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Gavin cracked his neck as he rose from the table. Technically they had the day off, but he always had a hard time keeping his mind off of work, hence the case files scattered across his kitchen table. Normally his partner (in multiple senses of the word) would come bother him about rest by now after indulging him for a while, or even joining him on a few particularly stressful cases. This time however, there was no sign of the android.
Gavin drummed his fingers absentmindedly against the surface of the table as he thought. There was a million and one things Nines could be doing. He probably didn't need someone to check on him.... Still, Nines was nothing if not regular and ordered. Seemingly innocuous things could be signs of serious issues for someone like him. The last time he'd been off he'd been stuck with some kind of android virus by a criminal they'd been chasing. That had turned into one hell of a week and Gavin still found himself hard pressed to think of a time he'd ever been so angry and worried that didn't involve Nines somehow.
Gavin heaved a sigh as he shook away the memory. He knocked his fist once against the table as he departed the kitchen in search of his partner. He found himself starting to grow worried as he searched the appartment for Nines only for the feeling to dissipate as he found him in the bathroom connected to his room.
Nines was standing with his back to Gavin. His grip on the sink was just shy of being white knuckled as he stared into the mirror. The light from his LED glowed a twisting yellow.
"Hey, Tincan," Gavin called. When Nines jumped slightly at the sound of his voice he asked, "Are you okay?"
"Yes, Gavin. I'm perfectly fine," Nines said with a smile as he looked at Gavin through the mirror. Then his expression shifted slightly and he returned to staring into his own eyes. "I've just been thinking, I suppose."
"You've been thinking? And here I was thinking you hadn't been programmed to do that," Gavin quipped.
Nines glanced back at him through the mirror again and only hummed in response before returning his gaze once again. Gavin cringed slightly at the response as he moved into the bathroom behind Nines. He wrapped his arm around the android's middle and pressed his mouth into his shoulder.
"Sorry," Gavin whispered into the soft, dark cloth of Nines's shirt.
"It's okay," Nines said. "I was just..." He paused as the corner of his mouth quirked up in an almost smile. "I was just thinking that I might finally be ready."
Gavin tightened his hold around Nines's abdomen. "Ready?"
Nines reached up and tapped a finger against his still spinning LED. "For this, or, rather, to get rid of it. Hmm, no. I think I'm ready to remove it. Sorry, I've just been lost in my thoughts, I guess."
After a moment a surprised hesitation Gavin responded with a quiet, "Oh."
Nines nodded. "Yes."
"Do you- are you planning on doing something with it?" Gavin asked. "You changed 'getting rid of' to 'remove.'" He moved his hands in air quotes as he spoke.
"Yes, actually," Nines said "I had an idea for it but I'm not sure how you'd feel about it."
Gavin leaned over slightly to get a better look at Nines's face. "Why don't you run it by me then?"
"Okay." Nines finally turned to look as Gavin. "How would you feel about me turning it into a necklace? For you. It would be a symbol of my love for you. I was also thinking, you know, who knows if the legislation will clear any time soon for mixed marriages between androids and humans, and I'm not even sure if that something we'd actually want any way so..." Nines paused and blushed faintly blue. "I wanted us to have something our own so you would never doubt how much I love you and that I will always come back to you."
Gavin swallowed hard as his throat closed up from the emotion of the gesture. Having found his words failing him and deciding that was probably a good thing, Gavin surged forward and pulled Nines into a kiss. Once he regained control on his emotions, he pulled back and nodded.
"Yeah, I'd really like that," he whispered thickly.
Nines smiled. His LED finally returned to blue as he responded, "Okay then. Let's do it."