---

Grayson walked out with handcuffs on and two police officers on either side of him. The red and blue lights flashed against his pale skin while his eyes stayed on the ground. He didn’t even keep his head upright to see where he was going. His glasses threatened to slip from his face. He walked slowly with one of the police officer’s hands on his shoulder to push him forward and steer him in the right direction. It didn’t look like there had been a struggle to arrest him, there was only a wound on the Grayson’s hand that was bleeding rather badly. But no bruises accompanied that wound and there wasn’t anything else but that cut. The noise around them was so loud, other police officers trying to talk to one another, crowds of people trying to make sense of what was going on and news organizations standing by to find out the identity of the great and famous hacker, Techsigma.

The cops pushed Grayson into the police car and left him alone as they went to go control the scene. The young man sat quietly in the car, leaning on the door to look outside and watch the scene that went on around him. He could see people taking pictures of him through the window as he stared blankly back at them. He seemed to just stare right through everyone that tried to catch a glimpse at him, as if he weren’t really alive.

That incident had now happened about a week ago. Things weren’t going much better for Grayson, but at least he wasn’t in jail. After his arrest, he had been brought to the agency. The government funded law enforcement that takes care of big cases. Those that are wanted by the agency should be terrified of getting caught because they’ll never be leaving jail. He had been lucky in this case and they decided to give him a deal. He’d be put under house arrest, but he wasn’t allowed to stay at his own home. He would be monitored at another agent’s home and everything he did would be monitored. In exchange for this less harsh punishment, he would have to work for the agency. He would be working with the agent that he lived with, and put his computer skills to better use as the head of the agency had told him.

Grayson had been silent in the car ride. He had been rather quiet through this entire thing. Any questions were answered simply and straight to the point. He never gave long winded explanations or stories. Any information the agency wanted, came from other sources for the most part. He didn’t share much about his life, but because they knew his true identity of course they were able to find out who he was, they knew what school he graduated from, when his mom had passed away, the fact that he was the legal guardian for his little sister and that his little sister was in the hospital. The things they couldn’t find out from official documentation were just things they’d have to find out on their own. Even that deep cut he had on his hand. All they knew was that it was self inflicted, since that’s all Grayson would say.

When the car finally stopped, Grayson unbuckled his seatbelt and grabbed his personal belongings from the car. He only had the one suitcase. He hadn’t been allowed to keep his computer as that was now locked away at the agency for further investigation. All that was left was his clothes and a few pictures that he kept with him. He didn’t have much else that he had. Anything belonging to his sister had been removed and put in storage for her and the furniture in the apartment building belonged to that apartment complex.

The moment he turned around to follow his new housemate inside, he paused. He hadn’t gotten a clear look at the home until now. It was large. He had never lived in anything but an apartment, he had no idea what to expect from an actual house. His parents were always too poor to own a house and he certainly never spent his money on one. He started to suspect that the agency probably bought this place up and moved both of them into it, instead of just having him move in with the agent. Why would someone have such a large house meant for just one person? It seemed so unnecessary. If his family could live comfortably in a three bedroom apartment, he couldn’t see why one person would need an entire house to themselves. It took him a moment to shake off the surprise and start moving again, dragging his suitcase behind him.

After a long silent ride home, Grayson said his first words "This place is huge." It sounded much more like a statement and less like someone who was in awe. It was as if it were just an offhanded statement as he made his way to the entrance.

---

Grayson looked over at the agent as he spoke to him. It was probably the first time he had made eye contact with anyone the entire week. He had kept his head down most of the time, choosing to stare at the ground most of the time, if he was being transported, he stared out at the window. He avoided looking up as much as possible. He had only observed the agent from his peripherals which was not really great at making out details, and he wasn't so sure he had ever gotten a good look at the man's face. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but it definitely wasn't someone that still looked rather young. And that face...he wasn't really expecting someone so handsome.

"Fair warning, don't ask me where anything is 'cause I most likely won't have a clue." Grayson blinked a few times when he was brought back to the present. He wasn't quite sure how long he had been looking at the man, or what expression he had had on his face that entire time. He quickly went back to looking at the ground as the two moved inside and the agent took a phone call. At least the agent's statement confirmed that this place was likely owned by the agency and not him. It made Grayson feel a little better, he wasn't quite sure why, but it did.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the man on the other end of the call. He hadn't been expecting the agent to put the phone on speaker, much less hear that intimidating voice so soon after they had left the offices. He, of course, had reason to be afraid of the man. That man had threatened him quite a bit in the past week, since Grayson was a criminal. He had done things that were against the law, and if he were to step outside the guidelines the agency had set up, he was sure he'd face a much worse fate than just jail time. At least, that's what that man had threatened him with. Though, the ex-hacker had been caught off guard by the voice he had enough sense to at least hear what the man was saying. He caught the name of the agent and made a mental note of it.

