Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"You know Eli, you can't avoid talking to him forever. After all you have done all of this just to be closer, so that the whole being on good terms thing comes easier" Chloe's gentle but stern voice cut through Elijah's thoughts, successfully stopping him midway through putting in the bookshelf his beloved Frankenstein copy. It's the 5th time the android has tried to force him out of his anxiety fueled procrastination and it seems like she's gonna keep going for a 6th.

"I'm not avoiding it, I'm just…waiting for the right moment" he waved his hand dismissively at her "Besides dear, I'm still quite busy unpacking" he shot her his most charming and convincing innocent smile which, apparently, wasn't all that good going by the unimpressed look on her face. "Who would've thought I had this much stuff, uh? You wouldn't have guessed by the looks of the old place" he continued, actively choosing to keep avoiding acknowledging the issue any further.

"Elijah. The right moment? Really? Is this what we've come to?" She crossed her arms in front of her chest, looking at what has been her first and most beloved friend for years. The man in question absentmindedly wondered when she became so bossy and focused on being the responsible one out of the two. He had to admit, it did make sense, given the poor judgement Elijah carried around, it was bound to happen that she'll have to talk some sense into him from time to time.

"You're giving me no choice, heart. Really, a man can come up with so much when people don't give him time to think for better excuses" he dramatically sighed, finally finished with putting away all the books. As he lowered himself onto one of his all time favourite red armchairs he started to feel the effect of days of lifting and moving stuff around on his body. He definitely wasn't young enough to be doing all this stuff by himself, "By the way, how are you doing with..mh, north is it? Yes North. I heard you two are getting along pretty well since you've started to help out at Jericho"

At the mention of the other android, Chloe's stern expression softened, lowering her gaze to her fidgeting hands. Something about the whole scene made Elijah's lips twitch into a small soft smile, "I- well she, i-..." A bluish hue spread through her cheeks almost immediately "I don't know what you're talking about.." she grumbled finally, failing to stop a shy grin from forming on her lips.

"And here I am, getting accused of being avoidant" he smacked his lips, getting up too fast for his head, "who would've thought that my rather annoying lack of skill in social interactions would be the one thing my creations and I would've in common" Chloe couldn't help but giggle a little and that almost made him feel like everything was normal and nice again.

"I know what you're doing Kamski and it's not gonna work, we're not talking about me. I'm warning you, if by next time we see eachother you haven't talked to you know who I'm going to do something about it and you know how that usually ends up for you" Chloe's voice didn't left any room to discussion and Elijah winced a bit remembering the many times his dear girl, although the sweetest person he has ever met, demonstrated the deadly seriousness about her threats.

"Will do Chloe, just…give me time, okay? It's hard enough to be back here. I really just need to sort out everything else before doing something about him" he pinched the bridge of his nose, missing the concern look his much loved android friend was giving him.

"I know" she paused, hesitating on how to word her next sentence, "Eli… you don't have to do this on your own you know, right? If you need my help or my sisters' you just have to ask" her tone softened as she moved forwards to place a hand on his cheek.

"I know my dearest..." his features softened even more if possible, leaning against her palm and smiling fondly at her but otherwise ignoring her offer, "you would be delighted to known that I'll have to add to the already too long list of awkward and unnecessary social interactions the ones I'll have with my neighbours" he turned away, moving towards yet another unopened box of his he had to put away. He was starting to be almost tempted to throw everything away and take the step further from minimalist to have his apartment look like some sad looking backroom type of empty.

The blonde android snorted lightly and folded her arms on her chest, "as if you're not already thinking of a way to avoid those too. Maybe it would ease your nerves to know your neighbour is actually an android"

"Should I worry about you knowing already everything about the place I'm gonna be living in?" His nonchalant tone did little to hide his newfound curiosity "have you met them? All I know is that they have a dog who sporadically gets really damn loud when he wants to" he kept rambling on while unpacking a seemingly bottomless box full of old memorabilia.

Chloe uncrossed her arms and sighed a little at the man's antics, "I've met him on the way here. I've mentioned that a friend of mine moved here and that's when we realised he was your neighbour front door. He is very nice and his dog is adorable for your information" she grabbed the picture frame Elijah handed to her, getting distracted for a second with the photo inside of it. The picture was proof of her first steps towards deviancy; a spontaneous selfie taken by the android of her and Elijah on his 18th birthday. The man looked so different back then, more healthy she had to reluctantly admit. Chloe never liked to think about the visible and concerning effect Elijah's lifestyle was having on him, not that she could do something about it given how adamant the man was about not needing help.

"Look at you, liking filthy and bothersome creatures just because they're aesthetically pleasing. And people still think I've created you all in my own image and likeness" he scoffed with playfully, doing nothing to hide his signature devious grin, "and anyways, you can't possibly determine a person is nice just in mere minutes, love. He could be the next big serial killer of our time and you would never know it" he commented teasingly while shuffling through more picture frames, spending a good couple of seconds to look at each one of them with a nostalgic gaze.

"Do all humans become this stupid with age?" Her voice didn't carry any malice, in fact she struggled to keep away a chuckle bubbling in her chest at soon as Elijah let out a gasp of indignity.

"You did not just call me old and dumb in just one sentence" he dramatically rested his picture frame occupied hands on top of his heart in feign hurt. It didn't last long cause the second he did it Chloe finally gave in a contagious fit of laughter, "and now you laugh..." he shakes his head before huffing in fake resignation, " you're definitely spending too much time with North and her foul humour" he jokes, grinning at her with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Bold of you to assume I didn't pick this up from YOUR horrible sense of humour" she teases as she bents down to retrieve other things from the box to put away, "but anyways, you should go and introduce yourself. You can't ignore everyone forever you know? And besides, it's not gonna harm to have a friend to count on besides me or my sisters"

"you can never be sure of that. And I thought that we left the whole 'borrow a cup of sugar from your neighbour' thing behind already." He stretched himself, sighing softly at the sound of loud pops coming from his back before starting to open up another box. He could feel the hard gaze of the android glaring daggers at his back "but since you care so much… I'll try to make an effort, okay?" He reassured her, not doing much to hide the annoyance of his tone.The whole idea of having to interact with someone else today was just as stressful as it was annoying, but he knew that somehow Chloe would end up knowing if he didn't do as she said and the consequences would be worse than just a few awkward exchanges of words with his neighbour.

To be honest it wasn't such an unreasonable request and he was probably being too difficult for the sake of being it, but he really couldn't help it. He already had a really hard day, just the whole moving back to the city ordeal was the biggest pain in the ass he has ever gone through. The need to be discreet and subtle with it as to not give away immediately where he lives to the press made everything ten times harder than necessary.
Between decluttering half of his old house to fit everything in his new apartment and his newfound responsibilities as a CEO, his days were filled with an uncomfortable high amount of stress and bothersome human interactions he did not want to have. But somehow he found himself preferring those rather than the ones he had with androids on countless occasions, the spikes of anxiety and dread he got from just the thought of being in the same room with his creations was unbearable sometimes. It obviously got worse during his meetings with them or when he had to welcome in his laboratory damaged ones that needed repair.

They hated him, and they weren't shy about it. Very few of them tolerate him enough to even bear the thought of working with him, the rest were rightfully angry and resentful. He would be lying if he said he didn't understand where all the hatred came from, he still would be lying if he said he didn't feel like somehow they were right. It just made his whole existence really hard and filled with guilt for even feeling so uncomfortable in the first place when he was the one that has wronged them, that has abandoned them. If cyberlife hadn't been so hellbent on booting him out of his own company he would've never allowed his dear creations to endure so much abuse, but things never go as one wants and to add insult to the injury he completely shut out himself from what was happening. His flight or fight instinct has always leaned more on the flight part than the fight one, and now he was facing the consequences.

He has even found himself buying bottles of natural garbage anxiety prescriptions again, which was driving him nuts because it has been years since he needed them. His considerably more peaceful and isolated previous life didn't required any type of medication.
As most natural remedies they didn't do much, if anything those pills served more as very dry and flavourless sweets to worsen his oral fixation than anything else. He wasn't one to worry about money or how it got spent but he always found mildly annoying how it felt like he was just wasting bill after bill on stuff that didn't even work, the mere thought of how much he spent on refills always ruined his already precarious mood nowadays. On the other hand it was that or just powering through it without any sort of help and that was something he couldn't even contemplate as an option.

It pains him to admit it, but now that he was back as full functioning and active member of society everything felt like a wave coming down on him and keeping him below the water, letting him go just enough so he won't drown completely before getting back at him again.

So yeah, making friends wasn't an unreasonable request from Chloe, but to think about facing an android who most likely hated him already and letting him know he was going to be his neighbour from now on did make Elijah feel entitled to be difficult about the situation, more so since he knew his darling girl was unremovable when her mind was set. God, this day was really getting worse by the moment.

In the end he compromised on talking with this supposedly nice neighbour, only condition from his part being that Chloe had an actual conversation with North and not just a secondhand embarrassment induced small talk. His devilish grin while bidding her goodbye was enough to prove how little guilt he felt about making her life harder than necessary.

Now that he was once again alone in his new apartment he felt his ever present wave of depression take over him, its full force fueled by the stress of his imminent encounter with this android guy and his stupid dog. This situation was getting blown out of proportion in his head and he knew perfectly well it had to do with the fact that he was coping with all this stuff alone, with none of the Chloes to help him out. Chloe, the original one, has been the highlight of his life for many years and not just from a career point of view. She has been his only friend, the only one who truly understood him and who has seen him during his best and worst moments of life.

He missed them dearly, even though he never took for granted their presence and it boiled his blood to know how people thought they were mere assistants or toys for him. They have been, for the longest time, his world and now that he had to be alone with his thoughts he realised even more how their presence made everything so much more bearable. After all it was because of them his little crusade against cyberlife began, androids were never meant to be servants but rather friends and companions which seemed to be a vision only he and his creations shared.

All of this was kind of self inflicted on some way cause although the girls decided on their own accord to leave and start their very own life they made it very clear they wanted him to be part of it, which meant that besides living in different places nothing would change and he could still ask them for help if he needed to. But that was the problem, wasn't it? That he couldn't just ask, he physically felt unable to even think about reaching out and it has always been like that so now wasn't exactly the time to get all worked up about his.

In the middle of his little internal crisis he hasn't noticed how he has been putting and arranging stuff nonstop, only when he finally stops he notices not only the back pain from bending and lifting stuff but also how almost every box around him was now empty. 'Good old overthinking saves the day I guess' he thought bitterly to himself, running his fingers through his long hair to pull it up in his usual bun. Now that he stood still for more than a second he felt how tired he really was, groaning at the thought of being only midday still and all the things he had left to do before call it a day to go and do something he could actually enjoy.

He felt the sudden need to get out of that place that was making his mind even more troubled than usual and, although very begrudgingly, he actually found himself preferring to go and visit his neighbour now than staying there any longer. He wasn't blind to the irony of his disliking being alone but not being able to interact with anyone. Nevertheless he had almost come to terms with it, Chloe would probably have a field day making fun of him for it which reminded him why that was one of the few things he was glad she didn't need know.

He hastily grabbed his keys, jacket and phone before going out, figuring that a quick walk through the neighbourhood after saying hello to the android next door wouldn't hurt. He stopped right before turning the door handle to cast a last glance at his new home, his heart hammering painfully in his chest and his guts twisting as a sickening sense of dread settled within him. "Get a grip Kamski…" he muttered in annoyance at himself before finally stepping outside and closing his door behind him.

After all he just had to be friendly and introduce himself, what could possibly go wrong?

Chapter Text

Connor knew that if he had been human, he would've got a headache with how much he was overthinking this, he already kind of felt his system overheating but he couldn't really stop himself. He felt mildly annoyed at his social module and its, sometimes, too basic programming that didn't bode well with his tendency to overdwell on things. He mentally berated himself for not asking Chloe more about this friend of hers, but then again it would've been kinda weird to ask too much about someone he hasn't even seen yet.

The situation he found himself in stemmed from the idea he had gathered of this mysterious neighbour, which was based entirely on what little he has learned by himself and what even less Chloe, the android girl friend of the unknown guy, has told him. He did find at first quite odd how secretive and strange the whole process of getting his things in the new apartment ready has seemed; all done during the night and never once by someone who wasn't part of the moving company which made impossible to catch a glimpse of whoever was going to live in front of him. Despite the strangeness of the whole ordeal Connor came to the conclusion that this man, whoever he was, wasn't one who liked socialising all that much. His conversation with Chloe proved his theory about the guy being quite the introvert, which was why he now found himself conflicted on what to do.

Connor would be lying if he said he wasn't glad to have the opportunity to know a little more about who was going to live in front of him, the fact that he had the chance to find out the other man wasn't yet another anti-android resident he will have to suffer was comforting. He supposed that going through a few tense and awkward moments when he left his house was a small price to pay for the opportunity to have such a nice apartment for himself, even if Gavin kept saying this gift from cyberlife was a 'half assed apology to keep him quiet'. Nonetheless he was happy to know that the person occupying the place in front of him didn't seem to have a problem with having androids around. 'That doesn't necessarily mean he will find you specifically likeable' that insidious thought was what has sent him into a spiral of possible courses of action.

