Archive of Our Own

It’d been an easy kind of weekend for Robert. Courtney had some plans with Golem on the Saturday, some online gaming tournament they’d signed up for that could run into the very early hours and so he’d had the weekend to himself. It was a little odd in some ways. It had been weeks where he hadn’t seen her for at least part of the weekend but she’d insisted she needed all of Saturday as ‘zen time’ to get in ‘the gamer zone’. He knew she was fucking with him, could see it in the slight lift of her mouth in the corners, the shit eating grin fighting to show itself on her face. He played along though. He loved playing along about as much as he loved the play-fighting arguments and banter that’d become a defining part of their dynamic. 

It had been very tempting to take the entire weekend as a lazy one. He’d felt a little tired and under the weather this week. Nothing too serious and nothing that a good rest wouldn’t fix. So the current plan was a little tidying of the apartment to feel productive and then spending all of it on the sofa with Beef. After all, he had a list of movies and TV Shows that Courtney had told him he needed to watch one night when they were searching for something to watch and she discovered just how bad his cultural awareness was…

“Robert Roberton, you have to be fucking with me. How have you not seen a classic like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest?”

“I promise you I’m not Court, you know what the score was back then.”

“You’ve quoted movies at me, I know you’ve seen them. I’m just struggling to believe apparently the extent of that is the Lion King, Forest Gump, and Typecast 2.”

“Of course I’ve seen movies, I just..” his brow furrowed slightly as he tried to think how to explain himself in a way that would get this evening back on track.

“I guess I didn’t really pay much attention? I dunno I definitely watched a lot but it’d usually be after a day in the mech and i’d be crashing out. I think the last movie I actually watched in a theatre before Typecast 2 was that one about that French newspaper or something back in 2021?”

Courtney had been on the verge of sympathy and winding down her teasing until that last part.

“Do you mean The French Dispatch?” she asked incredulously?

“I think so.”

“Jesus Christ Robert, you’re breaking my heart here. You’ve actually managed to watch a film by a genuine auteur filmmaker and you can’t even remember the name of the film.” She buries her face in her hands and lets out a genuine cry of anguish. “Of all the people I could fall in love with, it had to be you. Mr I-Don’t-Watch-Movies. I bet you read the wikipedia synopsis rather than watching things don’t you.”

“Well… I mean I only did it once or twice when I was really busy in the suit” He’d actually never done it but he couldn’t help himself watching how dramatic Courtney was being about things. Call it payback for her takeout argument. 

She looked straight at him with eyes that stared daggers straight into his soul. He could swear he saw actual flames. Not even facing down Shroud and the Red Ring had he seen such fury in her face. 

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Never read the synopsis. That would require knowing what movies are out to check.”

The fire quells but only slightly. She’s trying really hard not to slug him one in the stomach but she promised herself she’d express herself less violently.

“I’m genuinely not sure if that’s worse. Right. If we’re gonna make this work you’re going to need a crash course in this stuff.” She smiled, one of grim determination. The first thought that came to mind for Robert was

She really is beautiful when she’s so passionate about something, before the Dispatcher side of him kicked in with: Why can’t I get her to be this focused on the job.

Looking back towards him, she holds up his phone with an app already downloaded and opened. 

When the hell did she download that.

“You should be glad you’ve got such a good guide to help you through this problem Robbie.” She winks at him in that flirtatious way he adores. “Now sign up for an account on Letterboxd. I’m going to make you a list of must watch films and you’re gonna review em on there so I know you’ve seen them!” She scooches across the sofa close to him and gets right in his face, “and if you don’t there’s gonna be consequences” before rushing forward for a quick kiss and returning to the other side of the sofa laughing to herself and typing on her phone rapidly, the list already growing.

That’s how he’s ended up here. Sat on his sofa at 4pm on a Saturday with his dog snoozing next to him, scrolling through a list on his phone of movies to watch. Looking through he remained very impressed by the thoroughness of the list. It was divided into several different sections like ‘All-Time Classics’ which included films like 12 Angry Men and Singing In The Rain, ‘Horror’ which was the one he’d actually watched nearly all of already, mostly from when Chase used to babysit, and a few other categories. He scrolled trying to see what caught his eye when a message came through from Sonar of all people.

• Sup Bobby, wondering if you can help me and the boys out. We were having a lil guys night, you know, shoot the shit, play some poker, get a lil freaky. A couple guys that Flambae invited dropped out and we need someone who we can clean out at the table.

• Uh huh. Where do I fit in?

• Well we had a little think and we, mostly me, think you’d be the perfect guy for it. I know you got a fat bank account with all that mecha man cash.

• I’m so glad you’d think of me in a moment like this. Fine. I’ll bite, where is it and when?

• Ooooh Bobby, biting already? That’s usually my thing. Don’t worry, I won’t tell Invisigal though. It can be our little secret ;)

A deep, weary sigh. Why had he agreed to this? Beef looked up at him, disturbed from his slumber when his phone pinged again. A notification from Punch-up with the address and a request to bring some beers.

He got there with two crates of Modelo and four boxes of pizza, pulling them out the back of his uber with an apologetic look for the slightly sweaty warm aroma it left in the back of the car. He had to admit Punch-up had a pretty nice place, a pretty sizable loft apartment with some exposed brick and metal work. Very industrial chic. He noticed a few touches that piqued his interest, including a pair of ballet shoes tucked into a corner and what looked suspiciously like Coupé’s goggles hanging by the door. One to talk to Visi about later.

There was a green felt mat over what looked like a regular dining room table with piles of chips. Sonar was at the table playing with a stack of cards, Punch-up took the beers from him and was busy stuffing as many as possible in the fridge. Flambae, ever the egotist, was sitting at the table filing his nails. There was a tall, lanky guy sitting next to Flambae in just jeans and a hoodie who Robert was sure he recognised. He was just about to ask Punch-up who they were when they piped up.

“H-hey Robert!”

Waterboy. Out of his outfit. Here to play Poker. Surprisingly not soaking himself or anyone around him. Flambae even seemed to be being friendly to him.

Fuck it. It’s the weekend, anything goes.

That was the phrase that had led him to this point. Groaning and rolling in bed at 2pm on a Sunday with a wallet that was unfortunately much lighter than he’d hoped it to be. Turns out Waterboy was a demon with the cards. They’d played for a good few hours in the end. Flambae was wiped out first, bluffing against Sonar. Sonar’s confidence didn’t go as far as he’d hoped when he was felled next by Waterboy about a half hour later. Robert desperately tried to stay in the game as long as possible but dropped out around 10pm. 

Punch-up and Waterboy kept playing for at least another two hours during which the remaining three had made good headway in the Modelo before moving onto spirits that Sonar had brought. The last thing he remembered from the night before was drunk texting Visi while still at Punch-up’s, which had definitely earned him some teasing from the guys. He brought his phone up, the brightness sending pain flaring in his eyes, reading the last notification from her at 4:07am:

• Haha! I miss you too Mushy Man. Drunk you really is soppy. It’s kinda hot. Have some water and get to sleep. We’ve got a few more rounds left so i’m probably going to be sleeping most of today. I’ll see you on Monday and speak to you later <3

Oh Good. ‘Mushy Man’ is a new one. That’ll teach me to go out with friends. I’ll just find a cave somewhere, one with no phone signal so I never have to talk to anyone again.

