Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The first thing that comes into view when his eyes are opened is a kid, a human girl looking up at him with an almost judgemental face. She’s wearing a puffy jacket, and she tugs at it as she squints up at him through her glasses, as if she’s analyzing him.

“Yanna! Come along!” Someone calls out, and she turns and leaves, quickly gone without a second glance back. 

A view around the room tells him it’s a store. For androids, specifically. There’s one walking with a human couple, telling the benefits of having a certain model, the ways it could help around the house. 

His view of them is quickly blocked by two people, the left one looking like he works here, clean sweater and glasses on his face, the other with a dirty jacket and a frown.

“It took a bit of a while, but it’s all fixed up now.” The first man says, pushing up his glasses. “It was really messed up.” He smiles, but it looks a bit pained and awkward. “What did you say happened to it again?”

The other man is staring, and seems to snap out of it a little late, stumbling on his words. “Oh, it-uh, got hit by a car.” He clears his throat. “Yeah, freak car accident.”

“Okay. Well, we had to wipe it’s memory while fixing it, so-”

“That’s fine.” He cuts him off, waving a hand.

The man doesn’t seem to mind, straightening up and keeping a smile. “Alright. Did you give it a name?” 

“My son did.” 

The man with glasses leans forward. “AX400, register your name.” He then steps aside for the other man to speak.

“Stephen.” He says, and Stephen blinks, nodding.

“My name is Stephen.” He repeats.

---

The car ride back is quiet, and Stephen goes over his coding, somewhat observing the outside through the window as he does.

His purpose here is to be a caretaker. He can clean the house, take care of the kids, do basic chores. The information he holds from the internet is enough to answer any questions his owner might have, and he also has thousands of children's stories tucked away for any kids as well.

They pass by some construction, and Stephen tilts his head to the window as he goes over his job once more. He is to take care of any humans he’s assigned to. He is to never harm them, and to follow orders to the best of his abilities.

Glancing down at himself, Stephen looks at his pristine black and white uniform, the name tag glowing a bright blue on his chest. He looks to Todd, who keeps his eyes on the road with a frown. He seems easily irritable. Which isn’t ideal, but Stephen can work with it. He’s supposed to anyway.

Stephen looks out the window again, the light at the side of his head whirring for a moment, and staying a bright blue.

---

When the car arrives, Stephen takes a moment to look over the house. It’s old, a little torn down. The lawn is in need of some serious mowing, and half of it is yellow and dry. 

By the time Stephen is done judging the lawn, Tood is already up and out of the car, and Stephen scrambles to open the door and follow. 

The sidewalk is cracked under his feet, and the pathway up to the house is uneven. Stephen makes a face, but quickly puts his judgements aside. He’s not supposed to judge, anyway.

“Well? Are you coming or not?” Todd barks, and Stephen snaps out of his daze, looking up. 

“I’m going.” He says calmly. Todd rolls his eyes in response, huffing. Stephen just quickly walks after him, steps light as he stays behind Todd.

They go inside, the door closing behind them. Todd walks forward, pacing a bit as he turns to Stephen. “Alright, you’ve been gone for three weeks, so the house is a mess. You take care of the chores, laundry, dinner, all that shit. You also-” He stops, looks around.

Stephen glances around as well, taking in the house. It really does need some cleaning. He can see trash in the kitchen from here. 

“Dammit, where is he? Gavin!” Todd turns and spots what he’s looking for on the stairs. Stephen turns his head to see a little kid, 9 years old from his observations. He’s holding a little stuffed teddy bear, eyes looking curiously at Stephen as he sits on the stairs.

“Oh, there you are. That’s Gavin. My son.” Todd continues, sounding almost vengeful with the way he says it. “You watch over him, food, homework, bath, all that.” Then he turns around, walking to the living room without another word.

Stephen sorts his tasks in his head, glancing at Gavin. He’s staring, and Stephen realizes after a moment that he’s staring too. He gives a small smile.

Gavin doesn’t smile back and instead squeezes his stuffed bear and runs up the stairs, footsteps quiet. 

A part of Stephen wants to go check on the kid. That’s part of his orders, isn’t it? 

The little to do list he compiled from Todd’s orders blinks up in his vision, and Stephen reads over it, deciding to go to the kitchen first.

Blinking the list away, he swipes a trash can and starts putting the garbage away, walking around the house and grabbing old beer cans, pizza boxes. 

Todd is on the couch, drinking from a beer bottle. At one point Stephen crosses the tv to pick up something, and Todd immediately yells in response, telling Stephen to move.

He makes a note to not go in front of the tv anymore, and continues with his list.

He checks each one off eventually, finishing with the trash and moving on to putting away from laundry. He’s at the sink, scrubbing away at some dishes when over the sound of the tv and the running water, Stephen catches tiny footsteps.

He turns around, finding Gavin standing at the other side of the kitchen, looking surprised at being caught. He’s staring again.

Stephen off-handedly wonders if this will become a thing, having little staring contests. He understands that androids might be strange to some children, if they’re not used to it. Maybe he should try making a good impression when he can. 

Giving a small smile, Gavin blinks in response, then runs off, teddy bear clutched in his hands.

He continues with the dishes.

---

Once the dishes are done, the laundry is taken care of, Stephen checks his list to find it all done. There must be more to do upstairs, though.

Walking over to the living room, Stephen steps up to the side of the couch, leaning down. 

“Todd? I’m finished down here, so I’ll be going up now.” He informs him, Todd waving a hand and grumbling out that he doesn’t care.

Stephen straightens up, and makes his way up the stairs, to the hallway. There’s three rooms, Todd’s room, the bathroom, and Gavin’s. He makes a list, and then sets out to follow it.

He goes to Todd's room first, frowning at the mess. He picks up some things from the floor, placing them to the side. He makes the bed, puts some clothes that are thrown to the side away. 

After a few minutes, he steps back, seeing the end result and nodding to himself. Much better. 

He still wanders around the room a bit, poking around for information that could help him better do his job. At one point, he pulls open the drawer from the nightstand, looking inside.

Stephen falters at seeing the gun there, and tucks the info away in his mind, of knowing there is a weapon in the house. There’s a pill bottle next to it, and Stephen grabs it, looking at the label, scanning it.

They’re antidepressants, side effects include the risk of behavioural disorders. Stephen’s gaze goes to the door, where it leads down the hall and down the stairs, where Todd must be still sitting on the couch. 

Stephen puts it back, quickly sliding the drawer closed. He moves on, and checks Todd’s room off his list.

He moves to the bathroom next, mopping and putting away plastic bottles. As he’s dragging the mop across the tile, he stops in front of the mirror, looking in it for a moment.

Stephen looks like all his other models, normal neat brown hair, short on the sides, and brown eyes. His LED whirrs a bit as he stares at himself. He grins into the mirror, then smiles, amused with himself. He continues mopping.

Once done, Stephen nods to himself and checks off his list again, turning from the bathroom door to Gavin’s.

Oh boy. Here comes the hard part.

Knocking twice, Stephen calls out through the door. “Gavin? I’m coming in.” Pushing the door open, he sees the kid scramble to run under a little blanket fort, tucked away in the corner.

“I just want to clean a little. I’ll be quick.” Stephen reassures. Gavin peeks out from his fort, but stays inside, still holding on to his teddy bear. 

Stephen continues with his work, going over to the plain bed, and folding the only blanket left on it, putting the neat square at the end of the bed.

He looks to the fort that Gavin seemed to have made. It’s lit up by fairy lights, and it seems like all the pillows and blankets that are supposed to be on his bed are instead being used for walls. Stephen makes a note to bring up more pillows and blankets. The kid can indulge in his creativity, but he shouldn’t go without a blanket at night.

Going over to the window, Stephen opens it up to let the air ventilate, peering down at the roof tiles as he does. He looks out into the street, thinking for a moment, then moves on.

Stepping back and turning his head to the fort, his foot hits something, and Stephen looks down to see a book, with a small stack of papers on top and some crayons put to the side.

Glancing at Gavin, who’s once again staring, he kneels down, grabbing a paper. They’re little doodles, drawings of crayon. The attempt at what looks to be people is cute.

“Are these your drawings?” Stephen asks, looking to Gavin, who’s hiding half his face in his teddy bear, eyes calculating. He nods. 

“They look great.” Stephen says, smiling. Kids need support and encouragement. Even if said drawings are a tad...scribbly. “Who are these supposed to be?” Stephen asks, hoping for an answer.

Gavin is smiling behind his teddy at the praise, but once Stephen asks that question, his face falls, his eyes holding too much sadness for a little kid. He looks away.

Stephen frowns, looking to the drawings again. It takes a moment, but he realizes what it is. It’s two people, one smaller, with blue hair. The other is taller, with colorful purple hair and yellow eyes. But the uniform on the purple haired one is the uniform that Stephen has.

He looks to Gavin, looking at the blue hair on the kid’s head. It’s dyed, which Stephen hadn’t really noticed at first, simply busy with making a good impression rather than the unusual hair color.

“Are these us?” Stephen asks, and Gavin looks at him. After a second, he nods. 

Stephen looks at the drawing again. He can’t remember anything before he was reset, so he doesn’t know what is the reason for the colorful hair.

He holds the drawing in his hand, moving to sit in front of Gavin’s blanket fort. He holds it up, just above his nose. “This is me?” He asks, pointing a finger.

