Disclaimer: I do not own Detroit: Become Human
Rating: T
Words: 5,845
Warnings: Usual language
Notes: Alright, and it continues! "Updating so soon?" you may ask. Welp, I've been hella inspired recently, so I have been writing a lot. I even started plotting later parts of the series as a whole, I'm super excited. People are excited about the puppies, and I was super excited to post this! I hope the cuteness and the DPD peeps being up to no good help perk up your mood.
Chapter: 4) Phase One: Puppies
Wednesday, November 30, 2039
Phase One: Puppies was starting today.
The people from the K-9 section of the precinct were glad to get some help with the whole group of puppies that they got. (Two of their usual trainers were out sick with the flu.) Twelve wriggly fur nuggets in total. Tina was so glad that she didn't have to patrol today because she was about to die of happiness around all these cuties. Plus, she wanted to make sure that everything went according to plan! She was positive that, by the end of the day, Connor and Nines would have bonded so much over their love of animals that they would realize they were meant for each other and get together.
Connor and Nines knew nothing of the puppies today. Everyone made sure that it wasn't brought up in the bullpen or the breakroom where either would have overheard, so it would be a surprise to the two men. Even the Captain was keeping mum. And all the better. I swear the universe has it against those two. They need today.
She was in the break room with her morning coffee when she saw Hank turning the corner from the reception area. She was about to call out a greeting to him…
…That is until she saw something in the corner of her eye.
From one of the back entrances that led to the kennel areas, she saw one of the two handlers opening the door and begin to walk in carrying one large cage of puppies. And then she saw that behind Hank, Connor appeared. Shit, crap, shit, why is he early?!
She dove into her pocket in a panic to pull up the group chat.
Operation Helping Hand
Wednesday, November 30
9:29 AM—Tina: Hank WHY THE HELL R U GUYS EARLY?
9:29 AM—Hank: Con insisted he come in to get some work done, I couldn't stop him
9:30 AM—Pam: I'm sorry! I tried to act like there was a malfunction that wouldn't let him in, but I panicked and couldn't do anything!
9:30 AM—Tina: SOMEONE DO SOMETHING
Tina chucked her finished paper cup of coffee into the trash and practically soared out of her chair to stop Connor. Thankfully, the universe seemed to be doing a favor because just before she could even step foot into the bullpen, she saw Mitchel stroll up to Connor all casual and begin speaking to him.
"Hey, man! How are you doing today?"
She could see Connor take a step back in surprise at Mitchel's suddenness. "Oh! Good morning, Mitchel. I am okay, thank you for asking." The man looked the other over with question in his eyes. "Are…are you alright?" To his credit, it was a fair question. Mitchel had appeared in front of Connor more like some kind of shiny Pokémon rather than a regular person-pace.
Mitchel stretched an arm and gave him an easy smile. "Oh yeah, oh yeah! Just had too much caffeine this morning, you know? Got me jittery, haha!"
"Ah, yes. Nines often tells me that he has been trying—to no avail—to curb Detective Reed, ah, Gavin's caffeine intake."
Hank took the opportunity to slink away since Connor was distracted. Once he was out of Connor's range of sight, he slid up next to Tina and fell into step next to her. He leaned over slightly to whisper, "I think he forgets that we all work in a police department and Connor's is a top detective. He ain't fooling anyone."
"Not at all."
"Oh, speaking of Nines," anything with Nines would get his attention—Mitchel put an arm across Connor's shoulders and began to steer him towards another part of the precinct, away from the bullpen, "I know there's some gummies that he likes. Been wanting to do something nice for him since, you know. Can you tell me about them?"
"Of course, I can! That is quite considerate of you. I am sure he will greatly appreciate it."
Tina was able to breathe out in relief when the two of them disappeared out of sight. With that, she turned her attention to the handler who was about to walk into the bullpen with the puppies. Crisis averted, thank Christ. Once she was in the bullpen, the excited yipping and yapping of young puppies filled the air. She worried for a second that Connor would hear them, but it seemed like Mitchel walked him quick and far enough away not to notice. Several people turned to the noise, and no matter how much of a drag their morning was going, the animals put a smile on their faces.
