RK1700 Week: Day 4
Warnings: None
AU: Missing Senses / Omegaverse
Pairings: RK800, RK800-60, RK900
"Conrad, can I speak to you for a moment?" Connor asked as he interrupted the upgraded android from his work. It wasn't often that Connor wanted to talk personally during work hours. Connor was polite and professional, most of the time, but something had been bothering him for a while. He knew he should wait to have this discussion at home, but his stress levels were far too high to wait until then.
Conrad stopped typing to look up at Connor, recognizing the importance and the slight concern in his expression was telling. It wasn't normal for Connor to do anything but focus on the investigation unless someone new was brought onto the force. But getting to know a new co-worker was also just another form of investigation. So whatever was bothering Connor, it was serious. "Certainly." Conrad stood up, always making time for his omega, it wasn't often Connor reached out and needed him like this so Conrad wasn't going to fail his partner now. "Let's take this to the evidence locker so we can be alone."
Connor frowned and nodded, agreeing to the need for privacy before taking the lead. Connor looked around, observing his surroundings as if looking for someone, but whoever he was looking for wasn't found. Eventually the door shut behind them with a definite click, sealing the two off from the rest of the world and allowing them some privacy to relax. Well, it didn't seem like Connor could relax, with his LED spinning a concerning red color. Connor was looking away from him, one hand tucking into his suit coat's pocket before pulling free a coin. He must have stolen it back from Hank again, no matter how many times the Lieutenant took it from Connor, the android detective always managed to get it back.
Silencer fell in the room as Conrad leaned his back against the wall and folded his arms over his chest, an effort to keep himself from reaching out and dragging Connor into the comfort of his arms to reassure the man he love. However, when Connor stared to toy with the coin, Conrad understood that Connor was busy thinking, puzzling out whatever problem was bothering him. Any sort of contact was discouraged as it would interrupt his line of thinking and only frustrate him further. For now, Conrad simply observed and waited for Connor to find a place to start this discussion so that he may offer some assistance to the older model.
"Its about Collin." Connor finally spoke up after a long stretch of silence, making Conrad raised a brow in a silent manner for Connor to elaborate further. Conrad had noticed the other RK800 model had been acting strangely lately, he wanted to investigate further but he'd either been swamped with work or Collin had easily evaded him. It wasn't like Collin to avoid Conrad, they were always struggling for coming out on top, to being better than the other. It kept Conrad on his toes, gave him a place when he could relieve some stress when they couldn't do more intimate ways of relieving stress.
"He's been acting strange lately. I feel like he's avoiding us and I'm worried." Connor paused after flicking the coin to his other hand, worry making his brows tilt back and sadness keep into his gaze. "What if we haven't been giving him enough attention? We've been busy with the holidays coming up and you know he's always been self-conscious about not being wanted..." Connor looked down at his hands, watching the coin as he turned it over and over between his fingers. "He won't even look at me any more."
Conrad finally moved forward, unable to keep to himself when he could smell Connor's distress filling up the room. He wrapped his arms around Connor, pulling him close while one hand guided the older android's head to rest on his chest, to listen to the steady rhythm of his thirium pump beating. Conrad sighed out, his breath ruffling brunet strands of hair. "I'll talk to him, I'm sure there's a good reason for the way he's been acting. I'll remind him he's not alone." Conrad bowed his head, pressing a kiss on the top of Connor's head to further sooth him. He didn't immediately move, holding Connor a little longer to let the android burn off some stress and get himself back in order so he could get back to work.
After a while, it was Connor who pulled himself away, taking a shaking inhale and straightening his shoulders once more. Conrad lifted his hands, gently adjusting Connor's tie for him, knowing how the older android liked having his suit all in place. "I've got to go on an investigation with Hank now." Connor reminded mostly himself and Conrad took the moment to lean in and place a kiss on Connor's lips, it linger only for a moment but it was enough time to show his feelings towards the omega.
"Do try to stay out of trouble and when you get back, I'll have the Collin problem taken care of." Conrad reassured before letting Connor go completely. Connor gave him a small half smile before exiting the evidence locker, leaving Conrad with his thoughts. He mulled over his memory to find out when Collin had started to act weird. The RK800 model had always been a bit standoffish, reluctant to give physical affection outside the privacy of their home. He was aggressive and confrontational but he hadn't challenged Conrad in the past few days which was definitely odd. Collin had been spending more time out in the garage whenever they were home instead of coming indoors eventually to watch movies or play video games with Connor and Conrad.
