Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Gavin started his morning with the shrill shrieking of his neighbors fire detector going off and the smell of something burning wafting through the floor. This wasn't a new occurrence, but it was annoying nonetheless. His neighbor had just moved in next door which after a year or two of the place being empty brought along a lot of racket in the recent weeks. With a deep inhale, he finally sat up and checked his phone. He stared blankly at his messages, the last text he had received being from Tina asking him if he'd want a burrito about a week ago. He got up, got dressed, and head out to his living room where a curious pair of green eyes stared at him from the sofa.
His cat, Fern, was a black stray he'd rescued about four years prior. The cat had a mellow personality, which meant Gavin could coddle her to his hearts content. Right now though, she was in a very talkative mood, letting her owner know that she was starved. With a gentle brushing of her fur, he moved to her dish and placed her her serving of pellets. While she happily ate her breakfast he moved into the kitchen for some cereal, a meal that required no effort on his part to make.
In the time he finished his cereal, washed his plates, put on his shoes and left he noticed he would be a solid 20 minutes earlier than necessary. He sat at the wheel, not leaving yet, and fiddled with the radio. There wasn't anything good on, but then again there hadn't been in years. The music industry had slowly began to absorb a lot of bad singers with large fanbases in the early 2020's, and it essentially created a music draught. People began to lean more into EDM or instrumental music, searching for good sound over good lyrics. Gavin didn't particularly dislike either of those, but it wasn't the same as belting out some Taylor Swift or Katy Perry as he had growing up.
He double checked himself for his badge, his phone, his keys, and his gun which was tucked away in its holster.
After confirming he had everything he began his daily transit to the precinct, his body tensing as he got closer.
Gavin wasn't too sure when he had began doing that, getting clammed up at work. When he had been a rookie, he had genuinely enjoyed getting to work, watching the city wake up, knowing he was tasked with keeping those around him safe. After a few years in the profession though, things had gotten rather bleak.
It's not so much that he hated being a detective, but his once high morals had turned grey. He had watched good people die, or worse, turn into the criminals they once hunted down. He met criminals who had only done what they did because they had no other options, and pay big time. It could be said he had lost his faith in people, and faith in himself.
Gavin with time became the mouthy asshole everyone else kept a difference from, and he was sure he liked it that way.
Gavin didn't miss being close with his co-workers, he didn't miss being included in things outside work, and he most definitely didn't miss feeling like he belonged in his profession.

Gavin parked his car in the driveway and walked in. He didn't miss the stares from junior officers, and the way people gossiped on how he was a walking, talking time bomb.
He made his way to the break room with his face set in a neutral manner to get his coffee and get to work, zoning out everyone as he did so. If he was being honest, the reason he had become distant from everyone on his way to being where he was now was because he had grown tired of being looked down on. A lot of the officers he had come in with had either moved to other locations, died, or fired. The few that had ascended with or above him all saw him as competition, and any friendship he had had with others had crumbled as he denied them the right to walk over him.

His lack of flexibility had a notch on his social reputation, with a fair amount of people being upset he wouldn't cover their asses for their incompetence. He didn't particularly care about having a good reputation, but it still stung to be left out simply because he hoped his fellow officers would be as hard on themselves as he was.

Coffee in hand, he worked his way back to his desk to begin looking at his most recent case. A young woman had been murdered in her home, seemingly strangled to death by a lamp. There were no witnesses, no camera recordings, and the only possible suspect had an alibi. He was about to head out to the crime scene when Fowler had called him into his office. With a grunt, he stood up and made his way there, pointedly ignoring the snickers he heard from Hank across the room. He also pretended to not see Connors temple light up yellow as he scolded the other, stifling a smirk to watch the lieutenant get micromanaged by a toy story rule34 wet dream come alive. He pushed into the office to find one (1) captain and one(1) Connor with god syndrome in the room, and swiveled to leave.

"Reed if you step foot outside of this room before I dismiss you I'm giving your cases to Anderson and putting you on paperwork duty for a month."

He rolled his eyes but walked towards the only open seat in front of Fowlers desk and crossed his arms.

The android next to him on second glance was slightly easier on the eyes than Connor, with a chiseled jawline and icy blue eyes. Where as Connor was a golden retriever, this android was a husky.
For the first time he thanked the heavens he was strictly a cat person, and made the active decision to focus on what the captain was spitting.

Fowler began to lead off on how the higher ups wanted to pair Gavin up with the recently deviated RK900 to help the DPD create a better social image of “Unity” after the Android revolution.

He resisted the urge to snort, knowing it was all the president pulling strings to make herself look better with non-official PR stunts, and what would be better than Detroit’s known android hater working hand in hand with a robocop? He knew the media would have a field day speculating about what made him “change” and about how “if even the biggest asshole the revolutionary city had to offer could adjust, why couldn’t everyone else?”

Realistically, Gavin knew not everything revolved around him, but his thoughts were helping him from not letting out a string of curses as Fowler baby talked him into accepting the Android as a partner or giving in his badge.
Gavin noticed the Android looked just as annoyed as he did, while his facial expressions were lacking, his spinning yellow LED and the slight scrunch of his eyebrows which he probably picked up from spending time with Connor let him know the other wasn’t bursting with joy to be paired with him.

“Listen Fowler I’ll accept, and only because I don’t want to lose the only job I care about- HOWEVER, this shit can’t be permanent.”

Fowler gave him a pointed look.

“You can’t just take a partner and discard them within a Month, Reed. However, if in a year you two truly show to be a bad match together I’ll reconsider your partnership. Just, try to not bite each other’s heads off.”

The Rk900 leaned forward, and from him came a smooth, deep voice that made Gavin’s eye twitch.

“I wouldn’t dare bite detective Reed, however I’ll readily accept your offer to relocate in a year.”

“I hate to agree with the advanced Tomagachi here but I doubt I’ll miss having a partner after this year pases.”

