Work Text:
Gavin knew the android had to be fucking with him. There was just no other explanation. The extra robotic voice when talking to him? Running around without his skin? Jerking its limbs around like a possessed puppet? Yeah, fuck that shit. Gavin may have fallen for the act, but he was a detective and a damn good one, he knew Connor only acted that around him. Probably to spite him for hating androids, and Gavin may hate androids but he wasn’t stupid. He knew androids didn’t act like that on the regular, and if they were they likely had some kinda virus or something, and if Connor had a virus he would probably be getting fixed somewhere and not at work. So yeah, Connor was fucking with him.
And Gavin had to live with it, he had tried threatening Hank to get the older man to stop him, he had tried threatening Connor to get him to stop, hell he had even reported it to Fowler but all three options had ended up with him having a week of traffic control duty and traffic duty was the absolute worst. So he managed to deal with it, squeezing his smiley yellow stressball harder than necessary and swearing under his breath whenever Connor started acting extra robotic and creepy.
But this? This? Gavin wasn’t sure how much longer he could take this.
The android was staring at him.
And not just the ‘spaced out while running diagnostics in my head’ staring, Or even just ‘a trainwreck you can’t look away from’ staring which Gavin could understand, he had stayed up late on a case last night and was running on only an hour of sleep. No, this was ‘creepy possessed muder doll’ staring. As in, a blank, unblinking stare while Connor followed Gavin’s movement with his head. And yes, just his fucking head. Once Gavin had noticed what was going on he had tested it, moving back and forth across the office on some pretext or another. And without moving his body, Connor followed him with his eyes, turning his head when Gavin went beyond his vision. Finally, Gavin gave up any sense of pretext and just straight up walked behind Connor just to see what he would do, and the motherfucking android’s head did a complete one-eighty to follow him like some horror movie shit. Gavin hadn’t known androids could even do that.
But again, there wasn’t anything he could do. Fowler had told Gavin that if he tried reporting Connor acting like a ‘creepy mofo’ one more time he would get a suspension and Gavin would rather not thank you very much. His disciplinary folder may be as thick as Anderson’s but unlike the old kook, he wasn’t trying to lose his badge
So Gavin returned to his desk and focused on his work.
Or tried to anyway. It was really fucking hard when there was an android staring at you like they were about to lunge at you with a kitchen knife drawn. It made a guy nervous and Gavin had to restart his report nine times because everytime he tried to write it, it came out sounding like a dime novel horror. And the thing was, Gavin knew Connor couldn’t be staring at him the entire time, surely someone else would’ve noticed by now and said something if he was. But every time Gavin looked up, there across the room was Connor and his unblinking stare.
After almost pulling apart his stressball from how rough he was handling it, Gavin thought ‘fuck it, we’ll play him at his own game’ and so he looked up, tilting his chin up defiantly to meet Connor’s gaze and mouthed, “Bring it.” And then fucking refused to blink.
Now Gavin realized this was a fruitless endeavor, that androids had no need to blink and it was all about the ‘human aesthetics’ or whatever and so at some point or another, Connor would win their little contest. But Gavin knew one thing Connor didn’t, Gavin could go without blinking, for a very, very, very long time. So in that amount of time Gavin would either a) freak out the android enough that he would stop, or b) think of a way to get Connor to blink first, or c) someone would call for Connor’s help, distracting him. And that would likely happen soon, since Anderson was such a helpless bastard.
But in the mean time: Staring
And staring...
And staring...
After maybe a minute Connor, who had had no reaction to Gavin’s declaration of war up until this point, widened his eyes in surprise, making Gavin smirk. Oh, you don’t yet know what you’re in for.
Their standoff continued. Though Gavin placed his hands on his keyboard and began to type as he stared at Connor, he had no idea what his jumbled up thoughts would end up writing but he was sending a clear message of ‘bitch, I got this,’ if Connor’s narrowed eyes were any indication.
Another minute or so passed and Gavin felt his eyes start to ache a little, but he easily ignored it, as a cop he was used to dealing with pain. Meanwhile, Connor’s lips turned down into a frown. Yeah, that’s right, don’t think you’ll win so easily
After another who knows how long Hank finally spoke to Connor, Gavin couldn’t hear exactly what was said, but he recognized the tone of request in Anderson’s voice. Connor almost turned his head to answer before catching himself, focusing his eyes back on Gavin as he responded to Hank’s query. He then stood up and made his way across the room, passing desks with his gaze still locked on Gavin. Gavin had to swivel his chair to keep Connor in his sights, but Connor had to crab walk his way to the breakroom, causing a smirk to cross Gavin’s face.
As Connor got closer to the breakroom, Gavin grew hopeful. Surely they would have to call this a draw once Connor was in the breakroom and they lost sight of each other. Then Gavin could finally go back to being productive.
But once Connor reached the entrance to the break room he stopped and clearly mouthed the words, ‘you blink while I’m gone and you lose.’
