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"phck! shit..."
groaning out loud, gavin rotated his hand to eye his quickly bleeding finger. of course this would happen. maybe it was karma for being a gremlin and cutting his nails in the bullpen. or maybe it was a push in the other direction?
"detective reed, give me your hand." a cool voice sounded to the side of gavin, just feet away from where he sat in his chair. nines stared at him expectantly, sitting in his own seat much more polite than gavin, despite having his rough edges.
turning his head to face the annoying android, gavin glares at nines with all the hatred he could muster up inside of him, hoping to show it with a snarl or a furrow of his eyebrows. it didn't matter much to nines though. why would it?
"the hell do you want, tin can?" his eyes flickered down to nines' interlocked fingers on his desk. gavin's eye twitched. he never really knew why nines' perfection irritated him. it just did. much more than other androids, for some reason. maybe it was because nines thought he was superior than other humans? who knows?
"you're bleeding. i have a bandage." nines stated as clear as day, showing no signs of backing down. if he did, it would be against his programming. he has to protect human lives as best he can. he could be replaced, but a unique soul couldn't. this was just a small injury, but it was still just as harmful.
"well, i don't need your phcking help. go bother someone else, or do your work, dumbass..." he grumbled, shaking his head and attempting to go back to cutting his nails unevenly. it's not like he needed them to look gorgeous to be a good detective.
after gavin heard a sigh from the android, he smirked. if nines grew tired of him, he would maybe (hopefully) deviate and then gavin could crush him like a root beer can. oh, how he'd love to squeeze until-
"what-" he couldn't get another word out before he was fully faced towards nines now. the android was leaning over their desks and applying a light brown colored bandaid to gavin's small gash on his finger.
gavin didn't know what came over him. in that moment, nines looked at his hand so carefully, inspecting, like if he would make only a tiny mistake, gavin would shatter into thousands of pieces of glass.
why did gavin like it...?
why did gavin like it when nines swiped away his blood and gently wrapped a bandaid around the injury firm enough to stop the bleeding? why did gavin like it when nines, without a word, took hold of his nail clippers and started clipping away at his nails with thoughtful precision?
gavin couldn't speak for awhile after that. nines' hands were just so.. soft? they felt real. like they weren't just hard shells covered over by synthetic skin made in a factory. they felt real, like nines had grown up into a man with these hands, toiling away at whatever project he had to work on... why did the bumps and ridges on nines' hands feel so real, and so nice to touch?
"i advise you to be more mindful next time you clip your fingernails, detective." nines' firm toned voice trickled out, like smooth waters in a flowing river over the sharp rocks that dug deep into the soil. since when did gavin care about nines' voice? and since when did it sound so.. concerned?
gulping down whatever dignity he had left, gavin quickly noticed his mouth was dry and his stomach had an odd feeling to it. was this what butterflies felt like from movies? gavin had always felt wasps sting the insides of his guts, but now this felt lighter. softer. what was happening to him?
"tch... whatever." he scoffed. gavin needed time to think about this, but now was not the time. he turned his chair back over to face his computer screen where a case file awaited his presence. this feeling could wait another day. for now, gavin had to go back to work.