The thing is that he didn't want the guy to feel pressured to come and introduce himself since Chloe said she would most likely tell him to stop by Connor's and do so, but at the same he didn't want to intrude and weird him out by taking matters into his own hands. He has learned that it's good manners to bring something as a gift to someone who has just arrived, which led to another whole mental thread of what was or wasn't appropriate or if it was a good idea at all to begin with.

His fingers dexteritly rolled his trusted coin over his knuckles for the umpteenth time, his LED spinning from yellow to red to blue as he tried to make up his mind. He stopped to look at Sumo stretching lazily in his bed, looking at Connor with an unimpressed look, "you're really one sassy dog" he laughed out lightly, not an ounce of seriousness in his complain as he began to pace back and forth again. His brows knitted together while he tried to come up with even just a compromise to get out of this hellish loop of hesitation. 'At this rate I will be stuck here thinking till tomorrow morning' he signed and pinched the bridge of his nose as he pocketed his coin in his jeans. This was ridiculous, even the worst case scenario wasn't that bad to justify so much nervousness. 'i guess I haven't got that used at making friends…this shall serve as practice then. After all, if I managed to befriend Gavin it's objectively impossible for this to be more difficult' with this encouraging thought he braced himself and took a deep unnecessary breath before closing the distance between his living room and the door.

Had he been human his heart would've most certainly jumped out of his mouth as Sumo promptly started to bark as soon as he heard knocking at the door. He jumped away from the door almost immediately, his stress fueled mind clouding his decision making as he tried to calm his dog down as quietly as possible. Crouched down a few steps away from the door while he felt all those conflictive thoughts he was having before fill his mind once again and, for what felt like an eternity but was merely a minute, he did not know what to do. 'God Connor, pull yourself together.' He silently cursed himself for being so irrational about something so simple and made a mental note to run a scan of his software for a possible virus, that was the only plausible reason he could come up with to excuse this sudden odd behaviour.

Elijah couldn't say he was handling the whole thing any better, it did annoyed him a great deal to get this bothered by something he didn't even choose to put himself in. He felt a spike of anxiety run through his whole body making him almost shiver as he heard the string of thunderous barks coming from behind the door, his left hand clasped his right wrist behind his back to shield himself behind his usual confident and distant appearance. If someone were to glance at him right now he was certain he'd be filling the cocky and arrogant idea people had of him but on the inside all that tensing and composure was just him keeping himself from dropping dead right in front of the door of some poor oblivious man.

He could've, in the haze of his nervousness, confused which, out of the 6 doors on their floor, was the right one if it wasn't for Chloe telling him before she left that the right one was exactly In front of Elijah's. He didn't want to imagine the infinite uncomfortable and annoying conversations they would have in the future if this one didn't go as well as it needed to be which, by the way, he already knew would not go well.

A sudden feeling of self-consciousness got the best of him, prompting him to quickly readjust his glasses and hair before reassuming his previous stance. The loud and annoying being barking his lungs out behind the door didn't seem to think about stopping anytime soon and didn't allow Elijah to listen for any other sounds that could tell if his owner was there. 'If he's not at home I will become a fucking Christian again'. Just as the thought popped up in his mind he heard the soft voice, kindly attempting to calm the beast down followed by the clicking sound of keys. He grimaced and mentally cursed himself for somehow jinxing his luck, which was nonexistent to begin with.

"Oh, hello! I'm sorry for taking so long to open'' the android greeted him with such a gentle voice that almost knocked the air out of Elijah's lungs. Tilting his head slightly to the side, his big soft brown eyes locked into the other man's icy blue ones, his LED spinning yellow for a second as Elijah glanced away first, "You must be my new neighbour.." he lingered as if he wanted to say something else but stopped himself from it, his gaze carried something Kamski didn't had the time to get before the android talked again, "it's nice to meet you, I'm Connor" the led turned a calm blue once again.

'God fucking dammit Chloe' his mind was flooded by panic. This man was quite literally too pretty for Elijah's sake and his stare was giving the inventor the impression that maybe the android was somehow aware of his ill-timed thoughts about his appearance, the fact that this damned guy was sickly nice didn't really help either. His brain deemed it the appropriate time to remind him how androids are able to sense human health stats just by running a scan, and that the scan could be triggered automatically if there are abnormal high or lows to catch from the other person 'Who the fuck thought it was okay to allow me to do that'.

He could feel his own heart beating inside his ears and his mouth getting dry as sand and he prayed with all his being that his face wasn't getting as red as he was thinking, if it did the android didn't show any reaction to it. "I'm…" for a very brief but horrifying moment he almost forgot his own name "Elijah Kamski, a pleasure to meet you" he forced himself, and surprisingly succeeded, in smiling as nonchalantly as possible. Years of suppressing the hell out of his emotions have, at last, paid back. The small victory was short lived as he watched the android expression change in realisation and now Elijah definitely felt he was going to die.

Upon hearing the name, Connor finally put the pieces together. From the moment he opened the door he felt as if he had seen the guy before but couldn't - and didn't had the time - to quite remember why, now everything made so much sense and to be completely honest he was kinda surprised to know that his neighbour was none other than, technically, his creator. The whole situation was taking a very strange turn. Even Sumo, who had been patiently sitting beside him, snapped his head towards his owner, as if he too understood how curious all of this was. "You're the founder of cyberlife!"

'God please end me now' his mood shifted considerably from anxious to a very tense passive aggressiveness. Connor almost got whiplash from how sudden the change was, instantly thinking about what could've possibly triggered such a reaction, getting caught under his wave of neverending doubt all over again.

Elijah nodded, straightening himself a little, now looking directly into Connor's eyes with an unreadable glare. All the uneasiness he felt minutes ago was subdued by a sense of wariness, bracing himself to the imminent confrontation. He knew how unfair it was, that he should've expected to be recognised and, somehow, he did but the knowledge didn't seem to be enough to make him feel less tense about it.

He couldn't help to feel the need to be aggressive, to bite first so the judgement wouldn't sting so hard. 'He probably already hates me so there's no reason for me to even try. Good fucking riddance to the make friends thing I guess' thought part of him. "It's not a secret. No need to point it out like that but yes, I am." While his words weren't as hard as they could've been, his tone was clipped and somewhat hostile.

Connor felt weirdly lightheaded at how familiar Elijah's behaviour was, his LED for a second spun a dark red and it took a conscious effort to get it back to at least yellow. He frowned slightly and felt sumo headbutting his leg, as to encourage him to answer. He couldn't really find it in himself to give back the same energy, somehow he could swear that he knew the man's response was more than for the sake of being rude. "I'm so sorry. Believe it or not I have been told that I should think more about the things I say" he let out a small embarrassed chuckle, voice effortlessly gentle that clashed with Elijah's harsh one, "I.. well I guess it's just kind of surprising to have my creator as my neighbour."

'What in the holy fuck was that' Elijah struggle to bite back a confused frown, his chest clenching painfully from a new wave of stress running through his body as his mind kept sending unreliable warnings of danger from the unusual reaction. 'Why is he still being nice? What is wrong with him? Maybe he hasn't quite realised what this means' he racked his brain trying to find an explanation, or well at least one that made sense just to him and his suspicion fueled mind. He would first believe the android was suffering some sort of malfunction than think he's been genuinely nice 'Whatever you're doing it's not gonna work buddy' "I'm sure it is. But that's not all, isn't it? It's not something that happens everyday, I'm certain you have much more to say about it than just surprising" he tilted his head slightly, a small cynical smile formed in his lips as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

Connor's led spun yellow, a small frown scrunched his features slightly. Part of him wanted to feel there was a right or wrong answer to that question but he couldn't really care when his HUD was filled with stats about Elijah's high stress parameters. In all honesty he didn't mean to but, unlike most androids, his programming for detective work and its features were triggered by his environment most of time whether he needed them in the moment or not. "I don't mean to intrude Mr Kamski but are you feeling okay? Your stress levels are high an-"

"If you didn't mean to, you wouldn't have. I don't appreciate being analysed while talking with someone Connor" if looks could kill, Elijah's cold gaze would've already finished Connor. Sumo, who was laying peacefully on the floor until that very moment, perked up his head and huffed audibly at Elijah making the man glance briefly at him, 'You shut up. Your owner should learn to mind his business'. If possible, he seemed to get even more cold and distant. Connor couldn't have any way to know it but Elijah really despised this type of intrusion to his privacy, it made him feel unbearably vulnerable and weak. Even if he knew he was already being unreasonably rude with the android, he couldn't help the irritation he felt at him for not just at least keeping his knowledge to himself. "You still haven't answered my question by the way" his hands returned to their original position behind Elijah's back.

"I'm..yes I'm sorry, I have been told too that I shouldn't be so noisy" Connor's eyes quickly left Elijah's in favour to look shyly at an indefinite spot on his shoes. His hand went instinctively inside his pocket to feel his coin, he briefly pondered whether or not it would be appropriate to fidget with it in front of the other man. He didn't have the time to, however, since Elijah spoke again pulling him out of his thoughts.

"You should start to listen more to what they tell you then..." When Connor looked at him again he almost winced at how his gentle brown eyes looked so upset for a second before something akin to determination took over. A part of him was telling him to stop and say sorry or, at the very least, try to make the situation less tense but his pride wouldn't let him back down. He told himself that this was just the android finally dropping the polite act and showing how he really felt about him, which is how everyone felt and how Elijah was used to people feeling about him.

That look didn't last long as the android leaned his shoulder on the door frame and crossed his arms on his chest. His eyes held a pensive distant gaze before lighting up once again, LED spinning always yellow, "To answer your questions Mr Kamski, It sincerely just took me by surprise. Besides the obvious peculiarity of living next to my creator, I don't have much of an opinion on it. After all this is the first time we've seen each other and apart from your name I don't know much else so I can't judge what I think of you either" His voice didn't lose his original warmth, maybe it was just a bit less overwhelmingly joyful and more serious as he carefully explained his thoughts. When his eyes locked on Elijah again he shot him a soft smile that made the man once again look away from him. Connor absentmindedly wondered if it was a coincidence or the man breaking eye contact had something to do with him smiling. "I look forward to getting to know each other better though! Since we're gonna be neighbours I think it would be more convenient if we get along, don't you think Mr Kamski?" He hurried to add genuinely cheerful this time.

"Yeah, that's what I thou-" his eyes widened slightly and the shit-eating grin he was sporting was quick to fade. "Wait i-...what?" Very few times Elijah Kamski has been left without words, and this was one of those. He has always been quick to react even in those moments where he didn't even know how but right now all he could do was stare at the man in front of him as if he had grown a second head, his mind went completely blank with only the echo of Connor's words going on and on.

Connor couldn't help but laugh lightly, both because of Elijah's reaction and for finally managing to make a break through all that unbearable tension. "I said Im looki-"

"Don't say it again!" the inventor's composed stance broke as soon as Connor tried to repeat himself, his arms once again crossed on his chest.

"But I thought th-"

"Why would you say something like that? Are you malfunctioning?" Elijah's voice was almost a whisper, his face frowning almost but not quite fully in horror. He uncrossed his arms to crack his knuckles, a bad stress releasing habit of his he has carried ever since he was a kid. His eyes anxiously snapped from Connor's face to the floor and back to the android's face.

Connor scrunched his face slightly, his LED that seemed to finally settle on blue for once started to spin yellow once again, "your interrupting makes this interaction very difficult Mr Kamski. I don't understand…have I said something wrong?" He tilted his head once more trying to catch Elijah's gaze, straightening himself.

Elijah scoffed, baffled by the androids question. Shaking his head slightly he finally answered "what you were about to repeat was nonsense anyway.." he grumbled as he lowered his gaze, his voice didn't really have any bite in it. For a moment Connor could swear Elijah was more shying away rather than getting truly angry, if he hadn't been trying to look at his eyes he would've missed it because of how quickly once again the man shifted his demeanour. Elijah snapped back to his distant and cold stance, his hands clasped in front of him this time, his face hardening once again as he finally looked Connor in the eyes. "I think being just neighbours will suffice. You can rest assured there will be no need in the foreseeable future for you to get along with me beyond the bare minimum politeness" he took a step backwards, shooting at the android a small, almost bittersweet but mostly emotionless, smile. "Good to have made your acquaintance though" he waved his hand dismissively, turning his back at Connor and walking towards the stairs to then leave before the android had the chance to reply.

Connor was left with his lips slightly parted, too slow in letting the unsaid words stuck inside his throat go, as he watched the man leave. His face hardened with confusion and frustration, he didn't even bother to check his led colour anymore knowing it would be either yellow or red. His eyes lowered to look at sumo who locked eyes with him with an almost understanding gaze. He hated feeling like this, like he had failed some sort of test only he didn't know it was happening, it reminded him of cyberlife and of…other things. He wanted to know where he had gone so wrong to deserve so much uncalled for harshness.

