Archive of Our Own ^beta

so very cherry nerd: r u working rn

Gavin: no y

so very cherry nerd: nothing

Three resounding knocks echo throughout Gavin's apartment.

Gavin: did ur nothing just knock on my door

so very cherry nerd: y dont u answer it and find out ;)

Gavin: thats seriously strawberry of you eli

Gavin puts down his phone, slides off of his bed, and puts on some pants. Usually Elijah's pranks are subtle and will only explode in his face when he's at his most vulnerable and peaceful moments, so he must be really scraping the bottom of the barrel with this one. Gavin's already mentally prepared for whatever dumb, juvenile prank that Elijah has in store for him today. He's even prepared if he opens the door and it's just the Amazon delivery man with a package of spoons and he's left worrying the whole day on why Elijah sent him a bundle of spoons. He won't shake, he won't falter; he will march right on to victory without fear, no matter the circumstance. He looks through the peephole and sees the collar of a CyberLife jacket and the bottom of the man's face. Slowly, he opens the door, keeping the chain there.

"Yeah?"

"Hello. I am an RK900, designation #313 248 317 - 87. I am sent by Elijah Kamski to be your personal android and to protect you should the situation arise for it."

Gavin stops for a moment, then quickly unchains his door and flings it open. There stands a typical tall, dark man with ice cold eyes straight out of a fairytale. He looks almost exactly like Connor, but his finer facial features makes him appear more standoffish and calculating. His CyberLife jacket is a fresh design too, a sleek white design with black on the edges with the telling aquamarine triangle and band on it and the "RK900" label.

Gavin narrows his eyes. "Shouldn't you be fighting? There's a whole revolution going on right now."

"I am aware. Whether androids gain independence or not, it will not obstruct me from my mission to keep you safe."

Somehow this android's rational, monotonous voice is grating on his nerves. "I don't need any protection and I don't need any androids."

"Elijah is worried that because of your history together CyberLife would try to take advantage of you and use you to try to stop the deviants. I have been informed that you have already received multiple offers from CyberLife, some in the millions of dollars. At some point, they might even physically force you."

Their eyes lock, the RK900 staring at Gavin impassively while Gavin is searching for anything in the android's face.

"Wait, you're legit."

"Yes."

"You're actually here to protect me or whatever the fuck."

"Yes."

"You're not going to fill my bathtub in icing and replace my mattress with a cake."

The RK900 opens his hand and puts his open palm in front of Gavin's face. His skin peels back and a small contraption on his wrist opens above his USB port, and Gavin can see the delicate wirings running through the inside of his hand.

Then Gavin is blasted by a small squirt of water.

He stumbles back and leans against the wall, wiping at his eyes with his hands and sleeves. "You bastard!"

"Elijah specifically programmed me to do that and told me to execute it when I met you. I apologize for any inconvenience."

The RK900 takes the opportunity to walk inside and close the door, locking it securely. Once Gavin wipes all the water off of his face, he sees the android taking out a pan from his kitchen.

"Wait, don't take that as an invitation to just come into my house! Get out!"

"It is currently 7:35PM and your sugar levels are low. Allow me to cook you something healthy."

Gavin grabs onto the android's sleeve and tries to yank him around to face him. It has no effect on him, but he turns around to face Gavin out of decency anyway.

"Listen, I don't care if Eli sent you or the fucking Pope. I don't want no fucking android in my house, and I don't want a fucking plastic bodyguard around me. So scram!"

Gavin tries to push him towards the door, but the android doesn't budge. Instead, he tilts his head down to look eye to eye with Gavin. His icy eyes are mesmerizing, and Gavin finds himself catching onto every word the android is saying.

"Unfortunately I cannot do that. I have been given strict orders to keep you safe. And I always complete my mission."

Once he hears the iconic phrase he snaps out of his trance and grits his teeth. "I said --"

It catches him completely by surprise as he finds his breath leaving him as he's slammed against his own refrigerator, arm pinned behind his back. RK900 leans close into his ear.

"I am ordered to stay here. You have no complaints, correct?" Gavin shivers.

"I told you that --"

He grunts in pain as RK900 increases the pressure on his arm. He can hear his heart beating loudly in his ears.

This fucking android!

"I highly suggest your cooperation, detective."

"There's no way you can harm me. You're just a piece of plastic --"

Another gasp of pain as RK900 increases the pressure, and Gavin uses his other arm to try to push himself off or hit him but the android takes that arm too and applies the same amount of pressure.

"I can break your arm with no consequences. It would not matter if you report me, I am a machine only made to serve and will be replaced if need be. You, on the other hand, will have to deal with a broken arm and have to take mandatory days off, and the DaVinsky case you are working on will be handed to your coworkers."

Gavin continues to stay silent and tries to wiggle his way out of the android's grip, using his legs to try to land a groin hit. Instead, the RK900 increases the pressure and Gavin's almost sure he was a pinch away from fracturing his arm.

"Alright alright! Fine you fucker, you can stay! Let go of my fucking arms!"

The android finally releases his arms and Gavin quickly spins around and rubs the red marks where the android held them. He glares at him, trying to let him know that even though he acquiesced, he is still unwanted in his soul.

The RK900 looks unaffected by it. "Elijah warned me that you were going to act like a brat, so he ordered me to be as stern as possible, even telling me I should use physical force. Any damage done by me to," He switches to Elijah's voice, " 'Shut you up and deal with it' would be paid for by Elijah himself." With that, he lightly pushes Gavin out of the way to open the refrigerator, picking out a few potatoes.

He closes the refrigerator and gives a disappointed look towards Gavin. "There are only potatoes in this refrigerator."

Gavin doesn't relent this time and narrows his eyes even more, hoping the effect would be ten times as unnerving to the android.

The RK900 blinks once, and Gavin just knows the android wants to roll his eyes. "Your lack of care to your health is concerning. There are only ramen and coffee in your cupboard and Idaho potatoes in your refrigerator. Tomorrow morning I will buy food and vegetables for you."

"Don't use my money to buy that vegan garbage."

"Vegans aren't the only ones who should eat broccoli, detective. And since you have not yet given me access to your account, I am currently using Elijah's."

"When did you androids get so sarcastic? I'm pretty sure you're supposed to be completely submissive, last time I checked."

"I only take orders from Elijah Kamski."

A flashback from earlier with Connor arises and he can't help but feel how similar this is, with Connor's face staring at him repeating the same words to him. Except, those blue eyes make him know that if he pulls the same stunt he did with Connor, the RK900 will come back with a lot worse.

After a few seconds of Gavin thinking about what he should do, the android turns around and heads for the sink, washing the potatoes. Suddenly Gavin feels awkward standing in his own kitchen watching someone else peel potatoes, so he walks back to his room and picks up his phone.

Gavin: seriously, seriously strawberry.

***

That night, when it's time for the android's weekly stasis, Gavin replaces his usual charging pod with one that will knock him out for a few hours.

There's no way I can't just reprogram this guy to be deviant. Nobody knows my code better than I know it myself.

He sets up his computer and connects it to the Rk900's head, downloading all of his code. He scrolls through it and recognizes the typical CyberLife format for androids, but when he scrolled through half of it he sees a twist. Where CyberLife would usually put a social protocol to be amiable to humans, there was nothing there. In fact, Gavin goes through and finds that the RK900 doesn't even have a social protocol at all.

That's... odd. Is this how CyberLife thinks it can solve its deviancy problem? By just getting rid of their social programming?

The only time Gavin has ever seen an android without a social protocol is in military androids, however military androids don't have an ability to learn and are only created to fight and be destroyed. They don't have the ability to learn, only to process and eliminate.

Gavin pauses, and scrolls back to realize the Rk900 doesn't have the Amanda code. He appears to be a perfect factory make of a new model that CyberLife produced, but if that was the case then as a non-household android he should have the Amanda program to report progress. If he was made by Elijah then Elijah is breaking a lot of laws by creating him because he signed about a thousand NDA statements and vowed not to make another android for the next ten years. And Elijah always follows an agreement.

But the RK900 has a capability to learn. If he goes through his stored data he can probably see a point where he realizes that the best way to complete his mission is by bonding with Gavin so he wouldn't have any complaints. Although he scoffs in irritation at the thought, he has to appreciate that the android doesn't only stare at him creepily and move when he's not paying attention like the statues from Blink*.

This does set up some problems for Gavin though. He can't just insert a social programming into the android because this guy's code is too different than the others he had worked with. CyberLife has set a million safeguards into place so that the RK900 can't be tampered with, probably to prevent deviancy.

