Ëâ· ÍÍÍÍâłâ„ | 22 | she/her, jack of all trades Ëâ· ÍÍÍÍâłâ„ âwe shall fly beyond this isle, the corners of this world our mere prologueâ
alright, i'll be the one to say it. ao3 and tumblr becoming "mainstream" did so much damage to the community and the writers. i have seen loads of videos and posts about:
1. people hating on writers and fics. writing is something we do for free and for fun. if you stumble upon a fanfic that isn't necessarily your cup of tea or you just don't like, scroll. dont read it. literally leave their page. you don't know if this could be the author's first work that they're so excited about, you dont know if the language they're writing in isn't their first language, you dont know that the writer could be a literal teen and loads of other reasons. fanfictions don't HAVE to be perfect. you write what you want to write because we do it for fun and enjoyment and we want to share that to the world. seriously, what is the wrong with that?..
2. x reader consumers getting WAY too entitled. the number of tiktoks i've seen that say "i run a strict program when it comes to reading fanfics." girl you aint running shit. this is FAN FICTION you're reading. F A N F I C T I O N. there is no denying that most fanfiction writes are beyond talented but just because you read one fanfic that exceeds your expectations doesn't give you the right to talk down on others that don't. people have their own personal writing style, their way of doing things and you talking shit on that isn't right.
at the end of the day, we are all humans, reading and writing is what we do and what we're meant to do. and for you to talk shit about a person WRITING is so insane. we are humans. not some robots that you can tell what to do so you can consume it.
i've seen so so many authors take down their fanfics and losing all motivation to write because of a hate comment. DONT LIKE DONT READâŒïž
and to every author reading this, this community values your work and your contribution. we love u and, please, never let anyone's negative words have an effect on you.
on my second viewing of obsession, i had the realization that nikkiâs story at the party wasnât the movie using incest as an easy shorthand for making the audience uncomfortable or creating a general âthings are offâ vibe but was another way the real nikki was crying outâa metaphor for the fact that nikki, like gretel, is being made to fuck her âlittle brotherâ (bear) under duress, at the behest of an external magic (the witchâs spell in her story; obviously, bearâs wish)
Workplace Indifference (Robert Robertson x Invisigal)
AO3 tags (because i will be posting it on there when i get my invite so Tumblr saw it first) : Robert Is A Girl Dad, Theyâre Allergic To Feelings, Chase And Beef Remain Superior, Possible Slow Burn Depending On My Patience, Its A Dispatch Fanfic Theres Gonna Be Swearing
Disclaimer: this is a slice-of-life type fic merged with the usual Dispatch shenanigans, there is a child oc and if that isn't your thing- that's cool! I don't think this fic will be for you and hope you're able to find one that works for you! But if you are down to check this out, i hope you enjoy it- inaccuracies, chaos and all :)
Characters: Robert Robertson (formally known as Mecha-Man) Invisigal (aka Courtney), Kaira (Kai for short), and the rest of the team as and when they fit into the plot!
if you happen to see this anywhere but here, know its not me, the plan is to post this onto AO3 with all that chapters that will follow when they lettttt meeeee innnn but that won't be for a while, so yeah, if its anywhere but here, its not me
CHAPTER ONE
The clock on the wall beside the leaderboard read: 6:54 am as Robert stretched out his corporate confined trousered-legs under the small expanse of his desk. The day- much like his shift- had just begun, obnoxiously bright and early- with Beef just short of a hairâs breadth away from him, bathing lazily on his dog bed as a shaft of sunlight spilled through the Superhero Dispatch Network call-centre. It wasnât that he hated morning shifts- the pay was, well not exactly great but something, and he always managed to score a cup of non-stale coffee- but that particular morning heâd been greeted by a - hate to do this so last minute but somethings come up and I canât watch Kai.- text, so now he was logging onto the SDN system, waiting to see what tom-fuckery the team would greet him with, all whilst a small child stood by his desk watching him in that weird, outwardly judging way kids did.Â
The shrill ring of the landline phone had him turning his focus away from the unblinking child, connecting the millionth call that morning to the system to fill in the Z-Team and instruct them where they needed to be assigned. It had yet to turn 7 am and already the whole of the call centre was in a flurry patching through minor and major incidents alike for the superheroes and superhero-adjacents (the Phoenix Program) to deal with. He could hear Chase in the neighbouring booth cursing up a storm and swigging a much needed cup-of-joe.Â
It was going to be a long shift.Â
He was about to reach out for his own âproperty of SDNâ branded travel-mug, filled with a dark roast, wafting in the small space when he felt little hands tap-tap the side of his armed-chair. He pushed out from under the desk, flopping his head to the side to face the tiny disruption head on as she looked up at him unblinking, russet hair, freckled face and a few front teeth missing. She stood about yay-high, just able to peer over the arm-rest without stepping on her tippy toes with her SDN name-tag- that Chase had eagerly borrowed for her from the storage room- sitting skew-whiff on her top proudly displaying- Kaira- Saving the day behind the screen!Â
âI thought you were watching that Evil Man VS Hero Bots show?â He questioned, noting the discarded tablet under his desk where a space-themed blanket had been tossed to the side along with snack wrappers littering the floor.