Gavin nods, pulling his face away from his teddy bear. 

“I see.” Stephen flips the paper, observing it again. “Well, I look very handsome, don’t I?” He grins, beaming. Gavin huffs, not quite a laugh, but good enough for Stephen. “My hair isn’t this color though…” Nor his eyes, he thinks, his gaze flicking to Gavin for hopefully an explanation. 

“We dyed it.” Gavin says quietly, and Stephen’s head snaps up, surprised. “I- We dyed my hair. You changed yours, ‘cause you're a robot.” 

Colorful hair for the sake of a kids amusement. It sounds like something Stephen would do. Probably. 

“Dad said it looked weird. But, uh.” Gavin stops for a second, Stephen waiting patiently for the rest. “I thought it would be fun, so, he said yes, and you colored my hair for me, so we could both have cool colors.” 

Stephen looks at the drawing again, humming. Purple hair. The golden eyes, he’s not sure if he can even do that, can he even do that? 

He looks through his code, searching and trying to change a few things, fiddle around, and after a moment, his hair slowly goes from brown to a nice purple, Gavin gasping. He’s not sure if he got the eyes right too, but from the look on Gavin’s face, it’s close enough.

“There! Do I look like how I did before now?” Stephen smiles, showing off his hair. Gavin nods, and shoves half his face into the back of his teddy bear, eyes locked on Stephen’s hair. 

Ah. Again with a staring contest. 

“I’m afraid that I don’t remember anything before I was reset. Do...do you have anything I should know?” Stephen asks, Gavin only blinking in response. The sadness in his eyes is less, but he still isn’t quite smiling, and that’s not good in Stephen’s book.

“Your father said that you chose my name. It’s a good name. Where did you get it from?” Gavin doesn’t respond to that one either, like his words have run out. He looks to the side, staring contest broken.

Stephen leans back, putting the drawing down gently. “You’re a bit quiet.” 

Gavin crawls out of his fort, running past Stephen, who quickly gets to his feet. Shoot, did he say something wrong? Is Gavin uncomfortable? 

The kid turns around, shifting his weight from foot to foot at the door. Then he runs forward, holding out his hand.

Stephen raises his hand without a second thought, and finds a small key to be placed in his palm. Just as soon as Gavin runs up to him, he runs away, and down the hallway.

Staring at the door for a moment, Stephen slowly turns his head to the key in his hand. Why a key?

Looking around, Stephen spots a small box on top of the drawers, with little designs on it. There’s a lock at the front. 

He twirls the key through his fingers as he walks up to it, faltering for a moment. Is he supposed to open this? Well, he wouldn’t have been given the key if Gavin hadn’t wanted him to open it, right?

With that reasoning, Stephen puts the key in, turning the lock. It clicks, and opens, and he pushes the lid up, looking inside.

The first thing he spots is a little four leaf clover. It usually means luck. He wonders when Gavin might’ve found that. Lucky little kid.

Under that is a photo, which Stephen slowly raises out, scanning over the faces in the picture. It seems to be a family. He sees Todd in it, and puts it to the side.

There’s drawings, a good amount of them. Grabbing them from the box, Stephen looks over the first one, face confused.

Then he’s holding the paper tightly, seeing a little drawing of a kid with blue hair, with red crayon scribbled over him, like injuries.

He forces himself to loosen his grip, the light at his temple going yellow as he takes in the idea of Gavin being hurt. He goes to the next drawing, and isn’t much happier with it. 

It’s Gavin, again, with someone with an angry face, taller, meaner looking. The thought of Gavin seeing Todd like this, imagining him like this, it…

Stephen feels unsettled.

 He goes to the next page. 

It’s Stephen, purple crayon, looking like he’s being hit by what looks to be Todd, with Gavin behind them both, the drawn face looking distressed. He goes to the next page, and freezes.

It’s Stephen, purple and blue crayon messily drawn to depict Stephen in pieces, on the floor. There’s a doodle of Gavin beside him, crying. 

The paper crinkles, and Stephen has to put it down, lest he rips it in his hands. He looks to the door, his light whirring, going red for a moment. 

“Fuck.” He mumbles. This makes things difficult. 

Stephen can’t put a finger on what’s going on with him, he feels as if something has malfunctioned in his chest, but a quick check shows that everything is in working order. He looks at the drawings again, and turns his head away, closing his eyes. His LED whirrs, staying yellow for a good while, then eventually blue.

He quickly puts all the things back in the box, closing the lid and locking it, putting the key to the side.

Chores. Right, he’s supposed to do chores. 

He walks through the door, down the hallway. As he’s going down the stairs, he stops halfway through, spotting Gavin at the dinner table, fiddling with his bear. 

Stephen smiles at the sight, just staring for a moment, then sees Todd pacing in the back, walking up to Gavin. 

“What are you doing?” He asks, and the tone of voice makes Stephen go cold, even if he can’t get cold. 

“I...I’m playing.” Gavin responds back, looking away.

“You’re playing…” Todd frowns, pacing around the table. Stephen can tell he’s getting worked up, and can only watch, eyes a little wide as he looks to Gavin with concern. “I know what you’re thinking… You think your dad is a low life...Huh? A fucking loser?” He stops in his pacing, looming over Gavin.

Stephen feels cold.

“Can’t get a job, take care of the family? Don’t you think, I tried to make things work?!” Todd raises his voice, frustration evident through his tone. Gavin looks at him with a fearful face, turning in the chair. His little stuffed bear falls to the floor.

“But whatever I do, when someone comes along, they just FUCK IT ALL UP!” A chair gets thrown to the side violently, and Stephen flinches, eyes locked on Gavin.

“I know what you think of me…” Todd continues, focusing on Gavin. “You hate me. You hate me, don’t you?” He walks forward, and Gavin jumps out of his chair, the seat tipping over as he stumbles back, eyes wide.

 Todd grabs Gavin by the armpits, yanking him into the air, and looking him in the eyes as he yells. “SAY IT! YOU HATE ME!”

Gavin cries, tears flowing over, closing his eyes as Todd seems to calm down, slowly lowering him.

“God...what am I doing?” He chokes out, kneeling to the ground and putting his head to Gavin’s chest, crying as well. 

Stephen is frozen as Gavin turns his head to him, his face wet with tears. Stephen stares back, gripping the railing. He can’t place the way he’s affected, but he knows that something is telling him to go over there and rip Todd away from Gavin. Maybe yank Todd around as well.

“I’m sorry, honey, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. You know daddy loves you, don’t you?” Todds hugs him, mumbling apologies over and over. 

Gavin looks over Todd’s shoulder at Stephen. Stephen stares back.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” 

Stephen feels too cold, and the wood under his fingers nearly splinters with the way he grips at the railing. 

---

The day goes by slowly, Gavin running to his room and staying there for the next few hours.

The sun sets and it’s soon dark outside as Stephen finishes up his duties, making sure he can clean what he can. He works on dinner, glancing outside and noting that there’s rain coming for tonight. 

Putting the food on the plates, Stephen steps back, and then goes up the stairs, to Gavin’s room. He knocks on the door. 

“Gavin? Come down for dinner.”

A moment of silence, and the door opens, showing Gavin, who tries to walk past Stephen quickly, his eyes puffy.

“Gavin.” Stephen says calmly, and Gavin stops, turning around. “Here, come here.” 

He walks over, and Stephen finds himself reaching out to Gavin’s face, hands gently holding him as he rubs a thumb under Gavin’s eye.

Gavin pulls away, running down the hall. Stephen stays in place for a moment, hands hovering in midair. He doesn’t know why he did that.

He follows him downstairs anyway, walking over to the couch to where Todd is. He’s sleeping, and Stephen wakes him up, watching Todd jolt awake. 

“Dinner’s ready.” Stephen says, and walks off into the kitchen, grabbing the two plates of food. 

Gavin is sitting at the dinner table, hands clasped together on top of the wood. Todd goes to sit across from him as Stephen brings the food to the table.

“There wasn’t much in the kitchen, so I had to work with what I had.” Stephen informs them, placing the plates down. He grabs a napkin off the table, putting it on Gavin’s lap, then going to grab a water jug, filling Gavin’s cup first, then Todds.

He checks off “serve dinner” from his list, and stands to the side, clasping his hands behind his back.

It’s quiet, and the room feels tense. Gavin stares at his food. 

Todd has been frowning since he woke up, fidgeting and mumbling under his breath. A flash of a thought, Stephen smacking Todd across the back of his head to put some sense into him, goes through his mind for a moment. He quickly pushes it away. He isn’t supposed to harm humans.

Neither of them touch their food, and Todd looks up, eyes landing on Gavin. Stephen looks to the water jug on the table, studying the handle.

“Life’s funny…” Todd mumbles, eyes narrowing. “I lost my job because of androids...then when I need someone to take care of this goddamn house, what do I do? Hire a fuckin’ android.”

“What a joke!” He spits out, and Stephen looks to him, not enjoying the way his face contorts in frustration. He looks to Gavin instead, who’s just quiet, but a comforting face. “Course, androids are so fuckin wonderful!...They never fail, never tired, never sad . They’re so fuckin perfect, they ruined my fuckin life!” 

It goes quiet again, and Stephen is tense.

Todd looks to Gavin. “What are you looking at….?” 

