Chapter Text
Robert Robertson the third woke up to something wet and hot on his face. He pushes the offending dog away from him while he rolls over on his pull-out bed, blindly searching for his phone on the floor hopefully nearby. His alarm started going off as he searched, helping him find it, much like a bat’s echolocation because Robert refused to open his eyes to the sunlight streaming through his balcony doors yet.
He unplugs the phone, squinting through the bright sun and fog that always coated his brain in the mornings. The alarm is turned off on the second attempt at pressing the button, the slight shake in his arm making him miss. The barrel-shaped dog that had woken him up in the first place climbs onto Robert’s chest as he finally turns over, bouncing and wagging his tail. Once Robert had gone back to SDN, along with the rest of his team, Beef had gotten over the fear caused by his kidnapping quickly, and was back to roaming the halls. He was even more of a mascot to the office now, which meant Beef had gained a couple more pounds that Robert was certainly feeling in his sore joints.
“Oof- C’mon, Beef, what have I told you about-” He’s cut off with a choking stutter as the dog bounces onto his sore shoulder. “-Ghhhhhg- Fuck. Okay. Breakfast. I got it.” Robert carefully pushes Beef off his chest, not before getting a few licks from the small dog, and sits up. He grimaces at the awful grinding sound from his back and puffs out his chest and arches until he hears a loud POP from his sternum. He finally takes his first full breath of the morning, a weight released off his chest.
Despite what his team, and honestly himself as well, thought, Robert didn’t go back to full time as Mecha Man. He was still dispatching full time, but had installed the program into his suit so he could do so while he was part-timing as Mecha Man Blue. And since he was actually licensed through SDN to work, he was actually getting paid for his hero work. After heaps of paperwork and a few favors pulled by Blazer and Phenomaman, he actually kept full rights to the suit’s tech. In the corporate world, that was a blessing.
Robert slid off his bed and hummed as his tense muscles protested against the sudden stretch that came along with any sort of movement. He uses momentum to twist and pop his back as well, the loud cracking sounds blending into the background noise of the street below. This was the part of hero work that the public wasn’t as aware of, the way that getting injured the way most professional heroes did would wreck a body, sometimes permanently.
His morning routine passed in a calm blur, just like every morning. Feed Beef, shower (burning hot, to try and soothe the aches), dry off, get dressed, put Beef in his ‘Uniform’ (A SDN bandana around his neck and a “HERO DOG” harness.), grab his shit, leave. By the time Robert got outside, the sun was finally considering peeking up from over the horizon. By the time he parked his car, there was only an hour and a half until his shift. Night-shift was wrapping up, evidenced by the cars and flying heroes pouring out of the SDN lot. The transition crew would be working until day-shift officially began, which gave Robert time to go to the SDN gym.
Beef was free to roam the building once he got inside, the dog was smart enough to not get in anyone’s way while still getting maximum Treat And Pet coverage. Robert ruffles the fur between his ears before watching him run off directly to someone coming off night shift, getting his fill of hero cuddles until he inevitably made his way back to Robert’s desk.
The gym was usually pretty empty during shift changes, which gave Robert his choice of weights and machines. He was finally coming back up to his pre-coma personal record, and wasn’t about to let himself lose any of his hard work again. “Pretty empty” did usually mean there was someone else, though. And today, it was Prism and Flambae.
“Heyyy Bob-bob! Here to see how much stronger I am and always will be compared to you?” Flambae had some sort of sixth sense for when Robert was in the area, with digs prepped for any occasion. Prism didn’t seem to be paying much attention to the men, doing her crunches with efficiency.
“Sorry, Flambae, can’t quite hear you over the whistle, but it sounds like someone who couldn’t take a hit calling someone who can weak? Crazy, really. I could be wrong, of course.” Robert picked up his weights and started on forearm curls, snickering at the reflection of Flambae scowling behind him.