He groaned into his pillow and felt a dry ache in his throat. Right. Water. Had he actually drank any before bed? He was guessing not. A quick glance to his bedside table confirmed a distinct lack of water. Turning over he saw a nearly full glass left from when Visi had last stayed over. Thursday night? Friday? Maybe? Weighing up the risks of stale water versus quenching his very very bad hangover thirst lasted all of a few seconds before he lunged over and grabbed the glass, downing it in mere moments.

All his moving disturbed Beef who was curled up behind his knees on top of the bedding, the dog snorted and then moved to the end of the bed, curling back up and returning to sleep.

The water didn’t do him any favours as his stomach immediately started doing backflips. He flinged the duvet aside and sprinted to the bathroom to empty the contents of his stomach, attempting to stand a couple of times before nausea sent him vomiting again. Eventually he felt himself settle and stood up, looking at the mess in the bowl with a grimace before flushing it.

Why the hell is it green? What did I eat or drink last night to do that? Fuck. What a mess.

He rinsed his face off in the sink, using a bit of Visi’s mouthwash to rinse the grim taste out of his mouth. Looking back over to ground zero, the bowl was still a bit of a mess, but he couldn’t even entertain the notion of cleaning it properly now. His tired and frazzled brain still seemed to have some twisted idea of responsibility and was yelling he couldn’t just leave it like that, so he grabbed a spray bottle of bathroom cleaner he left under the sink and just sort of misted the offending areas with spray. At least it would be a bit more sanitised. Maybe it’d even help with the odor.

Stumbling out of the bathroom he was hit with an overwhelming sense of tiredness. Enough of his brain cells were still firing to know he needed to hydrate so he grabbed three of his biggest glasses out of his cupboards, filled them with water and headed back into the bedroom. Setting them on his bedside table he noticed a distinct lack of Beef, until he saw a wriggling mound under the discarded duvet on the bed. Pulling the layers back, he found Beef looking back at him with a slight disgruntled look.

“Hehe… sorry buddy, that’s my bad” Robert said while scratching him behind his ears. 

He remained sat on the edge of the bed, slowly sipping at water until he felt a little less like he’d been put in a microwave. The tiredness was still ebbing at him and he knew he just needed to sleep. The ever dutiful boyfriend side of his mind reminded him to do one last, but very much still important, task. He grabbed his phone from the table and typed a quick message to Visi.

• Hope your tournament went well last night. I’m not feeling great, just a little tired and hungover I think haha. Gonna try and sleep it off so don’t worry if I don’t respond to your messages for a little bit. Beef’s looking after me so I’m all good. Not as good as you for cuddling but he’ll do. Love you x

Leaving his phone back on the bedside table, he took one last gulp of water before curling back up underneath the sheets. He closed his eyes and waited for sleep to take him.

Except it didn’t.

First came the shivering. He ran warm enough in bed that he often slept in just his boxer shorts, maybe a tank top or t-shirt if it was cold. He’d never been this cold. So he pulled himself out of bed and dug out the old set of pyjamas he had lying around, put them on and got back in bed. The warmth spread through him and he finally was able to close his eyes.

Until he woke to a harsh cough erupting out of him. It burnt on the way up, like his throat was being put through a cheese grater. He took a few more steady sips of water and then rifled through the bedside drawers on Visi’s side for the throat sweets he knew she had in case of emergencies. There were only a few left but she only needed them after particularly bad asthma attacks and the coughing they caused. He’d replace them soon. Finally, his throat soothed, he drifted back to sleep again.

This time he actually slept for a few hours, waking back up around 5pm. He felt truly awful. His entire body ached, his head was spinning, and he felt simultaneously on fire and freezing temperature wise. He took a few steady sips of the water, remembering his earlier mistake, and gave Beef a little rub on the belly when the dog plodded over and fell against his leg. 

“Sorry bud, I know I've not been looking after you too well today,” he said with a sad tone. He did feel bad, normally he’d have walked him by now, or Visi would’ve while he dozed. Or if he’d known he was gonna have a hangover this bad he’d have asked Chase to dogsit or come by to walk him, even if it risked Chase relentlessly teasing him for his inability to hold his drink.

Beef let out a happy yip and started licking his hand.

“See, again, this is why I love our chats. You just get me, you know what I need in any given situation.” he chuckles to himself, giving Beef an extra vigorous scratch.

Grabbing his phone he sees a couple of messages from Visi an hour or so ago.

• Can’t believe you got so fucked up you need a bed day on the one day I’m not there with you. 

• I actually think that might count as abusive behaviour Robert.

• That must be why you’re called ROB because you ROBBED me of a cuddle day.

• Now that’s out of my system, I hope you’re doing alright. I only just got up, RIP. Me and the Big Guy tore shit up. We came second overall, good fun. There’s another one in a couple months we might try and do. I’m gonna get my shit together for work tomorrow. Let me know if you wanna call later x

He couldn’t help but smile at it. Sometimes she texted worse than she spoke, just an uninterrupted stream of consciousness. It was so her though. He loved it. Loved how domestic she was with him now though. This was definitely one of those moments he wishes he could go back to the Invisigal he met on his first day and show her this text chain, see what the reaction would be. To go ‘you know your new dispatcher who you think’s an annoying asshole? You’re gonna be messaging him about a cuddle day and sending him hearts and kisses’. Oh if only.

He typed back a quick reply.

• Hey glad to hear you guys did well, you should do the next one, claim your first place victory.

• I’m terribly sorry that I got roped into a poker game and ended up drinking a bunch of beers. I’ll do better next time.

• That being said, I don't think I've slept properly all day so I'm gonna keep snoozing. 

He went to get back in bed but saw Beef fidgeting around, having jumped off the bed.

“Yeah. I get it bud, give me a moment.”

He doesn’t even change out of his pyjamas, he just pulls some sweatpants over and pulls a hoodie on. Grabs his little Beef walk kit (mostly just a small bag with treats, doggy bags, and some hand sanitizer), and despite an overwhelming feeling of just not being right, unlocks the door and steps out the apartment with his dog in tow.

By some miracle he’s able to keep himself together to get him to the nearest patch of grass. Took maybe 5 minutes? Probably closer to 10 with how slow he’s moving. It’s a good job the leads extendable, Beefs probably walked ten times as far running back and forth trying to get him to speedup.

Please be quick Beef, get your shit done and then I can sleep

Thankfully the universe smiles upon him for the first time today and Beef very quickly does his business, Rob clears it up, disposes of the bag in a nearby bin and starts walking home. Be it the allure of bed or feeling a tiny bit better, the journey home feels quicker. 

As he’s peeling off the sweatpants he gets a message.

• Replying to: I’m terribly sorry… - Good. You should be sorry.

• JK, just let me know next time you’re getting fucked up, you know i love getting blackout with you.

• Replying to: That being said… -  Are you sure you’re okay? I can come by and check in if you need. Please don’t be doing your usual dumbass ‘i’m fine’ behaviour, we’ve spoken about this.