The handler set down the cage and stretched her back once she wrung out her arms. Her long blonde hair was pulled into a curled ponytail high on her head, trailing down her back. Wow, she's very pretty—Oh, my God, Tina brain, not the time! "Phew! Love getting to work with these little stinkers, but carrying all of them here is a workout. Name's Harley, and I was told there were going to be some people here to help me with them today?"
Hank reached out his hand and shook hers. "Lieutenant Hank Anderson, nice to meet you. "
"Same to you, Lieutenant!" Harley took back her hand to rest them on her hips. "You on puppy duty today?"
"Nah," he nodded over to Tina while giving her a little shove forward—the woman was trying to hide her gay panic to the best of her ability. "This one here will be helping you along with a few others. I'm too old to be running around after puppies. I got one old Saint Bernard and he's enough for me to handle already. Have fun, Chen."
And with that, he left her alone with the cute blonde handler like an asshole! What the heck was she supposed to say now? Thank tapdancing Jesus she didn't have to freak out internally for long because Harley turned her attention from Hank to her. "Chen's you name?"
"Uh, ah y-yes!" she blurted out louder than she intended. Harley raised an eyebrow but otherwise didn't comment on the volume. "But, you know, last name. I'm Tina, full name Tina Chen. And wow, that sounded a lot less James Bond-y in my head."
Harley laughed—it made the light brown eyeshadow on her lids more apparent when her eyes crinkled as she laughed—and Tina tried not to die inside. Oh, how she wished she could be an android and, like, cancel her Embarrassment Program from running or something. "You're funny, Tina. Glad I'm going to be working with you today. So, can you lead me to where we're going to be working with these little guys? This bullpen is cool and all, but I don't think people would appreciate puppies running underfoot, as cute as they are. More for the animals' safety than the people."
"That's true, that's true. Uhh, we have a large meeting room that we cleared out for today. Pushed all the tables and chairs to the sides for more room. That way with even the other person from K-9 coming, we should have enough room."
"Lead the way then, Tina Chen."
If Tina made it to the end of today without making an embarrassment of herself in front of Harley, she would count that as a successful day.
In the large meeting room that had already been cleared out, Tina, Ben, and Chris were at the ready to help Harley—and Rami, the other handler who had come in about five minutes after her—do whatever needed to be done. Mitchel would be arriving later since he was keeping Connor busy, and the only two missing were Gavin and Nines.
"Where do you want the scales, Rami?" Chris asked holding two animal weighing scales under each arm.
Said man's dark, loose curls of his high ponytail bounced when he turned his head to gesture towards the corner by the window. The sun streaming through the window gave his dark skin a nice glow. "Just over there, thanks. We're going to be putting those through a lot of work. Trying to get puppies to be still long enough to get an accurate read is a mission."
Chris let out a sharp laugh, head tilted back. "Oh, I think I know the feeling," he said as he set the scales down. When he stood back up, he continued, "I have a very young son. Getting him to sit still is like trying to hold flowing water."
"Or getting Gavin to stop being an asshole," Ben added.
"You're so right."
Tina snorted.
Harley turned to Tina. "Is this Gavin that bad?"
"Eh, he's been getting better. Best to think of him as a feral cat who's just starting to play well with other. Sometimes. When he wants to."
And speaking of Mr. Asshole.
Operation Helping Hand
Wednesday, November 30
9:54 AM—Tina: Gavin Ur late! Are you *trying* to make the plan fail?
9:54 AM—Tina: Also, y r u late? Nines is never late.
9:55 AM—Gavin: Shut up
9:55 AM—Gavin: 1 of the cats go sick. B there in 5
9:56 AM—Mitchel: Uhh might wanna hurry up. I ran out of questions about candy
9:57 AM—Gavin: ?
Tina pocketed her phone. "The other two guys'll be here in a few."
The cute puppy noises kept going.
"I did not expect this morning to start off this way," Nines grumbled from his spot in the passenger seat. (He would have been crossing his arms if he had his other one.)
