Teach me how to feel alive [Connor • DBH]

thirteen

" i let my guard down and then you pulled the rug "

✩

I got out of my car, looking over to my left to see Connor waiting for me. I offered him a small smile while I approached.

"You seem.." Connor trailed off. "Preoccupied, Tess," he said, tilting his head as he inspected my features. It wasn't a secret that I was upset, I had been crying since I left Carl's house. No doubt my eyes were puffy, red, and all blood-shot. "Is everything okay?"

I sniffled, wiping my eyes, and I nodded my head. "Everything's fine," I muttered. "Let's just get Hank and get this over with."

Connor nodded, thankfully deciding against questioning me further, and we both approached the front door. He knocked on the door first. "Lieutenant Anderson?" He called, but there was no answer. He then tried ringing the doorbell. "Anybody home?" Still no answer.

I looked to the window. "The lights are on," I said, catching his attention. "He must be home, Hank never leaves the lights on whenever he's out." Connor nodded, moving to peek through the window. He mustn't have seen anything because he moved around the back, trying to get a better view, I followed, though I was worried the neighbours might think were breaking in.

He looked through a side window, seeing Hank on the floor, he pulled away from the window. "Lieutenant Anderson!" He said, pulling up an elbow and smashing the window.

"Jesus, Connor," I hissed, looking around and hoping to god none of the neighbours saw what we were doing. Connor then proceeded to haul himself through the broken window, landing on the floor with a thud, I climbed through more graciously and stood beside him as Sumo hovered over him; growling lowly.

Sumo was a good dog, he never attacked unless he needed to.

Connor held a hand up, smiling at the dog that was now inches from his face. "Easy Sumo, I'm your friend," he said with a laugh. "See? I know your name... I'm here to save your owner."

Sumo seemed to understand what Connor had said, moving away from him, he then turned to me and nuzzled his head against my leg. "Hey, boy," I said happily, kneeling down to pet him, when he started licking my face. He was licking away the tears that were still on my cheeks. "Argh! Okay, okay, I get it!" I exclaimed with a laugh, pulling away from the dog and swiping the sleeve of my sweater across my face, I stood myself up to see Connor was smiling up at me from the floor. "Having fun down there?" I asked jokingly, folding my arms across my chest, and laughing as he quickly pulled himself to his feet.

Dusting his clothes off, he spared a glance towards me before moving over to Hank.

"Lieutenant?" Connor spoke slowly, checking over Hank, he lifted a hand to his face and patted his cheek gently. "Wake up, Lieutenant," he said, now bringing his hand down on Hank's face with much more force and making Hank wake up out of shock. "It's me, Connor."

Hank had barely stirred by that point, but Connor grabbed his arm and began to pull him up.

"I'm going to sober you up for your own safety."

"Hey!" Hank slurred. "Leave me alone, fucking android!" He exclaimed, looking to Connor for a moment before speaking again. "Get the fuck outta my house!"

"I'm sorry, Lieutenant, but I need you," Connor said, barely managing to pull Hank to his feet. "Thank you in advance for your cooperation."

I just stood back and laughed at the scene, amused at Hank's attempts at getting Connor to leave, though Connor was determined to sober Hank up, Hank was also determined to stay. Staying in the kitchen while Connor sobered Hank up, I sat with Sumo and scratched his back.

When Connor returned, he looked down at me and offered a small smile; something flickering behind his expression that I couldn't quite figure out. I mirrored his expression as he moved towards the table. He looked over the mass amounts of food and drink on the wooden table before his eyes found the picture frame, expression shifting to curiosity, he lifted the frame up to reveal Hank's son — Cole.

He died not too long ago. Hank was still pretty messed up about it.

Cole and Hank had a bad accident. A human surgeon was too high to operate on his son, so an android had to do it. Cole died that day. I never asked Hank for more detail than that, no matter how much I wanted to know. Hank and I were close, but I knew what his boundaries were and I respected them.

Connor placed the frame back down and looked over to me, a sort of sympathetic expression behind his eyes, and I shrugged my shoulders. "I didn't know him, but he seemed like a nice kid. It's a shame what happened to him," I said in a low voice, hoping Hank didn't hear what we were talking about.

Connor's brows furrowed. "What did happen to him?" He asked. I hesitated, pursing my lips into a line.

"I'm not sure I should be the one to tell you."

Connor nodded slowly, moving away from the table, he crossed to the bottle of whiskey and the gun that was laying on the floor. "What were you doing with the gun?" he asked loudly, aiming the question at Hank who replied with a little more enthusiasm in his voice than he should have.

"Russian Roulette! Wanted to see how long I would last." He paused as Connor checked the gun. "Must've collapsed before I found out."

"You were lucky," Connor replied, shaking his head. "The next shot would've killed you."

Connor put the gun back down and stood up. That's when Hank came out of the bathroom, looking much cleaner than before, he and Connor shared a look as I realised Connor's lip curl upwards ever so slightly. Pulling myself off of the floor, Sumo followed in my movements and Hank smiled down at him. 

"Be a good dog, Sumo," he said. "I won't be long."

With that, we all left the house, deciding to get into my car and not let Hank drive, we headed off to the sex club downtown known as the Eden Club.