• I’m alright Court, I promise. Just tired. I’ve felt pretty exhausted all week I think I just need to catch up on sleep. I’ve just walked Beef and didn’t die so i’m probably okay. I’m gonna go sleep now though

• [Image.78939.jpg]

• Little guy misses you

• Also I have some goss to tell you but it’ll have to be later I need sleep so bad rn

He climbs back into bed for the third time today, the walk has woken him up a little bit so he decides he’ll just stay in bed on his phone until he gets tired again. Beef jumps up and nestles himself right next to Rob, who idly scratches the dog while scrolling on his socials. A few notifications from Visi flash up in quick succession

• Replying to: [Image.78939.jpg] - MY BOY

• Look at him!

• Angel <3

• Give him a little scratch from his best friend 

• Also i’m not letting this slide, you can’t distract me that easily with Beef!

• Okay looking at my initial reactions, you can kind of distract me easily with Beef. 

• I’m here if you need me okay? Please look after yourself x

His eyelids are drooping as he reads the messages and he loses the fight with sleep as the final message pings through, his phone slipping under the covers as the darkness sets in.

This time he manages another 5 or so hours of sleep. Unfortunately when he wakes up, the cough has returned with a vengeance. As harsh coughs rack his body, it makes him aware of other ongoing symptoms, chief of which is the migraine that’s so painful it could probably kill a small animal. It was doing its best to kill a vulnerable Robert. Following that was a complete lack of temperature regulation. Finally, his vision itself felt a bit funny, but that at least seemed to settle as the cough did. 

He stumbles to the bathroom and looks through the cabinet. He’s gotta have aspirin somewhere. Maybe some cough syrup. Something, anything to help. He opens the mirror cabinet and looks frantically then out of the corner of his eyes he sees it.

Jackpot! A rather dusty bottle of NyQuil, not just that, but he’s found a blister pack of paracetamol. It’ll do.

He grabs three paracetamol and downs them with a large glug of NyQuil. He knows he’s overdosing slightly but he’s been through enough scrapes to know the low-level pain relief does jack shit most of the time, at least with his pain tolerance.

Grabbing his water glasses from earlier he refills all three then sets about putting more water and a bit of food out for Beef. Unfortunately, just those two actions have made him feel incredibly exhausted. It feels like he hasn’t even slept.

There’s a feeling of hunger but when he opens the fridge to grab food his stomach immediately drops and he feels physically ill again. He shuts the fridge and decides to just return to the old faithful. Sleeping. So he gets back in bed, makes himself as comfy as he can, and puts a video on his phone to entertain him for a little bit. 

He’s maybe ten minutes in when he sees a video call coming in from Visi, he briefly considers declining, telling her he’s about to fall asleep. He feels so exhausted and he knows she’s going to pick up on the fact he’s ill. However, he’d also really like to see and speak to his girlfriend, so he accepts the call.

“Evening Courtney” he mumbles, voice croaking. He prays she doesn’t pick up on it.

“Dude you look like hammered shit, what the fuck has happened?” The concern in her voice is evident and it makes him feel a little bad.

“Just woke up like.. Twenty minutes ago? Feel a little bit rough”

“A little? A little bit! Rob why didn’t you tell me it was this bad, I can see it in your face you’re ill.”

“Would you believe me if I told you I was nowhere near this bad earlier today?”

“Jury’s out on that one.”

“Courtney, I promise you. I felt a little under the weather earlier but nothing more than what I'd expect from a hangover. This shit’s all new. I’m sure it’ll pass after a good night's sleep.”

She looks at him with a look that can only be described as weary contempt. It looks good on her. Real ‘I have an idiot boyfriend and I know it’ vibes.

“Mmmm right. Good night’s sleep. Not entirely sure I believe that but I'll trust you for now. Just. Please Rob, call in sick in the morning if you feel rough. Mandy, Galen, or Chase can cover us at the desk if needed. Don’t make yourself more ill or I'll have to come over there and nurse you back to health by force if needed.”

“Kinky”

“Stop it, I’m serious”

“Nothing says a serious bedside manner than nursing by force” he tries to joke, deflecting it away because he doesn’t want her worrying.

“Asshole. Just… promise me?” a quiet vulnerability in her voice this time.

“I promise Courtney”

“Good” her normal, more excitable self returns to the call.

“Now can I tell you all about the goss from the poker game at Punch-ups house?”

“I’m listening”

“Well, it turns out Waterboy’s got a mind for poker. Wiped everyone out.”

“What? Nah. You’re fucking me with. Wetboy gambles?”

“Yeah, and get this…”

The conversation carried on for nearly another half hour as they talked about Visi and Golems tournament, the poker game, and everything and nothing. Robert fell asleep first, with Courtney savouring a moment watching him snore lightly before ending the call and turning over to sleep herself.

--------------------------------------

SDN Torrance - 10:32am

It was now an hour and a half into the first shift of the day and Robert was struggling with a capital S. It wasn’t the busiest day they’d had at SDN but there had definitely been a wide variety of callouts and he just wasn’t making good calls. He knew he shouldn’t have come in but he’d been stubborn and foolish and he knew he was in for a chewing out of a lifetime from Visi. Probably from Mandy too if the call stats ended up being what he expected. The team was definitely getting frustrated with him but they weren’t taking it out on him which was starting to worry him. Was he hallucinating or something? His thoughts were interrupted by chatter on comms.

“Bob Bob, I’m coming back now. Next time maybe don’t send me to a gas leak. That could’ve ended very badly.”

“Ah shit sorry Flambae. That’s my bad.”

“I know.” 

That really did worry him. No pithy remark, no shitty comment, just matter of fact acknowledgement. For Flambae that’s practically a declaration of love. Something was definitely amiss.

“Okay, I've got uhh.. Shit what does that say.. I got a…” he tried to focus on the job on his screen and what the caller was saying but he just couldn’t. So he just winged it. “There’s a problem at Redondo Beach, Punch-up and Waterboy, you’re on it.”

“R-r-r-rob.. I.. uh..” Waterboy stuttered, clearly worried about something.

“What Waterboy? What is it?” oops. That came out way too harsh. Waterboys comms clicked off. Unfortunately for Rob, before he could apologise, Punch-ups comms clicked on.

“Don’t you yell at the lad. He’s still on break. That’s what he was trying to tell you. Get your head in the game Robert and start paying attention. We’ll go out to the beach as soon as Waterboy’s ready, not a moment sooner.” If he wasn’t drowning in pity and flaring headaches, Rob would’ve been positively beaming at the way Punch-up came to the defence of Waterboy. Instead he groaned and laid his head on the desk briefly before sitting back up and rubbing his eyes.

He dispatched a couple more jobs to murmurs and grumbles from the team. Whatever goodwill they’d been holding for him was fast disappearing as the shift dragged slowly on and his decisions became more perplexing. Sometimes he just couldn’t seem to get the gist of the job and so was sending his team in practically blind. Other times he just wasn’t thinking straight. These both coalesced into a bigger issue, whereby he was unable to course correct as his usual rhythm was completely gone. The team was often all on break at once with no flexibility for incoming jobs, or he dispatched multiple heroes to jobs that only needed one and vice-versa. It was to Z-Team’s immense credit that the shift had managed to carry on with as little trouble as it had.

