The Man and the Tin Can (Gavin x Connor)

7. Club

Gavin pulled up near the club, meeting his friend Chris, and Tina, with Amber by her side.

"Hey, Gavin! Happy 37th birthday!" Amber walked up to him with a cheerful smile and handed him a little fancy box with a blue ribbon on top of it.

"O-Oh, thank you!" Gavin took the little box, and opened it, to see a silver colored bracelet, with blue little stones around it. It looked rather expensive.

"Shit, Amber, this looks really good! Thank you!" Gavin, not knowing how to act when gifts are being handed to him, tried his best to stay composed.

Amber hugged the man, then came back to Tina and took her hand, kissing her on the cheek. "Can we go to the bar now?" She chirped.

"Yeah, let's go!" Gavin entered, his three friends following him into a bright building full of flashing lights.

"This is my birthday, so I'm treatin' all of you, pick any drinks you want, it's all on me" Gavin sat back, and relaxed. Yes, he will lose a bunch of money, but it's his birthday, and it's for his good friends, who actually care for him and don't treat him like garbage, so he's good with it.

Once the drinks the group ordered, they were just talking about life, and their families and work. Casual stuff.

Gavin, of course, didn't really like to talk about family things, and he noticed that Tina tried to steer the conversation to something different when it was about to become uncomfortable for him.

Gavin telepathycally thanked his best friend for understanding and putting effort into him.

- - -

"So, when Gavin once got into a fight with Hank, he accidentally ended up spilling his hot coffee-" Tina started the story, while Gavin was telling her to stop repeatedly and tried to shut her up by covering her mouth, but failed. "-On his own crotch! God, that little shriek he made was so fucking funny, the whole department was laughing!"

The whole group, including the birthday boy Gavin, who was embarrased as hell, laughed.

"Yeah, that happened years ago, but I still can't get that out of my mind!" Chris remarked, almost spilling his drink from laughing too hard at his collegue.

"Speaking of work... Gav, I heard you have an android partner now?" Amber asked softly, looking at him with narrowed eyes.

"A-Amber, it's better if we-" Tina tried to change the topic, so Gavin doesn't snap, but Gavin answers.

"Yeah. It's that prototype plastic detective, Connor." He said, with a mocking voice.

"What do you think of him? That Connor guy?" Amber asked, and this time Tina didn't intervene.

"Uh, he's an annoying ass prick, that's for sure. We worked on a case together for two days now. A murder." Gavin fidgeted with his shot glass in his hands.

Everyone was waiting for more info on his thoughts.

"Connor found the dead household android, under the victim's house's entrance tiles." Gavin continued.

"Do you guys get along good? Connor seems to be a good detective, and your partner, correct?" Amber asked for more details.

"Nah. It's only asking me dumb questions and analyzing me like a creep to get to know me, then earn my trust or whatever. The fucker even asked if I like cats. Probably scanned me and found Baker's fur on me. What a prick... But as a detective... He's fine, I guess. I can do everything by myself, but he really does help out with his android detective abilities and shit." Gavin rambled.

"Maybe... Think about it, if you actually tried to get along with Connor, you'd have a very good friend, and a partner! You'd be the next best detectives to solve hard cases, you two are geniuses!" Chris said cheerfully, getting a funny look from Gavin.

"Yeah, that is true. I mean, Gavin, you're still employed the one year after the android revolution... All of us here are." Tina said, trying to get her point across to Gavin, while Amber just looked down. "Connor definetly isn't trying to take away your job."

"Pfft, whatever. These machines
have still taken away dozens of jobs from real people, who actually need to earn to survive. I am not going to simply forgive and forget that fact. And no, I will not be buddy-buddies with Connor. He is only my investigation partner, nothing more.
He is a machine, designed to accomplish a task."

"But, he deviated! He has emotions, just like you! Haven't you noticed what attachment to Hank Anderson the guy has? I even heard he took his last name, and calls him dad!" Tina argued, but not too aggressively, to not piss off Gavin.

"Now that seems like some fake bullshit to me. I'm pretty sure my smart ass chaotic step-brother Elijah intended for all of this bullshit to happen. What the fuck..." Gavin swallowed his shot of whiskey in a second.

There was tension among the whole group. This topic was hard to talk about with Gavin, since he still has some rough opinions on androids, while Tina and Chris are okay with them, and get along with Connor pretty well.

"Ah shit, speak of the devil..." Gavin lowered his head when he saw a specific someone coming towards him. Everyone turned around.
They were wearing a Cyberlife jacket.

"Detective Reed. There was a case reported, of a shooting happening nearby. As partners, we must go together." Connor spoke softly, while Amber was eyeing the android. The android noticed the curious woman then greeted, "My name is Connor, I'm the android sent by Cyberlife."

Tina and Chris burst into laughter, Connor's usual greeting becoming a funny, repetitive joke at this point.

"Can't you go by yourself, you piece of plastic? I'm fucking drunk here." Gavin drank another shot, staring up at the android angrily.

"No. I was assigned to go together with you, Detective, whether you like it or not. I am sorry to interrupt your little party here, but we must go. Sorry."

"Duty calls, Gavin. It's okay. We had a good time tonight. Good luck with the case." Chris said and patted him on a shoulder.

After everyone seperated, Gavin had no choice but to get in his own car, but let Connor drive it, since his plastic ass was forcing him to not act stupid.

The half-drunk man handed android the keys, then leaned his head against the window and dozed off for a minute.