Something was definitely up and as the pack alpha, it resided on Conrad's shoulders to deal with it. He left the evidence room, moving through the halls to try and pin down Collin who had made himself scarce for the most part of the day. While Conrad always wanted peace and quiet to work, now that he had it, he didn't like it. He wanted Collin's arguing or bickering with Gavin, or Collin complaining whenever Connor wanting him to do a Q&A stream with him. Conrad checked the bull pen and the break room, then the interrogation room, but nothing came up. Collin's scent was stale, making Conrad wonder if the other android was in the station at all.
"If you're looking for your epsilon partner, I suggest looking in the storage room where we keep all the physical files." Conrad paused when a passing PC200 android offered up advice, making the upgraded android wonder how obvious he'd been in his search for Collin. Regardless, he gave a small nod in gratitude before heading off to the lesser used part of the station. With technology advanced now, physical paperwork was rarely used. Everything was logged through their terminals, for both human and android workers at the station. It was the perfect place to hide as Conrad shoved open the door with more force than he intended.
From the little yelp, it was obvious he'd startled Collin who was making it look like he'd been busy filing by having a filing cabinet open. "Collin, what are you doing? Conrad asked as he stepped inside, Collin turned his head away and picked up a manila folder from the stack on top of the metal cabinet.
"It was a bit of a slow day, so I thought to do some filing. What the hell are you scaring me like that for?" Collin snapped back defensively, he was definitely hiding something. Conrad stepped forward and snagged the folder out of his hand, looking at the label on the tab.
"Collin, this is labeled H430-28-2020." Conrad stated idly, turning his cool gray eyes onto Collin who still had his head turned away from him.
"Yeah, what're you getting at?" Collin growled, trying to appear annoyed at Conrad pointing out the obvious.
"You're filing it in the wrong drawer." Conrad placed the file back on the stack before slamming the drawer shut, eliminating the one thing between him and Collin. The epsilon jumped, startled by the sound and took a step back, not something Collin would typically do. This whole charade was just that and Collin wasn't fooling the RK900. Conrad moved forward, crowding Collin back against more cabinets, the metal biting into his back. Still though Collin wouldn't look at him, would glare at him in challenge for getting into his personal space. "I want answers, Collin. You know I'll get them one way or another." Conrad stated in a low, dangerous tone that was pure silken warning.
"Nothing is wrong, what's wrong with wanting a bit of space, huh?" Collin still tried to fight back, raising his hands up to try to push at Conrad's chest, but the slightly larger android didn't budge, not when something was wrong. Conrad placed one hand on the top of the metal file cabinet, trapping Collin in as he wasn't about to let his partner escape him this time. His other hand lifted up to grab Collin by his jaw to guide his head so they were face to face. Conrad stared into honey brown eyes, expecting to see defiance and annoyance there, but they seemed... off.
"Interface with me." Conrad demanded as the skin deactivated around the hand that held Collin's jaw, waiting for him to do the same.
"And what if I don't?" Collin challenged finally, it seemed Conrad was onto something now.
"You know I am fully capable of force interfacing with you whether I have your permission or not." Conrad warned, already his touch was forcing Collin's skin back and Collin tried to jerk his head away but the RK900's grip was too strong to escape from. At the sign of resistance, Conrad forced interfaced with Collin, his system latching onto Collin's as he quickly went to work on rooting out the problem. He didn't like doing this, he wanted Collin to be willing to trust and share any and all problems with him and Connor. It didn't take long before he found a serious problem, it wasn't that Collin was feeling left out, but something that should have been brought to their attention at the first sign.
"Why didn't you tell us about this, Collin? Losing your eyesight is a major issue." Conrad frowned as he looked down at Collin, the other android's expression turned strained.
"I... I didn't want to worry anyone, I thought it was just a glitch and that it'd go away eventually." Collin admitted, his voice sounding a little scared, something that Conrad rarely heard from the epsilon. Unable to let Collin continue to feel that way, Conrad pulled him close like he'd done with Connor, holding Collin close against him. For once, Collin didn't seem to resist.
"I will always worry about you and Connor. Now, we're going to go see if we can get you repaired and yes, I am going to tell Connor about this."