The two cats that they had usually did not give them too much trouble in terms of care. They were rather easygoing and managed their own selves quite well. Food, water, and play were all that the two men needed to give them. The furred lovelies took care of the rest. Unfortunately, today was the day that the fattest one ended up being sick. All over Nines' favorite turtleneck.
He loved the cats, but rA9-dammit, his turtleneck.
Gavin tapped his fingers on the steering wheel as he waited to turn left. "Not like it was on purpose."
"I liked that turtleneck, Gavin."
"You have five more of the same one, tinman," the human pointed out.
"That is not the point."
"Potayto, potahto."
Nines shook his head, then turned his attention out of the window. Yes, he had duplicates of that article of clothing, but it was his. Even nearly a year as a deviant, the android still had some hang-ups about a few things. He did not own many items—most things he used, he shared with Gavin—and the few that he did call his own, he was a little selfish about. He knew he would get over it, but right now he was…cranky. Was he pouting? There was no one here to say if he was; Gavin was focused on the road and the tilt of Nines' head would make it hard to see his face.
"That LED of yours isn't hidden."
Nines straightened up, his hand shooting to cover his temple. He frowned at his partner.
"Will it make you feel better if I give you some money to buy another one?" They finally pulled into the parking lot of the precinct.
"Hmm. Perhaps." The both of them got out of the car and headed towards the entrance. Here, Nines turned to Gavin and added, "As long as you also get me two sheets of copper so I can work on a new sculpture." (1)
Gavin "A new—ugh, fine. Whatever."
Nines smirked.
They both greeted Pamela when they walked in. She was always pleasant to talk to, but today she seemed…odd, would perhaps be the best way to describe her. Nines did not have to scan Pam to see that she was not acting her usual self. Her pace of talking was quicker, and she sounded nervous for some reason, her optics kept flicking between Gavin and himself and the way to get to their desks, and she her large smile was not one of joy, but rather anxiousness.
Nines might have had difficulties engaging with people—Thank you CyberLife for damning me with an abysmal social relations program—but he knew Pam. She was a friend, and he was better interacting with friends than strangers. "Are you…alright?" He sent a ping of concern-concern-question.
"Oh, me?" She laughed, looking away to check in a civilian. "Good morning. Yes, sir, someone will be here to help you momentarily. Just wait over there, thank you." She turned back to Nines and Gavin. "Totally fine, totally fine! Just glad to start off a great week!"
He did not receive a ping in return. Hm.
He decided not to think too much about it. She did not seem like she was in danger, that something was wrong with her, or that she was being rude on purpose. "Have a good morning, Pam."
"Oh uh, bye, Nines!"
Once he was in the bullpen, he noticed that there was a visible lack of his usual coworker. He had noticed the Lieutenant's car in the parking lot so neither he nor Connor would have left on business, yet neither were in the immediate vicinity. Officer Collins—Ben, he corrected himself—usually would be doing paperwork at this time of the morning before heading out. A quick scan of the bullpen showed that Tina's, Chris', and Mitchel's personal items were still here, meaning they were still in the building. Perhaps he should not be thinking about it so much. They were humans, after all. Maybe they wanted something to eat or drink.
Additionally, there was no sense of urgency within the bullpen. Fowler was in his office, and if something were to have happened, he would have long since contacted Nines or Gavin already.
Where is Connor? He could not keep his thoughts from drifting to his predecessor.
Nines' and Gavin's desks were directly facing one another while also residing next to Connor's and Hank's desk. He could see the Lieutenant's computer already booted up though with the screen locked. Cold coffee was sitting too close to his keyboard and some hastily scribbled notes had been shoved underneath it. On his way to his desk, he nudged the coffee farther away from the keyboard.
Connor's desk, however, did not look to be touched at all. His terminal was not powered. The chair to his desk did not look to have been moved anytime recently, which was odd considering he was already at work.
He felt something flick the back of his head. He was not surprised who the culprit was when he turned around. "What in the hell has your gears turning so much, tinman? We just got to work," Gavin said, crossing his arms.
