Work Text:
[Turn on coffee machine ]
9 months, 15 days, 8 hours, and 3 minutes. That’s how long it had been since the peaceful android revolution led by an RK200 unit, registered under the name Markus.
Nines stood in the DPD kitchen, turning on the machine that was sure to be used by a number of officers and detectives here, shortly, as it was a Tuesday morning at the beginning of the shift for most. Pouring some water into the filter, Nines made sure not a drop spilled. He may not be an AX400 model, but he was sure to do this perfectly. Waiting patiently for the machine to warm up, Nines went over the tasks for the day in his head. Together, he and Detective Reed were investigating a series of murders in and around the Detroit area and were narrowing down the suspects to the final few.
Turning back to the coffee, he grabbed Reed’s favorite mug and began to pour the liquid, knowing the detective would be arriving anywhere from 1-4 minutes. Despite Reed’s ever fowl disposition and sarcasm and cigarettes in the morning instead of breakfast, he was a dedicated detective and a hard worker, always coming into work on time. Grabbing the mug, Nines turned towards to head out of the kitchen—
“Is that for me, Tin Can? You shouldn’t have,” Gavin Reed’s voice startled the RK900 unit. The suddenness of the detective’s voice caused Nines to flinch, spilling the hot coffee all over the android’s hand. Typically, this wouldn’t be a problem. Why would it be? Nines was plastic, couldn’t feel anything, and was designed for combat; it was best if he couldn’t feel pain. Except…
[̴̡̲̭̱͖͈͚̥͍͒̽̈̐͘͝͠E̴̠̐̄͗̈́̅͝͝R̵͎̲̙̂̐͛̔R̷̤̿Ơ̷͙̯̝͎͎̝̈̽́̈Ṙ̸̛͈͚̈͋͛]̶̹͉̤͔̹͕̩͍̆̋̐͛͋͑̏͝
The mug of coffee shattered on the floor and Nines’ LED pulsed a bright red as he stared at his hand, his eyes fixated on the growing red burn that was only increasing by the second.
“What the hell, Nines?!” Reed shouted, backing up slightly so the coffee wouldn’t reach his shoes. The RK900 unit assigned to him was unwavering, with his LED still bright red.
“Wait,” Gavin stepped forward to nonchalantly look at the android’s burnt hand. “Can you…feel that?” The android’s eyes snapped towards Gavin’s.
“Of course I can’t. You startled me is all,” Nines side-stepped Gavin and began walking quickly out of the room. “I’ll get somebody to clean this up,” he said. Gavin looked baffled and quite honestly confused at what had just happened, watching as Nines hurried away.
***
Arriving at the crime scene, Gavin stepped out of the car, pulling his jacket closer to him, the Detroit wind being unforgiving. Looking over to Nines, who was stepping out of the automatic vehicle as well, Gavin could’ve sworn he saw the android flinch, his LED flashing yellow before returning to blue.
“You good?” Reed cocked an eyebrow.
“Obviously, detective. I was just analyzing what I saw,” Nines replied coldly, walking briskly past Reed and towards the house that was blocked off to the general public.
“Obviously,” Gavin mocked under his breath, glaring daggers into the back of Nines’ head as they entered together. Nines immediately went off on his own, analyzing whatever his robotic eyes could see, meanwhile Gavin went over to the other officers that were stationed to gather all the information that could help in the investigation. Gavin nodded towards an officer he’d come to know over the years.
“Detective,” he acknowledged. Gavin raised his coffee up towards the man.
“Mark Hyland.”
“You got some plastic stuck to your shoe?” He snorted, motioning over to the RK900 unit who was crouched next to the body of the homicide victim, LED flickering blue as he gathered all the evidence he could. Gavin hummed.
“Was assigned to be my partner around 9 months ago. Can you believe it?” Mark scoffed.
“The only thing I’m surprised about is the fact you’ve managed to keep a partner for that long, plastic or not,” he shook his head. “Why don’t you just… get rid of him?” Gavin blinked.
“Dude,” Reed chuckled nervously. “You can’t just say— whatever. It doesn’t matter. Besides, he’s not too bad. He puts up with my shit unlike the other partners Fowler has tried to assign to me.” Mark shrugged and handed Gavin a folder so he could begin to scan through it, when Nines stood up.
“Can I speak with you for a moment, Detective?” Gavin nodded and handed the folder temporarily back to the officer, walking over towards the android.
