Eleven Years Ago
It was the first time he had ever seen a girl like that before.
And Thea of all people.
Later on in life he would think back on it and laugh to him self. With the way she was, he was surprised it hadn't happened earlier.
He opened her bedroom door, hoping to get a book back that she borrowed, but was shocked at the scene before him. Wires, chips, screwdrivers and other equipment were strewn all across the room. It was a holly mechanical catastrophe. All pieces of furniture, including the bed, had been pushed up against the wall to make room for this. there were three dehumidifiers set up in the corner, and everything was sitting on thin plastic sheets that she had distributed around the floor. The main wall was covered in hand drawn blue prints and with miniscule handwriting that could only be understood by two people. And there in the middle of it all, was Thea, wearing only her bra, underwear, and a pair of latex gloves, kneeling over some large pc system of sorts with a pair of tweezers. He froze, eyes wide, and stared as her brows furrowed together in thought and she moved chips around on the large circuit board. He was thirteen, so it was natural to be mentally flipping out, right? He hoped so, because he couldn't for the life of him form a complete thought. He had known for a long time that he liked Thea more than a friend, but this feeling. It was different. He knew it was rude and voyeuristic to stare, but he couldn't help himself.
"Thea?" he finally managed to say, but there was no response.
"Thea?" he said again, this time louder. Still no response. She was too deep in thought to notice anything outside of the project she was working on. What exactly i was /i she doing?
It was then that Matt walked by the room. At first he passed without any notice, but then stopped, did a double take, and slowly walked back and stood next to L. Pushing his goggles up onto his head, he leaned forward, eyes wide, to get a better look at the situation, and then broke out in a huge grin.
L immediately blushed, realizing that he had her door open for the world, especially Matt, to see. Moving to close the door, he was stopped as Matt pushed his way through and entered the room without blinking an eye.
"Whoa! What are you working on? I've never seen anything like this" the eight year old asked calmly as he got closer to the machine .
It was then that L realized the boy wasn't gapping at Thea, but rather at the computer she was working on.
It wasn't until he poked her arm, that she jumped and was snapped out of her trance.
"Matt! What are you doing in here! Oh my god get out!!!" she yelled franticly, looking back and forth between the circuit board and his sneakers. Even though she was now acknowledging the people around her, she still seemed oblivious to her own partial nudity, and apparently, so did Matt.
"Can I at least watch? Ill sit on the bed and-"
"No!" she growled, picking him up and carrying him out of room hastily.
"But-"
"No. I'm at a critical stage. It'll be done in approximately three hours. Ill get you then and i then /i explain it. Now go!" she said quickly and closed the door on the two of them.
From behind the door they could vaguely hear her complaining to herself
I swear to god if he fried this thing with his goddamn shoes…
Ignoring the muffled comment, Matt shrugged in defeat and walked off, leaving L to stand there in shock. Seconds later, the door reopened and Thea's head popped out.
"Oh good, your still here, L. Could you go ask Watari if I could borrow one of his coolant systems in a few hours? An also, I need another electrical strip. Thanks"
She shut the door again.
that was…surreal…
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Three hours later, just as she said, she finished and opened her bedroom door. Now wearing a sweater and shorts, she looked around the hallway and saw Matt sitting on the floor next to her door, playing his gameboy. She new he would be waiting for her.
"It's done if you're still interested" she smirked at the boy.
His head shot up from the game and he immediately smiled.
"Come on in. You'll love this" she said, walking back into the room and motioning for him to follow.
Matt was the only person other than Watari and L that was allowed in Thea's room. L and Thea were more like legends at Wammy's House rather than residents. They didn't leave their rooms much, and didn't participate in normal classes like everyone else. Even their rooms were in a completely different wing of the building than the rest of the children's. At mealtime, they were never seen. Watari always brought food directly to L's room, and Thea, well, Thea was known to take food from the kitchen in the middle of the night and store it in her room. She wasn't picky like L. The food didn't need to be a certain temperature, and she didn't need tea. All she needed was something accessible to keep her body running, just like the electricity that ran her computers.
Matt was special though. She didn't mind spending time with him, in fact, she cared about him. To her, he was like a little brother, and it was her goal to teach him as much as she could before she left. He reminded her of herself as a child in many ways, and it wasn't just the innate talent for computers. Watari must have noticed these similarities as well, because he was the one who forced them to meet.
