Emergence: a short postapocalyptic queer cozy romance

EMERGENCE

Kelle and Arjun are best friends.

Kelle and Arjun have never met.

They live in different pods: underground settlements separated by long stretches of strictly regulated tunnels, each pod sealed off to avoid viruses and other plagues devastating what remains of humanity and its food sources. Even romances, to an extent, are regulated. But people can still communicate via landline telephones, and people can still fall in love, even from afar. So when the government in control of the North American pod system has determined it's time to make a trade of goods between Pod North and Pod West, the human inhabitants of each pod are also welcome to petition for a transfer.

It’s time for Kelle and Arjun to meet. But before the transfer, Arjun forms an unexpected bond with a man named Jair that could change what his long-awaited meeting with Kelle might mean.

Page Count: 30 (5,600 words)

Tropes and content: zero spice, underground cities, long-distance romance, friends to lovers, dystopian isolation, cozy apocalypse, mmf poly triad, queernormative