He could faintly hear the show playing, muffled by the carpet as she fixed him with a- I was but now iâm not- look before pointing at the monitor.Â
âMomma-âÂ
âIs a very busy woman and working.â He finished for her, watching the Z-Teamâs trackers bop across the screen, most of them patrolling their designated areas with the odd few needing to be reminded to get back on course. cough, cough Flambae. He looked away from the screen to see Courtneyâs eyes on their daughter looking back at him, watching and waiting as he sighed, âbutâŠI guess it wouldnât hurt to say hi.âÂ
Her head- which had been resting on the arm-rest, cheek smushed against the hard-rubber- perked up at that, head tilted in a similar manner to his own as she threw her arms up, demanding to be picked up, âsay hi to momma.âÂ
âYeah, yeah,â He lifted her up onto his knee, driving the spinny-chair back under the desk, mindful of trampling on her tablet that was still blaring the showâs end-credits into the crumb-coated carpet. âCanât really say no to you.âÂ
Kai grinned at that, eager hands reaching for the headset on the desk as he slipped them on over her head, adjusting the mic and gave her the go-ahead with a small nod of approval, âAlright mini-me. Youâre on, go nutsâŠwithin corporate approved reason.âÂ
âHi!â She chirped into the microphone, the two-letters muffled and high-pitched giving Sonarâs echolocation a run for its money. Someone swore on the line, disgruntled by the shrill frequency emitting through the channel. Whilst the othersâŠÂ
Punch-Up: âOkay, who brought the tiny human?âÂ
âNegative.â Robert said into the spare-headset, moving towards the mic so that it could catch his words that unlike the one Kai was hogging had seen better days. He faffed around trying to plug it into the wheezing system, ramming the connector into the jack as it finally relented. Heâd have to ask Galen to take a look at it at some point. âJust a last-minute babysitting cancellation so youâll have to excuse my sidekick for the day.âÂ
Prism: âThis is the cutest form of nepotism.âÂ
He couldnât exactly argue with that. âAnd yeah itâs Kai so if we could keep sex jokes, innuendos and swearing to a minimu-âÂ
âLike shit?â Kai asked, headset already slipping half-way down her face, with all the seriousness of a small child whoâd heard a swear or two slipped in their presence that deftly stores them away to use at the most inopportune (or perfect, depending on who you ask) timing.Â
Robertâs eyes widened, hand swiftly moving to cover the microphone as cackling burst through the line, a sound that suspiciously sounded like Sonar wheezing.Â
Chase, a booth over from them, snorted, âJesus Christ, I love that kid.âÂ
âYes, like shit.â Robert said defeatedly, waiting for the laughter to die down on their end as he scratched the side of his jaw in a- so, help me- gesture before clearing his throat. âRight, fuckers.â Kai turned to look at him, scandalised, âStatus updates.âÂ
Affirmatives and grumbled excuses- from those not in their assigned patrolling areas soon followed from the Z-Team, well from everyone except one-Â
âInvisigal, status update.â He repeated a little firmer watching her pixelated head bop across the tracking screen as she walked through what seemed to be a side-road before being spat back out onto the main-street.Â
âAre you-â the sound of someone gulping for air filled the tinny speakers, âcorrupting our child?âÂ
âMomma!â Kai screeched, stubby little fingers reaching out to touch the screen of the shittier version of the Gateway 2000 crap-boxes that took half-a-century to boot up, covered in dust motes and powered by sheer stubbornness. The top bosses at SDN had made promises to pull their fingers out of their asses and upgrade the tech, but so far bullshit budget cuts had hindered them from doing so, Blonde Blazers words not his..okay, maybe heâd added the bullshit part.Â