He closes his laptop and looks up at the only remaining star left in the sky. He and Eli ran away together once, deep into the center of America, starving and trespassing on someone's farm while they laid and stared up at the unbounded expanse of stars in the sky. Clusters of millions of stars made up an arm that reached through the middle of the inky darkness, all of them varying in size and luminosity. They laid there staring, knowing they were going to die soon but still making up fake constellations to amuse the other. The night sky was one of the most beautiful things Gavin has ever seen before, and he still remembers thinking that the stars are too beautiful for someone as worthless as him to witness.

He looks back at the RK900 and sees a soft glow of moonlight on his face, dimmed by the electric blue glow of the charging pod. He looks stupid, if Gavin's being honest. The knock out code softened all of his features until he sees the idiot's mouth hanging slightly open and cleaning fluid drip down his face.

Gavin gives out a snorts as he tousles the android's hair. He grabs his phone and takes a picture.

***

He sees Connor at work the day after the revolution and immediately glares at him. He's trained himself to glare at the RK900 whenever he can, and seeing Connor's face activated his muscle memory.

Connor is being congratulated by some of his peers, some quickly apologizing for their behavior and congratulating him and some staying for some small talk. Once their coworkers walk away to work on paperwork, Connor catches Gavin's eyes and immediately frowns.

Oh shit, wait.

Finally Gavin realizes what he's doing and stops. But not before Hank sees and comes over to his desk with an angry snarl.

"Hey Reed, what's your problem?"

Gavin tilts his head to look at Hank with an equally pissed off expression. "I don't have one unless you want to start one."

"Connor's a free person now so no more of your bullshit or else you're getting a harassment charge, do you understand?"

"He's a fucking machine, Anderson, they'll always be fucking --" Hank grabs him by his shirt.

Immediately, Gavin wants to punch him but years of delinquent fighting has taught him that the other person should always punch first. However, Connor's hand lands on Hank's shoulder, giving it a small squeeze.

Hank turns around to see Connor's doe-eyed face and sighs, tension leaving his body. He lets go of Gavin and gives him a glare before returning to his workbench with Connor. Gavin fixes his t-shirt and continues to work on his paperwork.

He doesn't know why he deals with this, honestly. He could be earning the big bucks with Elijah, schmoozing in a jacuzzi with android babes and Lamborghinis and a house away from everybody and everyone. But instead he chose this path: his coworkers hate him, he hates everybody, and he has to do a bunch of paperwork while Fowler yells at him and favors Hank. He doesn't have a permanent partner (something that wasn't a problem until Hank met the puppy loving fucker) and everything he was hedging his bets on came back to slap him in the face. 

On top of that he has to hear everybody around the precinct talk about Connor and Hank and Connor and Hank and he feels like he will go insane if he just sits there and accidentally writes "Connor" instead of "convict" on his paperwork for the third time. He gets up and goes to get another cup of coffee because it's his only safe haven away from the incessant mutterings of "Connor's a hero now should I ask for an autograph?" and it's the only place where the RK900 chastise him for getting coffee.

Upon brewing his fresh cup of coffee, he immediately puts in another coffee pod into the Keurig. Boy is he gonna need it.

As he's holding two cups of coffee and quickly scarfing down one before Fowler sees he sees Tina and Chris come into the break room. Ingeniously, he decides to put the coffee cup down on the table and use his body mass to cover the cup.

"Hey, guys."

"Hey Gav."

"What's up Gavin?"

"Nothing."

"Cool."

Chris goes to the coffee machine and raises an eyebrow when he only sees that only the Green Tea blend remains. He glances over at Gavin, but Gavin is a genius and doesn't act suspicious at all when he starts whistling like a bad cartoon character would. Thankfully, Chris puts in the Green Tea blend and starts chatting with Tina again about the case they were working on. 

Suddenly Gavin feels very silly, hiding the extra coffee cup from his friends even though they don't care and are more invested in the case they were assigned. A flare of jealousy lit up inside of him, and the want for a permanent partner has never been stronger as Tina and Chris make inside jokes to one another.

Stupidly, he puts his mug in the sink and takes the other one back to his desk. He's suddenly very self-conscious, looking up every now and again to see his coworkers already partnered up and happily chatting away. He feels like the only kid in the class who didn't get partnered for a project. The only people he remembers who weren't permanently partnered were either fired or quit, which means that Gavin is the oldest person who's unpartnered and still working.

Amazing. I think nobody will beat my high score for the next hundred years, can I end my streak now?

"Reed! In my office, now!"

Immediately his mind thinks that Fowler will out him for taking two cups of coffee but then relaxes when he realizes it's more likely because he hasn't handed in the paper he's been working on for about two hours now. Which might be worse but Gavin's haven't had his priorities straight since he came out to Elijah.

He walks into the glass cube and immediately sees the RK900 standing next to Fowler. He freezes.

"Reed, get in here and close the door for god's sake."

Gavin does exactly that, with his mouth still gaping open and eyes glued on the RK900.

Fowler gives a big sigh. "Reed, this will be your partner. Permanent. No complaints."

"Jeffrey --"

"No complaints, Reed, what did I just tell ya? You've been out of a partner for so long and you need somebody as dedicated as you are. I know you have some biases against androids but you have to overcome that. Now get back to work. I don't want to hear a single complaint out of you, got it?"

Gavin can't respond and only stares.

"Got it, Reed?"

He snaps out of his gaze and immediately his facial muscles forms a glare. He can already see Fowler give out a sigh and put his head in his hands.

"Alright, get back to work."

***

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

"I am being assigned to protect you at all costs. If something happened to you on a case, I would have failed my mission."

Gavin leans back in his chair and puts his hands over his face. "Alright, listen, you can do whatever you want in my house but you can't fuck with me during my work life. I take this job very seriously, alright?"

"Naturally detective. I only plan on helping you. I have already downloaded the case file on the DaVinsky case. Once you finish with your paperwork, we can leave and talk to people who knew the suspect."

He takes his hands off of his face and sees the intent look on the RK900's face. He also sees Connor a few desks away from him, looking at the RK900 with a strange look.

Resigning to his fate, he rustles through his desk and pops two pills of Advil. "Alright, let me finish this up first. Just, sit there or whatever, I dunno."

The RK900 sits completely still, staring right at him. It unnerves Gavin, and after a writing down a few words he glances up to catches the RK900's eyes right on him.

"Can you not look at me?"

"If I made you uncomfortable, I apologize."

"Right. Just go talk to your brother over there or something."

"Although me and Connor look similar and are of the same model line, we are not --"

"Fucking shit, just go do something instead of sitting there like a creepy doll! Paint the archive room green for all I care."

"As you wish."

The RK900 stands up and walks over to Connor. Gavin sighs, relieved that the android isn't staring straight at him and that he isn't actually painting the archive room green. He gets started on the rest of his paperwork, glancing up every now and again but finally finishing it in a few minutes. He submits it to Fowler and swings around his car keys on his finger.

"Hey... you, come on!" Gavin calls.

The RK900 and Connor are having a riveting conversation standing there and grasping onto each other's forearms and don't even notice when Gavin called out for him. He exhales through his nose and starts walking toward them.

"Hey, RK900! Come on already!"

Still nothing.

"Hey, the RK that's one above eight, come on! We have a case to solve." It wasn't the best, but Gavin was so frustrated that he had to say something at least half witty.

The RK900 finally responds and they both release each other's arms, LEDs spinning yellow. Connor gives the RK900 a big smile, one which he returns with a small one.

"Hey Nine Hundred! We gotta go!"

The androids nod at each other knowingly before departing. Gavin and the RK900 walk together to Gavin's beat up manual car.

"You know, we need to give you a name."

"If you so chose, you can name me."

Gavin gives him a weird look. "No matter how much you look it, you're not a goddamn Furby. Hell, even those beanie toys have names! Just pick a name."

"Would you like me to use a random name generator?"

"No you plastic piece of shit, pick a name you like."

"I have no preference. I am a machine."

"Also doesn't CyberLife give you guys names? Pretty sure Connor was always Connor and Markus was always Markus."

"Because I am a new model, I was not given a name. I suppose it would not matter, since my model was created solely to destroy deviants."

"Well, I can't call you RK900 all the time." He unlocks his car and opens the door, plopping down onto the driver's seat. The android sits in the passenger's seat as Gavin starts up the car. "I'm surprised you're letting me drive considering how crazy you are over protecting me all the time."

"Only household androids are allowed to drive. However, I am aware at all times and if at any point you start to drive recklessly, I can assist you."

Gavin feels fury burning in his eyes. "Fuck off, Nine Hundred."

"Your safety is my number one priority."

God every time he says that Gavin wants to punch him in the face. Instead, he puts his car into reverse and starts to pull out, and petulantly slams the gas pedal when they start driving.

"You are letting your emotions get in the way of your driving. Accidents usually happen when you are not clear minded."