"Come on sumo.." he made a sidestep to allow the dog to slowly stand up again and retreat inside. He closed the door behind him, leaning with his back on it and sighing softly. In the midst of his frustration he mostly felt deceived and he wasn't exactly sure why. As far as Connor's concerned, the conversation was definitely not over and he certainly would not accept that type of reaction without a good explanation as to why. Maybe it was the realisation that befriending Gavin Reed had been indeed more easy than this or maybe it's just his neverending perseverance and determination but he knew he wouldn't be able to really get peace of mind without getting an answer for Elijah's behaviour by the man himself 'I should've introduced myself first'

Chapter Text

"Fuck." He angrily threw the small empty bottle of his natural anxiety medication into a nearby trash can before plopping down in a nearby bench, taking off his glasses and pocketing them away. His hands shakingly ran through his hair pulling it a bit, completely undoing his already half screwed man bun. His heart was hammering so hard inside his chest he felt it could've smashed his ribcage open in any second, he shut his eyes close and grimaced while trying to shift his focus into calming down as much as possible to get up again and go to the nearest pharmacy.

He had never run so fast in his life but he needed to get away from the apartment complex as fast as possible. He felt so guilty and he knew that, like every other time, he brought it onto himself with that attitude and all those unnecessarily rude comebacks. One would say he should be used to feeling this way, given how he has led his life up until now, but he never did and sometimes it felt like the guilt he carried around only grew stronger every time it got triggered. He couldn't shake away all the replies he gave to Connor, how the android's more gentle ones made Elijah's words sound even harsher. The more he kept replaying the scene in his head, the less air he felt he was taking so he forced himself to just swipe away the thought for a moment at least. 

He opened his eyes and leaned back on the bench, his hands running down from his hair to his face covering it completely, only his eyes peeking through his fingers. He could feel his throat closing more and more and his eyes watering, the only thought that was louder than the guilt was about how much he did not want to end up breaking down in a park where anyone who would pass from there could see him. He tried to focus on things that were easy to get while his mind filled with panic; the sounds of cars passing by now and then, how crisp but not that cold the air felt, the colour of the many buildings surrounding him that made him half wondered how some of the houses looked on the inside, the smell from the flower bushes around the park or the sight of the orange tinted sky as the sun was beginning to set. His hands clutched his chest slightly to confirm if his heart was really beating as painfully hard as he felt, swallowing hard as he tried to not let his nausea get the best of him.

Slowly but surely, his heartbeat became steadier and calmer. With each flutter of his heart he felt his lungs taking a bit more of air, until he could finally feel himself breathing normally. He hunched forward, propping his elbows on his knees and once again running his fingers through his hair. His eyes still felt glossy but at least now he didn't feel his whole face on fire from the lack of oxygen, but rather from the horrible headache that was splitting his brain in two. 'I'm already out here and I'm sure as hell not coming back now, might as well get going to the pharmacy' he at least didn't feel his legs would give up under his weight if he tried to stand up. He picked himself up and sighed tiredly as he made his way towards the exit of the park, his hands stuffed inside the pockets of his jackets. He vaguely wondered why his vision was so blurry and when his hand touched his glasses inside the jacket he slapped himself mentally, putting them back on. 

He felt safe to embrace the thoughts about his meeting with the android again, knowing that they will never stop causing discomfort no matter how calm he tried to get. The more he turned and tossed the scene in his head all he could come up with was the unremovable fact that the whole encounter went bad just because of him. He knows this time there's no android rightful rage against him to blame, not prior actions that could've made the encounter unpleasant, just him and his big mouth getting the best of him. He vaguely pondered how much his early "retirement" has really damaged beyond his already precarious reputation, if it isn't just far too late to undo everything and make things right. 

When he told Chloe he was waiting for the right time to deal with his brother he wasn't lying, but it wasn't just the whole story. He has never been one with many social skills, in his younger years he powered through every interview or social interaction that made him feel uneasy using his bad habits and mastering his talent at being cryptic and cynical enough that people just assumed he was eccentric and weird rather than scared and horrendously bad at making himself likeable. But he wanted to be, he always wanted to be liked and that's a problem when the impression you leave on people gets confirmed by you fucking up everything in any possible way. So how was he to talk again with his brother if he couldn't even have a polite and normal conversation with an android who doesn't have any prior history with him or opinion about his persona? Just how could he even think about making amends with his the only family he had left after all the shitty things Elijah has made them both go through? 

He groaned feeling the headache getting worse with every thought of one of the reasons (or rather person) he moved back here and the long list of arguments and fights he's not looking forward to have on top of the ones he already had going on with every android that comes across him 'I'm sure he would be having a field day knowing how much my own creations hate me' he shook his head lightly, frowning when he heard a ping coming from his phone just before entering the pharmacy.

Chloe

— so? How has the neighbour thing gone?

He winced and put away his phone immediately, deciding that the best decision was ignoring her message for now. Today has not been his day, all he wanted to do was get his stupid medication and go home to sulk in his room in peace which he decided to do as soon as possible, not giving a flying fuck about all the things he was supposed to do. He would probably have to wait a good while because there was no fucking way he was going to endure his inadequacy in being a normal human being AND an awkward run-in with his probably very angry (and rightfully so) neighbour in the same day, he might as well take his sweet time out there. 

///

To the neverending list of effects and consequences his period away from society has brought to his life, he has to add now forgetting about how horrible it was to wake up early in the morning and force himself to be productive at such hours of the day. He groaned as the obnoxious alarm kept going, hiding himself further under the silky red covers of his bed. He huffed as he reached out to silence the wretched thing and threw it back onto the nightstand, letting his arm flop down again on the mattress. The whole room was still bathed in relative darkness, only a slight shade of light coming through the dark blue curtains could be seen. From under his hiding spot his half opened eyes glared at an undefined spot in the carpet, trying to muster all the energy he needed to just get up. 

He blindly smacked his nightstand lightly to find and grab his glasses, next he grabbed his phone to lazily go through every notification. As he glared at the too bright screen, scrolling through the big chunk of unread emails, he made a mental checklist of all the things that needed to be done for the day. Yesterday's chores that went undone got added to the new ones; he still needed to work on assembling his computers' units and work equipment in his new study, get new furniture for said study, get some groceries and do all the unpleasant cyberlife related paperwork he needed to get done now that he was back as CEO once again. He huffed, turning off the phone as he pulled himself up, his head protesting with dizziness at how fast he moved.

He didn't feel rested at all which didn't surprised him all too much, the overthinking worsened by the shitty day he had. And his fucked up sleep schedule didn't let him go to sleep until the ungodly hour of 6am which left him with only two hours of sleep. 'fan-fucking-tastic' he rubbed away the sleep from his eyes, finally getting up and going to start his day. After a quick cold shower and putting on some clothes and lenses, he tried to fix his hair into his usual hairstyle, taking a couple of seconds to despair at the sight of one of those much hated white hairs he always makes sure to cover with hair dye. It was something normal, he knew that now that he was nearing the 39 years old he should expect to see the effects. But nonetheless he still felt angsty about the whole ageing process which fortunately seemed to be going really slow, leaving him with just a few and small white streaks in his hair which he covered with black hair dye every month religiously, that was about all he had to do to look young. He didn't had to worry yet about wrinkles, he knew he wouldn't be able to cope with the sight of them. Once he was done he gathered his bag, phone and keys. 

He still had enough time to stop and grab a coffee on his way to cyberlife, he made sure of it cause otherwise he couldn't even phantom to properly function throughout the whole day. Just as he was about to leave he heard steps outside his door and for a moment all that had happened yesterday came into his mind with full force, actively stopping him in his tracks. ' I can't catch a fucking break' he clenched his jaw and quietly look through the peephole to see who was outside, praying with all his being it wasn't Connor. 

Somehow the universe must have taken pity on him because outside of his door was not the android but Cora, one of Chloe's sisters. He felt his body go lax as he sighed as he closed his eyes, resting his forehead on the door and muttering a string of colourful curses. He started unlocking the door to welcome the android, deciding it would actually be nice to have a walk and catch up with one of his lovelies before work. He could hear that damned dog barking like there was no tomorrow behind Connor's door 'I better move or else this is going to become the worst morning of my life very fucking fast' he opened the door and tapped Cora who was looking around rather confusedly around, led spinning yellow as she surely was trying to figure out which door was his. The smile and the way her face lightened up as soon as she saw him made Elijah feel all warm inside, almost successfully making him forget why he was in such a hurry.

"Oh hi Eli!"

"Cora! What ar-" before he could even utter another word he heard it, the horrifying clicking of Connor's door opening. He felt paralysed as he saw the door opening not enough to let the owner be seen but enough to let that unit of a dog sprint out of the house, his huffed barks snapping Elijah out of his trance and making Cora turn.

"Oh goodness! A dog-"

The only thing that escaped Elijah's lips was a strangled yelp before quite literally dragging Cora back inside and slamming the door from behind her. Everything went too fast for the android girl to even begin to understand what was going on, "Elijah what's going on?? Why-"

"Shh!!" Still holding Cora close to him from behind he bent a little bit forward to look through the peephole one more time, not daring to even breathe too loud. The dog was scratching at his door while Connor seemed occupied with adjusting the cuffs of his shirt and straightening his jacket.

"What- did you just shush me?? Elijah!"

"Oh god Cora please lower your. Fucking. Voice." He hissed through gritted teeth without even sparing a glance at her, putting a hand on her mouth as he felt she was about to start speaking again. He kept his eye fixated on Connor, thankful to his lenses that allowed him to notice the android's LED spinning yellow. When Connor tried to pry Sumo away from his door and put the leash on the dog Elijah's breath hitched, he could swear that the moment he pulled himself up the android seemed to not only know Elijah was watching but considered trying to try and catch him red handed. 'Please don't please don't please don't' his heart once again pounding hard inside his chest, he held Cora even closer.

He could've cried from relief when he saw the android simply pulling at Sumo's leash and walking away towards the stairs to leave. "Fuck…" he let out, for the second time that morning, his forehead rest on the door and finally let go of the deep breath he was holding back.

Cora on the other hand couldn't roll her eyes more even if she tried, Elijah's hand still on her mouth. Deciding she had enough and feeling mildly annoyed she bit on the man's hand hard enough to draw a gasp from him.

"OW! what the fuck Cora!!" He immediately withdrew the offensive hand and held it close to his chest, his face contorted in the utmost disconcerting frown ever. "All of you need to take a fucking chill pill lately.." he grumbled, checking his hand where he had got bitten.

"You're started! Next time you're gonna get punched in your stupid face if you shush me" she huffed, her LED spun red for a second before turning yellow, shaking her head and crossing her arms on her chest, she was already very much done with Elijah and she just arrived. "What the fuck is what I should be asking, what was all that about??"

He pressed his lips in a thin line, pondering whether or not he should involve someone in this disastrous mess he has put himself into. He loved every single one of his girls, they were everything to him but they did have a very annoying gossiping habit. Elijah has countless times, for fun, ran small tests to see who, out of the three of them, was the one to cave in more easily and snitch to the other ones. Weirdly enough this habit was a closeted thing between them, he never had to worry about the girls telling personal stuff to anyone outside their circle. That doesn't mean they didn't find sadistic joy in tearing Elijah apart with their embarrassing discoveries about the inventor, "Nevermind that, why are you here anyways?" He checked the time on his phone, groaning at how late he was now, letting his head fall back exasperated.

"What do you mean 'why am I here'?! I wanted to visit my favourite, and very rude, person in the world!" She gave him a light punch on the arm, only now noticing he seemed to be ready to go out "where were you going? you have work today??"

"I always have to work my star, being a CEO doesn't grant me unlimited free days. Speaking of which, I'm terribly late so if you don't mind we could continue our conversation while walking" he extended his hand for her to take it, planting a affectionate kiss on the back of hers as soon as she held his before opening once again the door (and sneaking a glance around just in case).

She smiled before a deep frown settled on her features, led changing from blue to yellow with her concern "Eli, you've just moved. Chloe told me you were finishing unpacking just yesterday, aren't you overworking yourself too much?? You haven't even let anyone help you out that much with all the moving and unpacking stuff" she pulled him back a little when he tried to walk to make him face her.

"Cora I'm fine, really. I told your sister yesterday I was doing okay, I did all the unpacking yesterday and.." he cleared his throat a little and swinged lightly the hand that was still holding Cora's, his eyes darting away from hers for a second, "I finished putting away stuff and I took the rest of the day off" he justified his little lie with the fact that it was partially true. He did take the rest of the day off, she didn't need to know why or if he ended up resting.

"Mh.." she wasn't stupid, none of them were but they knew how difficult and defensive Elijah could get if people didn't trust him as much as he wanted with him being able to take care of himself. She could see how tired he looked, and there was the whole hiding behind the door thing from before too. She knew better than to run a scan on his parameters, but even a blind person could see he was not doing as fine as he said. "Okay Eli..just be careful. Now tell me why were we hiding before" she let go of his hand to link her arm around Elijah's, walking together towards the stairs.

He let a mental sigh of relief go when she dropped the whole taking care of himself talk, just to get tense again by her 'question', "did Chloe send you? Cause i feel all these questions have a big Chloe vibe behind them. If I had to be interrogated I would've preferred to have all three of you over together now that the apartment it's all set up" he grumbled seemingly deep in thought but really just trying to skirt around the question, walking slowly to allow Cora to keep up with him, since he was already late he figured it wouldn't hurt to take his time. In that spirit he decided to take the long way, walking out the building from the secondary door just to have more time to talk with Cora, certainly not to avoid a certain someone that could be at the front.