Twice Visi has tried to raise him on personal comms to check in and he’d dismissed her both times as just having an off day. The first time she’d believed him, but by the second time shortly after he’d snapped at Waterboy she’d not been very happy. She was currently in the middle of a job with Golem dealing with an ongoing structural issue on a freeway in North Torrance. It was probably his best call so far, she was surprisingly good at crowd control and PR when needed and Golem had the raw strength to deal with any structural problems while they evacuated. 

The main problem he was having was he felt exhausted despite sleeping for near enough 24 hours over the last two days. His eyes kept threatening to close despite three cups of coffee in half as many hours. There was also a very dull pounding in his head, like a small creature was trying to break out through his frontal lobe. His focus was wavering badly, only coming back to when he heard Sonar's voice echoing through his headset getting louder and louder.

“Bobert. Bobby! Mr Boberto Bobertsono! Come in please. I need a little help with this one.”

“Ah shit, sorry Sonar, what do you need?”

“Kinda need you to focus up Robbie, there’s practically a riot happening here and I don’t even know why.”

Pop-ups appeared on his screen with information and error messages and with a tired groan he leaned in and squinted to try and parse any useful information and close anything that was a problem. He quickly glanced at the clock, 10:39am, so only another two and a half hours until lunch break. Just gotta get through it. 

---------------------------------------------------

On the other side of town Invisigal was placating a crowd of people, organising an evacuation of people as calmly as she could while Golem shored up the crumbling support beams of the bridge they were on. All she could think of was Robert. She’d heard it the moment he’d clocked in this morning, the exhaustion in his voice, the strain that she knew only came out when he was putting up his stupid idiotic front that it was all okay. It was making it hard to focus on the crowds of unhappy drivers being told to leave their cars on the freeway and evacuate.

The stupid fucking idiot coming to work. I’m gonna kill him. If he doesn’t kill himself acting this way first. He promised me.

“Hey lil lady, you still with me?” rumbled Golem through her earpiece.

“Yeah big guy, still here. What’s up?”

“Nearly there with these supports”

“Great, just got a few more people to get moving off the bridge and we can wrap up”

“All good baby”

She managed to placate the crowd with promises that SDN will assist in the recovery of their vehicles when the incident is resolved. Probably shouldn’t have, given she has absolutely no idea if that’s true or not but right now she’s itching to get back to the office and check on Robert. She starts circling back to double check everyone's left when Golem is back in her ears.

“I can finish up here if you want”

“What? We’ve got a job to finish. I'm not gonna leave you to do that yourself bud.”

“But he’s not doing good,” he replied in his steady rumble. Matter of fact. She knew exactly what he was referring to.

That stopped her in her tracks. She knew that the team knew something was up. Rob has inspired a degree of pride in their work that had led them to being a very well-oiled machine, even when individual pride and ego took over in the moment. They all knew what they were doing, but it only worked when their dispatcher was on it and today he just wasn’t. She could see the concern in their faces amongst the grumbles in the locker room and the break room. They looked to her for answers and she felt a slight tinge of guilt that she hadn’t caught this sooner, that she should’ve gone over yesterday and checked on him. She told them that he’d seemed fine enough the night before and had turned down all her check-ins and offers and dismissed her concerns.

That guilt was very quickly swept away when he snapped at Waterboy for trying to speak up. That wasn’t Rob, they all knew it, but it wasn’t right either. Her anger at him quickly morphed into concern as he dispatched her and Golem out to the freeway. He must be in really bad shape to snap at Herman like that. She wanted nothing more than to check on him but they had a job to do and as much as she loved playing the rebel, she kinda loved how good she was at her job now as well and wasn’t going to compromise that. 

But now the job was pretty much finished and she knew Golem spoke for the rest of the Z-Team when he said what he said. They mocked him at times, bantered with him, but they all held a fondness for Rob. You’d be hard-pressed to get any of them to admit it openly except for Waterboy but they all considered him a friend. A good one, who looked out for them. She knew how much his decision to give up the mantle of Mecha Man had meant to them all, even as Head Office considered Mandy’s proposal. They might be getting annoyed but they’d pulled together on this shift pretty hard because they were a team and he was part of it. So she made a decision.

“Alright Big Guy, if you’re sure”

“Go get him lil lady”

She wanted to sprint faster, run harder, anything to get her back to the office quicker, but she couldn’t risk an asthma attack when she got there so she took it as steady as possible. She listened to the comms line for any indicators on his condition but it was more of the same. A man who was clearly not well trying and failing to pretend he was perfectly fine. There was quiet chatter between Sonar, Mal, Flambae, and Prism as they were deployed for jobs, as they tried to game-plan compensating for his poor decision making. It sounded like he hadn’t even noticed.

Rounding the corner of a block she saw the SDN Torrance office come into view. Racing across the car park and through the lobby, she leapt over the reception sofas to avoid the meandering crowds of people in the way. Ignoring the elevator, she ran up the stairs two or three at a time before reaching the bullpen. She reached his cubicle and for the first time saw just how out of it he was. He looked so pale with massive dark circles below his eyes, while half-squinting like the light from the computer was too much. In the fifteen or so seconds she watched while she caught her breath she saw his head dip forward as if to fall asleep before he caught himself.

This dumbass I swear to god.

“What the hell are you doing here Rob!” she can’t help herself but yell. She’d been worried about him all day. It’d meant to be a quiet question but unfortunately volume control went out the window when she saw her boyfriend looking like warmed up death.

“Huh? What? What are you doing here..?” he sounds dazed, like he thinks she’s a hallucination.

“Coming to check on you dumbass because you’ve come to work when you’re clearly not fit too! Jesus Christ Rob you promised me last night.” A sob threatens to choke out as she says the last part. It must land pretty heavy with Rob as he looks down with a remorseful face.

“I uh… didn’t think it was that bad.. Didn’t.. want to worry you." She can tell he hasn’t got the mental strength to process this conversation but she’s still kind of mad, even if it’s fading in the face of her very sick and pitiful boyfriend. He keeps glancing at the screen like his mind is two steps behind this interaction and still trying to dispatch.

“Well it is bad! You put your own sense of stubbornness above everyone else here Rob, how about the safety of the public that you’re meant to be helping! How about your team that you don’t even seem to be able to dispatch properly today? What if they got injured because you’re unable to focus.” She’s deflating rapidly now into concern as the initial adrenaline wears off, the last part coming out very small and quiet, “What if you’d passed out on the way to work or somewhere here…”

Robert looks at her with a look that can only be described as that of a kicked puppy. He starts to lean up and opens his mouth but all that comes out is “I’m so sorry Vi-” before he slumps back in his chair, passing out. 

“Oh for fucks sake! Great. Now what do I do!” In her frustration she didn’t notice the door to Mandy’s office open and her boss step out to see what the commotion was. She’s too distracted by the pop-ups on the screen in front of her and the realisation dawning on her that she's going to have to step in. 

Courtney looks around, seeing Chase’s usual cubicle empty. She pulls his chair round, moving Beef's bed into Chase's cubicle to make room. As gently as possible without disturbing him, she removes Rob's headset and puts it on the desk. She then opens the bottom drawer of his desk where she knows he keeps a blanket, ever since he caught her asleep in the conference room once, and lays it over him. She moves his chair so it’s against the wall of the cubicle but still close and settles in front of his computer, putting the headset on.

