Someday Maybe

A/N: I wasn't very satisfied with this chapter. I like a bit of the beginning and a bit of the end but a couple of the scenes seemed awkward to me but I wanted to get this out so I could move on to the next chapter, I should like that one better. I'm going to try for a second update later today to make up for behind-ness on my word count.

Thanks muchly to my reviewers and everyone who made the hit count go up. Don't forget to hit that little button and stroke my ego.

Lisa: I'm glad you liked it. I enjoyed the Harry Potter reference as well, always felt like he relied on that too much. Sorry I can't answer your questions but here's your update.

Doe: I hope this chapter doesn't totally put you off.



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Ty chewed thoughtfully on his lower lip, a notebook open on the desk before him. He had a pen in one hand and a pencil was tucked into the crevasse where the binding of the book came together. He jotted down a couple of bullet points at the end of a list that was already forming. He set the pen down and tilted the note book so he could write on the back of the previous page. He picked up the pencil and began to draw sketchy lines that slowly formed into the face of a man in his twenties. It was the same face he’d drawn on the back of nearly every page in the note book. He took his time to fill in details in between writing down notes on the opposite page, the shadow of stubble along his jaw, the bump in his nose that indicated it had been broken at some point. The expression in the eyes of the drawing was thoughtful.

Ty finished the image the same time as his current page was filled with notes and he flipped to the next page. The lecture drew to a close then and he absently closed his notebook and gathered up his stuff. He walked down toward the bottom of the lecture hall so that he could leave. He bumped into someone standing in the aisle and gathering their stuff and ended up sprawled out on the floor. He slowly pushed himself up, rubbing his chin from where it had barked on the floor. The person he’d bumped into had turned around with an apology. “I’m sorry. Let me help you.” He offered in the same sort of clichéd line many people use without even realizing it. He grabbed his pen and then the notebook which was open on the floor as Ty dragged himself to his feet.

The man stared at the notebook when he lifted it. The man was staring at one of the sketches, a good rendering of his own face. Ty flushed when he realized what the man was looking at. “I- I’m really sorry.” He stammered and attempted to pull the notebook away from the man. The other man flicked his gaze over Ty but didn’t relinquish his hold on the notebook. “These are really good, actually.” He responded with a bit of a smirk. Apparently he liked what he saw. “I draw other things as well.” Ty said, still mildly defensive as he gently took the notebook back. He smoothed out a couple of the pages before closing it and hugged it to his chest.

“My name is Andrew Taren.” The man introduced himself. “Jacob Ellis.” Ty responded with a somewhat shy smile. It was then that someone deliberately shoved him. “You’re clogging the aisle.” The shover muttered, apparently uncaring that he’d shoved Ty nearly into the dark-haired Andrew who had reached out to steady him. “You want to continue this conversation somewhere else? I usually have lunch now.” Andrew offered. Ty smiled. “That’d be great.”

Ty gathered up his bag again and they walked out of the lecture hall together and to a little restaurant nearby that was mostly frequented by students at the university. Andrew chose a booth and they sat opposite one-another. For the most part they both looked like everyone else in there, young, jeans and t-shirts. Ty also wore a unbuttoned green button-down over a faded band t-shirt and a beret-style cap from under which his blonde hair peeked. He’d also lined his bright green eyes so they stood out even more vividly. He managed both impressive and attractive as well as casual.

Andrew was more average in his looks but certainly nothing to scoff at or make fun of. “What kind of things do you like to draw?” He’d asked as they looked over the menus. Ty bit his lower lip and tucked a lock of hair that had escaped from beneath his cap behind his ear. He colored slightly at the question. “Just- things I like. I mean, it doesn’t have to be a person or even something very interesting to other people.” He dug in his bag and drew out a proper sketch book. his one was mostly filled with much more innocent things. He’d drawn a cat curled up and napping in a shaft of sunlight on the first page. On the next was a person standing on the edge of a fountain. It was just a quick sketch to capture the moment and on the page opposite was the more detailed drawing he’d made from the first one, in the second drawing he’s sketched in great feathered wings on the person as well.

The drawings in the book went on like that, some purely reality and some obviously embellished into the realms of fantasy. They talked about various aspects of the drawings but eventually talk turned to other subjects as they ate lunch. Andrew had some very strong political views and ideas for improvements to the government that vacillated between purely idealistic and a form of almost anarchism.

