"Hey Tina, you got that cold case file from Duran?"
"Oh, yes, she gave it to me like twenty minutes ago," said Tina, looking away from her computer and scouring through the tottering piles of paperwork on her desk. "Why'd she do that by the way? Wouldn't it be easier to drop it off with you?"
"Three guesses why Tina," Gavin returned with a rueful grin, arms crossed.
"She's shy."
"Nope."
"She has a big crush and can't stand to be anywhere near you."
"Fuck no," said Gavin, pulling a face.
"…You insulted her, didn't you?"
"Hah, so, uh, file?"
Tina sighed and rolled her eyes but didn't press Gavin for a straight answer. She just continued to search through the mess of her desk, only pausing to shuffle a few piles of paper out of the way for Gavin to sit.
"Here it is. Though I'm surprised Nines hasn't had at it yet."
Gavin looked up from the file, interest sparked. "What d'you mean?"
"Well, you remember how Nines used to gate crash on other people's cases?"
Yeah, Gavin remembered that. He also remembered that he forgot to have a little talk with Nines about it. Shit, he'd have to make sure to-
"Well, all of a sudden, he stopped that like almost two months back and started eating through the cold stuff instead."
Gavin blinked, then slowly started to grin. "Thank fuck. People less pissed with him now?"
Tina shrugged, leaning back in her swivel chair and slowly spinning it from side to side. "Yeah? I think so. I mean, he still ruffles people the wrong way and you should see the looks Hank sends him. I bet it's because he looks so much like Connor, it's weird."
"Yeah, no, I don't think that's it."
Tina stopped spinning, looking interested. Gavin quickly backtracked.
"But, uh, yeah, p'haps a new look'd help Nines out. Give him his own style or something instead of that damn cyberlife jacket he always wears."
Gavin paused in his musings, suddenly aware that Tina was still not moving, and instead staring up at him with wide eyes and a devilish grin.
"I want in."
Suddenly, images of Nines dressed in pikachu onesies, teddy bear print overalls or head-to-toe knitwear flashed through Gavin's head.
Goddamnit, he couldn't say no. The mental image of Tina and Nines shopping together was just too funny.
It was just a shame that Nines could say no. Not to the shopping thing, no, he seemed quite interested in that, and neither to Tina coming, who he had made it clear he was trying hard to befriend. Instead what he said 'no' to was pretty much every piece of clothing they pointed out to him. Despite his usual dapper look, Nines didn't seem to have a fashionable bone in his body.
"Whatcha mean you 'don't like v-necks?! You haven't even tried one on!" Gavin exclaimed, waving the shirt in front of Nines with an affronted glower.
"I agree with Nines, I don't think he'd rock it like you," Tina chirped up from the other side of the clothing racks.
"… Brown nosing gets you nowhere," Gavin lied, putting back the top.
"Ooh! How about this one, Nines?" Asked Tina holding up a green and yellow cable knitted monstrosity.
"… I don't believe that would suit me either," was Nines's strained yet diplomatic response.
Gavin stopped staring at the jumper in horror to turn and mouth 'nice one' to Nines.
"What do you like then?" Asked Tina, walking round to join them.
"I am not sure. Clothes that are similar to what I am wearing now would be preferable."
Gavin's smile faded. Quietly, he put back the plaid button up he'd been in the process of picking up and turned to face Nines.
"You didn't get to choose those clothes; CyberLife did. They don't get to make any more choices for you, Nines, d'you hear?"
Both Nines and Tina blinked at him, visibly surprised by the unexpected level of vitriol in his voice. Gavin turned back to the rack and started pushing the hangers, eyes trailing over the clothes but not really looking at them.
"Think about what you like and go for it. If you like that stuff, fine. Just be sure," he muttered.
No one spoke for a moment. Then:
"I like your leather jacket."
Blinking in bewilderment, Gavin turned from the clothes rack and faced Nines again. His eyes were downcast, but his expression was not sad. There was a faint, contemplative smile on his lips.
"I also like clothes that cover my neck. I don't like it being bare."
"We can work with that," said Tina, turning on the heal of her boots and beginning her search anew, leaving Nines and Gavin standing next to each other in awkward silence. Well, on Gavin's side at least. Nines was too busy staring at Gavin like he was some kind of puzzle. Gavin cleared his throat and hastily got on with the clothes hunt.
