#I don't know if littlehazzacurls is still here but I still want to write that coffeeshop AU from that prompt aaaa

[fandom-necromancer]

Android psyche

This was prompted by the amazing @detroitbecomestickman! Enjoy!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Reed900 | AU: human, coffeeshop

‘Hey, Tina, running late?’ ‘Fuck you Gavin, my bike had a flat tire, you know how it is. And I’m still on time.’ ‘Fine, I let the two minutes slide’, Gavin chuckled, bowing his head exaggeratedly. ‘Could you wipe the tables for me? I’ll go open up the shop.’ ‘On it, Sir’, Tina mock-saluted and grabbed rag and towel.

They were a good team. What Gavin lacked in customer service, Tina made up for him. He had other qualities: Without having to boast, he made the best coffee in all of Detroit. Even if his coffee shop was small, the knowledge had spread fast. And with the Wayne State University just around the corner, they couldn’t complain. Most days they had too much to do anyway and Gavin often thought about hiring another barista.

It was Thursday again, and Gavin told Tina to check on their Thirium reserves. They had a lot of regulars, but the newest addition was a group of androids on Thursdays. On point four pm they entered, mass ordering thirium coffee and retreating to a large table in the back. Gavin often found himself staring at them. At that time, their rhythm had always slowed down with little to no costumers and a lot of time for cleaning before the shop closed. ‘Why don’t you go over and talk to him?’, Tina whispered, elbowing him in the side. ‘What? No! What do you even mean?’ Tina laughed. ‘Gavin, I know you keep staring at that man and if you don’t speak to him soon, I will trap you both in this shop until the next morning!’ ‘Tina!’ She was right of course. There in that group of androids sat a remarkably handsome man. Neatly dressed in mostly black and white and the odd silver jewellery, freakishly tall, he was exactly Gavin’s type. Except that he likely was an android. ‘I won’t walk up to a group of androids and talk to one!’ ‘You don’t even know he is an android; he has no LED. Also, what’s the matter with that? They are persons now!’ ‘Tina, will you shut up? I won’t creep up on my costumers, that’s all!’

It still didn’t help keeping his eyes by himself. The man was handsome and looked even better when he laughed – what he did often. The android group spend their time here talking and laughing with each other. The group sometimes changed, some androids being absent, others there for the first time. But the man was a constant. And he seemed to ask them questions and take notes with no one betting an eye. Gavin had said they were students working on a project, although he didn’t know whether universities even accepted androids.

Regardless, Gavin only watched them and never talked to them except when taking their orders. It went on for several weeks, before their Thursday android-bingo-group changed pattern. This time it was only the man Gavin had kept an eye on. Gavin missed how he entered because he had to run to the toilet and saw him sitting on a table for two. He shrugged and returned behind the counter. Maybe he was waiting for his friends. But four pm passed. Half past four passed. And as the shop started to get more and more empty, the man started crying silently. No sobs, no hitching breath, just tears. Gavin didn’t know what to do, normally Tina was the one to handle these cases. He was more the the-shop’s-closing-phck-off man.

But the woman just nudged him forwards. ‘Come on, Gav, this is your chance. You know our policy! Everyone leaves happy unless they are rude, then they just leave.’ ‘Tina I-‘ ‘No. I watched you long enough’, Tina stood her ground. ‘You go talk to that man or I quit.’ ‘Tina…’ ‘Just go, idiot!’ So, he went. If anything, the man would stop crying and go on his way.

He walked up to the table, fidgeting with his small notebook. ‘Hey, I’m sorry, but could I bring you something?’, Gavin then asked, as he stood before the sniffling man. ‘It’s on the house.’ ‘What?’ The stranger lifted his head, quickly wiping his tears away, embarrassed. Despite the teary voice, it sounded soft. Beautiful even. ‘It seemed you had a bad day. Maybe something to cheer you up?’, Gavin tried again. The man looked at the desk, then up at him, slightly confused. ‘Why?’ ‘Hey, we wouldn’t exist if we just sold coffee’, Gavin chuckled. ‘Couldn’t compete with the big chains, you know? Usually my co-worker is better with this than me, but oh well.’ The man hummed, then leaned back folding his hands under the table. ‘A hot chocolate, please? With cream?’ Gavin stalled for a bit, before he nodded. ‘Oh. Okay, coming right up.’ He was already turning to get back to the counter, as the man held him back. ‘Wait.’ ‘Hm?’ ‘Why is that so surprising to you? My order I mean.’

