Work Text:
Connor had followed Hank into the gas station. He didn't need to stretch his legs, but it was less boring than just sitting in the car waiting (plus he could make sure Hank picked a snack that wasn't too unhealthy). As they were waiting in line for the checkout, they came up to a shelf full of stuffed animals. A little dog with a big head and its tongue sticking out caught the android's eye. Something about how it looked made him... smile. He reached out and picked it up to look closer, trying to think of the appropriate word...
The line moved forward and Connor stayed where he was. Hank turned around to find out why. "Connor?"
Connor turned to Hank, a smile still playing at the corners of his lips. "This is really - cute," he said with some triumph as he placed the word, and showed Hank the toy.
The lieutenant looked down at it and back up at the happiness on Connor's face - he'd almost never seen the kid smile for this long before. Kid... he really was just a kid in a lot of ways, wasn't he? Hank also started to smile, and a gleam entered his eyes, both amused and somehow excited. "Do you - want it?" he asked gently while grinning.
Connor looked up and blinked, then his head turned down to the little dog again. "It is really cute..." he reiterated. "But, what would I do with it?"
Hank shrugged. "Whatever you want. Lots of people just like to have 'em to look at, because they're so cute. Some people sleep with them, for like, comfort. You could even.. play with it. Anything you want."
Connor's LED was working hard, spinning and blinking. A sudden feeling had overwhelmed him; the thought of what Amanda would say if she could see him right now (could she see him right now? would she ever really be gone?) Amanda would see this as a waste, a useless frivolity. Whether it was cute wouldn't matter. Whether he enjoyed it wouldn't matter. He wasn't supposed to find things cute or enjoy anything.
And yet here was Hank, telling him how human it was to like these little things, encouraging him to do what he wanted, what made him happy.
"It's only a few bucks, wouldn't be any trouble," Hank encouraged again, after Connor's silence had lasted a few seconds.
Connor studied the adorable little stuffed animal again. He liked it. He wanted it, even if he had no real idea what he was going to do with it. A spark of rebellion lit up inside him, even though Amanda was supposedly long gone. "Okay."
Once they were back on the road, Hank was constantly glancing over at his son in the passenger seat, watching him flopping the dog's ears and wagging its tail, practically grinning to himself. When he lifted the tongue and let it fall, wiggling back and forth, he even chuckled quietly. Hank had never seen him like this, and it made the lieutenant have to fight off the urge to beam ear to ear (a fight he was not winning). In some ways he really did have a kid in the house again.