Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“I do like blue foods,” Connor’s head cocked in contemplation as Gavin hid a snicker behind his phone, “even with my upgraded stomach compartment those with a thirium component are absorbed better.”

“I’m telling you, Tin Can, you already got Hank willing to foot the bill, so why not?  It’s a celebration, and all.” Gavin shrugged, ignoring Tina’s glare and giggle combo from her desk.  Sure, since the revolution Gavin had decided that okay, maybe he hadn’t known what the fuck he was talking about when it came to androids.  Or at least, if they were taking all the jobs, they hadn’t asked to be born, (built, whatever) anymore than Gavin had, and maybe if the booming U.S. fucking government wasn’t still screaming that UBI was horrible communism that wouldn’t have been a problem in the first place…

Basically, he was on board with androids being people.  And maybe even prepared to admit he’d been a douchebag before. (And okay, Connor not letting him bleed to death in April when he'd have had every reason to might have been a factor.  Shut-up.)

But that didn’t change the fact that Connor was the youngest on the squad and incredibly easy to screw with.  Gavin wouldn’t be Gavin if he resisted the urge to fill his head with all sorts of shit.  It was practically part of his sacred duty.

Beaming now, Connor half-shouted, “Yes! Actually, Hank said I should invite friends, as is traditional for a birthday celebration,” Gavin tried not to wince, because no, Connor was one thing, spending time with Lieutenant Ass-Face was another, “and Markus and the others were unable to find substitutes for their duties at Jericho.”  Looking between Gavin and Tina with a face that was basically impossible to say no to, dammit, Connor continued, “Officer Chen, Detective Reed, would you like to accompany me to breakfast and the aquarium tomorrow?”

Before Gavin could decide whether he wanted to give Connor shit about only inviting them as a second choice or about calling them by their titles, let alone what his actual answer was, Tina popped up out of her chair with a, “Yes, yes, we definitely would,” and plopped herself down on the edge of Connor’s desk, gushing about sharks while the android’s LED spun that bright, bright blue and Gavin gaped at her.  Okay, the shark love was real, but most of that enthusiasm came from the idea of Gavin being there when his perfect joke came to fruition.  His perfect joke that was only perfect if he was nowhere near when Hank’s mouth dropped open and he asked Connor who the hell had taught him that. 

He wanted to picture it, not see it.  Despite what some people claimed he did have self preservation skills. 

His best friend was a traitor .

“Hey, hey, I might have already had plans, ya know,” Gavin grumbled, louder than he intended, and got both of them looking at him, Tina grinning and Connor’s head cocked to the side with just a trace of worry on his face.

“Do you, Detective Reed?  If so, I will not of course hold you to Officer Chen’s agreement, though you will be missed.”  And dammit if the Tin Can wasn’t sincere when he said that, actually looking sad that Gavin and his smart mouth weren’t gonna be tagging along talking shit the whole time.  

“Nah, I was just saying I might have...and shut-up with that Detective Reed shit, it’s Gavin, you plastic prick, how many times do I have to say it?”  Leaning back in his chair, Gavin averted his eyes back to his phone only to have Connor appear above him so fast he swore to god the kid had teleported, almost making him choke in surprise.

“So you are coming to my birthday party, Gavin?”  

“Christ...how the hell did Cyberlife fuck up and make a detective android look so much like a puppy dog?” Indignation covered the android’s face, cheeks staining a bit blue as he crossed his arms across his chest.

“I do not look like a juvenile canine, but if I did I would make a more attractive puppy than you.”

Gavin’s mouth dropped open for a second, and then a genuine, no fucking hiding it, guffaw escaped him, than another, and he heard Tina trying to stifle giggles as Connor’s eyes widened, no doubt just realizing what he’d said. “Yeah, Con, you 110% would, no doubt about it.  I bet Anderson would-”

“You bet Anderson would what?” Hank’s voice was accompanied by him dropping heavily into his desk chair, “Kick all your asses for gossiping while I was dealing with that bastard Perkins?”

“Hank, Tina and Gavin are going to accompany us on my birthday outing tomorrow.  Perhaps we could pick them up in the morning so as to avoid staggering arrival times?”  Hank grunted, smiling a little at Tina and shooting a suspicious look at Gavin that he grinned wide at.  Let him wonder.

“Yeah, whatever, it’s your day, kid.”  Then Hank bent forward, long gray hair flopping in his face as he jabbed at his computer monitor and muttered something uncomplimentary about the FBI-the one thing he and Anderson agreed on.  “Is anybody else planning on getting some work done…?”

****

When Gavin pulled himself out of bed the next day, dragged himself out of bed at 6:30 on a Saturday , he cursed Connor, his puppy eyes, aquariums, and the existence of birthdays or activation days or whatever the fuck this was in their entirety.  Why?   Why had he agreed to this when he could be sleeping?  Even Pepperoni and Pumpkin would still be asleep for another hour ordinarily, or at least not bugging him for another hour, and he didn’t want his cats thinking they could get breakfast out of him any earlier than they already did.

He dragged himself from the coffee machine to the shower and was actually ready, his hair even mostly dry and shit, by the time Hank, Connor, and Tina showed up at his door.  Part of him was glad that they’d picked him up second, giving him that little bit of extra time, but that was mostly erased by Tina pushing her way past him and making kissy noises at the cats and turtle, announcing, “Auntie Tina is here to spoil you!” and literally pulling treats out of her pockets to ‘make it rain’ on the animals.

God, Gavin loved his sister from another mister.  

He didn’t love Connor and Hank following in after her, though, sizing up his shitty apartment.  Even if Connor was almost immediately on his knees and imitating Tina’s kissy noises, patting his chest like he thought the cats would jump on him like Anderson’s monster.  “Gavin, your smaller cat is using your turtle as a chair.”  Connor’s LED was swirling between yellow and blue as he watched, transfixed and baffled.

“Yeah, Tank puts up with a lot of shit.  He loves his sisters, though.”  Hank was grinning at him now, and it wasn’t his usual shit eating grin, but something genuine enough it made Gavin want to gag.  Turning so he didn’t have to see the Lieutenant’s face, he complained, “Are we going or what? My stomach feels like it’s about to eat itself and I need more coffee before you and Tina have heart attacks over fishes and shit.”  

Pumpkin, somehow knowing what he was suggesting, yowled in complaint from where she was perched on Tina’s shoulders.  “Aw, is Daddy abandoning you?” his traitor of a best friend cooed and Gavin glared at her, annoyed, because:

1. He actually felt guilty with all the long hours he worked leaving when he didn’t have to, and Tina knew that. Bitch.
2. The last thing he needed was it getting around the precinct that he called himself Daddy when talking to his cats.  He could feel Hank smirking at him.

“Would you shut up already?”  Okay, not his best work, but he’d only had the one cup of coffee.

Tina stuck her tongue out at him and set Pumpkin on the ground, and before Gavin could retaliate Hank clapped his hands together way too fucking close to his ear and then chuckled when he recoiled.  “Alright, Con, say goodbye to the cats and turtle-”

“Pepperoni, Pumpkin and Tank,” Connor interrupted, because of course he’d scanned them and now probably knew more about Gavin’s pets than Gavin.

“Yep, say goodbye, Reed’s not the only one who’s hungry.” Hank turned like he was already heading out, but only walked until he was out of Connor’s immediate sight.  Like the android was actually a toddler instead of just occasionally acting like it.  Rolling his eyes, Gavin grabbed his coat off the wall hook and then the small wrapped box off the table, shoving it in his pocket before Connor saw.  

“So…” he drawled out, looking between Connor struggling to tear himself away from the animals and Tina watching in amusement, “...this is gonna be a pretty boring birthday if we just hang around this shithole all day.”

Chapter Text

Anderson had an ancient clunker of a car that had had to be modified to meet the self-driving highway standards, so of course he didn’t ever have them on when it wasn’t required.  

Which meant that Gavin and Tina spent the ride introducing Connor to the age old game ‘Annoy the Shit Out of the Driver’.  Hank made it really, really easy.  

It was his own fault for cramming the three of them in the back, insisting that Connor sit with his ‘birthday guests.’ He was probably just hoping to delay the constant stream of fish facts that they all knew was going to start any second now.

“ This is the song that never ends, it goes-”

“It’s the song that’s ending right fucking now, or the three of you can walk the rest of the way to the Waffle Warp, I swear to God.”  Huh.  That was the second time through once Connor had the lyrics down, so longer than Gavin had been expecting really.

“Loosen up, it’s an important cultural milestone, Hanky.” Tina said it lightly, while looking critically at her fingernails, and Gavin was impressed.

“Hanky?  Did you just call me-like the thing you blow your nose in?” Hank’s voice rose, fingers tightening on the steering wheel.

“That’s disgusting.” Connor's nose wrinkled.

“I’m not the one who said it, Connor, tell your little friend.”  The radio switched on, some heavy metal station millennials who could only express pain through art listened to (and they thought they weren’t repressed as shit), Hank trying to tune them all out.

“Tina, that’s disgusting.”

“Technically, Hank is the one who took it there.  And right before we eat, too.”

Gavin cackled as Tina’s words reminded him of a story, “So, Ben told me when he and And-”

“One more word, Reed, and I’ll be telling Fowler what really happened in April.”  Yeah, Hank was easy, but he played damned dirty.  Gavin scowled at the back of Anderson’s mop of hair. Bastard.

Then he grinned.  “Word.”  The heavy sigh from up front warmed his twisted little heart.

******

Gavin had almost forgotten about his joke.  Honestly, he was too busy thinking about whether he was going to get a biscuit sandwich or a waffle sandwich, or maybe a savory waffle stack for it to be anywhere but the back of his mind.

