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One thing Courtney has learnt about Robert is that he's fucking stubborn. Maybe even more-so than her.
It's one of the many things she loves about him, of course, but it's also what gets him into stupid situations like this: basically bedridden with illness after refusing to take a break from work, much to the protest of his girlfriend and his boss, who are both more than aware of his workaholic tendencies.
Courtney has to hold back a laugh from her position perched next to him on the edge of his new bed (a wonderful gift from Mandy, she think) as when she brushes Robert's hair away from his sweaty forehead, he blearily blinks up at her. He shifts slightly to sit more upright, and the usual furrow in his brow and rasp in his voice are more evident as he speaks. "Wait. Shouldn't you be at work?"
"Dude. I've been here literally all day, how are you only just thinking about that? But Blazer let me have the day off. Someone had to look after your dumbass to make sure you didn't do some stupid shit. It probably would've been Chase, but he's in some important meeting he can't miss today, so unfortunately you're stuck with me," Courtney answers, gently pressing the back of her knuckles against his feverish forehead.
"Fortunately," Robert corrects, and Courtney's heart melts a bit. "She's sweet."
Courtney hums, hand pausing on his skin as she mulls over his words and the fluttery feelings that surface as a result of thinking about Mandy. Sure, the two of them have been... sort of friends ever since she joined the Z-Team almost a year ago, and they've gotten closer since they all took down Shroud, but surely that doesn't mean Courtney- Whatever. She decides to just push it all down — she can process whatever the fuck that means at a later date. "Yeah, she is."
Robert sighs softly as she presses her cold hand against his overheated cheek, subconsciously leaning into the relief her touch brings. It's weird seeing him like this — the best way Courtney can describe him right now is 'wet cat', which she doesn't think he'd appreciate her saying aloud, so she keeps it to herself. She still thinks it's accurate.
Not to say that she hates his actual personality, but it's... kind of nice having him like this. She doesn't take kindly to being out-sarcasmed when she talks to Robert — unfortunately, he knows her too well now, and can basically predict what she's going to say when they're bantering. She hates and loves it at the same time.
"You're staring at me," Robert's mumble snaps her out of her thoughts, and she blinks a few times, withdrawing her hand from his face and settling it in her own lap. She doesn't miss the way his eyebrows twitch downwards and he pouts slightly before his expression turns neutral again. Well, as neutral as it can get when his eyes are glassy and distant and he won't stop sniffling every few seconds.
"I'm admiring. There's a difference," Courtney retorts. She's always taken badly to being called out, but when Robert does it, her responses always lack their usual heat. God, she's becoming such a loser.
"Admiring what? I look and feel like I'm dying," for some weird reason, his voice has more emotion in it when he's sick compared to normally, and it makes her laugh softly. Despite the hint of outrage in his tone when he spoke no more than ten seconds ago, Robert cracks a small smile as she giggles.
"Yeah, but you look pathetic. It's kinda funny," she says, and she hopes the blow of the insult is softened by the gentle look in her eyes. When Robert's only response is a small, playful frown, she assumes it worked. "But it's okay, I like pathetic."
He huffs dramatically, throwing his head back against the dozen pillows Courtney had placed to prop him up and wincing when, if she had to guess, the action worsened the headache he's spent all day complaining about. "You're awful. I want Chase to look after me. Also, can you get me an Advil? Moving was a bad idea."
"No, dumbass, you had two only an hour ago. Actually- less than an hour ago. I'm not letting you overdose under my care. Plus, that's the 'stupid shit' Blazer was referring to when she told me to look after you. 'Don't let Robert take too many painkillers, okay?' is specifically what she said to me. And would Chase do this to make you feel better?" Once she asks the question, Courtney leans down and gently presses a few kisses to his overheated forehead. She hears him sigh softly and feels the way his muscles relax under her touch as he shakes his head.
"No. He'd bitch-slap me," Robert mutters, shifting back into the position he was originally in before he stupidly decided to throw himself around once she pulls away from him.
"Well, I don't think that's true. But if one of us were to bitch-slap you, it'd be him. Now. I mean, a few months ago, it definitely would've been me, but not anymore," she muses.
He doesn't speak for a few moments, and Courtney wonders if he's imagining Chase slapping him. Thinking about Robert thinking about it makes her think about it, and the image of the old, frail man slapping her boyfriend, who is literally Mecha Man, and him doing nothing about it has her supressing a small laugh. She laughs a lot more and easier since meeting Robert, she's noticed.