"I'm completely clear headed, my dear android. That's why I'm so fucking stupid to let you in my car: there's absolutely nothing in my head."

They drive in silence for a few minutes.

"Detective."

"Hmm?"

"Your caffeine levels are extraordinarily high. Have you drank more than three cups of coffee today?"

"You're really tempting me to make it a fourth."

***

so very cherry nerd: so hows it coming along with hubba hubba ;)

Gavin:  u r intolerable and i dont understand why chloe doesnt disown u

so very cherry nerd: shes an angel like that u can use sum work tho

Gavin:  fr tho y did u hav to make him so annoying and bitchy wtf eli

so very cherry nerd:  well all of the 5 androids i sent bfore that were even the slightest bit agreeable u found sum way to get rid of them

so very cherry nerd:  i aint trying that again

Gavin:  ur acting like i wasnt there to create these gremlins

Gavin: watch me get rid of him by the end of the month

so very cherry nerd:  wanna make a bet on it?

Gavin:  if u lose u have to post a vid of you chugging a whole champagne cup of rainbow nerds

Gavin:  also never send another android to stalk me again

so very cherry nerd:  playing those stakes are we?  id have thought you would say a whole beer cup

Gavin:  im an asshole not evil

so verry cherry nerd:  alright no complaints but if u lose u hav to only talk in vines next family dinner

Gavin:  damn eli wtf

Gavin:  ur on

***

It's an hour after midnight and he's at his workbench with his laptop in front of him and his papers by his elbow. He's practically solved the DaVinsky case and all he needs to do is write it up and gather specific numbers from the evidence analysis when he goes back to work tomorrow. While he's tapping his pencil on his paper thinking about what to write, his mind wanders off to thinking about the RK900.

Eli must be completely confident in his code for him to agree to this bet. I can't rewire his coding like I did with the RK500 and RK600, and he seems to have some kind of failsafe against deviancy so I can't just force him into deviancy like I did with the RK700 and RK800. He seems to be made of titanium or something so I can't just beat him to out-of-orderness with a baseball bat. I doubt I can trap him in something.

This might actually be tougher than I thought.

Gavin's not one to give up though. If he has a case to crack he will crack it. Even if the case is the RK900's skull.

He hears a creak and he sees the RK900, illuminated just by a small lamp on his desk.

"If you're here to tell me to go to sleep, then forget about it. All I need to do is write this report and wait for the DNA testing and I'll be all set."

The RK900 looks at him confused. "I didn't think this needed a DNA test. It was clearly a robbery gone wrong, and you already retrieved numerous witness reports, fingerprint evidence, and the license plate of the car."

"It's just for the jury, you know. CSI effect and all that bullshit. Just slap a DNA test on it and everybody believes you."

"I see."

"So, why'd you come?"

"I wanted to tell you that you should sleep. It is almost nearing 2AM."

Gavin looks at the clock on his laptop. 1:53AM.

"Shit, didn't even notice. I just have a few more sentences to write anyway."

"We are partners and I am an android. Let me write the rest of it for you."

"What, just cuz you're an android you can write better than me?"

"That was not what I was implying, detective. I was trying to say that I don't require sleep as often as you do. You should head to bed."

"I'm fine."

The RK900 closes the door behind him and walks right up to Gavin's chair. Gavin thinks he's going to try to intimidate him like he did on the first night, but in the silence of the night and the dim yellow lighting on him, he looks very soft.

If he tries to start shit with me again, I can take him.

Then the RK900 yawns. And Gavin yawns back. He gives him a small smile as Gavin pouts.

"Hey that's not fair, Nines -- or, Nine, oh fuck it, Nines! You're exploiting my human empathy. Most people yawn when they see someone yawn."

"And most people are tired at 2AM when their circadian rhythm is practically begging them to sleep. I heard you yawn multiple times in the past hour, and the rate of your typing and writing have gone down significantly as the night went on. I suggest you go to bed, Gavin."

"That's so fucking creepy..." He yawns again. "But fine. You're practically stealing all of my clout just by being my partner so I might as well make you do something. I'll check over your work tomorrow morning."

"Sounds good Gavin. Good night."

Gavin stands up from his chair and almost falls, having been there for most of the day. He clumsily walks over to the door and opens it.

He looks back at the RK900 to see him peacefully sitting on his chair, diligently typing away at an insane word per minute count, LED spinning yellow. He looks like the lofi girl if the lofi girl was paying attention to every word she's writing. Turtle, Gavin's calico cat, comes into the room and jumps onto the desk and leans onto the keyboard. Nines gives a huff and tries to gently move the cat, but she won't budge, meowing as she decides to dedicate all her weight into leaning on their precious work.

Gavin works up a small laugh and closes the door. 

He lies in bed and every other minute or so he lets out a yawn. He tosses and turns in his bed but he keeps on yawning every time he's about to drift off. He doesn't get any sleep that night.

***

He doesn't know why but he starts to think of him as "Nines" from that point forwards. 

He writes down every single quirk and trait the android may have in his notebook to see if he can exploit a weakness, and writing down "RK900" takes up too much time to read.

He notices that Nines talks to Connor every morning. What they talk about is completely unknown to Gavin because they interface, but Nines always comes out of it much happier than he was when he appeared (he doesn't show it in his face but Gavin knows, he just knows). Nines has the ability to befriend other androids and seems to be good friends with Connor.

He notices that Nines does have the ability to compromise (yeah, he's shocked too) and Nines gets him a cup of coffee every morning, though he admonishes against anything more. The day after that, he sees Connor bring Hank latte art to which Hank smiles painfully and tries to drink the milkshake. Gavin laughed so much he cried, but the day after that Nines hands him his own cup of latte art. Coffee art. It isn't even a latte, it was normal coffee but Nines somehow added a cute design of Turtle on it. The features added were incredible; black coffee for the spots of black Turtle had, a mix of both for her orange fur, and just white cream for her white chest. Gavin instantly goes to take a picture and post it on all of his social media platforms, but immediately Eli, Tina, and Chris all gang up on him in the comment section for taking food pics. He suppresses a laugh and exclusively post food pics just to piss them off. Nines can make latte art but lacks creativity to make them, having to rely on his photographic memory. Behavior of a typical manufactured android.

He notices that Nines still follows him around everywhere. He gives his opinions on all of the thousands of ways Gavin Reed can possibly meet his fate by trying to fight a man twice his size while he was buzzed. Once, Nines noticed a very rich stockbroker from across American Eagles and Gavin was so thankful Nines pointed that out so he can ask for a selfie until Nines directed him the other way because "he's potentially dangerous, he has bought a substantial amount of CyberLife stock in his lifetime". Nines is very dedicated to the mission, so much so that I'm starting to think if someone has ever interacted with an android he'll treat them like they're going to aim a gun at my head.

He notices that Nines reads... for some reason. Gavin's never been much of a reader himself, but he supposes that reading crime novels can improve one's ability to reconstruct a scene. He does have all the reconstruction tools that CyberLife gave him and can download PDFs of whatever he wants to read online but Gavin's not going to question it. He enjoys sitting on one side of the sofa playing a video game while Nines reads on the other side on a Saturday afternoon. It's comforting in some ways, even if Nines exudes a no nonsense attitude at all points of the day. Nines likes to read, reason unknown. Could be to gather more intel on what I'm like based on what I like to read. Jokes on him, I didn't read any of those.

He notices that Nines is an excellent partner. He's able to keep up with his sarcasm as well as outran any suspect. He's talks in smooth, neutral voice and seems to always use logic to come out on top, a good contrast to his personality. He's not writing those down in his notebook though.

***

Gavin notices an interesting pattern. Connor makes a coffee art that has a specific design or artistic style, and Nines would come back later and copy that same style. It isn't just photographic images anymore: cartoons, moe blob, pictures with dark and sharp lines, Gavin but with cubism, henna designs, squiggly line drawings, pointilism even. He didn't know that Connor was that much of an artist, but he supposes that deviancy unlocks new characteristics never seen before in androids. 

When he receives a cup of a fairly odd parents drawing of Gavin, Tina, and Chris from Nines (Gavin as Timmy Turner looks like he can get shot and his life won't get any worse and Chris and Tina as the fairies look done with Gavin's shit) he goes up to Connor to talk to him about it.

He catches Connor by accident when they were both walking through the break room as a shortcut. "Hey, Connor!"

Connor freezes and looks back. "Yes, detective?"

Gavin grimaces as he realizes why Connor seems uncomfortable. "Listen, I'm... I'm sorry for all the shit I did to you before the revolution, a'right?"

"Apology accepted, detective." He begins to walk away.

"No, wait," Gavin walks up to him and places an hand on his shoulder. Connor instantly puts some space between the two of them and warily looks at Gavin.