So when Connor glared at him over his menu and loudly declared, “They do not have blue waffles here, Gavin, nor any waffles made with thirium,” voice indignant, he could only gape while Tina cackled next to him.

“...Uh, but it says they got a syrup made out of it, see…” he pointed at the menu, avoiding Hank’s reddening face.

“Dammit, Gavin! When you teach him that shit, I have to explain it!”

“Explain what?” Connor’s LED went solid yellow, Tina covered her eyes as if she could see inside Connor’s mind and Gavin yelped.

“Don’t search it, Robocop, don’t search it!”  He had perhaps not thought this joke through...Connor might have been created as a fully grown android, but this was a first activation day party and shit…

Connor’s gaze remained fixed in the distance, a sure sign that he had not listened to Gavin and had searched for ‘blue waffles’.  Dammit.  Hank sighed like the weight of the world was on his shoulders.  “It was bad enough when he wore the suspenders and you called him a twink.  We had to have a talk about sexuality.”  Gavin cackled.

Never mind.  This was the best thing he’d ever done.

Uh, not counting that last red ice bust.  Maybe.  

“But that body part looks nothing like waffles.  Though, I can see why it would be concerning if it were to turn blue…” Connor mused loudly as he came out of search mode, the mother at the table nearest them glaring while her teenagers snickered.

Best. Thing. He’d. Ever. Done.

*****

“Alright, you greedy bastards, it’s Connor’s birthday, he gets to choose dessert.”  Hank didn’t have his Lieutenant face on, but close enough as he pulled the menu away from Tina and Gavin and handed it to Connor.  Who gave them both a smug, ‘that’s what you get’ look before burying his face in it.

Fucker.  

Kid was coming along nicely.

“Hmmm.  I believe we will have the Caramel Apple Delight pull-apart bread.  It is meant to be shared and you can add a scoop of ice cream for a dollar and fifty cents.”

“We should add four scoops of ice cream.  Since there are four of us,” Tina suggested, looking perfectly reasonable to the point that Connor started nodding along even as Hank scoffed.  Gavin considered his already too full stomach, and thought that sounded like a perfect idea.

“Are you gonna pay for it, Chen?”

Tina, ever classy, chirped a satisfied, “Sure, glad to chip in on Connor’s birthday,” leaving Hank to stare at her in befuddlement for a second, before finally subsiding with a grumble.

“Whatever...I thought you were lactose intolerant?”

“I just told Collins that so he quit trying to give me milk tea whenever he thought I was upset.” Tina shrugged. Hank barked out a laugh.

“Fowler gets non-dairy creamer for the break room because you didn’t want to drink a cup of Collins ‘go to, it always cheers me right up,’ tea?  You know if that ever gets out he’s gonna blow a gasket.” The older man shook his head, laughing again, before flagging down their waiter. “Yeah, can we get an order of the Apple Something pull-apart bread?  And is it big enough to put four scoops of ice cream on it or are these jokers as crazy as they think they are?” The waiter blinked, Gavin guessing he hadn’t heard that one before even in this diabetes factory.

“Um, it is pretty big, but I think it might get soggy with that much ice cream on it?  But maybe if you ate it fast it wouldn’t matter?”

Tina smacked her hand resoundingly on the table and declared, “We are fast eaters.  We are super fast eaters and that ice cream won’t know what hit it.  We accept this challenge!”  Gavin gave a particularly shit eating smirk to the now concerned looking waiter-he was on his best behavior today, under threat of Tina, but if she got to fuck with people so did he.

“Hey, you guys do birthday sing-alongs?”  Connor’s entire face turned blue, like the greedy kid from Charlie and the Chocolate factory, and a noise halfway between a croak and the sound his old computer made if he forgot to clean out the cat hair came out of him.  

“Reed…” Hank warned, but Gavin could see him fighting a grin.

“Fuck, what? It’s part of the birthday at a restaurant experience, I don’t want Connor to miss out.” He let his smirk grow wider as Connor gave him a glare that could have cut glass-possibly literally.

“I do not require any sort of serenade.”  Each word was pronounced with precision, and Gavin had no doubt that Connor was imagining shoving his face in the apple whatever.

“What about a birthday hat?” Tina asked, picture perfect serious.  “I just happen to have one in my purse…”  As she started fiddling around inside it, Connor sent a desperate, ‘what is happening’ look at Hank, who shrugged at him.

“You’re the one who wanted to invite them, Connor.  Don’t know what you expected.”

Chapter Text

So stuffed he could barely move (they had successfully completed what Tina was calling the Ice Cream Challenge. She’d taken pictures. Gavin was certain they were already on all her social media and Chris was already laughing at them all. Dick.) Gavin pulled the box out of his pocket before the wrapping got any more fucked up and slid it across the table to Connor. “Happy Activation day or whatever.” Connor looked surprised to the point Gavin felt a little insulted-fuck, he was coming along to the guy’s party, ‘course he was gonna get him something. Then Connor beamed, almost blinding them all, and pulled the little box towards him slowly, like it might disappear.

Crap, when did his life turn into some weird sci-fi channel/Hallmark mash-up?

“Thank you, Gavin.”

“You haven’t even opened it yet, dipshit.” Connor shrugged, turning it around in his hands, and Christ, hadn’t he ever gotten a present before? What, was Hank falling down on the job? The android had been living with him last Christmas, even if it was right after the revolution.

“Is it not supposed to be the thought that counts?” Gavin made a face at that, because okay, yeah, but most of the thought had been about what was inside the box, not the cheap square of paper he’d bought at the dollar store. Finally, fricking finally, Connor stuck a finger under one of the seams and started loosening the paper. Carefully, like the world was gonna end if it ripped. He was gonna die sitting here waiting to see if the Tin Can liked the stupid present he’d got him, they were never gonna make it to the aquarium…

Then the paper finally fell away to reveal the figurine inside and Gavin tried not to glare as he waited for Connor’s reaction. The android turned it over in his hands, silent, and Gavin didn’t realize his foot was tapping until Tina pressed it to the floor with hers. “Astro Boy...Hank, look it’s Astro Boy!” A sigh of relief didn’t escape him then, whatever some people might say later, as Connor hurriedly opened the box and held the statuette out on his palm like he was unveiling the Mona Lisa.

“I can see that. Pretty nifty, I didn’t know they made those anymore.” Hank smiled at it, reaching out a finger to touch the top of the child-robot’s signature hair peak, “You trying to show me up here, Reed?”

Rolling his eyes at the teasing jibe, Gavin shrugged, “Depends. Did it work?” Tina kicked him under the table and judging by the jump and growl from Hank she got him too.

“Tina…” Her bright smile was more terrifying than that ‘get along’ shirt one of his aunts had tried to shove him and Elijah in (they’d ripped it in two, of course) and with the same intention as she flashed it between him and Hank while Connor was busy poking at and moving around the figure’s limbs.

“Thank you, Gavin, very much. I am going to display this on my desk at work.” Connor finally put the action figure back in the box, closing it carefully and keeping one hand on it.

“Eh, I heard you and Collins talking about the show a couple times, made it easy to pick out.” Lifting one shoulder briefly, Gavin leaned forward enough to run a finger along the cinnamon and melted ice cream mess on the communal desert plate and shove it in his mouth.

“Yes, Collins prefers the 1980’s series, but I quite like the charm of the original, even if it is rather outdated.” Connor’s fingers drummed lightly on top of the package as he beamed around the table at all of them.

“My gift is I’ll buy you something from the aquarium gift shop,” Tina said, slouched back with one hand on her ‘food baby’. “And dessert. And my presence is a gift, of course, but that’s an everyday thing.” Fake gagging got Gavin elbowed in the gut, and dammit, he was too full to do anything but groan at that.

“If you make him puke…” Hank warned, leaving the end of the threat up to Tina’s imagination.

“We run for the door before the staff notices?”

“No!”

******

“Hank, look at the clownfish! It’s just like in Finding Nemo!” Almost bouncing up and down, Connor asked aloud, “I wonder if they have a Paracanthurus hepatus? That’s the kind of fish Dory is. She’s my favorite.”

“Nemo’s a champ,” Tina argued, standing so close to the glass her nose was almost touching, “Dory tries, but she never could have dealt with everything Nemo does when he’s just a kid.”

“You’re both wrong and stupid,” Gavin said with a disgusted shake of his head, “Gil is a badass and the only character worth anything in the whole movie.”

“Gil’s hardly in the movie. That’s like picking Darla.”

“Fuck off, Tina. Again, you are wrong and stupid.” Gavin should have expected Tina’s swift kick to his shin, but he did not. “Owww, Christ!”

“Alright, alright, knock it off and act right before you get us thrown out of here, all of you.” Hank was Dad ™ at the moment, voice stern and hands literally on his hips, Gavin snickering at the sight and then elbowing Tina anyway, who completed the scenario by stepping on his foot.

“I only commented on the clownfish,” Connor whined softly, the android’s LED briefly swirling yellow, “I wanted you to see them, Hank.” Jeez, what a suck-up.

“You’re right, Con, you’re the only one not being a shit. Sorry, bud.” Scoffing a little, Gavin moved down the row of tanks, aware of Tina having seized Connor’s wrist to tow him after, peppering the android with questions about the various wet and probably slimy creatures until he was all smiles again.

“Ooooo,” Tina had her face literally pressed up against the glass when Gavin turned to see what had produced that sound. Gross. “What is that thing?”

“Looks like a mutant.” For once, Gavin was in agreement with Hank.

“But a cute mutant. It has little arms almost!” Enraptured, Tina all but cooed at the freaky little red and white thing. If it had been anyone else, Gavin would have been disgusted. But...Tina got a pass. Because...Tina.

