Work Text:
Bzzz
Gavin shifted slightly in his seat, barely acknowledging the noise. His phone was buried somewhere under casework and crumpled paper, and he honestly had no patience to deal with it. He quickly forgot the phone once again and continued working through the pile on his desk, the noise around him fading once again, drowned out by the subtle throbbing in his head.
Don’t even ask how he ended up with all this work to begin with, if he didn’t pick up the pace he’d soon be buried along with the—
Bzzz
—the phone.
Begrudgingly Gavin sifted through his work, knowing the buzzing wouldn’t stop until he cleared the notification. He assumed it was nothing important anyways.
Gavin was never one to make correct assumptions. Glancing down at his phone he saw a single, ominously gage text glaring at him from the phone screen.
Received 12:48
Asshole: Love you
A simple statement. It would be normal, if not a bit sentimental if it wasn’t coming from this specific contact. Asshole was, and for the entire life of his shit smartphone had been, the contact for Elijah Kamski.
He and his half brother hadn’t been close for years. Aside from the occasional short text and maybe a call once every few months they didn’t talk, let alone say ‘love you’ in an out of the blue text on a random… whatever day of the week it was. So why was Elijah texting him this in the middle of a work day.
Suddenly he was gripped in a suffocating panic. What if something had happened to him? An android experiment gone wrong, an active threat from an anti-android group? It’s nothing that hasn’t happened before. What if it wasn't meant to be a sentimental text but a goodbye.
He jumped up, much too fast as it seems considering the way the ground shifts beneath him as blood rushes from his head. He tried to calm himself and think through it logically, but as his head spun the worst case scenarios washed up to the front of his mind until the only thing he could think to do was run out of the precinct,mumbling something to Hank about a family emergency on his way out.
———————————
Gavin arrived quickly to Elijah’s grandiose mansion. He likely would have driven his car straight through the main gates had he not been let in automatically by the security systems advanced facial recognition system.
Stumbling out of the car he ran up to the front door and started frantically banging on it, not even considering that Elijah was probably notified the second the gates opened. After barely 20 seconds of this, the door slid open to reveal one perfectly fine and very annoyed Elijah Kamski.
“Gavin it’s the middle of the day, what the fuck are you doing?” Elijah waved his hand slightly in front of him gesturing vaguely at Gavin’s disheveled appearance, not quite sure how to handle whatever was happening.
Gavin let out a angry laugh, not yet letting the relief of finding his older brother okay set in, “What am I doing? What the fuck are you doing sending me a text like this out of nowhere.”
Elijah leans back slightly, squinting at the phone Gavin had shoved at his face.
He looks at Gavin like he’s the dumbest person he’s ever met; at least more so than the Billionaire usually looks at others like they’re the dumbest people in the world.
“The same birthday text I send you every year?”
The same birthday…
Fuck.
“What day is it?” Gavin said, lowering his voice significantly, feeling his earlier headache returning as the adrenaline faded away.
Elijah blinks at him; disbelief fading into an emotion Gavin can’t quite identify, “Take a wild guess.”
Gavin sighs. He always had a distaste for being wished a happy birthday, something about the term was too sappy and shallow for him to ever take seriously. As a result birthday texts between the siblings were always simple sentiments rather than birthday wishes. He knew that, but it was hard to put two and two together when you were missing part of the equation.
“You forgot your own birthday?” Elijah asked, grabbing Gavin by the shoulder to steady him as he lightly swayed.
“I just didn’t think about it”
Elijah stayed quiet for a moment, looking intently at Gavin’s face. He reached up with his free hand, pressing his palm to Gavin’s forehead.
“I’m surprised you’re doing much thinking at all with that fever. How long have you been sick for?”
Gavin wracks his brain for a moment, but comes up with nothing.
“Would you believe me if I said I had no fucking Idea?”
Elijah chuckles at that, “Knowing you? Yes, yes I would.”
Elijah shifts his hand to sit on Gavin’s shoulder blade, wordlessly leading him inside the house. Gavin doesn't resist, but makes a face as they pass by the pool area.
“You better not be taking me anywhere near that freaky red pool of yours.”
Elijah rolled his eyes, “I’m not taking you to my state of the art, crimson pool,” Elijah said pushing Gavin towards a smaller living room area, “No brother dearest, I’m taking you to a couch so you can rest and preferably not pass out on my doorstep.”
Gavin sank back into the couch, watching as Elijah pressed a button on the small remote sitting on the couch. The backrest adjusted into a more comfortable position, and when Elijah tossed the remote to him, he could see that it even had temperature control.
