"I Need A Drink"
"I don't understand." Connor shook his head as he pushed off the bed bringing the blanket with him, trying to cover up his body. For some reason, the idea of Hank seeing him without clothes caused a sick burning sensation in his biocomponents. His pump throbbed in his throat as he pictured the sexbot; Hank only saw him like he saw that android, just something to fuck when he wanted. "I thought you were going to make love to me...not fuck me like some sexbot." Connor yelled voice faltering as that crack in his pump returned.
"Con, stop." Hank sighed, his voice sounding cracked and broken. He quickly threw himself to the edge of the bed, reached out and grabbed Connor by the arm to pull him close. He pulled Connor into his arms and put his face into the compartment that held Connor's thirium pump with his arms wrapped around Connor's slim waist. "I do, trust me I do, but I just can't say it." His voice trembled as he pressed his face harder into Connor's midsection; yet Connor didn't move to hold Hank, he just stared down at him with anger and hurt in his eyes.
"I am scared." Hank finally huffed out. He let out a deep breath before he placed a chaste kiss on the compartment, "You know I lost my ex wife and son." Another deep breath was forced through his lips and he felt like his chest was cracking in on itself as he forced the words through his lips, "His name was Cole. He was six years old when he begged me to go out for ice cream, it had been snowing." A sad chuckle wheezed through his lips, "What kid wants ice cream in the snow? I knew I should have said no."
Hank shoot his head, his beard scratching against Connor's torso. He let out a defeated sigh, "But, I was a sucker for those puppy eyes. A truck had slipped on black ice and crashed into mine, causing us to roll over. He needed surgery, but there were no human surgeons available, so an android preformed it. He, uh, didn't make it."
Connor felt his eyes prickle up as he watched Hank's shoulders begin to tremble; he felt the wet eyelashes flutter against his torso as he wrapped his arms tightly around Hank's shaking body. "The only human surgeon was high on red ice. The androids weren't made to do the surgeries alone yet, they were made to assist not to do." Connor watched as the silent sobs shook Hank; his thirium pump ached for Hank, watching him break down, Connor had never seen Hank this vulnerable before. He had never felt this amount of emotion tumbling off this man before; Connor knew Hank's son had died, and he had read the reports as soon as he was assigned to be Hank's partner, but at the time he hadn't realized the misery behind the death. Now he could see and even feel the pain that it had caused.
"I blamed myself for years. If I stood my ground and said no, maybe he would still be alive." Hank's shoulders sank as his grip on Connor tightened. Connor was sure that if he turned on his pain sensors, the grip would be very painful. He leaned down to squeeze Hank, there was no more wet butterfly kisses on his chest, but Hank was still shaking. "After that, my marriage fell apart. My ex-wife, she...uh, blamed me for his death. We barely spoke, but when we did, she just screamed. Then one day, she left." Hank's shoulders shrugged as Connor felt him cough against his torso. Connor's lips trembled as he fought back his own tears; his mouth fell open slightly, but nothing came out.
"I do, Connor, you have no idea how much I do, but…" Hank pulled back slightly to look into Connor's eyes. Connor's heart cracked and his biocomponents felt hollow as he gazed into the red sunken in eyes. "I just lost so much." His voice trembled as he looked away from Connor, his eyes counting the knots in the wood, "I just can't lose anyone else."
"Hank." Connor whispered breathlessly as he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss on Hank's head.
Nothing else was said that night as Connor slowly bundled Hank up in his arms as they both laid down on the bed. Hank was curled into Connor, his face buried in Connor's chest as Connor held the man whose shoulders would tremble every once and awhile.
An ear-splitting ringing pierced through Hank's head as it ripped him from his sleep. His hand uncurled from around the blanket he was clutching that was against his chest as he tried to reach over to the nightstand to grab his phone.
