction site after me.” He pointed at the woman.

“You may call me Miss Lim. “ She said, extending a hand to shake in courtesy.

You reciprocated, noting the hammer design imprint on top of her left shoe, the mark of the construction designers. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“This--” she motioned to the man whose sharp eyes and raven black hair added a certain aura of intimidation and disinterest around him, “is Jeon Wonwoo. He’s another technician.”

“His building’s already been constructed so we won’t be seeing him around the office as often for now.” Dr. Hong said.

In the blink of an eye, they all had their lunches, all but you. They stared at you passively, although if someone were to look closely at their eyes they would see a hint of amusement. You, however, were not paying close attention to their facial expressions. For the most part, you tried to avoid looking directly at them unless you felt you had to. Embarrassed as you were, you were having a hard time keeping the blood from rushing to your cheeks.

You rushed to order your food and tapped your foot impatiently until it arrived. When it did, you followed the others to a table and ate silently like the rest of them.

In your tomb-like state, your attention drifted from Dr. Hong’s turtle-like eating speed to the conversations that drifted from around them to them. ‘Look at this meat. It's--It’s so--”

“Y/L/N!” You jumped. Mr. Choi was staring at you, fork and knife at hand.

“Sorry, you were saying something.” You replied your voice almost nothing but a whisper.

Mr. Choi shot you a strange look. “There's one more person I need to introduce you to. It’s a bit unorthodox, but since you’ll have to set up the tech of an entire building on your own, you'll need someone with you.”

You shook your head, a bit at a loss for words, “I don't understand, sir.”

“This is Hoshi,” your eyebrows furrowed, you hadn't realized there was someone next to him. You turned and standing at the edge of the table was the same man who had disrespected you and left you to die in the empty expanse of the Dusty desert. Ravenous animals could have torn you limb by limb, piece by pie--

“Miss Y/L/N.” Mr. Choi snapped, annoyance in his voice.

“Sorry, sir.” You replied, grimacing.

All because of him.

“As I was saying, this is Hoshi. He's the leader of the construction workers.”

“We had to have Dusty leader for them. We didn't want any riots because Seungcheol was the only leader. A Sparks leader.” Miss. Lim whispered. Her intent may have been to quietly whisper their true intentions to you, but you were quite sure that he had heard her.

You nodded rigidly.

“He’ll be accompanying you to your building when it's done. Although, he will have to be around you every now and then before then.”

“As to make sure that your designs fit with that building material and designs.” Dr. Hong added in after, not missing a beat.

You turned to look at Hoshi, eyebrows begging to scrunch up in distaste. He was looking at you too, a bored expression overtaking his face. He looked away a second later and you had to fight the urge to send a colorful remark his way.

“Our apologies you’re stuck with a Dusty, but I’ll be going with Dr. Hong and Mr. Jeon will be with Mr. Choi so we ran out of options.” Miss. Lim said, nodding at her food.

You nodded, “It can’t be helped.”

“We’ll let you talk with your accompaniment, then. Lunch is over in ten minutes,” Dr. Hong said, after looking at the glowing black numbers displaying the time on the wall, “be back in your office by then. We do not tolerate tardiness here.”

“Yes, sir.” You said again and watched as the rest of the Spark team stood up to dispose of their trays and left together.

You sat in silence, Hoshi standing at the foot at the table staring at everything and everyone but you, and you picking at your food (chicken salad) with your fork. When you felt unable to keep silent, time-stretching on to feel like an eternity, you raised your fork to take a bite and chewed languidly, thinking about what you were about to say.

“When will you be able to stop by the offices?”

You had refused to look up at him while you talked to him but when you felt the table jolt, you were forced to look up at him. The palms of his hands were flat against the table, and his upper body bent as he leaned forward. Your eyes widened comically.

Hoshi, with sharp eyes and lips pressed into a thin line, stared at you boredly, his face only inches from yours. But, even from that distance, you could feel him breathing by the air leaving through his nose. In your startled state, you had forgotten how to move and sat frozen. It was almost as if you were in a trance.

“Let’s get one thing straight, boss.” He dragged out ‘boss’ as if it were an insult. “You might be part of the show up in those white offices, but I run the show down here.” He hit his palms against the table again, adding a smirk to his face this time around.

It was the same bravado he had used when you had asked him for directions. The sudden recollection of this snapped you out of your frozen state.

“I’ve already asked you this once but since it seems like you have no brains inside that thing you might not know is your head, I’ll ask again. Who the hell do you think you are to talk to me that way?”

His eyes narrowed into a glare but before he could get a word in you cut in again.

“What? Just because my superiors are gone suddenly you have the right to talk to me like that?”

This time, he was silent, waiting and thinking that you weren't done talking yet. As he came to realize that you were done talking, you came into a realization that he was waiting for you to say more.

Taking your shot you picked up your tray and slammed it against the table, standing up at the same time to give you greater momentum against him. “You are going to go to my office at the end of the day. Got it?” You growled, your words final.

None of them had noted that the area around them had gone silent. Hoshi, stunned, was unable to think of words to say to you and could only watch as you threw your food away and left without waiting for him to respond.

Snickers from someone in the vicinity woke him from his trace like a slap of cold water. He whipped around to glare at the person. The seconds ticked by and his face grew red.

With a huff, he turned on his heels and left; his hands were curled into fists.

He never figured out who was laughing at him.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

You sat slumped in your stiff, white office chair; your fingers twitching against the armrest. In front of you, the time was being projected via virtual numbers.

It was the end of the day.

Hoshi had yet to show up.

You swiped a hand across the image to pull up the main menu. A list with different minuscule timekeepers overtook the old image. ‘Clock,’ read the one that your eyes glued themselves too. your index finger hovered over it, itching to select it and have a giant circle with “hands”-- you remembered your school lessons, three-dimensional lines that moved with the measurement of time, moving in circles until it was time for you to leave.

But even in its minuscule preview, you could see one of the lines, a thin line, moving quicker than the rest around the circle. Before you knew it your screen blanked and a simple reminder appeared.

“The end of the workday has arrived. Save work now and enter sleep mode?”

You signed and nodded to yourself. With a single flick of your wrist, you saved your work and ordered the Panet into sleep mode.

A knock on the door came when you were sliding a Panet Protector, the shade of the white wall, over the Panet.

You glanced at the door, waiting for a second knock to beckon you. When it didn’t come, you shrugged and went back to your chair’s resting place to grab the white slippers you had been given to wear inside.

Then you were at the door, sliding on your slippers with one hand and running a hand over the door sensor to open the door with the other.

Then you stiffened. You fought to keep a neutral facade, though your eyes were straining themselves in your attempt to not glare.

“You’re late.” You said blandly.

Without a word, he stepped forward to walk into the room. Seeing this, you blocked the door with your small frame and walked forward yourself. Hoshi faltered and retreated, letting you brush past him and close the door in his face.

He raised an eyebrow in question. In return, you gave him a once over and scoffed. Then, pressing a small button on the wall on your way down the hallway, you scurried into the main lobby.

