Work Text:
Growing up, Gavin was always in the shadow of his little brother, the genius, the one who would go places. Just because he wasn’t so academic, it didn’t mean he was a waste of space, if only his parents could see it that way too. But because he didn’t spend the evenings poring over books and electronics, he was deemed lesser, his hours of practice and training as a gymnast meant nothing to them.
For his 18th birthday, Gavin was given a backpack and shown the door. Elijah needed more room in the house to work on his androids and Gavin’s room was the only available space. So Gavin was kicked out, it didn’t matter what he wanted, his dreams of being at the next Olympics came crashing down. There was nowhere for him to go and after a few cold night spent under bridges and being solicited for all manner of things, Gavin signed up for the army.
As with most things he set his mind to, he was good at it. Ended up being a sniper on a special ops team. He had no regrets, though he did pick up a few bad habits. Smoking, a wicked temper and a knack for acting before thinking when he didn’t have a rifle in his hands. After ten years though, he bowed out, he wasn’t getting any younger and he had no desire to become a fatcat behind a table while playing with people’s lives.
Surprisingly enough, the DPD took him on as an officer and from there it was a matter of getting shit done to become a detective. If he kept on track, he’d be allowed to sit the Sergeant’s exam in a year or two.
Of course, like all plans, his was derailed by the android revolution. They were suddenly recognised as sentient beings who had rights and choices like everybody else. So in a way it made sense that they got to choose their careers and everything else too. Which was how Gavin was summoned into Fowler’s office and introduced to his new partner.
Although a deviant, RK900 acted nothing like a creation with freewill. He was stiff, formal and precised. Oddly enough, Gavin appreciated that. It wasn’t common knowledge that Gavin was ex-army, Fowler knew but not the division Gavin had served in or what his speciality was.
Perhaps it was fate’s way of being funny when it came to light that RK900 had been built to military specifications, unlike his predecessor. It made Gavin take stock of him and reassess his initial impressions. Something told him Fowler already knew and was silently patting him on the back for matching up the two outcasts of the DPD who just so happened to have a common history.
“You already knew I was in the army?” Gavin asked.
“It was in your file,” RK900 replied evenly.
“Bullshit. It’s not in the public file. You hacked my records?”
“I didn’t hack anything. Merely teased open a box that was tied up with string as strong as candyfloss. Your record is quite impressive, even to an android.”
That at least had Gavin barking out a laugh.
“You’re alright, even for an android.”
Somehow, knowing that RK900 knew of his past made it easier. They never mentioned it, never spoke about it but there was a quiet trust that evolved between them. Even others in the bullpen noted how Gavin was more prone to gently ribbing his partner with ridiculous nicknames rather than have a go at him. The name “Nines” even stuck and suddenly, RK900 was part of the team.
Given their line of work, it wasn’t all the unusual for things to go a little tits up. Most of the drug traffickers they’d been after were already cuffed and on the ground but one was still missing. They should have expected him to go dashing away from them, quickly disappearing down an alley. Connor was off after him like a shot but it was android against android. With upgrades freely available, Connor was not longer top of the line and he wasn’t catching up quick enough.
“Give me that,” Gavin growled and swiped a rifle from one of the snipers who had returned from her post. He shouldered it and the familiar calm settled through him as everything but the target ceased to exist. One breath, sight. Two breath, aim.
“Connor DOWN!” he roared on his third breath.
Obediently, Connor dropped and on his next breath Gavin fired. Thirium splattered the walls and the criminal went down. Silence reigned as people stared and fear and awe at Gavin.
“A bit rusty,” Nines piped up from the back of the crowd. He’d been one of the few unlucky to come to blows in the raid, took a few hard knocks but seemed to have bounced back from it.
“Says the dented tin can.”
Connor had grabbed the perp in the meantime and was dragging him back alone until everybody got their wits about them. Gavin slapped Nines on the arm, grinned and left him to it.
The problem with being an android was that admitting to not being perfect was difficult. It was made even worse when the mentality of “keep going” was gouged into coding to such a level that it was borderline painful to go against it. Nines sighed as he woke from stasis, his power levels were insufficient still.
Since the altercation with the drug gang, he’d been out of sorts. A lucky hit had landed on the back of his neck and it must have knocked something out of alignment. For the last four nights, he’d tried to charge but to no avail. To miss another night where he was away from Gavin’s warm embrace had his stress levels ratcheting up even more. There were only so many excuses he could use to avoid going home.
“Morning dipshit,” Gavin grinned at him from across his terminal. Nines smiled.
“What, no kiss?”
It had become something of a habit almost. Stolen kisses when nobody else was around to see. The days Nines didn’t go home with Gavin, invariably the man turned up early to work and dragged him somewhere secluded for a kiss. Weighing up his options, Nines shook his head.
“It’s a busier than average day. The risk is too great.” What he didn’t say was that his power reserves were dangerously low. Excessive movement would only drain him quicker. Even as things stood, he’d shut down all non-essential functions, performed the minimal amount of processing and worked on a single task at a time. He missed Gavin’s look of disappointment.
