"Hidden Hot Welder"

  This would have to be maybe in some future or alternate universe or something.

  I do not really have a lot of detail thought out for the setting, or even the plot, really.

  There is some large community of people living either in some subterranean industrial complex, or I suppose it could be aboard some huge space ship.

  It's a very large place with lots of metal and pipes.  It has its clean areas, but a good many of the maintenance personnel do not see much of them.

  The lack of thought out detail makes it a little hard to explain, but imagine there are three kingdoms.  One is good and powerful, the other is evil and powerful, and a third is not so powerful, so they try to stay out of the way, but they are still good.

  The first two are enemies.  The third is officially neutral, but the king sympathizes with the good kingdom and secretly helps them.

  I'm going to continue using the "kingdom" analogy, for the sake of convenience, but they are not actually kingdoms, and there are no kings or royalty.

  The good king has a daughter of whom is very well know by almost everyone in all three kingdoms because she is unbelievably beautiful.  She is also a rather talented artist whose medium is metal.  She often welds together amazing metal sculptures.  The combination of both her skill and beauty are why she is so renowned.

  The evil kingdom wants to kidnap her and use her as leverage (or maybe just kill her).  Maybe she avoided capture, or maybe she was captured and then rescued.  Either way, the neutral kingdom agreed to secretly hide and protect her.

  She knew that she had to do this not only to save herself, but also to protect her family and kingdom, and she agreed to it, even though it meant that she had to give up everything, including her artistic pursuits, which she loved.

  The neutral kingdom hid her deep in the vast bowels of the kingdom as a welder.  It made use of her skills, allowed her to still use them, even if not for art, plus the welders always wore loose, bulky outfits that concealed their entire bodies.

  All of her time was spent either working or in her personal quarters.  When she was not in her quarters, she never removed her welder's hood, and she never spoke to anyone.

  It worked out pretty well, since she never really had to verbally communicate with anyone in order to do her job.

  Eventually a small, innocuous rumor started that she was a welder (assumed to be male) who had some kind of welding accident that left him horribly disfigured and unable to speak due to damage to his vocal chords, or something.

  She welcomed the rumor, as it served her, so, while not actually confirming anything, because she was an honest woman, she did not deny any useful details of the rumor.

  After maybe six months or a year or whatever, many believed the beauty had died, and so the good king went with it.  They played along with not knowing what happened to her, but accepting that she was probably dead, and they erected a large memorial statue in her honor.

  In spite of her popularity, there were still a lot of people that did not really know anything about her, and most of those were people who spent most or all of their time "behind the scenes", like the welders of this complex.

  While not a welder, one man who did spend most of his life away from the pop culture was transferred from one distant area of the kingdom to the same area in which she lived and worked.

  I have not determined his skill, but they needed him in than area more that where they had him before.

  Circumstances, some minor work related, but most not, have him and the welder encountering each other with some frequency.

  He's a creative sort of guy, though typically on the more practical side of things, but he occasionally needs some small bit of welding done, and since she is usually the welder he sees, she agrees to do it for him.

  He's a nice guy, and she finds his creativity refreshingly reminiscent of her own.

  In as much as they can, they become friends.  She would like to allow it to develop more, but she must maintain her cover.

  He initially finds it odd that "he" never removes "his" helmet, even when doing something other than welding, but he's generally accepting, and eventually hears the rumors, so he does not make an issue of it.

  One day, when they are taking a break or something, he tells the welder that he's heard the rumors about "him" being disfigured.

  "I don't want to make an issue of it, and I'm certainly not going to ask you to show me, but just for the record, if you did decide to show me, I would not, um, reject you as a friend."

  Maybe he would be a little more clumsy and uncertain about his wording.

  "Even if you were... ugly, I wouldn't judge your heart by it.  That sounded less gay in my head."

  She would give him a friendly yet "manly" double pat on the back of his shoulder.

  He would then distract with a light-hearted jib.  "At least you could go back to wearing the hood all the time, so I wouldn't have to look at you."

  Then she would use one hand on the same shoulder to shove him out of his seat.  He'd know it was in good fun while she hid the fact that she was starting to fall for him, and the nature of his confession had given her a huge shove.

  Eventually she would be revealed to him.  Right now, I imagine him knocking on her door to return something.  She does not answer because she's in the shower, but he does not know.

  He decides that he'll maybe just go in, drop off the item, and then leave.  He goes in and then gets a first look at her belongings.  They are not obviously feminine, but certainly less masculine than the typical rough that lives in the area.

  Maybe she meets him coming out of the shower, but then again, maybe he leaves in time, because he heard the water shut off.

  I like the scenario of her taking off her welder's hood to intentionally reveal herself.  She'll be sweaty and smudged with some kind of dirt or grime, but because she's so fundamentally beautiful, she'll still look awesome.

  That's pretty much all I have, so far.