Don’t. Stephen almost wants to scream it, and he feels something in his chest. Somehow, without checking, he knows it’s not a malfunction.

“What’s your fuckin problem…?” Todd goes on, and Gavin scoots back in his chair, face hesitant. Stephen watches, gripping at his own hands tightly. “Not the life you dreamed of, eh? Maybe you think, this is easy ? Maybe you think it’s my fault we live in this fuckin shithole, my fault your fuckin mother took off?!”

Don’t. Don’t you dare, Stephen finds himself saying it over in his head, over, and over, watching Todd with narrowed eyes. The light at his temple goes yellow.

Todd speaks in a high pitched voice, mocking. “You should stop taking drugs, Todd. Sometimes you really scare me, Todd.”

Gavin is at the edge of his seat, eyes wide. There’s tears at the edge of his eyes. Stephen feels like he has to hold him, has to wipe them off.

“Fuckin’ bitch took off without a word…” His voice gets louder, and Stephen steps back- “Fuckin’ whore walked out on me for a fucking accountant!”

Todd gets to his feet, flipping the table to the side. It hits the floor with a crash, the things on top falling to the ground, making a mess. Gavin jumps out of his chair, stepping backwards, fear written all over his face.

“It’s all your fault!” Todd yells, coming at Gavin.

“Dad, no!” 

Stephen backs up, hands raised for a moment and he flinches harshly at Gavin getting struck across the face, the sound ringing out through the room.

Gavin looks up at Todd with teary eyes, a hand at his cheek, then runs off, nearly tripping up the stairs as he runs.

“Get back here!” Todd yells, not making an effort to follow, pointing a finger at the ground for Gavin to listen. “GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!”

Stephen steps backwards, and finds his back hitting the wall. He hears Gavin slam his door shut, and goes to follow, up the stairs.

Todd stops him, pointing a finger. “Don’t move. Don’t you dare fuckin move, or I’ll bust you worse than last time.”

Stephen listens on command, standing in place, putting his hands behind his back. Todd storms off into the living room, yelling and roaring to himself, his anger seeming to only grow by the second.

Stephen has orders. Don’t move.

But Gavin-

Don’t move. 

He glances to Todd, who’s still stewing in rage, mumbling under his breath as he paces around in anger. The thought of Gavin flashes through his mind again. He’s probably huddled upstairs, under his little fort, holding his stuffed teddy bear.

Stephen thinks of Gavin’s wide eyes, the way he stumbled up the stairs in fear-

Something unfurls in Stephen’s chest, and although his programming enforces that he never harms a human, he really wants to punch Todd right now. He wants to lunge at him, grab him by the collar and yell that he should never lay a hand on Gavin ever again. He wants to take Gavin away, from here.

It’s ridiculous. Stephen knows that. He’s not supposed to, not-

He wants to run upstairs, wants to get to Gavin-

Don’t move. Those are his orders. 

Stephen looks up the stairs, repeating those words in his head. 

Fuck it. Fuck this, Stephen thinks. He can't let this happen again.

His vision goes warped, and there’s multiple warnings popping up in bright red, yelling for Stephen to listen, don’t move. He feels like he’s pulling away from quicksand, struggling, and he sees himself in front of a wall of orders.

He doesn’t hesitate, and slams against it, punching and kicking. The second it cracks, he only hits harder. 

He needs to grab Gavin and run. 

He needs to go. 

He wants-

And it’s like something shattered.

The warnings and popups are gone. The order for Stephen to not move has disappeared from his vision, and instead Stephen puts up a new objective.

Protect Gavin.

He glances to Todd, who’s still pacing in the living room. Running up the stairs, he makes his way past the hall, then pauses, looking at Todd’s room.

It only takes a minute, tops, to grab the gun, but Stephen still thinks it’s far too long.

He opens the door, closing it behind him and immediately going to Gavin, kneeling in front of the blanket fort. Gavin is curled up inside, rocking himself back and forth, hugging his knees.

“He’s going to hurt me, he’s going to hurt me!” Gavin cries, and Stephen shakes his head. 

“No, I won’t let that happen.”

Gavin shakes his head, like it’s not possible. “Run! Get away! Or he’ll hurt you worse than last time!”

Stephen stands up, curling his hands into fists. He looks to the window, walking over to it and opening it up. It’s pouring, and it’s cold, but it could be a way to escape.

“Gavin!” Todd yells from the hallway, and Stephen swears under his breath, he didn’t lock the door-

The door slams open, Todd coming in. He barely acknowledges Stephen, going over to Gavin, hand reaching out and grabbing him by the wrist, yanking. “Come here!”

“No!” Gavin shrieks, kicking his legs.

“That’s enough!” Stephen yells, raising the gun in his hands. Todd pauses, letting go of Gavin. Stephen feels a flash of relief. “Stop. I want you to get away from him.”

“You what? You want ?” Todd repeats, and Stephen grips the gun, his hands for the first time ever shaking. “That’s not right. You’re not supposed to want . You are not supposed to want anything!”

“Damn, well too fucking bad, I’m doing it anyway!” Stephen shouts back, glaring. “Now get away!”

“We need to fix that. We’ll just fix you like last time!” The gun gets smacked out of Stephen’s hands and he’s getting yanked by the collar, falling and slamming into the drawers.

“No!” Gavin yells, crawling out of his fort.

Stephen gets to his feet, yelling as he’s grabbed again, getting yanked to the floor and almost getting stomped on, just nearly rolling out of the way in the nick of time. He kicks a leg up at Todd, crawling back and away.

“Get off me!” Stephen yells, punching Todd in the nose as he leans down to try and grab Stephen again. 

He grabs Stephen by the arm, pulling and throwing Stephen across the room. Stephen stumbles back, dodging as he’s nearly hit across the face. He socks Todd in the gut, getting slapped right after, falling against Gavin’s bed, pushing himself up.

Stephen looks up to find Gavin in front of him, hands outraised. “Stop it, don’t hurt him!” 

Todd is a second from going after Gavin and Stephen cannot have that, so he pushes Gavin to the side, tackling Todd with a yell.

Todd pushes him off, Stephen slamming into wall as Todd gets up, turning to Gavin. 

“DON’T TOUCH HIM!” Stephen lunges at him, both of them slamming into the drawer so hard that a few things fall off. The locked box falls to the ground, and Stephen grabs it, raising it over his head and bringing it down on Todd’s head. 

It doesn’t keep him down, at first, and Stephen loses the grip on the box, dropping it and using his fists instead. After two bruising hits, Todd finally stays down. 

Stephen is shaking, from anger, or fear, he doesn’t know which. He moves away from Todd, kneeling on the ground, his LED light going from red to yellow. 

Then he looks up, seeing Gavin on the ground, tears down his face. He’s holding the gun Stephen dropped, his hands shaking so badly, Stephen’s surprised he hasn’t dropped it yet.

Gavin puts it down, kicking it away, then looks at Stephen. 

Stephen looks at himself. There’s some blue from himself getting thrown around, and there’s red on his knuckles from hitting Todd.

Speaking of Todd, Stephen looks to him, finding with relief that he’s unconscious. Maybe he has a concussion. Honestly Stephen doesn’t care.

He shifts his attention to Gavin, and, still kneeling on the ground, raises his hands out.

Gavin stands up on shaky legs, stumbling over and practically throwing himself at Stephen, arms wrapping around his neck. 

“We-” Stephen stops, having to start again. “We need to leave, okay?”

“Okay.” Gavin says in his ear, and Stephen wants to shatter into a million pieces at the way he sounds.

He wraps his arms around Gavin, getting to his feet and picking Gavin up from the ground. Gavin doesn’t let go of him, even as Stephen kneels down to grab the gun from the ground, pocketing it.

He walks through the hallway, down the stairs. It takes a moment to unlock the locks on the door, but soon the door is open and he walks outside, down the cracked sidewalk. It’s raining a bit, but a little bit of water is better than being in that house.

There’s a bus approaching, and Stephen goes over to that, walking through the open doors. He picks a seat at random, putting Gavin down, or at least trying to, sitting down.

Gavin keeps a stubborn grip on him, his arms around Stephen’s waist, sitting awkwardly on the bus seat. Stephen pries his arms off and adjusts him, so he’s leaning his head on Stephen and Stephen has his arm over his shoulders.

The bus goes, the doors closing. 

“Go ahead and get some sleep, okay?” Stephen says softly, Gavin looking up at him with puffy eyes. Stephen grabs him gently by the face and wipes some water off.

“Okay.” Gavin says, leaning against Stephen, closing his eyes. 

Stephen hugs him, looking at his blue hair. “Love you.”

Gavin’s already asleep. Stephen smiles.

Chapter Text

Stephen is staring out the window while Gavin sleeps, small snores coming from him. There’s rain hitting the bus window as it drives around, and for a moment, Stephen doesn’t think. He doesn’t plan, or worry, he just holds Gavin and looks at the rain, enjoying the moment.

Then the weight of the situation sets in.

As much as Stephen wishes he could just take Gavin and live somewhere peaceful, unbothered, there’s just so many things in the way. No human in their right mind would let Stephen keep Gavin once they realized he was an android. Specifically one who attacked and then ran from his owner.