Oblivious to her dadâs plight, Kaiâs eyes and whole world lit up at the sight of her second-favourite person, Beef and Chase unanimously sharing the spot for first.Â
âCanât corrupt the corrupt-ee.â He joked, but the truth was Kai- in all of her loving, relatively adorable and occasionally grotty, glory- was a bit of a little shit, something sheâd definitely inherited from the both of them and something he hoped sheâd never grow out of, âhow are things faring on your end?â
âStill alive, no sign of the perp- hi baby girl.â She paused, taking a breath before ducking inside of an alleyway, âworking hard or hardly working?â Silence. Kai looked at Robert as if to say- is this who iâm related to?- as he gave her a solemn nod. Invisigal paused, âtough crowd.â She flicked through the digital details of the perp theyâd been called about who- when Invisigal had arrived promptly to the location to throw the book at his sorry ass, heâd taken off, so now she was scouring the streets- and mostly reaching dead-ends- to find him.Â
Robert manoeuvred around Kai to log the guy's whereabouts, or lack thereof, onto the ancient computer system. He frowned, the rampant ba-dum-ba-dum of his heart filled with things he didnât dare to name, beat incessantly inside of his chest as he switched his channel to just him and Invisigal, âVisi?âÂ
A pause. âYeah?âÂ
âIt would really suck if you diedâŠ.for Kai. So, donât go being a hero if you donât have to.âÂ
For one gut-wrenching moment Robert internally panicked that the others had heard it through Kaiâs mic or worseâŠhe hadnât patched the call to just him and Invisigal and the rest of the team had heard everything. But when silence ensued, to the point he was about to ask Courtney if she was still there Kai chimed in, âsmash bad guys?âÂ
Robert was pulled from his momentary dread at that as he looked up, an almost comical silence replacing the drawn out one from moments ago. He could practically hear Visiâs thoughts as she inwardly negotiated whether to go the responsible adult route, or crack a crude joke with the possibility of little ears overhearing it. The- thatâs what she said- practically begging to be spoken.Â
Luckily for them, and Kaiâs newfound ability to parrot everyone around her- she went the responsible route, biting back a grin as she wiped the dirt and gravel from the palm of her hands onto her pants, âYeah, baby.â The cool morning air whistled in the belly of the alley as she settled back against the wall of some Sushi place. âIâve got some bad guys to smash. Iâll kick all of their bad-guy butts, promise.âÂ
Kaiâs entire face lit-up at that, momentarily startling Beef in her excitement as he rolled to face away with a disgruntled huff. Robert half-listened to them as he did quick-check inâs with the rest of the team, not because he wasnât interested in listening to Visi banter with her mini-me, but because navigating the whole co-workers who co-parent thing was still new territory for them both. That and his stomach betrayed him by doing fucking gymnastics anytime she was in his vincity, talking to him- breathing, existing. So, he found it best to observe from afar, distract the mind and barricade the heart and definitely not think about the woman and her carbon-copy, who was sitting on his knee chattering away, that had him right where they wanted him, at their mercy and ready to fold the second either of them needed something.Â
Visi liked to call it tactical bonding. Robert preferred the term fucking manipulative.