A sudden scream had you smirking as you grabbed your red dusted, no-longer-pristine white boots.

Dr. Hong cleared his throat, an inquisitive look on his face.

‘What?’ You gave Dr. Hong, who was standing at the entrance of the raining, self-cleaning hallway, an innocent look as you stepped outside and put on your ruined boots.

He had been tracking dirt in.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

To say you were upset would have been an understatement. To say you were angry would be an insult to everyone and everything that joined forces and crossed your path.

You were livid.

From your way home from work—where you had forgotten to put on your protective coat and had thereby been attacked by gusts of wind that rose the copper-red dirt and settled it on your white clothes, to you actually reaching Sparks territory, home, only to be stopped by the Dividend units. You had been asked to prove you were a citizen of the Sparks. It was ridiculous.

Even now you could feel your neighbors eyes on you, judging you for your shoes which were now coated all around in red dust and dirt, judging you for the protective coat you were wearing— yet another thing dusted in the Dusty’s infamous copper-red dirt.

Fumes were leaving through your ears as you placed a hand over your house’s door bioscanner. When a gentle click alerted you that the lock had been undone, you pushed your door open, stepped inside and slammed it closed.

With your back against the door, you let yourself slide down until you were sitting on the floor and a red trail had formed underneath you.

“For f—” You cut yourself off.

You wanted to sleep for an eternity, forget work and all that came with it. But instead, you pulled yourself up and got to work cleaning the rusty dirt off yourself and the floor.

It was eight at night when you finally finished. You sighed to yourself, tired but relieved that you could finally do what you itched to do every night.

After a quick walk through your entire house, making sure all windows and doors were locked, you ran down into your basement, through it and into your second basement where a single chair and a monocle waited for you.

To you, it was as if he was waiting for you.

You traversed through the illegal equipment in a hurry. Outwardly it would seem that you were feeling guilty for using it in the first place, but in reality, you were trapeasing through the room, rushing to put it on and turn it on. To see the flickering blue light of the Monet and the flickering images of your virtual life on the <<Missed Connections>> game was all you looked forward to every day.

Then, almost instantly after the loading screen disappeared, you could hear him greet you cheerfully with his smooth voice.

“Welcome home, Honey!” A small, breathy laugh, could be heard at the end of his line.

You bit the corner of your lower lip smiling, and a dark blush ran up your cheeks while you answered him. “Hello to you too, Mr. Sexy.”

You blushed harder than before. It was what he always insisted that you call him. A way to keep your fake relationship alive, he claimed. But to you, it seemed more like a way to feel loved. It was obvious that you didn’t know if he needed that, but you felt like he did, so you never rejected his flirting.

“How was your day at work?” His little avatar seemed to be serving food as he talked, so you commanded yours to sit at the small wooden table, center kitchen.

“Horrible.” You groaned, waiting for his avatar to sit down. “I went to my new job today but there was this...asshole who made everything harder for me.” You huffed and stomped angrily.

The sound of you stomping your foot on the cement floor of your house was loud enough for the man on the other side to be startled amidst whatever he was doing. A loud bang resounded on his side of the line.

“Star-man, what was that?” It had sounded something metal and large had fallen.

“Nothing, nothing.” He laughed. His little avatar, walking to give you a plate of food, paused and struck a pose.

You laughed at his supposed puckered lips. “Yeah, right.”

“A guy can hope.” You heard him mock sigh on the line.

“Anyways,” He said as he ordered his avatar to sit down across from you, plates already served and fake steam radiating off of them. “Tell me more about what happened? You brought food right?”

“You mean I can’t eat the food you made?” You gasped playfully.

“Ayyy.” You heard him scold you equally as playful as you.

“I’ll go get food.” You said. “Give me a minute, I’ll be right back.”

You stood up with a smile on your face, carefully taking off the monocle and sound receivers and placing them on the chair. You vibrated in happiness as you rushed upstairs, his answering laugh still echoing inside of you.

You stopped in front of your fridge and tapped on the door to see the list of your available foods. Most of the meals you could make would take too much time, the time you could be spending with Star-man. With quick taps on the screen, you called up leftover food to be heated. There was quick ding and when the small door on the fridge lifted, revealing a piece of steak and cold salad, you reached for it and ran back down the stairs, slamming the doors behind you.

The heat of the ceramic plate scorched your fingers. “Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.”

You scrambled to put it down, settling to place it on her chair while you sat on the floor next to it.

Immediately after you put on your gear, Star-man started firing questions at you. “Are you okay? I heard a noise? Are you hurt?!”

You chuckled, “I’m fine, I just burnt fingers is all.”

A sigh could be heard over the line, “You should be more careful.”

“I know I just…” you swallowed, you wanted to admit it to him, but to do so this way, over a virtual program was making you embarrassed, “I just didn’t didn’t want to waste any time I could be spending with you.”

There was a sharp intake of breath over the line, then silence. You waited in bated breath, looking at the only thing that kept you distracted— the image in front of you.

His avatar sat stilly before disappearing and reappearing in the same spot.

You were just about to apologize for making him uncomfortable when he suddenly spoke in a tone you weren’t used to coming from him. “I know we don’t each other they way people do; and, I know we haven’t met. But, I think I love you.”

You smiled. A blush started creeping up your face with the words that started forming within you.

But even as you said them, there was one problem looming over your heads. A problem both of you knew and were too afraid to change: the promise that neither could know where the other lived or your actual names.

Despite this, you couldn’t help but look forward to the end of each day. The end of each day where he was the ending and how much you wished he would be the start of your day too.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

A month later, as you were walking to the zone in the Dust, you caught yourself thinking about Star-man. What could he be doing at that hour? Where could he possibly live? Perhaps it was in one of the richer sections of the Sparks— maybe he was an engineer just like you, one that worked with technology. To be found using a Monet would be an especially hard blow on him then.

The sun glared down at you as you walked up and down the dunes of red dirt and dust as you tried to reach the zone.

Every day for the past month, you had been leaving even earlier than you had left on the first day, in hopes that you could make it to your office before the clock hits 8. At first, it had only been to avoid being scolded by Mr. Choi and Dr. Hong, but after another disastrous interaction between you and Hoshi, arriving early had become your way of avoiding him.

Now, unlike before, you walked with short even steps. You hoped that this way, your boots would remain white the entire day. This way you wouldn’t be stopped and scolded again by the Dividend units...again.

You ignored all the workers of the Dusty when you reached the top of the dune that hid the zone. After that, you practically ran all the way down and didn’t stop until you reached the block of concrete where the technicians' office sat.

You walked after that but didn’t take your time to take in your surroundings. You sped walked since there was no fixed time for Dr. Hong’s arrival, and you didn’t want him to think you were weird. When you reached the door and took off your shoes and clear coat protecting the rest of your ensemble, you let out a sigh of relief and rushed inside.

You met no one on your way to your office and when you were finally inside, you couldn’t help but fall into your chair after you slapped your hand on the Panet to wake it.