Two years ago
Interrupted by a knock at her bedroom door, Thea looked up from her book and called the visitor in. Watari soon entered.
"Hello Watari. Is there something you need?"
"Actually, yes, if you don't mind"
"Alright, shoot"
"Well, I'm sure you're aware that we've recently adopted a new child, correct"
"mmhmm"
"It seems that he as the same affinity for computers as you do. I was hoping you could talk to him. You would be most accurate at gauging his intelligence considering the circumstances"
she sighed.
"I know you don't want to, but he's only six. You wont have to spend much time with him."
"He's not one of those little hyper brats that runs around, being loud, breaking things, wiping his nose on his sleeve and such, is he?"
"No. he's very quiet, in fact, he hasn't spoken to anyone since we brought him here. He actually reminds me of you a bit when you were his age"
she raised and eyebrow and closed her book. That last comment had made her take a sudden interest in the boy.
"Ha, poor kid. I guess I can spare a few minutes." She chuckled and followed Watari out of the room.
Entering the office, she stared in interest at the little boy who sat in a chair that was much too big for him. His large green eyes looked up at her with confusion and slight fear. Auburn hair askew, he seemed to pull into himself a bit when this mystery person was added to the room. She noticed him wrap an arm uncomfortably around his stomach and smiled. She new that gesture all too well.
"Thea, this is Matt." He nodded in the direction of the boy
"Alright. I can take it from here Watari. Would you mind leaving us alone for a bit while I talk to him?"
"Of course." He replied and left the room.
Once the door closed, she walked over to the desk, grabbed the two laptops sitting there, and sat cross-legged on the red carpeted floor. Patting the space beside her, she looked over at the boy.
"Come on over, Matt"
soundlessly obeying, he walked over and sat next to her.
"Did you just come today?"
he nodded
"Alright then. Well, Matt, I'm Thea. I hear you like computers."
Another nod
"Okay, well, I'm going to show you a few things, but first-" she began typing madly and hacked into the central computer system. "let's shut down these damn cameras"
Matt's eyes widened and he looked at her in awe.
"I see, so you noticed them too." She said
he nodded.
"Hn, I hate being watched like that. It makes me feel like a caged animal…" she mumbled to herself.
"…me too…" he finally spoke.
Shocked, she looked over at him and noticed his eyes begin to glaze. She didn't know what to do.
"I don't want to be here. I don't even know what this place is" he quietly began to cry.
"I just want to be let alone. I didn't do anything wrong…"
Those last two sentences made her stomach drop. She understood. And now, for the second time in her life, she felt a connection with someone. This little boy was standing at a crack in the wall she had surrounding her.
She pulled him into a hug as he cried into her chest, and ran a hand through his messy hair, making mollifying sounds, just like she did whenever L cried.
Suddenly she felt the need to protect this boy. She wanted to make sure that he was happy as long as she could.
"Sorry about yelling at you earlier. Its just, with your shoes and clothes, you could have fried the whole thing"
"Really? How?" he said as he stared in awe of the machine before him.
" Whenever the casing of a computer is opened and its internal workings are exposed, there is a huge risk of damaging it with the built of static electricity held within the human body. The internal workings of a computer, especially the hard drive, are extremely susceptible to static. There could be extensive damage done if the hard drive is zapped. Okay, so humans can not physically perceive static electricity until its reached approximately 1500 volts. It only takes 10 volts to damage a microchip. Plus, the more circuitry built into the computer, the more susceptible. So I was playing it close anyway."
"Whoa, I never knew that. I'm sorry. I didn't mess it up, did I?"
"Nope. Its running perfectly. Want to see the blueprints?"
"Yeah!" he said in an uncharacteristically excited tone.
She threw and rolled up paper towards him. Catching and unrolling it, he examined it carefully. She never ceased to amaze him.
While she fidgeted with her new device, he casually stopped and looked over at her.
"I think you freaked L out"
"Huh? Why? I only talked to him for a second. Even then, I was in my own little world though, so I didn't really notice anything."
"Well, you were half naked"
"Oh yeah. To tell you the truth, I didn't even realize. Ha. You don't think that's why, do you?"
"Well he is a guy, so probably."
"You were fine"
"That's different"
"I guess you're right." She sighed
how odd…