Chapter Text
On his 38th birthday, Gavin’s lying on his bed. He shuts his eyes and tries to sleep, but he fails miserably, because he keeps thinking about the android in stasis beside him.
Connor.
On nights like this one, Gavin often wonders how his 36-year old self would react if he’d gone back in time and told himself, “Hey, you know that dipshit detective android you hate so much? You’re gonna end up together.”
He thinks past Gavin would react somewhere along the lines of assaulting him first, while shouting things like “What the fuck?”, “Who are you?”, and “Why do you look like me?” Once they get that sorted out and they’ve stopped trying to kill each other, past Gavin would process what he was told and say something like, “Tin can and I are gonna what?!”
He wouldn’t blame himself. It used to be entirely unthinkable. He and Connor? Not in a million years. Not if he were offered to be DPD captain in exchange. Not if he were offered a big shot position at the FBI. Never.
But when he looks at the calm blue of Connor’s LED, the out of place tuft of hair on his head that Gavin always wants to fix, and the slight smile on his lips, he thinks, 36-year old me was such an asshole.
Connor’s eyes open slowly, with his LED shining a muted yellow against the dark of Gavin’s bedroom. Their gazes meet. Connor asks, in the same innocent tone Gavin once hated so much, “Detective, what are you thinking about?”
Gavin fights the smile forming on his lips, because this shit is just too sappy for him, so he says, “Wanna know what it is? I’m thinking about why my dipshit boyfriend still calls me ‘detective’ after 2 years.”
Connor smiles. He inches himself closer to Gavin to snuggle up with him, setting his head down over Gavin’s shoulder. “Perhaps once you stop calling me ‘tin can’ and ‘dipshit boyfriend’, I may consider calling you ‘Gavin’.” Gavin feels the android’s breath on his neck. It’s warm, almost human. He honestly can’t tell the difference.
“Not in a million years, prick.”
As Gavin closes his eyes, feeling the sleep washing over him, Connor gives him a soft kiss on his neck.
“Then I suppose we’ll stick with ‘detective’.”
***
Fowler sealed Gavin’s fate the very first time he partnered him with Connor on a case, because Hank had taken a break.
The case started with a lot of shouting, swearing, and a few missed punches - all mostly from Gavin. Or maybe it was all from him, but who’s keeping score?
Even then, they solved it in record time. Gavin will never forget the shock on Fowler’s face when they came back to him with a solved case. “It was mostly me,” Gavin had told the captain.
“Our contributions were evenly split in this particular case,” Connor replied. “I have documented evidence that we worked equally as partners.”
Gavin was not happy with that response, but Fowler definitely was. He gave them a half-smile, which, by precinct law, meant that he felt obscenely happy. So, he assigned them a second case. Then a third case. And a fourth one.
For a while, Gavin wondered when he’d stop getting paired up with Connor. He didn’t like to admit it, but the android kept growing on him with every case. Yes, he was a talented detective. Yes, he annoyed Gavin to death with his constant good mornings, how are you todays, and that much caffeine is unhealthy, detective, regardless of how shitty Gavin was to him the day before. Connor always took the high road. He stayed consistent about it, unlike most humans, and he eventually earned Gavin’s respect.
Unfortunately, Gavin also knew that, inside his own fucked up mind, his respect combined with annoyance would eventually turn into something else. Soon, Gavin couldn’t stop noticing the slight breathiness to Connor’s voice, how sincere his smile was, the out of place tuft of hair on his head that he desperately wants to reach out and fix, and the way his LED would spin yellow when talking to him. Like he was processing something. Or figuring something out. Even when all they were talking about was the weather.
It wasn’t long before their partnership turned into something more.
***
It’s almost Christmas on their tenth case together. For this case, Gavin’s the one who figures out which of the suspects is the perpetrator. He bets his ass he’s proud of it, so while they’re in his car and he’s driving them to the perp’s house for the arrest, he turns to Connor and says, “I win this round. Score’s five on five.”
Connor doesn’t pause even for a second. “It’s a score for both of us. We’re partners, detective.”
Gavin has named his partner as the “most boring competitor”. He’s always talking about “optimal unit cohesion”, “smooth working relationships”, or whatever canned response Gavin assumes Cyberlife programmed into him.
