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It was far too warm for October. Gavin had thrown his jacket in the trunk hours ago, but the long sleeves of his uniform still kept him a couple of degrees into uncomfortable. Thankfully it had finally started to cool as night fell. He had the windows of the cruiser open just a little, letting a gentle breeze creep inside.
He glanced at his partner, who sat beside him. For the first time that Gavin could remember, Connor seemed bored. Still sat inhumanly upright, the android had stopped scanning the environment and was instead looking up at the street lights, few and far between this far way from the center of the city.
Gavin sighed. It wasn't that it had been a particularly hard shift, it had just dragged. Obviously, since he was waiting for it to be over.
"Two more hours," Connor said, hearing Gavin's exhale.
"And then I'll be another year older," Gavin said, eyes flickering to his rear-view mirror. He stuck out his chin and tilted his head to examine his stubble, searching for signs of gray.
The android stared at him, trying to imagine Gavin with hair the same shade as Hank's, but couldn't.
"You don't look any different," Connor said.
Gavin let out a quiet huff of a laugh. "For now."
Connor wasn't sure how to respond. Human mortality wasn't something he could ever understand. He didn't know how humans didn't spend more time worrying about it. He glanced again at Gavin, who dragged a hand down his face.
"This has been the longest fucking night," Gavin muttered, "I need to check in with the asshole responsible for saddling us with the late shift the day before my day off."
His birthday was one of the rare days he requested to not be on shift. He'd worked on his birthday before, but there was something about the day that always made it feel particularly arduous. Each call felt longer, stupider and more humiliating than usual.
The first time he ever damaged a squad car was on his birthday, back when he was a rookie and some asshole had decided to brake-check him.
And the fact that it had been his birthday had been the primary focus of the chewing out his then-lieutenant had given him.
"At least you'll have a chance to sleep in before the party," Connor said, dragging Gavin back to the present.
"I don't know how I feel about that," Gavin admitted, then winced. Why did he say that?
"The party?" Connor asked.
"Yeah," Gavin murmured, then before the android could ask more about it, he continued, "it's not normally my thing."
"What normally happens on your birthday?"
Gavin sighed. He wasn't annoyed by the question exactly, but the android had an unfortunate knack for asking just the right question to highlight how mundane his life often was.
"Usually, I grab some drinks with whatever friends I have. Might get take out. It just hasn't really been a thing I've celebrated since I was a kid."
Connor considered Gavin's words. "Tina's planned something similar to that," he said gently, "just a few people, meeting at a bar."
"I don't believe for a second that everyone that'll be there is my friend," Gavin said, "it'll be one or two people I actually talk to, then just anyone else Tina's managed to force to come too."
"Your friends will be there," Connor said, "among… acquaintances."
Gavin snorted. "Very political of you, Tincan."
Connor hesitated. "What would you rather be doing?"
Gavin took a moment to answer. "You know what? Nothing better, so I can't complain."
"I'll be there," Connor said, "if you want to leave I can create a diversion."
Gavin let out a loud laugh. "Oh yeah? Mr Everything-By-the-Book? You'd lie to everyone?"
Connor scowled at him, visibly offended. "I have broken protocol many times."
Gavin sucked his teeth. "Not lately, you haven't," he said before shooting Connor a grin, "come on, give me a so-called diversion."
Gavin put on a voice as he said "diversion". It was what Connor could only assume was an impression of him.
"Reed," Connor snapped suddenly, in Fowler's voice, making Gavin jolt, "get back to the precinct now, or it's your ass on the line."
"Okay," Gavin held up one hand in a surrender motion, "I'm on my way."
"Good. Grab a pumpkin spiced latte on your way back," Connor said, still in Fowler's voice. Gavin let out a splutter of a laugh.
"Don't like that," he said.
"The latte isn't for you, jackass."
"Stop," Gavin said again, still grinning.
Connor gave a small smile, then resumed looking out of the window. They remained in comfortable silence as Gavin drove.
After a while, Gavin couldn't help but notice that Connor's head kept turning to follow road signs. His focus seemed caught by signs that pointed towards the freeway, his gaze lingering on them longer than the others.
"The I-96 caught your eye, Tincan?" Gavin asked.
Connor looked surprised, apparently caught off guard by how observant his partner was. His LED spun and he looked away.
That's fucking weird.
"Connor?" Gavin asked, his voice harsh with concern.
"I…" Connor said, "I was just thinking."
