Flambae only feels comfortable letting Robert take control and subbing for him because Robert is one of the few people in his life—and the first lover—who makes him feel like he doesn’t need to uphold an image and maintain his walls in order to protect himself from getting hurt. he doesn’t let himself be vulnerable with people because he was never able to, it was a weakness that could be exploited so easily so he never risked that. and that turned him into a pretty shitty person in combination with his criminal environment and trauma.
but now he’s trying to do better, be better, and slowly letting people into his life.
but fuck, he definitely wasn’t expecting Robert to see him for who he truly was so quickly. and that comfort is inherent, even before they make up with each other and resolve their past. Flambae just feels welcome wholeheartedly in a way that infuriates him, especially when Robert’s identity as Mecha Man is confirmed to him.
because he really fucking hates Mecha Man and what he did to him, but he sees Robert and sees the way he looks at him, that mix of guilt and careful affection, and he can’t fucking hate Robert.
and the way he looks at him evolves and changes, but that all encompassing affection stays and only grows until Flambae can’t help but feel infinitely comforted by Robert’s presence. and he doesn’t feel the need to be on guard constantly.
and i feel like this feeling is mutual too. Robert—who cut nearly everyone out of his life in order to fulfill his legacy and protect them from the constant threats he got as Mecha Man—has that same self-imposed emotional isolation.
but there’s just something about this flaming asshole and his small, specific gestures of care and unexpected sentimentality that takes him aback. and now that Robert is letting people back into his life and trying his best to cut the belief that he has to be alone in order to protect the ones he loves, those people he loves includes Flambae.
and it works stupidly well, both ways, in an intimate setting too, because Flambae is secretly dying to give up some of that constant control and focus to someone, and Robert wants to focus his desire to take control of his own life, make his own decisions.
because they both care so deeply and they’ve been conditioned to maintain personas that came with such deep emotional isolation. and no one knew who they truly were and who they wanted to be.
and finally, someone is there and willing to listen and desire to understand them as all that they are.