“Oh, fuck no!” Gavin declared, vaulting from his chair and speeding towards the breakroom. He knew that Connor would claim Gavin blinked while he was gone and therefore deserved to be winner and Gavin knew that it would be 100% bullshit. So Gavin followed Connor into the break room, the android bastard smiling like he had already won while backing up to the coffee maker and pulling out a mug from the cupboard.
Feeling like a creep just charging into the break room to stare at Connor, Gavin followed the android, grabbing his own mug where it was drying on the dishrack. Then the two of them performed almost a strange sort of dance as they moved around each other to make coffee. They were less than a foot apart as Connor poured Hank’s coffee without even looking at his hands. Then he handed Gavin the coffee pot as he slid past him and towards the fridge for creamer, Gavin rotating his body to follow him like he was a fucking sunflower trailing the sun in hopes of getting some of its light.
And that thought made Gavin growl as he poured himself coffee, swearing when he accidentally spilled some on his hand. He still didn’t blink, though the burn in his eyes felt like it could match the one on his hand.
With another guttural swear Gavin slammed his coffee mug down and sidled over to the sink to run his hand under the water.
Forgoing his careful administration of creamer to Hank’s coffee, Connor approached Gavin with concern in his eyes.
“Are you alright, Gavin?” And Gavin couldn’t believe how fucking sincere the tin can sounded after how much the android had been screwing with him the past month.
“I’ll be fine.” Gavin answered shortly, glaring up into Connor’s eyes. Too irritated to throw out a proper insult.
Connor seemed to ignore this and said instead, “You really should blink Gavin. It’s necessary for clean and healthy eyes.”
“I’ll blink when you do, asshole.” Gavin spat, pulling his hand from the stream of water and violently throwing open the drawer next to the sink to grab a packet of sugar for his coffee, not caring about the wet mess he made of the drawer. Some part of Gavin was aware he was behaving childishly, but he was just, so fucking sick of this.
“Why are you so determined to win this?” And my, wasn’t that a surprise, Gavin expected to be scolded for his behavior or some new creepy robot antics, instead he got honest to goodness curiosity.
“Because I want you to fuck off.” Gavin responded with annoyance.
Connor’s forehead furrowed in confusion, his eyes still unblinking. “How does that work?”
Gavin growled before giving a bit of a defeated sigh. “Because I’m sick of this alright? Sick of you fucking with me and acting all creepy and shit. I get it alright?” In Gavin’s hands, he was tearing the sugar packet to shreds, leaving a mess of sugar. “Androids are people too and your little ‘inhuman’ act was to prove that point and I’m being a dick for acting like androids aren’t people. I fucking get it. So just stop all this bullshit alright? I won’t be a racist dick anymore. So leave me alone to be a regular dick.”
Connor looked, shocked? Guilty? Gavin couldn’t be sure, his eyes were blurring from all the non-blinking going on and his focus was kinda inward as his gut began clenching as he internally freaked out that he was gushing out feelings to Connor of all people.
“Gavin.” Connor said strongly, getting the shorter man to fully focus on him. Once Connor was sure he had Gavin’s full attention, he very slowly, and deliberately, blinked.
“Oh thank fuck.” Gavin gasped, blinking his eyes and rubbing his hands against them to try and will away the sting.
Once Gavin felt like his eyes were at least functional again, he glanced up to find Connor giving him a soft look. Surprised, Gavin asked, “What’s got you looking all gross?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Huh?” Gavin choked in disbelief.
“I didn’t mean to stress you out so much.” Connor clarified. “I should have been more conscientious in my approach to changing your point of view.”
“S’alright,” Gavin muttered shifting uncomfortably, apologies really weren’t his thing, “Probably the only thing that would’ve worked anyways.”
“Still, I should not have gone so overboard.” Connor insisted.
Gavin groaned. “Look, can we just forget this whole thing happened and go back to work? Then we can start ignoring each other unless otherwise necessary.”
“But I don’t want to ignore you Gavin.” Connor stated. “I would like to get to know you better, if you would let me.”
Gavin’s eyebrows almost climbed all the way up to his hairline. Connor was gonna give him whiplash, going from jerking his chain around to wanting to be friends. “You really want to get to know me better?”
“You’re a fascinating man Gavin, and I think there’s a genuinely nice person underneath your crusty exterior that is trying to get out. So yes, Gavin. I really do.”
“Alright fine,” Gavin sighed. “But don’t think you have a chance in hell of helping that nice person break out.” Gavin blustered, wagging a finger in Connor’s face.
“Ah, so you admit you have an inner nice person.” Connor said with a teasing smile.
Gavin threw his hands up in exasperation. “Alright, fuck this, I’m out.” Then swiped his coffee cup from the counter and began stomping back to his desk.
“Hank and I are having people over for the game on Sunday, you should come!” Connor called after him.
Gavin threw Connor the bird over his shoulder, but muttered a, “Fucking fine.” That he knew Connor would hear.
Once Gavin got back to his desk, he had to hide a smile with a sip of coffee. Friends with an android huh? Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad.