Work Text:
When Gavin shoved his mug into the androids chest and ordered it to go upstairs and get him a coffee, he expected it would have behaved like Connor had all those months ago.
To smile and say Gavin had no right to tell him what to do.
And Connor- unlike his upgrade- was definitely a he. The android in front of him however, stiff and statue-still, also made him wonder if it was just going to take the mug to the break room like a good lil’ bot.
The android’s hand carefully took the mug, a plain white one that the station stocked up on every time too many broke.
Instead of turning around, his partner brought the mug up to its face, holding an unblinking stare as it bit into the mug. A sharp crack as the ceramic shattered under what it had for teeth.
Gavin, at a loss, just kept staring. It chewed on the ceramic and swallowed.
“You can get your own snacks from the break room.”
“Snacks?!” Gavin’s voice suddenly found itself, shocked and just a bit louder than he intended. At least they were alone in the archive, “You just fucking- you-“
He loses his voice again when the android takes another bite out of the mug. Without the expression changing, the android still seemed pleased with himself.
Himself. Fuck. Yeah, Gavin decided. As stiff as he looks, he seriously doubts a machine would just… eat a mug.
He eats the handle last, and then meets Gavin’s eye.
“We should resume working, if you’re not getting that coffee.”
Gavin scoffs, unable to believe what just happened, had- and he shoves past the android to go and get a new mug.
***
After “The Mug Incident”, Gavin found his partner ate all manner of things. Pens were common, when their ink was out. Post-it notes and paper clips were like chips and candy, and when a roll of tape was empty- it mysteriously vanished with a replacement.
The android tried to be discreet about it- Maybe he was embarrassed by anyone seeing him stuff paper or pens in his face? -but it was impossible to completely hide it from Gavin, sitting next to him all day. His face couldn’t pick between finding it silly or disgusting every time he saw him eat any office supplies. Hell, maybe that’s why he saw it so often. Despite the embarrassment, the android kept looking for his disgruntled expression.
They had been doing interviews all morning, so when Gavin figured that by the time they got to the precinct it would already be lunch, he decided to stop at the cafe he liked. He’d put on his headphones to drown some of the ambience, while still being able to hear his partner.
Not that the android talked much. A few quick jabs every time Gavin tried to provoke him, then after that it was really only about case work.
They sat close to the back, sheltered from most of the patrons while still having a view of the door. Gavin’s drink and sandwich came, and he’d only had a few bites when his music made an off-static noise and cut out.
“Fuck,” he mumbled, reaching for his phone and quickly trying a bunch of different things to get the buds working again. It was an old pair, and sometimes just having it twist a few degrees in the socket made it decide it did or didn’t feel like working.
Deviant headphones.
He refused to laugh at his internal thought, as he took the useless buds out of his ears and chucked them on the table.
“Think I have a new pair at home…” he muttered quietly, wondering, before turning back to his meal.
“They’re broken?”
“Mhm?” Gavin looked up with a mouthful of sandwich, forgetting his partner had ridiculous hearing. He swallowed, “Yeah. It’s whatever though.”
“May I have them?”
“I mean- sure,” Gavin said, confusion washing over him. All he was gonna do was throw them out with the wrappers on his tray. But that didn’t stop him from thinking about what the hell an android would want with a pair of broken headphones.
Didn’t have to ask when said android picked them up, and like he was eating fucking spaghetti, sucked the cord into his mouth. There were two distinct popping sounds that he had to guess were the actual buds.
Gavin flapped his mouth open uselessly. First off all, he should’ve seen it coming. Second,
“Why?” Gavin stressed. Because his partner was the only android he knew of that ate the things he did. Even Connor- the one bot closest enough in build to him- only ever licked small samples of blood or otherwise to test it.
“Why, what?”
“Why do you eat electronics and office supplies like people do food?” He expands, because he’s never actually asked him why before.
The android blinks, and gazes over the cafe, before turning back to him, “I don’t know, exactly.” He says, and Gavin’s eyebrows shoot up, not expecting that for an answer, “I suppose you could liken it to how you require food. I get these, ‘cravings’, and consuming material satisfies the hunger.”
“And eating mugs and headphones doesn’t fuck up your systems?”
His partners mouth twitches, like he was going to smile, but it goes flat again. “My model is able to recycle anything I ‘eat’.”
“Okay.” Gavin breathes, curiosity growing as he asks how often he actually gets hungry, if he’s ever had problems by not eating, and of course, “What’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve chewed to dust so far?” Cause while the mug was memorable- that was only because it was first.
The android hummed in thought, a sparkle in his eyes and his mouth trying and failing to pick between a smirk and the usual flatness, “I believe it would be the Lieutenant’s old microwave.”
“What?” Gavin asked, chuckling in bafflement. “Was Anderson there?”
“And Connor as well.” He added, “I had asked for it, since it was cheaper to get the Lieutenant a new one, and I broke off the door first. I meant to wait until I was in my own room, but I suppose I had been... hungrier that day. It would be the first time he and Connor had seen me eat anything.”
Gavin was snickering under his breath his partner continued, “Connor had frozen, much like you did. The lieutenant asked me, ‘why the hell are you eating the door like it’s a goddamn cookie?’.” And there, Gavin just lost it, between the image of the android just calmly eating a microwave, and the horrifying accuracy with which he just mimicked Anderson’s voice.
***
He was sure Nines told him his name when they first met, but it went in one ear and right out the other. He wouldn’t ask Nines himself, or Connor, so with a metaphorical tail between his legs, he’d asked Tina earlier in the day. She’d given him an eye roll and teased him for not only forgetting, but now wanting to know- and then the entire precinct had been called as rival gangs were having a territory conflict.
And in the aftermath, Gavin sat next to Nines on the back of a squad car, the door torn off its hinges when he decided Gavin needed a shield in addition to his vest. Nines was drinking a bottle of thirium, the holes in his chest still blue, but didn’t seem to be bleeding anymore.
When the bottle was empty, Gavin felt a little proud for not flinching when Nines then began to eat the bottle itself.
“Your systems good?” He asked.
Nines hummed, “hungry.” Was all he replied.
Gavin sorta gazed around aimlessly, wondering what the hell he was supposed to do about that.
“You need it to like, heal?” He offered, cause if Nines medically required it- He’s snapped from thinking further when Nines stands and bends forwards, grabbing the torn door.
“H-hey, there are cops looking other than me,” he says, because he knows something about his habit does embarrass him, enough that he feels the need to be sneaky about in the bullpen still. Maybe not as much as it used to anymore, but Nines doesn’t acknowledge him at all- which wasn’t normal. The android using his hand to tear a chunk off the top of the door, “Uh, you there, Nines?”
He snaps up then, eyes wide and his LED briefly flickering red, “You’ve never said my name before.”
“Did you hear what I said before that? You’re on the street.” He repeats, choosing to ignore Nines’ statement.
“I-I-“ And that’s not normal either, because Nines doesn’t stutter, “I think you’re right- I need material to heal.”
And you just figured this out now? He wanted to say. Instead, he chooses, “Well, a car door definitely tops a microwave.” He smiles, and Nines returns it in his own way.
He brings the door close enough he can sit back on the car, and Gavin laughs at anyone who catches a glimpse of his partner ripping off and eating portions of the door like it was a chocolate bar.
***
After that, both Gavin and Nines learned why Nines had his habit. He explained that after Gavin suggested it was a healing mechanism, that he had dug into his code, and found it. His blueprints had been destroyed by CyberLife, so he was often still lost as to what he was truly capable of.
“But it seems I have a network of nanites that not only repair my body as well as each other, but they are constantly trying to improve my structure, and to keep a reserve. It explains why my cravings are constant, but spike on days I receive an injury. I had sustained a knife wound that day I had the microwave.”
“Can you turn it off then?” Was Gavin’s first thought. Because a few days after the shootout, basically everyone in the DPD knew Nines could chew through whatever was handed to him.
“Yo, big guy!” Officer Randy Evans, loud-mouthed like Gavin was, but lacked the ambition. “Catch!”
Without missing a beat, Nines caught the crumpled up wad of paper before it hit his head.
“What is this?”
“Report someone let their kid scribble all over, good as trash now.” Evans explained, a mean grin across his face.
“There are bins next to everyone’s desk.”
“With all the shit you eat, I don’t see any difference.” He was also the kind of guy who didn’t know not to provoke the lion while standing in its cage.
“Hey!” Gavin snapped, having been listening the whole time, watching as Nines got stiffer as Evans made the jab. “You know he could bite your whole hand off and wouldn’t even use a fraction of his strength, right?”
Evans scoffed, “Can, won’t-“ And Gavin cuts him off because if he doesn’t get it through Evans thick-ass skull that Nines is not a guy to mess with, he’d badger the android every time he got.
“Yeah, he’d fucking spit you back out, cause you’re so full of shit there’s nothing he can recycle.” And then he reaches over their shared desks, taking the crumpled paper still in Nines hand, and drops it into his trash can.
“Jeez, Reed- can’t just talk shit with your android?”
“Oh you talk shit alright.”
“Gavin-“ Nines started, but Gavin wouldn’t stop.
“Nines doesn’t fucking eat trash, that’s why you’re still able to talk. Don’t use him as a garbage disposal, you can take yourself to the goddamn landfill.”
He would’ve kept going, honestly, but it was then that the Lieutenant had walked over, giving Evans the chance to slip away. The look in the old man's eyes suggested he heard quite a bit, but he said nothing about it, and just asked how Nines’ was doing.
“I believe I could turn it off, but I don’t think I want to.”
“Wha- don’t you-“ want to get any assholes off your back? Because while Evans kept his distance after that, he wouldn’t be the last idiot to try and make him nothing more than a walking garbage can.
“Your presence makes me feel I can eat without shame. As well as Connor’s and the Lieutenant’s.” And then, Nines adds, “And I like the different textures of things I eat- would you turn off a bodily function of yours if you enjoyed it?”
Swallowing down the emotions after Nines too-honestly said he’d felt comfortable near him, Gavin tried to think seriously on the question. If he no longer had to eat to survive, he’s sure he would still eat. It would just be junk food and other stuff he liked, though. So he guessed he knew where his partner was coming from. Somewhat.
“I guess not.” And then, curious, “What ‘textures’ do you like so far?”
Nines did his smirk-smile, “I think I did enjoy the mug- in addition to your reaction,” Gavin rolled his eyes as he continued, “I like the plastic of pens, and the cord of your headphones had been... interesting. I haven’t eaten many rubbery items. Or glass for that matter.”
And well, Christmas was coming up, and the DPD was in full swing of the celebration between continuing cases. Decorations had been hung and two trees were set up- one in the lobby and one in the break room.
On the 24th, he pretended he was ignorant when Nines paused before a box on his desk. Wrapped just a little haphazardly.
Was absolutely not watching his peripheral as Nines gently undid the wrapping, before opening the box.
Inside, there would be a few ceramic plates, a smaller box of pens with a label that read, ‘a pen a day keeps the technician away’, and an assortment of different things Gavin was pretty sure the android had never tried before.
Silverware, scissors, a ruler, stapler, and a calculator-he had been in a school supplies area when he grabbed the pens, okay?. A lightbulb, and a remote as well.
“Thank you.” Nines said with warmth, as he put the box down on the ground so his desk had space to work. He’d left the pens up though, and took one out.
The sheepishness Gavin felt immediately vanished, when Nines shamelessly bit half-way into the pen, so used to eating pens that were out of ink that- despite being in a brand-new box- looked shocked when ink splattered over his face and shirt.
After Nines cleaned his space and returned to the bullpen wearing his spare clothes, he tried a second pen. This time getting the whole pen in his mouth and closing before he chewed.
“That better?”
Nines nodded, and then swallowed, “I think it’s similar to the jelly donuts Detective Collins enjoys.”
Nothing else in the box was touched until later that day, where Gavin was, oddly, invited to Anderson’s place. Which since Nines lived there, it didn’t actually seem that odd, but it still- was.
Went anyways because Nines said something about letting Gavin see his reaction to the items he’d never tried, and that Anderson’s was just a few minutes closer to DPD than Gavin’s.
Whatever had won him over, he didn’t care, sitting on Anderson’s dog-hair covered couch. More interested than he expected to be watching someone try to figure out the best angle to eat a lightbulb at. Eventually, Nines decided on covering his mouth as much as he could, so that shards of glass didn’t fall anywhere.
He ignored the fact that Anderson and Connor were hip to hip in the kitchen, as Nines’ face seemed particularly pleased after taking a bite out of what used to be a TV remote.
“Good?” He waited for Nines to clear his mouth.
“The contrast of the plastic to the rubber buttons is… pleasant.” And Gavin definitely hadn’t made a note to get more of those. If anything, it was just to spare his own remotes- should Nines be hungrier than usual one day.
Nines chose to save the rest of the items for another day, so the remainder of the evening was spent subjecting Nines to Frosty the Snowman and other Christmas shows he’d watched as a kid. At some point Connor and Anderson had joined them, and Gavin- comfortable with an armrest on one side, and Nines on the other- accidentally fell asleep on the androids side.
When he’d eventually wake up, and pretend it never happened, he would also pretend that he hadn’t grown to really like this stupid, overgrown android that ate the weirdest things.