Introduction
It was a stupid move for Kyle to make, but why not use the gifts God blessed you with? He'd been a good Jew for the most part; a small amount of illegal activity never hurt anyone. He kept telling himself that over and over again as he reached the "bad part" of South Park, as Stan had once called it. Walking around in a neighbourhood like that can really get your back up. Everyone is against you and anyone could want you dead purely for the way that you walk.
It didn't help that it was at that twilight stage of evening, when the sky was an orange-purple colour and quickly fading to black. Every building he walked past had a shadow that drenched him and made him feel just as suspicious and wrong as everyone else on that street.
He stopped outside a bar named "The Bishop". No one was standing outside this particular building except him, and this was the designated meeting point and just a little past the designated meeting time. He wondered whether his employer was already inside, but decided against checking. He could wait.
20 minutes later, just as Kyle was about to give up and return home (it was dark now, after all), the heavy bar doors swung open. Kyle turned his head and his eyes widened as he saw his small, blonde, previous classmate.
"Kyle? What are you doing here alone?" An overly British voice asked, laced with a sort of patronising concern.
"I could ask you the same thing!" He retorted, avoiding the question awkwardly. The blonde smiled.
"I'm waiting for someone. And you?"
"… I was told to meet someone here. It looks like I've been set up, though. I should probably be getting home." Seeing Gregory at the bar made him feel even more foolish and nervous. The pretty British boy looked so out of place, surrounded by tall butch American men, most of them balding and way over 40.
"You wouldn't happen to be our new hacker, would you?" He asked, continuing before Kyle had chance to reply, "You're late. I've been waiting inside with my co-worker for quite some time now. Not off to a good start, are we?" Kyle blinked back his surprise.
"You're the guy who's hired me? What would you need a hacker for?"
"Illegal work, of course. Don't tell me you didn't expect me to be involved in this sort of thing. Just because I'm intelligent doesn't mean I use it for the right reasons, after all. It seems to be the same with you, doesn't it? An accomplished hacker at just fifteen? I can't see why you'd need those skills for anything other than theft and fraud, unless you've just been using them to read your friends emails until now."
Kyle crossed his arms, feeling even more stupid than before. Being talked down to by a boy half his size and only a little bit older was embarrassing, especially in the area they were stood. Luckily everyone seemed to have their own business to attend to; no one seemed interested in the two out of place school children.
"Nothing to say? Alright then. Let me introduce you to-"
The doors opened again. Another familiar face exited the bar, although this one had gained a few more scars since he'd last seen him, and looked an awful lot older. Older than his real age, for sure. His trademark cigarette still hung loosely from his thin lips; he didn't even remove it to breath out the smoke.
"Gregory, what eez taking you so long? Ze bar is so boring, 'as zat stupid 'acker arrived yet?"
The French man complained to Gregory, completely ignoring Kyle's existence. He felt a sting in his chest at that, and pulled his arms closer around himself.
"Mole?" He asked a lot more quietly than he had intended. The brunette looked towards him, raising an eyebrow.
"Kyle?" He tried hard not to smile. The fact that the boy had remembered his name was quite comforting. The fact that the boy had grown into quite an attractive man didn't help him much either, and he felt a bit warmer than before.
"Christophe, Kyle will be our new hacker. I'm aware that you already know each other, so there will be no need for introductions. Would you like us to buy you a drink whilst we discuss what exactly your job will include?"
Kyle nodded and shrugged at the same time, eager but nervous, then followed the blond into the bar. Christophe followed shortly after, stubbing out his cigarette on the brick wall, immediately lighting another.
It's funny how a single night can change your life. In the following weeks, months, years, Kyle realised this, remembering the cold, the smells, the nerves, the fact that it was just a few days before his sixteenth, and the small wink the French man had given him that started it all.