Chapter Text
Something was not right.
Something was definitely not right!
The first time Hank noticed something strange was when he was getting a cup of coffee down at the coffeeshop next to the supermarket, after his weekly grocery shopping.
He hadn't looked at the barista, hadn't seen the familiar, warm brown eyes or the familiar moles on the soft face, too distracted by the photos of Sumo Connor had send him on his phone. (Connor was trying to get Sumo to bathe. It was hilarious! Hank didn't know who seemed to be more stressed out, his android or his dog.) It wasn't until he looked up to grab his cup, that he finally saw the face he had come to appreciate so much.
Connor? No... Just another RK800, one of those 'spares', build in case Connor got killed during his mission - which was never the case, thank fuck. They were freed after the revolution, Hank knew that. But this one was the first other Connor he ever saw.
Well, not the first. There was Connor-60, back at CyberLife tower, but that asshole was a whole other story.
Other-Connor was smiling at him sweetly, reaching over the counter to hand Hank his cup, instead of just putting if down for him to grab.
"Here. Have a nice day, Lieutenant Anderson", Other-Connor said and his fingertips brushed Hank's.
"Uhhh... Sure. Thanks. You too." Hank felt a slight blush creep up his neck and he hurried back home, coffee in one hand, groceries in the other.
Seemed like he was a bit more 'famous' amongst the androids than he thought, since Other-Connor knew who he was. Well, he was, after all, leading all investigations concerning crimes against androids now and he did regularly meet Markus and the others because of Connor, so he shouldn't be surprised.
He was surprised when he looked at his cup though.
There was a telephone number underneath his name, written in perfect CyberLife Sans. And a name, Clark.
The fuck?
~*~
The next time it happened was five days later, Hank was walking through the park with Sumo. Connor was at the DPD to fill in for Chris, whose kid had gotten sick, and so Hank had first day alone in weeks.
They reached the middle of the park and Hank took off Sumo's leash to let the large dog roam a bit on his own. Sumo was far too lazy to run off, so Hank didn't have to worry.
He sat down on a bench and enjoyed the sounds of the park and the warm sunshine of early spring. It was nice here, even though he already missed Connor. It was strange, but in the four months since the revolution, Connor had moved in and Hank had come to enjoy liviing with someone again.
He had come to enjoy living again.
No more russian roulette for him. Though he still drank too much sometimes, when work had been especially hard. When the crime scenes were splattered with blue blood and biocomponents. Connor let him drink on those days, but not enough to get alcohol poisoning. Just enough to.... forget for a bit. And Connor always tried to distract Hank with something other than alcohol. It slowly worked. Hank was getting better at using other things. Watching TV with Connor, listening to his favourite Jazz records with Connor, Connor reading him a book...
Hank pinched his nose and sighed.
Fuck, he missed him already.
He reached for his phone, wanting to take a picture of Sumo to send to Connor, when he heard a yelp. He looked up and saw someone toppled over on the ground, a good dozen of dogs around him. Dog-sitter, huh?
"Hey son, you ok?", Hank asked and stood. He walked over to the young man, who had his legs tangled up in several leashes. Oh yeah, the risks of walking more than one dog at the same time...
He leaned down to help the man up, when said man raised his head.
Chocolate brown eyes, moles... Though the hair was shorter. He must have cut it.
Another RK800.
Hank remembered when Connor had told him, still a machine at that time, that he liked dogs. Seemed like the RK800s had that in common...
"You ok?", Hank repeated, since the RK800 just kept staring at him with huge eyes and a slight blue blush on his cheeks. He grasped the young android underneath his arms and helped him up. The dogs were running around them in circles, nearly tangling them both in their leashed now, so Hank gave a stern 'sit down!' and most of the dogs obeyed, tails wagging.
The RK800 slowly nodded and pulled himself out of his little shock.
"Y-yes... Thank you, Lieutenant Anderson", he said and smiled shyly up at Hank.
Huh, another one who knew his name. Maybe he should ask Connor about it sometime...
"Well... Keep going then", Hank said and scratched his neck. He had never been good at smalltalk. "But be a bit more careful, okay kid? You're supposed to walk these dogs, not the other way round." He started to turn around to look for Sumo, but the RK800's voice stopped him.