"What the…" Hank mumbled as his hand only met with another body in his bed. His eyes slowly opened and he was met with the sight of Connor's face. Hank had to admit that Connor was a very handsome man, but he had never seen him look so at peace with everything than when he was sleeping. His brain wasn't processing every little thing that crossed his sensor, his brow wasn't wrinkled with confusion to his new emotions and lack of understanding. He looked peaceful and beautiful.
"Oh, that's right." Hank's eyes softened as a smile filled his face; the smile vanished as his phone's ringtone seemed to pierce through his skull. "The fuck." He rolled off of the bed and walked over to the nightstand on the other side where Connor seemed to be sleeping. He quickly glanced at the phone and realized that it was Fowler calling him.
"What?" He groaned after snapping the phone open. Hank sat down on the edge of the bed, allowing his hand to gently rub Connor's shoulders enjoying the slight smile that blessed Connor's lips.
"Anderson, you need to come into the station." Hank could hear the anger that was dripping from each word.
"The hell do you need me for?" Hank murmured as he glanced over to the clock sitting on the nightstand. The digital letters read 4:27 A.M. "Its four in the goddamn morning, Jeffrey."
"I don't care what time it is, you need to get your ass to the station." Fowler sneered into the phone, "Now."
Hank opened his mouth to speak but was met with the harsh click of Fowler hanging up. He let out a loud groan before snapping the phone closed and throwing it on the nightstand. His head fell into his hands; there was no way this was happening. He slowly raised his head up to look over at Connor, who somehow, didn't wake up to the noise Hank was making. Especially since he wasn't actually sleeping, and it was just an artificial sleep.
"Hell, that's right." Hank mumbled as he remembered Connor mentioned that he would need to run some tests on his system since he overheated last night. The thought caused a patchy blush and a surge of pride to run through Hank.
The question now became, whether or not he was supposed to wake Connor up or not. Hank's face twisted up in confusion as he looked down at the android, he knew that they needed to be at the station, but if he woke Connor up earlier than his systems expected, then he was nervous that he could screw something up inside of Connor. Like what happened to the old computers when you shut them down as they updated. Hank groaned, glancing down at Connor. Well, Fowler never mentioned that Connor needed to be there, so maybe it would be okay if he left Connor home until he was ready.
Hank decided that was going to be the plan, unless Connor woke up before he left. Hank quickly grabbed some clothes before heading to the bathroom. He glanced at himself in the mirror and he swore that the bags under his eyes didn't seem as black as they usually did. A faint smile filled his face as he quickly grabbed the sticky notes from one of the sink drawers. He quickly wrote down two new notes and popped them on the mirror along with the others.
He quickly brushed his teeth before making his way into the shower just hoping that Connor would see his notes. Well, he hoped he sees the one note, the other one is more of a note to himself, but it was something he needed to see.
Connor's eyes opened slowly as a soft ding rang throughout his head; he waited as the fan above him drifted in and out of focus as his lenses recalibrated. Slowly everything that had occurred during the reboot and system check ran through his vision like a list. A huge smile filled his features when he realized he wouldn't need to go through the headache of explaining to Cyberlife how he fried one of his processors because he got a little too 'comfortable' with his partner. The thought of the conversation almost caused a small chuckle to leave his voice synthesizers.
Speaking of said man, Connor glanced around the room to realize that Hank was nowhere to be found. He pulled the covers off of his body as he slowly got off of the bed looking around the room. The covers had been pulled over top of him, so Hank must have done that, but the clothes that were scattered on the ground were missing. Connor cautiously walked to where his pants were laying on the ground. He quickly threw those on after his boxers trying to ignore the dread that was filling his thirium pump.
As soon as he finished getting dressed, the dread was swallowing his body as the sorrowful realization seemed to fill his mind.
"What is this about Jeffrey?" Hank sighed as he threw himself in the seat in front of Fowler's desk. It had been way too early for this dumb shit, he didn't understand why this couldn't wait till a couple more hours when he was supposed to be at work.
