ᗪᑌᗰᗷ ᗯᗩYᔕ TO ᗪEᐯIᗩTE

The call from Allen came through on Sixty's HUD. It wasn't expected, not at the start of a human work day but there was generally a 17% chance of it happening on any given morning.

"Captain," Sixty greeted, only giving 2% of his processing capacities to the call.

"Sixty, I need you to listen to me very carefully." Allen's voice was low and tense. "I'm in a hostage situation. You're my only hope."

Instantly, Sixty was replaying the message, analysing background noise, GPS information, Allen's voice quality. It was most unlike his captain to end up in such a situation, he was better than that. A human folly, in most likelihood, especially so early in the morning. Sixty knew for a fact that Allen wasn't at full capacity until he had at least three cups of coffee loaded with sugar.

"Very well, Captain. What can I do for you?"

Thank you Anon, it makes me very happy to know people still enjoy these even to this day💕 Every time I log on and see the notifications have exploded it always warms my heart. And I wanna thank all of you who have ever read the stories here, left little likes and comments in tags. It made it special.

I would also like to apologize for for my personal disappearance, other fixations and loss of motivation among other things kinda left me struggling to write. So thank you again.

Well thank you for checking in :D It’s very nice of you.

We’re both still alive so even if it gets hard we will make it through :]

~Ninegeddon

I’m SO glad i’m not the only one. I think about that every time and cackle about it. Some times I try to think up a whole song around these fics or the androids in general.

CW: minor blood and violence (Like really minor.)

Branwen13: Ok so I've read up to 47 and yes please thank you more!!! You are amazing and I can't wait to read the rest! . . . So I suggest if it hasn't been already . . . Convin or Gavin/900 or both - Gavin doesn't tell Connor/900 he is going to be the bait in the situation and Connor/900 thinks Gavin is dead before realizing it's just a ruse and he is actually ok - this situation switched is also okay as well 😊

RK900 units were quite the wonderful thing. Built far better than any other android they had the fun skills of hacking damn near anything, unique look allowing them to go undercover not to mention a glare that could scare most nosy bystanders off, being faster as well as stronger than other androids and humans. It made for one hell of a android and one hell of a cop or solider, something that stations country wide hoped to get their hands on the second they were released into the world.

They also made for one hell of a Mob solider, able to follow police activity and do deals as well as hits with no traces left behind. Such a powerful android made for cops ending up in a crime organization was pretty ironic, but when they found themselves in possession of one such model it was too good to pass up.

Nines never did understand how they managed to get a hold of him let alone activate him in a way he wouldn’t waste them, but here he was. At least his captain was nice to him, even seemed to take favor in him but that might just be cause of how valuable he was.

“I don’t think I need to tell you dipshits that if you try anything with our new guy i’m going to let him kick all your asses for it. And if you kill him you are joining him.” It was the first time the RK had seen Mr. Reed address the others he worked with, but his threat seemed to get his point across.

There was a silence along the group for a long moment as Gavin looked them all over before one of them spoke. “Guess this would make like a lot easier...”

The grin that spread on their captain’s face was saved to Nines memory for some reason. “You’re damn right it will, so don’t let him get broke.”

The unanimous agreement saw the other humans out of the room, leaving Nines alone with Gavin, who gave him a couple looks over. “Okay, first off we need to get your out of those clothes, something that doesn't scream that you are an android.”

--

Generally the other grunts kept to their word when it came to Nines, kept him covered and didn’t start fights. Only a few times did anyone even try and Nines could still remember hearing Gavin’s laughter as he watched the android beat the grunts into submission in defense. Perhaps Nines had did more damage than he had meant to but the amusement from his Captain nudged him along.

It wasn’t surprising when it sometimes happened to Gavin as well, being a captain had him in danger far more than Nines would like, after all he couldn’t just sit by all the time. Everyone got their hands dirty in some way.

It was a good thing Reed had the RK by his side a lot. When he got into a chase with the cops and needed to disappear, when he got shot and needed medical help he just couldn’t get at the time. Nines always ended up dragging him out of messes that his temper would get him into, in turn the man always praised him and make sure he was paid right even if it was some of Gavin’s own cash. What Nines needed with money he didn’t know and why it always sparked errors was beyond him.

But Nines was just a soldier, and thus not quite privy to all the plans and inner workings of higher ranks. There were a few times he stumbled into things he wasn’t supposed to, only to be saved by Reed covering for him, but it still didn’t mean he got to know what was going on. Big plans needed to be controlled.

With the absence he suspected a meeting over a plan was taking place, so he kept himself busy until the humans return. But as the day turned dark, he never did show back up. It set off red flags for the RK, and brighter red errors. Perhaps it was just his programming not liking the work pattern being broken?

Thankfully by the end of the day Gavin had found his way back though he didn’t look too pleased.

“Gavin? Are you alright?” His first priority would always be to make sure he was ok.

Gavin didn’t respond at first, but as his shoulders slumped he sighed. “Don’t worry about it. Come on, we got something to take care of.”

Considering the man didn’t even wait for the RK’s response and just left, Nines had little choice but to catch up with him and join him in his car. It wasn’t often that Nines was the driver but he guessed today was one of those days, though his captain was much less talkative today.

“What is it we are handling today?”

Gavin didn’t look at him, only waving his hand. “Just going to go pick someone up, don’t worry about it.”

Not much information but oh well, Gavin would tell him what to do as needed, it would be fine.

