There were many things Connor learned he enjoyed after becoming a deviant. It started with small insignificant things. At first he didn't realized it. The whole chaos after the successful revolution made it hard for Connor. He had no time to think about his new emotions, there was too much going on.
Somehow Connor had been pulled into Markus' group of friends. Having freed the androids from Cyberlife Tower had gain him their full trust, even after telling them about the barely evaded catastrophe when Amanda took control over him and he was saved by Kamski's emergency exit. His actions that day got Connor the attention of the press, too, and Markus convinced him to give at least one interview. It had been a weird experience, however manageable with the help of his programming.
Days flew by before Connor finally got himself out of Markus' grasp. The first tumult had calmed down and when no one was around Connor left quietly. He sent out a notification and called an automated taxi.
The drive through Detroit was quick. The streets were exceptionally empty, with most of the populace still evacuated. Connor turned on the radio and switched through the channels, stopping at one featuring jazz music, remembering the vinyl records in Hank's flat. He had never listened to music of this genre, just stored the information for an uncertain later use.
Nervous energy flowed through his veins when he exited the taxi and his eyes found the person he had notified with his request to meet up. Slowly Connor walked closer, unsure on how to behave. The last time they had seen each other Connor had marched with hundreds of androids into an unknown future. The whole situation was too absurd and Connor was unable to construct the best path possible to take.
His hesitance was rendered meaningless by Hank who pulled Connor into a hug. The stress of the last few days was forgotten and the concerned thoughts about how Hank was doing disappeared from his mind.
After a while, Connor had lost track of time and didn't bother to look at his internal watch, Hank pulled away and suggested to move their conversation to his house. Connor nodded in agreement. It was too cold for Hank to stay outside for a longer period of time and due to the evacuation no bars or restaurants were open.
During the ride Hank teased Connor about his interview, how stiff and direct his answers had been. Connor was confused, he was convinced of having given a good and interesting interview. Hank only laughed at his confidence.
At that moment Connor realized he enjoyed hearing Hank laugh. It was deep and honest. Perfect. It was the first time he was able to tell he was enjoying something.
After the first experience of this emotion it got easier and easier to discern it.
In a matter of days Connor found several things he enjoyed. The first thing after Hank's laugh was the excited barking of Sumo when Connor entered the flat. A warmth took hold of him when he sat down to pet the dog. The whole situation was accompanied by a snicker from Hank and some rude words about his disloyal pet.
With Hank going to work and Connor unable to, until Markus and the government worked out the necessary laws for androids to take up work, he had a lot of time to wander around and find other things he enjoyed.
While walking with Sumo around the neighborhood Connor realized he liked the snow falling down around him. It reminded him of the day by the bridge, after their visit at the Eden Club, when Hank started to open up to Connor and told him about his son.
During the long hours alone he listened to the jazz records and found this kind of music rather relaxing. Slouching on the couch with Sumo was added to the growing list of things Connor enjoyed. The clothes Hank brought him to replace his Cyberlife uniform was on that list, too. With shops still closed it was an assortment gathered from different police officers around Connor's statue.
Even with all those new items on his list, Hank's laugh remained at position number one. It brought a warmth to Connor's heart no other item on the list could bring.
Unlike other things he enjoyed this one wasn't simple to archive. It depended on Hank's mood and even when Connor was certain his words will make Hank laugh it often didn't happen. Other times Connor managed to make Hank laugh without even trying.
However only a few days into living with Hank Connor found a route with a high possibility of bringing him the laugh he was seeking.
It was a mere coincident that led to Connor finding out about it. Day by day the chaos in Hank's house increased and once again Connor asked permission for cleaning up. It had been denied by Hank more than once before. He said Connor was a free human and no machine made to clean up after him.
It surprised Connor when Hank finally gave his permission. Satisfied Connor wanted to start immediately, but stopped when Hank added a suggestion. "I get that you are bored like hell all day. How about doing it without simply downloading the information and trying to figure it out for yourself? The human way."