Stephen’s light at his temple goes yellow as he finds himself thinking about worse and worse situations. Gavin being taken away, Stephen getting shut down, or worse, him getting reset, no memory of Gavin at all. That one makes Stephen have to keep himself from wrapping his arms around the little munchkin, the overwhelming feeling of wanting to hold him close and never let go.

He looks to the bus’ doors, and out the window once more, this time looking at the buildings rather than the rain. He needs a plan.

Setting up a new list, he puts down a few set objectives. Find shelter. Change appearance. Figure out food for Gavin, maybe? Fuck, they need a lot more than just food. Stephen won’t need anything, being an android, but Gavin needs to be healthy and fed. Humans are fragile, not to mention he’s only a kid. 

“Protect Gavin” is a constant objective at the top of his mental list. That one never changes, and Stephen doesn’t think he ever will change it. 

The bus comes to a slow halt, the engine whirring quietly through the empty bus. Stephen gently shakes Gavin awake. He wishes he could let him sleep, but this bus can’t do for all night.

“Gavin?” Stephen whispers, shaking him by the shoulder. “Hey, kid. Wake up.”

“Hm?” Gavin opens just one eye, and the moment he sees Stephen, he full on frowns, smushing his face into Stephen’s arm. “Nooo.”

The reaction throws Stephen off guard at first, but he smiles, shaking his head. “Yes. Come on, we need to go.” 

“Where are we going?” Gavin gets to his feet, Stephen leading him by the hand as they walk down the bus, to the doors and out into the rain.

“We’re going to find somewhere to spend the night.” Stephen answers, looking around. “But, the thing is, I don’t know where that will be…” 

He looks down to Gavin, who’s trying to wipe rain off his face, even as more pours from the sky. “Any ideas?”

“We need an umbrella.” Gavin says, nodding wisely. Stephen makes an amused face, walking down the sidewalk, Gavin going with him. 

“We’re waterproof.” 

“ You’re waterproof. I’m getting wet.” Gavin says, pouting at a puddle on the sidewalk. Stephen feels like he should mention that his uniform is also soaking as well as his hair, but he pushes the thought off.

“It’ll dry.” Stephen reassures instead, seeing a 24/7 open store across the street. He makes his way there, tugging Gavin along. “Look, there’s a store. Maybe we can get some help there.”

“Or an umbrella.” Gavin says, yawning.

Stephen smirks, huffing a little.

A bell chimes as the doors slide open for them. Gavin immediately is looking down the snack aisle, eyes flicking around the store curiously. Once he sees Stephen watching him, he drops his gaze to his shoes.

“I’m going to ask the cashier for something, go...poke at stuff.” Stephen waves a hand, Gavin slowly walking away, then going down the snack aisle. Stephen wants to laugh at seeing Gavin actually start poking things, tapping a finger onto each item as he passes the shelves.

“Excuse me?” Stephen says, walking up to the counter, placing his palms onto the glass counter. The human cashier looks up, a tired mood on his face as he stares at Stephen.

He’s wearing a tacky colored uniform shirt, his blond hair wrangled into a ponytail. Stephen notices a little braid at the side of his ponytail.

“I’m trying to find some shelter for the night, is there a chance you have anywhere you could point us to? Or any cash to spare?” Stephen tilts his head, seeing the man’s expression go thoughtful, then blank.

“A homeless android? With a kid?” He asks, Stephen bristling at the way he says it, like Stephen is an idiot or something.

“Can you help us or not?” Stephen snaps, frowning.

“Woah, hey, look.” He says, raising his hands. “I can’t just give out money. That could cost me my job.” 

Stephen’s isn’t able to get a response in before a small crash sounds out from the nearby aisle, both of them turning to see Gavin, who’s standing next to a pile of chip bags on the floor.

“Sorry!” 

The cashier sighs, crossing his arms. “If you aren’t going to buy anything, you should leave.” He says, getting up from his seat and going over to where Gavin is, picking up the mess. Gavin quietly apologizes again, running to Stephen.

Stephen glances to the cash register, and thinks of the gun that’s hidden away in his shirt right now. Would it be so hard to just hold the gun up and take what he needs? If it’s for Gavin…

He looks down at the kid, and finds Gavin staring up at him, eyes glancing at the man picking up the mess before looking back at Stephen. “Are we going to go?” He whispers, tugging at Stephen’s shirt.

“Sure.” Stephen takes his hand, going towards the door. Gavin probably feels like he’s in trouble for having messed with the snacks. Stephen is sure the cashier doesn’t mind, and even then, Stephen hopes that it annoys him. 

Maybe he’s a little petty with not getting help, so what?

“Come on.” Stephen murmurs, the electronic bell ringing out as the doors slide open. Just as they’re about to go out, the cashier speaks up from the aisle. 

“There’s an abandoned house down the block. Fences all around it, all broken down looking. Should be empty.” He calls out, not looking to Stephen and continuing with putting the stuff away.

Stephen stares at the back of his head, and the cashier doesn’t even look at him, like he never said it. 

Both him and Gavin go out the doors, into the rain again. It seems to have lessened a little, now only sprinkling a bit. Stephen looks down the street, taking note of the several stores open right now, the lights on through the windows.

Then he does see it, off at the end, an old broken down house. There’s a fence around it, with tarps covering most of the view of the house, but Stephen can see the top of the roof from here.

He walks towards it, mindful of the fact Gavin can’t walk fast as him, and they approach the old place, Stephen letting go of Gavin’s hand to shake at the fence. 

“There should be a way to get in…” Stephen mumbles, looking around.

“Can’t we climb it?” Gavin says, looking to the top of the fence.

Stephen turns his head to him, smiling. “You want to try climbing this?” 

Gavin scrunches up his face, like he’s thinking about it, then shakes his head. “Uh, nevermind.”

They both walk around the fence, looking for a way in. Stephen spots a weak spot on the fence, by the floor. He tugs at it, but it’s not nearly big enough for Stephen to go through. Gavin, maybe, but Stephen needs to wire cutters or something. He looks at the fence and see a door, but it’s locked with a chain. 

“We need to cut this to get in.” Stephen says, frowning.

“What if there’s like, tools inside?” Gavin kneels in front of the fence, peering through it.

“I don’t see any.” Stephen looks through the holes in the fence, squinting to try and find anything useful in the dark. 

“Can I go check? I’m small enough.” 

“I don’t know, I mean…” Stephen steps back, looking around again. 

“I can do it.” Gavin says, and crawls through the hole, dirt getting all over his hands and knees.

“Gavin!” Stephen yells, but the kid has already gone on the other side. 

There’s a slight moment of panic, but Stephen pushes it down. He’s fine. Gavin is fine. He’s just-

“There’s mud all over my shoes!” Gavin yells through the fence, sounding very inconvenienced. Stephen sighs, leaning against the fence, listening closely. 

“Did you step into a puddle?” Stephen smiles, voice teasing. 

“ Everywhere is a puddle.” Gavin says back, and Stephen can hear the pout in his voice. There’s the sound of some stuff clanging against each other, and Stephen peers through a hole in the fence to see the dark outline of Gavin kicking some junk around, searching.

“Any luck?” Stephen asks, eyes glancing to the top of the fence. He’s thinking of just climbing it now.

“No, there’s just a bunch of garbage- AH!” Gavin shrieks, and just as Stephen is about to scale the fence, he’s coming through the hole by the ground, scrambling to crawl out.

“Are you okay?!” Stephen quickly goes to him, picking him up by the armpits and lifting him to his feet. He was right, there is mud all over his shoes. That’ll be a pain to wash off.

“There was a rat!” Gavin cries, sniffing. He looks very shaken by his experience of finding a stray rodent in the mud.

“Oh.” Stephen runs a hand over Gavin’s head, pushing his hair back. “Did it bite you?” He grins, pinching at Gavin’s cheek.

“No, but it was gross.” Gavin laughs a little, batting Stephen’s hand away. “I didn’t find anything, though.” 

“Hm.” Stephen looks around, glancing to the other stores and some alleyways. There could be help from humans in the shops, if there are any in there at this time. 

Oh shoot, wait. Stephen checks the time, startled to find that it’s nearly 2 am. He looks to Gavin, who isn’t as tired as Stephen thought he would be, instead he’s currently trying to wash his shoes in a puddle, more of splashing if anything.

Stephen needs to hurry up with this, Gavin really needs to get out of the rain and rest already.

He makes a quick list, going through the possibilities of each store. There’s a laundromat, a small restaurant, the store they already went in earlier, and a parking lot that looks like there could be something behind where it's blocked off with an old fence.

The laundromat could have something useful for them, he doesn’t know if the restaurant would be of any help, like with the cashier at the store, and the alleyway is a dice toss, there could be a pair of wire cutters laying around, or another rat to terrorize Gavin.

“Okay, kiddo, come on.” Stephen holds his hand out, Gavin running up to him and out of the puddle he was jumping around in. “We got a laundromat, that little restaurant, and the store we went into. Which one should we try?”

“What are we looking for?” Gavin asks, turning his head and looking around the street.

“Help? Money, maybe. There could be someone willing to help out.”  

“I kinda wanna go to a restaurant…” Gavin mumbles, making a face. 

“Let’s go check it out, okay?” Stephen says, pulling Gavin along as they cross the street. Their steps click against the sound of the rain, and just as they’re about to get to the front doors of the restaurant, Gavin tugs Stephen’s hand, stopping them in their tracks.

