[EDITING] wanderlust | detroit: become human

twenty seven - ear muffs

at first, i thought hank was joking! you know, making a crack at my social awkwardness that i still have yet to get over. but when i looked between detective reed and hank's faces, i knew he wasn't joking.

my hands were drenched with sweat, and my mouth went dry. my tongue couldn't find a moist spot in my mouth for the life of me. i hadn't even left my seat before i turned back to hank, panting, "i... i... i... i can.... can.... can't do i... it... it. gi..." i stopped to let oxygen escape my lungs, "hank, pl... plea... please do... do... d... don't make me a... a... a... ask him."

"ajax, i know you can." hank informed me, gripping my hands with his, "imagine... imagine it's back at stratford tower. when he was going to throw you out."

"i... i... i stu... stuttered... stuttered even then! hank, i... i... i can.... can't."

connor's eyes looked between hank and i, "lieutenant anderson, i can go-"

"no, i'd like ajax to go." hank's eyebrows furrowed, "ajax, you can do it." he encouraged.

taking his words to heart, i was determined to show him that i can't force myself out of the shell i confided in. i stood from the chair, ignoring my dry mouth and sweaty hands. i stopped in front of detective reed's desk, and looked at him, my heart beating against my chest in fear.

detective reed looked up from his computer, giving me a slight glare in annoyance, "what?"

"i... i... wait, le... le... let m... m... me... me start over." i let out an unsteady breath, dropping my head and clearing my throat, "i... was going... to ask..." i spoke much slower than i did compared to my stutter, "to ask if... i may see the... the investigative... investigative... report so lieutenant an... anderson... can make co... copies." i finished, my heart beating faster. i fell to the ground, my hands holding tightly onto the desk, "th... tha... that was t... t... too hard."

detective reed's eyes stared me down, "why didn't lieutenant anderson ask himself?"

"f... f... fu... fuck, i d... do... don't know. ma... mayb... m... maybe he... he's picking f... f... fun at m... me." i struggled to get out.

detective reed gave a sigh, flipping through some stacks of other completed or incomplete reports, "where is that thing?" he continued flipping through it, his eyes growing restless.

i offered a hand, "i... i... i ca... can help," i mumbled.

detective reed pushed my hand away, "i got it! i just seemed to misplaced it."

i pulled my hand back to my chest, watching him shuffle through papers looking for the manilla folder. as if he gave up, he let out a dejected sigh and continued looking through his desk. i spoke up, "i... i... i can t... tell lieutenant a... an... an... anderson that... that y... yo... you can give i... it to h... him, soon." i looked at the rk900 that sat at a the chair beside the desk. as we locked eyes, i knew he was analyzing me.

as he moved his eyes up and down my body, finding any little piece on who i was or what i was doing, i teared mine away from his and hurried back to hank, who typed away on his computer with different tabs open, asking for different information. i think one even read detroit gears game score. but as i read through the newspapers around the desk, i assumed he's had that open since the very day he met connor since the Detroit Gears didn't play yesterday.

"so, how'd it go?" hank asked.

as i sat in the chair, i let out a sound somewhere between a sigh of relief and a groan of annoyance, "d... de... detective reed co... c... coul... couldn't find the f... f... fol... folder s... s... so he w... w... wi... will gi... give it to y... you wh... when it's fou... found."

hank let out his own groan, "can't he keep his desk clean? look at it, cups of coffee all over the place, paperwork stacked up into a tower. god, it's like he's trying to attract mice."

if we already didn't know, connor and i would assume that hank was talking about himself, as his desk was almost identical to reed's, just without the stacked paperwork.

connor and i shared a shrug before he looked at me, "ajax, did the rk900 do anything? anything at all?"

"we... well, wh... wh... when i... i was wal... walk... ing, walking aw... away, he began t... to analyze me." a chill ran through my body, "i... it wa... was stra... strange."

connor's hand rubbed his chin, thinking to himself. curiosity, and a bit of... jealousy was spread across his face.

detective reed approached the desk, smoothly pushing the file towards hank, "didn't know you had a chore girl." is all he said and walked off.

connor's eyes darted up, and recognized the voice, following reed with his eyes. there was an obvious glint of annoyance in his eyes, and he would've acted on it if i didn't stop him, "con... co... connor, it's o... o... okay." i soothed him, my hand lightly placed on his chest, and my hand running through his hair. "i... i... i do... d.. don't mi... nd what h... he said." i smiled happily.

connor's eyes returned to look at me from the back of detective reed's head, a smile painting it's way onto his face, "thank you, ajax."

"yes! woohoo!" hank cheered.

connor and i looked at him, confused, before we let out a laugh at the excitement on his face.

hank's eyes darted around the office, and looked at us, silently whispering, "i was stuck on this level in luxor."

i let out a chuckle, covering my face with my hand as hank started the next level of the game.

everything seemed perfect in the moment, as hank sat at his desk playing a dated computer game with his teeth biting his tongue in concentration, connor flipping through the manilla folder, taking in the information, and myself, enjoying the silence around the three of us.

(a/n: hello everyone! thank you so much for 1k reads! it's probably my biggest achievement on this app so far! i have been sick recently and i have been delaying on updates, but don't worry, i'm getting to them ❤️. i hope you guys are enjoying everything so far.)