Connor goes shopping.
He had little use for money anyway, what would an android even spend money on.
It wasn't that long ago Connor had thought those words and believed them true. It wasn't until he received his first pay-check that he realised there was actually quite a lot he could spend his money on. Like food for his fish and replacement filter parts should he need them, a new ball for Sumo, and Thirium, he could purchase his own thirium now. He'd never realised how much he was actually taking from Hanks own pay-check until he had received his own.
Of course the man insists it had never been a bother and he had rather assertively refused the android's offer to pay him back. Still Connor planned to secretly stash some money away so until he could repay Hank someway. He had done a little research and it seemed both pets, vehicles and medical costs were among the top four most common unexpected expenses, so putting money aside for any unforeseen expenses that should befall the man seemed the logical choice.
Besides a visit to the pet store for more fish supplies and a gift for Sumo, it seemed new clothes were on the agenda much to Connor's insistence he didn't require new clothes. He had two perfectly wearable uniforms after all and an old borrowed hoodie he wore around the house and on walks with Sumo. But Hank held stubbornly strong, stating he didn't want the android wearing that CyberLife uniform any more, even promising to burn the jackets once Connor had acquired new clothes.
Which was how they ended up at the mall in a rather large, reasonably priced department store. That supplied clothes for both formal and casual wear, for all genders and ages. As his eyes scanned over the countless racks, filled with clothes of varying colours, materials, sizes and styles he had to admit it was a little intimidating. Up until now he had always worn the uniform his model came with, it was obviously designed with his job in mind and proved no hindrance to his work and it was comfortable enough. Apart from the borrowed jumper of Hank's the only other clothes he had worn were a jumbled mix he had selected from the precinct's lost and found to go undercover to Jericho. Which Hank had made sure to point out amusingly on more than one occasion that most other deviant's didn't dress like drifters.
Which just went to show he had absolutely no clue when it came to picking clothes. And now he was in a department store crammed full of thousand's of different garments. How was he supposed to know which ones to pick out. How was he supposed to even know where to start.
"Okay, here we go, men's section. Lets see what you can find." Hank announced, clapping him on the back as he urged him to start looking.
Connor tugged a little at the first thing he came across on the rack in front of him. A plain white singlet as it turns out, other singlets in varying colours hung beside it. Scanning the corner of the store they stood in he tried to devise the best place to start, familiarity perhaps. His uniform was both professional and caused no discomfort throughout the day so it made sense to find something similar. So spotting familiar buttoned up shirts he headed over for them, picking out a white one identical to the one he wore.
The one in his hand looked obviously far to big for him and for a moment he realised he didn't have a clue what his sizing was. The tags showed that sizes seemed to range from small up to six times extra large, but other items seemed to size in inches or even centimetres. It seemed odd and a little unorthodox to size clothing in so many different ways rather than use the same method for all, surely that would make find ones size far easier. He ran a search through his data banks hoping to find some schematics that might hold his measurements, unfortunately he came up empty.
CyberLife would have held such files in their data banks but he was no longer able to tap into them since becoming deviant. Hank let out a heavy groan as he walked up beside the android holding up no other then a white fucking button up exactly like the one he wore.
"You have got to be kidding me kid. You are not having a wardrobe full of white dress shirts." Hank shook his head, taking the shirt from the android and hanging it back on the rack. "The whole point of this shopping trip is to change things up a bit, find something new. To find something you like, find your style."
"But I do not know what I like? How am I supposed to know which items I'm supposed to pick?" Connor asked, brows pinching as he looked from the rack to the man in front of him.
"Hell, I don't know. You put together that outfit to sneak into the deviant hideout, how did you go about choosing to put that together." The lieutenant shrugged.
"You said I looked like a homeless drifter. You pointed it out on more than one occasion." The android dead panned.
"All at once it kinda did, but you know with fewer elements maybe. The jacket wasn't bad." Hank placated.
"I went through the precincts lost and found and put on the garments that fit." Connor answered. There were far too many items here to use that tactic here though.
"Look around for stuff you like, I dunno try finding something that catches your eye." This wasn't working out how he had planned. Seeing how most androids had changed out of their uniforms after becoming deviant back when android were just starting to wake up, Hank had kind of figured this trip would go a whole lot smoother.
He watched as the android scanned the wrack in front of him moving along until he reached out and unhooked a floral print dress shirt. And Hank held back a cringe, the bright pink, green, blue and yellow shirt was the gaudiest thing he had ever seen. He was know to hold some rather gaudy shirts himself, but this shirt was on a level all its own. But if it was what the kid liked he certainly wasn't going to judge or doing anything that might dishearten him.
"This one catches the eye." Connor stated. Holding the shirt out so Hank could better inspect it.
"It certainly does." Hank agreed. "Do you like it though, is it something you'd wear?"
