Chapter Text
November 11, 2039 - Michigan Drive, Detroit
First there was nothing at all. And then there were fingers and lips and curls of hair skimming over his collarbone and heading steadily south. Over the inked wings of the goddess Nike… down her body… all the way to the keel of the ship on which she stood. And further below. Not a bad way to emerge from stasis, all things considered. Nines smiled and settled back into his pillows, fingers curling around the bedsheets in anticipation. The LED on his temple glowed bright blue and within moments spun into a shimmering teal - a colour rarely seen by the outside world. Thirium pump pounding and airflow regulators turned up to the maximum, he groaned and started to sit up.
“That was quick.”
“Oh, fuck you.”
“Okay. But let’s give it a minute. You look like you’re about to shut down any second.”
“Gavin, I love you.”
“Damn right y—”, Gavin broke off, eyes widening at this unexpected addition to their usual morning banter. There were a few seconds of silence, and then Nines reached out to run his tattooed fingers over the scars and ridges on Gavin’s face. The synthetic skin had begun retracting from his fingertips. As Nines’ hand reached the trademark scar slashed across the bridge of his nose, Gavin caught it gently and pressed soft kisses to each glowing white knuckle. Nines remained silent, his LED still glowing blue.
“I love you very much, Nines. I didn’t expect to hear that you love me too. At least not so soon. But what do time and convention matter to us? I love you. I really do.”
Nines chose not to respond. He instead mimicked a human’s morning stretch and lay back down, pulling Gavin with him. More and more of the synthetic skin was retracting and reforming over different parts of the android’s chassis. The LED was as bright as ever, even in the daylight. Nines wrapped his arms tight around his — lover? partner? soulmate? (they hadn’t found a word meaningful enough to capture what they were to one another) — and kissed him passionately.
Nines was an intense person. He had his moments of humour and sarcasm, but he was always very, very intense. He believed in enjoying life, but at the same time was adamant that it shouldn’t be wasted on trivialities. Gavin had realised early on that Nines was someone who might take his time figuring out what exactly he wanted, but would go after it the second he had even an ounce of clarity. Gavin had come to expect this assertiveness and the drastic changes in temperament that came with it. So while he had been initially startled by the sudden admission of love, Gavin was easily able to catch up to the mood Nines was in and reciprocate fully. It would seem like an odd role reversal to the outsider: a flighty android with a hundred different emotions, and a loyal human riding each wave dutifully. But to Gavin, it felt like karma, and exactly what he deserved for his decades of similar behaviour. He laughed quietly as he was pushed onto his back and kissed… everywhere. Nines straddled him in one swift movement and then both were lost to the world.
Arching his back and biting down hard on his lower lip, Nines decided that this was the pinnacle of existence. Morning head. An absent-minded kiss on the way out the door. A reminder to actually look at his system health alerts rather than dismissing them automatically. Being fucked so beautifully that the world ceased to exist. And fucking so beautifully that a whole new world came into existence. A police car idling outside the Town Council. The clink of a house key falling out of a plastimetal hand into one of flesh and blood. Love. Compatibility. Shared beliefs. Similar anxieties. Bonding. Sex. Passion. The fusion of two halves of a whole. The multicoloured glow of an LED reflected in crinkled grey eyes. And someday… soon… two identical bands of silver. Nines freely allowed the preconstructions to play out in his mind. His hands were splayed out on Gavin’s chest and the LED was approaching the teal colour once more. As it eventually did, his entire skin retracted for one glorious microsecond. The exclusive privilege of such an otherworldly and erotic sight threw Gavin over the edge too. Synchronous moans filled the bedroom, the rest of the house, but hopefully not the street outside. Eventually, Nines pushed himself off Gavin and flopped down beside him. His pale skin was flushed a light blue. The LED, a median cyan. He stared up at the ceiling and pondered whether to share what had just transpired in his head… and the immediate decision to sync his system clock with the pulse of the man lying next to him. Gavin curled into his side and pressed his lips to the underside of his jaw. It seemed… that he probably already knew all of that, so Nines closed his eyes and slipped once more into stasis. As usual, first, there would be nothing. And then, there would be everything he would want to live for, and more.