Partners [Path Unlocked 🔓]

Chapter 31 - Disturbing the Dead

"It's late, Detective." Hank tried again, uncertain of what to say and floundering for words on the spot, a situation he was unaccustomed to and not programmed for, designed to have an absolutely flawless social relation protocol incapable of such failure. "You should go home and rest." The machine suggested haltingly, wracking his processors over each and every word and still left in the dark.

"I don't want to sleep." Connor shot down instantly, pulling out another cigarette and tapping it between his middle and index finger despite the fact that he was still without a means to light it.

Hank let his eyes flit over the detective's form, scanners taking in the exhausted slump of the man's slender shoulders and the dark bags marring soft, pale skin under doe eyes. "You're tired, Detective." The android persisted unwaveringly, voice softening as the urge to take a step forward flickered through his system.

"I didn't say I wasn't tired." Connor all but snapped, glaring at the water below as if it had personally insulted him as he twirled the unlit cigarette between his two fingers anxiously. "I said I don't want to sleep." The man corrected shortly, pressing the palms of his hands into the banister and leaning back against them with a soft sigh, keeping his cigarette clasped lightly between his pointer and index fingers even then.

LED flickering a unsettled yellow, Hank felt his lips tug into a resigned frown as he pulled up the very first piece of information he'd ever filed on his partner - Connor is lazy - and changed it to something he'd suspected for some time but hadn't wanted to accept if he didn't have to. Connor is an insomniatic.

"Why do you smoke so much, Detective?" Hank questioned abruptly, searching desperately for something to say to alleviate the smothering tension hanging in the air until his gaze eventually fell on Connor's slender digits and the cigarette they toyed restlessly with. Distracting conversation was a far fetched bet certainly but Hank had no better options.

"I don't know." Connor initially blocked, a knee jerk reaction if the abrupt sharpness of his tone and the shortness behind his words were anything to go by but, after a moment, the man let his gaze drift downwards and a shuddering breath escaped him, misting out from his lips in a breath of steam against the cold air. "My brother used to smoke." The detective admitted softly, bringing his gaze back up to stare at the distant bridge once more, the soft glow of it whispering across the water until it lit his gentle features with the slightest touch of a glow, just enough to reveal the sharp pain lashing through his soft eyes. "I stole my first pack from his room when I was nineteen and haven't stopped since." The man recalled distantly, voice wavering over the story and threatening to crack in more places than one.

However, the words still pinged as untrue on Hank's lie detector, once again proving to be correct in and of themselves yet, almost incomplete in a way. "That's," The android began uncertainly, pausing for a moment before reluctantly deciding to continue on. "Not the real reason, Detective." The machine finally concluded, fighting back that same pressing urge to approach the boy and offer himself for comfort that he could not act upon when he knew he himself had caused this.

Connor let out a slow sigh, seeming to tense up a minute before he let himself slump to defeat once more and slowly turned around to face the robot, features twisted into a perfect picture of what one might expect to find under a dictionary article titled "end of the rope," eyes dull and lips twisted into a dry half smile. "Because I'm tired, Hank." The detective answered simply, arms lifting in a strained shrug before dropping back down to his sides heavily. "I'm tired and, I don't know how many it's gonna take, but each of these little, white sticks takes me an hour closer to the day I can stop feeling like this." The man groaned exasperatedly, pure exhaustion dripping from every syllable and no mistruth presenting itself on Hanks lie detector this time around.