He had paused while the agent was talking, since he wasn't quite sure what to do from this point. Now that they were in the house, it really dawned on Grayson just how much different life would be. He looked around at the living room, his eyes pausing on the bits of technology in the room as if he were planning something. He was. He was looking at every object trying to see just how much of this stuff connected to the internet and figuring out what sort of online security stuff he'd have to put into place just to ensure his own safety. He may be working for the agency now, but that didn't mean he was going to trust them to keep him safe while he hacked from them. He knew the other hackers out there. He knew how terrifying they could be. He was nothing compared to some of the others. He was good at what he did, but he also had a line he didn't cross. He never harmed others, there were other hackers out there that didn't have that line. Actually, a lot of them didn't have that line.

He caught bits and pieces of the agent's conversation with his boss. It definitely stuck out to him how this man treated his own boss. It was strange and unprofessional. He wasn't quite sure how the agent could get away with treating his boss like that. But, he didn't really have much time to think about all this new information coming at him so quickly, as the agent grabbed his suitcase. Grayson just looked at the man, not quite sure what to do about that, he was capable of carrying his own things. Once again, there wasn't much room for talking as the agent just showed Grayson to his room.

Before they were able to get to the room though, Grayson's head cleared from all the information he was gathering for just one moment. He realized that there was something much more important to him. "Um...I know this is probably way out of line, but...could I borrow your phone?" Grayson spoke up. He hadn't talked to his sister in a week, she had to have seen the news by now. She had to be worried about him and it wasn't like he was allowed to keep his phone. He wasn't trusted enough to have one. He had to call her and make sure that she knew what was going on. He wasn't quite sure when he'd be able to visit and he had to make sure she knew she wouldn't be going back into their father's custody. "I-It's for a phone call. I promise."

---

Grayson tried hard to cover up his surprise when the man had just handed over his phone. He expected a lecture followed by a firm denial to let him touch any phone. He felt that acting as surprised as he was would have made Jaxson think twice about giving him the device to call his little sister and he could really let that happen. He wanted to talk to her, it had felt like forever since he had last heard her voice, even if it had only been a week. He needed to make sure that she was alright, the stress of this whole situation could have made it hard for her to fight back against her illness. He'd have to just take the hit to his own privacy and let the agent listen to the call. It wasn't like his sister was going to give away any information that was important, she knew just about as much as what had been spouted out on the television.

Finally the boy dialed the number to the hospital. He continued to stand and stare at the device in his hand, finding that much more important than the rest of his room. "This is Mercy Hospital, may I ask why you are calling today?" The voice on the other end sounded robotic, like an automated voice messaging system. "I'd like to speak with Olivia Clark in the intensive care unit," Grayson answered as he finally looked up and took in the surroundings of his room.

"Please hold while we patch you in," The automated voice spoke. Grayson said nothing as the line went dead again. He corrected the glasses on his face and looked at the night stand by his new bed that held a lamp. It had a few drawers, but that was about it, but was rather empty. He didn't even have a nightstand at his old place, so he wasn't quiet sure what he'd do with that thing, other than apparently hold a lamp. His eyes moved over to the bed that was nicely made with clean blankets and sheets. It looked comfortable much more comfortable than his old bed. Which was the same mattress he had been sleeping on for most of his life and certainly didn't have a bed frame or a box spring like the one he had now. It was also much larger than his old bed, which he hadn't really expected. Actually the entire room was larger than his old bedroom, so much bigger. He was quite sure half of his apartment could fit in this bedroom.

"H-Hello?" A girl's voice finally spoke from the device. Her voice sounded kind of raspy as if she had been coughing for a while. Grayson nearly smiled just hearing is little sister's voice again. Happy that she was still around and alive. She could still speak to him and that's all that mattered. She was alive still. "Hey, Livie, I-" Grayson didn't even get a full sentence in before the girl on the other end cut him off. "Gracie! Oh my god, you're alright! You are, aren't you? Th-They've been saying some terrible things o-on the news about you. I-I just couldn't believe it. What happen-" Olivia's sudden flood of words were cut off by a series of terrible coughs and any smile that had been on Grayson's face quickly disappeared.

