Chapter Text
Robert feels his chest hurt as if he got stabbed, cold beads of sweat start to form on his forehead as he tries to keep himself composed, nodding to whatever conversation is being said to him.
Of course the conversation of his family had to be brought up, first the media, now here with his team. To be fair, after revealing he’s Mecha Man, they all start to ask questions and then when the last time they saw him, talking about that journalist who asked that fucked up question, who was just trying to get under his skin.
Well that moment is due, he never gave it much thought until now. First he loses everything, then he isn't even paid for the job he's doing, then having to deal with the bullshit his teammates do. Lastly, because of mentioning the journalist, who they’re all flaming on which was nice of them, however it reminded him of how he thought he was gonna die that night. In fact, he accepted that he's gonna die that night. He remembered laying in that flaming suit with the smell of thick smoke in his lungs. It was suffocating, he didn't think much of it till now, now it all hit him like a truck.
He needs air.
He rubs his hands together and cups his hands to his mouth trying to warm his finger tips. Glancing around, he is already outside, on a bench, he just got out of a bar fight, his knuckles feel raw and tingled from the wind.
He knows he's fine, yeah he's fine right now. But his body is now on a fight or flight mode and he couldn’t help but stand up to ease the tension forming, making the team glance up
Fuck. Now they're wondering what he's gonna do next, after telling them he's Mecha man, after watching Flambae fly off, after hearing them talk about that interview.
All eyes are on him.
He swallows the lump in his throat.
"Getting late and I feel like shit, gonna soak a long bath for this one," he says as he turns away from the group. He hopes it just ends at that, them nodding and continuing whatever conversation they have, instead he feels one shoulder tap.
"Eyyyy, lemme walk your sorry ass home, Bobie. I need a lil stroll to get the cocaine out of my system," Sonar smirks up, waving Malevola off when she speaks out 'Dude' at the cocaine bit.
The hero couldn’t be bothered at the villain having a drug problem, he couldn’t even be bothered to tell him to fuck off. Instead he walks away while the hybrid follows close behind.
"So Bobby, did you know I memorized the credit cards of all of our group except you and Invisigal? So I made a bet with Mal and well- I see you and her being all buddy buddy-" Sonar begins to ramble as they walk a block away from the group. Great, and he has to listen to whatever scam or crypto plan Sonar has for... maybe 15 or 20 minutes?
He couldn’t get himself tell Sonar to fuck off somewhere else or go back, in fact he couldn’t get himself to speak. He feels as though his airway has swollen so he's now trying to breathe manually. He feels as though his body is on auto pilot, like he's in the mecha suit, it's like he's looking through a screen through his own eyes. He doesn’t even need to look up to know where he’s going, his legs know the path to work and home so they move along the sidewalk to its destination like a routine.
His mind distorts making the buildings seem to close in all around him, he feels trapped, like in that warehouse. He wants to scream, his lungs feel heavy, his world blurred around him.
He vaguely registered that Sonar is near him, poking his arm. Saying something by his ear but it's like he's on mute.
Maybe saying how he should've died in that crash, why did his will to live have to be so stubborn, why did he crawl out, yell out for help, for a hero to save him? Why didn't the ambulance get to traffic?
Why did he wake up?
The flash of passing lights make him nauseous. Is the media here? He can make out beeping sounds, they're louder than the hospital monitor, is he outside? It’s like he’s getting flash banged or something.
His arm feels pulled and body yanked backwards.
He felt as if his body slammed against the hard floor, staring upwards, someone was talking to him. Shaking him even. Shit he caused someone trouble. Where was he again?
Something tap his cheek, along with the feeling of a sharp sting and rising heat on the side of his face.
Rebooting, he blinks his vision in existence then is met with a big nostril an inch from his face, he leaned back squinting and held in his breath from the horrible stenchy breath. Who-
Oh yeah Sonar is here, he watches Sonar breathe in before he could process.
"HEY!"
Robert flinches and raises his hand up begrudgingly from the yell, his vision focused on the bat man shaking his shoulders into reality. "Hey- keep it down," he grunts, annoyed from ringing in his ears.
"-shit dude. Hey, Robert heyyy, you here buddy?" Sonar taps his cheek where it stung before. Giving him the look of worry which hurt his pride. “Are you locked in now or we need another test round?” He asks, rubbing his hands together.
"....did you just slap me?" He rubs his own face feeling the heat then glare at Sonar who is crouching in front of him, glancing away like he did something he shouldn’t have. Wait.
Crouching?
He looked down seeing he sat on the concrete sidewalk as the cars zoomed on by. Sonar sighs in relief as he looks up at Robert.
"Dude, you were like a zombie, I mean you already look like one but fuck. You didn't react or respond- okay look, I know you’d be upset making your fire boyfriend mad but suicidal?-"
"He’s not my boyfriend," Robert quickly corrected him, getting puzzled by that random assumption. To which Sonar puts his hands up in defense.
"Ight’, we keep it low profile, gotcha, acquaintance. I gotchu-"
"He was never my boyfriend- look, I'm not upset, just tired. And I might be dead on the inside, but I’m not suicidal I can assure you that." He furrows his brows together trying to decipher what bullshit Sonar is pulling, who just nods.
"Kay, Bravo. So you are locked in. Now why did you walk into the road when the light is clearly green,” Sonar points at the traffic light and the cars speeding by, making sure Robert looks at the scene. That… is kind of worrying to the normal people, a bit to Robert, did he really do that?