Right. How the fuck does this work. Can’t be that hard if dumbo over there manages it.

She looks at the screen again and it’s a mess, a variety of calls all coming in from over Torrance, and a warning message from Redondo beach flashing. 

Deep breath Courtney. You got this. 

“Right guys, change of plan. Robert is otherwise occupied so we’re gonna have to wing it.”

“Uhh babes, what do you mean by winging it?” 

“I mean I’m gonna dispatch you till I can get him some cover.”

“Oh great, first Bob Bob and now Invisigal. You better not send me somewhere stupid like he did.”

“Bitch you sure you can do this? Like no shade but this is not your area of expertise”

“I know you got this,” Golem chimed in.

Flambae's comment she expected, Prisms stung a little, at least Golem had her back. Didn’t stop her getting her back up though.

“Do we have any choice, Bitch?” She puts a little more venom into it than is probably necessary but she’s feeling a little wounded. It’s been a long day after all and no one else is here trying to help the situation. There’s a conspicuous silence in the comms after she snaps until Prism chimes in,

“Aight, aight, I take it back, you got this girl.”

“Give me a second to call Chase and get him back here to take over then I'll try and fix whatever messes are there.”

She manages to navigate her way to Chase’s comm line on the screen and engages a private line. Of course Rob had to do this on Galen's day off AND when Chase had some job across LA.

“What’s up Rob, I’m a little busy right now, can it wait? I’m tryna do superhero shit out here.”

“Uh, Hi Chase, it’s Invisigal.” she starts, voice uncertain and wavering slightly, but before she can even explain he cuts her off.

“What in the fuck are you doing on Rob’s comms line? Is this one of your stupid ass pranks? Took me two days to get the shit out the suit last time you pulled something.” Confusion quickly turns to concern as the uncertainty in her tone registers. “Shit is everything alright?”

“Not really. Rob came into work today super ill but didn’t tell anyone, so shifts been a shit show all morning. I came in from a job to check on him to find he looked like a corpse propped in a chair. I got a little mad and when he went to apologise he basically passed out so now I really need you to get back and cover so I can get him home.” It all comes out as super quick word vomit and she takes a couple of steadying breaths.

“Well shit, fuckin’ idiot’s still clinging on to his martyr complex. Thought you’d have got that out of him by now.”

A dry laugh escaped her.

“I’m good Chase, just not that good.” which got a laugh back out of him.

“You said it, not me. You did the right thing calling me back in though. I just gotta finish cleaning up a few bits here and then I'll be back over. Shouldn’t be more than a couple of hours.”

“A couple of hours! Chase, what am I gonna do about the team?”

“Loathe as I am to admit it, you got a good head on your shoulders Invisigal, so use it. You’ll be fine. Anything that idiot can do, I'm sure you can as well.” and with that the line cut out.

The screen in front of her returns to the map of Torrance, so she clicks on the warning message from the beach.

“Thank god finally lad, what took you so long to respond?” there’s a distinct loud roar in the background that she’s all too familiar with. A Kaiju must’ve washed up again. Just another day in Torrance.

“What’s the problem, Punch-up?”

“What the.? Visi? What are you doing on the line? Where’s Rob?” Ah. Him and Waterboy must’ve missed the whole exchange earlier, what with the rampaging monster on a Cali beach.

“Rob’s out, tell me the problem.” She tries to be firm, making it clear in her tone they don’t have time for explaining.

“Well he sent us here for ‘a problem’ and it turns out it’s a feckin’ adolescent Kaiju. It’s terrifying the beach goers and looks to be gearing up to head inland but I’m not really sure the best course of action. I’ve tried my special moves but it ain’t working. Can’t reach the goods. Ha.”

“You got Waterboy with you right?” She’s thinking of the best course of action. First thing she thinks is if Golem could bring his baby Kaiju over and see if that calmed the older one but that’d take time they don’t have and put him off callouts for a while.  

“Aye”

“Get him to try and distract it with his water, double team him if possible, whatever you do, just keep it going back towards the ocean. Hopefully it’ll get tired or bored and leave.”

“You got it skipper” the line hissed and clicked out but not before she overheard the sound of Waterboy regurgitating water up. Even after all this time it still sounded just a little unpleasant.

She returned to the main screen. A few callouts had timed out while she called Chase and spoke to Punch-up but it meant the entire team was ready for action as new callouts came in. Taking a deep breath, she got to work.

“Cult of Cha’ad again, this time at a… Dunkin Donuts, seriously?  Mal, you good on this one?”

“On it babes. I’ll bring a few boxes back for the breakroom.”

“Sounds good.”

Another pop-up, this time an SDN guest featuring on a work-out program for a local TV network.

“One for you Flambae, show em your guns”

“Finally, someone who understands and recognises my hard work, I’ll give them a good show.”

“Don’t get too carried away, we’ll need you back quick”

“Stop being boring, you’re starting to sound like Robbo, I know what I need to do. Just let me do it.”

Jobs popped up and she did her best to send them out. It was becoming clear to her just how hard the work Robert did was, she could handle the hero selection or the calls, but doing those while also juggling rest times and post-job reports was pretty hard. She kept at it though as the first hour passed, it seemed by now she’d just about managed to course-correct from the worst of Rob’s messes earlier in the day. 

The team was starting to get into higher spirits as the shift levelled back out and the weirdest thing was, Visi could feel herself actually starting to enjoy it. It was certainly not as… exciting as field work could be but there was something deeply satisfying about weighing up the options before you, making a decision, and seeing it pay off. 

No wonder he didn’t want to give this up.

What she hadn’t noticed as she focused on the screen was Mandy leaning against a wall near the photocopier, watching her intently with a small but noticeable smile. She made a couple of notes on the tablet she was holding and after a few minutes quietly returned to her office.

“Invisi-g-g-g-al?”

“Yeah Waterboy? You two good?”

“We’re d-done with the Kaiju, heading b-back momen-en-ta… heading b-back now.”

“Hey nice job you two, you’re killing it out there.” It felt awkward to say but she wanted to make sure she acknowledged their work. She can remember just how much the praise meant to her when she started getting shit right when Rob joined, even if on reflection a good chunk of that was underlying attraction. 

“Wouldn’t say we killed it but the big fellas definitely gonna be snoozing for a while.”

“That’s what I like to hear. Get yourself back and rest up.”

“Roger that chief.”

A red error flashed on her screen and she had a moment of panic. It flashed over a returning Prism from a job she’d sent her out to at the refinery. Some wannabe Red Ring impersonators or something. Before she could even say anything Prism started yelling down the line

“Bitch those fucker’s got me good. What were you thinking sending me in with no backup?”

The panic rose in her, she’d managed to avoid too much trouble so far this shift but now someone was hurt. A feeling of guilt rose within her, this was her fault, she could’ve done better. No wonder Rob’s struggled to shift his martyr complex when this is what it’s like behind the desk.

“Fuck, I’m sorry Prism, I didn-”

“Sorry doesn’t fix my messed up hair. Or my broken arm. Fuck, it’s at a weird ass angle.”

She goes to carry on apologising, to promise she’ll get her back something in return for the suffering, but then she has a moment of clarity. That’s the job. She might get pissy when she gets injured or has trouble on a job but that’s exactly the risk they’re all aware of every day when they clock in. More and more she has a deeper appreciation for Rob and by extension Chase, Galen, and all the other dispatchers. So she takes a deep breath and opens the comm line to the team.