Your building’s map appeared at the center of the room in its blue, projection glory. Most of the rooms already had a red checkmark hovering over each door, a cruel reminder that you had already planned the tech arrangement for that room.

Before you could start designing the layout for the final room, a knock at your door interrupted you. You hesitated to open it, but when they knocked again you heard Dr. Hong’s voice on the other side asking you to open the door. You stood up quickly and opened it.

“Dr. Hong, what can I do for you?” You asked nervously, giving him a thin smile.

“I came to check up on you.” He hummed. “May I?” He motioned if he could step inside.

“Of course.” You answered, stepping aside.

Even before stepping inside, his eyes were already locked onto the projection at the center of the room. But, after he stepped inside, he made his intentions clear as he approached the map’s projection and bent over to study the rooms.

“I see that over 99% of your building is already covered in red check marks.” He said, shooting you a quick glance before turning back to the map.

“Yes, sir. I only have one more tricky room to analyze.”

He hummed for a second then responded, “Mr. Choi is currently in the building you’ve been placed in charge of. He would like for you to start the set-up today. Save the last room for later and begin turning these checkmarks green, shall we?”

“Of course, sir.” You replied.

Dr. Hong wasted no time after nodding to you, to leave. Walking behind him, you closed the door and took a second to compose yourself. There would be no more avoiding, Hoshi, King of the Dusty workers.

Oh, those check marks were cruel indeed.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

“Now tell me, Miss. Y/L/N, how do you plan to begin integrating the system.” Mr. Choi walked ahead of you and Hoshi, as you walked to the top floor of the building. After throwing a quick comment about the inconvenience of having to walk to the top rather than take the Levo upwards, he had pointed out the boxes full of the tech you were to install.

Now, as you walked all the way to the top, you carried two boxes in your hands. They were heavy and almost blocked your view completely, save for the bit that you could see if you tried to make yourself taller.

“I believe it would be wise to begin with the top of the room first and work my way downward. This way the room could have a cascading visual accentuated by the lights of the tech when it is on.”

“Very well.” Mr. Choi replied. You reached the top floor and the only room there, in a matter of seconds after this conversation.

Hoshi placed the ladder at the center of the room as you placed the boxes on the floor and waited besides Mr. Choi for instructions. You realized that around Mr. Choi and Dr. Hong, you had never really heard Hoshi say more than a few words-- none in this instance.

Without waiting to be told that you could begin, you began unpacking the boxes and separating the materials as you wanted them. After selecting a nano camera kit, you pulled the ladder towards the back right corner and got to work.

It didn’t take much work to assemble to nano camera. But, as you reached towards the ceiling to place it in the corner that it belonged in, you realized you had climbed the wrong side of the ladder.

You could almost hear Hoshi’s snickers as you thought about making your way down to climb the other side. A window large window had been placed against the same wall that you were facing, and when you felt a breeze of wind pass through it, yo thought it better to climb down.

It was easy to climb down, all you had to do was turn around. Then it wasn’t.

When a strong breeze came through the window and brushed past you, it shook the ladder. With no one holding onto the other side of the ladder, you struggled to keep your balance and before you knew it, you were falling backward into the window.

Above your own shout, you didn’t hear as Hoshi ran forward and stopped you from slipping completely out of the window. Half of you already hung out of the window when Hoshi reached you. He grabbed you by your legs, keeping you from dropping twenty feet into nothing.

“Help.” He struggled to get out. Mr. Choi rushed over and together they pulled you back in. Unbalanced by the change in axis, you stumbled into Hoshi’s arms. He, in response, promptly and casually knocked you onto the floor.

“What is the meaning of this?!” Mr. Choi asked furiously.

“My apologies, sir, it seems my team has not added the windows yet.”

Mr. Choi huffed, “Get it done. Until then, Miss Y/L/N, return to your office and finish whatever work you have left. Return here on Monday.”

You and Hoshi watched as Mr. Choi began to walk away, the anger radiating off of him giving you both the creeps. But before he left, he turned around and addressed Hoshi a last time, “Add another coat of cement to the walls after she’s done with the wiring on Monday.”

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

You sighed as you entered your house and closed the door behind yourself. You were tempted to slide down against the door but decided against it when you realized that it would leave a stain on the floor. A red stain.

There was no dusty red on you since you had met with the Dividen Units at the land divisions. They had been so smug about pointing out that you had an abundance of red dust and dirt on you because you had been spending time in the Dusty. They wouldn’t even listen to you when you tried to tell them that you worked for a Sparks company that had taken Dusty land for Sparks! They merely handed you a wet wipe and asked you to clean your boots before stepping foot in Spark territory.

Anything Dusty was abhorred by the Sparks.

You didn’t understand why the dust and the dirt from the Dusty were so abhorred. It was only dust. The sparks needed some dust-- everything was made white, everything was white.

Now that you've been near the Dusty, the people and the land, you couldn’t help but feel that your world needed a little bit of color. The cold blue color of the projections wasn’t satisfying enough. But the browns and reds of the Dusty called out to you.

As you ordered your food to be made on the refrigerator, you realized that the only colors that you could remember prior to working in Spark-Dusty territory was of what you ate...and on <<Missed Connections>>.

An involuntary shudder made its way down your spine as you made your way down your basements, knocking the doors closed with your hips. It would have been easier if you had them on automatic but something about that made you paranoid. What if someone was counting the number of times you disappeared into your basement….

No.

You shook off your rising paranoia as you snuck into your second basement. The Monet and monocle shone even in the darkness of the basement. They were practically inviting you to put them on. So, you rushed over to them and placed your food down so you could put them on.

Everything else was routine after that.

Food in lap? Check.

Monet on? Check.

Monocle and sound receivers? Check.

<<Missed Connections>>? Loading.

Star-man wasted no time to log on that day it seemed, as he was already there, waiting for you in the kitchen when you logged on.

“Darling, you’re home.” He said. You couldn't help but let out a giggle when his little avatar jumped up and down in joy.

“I’m home.” You sighed, “Meet me on the couch?”

“Sure thing, let me just bring our food.”

“How was work today?” You asked, as he (his avatar) approached the couch and set down your virtual food. He sat down next to you then and grabbed a plate to signal you the okay to start eating.

“Boring.” He said voice muffled a tiny bit, by food you imagined. “There are some newbies and they keep getting me in trouble with the higher-ups--”

You were strangely domestic with each other. It was something that you couldn’t help but notice every time you went online to spend time with him, even more when you were having a shitty day. Every time you looked at your tiny avatars eating together, smiling at each other, looking into each others virtual eyes... you wanted so badly to tell him where he could find you. Screw the promise.

“ZZ-Gears?”

“Yeah?” You answered, coming out of your daydream.

“You left our world didn’t you?”

“Sorry.” You said bashfully.

He laughed, “That’s all right. Tell me about your day now.”

You paused for a second, trying to think of what to say. “I feel like I want to quit my job.”

“What? Why?”

“I almost died today at work today.”

“What?!” He screamed.

