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Gavin had never been particularly fond of Aquariums. All the children running around, somehow he always ended up getting wet and Gavin had never been too fond of sea creatures either - but Cole was. And that was reason enough Gavin let himself get dragged to the opening of the new Detroit Aquarium - supposedly not only filled with various real sea creatures but also Android versions of ones long gone and ones that never even existed in the first place.
Cole was particularly excited for the mermaids, a brand new invention from Cyberlife. Sometimes Gavin couldn’t help but wonder what Hank would think of all this - Gavin knew he’d never been particularly fond of Androids and Gavin had always been inclined to agree - there was something quite creepy about them appearing so human and yet not being that. Plus he’d seen more than one friend lose their job and livelihood to one.
But Hank had always put Cole and his interests first, even when he got tired of having to hear yet another fact about stingrays Cole had learned that day.
Gavin had tried his best to carry on in caring for Cole this way - though it had certainly been hard. He hadn’t been sure he even wanted kids, had never been too fond of them either, but there was no one else to take in Cole after Hank - he didn’t like to finish that thought. And hell, he might have been an arse, but the idea of Cole going into foster care even broke Gavin’s barely there heart. Plus, he was fairly certain Hank would have haunted him from his grave, and that rightfully so.
Still, Gavin hadn’t ever once regretted taking Cole in. It wasn’t how he’d imagined his life turning out, at all, and if he could find any way to bring back Hank he’d do it in a heartbeat, but Gavin could honestly not be more thankful for his life right now, and the little family he’d found in Cole.
People kept telling him he’d mellowed out, that he was only about half as much of an ass, as he used to be and while it pissed him off sometimes, he didn’t really care too much anymore. Seeing a smile on Cole’s face was more than worth losing a bit of his edges.
Gavin was pulled out of his thoughts, as they finally reached the end of the excruciatingly long line in front of the counter. He bought a ticket for Cole and himself and finally they were let into the actual Aquarium. Gavin had known it would be overflowing with people on the day of the opening, but Cole had insisted they go straight away and Gavin had always been bad at denying the boy any wish.
Cole grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the first exhibit.
“Stingrays, huh? Should have known,” he said with the hint of a smile on his face.
Gavin kept on listening as Cole started telling him things about stingrays he already knew, while some other asshole kid splashed him with water. Gavin was about to chew that kid out, as Cole spoke up again.
“I wanna see the mermaids next,” Cole announced and Gavin had to admit that he was a little curious about them himself, wondering if Cyberlife had actually managed to pull it off. “Lead the way then,” he said and let Cole pull him through numerous rooms, ‘til they finally reached one that was so densely packed with humans, Gavin nearly wanted to back out again.
But Cole maneuvered them through the masses, ‘til they finally stood in front of a large glass pane, reaching from the bottom of the room to the ceiling, the water behind it moving in gentle waves. There were a lot of plants and hiding spots filling up the Aquarium, but that wasn’t what everyone was staring at.
When Gavin finally looked at the merman for the first time, he forgot how to breathe for a second. He usually wouldn’t use words like this, but there was no other fucking way to describe it - he was mesmerizing.
There were other mermaids around him too, but Gavin couldn’t keep his eyes off that particular one. The way his blue scales shimmered in the artificial light of the Aquarium, that tiny smile on his face - for one moment Gavin could even forget, that it wasn’t real.
The Android kept looking at him, and only him, so it seemed. Gavin’s heart nearly skipped a beat, when the merman swam over to him and they found each other face to face, only the glass between them, separating them.
Gavin pressed his hand against the glass pane and a moment later the merman did the same. Gavin wouldn’t have been able to explain it later if he tried, but right then, in that moment, it was as if everything suddenly started to make sense, as if he’d finally found the piece that was missing and he’d found where he had been meant to be all along.
“Wow,” Gavin said, and the way the merman smiled at him was breathtaking.
“It’s Connor, actually,” he said.
He had no idea how the fuck any of this worked, but he could hear him speak clear as day, as if Connor was standing right next to him. It was the most beautiful sound he’d ever heard.
“Gavin,” he barely got out and then pulled Cole closer.
“And this is Cole,” he explained, when he was finally able to form words again.
Right then, Gavin had no idea what the future had in store for him. That he’d end up visiting that Aquarium more times than Cole even wanted to go. That he’d end up falling in love, against all the odds. That’d they’d live through an entire revolution. That his entire life was about to change, in ways he couldn’t even imagine. All Gavin knew in that moment, even if he didn’t have the words for it quite yet, and surely couldn’t explain why, was that his heart had finally found a home.