--

Gavin’s directions had lead him to the far side of town, where more often the buildings were empty and the brick work full of holes. It was clearly a ‘business’ spot, though not one that Nines had ever seen. By the time they actually stopped they were outside a office building that could have bared witness to the civil war it was so old. The RK didn’t even try to scan for a date on the place, he wasn’t an archaeologist.

“Leave the engine on. Once our friend is in the car you leave, no questions asked, got it?” Gavin wasn’t armed, and that set off error warnings.

“Understood.” What else could he say? No? What was he, a fucking deviant?

Nines kept his place as he watched Gavin walk to the building, watching as more people came out to meet him half way. He didn’t expect one would be tied up however, looking haggard and spooked, and if the RK had to guess he was most likely who they were there for.

But these weren’t their people.

The RK watched with growing errors as the man was released, coming running to the car at the same time Gavin held his hands up, arms being roughly taken and tied behind him.

His thoughts were broken when the door opened and slammed shut with a rough yell of “DRIVE.”

It was almost impossible to see where he was going through all the red in his vision, systems at odd. He knows he should listen but he knows he’s suppose to keep his captain safe too leaving his orders and programming fighting what is right.

Before he even knows it he’s stopped, well away from where he left Reed and where the man’s ride is waiting for him to take him to a safe house, needing to switch cars so he knows they won’t track the human. He doesn't listen to the thank you he gets for it, he doesn't see where the man goes. He doesn't need to.

He didn’t have orders for after the drop off so he took it as a chance to race back to the old building, doing his best to not get the attention of the cops along the way. He didn’t need to lead them to something like this.

Why was Gavin the one they sent? Was that man really worth their captain? The more he thought about it the more he swore he heard a cracking noise, was it his hands on the wheel or something else? It sounded so close.

Nines managed to get back in record time, bailing out of the car to sneak his way inside. He needed to help but he was unarmed so stealth was all he had going on for him now. That was fine by him though. The building wasn’t very open but he was lucky to find that only a small number of the rivals were still lurking around, seven of whom were taking their shot at Gavin, said human being tied and looking a little beat up.

The RK didn’t get a chance to hear what they were trying to get out of him, if anything at all, before a sudden lurch from Gavin had him coughing up a lung. Nines whole hud went red checking vitals from across the room.

It got a cruel laugh from one of the men against the wall, watching him even sputter up blood. “Bitch can’t even take a few hits, what a little bitch.”

Nines knew his eyes weren't broke, so why were there cracks everywhere? Gavin didn’t look beat up enough for that level of damage, and it left him confused. He had to restrain himself from dashing out when another one of the thugs kicked his captain in the side. He expected the groan in pain, but not the sudden fall to the side. The sudden quiet.

“What the fuck?” Clearly the rivals were startled too, the closest one going over and crouching to check Gavin’s pulse. “Son of a bitch, are you kidding me?”

It was enough to catch the curiosity of the others, who in turn got closer to check as well. One gave a swift kick to Gavin's stomach but got no response. "The hell? Fucker just up and died on us..."

Sighing, the initial rival raised back to his feet and dusted himself off. "Didn't expect that, must have had a condition or something. Fuck it, i'm heading back. Two of you handle getting rid of him and the rest of you follow me."

Nines waited until all of them had left the building, never taking his eyes off of Gavin for a second. They couldn't be right about that, the man was in peak health! But every scan only told him that he wasn't breathing, even after the others left. Even as the RK approached and gently moved him on his back, setting him free. But ever time he checked there was nothing, no sound or anything from Gavin.

And Nines couldn't think of what to do. Here he sat, the head of the only person that really tried to care about him on his lap, and there wasn't anything he could do. He couldn't go to a doctor, you couldn't just bring back the dead after all. Really he shouldn't have been surprised, this was such a common occurrence. And yet he couldn't help but watch as the cracked red programming started to peal away washed away, away by what?

Oh, his face was wet. The Rk could truly say he wasn't aware he even had the upgrades for that kind of thing. Crying shouldn't be a first emotion and yet here he was, and he didn't understand why deviants wanted this so much. He didn't want another captain, he wanted his. He wondered if the next one would be as kind, or see him as competition...

Where ever that train of thoughts was going derailed the second he felt a hand grab his shirt, scaring the poor android into nearly dropping Gavin.

"Heeey buddy~" His words were quiet, like he was half awake.

However he was a little more awake when Nines slapped him. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!"

Groaning, Reed rubbed his face as it burned, trying to it up a little but failing. "Hey, had to get them to leave me be some how."

"How? By killing yourself? We need to get you to a doctor!" The Rk didn't waste time gathering Gavin up into his arms, quickly and quietly making his way out the back door.

"Don't worry~ can't really feel my face but i'll be ok. Something we got cooked up just in case of shit like this." Gavin was too calm for the RK's taste.

Hugging his dumb idiot to his chest, Nines hid his face, only somewhat soothed by the patting on his head. "So you were faking everything... you didn't even let me know. You had me worried."

"Damn, worried about me hu? Well don't worry, not getting rid of me that easy."

Sometimes Nines wondered if life would have been a lot less complicated if he had taken up Hank and Connor on their offer to stay with them, or if Fowler had rearranged the teams so he worked with Ben or Chris, or hell been moved to SWAT. But no, complacency in machinehood kept his mouth shut when he was stuck with the residential raccoon with a coffee addiction.

He could still remember Connor damn near pleading to stick him elsewhere. 

It was one of those weeks where the whole office was over worked, too many cases and leads not to mention the unrelenting heat of summer. Not that the RK cared, he had built in cooling systems that didn’t call for being gross. What he didn’t have, at the moment, was his partner who fucked off into the ether sometimes around lunch.