"Uh huh?" Gavin said, making a well go on gesture towards the android.
"I've never actually left Detroit," Connor said.
Gavin raised his eyebrows. "Seriously?"
"It's been a busy year," Connor said.
Despite the amount of times it had come up, Gavin still wasn't quite over how little life the android had experienced.
The officer flicked his indicator on.
"Gavin," Connor said, his voice loud, "we can't take any detours right now-"
"Sure we can," Gavin said, turning the car off a road, "I'm not gonna say the Q word, but you gotta admit this shift has been…"
There was a pause, as Gavin struggled to think of another word.
"Uneventful?" Connor asked.
"I was gonna say fucking boring," Gavin said, "but yeah."
The officer drove slowly, as though their superiors wouldn't notice what they were up to if they stayed well below the speed limit, not that Gavin truly believed anyone was tracking their car, despite the scrutiny he and Connor had been under.
Although he had initially protested, the android looked eager, his eyes widening and sitting forwards, staring at the road ahead.
Gavin smiled slightly. He could make fun of this later, but for now there was something very endearing about Connor's unashamed interest in seeing the glitz and glamour of life outside of Detroit.
The officer's eyes darted to the navigation screen on his car's dash. According to that, they were almost at the edge of the city.
"And," Gavin said loudly, dragging out the syllable into one loud shout, "we're clear. Say bye to Detroit."
He pulled the car up on the side of the road, next to a derelict plot of land, overgrown with grass.
There was a beat, as they both sat there.
"It feels the same," Connor said, giving Gavin a small smile.
"Yeah," Gavin shot him a grin as he unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the car door. He got out, watching as the android mirrored him. They closed the doors, and Gavin rested his arms on the roof of the car.
They both looked up at the sky.
"I've never really looked at the stars before," Connor said.
"They're harder to see, near the city," Gavin said, "you need to go to the middle of nowhere, where there's no… light pollution."
"Light pollution?" Connor repeated.
"Shut up," Gavin said, "it's a thing."
He hopped onto the hood of the car, shuffling back so that his shoes no longer touched the ground.
Connor rolled his eyes when Gavin wasn't looking. He knew it was a thing, but voicing his surprise that Gavin knew it was a thing would only sound rude.
"It sounds like you're littering light," Connor said, joining Gavin on the car's hood, albeit with a lot more caution.
Gavin paused. "Like fireworks," he said. He went quiet again.
"Gavin?" Connor asked.
"That's something I've done before. Fireworks, on my birthday."
"Oh," Connor said, "before they were restricted?"
Gavin gave him a grimace. "It was before I was a cop."
Connor raised his eyebrows. "Officer Reed," he said in mock disapproval.
"I think I probably have a confiscated one in the trunk," Gavin said, "we could set it off."
Connor's LED spun yellow and the android looked at him in alarm.
"Relax, Tincan," Gavin smirked, "that was a joke."
Connor nodded, although he didn't look entirely convinced.
Gavin shut his eyes, inhaling the cool air deeply. It was still so warm that he didn't need his jacket. "Thanks for this, Tincan," he said, "I think I needed this. A second away from the noise."
Connor didn't respond, but Gavin heard the android adjust, laying further back against the car's windshield.
Gavin lost track of how long they sat there. He couldn't remember the last time he had… stopped. Even at home, he was always busy, working on cases or attempting to keep his life in order.
There was a muffled bang and Gavin's eyes opened in alarm. Beside him, Connor immediately sat upright.
Huh.
Fireworks. Over in the distance, further from Detroit, someone was setting off fireworks.
"That's strange," Gavin said.
"Birthday wish?" Connor asked.
"Maybe. Now I wish for one million dollars," Gavin said, then held out his arms as though he expected the money to start raining down.
Connor let out a small exhale of a laugh. He glanced back to the fireworks. "Should we….do something? Check if they've got a permit?"
Gavin sucked his teeth. "Nah," he said, "let them have their fun. It's outside of Detroit anyway, so it's for the local cops to deal with."
Connor's LED spun. "Okay," he said.
They both sat back, watching the fireworks which continued on well into the night, past the stroke of midnight.
Connor couldn't look away, watching the bright flashes of color fade into darkness, before another immediately took its place with a loud bang.
"Happy birthday, Gavin," Connor said, still not tearing his eyes from the fireworks.
"Thanks, Tincan," Gavin responded. He turned his gaze back to the fireworks, looking at them with a newfound appreciation.