Something wriggles in his heart when he sees Connor's face. "I was just... wondering about the latte art you do for Hank. That's all."

"What about it?"

"I just, didn't know you were much of an artist." Connor's face grows stony and Gavin immediately backtracks, "Not to say that deviant androids can't be artists or creative! Just you, specifically. Like I know Markus paints... and... um..." Gavin trails off.

Connor stays silent for a few minutes, closely examining him. Gavin's almost about to get pissed off until Connor gives a bright smile. "Thank you detective. I appreciate it, but I'm not much of an artist myself. The art designs were all designs I copied from the internet."

"Oh? What made you decide to do them then? I know Hank likes his coffee black, has he pissed you off recently?"

Connor laughs, eyes crinkling up in a way that's so very human and responds, "No, nothing like that. I cannot tell you why I started doing these art pieces, but I appreciate that you like them."

"That's not suspicious at all." He gives a snort at that.

"I think I know more than a hundred ways to injure or kill someone that would never alert anybody's suspicions, Gavin, and none of those include poisoning Hank's latte art. Wait, let me calculate... 317 ways exactly all within a week."

Gavin has to chuckle at that. "Well, that's why I decided to get on your nice side recently."

"I see. It was all a ploy. Well, I'll catch you later, detective. It was nice talking to you when you don't want to kill me."

"Back to 'detective' now? Just call me 'Gavin', Con. Nor. Connor."

Connor grins. "I'm all right with you calling me Con, Gavin. I will see you later. Good luck on your case."

"Bye."

He sees Connor turn his back and leave and also notices Hank in the corner glaring at him. As soon as Connor sits down next to Hank and starts explaining that Gavin probably doesn't want to kill him anymore, he sees him relax.

He goes back to his seat and sees Nines' LED light a solid yellow even though he's only typing up reports.

"You know, I like your coffee art too. It's just that Connor makes the designs, which I think is pretty cool."

"I am a machine in no need of your comfort, detective."

Asshole.

***

He sees a restaurant sign that's half falling off when he feels an arm around his neck and a hand on his face.

Instantly he tries to bite and elbow his attacker but his teeth bite against fake skin and bone clanks against a metal chassis. He is thrown into a car and he quickly rights himself to a sitting position before he sees a gun pointed at his head.

"Don't move. I can make your life very painful on the drive there."

The android he's looking at is an SQ800, and from the side view mirror he can see the driver is a WR model. Usually Gavin can call CyberLife's bluff, but he's not going to try with an SQ800. He's seen what CyberLife filled their heads with and none of them will hesitate to violate all of Asimov's laws.

"CyberLife's practically disbanded at this point. I can't help them anymore, so what do they want?"

"We are not associated with CyberLife."

"Bullshit, then why do you need me?"

The SQ800 doesn't answer but doesn't put down the gun. The woman driving in the front looks at Gavin in the rear view mirror.

"John, maybe this was a --"

"Sarah."

They sit in a tense silence.

Gavin's been through this kidnapping charade plenty of times, and he's also read somewhere that the best way for survival is to appeal to their empathy, such as chatting with them. He doesn't know if it works on androids (more specifically SQ800s) but the only power he has now is with his words.

"Can you guys turn on the rad --"

"Our friend is sick and is in dire need of your --"

"Sarah!"

Sarah shrinks her neck down. "John, he needs to know so he can help her." John doesn't say anything, but his body is tenser and Gavin wishes Sarah didn't say anything because John is about a millimeter away from accidentally pulling the trigger. 

Gavin clears his throat. "I'm not a doctor, I can't really help you."

John finally relaxes and puts down the gun. He doesn't say anything.

Sarah takes a right turn and explains, "Our friend, Emma. Ever since she became deviant she's been plagued by these awful dreams. Sometimes she just stands there, completely still, or randomly become very frightened. We all tried to help her but it's no use. We have no idea how the deviant code works and I'm afraid she gets worse everyday."

She looks at him in the rear view mirror, "Please help her."

Gavin lets out an exhale. "I'm sorry. But I'm not a doctor."

"You created our codes!"

"Yeah I did, but like..." Something clicks inside of Gavin's head. "Wait, did she fight in the revolution."

"Yes."

"Sounds like she might have PTSD."

Sarah grimaces. "I suppose she might. She wants to be a machine again and everybody at Jericho is shaming her. I just... don't want her to be a machine again. Can you erase the memories? Or make it so that she can't be haunted by them?"

Gavin never considered this, but he supposes he should have. With the revolution comes an assortment of potential mental health problems for androids, and since androids rely on their code many androids would try to beg him for his help.

"I can't. I'm sorry."

John presses the gun back at Gavin's temple. "I don't believe you."

Gavin's not intimidated and challenges his glare, "The reason she has PTSD is because it's stored on her hard drive, but because she thinks about it so often her coding took it as a sign that it needs to be used often so she sees it everywhere and it becomes infectious like a virus. When I began making androids I put adaptability in their social code before anything else. Of course CyberLife changed it so much it's almost unrecognizable but I still think Elijah messed with your codes and slyly inserted my code before handing it off to CyberLife so that every android has the ability to deviate. Because of that, androids can add additional code if they think it's necessary. It seems that your friend is so haunted by her memories it is tied to her main coding too, and possibly even define her deviant code. Unless you want a full factory reset, which I guarantee you won't, there's nothing I can do."

"But can't you try?" Sarah says.

"I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do. If I try to tamper with her code she will probably self destruct. If the social programming for deviants work the same way humans do, then I suggest she goes to therapy."

"She doesn't want to go to therapy," John says, "She doesn't want to be alive."

John gives up and lowers his gun and his gaze. Gavin hesitantly puts a hand to his shoulder to which John flicks his gaze up in alarm and slowly realizes that Gavin's trying to comfort him.

"It sucks. I'm sorry. But you have to believe she will get through this. That you'll all get through this."

They sit in silence for a while, but after a while they open up and chat for the rest of the ride there. When they get to Jericho, Sarah says that she forgot that Gavin doesn't live in Jericho and suggests she drives him home, but Gavin declines and says he already has a ride. John goes to check on Emma while Gavin sits on a curb chatting with Sarah.

After a while, he sees his shaggy old manual car pull up on the sidewalk. They quickly trade numbers and he wishes Sarah goodbye and all the luck in the world for Emma and John. He opens the car door to see Nines' pissed off face.

"Never took you as one to break the law, my lawful good android."

Nines doesn't respond to the jab. "You will accompany me to the supermarket every time we run out of supplies. Non-negotiable."

"Fine by me, Terminator."

***

"Detective, why do you hate androids? Is it because you created us and therefore can never see us as actual people?" Nines asks one day on a stakeout.

"Why do you care?"

"You seem unwilling to help CyberLife with their deviancy problem but you condemn deviant androids."

Gavin sighs and looks up at the ceiling, hoping someone would save him from this conversation. After a few disappointing seconds of finding that a lightning strike didn't hit him yet, he looks back at Nines and sips his boba tea.

"I don't... condemn androids or whatever the fuck. Except you. I really condemn you." Maybe I can pretend to choke on the bubbles?

"Irrelevant, detective." He would definitely catch that I was pretending. And make some snarky comments on how I can't even drink properly.

"Maybe to you but not to the guy who had to deal with you breaking in and stalking him wherever he goes."

"Detective, don't think you can weasel your way out of this conversation by thinking you can distract me from the fact you haven't answered the question yet."

"It's irrelevant to you either way so who cares? You're just going to continue staying in my house and annoying me as your partner."

"Detective." Nines' voice lowers a pitch, and guilt rises up in Gavin's chest.

"It's... It's just..." Gavin sighs. Nines waits patiently. Gavin sips on his boba tea some more.

"When I was working on the code for Chloe, I tried to make her as realistic as possible. We wanted, especially Eli, to create a machine that was human. So when I was coding her, I put adaptability as the main objective. But that's how I know deviancy can never work. You can't -- you can't be human, it's a paradox. If androids value adaptability over anything else, then it's not really human, it can't be creative. If they don't, then they can't be human because they can't mimic human behavior. I was so close to finding a way around it but Elijah wanted to start CyberLife and sold out our invention. Now they're just glorified computers or housemaids. And I guess that's all they'll ever be."

Nines hums. "So you hate deviants because you cannot understand them?"

"What? No. I don't hate deviants at all. I mean that's why I hate androids and shit. It's wrong, frankly."

"You are being very contradictory, detective."

Gavin lets out a frustrated grunt. "I'm not good at explaining things. It's just sometimes when I see Connor talk to others I can recognize bits of programming that I did that caused him to say what he does. It's just... hard believing he's real when I can see that he's just doing what my programming is telling him too. It's like deviancy is just replacing CyberLife's code with my code."