He waited for the coughing to stop which seemed to take a good minute or so. "Livie, calm down. I'm alright. I-I did do some bad things, and I got arrested. But, I was able to avoid going to jail. For now, you're still under my custody, and everything's going to be fine," Grayson explained to Olivia. The girl on the other end was quiet for a long while as if she were soaking all of the information in, or maybe suppressing some more coughs. "Will you be able to come visit me and read books to me again?" Olivia asked after a long silence.

Grayson let out a sigh, keeping himself occupied by looking more at his room while he tried to think up how to tell his sister that he couldn't do that anymore. He didn't want her to worry, but he wasn't quite sure either if telling her that he was part of the agency now was against the rules or not, so he tried to be cautious. His eyes landed on probably the most important object in the room. A computer. If they were allowing him to have it in his room, that must mean there are plenty of cameras all over the place. There was probably even some monitoring software on the computer to make sure that he stayed on their side. He started to move towards it. "Sorry, I won't be able to come around and visit you. I still did some bad stuff, Livie and I'm getting punished for it. I just wanted to call you and make sure you knew what was going on." He said as he got a better look at the computer.

"But, you said you weren't in jail. Gracie, how am I supposed to do anything with out you? You're the only one that visits me," The girl argued. Grayson ran a free hand on the top of one of the three monitors. He had used just an old laptop to do everything. He had never imagined working on a machine that had three monitors. On one of the three monitors there was a wireless headset neatly placed and hanging from the monitor. Grayson picked it up, he had seen these in the stores that costed a couple hundred dollars. "I'm sorry, I just can't visit you right now. Maybe...later," Grayson muttered as he placed the headset back on the monitor and ran a hand on the keyboard. Clicking in a few of the buttons and hearing an audible click from them. He always loved the sound keyboards made, especially the ones that were loud.

"Grayson-" The girl huffed before letting out another long line of harsh coughs. This time Grayson didn't wait for her to stop "Olivia, you're fourteen. You can read your own books now. I know it's hard, but you have to understand that it's not possible for me to visit you right now. I'll try to call you when I can. That's the best I can do," Grayson argued. The girl's response was a harsh, "Then don't bother." Followed but the line going dead again. Grayson looked sadly at the phone for a moment before finally handing it back over to Jaxson.

"Thanks for letting me call her," Grayson sighed as he grabbed his suitcase and sat it over by the dresser.

---

Grayson rolled his eyes when the man decided to make fun of the nickname his little sister called him by. Still, he was happy to finally be alone once the man left. He had been around people all week and with no time to just be alone. He got exhausted by having to be social, and preferred being alone sometimes. He just wanted to have some time to himself for once. Of course, he didn't have a chance to use that time for relaxing and was forced to use it mostly to start working on making himself feel a little more at home. He pulled out the clothes he had in his suit case and started putting them away in the dresser. He had been so used to just dealing with his clothes in a piled heap all the time, and having no way of organizing anything. It was nice to finally have his clothes off the floor of his room, not that it made him feel much better once all of that stuff was unpacked. The room still felt empty, and unwelcoming. He didn't like it.

He looked back over at the computer, wondering if he was allowed to even mess around with it. He wanted to see what that thing was capable of, maybe play some video games, or watch something on one of the stream services out there. Instead, he thought better of it. It was probably password protected and he wouldn't be able to get into it unless someone else logged him in. He was still a prisoner, whether he was behind bars or on house arrest. He couldn't really blame anyone for it, it was his own decision to do all those illegal acts. With being such a criminal though, he knew that anything that connected to the internet would be especially off limits. There would be limitations to what he could do and when he'd be able to use such devices. He had to accept that he didn't really have freedom anymore.

Grayson finally decided on just seeing what the kitchen had in terms of snacks. He could spend his time reading until they got their first assignment and maybe just sleeping. He expected that a lot of his time would be spent sleeping or reading. With nothing else to occupy his time, since everything else was probably prohibited. He made his way to the kitchen and looked around in the cupboards and the fridge to look for some kind of snack. He settled on a bag of chips that were placed in one of the cupboards. It was a boring snack, but it'd do for now. He grabbed a glass and filled it up with water and was just about to leave when he found the agent wandering in.

He looked at Jaxson for a moment, nearly stunned that the man was walking around without a shirt on. Of course, that wasn't something to really be so stunned over, men didn't really have anything to hide on their chest. Still, it came as a shock to him and all he could manage to do was quickly look down at the floor and hope that his face wasn't as red as it felt. "Um...I-I'll be in my room, if you need me for anything," Grayson muttered, not exactly sure what else to say. He just grabbed his chips and water and tried to get back to his room as quickly as possible.