The androids face dropped as he looked the shirt over. "I am not particularly fond of it. I think Detective Reed would have a field day if I were to wear this to work, but you did tell me to find something that catches my eye and the excessively bright colours certain drew attention."
"Oh Gavin would have a blast if he saw you in that." Hank couldn't deny that. "That's not what I meant by catching your eye though, I meant for you to try and find a colour or pattern that catches your attention because you find pleasing."
"Oh." Connor said as he put the shirt back pulling out a light dusty-teal coloured one from nearby. "How about this one then, it is still somewhat bright without being intrusive?" The kid asked.
"Do you like it?"
"I think so."
"Okay then turn around, and lets try and size it up for you." Hank stated, taking the shirt from the android's hand and holding it to his back. Sizing the shoulders of the shirt to the kids back. "Think you'll need the next size down." He said putting the shirt back and pulling out one the right size before handing it back to Connor.
The kid picked out two other coloured shirts and Hank chose to remain silent about the white one the android snuck in his pile when he thought the man wasn't looking. They then piled on two pair of dark denim jeans, a vest he noticed the kid show interest in and a dark grey pea coat, before it was time to pick out some more casual clothes.
"Okay kid, lets mosey on back to the casual section to grab some comfy around the house stuff." Hank said, starting for rows of T-shirts.
"What is wrong with the sweatshirt I wear at home?" Connor asked as he pulled out a plain white tee from the rack.
"Nothing. But people are gonna start thinking you have nothing else to wear if they see ya walking Sumo in the same thing everyday. And you can't be walking around in a sweatshirt all summer, it'll be too hot."
Hank was the only real example Connor had of what people usually wore around the house and all that gave him was tee, boxers or a sweatshirt if the weather was cooler. He supposed that meant he would have to obtain at least one pair of boxer shorts during this shopping trip. He couldn't wear boxer's to the park though, luckily he had multiple examples to go off when it came to what people wore when walking their dogs or visiting the park. So rerunning through the previous day's trip to the park with Hank and Sumo, he took note of what the people they had past wore. Looking out for particular garments that caught his attention.
Hank gave an encouraging thumbs up as the Kid finally kicked into gear again after a five minute pause in which he just stood still temple blinking yellow. He really wished Connor would give a little warning before doing whatever it is in that head of his that has him zone out like that. He never quite knew if the android was doing something himself or if he was just majorly glitching out. So it was relieving to see Connor set to work as if on a mission when he snapped out of it. Scanning the racks with new purpose as he pulled out various shirts and pants.
Ten minutes later and the android had added, four tees, one of which had I heart dogs printed on the front. Two long sleeved tees, one turtleneck, hooded sweatshirt, new underwear and two pair of cargo shorts added to his pile. Hank looked down at his phone as Connor was sent into the change room, they had been in the store little over an hour now. It was no wonder he was getting sick of looking at clothes, but he sure as hell wasn't heading back into the store to try and exchange things if any were the wrong size which was why he made the kid try it all on before heading to the counter.
Turned out a good thing he did, one of the pair of jeans must have had the wrong size on them or something and wouldn't stay on the kid's hips. The sweatshirt was a little big but Connor insisted he preferred it that way and the turtleneck was swapped out for a loose fitting one after Hank had rushed into the change room after hearing the kid's plea of "Hank, I need help." Only to burst into hysterics much to Connor's dismay as he realised the kid had his head stuck in the skivvy's neck.
On there way to the check out they had made a short detour past the tie selection, were Connor had picked out one with brightly coloured blue and orange striped fish on it to add to his tie collection. Which as of now consisted of three ties but now the kid got paid for working down the station Hank was sure that would soon change. Hank helped carry some of the bags back to the car once they were done, only stopping once on their way out of the mall for a cheap coffee to go.
Loading the bags he was carrying into the back seat he watched as Connor took to the passenger seat setting his bags in the foot well, before climbing into the drivers seat and starting up the engine. They were pulling out of the parking lot and onto the street when he heard Connor riffling through one of his shopping bags and looked over to see the kid pulling something black onto his head. Almost choking when he realised it was a beanie with pointed tips sticking up on top.
"The hell is that?" He gaped as the android turned to him, a smile plastered on his face.
"A hat for next winter, I found it in the bargain bin by the counter." He stated before pointing to the little triangles poking out the top. "Look it's like little cat ears, isn't it cute."
"Your such a nerd sometimes." Hank snorted, leaning over to elbow the kid playfully in the arm.
"Well, I like it." Connor smiled in reply and Hank couldn't help but smile along.
"See that wasn't so hard was it? You're starting to get the hang of finding your style already." He stated, before saying. "And you are giving me those CyberLife jackets when we get home. I meant it when I said I was burning those things."