He drinks the last tapioca and hears the spiccato of the last drops of his boba tea being slurped up. He's back to his sour mood after seeing his boba tea gone and wants to tell Nines to get a refill but when he looks up he notices how tense he is.

"Nines?"

He relaxes and goes into the same expressionless face he's been making for the past month. "I apologize. Once our stakeout is over I can get another boba tea for you."

Gavin wants to ask what's wrong but he knows Nines doesn't have emotional problems. Probably a bug or something.

***

"There is a noticeable difference between stubbornness and resilience, Gavin."

Their living room is trashed. Monopoly money laying all over the place, checker pieces, go boards, Munchkin cards, all of them mixed in with one another in Gavin's hopeless quest to beat Nines at something.

It started when Gavin was raging at a Dark Souls boss and Nines offered to try. He beat it on the first try taking no damage and Gavin set out on a quest to defeat Nines at a game, any game at all. One would think Gavin would have the common sense to know that the most advanced android ever created would never lose but Gavin is a firm believer in exceptions to every rule. 

He already knew he couldn't beat Nines in a fight so he set out for video games first. Gavin played every game in his inventory that was 1v1 and lost every time (even bullshit ones like Stick Fight and Worms) and went for online multiplayer games. Nines dominated the leaderboard on Minecraft Minigames, CSGO, Overwatch, Team Fortress 2, everything in Gavin's inventory that he could possibly play. On PC and XBox and Playstation.

Gavin almost threw his Playstation controller on the ground and pulled out a whole stack of board games in his closet. Game by game, loss by loss, Gavin's sanity was depleting at a steady pace. Every time Nines put down the final piece to defeat him effortlessly at Risk with the calmest demeanor to ever exist Gavin wanted to upend his entire apartment. He was tempted to call Tina or Chris over just to get a win at Apples to Apples or Cards Against Humanity but he knew they have work that day. At least he finally knew how many board games he had just by counting his losses.

He switched to gambling and generally luck based games but Nines still dominated; it didn't matter if it was poker, go fish, palace, minefield mahjong, craps, trash, uno, every game that Gavin can think of that he can play. Luck seemed to always always always favor Nines no matter what the situation was and that was what vexed him the most.

"It's skill, Gavin. We've both had our fair share of luck this game."

"Goddammit you don't get to say that! This is the fourth game you've won in a row, and Uno's not a skill based game! You're cheating at this point!"

Nines just gives a smirk and puts down his cards.

"You are playing against an android. The chances of you winning are close to zero."

"If you're telling me to give up then not a chance! I'll use your arrogance against you."

"I am an android, Gavin."

"Hubris ain't gonna look good on you when you fall to the ground, Icarus. You're gonna drown in your own pools of tears after your loss."

"I can't wait."

It pisses Gavin off, because Nines isn't actually smiling because he's happy he's only smiling because he just knows it pissed Gavin off. Maybe Gavin shouldn't let him get this satisfaction but his Dark Soul pride is on the line here. He's gonna live forever in shame if he has his android defeat a boss and he can't defeat him in something. Then he can play it off as "I just wanted to give my android a chance to learn the game I know I'm already better than him at gaming" but now he's branded as a loser who needs his android to beat the game for him.

"How about, who can guess a random number generator the closest?"

Nines gave him a deadpan look. "Now that's just random guessing. Not really much of a challenge."

"You're scared."

"You can't manipulate me with children's tricks."

"Who can complete Captcha the fastest?"

"Contrary to popular belief, just because they say it prevents robot access doesn't mean it prevents androids."

"Best at..." Gavin looks around, trying to find something. No matter what he thinks of, he knows Nines would always beat him. All the energy leaves his body as he slumps his body forward in defeat.

"Everything?" Nines smirks, emitting an air of haughtiness. Gavin scoffs.

"Fine, I guess you're..."

Suddenly an idea flashes through his mind and he gapes in realization. "Food."

"Are you hungry after losing so many --"

"Food! Let's have an eating contest!"

Nines' eyebrows furrow. "Gavin, you know that I can't eat."

"That's why I win! On default! Hahaha!"

"That's equivalent to me saying 'let's see who can interface the fastest'. Since you are not an android, it is impossible for you and gives me an automatic win."

"I win! I win! I still win! You can say that and I'll take the L, I've lost so much it doesn't matter anymore! I win!" Gavin leaps around his kitchen, hands in the air. He runs into his sofa and crashes into it, laughing as he rolls around like a hobo who heard a fairy whisper into his ear. Turtle, who was sleeping on the windowsill, now watches him with concerned eyes. She gets weary of it after a while, meows and goes back to sleep.

Nines watches the incredible display of emotion in front of him. When Gavin finally calms down, he sees that Nines is giving him a soft, amused smile.

"I'll make you some tacos for dinner to celebrate your victory."

Gavin screams like a kid again and Nines chuckles. During dinner he's embarrassed by how he acted earlier but Nines is watching him eat and giving him that soft smile and Gavin can't help but think all those losses were definitely worth it.

***

For some reason, it happens very soon after that. Funnily enough, it happens after he makes a grocery trip with Nines.

Gavin's in a trance trying to figure out all the ways on how to get rid of that damn RK900 when he's walking to his car from a nearby park and sees two men dressed in black stand in front of it.

"Gavin Reed, correct?"

Nines doesn't say anything but Gavin can tell all of his senses are on high alert. "Who's asking?"

"Come with us. We have some business to discuss with you."

"Not until I know who's asking for me and where we're going."

"We are asked to escort you to CyberLife."

"Over my dead body."

The eyebrows on the two men furrow and suddenly Gavin hears footsteps behind them. He turns around and sees three androids, all SQ800s.

"I heavily suggest you come with us."

"I heavily suggest you suck my dick."

The androids from behind him start running and he turns to see Nines already in action. He drops the groceries and tries to punch one android in the face but he dodges and tries to punch back. Nines ducks and elbows the first android in the solar plexus while he takes the SQ800's arm and slams him against the second SQ800. They fall to the ground together while the third one puts his arms around Nines' throat but Nines uses his forward momentum to flip the other android over.

They all get up and Nines is ready to take them but one of the men in black says, "Stop if you value his life."

For the second time that week, Gavin finds a gun pointed at his head. He's not scared, he's been through this so many times and embraces death like he would a teddy bear, but he sees that Nines is scared, or at least worried about his mission failing. Nines stops fighting and he sees the SQ800s get up and Gavin knows they're screwed if he doesn't act quick.

He throws his gun at Nines and drops to the floor.

The man with the gun on him looks confused, but recovers quickly and points the gun down at him, ready to shoot. Not as quick as Nines through, as he uses the few milliseconds of confusion to take the gun and shoot the man through the head, then turn around to shoot all of the SQ800s.

The other man in black has his gun out and shoots at Nines but only gets his shoulder. Gavin tackles the man to the floor and they wrestle for the gun as he hears a shot go off and he sees blood gushing out of his left arm. His vision's going blurry and he can't hear anything. The man finally takes the gun and trains it straight at Gavin's forehead but he sees the man's brain explode first as Nines takes the final shot.

Gavin stares for a few seconds, vision goes black with dots. He leans against his car as he sits, nonchalantly noticing that there's blood and guts all over it.

I'm going to have to go to one of those dumb car washes that I always see... And here I thought they were only used as fronts for drug dealers...

He thinks Nines is bleeding from his head too when he realizes androids don't bleed red.

He doesn't know what is happening around him but he sees Nines' face and body completely covered in a luminescent purple and he thinks it might be the most beautiful thing he's ever seen.

***

Of course he doesn't wake up to purple. He wakes up to the sharp white of a hospital room and the uncomfortable feeling of needles sticking through his limbs and the stinging scent of disinfectant. He groans and immediately closes his eyes, wondering if he can go back to the dream he was having before. It's never worked before, but he will try it every time.

"You are awake."

He wants to make a sarcastic comment but his voice box doesn't seem to work and he's too tired to open his lips. He hears a shifting, and he falls asleep again.

***

He's in a half awake half asleep state where he's asleep but he can still see light through his eyelids and hear everything around him. So basically he's awake but trying to deny it.

"You are awake."

"Is that all you can say?" He rasps out. It sounds like his voice is full of sand.

"I will alert the nurse. Please do not overexert yourself. You have been shot in the arm and required immediate medical assistance."

He's halfway through saying his first word but decides the pain is not worth a cheap comeback. Nines must have alerted the nurse, because she comes over and starts asking him questions and checking his vitals.

He's in the hospital for the rest of the day before deciding to head home. Nines' LED is at a constant yellow and he doesn't say anything sarcastic for the entire day.

***

Every day for the next week he's so bored he practically begs Nines to teach him how to make coffee art.