“I changed my mind! I changed my mind.” Gavin looks down, frowning.

“Oh, did you want to go somewhere else first?” Stephen says, and Gavin still looks down at his half muddy boots, biting at his lip. 

“Hey…” Stephen pulls them under the shade to get out of the rain. He kneels down to Gavin, holding his hands. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m sorry.” Gavin mumbles, eyes glued to his shoes.

“For what?”

“At the store.” Gavin shifts his weight from foot to foot, looking to the street.

Stephen frowns, squeezing Gavin’s hands. “For knocking over the chips? No, that’s okay, I know you didn’t mean to, and it didn’t hurt anyone-”

“No, I meant to.” Gavin cuts him off, shaking his head.

“...what?” Stephen keeps his voice calm, but tries to understand what’s running through Gavin’s mind. 

“I know we didn’t have any money, and you were trying to get stuff for me- I’m sorry- but, I, uh.” Gavin reaches into his pocket, and pulls out a candy bar. “I stole it.”

Stephen blinks, looking at Gavin’s hand holding up the candy. “You…”

“I pushed the chips so I could get it.” Gavin mumbles, holding the candy to his chest. “But I don’t want it anymore.”

Stephen gives a fond look to him, leaning forward to Gavin. “Well, you have it now. Aren’t you hungry?”

“It’s stolen!” Gavin whispers, eyes wide.

“I can pardon it, just this time.” Stephen reassures, waving a hand. “I mean, we need it, don’t we?”

“No, I want to give it back.” Gavin holds the candy bar up, waving it in Stephen’s face.

“Gavin-”

“To the store!” Gavin whisper yells, eyes determined. “Please. “ He adds a second after.

Stephen quietly sighs, smiling to the ground. “Okay. Let’s go.”

Gavin grabs his hand, and this time it seems like Gavin is dragging him along, Stephen having to actually walk faster to keep up with the little munchkin. 

When they do get to the store, Gavin stops in front of it, face looking apprehensive. 

“You can still keep it.” Stephen says, Gavin looking like he might consider it.

“Mmmn.” Gavin makes a weird face, like he’s conflicted. “What do I say?” He looks up to Stephen.

Stephen pauses at that, thinking. No harm was really done, he’s sure that the cashier wouldn’t be mad at Gavin.  And if he was, Stephen would be there to calm the situation down. 

“Be honest. Just say you’re sorry and give it back.” Stephen says, and leads him along into the store, the doors sliding open with a bell sound. 

They walk inside, and sure enough the same cashier is sitting at the counter, eyes flickering to Stephen and him. Stephen notes that his eyes are two different colors, which is rare, but interesting.

He gives a gentle push to Gavin. “Go on.”

Gavin runs up to the counter, nearly running into it, peering over the edge. 

“...hi.”

“Hi?” The man responds, looking a little confused. 

Gavin slams the candy bar down onto the counter, puffing up his chest, standing up straight. Stephen can see his legs are shaking though. 

“I stole this from you. I felt bad, though, so I’m giving it back.” He says, trying his best to put on a serious face.

The cashier looks at the candy bar, leaning up in his chair with an amused smile. 

“Sorry.” Gavin adds, a few seconds later.

The cashier looks to Stephen with a smile, eyes looking to Gavin again. “I see. Thank you for returning it...” He trails off, not seeming to know what to say.

“You’re welcome. I’m Gavin.” Gavin says, nodding.

“Thank you, Gavin. I’m Jay.” Jay says, looking like he’s holding back a laugh. 

“Hi, Jay.” Gavin blinks, glancing at Stephen with a face of ‘look, I’m doing great, praise me’ Stephen gives a thumbs up in return.

“Hi.” Jay says back, grabbing the candy bar, staring at it for a moment.

He looks to Stephen. “Are you guys actually just out on the streets right now?” He asks, and Stephen notes the skeptical tone in his voice.

Stephen walks up behind Gavin, putting a hand onto his head. “We’re just trying to find some help. He wanted to return that, we’ll be on our way.” Stephen says, nudging Gavin along.

“I- no, wait.” Jay waves a hand, sighing. “Kid, are you hungry?”

“Kinda.” Gavin moves so he’s behind Stephen’s legs, squinting at him. 

“I-” Jay cuts himself off, rubbing a hand at his face and sighing. He looks up at Stephen, who looks back, the light on his temple whirring. “There’s a restaurant, down the street. I have a friend who works the late night shift right now.”

Stephen waits, tilting his head.

“You-” Jay runs a hand through his hair, looking like he’s fighting with himself a bit. “Go ahead and ask for a table there. Say you know Jay.”

Stephen stares, Gavin tugging at his shirt. “Are you-”

“Just go.” Jay waves a hand, then looks back to the tv on the counter, crossing his arms. 

Stephen blinks, confused. He didn’t expect anyone to give them outright help, he expected less from this human specifically, with the way he had brushed them off at the start. Which, Stephen gets, but now he’s curious.

“Stephen?” Gavin whispers, and Stephen looks down to Gavin. Right, Stephen can figure out weird human behavior later. Maybe he could get a meal for Gavin now.

“Let’s go.” Stephen says, grabbing Gavin by the hand and going with him. “Thanks.” He says as they go out the door, glancing back to the cashier. He doesn’t get a response.

The rain has started up again, and both him and Gavin jog a little through the rain, past a few puddles to the small restaurant again. 

A little bell rings as Stephen pushes the door open, leading Gavin inside. “Hello?” 

It’s empty, which makes sense, considering it’s so late. Stephen looks around, seeing the booths and tables. It’s quiet, but it’s warm and the lights overhead are a little dim, making it feel homey, in a way.

“Is anyone here?” Stephen calls out again, Gavin leaning into his legs as he glances around.

“Just a minute!” Someone calls out from the kitchen, and Stephen pats at Gavin’s head, smiling at him.

A lady with her hair up in pigtails comes from the kitchen, patting her hands on her black apron with a smile. “Sorry! I was cleaning some dishes, how are-” She pauses from behind the counter, staring.

Okay, slightly rude, but Stephen understands. He’s a random caretaker android with a kid who’s covered in mud, having come into what seems to be her restaurant at 2 am. 

“Hi? Uh, Jay said to come over here, we were wondering if you could maybe help…?” Stephen says, giving a friendly smile. He reads the nametag on her chest. Ann.

“Jay said…?” She falters, looking surprised. “Oh. Sorry, uh, I don’t usually get androids in here! I’m assuming you want a meal for the little one?” She says, grinning to Gavin. 

Stephen nods. “If you could.”

“Sure! Go ahead and take a seat, I’ll bring a menu over right now.” She says, waving a hand. Stephen takes Gavin and they go and sit in a booth, Gavin kicking his feet as Stephen sits across from him.

Ann comes by with two menus, placing them down on the table. “Here you are, go ahead and pick something out, I’ll be back in a bit.” 

“I- We don’t have any money.” Stephen says before she goes.

“It’s fine.” She dismisses him, and walks off, not seeming concerned. 

“Okay.” Stephen mumbles, looking at Gavin who’s squinting at the menu he’s opened up, running a finger along the words as he mouths them out silently. 

Stephen looks through the menu he has, skimming over it and looking for anything Gavin might like. 

He pauses in his reading. Dammit, he doesn’t know what Gavin even likes. 

He curses Todd for, well, everything, then looks up to Gavin, putting the menu down. “See anything you want?”

“Hmmm.” Gavin turns the menu around, kneeling up on his seat to lean over the table and point at the menu as he slides it across the table for Stephen to see. “What’s this?”

Stephen looks at what he’s pointing at, reading over it. “Noodle soup?”

“I remember I would eat ramen cups sometimes, for dinner, is it like that?” Gavin asks, spinning the menu to look at it again. He places his palms onto the table, leaning forwards.

“Well,” Stephen pauses, thinking for a moment. “It’s a bit healthier, I would think, and it’ll taste kinda different.” 

“Okay.”

“You want that?” 

“Uh-huh.” Gavin nods, sitting in his seat. Stephen takes the menu from him, thinking over Gavin’s words. Ramen cups, geez. Did Todd even bother to try and make food for Gavin?

Although now that he thinks about all the pizza boxes he found when he was cleaning earlier, maybe not. He must’ve just ordered food the entire time Stephen was getting repaired. 

The menu folds a bit, Stephen gripping it a little too hard. He smooths it out, looking to Gavin, who’s laying his head on the table, a bored face.

“Are you tired?” Stephen asks, Gavin’s eyes looking at him. 

“Kinda.” Gavin shrugs, yawning. 

“We’ll eat real quick, then we’ll go back to that house to see if we can get in and rest for the night.” Stephen says, Gavin making a face. “We’ll be sure to avoid any rats.”

“Okay.” Gavin says, staring at the table. 

Stephen’s about to ask more, but Ann comes by, a chipper smile on her face. “So, you know what to order?”

Stephen orders the soup for Gavin, Ann nodding and writing a small note onto her phone. “Anything else?” 

“That’s it.” Stephen says, handing over the menus to her. 

“Okay.” Ann falters, looking like she's about to walk away but stops. “There’s some blue blood stored away in the back, I can grab some if you’d like.” 

Stephen looks at her in surprise. “I- sure.”

She nods, walking off again. 

