When Gavin gets home he wants to get shitfaced and fall into a dreamless sleep, but he has to work the next morning and doesn't want to get chewed out by the damn tin-can for not being fucking professional. And fuck doesn't that say something about how deep he is in trouble when he would rather tug his tail and not face the android than get right into its fake face and spit his opinion for all to hear.
He wants to hide from the thing like some glass wearing nerd is hiding from bullies in school and Gavin hates it.
But he doesn't get drunk. Doesn't hit something until his hand is bruised and pulsing with waves of pain. Doesn't do anything he wants to do that could distract him from the nagging feeling of shit and fuck that settled in his chest.
Instead, he sits in front of the TV and stares at the flashing screen that shows some awful show or another without actually paying any attention to it.
His brain is going over the scene over and over again. Lingering on RK900's touch going from painful to soft and soothing and how nice it felt. He can pinpoint the exact spot where those fingers stroked over his skin. Remembers how real and warm they felt.
He knows it wasn't actually supposed to be a nice thing. Knows the android only wanted to throw Gavin off kilter and not cause a scene. And fuck if it didn't work.
Even if the RK unit surely didn't anticipate just how well it would work.
And Gavin thinks fuck it all and gets drunk anyway, not shitfaced but buzzed enough that the big sign spelling 'doomed' that's hanging over him gets fuzzy and doesn't seem as problematic anymore.
He thinks about the last time someone touched him. Not like his friends and buddies do, bumps and shoulder claps and brief hugs, but touched just for the sake of touching and exploring. Not in a sexual way either but just to feel another person's skin against his own. Comforting and soft in the exchange of warmth.
And Gavin is either too drunk already or not nearly drunk enough, and he really needs something else to focus on. He considers a brief wank but worries about what might creep into his thoughts, not trusting his brain to not fuck him over even more and then decides to just go to sleep and maybe someone will break into his house in the night and he'll have a perfect reason to shoot someone.
The loud beeping of his alarm wakes him and Gavin curses until he manages to find the damn thing and shuts it off. There is a blissful moment of not remembering why he got drunk last night but then it hits him like a fist to the nose and his already bad mood makes a turn for the worse.
He drags himself through his morning routine and feels halfway between chewed on and spit out again and slightly ill with nerves by the time he gets to work and sees RK900 already at its desk.
He makes a sharp turn to the right and makes his way over to the break area because fuck this and he needs a coffee.
When he hears someone walking towards him minutes later, he fights the urge to turn around because he knows exactly which prick it is going to be. He clenches his hand around the coffee mug - thankfully a proper one, not just a paper cup from the dispenser - and hopes the thing will go away if he just keeps on ignoring it.
"Good morning, detective Reed," the deep voice starts and shatters his hopes, "I noticed your elevated stress levels upon your arrival. The consume of coffee is likely to worsen your state. Chamomile tea would be a better choice."
Now Gavin does turn around, because fucking elevated stress levels, no shit. "How can I not be fucking stressed when you're-"
The rest of the venomous answer dies on his tongue as RK900 stretches out both hands, one closing over Gavin's death grip on the mug, the other taking a hold of the mug and begins to gently pry his fingers loose.
Gavin twitches so hard coffee spills over the rim of the mug, hot and scalding, and he lets go, cursing loudly.
RK900's LED spins yellow for a moment, processing Gavin's reaction, before returning to blue. Gavin is ready to mask the flush that is crawling up his neck with an outburst of anger or spill the rest of the hot beverage into RK900's stoic face, when the thing simply turns around, still holding his fucking coffee, walks to the sink and empties it.
"What the fuck?!" he says and shouldn't this be the new motto of his life.
He rounds on the android, trying to appear threatening, when really his thoughts are a mess and his hand is still tingling with the phantom of a touch.
Getting within arm's reach of the damn machine turns out to be his second mistake today - right after leaving his house in the first place - as its arm shoots out and grabs Gavin's wrist with its ridiculous strength and Gavin can only stumble closer if he doesn't want to kiss the ground.
RK900 turns on the tap and pulls Gavin's hand under the cool stream before letting go of his arm.
"What the fuck?!" he repeats, as his brain seems to play it on a loop. He tries to fill it with all the disgust he feels for those plastic things but ends up sounding floored instead.
RK900 glances at him before taking the empty mug and filling it with hot water from the dispenser.
