Opened Locks
One-shot, something done out of a whim and a need/want. Hope y'all enjoy :)
The hallway filled with the sound of hard boots hitting the floor, one familiar to the walls of this building and the people residing within it.
The black boots took a stop just outside of a specific room and, the woman whom they belonged to had reached her destination.
She was a medium height, wearing a black leather jacket with a white shirt underneath it. She had long black jeans on, with the knees torn out on some of them. She carried a black, leather bag. Her color scheme echoed into her long, raven hair and white skin. The only thing that contrasted that were her amber eyes.
The door unlocked for her key and she walked inside her apartment. She had only just recently purchased the new apartment for herself after a long time in her last one. Really it was a dump, but it provided her a place to work.
Blake walked past her living room and tossed her bag onto the couch. Her prior apartment only had one room. This one had four.
There was the living room that had a couch, and a small table with four chairs surrounding it. The kitchen that had a microwave, an oven with a stovetop and a fridge. There was the bedroom, with a small stand for her books and her bed. Then there was the bathroom. Everything was relatively small but Blake didn't need much space.
She walked right into the kitchen and popped open her fridge. It had been an easy day at work, her job was almost completely done for her.
Blake worked for a banking corporation as networking security. Her job was simple, make sure that people didn't hack into the bank and steal the money. She enjoyed it, the people trying to hack always provided a challenge. Some days, everything was quiet and she just ran maintenance on the systems.
Blake smiled as she began to pull various greens, leftover fish and a few other ingredients for a salad. Her mind was wandering back to just about a year ago when she didn't have her job, her hobby that led to the job.
Before the bank, Blake was still working within computer security. The only difference was that she was trying to break into it and steal money for herself. She was very good, as well, respected within the hacker community.
There were few places with a high income that Blake hadn't hacked into. She was well known within the group of hackers, simply because she was doing so well for herself.
But she got sloppy one time and was caught. Much to her surprise, the place that caught her offered her a job. They figured that she was the person who'd know how to stop anyone from hacking into anything. Once they told her what her pay would be, Blake took the job.
Now, she was happy with her work. She pulled out a knife and cut away at the fish, getting it into smaller pieces.
Her favorite part about her job was the challenge it provided every day. Most of the time, it was new hackers, people who were trying new things or variations of new things. Of course, Blake was able to stop them before they got to anything of any real value but it was still fun.
She was so lost in thought, that she had completely missed the sound of someone entering her apartment. Everything went over her head right up until the voice.
"Hey there, Kitty Cat," someone purred. Blake immediately started to turn, knife in hand, ready to attack. But just as she was turning, realization hit her.
Only one person calls me that.
Blake stopped and lowered the knife. In front of her stood somebody in a long, white trench coat. It looked incredibly theatrical with his black pants, even more so with his orange hair, strong eyeliner and black bowler hat. But what really stood out, as was the norm, was his emerald eye that was visible without his hair and his grin.
"Roman, I was gonna kill you, you fucking asshole!" Blake said.
"Well that's certainly the greeting I've come to expect from you," Roman replied. "Anything less and I'd think our relationship was coming to an end." Blake's lips remained pursed in annoyance. But after being with Roman for several months, she had come to expect this behavior from him.
My man-child of a boyfriend, Blake thought.
"Miss me?" He asked.
"I saw you a few days ago," Blake shot back. "Really it hasn't been that long I'm not in desperate need, Roman." He laughed, putting his arms around her and pulling Blake in.
"Missed you too, Kitty Cat," Roman said, dropping his voice to a gentle whisper.
Blake finally let her mouth give way to a smile.
"Yeah, yeah, Jack-o-Lantern," she mumbled back.
They were virtually the only two people to call each other that. The old nicknames that stemmed back to when they knew each other.
Back when Blake was still hacking, she had to go under a different name. She became the Black Cat. She knew of just about everyone who was successful in the community, strictly on a username basis.
After getting hired, her knowledge of the upper-echelon allowed Blake to stop people with relative ease. When she did, Blake developed the habit of leaving her signature cat within anything she defended against, just a trace for them all to note.
One day, somebody attempted to get into the servers and Blake spotted it. She went to stop them, successfully deflecting the first code and leaving her cat in. A few moments later, there was another attempt. Blake blocked it, but she noticed that the attack looked more like someone sending a message. It simply read.
So that's where the Kitty Cat's gone. Playing for the other team now is always an interesting business proposition.
-Jack-0-Lantern
Blake had been caught off guard. She knew of the Jack-0-Lantern, they were somebody that was infamous for being a freelance at times but mostly working for themselves. They were very confident, always trying to one-up everyone. But almost no one interacted with them, no one had experience with them.
The next day, there was another attack. Blake caught it again, leaving her cat behind. Once again, there was a message left for her shortly after.
You're on your toes. I commend you for that.
-Jack-0-Lantern
Blake recognized that this was a challenge above all else. They were going to keep coming back. Blake was looking forward to it.