"You need to stop calling me that." Fowler sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I am calling you wondering why your android shot and deactivated three androids and there is no report on it?"
Hank's face twisted up in confusion as he just stared at Fowler with a dumbstruck look on his face. "That is what this is about? You have me here at the ass crack of dawn because of a report?"
"Well someone dropped off three android bodies, with your name on them, to be delivered to the evidence locker with nothing else attached!" Fowler slammed his hands on his desk, "We weren't sure if it was a threat or not until we had one of the office bots look at the damn memory. You need to be more careful, Hank."
Hank rubbed his eyes as a deep breath slipped through his lips, "Sorry, I will have that done as soon as I make it to my desk. Sorry bout that, Jeff."
"Are you okay?"
"What do you mean?" Hank rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms over his chest, "Not like you are one to get worried about little ol' me."
It was Fowler's turn to sigh as he leaned back in his chair with a loud creak, "I got a phone call from Cyberlife last night."
"Is that so?" Hank questioned raising an eyebrow at the quick change of conversation, "And?"
"They were wondering why their RK800 model, or as you know it as, Connor." Fowler gestured towards Hank before bringing his hands back together, "Isn't returning to its port at night."
Hank felt his throat begin to tighten as Fowler's eyes seemed to drill into him; there was no way that Fowler could know. Hell, Hank didn't even admit it till last night. "So? Why are you asking me?"
"Well, being partners and all, I figured you would know where the android went at night?" Hank leaned back in his seat trying to look less suspicious, as if he didn't take said android home last night.
"Why would I care where that thing goes at night?" Hank rolled his eyes as he spit the venom through his lips, hoping that the words didn't sound as forced as they felt. "Does it matter if he goes back to his port or not?" Hank questioned wondering if cyberlife had really been moditoring everything that Connor had been doing.
"No, but if he became sympathetic to the android's cause, then he would need to be sent back," Fowler shrugged, but his eyes were locked onto Hank, trying to see if there was any visible sign of distress, but Hank sat there with his best poker face on.
"Ah." He nodded along pursing his lips but tried to not let the words affect him. The thought of Connor being thrown out like some piece of garbage was horrifying."
"As well as you."
"Huh?" Hank questioned, his head whipping back towards Fowler fast enough that his headache throbbed in response.
"If you become sympathetic to their cause, you would need to be pulled from the case, and Connor would go to another officer." "
Hank shoved himself out of his chair and placed his hands on Fowler's desk glaring daggers into him, "You know I am the last, goddamn, cop that wants to be doing this. Don't think I would ever become sympathetic to some pieces of plastic." The words were spit out of his mouth as his heart dropped into his stomach. If Connor ever heard these false words, it would just kill Hank.
Fowler opened his mouth to respond but was cut off when someone opened the office door. Both turned their heads to see a new police officer standing there with the door partly opened and an embarrassed look on his face, "Sorry to interrupt, but your android is looking for you in the evidence room. Something about not being able to access the files."
"You are dismissed." Fowler said leaning back into his chair with a smug look on his face. Hank sneered at the man before waving his hand at him as he made his way out of the room.
"Just try and keep your personal life out of the case next time." Hank heard Fowler laughing from behind him.
"Fuck you." Hank sneered as he slammed the office door shut.
"Looks like you have the evidence already open." Hank stated confused as he made his way into the glass room that clearly had all of the evidence shelves pulled up and open. Connor was sitting on the desk, like always, but he didn't respond to Hank nor did he turn around and look at the man.
Hank raised an eyebrow but figured that Connor knew that they couldn't show affection in the workplace, since it could end with him being deactivated. They didn't talk about it last night, nor did they discuss what they were, Hank wasn't sure what the android wanted, nor was he really sure what he wanted. He wanted to cherish and take care of Connor for as long as Connor would allow him, but Connor was going to outlive him by so many years, maybe even decades. The thought caused a depressing sigh to leave his lips.