Fowler dragged a tired hand across his face.

“Whatever, just get your work done, don’t actively try to make the other quit, and make some attempts to be amicable with each other. I don’t want any unnecessary complains from either of you. Gavin pass your current case information over to RK900, and Rk900- welcome to the police department. You’re both dismissed.”

Gavin didn’t hesitate to spring out of his seat, and make a beeline back to his desk. Sparing a glance at the android blankly following him, and then to the now lukewarm coffee in his hand, he sighed.
He was going to need a lot more caffeine than this.

Chapter Text

Gavin took a sip as he sat down, reigning in his expression. The room seemed to have gotten quiet, as if everyone was waiting for an outburst, a fight, anything. He hated to disappoint, but he wasn’t going to give anyone the satisfaction of seeing him snap over something so stupid. Sure, he had tried to square up with Connor when he had just come in, but that was prior to him becoming deviant. A lot of his issues with Androids could be summed up to personal insecurities and the fact that androids were made with the intent to bypass moral and ethical codes.
For starters, he didn’t like having another image of perfection to be compared to (growing up with Elijah did enough of damage on that front), but he also hated having to pretend to care enough and not at all about the machines prior to the revolution. If an android was beaten to pulp? There had been a social expectation to both be upset because the person's private property had been damaged, but also for it to be fine- at least it wasn’t an actual person.

It was a lot easier to be spiteful and project onto the androids than it was to be angry towards the people who had placed them on a pedestal, but that was a conversation for himself and his therapist at another time. He began to forward the information he had to the android, paying him no mind as he tried to will the minutes to move by faster with no luck. The android stood at a solid 6’5”, a black turtleneck peeking out from his white cyberlife jacket, the clothing only accenting the others toned body. It really wasn’t fair, if Gavin could be reborn he hoped it was into a sentient murder machine that didn’t age, being a flesh bag was the short end of the stick in comparison to the new apex predators. The android tapped on his desk, fixing Gavin with a neutral stare.

“I’ve been made aware of your reputation.”

His LED swirled, yellow, as Gavin gave him a shrug and a hum.

“I am the most advanced android cyberlife created, so I’m letting you know that I am not a person to be walked over. I want to get my work done efficiently, and while you wouldn’t have been my first option of people to work with, I hope you can agree with my sentiments towards work.”

Gavin once more gave a little hum, mulling over the RK900’s words.

“Listen, I don’t give a shit about what others say about me. I did what I did, and if that bothers you so be it. I’m where I am because I know how to pull my weight, so you can take your little girlboss gatekeep gaslight speech tucked away. I won’t get in your way as long as you don’t get in mine, got it?”

If Gavin was delighted to watch the others LED momentarily turn red, then back down to yellow, he would never admit it.

“I don’t think ‘girlboss gatekeep, and gaslight’ are being used properly in this context-”

Gavin waved him away dismissively.

“I know what I said ironman, anyway, you got a name or something?”
“....No, not officially. I’m currently testing out the name Richard though.”

“Alright, let's go to the crime scene then, Dick.”

Gavin scooped up his keys and pulled up his notes on his phone, amused by the androids frustration.

“Please refrain from calling me that detective.”

“No, I don’t think I will.”

and with that, the newly appointed partners set off to a murder scene. Gavin drove while carefully raking the streets with his eyes. While Gavin wasn't one to wait for a persons parking meter to end to give them a ticket he was in fact always down to break up any fights he saw, especially when it came to shady little gaggles of idiots, more than once had he caught a perp with a warrant or two. Besides him, the RK900 was lost in thought, probably reconstructing the crime scene with the information he had passed over. The victim, a young lady by the name of Anna Farmington, had been found tortured in her apartment complex the night before, after her job reported her absent for over a week. She had no living family, no friends, and the only possible suspect they had was her ex-girlfriend, but she had left the country the day they found Anna's body, leaving Gavin with no strong leads. Gavin had spent the day the crime was reported taking the statements of her bosses. She had worked at a family owned coffee shop and had apparently been saving up to leave Detroit. The couple who ran the shop told Gavin she had become withdrawn after her break up, and fell into a depression. Anna taking a few days off of work wasn't unusual, but what had originally been three days off turned into a full week, and after repeatedly trying to reach her called the police. When Gavin asked why the couple hadn't searched for her sooner, they explained they saw Anna as a daughter, and didn't mind when she took another day or two off.

Richard pointed down the street next to him.

"Park there, the crime scene is around the block."

with a slight grumble, Gavin did as told, and out they both went. Gavin double checked for his phone and his gun, and the android gave the area a glance over.

"This place seems pretty devoid of modern technology."

Richard was in fact, correct. Some areas both out of lack of funds and also straight up stubbornness were unable to be updated so to speak, everything from the items inside the homes to the bleak brownstones screamed 1980’s, you wouldn't find anything past grainy cameras and gas stoves here. Gavin himself lived in an area like this one, although it had in the last decade began to get gentrified much to his annoyance. While spaces like these were great if you were a nostalgic loser like himself, they also had the tendency to have harder to solve crimes due to the lack of solid surveillance.

Regardless, no one wakes up and chooses to live somewhere to be the victim of a crime, that would be stupid.
The pair walked up to the apartment Anna had been living in, which was the ground floor. Forensics had already removed the body, but from the pictures there wasn’t much to go off of. She had been badly bruised along her body, and found in a tank top and shorts which helped expose black and purple marks all over. They all seemed to be from a blunt object, but none that can be found in the house. She also sported an arrangement of cuts, primarily along her thighs and stomach, with what seemed to be a small, thin blade. Aside from that, there was no severe injury on her body that could’ve killed her, so the wait was on forensics to confirm if there had been any poison or drug in her system. Nines had been walking around the apartment and eventually returned to where Gavin was going through her mail, trying to see if she had contact with anyone other than her ex and her bosses, but could only find bills and miscellaneous mail about local sales and restaurant menus.

