Work Text:
By the time all the excitement, celebration, and frantic concern had died down, and the whole reality of the situation was starting to kick in, Robert was beyond exhausted. Beef was at his feet as he leaned against the wall of the SDN building, watching the energy slowly start to drain from his team as the adrenaline faded. The sun was up by now, but had that sort of somber feel like after a long graveyard shift.
Mandy was almost leaning next to him, arms wrapped around herself, watching the others the same as Robert, but she had drifted closer and closer to Robert. Their shoulders were touching. Robert didn’t move closer or further away. He had found a good spot right where he was, and if he didn’t move a muscle, he could ignore all the aches and pains in his body. There was a soreness to his muscles that he hadn’t felt in a long time, not since before the explosion.
When Mandy yawned, Robert turned his head slightly, watching her out of the corner of his eye, exhaustion lingering in his expression. Despite the painful effort it took to speak with the definitely broken ribs, he asked, “Could I walk you home?”
Mandy looked Robert up and down, and then actually laughed at that, her eyes crinkling up around the edges, blue eyes reflecting the sunlight. Robert felt his heart tighten, although it wasn’t out of shame or embarrassment. She wasn’t laughing at him.
“How about I walk you home?” Mandy offered instead, rolling her shoulders back in a half shrug. Her lips were still pulled into a soft smile. “I think you need it more than I do.”
If Robert had any more of his dignity or pain tolerance left to poke at, he would’ve probably scoffed at that.
But, he wasn’t sure if he had the energy left in him to put up some sort of argument about how he didn’t need someone to walk him home and that he could get back to his apartment just fine. His legs had wobbled on the short walk just to get to the side of the building so he could lean against it, and he felt about ready to collapse and sleep for another twenty hours.
“Okay,” Robert conceded easily, blinking at her slowly. Her smile never wavered, although it softened around the edges, like it always seemed to whenever she looked at him. Robert tried to smile and hoped that it didn’t look too off-putting.
“You definitely have a concussion,” Mandy laughed softly, reaching up to cup the side of Robert’s face in her palm. Robert couldn’t help but lean into it. He huffed out a weak laugh and then winced at the sudden jolt to his ribs.
“Among other things,” Robert squeezed out, sagging a little bit when Mandy moved her hand away. He did his best to straighten his shoulders, but was still left partially hunched over against the wall.
“Let’s get you home,” Mandy said, moving her hand to brush against his shoulder and then down to squeeze his bicep. Robert flicked his head forward in a short nod, since anything more than that would’ve aggravated the throbbing migraine that was pushing up against the inside of his skull.
Since Robert worried he might collapse if he tried to bend down for any reason, Mandy knelt to clip the leash to Beef’s collar, hands moving deftly to secure it. She stayed down to give a few extra scratches behind the dog’s ears and then stood. Robert wrapped the end of the leash a little tighter around his wrist so he didn’t have to hold it so tightly with his hands.
Mandy offered to hold the leash, but Robert wasn’t so worn out that he couldn’t walk his own dog. It wasn’t like Beef could pull that hard if he wanted to anyway.
They picked their way out of the damaged parking lot and onto the main part of the street, where journalists and bystanders continued to linger. But with an expert slip around the fence and into the back alley, Mandy managed to steer them away from any nosy eyes that might delay their retreat into the normal world.
Robert’s chest burned with every step, and each breath he took pressed a little too hard against his damaged ribs, causing a spark of pain to jolt across his torso. Mandy kept close to his side, her arm not exactly around his waist, but not at her side either. Robert couldn’t even blame her for the extra concern. He sure felt like he was about to collapse any second now.
Thankfully, the walk was spent in silence. Robert didn’t think he could handle talking about what happened any more than they already had. He was exhausted, and his brain was reaching the point that any logical thought was starting to turn into hysterics if he kept poking and prodding at it. But Mandy didn’t bring it up. And Robert didn’t have the energy to move his mouth to speak.
Robert didn’t live far from the SDN building. Close enough that he could afford walking home on good days, but just far enough that he could still justify taking a taxi or the bus on bad days.