"Whatcha doin?" Hank asked, clearly getting more uncomfortable by the minute as he walked up besides the android who refused to say a word. Connor glanced over at Hank with a weird look on his face, as if he was unsure of what he was feeling or what to say. "You constipated or something?"
Connor's face deadpanned before ripping his head away from Hank. "No, obviously I do not have said organic operating systems, thus, I could never be or become 'constipated'." The words seemed to be sneered out of Connor's lips, but Hank just shook it off as him being very overtired. "I was just about to connect with the HR-400 model." Connor gestured towards the sex bot that was hooked up to the cabinet.
Hank shied away from the android, the sight of it covered in blue blood and held up by a hook was just too much for Hank to look at. "Ya know, just be careful with the memories in that one and all."
Connor's face deadpanned as he began walking towards the dead android, "Usually company's policy is to erase the memories every two hours." He let out a sigh as he grabbed the android's limp wrist, "But, I am above that, Lieutenant. Don't worry, I will leave your pleasures out of the investigation."
"That's not what I was getting at." Hank groaned, his face a blotchy red as he harshly rubbed his face and watched as Connor connected to the bot.
He huffed to himself, this must be worse than having your ex and current partner with you in the same room. He leaned against the desk and just waited for Connor to come out yelling, he wasn't sure why, but he had a really bad feeling about all of this. Connor was acting really odd this morning, he wasn't looking at Hank for longer than a couple of seconds and it had all been glares. Sure, they were trying to act like nothing changed around them, but this wasn't how they were before.
"Hank?" Connor's voice pulled Hank from his thoughts; Hank looked up from his shoes to meet the android's gaze and he slightly regretted it. Connor's eyes were wide with rage and confusion while his jaw was clenched shut and Hank could practically hear his artificial teeth grinding against one another. Something told him, that he viewed the memories that he swore he wasn't going to.
"What's up….partner?" Hank questioned crossing his arms against his chest trying to pretend like he didn't fear for his life. He always knew he would die at the hands of an android, he just never thought it would be by one he slept with.
"I just have a few little questions for you." Connor's voice was monotone as he slowly started making his way towards Hank.
"Let me hear them." Hank gulped pushing himself off of the desk and glanced back towards the door, "Let me get a cup off coffee first." When he turned to the door Connor harshly grabbed his shoulders and shoved Hank up against the wall. "Nope, don't need it anymore. Wide awake. Good morning to you then."
"What is going on?" Connor asked and Hank swore he heard his voice quiver a little as the android pushed against him harder. Their faces only inches apart.
"I should be asking you that." Hank said bewildered, completely confused as to what was going through Connor's head. "Did something go wrong with your update? Did ya break something?"
"Why are you treating me so cold?" Connor sneered with his face twisting up in confusion and angst. Hank stared at him with a deadpan face and something inside of him told him that he should try and calm the android down but there was something else inside of him that was infuriated that Connor was acting like this instead of just talking to him.
"Well, why do you think, Connor?" Hank said matter-of-factly, "Let's work through this together."
Hank definitely knew he fucked up, but he was too far in to just let Connor go, "I don't know, Lieutenant…" Connor sneered getting closer to Hank, "I thought we were just fine."
Hank groaned at the title, "Oh we are back to that now, are we?" He shook his head and rolled his eyes before glancing back at Connor with an annoyed look twisting up his face.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Connor's voice was laced with venom and sarcasm, "I thought you liked that since you programmed that sex bot to call you that."
Hank let out an aggravated groan before shoving Connor off of him. Connor stumbled back a couple steps but quickly regained his balance. "I thought we were over that!" Hank yelled taking a step towards Connor who had his arms crossed across his chest. His LED spinning a bright red as he processed the fight that was unfolding in front of him.
"Would you be over it if I had slept with, oh I don't know, Gavin?" Connor sneered leaning towards Hank before leaning back with a smug look on his face.