Every day for while she worked there, they came back. There'd be one round where they'd try to hack in, but then it'd be message exchanges. Blake began to reply to them as well, enjoying this exercise.
After a month, it switched from hacking attempts and became just messages. Soon after that, Blake and he swapped to personal things about each other. She learned his name, Roman, and also found out that he resided within Vale, the same city she was living in. They arranged to meet and the rest was history.
Roman was still working within an illegal capacity, but Blake never reported him. Nobody knew who the Jack-0-Lantern was and she would keep it that way. He even helped her move into her new apartment and shop for a few new pieces of furniture, something that earned him a key. Of course, Blake's first instructions were to not abuse it and to inform her well in advance for when he was coming over. She hadn't really thought he'd follow it and she was glad to know he was proving her right.
"Is there enough there for me as well?" Roman asked. Blake's eyes flicked back to the salad and she raised her eyebrow at him.
"I don't know, do you think I planned for a salad for two?" She countered.
"Prepare for the unexpected," Roman said, giving a quick laugh to follow his words. Blake shook her head and looked at his hands.
"If you move your hands, I can see about making a larger salad." Roman let go of Blake, recognizing her desire to return to productivity.
He moved out of the way, letting Blake go scavenging through her fridge again.
"I'm extremely happy that you're following my advice about the key," Blake said. "Every bit of the rules I laid for you."
"Oho Blake, you know I don't enjoy rules," Roman countered. Blake looked back and glared at him, earning another laugh out of Roman. "Besides, I figured it'd be romantic to surprise you."
"It was going to be really romantic when I jammed a knife in your throat," Blake grumbled.
"But you didn't and I think that's what counts," Roman countered. Blake sighed and shook her head.
She grabbed all of the supplies she'd need to expand upon her salad and got to work on cutting up more fish.
"Need a hand?" Roman finally asked.
"You'd get in the way," Blake fired back. "I have my systems set and when was the last time you made a meal for yourself?"
"Yesterday," Roman countered. Blake waited for a few moments, tapping her foot impatiently. "You didn't specify that it had to be something apart from a microwavable meal." Blake smirked, taking her win against Roman.
It didn't take Blake too long to finish the fish and toss the salad together. She plated herself a bowl and moved out of the kitchen.
"Oh come on," Roman said as she walked away. "No bowl for me?"
"Nope," Blake said.
"Is this how you treat your guests?"
"You have a key, you lose your right to be called a guest." Roman shrugged and got himself a bowl of salad to go and join Blake.
"Some days I wonder why I agreed for that key," Roman said as he sat down at the table.
"It's funny you say that on the same day you show up unannounced to my home," Blake countered. "So I was wondering exactly the same thing."
"Well isn't our job to keep each other on our toes?" Roman asked. "Remember?"
"Are you actually going to carry that over from online? That's your excuse?"
"Just trying to ease your mind." Blake sighed and went back to eating.
The two of them finished their salads and moved from the table to the couch. Roman took one side of the couch and patted the spot next to him. Blake sat down next to him and curled up on him. Roman let his arm fall around her and smiled happily.
Blake moved in closer to Roman and reflected on the man that she had been dating for almost a year now.
He wasn't conventional, most people who met him called him an asshole. It was more than deserved, that much Blake agreed with, but she still cared. More importantly, he still cared.
Bad days happened for Blake, sometimes. She was good, but people still got in. People tricked her and got past whatever system she implemented. That was a shot at her pride and her skills.
The first time it happened, she went to her apartment and almost broke something. She was completely furious, so much so her boss had actually released her early to let her cool off.
Shortly after she had gotten home, Roman called her. They had arranged a date and Blake had forgotten about it. When he asked why she wasn't there, she told him. Just a short bit later, Roman came over.
He didn't ask for anything more, but he held her. He let her yell, he let Blake have her moments of anger and then he comforted her.
These were her bad days. She could always turn to Roman, no matter what. When she asked why, he shrugged it off as doing a good job. That was what made Blake love him. No matter what it was, he would hold true to his job. In those moments, his job was to be there for Blake.
Right now, his job was simply to be with Blake. These were the moments Blake loved. No matter what happened, her and Roman were together.
"Call me wrong but I'd almost swear your purring," Roman said. Blake looked up at him and growled. Sometimes she'd breathe deeper and make some noises, Roman called it purring just because it annoyed her.
"Call me wrong but I can take away your key," Blake shot back.
"Oho Blake, you wouldn't do that." He pulled Blake into him a little bit more and leaned down to kiss the top of her head.
Blake took in a deep breath and smiled. He was right, she wasn't going to take away his key.
"Hey, Roman," Blake said.
"Hm?" He said. Blake looked up, grabbed his head and pulled him down to kiss him. Roman was caught off guard, but he adjusted into it soon enough. Blake pulled out with a small smile.
"Stay on your toes," Blake whispered. Both of them started to laugh and the rest of their night together was spent right there.
End: This was short, sweet and really just kind of a dynamic thing for these two. Questions, comments, follows, favorites and feedback is always appreciated.