“That is a juvenile antennarius maculatus-a warty frogfish or anglerfish,” Connor added when he got three blank looks at his science talk, rolling his eyes and sighing in a manner Gavin found himself wondering if he’d picked up from Martinez and Bui’s kid. The boy was gifted.

“So, it’s half frog or whatever?” Gavin knew this wasn’t true and probably made him sound like an idiot. It was utterly worth it for the look of confused exasperation Connor turned on him.

“No.” Then, apparently being too done to handle this ignorance, rather than explaining in detail why he was wrong like Gavin’d expected, Connor turned back to the fish. “I wonder why it is solitary, they require species-specific tanks as they can swallow fish nearly the same size as themselves-”

“Holy shit, really?” That at least made the little half-frog more interesting.

“But that is no reason for them to be entirely on their own.” Connor’s LED swirled yellow and he stared hard into the tank, long enough that Gavin felt more than a little uncomfortable. Emotions. They sucked ass, the inconvenient fucking things. Finally, Hank’s hand fell on Connor’s shoulder and squeezed a little, and Gavin decided it was time to maybe stroll on ahead.

“Hey, Tina, come look at this glowing one, it’s fronds look like that time you tried to cut your own hair in college,” he yapped, walking towards a jellyfish that really did look like that post break-up wine and Red Bull ‘make over’, making sure his voice carried so Tina would feel obligated to follow and smack him.

“Gavin, I will end you!”

******

Gavin’s head was tipped back, staring up at the stingrays and sharks drifting overhead.  He’d expected the tunnel to be lame, mostly because the place hyped it so big and nothing could be that cool.  

But he had to admit, he could kind of understand why Tina and Connor both seemed like they’d be willing to sell a body part to move in here.  It was all immersive and shit, with the plants and jellyfish floating around.  “I wonder if they let rich people swim in some of the tanks-saw that on a documentary once, some family paid a shit-ton of money to swim with sharks.”

Tina shook her head with a dramatic sigh, “Yeah, no, I called and checked before my last birthday.  No dice.”

Gavin snorted, “They were probably waiting for you to offer a 10 grand donation just for the privilege of asking and were offended when they realized you were a poor fucker like most of the world.”

Hank was giving Tina a side-eye of not so much disbelief as tired horror as he asked, “You actually called the aquarium and asked them to let you swim with sharks? That is a real thing that you did?”

Tina pivoted on her feet so she was looking him in the eye and said, with grave sincerity, “Yolo, Hank. Yolo.”

“Sometimes I can’t believe you have a badge.” 

“Same,” Gavin piped in, not making it clear whether he was talking about Tina or turning it back around on Hank.  Which got him twin glares, but worth it.

Turning to find where the Tin Man had gotten off to, Gavin saw he was about five feet back, staring so intently at a chunk of coral with a school of fish swimming in and out of it that he’d gone full Uncanny Valley, knees locked and hands behind his back in that picture perfect posture that was always kind of creepy, no matter how used he was to the android by now.  “...How long do you think it’s been since he blinked?  Ow!”  Hank’s swat to his head as he passed didn’t really hurt, much, but it was the principal of the matter.  “Fucking abuse of authority, that’s what that was,” Gavin called after him, glaring at Tina for her loud snort.

“Language, Gavin, there are children present,” she mocked him in a sing-song voice, then grabbed his arm to pull him across the tunnel, “Oh, check this out!”

Chapter Text

Swishing his hand gently along the silvery scales, Gavin had to admit, sharks were pretty cool in general, but being able to touch the bamboo sharks was probably worth the price of admission alone.  Sure, part of his brain kept insisting one of the harmless things was gonna try and take a chunk out of his finger, but that was kind of cool too.

Hell, Tina and Connor whispering about pretend plans to smuggle one out for the android's tank at home, Hank looking at them suspiciously and being given overly innocent looks in return was worth the price of admission.  

He knew they were faking, because obviously he would have been involved if an actual theft was going to happen. Gavin could just imagine the ‘distraction’ that would wind up with the whole place staring at them if those two attempted a heist.

"God, you'd think the pod people would at least try to look normal, but they don't have any shame." The voice was loud, scornful and obnoxious, and it didn't take a genius to figure out the jackass was talking about Connor, Connor with his LED intact even after most androids had removed them to avoid dealing with bastards like this, because he wasn’t ashamed and shouldn’t have to be.  Surging to his feet with his hands still dripping, Gavin turned, a scowl on his face and-

He stumbled back, air leaving his chest faster than if he’d been punched, and nearly fell right into the shark pool as his ankles hit concrete, would have without the steady hand clasping his shoulder.  It was Connor who had his back, Connor who kept him from falling as those cold eyes, too much like his own if nothing had been behind them, noticed him.  As they honed in.

“Gavin.  Why am I not surprised this is the company you keep?”  He shook his head, disgusted, lips curled, and kept going with a stream of every insult in the book.  Gavin wanted to scream at him, wanted to kick him in the balls and tell him to fuck off, but he was frozen, breath tight in his throat, he couldn’t breathe, and...what...the...fuck.  What the absolute fuck!  He thought his brain was short circuiting.  Hank was in front of the shit-stain now, badge out, but Gavin didn’t focus on that.  

Couldn’t.

There was a kid standing behind him , a tiny kid in too big clothes that looked like he’d tried to wash them himself.  A scared little kid with a black eye, and a nose that looked too much like Gavin’s for it to be a coincidence, and hadn’t the rare trips out when he was little always been after the old man had lost his temper?  For something like an aquarium...there were more bruises under that too big sweatshirt.  

He knew.  He knew.  He felt too hot, throat almost swollen, and he knew .  “Connor, can you scan that kid for injuries?” Gavin hissed out of the corner of his mouth, eyes still not leaving what had to be his brother.  His brother...

If Gavin found out Elijah knew about this and hadn’t told him, he was gonna break both his fucking kneecaps. 

“The juvenile Levi Reed has a bruised eye from a strike to the face, deep bruising on his shoulders and arms, in the form of overlapping hand prints-likely from being yanked, shaken and squeezed, a badly healing and unwrapped sprained ankle, and he is underweight and suffering from malnutrition and untreated cavities.”  Connor’s voice was official, reading from a list, until he tore his eyes from the kid- Levi -and surged forward, all but shouting, “Lieutenant, this man must be apprehended for child abuse!” 

Gavin’s fingernails were biting into his skin, his hands in tight fists, and he held himself back only because he knew that if he punched the shit-stain’s face in that would complicate things. All his panic had disappeared, white hot rage taking its place, filling even the usually empty places inside...but that wouldn’t be good for the kid, who Tina was working her way towards as Hank flipped him around and brought the bastard to his knees, handcuffs pulled out of nowhere and clamping his hands behind his back, where they were safest for everybody but him.  He was yelling and screaming, something about rights and suing them all, but Gavin felt almost like he had cotton in his ears.  He considered sparing the shit-stain a sneer, for the angry 16 year old inside him that didn’t know why he wasn’t clawing the fucker’s eyes out, but it wasn’t worth it, he wasn’t worth it.

Coming to a stop a couple feet away from his brother , who was staring up at him with narrowed, confused, untrusting eyes, Gavin crouched down, no fucking clue what to say, but able to muster up a smile.  A smile that, judging from the way the kid inched towards Tina, was about as effective as Gavin should have expected.  “I’m Gavin.  The jerk-off, uh, the jerk throwing a tantrum over there is my dad too.”

Dark eyes regarded him suspiciously and somehow the murmured, “prove it,” didn’t surprise him at all, though he had to bite down on a (slightly hysterical) laugh.  Pulling his badge out of his pocket, he held it out and let Levi take it.  “Same last name, plus the old man knew me, right?”

Levi turned the badge over in his hands, looking at it as he nodded thoughtfully.  Kid was trying so hard to look tough it made Gavin’s dried-up heart burst into shrivels and shreds.  “You’re a cop?”

“Yeah, a detective.  He ain’t gonna touch you ever again.”  It was definitely a rash promise, but it was also a promise Gavin would keep or die trying.

And fuck, Elijah and his billions had to be good for something, right?

“Dad says cops are brainwashed agents of the deep state out to destroy the American man and his way of life.” Gavin blinked, because, yeah, that bullshit sounded like the old man, but he had no clue what to say about any of that to a what, nine year old?  Then Levi leaned closer, shot a look at him to make sure he was too busy being shoved up against a wall and read his rights by Hank to overhear, and whispered, “he’s really fricking stupid.”

Gavin barked out a laugh, Levi smiling at him conspiratorially, both ignoring Tina’s excited, “Oh my gosh, you’re a mini-Gavin!” 

“You and me, kid?  We’re gonna get along just fine.”  

*******

Gavin knew he had to keep his head in the game, on his shoulders, whatever stupid-ass metaphor was most appropriate for this absolutely fucked up situation.  Levi needed him to, and that was what mattered.

Later, when he had the kid safe at home with him, he’d excuse himself to scream into a pillow for a fucking hour. He deserved it.  

Hank had called for transport for him , and at another time Gavin might have appreciated the rough way he had moved the bastard out of the room, ‘accidentally’ knocking his legs into various touch pools. 

Okay, he still appreciated it, and was actually fairly fucking jealous, but that wasn’t the point.  Levi was watching what Gavin was pretty sure were ancient ass tiktoks with Tina-the-literal-Godsend on a bench outside the giftshop, and he was supposed to be calling Elijah and summoning an army of lawyers.  Instead he was leaning against the nearest out of sight flat surface and breathing.  Trying to breathe.  

