#how can it be that you have no word for anschweigen?

[fandom-necromancer]

988. “How do you want this to go? You can play this out, or I can kill you right here and now.” “Dude, we’re playing chess.”

This was prompted by the amazing @sv926! I loved writing something for Allen60 again!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Allen60 (Warnings: time in hospital, short description of violence and wounds)

Being a SWAT-Captain wasn’t the safest job to have, but no matter what his work demanded from him, he still loved it. It felt him with pride with every mission well done and he knew he was doing the right thing. Most of the time he came back unscathed or suffering minor wounds or bruises. He had counted himself lucky that he had never experienced any job that really had gone south and ended with casualties or hospitalisations. Much of it he supposed was because of the new, trusty android by their side. Sixty was a remarkably efficient addition to the force, even if most had been sceptic inviting someone who had nearly killed Connor and possibly Hank. But Sixty proved himself worthy of a place amongst them. Allen didn’t know how many of his men and women had been saved by this one robot alone. Sure, he was a competitive, self-entitled pain in the ass, but not undeserved.

Unfortunately, regardless of the amount of luck one could accumulate, some time it always had to eventually run out. And this had been his time: A raid of a warehouse rented by an android-trafficker had ended in the androids they had tried to safe from being sold as factory-reset machines attacking them, aiding the criminals in their retreat. They faced nearly the triple amount of enemies they had initially expected and had to quickly retreat themselves. Allen had ordered Sixty to leave his side and help another officer that was about to be cornered. But his attention had been with them both for too long, not seeing the two hacked androids charging into his side, ripping his Kevlar-armour open and shooting thrice through the opening before his team could get them off of him.

He had no memories of being outside the warehouse afterwards, an ambulance or even how much it had hurt. They simply stopped after these three bangs and his name being screamed by a familiar voice that normally sounded as if nothing could bother him and he was bored all the time. It wasn’t this time. His memories came back when he had woken up at the hospital, hooked up to all sorts of beeping equipment around him. A doctor had told him what had happened exactly, but he had been too dazed from painkillers to really understand everything. What he got from it though was that it had been bad. Chances fifty-fifty or worse of him dying. But he was stable now, he had defied the odds and from now on it was a question of how fast his body would restore itself.

He spent most of this asleep, but in his waking hours he read the get-well-soon cards on his bedside table. One from his SWAT-team, one from his brother, one from the police-team, one from Fowler and… one from Sixty personally? It was just a white piece of cardboard, “You better heal fast -60” the only thing written on it. He chuckled at the weirdly personal note and regretted it as his chest flared up even through the painkillers.

After a few days the personal visits came. His brother telling him to finally quit this job and find something calmer. Then the SWAT-team was crowding the little room. They all wished him to get better from the heart and Allen appreciated them all coming. But in the end, he couldn’t help but ask: ‘Did Sixty come too?’ It was silent, until one spoke up: ‘We asked him, but he didn’t want to come. Gave us shit because “humans need peace and quiet to get well again”. I’m sure he means well and hopes you come back soon, too.’ ‘Yeah’, Allen waved the embarrassment away. ‘Tell him I’ll hurry.’ This earned him a few chuckles and they took their leave. He was moved by them all coming to wish him well, but somehow Sixty not being there stung.

-

He was left to go home a few weeks later, upper body wrapped in bandages still and his arm in a sling. But finally leaving the hospital felt like he was finally free. His own home simply felt more comfortable by far. He struggled opening the door with his nondominant hand and was greeted by Leslie frantically wagging her tail and a few low barks. ‘Yeah, missed you too, old girl.’ He stored his clothes away and sat himself on his couch, treating his dog with long overdue clumsy cuddles. In the evening he made himself some instant noodles. Not the best food, but easy enough to prepare with one hand. After eating, he really didn’t feel like suffering through the procedure of “showering” by rubbing himself off with a cloth and went straight to bed.

The next morning started with cereal and coffee together with mindless TV, then he had wanted to catch up on his missed shower, but was caught midway by the doorbell ringing. He looked at it in bewilderment for a moment, before shrugging, hissing at the sudden pain it caused and opening. ‘Sixty?’ ‘Good to see you didn’t get hit in the head’, the android greeted him. ‘Now will you let me in or not?’ ‘Excuse me?’ Sixty sighed as if it was the most obvious thing. ‘You are not capable of caring for yourself with your injuries. As your partner I am obligated to help you until you are back to full functionality.’ ‘What?’ ‘Can you speak in something else despite questions?’ ‘Er… yes. You want to help me?’ ‘Obviously.’ ‘ObViOusLY’, Captain Allen repeated sarcastically. ‘Wouldn’t have thought so after everyone visited me except for you.’ ‘I wouldn’t have been of help there. All I would have done was distracting you from healing.’ ‘That… That isn’t really how it works…’ ‘Fine. Now would you finally let me in? I bought you supplies to cook with.’