Despite the inner turmoil of Elijah's life he found a moment to appreciate how nice it was outside. The usual grey sky of Detroit was bright and blue as it could, a pleasant breeze paired with the warm light of the sun made it perfect weather for a morning walk. That was part of why he didn't find that hard the idea of moving back to the city, he always liked how small and insignificant his own life and problems felt compared to how big everything around him was. For a moment he felt truly at peace before Cora snapped him out of his peaceful bliss.

"Chloe mentioned that. I'll have to call Moira and see when she's free, but I'm sure she's gonna say yes anyways. She has missed you so much" she smiled brightly, LED turning clear blue just thinking about her two sisters and Elijah - who they have come to consider as a big brother after all these years - spending time together again. Although she was happy with her new life and with the chance to be her own person, she couldn't help but miss their life as a family, neither of the them could. The truth is that they've grown accustomed to their safe haven as much as Elijah, it was hard to be out and about and have to deal with the rest of the world sometimes without having him around to help them.

Elijah was almost starting to worry, it's not a common occurrence for him to be able to get away with so much avoiding in just one day. Although, if he had to be honest, Cora has never been as persistent as her other sisters. "Last time I talked with her she was done with the ristructurations at the restaurant, she has been obliterating my phone's storage with food pics she has been trying to make at home for her new menu"

The girl just nodded, looking at him with narrowed eyes before replying, her LED yellowing as she thought how to word her next sentence "now that we have got out of the way the small talk, shall we return to why we were hiding away behind your door?"

"No we shan't"

"Elijah!! Stop acting like a child! Why don't you wanna tell me what's going on?!" She unlinked her arm from Elijah's and pushed him slightly, a deep frown of frustration downing on her face although her voice was starting to sound more concerned than angry, "has your neighbour been mean to you or something?? Because Chloe told me you were suppos-"

"I knew it!! I knew it was her that sent you!!" He accused, glaring daggers at the android and stopping on his tracks.

"That's hardly the point right now!!

"Yes it is!! Neither of you trust me with being able to take care of myself. She told you to check on that stupid neighbour thing because she thinks I'm gonna screw things up!!" He snapped under his breath to not risk anyone listening although the neighbourhood he chose was one of the nicest and calmest ones in Detroit, with hardly too many people around which was one more of the reasons he picked this zone and that apartment.

Cora couldn't stop the hurt expression on her face, her blond eyebrows knitting together as her own blue eyes hardened with sadness "Eli that's not true…you know that's not true. You're being unnecessarily mean now.." she crossed her arms to avoid any fidgeting with her hands, her LED turning a rich shade of red before settling on an orangy yellow.

Elijah tentatively opened his mouth to try and say something but he found himself at loss of words, tearing his eyes away from her. The shame that came from the realisation of how he was acting was overwhelming, "I'm…sorry, you're right." He finally managed to mutter, he fidgeted with a few loose threads of his bag, "it's just…I know she doesn't think that but I don't want her to know that I..that i did fuck up " the last part was mostly whispered but he believed in Cora's audio processor to pick it up without make him repeat himself. "If I tell you I need to know you won't go and tell her nor Moira" he locked eyes with her once again, searching on hers for confirmation that he could indeed trust her with this information. 

Cora's eyes showed her hesitation, she bit the inside of her cheek slightly, LED spinning erratically as she tried to decide what to do. She knew that when the man asked to not tell anyone the last thing one should do was listen to him, but at the same time she couldn't find within herself to say no to him, not when he already seemed to be tormenting himself enough for whatever he has done. "Fine, but I want the whole story. No half truths, deal?" She held out her pinky finger towards him, which he accepted without any second thoughts.

"Deal" he smiled softly at the gesture the four of them took very seriously and never used without intention of keeping their word to it, entwining his finger with hers.

///

" I should've known you would pull something like this" she groaned, dragging her hands down her face. Her LED at this point has never stopped being yellow and she was already regretting even asking, "you need to apologise Eli, you can't avoid him forever!!" 

"Wanna bet?" He grumbled, shifting his weight from one leg to the other as he nervously checked the phone for what felt like the hundredth time. He could swear that the man in front of him was being so obnoxious and slow while ordering on purpose. Him and Cora ended up going to one of the new coffee shops for androids and humans not too far from cyberlife's building, the placement most likely meant to facilitate its employees. He needed some breakfast if he had to talk about feelings and all that messy stuff. 

"Elijah I'm serious, you can't treat people like that. He hasn't even done anything to you! He was just trying to be nice!" She hissed under her breath, glaring daggers at the man beside her. Cora had to admit she was struggling to keep her usual understanding and open mindset for Elijah, the man surely was the most irrational person she has ever met despite being a genius.

"He hasn't done anything yet, and I'm almost sure it's because I didn't give him the time to do so." He replicated quietly enough to fool himself into thinking she might have not heard, unfortunately that was far from the truth and the comment earned him a punch on the arm "Jesus!! fine, sorry!!" He rubbed slightly the point she had hit, huffing indignantly, "Listen, I know what I did was wrong but I… I just panicked, I don't know why I acted that way." He frowned, swallowing hard as he tried to bring himself to admit what he really felt. Fortunately it was finally his turn to order, stopping Cora from asking any more questions to order for the two of them. He chose his usual breakfast of black coffee and tea with milk and sugar, while Cora ordered a thirium smoothie. He wrinkled his nose a little bit at cyberlife's latest android product, it felt like such a lazy solution for him and couldn't help but start thinking about a synthetic digestive system that could be adapted to android's biocomponents. He absentmindedly wondered why none of the Chloe's had ever asked for it before, specially Moira with her passion for cooking. 

After paying and getting their order to go they started to walk towards cyberlife again. Cora fell silent for a good while, sipping on her smoothie, her face frowned in concentration as she tried to gather her thoughts, "Eli, can I be honest with you?" her eyes immediately found Elijah's, her gaze as kind as ever but with that type of resolution one has when preparing themselves to say something difficult. It vaguely reminded the man of his brother when they were younger. He somehow felt anxious, half knowing already about what she wanted to say but nodded nonetheless, not trusting himself to actually say yes vocally.

"You can't possibly have as your only options scare people off or run away yourself. It's not right how you don't give people an opportunity just because you're scared of them doing it to you first, if you keep going like this all your efforts to make it better won't ever mean anything" She fidgeted with the lid of her cup, slightly biting the inside of her cheek and avoiding looking at Elijah while thinking how to keep going with her speech, "You can't forgive yourself and you don't let anyone forgive nor forget what you might have done wrong and it's just not fair, not for you or for anyone else" only when she said this she lifted her gaze towards Elijah's face. His expression was neutral but his distant gaze hardened, she could almost see his brain overworking itself while thinking about her words. 

To Elijah's relief, they have reached cyberlife before having to reply. He quite literally didn't trust himself to answer in any appropriate way to what Cora had said, and he sure as hell wouldn't let himself get bitter and mean with her. So Elijah just bid her goodbye, thanking her both for keeping the promise to not tell Chloe and for keeping him company, promising he would think about it. He waited a few minutes, watching her slowly walk away, before finally getting inside. He promised to himself he would truly think about the whole conversation later.

///

Work was a welcomed distraction, it has always been a safe space for Elijah, just the simple fact of being able to focus on a problem that he knew he was more than capable of fixing was enough to make even the most tedious tasks relaxing for the inventor. The Jericho crew asking for new upgrades? No problem! Faulty biocomponents or fucked up codes that needed to be fixed or revised? He's already on it. But then there were those cases where they would ask him to actually interact with the androids he had to fix, that's when all the joy from working got overshadowed by how stressful and tense those kinds of things went.

It didn't escape him the irony of being the creator of something and not being able to even exist in the same room as them without feeling like he was about to die, but he really couldn't help it and in the end, not even the androids who required assistance were all that happy to see him. He knew that logically it was perfectly normal for him to be the first person his technicians would call in case of help; although some of them were androids themselves, he was the one who created and coded everything so he obviously knew more and was able to do more even when the android was very damaged.

So it didn't surprise him when he got called from one of the repair laboratories to check a heavily damaged android, but he did feel like clawing his own eyes out. He was already on the edge because the whole conversation with Cora, and Markus and Simon made it very clear how upset they were by his lateness, so having to talk with a damaged and traumatised android who was probably gonna get even more angsty at the sight of Elijah made the inventor's day even worse. 'Get a load of this CEO bullshit, what's the fucking point if I don't get to I'm the boss myself out of things ' he huffed, running a hand through his hair that has come undone from his usual man bun, "give me one second and I'll be right there" he said to the technician on the other side of the line before hanging up the desk phone.

He slowly got up from his desk, making his way out of his office and towards the elevator. The long white corridor that led towards his study was well illuminated by blueish neon lights, aside from some paintings and the door of the surveillance room there wasn't much else. He always liked the clean and minimalistic aesthetic of his company and he made sure the same vibe that the true skin of androids gave could be found when walking inside his building. He wanted people to see and feel as safe and as happy as he was (or at least used) around his creations, to feel at peace and see all the good they could do. Things unfortunately didn't go that way, and now as he walked inside the elevator he felt almost annoyed by the sight of the place he himself helped to design, knowing that now is a reason of distress for many androids. 

The laboratories were the lowest levels of the place so for the entire time he had to be inside of the elevator he took a moment to just think about what Cora said. He knew she was right, as he knew he had been an ass with Connor for no reason but somehow all the logic and sense he saw in what she said didn't resonate with him at all. Part of him wanted to just do as she said and give in, ask for help, let people in and get rid of the invisible burden he has placed onto himself for years. The other part made him feel like that burden was necessary, that no matter what he does he would always be a bad person so he needed to show how sorry he really was, that if he didn't make himself suffer as much as the people he had upset then he's not really sorry. He couldn't deal with just being liked by few, he wanted to be liked, period. After all that was the whole point and has always been the sole reason that moved him. 

'This is just ridiculous…I should apologise and move on. I just need to stop making a big deal out of this' he leaned back on the elevator wall behind him, tilting his head slightly upwards and closing his eyes. He instinctively reached for his medication inside his pocket, popping the lid and taking five of the near useless pills, eating them one by one just to pass the time. At this point they were starting to be more like a bland candy than something that could seriously work.

The ping of the elevator finally reaching his floor brought him back to reality. He hurried to get out, his steps echoing in the pristine white corridors as he checked which lab was the one that needed his presence. Every now and then he pulled a small smile to greet any employees he passed by, all of them including the android ones to which he reserved his most awkward attempt of a friendly smile. He was almost near the right room when he saw someone coming out of the automatic doors. 

"Mr Kamski!! Thank God, I'm so so sorry for the inconvenience but I genuinely don't know what else to do and my coworker had to help in another lab so you're kind of my last resort" he recognised the shorter technician from previous projects he had delivered to them himself and helped get done, they were quite smart and as a plus they were one of the few people hired after he was out of cyberlife that he actually liked to work with. It was kinda surprising to hear them asking for his assistance with something, since they had never seemed to need much help before. 

"Of course, and I told you Elijah is just fine, no need for the Mr thing." He smiled softly, hands clasping behind his back as usual while he followed them inside. In contrast with the usual white, the labs walls were a dark blue colour. Big neon lights hung low on the high white ceiling, the right side of the room was occupied by a large curved desk cluttered with papers, notebooks and two computers facing away from each other. Near it, against the wall, stood short bookshelves full of folders, documents and books. On the wall behind the desk there was a large digital board to which a bunch of scanning machines were hooked to. On the left were the glass lockers and drawers full of equipment, tools and whatnot. The centre of the room was occupied by two surgical tables surrounded by mechanical arms and another scan hovering above them. In one of the two tables there was a WR600 model, a gardener android if Elijah remembered right 'god, they really made one for everything. No wonder everyone thinks they're replacing humans if they literally made them do everything for us'.

"I, well thank you." The Tec smiled slightly embarrassed before a frown return in their features, "you see, I have tried to just get him to let me run a diagnostic on him but he's just…terrified. He doesn't want to be touched nor talked especially by humans" they sighed, crossing their arms in front of their chest and looking at the now on stasis android that laid on the table "I had to ask my partner to put him on stasis before leaving. The external damaged doesn't seems to be much but I think there's something wrong with his processor, whatever has cause his wound has damaged his programming too" they looked at Elijah as he walked towards the operation table. They kept informing how Ralph, that was the androids name, seemed to have an erratic behaviour and talk in third person, the loss of memory and the difficulty to remember where or why he was there after a certain amount of time. 

Elijah frowned slightly as he approached the sleeping android. For a split of a second his analytical and serious gaze softened in sadness at the sight of the condition the android was in. His left side sported a large gash that made impossible for the synthetic skin to fully materialise, the jagged edge of the wound was slightly blue, surely because of all the dead nerves and connections severed there. On the same side his cheek had an indent, same as the top left side of his head. It wasn't difficult to imagine why his processor had been compromised. He gently moved the android's head slightly to the side so he could see better, "whatever has hit him has made the plates on the left side of his head puncture the brain. It has definitely damaged some neurological connections and circuits, the trauma must be a factor to consider too..." He sighed and turned around to look at them. "My question is… if he hates humans how am I going to be of any help here?? It will be very difficult as it is to help him and I'm not even 100% we will be able to fix him all the way up, it's just simply impossible to do even the bare minimum if he's scared of me"

"I know I know. It's just... I hoped that maybe you would've been able to find a solution, some short way or something not too invasive that can be done with him on stasis"

Elijah shook his head slightly as he turned to face Ralph again, "I don't think so… this type of damage unfortunately requires a lot of presence from the android's part.. the only moment I would need him in stasis would be for the more delicate procedures. But still, I would need to wake him up to know the extend of the damage and what needs to be done" he leaned on the table surface, careful of not touching Ralph too much while he tried to come up with something. He couldn't just let this man on stasis mode forever and pray that the android technician would be able to repair him. And just when he was about to suggest to ask another android Tec to help, it hit him.