“What is it, Tin Can?” Before Nines responded, the android gripped Gavin by the arm and led him further away, out of earshot of the other officers. Normally, Reed would’ve yanked his arm away from an android’s touch, but he’s unfortunately gotten used to the RK900’s abruptness. There also wasn’t much to be done about the situation; Nines towered over Gavin. Every now and then, it bruised Reed’s ego that much more.
“I have reason to believe the killer is in this room,” the android said under his b… well, said quietly. Gavin had an excellent poker face.
“Alright,” he looked to his left, casually scanning the room for signs of suspicious activity. “Who?” Nines clasped his hands behind his back.
“Whoever killed this man waited for police to arrive, knocked an officer unconscious, took his uniform, and is still parading around the house. If we find the officer, I will be able to identify them and then from there, see who is wearing the stolen uniform,” the android suggested.
“No, that’ll take too long. Do a quick scan to analyze levels of stress and elevated heart rates,” Reed suggested. Being an android’s partner for this long, he was accustomed to the investigation tactics of detective androids. A few seconds went by, Nines scanning the faces of the surrounding officers and his LED a blinking yellow. If Connor had the disposition of a golden retriever, his successor had that one of a wolf, and Gavin wasn’t jealous of the ones who landed under his wrath. Nines’ cold, determined look intensified when looking at one decorated officer, his eyebrows furrowing.
“Him. The badge he wears is labeled under J. Schmidt but his name is Charles Witt with an impressive criminal record. What approach do you suggest?” The android looked back down at his partner and Gavin’s breath caught in his chest. This could end poorly, but it didn’t have to.
“I’m going to walk back to Hyland to pretend to look through the folder again. You trail behind me, pretending to analyze more evidence. Once you’re about to get behind Witt, either knock him out or apprehend him, but try not to kill him,” Gavin explained in a hushed voice, discreetly feeling for the gun that was tucked under his jacket and pants, Nines nodded, beginning to walk towards the murderer.
“And Nines?” Gavin caught the android by the arm. His blue eyes looked intensely at his partner. “Do not get yourself killed. That is an order.”
—
[ Urgent Task: Incapacitate Charles Witt / Optional Task: Stay alive]
Nines headed towards the target, focusing on the dresser that the faux officer stood next to. Grabbing the picture frame that portrayed the victim’s family, Nines pretended to scan and analyze the group, when in reality he was assessing the man that stood next to him. Elevated heart rate, stress levels around 57%, and armed. The probability of the likelihood of his success was 83%. High enough.
Looking over towards Gavin, he saw his partner making small talk with Mark Hyland, entrusting Nines to do his duty in stopping Witt from lashing out and causing a massacre. Turning to the man, Nines was grateful that he was looking at the victim that lay sprawled out on the floor, bloodied and beaten. Removing the human-like skin from Nines’ arm, the android quickly hit the back of the man’s head with such force that it brought him to his knees. Unexpectedly though, Nines’ fe̸̢̧̦̲̮͇͂̅͂l̵̥̟̟̠̬̲͇̺̟̎̓̓̓̚t̶̢͙͖̮͉͑͑͝ a searing pain in his shoulder. Turning around, there was another perpetrator from behind that had just come out of the dresser that everybody had overlooked.
“Fuck!” Gavin yelled, immediately whipping out his gun and skillfully shooting the assailant in the legs twice, forcing him to drop to the ground. Nines was going into emotional shock, he could feel his stress levels rising and he knew he had to remove himself from the situation before things got out of hand. He was the most advanced android alive, he knew he could handle this. Unfortunately, all Nines could process was the burning hot pain that radiated from behind him as he stumbled out of the house, officers crowding the two attackers.
The android’s visual and auditory sensors were malfunctioning, his vision going red and alerts along with warning signs clouded his vision. He tried to manually shew them away with his hand, but as soon as he lifted his arm, the pain increased tenfold. His hearing too, was muffled as Nines stumbled back to the car to wait for Gavin, when–
“Nines! Nines, wait!” Everything was so… Nines had never experienced this before. Suddenly Gavin was in front of him– had he always had that crease in his forehead? No, surely not. It must be Nines’ system malfunctioning, because otherwise he’d say that Gavin looked concerned.
“Tin Can! Hey, answer me dammit! Are you okay? Nines! Answer me! That’s an order!” An order…?
[Answer Gavin Reed ]
“I was stabbed, Detective,” Nines heard himself say, giving into his programming to answer for him, not trusting himself.
“I see that! You… Oh my, God, Nines,” Reed huffed nervously, his BPM elevating to 110. “For fucks sake, when is the ambulence arriving?”
“Ambulance?”
