Short Circuit

Collaboration begins with proximity. But for Maya, so does contamination.

Maya has spent two years building her university's Autonomous AI lab into a meticulously organized haven, right down to the color-coded power strips and labeled component drawers. As the lead on an autonomous navigation stack for a complex multi-domain vehicle project, her life is strictly scheduled in red, green, and blue ink to keep her National Robotics Grant on track. But when a sudden morning email announces halved engineering budgets, her perfectly measured world is upended. She is forced to merge resources and share her pristine basement warehouse bay with the Combat Robotics department.

Enter Julian Thorne.

Julian is a Combat Robotics engineer who arrives with a heavy steel chassis, "DANGER HIGH VOLTAGE" stickers, and easy, relaxed laughter. Broad-shouldered and wearing a worn university hoodie, he is completely comfortable in the exact space Maya desperately wants to control. Maya vows to protect her servers from his chaotic machines and insists he stay on her carefully taped floor paths. However, Julian's unbothered confidence and playful reverence for her work begin to register in a part of her brain she hasn't cleared for input.

Maya writes down one strict rule for dealing with her new roommate: Do not let him make you small. But as the two rival engineers are forced into close quarters, she might discover that Julian is the one variable her algorithms can't predict.

Tropes & Content:

• STEM / College Romance
• Forced Proximity (Shared Lab Space)
• Opposites Attract (Order vs. Chaos)
• Grumpy x Sunshine (Grumpy Programmer / Sunshine Engineer)
• Academic Rivalry & High Banter

Jay Gillespie writes character-driven contemporary romance that balances sharp, witty banter with grounded, emotional stakes. When not writing, Jay can usually be found in the middle of the woods. Happy.