Gavin grunts. Partly because Connor’s no fun, and partly because he still gets all flustered when Connor says they’re partners. It’s all thanks to their shitty “I love you” confessions last Christmas, and their shitty movie dates, and maybe Tina, who never misses an opportunity to pimp Gavin out to whoever’s interested. He has no idea how much Tina had a hand in getting them together.
With one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the gear shifter, Gavin makes a turn. Connor’s looking out the car window, and he says, “Detective, I have been thinking about our upcoming skiing trip.”
The winter has covered the city in full force, so Gavin’s stare stays straight on the road, following the icy path and making sure he’s driving carefully. “Okay, first thing - it’s been two years, so stop calling me detective. Second thing: I think I hyped that up way too much.”
Connor turns to look at him so fast it looked like he’d snap his neck - if he were human. “Definitely not! I’m quite excited. I-”
“Oh, here we go,” Gavin says, chuckling a little bit with his own brand of playfulness.
“-I have been researching and running simulations regarding the optimal body posture required to travel down a slope as quickly as possible.”
Gavin has to laugh, because that’s the most Connor thing he’s heard from the android all day. “You’re such a friggin’ nerd.”
“And my observations from your stories of past relationships indicate that you prefer that personality in men.” Connor turns to look at him, wearing that slight smile of his.
“I - uh - shut up, nerd.”
Connor doesn’t drop his smile. He just says, “I believe you can do better than that response.” It earns an eye roll from Gavin.
Connor’s probably gotten used to Gavin’s type of affection by now, because all he does is reach down and wrap his hand on top of Gavin’s, rubbing small circles with his thumb. Gavin’s hand tingles a little from the warmth, and he gets too caught up in the sensation, so he doesn’t see the speed bump on the road. The car bounces and slides forward a little too much for comfort.
“I’m sorry. Am I distracting you?”
“You think?”
Connor looks down at both of their hands, and from this angle Gavin can see his LED blinking yellow. “Your hand is warmer than its average temperature over the past weeks.”
“Wow, that’s so sweet. Remind me again why we’re together?”
Connor doesn’t drop it. He never does. “Are you feeling uneasy? We are currently moving 15.8% slower than your usual driving speed.”
“Look. I just wanna get this done with no hiccups. If you weren’t such a prick about it, I’d be doing this alone. To make sure you...uh...” Gavin trails off, because he still can’t bring himself to say the kind of thing he’s about to say.
“I understand. You would like me to be safe so that you can spend time with me,” he says.
With a smile on his face, Gavin says, “Don’t let it get to your head.”
Connor just gives him a wink.
Shit .
Everything went wrong with the suspect’s arrest. Everything.
Gavin hates pacing, but when all he can think of is the shitstorm that is his life, it’s what he ends up doing. It’s Christmas season. The last thing he wants to do is pace around an android repair room while watching over an unconscious Connor. Of course, life never gives Gavin what he wants, so here he is.
The worst part about this whole mess is seeing Connor wrapped in a seriously unnecessary number of heating pads, surrounded by a bunch of monitors printing out logs Gavin can’t understand. It’s a scene from one of those stupid medical soap operas from when he was a kid, and Gavin is not on board with this episode of Connor’s Anatomy.
“Detective Reed, I think you should take a seat and calm down,” Markus pipes up from the door as he enters the room.
Gavin stops pacing and looks up. “Oh yeah? If you really want me to ‘calm down’, maybe one of you dipshits could start telling me what the hell’s happening to him.”
“That’s what I came here to do.”
“Then do it.”
“Detective, you and Connor may be bonded, but he and I are friends. I, too, care-”
“Yeah, cool. Here’s a fun fact: I don’t give a shit. Can we get to the part where you tell me what’s happening to him?”
Markus shoots him a pointed glare, which is really a look Gavin’s gotten used to since pretty much everyone gives it to him.
Gavin taps his wrist with a finger, saying, “Clock’s ticking.”
Markus looks like he’s about to say something boring and preachy, like he always does. Instead, he walks over to the monitors beside Connor and does that weird android skin retracting thing that Gavin can never get used to. “His logs say he was submerged in subzero temperatures for one minute and twenty five seconds,” says Markus.
“And?”
“He shut down. It means he was dead for almost thirty seconds,” Markus continues.
This is it. Gavin’s finally topped himself in the screwing up department. This is the tenth case he and Connor have partnered on, and everything went so spectacularly fubar he doesn’t even know what he’s gonna tell Hank, but he bets his ass Hank’s got something to say. The man always does. In fact, Gavin knows the first thing that’s gonna come out of Hank’s mouth: “Goddamn, Reed, what the hell happened?”
