The Rival | Wrench X Reader

The Hackerspace

I head inside Gary's Games and Glory, weaving my way through the people who are browsing the board games, though a few seem to be eyeing me up as if I'm an unwanted visitor.

When I reach the back of the store Wrench is leaning agaisnt a wall waiting for me, silently looking me up and down.

"What?" I ask, trying to reel in my nerves from his quiet observation.

"Nothing. Ready to head in?" He says, dismissing the awkwardness with a lighter tone.

I nod as he puts in a code, blocking my view before the door opens to reveal a set of stairs.

"So, where'd you really go?" He asks as I follow him down the steps, briefly looking over his shoulder.

My eyes widen from shock, but I quickly hide it with a fake smile. "I just had to have some time alone to think, and I come up with the first excuse I could think of."

Wrench "hmms" as we reach the final step.

My jaw drops open at the vast space, a hackers wet dream. There's all sorts of desks and workbenches set up for everyone, and DedSec graffiti covers the floor and walls, neon lights make the space pop and I can't help but to gawk.

"Y/N!" My little sister calls and runs towards me. I kneel down to her height as she throws her arms around me.

"Are you okay?" I ask her, squishing her cheeks as I check her over.

"I'm fine," She smiles, putting her little hands over mine, "Are you?"

I smile and nod, brushing her hair away from her face and standing up as the rest of DedSec come and sit at the nearby table.

"What's going on Y/N?" My sister asks sternly, and I bite my lip, looking to the others. Sitara gives me a reassuring nod so I crouch down and begin explaining the situation to my sister in basic form.

As soon as I finish, she bursts into tears and I immediately brush them away with my thumb.

"Why are you crying?" I smile as she hiccups.

"Because all this time you've been doing so much for me and I wish I could have helped."

"Shhh, it's okay, besides I love looking after you, we're sisters right? That means I have to keep you safe." I coo to her, before settling on a chair and pulling her onto my lap as we begin the meeting.

"As heartwarming as that was, we still need a plan for taking down your dad." Wrench begins, and I frown at his unbothered attitude.

"We could trap him?" Sitara suggests, and I shake my head.

"This isn't Scooby Doo."

She gives me a pointed look and I bite back a smile.

They all begin talking as I carefully get my phone out, with one hand I begin to download the names of DedSec's informants and helpers, then send the list to my dad even as guilt eats away at me.

He immediately replies with Thank you.

"Secret boyfriend we don't know about?" Wrench teases, but his tone sounds anything but that.

"Why, jealous?" I tease back, trying to avert the attention.

"Depends, do you usually download their shit?" He remarks, and I raise my eyebrows.

"I was actually downloading my dad's schedule to see when we can catch him out." I say with malice, and Wrench goes quiet.

My sister shifts on my lap and gives me a look as if she knows I'm lying. I subtly shake my head and she gives me a nod, wrapping her arms around my neck and whispering "I trust you."

"Good idea, let's look through to see if there's anything he might be exploiting, that way we can expose him and leave the rest for SFPD." Sitara nods as I send her a copy of my dad's schedule he sent the minute I left his apartment in case I'd need it.

We spend a few hours looking over his meetings and peers, and my sister amuses herself by going and watching a movie on DedSec's flatscreen.

"Hey, do you wanna go get some food? You haven't eaten in a while." Wrench says from across the table.

I look up from my phone, rubbing my eyes and checking the time. Shit, it's later than I thought.

My stomach growls in response and my sister skips over to me.

"Yeah, come on let's go get food!" She cheers, grabbing her jacket as everyone else works.

I frown at Wrench, but then nod. Maybe this is his way of calling a truce between this weird energy between us.

I stand up, shrugging on my leather jacket and grabbing my sisters hand as the three of us head upstairs.