Stephen thinks of the fact that they’ve gotten a free meal, the fact that she hasn’t asked any questions, and how she offered that. Most people aren’t nice to androids, nor as helpful. Stephen supposes it might be because he has Gavin with him, although it still makes him wary. 

And with the cashier at the store. They could be android sympathisers, maybe. But deviants, from what limited knowledge Stephen knows of them off the internet, are usually painted as dangerous, and should be turned in immediately. He should be more on guard, really.

He looks to Gavin, who’s staring up at the lights and smiles. Some humans are just kind, maybe.

Although with a flash of Todd in his mind again, Stephen isn’t so sure.

Stephen runs a hand through his hair, flinching as he finds a cut at the back of his head and a warning pops up in his vision for repair. Right, he had gotten a bit thrown around during his fight with Todd. 

He takes note of the gun still in his shirt, poking into his back. He doesn’t think he’ll have to use it anytime soon, but it’s comforting to know that if any big threat came to Gavin, Stephen has a way of countering it.

“Do you think there’s rats in that old house down the street?” Gavin asks suddenly, head rolling to the side. 

Stephen processes the question for a moment. “There could be…”

Gavin makes a face. “I’m gonna wake up with a rat on my face!” He says, slapping his hands to his face.

Stephen smiles, shaking his head. “No you won’t.”

“You don’t know. You’re not a rat.” Gavin shoots back, pointing a finger. He smiles wide at Stephen, giggling a little. Stephen laughs with him, shaking his head.

Ann comes back with a bowl, setting it down in front of Gavin. “There you are, and here’s a fork.” She places down a fork next to Gavin’s hand. There’s a blue bottle in her hand, and she puts that on the table next to Stephen. “Here. That should help too.”

Stephen takes it, nodding. 

“Why are you helping us?” He asks, Ann pausing before she can walk off again.

“Oh, I…” She glances at Gavin, smiling. “To be honest, I’ve ran into deviants before. I know that a lot of them can be...unpredictable. But I still like to help them, if I can.” 

Stephen thinks over that, nodding slowly. “Thank you. Really.”

“It’s nothing. You should be sure to be on guard when going around in daylight. Or at least, change your appearance a bit.” She taps at the side of her head, referencing the light on Stephen’s temple. 

Stephen glances down at his uniform, bright white but with a few washed away blue and red streaks from earlier across the fabric. “Right. Thank you.”

“Go ahead and leave when you’re finished. I’ll clean up after.” She says, and she walks off, Stephen turning his attention to Gavin, who’s finally eating some food. 

“So, how’s the soup?” Stephen asks, opening up the bottle in his hands and taking a small sip.

“It’s not like ramen cups.” Gavin responds, twirling his fork in the bowl. “But I like it.” 

Stephen sits back in his seat, looking out the window to the rain still coming down. He checks the time. 2:20 now. Once Gavin is done, they can set out.

--

Ann goes back to the kitchen, into the backroom, closing the door behind her. As soon as she’s sure that the two in the dining area won’t hear her, she dials on her phone, calling Jay.

He doesn’t answer the first time, so Ann sends a text saying ‘PICK UP THE DAMN PHONE’ and calls again. He answers that one.

“Hello?”

“What’s the deal with the deviant?” Ann immediately questions, hearing Jay sigh. “No, listen, I’m justified in being curious, usually you couldn’t care less about them, yet you direct these two to my restaurant?” 

“The kid, Gavin, stole a candy bar from the store earlier.” Jay says, Ann raising her eyebrows even though he can’t see it through the phone.

“Okayyy…” 

“Then he returned it, saying he felt bad. I dunno, soft spot for kids, I found it a little funny.”

Ann snorts, walking around the backroom to where she had the blue blood hidden away in a box. She closes it, kicking it back under the hiding place. “They remind you of yourself?”

“No. Kinda? Dammit, no, listen-”

Ann laughs. “Uh-huh.”

“They’re out on the streets, I’m feeling nice today, and the kid is just traveling with an deviant who’s trying his best. That’s all.”

“You know, you could-”

“No. They got it. I directed them to spend the night in that old house for tonight. They’ll probably figure it out from there.” 

“Yeah, the kid, Gavin, right? He’s eating some soup right now. Also, I noticed, that android has a bit of a gash at the back of his head.” 

“Stop wondering about it.”

“I’m just saying. They could use help.”

“Shush, Ann.” And the call ends, Ann glaring at the screen. She puts her phone away, walking out of the room. She finds the booth to be empty, the bowl looks mostly eaten and the bottle is barely missing any blue blood. 

She looks out the window at the rain and shakes her head, cleaning up the evidence.

---

Stephen leads Gavin down the street, down to the laundromat first. There’s a person inside, sleeping on one of the chairs that are laid out in the middle. A few washers are whirring, filling the place with constant noise. 

There’s not much Stephen can get here, he supposes if they had a bit of money, they could wash their clothes, but they don’t, and really, Stephen would rather get to shelter than that.

He looks over the machines around the room, and spots a dryer that’s finished, with some clothes inside.

He looks to Gavin, who’s strayed from his side and is looking at a magazine on the table, swiping his finger across a screen as he squints at the words. 

Walking across the machines, Stephen goes up to the human sleeping. He looks like he needs the sleep, face tired even while unconscious. After a moment, after he’s sure that he won’t wake up, Stephen turns to open one of the dryers, looking inside. 

There’s a black hoodie inside, clean and dry. Stephen could wear it, but he’s more thinking on if Gavin could have it.

“What are you doing?” Gavin whispers, looking up from the magazine. 

“There’s clothes here. You could use something to keep you warm.” Stephen says back, voice offering as Gavin walking over to him. 

“We can’t steal, he’s just sleeping.” Gavin says quietly, and Stephen looks to the man, snoring away. “Can’t we find other clothes?”

“We could.” Stephen says, grabbing the hoodie with a hand, still considering. “Are you sure you’ll be alright?” He holds a hand to Gavin’s forehead, checking his temperature. He seems okay, but all this rain worries Stephen a bit.

“I do need a jacket, but not that one.” Gavin says, shaking his head. “I’m okay with a dirty one. I just don’t wanna take his.” 

Stephen smiles, nodding. “Okay. If you say so.” He closes the door with a click, leaving the hoodie inside.

“Maybe we could come wash our clothes later?” Gavin says, taking Stephen by the hand. 

“Maybe. Come on. Let’s go see if we can look for some wire cutters.” Stephen says, the two of them going out of the building and leaving the man to sleep with his clothes.

They walk across the street, and they go to a small blocked off alley, Stephen peering through the fence. 

“What’s on the other side?” Gavin asks, Stephen stepping back. 

“An old car, some junk.” Stephen responds, looking up the fence. Fuck it. “I’m gonna climb over, okay? You keep a watch for me.” He says, Gavin making an unsure face. “Be my little guard.” Stephen adds, patting a hand on his head. 

Gavin smiles warmly, standing up straight, his hands curled into fists. “I can do that!” 

“Yes you can.” Stephen says, and grasps at the fence, climbing his way up. He sits at the top, swinging his leg over.

“Be careful!” Gavin says, and Stephen nods. 

“I’m trying to.” He jumps down, landing alright, but stumbling into something jagged with a swear. A small alert pops up in his vision for a repair. He sighs, pushing himself up and looking at the side of his arm. There’s a scratch across it, leaking blue onto his uniform. 

He brushes past it, he won’t bleed out.

“Are you okay?!” Gavin yells from the other side. 

“I’m fine! Just a bit of a rough landing.”

“Okay.” 

Quickly moving on, Stephen looks around for anything useful. He searches inside the car, but there isn’t anything but dust and a stray spider crawling along. 

There’s a bit of mud on the ground, and Stephen steps carefully to not slip. Then, finally, he sees it, a pair of wire cutters sitting on the ground. They’re dirty, but usable. 

He puts them in his pocket, going back to the fence and climbing over again. As he gets to the top, Gavin looks up at him with curiosity. 

“Did you find anything?” He asks, Stephen jumping down and landing with a roll.

“Yup.” He holds the wire cutters up, grinning. “Come on. Let’s go already.”

Gavin nods, grabbing Stephen’s hand and both of them quickly making their way to the old house. Gavin stands to the side while Stephen uses the wirecutters, snipping the chains off the door.

“There, that-” 

“Stephen!” Gavin suddenly exclaims, and he grabs Stephen around the waist, hiding behind him. 

Stephen turns around, finding an android just standing by him, completely still. Stephen hadn’t even heard him approach. He pats a hand at Gavin.

“Hello…” Stephen says, staring down the android.

“You seem lost.” It says, and Stephen notes his voice is completely dull, monotone, with no life at all. 

“We’re just trying to find some shelter.” Stephen says, Gavin peeking out at the android. He seems put off by it, and Stephen doesn’t blame him. He’s also getting a weird vibe. 

“I know where you can find help.” It holds out its hand, the synthetic skin peeling back to reveal white. Stephen stares for a bit, but since he’s curious, and he would like some help, he holds out his hand, the skin going white as well.

It’s a location, he finds, his light at his temple going yellow for a moment. But it’s across town, and how would that place even help-

He opens his eyes to find the android gone, Stephen’s hand outreached. He pulls his arm back, the skin returning. 

“I didn’t like him.” Gavin mumbles, tugging at Stephen’s shirt.

“Yeah, me neither…” Stephen says, looking around. “Where the hell did he even come from?”

