Hello everyone! I know no one was expecting this, but I just watched the recent Octopunk Media Reed900 film and remembered how much I craved writing about these two. Also a shout-out to Lito Perezito's version of Reed900, as those comics are absolutely amazing and I've been putting the songs on loop for days. It's been very tough for me life-wise so my other fics have been put on hold, but trying to get back into things. This was an idea that started as a vent fic but just turned into a character sketch of Gavin's issues, so enjoy the disaster. I used the Octopunk name for RK900, but this is not exact to that universe and has elements of everything I imagined, so please forgive some inconsistencies!

Trigger warnings: explored depression, suicidal ideation, and lots of cursing per Gavin's dirty mouth that we love so much

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F for Failure

"The hell does that geezer think he's saying? Tch, inadequacy…?"

The telltale rattle of Gavin Reed's swivel chair, and he dropped into it bobblehead style, shoes slamming on the desk one after the other.

Standing beside him, LED flickering a conversational golden yellow, Nines felt his lips quirk into a semi-smile. Yes, Gavin was absolutely pissed right now. But there were solutions to every problem.

"Inadequacy."

With a pointed furrow of his brows, Gavin cocked his head to the side, looking Nines straight in the eye.

"— a state of being inadequate," Nines continued sterilely, keeping his small upturn of lip. "The real or perceived absence of the quantity or quality required."

"Yeah, yeah," Gavin groaned, waving his hand. "Not right now. I thought I told you to keep unnecessary definitions to yourself?"

"You just seemed… rather confused about what Lieutenant Anderson meant by inadequacy, so I thought I'd enlighten you," Nines teased quietly. "A deviant like myself might as well take a shot at comforting his partner."

"Well you got the take a shot part about right," Gavin said. He crossed his arms, crossed them the other way, then promptly knocked over the stack of papers at his desk with just his feet. "Oops! Could you get that, please and no thanks to you?"

Nines watched the files scatter cordially across the floor, becoming a low level slipping hazard in the walkway to Gavin's desk. No one was on the way to this wing of the police department. The daily schedule wouldn't require anyone to check in with Gavin for at least a half hour. The temperature, however, seemed to be rising by an infinitesimal degree, but it was enough for Nines to offer his hand to him.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Gavin said. "Get the papers. Not me. I specifically avoided saying 'give me a hand.'"

"As my biocomponents are not living flesh and don't require to be kept at as high a temperature, I may be able to assist you in cooling down." At the empty silence, Nines dropped his hand, shrugging lightly. "It's alright. I was joking, mostly. I can see you're upset."

"You can drop the awkward machine act," Gavin said. "It's really not funny right now."

"So it's funny sometimes? Haha. Really. Joking. Sorry." Nines felt his LED flicker briefly between red and yellow. "Really… sorry. I'm still not sure how to apply the concept of empathy in a helpful way. I wasn't built for that, and… all of the sources that explain it don't exactly click."

"Welcome to the real world, kiddo, where no one's advanced and improved," Gavin said. He grit his teeth, shifting slightly away. "You know… other Connor is an ass but at least he kind of gets the whole showing emotion thing a bit better. He's just terrible at the empathy part, no surprise. I swear everyone is the worst."

"You're trying to explain my own inadequacy to me?" Nines said, feeling a flash like a hot coil in his chest.

"Ding ding!"

"Does taking out your feelings on someone else help you feel better, Gavin?" Nines asked, but Gavin was making faces at the floor. This was going poorly. Very easily a worst case scenario, but Nines knew better than to take things too personally and isolate Gavin further. He just didn't know how to help Gavin open up without him pulling the android card or drawing further lines of professionalism. It was getting in the way of their usual trust, and lately Gavin had barely been performing at work.

Which really wasn't saying a ton, since everyone at the Detroit Police Department was sub-par at not crushing under the job, but Nines knew Gavin had the potential to return to his previous level of productivity. When Nines was issued as Gavin's partner, they'd both objected to the idea of making it turn into a failed therapy session every time they sat down for coffee or stood on the sidelines waiting for something else to go wrong. But now, with more time to know him and more experiences under both of their belts, conflict was just another fact of life.

Days spent here were struggles, but it was still better than nothing at all. At least, Nines thought it was better than nothing. Everyone kept telling him that it would be.

Everyone except Gavin, at least.