"Mmm, I think you're probably right," he responds with a chuckle that ends in a small coughing fit. "I annoy him."
Courtney frowns at that, tilting her head to the side — a habit she didn't realise she did when she's curious until Robert pointed it out a few days ago, teasingly comparing her to a dog. Now that she's remembered that, she's changing her previous answer; she would be more likely to bitch-slap Robert. "What? Why?"
"No, not 'cause he doesn't like me. At least I don't think so... But it's because I keep talking about you."
If Courtney wasn't in love with Robert before, she definitely is now. It's weird, though. Having someone care about her. Having more than one someone care about her. Sure, she had friends before she joined the Phoenix Program, but she's almost certain they would've left her at the drop of a hat to get one of Shroud's fucked-up augments.
(She's such a hypocrite — she did she exact same thing. She tries not to dwell on that thought for too long.)
Robert from a few months ago was right — she really should choose her friends better. And although being basically forced to be friends with most of them, she did do that, and now she's got a badass group of friends who are closer than ever and would probably kill for each other. Well, Coupé definitely would... Courtney's kind of intimidated by her. Oh, and she can't forget about her super hot ex-superhero boyfriend/dispatcher/boss... Yeah, she's quite glad HR at SDN is completely fucking useless.
Robert's loud-as-fuck sneeze makes her jump so hard she flickers out of visibility for a second. Just before she gets mad at him, or as mad as she can get at Robert, which isn't very, she's realised, she remembers that firstly: he's sick, and secondly: she never responded to his statement. Of course, in typical Invisigal style, she gently flicks his forehead before speaking. "Don't say sappy shit like that, it's gross."
Thankfully, Robert doesn't get upset at her response. Instead, he laughs weakly and brings up a hand to dramatically rub the spot she flicked. "Ouch. You just keep bringing me pain. Whatever, love you too."
Courtney can't hide the heat creeping up her cheeks and the small, dorky smile that graces her face at his words, even though she turns her head away from him. She really is a loser now — just a few months ago, she, in detail, told Robert about the dream she had of them fucking without so much as a stutter. Now, just hearing those three words has her blushing and giggling like a schoolgirl. Maybe she's the pathetic one out of the two of them.
"I'm hungry," Robert complains, and- was that a whine? Okay. So he whines. Courtney stores that information away for later before looking back at him. If she had any doubt about the accuracy of her 'wet cat' description from earlier, it's now been thoroughly squashed just from the expression on his face. She's never seen him actually pout before, but she has to say it's probably one of the cutest things she's ever seen. Robert doesn't have to know that, though.
Without even thinking, she stands up and begins walking out of his room, but just before she's out of reach, she feels Robert's hand grab her wrist. When she glances back at him over her shoulder, fighting the urge to tilt her head again, he's sitting up straighter and his playful pout is gone, replaced with a frown. "Where are you going?"
"Uh- to get you some food? Why? I'm not gonna let you just starve yourself all day, dude," Courtney responds, mirroring Robert's frown on her own face.
His expression instantly softens and his hold on her wrist loosens. He lets his hand slip away, but the way his fingers lightly brush against hers as it falls send pleasant tingles up her arm. "Oh. Right. Yeah, okay."
Courtney studies his face for a moment longer, taking in his now sheepish expression and the hint of redness on his cheeks. Under any other circumstance, she probably would've made fun of him for being soft, but she decides to take pity on him considering he's sick. "I'll just get you some more soup or something. I don't really wanna have to clean up your vomit again. I mean, I kinda like you, but not that much."
"Well, I'm glad that my girlfriend kinda likes me," Robert laughs, settling back against the pillows. His eyes meet hers for a second but he quickly averts his gaze again.
"You should be. I don't like many people," Courtney hums playfully, flashing him a small smile as she lingers in the doorway for a moment before she slips out of his room, giving a sleeping Beef a scratch behind the ear as she walks past him.
Once she enters the kitchen, she quickly heats up another bowl of the soup she made Robert earlier — the soup he hadn't finished, because he threw up halfway through eating it. Initially, Courtney had been offended, but once she remembered he literally had a stomach bug, she felt very stupid. She laughs softly at the thought, but then instantly feels bad about laughing at Robert's misery and turns around as if to check he didn't hear. Obviously he didn't, because he's in the other room, which then makes her feel stupid again.