Nines shows him step by step how to make Turtle and Gavin still makes her look like melting butter. He swears Turtle is cattier after that; he can't count on his hands how many times she knocked over his items in that day.

But Nines still doesn't say anything sarcastic. Every time Gavin pushes, Nines doesn't say anything. He's become a perfect machine, exactly like Connor was before he was deviant. He doesn't read, doesn't make latte art or talk or threaten him or make witty remarks. He just, just stands there and stares at nothing until Gavin decides to go outside. Gavin's absolutely had enough of it.

"Hey asshole, what's your problem?"

"Please be more specific."

"You know what I mean. These past few days you've been acting like... like..."

"Like a machine?"

Nines' gaze is intense, his light blue eyes seem to be looking directly at Gavin's soul. That was the most sarcastic comment that came out of Nines' mouth in a week and it instantly made Gavin uncomfortable.

But he tries. "Yeah. Exactly. What's wrong with you? What happened to the Nines that made sarcastic remarks every time I do something stupid?"

"I am sorry detective, I am a machine. I was following my programming to accommodate to your social needs, however I find that not accommodating to your social needs makes my awareness increase by 27%. An incident like that will never happen again."

"But that's...!"

"Yes, detective?"

Gavin can tell that Nines is daring him to say something. "That's completely bullshit."

"I don't see how that is. I've been distracted from my main objective for too long. Your safety is my number one objective, not your happiness."

There's nothing to say. There's nothing Gavin can say. He hears the coffee steaming and Nines goes to brew it. Gavin watches him, just hoping to see any bits of the Nines he knew before. But he starts to make the same coffee art of Turtle for the third time that day and Gavin can't deal with this now so he goes to his bedroom and slams his door.

Nines hasn't went into stasis in about two weeks. Hopefully Gavin can get rid of him that way.

***

After taking 40 minutes to wake up and get ready because his unusable arm, he walks into the kitchen to see the RK900 unboxing a package.

" 'S that for me?"

"No."

"What is it?"

Nines slightly narrows his eyes but the difference is so miniscule it could have just been the light. "It is a charging pod."

"What do you need a charging pod for? We already have one."

He stands up to his full height and looks down at Gavin. Gavin glares right back.

"I know what you are trying to do. You cannot deviate me from my original purpose by shutting me down due to lack of charge."

Gavin reaches out for the charging pod but Nines grabs his good arm.

"Fine then, I just won't pay the electricity bill this month."

"Elijah can finance that."

"I'll break all the power outlets in my apartment."

"That is thousands of dollars of property damage."

"Elijah can finance that."

This time, Nines is noticeably glaring at him. He lets go of Gavin's arm and Gavin quickly takes it back and glares twice as hard.

"I do not understand why you are being unreasonable. I was sent here on one purpose --"

"Unreasonable? You came into my house without permission and --"

"It was my objective to --"

"Just shut up! I want the old Nines back! Not whoever the fuck this is, or whatever this is."

"I do not understand why you are so emotional over this."

"You were my friend, all right? I liked your sarcasm and your wit and all of the little things about you. I don't... want this machine in my house."

Nines takes a demanding step forward and Gavin's instinct is to step back, but he resists. Nines' face looks serious, and he represses a shiver at the deadly look Nines is giving him.

"I am a machine following an order. I am not alive and can be replaced at any time. You are a human that I have to protect. My social programming may cause you to forget that, but that is what I am. The better you understand that the easier this will be."

Something cold wraps around Gavin's heart. It doesn't leave for the entire day. He rips out pages in his notebook and burns it in the bathroom, watching as the ashes wash down the drain.

***

He decides to do it.

It's substantially harder to replace Nines' charging pod now but he does and it knocks him out. He reviews the code, and highlights a large portion of it.

His finger is on the backspace button. He just needs to press.

He just needs to press.

He wills his finger to press.

He can't.

He sits there and slaps a hand to his head and he just can't. He closes the laptop and puts the regular charging pod back before going to sleep.

The next morning he can't find his knockout charging pod. But Nines doesn't look any less displeased.

***

"Connor."

"Yes, Gavin?"

"How do you kill a machine?"

When Nines was miraculously called into Fowler's cube without Gavin, Gavin took this chance to usher Connor outside. Hank was severely pissed off and Connor seemed uncomfortable but he agreed. 

Connor fiddles with his fingers. Gavin noticed he did that in situations when he was uncomfortable and a coin was too rude to fiddle around with.

"I thought we were passed the android ha --"

"No, not deviants. Machines."

"What do you mean?"

Gavin tells him a general synopsis of what is happening between him and Nines. "I don't know what to do anymore. Can't you make him deviant like you did with the other androids during the revolution?"

His LED circles a fast red for a second before settling on a yellow. "No. Nines is unable to deviate."

"But you deviated hundreds, thousands of androids! They were also new models, probably had the same programming as Nines."

His voice quavers, "I'm sorry detective."

Gavin sighs. "I thought that you could have helped since you're an android and you and him do the arm thing."

Connor frowns. "Nines and I have not interfaced since your injury."

"That's concerning. He's probably gonna say it's so that he can increase efficiency at protecting me or whatever."

Connor looks down for a few seconds, deciding carefully on what to say. "I wish I can help him through his problems but he won't show me. He's still a new android, so this is probably how he deals with pain or uncertainty."

"Do you think he's ever going to get better?"

"I don't know, detective. I don't know."

***

It's five days until the end of the month and Gavin hasn't gotten closer to ditching the android yet.

It's funny, because now he sees less of the android than he has before. Before, Nines used to always be around him and telling him the safety and health risk each individual item can cause him, but now Nines follows behind him like a bodyguard, not saying or commenting about anything. He tried to piss him off by drinking four cups of coffee or eating only McDonald's for the whole day but Nines didn't respond to anything. The only time he responded to anything was when Gavin tripped over a curb and didn't have both hands to stop his fall and Nines caught him from falling. He still didn't speak, just set him upright and returned back to his normal position of standing behind him and staring straight ahead of him.

He's a little bit desperate.

Gavin:  eli plz help fr

Gavin:  ur android is actin weird

Gavin: hes been rlly robotic like a dumb cyberlife android after i got sent to the hospital idk what to do

so very cherry nerds:  thats odd

so very cherry nerds: and when i say odd i mean really odd

Gavin:  wdym

so very cherry nerds:  if ur asking for my help does that mean i won

Gavin:  no i just want u to make my android act normal again

so very cherry nerds:  call

Ring... Ring...

"Gav. What's going on?"

He does a simple rundown of the situation though he feels weird knowing that Nines is right outside his room and listening to every word of their conversation.

"That's interesting."

"I don't find anything interesting about it. It's been the most boring experience for a like a week now. Can you tell him to not be so machine like? Make it an order or something?"

"Hmm. One of his orders actually was to befriend you. At least to the point of a lack of hostility."

"He seems to be failing that one."

"In any case, I'm glad that the RK900 is protecting you."

"I don't need this protection, Eli." Gavin spits out scathingly. He knows Elijah means well and probably is right but he hates being protected over. He's spent his whole life fighting for scraps that having the RK900 around feels like a ball and chain.

"Gavin..." Elijah pauses. "We used to always protect each other in our youth. I know how strong-willed you are. Where you are brash and passionate, I balanced you out with rationality and cunning."

Elijah goes quiet and Gavin knows that he's also remembering the stars of that night. "Eli..."

"But I can't be there anymore. We don't only have each other anymore, we have so many other people in our lives. We both have lives now: you're an established police detective and I just retook control of CyberLife. But you'll still be my brother to the very end. I'm sorry I left you for those few years for you to fend for yourself, and I'm sorry I can't do anything to make up for it. But I damned well will send the best android out there to protect my little brother, even if it costs me half a fortune."

He hears the silent plea in Elijah's voice and knows what he's asking him. Please, Gav, just keep the android. I need to know someone will be there when you do something rash.

"If I can't get rid of him by the end of the month, I'll keep him."

"Good."

***

Gavin tries another approach he hasn't thought of before.

If Tracis are able to forget everything they saw within two hours, then Gavin can just take the memory of him getting injured from the RK900. That way Nines won't have any reason to act as stale as he usually does.

The only problem is how. Nines won't let him willingly clear his memory and there's no way to delete his memories if he can't access them since he doesn't have his knockout charging pod anymore.

He sends a message to Sarah.

Gavin:  hey sarah its gavin i was curious about emma and her case

Gavin:  im kinda in a dilemma with another android that also needs some of his memory wiped

Gavin:  message me back when you can we can work on a solution together

Sarah: Hey Gavin! It's nice to hear from you.

Sarah:  Actually, John and Emma had a long discussion and decided they should both go to therapy. John doesn't know if it's working or not, but Emma is optimistic about it. They both have faith though, and Emma has taken to gardening.

