If there is a trope I love when it comes to Sonar/Coupé x Robert is the obsessively thankful fics. Like. Those where, after not being cut from the team they become super slightly obsessed with Robert out of thankfulness for keeping them.
I always find it interesting how different it is for both of them. Meanwhile Sonar becomes like a puppy trying to impress their owner, trying to be as good as he can on missions, bringing food to Robert (in all the fics I have found this is a very common trope)... Meanwhile Coupé becomes stalkerish, she follows Robert around under the pretense of "protecting" him, then they become close and realize just how alike they are due to their shared 'Child Soldier' childhood..
But now, I bring this to the table.. *slams file on table*.
Both of them getting bonderline obsessed in a no one gets cut AU.
Robert fought tooth and nail to not cut anyone. He went to HR, manipulated, threatened and pulled all the strings he could muster, called in all the favors he could, until finally HR accepted that, yes, Sharon, letting go of an ex-criminal to prove a point will only make the other ex-criminals go even more rogue rather than making them calm down.
So now Robert not only has one but two obsessed ex-criminals following him around. And you know what? He's rocking with it big time.
Once he gets home he leaves the door to his balcony wide open, knowing that Sonar at some point will get bored staying on the rooftop.
Whenever he gets take-out he orders two more of everything. Later on he memorizes Sonar's and Coupe's orders.
If when he's sleeping – if he entered the apartment one day to find a big ass bed that covered practically all the space in his tiny ass apartment.. yeah, that might or might not have been Sonar who is dang tired of sleeping in a half sitting position at Robert's feet. Sue him. – he wakes up to the feel of two bodies on top of him, he doesn't comment on it, doesn't even try to shuffle away, he simply throws an arm on top of whoever of the two got lucky to be on his chest and goes right back to sleep.
And the list goes on and goes fort.
Meanwhile you have Sonar and Coupé, who are going insane over the amount of affection and care their dispatcher is giving them. Neither of them are used to it, I mean, sure, Sonar's got Malevola, Coupé has Punch-Up. But it's not the same, you know?
Robert obviously knows, he most likely knew from the first day that it started. And he didn't care.
He asked once, what was it with the both of them, then never again.
And yes, Coupe might have kept her promise about 'eliminating' someone for Robert if he so needed. And yes, Sonar might have chugged down a fucker after he crossed the line with Robert at the bar.
But you know what? Robert did the same. Maybe not in the sinister, killing-people sense, but he protected them, he cared for them, he understands them.
And maybe that's all it takes for a woman who only knows how to kill and torture, a child soldier, to fall.
Maybe that's all it takes for a man whose instincts scream at him to protect, to mark, to keep, to cage and never let go, to accept them, to fall.
And Robert? Robert is much the same. There's only so much care and such obvious love and devotion that can be shown to a man before he wishes to trap it and keep it all to himself. What if he becomes a little violent when it comes to them? What if he crosses the line of good and goes towards the morally gray in order to keep them by his side? Who is going to stop him? He knows that if someone tries, chances are their ears are going to be blown and a blade is going to be launched at their neck. And that doesn't even compare to what he is capable of doing for them.