Masked Interference (M/M)

[bigsmile21]

First part with Carlos is backstory (not bondage related but fun concepts). Second part with Gary uses that backstory to introduce an interesting bondage scenario. Enjoy!

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Quarantine persisted, and Carlos adapted. Work converted to fully remote from home, so he rarely went outside except for groceries. By now masks were required to enter most stores. The masks themselves came in all different styles and colors: standard paper masks, plain cloth masks, some with custom printed designs and words, ventilated masks, and even clear masks to help people read lips. Some people had integrated them into their wardrobe's color scheme, while most others could care less and just wanted this crisis done.

Carlos worked in IT but had a hobby for technical designs. Quarantine gave him plenty of time alone at home to think up silly or clever little things: a TV projector treated for water and heat resistance that made time in the shower more enjoyable, a series of LED lights controllable for color, sound, and intensity all throughout the house, and even a jammer that would block cell signals if others got within six feet of him. His latest project was a design for a mask that would light up words as he spoke. He didn't mind repeating himself since masks muffled everyone's speech, but the more he went out the more apparent the problem was. This design could help everyone, not just those with difficulty hearing. After some weeks going through different designs and mock-ups he tested it out during his next grocery run.

His mask was a rigid black plastic with elastic loops around his ears, with a black LCD panel in the middle. This version was a little clunky but it was just a test version. Testing it at home the mics inside the mask did a nice job of picking up his speech and sending that info to his phone over Bluetooth, which converted the speech to text and then relayed that info back to his mask. The front of his mask would pop up words and for the most part matched what he intended to say. He played with different ways to display the text, but for now he decided to do two words at a time so that the text would be large enough to see and not so fast that it would overwhelm anyone trying to read. There was a little bit of lag with the signal transferring from mic to phone and then back to mask

He went out wearing dark jeans, black sneakers, a tan button up shirt, and a light green jacket. It was a global pandemic, so he really didn't care about coordinating colors for a grocery run; some people barely changed out of their pajamas. Stepping inside was a little overwhelming, as it always was. Even with health and safety restrictions on occupancy and social distancing, Carlos still felt like there were too many people. Maybe he'd become more of a hermit from isolating this past year. He walked up to the the deli counter to order a sandwich, his heart jumping a bit with nerves. Behind the counter was a small middle-aged woman wearing a black hairnet, white apron, white mask, and some kind of yellow blouse under the apron. Carlos spoke clearly and loudly, then waited. He saw the woman's eyes light up in surprise and her cheeks pull back in a smile.

She said that it was the cutest thing she'd seen all day. She called for someone behind the counter to come and see, and a man of average height came through the swinging doors when storage might have been, wearing a similar uniform as the woman though with slacks and a T-shirt instead of the yellow blouse. Carlos said 'hello' and the man's eyes widened and he too smiled. He and the woman started asked questions, but then their eyebrows furrowed.

"Seems you still have some bugs to work out," the man said, "yep, there it is again."

"What's wrong?" Carlos asked.

"You're like a parrot, sweetheart," the woman replied, "you're picking up what we're saying, too."

Carlos sighed. He'd expected some setbacks in a crowded place. His mic was too sensitive. He pulled out his phone and turned off the Bluetooth. He didn't want display words he wasn't saying. He couldn't even tell what the mask was showing; another thing to consider. He talked more with the deli workers and finished ordering his sandwich. Carlos got his usual groceries and then headed home.

Work was normal for the rest of the week. He had his personal laptop pulled up next to his workstation and would tinker with the mask specs in his downtime. He thought through what it would cost to complete his design. He created a crowdfunding page with a short video of him talking through his design, where it was now, and where he wanted to take it. He made contribution goals where at a certain level people would get their own speech-to-text mask. He'd never sold any of his projects before, and was a disappointed when after a week he barely had any contributions. A few small contributions from friends who'd seen his posting, but nothing close to what he'd need to get over the hurdle to complete the design.

Two weeks after launching the crowdfunding page, he received an email from a contributor. They were anonymous but pledged half of the total goal. They said they were elderly and hard of hearing, and making these masks more available would improve their daily interactions with others. They would definitely spread the page to their friends. Carlos thanked them for their financial support and said he really looked forward to finishing the project. By the end of the week, the project was fully funded two times over by other anonymous contributors. He was getting excited again.