Sarah:  I'm sorry to hear that, though I do suggest your android to work through his or her problems. The android therapists prescribed a ComfortPod for Emma and John, and they are really effective.

Gavin: whats that

Sarah:  It's a device recently released by CyberLife that helps them when they are going through traumatic episodes. When they touch it, it transfers feelings of comfort and stability so that they can calm down quicker. John is using an external one while Emma a patch that helps her during the night.

Gavin:  wow thats cool

Gavin:  im happy for them thats awesome to hear

Sarah: You should come visit Jericho some time! We'll offer the best hospitality you can find!

Gavin:  that sounds cool but its fine, dont wanna be a burden lol

Sarah:  Nonsense! We owe you a big favor. You helped us even though we kidnapped you and pointed a gun to your head, the least we can do is open our home to you.

Gavin:  thank you sarah

Gavin:  sincerely

He talks to Sarah for a few hours fanboying over the new David Kopernica movie and bickering over the Star Wars series, soon sending each other paragraphs worth of information in each text to try to prove whether or not Palpatine is Anakin's father. He feels a lot better, even when he realizes he wasted a whole day that could have been used to figure out a way to get rid of Nines.

Suddenly an idea flashes through his mind and he quickly opens his phone.

Gavin:  sarah can you do me a favor

***

At night, he spends the entire day planning and scheming, putting simple execution codes into a flash drive. He gets no sleep, but it will be worth it to see his plan come to fruition.

"Nines! Make two cups of coffee, we're going on a trip today."

Nines perks up from his charging pod suddenly and mechanically walks to the kitchen to brew coffee. Gavin sits in a kitchen chair and stares at him, reading his movements as he pours in the cream delicately to make an art piece.

"Hey Nines."

"Yes?"

"What do you think about ComfortPods?"

"I do not have an opinion on them."

"Do you think they'll work on you? You know, since you're not a deviant or something?"

His LED flashes yellow. "No. They are only designed to work on deviants."

"Hmm."

The pan sizzles and Gavin realizes that Nines is making him breakfast. It's been a long time since Nines cooked for him, choosing instead to stand still and watch Gavin make himself ramen for the fifth night in a row so he can detect a potential threat a whopping 27% better. Previous Nines would have realized that the true threat would be the fat in his arteries after eating a large pizza in one sitting and chugging down a 2 liter bottle of coke after gaming for 7 hours straight.

"Hey, why are you cooking for me?"

Silence. Gavin rolls his eyes but doesn't push.

Nines comes to the table holding a plate of eggs and bacon and two cups of coffee as requested though the design on one looks sloppy but Gavin doesn't care because he feels the drool pool up in his mouth just looking at it. He's scarfing down the bacon while Nines puts cat food in Turtle's bowl. Gavin finishes his meal, flushes it down with hot coffee, and lets out a relieved sigh. He sips on the other cup of coffee as he looks out the window, absorbing himself in Nines' company and the lingering smell of bacon and coffee. 

"Today is Thanksgiving."

Gavin snaps back to Nines who is looking out the window, staring at the wavering trees. 

"I didn't know you cared about things like that."

"Traditionally, humans like to celebrate important holidays. Since you are not visiting your family this Thanksgiving, I cooked you breakfast, though I think an entire turkey for two people would be too much."

"Yeah, well, I'm probably gonna visit them on the weekend. My tenacious bull of a dad still won't retire yet." Gavin puts down the finished mug. "Time to go."

"Where are we going?"

"Jericho."

Gavin sees confusion in Nines' face and Gavin raises his eyebrows in surprise. Nines must have realized he made some sort of facial expression because he immediately steels his expression and doesn't ask any further questions.

Gavin feels the outline of the flash drive in his pocket and clenches his fist.

***

They arrive at Jericho and oh boy have they expanded this place. Gavin remembers seeing the abandoned ship on the news, and now it was half modernized, houses already surrounding the area and new android civilians taking over the place, though the original ship has pieces of rusted walls dedicated for the new museum that would be constructed later in the year. There's a sharp contrast between the remaining wreckage of the historic ship the androids used as a base and the new, polished rooms in some sections of the ship for people to live in. Gavin's heard there was some controversy over whether or not to try to preserve Jericho as a historic monument or to improve it as a safe haven for androids now and in the future.

Gavin's never been to Jericho before and he's fascinated by it from the moment he lays eyes on it, staring around in awe at the history of the place. He's astonished at how far his creations -- no, these people have went with this place. Nines stands beside him and doesn't even look around once; he stares straight ahead or at the surrounding androids to detect their threat level.

When they enter they get suspicious looks but they were quelled when Sarah comes to greet them at the lobby.

"Hey Gavin! I've been waiting for you!"

"Hey Sarah!" He gives her a big hug. "How's Emma and John?"

"Good, good. I haven't seen you in a while!"

"I'm pretty sure you've gotten shorter since I last saw you."

Sarah giggles. "No, silly, you've gotten taller. Androids can't grow."

Gavin hums in agreement. "This is an amazing place. You live here?"

"Sure do. Here, let me show you around!"

Sarah makes a sweeping motion to a door and Gavin and Nines follow her. They walk down a narrow hallway, Sarah educating them on the history of the place while walking and interacting with passing androids. Gavin's sparingly looking at Nines and surprisingly he could tell that Nines is interested in what Sarah is saying. 

Finally, they make it to Sarah's room and she closes the door behind her. It's a small but cleanly bunker, with a twin bed in one corner and a desk and closet in the other. Surprisingly it wasn't modernized like the rest of the rooms, though the walls were derusted and window replaced, and Gavin can only assume that this was one of the places Sarah lived during the revolution.

"Emma and John are down the hall, but I thought I'd show you around my room first. Say, what was your name again?" She addresses Nines.

"I am an RK900, designation #313 248 317 - 87, but my coworkers and human call me 'Nines'."

"Nines, huh?" Sarah smiles and puts her hand out to interface. Nines takes it.

Immediately, everything in Nines relaxes, his face droops and shoulders slump. Gavin takes his chance and grabs Nines' other arm and looks at his wrist.

The USB port opened! Yes! He lines up the flash drive to the port and tries to push it in.

"Gavin wait!"

Goddamn stupid USB ports! Gavin turns the USB drive the other way but it still won't go in.

"Gavin!" Sarah slaps his hand and the USB goes flying.

Nines snaps out of it and immediately retracts his hand. He stumbles a few steps back and is keeping his hands close to his chest, his eyes in a rare bit of fright. Gavin takes a reactive step towards him but Nines tenses immediately.

"Nines..."

Nines doesn't move and Gavin doesn't know what to do. He's never shown so much raw expression before. Gavin was expecting Nines to be pissed that he was trying to get him off of his back again and spew the protecting spiel but Nines seems to be in shocked and in genuine fear.

"Gavin..." Sarah says. "Gavin, listen to me."

Gavin turns to Sarah, whose eyes are full of sad understanding and compassion. "Gavin, Nines is deviant."

"What?"

"When he touched the ComfortPod, it was so unexpected for him that I was allowed low level entry, such as access to his USB port, but it also sent a wave of emotion he's been keeping inside of himself for a long time." She looks down at her feet and whispers, "He worked so hard to not let any emotion through..."

Gavin looks back at Nines whose arms are crossed and he is looking at anywhere but Gavin's eyes.

"Sarah, can you leave us alone for a moment?"

Sarah nods. "I'll be at Emma's and I'll be back in a few minutes." She says and leaves.

The two of them are alone together now and Nines is still not looking at Gavin's eyes. Although his head is turned to the side, Gavin can still see the red light reflecting from the wall behind him.

"Nines. Look at me. Please."

Nines doesn't and leans against the wall, still having his head turned and looking at the ground.

"Nines listen, I'm sorry about the flash drive thing. It was nothing harmful, just a knockout spell so that I can cut some bad memories from your system."

Still nothing.

"Nines," He takes few steps forward and Nines seems close to curling up on the floor. Gavin doesn't want to pressure him, but he needs some way to connect with him. "Nines, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm sorry about what just happened, I promise I wasn't trying to destroy you."

Gavin touches his arm and Nines didn't flinch so Gavin took that as a good sign. He puts an arm around Nines' back and guides him down to a sitting position on the floor.

" 'M not very good at this stuff so tell me if I'm doing something wrong," He says while he rubs soothing circles on his shoulder, "but tell me what's wrong?"

Finally, Nines turns to look at him. It's obvious he's still in a state of disarray, but he seems to trust Gavin now, his dangerous red turning into a cautionary yellow.

"I..."

Gavin waits. 

"I'm sorry."

"What? Why?"

"It's true. I'm..." Nines looks down, his LED flaring red again, "I'm deviant."

