Find The Password To Your Heart - Hacker Mari x Reader

Intro - A Different Point of View

The room was dark. The only sound breaking the heavy silence was the constant clicks and taps of the keyboard positioned in front of multiple monitors. Said monitors were one of the only sources of light in the room, with the exception of the sun that barely peeked through the tightly-drawn blinds.

Mari's focus was undivided, concentrating only on the screens in front of her. She could hardly remember the feeling of doing anything else. Her piano, once a prized possession, sat untouched downstairs, gathering layers of dust as the months sped past. Sometimes she heard Sunny playing a few angsty notes on his violin, but it was never enough to fully grab her attention. Music just didn't do it for her anymore.

All that mattered was the screens.

All that mattered was her job.

(She was unemployed. This was a hobby. BUT IT PAYED)

Or at least, that's how it went for the longest time. Months upon months, practically a year. But it all changed in the span of five minutes.

The first thing that nearly broke Mari's trance was the sound of a loud knock on the door. But that was common enough— a delivery, maybe, or perhaps the family had ordered food. But what followed shook her a little more: enthusiastic shouts.

Mari was quite perplexed. Neither of her parents' friends were so vocal, and Sunny didn't have many friends anymore. Right? At this point, she hadn't seen her younger brother outside the house for so long that she was rather unsure of where he stood with the whole friend thing.

Maybe he'd kept in contact with their old friend group. But as far as Mari was aware, Sunny had limited his out-of-house excursions ever since the incident. He hadn't left when she was in the coma, or at the hospital, and rarely left since.

Oh, well. She figured she would just hack into the house's security cameras later, see who that was. And just like that, Mari's focus snapped right back to her coding.

She had more important things on her mind. Like hacking nuclear launch codes.

But then there was more commotion from the lower floor. It sounded like more than one person had entered the house.

It was the most action the house had seen in a long time. And so, Mari was intrigued. Despite her reservations, she found herself wanting to know what was happening outside.

What better way than to hack Sunny's phone and transmit the audio it picks up directly to her?

For a minute or so, it was the perfect plan. Hacking into Sunny's phone was a breeze. At least, until Mari realized that he had probably left it in his room. After all, the silence coming from her system was not matching the ruckus downstairs at ALL.

Damn... my perfect plan, ruined...

Furrowing her brow, Mari anxiously chewed her lip as she tried to think of something else to do. However, her train of thought was interrupted by a slight scratching at the bedroom door and a soft mrow.

"Mewo?" she exclaimed out loud, rather surprised. The cat didn't normally come to her room at this time of day. Granted, Mewo was pretty damn old at this point and rarely moved anywhere.

With a heavy sigh, Mari resigned herself to her fate and stood up from her chair. Grabbing her cane, she slowly made her way over to the door, not in any kind of hurry.

Mewo started purring as Mari pulled the door open. The sleek black cat gently headbutted her leg before meowing again.

"Yes, yes, are you hungry?" Mari huffed, though adoration was apparent in her voice as she scratched Mewo's ears. "Go bother Sunny. I'm busy right now, Mew."

"Mari?? Is that you??"

A sudden voice echoing up the staircase startled her, and she nearly tripped over her feet as she jumped up. Right— there were other people here now.

Another voice that Mari recognized as her brother's answered that yell, though it was much too quiet for her to hear. She was really wishing that she'd installed the cameras and audio recorders downstairs like she'd been planning on. Oh well. She'd set a reminder for next week.

"Hey, I knew I recognized your voice!!!" A figure wearing disturbingly bright orange clothing bounced into view, stopping at the bottom of the staircase. The sight of something so brilliantly bright temporarily blinded Mari, and she gasped and stumbled back a few steps.

The figure didn't seem to notice. "It's me, Kel!! It's been forever, huh?"

Mari's jaw hit the floor. Kel? As in, the Kel?? Sunny's friend Kel??? Her ex-boyfriend's younger brother Kel????

"Hi!!!" he cheered, waving enthusiastically. She could barely make it out through the brightness of his orange jersey. "Are you good up there?"

It took Mari a hot second to respond. "Yes!! Er, I'm so sorry, Kel, I was just distracted!!"

A wave of panic washed over her. After all, she hadn't spoken to anyone offline for weeks. She was very out of practice. And if her memory serves her right, Kel was by far the most talkative out of their childhood friend group. Oh dear.

However, before Mari could shout a farewell as an excuse to retreat back into her room, Kel had already bounced up the stairs.

A huge grin spread across his face when he saw her, completely ignoring her disheveled appearance. "Wow!! It's so good to see you, Mari!! You look the exact same, but man— I really missed you!!"

Kel himself did not look the exact same. In fact, he was about twice the height and way more fit than the last time she saw him (a couple years ago, tee hee). Nonetheless, Mari didn't get a chance to say anything before he pulled her into a hug.

She must have been incredibly stiff, because Kel hastily jumped back with an apologetic expression. "Oh— I'm sorry. I should have asked. Are you okay?"

"Yes, yes, don't worry," Mari chuckled, smiling slightly. "I'm sorry, Kel, I just haven't really left my room for a while."

"Can't say I blame you!!" he replied, mirroring her smile with another huge grin. "The weather outside is ridiculous. One day it's gorgeous, the next it's blazing, the next it's about to snow— if I didn't do basketball, you can bet that I'd be holed up in my place too!!"

Mari hummed in acknowledgment, but before she spoke another word, her extraordinary hacker senses picked up the sound of two more people climbing up the stairs.

Mewo had wandered off to who-knows-where at this point. Kel was rambling about... something or other, Mari didn't know. The only thing she was focused on was the new person who had just ascended the stairs. She didn't recognize them from anywhere, but almost immediately, she couldn't look away.

Who was that?

Sunny climbed up after them, glancing at Mari and just kind of nodding in greeting. He shuffled further down the hallway, and the unknown person followed him closely.

Mari could practically feel the heat radiating off her face. There was no way she wasn't blushing. Wow, they were cute. She hadn't felt so enamored since her fifth monitor had arrived.

...Uh oh. This wasn't good.

Enamored?????

"Oh!" Kel exclaimed, wrapping an arm around the person's shoulders and guiding them over to her. "Mari, I should have mentioned that I brought a friend over, haha!!"

"Ah," she mumbled, still transfixed on... whoever they were.

They just smiled somewhat awkwardly and waved. Mari nearly swooned and passed out.

Kel spoke up again. "So!! I want you to meet my friend Y/N!!"