“I’m alright, I promise. I just-- it feels like too much. I swear my partner hates me and I don’t even ask him to do much even though I’m supposed to.” Your final words came out in a whine you only somewhat hoped he didn’t pay much attention to.

There was silence between you two for a couple of seconds before he spoke again, “You know, you can always come online and send me a request to come online...then you could rant to me or tell me if something is going wrong. You don’t have to keep it to yourself...or wait so long to tell me.”

Gosh, how much he made you want to hug him. He made you want to know what it would be like to be held in his arms. What would it be like to have him care for you and make you melt in person? “It’s not like I can just take this out in broad daylight, can I?”

He laughed. “No, no you can’t. But we haven’t been doing that anyway, have we? You could always just find a really secluded place or a place like wherever you are now.”

“A basement then,” You chuckled and made your avatar latch itself to his.

“A basement.” He agreed. “Oh, I have to go now.” He made sounds of crying over the line, “I forgot I have a meeting to attend. But, I’ll talk to you tomorrow, darling.” His avatar cried then kissed her forehead.

In and out of <<Missed Connections>> you were sickeningly sweet. Would you be this way if you knew each other? You weren’t sure, but you sure hoped so.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

Monday mornings were unlike all other workdays on the worksite. They were bland and sluggish, and truth be told on Monday’s everyone acted like no one around them existed. It was as if they were all ghosts, sliding past each other and never coming into contact.

Everything was silent, save for the occasional sounds of equipment being used.

It’s possible that this could be the reason why no one noticed when you walked into your assigned building, carrying an old Dusty ladder in one hand and struggling to keep a box of tech in the other.

No one paid you any attention nor spared you a single glance. At that moment, it was as if you were the only ghost around, gliding past them in a breeze even though you were struggling. Or, it could have just been that they paid you no attention since you were from the Sparks.

Sparks and Dusty didn’t get along after all.

It took you longer than the first time you came, to travel the building and reach your destination. You stopped on the floor below the one you were in before the weekend and entered the first room on your right.

Your footsteps crunched as you walked on the tarp-covered room. The noise made you smile, a welcome distraction to the silence around you. You almost skipped all over the room, headed to the same corner as the level above.

You had nudged the ladder with your foot and before setting it up, decided it would be best to grab the box you had brought. Then, heading for the corner again, stepped around the ladder and screamed just like you had screamed three days ago-- you screamed for dear life.

With your sudden distraction, you failed to notice the tarp under your feet scrunching up, its center being the exact place you had placed the ladder on. So, as you lifted a foot to step over it, your world came crashing down.

You held onto the floor with one hand, struggling to hold on without anything concrete to hold. The existing floor, only a few support beams, was slippery and crumbling under your fingers.

“Help!” You screamed. A quick glance downward showed you there was no place to land except a couple of floors down where you saw both your ladder and your tech had smashed into pieces. It sent a shiver down your spine.

“Someone help!” You screamed again when you heard footsteps approaching rapidly. Trying to lift yourself up was out of the question, you had twisted your wrist on the way down. The bruising had almost been instant, though blood had not been drawn.

Hoshi burst through the door, squinting down at you to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. When he realized he really was seeing you hanging on for dear life, he grunted, grabbed your arms and hoisted you up.

“Aren’t you smart enough to realize when something isn’t done?” He screamed, anger clearly etched onto his face.

“I’m sorry!” You squeaked, holding your hands to your chest. “I didn’t mean for this to happen! I didn’t even see that there was a--”

“What in Sparks is going on here?!” Dr. Hong came rushing in, a meek construction worker of the Dusty trailing behind him. He bounded up to your side and looked over the edge of the floor. The broken tech equipment was easy to see even though the pieces were tiny.

“My apologies, sir. Miss. Y/L/N entered the building without alerting anyone so we were unable to warn her of the unfinished flooring.”

Dr. Hong took a glance at you, noticing the hand you were clutching to your chest. You tensed under his strong gaze.

“Miss. Y/L/N, please go wait in your office while I have a talk with Mr. Choi concerning your..accident.”

“Yes, sir.” You mumbled, before brushing past them.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

You paced back and forth in your office that was plunged in darkness. You were nervous. In the amount of time that you had been working at this site, you had managed to look and act like an abnormal employee.

You just knew that this meeting between your two superiors would probably be about firing you and finding a new replacement. Really, you could feel it.

You couldn’t blame them.

Dread was running through your veins, climbing up your every being and digging into you.

When a ‘whoosh’ could be heard traveling into the building from the front door, you stopped and listened. Footsteps, that even if you couldn’t really differentiate, you knew came from Dr. Hong and Mr. Choi, made you gulp and shove your hands into your pockets.

A thin but sturdy lump in your pocket startled you. In an instant, you were pulling out the Monet, the monocle and the earpieces by the long metal chain connecting them, and holding it up in the air.

Even under the white light of the room, the Monet sparkled and invited you to use it.

You froze suddenly when the footsteps reached your door. There was a low murmuring coming from their side and the longer it went on, the more you felt like you couldn’t breathe.

A simple door that could probably open at the hands of your superiors, separated you and an accusation of treason. Yet, despite being caught with a Monet in your hand, you couldn't find it in yourself to put it away. It’s not like you wanted to be caught. But, the fear of being caught froze you and it seemed like nothing could get you to move.

It wasn’t until they started to walk away and you heard another door close that you pocketed the Monet.

You wanted to call Star-man and tell him about your worries, the asshole that your partner was, the way you’d almost died again. But you couldn't, you were at work, a public place where you could get caught at any second.

Unless...

Against your better judgment, you snuck out of your office, rushed to put on your shoes and ran all the way to the new building. You thanked your luck when you noticed that there was no one around to question why you were running towards a building you had almost no reason to be in.

But even as you ran, you were building an excuse to be given at a moment’s notice.

You crept along the wall, poking your head over the bottom of the front window to make sure there was no one around. When you saw there wasn’t anyone, you ran to the front door and slipped through.

From there on, you rushed down the stairs and into the basement where you believed you could use the Monet without being caught.

You hesitated for a second, wondering if it was really a good idea to contact Star-man in a public place. But having already gone through the trouble of rushing down to the basement of a building under construction, you got ignored your doubts and took the Monet and monocle out of your pants pocket.

There was no light in the basement, but muscle memory helped you press the right buttons after you felt around the grooves. Soon enough you were online and sending him an alert, an invitation, telling him you were there.

Your avatar paced around the living room of your home, unprompted by you. Eventually, it sat down on the couch and a bubble appeared over its head, noting your idleness in the world.

Then, in an instant, Star-boy appeared on the screen and you all but ran towards him-- or at least, you made your avatar run.

“What’s going on? Are you okay? Wh--”

You sighed then giggled quietly, “I’m fine. I’m sorry. I just, I needed to hear your voice.”

“My voice?”He asked over the line, “Are you sure you’re alright?”

You sighed again, “It’s nothing bad, I promise. Work is just...stressful.”