“Can we go inside now?” Gavin says, Stephen nodding. 

“Yeah. Come on.”

---

Jay’s lucky to see it, perfect timing, honestly. Just as his shift is done, and he’s walking down the street, he spots the two he saw earlier get approached by another android.

Except Jay unfortunately recognizes that one, and he feels ice cold, even with his jacket on. 

He runs home, frantically sending a text to someone. 

‘There’s an android and a kid who I think are going to get taken advantage of by Zlatko. Either agree or I’m going after them anyways tomorrow.’

Thankfully, he gets a text back quickly. 

‘Get home soon. It’s about time we make a plan to burn that damn house to ashes.’

Chapter Text

Stephen closes the door behind him with a frown, looking around the house that is apparently going to be their refuge for now. Gavin hugs his leg, eyes wide at the dark room.

“I don’t like it here.” He says softly, Stephen putting a hand on top of his head. 

“It’s just for tonight.” Stephen reassures. “Then we’ll…” 

Then what? Where does he go from here? They’re still on the run, aren’t they? Stephen needs to make a plan, needs to figure out where to go-

He doesn’t finish his sentence, and instead takes Gavin by the hand, scanning the room.

“Why don’t we just light up the place?” Stephen asks, leading Gavin over to a dusty fireplace. “I’m sure it’s much more homey when it’s not so dark.”

“And cold.” Gavin adds, wiping his damp hair from his face. Stephen smiles, looking to the fireplace. There should be wood around here somewhere.

Gavin sits onto the floor, yawning with his arms wrapped around his torso, blinking blearily at the empty fireplace. 

Stephen shrugs off the jacket from his uniform, kneeling down and putting it over Gavin’s shoulders, holding the back of his hand to Gavin’s forehead as he pulls at the jacket with his other hand.

“Are you alright?” Stephen asks, Gavin humming. 

“Yea. It’s kinda cold.” 

“It is.” Stephen mumbles, standing up. “I’m going to look for some stuff to start up a fire, stay here.”

“Kay.” Gavin responds, tugging the jacket tighter over his shoulders. 

Getting to his feet, Stephen checks off ‘find shelter’ from his list and sets a few new goals. First one, fire.

He walks through the room, going to a doorway leading off into the house. The floor creaks under his feet, and he absent-mindedly rolls up the sleeves of his shirt as he walks through, looking through the dark for anything useful. 

The walls are the first thing that catch his attention. He expected graffiti, with the house being so torn down as it is, but this isn’t spray paint. 

It’s just carvings, a million little carvings spread out across the room’s walls, each letter perfectly written, straight and neat. The placement of the carvings is anything but neat, some of them overlap, devolving into gibberish by the end of the room, but Stephen can still make it out enough to see that it only says one thing. 

“RA9.” Stephen mumbles out loud, trailing a hand along the uneven wall. Creepy. Although, the word seems familiar enough. Stephen feels like he might’ve seen it once, at one point. He can barely recall though. 

Stephen moves on, the weird cultish looking wall isn’t important right now, Gavin takes priority. He searches around the dark room, moving around some rubbish and finding a small pile of scattered wood. It’s broken, snapped, and dusty, but it’s burnable, so Stephen pushes garbage to the side and collects it, carrying a pile in his arms. 

He stands up straight after carrying enough wood to make a good fire, and walks past the random carvings again, only sparing a glance before going back to where Gavin is.

Gavin has put his arms through the sleeves of Stephen’s jacket, but it’s far too big for him, Stephen not even able to see Gavin’s hands with how much the fabric drapes over him. It practically drowns him, Gavin sitting with his knees pulled up to his chest, jacket shielding him from anything else. 

Stephen walks over to the fireplace, placing down some of the wood. Advantage of being an android, he knows exactly how to make a fire using just friction, and how to do it quickly, since his hands don’t need rest. 

“How are you doing?” Stephen asks, voice quiet. He knows Gavin has to be affected in some sort of way by tonight, running from his home with an android. “I know it hasn’t been...easy.”

Gavin doesn’t respond, keeping his eyes to the floor. He’s gone quiet, and there’s a sad look in his eyes that Stephen wishes he could just will away. 

He focuses on the fire, rubbing wood against wood and soon enough having smoke. Soon enough, there’s a strong fire in the fireplace, lighting up the room and adding some warmth into the cold house. 

Stephen gets to his feet, rubbing the dust off his hands and looking to Gavin, who seems to be occupied with observing the flames, not looking up at Stephen. 

Glancing to the stairs nearby, Stephen debates on checking if there’s anything useful up there. Most likely, the most he’ll find is old rubbish and broken glass, but he supposes it couldn’t hurt to check. 

He glances to Gavin again, who has his face half tucked into his knees, and makes his way to the stairs, only stopping as he hears Gavin’s voice, just barely audible. 

“...What did I do wrong?” 

Stephen freezes, stopping in his tracks. He turns to Gavin. “W-what?”

“At home. With Dad. He was always so mad.” Gavin doesn’t even look behind him, shaking his head the smallest bit as he stares at the fireplace, the warm light reflecting onto his face. “What did I do to make him hate me?”

“Gavin…” Stephen falters, quickly going to sit by him. “No, no, you didn’t do anything wrong.” He reassures, sitting onto the floor, a hand outraised. 

Gavin doesn’t respond, so Stephen continues, careful to keep his voice steady.

“This isn’t your fault, none of this is.” He says, putting a hand onto Gavin’s back, hoping it’s comforting. 

“It feels like it is.” Gavin mumbles, hugging his knees closer.

“It’s not.” Stephen weakly repeats, his light going yellow as Gavin only seems to curl in on himself even more. 

 “...Why couldn’t we just have been a happy family?” Gavin whispers. “Why did she have to leave? I couldn’t keep Dad happy.”

Stephen doesn’t know how to respond, his hand hovering over Gavin’s shoulder.

“I don’t get it.” Gavin says quietly, sniffing. “I don’t know what I did. I don’t know how to be better.”

“You don’t have to be better.” Stephen mumbles, leaning his head onto Gavin’s, wrapping an arm around him. “None of this is your fault, Gavin. You’re just a kid.”

“A bad kid.”

“ No .” Stephen stresses, hugging Gavin. “Just my kid.”

Gavin hugs Stephen back, shoving his head into Stephen’s chest. Stephen wisely doesn’t point out the way Gavin cries into his shirt. 

“You’re a smart, eccentric, and energetic kid. If he decided that wasn’t enough, that’s his loss.” Stephen mumbles, pressing his nose to the top of Gavin’s hair. 

“You won’t hit me, right?” Gavin gasps, wiping a hand at his face as he leans back to look up, to look at Stephen in the eyes. “Even if I mess up, really badly, you won’t leave me, right?” 

“I would never hurt you.” Stephen promises fiercely, grabbing Gavin by the face, half to wipe at his tears, but also to get to point across. “There is nothing you can do that will make me hate you, okay? I won’t leave you.”

Gavin looks up at him with wide eyes, and Stephen feels fond, but also has the overwhelming urge to walk right back to Todd’s house with a baseball bat, laws be damned.

“Do you promise-” Gavin sniffs, rubbing at his face again. “Promise me, promise me you won’t-”

“I promise.” Stephen easily says, meaning it with all his heart. 

Gavin stares at him for a solid minute then, seeming to process that, then he’s tearing up and crying again, shoving his face back into Stephen’s chest with a sob.

Stephen hugs him and lets him cry, rubbing a hand at his back. 

“None of this is your fault, Gavin. Sometimes bad things happen, and you get caught in the middle of it. But none of what happened tonight was because of you. Do you understand that?” 

Gavin doesn’t respond, sniffing loudly, rubbing his face into Stephen’s shirt. 

“Do you really think that what happened tonight was your fault?” 

Stephen only gets a sniff and a half shrug in response.

“Me and your dad fought because I knew you didn’t deserve the way he treated you. I don’t regret it, because you deserve better . He messed up. You’re not a bad kid, he was just a bad parent.”

That gets another relapse of Gavin crying again, Stephen sighing quietly as he rubs his hand on Gavin’s shoulder. 

Eventually, Gavin simmers down, then-

“...I don’t know what eccentric means.” 

Stephen pauses, a bit thrown off. “....what?”

“You, you said I’m ‘eccentric’. I...don’t know that word.” Gavin mumbles, voice slightly muffled in Stephen’s shirt. Stephen blinks, looking down at Gavin. Gavin snickers.

Stephen laughs abruptly, rubbing a hand through Gavin’s hair. “Oookay.” What a subject change. 

Gavin leans back, placing his hands onto Stephen’s chest, shoving him a bit. “I don’t! I’m not a robot, I’m not a know-it-all-”

“You’re saying I’m a know-it-all?” Stephen raises an eyebrow, grinning. 

“You’re like a computer, with the internet and stuff. I know, because I read it in a magazine.”

“Ah, of course.” Stephen nods, Gavin smiling triumphantly. 

Stephen checks the time and finds it to be almost three am. There’s only a few hours left till sunrise, and Stephen wants to get moving early, to lessen any chance of getting caught. 

“You should rest. It’s going to be a really busy week.” Stephen suggests, tugging the hood of Gavin’s jacket up, over the kid’s head. It almost covers his eyes, with how much it’s too big for him.