Hank felt his left eye twitch as rage filled his body to the core. He couldn't control the anger that was bubbling up in him as he reached forward and tightly grabbed Connor's arms, "Oh so you like Gavin? I guess you do like being treated like shit."
"Since I love you, apparently I do." Connor sneered grabbing Hank's hands and throwing them off his person. Hank let out an exasperated sigh as he felt his rage subsiding at the word love. He wasn't even sure what had started all of this.
"I know I had treated you like shit before, but I was going through a lot. It is hard to sort out all of these feelings that I haven't felt in a long time." Hank let out another sigh glancing down at his feet, "But I thought I had been treating you good since."
Hank looked back up towards Connor when he heard an angry noise rip through the android, "Well you didn't this morning." Connor's lip was trembling as he spoke, "You can't treat me like some sex bot that you just fuck and then leave in the morning."
Hank froze and he felt his mind stop as the words left Connor's mouth. Wait, what was this about? "Uh, what? What's going on? Why do I feel like I did something wrong when I know I didn't?"
"Ohyou did nothing wrong, huh? So why don't you just go back to the Eden club and fuck one of them next time you get horny!" Connor screamed as he began to storm away from Hank. For a moment, Hank didn't know what to say or what to do. He couldn't understand what was going on, Connor must have saw something he didn't like in the memories, but if that was it, why was he bringing up last night and this morning?
Hank quickly whipped around to grab Connor's arm and pull him back to Hank, "Wait, what is this all about? You are confusing me, Con."
Connor's mouth was open but nothing came out but whimpers at first, "You left me last night!" He finally cried out, "Alone. Then you have been acting as if nothing happened between us! You are treating me like that bot!" Connor exclaimed pointing towards the android hanging from the wall with dried blue blood splattered across its chest.
A smirk pulled at Hank's lips as he pulled Connor in for a hug, "Oh really? Like the one you shot in the chest?" Hank chuckled a little amused at the squirming and angry pouts that were coming from Connor. It took a couple minutes, but Connor finally let out a deep sigh and fell into the hug.
"You calm now?" Hank mused pulling back from the hug a little to look in Connor's eyes. They were shimmering with tears and it pulled at Hank's heart if it didn't completely rip it to shreds. "Can I talk now?" Connor shoved his head back into Hank's chest, but Hank felt him nod. "Did you get my note?"
"What note?" Connor mumbled into the wrinkly fabric of Hank's button up shirt. Hank rolled his eyes realizing what had happened this morning.
"I got called into work early, at like four or some bullshit." Hank explained rubbing circles on Connor's back, "You were still doing a systems check, and I was scared that if I woke you, that I would mess something up, so I left you a sticky note on my mirror with the rest of my notes. I figured when you checked yourself in the morning, you would see it."
Connor looked up from Hank's chest with a confused look twisting up his lips, "Then why have you been treating me like nothing happened?"
Hank rolled his eyes at the question before looking down at Connor, "Because we are at work, you plastic prick." He chuckled before slowly releasing Connor and taking a step back to look at him in the eyes, "What did you want me to do? Bend you over my desk and fuck you in front of everyone?" Hank let a hearty laugh at the absurdity of the thought.
"Are you asking me to or …" Hank's laughter got caught in his throat as Hank began choking over what Connor had just said.
"Sarcasm, Connor, sarcasm." Hank wheezed out between coughs; he coughed into his fist two more times before leaning straight up to look at Connor's beaming face. "Feel better now?"
"Yes, very." Connor smiled before quickly pecking Hank's cheek before heading towards the exit leaving Hank in the middle of the room by himself. Hank watched Connor walk away with a goofy grin on his face. He rolled his eyes before walking after Connor.
" I need a drink"
Notes: I am so sorry about the delay, it has been a long time and this chapter has been sitting in the google docs for a bit, but I just moved to another state and started my graduate program. Along with that, my editor went on Vacation and couldn't edit this past week so I am sorry for the hold up. Thank you all for being so understanding :) Love you al