Beef trotted ahead of them happily, his little nails clicking against the sidewalk as if nothing bad had happened. As if Robert hadn’t almost lost him. Beef sniffed a flower that peeked out of a crack in the concrete, and Robert wished that he could care that little about what happened.
They stopped once on the way home for Beef to pee on a small bush. Once for Robert to sit down on a bench before he passed out from a sudden dizzy spell. And then once more for Mandy to pop into the corner store next to Robert’s apartment building while Robert waited outside sitting on the curb.
While he sat outside in the late morning sun waiting for Mandy, Robert was really looking forward to the couch that Mandy and Chase had brought him. He was thankful for the gift before, but now he figured he was going to have a very new appreciation for it. Especially when he wouldn’t have to sleep on the floor with broken ribs. That would be nice.
Beef sat on his haunches next to Robert, tongue lolling out of his mouth happily. Robert pet him absently, smoothing his fingers through the short fur and massaging his ears between his thumb and forefinger. Robert stared off into the distance, holding himself as still as possible so he didn’t aggravate his injuries, not really paying attention to what was going on around him.
That’s why Robert didn’t even notice that Mandy had come out of the store until she was right behind him, nudging his shoulder with her knee. Robert nearly jumped out of his skin, flinching back away from her with an adrenaline spike so sharp in his chest that he felt dizzy for a second.
“Sorry, I thought you knew I was there,” Mandy apologized quickly, her eyes scrunching up in worry. She held one hand up in a placating gesture while Robert blinked the spinning pictures out of his vision.
Mandy helped him up from the curb once Robert felt he could stand, a plastic shopping bag hung from the crook of her other elbow, and crinkled when she moved. Robert was pretty sure she told him what she needed to buy, but Robert hadn’t paid attention. He took a breath and wobbled a little on his feet.
It was only another block to his apartment building, and by the time they made it to his floor and then to his unit, Robert expected Mandy to leave. He definitely didn’t ask her to stay. Robert was pretty sure he didn’t ask her to stay. But she invited herself in behind Robert anyway, shutting and locking the door quietly behind her.
She even bent down to unclip Beef’s leash for Robert again. Beef skittered into the apartment, taking his place on his soft little cushion with a little yawn. Robert should probably get him his food. Or at least set it out so Beef could eat it while Robert slept.
“I think I’m just gonna pass out for the rest of the day,” Robert told Mandy in the best steady voice he could muster, just in case she was expecting anything different. He was fine if she wanted to hang out in his apartment, though he couldn’t imagine why she would want to do that. There wasn’t really much here for anyone to do. And Robert was really not in the mood to entertain guests.
The walk had sapped the last bits of his energy that Robert had been clinging to, and now he felt thoroughly wrung out and ready to collapse. He had noticed the tremor in his hands had gotten worse when he tried to unlock his door and couldn’t get the key in the lock for a minute. Plus, his legs and hips were aching on top of everything else that throbbed in light to increasingly severe bouts of pain.
There were cuts and bruises all over his chest, and he felt light burns grazing across his shoulders. As Mandy said, Robert was pretty sure he was sporting a pretty nasty concussion, if the dizziness and disorientation were anything to go by. Plus, he hadn’t been able to shake a diabolical migraine that had been throbbing between his eyes for the past few hours. Well, probably longer than that actually. Robert was starting to forget a time when his head didn’t hurt.
“You’re not even going to shower first?” Mandy asked, setting the plastic bag down on the counter and furrowing her eyebrows slightly. She gave him another up and down, clearly taking in his disheveled appearance, which was probably exacerbated by the injuries. The concern was evident on her face.
“I’ll shower later,” Robert gave her a one-sided shrug, staring longingly at the couch, which Robert had recently discovered actually pulled out, which made it easier to sleep on. Every molecule in his body was ready to collapse.
“You’ve got dried blood in your hair,” Mandy stepped forward, her hand coming up to rest on the side of Robert’s head, twisting her fingers through the brown strands to pick at some of the gunk in his hair. “And soot, and dirt, and sweat.” Yeah, he got it. He was filthy.