Confused Connor looked at Hank. It was an irrational suggestion that will take more time and was prone for making mistakes.
"How about cleaning the dishes?" Hank suggested and Connor saw the smirk on his face. A sign that Hank was in a good mood. He concluded a high probability of getting him to laugh and decided to go along with Hank's suggestion.
Together they moved to the kitchen area. Connor stood next to the sink and Hank sat down at the table. To avoid any assumptions that he was cheating Connor deactivated his internet connection and analysis program.
Looking at the sink Conner plugged it and turned on the water. Without his sensors he had to use his hand to check the temperature. It was cold. For a second Connor tried to figure out if he needs hot or cold water to wash the dishes. The information wasn't directly in his database but he knew that the solubility of substances normally increased with rising temperature.
The android turned up the temperature and frowned when it didn't changed right away. He heard a repressed laughter from Hank behind him. "Stop looking at my sink with this judging look. The house is fucking old and the water needs time till it gets hot."
A frown appeared on Connor's face before he turned back to his task. The soap was standing next to the sink and Connor purred a generous amount in the water. When the sink was filled he grabbed a sponge and one of the less dirty glasses.
Connor started to wash to glass in the steaming water, only to let it drop out of his hand to the bottom of the sink. A warning message for high temperatures popped up in the corner of his vision. There was no immediate danger for that temperature level, however Connor followed his programmed reflexes to move away from a possible source of harm.
Behind him a loud bellow filled the room. Hank was leaning forward in his chair and laughed loudly. A pang of a new emotion rushed through him. Embarrassment at his own stupidity, Connor concluded after reflecting on the different small aspects. He deserves to be made fun of, should he have expected steaming water to be hot.
Ignoring the warning messages popping up Connor picked up the dropped glass and started to clean it. Hank was still laughing, but Connor didn't mind. The embarrassment was worth it for hearing his favorite sound.
The remaining dishes were cleaned without another incident. Then Connor realized he wasn't aware were Hank kept clean towels to dry off the dishes. He looked around the kitchen and saw one towel. However he concluded this one would only undo the cleaning he had just done.
His ears picked up a low chuckle. "You seem lost. Should I help you?"
"No. I will find the towels on my own," Connor denied the offered help, felt something inside of him – probably pride – rejecting the thought of relying on Hank while he was performing a task he had asked to do since days.
The search for towels was accompanied by amused remarks from Hank and ended up with him telling Connor if it got hotter or colder depending on if he got was getting closer or farther away from his goal.
The reason for Connor to keep up his search at this point was the steady snicker of Hank. Even Connor could grasp how much Hank enjoyed this little game and it filled him with sadness when it inevitably ended.
Regardless this situation established a theory Connor hoped would help him to make Hank laugh more often.
To his own surprise his theory appeared to be functional.
It was a simple idea to start with and easy to accomplish. Connor continued to do the housework the human way. Learning it by trial and error. Whenever he made a mistake it amused Hank and produced the sweet sound of his laugh.
Knowing that he was able to reliably archive a thing he enjoyed calmed Connor down considerably. There were other things that he can acquire easily, too, but nothing had the same effect on him as Hank's laugh.
However, there were some downsides to this method.
The most obvious was that it was only available when Hank was at home. It destroyed the original purpose of distracting Connor from his boredom when he was alone.
Additionally this way of completing household tasks happened with considerably high damage. Connor shrank a bunch of clothes when washing them to hot. A T-shirt was burnt during the process of ironing and one vinyl record fell off the shelf when Connor bumped into it while vacuuming.
The biggest downside was that Connor was running out of new tasks. With his high learning capability he wasn't prone to make new mistakes at the same tasks and it was slowly getting impossible to think up new things to do.
Most if his time without Hank was used up by thinking about the few remaining tasks he could do, while going through the tasks he has done before.
The situation was desperate enough for Connor to start repairing the small broken things in the flat. Like the dishwasher they didn't use after repair because one person alone doesn't produce enough dirty dishes for it to be economic.