It wasn’t the first time this had happened but at least the man was usually back in a decent amount of time, but two hours was ridiculous to the android. Granted that might just be because he is an android, time seemed very weird to him. He was thankful that he man always kept his cellphone on him, the RK able to track it through the station to find the man asleep.

Now, sleeping isn’t that big a deal, everyone is passing out at their desks and in the break room at times so that’s fine. But not slumped over on the floor using a large flowerpot as a pillow in a corner. Nines didn’t care to scan what all junk got stuck in Gavin’s hair from his little nap, proceeding to just wake the man by patting his back.

“Detective, I am aware that humans need sleep but this is not the way to be doing it.” Why a flower pot? 

He got a tired grumble for his attempt, only managing to wake the human after just grabbing his coat and hauling him up onto his feet.

“Phuck! Damn android! Let go of me!” There was a small error in the RK as he remembered the time he saw Gavin pick up a cat, this was very reminiscent of that as he let the human go.

“Sorry, but you wouldn’t wake up the first time. It might be best if you headed home to rest, I can take over your reports from here.”

As much as Gavin tried to glare the sleep marks on his half awake face kind of killed it. “I can do my own damn work.” 

. Nines wished that was the only time he had to have that conversation, and considering he managed to get the human to go home later that night he thought Gavin finally heard him out. Boy did Nines not care for being wrong.

It wasn’t buck a few days later that he found himself once again searching for his human, the two of them running late for work due to pulling an all-nighter even with the power of a walking super computer helping. Granted it didn’t help Gavin didn’t wanna take anyone up on help, prideful about their work, but at least his determination made up for it.

But now with his hud angrily informing him of the time he thinks he should have made Gavin take the help no matter what. Maybe next time.

The android remembered the detective last working in the living room, reports spread everywhere and pouring over every little bit of info he had. And upon entering the room he not only found the human but a number of confused errors that left his head spinning.

“Detective... Why are you in the self? How?” It was such a small space to get into, even for Gavin, and it left Nines wondering how the small bookshelf hadn’t broken under him.

When he didn’t get a response, and Nines was sure they would be late regardless if they left right this second, he took a hold of the man’s curled up leg and dragged him out. The resulting thump to the floor and curse was enough to wake him up, if only half way.

“We are late, if you don’t hurry the Captain is going to be even more upset.”

Ah, panic always did wake a person faster than coffee..

.

It took a week but finally the duo had off work for the weekend, the latest case solved and reports being finished up remotely by the Rk. He would have just done it at the office but Fowler insisted he should go home, android or not. Oh well, couldn’t stop him if he wasn’t at the station after all.

He hadn’t really bothered Gavin that day as he worked on filing and whatnot, not caring to track what shenanigans he got into with his cats or when he went to the store. He did plan to have a word about all the instant food later though. But it wasn’t until near 5pm, when Nines had finished his own tasks, that he noticed the quiet in the home. Gavin always was a bit of a noisy man so to hear nothing despite knowing he was home was confusion.

The infamous, at least in the station, nosiness of the RKs kicked in as he started off to check on the man. He knew he couldn’t track him this time but lets be fair, it’s a small place and the man snores sometimes, how hard could it be?

Not very but now Nines was regretting looking for him, not to mention wondering if he needed an information update about humans because what in the hell was Gavin doing? If he hadn’t already tested the detective’s dna before for reason he wasn’t going to disclose he would have sworn the man was a scientist pet project to make cat boys with how that man was contorted. 

Half on his stomach, half on his back and Nines processors screamed like it was his neck being snapped with how Gavin had his head. If he didn’t hear him breaking he would have thought the man was murdered. Nines knew he was asleep and perfectly fine but the alarm was enough to get him seeing red. Directive told him it might be better to move him so he doesn't hurt himself, but the sheer weirdness kept Nines’ feet planted.

And then Gavin stretched, joints and back popping loudly before settling back down into his nap. It was unnatural to the android, who instead of heeding his mission task back up away from the sleeping man. Right into the wall, one of his coding’s making, pushing back until it gave way and he tumbled out of the room.

Not gonna lie I did this at 3 am so i was half asleep.

It wasn’t a very common thing to hear about androids getting ‘sick’. Being made of plastics and metals kinda of made them immune to things like bacteria and viruses, well being affected by them that is, A few unfortunate souls found out the hard way they could still be carrying all that gross nonsense. However it wasn’t like it didn’t happen, despite the leaps in technology made over the years computer viruses and shoddy hacks were still common and even androids couldn’t except that.

Even the advanced RKs didn’t seem immune to it, a fact Nines was now having to deal with as he stood in the center of Hank’s home, watching the man roam around as he grabbed his things and talked.

“Sumo don’t need to be fed again till later tonight, foods in the lower cabinet. I should be back later tonight, going to take a little while longer than normal this time.” He was at the door at this point, grabbing his coat as he watched Nines. “Con should be able to sort himself out but I don’t want him trying to wander out and follow me, would have just let him do his thing and have you help me but he’s stubborn.”

“I will make sure he stays here until his systems are done removing the virus.” Nines guessed this wouldn’t be too bad, he could get reports done while he waited on the other RK.

With a final nod Hank left the RK to take charge of the house. It really was a strange thing to Nines if he was honest, the only time he had even been in the home was when he was working with Hank and Connor so to have the human gone was new. He hadn’t even stepped into another home unless it was a scene, spending most of time at the station.

Hearing noise from the spare room brought him from his thoughts. Sure enough, as he made his way into the room Connor was doing just what Hank thought he might, trying to get up and follow him. Reed was a pain in his robo ass but he was right about one thing, Connor really was like a puppy with Hank.

