Chapter Text
At first Gavin though it was one of his family members, banging around in the kitchen. But the footfalls were too methodical, too measured to be his mother, too calm to be his father, too steady to be his sister. And then Gavin realized what year it was and that he hadn't lived at home in nearly eight years, and rolled over with a groan in a confusing mix of sadness and relief.
Then he assumed the noise from downstairs must've been Benji, and that the idiot was finally up before him for some reason. When he realized he'd broken up with his ex nearly two years ago now he barely had time to feel the even more amplified wave of sadness and relief because.... He fucking lived alone.
Which meant somebody was fucking breaking into his house.
He fell from bed with a slew of curses, fumbling about for his uniform. Because on his tactical belt was his gun and…. Son of a fucking bitch the whole belt, buckle and gun were downstairs on the kitchen counter. Hello, random person breaking into my house, he thought bitterly, here, have my firearm just laying in plain sight. No really, take it, it'll make robbing me soooo much easier for you.
Gavin clumsily swiped a book off the shelf, the manual to something: to his car, or maybe to his gun, if the universe was really feeling like rubbing it in his face his morning. He hefted the book and began a silent descent down the stairs, trying his best to wrangle in his sleep rumpled brain into the task at hand. At least the book was heavy enough to do some damage.
He paused at the foot of the stairs, straining to listen for the sounds of human activity from the kitchen. There was the shuffle of feet, not in thick boots, but in quiet sounding, sensible shoes, too quiet to gauge distance, and then--
“Good morning, detective!”
Gavin didn't look, he just swung the book wildly at the direction of the owner of the voice, heart thumping. He didn't process any of the words, or even the non threatening tone, just the volume. LOUD.
He hit the android in front of him solidly in the jaw, and thank god he wasn't as tall as this intruder into his house, or he would have had proper leverage to take his head off his fucking shoulders. The android barely reacted, just stumbled back, blinking, processing. Gavin grabbed a fistful of shirt, and made sure the androids attention was on his snarling face, (so the android wouldn't notice he was on his tiptoes to be equal in height).
“Who the fuck are you?.... Connor?” Gavin demanded, slamming him back against the counter opposite them for good measure. The android blinked tensed in a frustrated manner. “No. My name is RK900,” he replied crisply, “or, if you would prefer a more…. Human nickname, you may call me Nines. I'm here for the single purpose of assisting you, detective. I've been sent by the captain of the precinct. After the success Lieutenant Hank Anderson had with an android assistant, he agreed amicably to hiring me for the purpose of being your partner. He phrased it for you: “you're even more of an asshole than Hank, Reed. Let's see if an android will fix you too.” I was very pleased to be hired, especially given everything that's happened. I worked with detectives and the police before …. Everything happened and cyber life was shut down. Of course, back then I worked under orders. It seemed too vast a sea of choices, after, so I selected for myself the option to apply for a job similar to what I'd been doing. However, I can also draw on previous experience as --”
“Shut UP,” Gavin finally begged, “PLEASE, stop talking. My head is pounding--”
“That would be the hangover, detective.”
“--and I just need some--”
“Coffee is in the pot.”
“Whatever,” Gavin managed, but he bee lined for the coffee, pouring himself a cup and tuning out whatever the intruder-not-intruder-but-still-kind-of-an-intruder might be trying to say and he poured nearly as much milk as coffee into a cracked mug, and gulped the lukewarm substance down greedily.
“I also made breakfast--” the android-- Rk900-- NINES, whatever, tried to begin. “Yeah, whatever, that's sweet homemaker robot, but I don't eat in the mornings,” Gavin cut him off. “Sustenance is required for human function--”
Gavin didn't even need to cut him off the second time, he simply started walking Nines towards the door with a firm hand on his chest. “Now partner or not, I'm gonna need like WAY more space from you, tin can,” he informed, “in case you were unaware, you DON’T just show up in somebody’s house at eight am-- EVEN if you make coffee,” he pushed Nines out the front door, “I'm going to get ready for work, alright? Nice talking to ya.”
He closed the door with a low sigh, and turned around for a second cup of coffee.
If he was being completely honest with himself, he'd been half hoping to open the door-- after getting dressed and snagging his uniform belt, holster, and gun off the counter-- and find the android gone. Unfortunately, but predictably, he opened the door to the android just standing there-- STANDING THERE-- holding the strap of his messenger bag against his chest with one steady hand, and regarding Gavin with a judgemental frown, almost as if he was appraising, or scanning--
“What, tin can?” Gavin finally settled on, “it's rude to stare.”