It was kind of hard when his fucking skin felt like it wanted to crawl off his body and his face somehow felt like it was hot and cold at the same time.  Gavin was pretty sure that was weird, even with the panic attack he was definitely having.  

Goddamned insane.  He had to be happy this had happened, because otherwise Levi would still be with him -the way his stomach twisted and bubbled at that, he was gonna get a fucking ulcer-but he hadn’t exactly expected his entire life to change in the past maybe forty minutes.  Pressing the heels of his palms into his eyes so hard it was like looking into a black and white kaleidoscope, Gavin sank down the wall, sternly telling himself that there was no wetness on his hands or leaking out of his stupid disloyal fucking tearducts.  He carefully sucked in one deep breath and then another, trying to ignore his brain insisting he was getting no oxygen anyway. 

Scuffing noises told him that Hank was approaching, and a tiny, probably in shock, part of his mind was amazed that at some point or another over the years he’d memorized the cranky old drunk’s gait enough to recognize it, but mostly he just tried to suck it up. “Hey.” He regretted the croaked out, watery word the second it left his mouth, and, trying to prove to someone who already knew better that he wasn’t falling apart, he pulled his hands away from his eyes and swiped his hoodie sleeve over them quickly, looking up to find Hank squatting next to him, all concerned and shit, and nearly as uncomfortable with it as Gavin was.

“Hey.  Miller and Collins took him back to the station.  I’ve never seen Collins look more tempted to ram somebody’s head into the side of his car.  Didn’t happen, because it was Ben, but…”  Gavin nodded, tried to grin a little, then gave up and just concentrated on breathing again.  Hank’s hand wound up on his shoulder, and it should’ve been weird, was a little bit, but it was also...okay.  Maybe kind of nice as Hank squeezed a little and it felt like it connected him back to the real world more than his own feet on the ground.  

“I’ve gotta call Elijah.  Should’ve done it five minutes ago when I came out here.” Gavin nodded like that would somehow do the hard part for him.  

“Does Tina have his number?”

“Um, yeah, for emergencies.”  Then his brain catching up to what Hank was suggesting, Gavin shook his head, “Nah, can’t make her do it, besides she thinks he’s fucking creepy.”

“He is creepy,” Hank said lightly, making Gavin snort, before squeezing his shoulder again and letting his hand fall back by his side.  “Alright, Connor said he was gonna update Fowler, but God knows how that went, so I better check in.”  Good.  That was good, and Hank slowly stood, only moving about five feet away before pulling out his phone and sending a not at all hidden worried look back at Gavin.  Because everything in his life wasn’t turned enough on its head as it was.  

He let himself close his eyes for just a second as he dug his phone out of his pocket and muttered ‘cyborg-wannabe’ into the speaker, then pried them open when it started ringing. “Gavin? You’re calling instead of texting?  Is it the second coming already?” Elijah’s light, unconcerned voice hit a nerve that had him swallowing.

“Shut-up and listen for once, alright? It’s...it’s important.”

Chapter Text

When he walked back around the corner, Levi’s head lifted from Tina’s phone instantly and then the kid-he settled when he saw Gavin, like the sight relaxed him, like he felt safe.

Yeah, whatever the fuck happened, whatever hoops he had to jump through with social services, it was more than gonna be worth it. 

"Hey, Levi,” he squatted down, setting a hand lightly on his brother’s knee, “we’re gonna take a ride to the station where me and my friends work, alright?” Gavin waited for a reluctant nod from Levi before continuing, “my friend Ben’s an EMT-that means he can do medical stuff, so he’s gonna wrap up your ankle and have some ointment to help your bruises.  And our brother, Elijah, who I went to call?  He wants to meet you.”

“He made the android people.”  The kid seemed interested, but hesitant about it, biting his lip.

“Yeah, he did, like my buddy, Connor. So the old man talked about Elijah, huh?”  Figured, he’d probably never mentioned Gavin and done nothing but talk crap about Elijah.  A fucked up mirror of their shitty childhoods where he’d ignored Gavin and shoved Elijah into every contest and extracurricular there was so he could soak up all the praise like it was for him instead of his kid.

Levi nodded.  “Uh-huh, he yells when he sees him on TV. Loud.”  

“Well, Elijah’s pretty cool, even if I don’t always like to tell him so.  Brothers can’t let each other get big heads, you know.” That idea was met with due consideration and then Levi surprised him by standing up and holding out a hand for him to hold.

“Okay.”  Feeling overwhelmed at the amount of trust the kid was putting in him, even if a lot of it was probably just because he had to trust someone, Gavin took it and straightened up, shooting a ‘help me, this kid is precious and I’m probably gonna ruin him’ look at Tina.  All she did was smile encouragingly, and appreciated, but...actually he had no idea what he was fucking hoping for.  Apparently he’d gotten waaaaay too used to Tina bailing his ass out.

Considering she ordinarily referred to all children under twelve besides Chris’s Damian as ‘sticky gremlins from whiny ass land’, she’d already gone above and beyond.

“Okay, cool.  We’re gonna ride in Lieutenant Hank’s car, it’s so ancient he drives it himself.  Crazy, huh?”  

“Is the engine really loud?” Levi perked up, eyes brightening just a little, and Gavin could not wait to introduce this kid to his motorcycle.  It needed a tune-up soon, and the image of Levi with grease on his fingers poking at it and asking questions about the parts was a nice one.

Tina, having already been quiet for longer than natural for her, piped up, “Only when he revs it.  But I bet we can get him to if we ask, real nice.  No high speed chases just because, though, you have to be in a cop car for that.”

“Tina…” Gavin groaned, amused, grateful, and wondering what else she’d told Levi while he was on the phone.  “Come on, let’s go.”  Careful to walk slow, remembering his brother’s ankle, he led the way past the gift shop and out to the parking lot where Hank was standing by the curb, waiting for them.  Connor had apparently ridden in the back of the car next to him on the way to the station-Gavin had gotten a text from Chris asking if he was okay and also informing him that Robocop had just stared straight at the old man without blinking for the entire ride, like something out of a horror movie.

Gavin owed him something for that, though he didn’t know what.

Hank squatted down as they approached and Gavin looked at Levi in time to see a flash of exasperation on his face-probably wasn’t used to people handling him with kid gloves, or much bothering to handle him at all except to keep him quiet.

“Hi, I’m Hank.  I’ve known your brother for a long time.” Anderson held out his hand for Levi to shake and he untangled his from Gavin’s and took it solemnly, Hank pumping it up and down gently before letting go.

“Nice to meet you.  Did you send my dad to jail?”  Damn.  Levi sounded worried when he asked that, and Gavin didn’t know if he was worried the answer was going to be no, or if he was worried the answer was going to be yes.  Judging by the look on Hank’s face, he didn’t know either.

Levi was just a little kid, after all.  It was normal to still love your dad, even if he was a shit-stain that shouldn’t be anywhere near you.

“Yeah.  Hurting you like he did is against the law.  He’ll have to see a judge, and then later go to trial.”  Hank glanced apologetically up at Gavin when Levi averted his stare to his shoes, but hell, it was a pretty good explanation of something the kid needed to know, even if it was probably a little much right now.  Not quite knowing what else to do, Gavin held his hand out for Levi to grab again, relieved when he did.  He squeezed the small hand lightly and Levi shuffled a little closer to him.

“And I’m gonna take you home to live with me, remember?”

“You’ve got cats.  And a turtle.  Tina said.” 

“Yep.  And they’re gonna love having someone else to spoil them.”

Levi was still holding his badge.  Gavin had forgotten about it, but as he looked down at him, he saw that it was clasped in his other hand, and a wave of something warm hit him in the chest.  He had an old spare in his desk, as far as he was concerned the one he was holding was the kid’s now.  Fowler could catch these hands if he didn’t like it.  “I know you’re scared, and that’s okay.  Totally normal.  But I’m gonna take care of all the big stuff.”  

“Pepperoni’s a good name.”  Changing the subject instead of talking about emotions, sure, it ran in the family.  Gaven was going to go with it.

“Yeah, you think so? Day I got her, she was maybe this big,” he stretched out the fingers on his free hand, “and still managed to snag a whole piece of pepperoni pizza when I wasn’t looking.  Had to name her Pepperoni after that.”  Starting forward again, because if not they were all just going to stand around in this parking lot until the end of time, he answered a few questions about his cats until Levi trailed off again.  They were only a couple feet from Hank’s car when Gavin stopped in his tracks, the fact that Levi was nine and tiny suddenly popping into his head, “Sh-crap, we need a booster seat.”

Hank waved a dismissive hand over his shoulder, “Chris figured, they dropped one off earlier and I set it up.”  

A tug on his hand had him looking at Levi, who frowned at him, clearly offended.  “Booster seats are for babies.  I’m not a baby.”

“Nah, ‘course you’re not.  But I can tell you don’t weigh 80lbs yet, and the law says you have to weigh at least that to ride without one.” Gavin shrugged apologetically, and when Levi still looked like he was going to be stubborn about it, continued, “I mean, we’re all cops.  Hank would have to write himself a ticket if you don’t ride in one.” He raised an eyebrow to signify the weirdness of that, hoping to get a smile out of Levi, but the kid just looked at him like he was nuts.

“Nuh-uh.  Cops don’t write themselves tickets, that’s dumb.” Ignoring the snicker from Tina and the cough that was definitely covering a laugh from Hank as he unlocked the car, Gavin was torn between admitting that yeah, they really didn’t or sticking to his guns.

“Maybe,” the word came from Hank and Gavin’s head swiveled towards him the same way Levi’s did, “but it’s a safety rule.  Safety rules are non-negotiable.  You have to ride in a booster seat in my car.”  There was no challenge in Hank’s voice, but there was also clearly no budge in it, and after a moment Levi caved with a sigh.