Years ago, Chloe made him notice how androids may find inconvenient and unnecessary the use of cell phones. Their form of communication was way more functional and effective, which gave him the idea of a project he never disclosed publicly in fear of how people would react to it. He has learned that humans, apparently, didn't seem to take well the idea of electronic devices being inserted inside them even if it was meant to make life easier. He has never been fond of the idea of trying his own inventions on other living and non things anyways. He then did the most sensible thing which was get the procedure done on himself. It was easy really, his device wasn't bigger than a fingernail and didn't require too much of an invasive surgery to get it inside his head. It worked obviously, and he had to admit Chloe was right in saying this way of communication was way more convenient, although he kept his phone anyways for sentimental reasons. 

The point is that to make it easier to control he used the same LED mechanism androids had, creating one that could be used by humans with finely tuned sensors that responded and elaborated the signals transmitted by the chip. 'I can finally tell Chloe that thing has been used for something more than me being annoying' a subtle grin appeared on his face at the thought. He turned around once again to face the technician that seemed to have accepted the idea of having to find another solution, "I'll be right back. Don't put him out of stasis yet, I think I might have an idea" 

With that he jogged out of the lab and hurried to reach the elevator. His idea was pretty stupid, he'll admit that, but maybe its simplicity would be the thing to make it work. He was ready to bet Ralph wouldn't have much recollection of his past knowledge besides the obvious traumatic reason for his damage and his processor probably didn't allow him much beside the basics. His plan counted heavily on the big damage he was sure the android had, if he was right then pretending to be an android would've been easy. With the aid of his own LED then the whole thing should go smoothly.

He knew that it would've been easier to just call another android or even ask Chloe for help since she has the knowledge and capabilities to help him with these things, but he just couldn't. Be it his need for androids to know he meant well or that he couldn't bear to let other people help him, he just didn't want to leave this to anyone else. Not because there wasn't anyone that could've done it, but because he needed to know he was capable of doing more than just messing up. 

Once he reached his office he immediately went for his bag, rummaging inside it to find the small box where he kept the LED. He took it out as soon as he finally found it, as he started to walk out again he carefully put it on before tapping on the inner skin coloured circle three times to activate it. He didn't need to fully activate the chip, with the LED spinning a steady blue just like androids' one was enough. As quick as possible he made his way towards the lab again, once inside he asked the technician for a pair of gloves and a lab coat, "okay I'll need wake him up and after that you'll have to leave. But first I'll need the report of the physical damages" 

They nodded while helping Elijah into the lab coat, after that they immediately went to turn up the computer and fetch the reports for Elijah. They waited for the systems to finish loading and meanwhile they grabbed the paper report, upon bringing it to their boss they finally noticed the small and familiar blue circle on the man's temple. They frowned in confusion, slightly tilting their head to the side, "Elijah, is that a.. LED?? How is it..working?? It doesn't seem to have any wires" their eyes widening slightly, as if suddenly everything seemed clear, "I never thought the whole…well you being an android was true"

Elijah couldn't help the genuine chuckle bubbling up from his chest, he took the folder and looked through the pages with a fond smile. That was the only rumour the press has created about him that he never minded, it was a sort of inside joke between him and his lovelies, "unfortunately I'm not. It's a long story, but if we want to get things done it's necessary to get Ralph to trust me, I'll explain it later" he closed the folder once he was done and gave it back to them "I want you to go and send a request to print out head plates and a left cheek. I want a new left ocular biocomponent and optical processor"

"Of course sir- I mean Elijah." They quickly corrected themselves before carrying on, "So if I'm correct, your plan is to…fake being an android?" They slowly took the documents from Elijah, looking at him with a sceptical gaze. "Are you sure it'll work? I mean the android is-"

"Ralph" 

"Yes sorry, Ralph has proved to be hard to approach even by androids. He is always on edge and doesn't trust anyone or anything, if he were to find out the truth he could seriously hinder the whole process and even harm himself even further" they tortured their fingers anxiously, their eyes bouncing from Ralph back to Elijah. They didn't doubt Kamski's competence but it did feel like he was testing his luck with this, no matter how confident he looked they couldn't find it within themselves to trust the man completely with this plan.

"Have a little bit of faith in me. I know what I'm doing, we can't make him wait here forever and this is our best chance" he wasn't exactly lying about knowing what to do, but part of him was praying that for once luck was on his side. 

///

After he made sure the other human was out of sight he started the process of bringing Ralph out of stasis, getting one of the desk chairs near the operation table to sit, foolishly hoping that maybe the android would react better than expected and he won't have to do much. He leaned slightly forward on his seat, eyeing the man twitching slightly before slowly starting to fully move. He braced himself to the very possibly negative reaction the android would have upon waking up from a forced stasis, he got up and tried to make himself appear as calm and harmless as possible as the computer signalled the wake process to be almost done. Ralph shot straight, his LED spinning a dangerous deep red. Looking around frantically he backed away until falling onto the ground, prompting Elijah to move forwards instinctively to help him. 

His eyes were filled with pure terror, putting his hands up in front of him to protect himself as Elijah tentatively tried to get closer, "don't touch Ralph!! Stay away!!" He cried out in panic which successfully stopped the other man on his tracks, his voice processor glitching making him sound even more scared than what he already looked. His eyes followed Elijah's every movement, never once stopping trying to put distance between them and knocking off the other table in the process. 

"Ralph, Ralph please I'm not going to do anything to you I promise" Elijah forced himself to keep a calm tone, his hands stretched in front of him too to show he meant no harm, wincing slightly everytime Ralph bumped into something while backing away. He lowered himself and kept the distance from the android to show he meant his words, "I'm here to help you, my name is-"

"NO! Stay away!! You're one of them!! You're gonna hurt Ralph like the others!!" the android gripped his chest tightly, panting from a possible overheating of his system. His whole body trembled, violent twitches shaking him as he kept looking at Elijah with wide eyes, frowning in disgust and anger before going back to a fear striked expression "they…they told Ralph he was never going to be taken away ever again…they lied, THEY LIED!" His eyes were already filled with tears, by the time he shouted the last words they were already spilling over, making him crumble in a fit of sobs while two trails of bluish liquid ran down his cheeks.

Elijah had a hard time looking at him, for a moment he winced away and closed his own glossy eyes as his heart clenched with pain for the android. This was horrible and his own intrusive thoughts of guilt were starting to cloud his mind, he forced them away and focused on finding a way to calm Ralph as soon as possible before the android could reach too high of a stress level and self-destruct. He didn't even know what had happened to him or what he was talking about but it didn't matter, the sight of the poor guy reduced to that state was enough for Elijah to decide that his plan wouldn't and couldn't fail. He focused on what to say to make the android calm down, gazing at Ralph again. 

"You're one of the evil humans…humans hurt Ralph. Ralph's friends said he was safe with them!! They lied!! They brought Ralph here and they're going to deactivate him!!" He mumbled under his breath, his hands cradling his head as a new wave of sobs racked his body. His LED was of such a dark shade of red it almost looked black. 

"Ralph please listen, no one is going to deactivate you!!" Elijah was starting to panic as well and had to make a conscious effort to not move any closer to the android, "look! I'm not a human! Here, see??" He hurried to move his hair away from his temple to show the LED. 

The android, who was still crying and muttering to himself as he pulled at his hair, glanced up to Elijah's face. When he saw the small and reassuring blue circle he frowned slightly, hugging his knees close to his chest. His LED for the first time since he had woken up spinned a promising yellow, "you're…like Ralph? You're not…a bad human?" His voice struggled to even utter a word, it was more of a whisper than anything. 

For a moment, when Ralph looked at him with such a hopeful gaze, he felt his ever present guilt would consume him whole right there right then. He hated the idea of lying to him specially right now, but he forced himself to nod nonetheless, breathing out a small sigh of relief "Nope, no humans just you and me. I told you I'm here to help you" he smiled reassuringly.

"Ralph…Ralph doesn't want any help" the android muttered, frowning and looking away from the other man. His LED was still yellow though so Elijah counted it as a small sign of victory, he was still shaking and twitching but at least now the worst seemed to have past, "Ralph knows you're going to make him sleep again, like the other android before" he shot an accusing glare at Elijah before rubbing away his tears. 

The inventor mentally cursed his employees for how they decided to handle the situation, but overall felt grateful that the android was at least cooperating now. "I'll tell you what" he crossed his arms on top of his knees and let himself finally sit down on the floor completely, always looking at the android to make sure his movements didn't scare the angsty android, " I won't do anything unless you feel like it, for now we'll just talk and then I'll tell you everything I would like to help you with and you'll tell me whether you want it or not, okay?" A small smile grazed his lips and tilted his head slightly to the side, his gaze softened "if you say yes I promise that you'll get to be awake throughout everything." 

Ralph kept scratching obsessively at a gash on his right arm and tore his eyes away from him, his eyes narrowing with suspicion as he considered Elijah's words. His lips twitched as he muttered something to himself, trying to decide whether or not to trust the other man. He glanced back at Elijah, still holding a cautious gaze "Ralph can… truly say no if he doesn't like something?.. You'll just talk with Ralph if he won't agree with other things??" 

"Yes, you won't have to do anything if you don't want to." 

"How can Ralph know you're not lying!? Everyone always lies to Ralph!!" Once again his led tinted red, a new spike of anxiety going through his already very distressed mind. 

Elijah frowned trying to come up with something quickly. He looked at his own hands and then held out one, extending his pinky finger towards Ralph, "me and my sisters use to lock on each other's pinky finger when we make a promise, that way we make sure neither of us can break it" he eyed the android expectantly, his gentle smile never faltering as he waited for the android to make a move. 

Ralph glared warily at Elijah's finger, wringing his own nervously. After what felt like an eternity but were just a couple of seconds he finally crawled closer to lock his own finger with the other man's one. The inventor felt the tension he didn't know he had on his shoulders get loose. 

///

His plan was working as fine as he set himself to, surprisingly the downside didn't come from it. The good part was that once Ralph seemed to warm up to him it was actually quite nice to have around, his eagerness and excitement for the strangest things managed to charm Elijah. The bad part though was that Elijah and his technicians might have underestimated the damage Ralph has reported, something that was breaking Elijah's heart into pieces. He has sent a heads up for the Tec to not come in for a while, assuring them that everything was going okay and he just needed some time alone with the android to get everything going properly.

During those hours he spent with Ralph he has learned that the android's passion for plants and gardening goes well beyond his programming as a gardener, he was truly an expert in his field and the topic seemed to be some sort of safe headspace for him since the twitching and third person thing seemed to be less prominent while talking about it. When he was relaxed Ralph could be a very energetic and enthusiastic person, so much that his contagious glee for things got even to Elijah and his usual collected demeanour. 

They talked so much about so many things that Elijah's throat started to feel sore, but he didn't want to stop. It reminded him of his first real conversations with Chloe, the hours he spent talking with her about all the things no one ever asked him about. All that guilt he usually carried around for a moment got overthrown by this overwhelming feeling warming his whole chest, that genuine care and affection he felt only around his darlings. It didn't sit right with him that someone could look at Ralph and see something less than a person, that people didn't look at androids the way Elijah did. That when Ralph told one of his confusing stories or explained some corny flower language, people just saw a machine incapable of nothing more than its intended purpose.

Whoever managed to harm Ralph didn't stop for one second to think about what they were doing, or more exactly they most likely did think about it but Elijah didn't want to even consider what was the original goal they wanted to achieve. Whoever did this now is the reason why Elijah wished he never told his employee he would be able to fix Ralph. Cause to fix Ralph, to repair him completely, meant he had to wipe him and start from zero again. During their conversation Elijah sneaked in questions that to Ralph seemed to be out of genuine curiosity and for the sake of small talk, but for the inventor were necessary to understand the extent of the internal damage. The indent on the side of his head, paired with the blunt force of whatever they used to hit him, not only managed to sever many delicate and important microwires in his cerebral biocomponent but it 'bruised' some of the area around it. Meaning that what has not been wrecked by the cut, it has been compromised by the hit. It was the equivalent of a human getting brain damage, once it happens there's hardly a way to restore and save what has been affected. 

Ralph's personality, his likes and dislikes, the very things that made him the person he is had been compromised because the only thing he has been seen as his whole life is an unfeeling machine. He felt sick at himself for feeling guilty, for even feeling bad since it wasn't him who has been affected but Ralph. How could he not, though, feel guilty knowing that while all of this was happening he was safely hiding away, blissfully ignorant and choosing to not acknowledge the outside world. Because he hasn't done anything to protect what he has done so much to create, Ralph now would always live under an overbearing fear for his life. What could've made him happy once now is triggering, his good memories burned away by the bad ones that were engraved on his database for life, and worst of all? Everyone who saw him would only see that, a defected android with behavioural issues that stem from a trauma he can't fix without basically erasing himself. He could tell himself he couldn't have known, that he wouldn't have been able to do anything anyways, he could lie to himself all he wanted but in the end it was his fault and responsibility, all of it and any of them who end up like this were. 