In the end, Nines managed to pick out a black, zip up leather jacket that somehow fit his stupidly broad shoulders, Gavin found some grey boots that Nines didn't hate and Tina managed to curb her impulse to buy godawful abomination-clothes and instead produced a small haystack of pull overs, high collared shirts and turtlenecks.
And one pair of tight leather pants.
Gavin, who hadn't known about the leather pants and who had the unfortunate luck to been chugging down a water bottle when Nines pulled back the changing room curtain, did a spit take. Nines dodged it.
"Holy shit," Gavin choked as Tina helpfully thumped him on the back. "L- look- hughk- looking good Nines!"
Nines, having now realised Gavin's coughing fit wasn't anything serious, moved away from his side and towards one of the changing room mirrors.
"I am not so sure," he hummed, turning around and inspecting the back of the pants. "Isn't it too tight for work?"
It was Tina's turn to choke now, probably at the mental image of Nines walking into the precinct wearing that.
"If you wear these to work, criminals will line up to have you arrest them," she laughed.
Nines started to look contemplative.
"Wait, no! Nines, she's joking. Don't wear that to work," Gavin blurted out, knowing how literal Nines could be sometimes. "But you can wear them out of work."
"I'm still not sure," Nines stated, running his hands down the material now. "When would I have an opportunity to wear this?"
Gavin, who's eyes had been unconsciously trailing the movement of those hands, gave a low cough and shrugged. "Uh, if you ever go to a bar again, that'd be a good look. You'd make all the other asses out there look ugly."
Nines looked up and caught Gavin's eye in the mirror, LED circling yellow for a brief second before he seemed to recall the night at the bar, and the awful pickup lines they shared. He gave a small, smiling huff. It was the closest thing Gavin had ever heard to a genuine laugh from him, and it made him grin from ear to ear.
"So, you gonna buy it or what?" He asked, walking up to examine the reject pile Nines had made inside the changing room. It was much larger than the pile of approved clothes and seemed to consist mostly of lighter coloured jumpers and shirts. Gavin would have presumed that Nines was developing a beginner's goth style but, going by the bright blue turtleneck, the red pullover and the odd white shirt he had approved of, this was not the case.
"I think I will buy it," Nines decided, slipping past Gavin and pulling off his shirt. Gavin promptly went as red as a beetroot and quickly started to back away, only to slow and come to a standstill as he noticed something. The chain around Nines's neck, the one he spotted now and then whenever Nines leant over and Gavin could see past his ridiculous collar. He could finally see what was attached to it. Softly swinging and bumping against Nines's chest with his every movement, was a little silver cat, Gavin's silver cat. The one he gave Nines over a month back at the comedy club. He… he'd been wearing it this whole time.
Nines moved his hands down and starting to unbutton the pants.
"Jesus!" exclaimed Gavin, coming back to himself with a jolt. He jumped back and yanked the curtain closed. "Warn a guy!"
Nines ignored him and Gavin shook his head, turning around only to jump back as he came nose to nose with Tina. His arms pinwheeled for a moment as he fought for balance, wanting very much not to fall back into Nines's changing room while he was taking off his pants. Luckily, he managed to regain his balance before that could happen. He gave Tina a dower look. Tina, in return, just narrowed her eyes in a contemplative fashion, before glancing past Gavin and calling out:
"Hey Nines, me and Gav are gonna go look at hair products in another shop. Meet us outside here in fifteen minutes."
Tina obviously had something she wanted to say. She didn't say it though, instead choosing to sort through a range of bottles and jars and stare at Gavin whenever she thought he wasn't looking. Gavin, who was busy trying to sort through his thoughts on the subject of leather pants and cat necklaces, didn't bother calling her out on this.
"Do you think Nines should change his hair colour?" Tina asked, picking up a bottle of red hair dye. "I mean, it would definitely help with the confusion between him and Connor."
"If he wants to change his hair, sure," shrugged Gavin, absentmindedly shuffling round several tubs of 'SUPERELECTROSHOCK HAIR BLAST GEL'.
"Yeah, but do you think he'd look better?"
"He looks fine as he is."
Tina hummed noncommittally at that. Gavin finally looked up from the hair gel products to send her a confused glare.
"He looks fine," he repeated. "You don't think so?"
"I mean, yeah, but he looks like Connor. They have the same face, same hair, same everything. The only difference between them right now is their clothes and their eyes."
Gavin was properly glaring now. He knew Tina was technically telling the truth but-
"That's a load of bull crap," he snapped, shoving aside several bottles of hair gel with much more force than necessary. "Nines is nothing like that prick."