The day wore on and Nines was conscious of the fact that he was slow. Not even by his or android standards but by human ones.
“Wakey wakey!” Gavin kicked him under the desk. “If you’re going to be slacking off then at least be subtle about it. I’m having to do all the hard work here today.”
“Sorry Gavin,” Nines murmured and dragged his attention back to his task.
He didn’t expect a mug to land by his elbow and a waft of warm thirium hit his sensors.
“Maybe a bit of pick me up will get you back into the swing of things. Considering your lazy ass hasn’t been out of your chair all day,” Gavin stood by his elbow and sipped from his own mug of coffee.
Usually, Nines would have laughed it all off, appreciated the gesture and probably would have pressed a quick kiss to Gavin’s cheek. But he wasn’t operating at his usual levels, he was tired, his power reserves were close to empty and Gavin was chiding him for trying to reserve them. The illogical selfishness of it all made something in him snap.
Nines shoved out of his chair and loomed over Gavin. He grabbed the lapels of his jacket and shook him once with a sneer. Coffee splashed on his shoes and the shards of the dropped mug clattered in the sudden silence as people watched.
“Look here, Detective,” Nines snarled, “I have had it with your prodding. I am doing my best to fulfil objectives but your inane attempts at flirting and general unprofessional behaviour make it beyond difficult. So it is in your interest to buck up your ideas and be hard at work by the time I return.”
He had no idea where he was going to go but Nines needed an out. Gavin stood rigid when he let him go and Nines took a few steps away from him, intent on heading for the door. Only, warnings flashed across his HUD, he’d run out of power and critical functions were shutting down.
It felt like he was watching it from the outside, the way his step faltered, limbs went limp and crashed gracelessly to the ground. Nines didn’t know whether he was grateful or not to find that at least his optical sensors were still functioning when he was rolled onto his back. He almost wished they didn’t work when Gavin’s panicked face drifted into view and a hand patted his cheek. Nines could blink and move his eyes around but nothing more.
“We’ll get you home, get you fixed,” he could read Gavin’s lips saying. They were nice lips. And his thoughts were everywhere if that’s all he could think about.
The world shifted and his vision was suddenly the crook of a neck that was intimately familiar. Their trip back to Gavin’s home was a blur as Nines drifted from thought to thought but they always circled back to Gavin. His love, his dedication, his loyalty. All things that Nines admired about it. He’d never met anyone who cared as deeply as Gavin but fought so hard to show nothing of it.
He felt the charger plug into the port at the back of his neck but nothing happened. From where he lay, Nines had perfect view of Gavin realising things weren’t right, fiddling with things and trying again. Each new attempt deepened his frown and Nines was powerless to reassure him.
The last vestiges of his reserves were slipping away, shut down was imminent and Nines watched Gavin grab his phone. It was impossible to read his lips as he turned away, but his shoulders were hunched, whole body tight with pent up fear. Whatever conversation he’d had didn’t go according to plan judging by the way he threw his phone onto the nearest surface before sitting on the bed next to Nines.
He lifted Nines’ head, pulled him into his lap for comfort Nines didn’t need or feel. Fingers carded through his hair and Nines knew that Gavin was speaking. But he couldn’t spare the processing power to figure out what he said. Eventually, Nines closed his eyes, vaguely aware when he was moved and then more than one set of hands was ghosting over him.
Booting up was never a fun experience, Nines’s cheek twitched as he worked out the kinks in his coding to bring everything back online. The first thing he saw was another android who smiled at him with warmth.
“You gave us quite a scare there, Nines,” she smiled.
It would have been prudent to make conversation with her but she was shouldered out of the way by Gavin who stood toe to toe against him and peered up at Nines in the maintenance rig.
“You do that again and I’m going to rip your wires out to floss the gap between your ears.”
As far as threats went, it was quite a different to usual one. Nines tried to wriggle free of the rig but hands on his waist stopped him.
“You’re not getting out of there until I am satisfied you’re not going to shut down on me again.”
“Let him get to full charge and then you can bully him some more, but let the guy be for now,” a third voice joined in.
Peering over Gavin’s shoulder, Nines was a little taken aback at seeing Elijah Kamski. Though, truth be told, Nines should have expected it. He hadn’t been lying when he told Gavin he’d hacked his files, he knew everything about the man, including his family’s identity. Plus the few videos that still lingered from Gavin’s younger days when he competed in gymnastics. But that was a thought for another day.
Huffing, Gavin looked around and his eyes alighted on a plastic crate, no doubt used to haul the maintenance rig into their living room. He grabbed it and put it formly on the ground in front of Nines before standing on it triumphantly. They were eye level and their noses almost touched.
“Next time you’re injured, you let me know immediately, is that clear?” His tone carried vestiges of barked orders in the army and Nines could appreciate that.
“Crystal,” he replied.
“Good. Because I refuse to lose you.”
Gavin leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his lips, making Nines wish his hands were free to hold him.