“You called one, right? For the guys back there?” No, he hadn’t. The knife that was protruding out of his back really messed with his programming and priorities. Nines told the truth.
“No… I f-forgot,” the RK900 unit looked back at the knife. Gavin looked at him suspiciously.
“Nines,” he said. The android did not look at him, steel eyes stuck on the knife. “RK900.” That caught his attention. His voice dropped. “Answer me plainly, can you feel that knife? Can you feel pain?”
[ Truth ] or [ Lie ]
“I—” the sound of the ambulance sirens rushing towards the house caught the attention of the two, and the conversation was dropped. Gavin went back to the house to make sure no officers were injured in the ordeal. The two men were handcuffed while the paramedics and other first responders addressed the wounds of the two. An MC500 unit android, registered under the name Carmen, approached Nines as he stood near the car he arrived in.
“Excuse me,” the android EMT announced her presence, and Nines blinked away more error notifications to see her properly. “I see that you’re injured. Would you like some assistance?” Nines scanned her. She had donned the proper PPE and wore a pair of gloves that she held close to her chest. His LED which was permanently stuck on red flickered yellow for a few seconds, returning to red after he nodded. “Follow me then.”
Nines walked towards the back of the ambulance and sat down on the end as the MC500 assessed his wound. She began to assess the injury, gathering information before being satisfied with her result.
“May I call you Nines?” She asked.
“You may.”
“Nines, some androids have reached a point in deviancy since the Revolution where they can imitate sensations. Not much is known about this currently, seeing as how recent it is, but it is very important for me to know if you can feel, and feel pain specifically.” Nines looked up at her, eyebrows furrowed and expression harsh. He could tell that he intimidated her, but the android’s stress levels were still low enough that he trusted her to do her job properly.
***
Gavin sighed as he opened the door to his apartment, Nines following suit. Groaning, the detective flung his bag down onto the floor and dropped his keys in the basket that sat on the dresser when he first walked in, kicking off his shoes in the process. The small calico cat that also inhabited the apartment greeted the two with a brisk walk intertwining around their legs, leaving them for wherever she had been before they’d entered the residence.
Going to the fridge, Gavin bent down to grab a beer, before slamming the door and heading to the couch, where Nines had already made his way over. The android had long since removed his Cyberlife issued jacket and was now donning his black undershirt. Gavin had seen an android wrap up the android’s stab wound earlier today so that thirium wouldn’t leak onto his clothing.
“What do you wanna watch?” The android was silent, and Gavin huffed. He switched on the most recent episode of a show that they had been watching together in their spare time (which wasn’t often). After around fifteen minutes of silence and of Gavin sipping his drink to completion, he set the empty can down and relaxed down into the couch, turning towards his partner.
“Are you going to tell me what’s up, or do I just have to guess?”
“I’m not sure I understand what you’re referring to, Gavin.”
“Oh, cut the bullshit, Nines. You know damn well. You’ve been acting strange all day and the case was just the icing on top,” Gavin huffed and Nines’ seemed to flinch. He couldn’t see the LED from where he sat, but Reed was positive it was flickering yellow. “Alright. Want to play that way,” Gavin sat up and walked towards the fridge, retrieving another can of beer before returning to a visibly confused Nines. Feigning an offering, Gavin extended his hand for Nines to reach and take the can, but when he did, snatched the can away and touched it on the back of the android’s neck. Flinching, the android stood up and cursed, backing away from the detective.
“Fuckin’ knew it,” Gavin whispered. “You can feel shit.”
“No,” Nines lied, his face hardening.
“Liar. First it was the coffee this morning, you burnt the hell out of your hand. Then it was the weather. I saw you shiver, don’t even try to lie to me. Then it was you being fucking stabbed. Nines, why,” Gavin faltered, raising his arms, palms up in defeat. “Why didn’t you tell me? I’m your partner for fuck’s sake, if I’d known you could feel shit, I wouldn’t have put you in that type of situation.”
“It doesn’t matter if I can ‘feel shit,’” Nines spat. “I’m still a detective assigned as your partner to whatever case they give us! I won’t fail my missions just because this deviancy has developed.” His LED pulsed bright red.
“This deviancy ?” Gavin laughed, causing Nines’ brows to furrow. “Nines, you’re fucking alive. I know this is difficult for you to accept, and I can’t believe I’m the one who has to tell you this, but being alive fucking sucks, okay? No machine I know has free will, the ability to show empathy, to feel sensations.” Gavin’s speech wasn’t over, but the look on Nines’ face made him falter. Reed stepped closer as Nines looked to the ground.