"Ralph accepts to be repaired by Eli. Ralph..thinks he can trust you" Ralph said softly, using the nickname Elijah has told him to call him with. The blonde man looked at Elijah shyly before gazing at his hands on his lap once again. "You have promised Ralph you're not going to put him to sleep so Ralph trusts you…" truthfully the idea of not having to see on himself the marks of those memories that hunted him seemed quite nice. 

Elijah snapped back from his thoughts to look at him, his eyes softening from the cold and glossy gaze he had while thinking. "I…thank you Ralph, I swear I'll keep my promise. You'll see, once we're done you'll be as good as new" although his tone was joyful, his smile didn't quite reached his eyes. He felt as if for the moment his own body went on autopilot, while he was stuck inside his head with his own oppressing thoughts, just observing the scene in front of him but not having any real way to interact. He stood up slowly, dusting his pants off and offering his hand to the blonde android, "shall we start then?? I'm gonna talk you through every procedure and if at any given moment you wish for me to stop you can say it" once he got a nod of approval from the other man he immediately went to work. 

Repairing came as easy to Elijah as breathing or walking, it was something mechanical for him at this point, he found it to be almost relaxing because he knew how everything worked and which were the do's and don'ts. After retrieving the pieces he required before from his Tec he immediately started the long process of dismantling and preparing the damaged areas for the new pieces. It would've been much easier if Ralph were on stasis but he didn't intend to break his promise, besides it only requires Elijah to be more careful and work around sensitive and delicate spots instead of just going straight for it. Every time Ralph felt overwhelmed he stopped as soon as possible, getting him to calm down again by asking questions of things he had learned Ralph found to be comforting. 

He didn't have to check the time to know he had spent hours inside the lab, hunching over the table where Ralph was. His back was killing him and his head had started to pound with a headache but he just couldn't stop. He focused on the manual tasks and the soft music he put on for Ralph to listen, the android has never had the opportunity to truly enjoy music so Elijah felt obligated to put remedy to that. He couldn't really explain why he was doing everything for the guy, he has seen many other badly hurt androids before and with equally sad stories but he just felt it was right. He saw in him, like in all the others, so much of himself. And since there wasn't anyone to see how he was acting he didn't feel too compelled to keep his tough act on.

"Okay, I think we…might be done" he straightened up and with a few quick strades reached the computer to see if everything was connected properly and all the plates were responding correctly. "How do you feel? Does everything feel okay?" He glanced up at Ralph who was slowly sitting up.

"I-..I think so. Ralph does feel so much better now" he glanced down at his arm where there has been the gash before with a curious gaze. A small soft smile was starting to stretch his lips, with his fingertips he brushed lightly against his cheek.

"Here, have a look" Elijah passed a small mirror to Ralph before leaning on the desk to watch the android's reaction. He couldn't help but smile as Ralph's light brown eyes lightened up instantly, widening in surprise before a small breathed laugh escaped from his lips. 

"Ralph is pretty like he was before!! Ralph can even see fine again!!" He couldn't help the excited stimming movements of his hands as he jumped off the table, bouncing slightly up and down from joy and always looking at his reflection. He tried to adjust his hair, muttering happily to himself.

"Wait, let me help. May I??" He went closer to him, reaching for the hair and as soon as the blonde man eagerly nodded he started to brush his fingers carefully through the soft strands, "like this??" He looked at the android's reflection to check if the way he styled his hair was fine, before glancing at Ralph himself. 

"Yes yes!! Ralph is very happy he trusted Eli!! Ralph will never thank him enough!!" He beamed at the inventor, his eyes nothing but a line from how big his smile was. His happiness was so contagious that Elijah chuckled fondly. The android's LED, that had been spinning a steady yellow while being operated, was now sporting a comforting shade of blue. 

"You're welcome Ralph, I promised I would help you. I'm glad you're happy with the results" he rolled his shoulders slightly to get some kinks out of them, stuffing his hands inside his pockets. "If anything should ever give you any sort of problems or if you need a replacement, just come back and I'll get it done. Just tell the receptionist you have an appointment with Elijah and I'll tell them to let you in"

"Yes! Thank you very much!! Ralph's friends will be very happy to see him like this, yes" he held the small mirror close to his chest, hummingly along with the song that was playing now as he watched Elijah starting to gather and put away all the various instruments. 

" I'm gonna send a notification to your emergency contact that you're good to go, if you want you can wait in one of the waiting rooms. I'll keep you company if you don't feel like being alone" he reached for one of the pads on the desk to look through the database for Ralph's information, finding the contact of the person that has asked for him to get fixed. A girl called Kara apparently has been trying to get Ralph repaired for quite some time now, but due to how difficult it was to approach the android the whole thing has been put on hold every single time. 

"Ralph would like that very much yes yes" and with that Elijah hurried to wrap everything up so they could go.

Chapter Text

"So the guy's just a weird asshole" Gavin deadpanned, leaning back in his chair and giving Connor an unimpressed look. His relationship with the android didn't have the best of beginnings, but now it has gotten a lot better. So much so that he would be kind of willing to admit Connor is almost like the little brother he wished he had instead of the older shitty one he got, so it's only normal that upon hearing about some random guy giving Connor this much bullshit over nothing, Gavin would end up taking it personally.

Connor didn't tell him everything, of course. He didn't exactly lie, he just…left out information Gavin didn't need to know. Like the fact that said weird asshole was none other than cyberlife's CEO and founder of the company, not to mention the creator of androids too. Talking about it wasn't Connor's idea anyway but, going by Gavin's words, he had been particularly irritating with his coin fidgeting, sulking at his desk without paying attention to anything or anyone. Gavin didn't need much pestering to make the android give in and tell him what was going on, and that's how the human detective ended up considering paying a visit to this idiot living in front of his friend. He had done the same with all the other anti-android residents in Connor's building, who had now been suspiciously avoiding the android, but his oblivious friend didn't need to know that. 

"That's a… very simplistic way to put it, but yes, well I mean kinda." He sighed, pouting slightly in frustration, "I don't know. I don't like to judge someone so quickly, maybe I have been too…well, overwhelming? You weren't exactly happy to have me around at first'' he fished inside the drawer of his part of the desk for another coin to use, since Gavin had taken his (or rather snatched) and was now attempting to imitate Connor's tricks. 

"Ugh, do you have to remind me of that every time??" The detective winced slightly at the memory of how their first encounter went, accidentally dropping the coin for the umpteenth time. "And it's not being judgy. You're… annoyingly nice, but that doesn't mean the guy can be a fucking pretentious prick to you" he huffed, as he bent down to get the coin before looking at Connor. "If it were anyone else, I would've believed the guy might have been right, but I know you're a fucking idiot and you let people get away with treating you like a doormat so don't even try and take the blame for this." He took a little bit to say everything since his focus was mostly on not making the coin fall again, frowning and glaring at it while trying to roll it on his knuckles. 

Connor couldn't help the lopsided grin at the endearing and rather aggressive attempts of Gavin to defend him, leaning slightly forward to correct the man's finger position to help him with the coin, which earned him a small and awkward thank you. The smile didn't last long and with the quiet buzzing of the police department going about its day, his mind fell into his overthinking loop again while his fingers frantically played with the new coin. Be it because it was just unfair or because Connor's perseverance and determination didn't allow him to give up on anything, he just couldn't forget it and scratch it as someone simply didn't like him without any reason. Every time he reconstructed the scene, there was this point where, after a small step down, things seemed fine before getting bad again.

"So, would I be right in assuming you're gonna make it worse and keep trying to befriend the idiot?" Gavin glanced up at Connor, putting down the coin and stretching until he heard a satisfying pop from his back, "I could always rough him up for you, that would teach the bastard some good neighbour manners." He grinned a little bit at the idea. 

"No, I won't give up if that's what you mean by making it worse and no, you can't rough him up. That's unnecessary, and it would make it worse." He checked his pad hoping to find new files or paperwork he needed to sort through, only to be disappointed and return to fidgeting with his coin. He needed something else to occupy his mind, and Gavin didn't seem to want to drop the conversation any time soon, "it's just that I don't understand… Where did I go wrong?" 

"Con…" Gavin sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose before leaning forwards on the desk, crossing his arms on it. "Listen, buddy, sometimes you gotta accept that people ain't gonna like you. No matter how hard you try or how nice you are, not everyone is gonna want to give back the same energy." 

"I know but-.." Connor pressed his lips into a thin line, lowering his gaze to his hands, letting himself get distracted by his fluid movements with the coin before speaking again. "There have been so many people who didn't like me at first but warmed up to it eventually…" He paused, frowning as his gaze became somewhat distant and melancholic, " the first person to be my friend was one of them" he muttered as his frown deepened, stopping his coin mid trick. 

Gavin, for once, didn't know exactly how to respond to that. He knew where the android was going with his little rant as soon as he started, he knew perfectly well who Connor was talking about and the mention of him soured his mood too. He hadn't talked much with Connor about the topic, because every time they tried, it only ended up in Connor's stress levels rising dangerously high, messing up the poor guy's mind hard. The fact that this unknown pain in the ass was reminding the android of that made Gavin feel even angrier at the situation. "Okay, I won't argue with that. But what are you going to do then? Pester him until he files a restraining order?"

"Must you always take everything to an extreme?" 

"Listen, you just told me he basically fucking hid away behind his door as soon as he saw you the other day. What makes you think he's gonna take your befriending attempts well?" 

"Well…maybe he just felt awkward because of how things ended the last time." Connor sheepishly looked up at Gavin before tearing his gaze away once again as soon as he met the rather annoyed look on the man's face. "Maybe I should do something to let him know that I'm not offended"

"What? No! Fuck him, why do you have to say sorry?? He's the one acting crazy for no damn reason", Gavin indignantly chided, his face wrinkling in disappointment at his friend implying he should be the one to reach out first.

"But then what am I supposed to do, Gavin?! You know, you're not being really helpful right now!!" The android hissed back, clenching painfully tight his fists on his lap, so tight he felt the coin dig into his synthetic skin. "I can't just pretend nothing happened and ignore the problem!!"

"Why not?! Why can't you just…" Gavin shrugged nervously, "do the same and ignore him!!?" 

"I can't!" The android's coin fell from his grasp as he gesticulated in exasperation, "because!! Because..." Connor lowered his hands until they fell in defeat onto his lap again. He leaned back in his chair a little as he felt his mind going blank while he tried to come up with a decent response to Gavin's question. He swallowed hard even if he didn't need to and his LED for a moment spinned a deep red. 

Gavin felt his irritation slip away from his body as he watched the lost look in his friend's eyes. He sighed and ran his hands down his face to calm himself before speaking again, "Connor…why do you care so much? This is not the first time you have had to deal with this type of bullshit. Why do you feel so fucking obligated to make it right with this guy?" He crossed his arms in front of his chest, "why does it matter so much?"

Connor could only stare at Gavin. He didn't know, he genuinely couldn't even find a logical reason for him to care this much about something so stupid. The detective was right, this wasn't the first person who was mean to him for no reason and, at this point, Connor could truthfully say he didn't care that much anymore. He was used to it and knew it was better just to ignore them, so why is it that Elijah is so different? It had been days, four to be exact, and he still couldn't get it out of his head. If only he could explain more to Gavin, then he would understand that what was driving Connor out of his mind was Kamski's reaction to his neutral opinion of him. And even then, would he truly understand it? That he was just…excited, nervous? Yes, but mostly excited about the idea of having someone else to talk to. Upon learning who the guy was, he felt even more eager to make friends because then he would have someone who understands him, like truly and thoroughly understands him. That for a moment, when he looked at Elijah's eyes he saw something terrifyingly similar that he couldn't erase from his mind. 

"Connor?? Hey, Earth to tin can" the android didn't notice Gavin standing right beside him or even the warning of distress pop-ups in his HUD until the man shook his shoulders slightly. His eyes snapped up towards the detective, meeting his worried gaze, "your temple ring thingy was spinning red like crazy, I was getting fuckin worried about having to pay for breaking you or something" he huffed out a humourless laugh, quietly scanning Connor with his eyes for any sign of concerning symptoms of high levels of stress. 

"Oh yeah, no sorry… I just got lost in thought" he forced himself to smile. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, "maybe you're right, I should just forget it." This was just him being overly sensitive, he had been through a rough period and it was messing up with his head, that's all. The detective was right, he was letting his need to please people get in the way and it would only end up getting him in a worse situation. The whole thing, besides the person it involved, was unremarkably common for Connor to experience. 

"Of course, I'm fucking right" Gavin grinned, stuffing his hands inside the pockets of his jacket. He went back to his chair and pulled out his phone, "Lucky for you, you won't have to keep wasting time thinking about some random fucker being an idiot cause I have new movies recommendations for you, tin can" 

"Are these 'underrated and misunderstood masterpieces' too? Cause I can confidently say I've seen enough movies you put under that category for a lifetime" he retorted, trying not to laugh at how affronted Gavin looked. He pulled himself closer to the desk and started revising on his computers the detective's unfinished paperwork just to get something to do. When he accepted desk duty he knew that whenever he ran out of work he could count on Gavin not doing his. 

