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In the last few weeks of December there had been a new case, not only on Gavin and Nines desks but also handed out to all of the other detectives at the station. Leave it up to criminals to ruin the month people enjoy the most.
There had been a string of assaults, attempted homicide even, on police officers recently, no specifics to a certain type of officer either, anyone who wore a uniform or badge seemed to get targeted.
No deaths had been reported yet but all of the police and detectives on duty and off were all issued a warning about it, the perpetrator seemed to be the same man every time, never sticking around long enough to let people get a good look at his face, obscured with some sort of hat and mask every time.
Either leaving the officer roughed up or sliced up, even one stabbing as he grew more and more confident in his ventures. None were life threatening, but as time passed he grew more bold in the damage he did, more and more violent.
Which is how Gavin found himself in this situation, Nines giving him a raised brow as he cornered Gavin in the break room, that was thankfully for him, empty.
“Fuck no.”
Even Nines Jr. was giving him a look from where he was sitting on the counter next to his coffee mug, neither of them impressed.
“Yes Gavin.”
He rarely used his actual name unless he was deadly serious or extremely sarcastic, and unluckily for Gavin it seemed he was not lucky enough for it to be the latter of the two.
“You can’t be serious Nines, I’m not letting you walk me to and from my car, just because there’s someone going around fucking with officers.”
The look he was given showed that the other was not going to back down, god damned androids and their stubbornness. Even if he considered himself now friends with the other, that would just be embarrassing to have done, even if he did have feelings for him.
“I am very serious, the probability of you getting attacked would greatly diminish if you went out with another officer wherever you go, he has shown no interest in officers in pairs, only solo ones.”
Gavin wanted to slam his head into the cabinets in front of them, he could never catch a break. Even Gavin’s heart was sulking a bit, but still too preoccupied by Nines own heart to really care at the moment, the two of them having been attached at the hip, or rather hand, since he had set his heart free on the desks.
Groaning he settled for letting his head fall backwards to look up at the ceiling, silently hoping the other would leave him alone, unfortunately he knew that wasn’t how he worked.
“Fucking fine then, since you’re so adament about it, but only because you want to, don’t think for a damned second that I am letting you do it for me.”
Nines face morphed into a more smug look as he accepted the detective's defeat, horribly failing at hiding his pleased smile. The little heart began to spin Gavin’s own around in a circle, hands clasped into each others and spinning happily.
Gavin did his best to hide his slight blush at the others expression aimed at him, choosing to glare at him and let out a frustrated huff instead.
The two of them had never spoken about it, the way Gavin would sometimes redden when Nines looked at him or the way he would absently stare at him lost in thought. Or the fact that whenever Nines was stressed and Gavin put a hand on him to help soothe it his LED would always turn blue again, or the way he looked at Gavin as if he hung the stars when he knew the other wasn’t watching.
It was an unspoken agreement to not bring it up, neither willing to breach the topic or face the other about what was going on between them, for now content with the small things they had with each other.
“Thank you detective.”
“Yeah fuck you too Nines.”
The coffee machine let out a chime that it was done brewing, letting Gavin push past Nines and pour another cup, what he had originally came in there for. As he poured some milk into the cup he let his arm linger on the counter for a few extra seconds, letting the hearts that had previously been playing crawl onto his sleeve, wanting to take them back to the desks without suspicion.
Gavin’s Heart tugging the other along with no resistance onto the jacket, used to having to do it.
Nines just waited for Gavin to finish preparing his coffee before he followed him out of the break room back to the desks, letting the other settle down a bit before he started on the next case file.
He had been let off of desk duty a little while back, the cases requiring them to leave the station swindling by that time as the month got closer to holiday time, the snow making everyone less likely to leave their houses to do crime.
As they began their usual rhythm of bouncing evidence and ideas off of each other the hearts decided to do their own thing to pass the time, constantly hanging off of each other, going in between Nines and his own desk as they set off on messing with stuff or one another.
Time flew by and before he knew it was time to pack up, they had solved a few low level files and made progress on a few other ones that had been waiting in the back for a while as they had been busy with ongoing investigations.
Scanning the area Gavin saw others beginning to pack up for the day, Hank and Connor still at their desks working, Hank just listening to Connor ramble about whatever he was talking about. Connor’s heart had made its way over to Hank, curled up against his jacket sleeping soundly, unaware of the world around it, Hank’s own heart tiredly trying not to nod off facing Connor, clearly trying to pay attention somehow.
Most other hearts around the station were soundly sleeping in their owners' things, either in a pocket or on a desk, if Gavin had to remark on it he would have said it looked rather peaceful for all the hearts.
Returning his attention back to his partner he caught him beginning to also sort his desk out, neatly stacking folders and putting away any loose objects that had been brought out through the day.
The sight made Gavin grin to himself, never one to admit how good Nines looked doing basic things, how domestic he looked when he let his facial expressions go, a calm wash over his features when he was wrapped up in doing something.
He hadn’t even realized Nines had spotted him staring until the other gave him a smile, head tilting a little to the side as he did it, snapping Gavin out of his trance, making him let out a groan as he thunked his head onto the desk in front of him.
“You don’t actually have to walk me to and from my car, y'know, I can handle myself enough to do that, it’s literally like fifty steps in total.”
Nines just gave a gentle laugh at him, the sound of him standing making Gavin raise his head again.
“I know, but with everything happening recently, I would appreciate it if you would indulge me in this.”
Pulling himself up from his seat he grabbed at his own jacket only to find it gone, eyes sharply looking up as he caught Nines holding out a hand, jacket held in his outstretched hand.
“Thanks. You make it sound like I’m doing you a favor by letting you walk me fucking like one hundred feet.”
Wrapping his arms into the fabric of his jacket he let Nines lead the way out the door, giving a wave to his brother as they left, having the motion mimicked by the other within seconds.
“You are, detective.”
Nine's voice was a bit softer when he spoke, opening the door for Gavin out into the cold, letting the detective lead them to his car.
The little hearts that had relocated to Nine’s front pocket shivered a bit, making Nines heart wrap around Gavin’s a bit more, if he hadn’t needed to pretend they didn’t exist he would have let his face scrunch up in a grin at it.
Unlocking the car he stepped into the cold car, turning the key in the ignition as Nines closed the passenger door, letting the air turn on full blast to try and warm them up.
“What do you plan on doing when we get there?”
Gavin hadn’t given it much thought on what Nines was going to exactly do once he made sure he was safe after returning home.
“I am probably going to call a cab detective.”
Gavin rolled his eyes, cause of-fucking-course he was going to.
“You can call me Gavin when we are off duty yknow. And for fucks sake you can just stay the night, I’m not going to kick you out like a unwanted puppy after we get there.”
It would be the first time Nines had stayed there for more than a few minutes, much less the night, but Gavin was sure about it, even if he didn’t have feelings for the android he wasn’t completely heartless.
Even the little hearts looked a bit excited at that, their first sleepover or whatever he could call it, practically jumping up and down at the offer, Nines repeating Gavin’s name repeatedly in an excited tone.
Nines looked a bit surprised at his offer.
“Only if I won’t be intruding, det- Gavin.”
Gavin gave him a snort, rolling his eyes even if Nines wasn’t looking at him.
“I fucking offered Nines, obviously you wouldn’t be intruding.”
Glancing over to the other Gavin saw Nines smile softly at him, eyes watching him almost fondly from the seat next to him, LED spinning a soft and slow blue.
“Then of course, I would appreciative, to stay the night.”