The man was lying on the grey couch in the room he would come to call his lab in the future, his black loosely knitted sleeveless vest falling at the side and barely touching the floor; his left arm outstretched above him and holding a book, which didn’t fit the male’s image at all with its bright and pinkish cover. His eyes looked tired, the white of them slowly transforming onto red, the skin under them showing how the male had skipped a day or two of sleep. His right arm was tucked under his head, sometimes coming out to change the page of the book, or to fix the black rimmed glasses slipping on his nose.
Damian didn’t like wearing glasses, but with his eyes like this, or rather his state, he preferred avoiding putting on his lenses. “So, are we funding your reading nights?” a hoarse male’s voice disturbed the young male, indicating him that he was no longer alone. “Kinda?” the youngster replied in his own childish way, closing the manga book and sitting on the couch. He reached to the side, to leave the book in the pile (which was not exactly small), and stood up to greet the elder male properly. As he walked to him, he subconsciously pulled his black sleeves up, showing the colorful wired bracelet that was a present from his current companion.
“Sometimes we wonder why did we choose you.” the man breathed out when the two shook hands, at which Damian simply laughed. “Because I am rather handsome and extremely smart?”. At those words the man took a bit of time to stare at Damian, then chuckled and shook his head. “We’re still debating the handsome part.”
The black haired youngster laughed off the response and moved to the desk, which even if still not used properly looked overly chaotic with even more manga books scattered on it, different diagrams that were printed, and some more sheets of paper with incoherent for just everyone data on them. There were a few disks, quite the handful of flash drives, three screens along the wooden desk’s length, and two folders lying over the keyboard. One red and one blue. Damian picked up the folders and walked back to the man, handing them to him. “The red is what you asked for, the blue is all the administrative details.”
“This.” the grey haired man started, taking the folders and using them to tap with them the top of Damian’s head. “Is why we choose you, mainly.”
“I know.” the youngster replied, giving a faint hint of a smile and looking down at the floor. It was because of that he knew. Of course he knew. You create one grand thing and everyone is after you and that creation of yours. At least with them Damian knew his creation will be safe.
“You don’t look serious, but you are.” the old man’s eyes pierced Damian, causing the young hacker to feel shivers all over his body. “Will a week be enough?” he then spoke again at which Damian just nodded, his hand moving to fix his glasses in vain hope that the rims will hide his black circles at least a bit. They knew his means and were understanding enough to give his body time to recover after every assignment. “Get some sleep, Mr. Jones.”
“I will... after I finish my ‘book’.”
At that the elder man laughed and shook his head, turning around to leave Damian to his solitude.