Safer (a Detroit: Become Human fanfic)

Blood isn't Family

🖤(💚)

Elijah and Gavin Reed.

Elijah and Gavin fucking Reed.

Had a ring to it, you know?

"Elijah and Gavin Reed, you're officially invited to go the bed right this moment, you little monkeys!" their mom would yell out the window to the boys in the backyard from morning to late evenings, right at 9:30 PM.

At first, they lived in a community apartment complex, tiny wooden houses identical to one another lined up, with tiny balconies and 2 bedrooms, one master, and one with a climbable bed. Elijah slept upstairs one month, Gavin the next.

"Wakey wakey, munchkins."

"Five more minutes, mom!" Gav's small hands pulled the blanket up his head on the upper bed as his mother's hand reached in and tickled his belly, causing small giggles from the 6 year old.

"What's for lunch, mom?" Eli stretched his arms, yawning.

"Baby, that's called breakfast." She sat down in front of him as he sat up too, her small, soft hand moving his then brown hair away from his dreamy, barely open eyes.

"Aha, good morning."

"Good morning precious." she stopped for a second, looking at her baby, and smiled, "We're having cereal today because you're gonna be late if I make you pancakes."

"But mooooooooom!" Gavin complained from above her, "We haven't had pancakes in 2 whole days."

"Set up an alarm then boys, school is more important than pancakes."

"Debatable." Elijah said, throwing his legs over the bed and stretching them out.

Martha Reed was the most nurturing person anyone who knew her, knew. And she was a great mother, she always took great care of them, physically and mentally. When Elijah's girlfriend dumped him through a mutual friend in the cafeteria back in 5th grade, she let him cry in her arms for about 4 hours and gave him the best advice, and when Gavin told her he's scared he won't make it in police school, she told him that he could take a gap year, which he did, and it was great.

Elijah and Gavin Reed moved to Detroit though, back in 2019, because land in Detroit was cheaper and Elijah wasn't exactly a millionaire, yet. And Martha thought it'd be refreshing for Gavin to leave LA too, to get away for a while and to move on. She didn't expect neither of them to never come back home. She didn't expect Gavin to settle down there, she didn't expect Elijah to take that 23andme test just because he was bored in the midst of his success.

She didn't expect that call in the middle of sorting through divorce papers. She wanted to call her boys herself and tell them about how people sometimes just don't get along anymore and now that they're grown up, she felt as though she could finally leave her pain-in-the-arse husband.

But no, nothing could go right for Martha, heavens forbid.

Gavin and Elijah sat on the floor of the apartment they used to share, it was 2028. The pc had the circling loading logo on it, and it felt like it was nibbling at both of their hearts, slowly, painfully.

"Ah for fuck's sake Gavin, what's up with your wifi?"

"I have no idea, it's usually-

"Shut up, it loaded."

"Okay, rude. Now tell me what cancer I'm gonna die of"

"Okay Gavin, look. I know I didn't properly explain what I need this for,-

"You're cloning me, no shit."

"Gavin, this is serious. I know you're curious about what cancer you're gonna fucking die of but that's not the reason why I got this for you, let me check your ancestry and then we'll look at the rest, okay?"

"You're creeping me out, but okay. What do you need my ancestry for?"

"Let me see it and I'll tell you."

"Okay."

"87% Northwestern Europe, okay.. 10% Native American, 3% Western Asia? Fuck, fuck, fucking FUCK GAVIN!"

Elijah looked crazy, almost animalistic, and Gavin's minds went a thousand miles per hour, what just happened?

"Eli? Eli what's wrong?! Elijah? Elijah talk to me!"

Elijah was pacing around the room, fingers dug into his previously neatly put together hair, now in shambles, he seemed to have completely lost on.

"Elijah, do you need assistance?" Chloe walked into the room, her hands behind her back, brows furrowed and her led glowing yellow.

"Leave him, Chloe. Please."

"Okay, Gavin. Tell me if you nee-

"Chloe please, go to the other room, now."

She left without a word.
Gavin didn't want her to see him like this. What if he snapped? What if he snapped at her?

Gavin didn't see his brother as a violent person, but he had never seen him like this either, so the possibility of him doing shit he's never done before was high.

"Elijah, please, talk to me, what's happening?"

He stopped suddenly, and sharply turned around to the computer, practically falling in front of it on his knees. Gavin followed him and sat next to him.

"Wait, wait, wait, I'm going to show you, I'm gonna show you the fucking- My fucking god, how can this be real? Huh?"

"How can what be real, Eli?" he didn't know if he should've, but he put an arm around his shaking brother, and noticed the tears. His eyes were so wide, too wide, and tears just poured out of them and down his face in a stream.

He went through his email and clicked on a 23 and me message.

It opened way faster than Gavin's had, probably because it had been opened once before.

"Do you see this shit, Gavin? Do you fucking see this shit?"

"What shit Elijah, calm down and tell me what's wrong-

"Look at the fucking ancestry Gavin, read it. Read it out loud."

"Okay, okay..." he scooped closer to the PC and read, "52% Northwestern European, what? Why- what in.. 47% Easter European, 0.8% Western Asia, Elijah? What is this?"

"What do you mean, what is this? Isn't it obvious?"

"No, I'm confused, what's happening?" His hands were shaking and he felt like he couldn't swallow. His mind was buzzing, it felt like it was under pressure.

"Gavin, we're not twins, we're not fucking twins, we're not twins, we're not, we're not, we're-

"Elijah what if it's some sort of mistake?"

"They don't fucking make mistakes!"

"Okay what if... I don't know, a part of the gene that was Northwestern got to you and a big chunk of Eastern to me, what if that's what-

"That's not how genes work Gavin, and you fucking know it, you know what this means, you know what this means!"

He knew what it meant but he didn't want to.

So he just sat there, watching his brother sob in absolute hysteria.

He left once he calmed down, without a word, really. He just took his pc, Chloe, and walked away.

"What are we gonna do?"

He shook his shoulders, walking away towards the elevator.

Looking back, now, Elijah wished he'd hugged his brother and told him everything was going to be okay. I wished he hadn't gone home and called Martha, he wished he wasn't so cold to her. He wished he had stayed with his brother and talked it through. He wished he cried the rest of his tears in his arms, not machine Chloe's.

He wished so many things, but Elijah Reed was dead, and Elijah Kamski's hands were now full of shit Reed had left behind for him. He needed to fix this. All of this. Now.