"To answer your so eloquently put questions, I am making you chamomile tea. It is a recommended drink to soothe both body and mind." It looks through the cupboards a bit before it finds where the tea is stored and puts a tea bag into the steaming mug. "And I think it is a common practice to cool a minor burn, is it not?"
"It's your damn fault my hand is burned. Just leave me the fuck alone, you robo creep!"
The thing just looks at him, head slightly cocked and eyebrow raised. "I did not expect you to show such extreme reactions to a simple touch, detective Reed."
Gavin feels a bit like a deer caught in the headlights. Knowing that the damn thing was aware of it and actually hearing it out loud were two very different things.
"You touching me is fucking gross, is what it is," is the best comeback Gavin manages as he turns of the water, the pain of the spill numbed, and dries off his hands.
"Just keep your fucking distance or my fist won't keep away from your ugly face, got it?"
RK900 walks back towards him, mug filled with steaming tea in one hand, and Gavin doesn't back down but simply takes a step back instead, to maintain the distance, and he feels the counter digging into is back and why does the damn android have to tower over him like that.
It stops half an arm's length away from him and holds out the tea. Gavin doesn't take it. More importantly, doesn't want any part of his body near the things hand. Or near the thing. Period.
"You say that, detective, and yet none of the micro expressions you showed indicated that you felt that way."
Well, fuck.
Gavin's fight or flight response is immediate and it is to shove the android, to get it away, to show that he won't be the one pushed around and just to do something with the nervous energy that's tightening around his throat like a noose.
The shove causes the tea to spill all over the neat uniform and RK900 purses its lips, either in annoyance at Gavin's action and mess he caused or because it feel the hot liquid soak through the fabric.
Gavin feels trapped between feeling furious at the plastic prick for pushing Gavin like this and being caught red handed and confronted with the truth. He has no clue how to deal with any of this, and then he is out of the breakroom and halfway on the way to his desk, when he realizes that he is trapped in some sort of hell. Because the thing will sit down right in front of Gavin and there is nothing he can do to change this unless he wants to screw his career and that is not something he is ready to do.
He briefly considers going to the bathroom to punch the wall or maybe just stick his head into the toilet and flush until he leaves this reality and then just opts for his desk and putting on a security camera feed of one of his cases. He plugs in his headphones and puts them on, even though there is no sound, hoping this screams don't fucking talk to me, I'm working loud enough that nobody, especially not a 6ft tall plastic prick, will approach him.
He wonders if this is karma for all the times he was an asshole to people before he remembers that he doesn't believe in shit like that.
He tries not to appear as if he's hyper aware of it when the android returns to its desk, uniform jacket slung over its arm and a wet patch visible on the white material, making it the tiniest bit translucent.
He's slightly surprised when RK900 simply sits down and starts working instead of chewing Gavin out on his behaviour. It doesn't so much as look over to him, much less mention Gavin spilling hot tea over the android.
It confuses him as much as RK900's actions. The plastic prick doesn't get anything out of this other than the knowledge that it drives Gavin crazy.
Only yesterday the thing talked about working together and now RK900 is pushing Gavin. And Gavin's already far past the breaking point because that point had been the robo creep touching him and Gavin wanting to lean in for more instead of stepping back and planting a fist in RK900's face right away. The breaking point had been RK900 noticing and taking advantage of it.
And now Gavin can't push back because he knows the android won't back down or answer with fists but gentle touches instead.
Gavin knows violence, has dealt his fair share of it. He knows how to deal it out and deal with it.
But those soft touches he is open to and vulnerable against, and he doesn't know what to do when his mind wants to shut down to fully take in the feeling. Doesn't know what to do when his body wants to lean into those touches to feel more of that soft warmth against his skin.
Doesn't know why RK900 would touch him like that if not to humiliate him.
There is something really enjoyable about tormenting Reed a bit. Especially if the one tormenting him is a 6ft tall, stoic looking android. I just imagine RK900 as someone that likes to really push against interesting weak points he finds in people. It's just Gavin's bad/good luck that his is being touched all soft
and Gavin is a big fucking drama queen. he's born 2002, convince me he is not gonna be super dramatic about everything
Hope you enjoyed my brainchild so far! :3 Feel free to shout out any mistakes you find (srly, please do, my ass will be forever grateful) or just shout at me.
also, I hate writing RK900 as an "it" and refering to him as a thing, throw tomatoes or sth at Gavin for being such a douche and having a broom up his ass