“It appears she had been in bed when the perp came in. There’s two empty tea mugs which might be an indication that the person was someone she allowed in willingly. She has a memory foam mattress so I can see she slept more often than not on the left side of the bed, but there’s a tear and dip in the right, as if someone had torn the mattress.”

Gavin mulled over the words. “You suggesting she had an acquaintance or lover we don’t know about?” Richard took the mail out of his hands, skimming it over.

“Maybe, there’s not many leads with this case, and no security cameras or witnesses to help narrow this down. I’ve forwarded my notes from today to you, if you need to go over them.”

Gavin nodded as he saw the notification come in, giving the apartment a glance. In the notes, Richard had gone through the bedroom and bathroom, the living room having already been previously searched through. Gavin had hoped to at least find the blade which made the cut in the bathroom, a likely place for a razor to be placed and grabbed.

Gavin turned to give the kitchen a glance. The kitchen for the most part had been left neglected, as the knives on display were all large and would produce thicker cuts than the one on the body. There wasn’t anything to indicate her or her murderer had been in their either, nothing on the stove or sink. While the sink being empty was logical, from the mugs in her room he would have expected at least a pot of water to have remained on the stove. He walked curiously into the kitchen, noticing there was a picture frame of Anna and her bosses on the wall. He recalled how the old woman had mentioned she saw Anna as a daughter, and if the younger woman had placed pictures of them on the wall it definitely confirmed their relationship.

He noticed that in the picture Anna and the old man were making bread, while the old woman was the one taking the selfie.
He stared at it intensely and took a picture of it. Suddenly he felt, more than saw, the RK900 approach him from behind.

“What are you doing detective?”

“Considering become a photographer,” he deadpanned.

“While I don’t think you’d be a bad photographer, it might be a bit late in the game for such a major change.”

Gavin sneered, twisting on his heel to open cabinets. In the bedroom, the tea bags were seemingly from a private label, there being no brand on the tag. He was looking to see if he could find a box of the same bags in her kitchen.
After a few uncomfortable seconds in silence, he relented.

“The tea, it doesn’t add up. There’s no kettle or pot to indicate she prepared tea in the first place, and I’m looking for the tea bags she used.”

Richard’s gaze followed him as he continued to open cabinets and drawers.

“Shall I go take a sample of the tea?”

He nodded. “Yeah, see if you can find anything weird with it. If it’s one of the last things she was drinking then it might’ve been tampered with.”

Without any other words, the other detective left. With him gone, Gavin felt his shoulders finally drop, uncomfortable under the others intense eyes. While Gavin himself wasn’t the type of person to smile a lot, the other looked down right murderous, his gaze making him feel like a prey animal.

He finally found some boxes, and was disappointed to find they were all branded teas, things like oolong, earl grey, sleepy time mixes and more. Opening the boxes all the tea had the names on the tags. Gavin finally decided to rummage through the garbage, and found nothing.

“You look like a raccoon, detective.” Gavin jumped, giving the Android an annoyed glance.
“I’m sorry not all of us are sculpted with perfect muscles and no fat”

The Android gave him a funny look. “You think my muscles are perfect?”
“I think you should shut up, we both know my statement was generalized. Androids don’t have fat, they can’t amass more weight unless they mod themselves or something.”

A swirl of yellow, and a pause.

“So what did you find?”
“The tea was herbal tea, it seemed homemade. Elderberry tea, and honey”

He frowned.

“That doesn’t seem very murderous or suspicious.”
“Indeed, while elderberry can be poisonous, the tea contents were solely the berries- which are safe for consumption.”

Gavin waved him off.
“I know that I’ve gone foraging,” he ignored the surprised flash in the others eyes at that information.
“But if that’s the case then we’re kind of empty handed here.”

The RK900 nodded.

“I think we should investigate her work place and bosses once more, it’s just very odd a young woman with intentions to move had no contact with anyone, and left no paper trails.”

Gavin shrugged.

“Sure, but that’ll have to wait for tomorrow, we need to file what we got today and get the permit to investigate the location from Fowler,”

He began to head to the front door when something in that damn family picture finally clicked in his head. To the right of the old man placed on the table, the handle covered in flour, was a dainty bread lame.

“Actually, we might need access to her devices, as soon as possible too.”

Chapter Text

Richard’s LED swirled rapidly while Gavin drove them to the bakery, accessing whatever available information they had at the moment from her electronics. He was combing through emails, photos, apps; anything that seemed suspicious. Quite frankly, it all seemed rather normal. Social media apps, pictures of food and of the sky, an endless stream of useless screenshots. If he didn’t know any better, he would assume he was bringing up information on a recluse rather than a dead person. It wasn’t until he began sorting through her notes app that he found anything worth pointing out.

“She’s got a note that’s just a string of letters and numbers, probably a password to something but it doesn’t say what. It doesn’t line up with any of her other saved passwords though.”

Richard watched as the other tapped the steering wheel in frustration, eyes focused on the road but lost in thought. He didn’t say anything, and an awkward silence blanketed the two of them, Richard watching Gavin, and Gavin watching anything but the Android as he came to park across the bakery. They made their way inside, the bell jingling making the older woman turn to them with an alert gaze before relaxing.

“Hello officers, what could I do for you? Some donuts?”

Gavin let out a chuckle as he approached the counter, and gave a nod.

“That would be nice, yeah but we actually came because we have some questions. You’re not in any trouble there’s just some loose ends regarding Anna’s personal life and you’re one of the closest people to her”

The woman’s face darkened a bit, but she plucked out a few donuts from the display case and brought the two over to a little table. The detectives sat down as she bumbled back with a thirium pack and a coffee. Richard graciously took the pack, and wrinkled his nose as he watched Gavin pour four packs of sugar into his coffee. The woman sat across from them, tapping her acrylic nails on the table creating a frantic tapping that echoed the room.

