Evenfall (83 page)

Not long after Boyd had paused, Sin appeared in the doorway behind him. He didn't look any more amiable than he had ten minutes ago and his brown eyes narrowed at Boyd. He watched his partner for several moments before saying anything.

"It's clean. Don't know if it will make much of a difference, though."

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Boyd said. He brushed past Sin to get out of the bathroom.

In the future maybe he would be able to use the balcony as his space to be alone; he could shut the door behind him and grant some sense of solitude. After living for years in the shadows of an empty house, he was just now realizing how alarming it was going to be, stuck in a small space with someone else constantly around.

Sin followed him into the main room but didn't come any closer. "We should probably get supplies before it gets late," he said in the same annoyed tone. "I don't know what time things close around here. Even if we were to put faith in the state of the tap water here, we have nothing to put it in and water is a necessity in this heat."

"Alright," Boyd said, looking longingly at the balcony. He headed toward his duffel bag and shook his annoying bangs out of his eyes as he pulled the Monterrey map out. "Do you have your account information?"

"I have an ATM card and some cash," Sin replied. "But we need to convert to pesos at some point." He stood in the middle of the room with his hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans, staring sullenly at the air conditioner. It was blowing cooler air now and although it relieved a small amount of the unbearable heat, it wasn't nearly as cold as it should have been.

"I saw a currency exchange down one of the streets," Boyd offered. He stared at the map in his hands, then stood and held it out to Sin. "I can't read most of this. You should probably navigate."

Sin took the map and studied it for a moment, eyes flicking over the streets in their vicinity. He handed it back to Boyd and nodded, picking up his discarded shirt and slipping it back on. "There was also some kind of outdoor market a few streets over. We can most likely pick up some essential items there."

Nodding, Boyd followed Sin into the hallway and yanked the door shut behind them. He made a note to himself to find some tools in the hopes they could do something about the door. They did not see or hear a single person in the entire building as they left despite the fact that Boyd guessed there were probably twenty apartments.

Navigating Monterrey was a little frustrating. They took several wrong turns, even with the map in front of them; it was just outdated enough that it was misleading although it was also just helpful enough that they could not entirely ignore it. Sin noticed an ATM during their wandering and they stopped.

"I have a money belt," Boyd told Sin as they headed toward the ATM. "So take out a lot. We can exchange it all at once and lower the withdrawal fees. I imagine they are astronomical from Mexico."

Sin nodded and pulled the card out of his pocket, slipping it into the decrepit looking machine. The machine welcomed Jason Alvarez and asked for his PIN. Sin stared at the screen blankly for a moment before inputting '0666.' There was a long pause before the machine informed him that his pin was incorrect. Sin made a face at the machine and shook his head. "Oh. That was Ryan's."

Boyd quirked an eyebrow but said nothing.

Sin frowned at the machine and rubbed the back of his head before inputting another combination of numbers. Once again the machine informed him that it was incorrect. Sin glanced down at Boyd and said nothing.

Boyd stared at him, although he could feel frustration starting to rise. He was trying to make the most of the situation but so far everything was going wrong. If they couldn't even withdraw any money because Sin didn't know the right number...

"Why are you looking at me? I don't know the PIN. Try something else."

The annoyed look returned to Sin's face and he glanced back at the ATM. He didn't do anything for a long moment and when he finally tried another combination of numbers, the machine informed him that not only was it incorrect, but that he was locked out of the account for an entire 24 hours.

Sin stared at the machine for a long moment before slipping the card and his hands into his pocket. "Well."

"How did you forget--?" Boyd started to say but he cut himself off. He couldn't stop the spike of annoyance at this predicament. This was a mission the same as anything else; how could Sin have not thought to have such basic information available? Without access to that account they had extremely limited funds, and it only added even more stress to an already tense situation.

Boyd sighed, trying to not let it get to him. Turning toward where he thought the currency exchange was, he stared narrow-eyed at the street, a slight frown pulling down the edges of his lips. "
Never
mind
. We'll have to ask about that. There may be a bank that can help too."

Sin shrugged and pulled a handful of crumpled bills out of his pocket. He shoved it at Boyd and remained stonily silent, eyes narrowed and pissed off looking.

"Thank you," Boyd said automatically. He discreetly placed the money in the money belt and slid it beneath his clothes again. He was quick; the money was tucked away and hidden within the space of a breath. "Let's go." He turned toward the currency exchange and started walking.

Sin mostly trailed behind him the entire way, not bothering to speak or even help navigate anymore. It wasn't entirely clear why he was in such a bad mood and Boyd didn't know if it was solely because of the heat. Sin had wandered around in subzero weather wearing not more than a thin shirt without complaining. Maybe he was just angry with himself over forgetting the PIN. Whatever the case, Boyd was now in an unpleasant mood as well and didn't care to ask.

The walk to the exchange office was uneventful and when they arrived, there were several representatives who spoke English so Boyd was able to handle the transaction. They left the office with nearly 600 pesos and he had no idea if that would be a sufficient amount of money for whatever they needed. Sin grunted out directions to the outdoor market he'd spotted and they arrived there fairly easily.

It was roughly the size of an entire city block and had several stands which were covered by large umbrellas or cloth. Big, industrial strength fans blew through the stalls as Boyd and Sin wandered around. Despite the fact that it was mostly hot air being blown, it was a much needed relief from the stifling heat.

Boyd decided that in order to tide them over for the night or at least until they got the ATM business straightened out they would at least need food, dishes, and some cases of water. In reality he knew they would require way more than that for their extended stay but he figured he could take care of that later while Sin was job hunting.

An hour passed as they looked at the various stands. Sin carried a large case of bottled water and
hovered nearby
as Boyd examined various sets of dishes and flatware. They were at that particular stand for a couple of minutes.