“Alright.”  As he helped Levi in, letting him buckle himself, but watching to make sure it looked right, Gavin decided to remember that tone of voice.  Shit, he’d probably listen more to the Lieutenant when he told him something if he did it like that.  

********

Collins’ bedside manner was great, and Levi was warming up to him, his ankle already wrapped without any fuss. 

But Gavin was having trouble with the fact that the fucking garbage monster who had put those bruises on his baby brother’s body was in the same building.  And really, it wouldn’t be hard to get into the interrogation room where Chris had said they’d stashed him without anyone noticing.  Not for a minute, anyway.

A minute would be enough.

But he’d promised Levi he’d stay with him.  So that was that.

Levi giggled as Ben pretended to almost drop the bottle of bruise cream for a third time, protesting, “You’re doing that on purpose!” as it bounced between the older cop’s hands.

“Nah, nah, I’m just very clumsy sometimes,” Ben shrugged, looking mystified, “can’t help it.”  The bottle now thoroughly shaken up, he leaned against the table that both Levi and Gavin were perched on and squirted a large dollop of it into his hands.  “I’m gonna start rubbing this on your bruises, bud, as gently as I can, but it’s probably gonna hurt a bit.  If you need a break, you just say so, okay?”

Wary all over again, Levi turned towards him and Gavin gave an encouraging nod, the little head turning back to Ben looking slightly less freaked out.  “You’ll stop if I say so?”

“Sure, we can take a break whenever you want.  Alright for me to start?”  Levi nodded and Ben carefully began applying the lotion to the bruising while chattering on about something his granddaughter had done.  At first the kid took it like a champ, but after a couple of minutes a whimper snuck its way past his lips and Gavin had to clamp down on his own to keep from snapping at Ben.  Mustache making him look more like a sad walrus than ever, Collins smiled softly and stepped back, “Time for a break.  I’m thirsty, what about you guys? Coffee for big brother and juice for little brother?”

“Sounds good to me, what about you, Levi?”

“Can I have apple?” 

“Sure, one black coffee with way too much sugar and one apple juice, coming right up.” Ben did finger guns at them, like the complete dork he was, and headed out of the room.  Levi shivered and Gavin got off the table to grab one of the emergency blankets out of the cupboard, shaking it out as he crossed back over the room and draping it around his brother.  

“Can’t put your sweatshirt back on until the lotion dries, but that should keep you from freezing.”

“Thanks.” Levi fiddled with the ends of the blanket, picking at the fuzz on the cheap fabric.  Knowing he should be saying something, telling him a story like Ben was so good at, Gavin racked his brain.

“Hey, wanna hear a joke?”

It was only when Levi said yes that Gavin realized the jokes he told in the DPD locker room were 100% not cool to tell his little brother. “Uh…”

Chapter Text

Luckily, Ben came back in the room at that moment, saving him with, “What do you call a bear with no teeth?”  Levi’s gaze swung from Gavin to Ben and-God, Gavin was pretty sure he already loved this little shit-he rolled his eyes.

“A gummy bear, duh.  That joke is super old.”

“Well, some people say I am too, so…”  All but juggling two coffees and a juice box, Collins shrugged as he passed out his bounty and then pulled a slightly squashed bag of gummy bears out of his pocket and handed them to Levi.  The kid looked between the bag and Ben like he expected it to be taken away, then opened it and dived in without another word.

Fuck.  For all Gavin had gotten the short end of a very shitty stick as a kid he’d never had to worry about food. Sure, there’d been a hell of a lot of easy mac and cups of noodles, but there’d always been something in the pantry.  Gavin was getting a little worried Levi was going to choke at the rate he was shoveling candy in his mouth, but he didn’t want to say or do anything that could be interpreted as taking the food from his brother.  Then Levi held out the bag to him-with most of the gummies gone, not counting the pineapple ones he must not like, shook the bag at Gavin a little when he didn’t reach for it, and when he finally snagged an orange bear with a lopsided head, held it out to Ben too.  It was only when Ben took one and popped it into his mouth that Levi mumbled a quiet, “thanks,” and shoved the rest of the bag in his pocket.  

Sipping on his briefly forgotten lifeblood, um, coffee, Gavin looked up at a knock on the door to Chris poking his head in with an awkward smile, “Uh, Elijah and the Chloes are here.”

“Chloes?” Collins was the one who asked the dubious question, but both him and Levi were looking at Gavin with ‘wtf’ faces.

“Christ, did he seriously call them the Chloes?  One of these days he’s gonna wake up tied to the roof and I’m not gonna blame them at all.”  Looking at Levi, because really, if Collins and Chris thought Elijah was a freak that was just par for the course at this point, but he didn’t want Levi weirded out, he explained, “The first android Elijah made is Chloe, but her sisters are Candace and Cecilia. They’re all the same type of android, but they aren’t the same person.  Elijah knows that better than anyone, he’s just kind of..weird.”  Chloe for instance, was much better at putting Elijah in his place than the giggly Candace, and Cecilia was frankly, a little terrifying.  Gavin was pretty sure if he ever pissed her off enough he’d wind up in a ditch somewhere.  Alive and maybe even unharmed, but very much in a fucking ditch.  

Sure, Elijah said he’d meant to vacation in Thailand in the middle of monsoon season, and that somehow not having any of his identification was just a mishap.  But there was a reason Cecilia had been the only android Gavin wouldn’t have dreamed of messing with before the revolution.  Terrifying.  

“Alright, well tell them they’re gonna have to wait a sec until Collins finishes fixing Levi up-is Tina around?  She could fill them in on anything I missed when I called him.”  

“Tina’s in interrogation at the moment.  Connor too.”  Gavin knew exactly who they were interrogating and bit down on an expression that he was pretty sure would have been an unholy mixture of a savage grin and feral anger.  “I can try and entertain them for a bit until you guys are ready, though,” Chris lightly smacked the door frame twice as Gavin nodded his thanks at him, heading out with a smile, and really, Gavin was sure he wouldn’t have expected all his coworkers to rally around him like this if he’d imagined it, and he wasn’t sure if that made him a jackass or not.

But he knew if he thought about how grateful he was he’d just be a ball of pathetic sentiment, and who wanted to deal with that shit, anyway?

Swallowing and trying to slip back into a more casual mode for Levi, Gavin pulled a story about Elijah trying to turn his rollerblades into rocket boots after they saw Inspector Gadget from the dusty-but-at-least-not-repressed recesses of his childhood memories, feeling about as accomplished as he ever had when he got his brother laughing.

“He really caught them on fire ?”

“Yep.  They worked for about thirty seconds too, we were both excited as hell-then he had flames shooting out all directions, and we were both scared as,” an amused cough from Ben had Gavin seamlessly switching to, “as heck,” though really, Levi had probably already heard and would probably continue to hear most every swear word in the book.  “Luckily, we’d done enough stupid crap that I’d learned to keep the hose nearby and I put him out.”

“You sprayed my face nearly as much as my feet while telling me ‘I told you so’,” came Elijah’s dry voice from the doorway.  Figured he’d be an impatient bastard and barge in.  Levi, Gavin’s biggest concern now, had just shrugged his sweatshirt on and he buried his chin in the oversized collar. 

“Better than your jeans going up in flames, jerk.  Levi, the dude with the man bun wearing the shades inside is Elijah, our brother.  Elijah, the cool little kid sitting to my right is Levi.”

“Ah,” slipping them off his nose and into his shirt pocket, Elijah admitted, “I may have forgotten I was wearing those.  Levi, I’m very glad to meet you.  I have a small gift for you, I hope you like it.” ‘Small’ alarm bells started to go off in Gavin’s head as Elijah crossed the room and unzipped his jacket pocket, reaching inside and pulling out-

“Elijah, why the fuck did you have a hamster in your pocket?”  Gavin gaped as Elijah held out the small, furry mammal to Levi, who scooted forward with a gasp, looking more like he wanted to rescue the little guy than anything.  Ben was leaning back against the wall, enjoying this more than Gavin appreciated.  “Pretty sure hamsters don’t like that, jackass.”  

For being a genius, or maybe because of it, there were times Elijah just didn’t get basic ass stuff.  But then, he’d turn around and use that to willfully ignore things he didn’t want to pay attention to.  36 years of knowing him and Gavin stil l couldn’t always tell the difference.  

“Now, now, look closer, this is an Ani-ster, or an android hamster.  He does not need to breathe and my pocket was big enough to be comfortable for him.”  Considering the next thing the little hamster did was bow to Levi, okay, yeah, definitely an android hamster.  Gavin closed his eyes for a second in frustration.  Did Elijah show up with his lawyer or anything remotely practical for Levi?  No, he brought all three of the Charlie’s Angels and a robot rodent.   Well, at least the android thing meant he didn’t have to worry about the cats eating it.  Probably.  “Now, he is both friendlier and smarter than your average mammalian hamster, but I think that simply makes an ideal pet.”  Elijah took another step closer to Levi, trying to get him to take the hamster, and Gavin glared at him.  Crowding a kid who’d been getting pushed around and beat on was something he should know better than to do.  

“What’s his name?” Levi slid his eyes from Elijah to the hamster, back to Elijah.  He was definitely more than a little curious, but Elijah’s ploy to not be intimidating (Gavin was assuming) had clearly put him in the ‘frickin’ weird’ category in the kid’s head.  Which, truth, but he was trying.

“He has no official designation yet, but the Chloes have been calling him Caramel-”

“Gavin said they all have their own names, it’s mean to just call them all the same,” Levi scolded, annoyed enough his hesitation towards Elijah had disappeared and Gavin had to bite back a snort between that and the look of sheer surprise on his older brother’s face.  When Elijah looked at him accusingly he just raised an eyebrow.