---

Grayson tried really hard to just make it to his room without having to enter another conversation or deal with this anymore than he had to. Too bad he didn't even quite make it out of the room before the agent pointed out what he had picked out to eat. He only ever learned how to cook a handful of things, and most of those things were frozen tv dinners and instant noodles. Both of which were things he had never cared for, and with his sister hospitalized he cared much less about eating actual meals. So, most of the time, he just ate snacks or a sandwich. On a rare occasion, he'd go to a restaurant and get food there. Self care had always been quite a low priority on his list of things, so he just ended up not doing any of it a lot of the time.

He didn't even look up at Jaxson when he criticized him about the replacement for a meal and just tried to keep quiet. He figured the comments would end soon enough and Grayson could go back to his room and read. Then the man told him to take a seat and he wanted to protest, but not even a word came out of his mouth. He couldn't really argue with him about it. He knew that he shouldn't just be eating some chips of dinner and calling that proper nourishment. It wasn't even close, but he really didn't want to have to sit down and wait for food. It brought up a lot of memories that he just didn't like to deal with. He didn't like thinking about those sorts of things. Still, without another word, Grayson took a seat.

When the agents back was turned, Grayson would look up at the man and observe what he was doing. Flashbacks of his mother working in the kitchen while he waited for breakfast, lunch, or dinner just flooded him. He had to close his eyes and stop himself from crying. They were nice memories and his mother had passed away so many years ago. He didn't need to remember those times. He concentrated on pushing those memories to the back of his mind and had nearly forgotten that he was in the room with another person until he heard Jaxson say, "Tell me about yourself, Gray."

His eyes quickly opened and looked down at the small dish in front of him. He looked up at the man that probably now thought he was crazy. He knew what he did was strange, but just kept his eyes on the dish as he hesitantly went to try it. "There's not a whole lot to say about me. I'm twenty three, grew up poor, have a sister in the hospital and I'm good with computers." Grayson muttered. There wasn't much else for him to say. He didn't like going into detail about his home life and he wasn't much for just spilling any sort of information out to the public. He took a bite of the food he had taken and paused. How long had it been since he'd eaten anything made at home? Whatever this was it was good and he could feel his stomach just getting hungrier from eating only one bite.

---

Grayson glanced up at the man and then back down at the plate when he started talking about the small amount of information he was given. He wasn't one to just give out information like that, besides he didn't like talking about himself in the first place. He would much rather talk about a subject that he had absolutely no interest in. At least then he wouldn't be talking about himself anymore and things would be so much better that way. His past wasn't something he liked to talk about at all and anything he did after he moved out of his dad's house was just as uneventful. The only times he could think of that he would be okay with sharing would be those moments when his mother was still alive, but those moments hurt the most to talk about. It was just much easier for him to just not talk about anything at all. He just summed up his life in a couple of words, because that was just the easiest way to answer that question.

"What's your favorite food, let's start from there." Grayson had tried to just ignore his questioning and hope for a change in subject. Of course, that wasn't what happened, instead the man wanted to know more about him, to know more details. Pancakes. Mom used to make the best blueberry pancakes. They were always so fluffy and sweet and were good even without syrup. He immediately thought of the answer. Still, that brought up memories of his mother and the thought that he hadn't had her cook in a very long time. He missed those blueberry pancakes. He could probably answer that question without giving a good explanation on why he liked them. Just simply answer the question without bringing up the subject of his parents. That was probably the only way to answer that question. It would be difficult to continue a conversation like that, but he wasn't going to tell the agent anything more than that.

"Blueberry pancakes," Grayson finally answered as he ate the dumpling that had been placed on his plate. The agent definitely cooked well. The food was amazing and so good that it made Grayson just want to eat until he was actually full. That was a hard thing to accomplish, given that the boy had survived on snacks and frozen dinners for most of his life and he had been known to just go hungry if he didn't want either of those options. He'd even stop eating in the middle of the meal if he didn't enjoy the food, finding that he had eaten enough to at least seem like he was full. He grabbed more food from the dishes onto his plate and started to dig into the food.

---

Grayson opened his mouth to answer Jaxson when he had asked about the food. He was about to say that it was good, but instead there was a beeping sound. His mouth closed immediately and a look of confusion filled his face. He thought, for a moment, that the noise might have come from him. Once the sound was repeated, the confusion on his face lessened with the confirmation that the noise wasn't somehow coming from him. With the third beep, Grayson looked over at Jaxson, to see if maybe he knew what was going on. Apparently, he had, because the agent moved towards entrance. He sat there for a few more moments waiting for another beep, but when it didn't happen, he went back to eating.