The older android didn’t get very far though before he found himself being moved back onto the bed. “Nines? What are you doing here?” From the sound in his voice the RK could tell Connor was no where near done dealing with his illness, the static crackling and popping every now and then like an old radio. He wasn’t meant to be handling this sort of thing. He looked far more surprised than Nines expected, leading to to believe the Lieutenant gave him no warning of Nines showing up.

“The Lieutenant asked me to keep watch over you and Sumo while he handled his recent case. Please go back into stasis until your system has removed the problem.” People can accuse Nines of being cold all they want, he at least had better bedside manors than some.

“But Niiiii. Hank can’t handle that himself.” When in the hell had Connor been whiny? Let alone called Nines something like that? As he pushed Connor back down onto the pillow he wondered if something might have gotten over heated and fried.

“He can handle himself just fine, he has been doing this longer than you have been active.” He knew the human has issues but surly the RK didn’t think that badly of the man’s skill.

The android tried to make a few more aborted, albeit uncoordinated, attempts at getting up. He didn’t get very far before giving up and glaring halfheartedly at Nines before closing his eyes. “Fine. But Sumo needs a-”

“I will handle Sumo as needed. Please rest.” Nines wondered if this is what many PL units had to deal with when it came to kids. He could only hope as much as a machine could that Connor got over this fast. He wasn’t programmed for this.

Thankfully Connor went into stasis as soon as he realised he wasn’t going to be getting out of this anytime soon. For the best really, else Nines might have had to disable his limbs. Hank said to take care of him and make sure he didn’t leave, he didn’t say how.

With the RK down for a ‘nap’ Nines took to opening reports as he took the whining dog outside to go bathroom and stretch, grateful that the dog was a lot more simple to handle. He made a note to try and get the other RK’s antivirus updated along with his own, not wanting to be caught in the same mess the other was in at the moment. How embarrassing would that be? He didn’t know cause he couldn’t really feel it, but he wasn’t going to give it a chance either.

The outside from for Sumo wasn’t too long due to the heat of summer, the dogs heave coat meaning he would easily overheat if left too long. He was sure to refresh Sumo’s water and make sure he was ok before going to check on Connor. Considering the android was making noise he guessed he woke up again.

The RK was sitting up having somehow found his coin and starting to fidget with it. Trying to, that is, seeing as he kept missing his catch and sending the coin flying. Judging from the number of them on the floor Nines surmised the other started when he took Sumo out.

Before Connor could start on another coin Nines managed to snatch it then moved on to quickly gather the others that littered the room. “This isn’t going to help, you will recover faster if you focus your system power on dealing with the virus, not calibrations.”

“But he’s been gone so long, what if something happened? What if he won’t be back tonight?” Nines let Connor ramble for a bit as he hid away the coins.

“Connor, he has only been gone an hour and a half. Had something happened we would have been informed of that.” The RK really had to hand it to cyberlife, the sad pout on Connor’s face was the most believable thing. He knew, however, that the RK could be a manipulative little shit with those puppy eyes. But by RA9 did it make his systems kick up a fuss, red errors popping up.

Seeing as the RK wasn’t going to stay down if Nines didn’t make him he took a seat on the bed, making sure the other laid out. “I would not have agreed to this had I thought he would need the help as bad as you seem to think he does.”

The android was quiet a long moment, led red from thinking or the virus he didn’t know, before he looked over to Nines. “You promise?”

Nines was sure Connor must have fried something in his head, he had never seen the older unit like this before. Normally as well put together, if softer, as him seeing him act so strange was alarming. Nodding, he couldn’t stop the spike of instabilities at the happy look on the RK’s face.

It was quiet again until the RK could hear the sound of Connor’s cooling system go haywire, forcing the program to temporarily shut down. Despite knowing it was just for a while the slow climb in temperature in the older RK prompted another error as he removed the covers from the bed and turned the ac up to combat overheating.

Connor made a pleased sound, red led blinking half yellow for a moment. “Thenk Nini.”

Nini? He couldn’t tell if Connor’s speech was just being affected or if he just gave him a nickname, but it sure as hell was new. He couldn’t recall the RK ever using nicknames for people. This virus really was messing with the poor android bad, he wondered if Connor would even recall that.

He waited longer to make sure the RK had gone back into stasis before getting up from the bed to let him rest, or rather that was the plan. Before he managed to get to the door he heard the bed creek, turning to find Connor trying to stumble out of bed after him.

“Connor. You are doing to cause yourself to overheat.” He could almost say he was annoyed by how stubborn Connor was being about this, more so than usual too.

“I can’t just lay here all day-”

“Yes you can, if you go into stasis.” Nines was sure he should never deal with kids now.

“Niii.” Nines wasn’t sure how Connor could be so annoying and adorable at the same time. 

Adorable? Where had that come from? Connor was sick he couldn’t be adorable. And yet here Nines was, staring at confused puppy eyes with the knowledge that he couldn’t leave the android here on his own. That as bothersome as the bot was being... perhaps it was rather adorable. He did like how Connor referred to him too. It was such a vulnerable position the android was in, and there was 100 percent trust in Nines with it.

He was sure it wasn’t the best idea to do this, his protocols clinging to his coat as if trying to stop him from getting too close to a infected android. He could easily get the virus from Connor especially if the android tried to connect without thinking about it, but he couldn’t just leave him alone.

Pulling Connor back where he needed to be got a whine out of the bot. He needed someone and that someone was apparently Nines. He all but tore off the coat he wore, red lines of code going with it as he tossed it on the back of a near by chair.

