Chapter 2: A Sunny Day in June

Eight Months Later

It was a glorious day in the middle of June. Josh and Wrench were in the middle of Mission Dolores Park, testing the carrying capacity of the new quadcopter props Josh had designed and 3D printed.

Not so long ago, Wrench would have taken one look at Josh's blueprints, pissed himself laughing, and that would have been that. But the trove of documents they'd stolen from Tidis had changed things. The biggest proof was right here in front of them, hovering over the park (and only mildly bothering the people around them).

"Holy crap, it really works!" Wrench let out a whoop as Josh brought the brick-laden drone back towards them, testing its stability. "Take that , physics!" He bumped Josh's shoulder lightly with his own, earning him a shy smile. A few seconds later Josh's hand slipped into his, and he gave it an affectionate squeeze.

It was funny how things turned out, sometimes.

It had only been a few weeks since they'd stopped sneaking around and told the rest of the crew they were a couple. (Marcus and Sitara had smirked at one another, and Ray had thrown his hands up with an exclamation of 'fuckin' finally!', so maybe they weren't as sneaky as they thought.)

The two of them stayed like that for a few moments, basking in their success as the world carried on around them, indifferent to the technical mastery on display. Then Josh extricated his hand and turned his attention back to the controls. Wrench didn't mind - he knew when to back off and let the man do his own thing.

"If we scale up, imagine what we could carry," Josh said, his face flushed with excitement. "We could get injured protestors out from behind police cordons..." Dušan's arrest had sparked something in the hearts of the good people of San Francisco - a feeling that they weren't so inconsequential after all, perhaps. Whatever the reason, protests had erupted across the city, and DedSec were at the heart of it all.

It was a summer of changes, after all.

"There's my two lovely boys!" A familiar voice soared across the park, startling several pigeons and cutting off Wrench's reply. They turned to find Frannie bearing down on them, her face lit up with a big grin. She had her fire-engine-red duffel coat on, and was garnering about as much notice as an actual fire engine would as she puffed her way across the lawn.

"Hi, Frannie." Wrench recovered first, and got a bone-crushing hug for his trouble.

"Hello, loves!" Josh tolerated a powdery kiss on the cheek and quickly retreated before it could escalate into more physical contact.

"Hi, Gram Gram."

"I spotted you boys from the street, and, well, you looked so adorable I just had to come and say hello." Josh shifted his feet awkwardly, and Frannie chuckled. "Oh, don't be silly. I made it through the summer of love, you know. A bit of public hand-holding is hardly going to shock me!" People were starting to stare, Wrench noticed. And if he noticed, he knew Josh had definitely noticed. A quick glance confirmed this - he looked like a deer frozen in headlights.
"And if anyone else has a problem with it, they can kiss my lily-white ass!" Frannie added loudly, earning the three of them some very bemused looks. Josh made a strangled noise - he looked like he wanted to melt through the floor.

"You said it, Grandma," said someone nearby, with feeling.

It took another twenty minutes for Wrench and Josh to politely extricate themselves from the conversation. This was mostly because Josh was paralysed with embarrassment and doing anything politely was not something that came naturally to Wrench. Once Frannie had happily gone on her way (and the initial trauma had worn off), they recalled their quadcopter and set off across the lawn in the direction of the hackerspace.

"You know, your Gram Gram's a badass," Wrench said, with a touch of envy in his voice. "If I had a spirit animal, she'd be it."

"I can't believe she said those words. Out loud." Josh was clutching the drone to his chest as if it could shield him from the embarrassment. Wrench was hardly listening.

"Yo, did I ever tell you how much I love your Gram Gram?"

"Yes. Several times."

They lapsed into silence as they crossed the street towards Gary's Games and Glory. Josh had already gone back to thinking of improvements to his drone props - he had his concentrating face on.

He surprised Wrench when they reached the door to the hackerspace, when he leaned over and planted a feather-light kiss on his jawline, just below his mask. LEDs blinked furiously as Wrench froze, startled.

"What was that for?" Josh shrugged, smiling faintly, his ears turning faintly pink.

"Just 'cause." He headed downstairs, leaving Wrench to recover his wits.

It was funny how things turned out, sometimes.