Connor.
"The day's tasks," he lied.
"Uh-huh, sure you are."
"What purpose would I have in lying?" he asked coolly. He did not want to admit that his predecessor had been on his mind for…a long while now. The last thing he wanted was to deal with Gavin's pestering this morning (plus the teasing that would follow if he admitted the truth to Gavin).
"I dunno," Gavin threw his leather jacket on the back of his chair. "I have no idea why you do the shit you do half the time, and it this point, I just pin it to your weirdness."
Nines rolled his optics. The desire to smack his partner upside the head with a shadow hand was immense. Not right now, Nines, not right now. "Thank you for such a praising statement, Detective." Abysmal social relations or not, sarcasm was one of the few things he knew how to weaponize—thanks to the very person he was using it on now.
"Don't mention it," Gavin flipped him. "Now c'mon. we have shit to do today."
"We always have 'shit' to do."
"Mitchel," Connor tried wearily.
Mitchel had been doing his best to distract Connor and keep him out of range from the puppies while the handlers got them into the room they would be using. It was rare that had had the opportunity to talk with Connor one on one (Mitchel was usually out on patrol and Connor had been super busy with that gruesome case), so not only was he distracting him, but he genuinely wanted to talk with the guy. Connor had saved his life after all. Ever since then, Mitchel had wanted to be a (closer) friend to him.
So, he ignored Connor with as much grace as he could without being rude and continued. "I'm just really interested on the stuff you guys can have, you know! Like, I know you guys drink thirium, but Nines has those thirium gummies, yeah?"
"…He does. They are his favorite."
"Right! I guess my question is—other than how they could possibly make thirium into gummies—is, well, what is your favorite thirium food? I know most of what the other people around here like to eat and stuff, but nothing about you. Gavin likes anything that's coffee flavored, the Lieutenant likes those bad chicken sandwiches from that one food place—I don't remember what it's called, though—while Chris likes the ones from the bar we go to after work sometimes, and Tina is a fiend for candy and for her mom's shrimp fried rice. But, what do you like, Connor?"
He watched as Connor blinked at him in surprise. Wait…has no one ever asked him what his favorite food is? He's been here for a little over a year now…Well, they couldn't have that.
Connor's LED spun yellow for a moment as he seemed to think about the question. Mitchel didn't mind waiting, though. "I suppose…I suppose I greatly enjoy the dinner pastries that the restaurant several blocks from here sells."
"Oh, dinner pastries?" Mitchel asked. That wasn't what he expected to hear, but then again, there wasn't much that he could have expected. "Are they sweets?"
Connor smiled. His LED cycled back to a calm blue. "Not like normal pastries are, from my understanding. Most pastries are sweet, which is more to Nines' liking, but these are," here he paused, looking to the side for a second, "ah, these are savory, I think would be the accurate word."
Mitchel lifted an eyebrow, ever curious. "You think? Is tasting different with androids?" As soon as he said that he winced. "Ah! Sorry, sorry, I don't mean to be rude. Was that offensive?"
The small chuckle that Connor let out relaxed Mitchel. "Not at all. I understand you are curious, and that is a natural way to be when met with someone with different experiences. I cannot speak for all androids, but with me, it is different. I mean, I am just a prototype." Responding to his dip in emotions, the faint shadow that was naturally coming from his legs darkened and shivered, but it was a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment. "I was built with an entire chemical analysis lab in my mouth. Because of that, whatever taste I can have will be different from any other android."
Mitchel frowned a little seeing Connor's smile turn sad at the corners. The guy turned his head to look away to hide his LED, but because Connor was standing close to a wall. Mitchel was able to see the rapid gold reflecting off the wall. They way he said it—that he was just a prototype—made him think that there was a lot more to this. The way he said it made it seem that Connor did not think positively about himself as a prototype. He thought. Am I reading into it too much? He wasn't sure, but, but Connor wasn't just anything! He was a great guy, so it made Mitchel sad to see him like that.