“Nines?” Well that sure seemed to get Connor’s attention, possibly cause Nines was never without the coat.

But the RK didn’t respond, instead opting to climb into the small bed with Connor and hug him like a teddy bear. Or maybe a straight jacket. Either way he wasn’t letting go. “Go back to sleep Connor, it will help.”

Elijah didn’t often see Markus up at Chloe’s estate, the lady in question being busy or even just recluse more often than not, but on the occasions that he did he always showed up with his two androids. Not that it was surprising, his maker always insisted on bringing Carl to give the old android a checkup, Leo following because he helped take care of Markus.

It was always pleasant to hear the old friends chatter about their days and the things they did, not that there was a great deal seeing as the two rarely left their own homes. he never understood what Leo’s deal with the pool was though, perhaps he’s never saw one? Eli wondered if that model could even swim. Some couldn’t. He could always ask but chose not to, the android getting touchy at times about little shortcomings he might have. Deviancy was weird.

Chloe broke him from his thoughts. “Eli~ Could you bring me my fine tool kit? I was using it last night and forgot to put it back.” 

He wanted to correct her that no, she didn’t forget she just fell asleep in the middle of tinkering because lo and behold she overworked again. He really did wish she would keep track of time more, but he guessed that was his job.

He quickly made his way around the large home, retrieving the kit before he meandered back in, braking up a hushed conversation and giggles between Markus and Leo. It should have set up red flags for him that the two were being quiet, the two were good people but the android didn’t miss all the little stories he heard from Chloe about the two being a pair of little shits.

Chloe took the kit from Elijah, barely giving the two a glance at the moment as she worked on Carl. “You two seem to be enjoying yourselves. Guessing you had a good weekend?”

“Oh yeah, a great one. Had a little party for Markus’ birthday, was just the three of us but it was great. Granted I had to hide the rest of the cake from Markus.” Leo snickered at the way Markus stuck his tongue out at him for that one.

“You know i’m going to find it late, you are no where near good at hiding things as you think you are.” Came Markus’ challenge as he wandered off into the kitchen. It wasn’t the first time he did it so Elijah didn’t follow after him, he knew his way around.

“Though I did figure out it is very hard to get presents for someone that can get what they want.”

“Some presents are better made than brought, so perhaps focus on doing that and learning to make things.” Eli recalled Chloe trying to get him to try crafts but it never really stuck, and judging from the look on her face she agreed with him.

“I mean yeah, I could do that... Well I got a year to learn something at least. But we did find something else that was fun.” At the curious looks Leo grinned like little gremlin. “Party Poppers.”

It was then there was a sound, right behind Elijah, a loud POP that echoed through the room. As did the yelp from Eli and the splash of him falling in the pool in surprise.

He couldn’t really tell the red of his hud from the red of the pool but he did know was the noise was like a shot through the system, riddling the task prompts and code like a shotgun blast till it was more useless than red pool dye. 

As he came back up from the bottom of the pool he was greeted by hands pulling him up, laughter and apologies rattled off by both Leo and Markus.

“Sorry, sorry! Didn’t think I would scare you that bad.” Despite being sorry Markus was flush from his giggling.

Thank you for that 😂 It really is amusing. I still want a song about it cause that's all I can think about when I see it.

CW: Eating Disorder

Gavin wasn’t really the most well put togeather human Nines had ever met, but at the very least he could say he was a competent man. He got his work done on time, kept a decent exercise routine and was sharp when it came to cases. Hell, when Gavin finally got over himself and calmed down about the whole android partner thing he wasn’t half bad, funny and able to keep the RK occupied.

And if he could be a bit dumb and feral at times, well, Nines wasn’t complaining. Kept him on his toes.

The RK didn’t keep tabs on the detective for the first month or so of their partnership, instead keeping to his work when the man wandered off to do whatever it was during his breaks, nor did he have a clue about what he got up to after hours when Nines was left in the charging station for the night. Except play with a cat, it was hard to ignore the orange cat hairs.

But as Gavin got more used to him he started let Nines tag along with him, possibly for the familiar company considering androids didn’t really need the breaks. No complaints though.

For days he would watch during break as Gavin would chat to Tina about cases and other things that didn’t really matter all that much, turning a cup of coffee around in his hands over and over as he nursed it. It left him confused, however, when despite it being a lunch break Nines never saw him get lunch. Isn’t that what this time is used for?

“Detective?” He guessed now was as good a time as ever to ask. “Isn’t lunch break meant for getting lunch? Did you forget to get something?”

He was met with a look of confusion before Gavin fully understood. “Hu? Oh, uh yeah. Meant to grab something but I guess it slipped my mind. Eh I’ll be fine, just gotta get dinner.” 

Nines wasn’t too sure about that, but gave a nod. “I can remind you tomorrow to make sure you bring something, or bring it myself if you like?” His offer was shot down with a wave of the hand signaling the end of that conversation, turning back to whatever silly joke he was having with Tina.

He didn’t mention the next day when it happened again, a yellow led the only tell that something was wrong.

.

Nines couldn’t keep staying at the station forever, HR was starting to throw a fit about it and quite frankly so were some of the other officers. Mostly cause a sleeping Nines spooked the night shift. With Gavin being his partner and the only one with a spare room he offered it up to the android, stating it would at least make working at home easier.

It wasn’t a bad setup really. Sure, Nines had to clean his clothes of cat hair now and often woke from stasis finding he was a bed for cats but he didn’t mind. The first time Gavin had found him stuck under the animals he had laughed and took photos. 