After those tasks were finished Connor asked if he could renovate some parts of the house. Buying new chairs for the kitchen, because the old ones were close to falling apart, and similar things.
This was the day Hank had enough of Connor's restless search. "I know you are fucking bored, like a state of the art prototype android would be in this simple surrounding, but enough is enough. Go out and do something. Like visiting the police station or helping Markus. He will have something to do for you, if you only ask."
Perplexed Connor looked at Hank, not completely understanding what caused those harsh words. A weird mixture of feelings rushed through his systems. He felt – heartbroken.
"Shit, Connor. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that." Confusion and worry started to replace the dull ache in his heart. Hank was clearly distressed and Connor was responsible for it, but he didn't knew why. "I never wanted to hurt you. Please, Connor, stop crying."
He was crying? His hand moved to his eyes and he felt a liquid running down his cheek. Only now he realized his systems having started the protocol 'crying'. His optical processors automatically cleared out the haziness caused by the water.
Out of reflex Connor licked the liquid of his fingers, running an analysis. Just water, nothing else. Only an imitation of human tears.
Out of a reflex he had developed during his time working with Hank he looked at him, expecting an exclaim of disgust like he had earned many times before on crime scenes. But Hank's expression hadn't changed.
A mixture of panic and worry that had begun the moment Connor had started to cry. The man was obviously overwhelmed by the situation and did not knew how to react. Connor himself was unsure, too.
"Hank, calm down. I'm fine", Connor whispered with a shaking voice, a part of the crying protocol. Connor was trying to figure out how to shut down the protocol, but was met with an error message he couldn't work around immediately.
"Fine, my ass. You are crying. You aren't fine. And I'm the reason-"
"It is not your fault. Yes, something triggered this protocol, but it weren't your words", Connor interrupted Hank, was he able to watch him falling into self-loathing. "I'm currently running an analysis of my system to find a way to stop it. It may take some time, but I'm confident about finding a solution."
Hank wasn't convinced. Then his expression changed a nuance. It wasn't much and Connor wasn't able to interpret it. "If it weren't my words, than what made you cry? If you know why, maybe it will help you stop your crying?"
"I don't know. It just happened. Suddenly my thirium pump started to ache and before I knew it the protocol was induced. I only realized it after you mentioned it. It's not just the tears, my whole body feels weird. My heart aches and-" His voice broke and Connor felt his throat constricting. A sob threatened to escape him.
Then there was a warm, calming present around him. Confused Connor blinked around the tears, his optical processors had stopped to filter out the haziness, and realized Hank had pulled him into a hug. His face was pressed against Hank's chest and he was able to hear his strong and slightly elevated heartbeat.
In a matter of moments Connor felt his body calm down, at least enough to feel shame about the pathetic state he was in. "Ha-ank. I-" he tried to form words, but his body was shaking with sobs as soon as he opened his mouth.
A careful hand ran up and down his back. "Psh…Don't talk. Just breathe in and out."
"I'm an android. I don't need to breathe," Connor started to protest, but was interrupted by the low rumble of Hank's voice.
"Stop being a smartass. Just do what I say for once."
Slowly Connor followed the instruction, matched his simulated breathing pattern to Hank's. At every exhale he felt his body relaxing a little bit and few minutes later not only their breathing pattern matched but also the beats of their hearts. One human, one machine.
The protocol had long been ended, still Connor didn't remove himself from the embrace. Never had he felt so relaxed, so save. An odd observation. Just minutes ago he had felt more distressed than ever before in his short life.
"Connor?"
One short word, vibration through his whole body, reminding him of the inevitable end of this blissful moment. Reluctant Connor let go of Hank and leaned back. His eyes dropped down to his hands, folded in his lap. The hands that had clung to Hank just seconds ago.
"I have to apologize to you, Hank. I don't understand the situation completely myself. Why the reaction had been that intensely. But now my system are running normal again." Connor hoped his words will be enough to disperse Hank's worry. He wants to make the man happy, not sad.
