Tick Tock Part One - Hickory

A Closer Look

The night had not gone well. Not at fucking all. Closing his eyes had just led to nightmares. Sometimes Jack, sometimes Nines, sometimes Connor and, more often with this case, the YK600 androids. Sometimes they were in the clock tower, and sometimes his apartment. They would laugh at times, and at others, they would sing. Always that fucking song. Hearing kids singing it up close was worse than the creepy recordings on the phone or pre-recorded tapes they'd found. Fucking cassette tapes! Who the hell even used those anymore? Even thirty years ago, they'd been way out of fashion!

In the end, at around three in the morning, with only about two hours snuck in between nightmares, he'd given in and headed through to the kitchen. Pipsqueak had felt him move and come out of stasis to join him, trilling and weaving between his legs expectantly. Reed had cooed at him as he'd made coffee. Nines would give him hell for it tomorrow, but right then, he just couldn't. If he gave in and closed his eyes again, he knew he'd be jerking awake less than thirty minutes later. He was almost tempted to call Connor or Nines to go over the case details again, but doing that would be admitting he was awake. Not that they won't realise it as soon as I walk in tomorrow anyway...He drank his coffee slowly, taking a last look at the sofa before coming to a decision.

He was dressed and in his car before three thirty, and in the precinct before four. There was still eight hours before his shift was due to start. On that day, he was supposed to be on the late shift. He'd just walked into the bullpen, another coffee in hand, when he saw Nines standing across the room. Cursing quietly, he headed to his desk and put the coffee down, already feeling like he had to defend himself. Nines was looking right at him. At least, he thought he was. But he hasn't said anything yet...Why is he just standing there giving me that thousand-yard stare?

"Look, before you say anything, I did try to sleep, but-" he began defensively as he raised his head, quickly realising that Nines wasn't looking at him. He was...He wasn't sure what he was doing. He was just standing there against the wall, staring ahead like someone had pulled the plug. A mechanical statue. "Hey, Nines...Terminator?" he called a little louder as he stepped in front of his rigid body. He waved a hand in front of his vacant eyes and snapped his fingers. Nothing...He frowned curiously, throwing a fake punch at his face. Still, Nines did nothing, even as his fist stopped barely a centimetre from the bridge of his nose. What the actual phck? Is he turned off or some shit? He was almost worried as he reached out and touched his arm, drawing back quickly as if he expected him to come to life. He hadn't.

I've never actually looked at him up close like this before...There was a sense of awe as he stepped closer, a little more confident since Nines seemed totally oblivious. His eyes are so phcking blue...They had an unnatural silvery tint, definitely tiger eyes. A white tiger...His face looked somehow soft but aggressive at the same time. Just enough of Connor remained to cut through the killer edge. His jaw was powerful and his cheekbones were just a little less pronounced than Connor's, but he still had that dimple in his right cheek. He also had the vaguest cleft in his chin and beauty marks that mirrored Connor's perfectly. His eyebrows were full, but slightly less curved, making him look sterner. His hair fell in exactly the same way, with that dumb little curl sweeping over his right eye. Reed reached up and ran his fingers through the strands hesitantly. It feels so phcking real...

Nines' head was held straight, chin up as usual, restricted by the stiff collar. Reed wondered what he'd look like with the collar loosened. He definitely had a neck in there somewhere. It was probably just as slender as Connor's, with a pronounced collarbone. He reached up curiously and examined the catch of the high collar. It wasn't buttoned like a regular shirt. It was fish hooked in two places. He looked around briefly. No one was watching him. There were only a few people milling around, and they were too busy with their own work to bother with him. But would Nines mind? I know he's not a deviant, so minding things isn't really possible for him, but it feels kind of weird to undress him like that...He just looks so damned stiff and uncomfortable...