Chemical Imbalance | Detroit Become Human

prologue

IT HAD BEEN FOUR MONTHS SINCE THE ANDROIDS HAD PEACEFULLY PROTESTED AGAINST THE ARMED FORCES IN DETROIT AND LIBERATED THE IMPRISIONED PEOPLE FROM THE ANDROID CAMPS, BUT NOT MUCH HAD CHANGED FOR THEM SINCE.

Understandably so, no law was made and passed in a day. A motion to begin the liberation of androids was still yet to be called by those up high in the legal system, but Markus hadn't lost faith yet. At least the police had taken their side and now reported to android domestic situations and fights in the streets where androids were attacked either verbally or physically.

He knew trying to get every human recognise androids as living beings was near impossible and would take time. It might not happen in the current humans' lifetimes...but they would. Eventually.

As much as he tried to focus on getting androids the rights that wanted and deserved, he couldn't help being distracted every so often by said beings.

Everytime North or Simon saw him stressed or noticed his long working hours, they would pull him outside, out of his office in one of the buildings the androids had taken over on the 'suggestion' of the Detroit officials. They were crowded but so far they hadn't run out of room.

As much as he would argue about how much work he had to do as either android grasped him by the wrist as they brought him outside, as soon as the sun hit his skin, he realised that they'd made the right desicion.

North would drag him through the city streets until they reached the broken building they'd had their first heart to heart in, where Markus had learned the troubles of her past and she'd learned why he stood for pacifism.

They would sit at the edge of decaying, brick wall and see who could throw loose pieces of stone further over the rooftops. Markus usually won but occasionally, if he noticed North seemed stressed too, he would aim his lower, so the chip wouldn't fly as far.

Sometimes they'd see who could bounce North's tennis ball off the wall the most without dropping it, a game Markus found similar to squash but without rackets. His record was a modest one hundred and seventy six but North's was far over two hundred.

Or, Markus would sit at the abandoned piano and play a melody reflecting his mood, either dark and frustrated, if he had just arrived, or something light and full of hope if North had succeeded in cheering him up, like she usually did. She would watch him play, overlooking his shoulder with a hand resting on his back, a comforting gesture that reminded him that she was there for him.

Simon would direct him across the roads towards the park that seemed so foreign to him now, the park he passed through when the whole journey started, where he watched androids first be treated as equals as he gazed upon an old man treating his android like a daughter, talking to her with a fatherly look in his eyes, back when he was still a machine.

He would hold his hand as he pulled him to a secluded corner where they would sit under the blooming cherry and apple blossoms, watching as the pink and white petals float down in the breeze, coating the bright green grass and catching in Simon's blonde locks and the creases of Markus' coat.

Simon would produce a pad of paper, sometimes with a pack of colouring pencils, other times just simply a black pen, from the lining of his jacket, and hold it out towards the other. And Markus would draw. Anything and everything. The flowers, passing people, birds high up in their nests. He would draw Simon, whenever the android sat still in peace for once, totally at ease with the world. He was usually too busy glancing around the park, watching the squirrels scamper through the fallen leaves or the children that would play tag in between the nearby trees.

Markus found the petals in his hair to be an added touch to his sketches, a bright splash of colour on Simon's rather blue wardrobe. Plus he thought it was kind of cute.