"I'll have you know, if I didn't care about keeping my job, I would definitely think about getting some blue splashes on those papers."

Shock, a hotter stab, this time directly to Nines's forehead, his temple feeling like fire as he finally turned away. He was no longer wearing his CyberLife uniform, borrowing one of the police department's extra uniforms instead, but even that stung with the knowledge that he'd never be able to fully shake his status in Gavin's eyes.

He really hates me. Well… I can hate him back.

Nines didn't imagine the slump of Gavin's shoulders behind him, but he ignored it, storming away. For a couple steps. Before stopping. Right there, in the actual walkway that he was blocking traffic in, but Nines couldn't… just leave, knowing this was mostly his fault. Probably. Not really, and he would love to off and process the stinging inferno of betrayal in his nerves, but Nines stopped anyway.

"You're blocking the hall, tin can," Gavin spat, sounding much less forceful than his tone suggested.

Nines nodded apologetically to the passing officer and then reversed — two steps back, just out of Gavin's reach, and whipped back around. He hoped his body language expressed his displeasure, because Nines didn't feel like raising his voice to this.

"Nines, I'm…"

"I really will block the hall if you murdered me on the spot, as you seemed to suggest wanting to," Nines said in a cordial tone, gesturing to the mess of files on the floor. "You have approximately fifteen minutes before Connor and Lieutenant Anderson come by and see just how inadequate —"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence." Gavin kicked up his feet, knocked them rather harshly against the desk as he got into a proper sitting position, then swiveled towards Nines menacingly. "You have no idea what I'm dealing with. And if you did, or thought you did, or whatever joke you're playing on me to make me think you might actually care, you wouldn't be bitching at me every few seconds."

Stinging… everywhere, making Nines blink rapidly. "Hmm. I apologize sincerely, Gavin Reed. Perhaps I need to work on my people skills."

"No kidding."

"However, empty or not, making threats to my life could lose you your job anyway," Nines added, still boiling. "That was uncalled for."

"You want to get rid of me that much? Plan to send out the evidence of the downfall of Detective Reed?" Gavin said, his smile shaky and fake. "It's that disgusting seeing me every day?"

"That's not what I meant —"

"Ahh, got it. You don't want to lose your job and be pegged as a failure either. Because that would basically be tearing apart every damn thing you have to live for, huh," Gavin spat, seeming desperate in his words. He twisted his half-picked nails into his jeans, giving Nines another leering grin that didn't reach his eyes. "Am I right? Does it scare you? If you lost this? Or do you really not think that far ahead when you open your big mouth?"

"I don't want either of us to lose everything we care about, actually," Nines finished, ignoring the fact that Gavin just trampled all over him before he could reply.

"You're sure you're not just salty because you think I might try to kill you if you answer wrong?"

"I don't think I would be aware of it if I were just a Thirium puddle and scrap metal on your spare papers, but it saddens me to imagine we never got to a place where we could complement each other successfully."

"The only thing I have to compliment is how stupid Fowler was to hire so many jerks in one place," Gavin spat.

"Maybe he's generous not to leave those jerks out on the street," Nines retorted, finding it impossible to calm down. Likewise, he noticed the increased frequency of Gavin shaking his leg.

"Okay. So what, he helped me out where no one else would. But that's exactly why I hate that so many stuck-ups think I'm just a worthless waste of space and money."

"I do not think that about you," Nines said, stepping closer.

"And I don't think that about me, either, so cool, you could not pretend to get sappy and phck off already?"

That didn't sound convincing. Even less with the smothered swear. Nines paused, fighting the urge to get openly angry at Gavin, trying to remind himself that people who were upset said things they didn't mean. That Gavin was exactly the personality type warned to be dishonest and untrusting. That it was a miracle Gavin was saying this much with Nines around. But over everything, it was frustrating Nines didn't know what to say or do, regarding him. That Nines could pinpoint exactly what was setting Gavin off and when he was telling the truth or lying, but couldn't seem to get even one right response in.

Even Hank hadn't been this inaccessible, as Connor expressed the last time they communicated about this. Close, but not hating Connor's everything like Gavin hated Nines. And Nines had emotions, had deviancy on his side from the start, thanks to the androids being freed. Yet… none of that seemed to matter to Gavin, who brushed aside Nines's feelings every single time.

Gavin, who framed it as Nines brushing aside his.