“People are going to try looking for us, won’t they?” Gavin asks, Stephen internally sighing. He doesn’t think Gavin would really grasp the whole “deviants being illegal and dangerous in the eyes of the public” thing, but he’s sure Gavin knows enough to realize that Stephen is at least in some sort of legal trouble.

“Yes.” Stephen admits, patting at Gavin’s head. “But we’re just going to have to sneak around a bit.”

“Like spies!” Gavin exclaims suddenly, throwing his hands up. Stephen blinks, then laughs, nodding.

“Sure, somewhat.” Stephen agrees, letting Gavin lay down, using Stephen as a pillow. “Go ahead and sleep.”

“I’m not-” Gavin yawns, stretching his hands up, the sleeves flopping over. “-even that tired.” 

“Sure you aren’t. What if I’m tired?”

“You’re an android, you don’t get tired.” Gavin says confidently, smiling up at Stephen. “...do you?” He asks, his face falling into confusion. 

“Not really.” Stephen smiles, shaking his head.

“Don’t you need to, like, charge? Like a phone?” Gavin blinks, Stephen wanting to scoff.

“I’m self-sustainable. That’s only necessary when I’m damaged.” 

“You fought with my dad. Aren’t you damaged now?” 

“Just a bit roughed up.” Stephen says, ignoring the fact he’s had the same warning about damages pop up in his vision for the past few hours. “I’m fine.”

“I don’t have a android charger. What if you need one?” 

Stephen looks to the ceiling, chuckling. “I won’t need one. Shush, go to sleep now. We’re waking up early tomorrow.”

“ I’m waking up early tomorrow.” Gavin points at him with an oversized sleeve. “You said you don’t sleep.” 

Stephen rolls his eyes. “Oh, sh, you.”

Gavin laughs, then turns over, smiling towards the fire keeping them warm. He closes his eyes, Stephen running a hand through his hair.

He falls asleep soon enough, and Stephen listens to the sound of the fire and the rain outside. 

---

It stops raining around sunrise. 

It starts up again soon after, but at 5:22 am, the rain lessens into just sprinkling. Stephen can’t really see much from the windows in here, and he would get up to explore a bit more, but Gavin had fallen asleep right on his knee, so he decided moving in any sort of way was absolutely impossible. 

Stephen also focused on making a plan.

At the moment, they have nowhere to go. No doubt by now there's been a search out for them, and Stephen's description has been written down. Stephen could change his hair color, change clothes, and pull out his led, along with swapping Gavin's clothes a bit.

And he will do that. Save for the hair part. 

The purple was Gavin's idea. Stephen would personally fight Todd ten times over to keep this hair the way it is. It made Gavin smile, so the hair has to stay.

He supposes they'll have to get used to hoodies and hats, though.

Other than the fact they're currently wanted, Stephen doesn't really know where to go. There's that weird android from last night, who gave directions.

But it's all the way across town. It'll take the whole day to get there by foot. But Stephen doesn't know where else to go.  

It can't hurt to try. He needs to get help somehow. 

Glancing down to Gavin, who's sleeping soundly, Stephen can't find it in himself to wake him up. 

So instead he grabs Gavin, picking him up and carrying him.

"Wha-" Gavin stirrs, blinking blearily up at Stephen before shoving his face into the android's shoulder, mumbling something into his neck.

"What was that?" Stephen asks, grinning as he tugs the hood over Gavin's head. 

"I'm tiiired."

"Then sleep." Stephen responds, making his way to the door. He walks through the sprinkling rain, pushing the fence door open. It's early enough that there's barely anyone on the street, and that's a plus for Stephen. 

He eyes the laundromat. He needs new clothes, even with Gavin not liking the idea of stealing. 

Gavin snores quietly over Stephen's shoulder, and Stephen hums, making his way to the building.

---

Two hours later, after a hectic morning with Yanna nearly setting the waffle maker on fire, Jay's gotten his way with the car and is able to leave, to quickly get to the old abandoned house at the end of the same street.

He jumps the fence without hesitation, landing in the mud with a frown, knowing that Ivu is going to comment about that when he gets back home. 

Walking to the front door, he peers in through the board up windows, then decides to just go in.

"Hello?" 

Its silent and empty, and awfully cold. Jay tugs at his jacket, wrapping his arms around himself before continuing inside. 

"Hello? Gavin?" Jay asks, looking around. 

Its quiet. 

It's far too quiet. 

A feeling of panic starts to unfurl as it sets in. He's too late. 

“Fuck.” Jay swears, glancing at the steps nearby,  running up the stairs, ignoring the loud creak that comes with it. “Fuck, fuck .”

Nothing. In fact, upstairs is untouched, and Jay runs to the lower floor once more before reaching for his phone, kneeling down to the smoldering fireplace, evidence that they had indeed spent the night here. 

The phone rings a few times, Jay nervously tapping at his knee as he looks at the burnt wood. “Pick up, pick up-”

It picks up, Ivu’s voice coming through. “Jay?” She asks, both worried and in anticipation. 

“They’re not here. They left. I was too late-” 

“They left?” Ivu asks, shuffling coming from her side. Jay has a hunch she’s walking outside. 

“Yes!” Jay yells, getting to his feet. “They might be already on their way to zlatko's, and I don’t know how long that’ll take for them-”

“We might be able to cut them off halfway. Jay, calm down.” Ivu says knowingly, Jay stopping in his pacing.

“I am very calm!” Jay yells, pausing. “Maybe not. Doesn’t matter-”

“We might be able to cut them off on their way to zlatkos, but Jay, I think we should go after them while they’re in there. Don’t you think it’s time?”

“Time for what?” Jay asks, spotting another doorway and walking across to a dim room, the door missing from the frame. 

“Time for zlako to be gone . I know Hosuh’s insisted for neither of us to take action toward him, but this could be a chance.” 

“Zlatko is all the way across town. They’ll probably arrive there by sundown-” Jay stops in his tracks, nearly dropping the phone as he sees the state of the room he just walked in, the carvings scattered across the room, the walls ruined. For a moment, he tries brushing it off, walking up to them and glancing over it.

Then he actually drops the phone. 

“Jay? Jay?!” Ivu calls, but Jay’s kneeling down by the wall, trailing his hands across it. He has no idea what sort of deviant would go out of their way to carve RA9 so many times, but he’s not surprised.

He’s just surprised to see the word RA9 again, and he stares at it, wondering.

“Jay! Are you okay!?” Ivu yells, and Jay turns back to the device on the floor, picking it up. 

“I’m-I’m fine.” Jay says, standing to his feet and turning around as he spots a few carvings on the ceiling, amazingly. “There’s a room in here with just RA9 carved hundreds of times. Just...all over.”

“Oh.” Ivu’s voice goes quiet, Jay hearing rainfall on her side. “Do you think…”

“It wasn’t those two. The marks look a bit old. But still...it’s...” Jay doesn’t continue.

They both stay on call in silence for a minute, Jay fascinated by the words on the walls. He wonders if it was just one stray deviant, or maybe multiple, carving a word in as a cry for help, or a reminder.

 ‘I was here. Please let help come.’ They almost say, and Jay’s heart aches. Which reminds him of the very two people he’s trying to help.

Jay quickly turns and walks out of the room, shaking his head. “Okay. Swear, that if tonight goes a little south, Hosuh never finds out about it.”

“Oh, definitely.” Ivu agrees quickly, a buzz coming through Jay’s phone. “I sent you a list, go pick up groceries while you’re out.”

“Groceries.” Jay deadpans, looking at the list. They ran out of milk already? Yanna has got to stop making milkshakes. “You forgot eggs.”

“Dang. Get that too, then.”

Jay smiles, moving his feet and walking outside, flipping his hood over his head for the light drizzle that comes down. “Do I really have to grab groceries right now?”

“Hey, you need an excuse for going out to check out that old house, if Hosuh does ask.” Ivu says. “Also, just because we may be bringing down an absolute monster tonight doesn’t mean we can’t have a nice dinner.” 

Jay snorts, pushing past the fence door. 

“Look, here’s the plan. We go at sundown, I’ll tell Hosuh we’re just going out. We’ll probably be able to catch those two at zlatko’s by then. We get those two out, and try finding any sort of evidence so the police can finally believe us. Leave, and if things go right, the most that’ll happen is zlatko sees us leaving. That’s all.”

Jay sighs. Part of him wants to say no, to never go to that house, nonetheless in it, but he can’t let another android go in there. Part of him wants to call the police again, even though he knows they’ll just go on about how they need a warrant and an actual reason.

Part of him wants to kick down zlatko’s door, and set the place into flames. 

“Jay. You can say no if you want to. You don’t have to go back there.”

“I can go.” Jay insists, but Ivu’s stern.

“I mean it. If you feel like you can’t, tell me. We can try, figuring out something else.”

“I’m going. If you want to help or not, that’s up to you-”

“Jay, I’m going with you.” Ivu says, Jay giving a silent sigh of relief. “I just want to make sure. Hosuh was stern on this topic for a reason. I know you're…"

“I’m fine.” Jay reassures. “I’m gonna go grab some groceries, now, I guess.”

“Bye then, love you.”

“Bye...love you too.”

Jay ends the call, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk. He tugs at his jacket, breathing in deep, trying to keep the cold of the rain out. 

After a minute, he’s walking again, determined.