Gavin stormed out of Fowler’s office without realizing the android was following him until he arrived at his own desk and saw his reflection on the crystal-clear screen. He sat down heavily and glared at him, expecting it to be discouraging enough to make him leave. To his dismay, the thing rested his hip on the table and glared back. Gavin didn’t remember seeing eyes so pale. They were almost grey. He felt exposed, as if the damn thing could see past him.
There was a pause.
—I’ve been told you were the best —signed the android calmly—. I’ve also been discouraged to be your partner, and many advices have been given to me in order to approach you. I’ve been informed that you are… difficult. A lot of agents offered to work with me instead, but I’m only interested on you —Gavin held his breath, confused—. I am the best too, updated with all Cyberlife had to offer. I was made to do this job perfectly and flawlessly, so I will ask you once more: can you be that man again?
—I’ts clear I can’t. I’m fucking deaf —signed Gavin violently, obviously pissed. The man had the android towering over him and made him feel insignificant. He hated it—. Choose someone else. I don’t have time for this.
Now it was the android’s turn to look confused, his eyebrows rising slightly before replying.
—I don’t want someone else. Also, why do you refuse? I don’t understand. I know you w-
“y0u dOn’T kNow ShIt ‘B0uT mE, dRoId.”
The android’s eyes widened, obviously didn’t expect him to be able to speak and Gavin took pride on being able to catch the thing off guard. He knew his voice was crooked and fucked up, and he hated to speak nowadays, but it was worth it. He just wanted him gone ASAP.
I didn’t happend.
After a moment of consideration the android raised his hands again, hesitant just for a second before signing softly, if ‘softly’ was a word that could be used for ASL. There was something on the care that he took to spell the words that made Gavin’s guts twist.
—I wouldn’t mind to get to know you. If being deaf it’s all that bothers you about working with me, I could be your ears… If you let me. I will give you a couple of days to think about it. If you don’t come to me by wednesday, I’ll find myself a partner and won’t bother you again —he straightened his jacket, ready to leave—. My name is RK900, by the way —he added.
RK900 turned to leave without looking back. Gavin wasn’t given the chance to sign back that he didn’t want to work anywhere close to a damn android. He kicked the rubbish bin under his desk, grunting. If the fucking thing expected him to go and ASK to be his partner he would grow roots and die first.
“Gavin was really self concious about his voice. He imagined it sounded cracked, harsh, and badly atonal. He has forgotten how words felt on his tongue, the amount of air to take and make them softer.
What he didn’t know was that his rough, low tone sent shivers down Nines’s spine, and he absolutely loved to hear him speak.”
This is a follow up for this deaf!gavin promp I made and wont write. I hope it inspires someone else.
For anyone interested, this is the type of inking that the Haunted project is going to have once it’s totally sketched. I’ll show you the kind of coloring I’m planning to do too, eventually ^^.
Reed900 Shenanigans: lighthouse-keeper!Gavin and deep sea-mermaid!Nines
The seas had been rough for a couple of days, high winds and waves crashing against the steep cliffs leading into a vast nothing. It’s to the point where Gavin feels uncomfortable stepping outside. He’d sent the second keeper to catch some sleep, if he could with the wailing winds, and opted to tend to the beacon himself.
Despite the groaning of the building, every harsh beat of water trying to bring the structure down around them, Gavin felt safe in the knowledge that it had withstood decades of similar conditions without bending.
The next morning, the weather has calmed significantly and Gavin doesn’t bother to wake his co-worker before stepping outside to assess any potential damages. Railings have been bent out of shape on the path down from the cliff. It’ll need fixing in the near future though thankfully the crane they use to lift cargo is still hail and whole. Further down he can spot a container of rope and other necessary equipment to have been smashed to bits, debris left wedged in crevices of rock as he gazes down.
“Shit,” Gavin curses. The newbie he’d been stationed with and told to train must have secured it wrong and Gavin moves further down on the path to check for further damages.
He’s caught unaware by the sudden change in the wind’s direction and what it means for the previously calm sea.
It’s with mounting horror he realises that even running he can’t escape the fast approaching wave.
The coldness knocks the breath from his lungs and he tastes salt on his tongue before he forces himself to preserve what little air he still has in his lungs. Pure dumb luck is what keeps him from whacking into any of the dangerous spikes of jagged rock but even so the strength to fight currents and freezing temperatures saps from him rapidly, like grains of sand falling to the bottom of an hourglass.
He blacks out‒
‒and wakes up an undetermined amount of time later with the island he calls a second home a great distance away, its sweeping light taunting him, and its relative safety forever out of reach.
Gavin wipes the saltwater from his eyes, blinking up at the star-speckled sky. He stares uncomprehending at two gigantic moons settled above him and it takes a few seconds to realise they’re eyes.
The thing holding him blinks.
He faints, again, and wakes at the steps of the lighthouse. Gavin sits there in his soaked clothes, the rain beating down on him once more, left wondering over the strange hallucination that had come to him and if any of it had happened at all.