"I said I was sorry, Detective Reed," Nines repeated. "I shouldn't have jested at your expense. I do not think that you, as a person, are inadequate any more than anyone else is."

Gavin pushed forward in his chair, the wheels squeaking against the tile as he snarled, practically spitting at Nines. "I think I fucking know I'm an inadequate shit about everything other than barely wiping my own ass, but now I've got an android to do that for me, so I'm pretty much doing absolutely squat. I don't need the constant reminder that people see nothing else when they look at me."

This would be much easier if Gavin would just express his self-awareness without stabbing at Nines in particular over and over. This made it so much harder to get his own emotions across. So much harder to not make himself an enemy to the one person he wanted to amend things with the most. Nines held his poker face, very aware his chest was heaving violently, imitating Gavin's own. Is that all I am to you? Tolerated only because no one else would bother wiping your sorry ass?

Nines swallowed non-existent saliva, hating the seething sensation he couldn't seem to brush away between them.

If Gavin really wanted something to do and be praised for, maybe he should have started working instead of making a mess and snapping at Nines when he tried to help.

Nines may have been programmed to have superhuman stamina for unconditional hatred, but Nines wasn't just a mindless robot bent to Gavin's will anymore. And Gavin knew that. He reminded Nines of that time and time again, on his better days.

Nines knew Gavin wasn't entirely irredeemable no matter how hard he tried to shove Nines away.

"Then what do you need, Gavin?" Nines said, finally letting his distress show, the downturn of lips, the soft intensity of his voice as he met Gavin's wavering glare face to face. "Tell me. Please."

The slightest tense of Gavin's muscles, his pupils caught between dilating and constricting, the way he paused, staring up at Nines standing there unflinching. Under that forgotten shave, Gavin's skin flushed red, then the long release of breath.

"Phck. The phck. Off." Gavin tipped his head and smiled mockingly. "Please. And thank you. For nothing."

This was the part where Nines should have the prompt to leave. Alas, there was no prompt. Instead, just as expected, the hurt compiled in every potential path of action Nines saw for himself. Emotions and autonomy had to happen, and now Nines had to deal with the fact that there would never again be another version of him in the world, no one to replace him if he failed his tasks, and no one else to carry blame.

Nines was the one who wasn't enough, if he couldn't handle the rising stress of getting through to Gavin. Connor was always saying how it was okay to just walk away if anything was too much, that it was human to want to go off and take care of himself when he was overwhelmed.

But Nines couldn't —

Nines didn't —

Nines paused, swallowing nothing as his processors whirred and analyzed every bit of Gavin glaring at him with tears in his eyes. That wasn't just a bad attitude.

Gavin was overwhelmed.

That was why he didn't do his work. Why he was slacking. Why he kept lashing out at everyone who tried to get him on track again. Why he lashed at himself.

Gavin was overwhelmed, and he felt obligated to keep going, just as Nines had felt obligated not to give up on Gavin.

More than that, though…

Nines wanted to make things work with Gavin. Especially if he was right and Gavin was struggling with much the same thing as Nines was. Even if Nines wasn't helping right now. Leaving Gavin to fend for himself here wouldn't help anything either.

Empathy. Nines could seriously do to grow one, right about now. Even if it was hard to see much past the haze of red and hurt.

You never know what someone might be dealing with inside, after all.

A cry for help by someone who hated being helped… didn't mean they didn't still need it. Nines had needed Gavin to help him feel alive… and maybe that wasn't so different from this after all.

"Fine, I'll leave," Nines started, noticing Gavin's hardened disappointment, "but want to go on a coffee break with me?"

"A-are you f—"

A flash of red, a colder tingle hardening inside Nines.

"Actually. I'm not just leaving you like this, and you obviously aren't happy here either," Nines insisted, reaching out for Gavin's wrist. With a small huff, Nines tugged Gavin standing, and when the detective just stayed flopped instead of fighting, Nines wrapped an arm around Gavin's shoulders.

"Personal space!" Gavin suddenly hissed, finally ducking out of Nines's halfway embrace and glaring at the hand at his wrist. "What's up with you? You wanna talk about harassment?"

"Coffee break, because I don't think you want to be caught here feeling terrible any more than I want you to feel that way," Nines said, loosening his grip only once he'd gotten Gavin to follow him past the lowkey hazardous spill of documents on the floor.