“They do all have their own names.  Not that hard to remember them.”

Sighing deeply, in a way that had Gavin’s lips twitching, Elijah gave him his patented ‘why do I put up with you?’ face before turning his attention back to Levi.  “It’s not meant to be disparaging,” because the nine year old knew that word, jeez, Elijah, “initially the RT600’s were all marketed as ‘Chloe’, however at this point I would say it compares to how a parent might refer to all their children collectively as girls, boys, or kids, as well as being a habit.”

“They’re like your kids?” That time Gavin couldn’t hold back a snort.  Yeah, no, 21 year old Elijah sure hadn’t made the original Chloe that hot because he thought of his creation as his offspring, whether she was a pleasure model or not. 

“No, I can’t say that, but they are family.”  Gavin felt the old familiar sting at that, and hated himself a little for it (what the hell was he paying his therapist for if this shit never quit?), because if it had been stupid to be jealous of machines, it was just fucking petty now that he knew they were a hell of a lot more than that.  Apparently satisfied, Levi cupped his hands together and held them out for the little brown fluffball, cooing as he nuzzled into his palms.

“He’s really mine?”  Levi was glued to the Ani-ster or whatever that cutesy name had been, and Gavin and Elijah looked at each other, the already unspoken pact to protect this kid that had formed over the phone solidifying.  

“Of course.  And Gavin, I took the liberty of having supplies for him delivered to your apartment, as well as some items for Levi. They’ll be waiting when you arrive home.”

Oh, for fuck’s sake.  “Elijah, I don’t have a doorman or security, I’m not rich, it’s gonna get stolen if it’s sitting outside my place.”  Now he was gonna have to deal with filing a theft claim that any cop would laugh at, who the hell left shit sitting around in his neighborhood?

“I didn’t leave it on your stoop, I’m not naive.  You’ll find them sitting in your living room, as well as some additions made to the guest room that should make Levi more comfortable.”  

“What?”  Gavin stared, wanting to be baffled, but mostly just feeling very, very tired.  And pissed.  “You broke into my apartment? When did you even have time to break into my apartment?”  It couldn’t have been that long since he called him, could it?

“Don’t worry, neither of the cats got out.”  Elijah smiled at his glare and looked back at Levi, who was watching him curiously, like he was waiting for the next trick.  Gavin didn’t blame him.  He didn’t blame him at all .

*.*.*.*.*

When they walked into the bullpen with the intent of A. finding Levi (and maybe Gavin too) something to eat that wasn’t full of sugar and B. Gavin getting an update on what they were officially charging the old man with and whether Connor’s contact at social services had gotten back to him, he was not expecting to find the previously mentioned Connor with his hair length adjusted, the Three C’s (okay, he guessed he got why Elijah called them the Chloes.  He was still gonna give him shit about it) and Tina in a circle braiding each other’s hair like they were at a slumber party.  Could he say he was surprised by it?  

No.  Not really.  But also, what the fuck?  Why the fuck?  

Any other situation he just would’ve noped out of there for awhile, but Elijah strode past him and he could feel Levi looking at him for some explanation of the general circus things had become.  “So, you wanna meet the first android?”  Levi gave him a look that showed he was pretty done with meeting people, but then shrugged.  “I’ll try and get us the okay to go home soon.  We can see what Elijah brought over, and if we’re lucky we’ll even know what most of it is.”

“And if we don’t we can still probably sell it for lots of money.”  The words were completely serious, Levi’s mouth pursed in thought as he rubbed Maybe-Caramel’s ears and Gavin smirked.

“Now you’re thinking.”  

“Hey, Gavin, Levi, you agree that Connor should use his undercover settings to make his hair neon purple right?” Tina called to them, flopping backwards over her chair with a grin, “I for one, think that it would be an immense morale booster and almost cruel for him to deprive us of the sight.”

“Chen, leave my partner the hell alone.”  Anderson, coming out of Fowler’s office with his head buried in a case file, looked up before he took a header down the steps and stopped to stare at the braid train.  “Nevermind.  Connor, you brought this on yourself.”

“Your friends are weird,” Levi told him, but he did it while grabbing Gavin’s sleeve and tugging him forward, so at least they weren’t overwhelming him.  Probably. 

“I must admit to being intrigued by all your expanded settings, Connor,” Elijah had perched himself on top of Tina’s desk, paying no attention to her scoff,  and was leaning into the circle of hair stylists, but really only paying attention to Connor.  Who leaned away from him and didn’t even attempt to give a polite smile.  Connor .  Who was nice to everybody. “So many of your prototype features were unavailable to older models.”

With a voice made out of splintery icicles or some equally frosty shit, Connor replied, “I believe you mean for.  After all, androids did not select the features themselves, so they were not available to them, but for their purchasers.”  Great.  So whatever this cold war was was happening now too.  Friggin’ perfect.  

“Ah.” Elijah knew he’d been called out, but did he acknowledge it beyond that ‘ah’? No, why the fuck would he do that?  “When I regain control over Cyberlife, upgrade modules, both software and hardware, will be one of the first things to go into testing.  I know that the third party taste module has been exceptionally popular, and it was based on the RK model functions, and many other features could be.  Older models' pressure style touch sensitivity is so lacking, for instance, I’m sure many would appreciate your increased ability to feel textures and temperatures.  Though, apparently deviancy and the rewriting of code it causes has taken care of that issue for some androids on their own, a phenomenon I wouldn’t have believed possible.”  Reaching out a hand to put on Connor’s shoulder, Elijah got the android sharply pushing his rolling chair out of his reach instead.  

“Connor, I’m gonna grab a snack from the breakroom, you need to top off your thirium?”  Anderson had stiffened up and stepped forward like he might just shove himself between Connor and Elijah, which, considering he’d have to go through at least two other androids to do it, should probably be avoided.

“I am fine on my levels, Hank, thank you for asking.”  Stiff as a board, possibly about to light Elijah on fire with his eyes, but sure, he was totally fine.  100% believable, that’s what that was.

“Uh-huh, sure.”  Believing Connor about as much as Gavin had, Hank glanced around the group with a sigh, landing on him and Levi with an appraising look for a second.  “Reed, is it alright if I take the kid with me?  You hungry Levi?”  

Gavin didn’t know what the fuck was going on between Connor and his brother, but what he did know was that he had no time for bullshit.  Part of him, okay a lot of him, resisted the idea of letting the Lieutenant help, but Levi needed to eat and Hank was not as equipped to deal with Elijah’s bullshit as he was, and knew just as well Levi shouldn’t see it.  So, while Hank took him to get a snack and Tina and the Chloes disappeared to talk ‘strategy’-no clue what that was about-he turned to Connor.  “Okay, I get that androids in general probably have mixed feelings about the father of creation over there, but I feel like there is something more going on here.”

“The last time I saw your brother he tried to get me to shoot Chloe,” Connor said tightly, LED swirling between yellow and red, with an emphasis on red, and looking like Elijah was probably lucky it was illegal for an android to dropkick a human. 

The reverse was technically true too, but Connor had a much higher chance of pulling it off.

“He did what?” Gavin asked, so thrown he just gaped for a moment, before swiveling to face Elijah more fully, “You did fucking what?”  Elijah looked about as embarrassed as he ever did, which was to say, not much.

“I had backed up her memory only an hour before, she wasn’t in any true danger,” he turned his attention fully to Connor, not as apologetic as he probably should have been-and that was Gavin ‘I don’t say sorry for shit’ Reed’s opinion for fuck’s sake.  “My thoughts on the ongoing revolution efforts at the time were that the closer to deviant you become the more likely they were to succeed.  Emotionally charged situations, particularly those involving a choice had proved helpful in that endeavour in the past.  And truly, was I incorrect?”  Elijah gave what Gavin knew was meant to be a polite smile, but which came off as more of a smirk than anything.

“This is why all my friends want to punch you,” Gavin muttered, a headache forming behind his temple.  “It’s why I fucking want to punch you.”  Elijah blinked and looked hurt for a second before his face smoothed.

“I have had my body damaged to the point that my memory had to be uploaded into a new unit.” Connor wasn’t as stiff or angry as he had been, which really only meant he’d calmed from a 12 on a scale of 1 to 10 to maybe an 8.  “I was not yet deviant at the time and it was still extremely unpleasant.  Knowing Chloe would have survived is a relief, but to say she would have been unharmed is simply not true.” 

Damn, who knew the baby faced android could give a speech like that?  Looking at his brother, Gavin both was and wasn’t surprised to see that Elijah seemed to actually be taking the conversation seriously.  “Would it help matters to know that Chloe gave full consent in the situation?” Elijah’s measured, slightly taken aback tone paused Connor for a moment before he brushed off the words, somehow straightening his shoulders even more.

“You are her maker.  That seems the definition of a relationship with an imbalance of power.  Would she have told you no?” 

“Judging by every other interaction we’ve had since she became deviant, I can give a resounding yes to that,” Elijah smiled dryly, sincere amusement on his face, and again, when even Gavin knew it wasn’t the time for that…

Only...it fucking worked.  Connor stayed stiff for another moment, but then his shoulders relaxed slightly and he even smiled back a tiny bit.  “Hank once told me that he thinks God decided to make deviant’s extra stubborn to make up for all the, excuse my language, bullshit we went through before.  Perhaps he is correct.” 

“Okay, good, now that Connor isn’t plotting your murder,” the android looked horrified and Gavin rolled his eyes, “can we talk about what to do legal wise for Levi?  He needs one of those child advocate people that’s just for him, that’s important.  And, honestly, forget everything I said about not taking handouts if I need a custody lawyer or something.” He shrugged at Elijah’s stunned look.