“I’m tired, Mandy,” Robert said earnestly, his voice breaking a little bit. He was hitting his limit, and Mandy had to recognize that.
“You’ll feel better if you clean up a little bit,” Mandy promised, continuing to smooth her fingers against the side of his head. Her palm was warm, and Robert couldn’t help but lean into it again with a soft sigh, no matter how badly he tried to keep himself standing straight. “Then you can sleep all you want.”
How did she even have the energy for all this? Well, Robert was pretty sure she hadn’t been strung up and beaten before everything had gone to hell. But she had to be reaching her limit, too. Robert could see the exhaustion in her eyes and the way her smiles shifted into something a lot more tired.
Before Robert could even blink, he was being herded into the bathroom with a soft hand on the center of his shoulders. He followed obediently, because otherwise he would probably tip over, and then he would be on the floor. And Robert didn’t really want to be on the floor right now, because if he was on the floor, he wasn’t getting up. And Mandy didn’t have her amulet, so she probably couldn’t carry him as easily as she could as Blonde Blazer.
“Let’s get you washed up,” Mandy said, and Robert felt not unlike a child being coerced into taking a bath. He was too tired to put up any more than surface-level protests, letting her move him like he was nothing more than a rag doll, barely keeping his own head up.
There was no way Robert was getting out of this situation if he tried, not when Mandy was dead set on getting him into the bath and washing up. He didn’t even understand what the importance was, he used to just pass out after missions and showered when he woke up all the time.
Well, Robert figured he probably could have put up an earnest protest, and Mandy would have respected it. If he told Mandy to go away and leave him alone, she would. And Robert trusted that she would do so. So maybe that’s why he didn’t really need to put up anything further than a few exhausted groans before sinking into her gentle handling.
Mandy helped him sit on the edge of the bathtub and turned the faucet on, letting warm water run down into the bottom to warm up. Once it was at an acceptable temperature, she plugged the bottom and let it start to fill up. Robert never really took baths, even though he had the tub. The shower was quicker. He really only used it to wash Beef.
Speaking of Beef, Mandy had left the bathroom door open, which meant that Beef could wander in when he heard the faucet start to run, expecting his own bath. His tag jangled, and his little claws skittered on the tile as he trotted in casually. Robert dropped his hand down, intending to pet Beef, but was too tired to really move towards him. Beef sniffed his fingers, and Robert scritched his head.
While the water filled, Mandy started to reach for Robert’s shirt, but Robert waved her hands away. He could unbutton his own shirt, thank you very much, although he fumbled with the buttons for much longer than he needed to. Mandy let him do so and thankfully didn’t utter a word of teasing.
“Ouch,” Mandy hissed when Robert pulled his shirt down off his shoulders, exposing the bruises that had bloomed into much deeper shades of purple and brown. She had already seen his injuries before, but now they had gotten the chance to really set into his skin and bloom to their full shades of irritation and discomfort.
“It’s fine if I don’t think about it,” Robert muttered, blinking at her slowly. If he didn’t move too much, it didn’t aggravate his injuries, and he could let the dull throb burn in the background of his mind. It was easier to get used to when it was constant, and it was easier to make it constant when he didn’t move.
Mandy brushed her fingers along one of the bruises on Robert’s shoulders, but didn’t press down. Robert barely felt the ghost of her fingertips and shivered.
“Quick bath, and then bed,” Mandy decided, and helped Robert out of his pants, which would have been weirder if this were the first time she had seen him with his pants down. Well, the fact that it wasn’t maybe made it weird too.
Beef tried to jump up with his paws resting on the edge of the tub, happily looking at the water that filled the bottom. His tail wagged a little bit, and he looked back up at Robert expectantly, excited for a bath that unfortunately wasn’t for him.
“Not right now, Beef,” Mandy cooed gently, reaching down to rub Beef’s head, “You can have a bath later, Robert’s a lot stinkier than you are.”
“Hey,” Robert mumbled, although he didn’t really put up a good fight in his defense. Beef hopped down from the edge of the tub, but stayed in the bathroom to watch.