Though, it wasn't long for there to be another, unfamiliar voice in the house, which made Grayson drop his fork immediately. He nearly fled the room, when he heard the man complain. He felt like he was stuck to his chair though, that leaving was not actually an option at all. He was a little relieved when Jaxson defended what was going on, but that didn't make him feel less awkward or less like the most hated person in the room right now. He just took to staring at his food and looking as small as possible. He didn't want to get involved with this and he definitely didn't want to provoke this man with any sort of action.

Though, the stack of papers hitting the table made him jump and sit up straight again. If he didn't feel so stuck to the chair he was sitting in, he surely would have fled the room. He really wanted to. He wanted to just leave and go the comfort of his room and not have to deal with this at all, but he didn't have a choice. His legs wouldn't move. So, instead, he cautiously moved his hand to the stack of papers and took them. To read what their first case together was going to be. This only seemed to anger the other agent, who then ripped the papers from Grayson's hand. "Those are confidential," He sneered.

Grayson looked at the agent confused, how was he supposed to do his job if he wasn't allowed to get the info for their case? Still, the glare he got back made him go back to looking at his food and mumble a quick, "Sorry." He guessed that that meant whatever information he needed had to come from Jaxson, which would make things difficult. Or perhaps, this other man was just asserting his dominance as those that felt threatened often felt the need to do. He didn't understand why anyone would feel threatened by him, it wasn't like he looked menacing or could somehow kill someone with the snap of his fingers. He was good with computers, but he couldn't just kill someone. Not that he ever did anyway, he stayed away from those that wanted people dead.

FC: Zhang Yixing || Dialogue: #ff6666 || Thought: #ff0000

XXXX
XXXX
XXXX
XXXX
XXXX
XXXX
XXXX
XXXX
XXXX
XXXX
XXXX
XXXX
XXXX
XXXX
XXXX
XXXX
XXXX
XXXXXXXX
XXXX
XXXX
XXXX
XXXX
XXXX
XXXX
XXXX
XXXX
XXXX
XXXX
XXXX
XXXX
XXXX
XXXX
XXXX
XXXX
XXXXJaxson watched his "fellow agent" with a scowl of distaste. God, how he hated this guy. Just who did he think he was coming into Jaxson's territory and imposing rules on Grayson. If anyone was going to tell the boy what to do, it would be him. Not some uptight noodle in a fancy suit. "If it's confidential-" the man stated, pulling the stack of papers from the most likely irritated agent and handing them back over to Grayson. "Then he has as much right to read them as I do, or how do you expect him to help me?" Jaxson's gaze met the agents for several long, tension packed seconds, his arms golfing defensively across his chest. "He's a hacker, not a mind reader." Agent Mark glared back at Jaxson with a disapproving huff, mimicking Jaxson'S stance of arm's across chest. Jax could tell the man was struggling to think of a comeback, not that it would change anything.

"Listen, you little brat-"

"No, you listen. I know the boss didn't send you here to impose rules on either of us. You were sent here to deliver the papers, and nowe that that's done. Please see yourself out." he finalized his statement with a gesture of his hand in the direction of the living room, as if the front door were open and waiting for him. The agent let out a quiet snarl, turning on his heels to head for the door, but not before leaning in close enough for both Grayson and Jaxson to hear him. "Sooner or later you will slip up, agent Lee, and when you do. I will be there to make sure everybody knows it." and added one last sharp glare in Grayson'S direction. Within a second he was out the door, the locks closing automatically behind him. "And I'll be here waiting for you to get hit by a truck." he muttered for no one but himself to hear, and maybe Grayson too. Jaxson strongly resisted the urge to roll his eyes into the back of his head and quickly turned his attention to the papers in Grayson's hands, dark eyes skimming over a couple of words.
"Alright, what's on our agenda, then?'

Jaxson was beyond excited about this case. It had been a while since he'd gone under cover, and he was told it would be necessary for this one. This was something Jax had somehow grown extremely skilled at. Not to mention this time he would have an extra pair of eyes and ears. As much as he knew he shouldn't be trusting Grayson so easily, he couldn't deny he was just a tad bit excited about the two of them working together. He just hoped he hadn't misjudged Grayson and the guy would end up completely screwing him over like many had done in the past. .