Thinking about Flambae and his relationship with intimacy, because as much as he loves to present himself as this very skilled hoe who sleeps with guys constantly, I imagine the reality is a lot more complicated than that.
Because he has fire powers. And a hair-trigger temper. And very volatile emotions. Which means he has probably had to learn a lot about intimacy the hard way.
For one thing, he has had to learn to be incredibly controlled during sex. Which, sure, has the convenient side effect of making him very good at it, but it also means he never really gets to fully let go and enjoy himself. He always has to keep part of himself locked down. He always has to be aware of his body, his heat, his emotions, how close he is to losing control.
And the solution is not as simple as 'just get with another fire meta', because that comes with its own complications. What do their fire powers actually include? Do they have heat resistance? Do they have the same level of heat resistance? Are they even gay? Are they compatible? Are they normal about him being Afghan, or are they racist assholes? There are so many factors that 'just find another fire meta' is not actually the easy fix people might assume it is.
So instead, he learns rules.
He learns control. He learns casual. He learns one-night stands. He learns that the more attached he is to someone, the more likely he is to lose control, so he stops letting himself get attached.
He can do hookups. He can do flirting. He can maybe even do a casual thing with someone for a little while. But the second it starts feeling serious, he ghosts.
And it sucks. It genuinely does. He has had to act casual and dismissive and like an asshole to people he actually really liked, because it is easier that way. He has tried being honest before. He has tried explaining. And guys will say they understand, that they are fine with it, that they can handle it, and then later they start pushing. They insist they can take it. They insist they can figure something out. They make it into a challenge or a romance test or whatever.
So eventually he decides it is easier for everyone if they just think Flambae is an ass and want nothing to do with him anymore.
Which makes Robert a problem.
Because when he and Robert start fooling around, Robert is the one who starts catching feelings first. Robert starts thinking maybe this could be something more serious. And then suddenly Flambae starts pulling away and acting like it was never a big deal.
Of course Robert believes him.
He gets hurt, but he accepts it, because why wouldn’t he? He already has enough baggage around not being wanted, not being chosen, not being worth the effort, so Flambae acting like this was always casual just lands exactly where it can hurt the most.
Meanwhile, Flambae is losing his mind, because the reason he pulled away is not that he did not care.
It is that he cared too much.
He got too attached. He felt too much. And normally, this is where he gets to leave. This is where he gets to ghost and let the other guy hate him from a distance. But he cannot do that with Robert. They work together. They are on the same team. He has to keep seeing the aftermath. He has to keep seeing Robert act like he is fine when he very clearly is not.
Because Flambae knew sleeping with Robert was a bad idea. He knew it was messy. He knew Robert was not someone he could just treat like every other casual hookup.
But he wanted him anyway.
And now they are both hurt.
Meanwhile, Prism is being supportive, because of course she is, but she is also pushing him in a way she usually does not. Because she loves Flambae dearly and wants him to be happy, but she also likes Robert. And she hates seeing Robert hurt more than he already has been.
So she is gentle, but she is not letting him off the hook.
Because there is a difference between protecting someone and making the decision for them that loving you is too dangerous to even try.