"Lieutenant! I-if you ever need a dog-sitter.... f-feel free to call me! Here, m-my name's Cody", the RK800, no, Cody stuttered and gave Hank a small, handwritten business card with his name and his phone number, of course in perfect CyberLife Sans.
Before Hank could say anything else, Cody gathered his dog's leashes and fled - there was no better word for it - from the park.
Hank stared after him, stared at the business card, and stared at Sumo.
"The fuck?"
~*~
Once is an accident. Twice is a coincidence. Three times is... just plain confusing to be honest!
Just two days had passed since the incident in the park. Hank still had that little business card in his pocket, because why throw it away? He knew Connor was great with dogs and if he could get another RK800 as dog sitter, in case he and Connor both couldn't get Sumo out for a walk because of investigations, why not? Plus, the kid had seemed so flustered, Hank would feel bad to just throw the card away now...
Hank wordlessly hummed to himself, looking at the beer section in the supermarket, before turning around and going for the sweets aisle instead.
He needed some drugs in his life and if Connor didn't want him to drink too much, he needed his chocolate! Hank didn't have too much of a sweet tooth, apart from his breakfast-donuts. But he absolutely loved dark chocolate. The plain kind, without any fancy stuff in it. Just wonderfully melty dark chocolate.
Hank picked two bars and put them in his cart, continuing on his way to the cash register.
Of course that's when he saw another one of them..
Another RK800, with a more wavy hairstyle and eyes as dark brown as his chocolate, looking surprised at seeing Hank and then smiling sweetly at him. Bolder than Cody, though in a different way than Clark.
"Good evening Lieutenant Anderson", the RK800 greeted, his name badge informing Hank that his name was Charles.
These guys really had a thing for names starting with C.
"Hi, Charles", Hank replied politely. He tried to get better at dealing with people and it was a bit easier with someone who looked like his roommate.
Charles seemed delighted that Hank knew his name, even though he must have known it was because of his name badge. "That's $ 35,97 please."
The items in Hank's cart had been scanned automatically when reaching the register. Hah, wonders of technology... Hank was not a big tech fan, but he was glad he didn't have to wait for the cashier to scan every single item anymore, like when he was a teenager.
Hank paid for his groceries and looked at Charles. "You're... new here, right? Can't remember ever seeing you here before", he asked curiously. He would have noticed another RK800.
Charles nodded, smiling at Hank. "Yes, I only just started working here a few days ago. A friend of mine told me they were looking for cashiers."
"Ah.... I see. Your friend doesn't happen to be called Clark, or is he?" It was just a shot in the dark, but what were the odds?
The android blinked in surprise for a second, then started beaming at Hank. "That's him! So you remember him from the coffeeshop next door?"
Ooookay..? Charles knew he had met Clark? It wasn't much of a surprise that the RK800s would know each other, but why did they talk about Hank? Besides, it's not like he had talked much with Clark. He only knew his name because the android hat given him his number on his cup...
"Uhm... Yeah. Hard to forget a face like that", he joked lamely and nodded at his cart. "Well, gotta go. See you, Charles." Fortunately the next customer arrived before Charles could say anything else and Hank went home as fast as he could.
When he started unpacking his groceries at home, he stared at a third bar of chocolate, he definitely didn't buy. High quality chocolate, some fancy swiss or german stuff he guessed. Did he buy it on accident?
Hank turned it over and found... Another number. With Charles' name next to it and a fucking perfectly drawn heart.
What. The. Ever. Loving. Fuck?!
"Hank? Did you get the android-brand hair conditioner for me?"
Connor rounded the corner, in nothing but a towel around his waist, hair wet and dripping on his shoulders. Androids didn't really need to shower, but Connor enjoyed it.
"Hank?"
Hank looked up, utterly confused and still holding the chocolate in his hands.
A concerned expression crossed Connor's face and he put a hand on Hank's arm. "What's wrong? Did anything happen?"
"Uh... no. I.... don't think so...?" Hank hid the chocolate behind his back. Connor didn't need to know that other RK800's.... started hitting on Hank? It was most likely just some kind of misunderstanding on Hank's part. Or really just one huge coincidence.
Or that's what he told himself...