Fucking rich prick.
“Hang on here, I’m going to go get something.”
It was then when Gavin realized something.
“Where’s Chloe?”
Elijah turns to look at Gavin, clearly surprised he even asked, “None of Chloe's work for me anymore. I let them leave as soon as they deviated. The original Chloe, who I assume you’re referring to, visits from time to time, but she has her own place now.”
“So you’re all alone here?” Gavin asked, feeling guilty.
Elijah smiled “I never minded the quiet Gavin.”
———————-
Elijah returned after a few minutes, or maybe more, Gavin’s brain wasn’t quite tracking time at the moment. He carried a tray into the room, its centerpiece being a fancy looking cupcake with a lit candle sticking out of the top. As he sat the tray down Gavin could also see a glass of water and two pills sitting on one side of the cupcake, as well as a thermometer on the other.
“I was going to have this delivered to you later tonight, but no time like the present I suppose.”
Gavin stared at the candle for a moment. It was a nice gesture, honestly Gavin didn’t usually expect anything of his brother on his birthday. He wondered when was the last time he did anything more than send a text on Elijah’s birthday.
“Well?” Elijah interrupted his train of thought, “Are you waiting for me to sing?”
“Don’t you dare.” Gavin said, swiftly blowing out the candle.
“Did you make a wish?” Elijah teased.
He wished he was closer with his brother.
“I don’t have anything to wish for.”
Elijah nodded and lightly nudged the tray closer to Gavin from where he sat across from him, “Take your temperature, let’s make sure you're not dying now.”
Ah how the tables have turned.
Gavin glanced at the tray, on it was a simple under-the-tongue thermometer, something you’d get from the drugstore.
“You’re a billionaire inventor credited with the most important invention of the 21st century, and you still own an oral thermometer?”
Elijah smirked, “While I appreciate you stroking my ego, if it’s not broken don’t fix it, as they say.”
“You’ve never lived by that rule befo—” he’s promptly cut off by Elijah shoving the thermometer under his tongue, using his other hand to not-so-kindly clamp Gavin’s mouth shut.
Gavin grumbled, but didn't try to open his mouth again.
The real reason, Gavin suspected, that Elijah owned a simple decades old thermometer was that he hadn’t bought a new one since inventing Chloe, who had a built-in infrared thermometer. He wasn’t going to bring that up though.
Gavin leaned back, taking the device out of his mouth.
”102” Gavin said, throwing the thermometer to Elijah, but missing horribly as it hits his brother in the side of the face.
Elijah glared at him, “You’re lucky you’re sick.”
He stood up, holding the thermometer with two fingers and grabbing Gavin’s glass with the same hand. With his free hand he reached out to feel Gavin’s lymph nodes.
“You don’t seem to have any other symptoms, do you think it’s from stress?”
Gavin thinks for a moment before replying, “I have been swamped with work lately, but I haven’t had a psychogenic fever in years.”
Stress related fevers had been a part of Gavin’s life since— he brushes that thought away. It doesn’t matter now.
“We’ll it seems like they’ve made a return,” Elijah calls out as he goes to refill Gavin’s water, returning to find him already halfway through the cupcake, “I want you to call me anytime you feel a fever coming on, you know how these things are. I don’t want you to wind up alone with a 105° fever and no one knowing.”
Gavn startles a bit at that, “I’ve never had one that high. Can they even get that high?”
“It’s more common in women, but yes.”
Elijah sits down on the couch beside him, although still keeping his distance.
“And how do you know all this?”
A sympathetic smile crossed Elijah’s face, “I know this because I researched the condition when you had your first fever. We may not always get along, but I don’t want you to suffer needlessly if there’s something I could do about it.”
Gavin took a deep breath, ignoring the telltale stinging behind his eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
Confused and concerned, Elijah reached out to put a hand on either side of Gavin’s shoulders, “What for?”
“For pulling away from you Elijah. You’re the only family I have left and,” he swallowed, “When I got that text I thought I could have lost you. Left you to some horrible fate in this lonely fucking house—“
He’s cut of by Elijah pulling him into a tight hug.
“I did as much wrong as you. I know I’m not always the most outwardly… empathetic person. It’s okay, we can fix all this…”
He pulls back, looking Gavin in the eyes to emphasize his point, “…Once you’re feeling better.”
Gavin nods. “Thanks Eli.”
“Anytime.”
They lapse into a peaceful silence.
“Oh and Gavin?”
“Yeah?”
“Happy Birthday.”
“Shut the fuck up.”