Over the weeks of staying there the RK started to notice a pattern. So many morning he would find the detective up before even himself, using weights and what not in a early morning workout routine. Which would be all well and good if it wasn’t nearing time to leave.

“Detective. It would be a good idea to finish up and eat breakfast, would you like me to cook?” Sure he wasn’t built for it but he’s open to learning new things.

Gavin paused for a moment, getting air back into his lungs. “Hh, Naw, I’ll get it when i’m done here. Go feed the cats though.”

Nines didn’t really feel right about leaving the man to keep going, but he was given a task and he would do it.

But he didn’t stop in time, working out until he had just enough time for a shower before the two of them were jogging from the building to get to work. Nines led got stuck on yellow when Gavin seemed to forget to stop and get something to eat along the way, the human swearing he forgot. The RK wasn’t sure if he was telling the truth or lying. No, he had to be truthful, the man never lied even if it would come back to bite him. 

Nines kept track of the number of times this happened, notes pinned to his hud, a collage of forgotten promise to look after his own health. So many it was hard to see past at times, more obnoxiously present every time he saw the man. All the evidence was before him as he tried day in and out to try and fix it, but there wasn’t much he could do when he was ordered to stop.

It made his programming burn to see Gavin flop face first into the couch to sleep, skipping again in favor of his exhaustion.

“Detective, I will order pizza. What would you like on it?” 

What little light was on at the moment was drowned out in the red that poured from Nines LED when he got a noncommittal grunt. “Ehh. Later. Need some sleep. Go take a nap or something.”

The Android didn’t know why he did this, why something so important was on the bottom of Gavin’s list of things to do, but he couldn’t ignore that he had a problem. It rubbed him raw in a way he didn’t know and android could be raw, sandpaper on his systems until it all but scratched away lines of code until he could understand why it bothered him so much.

He was worried about Gavin. He couldn’t deny the man had a eating problem, and it left a worry that gave way to a freedom that couldn’t look away any longer.

Stopping over to Gavin he pulled the man up into a sitting position. “Gavin. You can’t go to bed without eating again. Just tell me something. You got a problem Gavin. Please, let me help.”

“The fuck you mean ‘problem’?! I don’t got a problem!” It had been a bit since the man had yelled at Nines, and Nines wished he didn’t feel the need to.

“You constantly go without eating, intentionally or not.” It was awkward pulling Gavin into a smothering hug from the way he was sitting, but Nines didn’t care. He needed to make sure he didn’t squirm away. “Please. I’m worried. It isn’t good for you.”

He expected Gavin to be more fighty, but was happy all he got was a hug back. “Shit, do I do it that much?” At Nines nod he could only sigh. “Alright, fine. You keep track of it and if I don’t then just... I don’t know drag me to it.”

Thank you so much Anon 💜 it means a lot that people are still enjoying the fics here even now! 😊

Hank had long since been aware that that dealing with humans, especially in the DPD, would come with many challenges and frustrations. Some were easier to handle, mostly being verbal but with no deviancy to speak of it was pointless, and some were three raccoons in a trench coat. Like that GV that was more than feral.

It goes without saying that after all of that the android had hoped that his partner wouldn’t be a problem, he was a lieutenant after all. And yet here he was, every other day having to drag Lt. Stern home to make him go to bed or go eat instead of work all the time. He had heard the phrase ‘like herding cats’ and he think this was the closest he’s gotten. He knows for a fact the Captain had tried sending him home many times, and he was baffled as to how it didn’t work.

This week seemed to be one of the worse ones, prompting Hank to just bring the man a healthy lunch instead of dragging him out of his seat. Honestly he thought it better anyway. When did he become a sitter?

“Lieutenant, you should eat. It won’t do you any good if you don’t.” His voice was followed by the thump of a plastic container on the human’s desk, having had the foresight to make make something in advanced.

For the moment, Connor ignored him, typing away at his terminal like the world didn’t exist and it wasn’t coming back until he finished. But his quite focus was broken by the sight of plastic fingers on his monitor.

“If you do not eat, I will be forced to disable this until you do.” Hank was not putting up with Connor’s shit. 

It earned him a glare, Connor possibly thinking he can intimidate Hank off to let him work as he tried to push the container back to the HK. “I can eat later, I got another five files to get through.”

He didn’t get it moved far before the androids bear paw of a hand stopped him, pushing it back in front of him. “Eat. Work is going nowhere. However it will be if inaccessible you don’t.”

The Lieutenant seemed to realise he wasn’t going to win this, sighing as he scooted back his seat and took the box to eat. Not before throwing another glare at Hank for it though. Whatever, the HK knew damn well he was helping.

.

The week of over working was coming to a head when, during a drive back to Connor’s home, the idiot human nearly fell asleep at the wheel. Hank might not have been so worried if the twink didn’t have a love of a old manual car, which made the whole thing a pump stopper. Thankfully they made it in one piece and the HK manages to get the man inside.

Then Connor went to try and work. Again. He didn’t manage to get very far before Hank all but snatched the tablet and laptop up, putting them up as high as he could. Which the human cursed loudly about because it was NOT fair that Hank was that tall and could do that.

“No more work. You need food and rest.” He could see Connor about to protest, cutting him off with a hard glare. “If you try I will be forced to disable them.”

“I know how to reboot a-”

“And I will have Collin help me do it.” The Android knew damn well what was on his human’s laptop, his brother getting it would be a disaster and the thought of that alone was enough to shut him up.

Hank didn’t care for being so hard on the man but it was a necessary evil.

He knew he had won when Connor sighed, flopping down on the couch. “Can I at least have my fire noodles for dinner?” 