“Tell me about it.” You heard him say. His little avatar waddled over to the couch and patted the spot beside him.

You groaned, “I’ve got an insufferable co-worker. I almost died again today and he had the gall to blame me for it! There was literally nothing stopping me from walking into that deathtrap.”

“Sounds like an asshole.”

You sighed, “Yeah. I think I might get fired too.”

“What? But that isn’t fair--” A loud, booming clanging interrupted their conversation. “Hold on, I have to go check on my workers.”

“Alright.” You answered. A second later his avatar disappeared from the screen and you were left waiting for him to return, your projection keeping you from standing in a room plunged in darkness, alone.

At the same, Hoshi was walking through the halls of his assigned building, asking his workers if you had come through the halls again.

“No? Then what the hell was that noise I heard all the way from my office?” No one answered.

In reality, one of the workers had let a large box of tools fall through the same hole that you had fallen through. It had hit the many protruding support beams on the way down, sending an echo reverberating throughout the building. But nobody was about to tell him that.

Hoshi huffed at the silence. But knowing very well that if it had been something important they would have wasted no time in telling him (or at least a scream would have given them away), he shook his head and started making his rounds making sure everything was as it should be.

From top to bottom, he strolled with his hands in his pockets, stroking the piece of technology he had hidden away in his pocket.

When he was about to head towards the front door, he noticed the basement door slightly ajar from the corner of his eyes. If he remembered correctly, he had told everyone to keep that door closed and not to venture there because the lights hadn’t been installed-- and he knew he remembered correctly.

With a frown on his face, he started to make his way over, checking over his shoulder every other second to find out who he needed to reprimand. But when no one appeared, he sighed and crossed through, leaving the door open enough for some light to help him walk down the stairs.

The closer he got to the bottom of the stairs, the slower he walked. Bright lights seeping through the room and growing brighter the closer he got made the hairs on the back of his neck stand.

Then, on the last step, he froze. The room was in full view and before him was something he honestly believed he would never see.

You were standing in front of a projection that manifested itself from a piece of equipment that was nearly nonexistent even for the Dusty. Hoshi had only seen that piece of equipment in old informational diagrams, save for the one he had in his own pocket at the moment-- a Monet, a monocle, and its earpieces.

His eyes traced over the figure of the chain connecting the monocle to the earpiece. Then his eyes flicked over to the projection itself. An all too familiar picture greeted his eyes.

Hoshi clutched the Monet in his hand, took it out, and let it hang out in the open from the chain.

“ZZ-Gears?” He gulped.

“Star-man? Is everything all right? I don’t see your avatar,” you answered, reaching out towards the projection to move the picture.

Behind you, Hoshi was quickly wrapping his head around the situation.

“Behind you.” He whispered.

You tensed and ever so slowly began to turn around. Your eyes locked onto Hoshi first, widening at the prospect of being caught by someone who clearly had something against you. Then, you felt the air being knocked out of you when a glinting object forced your eyes down where you noticed he was holding a Monet.

Then it clicked.

He had said your username.

He had the same voice as Star-man.

The Monet.

The noise.

You screamed.

Hoshi’s eyes widened as you started to scream. Before he could get a word in, you started running, brushing past him like the room was on fire.

“No, wait! Stop!” He screamed, turning on his heels and running to catch up to you. He reached out to grab you after pocketing the Monet.

A second before you reached the door, on the last step before the main ground, he pushed himself to reach out and pull you towards him by the wrist. You screamed louder this time.

“My wrist!” You cried.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! But, please don’t leave.” He loosened his hold on you but didn’t let go.

“Let go of me.” You cried.

“No, please. We need to talk about this!”

“What in Sparks is that screaming?!” Dr. Hong’s voice drifted down into the basement.

Your faces paled at his voice and when footsteps started to sound louder and louder. You grabbed the knob of the door and closed it, plunging yourselves into darkness.

“Be quiet,” Hoshi whispered. Though he couldn't see, you were rolling your eyes at his words.

“Who’s in there?” Dr. Hong asked. The door rattled as he pulled on it, trying to open it.

You gulped as Hoshi squeezed your hand and tried pulling you behind him. But, still wanting to get away from him, you ripped her hand out of his and stepped closer to the door. Before he could react, you opened and stepped through the door, closing it before Dr. Hong could look inside.

In a last-ditch effort, Hoshi rushed to get his hand out the door. So, even though the door looked closed, Hoshi had actually managed to stick a hand out and was slowly looking for your hand as you leaned on the door.

The pain he swallowed down.

“What in the world were you doing in there?” Dr. Hong asked sternly. “I thought I told you to go to your office.”

Hoshi found your hand and gave it a squeeze, not letting go after. You gulped and subconsciously squeezed his hand back, then made sure your hands were hidden behind your back.

“My apologies, sir. I was just trying to map the basement since I couldn’t find it on the map...in case I wasn’t fired.” You whispered the last.

Dr. Hong sighed, “You’re not fired. BUT--” he stopped to give you a pointed look, “I expect you to follow directions as you’re told.”

“Yes, sir.” You said, nodding.

“I’ll be making periodical check-ups to see how you’re doing. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir.” You nodded again.

“Alright, please head back to your office. I’ve already ordered for someone to take the broken tech and put it in your office. Fix it. I’m sure you know how.”

“Of course, Dr. Hong.” You nodded quickly.

You waited for Doctor Hong to start walking before you let go of Hoshi’s hand and followed after him. You didn’t spare him a look back.

A couple of hours later, while you worked on repairing the broken tech, a knock came at the door that prompted you to take a break. You were about to stand-up and open the door when you heard Hoshi’s voice from the other side.

“Y/N, please open up. We need to talk.”

You stayed silent and almost slumped down on your chair, no matter how many times he knocked and begged for you to open the door.

You were unaware if Dr. Hong was in his office or not, but you imagined that he wasn’t or Hoshi wouldn’t be knocking so much. You could only hope that he would eventually believe that you were out too.

You ignored the pang in your heart when he stopped knocking and walked away.

Minutes later, the Monet in your pocket felt too heavy. It distracted you even though you weren't using it or looking at it.

Another pang hit your heart when you took it out and held it in the palm of your hands. You stared at it for a while, running a thumb over it, caressing it like it needed comforting. Then, as if it could tell that you were paying attention to it, it started to glow a rich, golden color. It was Hoshi trying to contact you.

Another pang ran through your heart as you looked at it. It was relentless-- he was relentless. The color never faded. Really, you felt like the color was growing brighter and stronger. It wasn’t long until you closed your hand around it and shoved it back into your pocket.

You ignored it from then on.

When the end of the day came, you were sure that Hoshi would try to find you again. It didn’t take you long to decide to sneak out and avoid everyone on the way out. So, after putting away the newly fixed tech and turning off the lights, you ran out of your office as fast as you could.

You thanked your lucky stars when neither Dr. Hong nor Hoshi were around. You put on your boots the fastest you ever had and then, without a look back started jogging down the path you usually took home.

