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Marcus hummed softly, watching Wrench secretly. He often found himself staring at the other, loving the way the anarchist got so wrapped up in whatever he was working on. Marcus could recall the recording Horatio made saying Wrench was hiding from something he’d done, but Marcus didn’t think that was the case. At least not entirely.
When the FBI and Dusan had taken Wrench’s mask, Marcus had seen an entirely different side of his best friend. Wrench, usually loud and outgoing, was quiet and withdrawn into himself. That mask gave Wrench the courage to be himself and since that night, Marcus never asked to see his face again. Not because he didn’t want to, but out of respect for his friend.
Incidentally, that was the night Marcus knew without a doubt he was in love with his best friend and the night he learned about true loyalty. ‘I would never turn on you.’ He could still hear the other’s words, the words said in his real voice. Wrench had had his mask back, but rather than put it on, he let Marcus see the real him. Hear the real him.
No, Horatio was wrong, Wrench had his quirks, but Marcus wasn’t sure he knew anyone more loyal than Wrench. He trusted the anarchist more than anyone, but out of fear of losing his friend, he never opened his mouth about the feelings he harboured inside.
Wrench occasionally glanced up from his tinkering and every time he looked up, he caught Marcus’s eye. The hipster would quickly turn away like he hadn’t been looking at all, but Wrench saw. He could always feel when Marcus was watching him and he knew the other had been doing it more and more lately.
It perplexed the punk. Why would anyone be looking at him? It’s not like he was much to look at. He didn’t even have the courage to take his mask off because what was underneath wasn’t anything he was proud to share with the world. He wasn’t anyone special. He couldn’t even be himself without a hidden face.
He sighed and turned back to his current project. Lately, he had just needed a distraction, an escape from his own feelings. The truth was, he liked Marcus’s staring. Some stupid flippy feeling happened in his chest when he’d catch the hipster watching. Hope. He had feelings for his best friend and he didn’t like them because feelings always meant you got hurt in the end.
Not that he thought Marcus would hurt him, but why would the hipster like him too? Again, he was nothing special. So, unintentionally, he turned to the emotion he knew all too well. All his pent-up frustration and self-hatred turned into anger blocking out the useless feelings.
“Fuck!” he blurted out suddenly, slamming his screw driver down and stabbing it into the wooden ben. He turned and stormed out of the hackerspace, not caring for the looks of his fellow hackers.
“What the hell was that?” Sitara asked.
“Wrench,” Josh responded matter-of-factly without looking away from his computer.
“Thanks Josh,” Sitara replied, sighing. “I’ll go after him.”
“No, I will, I know where he’s headed,” Marcus replied, climbing to his feet. “I hope anyway.”
Thirty minutes later, Marcus found himself in the cart of a giant crane. With a six pack of beer tucked under his arm, he hacked the crane to take him up to the roof where he knew he’d find Wrench. The anarchist seemed to like heights. As soon as he reached the top he stepped off and headed across the roof where he found his friend.
“You shouldn’t have followed me.” Wrench sat cross legged on the ledge.
“I didn’t, I simply guessed where you would be.” Marcus replied. “And I brought beer.” He sat down beside his friend, holding up the case.
Wrench sighed, but accepted the bottle that was offered him, his mask was blank. “Thanks.” He opened the bottle before lifting his mask just enough to take a sip. “Why did you come?”
Marcus flinched, setting the box down behind him as he grabbed his own bottle. “Because I care about you and I want to know what’s bothering my friend.”
“Your friend is stupid,” Wrench replied. “Really, really stupid. That’s all.”
“Really? Because I think he’s quite the evil genius,” the hipster said.
Wrench laughed, but it was quieter than usual. “Well feelings are stupid.”
“That I can agree with.”
“M, can I ask you something?”
“Shoot.”
“What’s your preference, man. I mean sexually. Women, right?”
Marcus choked on his beer and had to punch his own chest to stop the coughing and sputtering that ensued. “What?”
“What do you prefer boobs or sausage, man?”
Once his breathing had returned to normal, he glanced over at his friend who seemed unable to look at him. Wrench’s mask had been entirely blank the whole time which made the man nearly unreadable.
“I don’t have a preference. Sure I like sex as much as the next person, but anything deeper… It doesn’t matter as long as there’s a connection there. I don’t see gender,” Marcus replied.
For the first time since Marcus had arrived, Wrench looked at him, his mask lit up to two question marks. “So if a hypothetical man, let’s call him Jack. If Jack confessed he liked you, you wouldn’t punch him in the face?”
Marcus looked at his friend, wondering what Wrench was getting on about, but somehow it gave him a bit of courage. “I think I am more of a Reggie man, myself,” he said, without quite thinking it through. “But I wouldn’t punch him, no.”
Wrench’s mask lit up, displaying two large O’s. “What?”
“Does Jack like me?”
“Of course not, Jack’s hypothetical, M. But I know someone who wants to kiss you right now.”
“Tell him I’ve been waiting.”
The two fell silent. Wrench’s mask had gone blank again. He finished off his beer and tossed the bottle aside before reaching up to his mask. His hand hesitated there and Marcus could tell his friend was fighting himself on whether to remove it, but in the end, he slowly took it off. Although, he didn’t look up.
“So have I,” Wrench said quietly.
The sound of his friend’s regular voice made him glance over, but Wrench was still hiding behind his hood with his mask in his hands.
“But…” Wrench started, but he trailed off.
Marcus reached over and gently took Wrench’s chin, turning his face so he could look into his friend’s eyes. He was scared shitless, he could only imagine what Wrench was going through without his mask for comfort. “Can I?”
Wrench searched Marcus’s face hard, trying in vain to find any sign of rejection in his friend’s expression, but there was nothing to find. “Yes.”
The hipster leaned in, hovering inches away from the other’s lips. He paused, giving Wrench time to pull away, but when the other man didn’t protest, he closed the distance between their lips in a soft kiss.
Wrench’s mind had been racing, thinking of all the ways it would end badly. Thinking that Marcus would rejected him and his looks. That the whole thing was just a joke or he was dreaming, but the second he felt Marcus’s lips, his thoughts went blank and there was only Marcus and they were kissing. Nothing else mattered.
Marcus broke the kiss, but he didn’t pull away. His hand ran softly along Wrench’s cheek. “I have been wanting to do that for so long,” he said softly. “I was afraid.”
“You were?”
“I didn’t want to lose my best friend if you rejected me.”
“Me reject you? Have you looked in the mirror? I’m the fucking ugly one.” Wrench’s gaze fell. “I’m the one that no one likes. I would never reject you.”
“No, you’re different, but not even close to ugly. It is just part of who you are and I like all of you. I like you,” Marcus replied and it was Wrench this time who initiated the kiss. Marcus could feel Wrench smiling against his lips and it was contagious.
“I’ve been wanting to do that too,” Wrench said softly.
“I told you I was a Reggie man,” Marcus teased.
“Hey, fuck you,” Wrench replied, but he was laughing, a bright smile on his face that he tried desperately to hide behind his hand.
Marcus smiled. The other’s real laugh, not hidden by a synthesizer, was music to his ears and infections. He was grinning brightly when he pulled Wrench into another kiss and the other returned it.