The Man and the Tin Can (Gavin x Connor)

11. Visit

"God fucking damn it, this is so boring." Gavin groaned, staring at the hospital room's ceiling.

Nobody came to visit him yet, except the nurse, and he didn't feel like checking his phone or getting up, so he had an ongoing existential crisis for a few hours straight.

Until he heard a knock on the door.

Before Gavin could react, a familiar android entered the room and cautiously closed the door.

"Hello, Detective Reed. How are you feeling?" Connor greeted him.

Gavin simply didn't have enough energy to be aggressive or angry, so he just looked at the window and pouted. "What does it look like, tincan?"

There was a moment of awkward silence, but Connor filled it again.
"I attempted to interrogate the shooter we caught, but... I didn't get much useful information, nor did we get any info on his accomplice..."

Gavin stared at the window, but still listened to him.

"And- Tina said she has a backup key for your apartment, she's going there to feed your cat, Baker, at the moment."

"Uh, good. So what did you learn from that son of a bitch during the interrogation?" Gavin turned to Connor now, expecting his partner to tell him more.

But then, those chocolate brown eyes caught him and couldn't let go.

Connor himself was confused from what was happening. Those cool gray orbs peering into his soul with a slightly scowled face made his systems start heating up.

He would usually be uncomfortable with holding eye contact for too long, but this made him feel weirdly... Different. He almost didn't want this to end.

"Uhm.. uh..." Gavin's eyes started jumping from the ceiling, to the floor, to the wall, anywhere but at Connor.

"Oh, yes. The case."

Connor told the man about the interrogation, which wasn't as succesful as the ones in the past.

"This Katelle guy is a fuckin' piece of shit, just you wait till' I get to see him"
Gavin threatened.

"Detective, you're injured. You're in no good condition for... That." Connor calmed him, while trying to keep a smile on his face.

"I am perfectly fine, Robo-cop, I just need to be given a chance to talk to that prick face-to-face," Gavin talked some more, making Connor sigh, since it's obvious the human won't get very far.

"Alright then, good luck with that, Detective Reed." Connor stood up. "I'll send the files of the investigation and the interrogation footage to your email."

Just as the android started to walk towards the door, Gavin called out to him. "You're already going?"

Connor turned to him. "Yes... What about it?"

"Uh, nothing, really, just- I wanted to ask you something. It's kinda stupid, honestly," Gavin started fiddling with his thumbs.
"Why did you save me instead of going for the guy that shot me?"

In Connor's opinion, yeah, that was a stupid question. He's not going to say that directly to Gavin though, obviously.

"I couldn't have let another person die. Especially my partner." Connor explained.

"I don't understand. Why does my life even matter to you that much? Thanks to me, Katelle's accomplice got away, and you decided not to chase him-"

"Gavin. You are important and irreplacable just like any human or android in this world. I do not regret my decision to help you, when you were at risk of death, at all." Connor firmly justified his actions, becoming a bit puzzled on why Gavin is asking such questions.

The words from Connor made Gavin look away for a bit. "You're supposed to hate me. I've been nothing, but an asshole to you. I literally tried to fucking murder you before. Why do you still show me kindness and all of that shit? You really don't have to do that, Connor,-" Gavin didn't know if medication, loneliness or rA9 was taking a toll on his brain, but he kept spowing word vomit at Connor, without the poor android even being prepared for it.

"Detective..."

"Maybe it would be better if I was dead anyway. At least you would have caught that fucker and solved this case-"

"Gavin... What- Why are you telling me all of this only now?"

Only then Gavin realised he almost started to vent about his life and mental struggles to Connor, the android sent by Cyberlife.

"Shit... Just... Forget all of this. Do a memory wipe or something. And don't ever tell anyone about this, or I'll fucking break you." Gavin threatened Connor, however, the android didn't feel intimidated at all.

"Detective, I'm sorry you're having personal struggles. There are a lot of professionals out there, who can help you with these issues-"

"Oh shut it, plastic, don't give me this bullshit." Gavin rolled his eyes to another universe.

Connor sighed softly. "I'm glad you... Told me some of these things. Maybe, I'll be able to help you in some ways, one day. Thank you, Gavin."

Gavin groaned, visibly ashamed of letting himself slip like that.

Once the android left the hospital room, the man instantly started pulling on his hair to cause himself pain.

"Why do I have to be so fucking idiotic?!" He almost screamed.

- - -

The whole walk home, Connor's systems were slightly above the normal heat temperature and he wasn't sure how to feel about that.

It felt new, but also strangely good. A bit motivating for the currect case, even.

"Hey, Con! How was your day?" Hank hugged his son when he came back home.

"Hi, Dad. The day was ok. The interrogation did not go as well as I wanted to, on the other hand." Connor looked down, a bit dissapointed in himself

"Oh, that's okay, son. Cracking some cases takes weeks of time, don't stress yourself. Anyways, did you visit Reed in the hospital? Is he doing alright?"
For probably the first time ever, Hank actually sounded concerned for the rude and snarky detective.

"Oh, he's doing pretty well, despite being injured. And, uh, I wanted to ask you something, Dad. About emotions, again."

"Oh? What is it now, Connor?" Hank didn't sound annoyed, but rather supportive and like he wanted to help.

"Is it normal to feel yourself... Overheating, and a bit... dizzy, thinking about being with a specific person, and wanting to talk to them or be closer to them?" Connor cringed at his own words, but Hank just smiled and nodded.

"From what you explained, the only conclusion I can draw, is that you might have a crush on someone, Connor."

Now that Connor thought about it, he was even more unsure of what he was feeling.

"So who is this "Specific person"?Maybe you'd wanna tell me who they are?" Hank asked.

"I am still new to these emotions and I am not sure of what I'll do, so I'd like to keep that to myself."

"Ah. Understandable."

Having a crush on Gavin Reed? No, this is impossible. It can't be.