When you spotted Hoshi rushing down the same path, towards your office, you rushed into one of the buildings near you and waited for him to pass. Then you ran out and continued on your way quicker than you ever had before.

On the rest of the way home, you didn’t encounter anyone else and soon enough you were coming upon the Dividen units at the division line. You were startled then.

Their presence alone was nothing new to you. They were always there, making sure that no Dusty tried to come into Spark territory.

But, on this day, they weren’t allowing anyone to cross through the arch doorway and into the Sparks. There was a line at the doorway and against the wall. They were being given baskets and everyone was taking out whatever they held in their pockets, then giving it to the units for them to look over before being patted down.

You panicked. The Monet in your pocket felt hot and heavy. You didn’t want to get caught owning something illegal.

Luckily, there was a stone slab nearby you thought you could hide behind for a moment. There you thought of what you could do. You didn’t want to leave it behind, but you couldn't leave it in your pocket.

You dug the front of your shoe in the dirt...and then it hit you. Your shoes. You could hide the Monet and the receivers in your boots. They weren’t that big and your boot already looked big because of how you stuffed your pants in them.

You did so quickly and then stuffed your pants back into your boots like you always did. After, you walked out from behind the slab and joined the line. It felt awkward to walk with the Monet in your shoes. You could feel its edges and the bumps digging into your skin.

But, still, you acted like nothing was wrong. You merely stared ahead bored, looking like you were annoyed for being made to do this.

Eventually, you reached the front where one Dividen unit officer took your basket and the other started to pat you down.

You tried not to gulp or tense under their eyes and hands, especially when they reached your boot. But, it seemed that they hadn’t felt anything, or at the very least, they assumed that it was your pant leg if they felt anything.

After putting back your things into your pocket, you nodded at the officers and stepped through.

You were about to let out a sigh of relief when a single Dividen unit officer stepped up to you.

“Stop right there.” The woman hollered out, her voice stern.

“Yes, ma’am?” You answered after freezing for a second.

The woman glared at you, a frown on her face, “Dusty-related items are not allowed in the Sparks.”

“I-I’m sorry?” You sputtered.

The officer handed you a wet rag and motioned at your boots, “You are not to step foot on Spark territory with Dusty dirt-covered shoes.”

“Right,” you responded nervously and took the rag from the officer. The woman stood off to the side while you cleaned your shoes, watching.

When you were done you gave the officer the rag back. “I’m sorry officer, but would it be a bother to ask why the line? There’s never been this type of security before.”

The officer looked at you, momentarily confused. Then the look disappeared from her face and she stared at you blankly. “There are talks of Dusty revolutionaries and Spark traitors that have been discovered. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that would you?”

“No, ma’am.” You answered quickly, shaking your head just as quick too. The officer nodded and motioned for you to keep walking.

You let out a sigh of relief when you saw your home getting closer. Walking with the Monet was growing more and more uncomfortable. After every step you took, you felt like it was growing heavier, and the paranoia within you kept growing. You really didn’t want to get caught.

Once you were in your own home, the first thing you did was scramble down into your basement and taker your boots off. You shook the Monet and the other accessories out and quickly placed them on the chair where you usually sat using it.

It was dark for a minute before it started glowing again and you knew it was Hoshi. You knew it wasn’t the best idea to ignore him, but you also couldn’t bring yourself to answer.

You sighed for the last time that day, looking at it before deciding it was time to eat upstairs.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

The following day, Tuesday, you arrived at the site at the same time as you had all the other days. It was early and there weren’t that many workers around. So your walk to your office was calm and peaceful.

There were almost no people around the path that you usually took that you managed to forget about Hoshi for the entire time you were walking. It wasn’t until you reached your office that you remembered about the events of the previous day.

It had only been a minute after you walked into your office that Hoshi came striding in. Without knocking or letting you get a word in, he walked in and closed the door behind himself.

“We need to talk.” He said, striding up to you where you stood next to the Panet at the center of the room.

Slowly, he reached out to you, pulling you closer to him, giving you time to pull away.

“I’m sorry. I have no excuse for the way I’ve been treating you, I know. I’m sorry, I really am. You have to believe me.”

“Why should I?” You huffed, glaring at him. “You only regret everything because you know who I am now.”

“I’m sorry,” Hoshi said again, “I really am. But, you’re from the Sparks and there’s a certain way we all feel about people that come from there. It’s no real excuse, I know…” he trailed off, pulling you in for a hug. “But, I love you. I know I do.” He pulled away from you and with a hand, tilted your head up so you were looking into his eyes, “And I really don’t care that you’re from the Sparks.”

He was intoxicating. The way Hoshi was talking to you was unlike the way he talked to you before. He was pleading, you knew. But everything about him was softer, his voice, the look he was giving you as he talked. Even the way he was holding you was softer than the way he had held you before.

In those moments, both of you gravitated closer to each other, lips coming to a stop millimeters from each other. This was Star-man. This was the man that you had been dreaming of for months, wondering what he looked like, what he was really like, what it would be like to be in his arms…

There was a different intention here.

“There are things you don’t know from our worlds. They don't excuse me but perhaps they could convince you to give me a second chance. So please, let me tell you--”

“Tell her what?” Dr. Hong said from the doorway.

As quick as lightning, the two of you separated. You pushed Hoshi away.

“N-Nothing!” Hoshi stammered.

“If that be the case, then please leave. I would like to have a word with Miss. Y/L/N.”

“Yes, sir.” Hoshi nodded and started to leave. When Dr. Hong stepped past him, Hoshi stopped at the doorway and look back at you. When he saw you avoided his eyes, he frowned and walked away.

“Miss Y/L/N, how are the repairs coming along?”

“They’re coming along fine, Mr. Hong. A--”

“That’s great.” Dr. Hong clapped his hand, “As per Mr. Choi’s instructions, we’d like for you to finish repair today and resume installment tomorrow.”

You nodded, biting your tongue so that you wouldn’t tell him that you were already done with the repairs. You needed another day away from...him.

You managed to avoid him for the rest of the day.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

The following day, you set off to your building with Dr. Hong by your side. Hoshi was waiting for you both at the front of the building and when you arrived, he hung back, following you guys a couple of steps behind.

Dr. Hong seemed to know exactly which room he wanted you to start with and without a word, motioned for you to get to work. He watched you, you and Hoshi, work together for an hour, silently and without instruction before leaving.

It hadn’t been more than a minute after he left that Hoshi came closer to you. He hadn’t been holding the ladder while Dr. Hong was there, but now he was. He stood on the other side, holding it so you wouldn’t fall and when you looked down to grab something else, he was already looking at you, holding out the item.

You nodded at him as thanks but ignored him the rest of the time.

He didn't try to start a conversation though. It looked like he had given up.

On the day that followed, the same thing happened though this time you actually almost fell off. With one wrong step, you were about to fall off when Hoshi stuck his arms out and pulled you back onto the ladder.

His face, centimeters from yours, turned a rosy color as he tried to figure out what to say to you. You looked at him for a while too, your mind going blank. But nothing came out in the end and before he could figure out his words, you pulled away and went back to work.