Ty spoke more cautiously as he described, wistfully, what he wished the government was like. Andrew grinned and really reached his stride as he spoke about how their ideals were similar and therefore required similar tactics to attain. Ty wondered at those tactics but Andrew clammed up then and wouldn’t speak about them in detail. Illegal things, then. Biological warfare, chemical bombs, terrorism on a mass scale that was not designed to terrorize people into giving in to demands, it was just designed to kill them.

Andrew asked if he’d like to skip his last classes of the day and go someplace to talk more. Ty agreed readily and “someplace” turned out to be Andrew’s dorm room. He was an RA so he had one all to himself and the dorm was mostly empty this time of day so the older man seemed to have no qualms about being all over Ty as soon as they walked in the door. Ty shoved at him, appearing upset, and asked him to stop. Andrew stopped, annoyed. Ty hesitantly asked if they could lay down and cuddle for a while first or something.

They curled up on his bed under the blankets and talked for a little while. Andrew started telling a story about his supposedly more adventurous high school days. The story seemed to go on for a long time and Ty closed his eyes as he listened. The story was boring as hell and he imagined a Looney Toons character snoring comically away. The cartoon image in his mind blended into reality as Andrew trailed off and fell asleep. He must have been tired. Ty carefully extracted himself from his embrace.

He booted up the man’s computer. It looked normal enough but that didn’t matter, people these days were too reliant on technology not to have something incriminating on their personal desktop. Ty removed a portable hard-drive from his pocket, and started copying over the other man’s data as he checked the web browsers to see if he had any interesting cookies saved. Porno, research for school, an online game and- yes, something a little less innocent. The kind of propaganda website that twenty-first century terrorists were into. The website didn’t hold much of actual interest but it prompted him to log into various e-mail accounts the man kept and download his e-mails.

Or at least it prompted him to want to. Actually doing so was a bit harder. He had addresses at all the major websites and the addresses themselves were saved but the passwords were not. Ty chewed on his lower lip in concentration as he considered what the password might be. After four combinations he struck one that worked. He downloaded the e-mails from that address and tried another. The same password didn’t work but after a moment he came up with the correct one. All the passwords were simple variations of the same and in no time his hard-drive was copied and his e-mail copied.

Next Ty searched for a particular porn website. He clicked on a certain link and watched as Andrew’s computer downloaded a virus that would corrupt it slowly. He wouldn’t notice for a week or two and by then half his data and auxiliary applications would be corrupted and he’d have time enough to realize the source of the virus was some porn website he wouldn’t remember having gone to. But that wouldn’t matter, he’d think it must have been him because who else used his computer.

He slipped the portable hard-drive back in his pocket and wrote a hasty note to Andrew and signed it with his false name. Loose ends attended to he gathered his stuff and walked out of the dorm. He made his way to the student parking lot and collected his car. Although, admittedly, the car was not actually his. The almost two decades old “grandma” car he’d borrowed looked perfectly natural here amongst all the others where as his real car would have drawn attention.

He climbed down into the car and drove away. Drove through the little college town and out to the highway. He drove for four hours before he stopped at a Park’n’Ride. He parked the car and dug the hard drive out of his pocket and locked it in the glove box. Then he grabbed his bag and locked the keys in the car. Then he approached his own car. There was a stack of folders sitting in the passenger seat and a coffee cup in the cup-holder. He glanced into the back seat and yes- take-out bag in the back.

He grabbed that first and plunked down in the driver’s seat with the door open as he devoured the still-warm food inside. He crumpled up the garbage and tossed it into the back again. He sighed as he looked at the folders. He shook his head and shifted into the car proper and closed the door. He locked it and leaned back in the seat. He spent a moment to rest again until he was off driving.

A few days later he was standing in the middle of his apartment and staring at the television. It was his habit to have the news on as he went about his morning routine which was what caught him standing there and staring. The heart attack of some company executive Ty couldn’t be bothered to remember the name of... His suspected ties to the mob hadn’t been confirmed but the investigation into his death had led to the discovery that he’d had his fingers in a lot of major pies and a number of members of congress were coming under investigation as a consequence. This story followed the one about terrorists in Europe using a new kind of bomb on some buses. It was obviously a test run.

Sometimes he had to wonder about fate. Fate that made the news report on these two particular incidents one after another. Of course, the only people who’d see the connection was him and them. Fate was a load of crap anyway. It wasn’t something Ty had any plans of letting himself believe in. It was too closely related to hope. ...And religion. And that other shit that no sane, logical mind could accept.