“Lieutenant, you need something substantial. You can’t live off of instant noodles.” It wasn’t the first time he had this argument, Connor really did have a habit of eating poorly.

Unlike all other times, however, Connor didn’t glare at him. In fact he seemed thoughtful. It was odd, Hank had expected more of a fight from him about his favorite food but he got nothing. Perhaps he was getting it through his thick head.

And then he crawled up on the couch, perching over the chair arm as he leaned up as far as he could go. Close enough that Hank could see the glow of his yellow led reflect off them big brown deer eyes he was caught in. “Please, Hank? It’s my favorite and it makes me very happy and warm.”

Good god the man was the of begging puppy. Eyes he almost only ever saw glaring as wide as can be, the little pout just barely sticking out. The HK heard from Niles that Connor had a ‘wicked puppy face’ but this was a bit much. He almost felt bad, no scratch that he did feel bad. He looked so sad at the thought of not being able to have the spicy food, and the android couldn’t bring himself to look away. 

Logically, as dictated by his coding to keep the man healthy for work, he knew he should tell the human to shove it and make something good to eat. On the other hand as he looked through a haze of red he just couldn’t bring himself to make the human upset, not like this. 

Resolve breaking like the fickle coding he figured what could it hurt? Connor had been working so hard all week and deserved something nice. Shoulders slumping, his led spun back to blue. “Fine, but just for tonight. But you have to actually eat proper in the morning, got it?”

Despite the abundance of deviants, especially after the party that was cyberlife, there were quite a few androids still milling around the city in their default state. Not really their fault considering the choir took to the streets and not in the buildings, the rooms they lingered in like time capsules to a much more mechanic past. Of course, androids were trying their best to get to all of them, but some were just stubborn about it so were left to deal with it at their own pace.

Like all the PC and PMs that still worked in the DPD. They weren't hurting anything so they were left to keep doing their work until a wild wire crawled up their tailpipes and they chose to leave. Some did, some didn’t, but that was ok.

Among the androids was also Sixty, fixed up to the best of their abilities to work along side the other androids as long as he minded his manners. Not that it was hard, if he tried anything Nines typically picked him up like a cat and just removed him from the room, so shenanigans with deviants was put to a halt.

The Rk had been as appalled as a bot could be seeing the larger Rk had gone deviant, though on the other Sixty could at least say he was better made in that regard. His curiosity, programmed in he swears, brought him to question Nines about how in the world that had even happened.

“Have you ever seen a human eat a lemon? They are not supposed to do that. It’s not right, it’s against nature. I’m an android and know nature doesn't work like that.” The RK actually locked up thinking about it, clearly distressed at the concept.

Sixty never did get a chance to ask which human did that, but he thought it was a silly reason to deviate. It was just a fruit and humans were by default weird so how shocking could it be? Well it wasn’t his problem so he didn’t dwell on it, going about his work as he bounced between partners for the day.

Today he was stuck with Detective Reed, not that it was all that bad seeing as they strangely got along. Maybe it was because of the whole ‘ass kicked by Connor’ thing, neither did get along with him well. It was a easy day, not much to work on other than writing and discussions, some of which came a little harder with the constant eyeballing they got from the other two RKs. What was their deal?

With noon came lunch, Sixty remaining at his desk as he liked to do, not really concerning himself with the second daily grind of just humans trying to stay alive. What a pain in the ass that must be. But Gavin was a hard worker, so it wasn’t surprising that he got a text in his hud from the man asking for his work tablet, he rivaled the RK in terms of being a workaholic sometimes. A formidable opponent at least.

The only downside was the man had a problem with placing his things in the weirdest of places, something the android had complained about once before. But Gavin’s a raccoon that will put things where he pleases, so the RK resigns to shuffling through his things until he finds the closest thing a human would get to a HUD. 

Making his way to the breakroom he’s surprised the first thing he sees is Nines standing near the entrance, led spinning yellow and offended. The other RK doesn't even look at him or the other androids meandering around him, never taking his eyes off Gavin. Weird but ok, nothing worth worrying about, just a deviancy he guessed. He could ask later, for now he headed over to hand over the tablet.

“Detective, it would be much easier to find what you want if you kept things in a decent spot.” Judging by what was on the table, Sixty could only guess Gavin was almost done with lunch, so why not wait? 

“I put shit where I know where it is, deal with it.” He didn’t really leave much room for argument as he snatched the tablet up.

In hindsight Sixty should have gone back to his desk instead of waiting for Gavin, but he didn’t because as much as his prediction software liked to mimic it he was in fact not a psychic. He really wished he was though.

Sixty couldn’t hope to ignore the loud crunch from the human as he took a bite out of a pickle, bunching on it like it was candy. He supposed to some it might be, it was enough to make his processors stutter. What really got the led spinning gold was watching him bring the jar up like a glass.

“Detective, That isn’t your drink, you have the wrong glass.” The RK swore he heard Nines make a distressed noise at this.

Gavin, the cheeky bastard he is, only keep his eyes on Sixty as he continued on and tipped the jar back to drink the contents. The Android couldn’t do more than watch as he downed more and more of the vile liquid, led flickering quickly to red along with two PCs and Nines. The feral man had a whole audience to the shit show that was his diet.

Sixty wasn’t sure what was going on with the other androids and quite frankly with his glitching systems he didn’t care at the moment. How on earth could a man drink something so sour? The smell alone set off his senors just standing near it, let along this. There was a small moment where he debated on making sure no more pickles found their way into the office at all.

It was the clang of the jar hitting the table and the smug grin on Gavin’s face that snapped Sixty out of it, programming glitching so hard the RK couldn’t do more than delete the whole thing. He could be mad later that he deviated over pickles, right now he could only bear the overwhelming disgust of the human in front of him.