“No, it doesn’t. Shit happens though, we all know that. I didn’t have anyone else to spare. Get yourself back and seen to in the med wing and then get ready for more calls. We’re not even close to shift being over and we don’t have time for any bullshit.”

The response was instant.

“Damn Visi, Bob Bob really rubbed off on you. Wait no, I take it back, that sounded so wrong.”

“Look at you being all responsible babes.”

“Who needs Bobert, we got Dispatcher-gal on comms” 

“Alright enough guys, please, don’t make my life any harder than it currently is. I’m not afraid to give you a Rob style pep talk and you all know that’ll be painful.” 

The silence is deafening across the chat which makes Visi happier than it has any right to.

“Right, Sonar, I've got Vanderstenk on the line. He’s got errands that need running and personal protection. You’re all we’ve got available and uninjured. Don’t fuck it up or I will never hear the end of it from Rob.”

“You know I could make your lives hell with all the things I've heard when you two whisper to each other but I'll let it slide cause you’re sending me on this one. You got lucky.”

A few more jobs come and go. More school visits, someone has to help with organising the return cars on the now secured freeway (that one does make her feel a little guilty, especially when she sends Prism), a burst water main starts causing a sinkhole so she sends Waterboy and Golem. Must’ve been good because the indicators on her screen ping up green as the pipework is fixed and a deep mumble through comms comes in.

“That’s the gravy baby, good job Wetboy, we smashed it.”

There’s a lul in the jobs so she patches back in to Chase.

“How far out are you Chase?”

“Just landing in the car park now, sorry about the delay, there was some issues on the way back”

“What delay?”

“Shit you didn’t notice? It’s been nearly three hours since you called me back to Torrance.” he cuts the comms as he lands, the last thing echoing through the headset being a loud whoosh as he touches down.

The computer dinged the ever familiar bell tone that signified the end of shift, startling Visi out of her thoughts. She took the headset off and rubbed her face, letting out a big sigh. That’d been a lot, a lot more than she thought it would’ve been but she’d managed it, hopefully. Leaning back in her chair she looked over at Rob, who was still out cold in his chair, gently snoring. At some point during the shift, Beef had jumped onto his lap and was dozing away happily. She reached over and scratched behind his ears the way he liked and then stood up, just as Chase arrived.

“Damn you weren’t lying when you said he looked like a corpse.”

“Yeah. Fucker’s been asleep the last three hours.”

“Well, the city wasn’t on fire as I flew back so you musta done something right. Get this idiot home and look after him, cause he sure as shit won’t look after himself. I'll let Mandy know you won’t be here for second shift.”

She gathered anything from his desk she could think he might need, mostly just his phone and keys he’d left on the desk. Not that they’d need the keys, she had her set with her, but figured he wouldn’t appreciate her leaving them at the desk. Clipping Beef’s lead to his collar, she starts to tie it round one of her belt loops so she can keep him from running while having both hands free to deal with Robert before being interrupted by Chase.

“Where d’you think you're taking my co-pilot?” She thinks he’s joking, even if he sounds serious.

“I.. uh?” She’s actually lost for words.

“Seriously though, leave Beef with me, I'll look after him. If you’re all settled later let me know and I’ll fly him back over, but it might help not having this lil guy underfoot while you deal with that one.” he gestures dismissively to the still snoring Rob.

“Thanks Chase. I don’t know what I'd have done without your help today.”

“Help? I done jack shit other than come back from a job and then steal his dog. Now stop with the mushy shit. Go on, get. Take him home.”

She crouches down in front of Robert's chair, placing one hand on his knee and the other reaching to his face. She lightly caresses his face to try and rouse him, the other hand remaining on his knee in case he feels startled. Maybe it’ll help bring him round.

“Wakey wakey Mecha Man.”

A disgusting snort comes out of Robert's nose before he coughs heavily and looks directly at Visi, eyes wide open but still half-asleep. 

“Real sexy Rob. Keep on like that and you’ll have me soaking.” She deadpans. Chase chokes back a laugh.

“Huh? What?”

“Nevermind.”

“Shit I was asleep? I gotta get back to the team, shift’s still got-” She cuts him off with a gentle finger pressed over his lips.

“It’s lunch Rob, morning shift is over. The team is fine.”

“But, what?”

“The team got through it. Now we’re going home so you can rest.”

There’s confusion, admiration, tiredness, and a dozen other emotions in his eyes as his brain tries to process what he’s heard. It decides on the easiest course of action.

“Okay”

“You’re gonna have to stand up so we can get you home okay? I’m here for support.”

“Nnn I think.. I’ll be okay.” he tries to stand quickly and stumbles slightly, Visi lurches forward and catches him before he can fall off the chair.

“Okay Tiger, let’s not do that again. Let me help you.”

He mumbles another sentence, so she goes for a dirty tactic. She grabs his face with one hand, causing his eyes to open in surprise. She stares right into his soul with her dirtiest and most annoyed look and simply says,

“Let. Me. Help.”

Which he finally does, with what little bit of stubborn pride he was holding on to crumbling away. They stand him up and she loops one arm around his waist, the other holding his backpack. She feels him put an arm over her shoulder and they slowly but surely make their way to the elevator, then the lobby, then the car park where they wait for the uber she’s booked. By the time it arrives he’s starting to fall asleep against her again. It’s an awkward manoeuvre getting him situated in the car which unfortunately for her has a low roof and even lower bucket like seats. 

“C’mon Slugger, nice and easy now, into the car.” She says as she tries to get him in without hitting his head, desperately ignoring the dirty looks from the driver who has clocked just how bad Rob looks.

Finally he’s seated and buckles himself in, she runs round and gets in the other side with his backpack between her legs in the footwell. Fighting the urge to snap at the driver to stop looking and start driving, she just smiles her best ‘SDN Approved Customer Service Smile™’ and tries to reassure instead,

“I know he looks a little rough, he’s just tired. No sick or anything from him today.” 

Smooth Courtney, what a way to reassure him

The driver offers a curt grunt in response and starts driving. Thankfully the roads are relatively quiet and it isn’t long until they pull up at Roberts block. He’d fallen asleep on the way but the sudden breaking of the car jolts him awake.

Ten minutes later, they’ve managed to get into his apartment, Courtney cursing the building management all the while for still not fixing the elevator. She was going to complain so hard to the next person she saw with any responsibility around here, if they even existed.

She settles him on the futon, fully intending to help get him into some comfier clothing before her next job, but he pretty much sits down and falls straight back asleep. So she adjusts the cushions as best she can so he won't have a crick in his neck, puts a blanket over him, and then heads back out of the apartment.

The store nearby is thankfully very quiet as she buzzes round the aisles as quickly as she can. She grabs anything she can think of that could help. Gatorade, tinned soup, some bread, multivitamins, painkillers. Grabs herself some treats for the next couple of days and then after a moment of thought, grabs a few more raw ingredients before heading to the check-out, basket much heavier than intended.