God, she hates being in love. It's made her realise how much of a loser she actually is.
When the soup is heated to an acceptable temperature, she takes a quick sip to check that it still tastes alright, which it does, and she happily fixes Robert a portion. As she makes her way back to his room, bowl of soup, a spoon, and more Advil in hand, she walks past Beef again, who instantly wakes up and decides to follow her to her destination.
She quietly walks to his bedside, returning to her position perched on the edge, and carefully hands him the soup, cautious of Beef — as much as she loves him, the dog running and jumping on the both of them isn't very useful while hot soup is at risk of toppling over. Robert mutters a small 'thanks' when she gives him the spoon, but instead of starting to eat the soup, he just stares at it.
"So were you planning on eating it, or..?" Courtney asks after a few minutes of silence and the both of them watching the untouched soup. At the nauseous expression on Robert's face, her voice instantly softens. "Can you at least eat a little bit? You've eaten basically nothing all day. And you just said you were hungry."
Robert hums and nods, finally collecting a spoonful of the soup and eating it. Once he's swallowed the soup, he shakes his head fondly and laughs softly, and upon seeing Courtney's confused expression, his response is: "Who are you and what have you done with my Visi? Why are you being nice?"
She huffs playfully and gently shoves his shoulder as well as she can considering he's leaning back against multiple pillows. "Asshole. Being a bitch is a conscious choice, y'know. I can be nice sometimes."
"Clearly. I like it," Robert says, trying to subtly put down the spoon. Courtney notices, because of course she does, and narrows her eyes at him until he reluctantly eats another few spoonful's.
"Don’t get used to it. As soon as you're better, I'm never making you soup again," she responds, but the small smile she gives Robert once she's finished speaking completely contradicts her statements.
"It's good, though," Robert hums thoughtfully before frowning and looking up from the bowl at her. "Sorry I'm not eating it. It's really good, I just don't feel like throwing my guts up everywhere again."
"Don't worry about it. Besides, I can just eat it if you don't," Courtney shrugs casually before eying the bowl in Robert’s hands. "Actually, can I have some? Just a little bit."
"And now you're stealing food from the sick," Robert huffs monotonically but gives her the bowl anyways. She only realises once the spoon is in her mouth that this is the same spoon Robert just had in his mouth — Robert, who has thrown up four times in the past twenty-four hours and has been nonstop sneezing all day. Fuck. "Hope you enjoy being sick, too."
"Shit... Whatever, at least I'll get a few days off work, I guess," Courtney sighs, offering the bowl to Robert again, to which he shakes his head, before placing it on the bedside table next to them (another amazing gift from Mandy. She's very good at interior designing, Courtney's realised).
She carefully shifts Beef off Robert's lap and places him on the other side of him before swinging her legs onto the bed with a dramatic huff, instantly throwing one of her legs over his hips and resting her head against his collarbone. Robert does nothing but sigh fondly, pulling his arm out from underneath her to properly wrap it around her waist before muttering: "You're acting like you had a busy day today. You've done nothing, you literally got a free day off work."
"Yeah, but I had to look after your dumb ass. 'Cause you're an idiot and won't ever take a break," she bites back, but there's no real heat in her words; just exasperated amusement. "Also, I dunno if I'm getting paid for this. If I'm off sick, I'll definitely get paid."
Robert hums in acknowledgement but doesn't give a proper response. They lay in comfortable silence for a few minutes, the only sounds in the room being Robert's sporadic sniffles and Beef licking... something, Courtney doesn't know, and she's far too comfortable laying against Robert to lift her head and look. She could easily fall asleep right now — although he's wheezing slightly with every breath he takes, the steady thumping of Robert's heartbeat under her head is very soothing.
"Hey, d'you think if we're both sick, Blazer will come look after us?" She finally asks, quietly, just in case Robert managed to fall asleep during the few moments of silence.
He didn't, because Courtney feels rather than hears his soft laugh, his chest vibrating calmingly underneath her head. "Maybe. Hope so."
It's her turn to hum in response, nodding like she'd debating something serious (which she is — she's wondering why the idea of being taken care of doesn't repulse her as much as it usually does if it were Blazer looking after her) before she sighs softly, completely melting against Robert, who she feels gently squeeze her waist and press a soft kiss to the top of her head. "Yeah, me too."