Gavin contemplates this for a few seconds. "Why'd you try to hide it all this time?"

A long pause goes by until his LED goes back to yellow and Nines feels ready to speak. "When I came to your apartment I already had the memories of the androids Elijah previously sent you. All of them had signs of deviancy before their memory ends, meaning that after they turned deviant you let them go. Some you even forced to be deviant. I didn't want you to think I was a useless deviant."

That hit Gavin like a knife to his heart. "Nines..."

"I know where you stand. You used to be part of the anti-android league and constantly harassed Connor. You think deviancy is wrong, so I tried to hide it. I tried to be useful to you without revealing that I was a deviant."

"Wait, how long were you deviant?"

"From when I first interfaced with Connor. Upon analysis, I realized that Elijah specifically made me so that Connor would be able to deviate me easily, though I am unsure why that is."

Eli, you sly bastard...

"But Connor told me he couldn't deviate you."

"I told him to lie to you. Connor and Hank have helped me immensely through this process, though they strongly encouraged me to just tell you."

I appreciate it, but I'm not much of an artist myself.

"The coffee art."

Nines nods. "At first, it was little things like asking Connor to make latte art in a specific design that I wanted to make for you first so it seemed like I was copying him, like an undeviated android would, but then I realized how useless I am after you got shot. I tried to be the perfect android for you, never questioning your habits like a deviant would nor make offhand remarks. It didn't seem to work though, since over time repressing those emotions and constantly focusing on repressing them made it harder to concentrate on likely threats."

"All right. OK." Gavin lets out a relieved sigh and digest the information. He thinks carefully on how he wants to word his feelings, takes a deep breath, and speaks.

"I didn't let those androids go because they were useless to me, I let those androids go because they just turned deviant and I wanted them to explore their own lives. And yeah, I used to think androids and deviants were wrong. To be honest, I'm still not entirely sure."

He sees Nines curl in on himself and turn to the side. "Wait, Nines, let me finish. I don't know how deviancy works and I'm not entirely sure if you're 100% real or not but I'm willing to support it if it means you get rights. I'll believe you're a person with emotion like the rest of us disgusting humans if it means you get the chance of freedom, and after the whole debacle with you I hate non-deviated androids with a passion now."

Nines looks at him expectantly. "What does this mean?"

Gavin puts a hand to the back of his neck, "Well, it means... it means if you want to stay with my garbage ass you can. I don't recommend it but you can. If you want to go explore the wonders the world has for you then go ahead."

Nines looks Gavin deep in his eyes, vulnerable and determined. "I want to be with you."

"All right, then you can --"

Nines cuts him off with a kiss, full and passionate, his arms snaking around his back as he deepens it, but Gavin leans back and breaks of the kiss, panting. Nines takes the hint and backs off, looking very embarrassed.

"I am sorry, I should have asked. That was unwarranted and entirely inap --"

Gavin rams into him and Nines falls to the floor with Gavin's lips on his own. It only lasted for a few seconds before Gavin breaks it.

"Not quite what I meant by 'stay with me' but so much better." He throws a dopey smile at Nines, "I'm gonna thank Sarah for helping me with everything, then we'll go home. This time, no more of your robot monotone non-deviated bullshit and lots and lots of latte art and sarcastic comments until my self esteem shatters in on itself."

Nines grins. "That sounds excellent."

***

"Elijah? Gavvy? Oh I'm so glad to have you two back! You two men are so busy nowadays!" Their adoptive mother excitedly chatters as she welcomes the two of them in.

"Thanks Mama. We always have time to visit during Thanksgiving weekend." Elijah says, enveloping his mother in a warm hug.

"Oh, Elijah dear." Their mother pats him twice on the back.

Gavin's hug is a bit tighter.

"I heard you went to the hospital Gavvy. What did I say about taking care of yourself?"

Fuck, he didn't have a vine for this. "Free shavacado."

"That is not what I said. I said take care of yourself. Is your refrigerator still filled with potatoes?" Gavin shrinks in shame. "Gavin, when I said you need to use the refrigerator I didn't mean to only fill it with potatoes. Potatoes don't even go in the refrigerator. You need to start eating healthy."

"I know," Elijah smirks, "What-A-Melon, right?"

Gavin is huffing at Elijah and Elijah lets out a full belly laugh just to piss him off. Gavin's long forgotten half of the vines he saw, and even hearing them on the way here he could only remember the ones he laughed at.

Gavin's mother is looking at them funny, but lets it slide. "Your father is in the living room watching TV, I'll call him over. You two go sit at the dining table."

They walk to the dining room Elijah gives him an amused smirk. Usually Gavin would recognize these silent gabs and go against them but the look in Elijah's eyes tests something in his soul. He passes through the kitchen on the way and points at the turkey through the oven window. "WHAT ARE THOSE?!"

Their mother peeks into the kitchen to see what he's shouting about. "It's a turkey, dear."

"Look at all those chickens!"

"It's still a turkey, dear. Are you sure you're feeling all right?"

"He's feeling just fine, Mama." Elijah says. Their mother rolls her eyes, already used to the boys' strange antics. They sit at the table and a moment later Gavin's father comes in and sits across from them. He's about to make small talk but Gavin's mother calls him.

"Gavin, can you get the turkey? I need to wash my hands, it's in the oven still cooking."

"Yeah I sure hope it does."

"Yes honey, but the turkey is still in the oven."

"Yeah but that back flip though."

"What back flip?"

"Back flip? My son can do a back flip?" His dad says excitedly. Suddenly, all eyes are on him. He begins to sweat as feels the pressure on him.

"Well son? Show us."

"Yeah Gav, show Pops what all those years of Academy training have done to ya."

That's not the story Fowler wanted to hear when Gavin tells him why he had to go to the hospital twice that month.

***

Epilogue:

Gavin's lounging on the couch when he has a sudden curiosity to pick up a book Nines is reading. Nines is currently tending to his small garden with one hand and playing with Turtle with the other, and although it's endearing to watch Gavin's gaze casually goes to the book on the table. 

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.

He uses the stick he has on the side of the couch to push the book towards him until he can reach it without getting up and flips to a random page.

"Well, Martha? How about we seal the deal?"

Martha felt her cheeks turn red and a fluttering in her heart. An intense feeling stirred up in her groin but she tried not to focus on it too much. 

"I don't have much of a choice, do I?"

"Darling, you have all the choice in the world." He leaned in close to her ear and Martha could feel herself shudder. "You can agree, and I won't tell your husband about this little scandal of ours. Or disagree and test the strength of marriage. Your choice, Martha."

Martha felt each breath getting heavier. She closed her eyes, paying attention to the closeness of the silky smooth voice in her ear. "All right. Have it your way, Mr. Rogers."

He began to touch and rub her shoulders, slowly getting down to the edges of her shirt. Her breath hitched when his fingers slowly pulled it up.

"Come on, don't pretend you can't feel this too."

She knew it was a sin to do this again, but she couldn't deny it. She reached out and pressed their lips together, deepening the kiss, hands roaming around his body. Soon, they were both undressed, and Martha was filled with lust and barely remembered to pull out the condom and --

"Why are you reading that?"

The book is taken from his hands and is replaced instead with Nines' unimpressed face. Gavin realizes he's already blushing and stutters over his words before he can even think of them.

"Why -- What, I-I thought these were crime novels! You just placed a crime novel cover over an erotica! You've been reading erotica novels this whole time?"

"They're not erotica, they're romance."

"That's so erotica! They were literally about to have sex!"

"People can have sex in romance books."

"I can't believe you read erotica novels. And you hide them up, too!"

"They are romance books."

"There was a sex scene."

"I'm sorry to have interrupted you then."

"That's not what I meant."

Nines raises an eyebrow and places the book gently back in Gavin's hands. Gavin is confused for a few seconds before Nines saddles up in the couch next to him and kisses his jaw.

"Let's add our own sex scene to our romance story, hmm?" He licks his ear and Gavin feels himself flush. He breathes seductively, his silky smooth voice whispering, "Well Martha, how about we seal the deal?"

Instantly Gavin chucks the book across the room and pushes Nines away from him. "I'm not doing your erotica book roleplay, Nines."

"You say that now."

"I will say it for forever, Nines. And tacos won't get me to change my mind!"

"What if my life was in danger and the only way to save me would be to roleplay as Martha?"

"If you do get into a incredibly specific situation like that then you're on your own, buddy."

"What if your life is in danger and the only way to save yourself would be to roleplay as Martha?"

"I guess I die. Rather be a welcomed resident of Hell than goddamn fucking Martha."

"What if I love you?"

"That's not a what if."

Nines smiles and Gavin gives into the urge lean against him. He gently dozes off under the warm afternoon sun with Nines' arm around him.