Hello, Lovely people! I know...long time, no see. It has been insane for me as of late, but I do, as always, promise all my fics will be completed. As for this one, this was originally a Babies At The Border Compilation piece. It will be a multi-chapter fic. I'm Currently just getting over pneumonia, which hasn't been fun at all, so I will try to update this one after Christmas. I did donate one other piece to the comp. That was an outtake for Through The Snow that was just for the comp.

I hope that you guys enjoy this new fic. It will be a fairly short one.

Thank you to Kyla713 for looking this over as well as making the banner for it. She's the best!

Well, I'll leave you all to it.

~.~

Chapter 1-

Epov

The summer heat was sweltering as I sat down on the stoop of my apartment, watching traffic go by. I imagined there was honking, drivers yelling and passersby chattering loudly on their phones, all while I sat and watched, enjoying the utter silence through the chaos.

I never gave much thought to how much I was missing. I've become used to the silence, craved it even, when you wear hearing aids that only give me minimal hearing. I hated wearing them. The sound, I found, was always an unwelcome intrusion.

The world was too loud all at once, and it made already chaotic surroundings more nerve wracking for the deaf and hard of hearing.

I had just watched a bus drive by and a rider, who had missed it, running and waving his arms, trying to catch the driver's attention when my phone vibrated in long pulses, letting me know I had notification.

Grabbing my phone out of my pocket and ducking my head so I could see it better in the afternoon light, I opened my twitter and noticed a fellow gamer had mentioned me.

Jasoverwatched: You gonna stream later?

E's Black flag: Yeah, I have some time. Any requests?

As I waited for his reply, I figured I'd do a quick stop at the new Starbucks on campus, one that caters to the Deaf with a complete staff that knew sign. Halfway through my walk, I felt my phone vibrate in my hand again.

Jasoverwatched: Yeah, man, I've been on an AC Origins kick lately.

Therogueone: If my brother gets to request, may I make a small one? I vote for Black flag.

I stopped med step and looked at the new handle I didn't recognize. I knew who Jasoverwatched was. Jasper was a fellow gamer from Washington, who happened to be deaf like me. Only, he didn't know that I was a fellow deaf person. I didn't tell too many that, and certainly not people I wasn't close with. I knew he liked playing and streaming Overwatch, along with Assassin's Creed. I just watched his latest stream as he played God of War, which was funny, only due to the fact he'd stop playing to sign curse words. Fuck was signed a lot.

TheRogueOne, though...my curiosity was piqued. There was just something about that name that had my attention. It obviously was a play on Assassins Creed.

As I began walking again, I quickly shot off a reply, making sure I paid attention to my surroundings as I did so.

E'sBlackFlag: Alright, Jasoverwatched, I'll do you a deal. I'll stream forty-five minutes of Origins tonight, and TheRogueOne: I'll do an hour of Black Flag, since you picked my fave. Hope you enjoy the streams!

I pocketed my phone and entered Starbucks, intent on getting the biggest coffee with the most caffeine. I was gonna need it.

Coffee in hand, I went back to my off-campus apartment. No roommate, thank god. After three years in an on-campus dorm, I was ready to truly be on my own. I placed my keys on the table, took a sip of coffee and then decided on a quick shower.

A while later, and with my coffee consumed, I turned on my Xbox and loaded up Origins, then set up Twitch and started my stream.

I waved hello to my followers and audience, grabbed a controller and went to work on my objectives and soon fell into it, forgetting about the audience until my eyes wandered over to the stream comments.

TheRogueOne: Are you always so quiet?

Jasoverwatched: Just how he plays. Though, he's gonna miss his objective he's currently on and is gonna die if he keeps watching the comments.

EmGodofWar: Did I see that he planned to do two streams tonight?

I decided in rare form, I'd acknowledge TheRogueOne's comment, and I actually voiced my answer, and I knew that this would give me away to all my followers that I was deaf just by the sound of my voice.

"I'm always quiet. I thrive in silence."

I went back to ignoring comments, finished my objective, a few more things, and then said goodbye to that stream. I informed them that I'd be back in an hour to stream Black Flag after I ate.

Before I got up to cook, I noticed a new friend request on my Xbox.

TheRogueOne added you.

There was a message attached to the friend request:

I hope you don't mind. My brother rec'd your channel to me, so I had to give it a watch today.

I like seeing you play, you're so expressive in your facial expressions.

Maybe you'll check my channel out?

~B

I replied back with a short answer.

For sure. I'll check out your stream tomorrow after classes.

I didn't want to give away how curious I was about this new person, but I couldn't help it. The B the person signed with made it just that much harder to not be curious. I rarely added friends on my Xbox or followed fellow Twitchers, but something made me do it that time.

~.~

The next day, after class, I sat down and took a breather. It was the first day back after summer semester and it was grueling. My hands were tired from signing, my legs hurt, and I felt exhausted from being around so many people all at once. I'd been deaf all my life, but facing crowds of people never came easy to me.

After a quick snack and drink, I turned on my Xbox and clicked on the link that B, TheRogueOne, supplied.

A face came into view. Holy crap, she's beautiful!

And then hands came up on the screen, as a sweet smile took over that beautiful face. And soon, I found myself following her signs.

Hi, E! I'm B, or you can call me Bella. I'm Jasper's sister. He is deaf, but I am hearing able, and I noticed that you're deaf, too. This stream is dedicated to you. All in sign, and I'm playing Black Flag. I promise I won't do too many of the sea shanties.

She quit signing, smiled and waved, and sat down and grabbed her controller. Black Flag was already on the screen.

I watched, mesmerized as she played. She'd stop every few minutes and sign to me, asking me what the best way to go about her objective, since she noticed, obviously due to my gamertag, what my favorite AC game was.

E'sBlackflag: You just completed an objective I've been trying to get over for ages! I applaud you, madam.

She giggled, and my world was flipped on its axis.

Day. Made.

~.~

Thank you for reading!