“It makes me sad to hear I’m one of the closest people to Anna, or was. I was always encouraging her to go out, to reconnect with people her age. She always preferred to hang out at the shop though.”

Her eyes were a little glazed no doubt from trying to hold back tears.

“What did she do here besides work? I’m assuming you had an intimate relationship given she had pictures of you and your husband in her apartment.”

“We had a family bond, so I suppose you would call it an intimate one. She’d come to help bake and test out recipes when her job was initially supposed to be strictly at the counter.”

She pointed to the counter nestled between two display cases. Anna being gone explained why she was the one at the counter for the time being, too soon to replace the young woman.

“She was such a sweet girl, it was hard to turn her away when she seemed so keen to stay. I can offer you the security recordings of the shop if needed, I really want to stress that our environment was never a harmful one.”

Gavin gave her a reassuring smile, ignoring the way the androids gaze momentarily zeroed in on his face.

“That would be a big help. We’re not accusing you of anything. In fact, I’m happy she had you two, because she wasn’t completely alone in life.”

That sentence did draw out the water works in the woman, and Richard made sure to give her a quick scan to make sure she was alright. A glance at the clock reminded him that they should probably wrap things up, and he got up.

“Would you mind letting us access her locker space if she had any?”

Gavin shot him a dirty look, his eyes screaming ‘are you seriously that emotionally incompetent’

He pretended he didn’t see anything as she wiped away her tears with a corner of her apron.

“Of course, it’s in the staff room. Her name is on the locker door, although I don’t know if you’ll be able to access it because it has a lock on it.”

She stood and went up to the counter when someone came into the store, leaving Gavin to catch up to the Android who had already gone into the staff room.

“Hey Tin man, next time don’t just change the subject like that, it’ll cost you heartfelt confessions.”

“I don’t need heartfelt confessions, I can solve cases efficiently without them.”

Richard didn’t need to turn around to know the other was rolling his eyes at him. They both stood in front of a metal locker with the word “Anna” spelled out on it in hand cut little foam pieces. Richard pulled up the weird note app code he had found and it wasn’t long before the lock let out a little click and fell into his palm.

The open locker didn’t have many jaw dropping items. A sweater, two books, a laptop, and a little pouch. Gavin reached in and took it out, his face breaking into a smirk upon opening it.

“Bingo, I felt things were a little too clean.”

An Eden club VIP card, a red lipstick, and a sleek black phone were inside the bag. Richard picked up the phone, interfacing with the device as well as the laptop, and Gavin turned the card over in his hands. He pocketed the card and carefully relocked the locker after Richard finished scanning the devices. They’d come back to properly bag evidence, but the Eden card led to more questions than answers. Who was Anna?

The door slammed open making them both jump, but it was just the husband. He looked a little frantic, his gaze flitting over them.

“I hope you guys didn’t have much trouble opening it, although she didn’t have much in there.”

“It’s all good, we’ll come back later to try again. We’re sorry for your loss, sir.”

With that, Richard tugged a disgruntled Gavin out of the bakery and into their patrol car.

“What the hell was that fuckface??”

Richard fixed the detective with a pointed look.

“He was on edge about us opening the locker, the less he knows that we know, the better.”

Gavin rolled his eyes and Richard wondered if they ever got strained from how often he did that.

“I have eyes. Rushing out doesn’t make us seem any less suspicious though.”

He started up the car and they made their way back to the precinct. Upon arrival into the precinct Richard was promptly swarmed by Connor, who made no effort to hide his wariness as he came close. Their LEDs were whirring away, and he had no doubt they were gossiping. Skirting around the two, Gavin hightailed it to Fowler's office to give him a rundown of what they had found. Richard came into the room at the tail end of his recap, standing behind him like a bodyguard. Fowler skimmed over the notes the two had garnered and raised an expectant eyebrow at them.

“Are you planning to just waltz into Eden and get information”

Gavin let out a little sigh.

“I mean there are only two options here. One being just that, we go in there on the clock and get what answers we can,”

He looked pointedly at his toes.

“Or you give us permission to go in there undercover, and maybe we can catch them with their guard down.”

Stripclubs, bars, and other places that can border on seedy often required a good amount of foresight before infiltration. You couldn’t always trust the goodness in people's hearts to be honest, and he always found it better to try to worm your way into places to have the upper hand. However, other officers could argue that it was a waste of time and resources- especially for smaller cases like this one.

Fowler tapped his pen on the table for a few seconds, before his gaze moved over Gavin and onto Richard.

“What do you think RK900?”

Was Fowler really about to leave the decision up to a new cop?

Gavin felt his eye twitch, and his hand gripped the handle of the seat with the same strength one would enact on an empty soda can. The handle did not bend, and Gavin made an active effort to stifle his annoyance. He knew the androids were state of the art, that their reasoning was on equal footing if not superior to that of a seasoned cop, but it didn’t remove the sting of feeling inadequate.

Richard tilted his head to the side, no doubt running some kind of reconstruction of either option in his head before nodding.

“I think we should try Detective Reed's suggestion first, and if that doesn’t go anywhere we can press on as DPD officers.”

Fowler crossed his arms.

“Alright. You have my authorization, try to get this wrapped up quickly, we have enough cold cases as is.”

Gavin stiffly nodded, and got up, making his way back to his pen. He began making a list of things he would need to get before slinking into the nightclub, including a fake identity, some questionable clothes, and some mace. Gavin’s mind was going 100 miles an hour as he jotted away.

Anna might have been an unofficial dancer or sex worker at Eden as there were no tax records of her having a job there.. That, or she went there to take instead of give. If that was the case, maybe someone had dirt on her. Gavin’s chair was swiveled as he began a new bullet point, ink blooming across his table and staining his forearm as it dragged on it.

“HEY what the fuck man.”

Hank leaned over him, gripping the back of his seat.