“I can take much more pain than you ever could, bitch!” Prism raised an eyebrow at Flambae as he stomped up to Robert like a child. “I’ve got fuckin’ powers, I’m naturally stronger, faster, and better than you, Mecha-bitch.”
Robert could feel the heat rolling off of Flambae’s body, drying his skin out where it touched him. He doesn’t quit with his rep as he turned, keeping count in his head as his deadpan expression locked onto the fiery superhuman.
“Wanna bet?” Flambae and Prism both perk up a little, Prism pulling her phone out and typing rapidly. Robert swapped the weight and started working on the other arm, ignoring the way his shoulder protested with a straight face.
“A bet? Really, Bobert? Easy money.” Flambae grinned, tongue running over the hole where his tooth had once been, smug. Prism stepped up to the two, typing in what Robert could now see was the Phoenix group chat.
“So how are we gonna figure it out? Punch you both and see who doesn’t topple over?” Flambae seemed interested in the idea, already relishing the image of Robert getting punched in the face.
“Nope. Malevola.”
“Malevola?” Flambae’s smile dropped into a confused expression, the heat surrounding him lowering by a few degrees.
“She can transfer pain. We’ll swap baselines and take a solid punch at the same time. That way we can judge it fairly.” Prism had already sent the details to the chat, as evidenced by the way Robert’s phone was pinging with what was surely bets already being placed. Robert dropped the weight, and stuck his hand out for Flambae to shake.
“We can hold the event at lunch, so everyone who wants to can get their bets in. Whole floor, you think? As long as you aren’t worried about embarrassing yourself in front of everyone.” Maybe it was cruel to lead Flambae on like this. He knew the man couldn’t resist a challenge to his ego like that, but Robert managed to keep his smile fairly neutral when Flambae finally took his hand and shook it.
“It’s a fucking deal, Bobby. I’m gonna wipe the fuckin’ floor with you, bitch.”
“Oh, we’ll see, Chad.”
While the entire floor didn't get into the bet, about three fourths of it did, which made the winning pot substantial. Chase voted for Robert, and so did Visi, Coupé, Waterboy, and Phenomaman. Prism stayed neutral due to being the banker, but Sonar, Punch Up, Malevola, Blonde Blazer and Golem all bet on Flambae. The rest of the bets were pretty well evened out, but it definitely skewed towards Flambae winning.
The winning group would end up with a solid amount of cash to be split, except for Robert and Flambae themselves, who would be getting an even three-hundred if they won. A conference room white board was used to keep track of it all. Thank fuck it was a slow day, or else no work would be done anyway. When lunch did finally roll around, the table and chairs were taken out of the room to make space for about half the office either pouring in or watching through the windows. Prism had a tripod set up to record anyway, if only to make sure that whoever won could be easily checked.
“It’s real fucked up what you’re about to do to that flaming asshole, kid. I absolutely approve. We’re goin’ out tonight once you win this shit, got it? I want margaritas.” Chase sat in the precautionary ‘fainting’ chairs Blazer insisted on having, since it wouldn’t be a great look that she was betting on this anyway, much less without any sort of precautions.
“When’s the last time you were on pain meds anyway? When you got blown the fuck up last time? They had you on a lot of morphine, I was a little jealous.” Robert grimaced a little, stretching out his arms and back from how stiff they usually got after sitting in his desk so long. He stretched his back out to its limit, relishing in the small amount of relief that the awful crunching gave him. Chase made a face at the sound, looking a little disgusted.
“That must be why I felt so rested, I thought it was just getting to sleep in a bed for the first time in a while.” Prism quietly slipped a fifty into the betting pool and wrote her name under Robert’s section.
“That’s fuckin depressing, if I ever catch you sleeping in that shitty lawn chair again I’m kicking your motherfuckin ass.” Robert chuckled and looked through the crowd for Malevola who was collecting the last of the bets right as she walked up.