Soon after he left them- keeping a watchful eye every now and again- to their own vices, the rest of his day was spent watching little legs determinedly escaping to greet everyone at their desks- before he would realise the lack of child at his side and have to sprint comically down the aisles to track her down. Then a visit to the break-room inevitably resulting in smears of Twinkie on his shirt, trouser-leg, and in his hair which he ended up drenching under the restroom sink and drying it under the hand-dryer. Followed by plenty of snuggles, napping- only one of those times being Robert- and belly rubs, Beef.Â
The morning sun had come and gone, the light drizzle that came with the afternoon beginning to leave as the stars began blinking into existence, appearing against the skyâs darkening canvas when the door- the one that staff had been exiting for the past hour as they clocked out for the day- now opened, familiar footsteps sounding against the fraying carpet causing his heartbeat to go up a tick.Â
Courtney winced as she clicked her neck feeling the weight of a long-strenuous shift on her shoulders, a definitive ache in her leg that hadnât been there when sheâd woke up which had subsequently appeared after sheâd kicked ass. Not long after Robert had managed to convince Kai to leave the team be with the promise of getting a pack of sour-patch kids from the vending machine- Incase there was ever any doubt she was Invisigalâs kid- sheâd tailed the perp, tripping him up and restraining him a few blocks down from the alley, arm bent behind his back in a way arms werenât supposed to bend before taking his whinging-self back to the HQ to let the supes deal with him. Out of sight, out of mind and all that. Sheâd lingered back there long enough to have seen Robert and Kai at his desk, where theyâd been very much awake and shovelling sour-patch kids into their gobs, heads thrown back in a similar fashion, laughter ringing around the small space as Visi stopped and listened to the sound, it wasâŠnice.Â
âFor someone determined to keep him at arms lengthâŠyou keep finding yourself back to him,â Phenomaman observed in that other-worldly wisdom of his, like he was in your head. He stood by the bulletin board, not looking at Visi- but like his own mind was elsewhere, an encyclopaedia of advice on love churning in that honker of a brain of his. Visi followed his eyes to the closed door of Blonde Blazerâs office. Still not over that then, huh.Â
âYeah uh real poetic stuff big man, reallyâŠbut I should be-âÂ
âLove is a burden, some would even say a strain on the heart.â
âThatâsâŠnot exactly selling it-âÂ
âBut it is the greatest joy I have known, and I would relive the heartache of losing love if it meant I was able to experience it again.âÂ
That gave her pause. Visi chewed on his words, before looking back at her people, as she tried to make sense of the word that had been given to the ache sheâd carried since Robert walked his scrawny ass into that very spot years ago, when sheâd mouthed off, tested and pushed him, ached for him to give as much as she gaveâŠand then he had, and Kai had come into the picture and now here they were, still dancing around, refusing to give voice to that ache because that would be admitting it exists. And besides that one night when theyâd drunk their weight in shitty whiskey at Sardines, she didnât even know what he felt, if he felt anything at all.Â
And now the duo, unlike their lively selves just a few hours ago where dozing away at his desk, the overhead lights long since having turned off with just the glare of his computer screen to illuminate them. She stopped a few feet shy away from them, as brutalities, celebrations, grief and love happened outside in the world, she paused to just appreciate this little bubble they found themselves in. Kai was dead-weight in Robertâs arms, snoring into his neck. Robert wasnât exactly faring any better in the sleeping beauty department with his head cocked to the side, a trickle of drool down in his stubble as he snorted, startling himself awake only to see Invisigal stood there.Â
âSleeping on the job, thatâs not a good look Robertson."Â
âPerving on people whilst theyâre vulnerable, talk about not looking good. HR would have a field day.âÂ
They both chuckled, light and easy like theyâd been doing it all along. She took a step closer to the father-daughter duo as he stood up out of the chair and shifted the sleepy figure into Visiâs awaiting arms, he watched as his girls visibly relaxed once they were with each other, the stress of the day fading from Courtneyâs face as she relaxed. The feeling of their daughter safely tucked up within her arms would never get old.Â
Robert chuckled again, low and drowsy, because of course he was the type of person to laugh, twice, at his own remark, his arms now feeling oddly empty as he stretched them, his back popping deliciously before he slid the chair back under his desk.Â
âYouâŠstaying late?â Invisigal tested the waters, once the laughter had died down and that warm feeling was just a dying flicker in her chest.Â
âJust winding things down for the night.â He said, kneeling down onto the ground to pick up the crumbs mashed into the carpet the best he could, placing them into the bin, before picking up the now very much dead tablet- only narrowly avoiding boinking his head as he sat up- and setting it down on the desk. He reached out to shut down his monitor, the old thing practically sighing in relief as it switched off for the night as he nudged Beef with his foot, much to the displeasure of the equally sluggish dog- after-all itâs hard laying around all day and being snuck treats from a persistent child- who he scooped up into his tired arms, his first baby flopping into them with a contented sigh, âwaited so you could take her straight home rather than having to pick her up from my place.âÂ
âThanks.â Silence swooped in after that, that painful pause that always followed when neither of them quite knew what to say because pushing boundaries, testing limits till one of them caved had been easy, fun even, when it had been the two of themâŠbut then Kai rocked up, switched their lives up and forced them to get their shit together, and suddenly it wasnât just about them anymore. If they fucked aroundâŠtheyâd find out and thereâd be a little girl whoâd be caught in the middle of it all. So the carefully placed distance, the fine balance of leaving communication to all things Kai or work, worked for them. It kept all- if there was even any to begin with- stray, lingering feelings at bay, âNight.âÂ
He shook his head, telling his feet not to follow them out as he watched them leave, âyeah, night.âÂ