He honestly wouldn’t be able to answer.
It’s absolutely shit that he didn’t even see what happened to Connor, because Connor, being the total asshole on robot legs that he is, couldn’t wait for him before chasing down the suspect. It’s seriously shit that it ended up being a trap and Connor got thrown underside an iced up lake. It’s fucking ridiculous that Connor malfunctioned so fast Gavin’s heart almost gave out from panicking while pulling him out. Fucking ridiculous.
“So…”
“We replaced the irreparable components and have given him blue blood, but I’m concerned about his central processing unit.”
Gavin doesn’t say anything, because, really, what the fuck do you say when you find out your boyfriend basically died?
“We can’t determine the extent of the damage until he wakes up. I have to warn you, detective, he might be...different.”
Gavin chuckles, because this really was a fucking soap opera. He sits down on the table beside Connor, closing his eyes and burying his face in his hands, trying to keep himself from shouting the place down.
As Gavin processes everything he’s been told, Markus starts speaking. “Connor’s a well-designed android. He’ll make it. I suggest you-”
“Thanks. Just...uh...just go.”
After a few moments, Markus’ footsteps echo around the room, and the sound of the door closing is a little too loud in Gavin’s ears.
December isn’t a pretty month for Gavin. Christmas parties, holiday cheer, and Mariah Carey’s god forsaken song still playing everywhere 40 years later just isn’t his thing. This year, it looks like his Christmas gift is having to watch over his partner, who’s still unconscious even a day later. Markus had told him, “His subroutines are rebuilding his personality. It will take time. Find some time to rest yourself too.”
Merry Christmas , Gavin guesses.
It’s night time again. The last 24 hours have been nothing but him pacing around the sterile white room, sitting back down beside Connor, staring at him for a few minutes, then getting back up and pacing again. It’s the worst possible routine to be stuck in, but he can’t get himself out of it. Honestly, which android thought it was a good idea to make android hospitals look just like actual hospitals? Don’t they know how much humans hate hospitals?
At some point, he mutters, “Wake the fuck up, Connor. We’re supposed to go skiing. Remember? You wouldn’t shut up about it.” He sits back down and stares again. Step two and three of the routine.
Last Christmas was their first Christmas together. They went to a cabin in some town Gavin didn’t even know existed until Connor brought it up. The android has weird tastes in vacations, he’d thought then. Gavin would rather just stay at home, cuddle up to Connor on the couch and watch whatever’s on TV.
But god damn if the few days at the cabin weren’t the best Christmas holidays he’d ever had. Not that the bar was set high, but it felt great. They had a snowball fight. An actual snowball fight with Mr. RK800, the most advanced android Cyberlife has ever built.
He won that fight, or at least he’d like to think that Connor didn’t just let him win.
“Come on tin can. Skiing. It’ll be fun. Just us. Down the slopes, right? I’ll teach you, then you’ll do that android crap where you get it on your first try. It’ll be completely unfair.”
Connor doesn’t have a heartbeat monitor. Instead, it’s a bunch of screens printing out logs that Gavin doesn’t understand. Markus visits every few hours, places a hand to the machines, and does that weird skin retracting thing androids do. Gavin will never get used to that. It’s just too unnatural.
When Markus finishes, he gives Gavin an update. Each and every update gets Gavin’s heart pumping. Is Connor waking up yet? Good news? Bad news? Markus just says it’s hard to tell.
Fuck that.
“Wake up for fuck’s sake. You don’t need sleep. It’s just stasis, right? Just wake up and listen to me complain about shit. Like we always do.”
Gavin’s pacing again. His stomach’s grumbling because he hasn’t eaten in a day, and his mood’s a mess right now. He’s a mess. This is a mess. Total fubar.
He hasn’t even told Hank about it.
“Just show me you’re okay. Blink once. Twice. I don’t fucking care.”
Gavin doesn’t know when his eyes started welling up, but as he buries his face in his hands, telling himself to stop with the drama, he’s just thankful Markus didn’t visit for the rest of the night.
At noon, Hank shows up after Gavin finally mustered the courage to call him. He fully expected Hank’s shock, his yelling, then his closing “Goddamn. I’ll be right there” before dropping the call.
