Press Play (RK800 Connor x Reader)

There's No Manual

[Now Playing: Things That I've Learned (Orla Gartland)]

The Saturday following the practice Connor attended, Nick rang Hank's doorbell, his attention split between his phone and the door. It wasn't split for long, as the door was yanked open barely a second later, leaving Nick no time to react as he jumped from the sudden movement, nearly dropping his phone in his shock.

"Jesus- Connor, you scared me half to death! What the hell?" Nick stared incredulously at the, clearly excited, android in front of him, clutching his phone to his chest and trying to calm his racing heart.

"Sorry, Nicholas," Connor apologized, still grinning despite it, "But, I figured out what song I want to learn."

"Okay, first," Nick held up a finger, tucking his phone into his pocket, "call me Nick, only people at work call me Nicholas. And second, let's set up before getting into all that. I need to calm down before you get me excited again."

Connor nodded, apologizing again as he followed Nick to his van to get his keyboard. They set up, just like they did last week, and Nick took a seat on Connor's bed while he told him the song he chose.

"Everlong? By the Foo Fighters?"

Connor nodded, still smiling brightly.

"And you've had this picked out since Tuesday night?"

Another nod, this time followed by a groan from Nick as he collapsed back onto the bed. Sumo whined, getting up from where he was laying to settle on Nick's chest.

"You could've told me, y'know," Nick grunted, flailing underneath Sumo. "I spent so much of my downtime this week searching for songs for you."

"Sorry," Connor apologized, taking a seat next to Nick to shoo Sumo off. He obliged with another whine, pressing a heavy paw into Nick's chest as he jumped down from the bed.

"It's fine," Nick wheezed, curling into himself. It took a moment, but he eventually sat up, grimacing awkwardly at Connor. "Let's just start the lesson, shall we?"

Connor agreed eagerly, rushing Nick to his keyboard while they discussed the song.

"Well, I have a composition that I made a few years ago if we wanna use that one," Nick offered, searching through his phone for a copy of his old sheet music. "I can teach you without you having to read sheet- I'm not too worried about that, but there's a lot of dynamics in here that might cause a problem."

"It doesn't matter," Connor cut in, determination shining in his eyes. "I'll learn."

Nick raised an eyebrow, setting his phone down on his keyboard as he took in Connor. "You're really set on this song, huh?" He watched the way that Connor sat, fists curled in his lap and spine straight in his seat. It was clear that Connor had his heart set on Everlong, and there was nothing anyone could say to change his mind.

Connor nodded, and Nick cracked a smile, picking his phone back up. "Good. I wouldn't wanna teach you something you don't feel strongly about." He tapped through a few more things, eventually pulling up the music before playing a few scales. "Alright, let's do some warmups and then we can start working."

While Nick was guiding Connor through the warmups (mostly basic scales and arpeggios), he spoke up. "Y'know, just to let you in on a little secret," he said in between scales, getting Connor to look up from his own instrument. "Everlong means a lot to (Y/N). It was a good choice."

Nick smiled at Connor, quickly moving onto a new warmup without saying anything else. By the time Nick left that evening, Connor had the first half of the song memorized and rhythmically perfected. The only things he still had to work on were the dynamics and the rubato, something that seemed to loom over him as the week progressed.