“You cunts ready?” Her tail flicked excitedly, seemingly doing mental math about how much money she’d gt if Flambae won. There was a small cheer in the crowd, and Prism started up the camera. Malevola put a hand on each of the men’s shoulders, preparing for the transfer.
‘Now, to review, I’m swapping whatever their base levels of pain are for one minute, during which they will both take a single punch from me. Same force on both hits, because I’m not a cheater. Are we all clear?” Robert nodded his head, a small twinge of anxiety building in his chest. He was pretty sure it would be fine, considering he had almost died plenty of times, but faced with a crowd he felt himself getting less sure.
“Fuck yes, I can’t wait for everyone to see that I’m better than the Mecha Man.” Never mind. Robert was going to take this punch like a pro if only to see the look on Flambae’s face when he lost. There was some mix of jeering and cheering from the crowd as Robert steeled his resolve.
“Alright, time to start!” The glow of magic filtered from Malevola’s hands, and Robert felt the aches start to melt away. His fingers stung a little, but as the pain in his shoulders lessened he gave less and less of a shit about it.
Flambae, on the other hand, was decidedly not as calmed by the experience. Not even halfway through the transfer and he was already pale in the face, cold flames bursting and dousing all over his body as he tried to process the way the pain kept ramping up, up up. Was this really how Robert lived? The team never heard the rattle of him taking pain meds during their calls, nor in the few times one of them managed to catch him right as work ended. Was Robert really just going through life like this with no buffer??
He took a shaky breath as he tried to fight through the growing pain encompassing almost every part of his body, his eyes closing as every muscle started to clench. Flambae’s breath out sounded surprisingly like a sob, his entire body feeling like someone had peeled him open and rubbed salt in it. Malevola lifted her hands off the two, looking over Flambae with some concern.
Robert had closed his eyes as well, but he was freely crying. Soft sobs mixed with bubbling laughter tumbled through him as he smiled. The phantom ache of removed fingers was nothing in the face of the rest of his pain being gone. He opened his eyes, grinning in a way that put most of the crowd on edge. Robert stretched out his shoulders, sighing contentedly at the lack of pain. The phantom pain from Flambae’s hand felt enough like his nerve damage that he could ignore it pretty easily and relish in the soft feeling that a painless body gave him.
“So this is what it’s like to be the Master of the fire and the flame? This feels- Amazing.” There was a thud to his side, and Robert finally turned to face Flambae, shocked by the fact that the superhuman was on his hands and knees on the floor, choking back sobs. He rushed over and slid in next to him on both knees (and it didn’t hurt, oh god it felt so much better than usual, he can barely contain himself) and placed a hand on Flambae’s shoulder. Cold flames licked over his hands as Flambae continued to burst in and out of pain, and the usually loud man was horribly quiet as he gasped and sobbed.
“Prism, Malevola, clear the room, give me back the pain. We’re fucking done here.” Prism went to do just that, using doppelgangers to herd everyone away before only the z-team were left in the room, closing all the blinds for a little privacy. Malevola started the magic again, pushing the pain back to where it belonged.
“I’m so sorry, Chad, I should have warned you, I thought it wouldn’t be this bad for you, I should’ve- I-” Robert groaned a little as his pain is filtered back into him. The break from all of it had been fantastic, amazing, even, but he wouldn’t keep it if it meant someone else, even Chad, ended up in that much pain. Robert tried to push the mourning of his comfort to the back of his mind, there were more important things right now.
Flambae slowly came back to his senses in Robert’s arms, the sobs subsiding as he reaches his old baseline. He shakes as he looks up at Robert, tears still in his eyes from the experience.
“How the ff- fuck- Are you standing, much less- much less fighting??” Flambae looks devastated, shocked, and maybe a little in awe? Robert shrugs uncomfortably, not liking the attention being on him like this. It never felt fair to let people know that Mecha Man was in debilitating pain, he didn’t want the people to feel like they ever owed him something.