A month after the crowdfunding campaign had ended, Carlos had finished his design. He'd repositioned the microphone inside the mask so it would more clearly pick up the wearer's audio. He'd curved and padded the edges of the mask so that outside sounds would not interfere. He'd used a lighter material that would allow for folding and be more comfort while wearing. He'd found and integrated a speech-to-text program that would convert more languages. He'd even created an app so users could control the text display speed, size, color, and font, or even type their own text in for fun. Carlos had tested his designs during his usual grocery store runs and was beginning to draw attention from the workers, each time intrigued by the updated look and functionality of his mask. Some of the men had begun playing a game with saying funny or inappropriate things around Carlos to see if they could make the mask pick it up. When Carlos finally removed the audio pick-up from others, the men stopped playing.

When it came to sending out completed versions to his highest contributors, Carlos got their shipping information and sent the masks out along with a handwritten 'thank-you' note. He found it odd that all the addresses were PO boxes, but he assumed if they were making online donations that they didn't want to send out their home addresses. Carlos used some of the remaining funds to start his own website selling his masks and to build a few more ready to ship. He sold a dozen online over the next month. They were expensive, and there were cheaper alternatives. But for the select few with cash to spend this was a neat addition to their quarantine wardrobe.

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Gary walked through the hardware store until he found an associate wearing an orange apron. The old man looked at Gary, paused for a minute, and mumbled something about kids not taking this pandemic seriously. He told Gary to follow him and led them through the store, stopping in front of the PVC pipes and couplers. He pointed out a few items, paused, grumbled this time, and put four short pipes and six connectors in Gary's cart. He paused, then said Gary would need to talk to someone else, and said to go to aisle 15. Gary walked in that direction until he found another person wearing an orange apron.

The younger man in the orange apron paused, smiled, and asked if he could first take a quick video on his phone. He paused, said thanks, and whipped out a smart phone, asking questions how Gary made his mask or where he got it. Gary said nothing. The man waited a few seconds, said thanks, put his phone away, and led them to the end of the aisle, pointing out the chains. The man looked back to Gary, said 'sure thing, man', and used the nearby equipment to cut several lengths of chain, bag them, and place them in Gary's cart. He then placed several padlocks and clips in the cart. He paused.

"Check-out is towards the front," the man said, raising an eyebrow. He said it like it was the first time he'd ever had to tell someone where the cashiers were. Gary nodded, turned his cart around, and used the automatic check-out kiosk. On the large animated screen adding up his purchases there was a small video feed that said "YOU ARE BEING RECORDED". It showed Gary, wearing a navy blue baseball hat, black bomber jacket, solid blue long-sleeved shirt underneath, and his face covered by a sleek black mask. Blinking across the mask were the words "hurry back".

He fed cash through the machine, collected his change, and walked back to the truck. The truck was large, black, and muddy around the tires and undercarriage. Gary placed the bags in the trunk and got inside through the passenger door. Inside was a short man wearing dirty jeans, a buttoned green and white shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and a blue hat identical to Gary's. The heat was on high and Gary started to remove his jacket.

"Not yet, boy," Otto said. "How was your trip inside? Like what you picked out?"

Gary said nothing. He couldn't. The tape gag behind his mask and the sock underneath the tape would muffle his speech. He was starting to sweat under all his clothes in the hot truck, but would have to put up with it until they got to Otto's house. And it would be a long drive.

Otto had backed an interesting online crowdfunding project that his friend forwarded to him a few months back. Today was the first day he and Gary tested it outside the house. Today's earlier errands involved having Gary pick up lunch at the café and ordering stamps at the post office. Simple things where Otto had told Gary what he was to do before he went in. The hardware store was their first blind test, where Gary would have no idea what he was getting and for how long. Gary had a phone in case the mask stopped working or something came up inside the store. From the car Otto could type into an app what he wanted Gary to "say", and had added a small mic on Gary's jacket to hear everyone's responses.

Gary's heartbeat was starting to come down. It had elevated with each step inside the store, certain someone at anytime would find out he was gagged underneath the mask. He'd seen videos online of people gagged (tape, ball, and other) under masks on their walks outside or coming home. He wasn't sure how long those people were gagged, or if they were just doing it long enough for the video. The thought of getting caught at any moment or giving the secret away through his body language was thrilling.

"Let's get you home and start setting up your new toy," Otto said. "Unless you wanted to go somewhere else first."

Gary said nothing.