“Your heart rate has changed significantly after the consumption of your coffee, detective. Consumption of caffeine to an excess can--”
“You can shove your advice right up your--” Gavin began, walking to the driver side of his car. He stopped as the android mirrored his motions, heading for the passenger seat. “You are not getting in my car!” Gavin all but yelled in frustration, feeling like a petulant child, “dude! The captain assigned you as my partner, not my babysitter, so get your own damn car, and drive your own damn self to the precinct!”
Nines cocked his head to one side, analyzing. “I don't have a car, detective Reed.”
“Then how the fuck did you get to my house?!”
“I …. Walked.”
Gavin was, at this point, reluctant to get in the car, because unlocking it would unlock the passenger door. If he could just get in and then lock it before the android could pull on the passenger side handle….
“You…. walked? From where?”
“The precinct.”
For a moment Gavin was genuinely speechless. “You, I, what the fUCK?! You left before six am to break into my house?”
The android blinked. “I left at four. I had to prepare breakfast--” as he spoke he removed a tinfoil wrapped package and slid it across the roof of Gavin's car to him, “ --as well as your coffee, and check in on your vital signs, as I knew you would protest such a check during your waking hours. It is my duty to--”
Gavin's stomach simultaneously spiked in curiousity from the food smell and hissed in revolt at the fact that it was still not fully awake, distracting him for a moment from what the android was saying.
….check your vital signs….
“You…. You…” Unable to fully articulate how mad he was that the captain had authorized an android to come watch him sleep, Gavin settled on sliding the breakfast burrito aggressively back to him and yelping, “GET THE FUCK OFF MY CAR!”
Surprised, the android stumbled back to catch the tinfoil package, and Gavin lept in the passager seat and locked the doors, grinning in childlike victory. “Fucking ‘droid is NOT getting in my car.”
Nines blinked, cocking his head again in the little pause that meant confusion, before placing his hand against the door handle. Gavin watched in horror as the door unlocked, and the android slid into the passenger seat.
“The captain gave me access to your car. The vehicle itself belongs to the police department,” Nines offered in explanation.
Gavin cursed. And cursed again. And again, setting his head down in his arms on the steering wheel and pressing the car’s horn with his forehead. “Are you quite done?” Nines asked.
Without answering Gavin revved the engine to life, and rolled out of his driveway, staring stiffly ahead through the windshield. Nines set the breakfast burrito down on the centre consol, and Gavin’s glare only worsened, his jaw clenched tightly.
**
Gavin metaphorically kicked and screamed as much as he could stand to do whilst maintaining his dignity, and that in itself was much more metaphorical kicking and screaming than the captain could usually stand, but still he remained firm. Gavin was going to have an android partner. That partner was going to be RK900.
So he glared Nines back into the passenger seat and they set off for a crime scene debreif. Connor and Hank had been all but demanding to be put on all the (admittantly plentiful) cases of humans attacking androids attempting to make it to the freedom of Jericho even after US law had mandated no human may be allowed to keep an android working for them against their will.
So he and the tin can were working on a new red ice dealer case, thank god.
And he had evidence to collect, so he could put off doing those reports, thank god. Gavin didn't think he could make it through a day in the office with the android following him around like a watchdog from the captain.
So yes, by all measures today would have been the optimal day-- no paperwork, all crime scene work-- except for the android.
The investigation wasn't really going much faster or slower with Nines’ help. They came to the same conclusions at about the same time, but Nines felt the need to announce his thoughts on every new clue, thought Gavin was already piecing together himself, and it felt like he was showing off, even though it was moreso a part of his ideas about doing his job that he wanted to inform Gavin of each discovery he was making.
Which drove Gavin absolutely insane, as every time he went to jot down a clue, Nines would point at it and loudly announce, “that seems like a clue, detective.” And Gavin would be absolutely forced to respond, “I KNOW, dipshit, I figured that one out too.”
By the end of an hour, Gavin was loudly announcing his discoveries before Nines could, and soon enough it was just the two of them attempting to one up the other by angrily explaining the crime scene to each other.
“So this evidence, detective,” Nines tried valiantly, “points towards the theory that--”
“He had a second house!” Gavin shouted over top of him, “I figured it out too. Now get in the fucking car, let's go.”
**
When they arrived at the address of the red ice dealer’s second hideout, there were already several cars ideling outside.