The same happened each day for a week. When you were about to fall or mess up in any which way, as long as you were alone, he ran and reach forward, just to make sure he could be there before you fell. Sometimes, you would even reach your office at the start of the day and find food waiting for you. That happened twice a day, morning and during your lunch break, when you started to avoid the cafeteria.

It was at the end of that long week, on Wednesday, when you had been given an office day-- a break if you will, that you decided that you needed to tell Hoshi to stop. It didn’t matter that your heart hurt just thinking about it, you decided that you needed to do it.

You had sent him a message via Panet to his office asking him to come to your office. Fear coursed through your veins the entire time. You made herself seem busy to distract yourself from him.

When he reached your office, he came bounding in with a smile on his face. It was hope. You could tell.

“We need to talk.” You said, copying what he used to say to you.

Hoshi was about to answer when Dr. Hong came rushing in, a panicked look on his face.

“Good, you’re both here.” He said quickly. “Both of you go tell the workers to go home. Everyone has to go home right now.” He said, stressing the final word.

“W-What’s going on?” Hoshi answered.

Dr. Hong gave him a pointed look, “You need to go. Sparks has ordered a mandatory inspection of our facilities.”

“What?” You asked, confused at the panic starting to show on their faces.

“Che--” Dr. Hong seemed to cut himself off when his eyes landed on you as if he suddenly remembered that you were in the room too, “Mr. Choi said that there’s no time. Everyone has to go right now.”

“What about you guys?” Hoshi asked. You watched on confused, it was obvious there was something that they weren’t telling you.

“We have something to take care of, but we’ll try to leave as soon as possible.” He paused for a second, glanced at you, and then turned back to Hoshi, “They have all the keys. Go tell your workers they need to leave. Mr. Choi has already gone to tell Miss. Lim and Mr. Jeon, so go.” He ordered.

“Yes, sir.” You answered, grabbing Hoshi by the arm and dragging him out with you.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

It was true that you were young, but age had nothing to do with experiences. You were thankful though, that one of the things you had never experienced was war.

You remembered seeing images and clips of one when you were at the basic education school when you were a child. You remembered the glint in your teachers' eyes when they taught it, even the far-away look that they would sometimes dissolve into.

You used to wonder why. What horrors had they faced? What made them look like that? You regretted it now, as you looked out your window and saw how the streets had been plunged into darkness.

Other people like you had lifted the covers of their windows and were looking outside with the same fear and confusion as in you. White hovercrafts hoovered in the air like they had never seen before. Bright, white spotlights shone down from the front of them and into the communities around them.

They were everywhere.

You could tell they were since all of Sparks had been plunged into darkness. So, even from a distance, you could tell that the hovercrafts were there too, shining lights into the richer communities.

You shuddered. Something just didn’t seem right. Something was wrong, something was happening. That much was obvious.

Without waiting for something else to happen, you pressed the button next to your window so that they would be covered with the standard sheet of protective metal. If you couldn’t see out, no one could see in.

Still, it felt like something sinister was about to happen and even though you had gotten home hours ago when the sun was still up, the feeling had yet to go away.

Wanting to get as far away as you could from whatever was going on outside, you made your way deep under the basement and into the second one. The chair and the Monet were the only things there, illuminated only slightly by the light of the first basement.

You wanted to touch it, turn it on, go on the nets. Something within you was even trying to convince you to go into <<Missed Connections>> but you didn’t really know if you should. Going there would probably mean running into Hoshi if he was waiting for you.

What were the chances that he had yet to give up?

You shook your head. It was for the best if you forgot about Hoshi.

The doorbell rang above and pulled you out of your thoughts about Hoshi. Though you’d never admit it to yourself, you thought about him a lot.

You ran upstairs, skipping some steps to get to the door faster and then pressed the button on the door that activated the security holo-projection. It shot an image inside of the person outside and sent you into a frozen state.

You panicked when you processed what you were seeing. You opened the door in a flash and pulled the man inside.

“Ho--”

“Look, I know you don’t trust me but I need you to believe me right now. We need to go.” You gaped at Hoshi as he talked. His Dusty look, dark leather shoes, black pants that were coming apart at the knees, a yellowing shirt and leather suspenders….it stood apart in your white apartment.

“Hoshi?” You asked, still not comprehending that he was really there.

“We have to go.” He tried again, “The government thinks you’re a revolutionary-- a Spark traitor.” He grabbed your hands trying to pull you towards the door.

“What?” You asked incredulously, ripping your hands from him.

Hoshi sighed, “They know you’ve been using a Monet. They caught you on the site’s security cams.”

“They what?!” You screamed. “They’re going to kill me.”

“No, no. No, they’re not. I won’t let them.” Hoshi said as he stepped closer to you. “So please, please just come with me.”

You looked at him, studying his face and weighing the options inside your head.

“Please...just trust me.”

You took one more look at Hoshi and took off running down the basement.

“Y/N, wait! Please just trust me!” Hoshi screamed as he ran after you. He followed you a few steps behind, not apt enough with the layout of your home.

He stopped when you entered a dark room, another basement he guessed, and ran up to a lonesome chair. You held up the Monet for him to see before shoving it in your pocket.

“I just need to put on my boots before we go.” You said running past him again.

He followed you back upstairs to the front door.

“Alright, let’s go.” You said.

“Is there nothing you want to take?”

You paused to look around and then from the corner of your eyes looked at him, “Nothing here is worth that much to me.”

Hoshi nodded, “Alright.”

He wasted no time after you opened the door to grab your hand and pull you ahead. He seemed to have a flashlight on him that you hadn’t noticed before, and because he had slammed your house door shut after stepping out, you were plunged into the deep darkness.

At the edge of the street, hidden behind the shadows of a building that seemed to be under construction, Dr. Hong and Mr. Choi stood on top of two golden brown hoverboards with two bags slung over their shoulders.

“Dr. Hong? Mr. Choi?” You whispered, panicked.

“Don’t worry they’re with us.” He said as he pulled you towards them.

“I mean they’re the real revolutionaries, two other Spark traitors that they’re looking for.”

“Dr. Hong. Mr. C-Choi.” You stammered as you locked eyes.

“No need for formalities.” Mr. Choi rushed out as he handed Hoshi two other boards. “Seungcheol and Joshua.” He said pointing at himself and then Joshua.

“We’ve got to hurry,” Joshua said, turning on a small headlamp.

“Alright,” Hoshi said as he connected the two hoverboards, “these boards are from the Dusty so I doubt you know how to use them. I’m going to need you to--”

“Trust you?” You interrupted him, “Alright.”

He nodded at you, surprised. “Hold onto me, so you don’t fall off.” He said. He climbed onto one with ease, balancing the board as it seemed to wobble when he stepped on. Then he held out his hand to you. Without a second thought, you grabbed his outstretched hand and let him wrap his arms around you. You wrapped your arms around his torso too, ready to cling to him for dear life.

