L'aire (BoyxBoy) (Watty's 2018)

Thirty-Five

'Single quote' = signing

"Double Quote"= speaking

Bold = writing/typing

Italics = native language

After nearly a year of trying to catch Black Bird in the act, it seemed as though they had finally given up. He had been assisting precincts around the world catch criminals they most likely wouldn't have caught otherwise without asking them for any money, and the tax payers were slowly learning about the failed operation that many didn't really see the point in. Sky was helping people while asking for nothing in return, and the criminals were being put through due process instead of being immediately killed or judged by someone other than the courts. The tides of opinions were slowly turning in his favor, and less police chiefs were willing to send in fake requests. The number Sky received had dwindled down to almost zero, and he had procured enough money from the government to never have to take another job for the rest of his life. He would never actually quit of course because he needed something interesting to occupy his days, but he was able to stop taking the low paying jobs that still came in from the local colleges and instead focus on long term, intricate jobs that drew him in and stimulated his mind.

One such job found himself in the current city of his favorite pet loving hacker, Jonesy. Sky had slowly been working on a plan to coax the man out of hiding, but it wasn't working quite the way he had hoped it would. His original plan was going to be to insert himself into Jonesy's life by buying an apartment next door and forcing Jonesy to interact with him until he realized that that Sky was in fact the infamous Black Bird he'd been friends with for the last year and a half. It would have been the easiest on Jonesy's psyche, but the most time consuming and manipulative action Sky had ever taken. He was a generally patient person, but he didn't actually care enough about taking the slow approach to keep it going for so long. He was a direct, honest person, and that spurred his idea for the new approach.

His first day in the city Sky went to the grocery store down the street from Jonesy's complex and picked up a rotisserie chicken, a bag of microwavable vegetables, and several bags of pre-popped popcorn. His backpack full of clothes for the next couple of days hung securely on his back, and he walked his way right up to his best friend's apartment door. He knew from checking Jonesy's work schedule that he would be home at this time, so he wasn't worried about being stranded outside. He rapped on the door three times as hard as he could, and a few seconds later Jonesy himself opened the door with a perplexed look on his face. He didn't recognize the boy in front of him at all, but Sky had expected that. Sky didn't really pay any attention to Jonesy's reaction to him, instead he just pushed his way past the man and into the apartment. He was sure that the man was saying something behind him, but words are easy to ignore when you can't hear them.

Sky went straight to the kitchen and set the chicken on the counter. He took out a knife and poked a hole in the vegetable bag to allow steam to escape and then set it in the microwave for three minutes. He was hungry, so while he waited for their dinner to cook Sky opened the bag of popcorn and started munching. When he finally turned his attention back to his friend, he noticed that Jonesy had been speaking to him the entire time. He didn't understand much because he was talking way too fast, but he gathered from the look on his friend's face that he was both frustrated and confused. Who the hell was this boy in his kitchen, and what exactly did he think he was doing. Sky didn't think he knew any signing and he didn't feel like pulling out a notebook, so he just continued to stare at Jonesy while he chewed his popcorn. Eventually he saw Jonesy's eyes shift to something behind him, and he figured that the microwave must have finished cooking the vegetables. He set the popcorn down and turned to take the vegetables out. There were several clean plates and forks on a drying rack next to the sink, so Sky grabbed two of each and shoved a plate into Jonesy's hand. He served them a little bit of each dish, grabbed a blood pack out of the fridge for Jonesy, and then walked around the man into the living room.