#also casually putting in Gavin's second outfit because it's cute as heck

[fandom-necromancer]

704. Part 2

This was prompted by an amazing anon! I hope you enjoy!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Reed900 (background Allen60)

[part1]

Connor’s hurried steps as he ran towards his chair as if it promised safety from what he just saw made Hank lift a brow. But the android didn’t elaborate, and he just shrugged and got back to work. Until the archive door opened and Connor visibly flinched. Hank watched the two people coming out of it and frowned even harder. ‘Hey, Reed, what where you two doing in the archives?’, he called through the bullpen, resulting in Nines and Gavin coming over. ‘Trust me, you don’t want to know’, Connor whispered, the evidence clear in his advanced vision, even though Nines had done a good job cleaning them both to the human eye. ‘Err… I had to explain our filing system to Nines’, Gavin bullshitted, surprisingly not growing red. ‘What the hell do you have to explain Nines?’, Hank asked, if not catching the obvious lie then at least the missing logic. ‘I have found some inconsistency in the order of the casefiles stored there, likely due to negligence when putting files back after use. Gavin had to agree I was right, although he could convince me it wasn’t of any importance.’ ‘Bullshit!’, Connor interrupted, surprised how easily his brother could lie. ‘You two were making out down there and holy shit, warn someone before they walk in on you, I really didn’t want to see, hear or know any of it.’

That had Hank staring at them both with wide eyes. ‘Nines? You and… Reed?’ The RK900’s cheeks were tinged blue, but his voice was level as ever: ‘Yes.’ ‘Shit…’ ‘Hank, you once told me you would support my decision as long as it was my decision and no one forced me to choose.’ ‘Yeah, I know, I know, but… Reed?’ ‘Hey!’, The Detective revolted, but was shushed by Connor. Hank rubbed his forehead and groaned. ‘Dinner next week will be a disaster…’

-

‘Phck Connor!’, Gavin cursed. ‘Phck that tin-can, he is boring, a damn people-pleaser and know-it-all!’ ‘Also someone who can and will knock you out cold again’, Nines commented, watching the street as he drove Gavin’s car. ‘I know’, the man whined. ‘That’s why I got to get a few things out of my system now, not when the idiot can hear me.’ ‘Come on, it won’t be that bad.’ ‘Oh really? Do you know me? Who will be there?’ ‘Hank,-‘ ‘Hates me ever since he began drinking and I didn’t even try to help. Sure, my mistake there, but I am an asshole, okay? Shouldn’t take it that personally.’ ‘Connor’, Nines continued. ‘Do I even need to comment?’ ‘Joseph.’ ‘Who is-‘ ‘Captain Allen.’ ‘So his first name isn’t Captain? Honestly don’t know the man, but he sure as hell heard the rumours about me.’ ‘Sixty.’ ‘Is there anyone Sixty doesn’t hate?’ ‘Sumo.’ ‘I don’t like dogs, but when he doesn’t slobber all over me I can get on good terms with him.’ ‘And myself.’ ‘Finally the one good thing about this.’

Nines chuckled and shortly looked over to his human. ‘Relax, Gavin. You look good. And I don’t care what they think of you, it won’t ever change how I think about you.’ ‘Thanks. Still this will be awkward as hell.’ ‘Maybe’, Nines nodded. ‘But it will only be a few hours.’ ‘I hope so.’

They pulled into Hank’s driveway and stopped next to Allen’s bike. Before Gavin could exit the car, Nines stopped him by holding a small package out to him. ‘Dog treats?’ ‘Gav, the key to Connor is through Sumo’, Nines explained. ‘If the dog likes you, Connor likes you a bit already.’ ‘Oh, nice. Any cheats with Hank and the rest?’ ‘Unfortunately no’, Nines shrugged. ‘Just try to be nice, Gavin, it will make a lot of things easier.’ Gavin sighed heartily as he exited the car and Nines smiled in empathy. ‘Come here’, he muttered, pulling the human in for a kiss. ‘It will be alright.’

It really wasn’t.

They rang the bell and Immediately Sumo barked inside. Then the door opened to Hank holding the massive animal at the collar. ‘Nines! Nice to see you! And… Gavin. Please come in.’ They followed, taking off their shoes once inside and Nines immediately crouched down to ruffle Sumo’s pelt with a wide grin. ‘Come on, Gavin, you don’t have to worry.’ The Detective did worry a bit, but he held out his hand for the dog to sniff, much like he would do with a cat. Of course, Sumo began licking it instead and Gavin quickly went to petting the dog mainly to get rid of the sticky wetness. Thinking quickly, he opened the package and held out a treat for him to evade the tongue(?) again. Then Nines led him further inside and Gavin realised he had never been to his superior’s home before. Not that it changed anything, it was surprisingly exactly how he had imagined it.

‘Hey, Nines! Long time no see.’ That was Allen. ‘And Gavin, hi!’ At least he sounded like he really meant it. Sixty didn’t say anything but stared at Nines intensely. ‘You should use words, Sixty, it is impolite to have a second conversation over our channel’, the RK900 answered. ‘Alright, didn’t think you will like it though. Gavin, I didn’t know you owned something that doesn’t scream giant douchebag.’ ‘Gavin looked down on himself. He had decided to play nice and actually give a damn about his appearance. He was wearing his favourite light blue shirt with smooth grey trousers and brown shoes. He had trimmed his rough stubble to something clean. At least Nines had been smitten and that was all that had counted for him. While Nines looked at him pleadingly no to take the bait, Gavin rolled his eyes. ‘Thank you. Looking good yourself.’ Nines lifted his brows as he sat down at the larger table Hank and Connor had positioned in the living room. Gavin joined him, hissing: ‘Hey, I can play nice, I just don’t like it.’