“Ready?” Hoshi asked her.

“Ready.”

You were off. Seungcheol took the lead, maneuvering through the empty streets until reached the utilities district.

“What are we doing here?” You asked.

“All of Sparks is under lockdown. The only way we’re going to get out of here is if we got through the sewage pipes.” Joshua answered.

“There are some things about Sparks that are still old school, Y/N,” Seungcheol said. “For example…” He trailed off as he stopped and got off his board. The others followed and so did you. “Manholes.”

The group scurried into the hole and once inside, Seungcheol moved the cover back over the hole and motioned for everyone to get back on their boards.

You rode for what seemed like hours trying not to gag at the smell, dirty water under your boards, mice and other critters scattering around. Joshua and Seungcheol tried explaining to you every other hour, the reason they were revolutionaries. They just didn’t believe in the divisions that were being built around each other. It seemed to you that they were trying to convince you to join their cause. Every now and then, they would also try to get you to tell them why you had been using a Monet. You didn’t tell them.

After a while, when your legs were starting to grow tired, you started to shift uncomfortably in Hoshi’s arms. It looked like he knew what you were feeling since he hugged you closer to himself and told you to close your eyes and relax, sleep if you could.

You did relax, but you couldn't sleep.

Eventually, when you opened your eyes and stared ahead, you saw a light at the end of the tunnel.

“How long?” You asked.

“Four hours.” Hoshi answered, “I’m sorry but we still have a few more to go.”

“Okay,” you whispered tiredly.

You tensed when saw a couple men standing at the end of the tunnel. “There are people.” You whispered to Hoshi.

“Our friends.” He said, giving you a squeeze.

“Took you guys long enough.” One of them huffed when they exited the tunnel onto flat, Dusty copper-red land. “And who’s this?” He asked when they came to a stop, eyeing you.

You squirmed under his stare.

“Shut up, Chan,” Hoshi said, moving to stand in front of you. “There’ll be time for introductions later. Did you bring the explosives or not?”

“I have them.” Another one stepped up, “Woozi couldn’t come so he sent me.”

“Good, set them up,” Seungcheol said, taking one of the bags the man was holding.

It didn’t take them long to cover the entrance of the tunnel with TNT, you noticed. The letters were painted on with black paint.

“Alright, let's go.” Seugncheol huffed. He waited until everyone was on their boards and riding away to light the fuses.

You had only ridden for a few minutes before you heard the explosion, and Seungcheol, without looking back, just told you all to ride faster.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

“Where are we?” You asked three hours later when you reached a large, decaying, Spanish Adobe Villa. It was only one floor but the arches made it seem grand and classic with its tan color.

“HQ,” Hoshi answered, helping you down. “Woozi’s house.” He smiled at you, knowing that those words meant nothing to you. While Hoshi took apart the boards he had connected, the rest of the group had already headed inside.

“Common.” He said, holding out a hand to you. “It’s time for introductions.”

When you walked inside, you entered the living room, where the group and even more people were waiting. Never had you seen so much leather and brown colors.

They fell silent when they saw you.

“Everyone,” Hoshi started, his voice booming. “I’d like for you to all meet, Y/N. I got her run out of Sparks so she’ll be staying with us from now on.”

Silence. Then a scoff from some other girl in the back.

She walked away and you tensed. “I’ll go check on her.” Another person said, running after her.

“I guess I’ll introduce you to them later.” He sighed and turned to a man who was leaning against a column.

“Y/N this is Woozi.”

“Hello.” You said, nodding at him. He nodded back at you, face blank. You bit your lips nervously as Hoshi turned you towards someone else.

“And this is Chan.” He pointed at the man you had met earlier, the one with a square face and an impish smile. He winked at you and laughed when you turned red.

“Seokmin,” he pointed out next, the tall, smiley one that brought the explosives, “but we call him DK. There are a few others but I think they’re away right now.”

You nodded at him, not sure of what to say. He smiled at you when you turned red again, then turned to the others.

“We’re gonna go to sleep now.” Then before they could answer, he took you away.

“<<Missed Connections>> girl?” Woozi asked.

Joshua nodded.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

“I’ll sleep on the floor,” Hoshi said as he threw a blanket on the floor.

You nodded from his bed, toying with the hem of the shirt he had given you to change into. “Okay.”

Half an hour after he had turned off the light to the small room, under his covers, you couldn’t sleep. Everything felt too new and weird for you. The color of the walls, the way the bed felt.

It was a change in everything you had learned to live with. Even the air felt different.

“Hoshi?” You said into the darkness.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you. For coming to save me, I mean.”

There was a beat of silence before he answered, “I’ll never let them touch you.”

There was silence again between them. But, the longer it grew the harder it was for you to keep away from him.

“Hoshi?”

“Yeah?”

“Could you sleep...up here with me?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.” You answered and moved over when he stood up. He got under the covers, slowly, waiting for you to change your mind. When you didn’t, he pulled the blanket over you both and settled down. Then he heard your sniffles.

He reached out and pulled you into his chest, softly rubbing circles into your back. “It’s okay. You’re okay. You’ll be okay.”

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

- A Month Later -

“Soonyoung!” You screamed as you came walking into the garage where the others had told you he was.

“Yes?” He answered, sliding out from under a zeppelin he was working on. He wiped the sweat off his face as he came face to face with you.

“Do you need any help?” You smiled at him. When he didn’t answer, your smile disappeared. “Soonyoung?”

“Hmm?” He answered, coming to. “Sorry, I just can’t get used to you in those clothes.”

“Do I look bad?” You asked, looking down at your outfit.

Hoshi smirked as he ran his eyes over you again, taking in your knee-high, brown leather boots, the blank pants that you had on, the white long sleeve shirt that you had under a corset, and the pair of bronze welding goggles that you had atop your head.

“No, not at all.” He smirked as he sat up straighter.

You smiled and took a seat on his lap. You tried wiping the oil he had smudged on his face before speaking, “Is that so?” You giggled.

Hoshi licked his lips, smirking, before he answered, “Extremely.”

You smiled and quickly leaned in to peck his lips. There was no time for him to respond as you pulled away right after.

You laughed at his pout. When you looked down at the outfit he was wearing you started to toy with the suspenders. It was the same outfit he had been wearing when he rescued you.

“Thank you for saving me,” you started, running a hand down the suspenders, “And for giving me a home.”

“I’d save you all the times you needed, darling.” He said, pecking your forehead.

You smiled softly at him, and when you wrapped your hands around the back of his neck, you pulled him into a kiss. His own hands wrapped around your waist as they fought for dominance. You sighed into the kiss as he tugged at your lips with his teeth.

“Love birds, get back to work. You can do that later, preferably at night, when we’re all asleep and nowhere near you.” You broke away panting, faces flushed. Woozi rolled his eyes from the entrance and set down the box of materials he had brought and shoved it towards you guys, refusing to get any closer.

When he left, the both of you broke into a fit of giggles, and after grabbing the box of equipment, both of you went under the Zeppelin and got to work on repairs.

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