Interaction [Dreamnotfound]

2 | Caught

Darryl was late again.

It was exactly 6:02 pm in central Florida, and rather hot. But that wasn't the issue.

Darryl was supposed to be home by 5.

Zak, at their shared home, was worried sick.

He rarely ever showed his true feelings, but he was all alone, and rather worried about his boyfriend. Why wasn't he home yet?

It set Zak on edge, even though he knew Darryl was probably fine... probably. There was still a chance that...

No. He couldn't think of that.

The announcement had come out that very morning - he had seen it when he woke up, at precisely 8:00 am, of course.

It worried him.

Of course, it was very selective, who they chose to test. The chances of either him or his boyfriend getting picked were extremely unlikely.

But still.

Zak couldn't help but worry as he paced around the room. What if Darryl had gotten hurt? Been picked randomly for testing, even though it wasn't the end of the month? Interacted with somebody even though he knew he wasn't supposed to, Zak had told him so many times-

The door flew open, and Darryl hurried in, the warm autumn breeze carrying after him. "Zak!" He exclaimed in excitement, shutting the door in a flurry and rushing to set down his large, brown backpack on the nearby table.
Zak, however, stayed where he was, relief mixed with anger coursing through his body. The anger won, and he glared at Darryl, arms crossed. "You're late. Again."

Darryl brushed it off. "It's nothing, I was just testing out our software development. Did you know the new update for Hemibots is set to come out next week?" Excited, he opened his bag and began rummaging through it.

Zak stepped forwards. "Darryl!"

Darryl paused, looking up from his bag. Seeing Zak's concerned expression, he stood up all the way, tilting his head in confusion. "What? What is it?"
Zak sighed in exasperation. "Do you know how worried I was? When you didn't come back? What if something had happened? What if you had gotten hurt- or chosen- or someone had interacted with you-"

Darryl cut him off, pulling him into a hug. Zak let himself relax into Darryl's chest, who, despite the common contradictions, was just a bit taller than Zak.

"What if something had happened..." Zak mumbled into Darryl's chest. Darryl stepped back. "But nothing did happen," he reminded Zak gently.

Reluctantly, Zak nodded, turning to the ground. "So... how was work today?"
Darryl worked for the government, as a tech supporter. That was, in fact, one of the most highly valued positions in not only their district, but the whole world - and he had worked hard for it. The only problem was the long hours he was required to spend in the laboratory, while Zak waited at home, with nothing to do... at least not as far as most knew.

Darryl didn't have his usual reaction of excited glee, which threw Zak off for a moment. "It was... good," Darryl said finally, avoiding eye contact with Zak and opening his bag again, pulling out a small black band identical to the one on his own wrist and examining it for a second before swapping them and putting the first back in the bag.

Zak frowned, walking closer to Darryl. "Hey," he said gently. When Darryl didn't respond, he tapped his shoulder, causing him to look up. "What's going on?"

Darryl shook his head. "It's nothing... just..."

"Yeah?" Zak prodded.

Darryl closed his bag, dropping it on the floor, and looked up at Zak. "The tech we're working with today... I don't know. It's getting really advanced, Zak. Like really advanced."
Zak's eyebrows drew together in concentration. "What do you mean, exactly?"
Darryl sighed. "I had a conversation with a Hemibot Ultra today, Zak. And it knew everything. I mean everything. Anything I asked about myself, it knew." He furrowed his eyebrows. "And it's just... discomforting, that a Hemibot could know all that, y'know? Like..." He paused for a moment, and then went on. "One of my tasks was to ask how many interactions I've had... and it knew. In detail. Both of them."