Gavin quickly took out his phone to text Tina the order and to mull over whether or not telling the man he thought he was an android would be considered offensive. ‘Well, to be honest, I thought you were an android? I’m so sorry, I like androids, my best friends are- okay, that’s a lie, my worst enemies are androids’, he babbled thinking back at Connor, the android he had to pay the rent for this shop. ‘Err… Anyways, I mean-‘ He sighed. ‘Sorry for rambling, I don’t mean you or androids any offense.’

The man was smiling at him, amused about his awkward stammering. ‘You are cute’, he chuckled into the silence following, only to blush in embarrassment and slap his hand on his mouth. ‘Shit, I’m sorry, that’s inappropriate.’ Gavin wanted to disagree, but that was when Tina came with two mugs, one hot chocolate and one cappuccino. She put both down on the table, pressed his shoulders down, so Gavin would sit on the vacant chair and winked at him. He in turn now was red as a tomato and scratched his neck. ‘I… I don’t think it is. You-’ He gulped. ‘You are cute too, you know, when you’re… not crying?’

‘Heh, yeah, I think anyone would be’, the man said. ‘I’m Richard, by the way. Most people call me Nines though.’ ‘Gavin.’ ‘Nice to meet you, Gavin.’ He smiled, taking a sip from his cup. ‘Why did you think I was an android? I don’t have an LED.’ ‘Hmm, they don’t need to have them anymore. And you met with a lot of androids here.’ ‘Right…’ Nines’ smile faltered. ‘That… likely won’t happen anymore.’ ‘Really? Why?’, Gavin asked. ‘Sounded like you enjoyed the company.’ ‘I did. I am a psychology student, you know? But I’m not interested in human psyche, that has been thoroughly researched already. I am fascinated by deviancy and an android’s perspective on trauma. Unfortunately, some higher-ups decided android psyche is just bits and bytes and nothing I should spent my time with. They told me to become a programmer if I wanted to work with computers.’

Gavin lifted a brow. ‘Isn’t that racist nowadays?’ ‘Yeah, pretty sure it is. But I don’t think I can pull this argument when all my work, all my studies are suddenly invalidated. It’s always hard to see your dreams shattering. But I’ll pull myself up again. Find something else to do.’ Gavin thought about it. ‘But can you not still do your research?’ ‘With what funds? The university isn’t willing to pay me, because I may have told a certain professor to go fuck himself.’ He told this so deadpan, Gavin just had to laugh, thankful not to have any coffee in his mouth at that time. ‘Shit’, he wheezed. His futile attempts at getting himself back under control had Nines grinning. ‘Okay, that’s one way to go… But why not ask Cyberlife for help?’ ‘What do you mean?’ ‘Well, if I know one thing, no one says no to money. And Cyberlife wants to polish their image since the revolution. They try to become service providers for androids. I believe they would be happy to invest in android psychologists or research there. In the very end, it’s at least worth a shot before giving up completely, isn’t it?’

The man in front of him frowned, slowly nodding along. ‘That… might actually work… Thank you! I will try that! How do you know that much about Cyberlife?’ Gavin cringed. ‘Hmm. My brother is the CEO…’ ‘Your brother is Elijah Kamski?’ Gavin looked around whether anyone had heard Nines. Thankfully most other patrons were too occupied with their personal talks. ‘My half-brother and I hate him, okay?’, Gavin hissed. ‘We see each other on Christmas and birthdays and it never ends well.’ ‘Wow, I never thought-‘ ‘That Kamski’s brother owns a shitty coffee-shop?’, Gavin asked, ready to re-evaluate his opinion on Nines. ‘No! It’s not shitty at all. No, I didn’t think Kamski’s brother would be… normal.’ ‘You mean boring?’ ‘No, I didn’t say that. I like normal. You don’t know what people are running around at campus.’ He looked down on his empty mug. ‘Err… It was a pleasure talking to you, I… I have a few e-mails to write now. Thank you for everything, you don’t know how much this means to me.’

‘Come again to tell me how it went?’, Gavin asked, standing up after Nines. ‘Of course!’ The man grinned from one ear to the other but kneaded his hands. He rocked a bit back and forth, then stepped up to Gavin for a hug. ‘Thank you, gotta go!’ With that he near sprinted out of the shop, leaving an overwhelmed Gavin standing there.

‘See?’, Tina teased, walking up to him to get their mugs. ‘That’s what can happen when you finally begin talking to people!’ ‘Oh shut up!’