“You didn't even react when I saved your ass. So, I expect a ‘Thank you sooo much Sonar, my big alpha’, and a pardon for me snorting on duty," he moves his hands as if he's expecting an applause. Robert just stared at him, dumb founded.
"Well?"
"I..." didn't walk into traffic on purpose, I just spiraled thinking about how I shouldn't be alive right now, but I'm not actively endangering myself, it's just an accident. You wouldn't get it. "...thanks…I’m not calling you, whatever you called yourself."
Sonar nods patting his shoulder then stood up. "Close enough, see? It wasn't so bad. Can you get your noodle ass up now?" He offers his hand which Robert takes and gets hoisted up with great strength. Once the dots in his eyes cleared, Robert nodded as a signal to let go, but Sonar kept their hands interlocked. A minute passed as they stand awkwardly in this position.
"...uh, you can let go now?" Robert’s tone became a question as he frowns looking down then up at the hybrid who just yawns and shrugs. He feels a little bit uncomfortable remembering those fangs just chewed down someone a few minutes ago in the bar.
"Too much energy, you can walk home now." He makes his grip firm, not letting go anytime soon. Robert just exhales, accepting his fate as they continue walking down the sidewalk.
Some passerby would give them strange looks, to be fair, they looked fucked up, bloodied and bruised, clothes torn up and hair all tangled. Not that Robert minded, his mind couldn’t even wander cause Sonar would every now and then, squeeze his hand to point at something stupid like dry dog poop or a rat that looks tasty to him. He doesn't know why he bothers.
Once they're close to the road to his apartment, he stops his tracks. "Okay, my Mr. Knight in shining armor, thank you for your, humble escorting, I can walk from here."
"How close is your home?" Sonar asks which Robert stares suspiciously, not that he doesn’t trust him, he just doesn’t trust anyone near his home. Sonar just stares back in response.
"Close," the answer doesn't seem to satisfy him as the hand grip stayed firm, "like, down this road to those cheap apartments." He points out, Sonar glances before finally letting go, Robert rubbing his held hand, geez, he didn’t expect that Sonar would be that strong for a Harvard graduate, then again, Robert hasn’t worked out for 2 months, plus Sonar is a super human.
"Cool, so, you're okay now, right?" Sonar asks, "you're awake right? You know you can uhh, vent or some shit?"
Ah, Robert doesn’t like the feeling of being pitied because of the stunt he pulled earlier, sure his mind is a bit jumbled at the moment but he wants to keep that to himself for the time being. It’s not that bad, just for some reason this happened. He needs to keep himself in check.
"Yeah yeah, of course, I'm fine and awake." He nods, wanting this conversation to be over, he walks past Sonar but feels a light tug on his sleeve, he inhales before turing around.
"Before you go, I want payment. For the escort I mean," Sonar looks unapologetic while Robert debates on humoring him.
"Like tipping a taxi?" he asks, seeing the corner of Sonar’s snout perk up.
"Hah, if you're offering that tip. Hahaha. But nah, I want, the most humbling of offers..."
Robert watches him edge the offer, obviously trying to make him curious, he decides to humor him "...which is?"
"A hug, no homo, no tip touching, two bros hugging but not in a homosexual style." Sonar opens his arms, looking up and down like some business man offering a deal of hugs.
"Just saying a hug is enough," he scoffs, chuckling at this stunt while Sonar's ear twitches unnoticed. "Okay, a simple hug."
"My man," Sonar then walks forward then wraps his arms around his chest, Robert hesitates because of the fur, but Sonar deepens the hug so he just gives in then presses his face in the fur.
He expected him to smell like wet fur just like when he bathes Beef, instead, Sonar smelled of booze and cigarettes, with a smell of dog shampoo in the mix which still reminds him of Beef. It makes him chuckle.
It was oddly comfortable, with the noises of crickets and cold night. He feels himself slowly get relaxed then hug back, it's been a long while since he just, hugs another person, who isn't his dog or the mech suit.
He misses the feeling. Closure.
His muscles tense back up when he hears Sonar clear his throat and shifting his shoulders, it took a bit to open his heavy eyelids and remove his arms which now aches. "Shit, did I pass out?-"
"Oh no no, it's all good. It's cool, it's chill, it... looked like you needed that." Sonar pats his back before letting him move away, "...Bob, listen ykno, I don't know how to put it down light but like...."
Sonar hesitates, unsure to approach the subject, Robert mentally prepares himself.
"...do you want to smoke weed or some shit?" Sonar asks, then fumbles with his wording, “if that’s cool with you, ykno cuz, I’m making a mighty deal with you, haha, uh- look you look stressed out and uh, we can, un-stress together?” The more he talks to Robert, the more Robert sees the anxiety in Sonar grow when he tries to make it less awkward. “I mean the weed, not the sex, well- Unless- no WELL I MEAN-”
He didn't expect this. But he can see Sonar trying to put effort into trying to get his walls down, well he did worry the poor guy. He couldn't help but laugh which catches Sonar off guard.
"Thanks, but no thanks, I'd rather stick to shitty whiskey." He pulls away, part of him wants to feel that warmth again. Sonar makes a laugh (chirp?) in response.
"Alright, but if you need something to take your mind off, you know who to go to." Sonar gestures to himself, Robert nods with a smirk.
"I'll give you my phone number, just don't snitch to HR, I have the highest quality, trust me." He wiggles his eyebrows mischievously, earning an eye roll from the man. "I see you contemplating, Bo-Berto."
"Good night, Sonar." Robert cuts him off, chewing his cheek to not smile widely, "I'll see you tomorrow." He sighs walking to his apartment with his steps feeling lighter and mind cleared.