What he didn’t expect was Hank arriving then pulling up a chair and doing nothing but sit beside him. No lectures. No telling him off. Just silence. Gavin didn’t know what was worse: the silence or a lecture, but at least if Hank were yelling, he’d know what the man was thinking.
“Got you a burger.”
Gavin doesn’t take his eyes away from Connor when he says, “Not hungry.”
“Don’t be a drama queen, Reed. Just eat it. Pretty sure you’ve been glued to that chair since you got here.” Hank hands him a burger and Gavin finally looks at him. He takes the burger with shaking hands, only now realizing he’s gotten a raging migraine from starving himself.
They sit there, with the silence broken only by the sounds of Gavin eating. Hank hands him a large soda.
With a piece of burger in his mouth, Gavin says, “You know, Connor never lets me eat this shit.”
“Yeah, I know. He gave me the whole eating healthy speech the first time we had lunch.”
“Hm.” Gavin nods. He scrunches up the burger wrapper as he finishes, and slurps the rest of the drink, putting the paper and the cup down on the floor. His legs bounce up and down. It’s a nervous habit, because he knows Hank’s sizing him up, and he just can’t handle being put under a microscope right now. Even worse: Hank probably feels bad for him. That’s why he’s quiet. That’s why he got food. Gavin rests his back on the chair and closes his eyes with his hands behind his head.
It’s a few minutes later when Hank finally says something. “You should stop worrying. Connor’ll pull through.”
Gavin turns to look. “Oh yeah? You can read the logs? Do they say ‘Connor will pull through’? ”
“Don’t get smart with me. Just calm down and wait.”
“I’ve been waiting 36 hours. I don’t get it. Connor’s a fucking robocop. Aren’t they supposed to - I don’t know - fix up really fast?”
“Reed, I’m old enough to not know how they work, but I’m also old enough know that sometimes, you can’t do nothin’ but sit down and wait.”
“I am waiting. Sitting on my ass too. See?”
“Fuckin-A, stop being an ass about this. I’m just sayin’, being worried ain’t gonna do you any good. I get how you feel, Reed, but it’s pointless.”
And this is exactly the kind of crap Gavin doesn’t need to hear right now, so he just crosses his arms and turns to Connor.
“You don’t have to torture yourself. Why don’t you go outside? I’ll be here if he wakes up.”
It takes Gavin a few moments, because he’s looking at Connor’s blank face. Connor’s face hasn’t been this blank since he deviated. Ever since then, he’s looked too human with all the expressions he’d put on: anger, sadness, and most often a smile. Sometimes it was confusion, where he’d tilt his head slightly to the side and blink. “What are you, a fuckin’ puppy?” Gavin had once remarked.
He does miss it though. That puppy dog look. And god, it hurts. It hurts to think that when Connor wakes up, something would change. That maybe he’ll never see that look again.
When Gavin gets to the door, he stops for a moment. He doesn’t know why, but he just feels like he has to say it to someone: “We were supposed to go skiing.”
“I know.” Hank says.
Gavin nods, leaving the room.
Gavin’s walking towards the ice cream shop, because, hey, what’s Christmas without eating ice cream by himself? It’s nothing new to him.
The shop’s name is plastered over the sign, in disgustingly cute pinks and blues, saying, “Snow Days: Gelato and Cakes.” This time, though, the sign’s caked in snow, just like everything else in the city. Fitting.
Fuck snow. Fuck ice. Fuck frozen lakes with subzero temperatures.
He’d come here with Connor every now and then, even if the android couldn’t really eat anything. Gavin loves mint chocolate gelato, which everyone else says is utter blasphemy, but he’s never been one to give a crap. The routine’s well-practiced by now. He’d go over to the counter, pretend to choose a flavor, then order mint chocolate. Connor would find a table, sit down, and wait for Gavin to give him a small bit of ice cream, just because he’s fascinated by the “mixture of cold temperatures and high amounts of saccharose, glucose, and fructose”. Connor would tell him, “This is not entirely healthy, but it’s permissible in small amounts.” Gavin would just roll his eyes and say, “Ugh. Can a man eat his ice cream without all the health crap?”
Rick, the cashier who’s known them for way too long pipes up from behind the counter. “Hey, Gavin! What’s up? Merry Christmas.”
“Yeah, uh, merry christmas to you too.”
“Connor’s not with you?”
It takes all of those three words to send Gavin back to the repair room, imagining Connor like the spitting image of a human on life support.