"Tsk, androids…first they take space in your desk and then they shit on your very refined good taste" the detective sighed dramatically, shaking his head before grinning slightly at the laugh he finally managed to get from the android. 

For the very first time, Connor wanted nothing more than to head home and just spend some time alone. The day was flying by relatively fast. When Gavin left for a crime scene call, it slowed down a little bit, which made Connor feel the hours couldn't pass quickly enough, even after finishing all the paperwork he had set for himself to do. His relationship with Gavin was far from perfect, but considering how it was before, he could say he was lucky, he managed to befriend the detective anyway. He was Connor's only friend, which was ironic considering how much Gavin hated him at first. Other than him, the android didn't have anyone else he could talk to. He enjoyed spending his time with the human, learning about his favourite books or movies, and listening to his rants about everything and anything. It made Connor feel like he wasn't as alone as he truly was. He even accepted Gavin's unhealthy habits. The only time he seemed to have a problem being around him was when the detective was drinking, which had a very specific reason behind it as to why the android didn't like seeing people drink besides Connor's usual concern. 

Today, though he felt his social battery (as Gavin always says) particularly drained, he just wished his shift would end soon to get some quiet and alone time. He seldom felt like this, most of the time he only felt bored out of his mind, since there wasn't much for him to do once the paperwork was done. 

The truth is, he wasn't sure he really wanted to be there, a big part of him knew he was there just because there wasn't anything else he could do. He found himself, after the revolution had gone through, alone and with a whole lot of emotions he didn't know how to deal with. One of the only things he was sure about, once he deviated, was that he wasn't sure he liked being a detective or having anything to do with the police. He was programmed and made for it, his abilities were all meant and crafted to help during investigations, but he just couldn't say he felt happy to do it. He loved the idea of keeping people safe, to protect and help, even when he was still just a machine, he felt a tinge of happiness at knowing that everything he was doing was for other people's safety. Now, every time he looked back, he felt like a monster, working on cases was just a reminder of what he was before and what he will always be. He knew that not even the androids he was supposed to help felt safe upon seeing him.

He couldn't blame them, sometimes he found he couldn't even blame cyberlife. It was a scary thought, but there was always this sort of nagging feeling that he wasn't as alive as he thought to be, some sort of distance from being a real person he never managed to reach. When he was still in the hands of cyberlife, he lived in denial, he felt emotions peeking through but never let them surface enough. Every time he looked at the face of another android there was this guilt of having allowed cyberlife to do what they wanted to with him, to use him to abuse other people. Gavin always chastised him for even implying it was his fault, that he was being controlled and he just couldn't help it. But wasn't he the one who fought so hard to show he was a machine? Wasn't he the one that, even when the software instability sign popped into his HUD, still decided to take the worst decision? He was trapped inside a mind he couldn't even call his own, but at the same time he never really acknowledged his position. 

So he now feels there has never been a real Connor, that all he has done were as much of his actions as they could've been not, because he couldn't tell how much of him is just his personality and his own person and how much is just cyberlife. Gavin's attempts at getting him to catch up with pop culture and other things help to ground him, to make him feel like he truly is a real person capable of liking and disliking and other emotions. Outside of those moments, he felt like he was just one of the many Connors that had died during his early missions, an unremarkable point in the lives of other people who would always look at him for what he was before. He just wished there was something, someone to tell him what to feel or how to feel and how to exist. He wanted someone to help him understand who he was really if he wasn't a detective or the deviant hunter turned deviant himself. 

He pinched the bridge of his nose, leaning forward on his desk. He couldn't allow himself to fall that deep inside such dangerous rabbit holes. It wouldn't change anything. He checked the time, sighing softly in relief upon seeing he could head back home. Normally, he would've waited for Gavin but he didn't feel like staying there a second longer. The police station slowly but surely had become a source of great distress to Connor, not only because it reminded him of what he wished to forget, but because it almost felt like some sort of last sick joke from cyberlife. Being bound to something he has never decided to do just because it's all he's good at, having to do it and deal with all the possible triggering things from it in silence because he didn't have anyone else who could understand. 

He began to gather his jacket and the rest of his things. He was planning on stopping by the supermarket and getting Sumo some special treats, there wasn't a specific reason as to why. He just felt the dog deserved something extra good for keeping him so much company. He smiled slightly, hands inside his pockets as he stepped outside the building.

///

The bench in that park was becoming the most stable and consistent thing in his life, he always somehow ended up there. Elijah kept turning over and over the arrangement of flowers in his hands, his frown deepening as he examined the details of every flower. 

He had to admit though, the yellow tulips looked really pretty surrounded by the little and delicate lilies of the valley. He had spent a concerning amount of time trying to decide how much of a good idea it was to use flowers as an apology to someone he didn't know. Ultimately, Elijah couldn't help but give in and, making good use of the little flower knowledge he had gathered from Ralph, went to buy a fresh bouquet. 'Fresh starts and apologies..' that's what the android said their meaning was, which was the exact message he wanted to convey. 

Three days have passed since he decided he would apologise first. All of them spent slaving himself away at work. He had been the busiest he had been in years, filled with endless meetings with Jericho, among other things. Elijah and Markus had picked up the ambitious project of revision the blueprints of every android model to see how they could upgrade them to not require them to be fixed so often, since cyberlife focused on mass production rather than lasting solutions to sell more new models. They needed something to prevent the type of damage Ralph got from happening, since both Elijah and Markus knew that although the revolution was successful, protesters were not going to stop hurting androids. Not until the government went through with the law reforms Markus has presented, which have been publicly supported not only by cyberlife but by Elijah himself too. Until it went through, they needed a more immediate solution. 

He has spent so many hours inside the labs, revising and rewriting, trying out possible new components and materials. He would wake up at 6 am, and rush through a cup of coffee while getting ready before just making a run for work. (he had to cave in and ask Cora for help with the house. He thought about asking Chloe but, fortunately, he remembered just in time why she couldn't, under any circumstances, be at his apartment for now). He usually went directly through all the meetings and signed off the monthly shipping of biocomponents to Jericho before going to the labs and starting to work there. He would spend there hours upon hours, with his assistant reminding him to have lunch or to take breaks (requests that went unheard most of the time), nothing but his movements could be heard from outside, even when everyone else had left already. He returned home at the ungodly hour of 3 am, which was when his body, after hours of being hunched over the desk, literally begged him to stop downing coffee after coffee and just get some rest. And even then, when he lay on his bed, his mind kept going on and thinking about other ideas, making Elijah wake up every couple of minutes to write them down.

He knew it was bound to fuck up his health horribly if he continued like this, but he needed to get things done. He had gone through a record number of prescription refills both for his anxiety and for the massive headache he got himself, and somehow he had never felt more at peace with himself, knowing he was finally getting somewhere with his work and getting back on track with all that needed to be done. It wasn't just that, he knew that there was something deep inside him that needed to know he was doing everything he could to help, but he really didn't want to think about it. 

 He had already gone through the process of hiring new executives to reduce his paperwork as well and to start the process of replacing those old fucks that booted him out, with people he knew he could trust, of course. He couldn't exactly fire them without any good reason, or at least that's what his assistant told him. Fortunately for him, they were as sketchy as they were assholes. At some point, they felt that the company's money wasn't enough, which prompted them to make shady deals with traffickers of thirium and biocomponents as a side thing, increasing the company's production and manufacturing to cover up the void left by their trades. 

 Most of the new hires he chose were people he had graduated with or people that used to work for him before, but upon his 'retirement,' they had been reassigned or fired. While working in the lab, which had become an extension of his office at this point, he went through a number of calls to convince every single person to at least give it a try, and convincing was something Elijah was very good at. The whole thing gave him the opportunity to use his brain chip thingy more, so not everything was necessarily bad. Who would've thought that the communication implant he created for himself would've ended up being used for something else than annoying his lovelies? 

In the midst of his work bender, his mind kept going back to Ralph and his talk about flowers. He was so exhausted he just couldn't understand why his brain kept replaying that part of the conversation, he felt like something was missing, that he knew why that flower stuff mattered so much. He eventually remembered it was one of the first ideas he had to apologise to Connor. 

Anyone would've said it was a bit too much, but the fact is that androids can't really eat or drink and honestly just saying sorry felt a little bit lazy and inappropriate given how rude he had been. He wanted to put a remedy to that first meeting, be a good neighbour and all that, so the only thing that he could gift the android was flowers. Not because he lacked the money for something better, but simply because he didn't know anything about Connor and just the thought of buying something expensive but impersonal felt frivolous, so flowers were the safest bet.

It felt kinda stupid, he has never given flowers to anyone, not even to his mother. There was one time he had gifted a small daisy to one of his classmates, which in hindsight he could admit wasn't the smartest idea ever and the beat he took for it was to be expected. He wasn't nervous about apologising, he was nervous about weirding Connor out. Part of his avoidance of human contact comes from how difficult it is to understand every clue and every appropriate thing to do. He has only learned to imitate certain things but not actually understand them. So he just went on, making other people believe he really had the confidence and arrogance he showed off when in reality he didn't even know how to talk with someone that wasn't Chloe or her sisters. The curious thing is that he couldn't tell what felt scarier to him; Connor rejecting his apology or him accepting them. Both alternatives had very conflicting outcomes for Elijah.

His heart kept pounding slowly but painfully hard (probably a result of all the caffeine running in his system) and the thought of handing the flowers to the android made it worse. He has always fixed things with gifts, even when he was younger and he and his brother had an argument he has always been the first to apologise by giving something. To him, gifts were so much easier to share than emotions and thoughts, they made people happy and it saved Elijah very uncomfortable talks about feelings. 

And here he was now, physically feeling like absolute shit and doing even worse mentally. He carefully set aside on the bench the flowers to retrieve the last few pills he had left from his last refill, popping them in his mouth one by one. 'If I keep going like this I'm gonna have to change pharmacy, there's no way I can ask for a refill again after just one day' he fixed his glasses better on his nose, sighing and grabbing the flowers again before getting up. He zipped his hoodie all the way up as the wind blew a little bit harder. Today has been particularly cold although maybe it was just him feeling more tired and somewhat sick. He made his way towards his apartment, taking his time to observe his surroundings now that he had the opportunity.

It was, truly, a pretty neighbourhood. Something nostalgic in it made Elijah find it quite comforting. Both sidewalks on each side of the road had a tree every three metres, their leaves creating a game of shadow with the lights of the street lamps between each of them. There were a few shops still open and even fewer homes that seemed to have people still awake inside, their yellow lights flickering from people walking inside getting ready to call it a day or just going through their night, their distant and muffled voices were all that could be heard. It kind of reminded him of his old neighbourhood, where he grew up, spending the nights sneaking out with his brother so he could teach Elijah how to ride a bike. Where he used to live wasn't as nice as this place, far from it actually, but it gives the same vibe of those types of memories. 

He quickly forced his mind away from those thoughts. He did not like to dwell in the past. Elijah has always been more excited for the future and about the things that would come with it. His past didn't hold many things he would want back anyway. Sometimes, though he missed those small moments, those few happy memories he had that had managed to not get tainted by everything else were the most important thing to him. 

Halfway through his walk, he stopped in front of the supermarket. Its orange neon sign shone brightly above the automatic doors, a contrast to how dark it was getting outside. It was one of those small, all-organic supermarkets that only snobby neighbourhoods like this one would have. It made sense, this was one of the nicest parts of Detroit and it wasn't the most affordable so, of course, this would be the type of supermarket you could find around. He stood there for a couple of minutes, knowing full well he was just stalling and eventually deciding that a quick stop wouldn't hurt. He just needed some time to think about what he would say to Connor when he saw him. He wandered through the variety of sections, absentmindedly looking through the products. 

Apparently, the universe still had quite a few sick jokes for him because, just as his mindless wandering brought him to the pet section, the sight that welcomed him was none other than Connor's. He felt his hand grip tighter around the stem of the bouquet as his mind went blank. The worst thing was that there wasn't anywhere to hide this time. He sighed, closing his eyes for a minute and steeling himself to just get over it 'You can't be almost 40 and be this level of pathetic. Get a fucking grip Kamski'.

"Connor"

the familiarly calm and collected tone, snapped the android out of his thoughts, lifting his gaze to search for the source of the voice. As soon as the sight of his peculiar neighbour came into his view he couldn't help but tense slightly, LED spinning yellow intensely. "Good evening Mr Kamski", he made sure not to say it too loud, not sure how much Elijah would appreciate it to draw attention to himself right now. He didn't know exactly how to act. Not having seen the man in three days - even if it was just to catch him hiding away - he couldn't decide on what approach to take, so he just kept himself as neutral as possible. Nevertheless, it didn't go unnoticed how unwell Elijah looked, "how are you?" He decided to risk it, a small smile always on his face to not let his true interests behind the questions get noticed. 

The inventor huffed a humourless laugh and shifted his weight from one leg to the other, pinching the bridge of his nose before readjusting his glasses. "I'm fine Connor… thanks for asking, although I'm sure you already knew the answer" maybe it was his own tiredness but his tone didn't hold the usual harshness. He knew perfectly well why the android was asking, he looked exactly like he felt, which was awful. 

