A/N: This is set in between my other two DBH shorts, but it's fine as a stand alone. I'd love to know what people think :)

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Hank snorted as he woke, and then scrubbed his tired head against his pillow. He didn't want to be awake. Why the fuck was he awake already?

Wait...was that smoke?

On his feet with visions of Connor somehow having overheated to the point his components ignited, Hank pounded out of his bedroom and threw open Connor's door the second he got to the end of the hall, the kid's developing concept of privacy be damned.

And saw...nothing.

Before he had time to get too confused a crashing sound and a muffled cry of, "Sumo, no, calm down!" coming from the kitchen had him redirecting his steps. Walking slower now, because if Connor was talking to Sumo he could be reasonably certain neither of them was on fire, Hank scrubbed a hand over his face as the scene in the kitchen came to light.

"Connor...what the fuck?" Also why, and how was it possible for the ordinarily tidy android to have created such utter havoc all by himself? Those were things Hank would also like to know. He was just too busy looking around at the batter and pieces of bowl scattered on the floor, chunks of floury banana having made it all the way to the legs of the kitchen table, to manage the questions just yet. Not without snapping, and the LED spinning red and yellow at him from where Connor was bent over, holding Sumo's head back so he didn't slurp up crockery with the pancake batter the dog was inching towards with force, had him sucking in a deep breath instead.

"Sumo, bed, now," Hank ordered, pointing and deepening his voice so the big puppy would know he meant business, grateful when after a whine and a grumble he actually did. "Good dog."

Oh, and it was a blackened pile of something still smoking on the stove that he'd smelled. So at least he knew he wasn't just having a stroke at the same time Connor decided to play Kitchen Wars. Crossing the room Hank picked it up and dumped it in the sink, turning on the water with a sigh. Pivoting back around to Connor, the bitching out he'd intended to give the kid died on Hank's lips at his miserable face.

"I wanted to make you a real breakfast, not a smoothie you dump down the sink when I'm not looking. But, I failed." Ah, shit. Hank supposed it had been too good to be true that the kid didn't notice that his spinach and blueberry slime concoctions weren't actually getting eaten most days.

And considering he'd spent the first part of his existence controlled by people who'd threatened to disassemble him for every failure...

"Well, everyone fucks up the first time they cook...and Connor, you don't have to make me anything, you know that right? Hell, I can pour a bowl of cereal with the best of them." He leaned back against the counter, not surprised when the android positioned himself so that Hank couldn't see his LED anymore.

"Yes...but, I, you're letting me stay here-"

"I ain't letting you do shit, this is your home now, Connor, same as mine. We've talked about that, and I guess we're gonna keep talking about it until you get it. I don't want you to pay rent, and yeah, I expect you to pick up after yourself, but you don't have to do anything to be here. I want you here." If the irritation he'd been feeling before crept back and out into his tone, well, maybe that would be enough for Connor to finally listen, to finally get it. Kid was his family, not his servant, and he'd be damned before he let him act like it.

"And I want to do things for you! You've given me everything, and I just want-" Connor stopped then, face as frustrated as when he'd started his mini-rant, but wary now too. And shit. Between the heavy idea that he'd given Connor everything, which considering the ass he'd been at the start of their partnership he wanted to argue with on instinct, because God, the android had deserved so much better, and the fact that the part of him that had been alone for so long was struck dumb at the idea that the kid wanted to take care of him as much as he wanted to take care of Connor, Hank really didn't know what to say. Which was stupid, really, Connor wasn't actually a kid, wasn't content to be dependent, and he had a loyal streak a mile long, of course he'd want to do things for the people he cared about.

"Okay. Okay, I think I get it. Shit, I like doing stuff for you too." That got him a strained smile, and he sighed, before straightening up. "Alright, so breakfast. I'm guessing cooking wasn't in the skills Cyberlife thought to give a detective, so why don't I show you? Sumo will be less likely to be a pain in the ass with two of us too-I'm guessing he 'helped' the batter bowl on it's journey to the floor?"

Connor nodded and shot a slightly betrayed look at the dog. "He's always listened well when I walk him."

"Yeah, well, he knows behaving on walks is what gets him treats. Behaving ain't gonna get him people food, and he knows that too, spoiled ass dog."

"He is very food oriented." A smile on his face that was growing more pleased by the second, Connor admitted, "I did not wish to download a Cyberlife cooking package-it seemed like cheating. Learning things from you is more satisfying." And, shit, if that wasn't enough to warm the cockles of his half-dead heart.

"'Course it is. You tackle the floor and I'll dump some dish soap in the pan and give it a scrub, then we'll start over. You don't want to use a generic pancake recipe anyway, my mom's is the best." That got him a beam and Connor all but jogging towards the overcrowded pantry for the mop. Chuckling, and then wincing as he caught a whiff of his morning breath, Hank turned to his chore. Bacon and pancakes, huh? Not even the turkey bacon Connor kept putting in the cart when he wasn't paying attention by the looks of what was left in the pan.

This kid was trying to spoil him. Huh. While, as long as Hank got to return the favor sometimes, he guessed he'd allow it.