Checking her phone as she drops the bags of groceries off on his kitchen counter, she managed to do the trip in less than half an hour. Go Courtney. She puts everything away before taking a Gatorade out of the pack and putting it on the side. Taking a moment to quickly check over the apartment, she makes a mental note of a few things she needs to do:

• Get Rob into some comfier and warmer clothes. He was practically shivering on the way up.

• Change the sheets on the bed, they reek of sweat.

• Tidy up the bathroom with the traces of concerningly green vomit before it starts to really stink

• Cook chicken noodle soup, extra tasty to help him get better.

• As soon as he is in a fit state to handle it, kill him for worrying you so badly.

That seemed about right.

It took around 10 minutes to actually get Rob awake and changed into sweatpants and a hoodie but he seemed slightly less tense and uncomfortable now he was out of his SDN shirt and his usual brown slacks. He initially resisted her attempts to get him to drink some of the Gatorade she’d put aside for him but relented and drank around a third of the bottle before going back to sleep.

Heading into the bedroom, she chucked the dirty clothes into the laundry basket in the corner and looked at the bed. The bedding was crumpled and still had wet patches from where he must’ve sweated throughout the night. 

This fucking idiot. Apparently battling a fever all night and just decided to go to work anyway. 

She makes an executive decision that the bedding change can wait a little longer and decides it’s time to work on dinner. She puts her speaker on, the small oval one she’s been using here since the party all that time ago. A wave of nostalgia hits her as she thinks of it and how different the place has become since, so she puts the same music on from the housewarming party. She misses a little bit of the intro as she fiddles with the volume to ensure she doesn’t wake Rob up but then finds a sweet spot. Now she can really begin.

She chops carrot, celery, onion, turnip while dancing along to the music. It started with Radio by Bershy but moved onto the songs Rob had played at the beach day they’d had. She hadn’t shown him the playlist she’d been putting together yet but it was essentially a collection of all the songs they’d listened to together or she associated with him and the times they’d had. It even had whatever Italian classic had been playing in the restaurant when he’d finally actually asked her to be his girlfriend. It never failed to make her smile.

As she starts to start cooking, she realises just how much he must be wiped out by his illness. The music hasn’t stirred him, nor the smells or sound of the veg frying in the pan. Well. All the more reason to make sure this is a damn good soup that’ll help him recover. She gets the soup simmering away nicely and then returns to the bedroom to sort the sheets.

Twenty minutes later the bedroom looks practically brand new, with fresh sheets and the bedside tables wiped down. While cleaning she’d noticed the wrappers from her throat sweets on her bedside table. She’d be annoyed he’s chipped away at her limited supply but all she can think is he must’ve really been fighting demons to have gone digging for those, given he’d said he couldn’t stand the taste of the ones she liked last time he’d tried one.

She checks on Rob, checks on the soup. Both are okay. Which unfortunately means she has to now deal with the worst item on the list, cleaning the bathroom. 

Grabbing herself a Gatorade, she sits on one of the stools next to the kitchen island, thinking. She deserved a little break from the housework anyway. She could leave it for him to clean. It’s his mess after all and she knows he would absolutely clean it. Unfortunately, there’s three big reasons that won’t work. The main one is she has no idea how long he's going to be out and she doesn’t want to hold in a piss rather than use the slightly green vomit toilet while she waits for him to wake up. 

The second reason that creeps into her mind is that he wouldn’t hesitate to clean up after her in a moment like this. Shit, she’d probably wake up to a brand new apartment built up around her and he’d smile and say “well had to keep busy or something”. 

The third reason and the one that arguably freaks her out the most is, when it’s all laid out, she doesn’t actually mind too much. It’s her bathroom too, at least when she’s staying here, she’s cleaned it before to help out. It’s not like it’s not full of her hair products and cosmetics. If they ever moved in together, this would be par for the course anyway, so why should it matter now? Anyway, she’s already been tremendously domestic in changing the sheets and cooking dinner for him. 

So she digs out a very crusty and old pair of gloves out of the cupboard below his sink and heads into the bathroom.

---------------------------------------

She’s scrolling through her socials when she hears a slight snort and a rustling of blankets. After cleaning the bathroom she’d thrown her clothes into the laundry basket, had a shower, and got herself comfortable in some sweatpants and one of his hoodies. Turning round she sees Rob coming too on the sofa, which she just watches with amusement. At first he seems a little bit dazed and unsure then checks his phone, groaning, only then noticing Visi sat at his counter watching him. 

“Finally awake then sleepyhead?” she jokes, kicking her feet lazily. “Feel any better?”

All Rob does is put his hands over his face. He would have answered but his brain had just caught up with the day he’d had. He remembered being at work and having an awful shift and then Visi had shown up real mad and then he remembered slowly climbing up the stairs in his block. There wasn’t much else he remembered, apart from her grabbing his face and telling him to ‘let her help’. Remembering that alone, he couldn’t quite face up to looking at her just yet. She was definitely gonna chew him out.

“Cat got your tongue Mecha Man?” She hopped off the stool and moved to the edge of the sofa near him. Didn’t want to get too close and disturb him too much but she had to say something about earlier or it’d be eating at her all night. He just groaned in response.

“Just gonna get it out there. I was pissed off Rob. You broke your promise to me and I didn’t like it. At all. In fact I’m still a little pissed off. Don’t do it again.” There's a rawness to her voice, like she’s holding back emotion but some is still leaking through.

“I’m sorry Courtney…” he croaks out, throat still a little raw. She hands him the gatorade and then a bottle of cough syrup, motioning for him to take some and giving him a look that says ‘and don’t even think of not taking any’.

“I’ll let it slide this time cause I know how stubborn you are but this is the last time. I deserve better than that, and so do you. You’re no use to anyone if you’re not fit to do the job.” She wants to just burrow under the blanket and cuddle him and carry on looking after him but the conversation needs to happen, these things have to be said.

“I know.. I just.. Didn’t feel too bad in the morning and I thought it’d be better than you guys getting a different dispatcher.” It’s a feeble excuse and he knows it the moment it leaves his mouth, seeing the frown on her face just confirms it. Probably should’ve just kept his mouth shut. 

“Bullshit Rob. I saw the sheets, it looked like you’d had a tumble with Waterboy in there it had that many wet patches. It’s no wonder you looked so bad earlier, you must’ve been running a fever to sweat that much overnight. Don’t try and give me any more excuses either. I know you well enough now to know you’re bullshitting me.”

He has the good grace to look ashamed at that.

“I don’t know if you remember what I said earlier?” She looks to him for confirmation and he shakes his head. 

“I remember you yelling at me but my brain hasn’t caught up and remembered what you said. Please don’t yell again though I’m still feeling very fragile.” he tries to instill some humour into his tone, to add some lightness to the conversation.

“I told you that it’s not fair to put your own sense of self-importance over the wellbeing of the public we’re meant to help, the team you put at risk, and your own personal health.”

He wants to make a joke, bat it back, make a comment about Invisigal talking about public responsibility and optics but it all sticks in his throat when he sees she looks really upset. So he grabs one of her hands and squeezes.

“I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have come in today. The last thing I want is for you to worry.”