“We need to talk Reed. Now.”

He seriously couldn't catch a break could he?

Chapter Text

To give Hank credit, he seemed to look a lot better with Connor in his life. He had lost some of his beer belly, and his beard was kept a lot more neatly. The man had quit drinking, and frequently seemed to be in a better mood. Not that Gavin would ever say any of this out loud. At some point in time he and Hank had had a good relationship, one might have even said they were close. It all crumbled when his son passed away, and Gavin became a nuisance to Hank. He had tried what Connor did, to drag him out of his alcoholic misery, but it only ended in bad blood between the two, and Gavin was not the kind of person to beat dead horses around.

Gavin followed Hank into one of the empty offices on the floor, making sure the door was shut behind him, before taking a seat with a dramatic flourish.

“So, what was so important that you had to bring me to a secondary location,”

He said with a raised eyebrow.

Hank did not seem to be amused, and remained standing. In another life, this kind of 'important conversation' would’ve happened at Hank's place, with Sumo fighting for his attention next to him. He pushed those memories away, trying to focus.

“I’m giving you a heads up and a warning to leave Richard alone”

Gavin scoffed.

“What? You dragged me out of my pen to give me a fucking shovel talk?”

Hank dragged a hand down his face and Gavin could hear him muttering to himself to calm down. He wondered if the old man had started therapy, or if he was simply that good at driving other people up a wall.

“Listen Reed. Richard is a bigger, faster, stronger, and ultimately smarter, version of Connor. The little shit you pulled on Con when he first got here?”

He gave Gavin a pointed look, as they both knew the several instances he was talking about.

“It’ll get you hurt. So to keep things clear, I’m giving you a fair enough warning to watch yourself.”

Gavin looked up at the ceiling after Hank finished his little spiel. The white paint was chipping over the years, and the air conditioning vents looked busted to hell. He wondered how many people had sat in this office before him- if there was anyone who had felt like he did now.

“So?”

Hank pressed, and Gavin’s eyes snapped back to him. He let out a long exhale and nodded.

“Alright. Thanks for the advice, old man.”

For a few seconds, no one spoke. Finally, Hank seemed to reach some kind of internal resolution because he straightened up, and began walking towards the doorway.

“I hope you understood, Reed.”

With that said, Hank left as quickly as he had come for him, and Gavin sat alone in the little office room.
The precinct had moved on past the need for offices, and spaces like these were generally devoid of people for the most part. He swiveled in his chair, not ready to go out and face the world just yet.
As he twirled in the chair, he thought about his little conversation with Hank. He felt that the only reason he had gotten a ‘warning,’ of sorts was because Hank didn’t want to see his precious Connor upset. If he had gotten attached to him, it wasn’t hard to assume he would get attached to Richard- if he wasn’t already. How long had it been since Richard deviated? How long has he known the other two for?
He was brought out of his endless train of thought from a soft knock coming from the doorway, and his gaze moved up to meet calculating blue eyes.

“Detective. You’ve been in here for a bit.”

“I needed some time to think,”

Richard raised an eyebrow at him, and his LED flickered for a split second.

“Well, don’t think too hard, you might hurt yourself.”

Gavin snorted, and rolled his eyes.

“I see you’ve begun exploring fifth grade humor. Keep it up and I’ll pass every document to you with a Captcha test.”

Richard furrowed his nose.

“I don’t think you know how to do that.”

“Oh I don’t, but I know someone who does.”

Gavin sent him a shark-like grin. Technically, what he said was one big lie. He did in fact know how to apply a captcha test to everything- he had helped Elijah with his first prototypes and could probably code his way around to save his own ass. However, he kept those skills to himself, lest the people around him begin to ask questions he didn’t have answers to. He finally brought his spinning to a stop and stood up.

“Alright well, I have a list of things I need to get for our undercover work, and a couple of things to cover with you, So you can either come shopping with me or wait around here until I return.”
Richard looked at the list in Gavin's hand and scanned it.

“We’ll go shopping- I ordered some of the things here for pickup at the closest mall.”

His jaw dropped.

“What in the Jeff Bezos did you just do? You know what, never mind, let's just get to my car.”

Richard looked perplexed at that comment as they made their way back to his car.

“I just thought it would be more efficient that way, I apologize if that is not what you wanted.”

He said stiffly.

“It’s… okay? It just took me off guard,”

Gavin waved him off as he pulled out of his spot.

“I enjoy the shopping experience, but I know it is not the quickest. How about we split up at the mall? You go pick up what you ordered and I’ll get what you didn’t scan. It’s just clothes and shoes but I want to make sure it fits me,”

“That works just fine with me, Detective.”

“Alright that's the plan then,”

Gavin responded. He reached up to turn up the music a bit to drown out the awkward silence as they made their way to the mall. It was probably a bit stupid of him to admit he enjoyed shopping in hindsight, but it was too late to take that back by now. Would this be Richard’s first time at the mall? He stored that question away for later small talk, so that they’d at least have something to fill the air. When they arrived, Richard gave a curt goodbye before wandering off into the mall, no doubt following whatever mental mission map he had going on. Gavin moved a lot more leisurely, taking out some of his reusable bags from the trunk and going on to find where in the hell the Mall’s Victoria Secret was. After some wandering he found it, and slinked in, trying to keep attention away from himself. It didn’t work very well, as a short man with a shock of curly blonde hair came up to him, the employee lanyard on his chest swinging as he walked.

“Hello! Would you like to be measured?”

Gavin stared at the man holding up a roll of measuring tape with a flabbergasted expression before letting out a slight grin.

“No I think I know my cup size, thank you,”

The worker looked happy that Gavin had gone along with his joke and gave him a bright smile.

“Well, can I help you with anything? Shopping for yourself or for a special someone?”

He hummed, it would probably be faster to get things with a workers opinion.

“There’s no special someone here- but I’m shopping for myself. Would you guys happen to have anything comfortable to.. dance in?”