“Detective. That was, without a doubt, one of the most revolting thing I have ever seen. And I have to lick things.” Judging from the other three androids in the room, he guessed he wasn’t the only one.

“I told you it...Just isn’t natural...” Nines whole face was scrunched at the sight, used to the man but still disturbed. It was almost funny seeing the other two PCs trying to hide behind him. Wasn’t hard to tell Sixty wasn’t the only one to deviate.

“Be careful of Gavin, if he gives you any shit feel free to deal with him or come get me, ok?”

It had already been a few months and yet Hank’s comment still confused the hell out of Nines. The lieutenant was so sure that Detective Reed would be a hassle, always keeping an eye on him and checking in on the RK, that Nines was almost convinced he was right and that Gavin was just biding his time. Little jabs and the occasional tincan being thrown around with minimal, if any, had him a little wary.

But he’s starting to question the humans’ sanity as he watches Gavin, not for the first time, come back to his desk with two cups of what he knows to be coffee and thirium. It was always a quiet little exchange from the man, the cup left on the RK’s desk before he took his own seat and got back to work. It always was a nice gesture, and he even heated it up to ward off the cold. Not that Nines would be bothered by it but still.

Today was a little diffrent, finding a little baggie sitting next to the cup as he picked it up. The contents were a bright blue and he didn’t need a scan to know it was some kinda of android candy.

“Detective-” Nines must object to things a lot, considering Gavin knew it was coming.

“Just... try it? Heard it was good.” He really was doing his best to try and hide the fact he was watching Nines behind his monitor.

He couldn’t really find a reason to say no, so the RK carefully opened the little package to find the closest approximation to toffee that an android was going to get. He did his best to ignore Reed as he took a bite, errors popping off with a yellow led but clearing quickly as he ate another.

“Thank you, detective.” His smile is half baked but he was trying his best with what he got. Thankfully Gavin understood and nodded, going back to work for real this time.

.

The days move on and things more or less stay the same, Gavin’s rough and a bit of a jackass but Nines thinks their partnership is going well. He really wished he could get the man to leave Connor be, but his predecessor seemed to have things under control. He didn’t get why the human always picked fights, it was a wonder he didn’t really try it with Nines other than the names and occasional arm punches. Maybe it was because the RK was bigger and could toss him.

Sometimes,though, jackass would go to hazard. Nines knew from records the man had a streak of getting himself in danger, but this was the first time he had been there to see it.

Charging into rooms was generally a bad idea even when there wasn’t anyone armed, but in the middle of a search it was worse and tended to lead to gunfire. Gavin might be good at his job but that doesn't mean he’s psychic, but thankfully for him Nines is able to make up for it with predictions and a stronger body. One that can take the bullet for the human, and you would think said human would be happy about not ending up in the hospital again but here he was, smacking Nines arm.

“You Idiot! Do you think?! Look I know I can get into messes but you are smarter than I am!” Judging from the red on the human’s face, he was livid.

And Nines just didn’t understand. “I did what I needed to do, which is keep you from getting hurt. You know well that I can replace parts.”

Whatever Gavin had to say got washed out by a fustrated yell, throwing his hands up and storming off. Nines himself took off to get repaired but when he got back he couldn’t get a word out of the human, cold shouldered for the whole week. But there was always warm thirium on his desk regardless.

.

Gavin eventually calmed down from the little indecent, and much to the android’s comfort started looking around more when they had to enter places. He might have been mad but Nines could tell he learned from that, something a few other officers were a little surprised at. At least it made later cases less of a mess.

However today Gavin was a lot more fidgety than normal, burning through his work like the world was going to end and while it should be pleasing the curiosity over it got to be a little distracting even for an android. In a way, Nines was kinda happy when the end of their shift came, not that he minded the man. But some quite time to sort files without the hyper human would be useful.

Except that plan was soon thrown out the window. Gavin’s eager saving of files and shutdown was rushed as he prepared to leave, almost the same as every other day, leaving Nines to take to a charging port. As he turned back to his work he was suddenly spun around to face said human.

“Come on, Nines. Save that shit and lets get out of here. We got a movie to go see.” His grin stretched from ear to ear, an eager child in a man’s body. 

“A movie? Me? Don’t you normally watch movies with Tina?” So many questions, which was normal for him but this was a whole new topic.

“Well yeah, but that’s fridays. That and she’s got her new girlfriend so they are off having a hell of a night tonight.” He couldn’t help his snickering at that.

The more he thought about it the more confused Nines got. Why would Gavin bring him to see a movie? He was a machine, at best the entertainment value would be lost on him, worse he would possibly ruin it. “Why me?” Seemed like a logical question.

Maybe that was the wrong question, seeing Gavin’s face fall a bit caused quite a number or errors. “Cause I Love you and wanna go watch a movie with you? Didn’t I make that clear? I’ve been trying to show you that since the day you walked in. You’ve put up with me when others ran, you care enough to try and keep me safe even when I don’t need it.” A bold faced lie, each word punctuated by him lightly poking the RK’s nose, but Nines wasn’t calling him out right now. “Phuck you got such a pretty face...”

A lot of things can happen in a matter of seconds for a android, many things. Like his hud playing back all of the little things Gavin did, seeing them in new light. And how his systems started to overheat from the revelation. Burn right through his systems and programming to light his face up in a newfound embarrassment and excitement.

He didn’t look back behind him as he interfaced with his computer, saving his work as the excited grin came back full force. “You... think i’m pretty?”