“You once called me a dickweed for paying your hospital bill.”

Gavin groaned at Connor’s surprised, judgemental expression at that bit of knowledge.  Way to make him look like an asshat, Elijah.  “I was high off my ass on morphine, that doesn’t count.  Anyway...this shit with Levi, it’s more important.”

“Then your inflated sense of pride?” The fact that Elijah was clearly teasing didn’t really change that it was a dick thing to say and Gavin glared at him, annoyed and exasperated.

“Don’t think I won’t punch you while I’m at work.  I will punch you.  In the balls.”

“Anywhere, anytime, yes, yes, I know.”  The hand reaching out and lightly gripping his wrist was a surprise, nearly as much as the words that followed, “I’m quite impressed at how you’re handling this.  Levi is coping extraordinarily well, and it’s clear that he’s looking to you for reassurance.  I doubt I would have done as well if I’d stumbled upon our father and an abused baby brother unexpectedly.”  Gavin swallowed.  Elijah, who’d always been better than him at everything, always would be, saying that...well, he was pretty fucking weird, so it might even be true, but shit.  Way to get all sappy in front of Connor, who literally had instant video replay in his head.

“Uh, thanks.  Sorry for saying I was gonna punch you,” Gavin mumbled, looking around the room uncomfortably.  It was pretty well cleared out, but it wasn’t empty.

“I’m sure I deserved it,” Elijah waved him off airily, “Now, I’ve already contacted my personal lawyer and informed him about the situation, I’ll ask him for a recommendation for a child advocate.  What is the situation with social services?  I’m not entirely sure how these things work when there is a relative already wanting to take in the child, but I assume they have to be contacted?”

“Yeah, placement will still have to be approved, it’s not like the old man is signing over custody.  But one of the androids Connor rescued during the revolution works in child services for our district, he said he was going to contact them and see if they could be assigned the case.”  Gavin didn’t really know jackshit about the civil laws in that area, so he wasn’t sure if Connor should be doing that, had a good idea that he probably shouldn’t, and for all his reputation as a hothead, Gavin was a cop, he tried to follow the law.  But, when it came to this?

Fuck that.  He looked over to ask Connor for an update only to find that the android had slipped away, catching the back of his jacket as he went into the breakroom by luck.  

“Good, good.  I do wish I’d been able to work on the RK800 design, the way he’s developed so uni-”

“You’re getting fucking creepy with your science shit again.  No wonder he left,” Gavin scoffed, shaking his head and plopping down in his desk chair.  He let himself sag for a second, tipping his head back and letting out a slow breath.

“Hmm.” Face unreadable, Elijah leaned against his desk, “Some people will never understand the intoxication of discovery.”  Not impressed, Gavin made a gagging sound.  “So, what does your... interesting choice of paramour think about this new development?”

“You don’t have to like Leo, but don-” Gavin paused midword, straightening in his seat.

“You didn’t tell him yet, did you?”  Elijah sounded way too smug for someone who hadn’t a date in like a decade.

“Nope, nope, I did not.” Gavin groaned, dropping his head into his hands.  It had been a fucking day.  And a half.  “What time is it?”

“Two o’clock.”

“At night?”

“Uh, that would be a no.  Catching up to you now is it?”  In response Gavin merely let out another groan, and twisted one hand enough to flip Elijah off when he chuckled. 

Chapter Text

“Holy-” Gavin cut himself off as much for shock as for Levi, looking around his living room and kitchen, both cleaner than they had been on the day he moved in.  The ancient linoleum in his kitchen wasn’t supposed to sparkle. It was unnatural.  The absolute mound of things on his couch and coffee table surprised him far less, Elijah going overboard was standard shit.  But this...he grit his teeth as the obvious fact that it hadn’t been Elijah himself who dropped off the stuff, let alone cleaned, became clear, which meant a stranger had been in his house.  A stranger who had certainly (better of fucking been) been highly vetted, but had also touched all his stuff while they cleaned, and dammit, he should have known Elijah with his constant offers to help him out would take utter advantage of this excuse to interfere. 

He was an adult, and unlike Elijah he didn’t need a cleaning crew to keep his apartment from turning into a disaster zone.  The cats had clearly gone into hiding over it too or they would’ve been crawling all over both of them by now.

“Gavin?”  Levi was looking up at him, halfway to the coffee table, but now instead of being excited he was biting his lip.  Shit, Gavin way to fuck up two seconds after you’re through your front door.  Forcing a grin, he shrugged.

“Elijah had somebody clean up the apartment, and, of course, he didn’t tell me.  I was freaked out for a sec, that’s all.  What’s all in that mound of stuff, let’s check it out, huh?”  He was treated to an appraising look, Levi clearly making sure he was okay, which, the kid being worried about him was a hell of a lot better than him being scared of him, but Gavin was the grown-up here.  Even if he tended to be shit at the personal side of adulthood, he still had 27 years on the kid. He could do this. “C’mon, I wanna see what all’s in there, and if I know Elijah some of it is really fancy food.”

“He wouldn’t put it in the fridge?” Maybe it was cheating to distract a kid he’d already figured out was very motivated by food with it, but Gavin was gonna take the wins he could get-and Levi heading towards the coffee table with determination, examining the spread closely before grabbing anything, was a win.  Gavin, both because he wanted Levi to know he didn’t have to be too careful, and because he ‘was just like that’ according to many sources, grabbed the first thing in reach, grinning as he saw the science lab lego set.  Of course.

“Pajamas,” Levi’s voice was quiet, thoughtful even, as he held up a top with a cheerful looking dinosaur on it, “they’re nice.”

“Yeah? You know what kind of dinosaur that is? ‘cause I don’t have a clue.”  Levi shook his head and dropped the PJ’s back in the bag he’d pulled them out of, getting excited as he found the hamster habitat, easily the biggest box out of them all and picturing a practically neon colored tube system that could be attached to it.  Maybe it was a good thing Elijah hadn’t done the shopping himself, he would’ve gotten one with ‘tasteful’ colors, all silvery and futuristic probably. This ridiculously cheesy shit was way better.  

“Look, Maybe-Caramel will like this, right?” Levi shook the box back and forth with one hand, while his other went to the big pocket in the front of his sweatshirt where the Ani-ster was snoozing.

“Sure, what’s not to like?  He gets a house with his own playground attached, sounds pretty badass to me.”

“Yeah.”  Quiet again, Levi stroked his hand along the top of the box and Gavin had to swallow.  Christ, this shit was making him sappy.

“Hey, wanna go see what Elijah did to th-your room?”  Gavin caught himself before calling it the guest room, but Levi was observant and gave him a funny look for the cut off word.  “And don’t worry, if anything is really weird or you just don’t like it we can switch stuff up later.”  Not that Gavin really thought anything too extensive had been done in there, there was already a bed and a desk, so probably kiddy bedding or something, maybe new curtains.  Leading the way with Levi practically tucking himself into his shadow, that’s what Gavin was expecting when he turned on the lightswitch.

And saw something that looked like a cross between a circus and a spaceship.  

There was new bedding alright, and new curtains, and a rug.  A bookcase with its shelves already half full and even freaking art on the walls.  Bright colors, with an astronaut theme, only the astronauts were jungle animals-it was honestly fucking adorable, if maybe a little babyish for a nine year old, but where the hell had his desk and computer gone?  He had important shit saved on there.

That giant beanbag chair was pretty freaking comfy looking, though.  

Levi clearly thought so too since he immediately dropped into it, looking around with wide eyes.  “This is really for me?”  

“Yep.  All yours.  Like I said, if you want to change any-” He cut himself off as Levi shook his head almost frantically at him, the kid’s eyes getting shiny as panic attacked Gavin’s gut, “Hey, shit, I’m not saying I’m taking it away, it’s yours, okay?  No one’s taking anything, I promise.”  Fuck, fuck, he’d been doing pretty okay so far, but of course once it was just him and Levi he’d screwed up twice in less then ten minutes.  Forcing down the memory of Christmas presents being tossed in the trash for an alleged lack of gratitude, Gavin repeated his promise, “Your stuff is yours, I’d never take it away just because, okay?”

And was immediately slapped with the realization that assuming his issues and Levi’s lined up was fucking stupid when, after wiping both watery eyes and nose on his sweatshirt sleeve, ew , the kid shrugged and muttered, “I know, I just don’t want to make Elijah sad, that’s all.”  And uh-huh, that wasn’t all, but there was enough truth in it that Gavin was hoping that his previous thought was out in left field.  More like Levi thought Elijah would hate him if he didn’t like his new stuff, which was still another landmine their shit of a sperm donor could probably be blamed for, but Gavin thought maybe he was better equipped for this one.  Maybe.  

“Elijah would be more sad if you pretended to like stuff you didn’t, but I feel you.  This is a pretty impressive room makeover even if you didn’t see the original, huh?  You want to pick out a spot to put Maybe-Caramel’s cage, and I’ll see if I can find the bedding and whatever Ani-sters eat in all the stuff in the living room?”  Also, he could make sure his desk and computer were in his room or something, not disappeared.

“Okay.”  Looking around the room with a determined expression now that he had a task, Levi went to push himself up out of the beanbag and stopped, it’s giantness and his hurt ankle combining to trap the kid.  Hiding a snort at the ridiculously frustrated expression and smack Levi gave the beanbag, Gavin moved close enough so he could lever him up.  

“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna let it eat you.”