The worker gave him a knowing look and nodded, waving at him to follow as he made his way further into the black and pink clad store. With a slight flourish, the worker gestured to a rack of teddys and sheer sets. Gavin nodded appreciatively, this would do. The worker let him know he’d be around if he needed any help, and let Gavin to pick out some things.

He ran his hands across different fabrics, scrunching his nose at the more scratchy ones. He settled on a black mesh top, embedded with sparkles. With it, some velvet booty shorts. He held them up to his body in the mirror with a snort. He moved the articles of clothing to one arm, and plucked out a rhinestone crop top, and some long flowing pants, with slits that ran up to his thighs. He turned to the changing rooms, and spent much longer than he’d like to admit looking at himself in the mirror. A text from Richard made him hurry up and get dressed in his normal clothes, as he went out to pay, but not before snagging some sultry women’s perfume to sell the bit.

Upon finishing his lingerie related shopping he tried the shoe store, and that’s how Richard found the elusive Gavin Reed trying on some blood red pumps.

Gavin looked like a startled cat, as he tugged at the straps tied around his pale ankles.

“Not a word, Richard.”

He said with a hiss, and Richard resisted the urge to take a picture to hold over his head later.
Gavin tried on a different pair, and settled on some low platforms that seemed more comfortable to walk in. Bagging his purchase, the two made their way back to his car.
Starting up his car, he turned slightly to the Android.

“So, should I meet you at the club or how are doing this?”

The Android paused for a second.

“Well, do you want to show up to the club alone?”

Gavin was aware that showing up to a club alone, with the intention of becoming a dancer or part of the workers within itself, could become dangerous. He also knew that one of the only ways people would let their guard around him as a new person would be within the assumption that he was vulnerable.

“I think it’ll draw less attention to myself that way. You can stay close once I’m in there, either as someone who wants to hire me or just wants to flirt.”

“I don’t know how to flirt.”

The Android said dryly.

“We’ll pretend, relax. It’s only to justify you approaching me in the club. Also, you might want to lose the cyber life jacket- maybe bother some clubbing clothes from Connor or something, just so you fit in better.”

The android gestured to a bag Gavin hasn’t realized yet.

“I did some shopping for myself actually.”

he acknowledged the contents of the bag which looked to be some extra turtlenecks and a leather jacket as he pulled into the precincts parking lot to drop off the other.

“Minimalist, very nice,”

He said with a slightly amused tone. Richard didn’t react, he simply nodded, gathered his belongings, and left the car.
Gavin sighed as he watched the lithe Android make his way through the double doors. He didn’t know how he was going to put up with a full year of this.

When Gavin got home he beelined into the shower, and then, his bed. Fern hopped onto his back, kneading between his shoulder blades as if sensing his exhaustion. He let out a load groan of annoyance when, for what seemed to be the fifth time that week, his neighbors fire alarm went off.
Against his best judgement, and his cats indignation, he got up to angrily knock on his neighbors door.

Chapter Text

The door swung open to reveal a relatively amusing scene if Gavin was in any better of a mood. A disheveled man, maybe in his early 30’s, stood in front of him. He had a heavily stained apron on, and his clothes were doused in batter. Behind him, from what Gavin could see, was a messy kitchen, a small trail of flour laden paw prints leading further into the space, and black smoke pouring out of the oven.

“May I help you?”

The man tried, leaning against the door frame to try to hide the disaster behind him as the alarm continued to blare away.

“Yes, you can. I’m here to ask you to take the batteries out of your fire alarm before I do it myself.”

Gavin said with an unamused smile. While he stayed out of the way of other residents, there was only so much noise he could put up with.

The man to his credit, looked a bit embarrassed. His cheeks flushed with the faintest teal, which Gavin was a bit surprised by. Why in the world was an Android cooking for?

“I would but that wouldn’t be very safe would it? What if there’s a fire”

He let out a bit of a snort.

“I think you could smell something is wrong before any old fire alarm lets you know something is wrong”

The more Gavin stared at the man, the more he noticed he had been modified, if the two toned eyes glaring at him were any indication. He wondered if it was self-inflicted or if it had happened before the revolution. He pushed those questions away as he received a slightly snippier response this time around.

“I don’t think you have any right to tell me what to do”

“I don’t,” he agreed, shifting his weight a bit. “But I do have a right to be at peace in my own apartment, and your endless racket is interrupting that. I can look past the constant scent of burning food, but the ringing noise is too much man”

The Android stood tersely, about to respond when something from inside the kitchen seemed to break. His eyes widened and he rushed inside, leaving the door open.

“Fuck fuck, god DAMN it spork.”

Gavin, against his better judgment, took a few tentative steps into the apartment to see the Android in front of a broken bowl, and a very angry kitten.

“Everything okay?”

Two toned eyes snapped up at him in clear annoyance.

“Everything’s peachy, jus that this lil guy is the evil incarnate of ratatouille”

“The rat is actually named Remy,”

Gavin responded with a snort as he leaned over to see the kitten. He couldn’t be more than six months old. He was ginger, with blue eyes filled with mischief. He reached down to pet the spiffy flour covered animal, before turning to find the still blaring fire alarm in the kitchen, and finally popping out the batteries. He was sure he heard an exhale of relief from the other apartments in the vicinity (or maybe that was just his overactive imagination.)

In a moment of out of character kindness, maybe spurred by the solidarity of knowing how frustrating it is to learn to cook- and to own a cat that doesn’t listen, Gavin leaned down to help pick up pieces of the broken bowl.

“Listen dude, I didn’t want to be an asshole to you. How about I come teach you some simple recipes to avoid your continuous abuse of the oven?”

He saw the man chew on his lip as he thought about it, his initially annoyed gaze shifting into something more confused.

“What would you get out of that?”

“The ability to sleep in peace?”