“He...uh...no. He’s not here.”
“Ah, well. Wanted to let him try a new flavor.”
And Gavin has to keep up appearances. Maybe for Rick. Maybe for himself - just to lull himself into thinking everything’s normal, so he says, “What’s that?”
“Thirium! Someone finally came up with the bright idea.”
“I thought androids couldn’t eat.”
“You’d be surprised. Those YK500’s love it.”
“Huh.”
For a moment, something washes over Gavin, and he completely forgets about the mint chocolate staring him in the face. Instead, he hands over his cash in exchange for the blue-tinged gelato. Exiting the store with a cup of frozen thirium in hand, he begins walking back to Jericho.
Connor would’ve loved this .
He’s right in the middle of the road when he realizes how stupid it was to buy ice cream for an android who literally shut down from being frozen for too long. Good job, Gavin, you fucking screw up.
Maybe he stood there for too long, because the next thing he hears is a car honking at him. He rushes forward, almost slipping on the snowy pavement and almost dropping the ice cream.
He flips the car off and collects himself, briefly wondering what he should do with the ice cream he obviously can’t give Connor. Instead, he shoves a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth.
Then he spits it out almost immediately, because it tastes like horseshit.
When his phone vibrates in his pocket, he fishes it out without skipping a beat. It’s Hank.
“Told you to stop worrying. Connor’s awake.”
He’s never run faster before in his life.
When Gavin enters Connor’s room again, the android is sitting up. Markus is looking over and examining him while they talk. Hank’s still sitting down with crossed arms, sporting a slight smile on his face. Everything looks normal. Gavin’s hands get warm, because Connor’s back, and they can finally get back to doing boring things like chasing suspects and skiing.
“Hey, plastic! You had me worried sick.”
Connor turns away from Markus to look at Gavin. The android tilts his head slightly to the side. Then he blinks.
“Good day. My databases indicate that you are Detective Reed. My name is Connor. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
***
It’s still weird as hell for Gavin to think about the first time he and Connor hung out. Right after their second case, Gavin asked him to go to a bar. The android wouldn’t quit asking why they were going, considering he can’t really drink anything other than to sample it.
“For phck’s sake would you shut up? Sue me for wanting to get to know my partner better.”
Connor gave a soft, “Oh,” and Gavin would be lying if he said he didn’t feel bad for nagging at him.
The truth is, Gavin only wanted to do one thing when he asked Connor to go to the bar, but he bet his ass he needed a few drinks before he could get it out. So that’s exactly what happened. They talked for a bit. Connor just kept spouting a lot of crap about how he doesn’t understand the purpose of getting drunk, what Gavin’s opinion of drinking is, and why he thinks Hank still likes drinking even if he’s “resolved his personal issues”. If Gavin were being honest, he was irritated to all hell, but he just couldn’t get mad at Connor for being so...innocent.
Eventually, he got the buzz he was looking for.
“So, uh, I gotta tell you something.”
“What is it, detective?”
Connor perked up when he said that, like the android was half-expecting this, and things were going according to his calculations. And...shit, Gavin had to move it along.
“I...wanted to…”
“Yes, detective?”
“ Phck . Stop calling me detective.”
“Oh. What would you prefer?”
Gavin almost rolled his eyes, but that would defeat the whole point of what he was about to do, so he took a deep breath and said, “Just...Gavin. Call me Gavin.”
“Of course. What would you like to tell me, Gavin?”
Connor smiled that stupid smile like he was the nicest person in the world and Gavin, the shitty guy that he was, did not deserve that.
“Just...wanted to say sorry.”
“For what?”
“I...you know.”
“I don’t believe I do.”
“Uh…yeah, uh...”
Just then, Gavin caught a hint of slyness to Connor’s smile, and Gavin finally rolled his eyes.
“You really want me to say it, don’t you? Torture me? Make me face the consequences of my actions and all that crap?”
“Yes. Of course. My priority directive is to make you suffer.” Connor said it like it was the most natural thing in the world, and Gavin had no idea where he got this sense of humor. It sounded exactly like something Tina would say. He couldn’t stop himself from laughing. “I believe you were apologizing for something that is currently unknown to me,” Connor continued.
“Cut it out you piece of plastic.”
“That’s not very polite.” Connor pouted. Actually pouted. This fucking asshole , Gavin thought.