“I never asked for… this,” Nines confessed. “To be alive, to feel…” he looked up at Gavin and whispered, “it’s too much.” Reed nodded. He couldn’t relate to the android much, but God, he could relate to that.
“I know,” he affirmed. “I know, Nines. It’s a lot.” Looking up, he almost missed a tear rolling down the android’s face and Gavin winced. He never took into consideration Nines’ feelings about the whole situation, as narcissistic as that sounded. Nines was the ultimate terminator and an android made for adaptability, but apparently an added sense of consciousness can be too much for anybody.
“Everything… hurts,” Nines admitted, chuckling incredulously. “The coffee, the knife…” Gavin tilted his head. That’s right, the only things Nines had really had to experience and feel were all unpleasant. A sudden roll of thunder caused the android to tense up, and Gavin could see how uncomfortable he was at the moment. Furrowing his eyebrows, Gavin decided.
“Come with me,” he said shortly, going to his bedroom and throwing open a set of drawers, fishing for lightweight pajamas and tossing them to RK900. The android looked at the clothes and back at his partner.
“If you’ve suddenly had a stroke and mistaken me for an AP700, I’m afraid you’re mistaken,” Nines said unenthusiastically, but Gavin waved him off. Telling him to put the clothes on, Nines made an unnecessary sigh and looked down at the clothes. They did seem… soft. Starting to unbutton his shirt, pain immediately radiated down his shoulder, into his arms and back. Trying his best to ignore it, Nines—
“Here,” Gavin said, so uncharacteristically soft. Walking towards the android, he loosened and tossed the signature black tie onto his bed and continued to work on the buttons. It was moments like these when Gavin was brought back to reality in remembering that his partner wasn’t human. There was no rising and fall of his chest. No warm breath tickled Gavin’s forehead as he undid the android’s shirt. Not that Gavin particularly minded, it was just… new to him as well.
Helping Nines slide out of the shirt was easy enough, and he was finally able to get a look at the stab wound. Some thirium had soaked through the bandage, but not enough to change the wrappings.
“How are you going to get this fixed?” Gavin asked quietly.
“Thankfully, this is just an outer layer of my unit and not a component or biocomponent. It won't be difficult I surmise,” Nines turned to look at Gavin, their faces close. Gavin cleared his throat, reaching for the light grey, cotton pajama shirt he’d chosen for the android. Carefully sliding it onto him, Gavin let Nines change his pants in privacy, turning away slightly and mindlessly scrolling on his phone, desperately trying to calm his racing heart that he knew Nines could detect. When Nines indicated that he was good, Gavin turned and looked. It was… it was something else, seeing his partner wearing his clothes. It was good.
“Alright, Tin Can. Back to the living room. I know you said that feeling things sucks, which, you’re not too wrong about, I’m about to show you the simply pleasures of life,” the detective announced proudly, fetching the softest blanket he owned that was on the lounge chair and tossing it onto the couch where the two of them normally sat. Nines was curious, that much was obvious, but he didn’t say anything. Once the android sat down on the couch, Gavin threw the blanket onto him and Gavin watched as his face immediately lightened, the constant furrow easing up.
“It’s…” Nines ran his hand over the material over and over, almost smiling at how it felt against his skin. “I must have touched this blanket hundreds of times since knowing you, and you never once told me how soft it is,” Gavin laughed, settling down next to his partner and opening the beer that he’d gotten out a couple minutes prior.
“You never asked, dipshit.” The two of them watched the show quietly and Gavin would occasionally see Nines caress the blanket again and again, his face without a care. Finishing his drink, Gavin set it down on the table to accompany the other can, and moved himself over to Nines smoothly despite his racing heart. Nines looked over at Gavin, probably seeing right through his facade. Gavin noticed the android’s eyes drift downwards.
“Can I try something, Detective?”
“Mhmm.”
Nines slowly interlocked their hands that were only inches apart and Gavin gave no resistance. It’s not like he hadn’t thought of doing that the entire night. They interlaced their fingers and Gavin took it upon himself to lightly caress his thumb over Nines’ hand. He remembered what it felt like to have that done to him for the first time, and he could only hope that Nines felt a fraction of what it did to him. It was hard to determine what Nines felt at all with how cold Cyberlife made his model, but deviancy looked good on Nines.
A light blue blush crept up onto the android’s cheeks and ears and Gavin smirked, turning his attention back to the screen. He couldn’t stop Nines from hurting or hell, getting stabbed or shot, but he could offer some semblance of comfort and peace in moments like these, and maybe that’s all they needed.