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@secretlypansexualmango
Robert Roberson is so special because he’s such an optimist, in the weirdest way possible. He knows he going to die, has accepted it, but still believes in his core that what he does is worth it, that dedicating himself to saving people is worth the pain and loneliness and struggle. He seems like a cynic and in a lot of ways he is, especially when it comes to himself, but never once does he allow that to prevent him from doing good.
Lying isn't really an option AU. And he's still Fine
He's still fine. He can still say that much. It doesn't count as lying if he believes in it fullheartedly. It's fine that he's got no furniture. He doesn't need it anyways and he's gotten used to sleeping upright in a chair over the years of using Blue's cockpit as his bed as well as a workplace.
It's fine that he's got no food in the house. There's plenty in the vending machine at work, and Robert has more than enough to allocate 20 a week for his eating needs. Twinkies, trail mix, and Mars bars have enough nutrition and sugar to keep his brain going, and that's all SDN needs from him anyway. It's fine that he's got like 3 sets of clothes in his closet. Workshirts are provided for free. The flight suit is hanging unused. And he's got 1 button-up for important events and a moth-ridden band shirt from Corroded Coffin he kept because it's been good as both a rug to soak up blood and a sleeping shirt every once in a while.
Robert is fine.
No Yes. He does know why they're worried. No Yes. He doesn't want help. No Yes. He doesn't think he deserves help
No Yes he probably would benefit from some therapy, but the therapist could be helping someone with actual, real needs.
Robert is fine.
Yes, the tears sting his cheeks. Thank you for asking, Waterboy
Imagine a fic where Robert is telling Z team about some of his old missions, partly just to share, and partly for training purposes. Now that Z team is becoming a legitimate and respected hero team, the kind of missions they get are going to start to change, and he wants them to be prepared.
The way he wasn’t prepared when he became Mecha Man, when people already trusted him with their lives.
He is, maybe, a bit too calm about it, a bit too relaxed when describing some truly heinous crimes he had to investigate. He’s also way too calm about how young he was when he had to deal with those things.
I have a deep yearning for an au where Robert through some magic or power loses the ability to lie, and decides he’s still fine to go into work after. Which by certain metrics he probably was, but if he’d known just what was going to happen he might’ve actually stayed home for once in his life. It’s not that he went out his way to lie to Z team or Chase or Blazer, more so just the sort of white lies that had become habit.
‘Yes I’m doing fine,’ when he’s having a pretty rough chronic pain day. Or ‘it was no big deal’ to Chase when he was talking about something fucked up from Robert’s childhood.
Even more telling are the things Z team would’ve assumed were white lies he told them, which turn out to be the horrifying honest truth. That he’s not upset about the way his life turned out, that he’s not upset he had to become a hero so young. He’s not mad or disappointed that his body is in shambles before he even in his mid thirties. That he is genuinely not that attached to his own life.
Robert Robertson deserves to be pampered during the holidays, he deserves so much kindness and love because he is a person who spreads that into the world with no expectation of it being returned.
He’s just so genuinely selfless it hurts to look at. I want Z team to include him in their holiday traditions, I want them to give him affections and attention. I want them to give him meaningful gifts that show how well they know him and how much they pay attention to him. That they love him so much, and aren’t afraid to show him.
Headcanon that Robert never got to have a real Christmas celebration as a kid, and when he got older there was no one to celebrate with. The only gift he’s ever bought was for Beef, and even then he forgot to buy it til the day of.
So with Z team he’s worried about not doing a good enough job getting them presents so he goes overboard. Not super pricey exactly, but super insightful and personalized gifts he spent a considerable amount of time on.
Do we think Robert has ever had tea before, because I’m can’t imagine this man having had anything other than coffee or energy drinks
Funny idea. Do you think the Z-team regularly takes Robert out to bars and such and always ends in a bar fight every time they go out with him. When asked why they always start or get into a fight with Robert there, the Z-team just shrugs and says "Our dispatcher needs enrichment."
I do think Z team would take Robert out to a bar when he's feeling antsy, maybe the Mecha Man suit would be in for repairs so he's only able to dispatch so he hasn't gotten out in a while. So they go to a villain bar, so that they have an excuse that they didn't start the fight- so it's not their fault really.
It takes Robert a while to figure it out, and when he does it's only because Invisigal makes a joke about how much they love to watch him fight, wink wink nudge nudge.
Dispatch concept: Robert feels bad for the people who care about him, as in he feels bad that they care about him, because he knows he's going to die. He knows he's going to die young, messy, violently and its going to be a public spectacle, so he feels guilty that they're going to have to go through that. He feels like its his fault for tricking them into thinking he was a person worth investing in.