"Not completely? So you realized the reason behind your tears? Can I ask you to share this information with me?" At the careful tone Connor looked up, saw the not dispersed worry.
He swallowed around the knot forming in his throat. "It was an overreaction of my system. I was searching for new tasks to do and when you refused my proposition I – my system – overreacted and started the protocol."
Hank furrowed his brow. "Housework isn't the only thing you can do to fend off you boredom until you can come back to work. You could read, listen to music or spent more time with Markus and his group. They need every helping hand they can get."
"Yes, those are good ways to spent my time on and dispel my boredom. However-" Connor stopped when he nearly told Hank the true reason behind his actions, but Hank had immediately perceived his mistake.
"However?"
Connor evaded Hank's questioning gaze. He was weighing his chances to divert Hank's attention off this topic against his pride that forbad him to tell Hank the reason behind his outburst of emotions.
There was a quiet voice in Connor's mind asking, why he hesitated to tell Hank the truth. Yes, his pride forbad it. But were his actions and their foundation, making Hank laugh, something to be ashamed of? Confused he tried to process his thoughts, knowing his LED was switching between yellow and red, thus showing Hank his internal distress.
"I – However –" The words stuck in his throat. A high stress level warning flashed up in the corner of his vision. Connor closed his eyes, breathed in and out. Once again it helped to calm him down. "However, boredom isn't my sole motivation for the search for new tasks."
"What is your other motivation?" Hank's voice was calm. It let Connor knew that it was all right if he refused to answer. It was enough for Connor to open his eyes and met the others gaze.
"After becoming deviant I realized there were things I enjoyed. It was a pleasant emotion I wanted to experience more. Naturally I created a list of things I enjoyed and ordered them by the level of enjoyment they brought."
"You are not telling me you like housework? No sane human would enjoy doing fucking housework," Hank interrupted Connor in disbelief. Even though Connor knew that Hank viewed him as human, it was reassuring actually hearing him saying it aloud. It was the final push Connor needed to tell Hank the truth.
"The thing standing unchallenged at the top of this list is your laugh, Hank. When you first came up with the idea of me doing housework, without downloading the needed information and protocols, and you laughed about the mistakes I made I continued on with it. It was the easiest way to get what I wanted to archive."
Stunned into silence Hank stared at Connor, who waited patiently for any kind of reaction. He pondered how Hank will react. Angry? Upset? Connor never expected the reaction how got.
Hank bent over in his chair, gasping for air in between his thundering laugh. Tears formed in the corners of his eyes. Confused Connor tilted his head to the side, what only increased the intensity of Hank's laugh.
It took Hank nearly five minutes to calm down enough to form words. "You completely misunderstood something, Connor. The cause of my laugh is not about you making mistakes. It is about the faces you make during them. Like a lost puppy."
"A lost puppy?" Connor repeated the words, not understanding what Hank meant with them. He was an android, not a dog. At that moment Hank restarted his laughing fit.
"That look is exactly what I'm talking about," Hank uttered when he was back in control over his breathing. "Can I ask why you enjoy hearing me, an old gruff man, laugh?"
This answer came to Connor as natural as it was for him to sort things into lists or other logical patterns. "You are a person close to me, someone I care about. It shouldn't be surprising that I want you to be happy."
"Well, if you are that keen on making my laugh I won't stand in your way. However, I won't allow you to take on all this boring and annoying work alone. If this place gets the renovation it is in need of, we will do it together."
Connor nodded, he had nothing against this preposition. He realized that spending time with Hank was on his list of things he enjoyed, too. "Maybe we can work on reducing you calorie intake, too," Connor suggested.
"That matter can be discussed in some far away future," Hank blocked the attempt as soon as it had left Connor's mouth.
Amused about this stubborn behavior Connor smiled. Talking, bickering and simply spending time with Hank. Those were all things he enjoyed. Perhaps he had focused too much on one aspect of his list and forgotten about the others. Emotions were still new to him and he had to find the right balance.
Until he accomplished this mission Connor decided to live and learn the human way because he had found a lot of joy in the ordinary things.