A few minutes later, Connor came with the food, announcing: ‘You came just at the right time, as always.’ Nines laughed, looking at the blue mass in front of him. ‘Did you cook?’ ‘Of course Con cooked’, Hank commented from the kitchen. ‘You know I can’t get this Thirium stuff right. Either everything evaporates and you get some jelly matrix or it’s just the liquid and don’t start on flavouring.’ Then he came over to the table balancing three plates with human food that looked far more delicious.

Everything settled they began eating, but unfortunately that had only been the beginning. ‘Hey, Nines, I guess I’m not up to date on the DPD’s side, since when have you two been dating?’, Allen asked. It was an innocent question, but Hank decided to add onto it. ‘Yes, we haven’t known anything either, why didn’t you tell us?’ Nines sighed, setting his spoon aside. ‘Well, I knew you wouldn’t approve, that’s why I decided against telling you.’ ‘Damn right I disapprove this. Please tell me you put actual thought into this decision.’ ‘We are together since the Chapman case. You remember? The one Gavin got shot?’ ‘Yeah, I remember’, Hank nodded. ‘You spent the whole damn week in the hospital with him.’ Nines sighed. ‘Well try to think of the reason why Gavin might have been shot while I was present to potentially save him.’ ‘Gavin, you didn’t catch a bullet for my brother, did you?’ The Detective coughed. He had hoped the interrogation would stay with Nines and the question caught him unprepared. ‘I did’, he wheezed. ‘I had felt something for him for a while at that point and my brain didn’t quite realise, he was bulletproof in that second. To be honest, I never told him because I haven’t thought he would feel the same.’ ‘But I do’, Nines smiled and took Gavin’s free hand.

‘Urgh’, Sixty commented, but was overlooked by Connor. ‘Nines, you do know he pointed a literal gun in my face and basically hates all androids?’ ‘Hey, Connor, did you maybe threatened my whole existence by being a plastic detective and left me unconscious in evidence?’ Nines rested his head in his hand. ‘Please, both of you, shut up.’ But Gavin ignored him. ‘Connor, I don’t phcking hate androids, okay? I don’t like losing my damn job and I was scared, and you were just a machine back then. Also, I don’t like you. Doesn’t mean I can’t love someone who happens to be an android.’ ‘Up until now, I thought you couldn’t love anyone. You don’t even love yourself’, Hank joined his son. ‘Hey, real low blow, drunkard! I love my cats and I love my partner. Just because none of you folks made the effort to…’

While they were arguing Allen and Sixty had sunken into their chairs, eating quietly and hoping not to be targeted next. Allen had tried to make some small talk but decided to never try again. Nines just sat there and listened. Why had he thought this could have been a normal family dinner. He should have thought of Hank as their father figure to be overly protective of them and Gavin’s short patience to run out quickly. He just felt tired. This was the exact reason he had wanted to keep their relationship private. It was nothing anyone had to know about. He had asked himself the same questions already and had talked with the man about them too. It had been the first step he had taken once he heard Gavin’s confession. Why did he have to defend what they had again?

‘Nines, you say something!’ He looked up into Connor’s aggravated face and sighed. ‘Con, I can’t say anything that will convince you, so why bother?’ Weirdly enough, that brought some calmness back to the table, as the android leaned back, deflating a bit. ‘I love him, isn’t that enough? Feelings can’t be explained and all that can be discussed, we already talked about. I don’t know how any of this is your business. Gavin may be an asshole and he may be not the best person. But he is to me. He is for me. That and much more is why I love him, and I don’t expect you to like him, but you can at least respect him and our decision.’

He stared at Connor and Hank, an open challenge, daring them to say anything wrong. Nines didn’t care, one wrong word now and they would leave. ‘Err…’, Allen cleared his throat. ‘I do. Gavin is a good Detective as far as I know, and I think Nines is equipped to handle his worst if it should come to it.’ Gavin looked over to the SWAT Captain. ‘Thanks, I guess…’ The silence lingered for a bit, even after Allen broke it. ‘Fine’, Hank said. ‘But if he ever does something to you, then-‘ ‘Then I’ll act accordingly’, Nines concluded with an open threat that made Gavin feel all the wrong things. But Hank nodded and got back to his meal. ‘Connor?’ ‘I will respect your decision, Nines. But I will wait for the day I can tell you I told you so.’ ‘Then keep waiting. Sixty?’ ‘Hey, I hate everyone equally. But I’ll say yes if that means this topic is cleared.’ ‘Good.’

Sixty nodded, groaning a ‘Finally’, then eagerly turning to Connor. ‘Now I can ask, what did you put into this? It tastes awesome, I’ve preferred it unflavoured until now, but I think that changed today.’ Nines reclined in his seat as Sixty had successfully navigated them to safer waters. Gavin carefully rubbed his arm trying to comfort him with a shy smile that spread to Nines’ own face. He caught Gavin’s hand under the table as he took his arm back and brushed over the back of it lovingly, looking deep into these green eyes. He could stare for hours and still find them captivating.

He was so caught up in them, he didn’t saw Hank’s faint smile. Maybe he didn’t like his decision now. But time could change things. And in the end, Nines couldn’t find it in himself to care about the future. He had his human. That was all that mattered.