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“What are some of your childhood memories of Christmas, Lieutenant?”
Hank blinked in surprise at Connor when he asked this. It had been a fairly slow day at the DPD, midway through November, so this came completely out of the blue.
“You mean, generally? Why, you thinking about the holidays?”
“Yes. Also, about the fact that I have technically had no childhood, like all adult androids, so I thought it would be smart to hear about yours and experience it through your memories.”
“Fuck. That’s sad.”
“Thank you.”
“Ugh, don’t pull this on me. You’re getting a childhood.”
“Hm? I… don’t follow.”
“Doesn’t matter how they built you. You’re young, not even a year old. You’re having your childhood now.”
“I’m working at a police station, Hank.”
“You know what I mean. You can experience your first Christmas like any kid. Granted you’re not a whining baby…”
Connor chuckled. “You’ve called me that once before, so that’s inaccurate.”
“You want me to help you with this or not?”
“Alright, sorry.”
“Yeah, whatever. Let’s finish this day of work and then it’s the weekend. I’ll show you a thing or two Christmas-sy.”
Thus the day crawled on slower than ever for Connor. Constantly clock-watching, something he rarely did, he practically jumped out of his seat the second their shift ended.
“It’s time for my childhood, Hank.”
“Jesus! You came out of nowhere… Just give me a minute to finish this work.”
“Come on, Lieutenant. I want to experience my childhood.”
“Stop saying that. Sounds weird. Besides, you got the childish naggin’ down to the t.”
Connor frowned, but went quiet, sitting on the end of Hank’s desk and staring at him until he finished his work.
His insistence didn’t stop once they reached the car. He flicked his coin between his hands with impatience as they hit red light after red light.
He opened his mouth—
Only for Hank to interrupt.
“If you say ‘are we there yet’…”
“I wasn’t.”
“Whatever. Just... put on some Christmas music. That can be part one of your weekend Christmas speed run.”
He turned on the speakers, flitting through the channels for something appropriate and eventually settled on the station playing the greatest Christmas hits.
“Aw, yeah, that’s a classic.” Hank drummed his fingers against the steering wheel as tinkling sounds played in the car.
“Was this a song you heard a lot as a child?”
“Yeah, I guess. The classics were always playing this time of the year. They’ve changed a bit over the years, but I always listen to the same selection of songs.”
“Doesn’t that get boring?”
“Hell no. It’s nostalgic. Sort’ve thing you do, is you play Christmas music on the TV or the speakers somewhere, whilst you’re decorating the house.”
“I see. That’s… interesting. I’d like to have such fond memories of something like that.”
“You will. Just give it time. Once you enjoy something, you’ll remember it the next year we do it.”
Connor found that listening to music with Hank in the car was enjoyable, but what was better was arriving home after a long day of work to be greeted by an overexcitable Sumo.
“What’s next?”
“Getting up off the floor.”
“I’m still cuddling with Sumo.”
“Right. Just give me a minute to get inside, and I’ll think of something. Not much we can do with it being November right now but… you know we’ll do this all in December, right?”
“Oh. I wasn’t sure if you wanted to celebrate. I appreciate you letting me stay here, but I didn’t realise it was… permanent.”
“Oh.” Hank scratched the back of his head. “Uh, right. Sorry. I didn’t want to make you feel like you had to stay or anything.”
“No, Hank, that’s not—”
“It’s fine. I get it, I’m glad you want to experience Christmas with me now at least.”
“That isn’t—”
Hank shook his head. “Don’t worry. I’m just going to…” He jerked his thumb back at the room behind him, before quickly stepping inside and shutting the door.
Connor groaned, burying his face into Sumo’s fur.
“Your owner is so frustrating! He thinks I don’t want to stay here. Now he’s going to kick me out…”
Sumo threw him a look, turning back onto his front and shaking his head from side to side.
“Yes, he is. I only meant that I didn’t know if he wanted me to stay that long. Now he thinks I don’t want to be here.”
The big dog seemed to groan, flopping his head onto his paws and sighing.
“I don’t know what to do… I understood that emotions are unpredictable.”
He lay back against the wall and pondered over the situation. Was Hank sad, or mad? Or did he not care? Was he glad that Connor assumedly wouldn’t be staying? And were they still doing Christmas things? Big questions hung over his head, so deep in thought that he didn’t notice Hank coming back out of his room—
Until something was dropped on his lap.
“Take it now, I guess. I was saving it for December but…”
Connor looked down, seeing something red and glittering on his wrap. Upon closer inspection, he saw the gift tag peeking through, and realised it was a gift. For him.
“Hank, what is this?”
“Your Christmas present. Important part of Christmas, right?”
“It’s November.”
“Yeah, but if you’re leavin’, I want to make sure you get it.”
“I’m not leaving.”
“You just…”
He looked up, this time finally getting a good look at Hank’s face, and immediately he saw the hastily scrubbed tear tracks down his cheeks.
“I didn’t mean to upset you!”
“Oh, fuck, you can see that, huh? Should’ve thought. You with your supercomputer brain… Look, don’t think I’m not being supportive of your decisions. If you want to move out, go and live with your friends or somewhere else—that’s fine. Don’t let me sway your decisions.”
Connor held the gift back out to him.
“I’ll be here in December.”
“No, you don’t have to—”
“I’m not going, Hank. I thought you didn’t want me to stay here for that long.”
“What?”
“It was a misunderstanding. I… might have been thinking of that today. That maybe I’ve overstayed my presence here, but then I thought about the holidays and how I want to celebrate them with you and Sumo…”
“Oh. Look at us.” Hank laughed, crouching down to sit beside Connor. “We’re a right fuckin’ pair.”
“We are. I’m sorry for the distress.”
“Shut up. I overreacted.”
“Even so, it is… nice that you want me to stay that much.”
“Of course I fucking do! The company’s nice. We get along. You’re not so bad.”
“You’re not so bad yourself, Lieutenant.”
He sighed, looking down at the gift.
“If either of us gets a prize for most dramatic, its me. I wrapped this up five minutes ago to give to you now.”
Connor laughed. “I’m sorry. I thought you were brooding in there.”
“I was! I was brooding whilst wrapping your Christmas present a month early.”
“That’s some impressive brooding.”
“Yeah, whatever. You brooded out here with Sumo.”
“Didn’t.”
“You did. But it doesn’t matter. You realise I’d never kick you out?”
“Really?”
“course not. And anyway, hope you enjoyed your second part of the Christmas experience…”
“What?”
“Family feuding.”
Connor shook his head. “Thanks, but I’d rather not do that every year.”
“Oh, same. Unfortunately it happened pretty often in my Christmas childhood memories, but yours can be better.” He got up, patting Connor on the knee. “Now let’s get up off the floor and decorate the house.”
“November, Hank.”
“…do you want to decorate the house?”
“Okay.”