"I don't give a phck about who catches me," Gavin said, although his voice dropped lower and Nines could tell his heartbeat was fluctuating into a different rhythm than before. Still overheated, but the tiredness was settling into Gavin's body, enough so they were walking slowly together towards the break room.

Officer Chen had already left for a patrol, but her mug was still there, on the table by the coffee machine. Nines had gotten her that mug as a birthday gift one day. Gavin had of course been salty and jealous over it, so as his best friend, she left the mug out at all times where he would see it.

Gavin had a better gift coming for his birthday, if only he'd let Nines stick around enough to warrant it. Nines still caught the small annoyed curl of Gavin's lip, despite this time being a lot less obvious.

"For the record," Nines said, keeping in step with Gavin until they hovered somewhere not quite inside the room. "If you weren't here with me, I wouldn't want to be here either."

The expected no shit, Sherlock didn't come. Nor jokes, nor spiteful comments, nor even a soft acknowledgement of Nines's honesty. Gavin just pushed past Nines, sitting at an empty table with his head in his hands.

"Do you… want it sweet, or black?" Nines asked, knowing there was a 76% probability Gavin would prefer it with light cream if he let Nines make it at all. "Or would you rather put it on yourself?"

"The usual," Gavin said after a moment, not glancing up.

Nines heard a sniffle as he got the ingredients ready, mirroring how he'd seen Gavin make his own coffee countless times before. This wasn't the first time Nines made Gavin coffee, as he sometimes brought some to his desk or made it when Gavin was too busy with something to manage. Only of his own free will, to be nice, and this time was no different.

Aside from the whole… Gavin crying silently behind him where Nines couldn't see part. Waiting for the beans to seep, Nines felt his core constricting, hot anger a distant pulse over his concern. By the time Nines had a pleasingly steamy cup of coffee going, he brought it to the table and watched Gavin rubbing red, dry eyes.

Nines slid into the seat next to Gavin, folding a napkin and passing it over too.

With a reluctantly audible hum, Gavin started sipping at it. "Mm. So… this some peace offering again?"

The lightest tingle of pink through the red, Nines quirking a small smile Gavin wasn't looking at. "Something like that. I… know I don't usually make you drinks, but I did call coffee break, so. I figured it was the thing to do."

"I'd um. Make you one back. If you drank coffee," Gavin said quietly, staring into the swirling in his cup.

Nines felt himself relaxing, knee tilted towards Gavin's despite the space between them. "Oh? What kind would you make me?"

"Just like this, so you could try it," Gavin replied. He stared at the steam, brows together, then glanced at Nines briefly. "But like. You taste things to analyze them like Connor does, right? Or is that just like… words on a screen type analyze?"

"Correct. I just get the composition feedback to help with… my original programming," Nines said. "It would be bad if I had a biological response or preference, regarding my test choices."

Gavin barked a laugh, taking a larger gulp. "Right, right. I just wondered. Because of the whole RK900 advanced model thing. Plus like. Feelings. But you're right."

Caffeine is magic. For an android, it was a pretty strange thing to think, but Nines couldn't help but be grateful for the simplicity. "What," Nines said, "disappointed I won't be stealing your coffees from you?"

Another huff, this one ending with a flicker of Gavin's gaze, his heart rate picking up slightly. He finally bumped his knee with Nines's under the table, pretending not to notice. "Would be nice to return the favor, is all. I know I'm… like. A jerk to you, Nines. But that's because I don't know how to be someone I'm not."

"I knew I was working with a jerk from day one. That's not something I'm trying to change," Nines said. "You return the favor by working with me and being yourself. I have a long way to go as a person before I start judging you for it. Even… if I hate you back sometimes."

"Hate you too, plastic prick." Gavin grinned and downed the rest of his cup. He wiped his mouth, holding the napkin there and bumping Nines's knee like before. "I um… am really sorry. For being so horrible to you. You might rub me the wrong way… but everyone does sometimes. I'd take the poison before I'd let you drink it for me."

"Hey, hey. I didn't poison anything," Nines replied, hands up as he finally bumped Gavin back. "Maybe I really should taste-test your drinks if you're worried about that. If you don't mind the poison from drinking after me?"

Gavin left his knee this time. "How much poison are we talking about?"

"Figurative," Nines said, LED flashing blue. "I'd take the poison before letting you drink it either. Partly because I'm immune to most cell-eating substances, but I like to think I'd do it even if I wasn't."