“It’s been like this forever, guess I just got used to it. Didn’t realize it was that bad.” Robert rubs the back of his neck while he mumbles, a little ashamed. Flambae rolls himself over so he’s sitting properly on the floor instead of being on his hands and knees.
“I guess after being in pain for so long it just becomes the new normal. They don’t make pain-killers I can safely take for it at this point, my body ignores them. So I just-” he sighs “I just deal.” Flambae wipes the tears off his face before warming up his hands and placing them on Robert’s shoulders like a massage.
Robert starts to melt a little, humming a small thanks. His head leans into Flambae’s shoulder as the heat radiates through his body, soothing some of the aches. He’s carefully pulled onto Flambae’s lap before the rest of the Z-Team huddle around them. Robert now soft and pliable in their hands, everyone that can reach take guidance from Flambae before rubbing some of the worst knots out of whatever muscles were available.
Everything became a little floaty as they cared for him, muscles being worked soft and calming warmth flooding his body as he starts to doze off. He ends up fully asleep on top of Flambae within minutes, using him as a living heating pad.
Prism took a quick photo before taking headphones from her pocket and putting them in Robert’s ears. She sincerely doubted he’d wake up from them talking, but she wasn’t willing to risk her extra long break on that fact.
“Soooo-” Invisigal breaks the tense silence, raising her hand slightly.
“That was fucking crazy, right? I thought he was just a masochist, but if it’s taking Flambae out at 50% then maybe he’s just fucking insane.” Visi looks over Robert, watching the way that even with the little amount of comfort and care he melted into a puddle and fell asleep. It worried her a little. Or- Well- Maybe a lot. Waterboy cleared his throat, fiddling anxiously with his gloves.
“I’ve seen uh- Well I wasn’t watch- staring- but when- after he works out- when he’s showering he- well when he uses the water it’s all- it’s turned almost all the way- to- to the- left- the hot-” He wrings his hands, glancing between Robert and the group like a scared puppy.
“You see anything else while he was showering, Water-perv?” Courtney raised an eyebrow at Herman and waggled it slightly. Waterboy burst into a bright red blush, eyes going wide under his goggles as he processed what she meant.
“No! I- Didn’t watch! I was j- only worried- nervous! I know how hot- scalding- the showers can- will get. I didn’t want him- I was worried he’d get- uh- hurt- burned!” Visi smirked, not believing him but dropping it for the moment.
“What about pain meds? Or like.. Weed? He has a work locker, right?” Sonar leaned against Malevola as he spoke, his ears turned so he could listen for any sign of Robert waking up before their conversation was over.
“I would be able to smell any marijuana in his locker, sealed or not. And I have never seen any sort of medications or pain relief ointments in his locker either. It leads me to believe that Robert Robertson handles his pain without any outside influence.” Phenomaman floated over to where Robert slept on Flambae, getting close as if to study him before he allowed himself to be pushed away by Chad.
“It didn’t feel like he was on anything, so if your asses are done gossiping and talking about Bob-bob’s shower habits, we should make it so he doesn’t fucking feel like that every day, yes?” Flambae talked low, his hands hot while they rubbed over Robert’s lower back. He very acutely remembered what it felt like to wear all that pain for just a few moments, and was not eager to try it any time soon. It did help with this, though, letting him knead warmth into all the places that had hurt the worst.
“If anything worked for Robert then he would already be on it, right? Unless he thinks he has not earned the right to it.” Coupé fiddled with Colm’s hair idly as she spoke, eyes locked onto her hands as she did so.
“I heard Chase and him talkin’ before we started about how the last time he was on pain meds bein’ when he blew up the second time. That’s why I voted he’d win, sorry babe.” Prism shrugged as she quickly edited the video of the event. Flambae snorted quietly, shaking his head.
“I will choose to be offended about it later, when he is no longer asleep on top of me and I can bitch at you properly.”