I love characters who are extremely hypercompetent and simultaneously massive losers
I'm obsessed with the idea that as they get to know each other better, Z team notices just how alike Robert and Chase are. The way they act and speak, etc., same cadence and type of insults. Eventually it comes out that the reason they're so alike is because Chase was pretty much the only person bar his father that Robert spent any real amount of time with as a child. Genuinely the only person who took the time to speak with him as a person and get to know him.
Robert loves Z team so much, they're fucking idiot assholes sometimes- most of the time- but they're his idiot assholes and anyone who tries to speak down about/to them will feel the full wrath of all of his pent up rage. Which is quite a bit of pent up rage lets be honest.
The only other person who's allowed to shit talk them is Chase, anyone else should hope they have really good health insurance.
It takes a while, but eventually Z team notices that Robert's observational skills aren't limited to being a hero or a dispatcher, and that he's been using them to better figure out Z team outside of being a hero. He meticulously learns coffee orders, favourite drinks and takeout restaurants, he remembers Flambae's niece -everyone’s favourite colours and movies, he is very purposefully studying them so because he cares about them. He wants to remember important details about them, what they care about and what they like because he wants them to know he cares and for them to have the things they like.
Robert believes in them, loves them and wants them to be happy, wants them to lead better more fulfilling lives because he thinks they deserve them.
I love fics where Robert throws down for Z team at the drop of a hat, especially when they go out to a bar. Someone says something rude/derogatory about Flambae? Punched in the face immediately. Robert hears someone make a joke about spiking Invisigal's drink? He's tackled them to the floor and is beating the shit out of them. Someone makes an offensive comment to Sonar? He's already thrown his glass into their face hard enough that it breaks.
Z team of course, would pretend they're vaguely annoyed by this because they don't need their squishy dispatcher getting into fights for them when most of the time its just talk. Really though, they're flattered and more than a bit smitten that Robert defends them knowing they don't need his help, that he thinks their feelings and safety are worth getting banned from bars. They're strong enough and intimidating enough that people don't usually go out of their way to help them like that, but not Robert. Robert cares for them and loves them, even if he shows it via acts of violence and bar fights.
Something I haven't really wrote about on here is how Robert probably isn't used to having any downtime, specifically he's not used to having to find things to do, and he's not used to being bored.
As a kid most of his time was swept up by training to be Mecha Man, but he was left alone by his dad, he had time to himself. Sometimes Chase was there, but he must've spent a lot of time alone. Maybe tinkering or reading or watching tv. Kid stuff was secondary to Mecha Man stuff, but he probably still had some personal interests he spent time on. But then his dad dies. But then someone who helped his dad be a hero killed him. But then it's his turn to be Mecha Man, much much earlier than he thought.
Then he doesn't have time for tv or reading or even tinkering for fun, those kinds of childish interests are selfish and a waste of time when he could be training or out there saving people.
It isn't because when he stops moving stops running and working and focusing on something else he starts to remember his dad is dead that he's dead and now he's the last
It's selfish to take time to relax, so he works himself to exhaustion everyday, trains and saves people until all he can do is pass out on his bed if its a good day- inside the suit if its a bad one.
So, when the suit is gone and he's still here, when the suit is gone and he just got out of a coma- what is there left to do, when he's little more than the leftover ghost of a legacy greater than himself.
He doesn't know how to be a person anymore, he lived as a soldier for years and years, eating a sleeping as little as he could get away with. I'm imagining him sitting there for hours just staring at nothing, dissociating because he genuinely has no idea what to do with himself. He spent so long cutting out all of the pieces of himself that didn't fit into Mecha Man that he doesn't know how to live as Robert anymore.
We need to talk/write more about just how compassionate and caring Robert is. He gives so much of himself to help other people and doesn’t expect anything in return. A lot of people touch on Flambae forgiving Robert for cutting off his fingers, but not so much Robert not being upset that he’s working with Flambae. Because Flambae tried to kill or at least severely injure him in their fight and not once does Robert let it affect the way he treats Flambae at work. Maybe he’s a little snarky at times but he doesn’t sabotage him, or try to cut him, or believe in his chance for redemption.
Everything is about love actually, Robert’s love for his father, his love for Mecha Man. His love for Chase and Z team and the people of Los Angeles, his love for every single person he saves. It is the love at the core of his being that makes him the hero he is, that lets him see the best in people and lead them to become the greatest versions of themselves. His love is giving and sacrifice and himself, he is made of love he is overflowing with it.
You cannot do Robert justice without accounting for the love and care etched into his bones into his soul. His compassion and genuine care beyond the gruffness and the sarcasm. He is who he is because of love. It’s always love.