“This is the last fucking time I tell the captain where I'm going,” Gavin hissed vehemently, throwing the car door open. Nines followed suit, eyebrows together in confusion, head cocked to the side. “Isn't it protocol to inform the precinct of a lead this large?”
As they spoke, a cop car pulled out from behind the building, lights on but no sirens.
“See,” said Nines, pointing at it as it dissapeared down the road, “they're going to the precinct with suspects from the address we gave them, presumably other red ice users and possibly even dealers. Imagine if they had still been in the house when we arrived.”
“Would've been great,” Gavin replied shortly, slamming the car door and heading in, “coulda beat them up myself.”
“Detective! That's not--”
“GAVIN REED!” Came a booming voice, “never thought I'd see the day you'd get an android to do your job for you!! Goddamn and especially now, you're probably even paying the piece of plastic, aren't you?”
“Yes, I make--” Nines began. “Shut it,” Gavin and the new detective chorused at the same time, before glaring at one another. “Ross,”Gavin ground out. “Reed,” the new man replied with equal venom, and a new measure of amusement.
There was no way Gavin was about to admit to Terrence Ross that the captain of his precinct had saddled him with a babysitter.
From inside the house was movement, not the suspects, because they were gone. “Fuck,” Gavin mumbled, kicking the curb on his way towards the front door, “who called the fucking feds?”
“Your very own captain fowler,” Ross shot back, and the two men glared at each other again. Gavin took back all his thoughts that the android was the only thing making this day horrible. Everything was making this day horrible, and his head hurt, and he was finally hungry but fuck if he was gonna tell Nines that.
Gavin had never seen a crime scene full of people so on edge. The minute he walked in the hostility hit him like a brick wall. But he took a deep breath through his nose, and glared back at the glares he recieved, ready to bare his teeth all the way if necessary. This was HIS crime scene, he’d got the lead that carried them all here, him, the ‘droid, Terrance Ross, Captain Fowler, and the two Feds standing over a body in the living room. This was Gavin’s lead and he belonged here. Not only was he was ready to fight for that if neccissary, he was more than ready to cut through the bullshit tension in the room, and attempt to assert his dominance over the situation, so he could get the facts, and do his goddamn job.
“Look! It's the damsel in distress who called this one in!” One of the Feds called. Gavin bristled, but he managed to reply with a short and effective, “I didn't call for backup. I called the lead in to the precinct. Per protocol. Because I do my job. I dunno why you dipshits are here, but I can tell you that I didn't invite you.”
The fed that had spoken rolled his eyes and went back to the body, but Gavin counted that as a victory. “Gavin--” Nines began. Gavin’s red alarms went all the way back to full blaring mode. If nines thought he could show off infront of the Feds, not to mention Ross, when all Gavin needed was them off of his case-- “shut up!” He snapped at the android.
“But--”
“If you don't shut up I'm going to shove that plastic tie of yours down your plastic throat--”
“Trouble in paradise?” Ross asked nonchalantly from the window, sweeping dust into an evidence bag.
Gavin lunged at him. It wasn't what he wanted to do. He wanted to formulate something cutting to yell back, something that would hurt Ross like Ross was trying to hurt him, but he didn't plan on hitting the other detective.
“REED!!” Captain fowler a voice cut through the thick air of the crime scene, “get the fuck off of Ross! Outside! Now! You're off this case, go back to the station, write your report, get another case! This is too important for you to fuck it up before you've even done anything remotely helpful! This case is now between Detective Ross’ precinct, the FBI, and me-- I said outside!!”
Gavin stormed out, Nines on his heels.
Gavin wanted to tells Nines to fuck right off and stop following him around like a dog, but his throat felt hot and God, if he cried right now--
“Gav-- Ga-- GAVIN!” Nines yelled. Gavin stopped punching he wall to roughly shrug the hand off his shoulder. He looked down at his knuckles and breathed evenly, trying to will away the releaved sigh at how much BETTER he felt. All the knuckles on his right hand were puckered, pink, and swollen, but only one had broken and begun to leak bright red blood.
“What are you doing?!” Nines demanded, with an inflection Gavin had yet to hear in his voice. “Sometimes humans do dumb shit to feel better,” Gavin grit out, “deal with it.” He rested his forehead against the bricks, breathing deep into his stomach. “That damaged you!” Nines insisted, “and my programming-- my job-- my one job requirement is that you not be injured or damaged!!--”
Gavin turned to him, already buzzing with frustration again. But Nines’ face looked SO UPSET, and Gavin did a double take at not only the confusion painted across his strong features, but also the emotion there.
