The Storm Between Us (Reed900)

Coffee goes great with emotions, I think.

"Thank you for meeting me for coffee," Conan sighed, "I just needed to get some things off my chest, figuratively." He got out of the car and went around to open Connor's door.

"Of course, you can always talk to me, Conan." Connor said.

The two walked into the coffee shop, ignoring the looks from people. Conan forgot that, since they were nearly identical, it might be odd to be seen in public together. Connor led the way to the counter and ordered a coffee and sandwich for Conan. Then they found a table by the window.

Conan sipped his coffee and asked, "What do you know about Gavin Reed?"

"He tried to shoot me." Connor said right out the gate. "He's stubborn, abrasive, a bit of an asshole, hates most if not all people working at the precinct... I know from other people he's worked with several partners but scared all of them off one way or another. Except you, that is."

"He's so complicated, even for human standards. Like I said before, one minute we're laughing together and going out for lunch and then the next he acts like I'm poison." Conan explained.

Connor nodded thoughtfully. He messed with the watch on his wrist. Hank had bought it for him a month or two ago. He didn't have the heart to tell Hank that his android system already tells him the time and date. So, he makes an effort to check the watch and ignore his internal system.

Conan continued, "What I'm more concerned about, though, is myself." Connor perked up at that. "I... feel... hurt. I feel hurt about it. I want Detective Reed and I to get along. I want, I feel. These are such new concepts to me, and I feel like nobody taught me about them. Not my programmers, the androids that woke me up, nobody."

Conan took a bite of his sandwich to let Connor process the information. He swallowed and said, "Sometimes I think I'm not allowed to struggle with these concepts because the revolution is over."

Was that too deep? Conan thought to himself, I shouldn't have been so quick to dump my thoughts on Connor. Shit.

"Well," Connor tapped his fingers on the table and said, "I can tell you I felt the same way when I started working with Hank. I wanted so desperately to work with him and for him to enjoy my company. At first I thought it was for the sake of my mission but... after awhile I was starting to avoid my mission for him. That's when I realized it was never about my mission, and I really just loved Hank." He toyed with the leather strap on his watch.

"Love... You mean like familial or platonic?"

Connor raised a brow at Conan, as if saying "Do you really need an answer to that?" Conan somehow felt more confused than he had before going into the conversation.

"How... How do I- How did you know that Hank loved you back?" Conan asked.

It took Connor a moment to come up with a good answer. Connor shrugged and said, "I've learned a lot about humans, androids, and the emotions in between, but I still don't know if there's any way to properly explain it. Understanding emotions, love especially, is something you need to do on your own, I think."

Conan hated that answer, but tried to accept it. He finished his sandwich and took the coffee to go. Connor drove Conan back to Reed's apartment complex, dropping him off with a smile, a wave, and a wish of good luck. Conan looked up at the apartment complex. He took a deep breath and went in.

Reed wasn't feeling good at all. The crime scene already made him feel queasy and off the entire day yesterday, and today he was struggling to do anything. He felt like the energy was sucked out of him and left him nothing but an empty shell. After work he went straight to his room, plopping into bed and curling up on top of the covers.

"Samantha," Gavin mumbled, grabbing a pillow and holding it tightly. There's no good reason to be thinking about her... It was 2 years ago, I'm over it... Am I? He held the pillow tighter, burying his face into it.

A knock at the front door temporarily pulled him from his depressive episode. He groaned in annoyance, got out of bed, and went to the door. Gavin opened a crack.

"What."

"Detective Reed, I was just wondering if my invitation to stay here was still open?" Conan asked. Gavin glared up at him with tired eyes. He slowly moved out of the way and opened the door for him. Conan stepped in, heading to the couch where his makeshift bed was still set up.

Gavin went into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee. He snapped, "You have fun at lunch with your twin?"

"Yes, detective. Also, he isn't my twin, he's actually more like my older brother-"

Reed suddenly burst into laughter, almost spilling coffee everywhere. He set down his coffee mug and scoffed, "Older brother? Connor? He's like two feet fucking shorter than you! You're a giant compared to him!"

Conan smiled a little and said, "I think everybody seems like a giant to you, Reed."

"Hey!" Gavin pointed a finger and snapped, "I'm not short! I'm average height!" Conan stood up and walked to the kitchen. He looked down at Gavin and smirked. Reed gulped and sipped his coffee to distract himself from Conan's towering figure looking over him.

He slowly reached a hand up, moving some of Gavin's hair from his face. "Not short, Gavin?" Conan tutted, "Is that what you said?"

A lot was running through Gavin's head in that moment. He still had thoughts of Samantha in the back of his head, Conan was exuding this flair and taunt that he had never noticed before, the coffee he spilled was still on the counter and had to get cleaned up, and to top it off he could hear-

The lights went off for a few seconds, then slowly flickered back on. Gavin mumbled, "Thunder." Conan frowned and pulled away. Gavin huffed and grabbed a towel to clean up the coffee spill. He snapped, "I'm going to my room for the night. Don't bother me." He marched out of the kitchen and back to his room.

Conan stood in the kitchen for a moment, trying to figure out what went wrong. He looked out the window at the rain that was starting to trickle down.

Why is he so scared of thunderstorms? Conan wondered, Why did he look so... scared when I moved his hair aside? It was a small gesture. Right?

Meanwhile, Gavin had changed into sweats and a hoodie, crawling back into bed and curling up with his pillow once again. He muttered, "Fucking android." He checked his phone, set his alarm for tomorrow, and then plugged it in to charge.