"For God's sake, just pick something," Sin growled at him impatiently.

"I can't just 'pick something,'" Boyd told him a little peevishly. "Give me a moment to decide the one that's the best usage of our funds."

Sin stared at him. "Just get the fucking cheapest one."

"Cheapest isn't always best," Boyd shot back. "It's better to invest more if it'll last longer rather than having to constantly replace them because they broke. If the quality of this is shit, we need to know."

"Well I'm sure it will survive the violence of you scraping your fork against it," Sin said flatly, making a face.

"Just--" Boyd glared over at Sin. "Shut up and let me think."

"Just get the cheap one," Sin repeated in obvious irritation. "There's no concentration required."

"Jesus," Boyd snapped, picking up the cheap set of plates and shoving them at Sin. "Fine. Get them your damn self if you're so obsessed with them."

Sin snatched the items without looking at Boyd and turned to the vendor who seemed very alarmed at the two angry men in front of him. "
Dame estos,
" he snapped and counted out the correct amount of money before slamming it down on the table.

The poor, alarmed man took the money and cast glances in Boyd's direction as he packaged the plates for them. "I speak English, you know," he said with a slight Mexican accent.

"Sorry," Boyd said curtly. "Thank you for the plates."

The vendor stared at him skeptically and handed the bag over silently. Sin snatched it, managing to juggle the carton of water as he did so, and turned on his heel. He stalked off in the direction of the groceries, not giving Boyd a backwards glance.

Boyd strode after Sin as they headed toward the fruit stands next. His irritation level was at an all time high and the longer they spent outside in the heat, the worst it was growing. What was bothering him the most was how impatient Sin seemed. More and more it was making Boyd feel like Sin's biggest issue was all the time he had to spend around Boyd, and that thought only served to fan his already strained patience.

It also did not help that there was food on the tables he had never seen in his life, including one large, misshapen bright green thing that looked rather alarming. He looked at the fruits and vegetables surrounding them and tried to remember if he'd read about any of them in his book. Even if he had, there were no pictures and he had no idea how to pronounce half the names.

"What are we getting?" Boyd asked Sin when they both ended up next to a stand.

Sin shrugged, staring at the tables. "I don't eat any of this."

"Well, I don't know what any of it is." Boyd noticed a banana as they passed and shrugged in a rolling sort of way that mimicked Kadin's movements. "Well. Most of them."

"Just because I'm a spic doesn't mean I know what these people eat," Sin replied flatly.

"Thank you for putting such rude words in my mouth," Boyd said with annoyed sarcasm. "I appreciate that you thought I meant that."

Sin was silent which somehow didn't do anything to improve Boyd's mood. Focusing all his attention on simple details like how many vegetables were in front of him and how many pesos it would cost, Boyd tried to ignore how agitated he was becoming but he was largely unsuccessful.

They finished shopping quickly. After that, Boyd ended up grabbing whatever he saw that looked relatively good but was cheap. He hoped they would be able to do something with it all because he was damned if he could think better about any of it at the moment. A very quick stop at a few other tables got them a few more essentials they needed, including sheets and pillows for their beds. It was all bought rather quickly and cheaply, and Boyd didn't even bother trying to find the best quality for the best price.

They didn't speak as Boyd strode back toward the apartment and Sin moodily followed in his wake. Their icy silence continued all the way to the studio, where Boyd slammed himself against the door more violently than even the stickiness required. The second they were both inside and the door was shoved closed behind them, Boyd strode to the kitchen and dropped the bags unceremoniously on the table.

He turned around suddenly and, with all the irritation and hurt he had been ignoring coming to the forefront in the form of anger, he demanded, "What the hell is your problem?"

Sin dropped the carton and the bag onto the floor and glared at Boyd. "Among many other things that are horrible about this mission, you are annoying as hell," he retorted.

"Why?" Boyd asked impatiently. "Because I made you wait two minutes to buy a plate? You're the one that made us wait in line at the bank because you couldn't be bothered to remember the damn PIN."

"No, because you automatically try to fucking control every situation or mission we're in. I make a suggestion, you completely goddamn ignore it and seem to think for some reason you are always in charge," Sin snapped. "It would have been a lot smarter to go back out and explore after the damn sun went down some. It's not like we're on limited time here."

"If we're not on limited time then why did it matter so much anyway?" Boyd crossed his arms. "It wasn't supposed to be that far and now we know our surroundings. And anyway we were out and about far longer with the market than we were trying to get to the apartment."

Sin shook his head, running a hand through his newly cut hair. "As usual, you miss the fucking point and latch on to whatever you think can twist the argument your way. It's really amazing how predictable you always are." He glared at Boyd and bent to jerk a bottle of water out of the carton.

"Walking around in mid day when it's hot as fuck? Unnecessary, and stupid. Going to the store to get purified drinking water and essential supplies for the apartment? Completely necessary."

Boyd rolled his eyes. "Excuse me for ever making a mistake. I forgot that you're beyond reproach on everything you fucking do."

"Missing," Sin said from between clenched teeth as he slammed the bottle down. "The point. And if you think you're going to be playing mission manager or whatever the hell for this entire time, you can think again. You need to get it out of your head that you make all of the decisions regarding what we do, when we do it, and how money is spent."

"I'm not missing the fucking point!" Boyd snapped angrily. "You fucking piss me off. It never matters how many things I do right with you-- every goddamn time you latch onto when I do something wrong, and then you're so accusatory." His voice shifted to a mocking tone, "Boyd, you're such an idiot. Boyd, why don't you ever listen to me? Boyd, if you'd done everything I said then we'd never have any problems ever."