"Gross. Really gotta ruin my appetite, huh?"

"Is that you asking me to take you out for food too?" Nines adjusted his tie. "I'm not dressed for a date, but…"

The punch to Nines's arm felt nice. Actually, but just because Gavin was laughing again.

"If you finally figure out how to eat, I'm treating us this time, okay?"

"So no rejection on the date, cool, noted —"

Another punch, this time with Gavin's whole leg hitting Nines under the table. Again, he left it there.

"Nines," Gavin said, body language softening, his expression no longer so sly. "I… uh… hate you."

"Yes. You too." Nines smiled. "That wasn't what you wanted to say though, was it?"

"No, I'm. Chickening out a bit on telling you," Gavin replied. "What happened earlier… please don't laugh at me. That was really rough back there."

"I'm sorry. I won't laugh again," Nines promised, finding the bitterness had left, leaving a small tinge of guilt. "You didn't deserve having someone do that to you when you felt that way. I'm really sorry. I want to listen properly, more than anything."

Gavin's fingers curled in Nines's suit and he finally pulled away, gripping his hands in his lap. "I keep trying to like. Talk to you. But it's so hard to open up, knowing there's so many things you just don't… understand. And I know all that therapy shit about how communication solves problems and maybe if I spoke up openly a little sooner, we wouldn't be fighting all the time. But that's literally not how it works when all I want to do is quit inside."

"Did I really change so much for you, coming here?" Nines asked.

"No. Yes. I. I'm a bad person, Nines," Gavin said, his leg trembling slightly as he adjusted, facing Nines. "It doesn't help that you're the splitting image of Connor. I treated him like motherfucking garbage, and he still looks at me like I'm a stain on his shoe. Because I practically am, still, when I still haven't proven I could treat you right either."

So… this was because of me? Nines pursed his lips, trying to listen instead of respond. Connor hadn't mentioned hating Gavin that much. Aside from just wanting Nines to get through Gavin's rough edges, Connor hadn't offered much of an opinion at all.

"Connor asked me how it was going with you," Gavin admitted, pretending to be nonchalant but utterly failing at it. He pulled his feet up to the support beams on his chair, no longer brushing up against Nines. "I… got defensive. Per usual. Said some things. Not sure if I meant them, but… Anderson heard, called me an inadequate fuck for not — for refusing to learn how to treat Connor right. Then he insulted me for not doing my job. But coming from someone who nearly ditched the job himself…? That fucking hypocrite. And I'm already trying. I'm trying, but every time I try, something dumb happens and ruins it."

Nines reached out, put his hand over Gavin's clenched fists, not quite opening up and revealing his skin, but just holding him, staying here. "Can I talk, Gavin?"

"Y-yeah. Say whatever."

"I hope you don't quit." Nines paused, made sure Gavin caught his gaze, knew all the things that Nines couldn't possibly name to express. "I wouldn't be happy if you quit over this. I know how important this job is to you, being around these people, and now I'm a part of it too. I can't be happy here with you gone, and neither can anyone else no matter what they say. We're a team. Officer Chen wouldn't like hearing this from you either, you know?"

"I know, I know the… stuff they say to me," Gavin said, tensing further. "It's always so irritating the way you talk, trying to say what I want to hear all the time. I feel like everyone does that. Even when they're yelling at me and calling me names, they still treat me like I can be any better than this. And I can't, Nines, I just can't. It's too much. It's too new. And… I'm just not a part of it. I can't fit into this shining new world where androids and people live together, because I'm such a scar in this peaceful future you want."

"You're not —"

"Even Anderson has Connor now. Chris got spared by androids and swears by them. Fowler went ahead and invited you, pushed you on me, thought that you would make me any better at this," Gavin insisted. "Tina seems to think it's funny to make shippy comments about us when in reality, I'm fuming and you absolutely detest me half the time. I can't just… feel good around you, because when you look at me, I keep being reminded of everything I'm not."

Nines shut his mouth. All he wanted was to deny that Gavin was as lost a cause as he felt he was, explain that he had just as much a place here as anyone else. But every other time he did that, Gavin spiraled, retreated, and it was Nines's fault again.

They had so much to work on.

But Nines desperately wanted to work on everything with Gavin, instead of away from him.

The choices ahead… had a 55% probability of success. The percentage rose the longer Nines clutched Gavin's hands, stayed planted with his gaze fixed with Gavin's torn expression.