While the man seemed to be lacking an LED, Gavin could practically envision the blue to yellow transition from his expression.

“Fine. Can you come by tomorrow evening then?”

Gavin pretended to think about it, but the truth was that after work he had no plans in the foreseeable future. He finally nodded, and tossed the final pieces of glass into the trash bin. He made to leave the apartment, his neighbor on his heels to see him off.

“Before you go, what’s your name?”

“Gavin Reed, it’s a pleasure,”

He drawled as he went to unlock his own door.

“Pleasures all mine, I’m Conan.”

Conan, huh?

Gavin didn’t respond, but flashed him a slight smile as he finally closed the door to his own apartment. He took a few steps before tossing himself onto his sofa with a growl. What in the world was he doing?

Was he so desperate for some kind of interaction with another person, that he was now socializing with his god damn neighbor? And an Android no less?

He busied himself with hitting himself in the face with a throw pillow until the sound of his phone ringing finally caught his attention.

Fuck, he only had an hour before he had to be at the club and he wasn’t even ready. He stumbled up off the couch and made his way back to his room, plucking out his newly bought clothes and ripping the tags off, and putting them on as fast as possible. He went with the mesh top, using some black tape to make crosses over his nipples, and the slitted pants. He tossed on the platforms with a bit of a grumble, and walked into the bathroom. He grabbed some makeup Tina had left behind from whatever work party they’d gone to together, hastily covering up his scar. Some crappy eyeliner tutorial later and he was making a hasty return to his car.

The drive itself was uneventful, and he got into the club with no problem. Once inside he carefully looked around to find Richard. It wasn’t too hard to do so, the tall Android stuck out between his looks and stony personality. Many people had their eyes flitting over him, and Gavin wondered if it was as uncomfortable to experience as it was to watch.
He shot him a text that he had arrived and would be trying to find the hiring manager. With that, he made his way to the closest bouncer to ask around. It wasn’t long before Gavin was in some back room, red lights making the place seem even seedier than usual as he waited to meet the manager. His phone buzzed with a single okay from the other man.

An eternity later a woman walked in. She wore a pink tracksuit, and had visibly dyed blonde hair if the outgrown roots were anything to go by. She smelled strongly of cigarettes, and her fingers were adorned by several thick rings. She eyed him up and down with an interesting gaze, as if putting a price on him.

“Aren’t you a lil too old to be trying for this kinda work?”

She took a seat across from him, her entire posture lax. Behind her a body guard took a stand, his eyes obscured by large sunglasses. Typical.

“No one’s too old to need money,”

He responded smoothly, keeping his expression innocent. Her sleazy gaze didn’t seem to shift from his chest, and Gavin fought the urge to go home and scrub his skin until it was raw.

“It’ll only be a few shifts- the hospital is in my ass about some debts. I need all the money I can get before the end of the month.”

He pressed, fluttering his eyes a bit.
She stared at him in mild amusement, seemingly thinking things over. After a beat of silence she finally spoke,
“…I like your confidence.”

She checked her phone, nodding to herself.

“We have a vacancy for the night. If you run a good shift, I’ll see if I can have you fill in a few more nights. I don’t promise anything,”

She leaned forward with a shark like grin

“but I can’t lie, I want to see what you’re capable of”

She purred. Gavin swallowed and nodded with a fake smile, trying for a chuckle. He prayed it didn’t look like a grimace. She pointed at her bodyguard,

“John here will take you backstage, and give you one of the lockers. You might meet some of the girls if they aren’t already on the dance floor. Your dance space is towards the back, left side of the bar. It should be the only empty one for the night- now shoo.”

She waved her bodyguard off, and Gavin quickly got up to follow him, happy to finally be out of that stifling room. John was quiet the entire time until they reached the backstage area, nodding to another guard keeping watch of the dancers area.

“New meat,”

He said to the other guard before walking him inside. He was led to a wall of lockers, many being named and personalized with stickers and signs. Pictures of different dancers and lipstick kisses decorated the wall, and he smiled slightly. His smile became rigid when his eyes landed on a very familiar smiling face.
He tore his eyes off as he followed John’s explanation of where everything was, and he pointed at an empty locker along the wall. When he was done, he left, probably to return to the manager. Now left alone in the back room, he quickly stuffed his jacket and general belongings into the assigned locker. He was so thankful he had grabbed his gym bag before he left his place, his deodorant and newly bought slutty women’s perfume in one of the pockets. He sprayed a bit on, wrinkling his nose at the strong scent of roses and plum. As he was putting his things away he quietly scanned over the names on the decorated locker wall, and finally found one with familiar foam letters.

The name wasn’t Anna though. Instead, it simply read “Elmira”. He wondered if she went under an Alias, or if she had shared the foam letters with someone else. Hell, maybe Elmira gave them to Anna? He would need to ask around if he wanted answers. One thing was for sure though, she HAD been here, if the couple of photos of her with other dancers on the walls were anything to go by. He exited the backstage area and onto the floor, the shining lights reflecting off of the glitter in the mesh top. He looked around until he found the area to the left of the bar. There weren’t many people in the bar yet, only a few people mulling around, nursing some beers.

Somehow, he knew that in the room there was a set of steely blue eyes tracking his every move. Feeling a bit more confident in knowing that, he got onto the dancing platform, beginning some basic stretches. As he was stretching he was glancing around the room, trying to catch glimpses of the other dancers. Some girls had their own speakers and routines going on, and some were just doing some simple dances to the bar's ambient music in contrast, chatting with some of the people watching.

“You’re new!”

Gavin jumped slightly, turning his gaze to the owner of the voice. A tall brunette with wide brown eyes was leaning over the dance platform. Her face was rosy, and she looked to be another dancer fresh off her own stage.

“Yeah I am- you are..?”

Gavin asked curiously, stretching a hand out. The girl excitedly shook it, her eyes crinkling as she smiled.