"Hey," he made sure he caught Connor's gaze. "I don't think you're just anything. I don't know much about what being a prototype has to do with anything but being different isn't bad. Anything that's different about you, like your oral lab thing like you said, make you, you." He offered him a friendly smile and pat him on the shoulder.
Connor looked at him like that was the last thing he expected to hear. In a rare display of being completely flustered, he replied, "I..uh, w-well," he cleared his throat and wrung his hands together, "that is, that is very kind of you to say. I appreciate you saying so, thank you." His cheeks were colored a powder blue (rare to see when it wasn't being cause by Nines.)
"Of course. You're my friend, man. This is what friends do," he patted him on the back again.
"You are a good one, then," Connor replied. "Thank you for being my friend."
This kind of earnestness would be something that would give Gavin hives. Thankfully, Mitchel was not Gavin, so he took all of this in stride.
"Thanks for answering my questions. I'm sure a human with a million questions wasn't how you wanted to spend your morning, haha."
This time, Connor let out a rather undignified snort. It was nice to see him relax enough to not be so concerned about the way he presented himself. "It was no problem at all. It was interesting to talk about all of this. Now, I think if we do not stop, we are going to continue with a 'thank you' cycle," he giggled.
A quick check of group chat let him know that everything was in place.
"Yeah, let's get back to work."
"Right." A pause. "Though, talking about the dinner pastries made me want some as of right now."
"I have a free hour for lunch later. I can treat you."
"…Really. Are you sure?"
"Yeah, man! And don't thank me because we'll be here all day."
Mitchel enjoyed hearing Connor laugh.
"Oh goodness," they heard Connor's voice at the door.
They all turned to see him standing wide-eyed in the doorway, eyes flitting from them to the puppies, and then to Nines who had three squirming puppies in his lap. Nines had shown up with Gavin just five minutes prior to Connor showing up, so Tina guessed that it was good timing. She had to bring out her inner ninja skills to take a picture of Nines when he had first been dumped with the puppies into his lap. His blue eyes could have been described as starry and—this is what warmed Tina's heart—he had a look of child-like wonder. It was precious.
She'd send Connor the photo once they got together.
Or maybe sooner. Maybe that would help them get together sooner.
"Hey, great timing!" Tina waved him over.
"I…I knew that the Lieutenant mentioned we would be aiding in training police canines, but I did not think it would be so soon," Connor said as he kneeled down. As soon as he did so, a puppy came barreling towards him and landed right on his legs. The puppy's little legs wiggled along with its butt as it tried to curl up in his lap. It was terribly cute.
"Well, hello, little one," Connor smiled at the puppy and cupped its head in his hands. He squished its fuzzy cheeks and giggled a little. "Were you waiting for more people to cuddle with?"
Tina was going to get diabetes at this rate. Full on diabetes. She glanced at Nines who was looking at Connor with, again, those same starry eyes as he had the puppies earlier. Only this time, the three puppies in his lap could not pull his attention away from the guy he was clearly crushing on. Nines had better confess to Connor soon. That fifty I put on him better manifest itself into a confession. Not only for the money, but I'm getting tired of them dancing around each other.
"Well, hey there! I take it you're the last one of the bunch that's going to be helping us?" Harley asked. She was currently trying to wrangle one of the bigger puppies out of the carrier and onto a scale. A chunky boy. Unfortunately, the good boy wanted to get belly pats instead of sitting still.
Connor turned to her and then to Alphonso, the second handler, who gave him a wave before turning to his own puppy. "Ah yes, my name is Connor. It is a pleasure to meet you…" he trailed off.
"Name's Harley."
"I'm Alphonso, nice to meet you, man."
Once greetings were exchanged, Harley and Alphonso started giving Connor, Nines, Chris, and herself instructions. Ben had left earlier to go out on a call to a domestic residence not too far from here. Chris was to help get the puppies to sit still enough to get their weight and Connor volunteered to get the lengths of them. Originally, Nines and Tina were going to help by taking notes, but it turned out that the puppies were much more difficult to handle than expected. They weren't misbehaved! They just had so much energy, dear lord. Tina wished she could bottle all that energy—she would never have to drink coffee or energy drinks again.
