they’d been partners for a bit of time now and niles had gotten much better at adjusting to gavin’s… whole demeanor. but things were still iffy here and there. he creates a quick task for himself: —– UPON ARRIVAL OF DETROIT POLICE DEPARTMENT, SCAN DETECTIVE GAVIN REED FOR HEALTH STATS. it’d be good to see how gavin was health wise. probably don’t tell him though; he wouldn’t want to be shown as ‘caring’ for the other.
he rips open a packet of gel, something to help clean the wound once he takes out the halfhazardly put in stitches. “this will hurt, detective,” he says quietly before pushing gavin to sit against his own desk so he can focus in. luckily, for once, the majority of the team is on their own missions. gavin’d come in later than usual which helped them not be really noticed.
“ i don’t consider it an insult, just be more careful next time,” he says quietly, almost shushing gavin instead of furthering the conversation. niles knew their dynamic was always going to be butting heads until one of them got hurt, but right now, he was in a protocol to make sure his partner would be okay. “ who’s the asshole that did it? “ niles asked, but wasn’t sure if he’d get the answer. at least- not the truth.
once finished taking the floss out of gavin’s eyebrow, he sighed and applied the gel to try and help any potential issues that could have arisen with gavin trying to do his own stitches. they weren’t terrible, but dental floss certainly wasn’t the move here. “ you’re an idiot, by the way. you can always call me and i can make my way to you if you’re in need of assistance. ”
“just some fucker who felt like talking a little too loud,” he doesn’t need to go into detail about his dealings downtown with less-than-upstanding people. when he gets an itch, he scratches it, which included seedy bars and one-night-stands. not all of them panned out. so be it. he doesn’t need niles judging him any more than he already does. but...maybe...he even seems sincere? hard to tell. but he even warns gavin before diving right in to the wound, something he might not have done when they first became partners.
to his credit, gavin takes pain rather well. he’s used to it, you could say. he sits on the desk and doesn’t flinch much aside from a clench of his hands here and there, a suck of air between his teeth when niles begins his own stitching. otherwise, he’s still.
“fuck you,” there’s no real bite in the phrase, just saying it to say it, “you’re not exactly mr. warm and welcoming, you know. how am i supposed to know you won’t just forward my call the second you see it’s me?”
