"Connor! What the hell is going on?"
The sound of Hank's voice startled Connor awake, his sleep mode interrupted. "It's 8:30, we have to leave in fifteen minutes! You feeling alright? You never oversleep." Hank's irritation morphed into slight concern for Connor's slip-up. Connor slowly got out of bed, confused. "I-I'm alright. I apologize, my internal alarm appears to have malfunctioned." He said sheepishly.
"Don't worry about it. I guess if our alarm clocks don't go off sometimes, no doubt the same can happen to yours." He brushed the situation off and left the android's room. "Let's just get a move on."
Connor moved about his room and quickly got dressed. He headed for the bedroom door when he remembered to feed his fish. Turning back around, the deviant grabbed a container of fish flakes sitting beside the tank. He opened the tank lid and was disheartened to find one of his bright blue fish had died and was floating at the top of the spotless fish tank. He sadly scooped up the dead fish and proceeded to flush it down the toilet. After feeding his remaining fish, Connor headed to the kitchen, not paying attention to his surroundings as he suddenly bumped into Hank, causing the lighter-weighted android to fall back against the counter, the corner cutting his shirt and his arm. Blue blood started to trickle through his shirt. "Shit.. I'm sorry, kid. I didn't see you there." The fatherly detective examined Connor's cut before the android shook his head and made his way to the bathroom. "It was my fault. Apologies, Hank... again." He sighed and entered the bathroom, carefully wrapping his laceration in gauze before heading out the front door with his partner.
It was a slow day at the precinct; almost everyone was doing paperwork. Connor had just finished one stack of reports before Fowler stepped out of his office. "Connor, in my office. Now." He did not sound happy.
"Jeez, he's pissed.." Hank shook his head. "Good luck, kid." Connor stood up and made his way to his bosses office, unsure why he was in trouble. Closing the door behind him, the android detective entered the office and sat down in front of Fowler's desk. "What seems to be the trouble, Captain?" He asked politely. Fowler sighed and sat down at his desk. "Connor, this is the third time you've handed in your reports late. What's going on?"
Connor looked down, unsure of how to answer. "I-"
"I can understand one or even two late reports, but three?! You gotta get your shit together; just because you're an android doesn't mean I'm going to give you special treatment." He said firmly. "Get back to work. I don't want to hear of another late report from you, got it?" Fowler looked up at Connor as the android stood up to leave.
"Yes, sir." He answered respectfully and left Fowler's office, his irritation increasing as he headed to the break room to get Hank a coffee. Gavin entered the room shortly after, standing beside Connor to get his coffee. "Morning, Tin Can. Heard the Captain was upset about your late reports. I thought androids were dead-set on finishing all their homework?" He teased as the deviant tried to ignore him.
Connor rolled his eyes and reached for the sugar near the back of the table and accidentally knocked over his coffee cup, spilling the extremely hot beverage on his hands and the table. "Shit!" He almost jumped back as the drink burned his hands. Gavin scoffed and took the sugar, pouring some into his coffee. "Gotta work on your hand-eye coordination, plastic."
The pained deviant kept trying to ignore Reed and the burning pain in his hands as he started cleaning up the spilled drink. "How else are you gonna hand in late reports and get yourself hurt at every mission without good old hand-eye coordination?" Gavin continued, oblivious to Connor's irritation morphing into anger.
"Gavin, shut up." He muttered, throwing the coffee-soaked paper towel away. The anger was rising up inside of him, ready to burst.
"What's that? Sorry, couldn't hear you over the sound of the gears turning in your artificial brain. Run out of oil, Tin Man? How about you-"
"How about you shut the fuck up?!" Connor suddenly snapped, shocking Gavin into silence. "For once in your life could you just keep your goddamn mouth shut?" The angry deviant began to rant as Reed stood silently, still stunned by Connor's sudden outburst. "Look, I get that you hate me, and that you think android's shouldn't exist, but have you taken a look at yourself?! You're more heartless than any machine I've ever seen! Do me a favor and get the hell out of my way. I'm done with your shit." He stormed out of the break room, ignoring the staring eyes from the rest of the precinct. Hank attempted to follow him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Son-"
"Don't. I-I need to be alone." Connor brushed Hank's hand away gently before walking upstairs to the roof of the precinct. The building was silent, unsure of what to say to the deviant's very unexpected outburst. Hank stormed into the break room, ready to give Gavin shit for pushing Connor too far. Gavin looked up quickly at the senior detective and began to panic. "H-Hank, before you say anything, I-I didn't mean to-"
"Bullshit! You can be a real asshole, you know that? Connor was already having a shit day, and you just had to come waltzing in to put the icing on the cake, right?" He berated the detective before him. "You're a real piece of work. Why don't you find something better to do with your life than ridiculing my partner and making things miserable for everyone?!" He wanted to continue to yell at Gavin, but decided against it. He knew it wouldn't change anything. "I have work to do." He muttered, leaving Reed alone again in the break room.
Connor sat on the rooftop, looking down at the busy streets below him. Taking deep breaths, he finally began to calm down. He thought about Gavin and the things the android had said to him in his emotional eruption. Although thinking of Gavin started to refuel his anger, the feeling of slight guilt extinguished it. He knew Gavin wasn't heartless; but why would he ridicule him and treat him like a machine? He didn't know what to think of the situation. His head was too clouded. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of footsteps behind him. He looked back, expecting to see Hank, but instead saw Gavin standing there sheepishly.
"..Hey." He looked down awkwardly. "You uh... you mind if I join you?"
Connor shrugged and looked back down at the streets below. Gavin sat down beside the deviant and sighed. "Look, Tin-" He cleared his throat. "-Connor. I...I'm sorry, okay? I know I was a major asshole and didn't know you were already having a bad day. Even if you weren't, I shouldn't have pushed you like that."
Connor looked over at Gavin, surprised at his apology. "It's okay."
Gavin shook his head and sighed. "No, it's not. I'm just...I'm an asshole to you, just because you're an android. But I know that you guys have the same rights as humans now, and that you should.. y'know, be treated like people. So, I'm sorry. Again."
"Th-Thank you, Gavin.." He looked down at his hands and winced as they throbbed with pain. Gavin heard him and looked over. "Shit. That looks like it hurts." He cringed at Connor's burned artificial skin. "Oh- here." Gavin reached in his pocket and pulled out some bandages. "Luckily I carry these around for myself when I get hurt doing stupid shit." He scoffed. "Let me see." He held out his hand to take Connor's. The android held out his hands and Reed started to gently wrap them in the bandages. "It's not much, but it's better than keeping the burns out in the open air." He focused on wrapping Connor's other hand as the android watched intently at Gavin's sudden nurturing action. After about a minute, Reed finished wrapping both of the android's hands and held them as he looked up at him. "Better?" Grey eyes met brown as they looked at each other. Connor nodded.
"Y-Yeah. Thank you." He answered softly.
They fell into a comfortable silence, Connor only slightly aware that Gavin was still holding his hands. The warmth from his hands lingered as Gavin finally let go and slowly stood up. "Thanks for forgiving me." He said genuinely. "It really means a lot." A warm hand was placed on his shoulder for a brief moment, and then it was gone.
Connor was left alone on the roof again. He smiled to himself as he looked down at his freshly bandaged hands.