⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀I WANT MY BABY BACK
alexei helps bobby get his lover back. (they made a mistake)
robert didn’t try to forget you. no. you were the love of his life. you stood with him and his addiction until it almost killed you, literally.
“show us the worst ones.” when yelena requested the worst rooms in robert’s mind, he wasn’t worried about the times his dad put hands on him or when he was cracked out on meth at work.
it was the argument that tore he and you apart.
“alexei, no!” robert pushes alexei before he could hit you with a blow, hitting his past self with a punch. “but the crazy lady is screaming at you!” “i deserved it!”
robert sat in his corner in the tower, settled in his beanbag with his phone and milkshake. after drinking the last of his shake, his mind wandered to the emptiness of his life. the void wasn’t in his system, so this was a different kind of hurt. the empty void of love.
he found himself to your page. you still lived in a dingy apartment but you looked healthier. you had apparently been working at a vet not to far from your place (found from robert’s research). and you looked the same, prettier than ever.
“what are we doing?” yelena leans on the back of his beanbag, looking at his phone. “ooo, who’s this?” she takes his phone. “hey!” she stands up before he could reach for it. “what a beaut…haven’t i seen her before?” she scrolls a bit far. “oh! oh…” she looks back at him, giving him his phone. “why do you torture yourself like this?” he gives her a pathetic smile. “it eases my mind that she’s doing okay…”
she shakes her head. “it never ends out good, robert. you have to let her go.”
“do not listen to her, bobby.” a booming russian voice interjects. “chase that woman of your dreams. she is for you.” alexei walks into his corner, poking at robert’s chest. “no, yelena is right.”
“sorry. but she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. i am what people call cupid.” he pauses. “just you wait, bobby-boy.” he walks off with a smile.
yelena and bob watch, bob with confusion. “he’s going to be cupid.” yelena sighs.
it’s been weeks since that encounter. bobby has been hanging on to any type of update from you. whether it be a post you liked so he can note what you still like, or a story post of you and your friends going out.
the elevator doors open, alexei stepping out. “and this is where we stay.” he chuckles. “i’ll introduce you to everybody. yelena!” robert peeks his head out to see who he was talking to.
“fuck.” he gasps, hiding under his beanbag. “what the hell, alexei?” he grumbles under his breath.
“yes, papa?” the woman with poorly dyed hair walks down the spiral of stairs, her eyes locking onto you. “what is she doing here?” “she’s our new intern!” alexei exclaims, winking. “no, no.” she rushes down the stairs. “i’m sorry about all this. he’s a little crazy.” she guides you back to the elevator. “nonsense! we still have people to meet.” alexei pulls you out of her grasp, dragging you to a window. “and this,” he pulls the man from under the beanbag to his feet. “is bobby!”
“i swear i have nothing to do with this.” he rushes to explain himself. “i told him not to.”
“i’m sorry!” he steps to you. “he did this on his own. i-i had no part in this.”
“it’s true. alexei is an idiot.”
“cupid—you’ve to be kidding me.” you take your arm out of the russian’s hold, stomping to the elevator.
“wait! wait!” yelena stops you, closing in on you. “you were just trying to get me to leave and now you want me to stay?”
“just hear me out.” she waits for a rebuttal but continues when none is spoken. “i know you and bob have some…history together,”
“you don’t even know the half of it.”
“yes, that is true. but he has changed. a lot from what he’s told us.”
“did he pay you to say that?”
“please. just give him another chance.”
you look over to the corner that robert had holed himself in. he was fidgeting with his sleeves, embarrassed and anxious about alexei’s cupid services.
robert sits in front of you, playing with the cloth on his knees. “hi.”
“first, i-i’d like to say i had no idea this was happening. and i’m sorry.”
“actually i’m sorry for a lot of things. this and being…a child rather than a boyfriend to you.” he swallows. “it wasn’t fair to you…the way i acted. half the time i wasn’t even in my mind when i did it but it doesn’t make it better. i-i’m clean. almost…2 or 3 years, i think. well it wasn’t my choice for the first two but—”
he nods sheepishly. “right, sorry. what i’m getting at here is that…i’m not that same boy anymore. i’m getting better. and i technically have a place now instead of a crackhouse.”
“we have some good memories there.”
“you mean when craig had the place raided after making terroristic threats to a police officer?” you throw your head back with a cackle. “he was still running his mouth even in handcuffs.”
bob smiles. “yeah…he was.”
was this real? his cheek were hot the longer his eyes were on you. bob had many different fantasies about how his atonement would go, most of them bad. this was reality. you were in front of him, laughing instead of screaming your vocal cords afray.
your laughter dies, along with the smile on your face much to robert’s dismay. “i hear you, i really do. and i would be lying if i didn’t say i missed you.”
“there is no but. i really did miss you, robert. you don’t understand how pissed i was when you up and left to southern asia without a note, letter, or message. and how you got there is beyond me. i had to get that information from a news outlet years later!”
robert nods like a sad puppy. “an-and i’m really sorry. i didn’t know or think i would be there that long—but that’s besides the point. point is…i want to start over. and i’ll to just about anything to be good.”
with no hesitation, you accepted his proposal. you did miss your man, after all. “you better not screw up.”
“yes!” alexei cheers, stomping door the stairs. “bobert boy!” he picks him up and pulls him into a choking hug. “we did it! we got the girl!” robert strains, his face contorted with discomfort. “yes. yes, we did.” he whines.
“i told him not to come down there!”