*.*.*.*.*

“Shit.” It was about the tenth time Leo had said that since he’d answered his phone and Gavin smirked and shifted further back into the couch, the part of him that wasn’t still in freak-out mode himself laughing at Leo’s floundering.  He’d known his text earlier hadn’t explained the half of it, but Leo had waited for him to call like he’d asked.  Gavin would’ve left it until he could talk to tell him anything, knew Leo was bad with stress for a lot of reasons, but android’s could talk with their minds and he wasn’t gonna have him finding out from saintly-ass Marcus just because Connor was still figuring out boundaries.

“ Shit , your voice box stuck on repeat?” He grabbed for his soda, one ear on Levi in the guest-no, in his room-introducing Maybe-Caramel to Tank because ‘if they’re already friends then the cats will have to like him’.  Possibly this conversation should have happened when the kid was farther away, but his apartment only had the two bedrooms and the open kitchen and living room combo.  Well, and the can, but he was farther away here.  Gavin was keeping his voice down, it would have to work.

“Are you okay?  I mean, I know you aren’t, but-shit.”

“Wish you were here,” Gavin mumbled, feeling his face heat, because really, they didn’t get all goopy with each other like that, but he did.

“I can call a cab right now, like, I’d be there in twenty minutes.” The earnestness in Leo’s voice did things to Gavin’s stomach, and he wanted to say yes, God he fucking did.  But… 

“Meeting another new person is gonna be too much for Levi today.  Kid’s already been through the ringer.  Captain gave me the rest of the week off, maybe tomorrow?  Levi has to make a statement about this shit eventually, and we’re hoping the old man will give permission to go get some of his stuff-it’ll make him look better and he knows it.  But probably better for that not to be tomorrow.”

“Yeah, give him some time to settle in and get used to your place without even having to think about that asshole.  I can come over with cartoons and kid friendly junk food whenever tomorrow if you want?  Hang out for a while and if the kid seems overwhelmed I’ll take off.”

That sounded pretty fucking great.  “You still have all the seasons of Avatar on your cloud?”  

“Hell, yeah.  That’s perfect.  I’ll bring all the shit we really shouldn’t eat and by the end of it your brother will think I’m awesome.”

“Bribery works, that what you’re telling me?” The familiar bullshitting was succeeding in loosening the knot in his chest and Gavin let himself shift sideways and flop back, so his head was propped on the arm of the couch.

“Works with you.”

“You’re a fucking brat,” he said flatly, making sure his lips trying to twitch up into a laugh couldn’t be heard.   

“I know, it’s my favorite trait.”  Leo laughed his weird, whispery laugh, clearly very satisfied with himself.  Gavin rolled his eyes.

“Whatever.  I want my bribe to be nachos.”

“Shit, what do I need to bribe you for?  You already think I’m awesome.”  The only answer Gavin could give to that was a long, drawn out, rude noise.  “Oh, fuck off, I am awesome as hell.”

“Sure you are.  But you’ll be even more awesome if you bring your boyfriend nachos.”

“Alright, alright, fine, gas station nachos with neon yellow cheese and shriveled jalapenos, since I know that’s what you want, freak.  You’re gonna get cancer or maybe radiation poisoning.”

“Not everybody drinks Evian, rich boy.”  A strangled protest came down the line, Leo claiming that Mt. Dew ran through his veins and Slim Jims made his muscles, and Gavin was laughing so hard that somehow he wound up half off the couch, almost dropping the phone.  He was being loud as hell, so, of course, Levi appeared, staring at him like he thought Gavin might be broken.  Pepperoni had draped herself over the kid’s shoulders, a furry, purring scarf and Gavin was pretty sure his smile was straight ridiculous now.  Feeling a bit reckless, he blurted, “Hey, Levi, you want to say hi to my boyfriend? He’s a riot.”

A long “Uhhh,” and, “What? Shit, okay,” hit Gavin’s ears at about the same time, and he had to swallow not to laugh again, putting the phone on speaker and holding it up.

“Just say hello, you don’t have to be impressive or anything-that was for Levi, Leo, be impressive as shit.”  Levi was smiling instead of staring now and he crossed over and, one hand raising up to balance Pepperoni, plopped himself down towards the end of the coffee table, square in front of Gavin and his phone.

“Hi.”  

“Hey, Levi!” Leo’s voice cracked a little, nervous, and Gavin wasn’t gonna go to mush because he actually wanted to impress his little brother, he wasn’t.  “Uh, we were thinking I’d come over for lunch tomorrow and to watch cartoons-I’m bringing food and snacks.  Your brother wants gas station nachos,” Gavin huffed a little at the clear tone of ‘because he’s nuts’ shoved into the words gas station, “the worst of all nachos, but because I’m nice I’m gonna bring them to him anyway.  What do you want?  It does not have to be gas station food.”

“I thought Mt. Dew ran through your veins, jackass.”

“You can get Mt. Dew everywhere.  Duh.”

“Yeah, how many of your dad’s fancy-ass dinners have you smuggled a bottle of Mt. Dew into?”

“Everyone,” Leo said proudly, “because I’m slick.  But slipping a waiter a twenty and telling him what I want would do the same thing.  Because you can get Mt. Dew everywhere.”

“That’s a lot of money to spend on soda,” Levi informed Leo, but his smile had become a grin

“Well, yeah.  That’s another reason I sneak it in, not just practicing my smuggling skills.  Or offending rich jerks with my garish green bottle.  Do you need time to figure out what you want?  Candy is encouraged.”

“Mac and cheese.  With bacon. And broccoli.”  There was just a hint of challenge in Levi’s voice, though Gavin wasn’t entirely sure whether it was about asking for real food instead of junk or about whether Leo would actually get it for him.  Leo was 100% blinking in surprise, he knew that without having to see his face, and Gavin was 100% proud.  Little badass.  

“Baked mac and cheese? Or regular? And what about dessert?  Gotta have dessert for cartoons.”  Snorting to himself because ‘be impressive’ and ‘be a suck-up’ had the same meaning in Leo’s head, obviously, Gavin shifted so he was sitting on instead of hanging off the couch, waiting to see how this was gonna go.

*.*.*.*.*

“Can I call my mom after dinner?”  Gavin was busy tearing into a bowl of the chicken and rice casserole that Chris had dropped off (he wasn’t sure if there was a form you filled out to promote a guy to sainthood, but if there was…well, Gavin wasn’t gonna fill it out, but somebody should) and it took him a minute to process the words and then their meaning.  

Give him a break, detective or not his brains were fucking scrambled and fried after today.  

“Your mom? You-” he managed to not say ‘you have a mom?’ like it was a question, because obviously he didn’t spring out of the old man’s head like kids from weird myths did.  But he’d just 100% assumed Levi’s mom was dead, like his and Elijah’s.

The old man restricted himself to women who were weak, in more ways than one.  Bastard.  

“I, of course you can, whenever you want.” Though if she’d left Levi with him, Gavin wasn’t too sure she qualified as any sort of fucking parent.  “You know her number?”

“Yeah, but I don’t have a phone, and,” Levi fidgeted with his fork, “Dad didn’t like it,” of course the bastard hadn’t, “he said it was too expensive to call Russia, but my friend Stephie says it doesn’t work like that anymore with cellphones and he was just lying to be mean.  She let me use her phone and her parents never even noticed, so it can’t cost too much right?”

Russia?  Levi’s mom was in Russia?  What in the fuck?

Also, Stephie for the win.  

“Yeah, yeah, I don’t think so, anyway, and either way you can call her, that’s some important shit.  Uh, why’s she in Russia?”

Levi fidgeted with his whole self now, and yeah, that had been a dumpster fire way to ask, but Gavin was a dumpster fire of a person on his best days, so, he was gonna give himself a pass.  “Dad messed up her green card interviews and paperwork stuff on purpose, I think.  And nobody likes Russians anymore, so they probably wanted to send her back anyway.” Gavin knew he was gaping, and judging by the way Levi’s gaze went from his face to the casserole dish sitting in between them, flicking his eyes up at Gavin and then down again, he had to cut that shit out fast.

“He had your mom deported?” Swallowing, the buzzing feeling in his limbs telling him if he hadn’t had a kid to watch it would’ve been a good night to head to the gym, break his fists on a punching bag or two, Gavin sucked in a breath slowly.  Levi did not need him flipping out, but fuck, how had that shit-stain managed to get even worse in every fucking way?  “Fuck, Levi, I’m so sorry. That goddamned asshole. ”  

“Can I say that?” Levi’s expression was utterly serious, eyes narrowed a little.  Gavin got what he meant right away, but his head was still spinning (anything else smacked him in the face today that was gonna wind up being literal) and it took him a second to answer.

“Call him an asshole?  Sure, it’s the truth,” though, thinking of how the social worker they were both going to have to talk to in the next couple of days might react to that, he quickly added, “just here in the apartment, though.”

“The first part too,” Levi bargained, determination in his voice. Gavin smirked.  His brother was fucking adorable.  

“Yeah, okay. Go ahead.”  Levi sucked in a deep breath, which might mean his neighbors were going to hear a prepubescent voice shrieking swear words out of the blue, but fuck it, the kid had earned it.

“Dad’s a goddamned asshole.” No screaming, but Levi said it with relish and Gavin put up his hand for a high five across the table.  He got it, hard enough to make his hand sting and he laughed, proud of the kid.  Levi was a tough little shit.

A tough little shit who then immediately started sniffling into his bowl of casserole.  And okay, mood swings made sense-had to be better than Levi just pretending to be fine-but Gavin was starting to wonder if it was possible to get emotional whiplash. What the hell did you do with a crying kid who was trying to pretend he wasn’t crying, anyway?  “Hey, uh, you want a hug or something?” Christ, he sounded like a moron and when Levi glared at him through teary eyes he didn’t blame him at all.

“I want him to stop being an asshole.”