"Alright guys!" Alphonso clapped to get their attention. "Now that we got all their weights and lengths—and boy did they grow a lot in the past month—it's time to start the most basic of basic puppy training."
"If anything happens to Bubby," Nines said, dead-serious, as he brought the little bundle of wiggly fluff closer to his chest, "I will kill everyone except Connor and then myself." (Bubby was bapping at his cheeks, making Nines' glowing blue eyes blink, but it did nothing to mitigate the seriousness of his declaration.)
There was a collective round of 'hey' and 'that's rude' and 'of course Connor would be spared', but even though most of them thought Nines was being completely serious, they didn't take real offense.
Connor, sitting on the floor next to Nines, smiled sheepishly. "Thank you for not wanting to kill me, but perhaps we should lay off the murder of our friends, yes?"
Nines looked at him to consider it, then hummed. "Fine. But if I found out anything happens to Bubby—"
"We'll make sure Bubby gets good care during his training," Tina took the opportunity to cut in before the threat could escalate to something they wouldn't be able to control.
"…I am holding you all to that."
Sighs of relief came from everyone, including Tina herself. Nines was a great guy who cared a lot for the people he worked with, but his intensity was nothing to laugh at. If looks could kill, Tina was sure that a good chunk of Detroit would have been incinerated on the spot already. Global warming would be a joke compared to how hot Detroit would burn. Complete scorch marks on the ground and everything. (Like Kevin the mail guy. One run in with Mr. Terminator over here, and the guy never came back. Well, it had been more Connor than Nines that he had been afraid of, but that wasn't the point. Kevin had been all weirdly close to Connor, which got to be pretty uncomfortable. The older man who replaced him, Steven, was really nice, though, so it wasn't a problem. Steve brought them vegan cupcakes and android-safe versions sometimes.)
"Thank you all so much for your help," Alphonso said. "Even though only a few of the puppies learned one or two commands, having more people gave each puppy more individual time. This saved us like two days!"
"Sure thing," Chris said. He was currently holding a blond puppy who was sleeping in his arms. "This was also a nice break from the regular, boring ho-hum of our usual days."
"Boring ho-hum to some people. If you're not doing anything," Connor grumbled under his breath, uncharacteristically pessimistic and a little ride. Tina blinked, thinking she heard wrong. But from the look on Chris' face, who was the nearest to the guy, she heard it right.
It was then that she remembered the current case that the homicide detectives were working on and how the killer was specifically targeting Connor and winced. How Chris or herself could have forgotten about that so quickly made her feel guilty.
"A-Ah, sorry, Connor," sheepish, Chris bumped his shoulder with his as his hands were occupied with a sleeping furry baby. "Didn't mean it like that."
All Connor responded with was a hum. It was unusual for him to be so…distanced? Cold? He just nodded to Chris and that was it.
Tina looked at Nines who made eye contact with her. She twitched her head towards Connor and raised a questioning eyebrow, to which Nines just shrugged his shoulders. He did have a furrow to his brows, which let Tina know that he was not sure what was going on with Connor's drastic change of mood.
"Well, I guess it's time to get these little guys home. Harley had to step out early to take care of some business, so I'll be taking the first crate of the puppies."
Nines loaded Bubby back into the first crate, reluctance prominent in his motions. "Are you sure you do not want one of us to carry the other crate? The weight of it is not problem for me."
"That's nice of you, but nah," Alphonso chuckled. "It's not the weight of it that concerns me. Trying to get six energy-ladden puppies into the kennels and calmed down is hard enough. Trying to do that with twelve at once is a bit much, haha. They get excited when there are more people around. I'll come back once I'm done with the first group, but thank you, though."
Tina stretched, standing up, "Weeeeell, this has been fun and all, but I think we have to get back to work now. Glad we could help." Once she was up, she pulled up Nines to his feet—who had still been kneeling after loading up Bubby—and helped Chris get the sleepy itty-bitty angel into the crate with its buddies.
