Without You, Without Them — plorp (15.5k, e)
When Roope opens his front door at 5:39 AM, he's so thoroughly annoyed that it takes him a second to recognize that it's Jason Robertson standing there on his deck, looking lost.
"Hey, Roop."
He gives himself a full-body shake, as if that's going to banish the sight of his coworker standing at his door at the crack of dawn in the middle of the off-season. Robo's mouth is quirked up at one side, a very familiar expression that can mean all sorts of things: disappointment at a bad call, tamped down amusement during practice, mild confusion at Roope doing something admittedly inexplicable in the dressing room. This one, if Roope had to guess, might mean something along the lines of please don't be mad that I just woke you up by knocking on your door for twelve minutes straight.
The interesting part, Roope thinks, is not that it surprises him. Of course it does. The interesting part is that somewhere deep down, it doesn't.
"Are you... You wanna come in?"
If you, like me, have desperately wandered the roboroope fic desert for ages, consider this your oasis. One of the very best fics I’ve read for this niche but most compelling ship. It had me swooning and squirming and, ultimately, sobbing in my bed at 3:00 am. It’s beautifully written and captures their singular, highly elusive dynamic perfectly. Just spent over an hour leaving the longest and most deranged comment of my fic reading life and there’s much more I could say.
If you love Robo, if you love Roope, but especially if you love roboroope, please nourish yourself on this feast.