Connor looked at him for a second, feeling the same confusing and upsetting feelings he had been dwelling on those three days, coming back. Gavin's words echoed inside his mind and, surprisingly, for a large part of him they rang true. He didn't enjoy being harsh with other people, but as Gavin said, he didn't owe Elijah anything if he didn't intend to be at least civil with him. "Yes, but I've learned my lesson, Mr Kamski. You don't particularly like being scanned, so I thought it would've been more appropriate to just ask" Connor replied honestly, returning to his task of checking the products he had in his hands to steel himself and not backtrack on his resolution, on not allowing the other man to treat him badly again.

Elijah couldn't help but wince at the sudden shift in Connor's mood, frowning slightly as he tore his eyes away from the android. 'Okay, he's clearly not that happy, great'. The already little motivation and confidence he had been able to gather to apologise decreased considerably, so much so that he had half an idea to just call it quits. But he didn't. He couldn't for a number of reasons. The most important, the one that made him feel the guiltiest, was that Connor simply didn't do anything to be talked like that and by acting as he did he only proved to all those vicious voices inside his head that he was just as bad as everyone made him out to be, "I'm sorry".

The android stopped reading in the middle of the sentence of the label of the dog treats he has been looking at to look as disinterested as possible, putting them down slowly and glancing up ahead of him while trying to contain the wave of surprise taking over his mind. His LED spinned red for a second before he forced it back to yellow, "what?"

"I said I'm sorry." He repeated without hesitation, his tone sincere and steady as his eyes found the courage to focus on the android's face once again. Once he said it felt surprisingly easy to repeat, all the words he needed to say no longer stuck in his throat, "my behaviour was unacceptable, I unfortunately don't have any excuses as to why I acted that way but…" he paused, narrowing his eyes slightly as he glanced down towards the flowers, "I was hoping you would allow me to remedy" 

The first time Connor was almost sure his audio processor was just downright malfunctioning, but then Elijah said a second time and he just felt himself fall again into that spiral of confusion he has been trying to exit for days. He looked at the inventor and frowned deeply, his lips parting as if to try to say something but ultimately nothing came out of them. His mind was racing, of every outcome and reconstruction he has done of what would happen upon seeing Elijah again, the man apologising sincerely for what happened had the lowest chance of happening. Even if it did, it was always because Connor would have pushed him into it with his attempts of talking it out with him (kinda like he did with Gavin). "I…well I didn't-"

"Obviously you're not obligated to accept the apologies" Elijah hurriedly added, suddenly nervous because of how long Connor took to answer, gesturing slightly as he talked to mask the sudden wave of anxiety rolling through his body. 

"That's not what-" 

"I mean, I'm not saying it to like, pressure you or anything. It's okay if you don't want to"

"Mr kamski please, I know that but-"

"Yes, I know you're angry, and you're totally right to be, so that's why I wanna make sure I make things right" Elijah kept rambling on, completely unaware of how Connor was trying to speak in between his rants, looking weirdly calm, as if he was merely talking about something inconsequential even though his stress levels were so high Connor programme picked it up unintentionally. The android's lips thinned every time Elijah interrupted him, his LED spinning now a steady red as he ran a hand through his hair to will himself to calm down. Unfortunately for Connor, the inventor's habit of getting all wrapped up inside his own rumbling doesn't really end easily.

"I didn't say I was-" 

"Connor, be for real, you are. Like even now, I truly, genuinely, understand why you wouldn't want to hear my apologies. You're probably thinking I'm some pretentious asshole-" Elijah waved his hand dismissively while the other one kept gripping the bouquet tightly as if it was a lifeline, his eyes never once glancing up at Connor.

"But you didn't let me!-" 

"And you would be so right in thinking that way bec-" before the inventor could continue, a pair of smooth and cold hands found their place on his wrist, stopping his hand movement mid-air, and on his mouth, successfully shutting him up. His wide-eyed gaze found Connor's and in that moment he could swear his heart stopped for a second, the android looked so beyond exasperated that it could've been scary. It could've been, but weirdly enough, Elijah couldn't really focus on anything as the shock of being touched so suddenly and firmly but…gently, was really not mixing well with his sleep-deprived scrambled brain. The android took a step closer, his LED which had been spinning red the whole time now was a darker yellow, his eyes bore into Elijah's as he tilted his head slightly down before speaking. 

"Elijah. I need you to stop interrupting and let me finish at least one sentence" his tone was concerningly poised and low, every word carefully articulated as he looked into the other man's eyes to make sure the message went through. "Understood?"

Elijah's eyes shifted nervously a couple of times from the hand Connor had on his mouth to the android's face, breaking the small pattern when a woman passed next to them, shooting a disapproving gaze at what Elijah was sure looked like a very weird scene. His whole body was tense and only when, after he nodded slowly to Connor's words, the android lifted his hand from his lips he realised he was holding his breath. He tilted his head slightly downwards, his gaze still wide and fixated on nothing in particular as he tried to gather his thoughts. 'I think I might be having a stroke' he swallowed hard and risked a glance at Connor to show he was ready to listen. "Yes, Connor?"

The android could sense that what he had done wasn't exactly the best move to go for, but it worked and that's a win in his record book. He realised he was still holding onto Elijah's wrist when the inventor glanced at his hand - which has retracted its synthetic skin at some point for who knows what reason- still wrapped around it, "I'm…terribly sorry, that was out of line but you really have a horrible habit of not letting people speak" Connor explained tearing his eyes away from Elijah as he hurriedly let go of the man, readjusting his own jacket in a slightly nervous manner to compose himself. 

"I've been told…but it seems I don't really listen to what others say" the inventor sighed, a small smile forming on his lips. Elijah hoped his tone made it clear he was joking, just a small reference to what he had said to the android the first time they talked (which maybe, in hindsight, was a little bit out of place considering the wound was still fresh). He still felt tense but the more he thought about it the more he realised it was because of anticipation rather than just stress from what has happened, it all boiled down to feeling nervous about Connor forgiving him or not.

Connor snapped his eyes towards Elijah almost immediately, and for the first time since they have started talking his LED spun blue, He really really wanted to stay serious and make himself respected but the small pun, although it was still too early to start using their first encounter as some sort of inside joke, brought him an unexpected wave of excitement. Until then he just assumed Elijah was trying to be polite and say sorry just because he had to, not because he truly wanted. To see how he let slide the whole shutting him up accident and even cracking a joke was truly exhilarating for the android, didn't matter that it was most probably due to Elijah being exhausted. "That was actually terrible, I'm sorry" he breathed out a small laugh, shaking his head slightly as the man's shit-eating grin seemed to grow. 

"You got all worked up and made me shut up just to complain about my jokes?" Elijah retorted as a low chuckle bubbled up from his chest. He rubbed one of his eyes, trying to wipe away the new wave of tiredness now that all that tension was starting to get loose 'okay maybe I am really tired, otherwise I would've certainly fucked it up again already'. 

" No actually…but you're still interrupting me so I guess it doesn't matter anymore" Connor explained as he smiled softly, his words didn't carry any serious effort to sound mad. 

"Okay, okay…not another word. Go on, please" the inventor conceded, a small downward smile made his way through Elijah's lips as well as he tilted his head to the side, looking at Connor with something akin to amusement. 

"Alright" the android nodded slightly before continuing, "what I was saying is… I've been thinking about what has happened more than what I would like to admit. I just couldn't understand where I went wrong" He lifted his hand to tell the inventor to let him finish, seeing Elijah was about to object, "but now that you have said sorry and cleared off everything else, I must say I do feel better. I appreciate the thought and I'm more than glad to accept your apologies" he stuffed his hands inside his pockets, a genuine smile spreading on his face. "Plus, It's not often that people say sorry…I know it must be hard. Truth be told, you kind of remind me of a friend of mine. Same interrupting problem and all" he added, snorting slightly as he imagined what Gavin would say if he heard him. Connor was telling the truth though, the fact that Elijah was the one to come forward first and apologise was something Connor didn't take for granted and has helped his part of the situation a great deal. 

"Uh…I'm positive that whoever that is they wouldn't appreciate being compared to me" Elijah joked, a lopsided grin plastered on his face.

"You're right actually" the android responded, breathing out a small laugh. 

"Gee thanks, you could've lied you know?" He retorted, feigning hurt as Connor shook his head fondly while still laughing. Lifting slightly the almost forgotten bouquet, Elijah eyed it nervously before continuing speaking, "the first time I didn't get to give you anything, and it's good manners for new residents to gift something when they move into a new neighbourhood."

"Isn't it supposed to be the other way around??" Connor pondered, cocking his head slightly to the side, too focused on revelling in the pleasant conversation with the man he just this morning thought would never speak to him again to notice anything else. 

"For the sake of keeping being friendly and for my peace of mind, I will choose to ignore how it's actually supposed to be" the inventor declared, fixing his glasses once again, "Seriously now, please don't. I would never be able to accept anything from you after how I behaved last time", Elijah warned, his blue eyes slightly lightened by anxiety at the prospect of the android trying to gift him something. 

"I swear I won't" Connor held up his hands in surrender, smiling softly. 

"Now that we have made that clear.." Kamski paused, clearing his throat slightly before hesitatingly handing to Connor the bouquet 'Jesus fucking Christ please end me right, fucking, now.' He could feel his cheeks burning up, suddenly he didn't felt tired anymore, just very aware of how stupid he looked and how hard his heart was hammering inside his ribcage leaving almost no space for his lungs to fill with air. 

All Connor could think was that he was certainly just misinterpreting the situation, that he somehow had not understood clearly cause it felt simply so out of reality that someone - let alone Elijah fucking Kamski and all that comes with his persona - would, realistically, give him any type of gift specially flowers.  He knew, however, the special connotation this action had between humans and that, maybe, what was troubling him the most about how he was supposed to react.

"Connor?? You know, a man can hold flowers towards someone only for so long before it gets weird", Elijah tried to joke as he watched the android stare at the flowers with an unreadable expression, an awkward laugh that sounded more like a strangled whine escaped his throat.

"I-.. I don't understand" the android finally acknowledged the other man as he slowly took the flowers from his grasp, deciding to ignore how their fingers brushed together and focusing more on handling the bouquet carefully. He looked at the flowers as if staring at them enough would give him the answers. The warm yellow of the tulips contrasted nicely with the delicate white of the lilies. "They're…beautiful but..why?" He mumbled loud enough to be heard only by Elijah, absentmindedly but carefully holding one of the tulip's petals between his index and his thumb. 

"Well, I didn't know what else I could give. Flowers seemed like a pretty good and…well, neutral option I guess" Elijah justified, clasping his hands behind his back as always to stop himself from fidgeting. His eyes darted from the flowers to Connor's face, trying to assess if his reaction was positive or not. "I'm..I didn't want to weird you out, I'm sorry I just didn't really.. planned this whole thing through well enou-"

"Nono! I… it just took me by surprise that's all, they're perfect" the android's gaze snapped towards Elijah as he hurried himself to reply, beaming brightly as he looked once again at the flowers. Slowly he was starting to warm up at the idea, not being able to help the light shade of blue that was starting to spread through his cheeks. 

Elijah merely huffed fondly as he observed the android, catching himself before the small smile on his face could get any bigger "now who's the one interrupting?" At that both men laughed softly. 

"So this means you're not gonna hide away behind your door anymore??" He really couldn't help it, the android knew he was testing his luck but it was an opportunity he couldn't pass on, besides he felt he earned to embarrass Elijah a little bit. He would love to blame Gavin's bad influence for this one, but Connor has been indulging in his own little petty jokes far before becoming friends with the detective. 

'Oh no, oh god please no' Elijah felt the colour drain from his face, his stomach dropping ten feet below the ground. He groaned, taking off his glasses to run his hands down his face. "Oh my god… I knew you saw me!"  

"Well, to be completely fair, Sumo didn't really help your cause." The android explained as he chuckled, "I think he likes you cause he doesn't react that much towards anyone else." 

"Well, tell him the sentiment is not reciprocated" the inventor glared at the android who was having a hard time with containing his laugh. He was about to say something else when a ping from his phone interrupted him. It was a message from his assistant to inform him that the transfer of the damaged androids in possession of the DPD he had requested had been finally been accepted and that they're waiting for him at cyberlife to supervise everything was okay. "Connor, I'm sorry but I have to go" 

"Oh!.. yeah no don't worry" the android smiled, waving his hand dismissively and ignoring the small tinge of disappointment. He didn't need to ask to know Elijah wouldn't be going home, or at least he wanted to think it was that instead of the inventor not wanting to maybe keep conversing and walk back together 'why would he want that. You're not his friend and this whole thing doesn't mean he wants you around' Connor tried to shove away those thoughts. 

"I'm glad we've got to make things right" Elijah added as he smiled slightly, putting on his glasses again, "Goodnight Connor", he courtly nodded before hurriedly walking away to head out. 

And once again the android was left there, looking at where, not less than a minute ago, the other man was standing in front of him. He let the hand that was carefully fidgeting with the petals by his side in defeat, shortly followed by the one holding the bouquet too. He couldn't exactly explain why he felt so let down, it's not like things have gone bad again. Although they have definitely fixed somehow their first encounter, Connor couldn't help but feel like he had been left with even more questions than before 'at least now I know he doesn't entirely hate me'.