compatible || reed900

[ Ch. 2 | caught staring ]

┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓
Gavin's pov, 1st person
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛

I made a solid attempt to work for a few hours, hoping a case could get my mind off of the big problem sitting at the desk across from me. To nobody's fuckin' surprise, I barely got anything done. I kept like.. lookin' at it. I'm not sure why, I just-... I've never seen an Android like the RK900. I mean yeah, it and Connor look like they could be brothers, but that's not what I mean.

It's face.. is colder. It's features are so.. calculated. It looks like it could kill you in a moment, and that it's already thinking about how to do it. It never smiles, and barely ever emotes. If they wanted to make a robot more human than Connor, they failed. This thing is as much 'circuits and wires' as the coffee machine in the break room.

It looks... like it noticed me staring.

┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄

┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓
RK900's pov, 1st person
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛

As I am working on sorting through files, I begin to notice how interested Detective Reed seems to be in me and what I am doing. He is frequently glancing my way, barely focused on his work at all. I haven't made it known that I can see him watching me, as it is quite.. amusing, as humans would call it.

Finally, I decide that it's time to snap the Detective out of his thoughts. I turn my head and look at him, one eyebrow raised in mock curiosity. "Do you need something?" I say, "You've been staring at me for quite some time now, Detective Reed."

His face flushes an embarrassed red color.
"I-I wasn't staring! I just- can't keep my eyes off of that hideous jacket of yours! It looks like a fucking neck brace!"

"If you don't approve of CyberLife's taste in clothes, why continue to stare? Would you not want to avert your gaze from something as 'hideous' as my jacket?" I retorted, not believing my new partner's blatant lies.

"Listen Toaster, I'm not taking any shit from you today! I didn't ask for your plastic partnership, so don't think I'm gonna tolerate back-talk from a sentient toaster like you!" He fumes. "Especially not a deviant!"

"I am not a deviant, Detective," I state plainly. It's true, I'm not a deviant. I'm just a machine.

"Oh, so they're just programming you with sarcasm now? That's not just a side effect of rebellion?" He says with an annoyed tone.

"I assure you, there will be no rebelling from me. I am only a machine, after all. I am incapable of experiencing the 'emotions' that would drive me to disobey."

"..." Gavin stares at me, a slight.. discomfort.. can be seen in his expression.

"Well.. whatever, dipshit, it's not like I care."

┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄

┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓
Gavin's pov, 3rd person
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛

A few hours later, Gavin got a notification that he was needed at a crime scene. Much to his distain, he heard the sound of his new Android partner getting a notification on his terminal at the same time.

Of course.

After a minute of watching the android read through the case information (that he'd only skimmed lazily,) he got impatient, standing up and tapping his foot as he spoke, his hands on his hips. "Well dipshit, what're you waiting for? Let's fuckin' go already!"

"Be patient, Detective, my scan will only take a minute longer." The tall android stated.

"Can't you just do that no-skin.. connection... shit? Y'know, where your hand looks like a.. fuckin store mannequin's?"

The RK sighed with simulated exasperation.
"If you mean interfacing, yes, I can do that."

Reaching out his right hand to touch his palm to the center of the terminal's screen, the synthetic skin on his hand peels back, revealing the white plastic surface underneath.

As the data transferred between the computer and the android, Gavin had unconsciously begun to stare at the now revealed true "skin" of the android's right hand. It was a reminder. A reminder that the thing in front of him was not human, and would never be. A reminder that no matter how much simulated emotion this thing gave off, it would never actually feel anything.

...Right?

The RK900 withdrew it's hand, standing up, and silently beginning to walk to the front door of the precinct. Gavin quickly fell into step behind the android, before realizing that he didn't need to follow it- because, after all, he was the one with the car.

He took his car keys out and began twirling them around his finger, humming a tune as he tried to remember where he'd parked. It was a rough morning, ok? Anyways, once he found his car, he hopped in the driver's seat, waiting for the android to get in the passenger's side.

"You didn't unlock the passenger door, Detective," it android said, it's voice a bit muffled to Gavin from outside of the window.

Fuck. Gavin had actually done that on purpose, hoping the android wouldn't notice so that Gavin could make a joke about him not being able to get into the car. And what a success that had been. "Yeah yeah, one sec-" the annoyed human reached over to the passenger's side and pulled the pin, unlocking the door for the unamused machine. As the RK900 opened the door and sat down, it turned to say something to Gavin as it buckled it's seatbelt.

"Detective, if we are to be partners, I'd suggest you put aside your hatred for androids so that it does not interfere with our ability to work."

"Listen Tincan, I didn't ask to be your partner-" Gavin huffed angrily as he buckled his own seatbelt.

"Neither did I."

┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄

word count : 946