"I will stay with the puppies while you take the first group," Connor said quietly. What was making him seem so down spirited? He was fine just a couple of hours ago when he had first come in here.
"Good man, thanks."
Gavin hated being the messenger. Did he look like a messenger boy?
He hadn't been a part of the whole puppy training thing like Tina, Chris, and the two Tinmen had, so why was he about to go tell Connor about the dog handler? Tina would have done it, but as soon as she had gotten up to go talk to Connor, an elderly lady had requested assistance getting up some stairs into the DPD. Why the old lady didn't take the elevator was beyond him, but it wasn't his job to understand the minds of old people. (Probably why he didn't understand Anderson.)
Well, only when he had to interview them, but that wasn't applicable here.
He was close enough to the room they had cleared out that it would take less than a minute to get to Connor, so there was no point in sending a text. Plus, he needed to stretch his legs. Doing paperwork at his desk for the last few hours made his butt turn into paste and his back cry out for help. Eff aging, honestly.
When he opened the door to the room they had been using, he noticed two things. One, Connor was in an odd position—hands clutching the table, arms straight as they held him up, and shoulders hunched and head titled down as he was standing. Two, even with the lights on, there corners of the room seemed darker and the air heavier.
The hair on the back of Gavin's neck and arms stood on end. Seeing Connor like that and feeling the atmosphere of the room put him on high alert. His hand hovered over his service weapon at his waist, eyes scanning around to see what was setting Connor on edge. Was there someone here that he couldn't see from the doorway? Had Connor seen something at the window? After waiting a long two minutes, he decided that there was no immediate threat and loosened his stance. His hand drifted back down to his side. What the hell is making him like this?
"Yo, tinman," he called out. "Gotta say goodbye to the fur nuggets."
"Leave me be," Connor hissed sharply. His shadow on the ground bubbled together before collecting at his feet. It didn't move off the floor, though.
The puppies that were already in the carrier cage shivered while the one in Connor's arm whimpered and looked up at him, raising a paw to his chest. The android swore. He gently returned the puppy to its friends in the cage before calming it with a pet to the head.
"Just because you're mad the puppies are leaving doesn't mean you get to act like an asshole to me. That's my job," Gavin said, giving him a strange look. "I was coming to let you know that Alphonso was going to be here in a few minutes. Tina would have, but she had to help a lady up the stairs."
Connor turned his head, huffing a breath through his nose. He then took another, deeper one, and he could see him visibly trying to calm down. "You are right, Detective. My apologies. I am upset, though not about the puppies. It is work-related. If…If you will excuse me, I have a few matters to attend to." And with that, the guy walked away faster than what could be considered normal towards the evidence room out of the room.
He didn't say anything as he watched Connor depart. It was probably better that he was the only one in here because he knew that Connor, like Nines, hated not being put together in front of people. However, that being said, it was weird for him to be acting all snippy and on-edge like that. Especially around animals. Shitty cases will wear on a person, but the whole puppy thing was supposed to help. Calm to stressed that quick? The hell is wrong with him?
Choosing to focus on something more productive, Gavin brushed the encounter to the back of his head to finish loading the remaining two puppies (who were looking up at him from dozing on one of the chairs) into the large portable cage they had been brought in. He got a few wet licks to his hands as he fastened the door closed.
"Time to bring you back to your handler, little dudes. Sure you'll be happier with him than in here with whatever the hell is making him act like something crawled up his ass."
One of the puppies yipped.
"See? Exactly my point."
Published: 8/17/22 (I had originally posted this on the 1st on AO3. but I forgot to post in over on here, ehehe. Sorry guys)
(1) I have this ongoing headcanon that Nines enjoys metalworking. Making metal sculptures is to his liking because metal is strong enough for him not to break, but malleable enough for him to work with.
A/N: Mitchel is the best guy. I never even planned to write that scene with him and Connor, but I'm glad my brain went with it. Honestly, one of my few experiences of characters writing themselves haha
A/N 2: Thanks to everyone who has read this so far and favorited and stuff, and thanks a lot to Daeneryss Targaryen for leaving a review last chapter!
