#21. August 2039 is a Sonntag

[fandom-necromancer]

939. Naps are life, okay?

This was prompted by an awesome anon! Enjoy!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Reed900

[Sun, 21st August 2039 – 12:34:22] RK 900 #313 248 317 – 87, assigned name Nines, rose from stasis to commotion from Gavin [Handler], [Work-partner], [_Fni3n#_]. He was currently located in his bedroom Nines was not allowed to enter due to privacy of the human. There wasn’t any reason to, either. As much as it was a deviant, even human, term – a concept Nines neither understood nor had ever experienced – he didn’t like Sundays. He had to spend it here in Gavin’s flat, ever since the laws of the revolutions were legally binding and no android was to stay at their workplace beyond working hours. The laws didn’t care whether the android was deviant or not and so Nines ended up utterly useless standing in a corner of Gavin’s living room like a weird form of decoration.

Gavin came out of his room not much later, dishevelled and yawning. His hair was messy, and he was dressed in a sloppy, too big and washed out shirt and boxers. Both details rather [unfit] for a human in his position of authority. Also, very [~©u/e-]. He didn’t [freak out] anymore upon seeing him standing in the corner staring at him unblinking. In the beginning, he had shrieked, tried to correct his behaviour by making him lay down or sit on the sofa. But as soon as the order had been lifted by either time or the human telling him to stand up, he could be found standing in his corner again. Gavin had stopped trying to scold him for it or try to correct him and just adapted. From a shriek to a sharp inhale to jerking at seeing him, the human had finally accommodated to him, so that today he only glanced at him, grumbled a ‘Morning, toaster’ and left for the kitchen. ‘Good morning, Detective Reed’, Nines politely answered the greeting and went back to staring straight ahead as the man left his field of vision.

When he came back, Nines had already analysed the scent in the air and found his results correct: Gavin was holding a plate with bacon, eggs and toast and a mug full of fresh coffee. He sat down on his table for two and sighed. ‘Hey, toaster, come over here, sit with me.’ [New mission: Sit with Gavin.] Nines felt the order settle into his log and obeyed without a second thought. He met him at the table, pulled the second chair back and sat down. [Mission successful.] It brought little pleasure as this mission hadn’t been too difficult for his advanced processors, but he took what he could get.

Gavin ate in his silent company. Nines wasn’t the conversationalist, that much the man had learned pretty quickly. But still he always asked him to sit with him. Nines didn’t know why. As he was finished, he put away the dishes and announced: ‘I’m going back to sleep toaster. Do whatever you like.’ Nines watched him leave for the bedroom in wonder. The man had gotten exactly 10 hours, 28 minutes and 07 seconds of sleep. More than enough for a human male of his age. The coffee should have done the rest, but who was Nines to judge. He didn’t know how it was to be tired. Or awake in that matter. He simply… was.

Two hours later he re-emerged and watched a bit of TV. Nines was back in his corner silently watching him. Once he got up to cook lunch, came back to eat it on the couch and then put the dishes on the floor to lie down and watch some more. Soon he was about to fall asleep again, but that behaviour clashed with Nines programming. ‘Can I ask a personal question?’ Gavin opened his eyes sleepily and focussed him with some difficulty. ‘Hmm?’ ‘Can I ask you a-‘ ‘Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time. What is it?’ Nines wiped away the previous sentence and got to the point: ‘You got enough sleep during the night. Yet you continue to fall asleep. Are you perhaps ill? One of my main directives is to keep my partner safe. That includes making sure any sickness is being cured. Intense sleeping is a symptom of-‘ ‘Okay, okay, okay! Please. Stop. I’m fine. Just… Naps are life, okay?’ Nines looked at him, head cocked to the side in a gesture to elaborate. ‘You spend all the time in stasis too, don’t look as if I just had confronted you with the concept of happiness you phcking toaster.’

[Th@\ hvr/t] ‘I am staying in stasis because of lack of purpose. At this moment only my base programming is active. That includes my loyalty and protection routines as well as everything regarding the imitation of human behaviour. I am not needed beyond that.’ Gavin struck him with a look that was a mix of pity and sadness, before hardening again. ‘Well, same here. I don’t have to work, so I don’t have a “purpose” as you put it, too. As I don’t have any interest in my few hobbies at the moment, relaxing is the best thing to do. ‘You would rather do nothing than something, although you have a choice?’, Nines asked. As before, it was a very deviant term to say he didn’t like Sundays, but he obviously had an aversion to them as they meant inactivity. And to put it into better words, he would even say, he [h@te#] having nothing to do. ‘Yeah…’ Gavin nodded. ‘At the moment at least. No one’s available to go drinking with or-‘ He stopped himself looking up at the machine, finally fully awake. ‘Wait, you said “although I had a choice”. That sounds very much to me like you don’t have one but would rather.’ ‘I don’t want anything’, Nines stated as this was in line with his programming. ‘Yeah, gotta call bullshit on that’, Gavin chuckled and turned to him fully. ‘Come on, you can tell me.’

‘I find it rather…’ It was difficult to put into words as a machine wasn’t supposed to feel anything. ‘It is unpleasant to be without a task. I’m not built to be idle when my advantages could be used to aid humans.’ The human seemed to think for a while. ‘You are right’, Gavin then said, grinning mischievously. ‘Then come here, I have a task for you.’ He sat up and patted next to him, a sign to sit down. Nines followed the order and waited, only for the human to lay back down, head on his thigh. Nothing else happened though, so the android was left in confusion. ‘I don’t understand, Detective, how am I aiding you like this?’ ‘Hmmm… Needed a pillow.’

The already sleepy tone made Nines mentally recoil impressed and in awe. The human never failed to amaze him. Gavin had fallen asleep on him and the RK900 simply stared down on his body, his silent observation suddenly enough to not be [bored] anymore. He had the sudden irrational urge to brush through the sleeping man’s hair and could convince his programming it was to re-establish a professional look fit for a police detective and access his bodily status just to make sure Gavin was indeed healthy as he had claimed. It was definitely not because he looked [@dor_b/3] and his hair was so [$0f\] Nines could have petted it forever.