“I’m Emma, it’s always nice to get new faces. We try to keep a good environment around us dancers here, and we wanted to give you a warm welcome.”

Gavin spared a smile, and nodded.

“That’s super good to hear. I haven’t danced in a long time, always nerve wracking to be the new person, especially when you’re rusty,”

He responded as he stretched his arms over his head. He wondered if he could ask the bartender for some alcohol and a towel to wipe the bar down, his eyes wracking down the light fingerprints visible in the metal. She seemed to notice his trailing gaze and she looked at him amused.

“Guess you came under prepared huh? I’ll let you borrow some things, hold on,”

Before Gavin had a chance to respond the preppy girl had already rushed off, leaving him slightly surprised. Most people weren’t as kind. She returned shortly, toting a cute handbag, and pulling out some towels and a small spray bottle. She shook it a bit,

“Alcohol,”

she explained as she handed it over.

“We’re all clean but no one wants someone else’s sweat on them while they’re dancing.”

He gave his agreement as he took it and liberally sprayed the pole, noting the place was beginning to fill in a bit more as the night began to settle. By now he had spent almost two hours at Eden, and had yet to get much information. He wondered how Richard was fairing, if he had found anything. He regretted leaving his phone in his locker. Emma put the battle back into her bag and then pulled out a smaller one, uncapping it as she passed it up to him.

“I’ll assume you know how to use grip aid?”

Gavin nodded as he lightly sprayed some of the product onto his forearms and hands, making sure to not add too much.

“Lil goes a long way- I’m confident in my grip strength though,”

He admitted, as he handed back the bottle.

“So, is there anything I should know before my first shift?”

He asked inconspicuously.
She hummed a bit as she thought about the question, chewing her lip.

“Busiest hour is around midnight. Eden follows a no touch rule for dancers on stage but what goes on in private rooms for dances is up to their discretion”

She paused for a second.

“Knowing that though, the bouncers will toss out anyone being an ass so don’t be afraid to speak up,”

Her expression seems a little tight saying that, as if speaking from a place of experience. She finally nodded towards her station and waved her goodbyes at the club finally began filling up more rapidly. Already, a few people were milling around his section, curious about the newcomer.

With a deep inhale, Gavin put his hands on the pole and began to sway to the music. His eyes were closed, he already hated the prying feeling of having eyes on him. It had been a long time since Gavin was on a stage of any sort, and even after so much time there was a familiar rapid thrum in his chest as he moved. There was a time when Gavin was forced to come to seedy places like this in his youth to make ends meet. With the majority of retail places rejecting him due to his poor appearance and relatively rough personality, sometimes the only option he had left was to slap some kind of risqué outfit on and flirt with drunk assholes. He put a stop to it after one too many guys tried to follow him after his shifts, and the idea of potentially getting his brother in danger scared the crap out of him.

Yet almost a decade later, here was Gavin, once again about to bust it down. While he swayed his hips and rotated around the pole, he kept a wide view on the people around him. The ones who clearly used fake IDs in the corner, the ones too drunk already, the ones trying to catch the dancers attention. He wondered if he should've asked Tina to come with, to keep him company and his nerves down, in utter honesty. He then shook his head, as the thought of even potentially putting Tina in danger made his skin crawl. A bottle girl in a too tight one suit approached him, lifting up a shot to him on the stage with a grin.

“Everyone needs a lil kick on their first day!”

She said, and Gavin eyed it with mild distrust before downing it. The alcohol burned all the way down his throat in a familiar way, the heat settling into his anxious stomach.

“Thank you..”
he muttered as he handed back the glass.

“Don’t mention it!”
She said with a wink, before waltzing off.

With some liquid courage in his system he began properly dancing now. Nothing too crazy, he leaned more into sensual slow movements on the pole as some people began to come see him dance. Amongst them, now that there were more people, was the RK900. He couldn’t ignore the stark blue eyes raking down his form. Despite the androids blank expression, there was something off about his gaze, about how his LED seemed to stutter between blue and yellow in the darkness of the club.

As the night progressed, money began to litter the stage beneath him. Not as much as the other dancers, but certainly enough money to make up for a few hours of office work. After a particularly long dance he finally came down to his knees with a pant, calling out for a water break. The small crowd against him seemed to be disappointed but slowly split away to other dancers or to the bar. For a second Gavin thought Richard had left him too, until the tall Android returned with a glass of water from the bar.

His LED was spinning a rapid red, and his eyebrows were slightly pinched as he watched Gavin down the water with gusto.

“I didn’t know you knew how to dance”

Gavin eyed him warily, slowing down his drinking.

“It’s not something I willingly disclose”

“Did the Captain know?”

“What’s it to you?”

The two stared each other down. Gavin didn’t understand why the sudden curiosity at aspects of Gavin's life that didn’t interrupt his work. Nines on the other hand, didn’t understand how someone so married to his job could have so many cards under his sleeve- where did he have the time?

Gavin got closer to Richard, placing a feather light hand on his shoulder and leaning in, faking a laugh for anyone who could be watching.

“Did you find anything or are you just here during my break to antagonize me?”

Richard stifled a growl of annoyance, but reigned in the urge to sass the human and instead nodded.

“There’s a couple of suspicious people here,”

Gavin scoffed before Nines could keep speaking

“No shit-“

“Detective. I suggest you let me finish.”

The Android finally hissed, getting uncomfortably close to Gavin. For a split second Gavin’s fight or flight seemed to turn on, as that predatory blue gaze seemed to lock onto him with only a few inches in space separating them. They were so close that he could catch every slight flicker of his LED under the club lights.
He shoved the Android back by the shoulders in annoyance, crackling whatever moment just had happened. He hoped the darkness of the club helped hide the red flush breaking across his cheeks. He got back to the pole, his 15 minutes being up. Richard settled into one of the seats directly in front of him, a pissed off expression still on his face. He couldn’t wait for his newly allotted shift to finish.