Tina cocked her head to the side, silently inviting Gavin to keep talking, which Gavin didn't do. He just glowered at her one last time and turned his attention back to the shelves in front of him. He picked up a random bottle of pomade, a standard looking jar of styling cream and some off-brand hair wax. That would do for now, Nines could always go looking for himself if he didn't like any of these. Tina followed him to the line, holding a can of hair spray and a strange kind of mousse Gavin hadn't seen before.
"… He's going to have quite the look after this," said Tina, breezily as if she hadn't just received a death glare from her best friend. "Even if Nines looks, uh, similar to Connor, he'll have to beat the girls off with a stick."
"Nines is too nice for that shit; I'll have to do it for him."
Tina smiled, relieved, then started to snicker. "You'd better crack out that metal bat of yours. I bet Janice from forensics will be first in line."
"Wanna see if I can make a home run?"
Tina laughed louder. The cashier stared oddly at them when they reached the front of the queue but Gavin didn't care.
"C'mon, let's get back to Nines," he said as they finished up. "Shops are gonna close soon and I don't want him waiting out there like a tied-up dog."
Nines wasn't mopingly waiting outside the clothes shop like a tied-up dog. Neither was he waiting like a regular, if slightly bored, dog. He wasn't waiting. He wasn't there.
"Shit. Where'd he go?"
"I don't know. I told him to meet us her-"
"We can't have lost him! How can we lose Nines?"
"Gavi-"
"If he followed some stranger promising kittens or candy or some shit, I'm gonna kill him," Gavin hissed out, passing Tina his shopping bags and pulling his phone out.
[Wed 5:14 pm]
Where are you
"I'm over here, Gavin," a voice called out straight away, from some distance. Gavin span around and quickly stalked towards said voice, Tina trailing after him.
They found Nines staring through the glass of a shop front window display. He only looked up when they drew up to his side.
"Fucks sake, Nines," snapped Gavin, letting out a stressed huff. "Text me next time if you decide to go off by yourself."
"Understood," Nines agreed before looking back at the display.
Gavin, a little caught off guard by the quick acquiescence, followed his gaze and promptly felt his eyebrows almost shoot off his face. Nines was looking at a piercing jewellery display. There were silver and gold nose rings arranged in a short tower along with tongue studs and lip bars, next to an album of different belly piercings and nipple piercings and- uh…
"Should they have pictures like that where kids can see them?" Asked Tina, obviously having spotted that photo too. Nines looked down at it, his LED flashed yellow for a split second.
"Is that what you meant by 'it depends where you get them?" He asked looking at Gavin.
"Wait, what?" Asked Tina, also now looking at Gavin.
If the ground split open and swallowed him whole at that moment, Gavin wouldn't have complained. But, alas, it didn't. It stayed solid and stable, like the motherfucking piece of rock it was.
"Thinking of getting a piercing, Nines?" He asked instead, not looking at Tina for fear of what she'd see in his face. "How'd that even work? Can you pierce whatever you're made from?"
"The outer shell of my body is comprised of a flexible polymer. In theory, I should be able to pierce it, but that applies only the surface. I wouldn't be able to have the majority of these piercings," Nines said, apparently accepting Gavin's awful attempt at redirecting the conversation as he turned away, facing the display once more.
Gavin thought about this answer then looked at the pictures too.
"Can't androids change how their skin looks?" Asked Tina from the other side of Nines now, having also seemingly given Gavin a pass. She was looking at the belly button piercings on display. "You could make it look like you've got an ear piercing of something."
"Or you could pierce your eyebrow, that's something that shouldn't go below the skin, or the polymer whatever," Gavin added on, casually slouching against the side of the display.
"Do androids get piercings much?" Tina asked Gavin at the same time as Nines asked:
"Should I get a piercing?"
Okay, that was enough. Gavin straightened up.
"Why you two asking me? A. How the hell should I know? And B. That's your choice, Nines, not mine."
Although, oddly enough, the thought of the usually straight-laced Nines with a piercing was starting to grow on Gavin. Fuck if he knew why.
"I will think on it," decided Nines.
They started walking away. Tina bumping shoulders with Nines and making him smile at the friendly action. Gavin looked away, grinning to himself, and leaned behind Nines to grab his bags from Tina, brushing his arm up against Nines and somehow forgetting to move away after he got the bag. He swung it lightly with every step.
"So… what was that about you and piercings, Gav?"
Gavin's grin dropped.