"Were you happier before meeting me?" Nines said.

"I… I wasn't ever really that happy. I was scared, a lot of the time," Gavin admitted, then suddenly tipped his head up. "Don't record that."

"I promise, our conversations are confidential to just us. I'm only recording for my own memory's sake," Nines said, giving their hands a squeeze. "I respect your feelings, Gavin."

"Okay… I. Just hated everything," Gavin continued. "Life was never that good to me. And then it just got worse. Once I wanted to move up here. Once lazy Anderson took my spot and crushed my hopes of becoming more than this. I felt like a bottomfeeder, so I just treated everyone who got in my way like one too. I thought I could do some good here, maybe, once… but it was always selfish. I just wanted to repay Fowler and not make him think I was just a leech. He believed in me, I know… or else he wouldn't have let me stay. But also I worry a lot of the time that he just says that because he's too nice to leave me to rot."

"And now?"

"I'm not happy. Still, it's… it's more that I'm not so scared, I'm hateful. Hurtful. Everything, inside, is like… suddenly I can't blame anyone else for where I am." Gavin shook his head, blinking wetness away. He forced a grin. "Detective Gavin Reed, resident asshole! Everyone, go ahead and hate me because I hate me too! I'm just… I'm pathetic now."

Nines understood how futile it was for him to resist change. Even if Gavin were to try again to fight for Hank's position, Connor could best him in combat, faster, stronger, sharper than he could ever be. Outnumbered, protected by law, recognized as an emotional being.

An emotional being Gavin had been discriminating, who Gavin now was afraid to hold prejudice against. And now Nines existed, constantly poked his head into Gavin's line of sight, and kept feeding him hope and reminders both that Gavin felt he didn't deserve.

Naturally, that hate had to go somewhere.

"What counts is that you're recognizing all you did wrong," Nines said. "That you're seeing that things have changed so much. These aren't the words of someone forced into consenting to the law. This is real, true regret."

Gavin trembled. Nines held tight.

"You feel sorry…" Nines went on, "and that's good enough, Gavin. It's plenty. Even if you're still an asshole, you care now. That's enough for me not to hate you so much, and it's plenty for others to see how you're trying and hope for you to get to a point where you're not hurting so much for not being there."

"Nines…"

"I know you can get there, Gavin. You won't always have to hate yourself for this," Nines said, flashing the skin of his palms off for just a brief moment, feeling Gavin there. Warm. Slowly becoming steady. "If there's anyone who can give you a break, it's you. As much as I want to be the one to help you get to a better place… all I can do is stick by you until you let yourself be forgiven."

Silence, Gavin's face turned downwards at last, his shoulders shaking with a huff. "Since when did you learn inspirational speaking? It's so sappy. I can't take you seriously. Especially with you hand-holding me like this."

"Just being me, this time," Nines said, keeping his hands there, skin to skin. "I just like seeing this side of you. So honest and sweet, but way too hard on yourself."

"Shut up," Gavin said, pulling his hands away and looking up with a small laugh, although their fingers hooked for a stolen moment. Nines didn't imagine the blush. "You're gonna give Tina and Chris too much material."

"How terrifying," Nines deadpanned, sporting his own smirk. He couldn't help it. Seeing Gavin like this really was tons better. "So… are you okay, now?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Nines," Gavin said, gathering his mess and tossing it all into the trashcan one at a time, sound effects and all. Once done, he huffed again, much quieter, then turned back to him. "I'm okay now. Will be. I'm still mad at Fowler, a little, for thinking my problem with Connor could be fixed with… someone so much like Connor. But I guess it's on its way."

"We're not that similar, are we? At least I hope not. I'm jealous if Connor got to hold your hand first," Nines teased.

Gavin practically choked, pushing Nines somewhat forcefully so he would have toppled over if not for catching himself. "You will not speak of that. Ever."

"But you liked it — hey! Stop that, I'm going, I'm going!"

"Better. You can dream about it when you're helping me pick up that mess we —"

Nines paused too, halfway standing with one leg awkwardly hanging over his chair. The windows gave them a very clear view of Hank and Connor paused by Gavin's desk, smug smiles angled directly at the breakroom.

"Oh shit," Gavin muttered.

Nines just grinned, leaning back with a sparkle in his eyes. "Hmm? What was that about not giving a phck who catches us?"