“There were traces of red ice fumes in the house,” Nines said quietly, “the suspects taken back to our precinct must have been smoking right before they were taken away. Not thick enough fumes for humans to detect, but my sensors are much stronger…. Anyway, as you know, red ice fumes can cause aggression, frustration and violence, especially for humans who are unused to the drug.”
Red ice. THAT’S why Gavin had had zero control over his emotions in there. “Why the fuck didn't you tell me that the moment we got in the door?!” He demanded, “that's literally the only piece of information I couldn't have known, the only way you could've been helpful today!”
“I tried to, detective,” nines said evenly, “you told me to shut up or you would, how did you say it? Shove my plastic tie down my plastic throat?”
Oh. Nines had him there.
“Give me your injured hand,” Nines demanded, with zero trace of bedside manner, “it's bleeding, I'll wrap it.”
“No thanks,” Gavin shot back roughly. He pulled his sleeves down over his hands so if he ran into anybody else from the house they wouldn't see, and pushed himself off the wall. He just needed to get to his car.
“Come now, detective,” Nines insisted, reaching out. Were all the police androids this fucking pushy about their “jobs”? And this grabby? Gavin slapped his hand away with a hiss, like a cat.
“Detective,” Nines huffed, “this isn't even a, how did you say it…. ‘Fucking creepy android thing’. Wouldn't a normal officer bandage his partner’s wound?”
Gavin began to speed walk determinedly to his car, Nines trailing. “Too bad I don't want a partner, and I don't have a partner,” Gavin called over his shoulder, because you don't count, tin can.”
Gavin threw himself into the car, unconsciously waiting for Nines to slide in after him before revving the engine. He gripped the wheel with his left hand, the non-bloody one.
He felt lightheaded. Fuck. And hungry. How far was the nearest food? He didn't really have the emotional stamina to talk to anybody, and if he went all the way home he'd never go back to the precinct, which would land him in even more trouble. He shouldn't have drank all that coffee without eating anything.
Fuck his pride, he would just admit that--
Nines slid the breakfast burrito, still warmer than room temperature, across the car’s centre consol to Gavin. Gavin grunted his approval, but blushed, thankful that he hadn't had to ask. Nines smiled out the passenger seat window. For the first time he was successful in his mission.
**
Gavin scrubbed a hand over his face, yawning and blinking back the light of the computer screen. He wanted to finish this damn report, but he and the android were the last two souls left at the precinct, and it was getting late-- even by Gavin Reed standards.
“Detective,” Nines said crisply, pulling him out of his thoughts, “the other officers have gone home, to rest. It's recommended that you do the same.”
“Fuck off.”
“The optimal amount of sleep for a human your age is--”
“I said fuck off,” Gavin grumbled instantly, putting his head down in his arms, “and why the fuck are you still here, dipshit? Go home. Or…. Back to wherever you came from.”
“I don't require sleep, detective,” Nines informed him, “and as for where I came from, I've been staying here the past few nights.”
“What…. in the precinct?” Gavin asked incredulously.
There was a moment of silence, and though Gavin couldn't see, his head still pillowed in his arms, he could clearly picture the android’s curt and earnest nod. “I sit in the chair in the staff room and put myself into resting mode until the human detectives return in the morning.”
“What the fuck?” Gavin grumbled tiredly, the sound muffled, “you know that's creepy as all hell, right?”
“Where would you prefer me to be during the night hours, detective? I could just as easily sit in rest mode at your place of residence.”
“What, my house?” Gavin asked, finally lifting his head up, “fuck no!”
Nines gave an exasperated sigh, staring at Gavin with his eyebrows raised to convey his frustration. Gavin stood, cracking his back. “I am going to go home,” he announced, tossing the report folder to Nines, “you finish this and I'll review it tomorrow. After you're done you can…. Hibernate or whatever the fuck in the coffee room--”
“--put myself into rest mode--”
“--yeah that,” Gavin grumbled. At the door he stopped, swinging his coat on, and turned back to Nines to add, “and don't come to my house tomorrow, okay? It's fucking creepy. Just wait for me at the precinct.”
Nines’ eyebrows rose imperceptibly, but he nodded. “Got it. I'll be here.”
“Yeah, whatever.”