“Well I was worried, I’ve been worried since last night when you were clearly being evasive but I gave you the space and trust to be honest with me. I need you to start living up to that okay?” She squeezes his hand tight and pulls it to her chest, flattening their hands over her heart. “You’re not on your own anymore. You tell me that every day in your words and actions but you won’t believe it yourself, of yourself. That has to change. We’re a team Rob.” She pauses and he can see tears fighting to come out. “When I saw you at your desk you looked so bad and you basically just passed out on me. That sucked Rob.”

“I’m sorry to have put you through that Courtney. The last thing I wanted was for you to be affected by this.”

She sniffs and wipes her face on the sleeve of her hoodie. She takes a deep breath and smiles.

“I know, you’re lucky I love you Mecha Man or I'd have kicked your ass for this.”

“I’d expect nothing less Invisigal”

“Don’t push your luck! I might still decide to kick your ass.”

It’s then that the smell wafting around the apartment starts to really hit him. 

“What is that? That smells really good.”

“You hungry?” he nods furiously, prompting some laughter. “Well good news Rob, I've made you my chicken noodle soup. Guaranteed to cure whatever sickness you’re rocking.”

She stands up from the edge of the sofa and goes back to the kitchen island, dishing out soup into two bowls and setting them out with some glasses of water. Rob is just watching from the sofa.

“I ain’t bringing it to you, it’ll do you good to sit up properly and eat. Come on.” she laughs, gesturing at the dinner laid out on the counter.

It breaks him out of his daze and he stands up. He definitely doesn’t feel 100% but he remembers this morning struggling a bit with stairs and moving around so there's clearly been some improvement. Settling himself on the stool he looks at the soup before him. It looks good, really good actually. Hearty with plenty of vegetables and chicken, even some fresh herbs floating around. 

“What’s that look for? Didn’t think I could cook?” she teases.

“I mean not to put myself back in the doghouse but uh.. No. I’ve seen how you cook eggs. Or more appropriately, how you burn them.” 

“Way to kick a girl when she’s being domestic dude” she grins at him, even if it does niggle her slightly.

He didn’t seem to realise she was actually quite self-conscious about her ability to cook. She just never really had time when she was a villain and not long after becoming a hero she’d very quickly fallen in love with a man who didn’t just cook but was also very easy to persuade to get takeout. Wasn’t exactly conducive to being a master in the kitchen.

“Hey this looks great, I'm willing to concede you can cook if this tastes even half as good as it smells.” he said with a smile, trying to convey he was being sincere. It got a warm smile, so he counted that a success.

They started eating away and both seemed to have the same reaction

Shit, this is pretty good

At one point Rob got a spoonful of chicken and herb which after as he ate, he closed his eyes and exhaled in quiet enjoyment. It was making Visi feel almost giddy. 

“Carry on making noises about my food Tiger and I might get used to cooking for you.”

“I could get used to this, that’s for sure.”

They settle into a quiet rhythm of eating and chatting, interspersed with Visi grabbing painkillers and other medicine for him to have with the food.

It’s getting late after they finish, so they clear up the bowls and get ready for bed. Tiredness seems to be hitting Rob again judging by his lack of conversation. It’s only as they’re entering the bedroom that Rob perks up and looks around frantically.

“Where’s Beef?!” 

It makes Courtney want to laugh. It’s taken hours for him to notice the absence of the little guy.

“With Chase. He’s got him until you're better or want him back.”

“Oh. Okay. Yeah.” The panic about Beef over, he goes back to tired nodding and agreement rather than sentences.

Getting into bed, he rolls over and starts to make himself comfortable before another realisation seems to hit him and he rolls back over to face Courtney.

“Wait, I passed out at work today right?”

“..yeah? Like I said?”

“So who dispatched the Z-Team?”

“Well Chase finished your shift.” 

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to tell him she’d done the dispatching. Far from it, she wanted to spill it to him like an excited child, all that’d happened. Tell him everything she’d done and the decisions she’d made and see what he thought. She’d actually really liked it but she knew there’d be a lot of questions from him and she just wanted to get him to sleep and rest rather than asking about work.

“But Chase was over in Santa Barbara today doing a media appearance. There was no way he got back in time to do the rest of the morning shift.”

This asshole just can’t shut his brain down can he Jesus Christ.

“Um.” A pregnant pause as she weighed up what to say. She kept it simple. “I finished the morning shift.”

“What?”

“Yeah, I came back to check on you and you passed out. Galen was off, Mandy nowhere to be seen, and as you’ve just said Chase was busy. I did it until Chase returned.”

“Huh.” he seems genuinely impressed, but he also still seems very tired, which turns out to be Courtney's saving grace as he yawns. 

“I’m sure you did great. You can tell me all about it tomorrow but I’m so tired right now I don’t think I’ll be good conversation.”

“Sounds good to me, we’re gonna have time to kill while you recover anyway”

“What? You’re working tomorrow right?”

“I’m not going anyway until you’re better Robbie. That’s not just me either that’s coming straight from Chase.”

“Well. I guess I can live with that. Especially if it gets Chase off my ass.”

“Good answer.”

He smiles before turning back over to make himself comfortable. She leans in and gently kisses the back of his head before wrapping her arms and legs around him.

“How’d you know I like to be small spoon when ill” he mumbles through the pillow.

“Who doesn’t, idiot” she whispers back with a smile.

------------------------------------

By Wednesday morning Rob’s mostly back to normal, whatever flu or virus he’d had was finally starting to clear out of his system and he’d begun preparing to return to work the next day.

That is until he walked into the living room to find Visi shaking and shivering on the sofa in three layers of clothing and a blanket. She was coughing a little bit too. Placing his hand on her shoulder he looks at her with sympathetic eyes and asks

“You good?”

“Not really. Probably shouldn’t have kissed you and cuddled you while you were diseased though. I’ll be fine for work tomorrow though.”

“Mmm. Okay. We’ll see.”

The day passed and by the evening Rob felt pretty much normal again. Visi however was not doing so hot and she made the fatal mistake of telling Rob her plan while they sat next to each other on the sofa.

“I’m gonna go back to my place, have a bath or a long shower and sleep this off. I’ll be fine Rob.”

So he scooched over closer to her on the sofa, looked her deep in the eyes and simply said

“You know, that plan sounds decidedly like what I said on Sunday.”

“Uhhhh.” 

“Courtney, you just threw up twice in my bathroom. The second time after I’d just cleaned it up.”

“Well I cleaned up your weird green vomit so I’d say we’re even”

“What was it you said to me..? Oh yeah.” He leans in close to her, “Let. Me. Help.”

So she did, after all, she couldn’t exactly ask him to be less stubborn if she wouldn’t try herself. She already knew how much she liked him looking after her, like with her shoulder wound, or just generally with the dates and dinners and everything else, but the rest of the week settled into a quiet domesticity where they both let themselves be a little bit more vulnerable.

The Z-Team checked in a few times on messages, Rob taking the jokes about Courtney upstaging him on the dispatching pretty well. Chase even messaged Courtney to let her know the stats from her shift and that they were pretty good. It made her day, kept her beaming for hours even with the headache and fever she’d caught from Rob.

But the best part to Courtney was in the moments on the sofa when they kept working through her list of films. She even woke up after a nap to find Rob had actually written some reviews for them too. Amongst that and the caring, she realised one thing.

It was a realisation that he himself had come too only a few days earlier when he’d sat opposite her eating homemade soup she’d made to help him get better.

Simply,

I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with them