Allen finally let Sixty in, more because he knew he couldn’t argue with the stubborn machine anyways. ‘So, you are not at work then?’, he asked instead. ‘Are they even capable to work with your mechanical genius gone?’ ‘They have to. You are my partner, I still technically can’t so anything without you around even with the laws in place. Whether I’m at work or here makes no difference and here I can be of help.’ ‘And… Just out of curiosity… How long do you plan on staying?’ ‘Until you are fit to come back to work of course.’ ‘Of course…’

-

It had been a week since Sixty had decided to temporarily move in. The Captain found that he was indeed thankful for his help. Eating something actually cooked was a welcome alternative to takeout and frozen pizza. Someone helping with cleaning and taking the dog out when it was raining, and you couldn’t hold an umbrella and the leash without getting the bandages wet was also a huge relief. What was his main problem with this arrangement was the small-talk. They both had a lot of free time and just sitting there in silence wasn’t really an option for him. Sixty didn’t seem to mind, but Allen lived in an atmosphere of awkwardness he despised. They talked about work first. Allen had asked how the rest of the team was faring, whether they had caught their traffickers again and as he learned, that no, they hadn’t, what steps they were taking to get back on their trail. But after that it was difficult to find anything to talk about. Sixty mostly giving him one-worded answers didn’t help, too. ‘Hey, what do you do after work normally?’ ‘Usually more work.’ ‘Usually?’ ‘Hobbies otherwise.’ ‘Hobbies?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘What hobbies are you interested in?’ ‘Hmm… several.’ ‘Could you name one?’ ‘Yeah.’

Allen stopped trying after a while and ended up on the sofa most days. But the boredom nagged at him and he couldn’t help but groan. ‘Everything okay?’ ‘Yes…’, he sighed. ‘Just bored.’ ‘Do something then.’ ‘Yeah, and what?’ ‘Dunno.’ ‘Hmmm. Same.’

In the end he rummaged through his cupboards, trying to find anything he could fumble with. He knew his old Rubik’s cube had to be here somewhere. He had never managed more than one row, but maybe now his time had come. He didn’t find it, maybe he would have had he searched more, but he stopped as his hands had found a  certain box. ‘Hey, Sixty, you up for a game?’

-

Allen had just set up the pieces on the table, as Sixty leaned over it. They started taking turns playing and the android had been silent, as always. Until at a certain point he leaned back and grinned. ‘Now, how do you want this to go? You can play this out, or I can kill you right here and now.’ Allen looked up from the board. ‘Dude, we’re playing chess.’ ‘And? I never half ass things. Get your head in the game, I could end this in four turns.’ The Captain sighed. ‘Wouldn’t hurt you to relax a little…’ ‘Relaxing nearly got you killed.’ Allen blinked. ‘What did you just say?’ ‘Relaxing nearly got you killed’, Sixty repeated. ‘Excuse me?’ He couldn’t believe the audacity of- ‘If you want to insult my abilities, you really have bad timing. If you want a fight, I would wait until I’m not only a brawl away from opening my wounds again!’

Sixty immediately had his hands up to stop him. ‘Me relaxing nearly got you killed, Captain. It is my fault you are suffering like this.’ Maybe these were the most words Sixty had continuously spoken this week, but the human didn’t realise it. ‘You- Are you really blaming yourself for what’s happened to me?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘You have to explain that to me.’ ‘You ordered me to go help Charly. But Had I stayed by your side this wouldn’t have happened.’ ‘Then I shouldn’t have sent you away. Or I should have watched my surroundings more. This isn’t your fault, Sixty. Stuff like this happens.’ ‘Not if I can help it.’ ‘Sixty, you may be an android, but you too are not without error. No one is. And I definitely don’t blame you!’ The android stayed silent and stared at their forgotten chess-match. ‘Is this why you are doing this?’, Allen asked softly. ‘Is this why you didn’t visit me at the hospital with the others? Are you feeling guilty about this?’ ‘Yes! Yes, I am! Are you happy now? I failed protecting my partner. I may not be completely perfect, but I could have done better than that! You should ask for a different partner. I would understand it.’

Captain Allen sat there staring at the angry, pouting android. He couldn’t help but laugh. ‘What? What is your problem, human? What’s so funny?’ ‘God, Sixty, you surely are the most stubborn person I have ever met! I am not happy knowing you stress yourself about a known and frequent risk this job simply brings along. You don’t know how much you helped reducing that risk, but it is never gone completely. No one knows everything. Not even you. I would never in my life ask for a different partner, you are stupid for thinking I would. Maybe you could have done better, who knows. Then this will be a lesson to learn for us. No one died. I’m the only one of us severely injured. For not knowing we would be up against triple the amount of people, this mission went extraordinarily well. Please, don’t blame yourself. Who knows what would have happened had you stayed, and Charly would have been alone? Personally, I don’t want to think about that scenario.’ ‘This isn’t exactly something I can simply switch off, Captain.’ ‘I know. Believe me, I know… The guilty feeling never leaves you really. But it is the past. I know if I can help it, I’ll never get into a similar situation again and if I can’t, well… I chose this job. I know what it entails.’ Again the android didn’t say anything. ‘I don’t know what the future holds in check for me. For us. For everyone out there. But I know, I would rather face it with you by my side, okay?’ There was a faint blue blush on Sixty’s face and before Allen could think about what he had just said, he answered lowly: ‘I feel the same way. I’m sorry I wasn’t there at the hospital, it had been selfish of me.’ Allen smiled. ‘You are here now.’