“Ugh, fine. Jesus christ. I’m sorry for-” Gavin balls his hands into fists, because, god, this was painful, so he took deep breath.
“It may help if you just let it out, detective.”
“Look, I’m sorry for everything that I did before the revolution. I was a piece of shit. There, I said it. I kept pushing you around and calling you names, but I’m worse. I almost killed you once. Then I beat you up.” Gavin said it all in one breath.
“I’m quite certain it was the other way around, and until now you haven’t stopped calling me names. But yes, please continue.”
Gavin let out another laugh. Connor’s funnier than he thought. Then again, he was buzzed. Maybe anything could be funny to him right now, like the fact that he’s sitting at a bar, getting drunk with an android, and apologizing to him. Definitely not a scene he ever thought he’d be in.
“Yeah...uh. I’m just...sorry. Honestly, you’re not all bad. I...have zero ideas about how to make it up to you.”
“Yes, I have been called nice - by multiple sources.” There’s that sly smile again, and Gavin’s wanted to wipe it off the android’s face since five minutes ago. “And forgiving as well.”
He raises an eyebrow. “You’re shitting me. Does Hank count as five sources or something?”
“You would be surprised to know that Officer Chen and I have been quite friendly lately.”
“Damn. You say that like you’re sleeping together.”
The sly smile was off. Replaced by...wide-eyed embarrassment. Gavin couldn’t help but laugh again. “I’m just messing with you. But if you were sleeping together, I - uh - support you. I guess.”
“No, detective. I assure you I am not having sexual relations with Officer Chen.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s called a joke, dipshit. Laugh a little.”
Connor nodded with a slight smile on his lips. They sat in silence for a little while, with Gavin taking a swig of his drink every once in a while. Eventually, Connor pipes up, smiling genuinely.
“Detective. I have to tell you something as well.”
“Oh yeah? What is it?”
“You’re not so bad yourself. Perhaps we’ll see how you can make it up to me.”
***
Gavin really, really hates pacing, but that’s what he does in front of Hank and Markus while shouting the building down outside Connor’s repair room. Markus tries to calm him down, but he can only do so much when there’s a storm raging inside Gavin’s head.
“Bullshit! You’re telling me you stupid androids just up and forget two fucking years worth of memories?”
“Detective, why don’t you take a break first? You need-”
“Do I look like a goddamn baby to you?! I need to fix this.”
Hank pipes up from beside Markus, saying, “Reed, come on. We’ll figure it out. It’s-”
“Yeah? What the fuck’s your solution?”
“Jesus. I’m on your side here. Just calm down for a moment and we can-”
“Why’s everyone telling me to calm down?! For fuck’s sake it’s not like we spilled milk on the goddamn floor. Connor - my shitty ass boyfriend - can’t remember who the hell I am! Two goddamn years! All fucking gone just like that!”
A silent, awkward moment washes over everyone. Gavin’s tapping his foot on the floor, expecting answers, solutions - anything that’d actually fix this bullshit. Markus gazes at him, probably mincing words in his head. “We know. Our team has a theory about why, but you need a clear head before I explain.”
“Go ahead. My head’s clear.”
“Detective-”
“Just. Fucking. Say it.”
Markus sighs, then he says, “When an android is about to shut down, thirium transfers memories from different storage units all over the body into the central processing unit for archiving. We think the extreme cold temperatures interrupted the process.”
“So...shit sucks, but why can’t he remember me specifically?”
“His memories of you were likely stored in an accessory storage unit and didn’t make it to the central processing unit.”
“That just means it’s still there, right? In the other storage units?” Gavin asks. Markus doesn’t nod in agreement. “Just gotta reupload it and bam ? He’ll remember me?” Why isn’t Markus agreeing?
Markus pauses, averting his eyes and eyeing Hank. Gavin still hates it when people pause. Couldn’t people just give it to him straight? Life would be so much easier that way.
“All his accessory storage units were damaged beyond repair. I’m sorry, detective. The data has been lost.”
Okay, life is not easier that way. Life’s fucking hard. Shit sucks. This sucks. And Gavin doesn’t even know what to say.
Hank reaches out a hand to Gavin’s shoulder, but he slaps it away. Hank starts saying, “Reed...I-”
Gavin doesn’t hear the rest of it. He just says “Shut up” and walks away. He wants to be anywhere but here. Anywhere he can think. Anywhere he can figure this out.
Anywhere far from Connor.