Mandy helped Robert stand and then step over the edge into the bath, the hot water soothing aches and pains that Robert didn’t even realize had been bothering him. He sank into the water with a deep sigh, eyelids almost immediately fluttering closed.
The faucet was still running, filling the bath with hot water that let little licks of steam float into the air. Mandy knelt next to him, scooping handfuls of water up to drag over his chest and shoulders. Robert would have protested that he was a grown man and could bathe himself, but he couldn’t seem to move his hands to push her away.
“I need you to not drown yourself for five seconds, okay?” Mandy said once the water was full enough that she could shut the faucet off. Robert wasn’t sure if he had given a response or not, but when he peeked his eyes open, Mandy was gone. He shut his eyes again and sighed, letting the water lap against his skin.
The warmth was nice. Robert hadn’t realized how badly he had been shaking until the hot water soothed the tremors that rolled through his muscles. It also felt nice to get some of the gross sticky sweat and soot off his skin, which flaked off whenever he moved or twitched in the bath. He ran his hands absently through the water, fingers merely twitching.
Maybe this was nicer than a shower. He could really let the hot water work on his most painful spots. A shower never really pulled the tightness out of his hips like this water was doing. Or maybe Robert was just that beat up from the fight that anything that meant he didn’t have to stand, focus, and think was like heaven.
The next time Robert managed to open his eyes, Mandy was back sitting next to him on the other side of the tub. She was nudging his shoulder a little bit, poking and prodding at him until he managed to push himself to sit up. A weak groan slipped from his lips as it aggravated the injuries on his chest.
“I know, I know,” Mandy soothed gently, as if he were a child. She guided him to tilt his head back a little bit so she could dump a cup of water down his scalp, soaking his hair. One of her hands rested on the center of his back, keeping him from sinking back into the warmth of the water, the other smoothed through his hair and dumped water on him.
Robert just let himself be moved and nudged around like a doll. He didn’t even question it when she slathered her hands in shampoo and scrunched it through his hair, working gently, yet firmly at his scalp to get out all the blood and other gross gunk he had gotten in his hair. Her fingers were gentle, nails just long enough to really scritch at the back of his scalp when scrubbed there.
A soft sigh of content left Robert’s lips, and he found himself sinking into it all. Everywhere that Mandy touched seemed to leave a steady trail of soft pins and needles, like something just under his skin was prickling in response to the warmth and comfort that he wasn’t used to. She rubbed her thumbs along the skin behind his ears and then traced his hairline back so she could scrub his scalp, and Robert melted.
Little sparks of contentment caused the tension to drain from his muscles, and every sigh caused him to sink further into it. Mandy kept having to nudge him up so he didn’t sink too deep and get soap in his eyes.
She rinsed his hair with the same cup that she used to wet it. Her fingers worked gently at the edges of his hairline to cup his forehead so no soapy water ran down his face. Her hands were so warm and soft, and it had been a long, long time since Robert had ever been handled this gently.
Longer than Robert could ever remember being taken care of. Maybe when he was a child. Maybe when his mother was around, before Robert could ever remember. Maybe on one of the few nights when his father was home. Maybe with Chase.
Maybe never at all. Robert was never one to let someone take care of him. Not that anyone ever wanted to take care of him. Not that he ever had someone to get this close to him before, either.
Mandy touched him like he was made of glass. She held him like he was something fragile, something that needed to be protected. She nudged him with such patience and waited for Robert to get his muscles under control so he could move to where she wanted him. Every touch was gentle, much more gentle than Robert ever was with himself.
When she smoothed conditioner through his hair, she was careful when pulling on knots and tangles. She worked her fingers gently through each knot and did her best not to cause Robert any more pain. Robert didn’t remember owning conditioner, the most he had was dog shampoo for Beef, but when he opened his eyes to ask, he found the words dying on his tongue.
Mandy’s expression was pulled into deep concentration. Her eyebrows were furrowed slightly, focused on the task of washing Robert’s hair as if it were the most important thing she could ever do. Her lips were pulled into a thin line, and he noticed she was chewing on the insides of her cheeks. When she noticed Robert had opened his eyes and was staring at her, she let out a small breath and smiled, eyes crinkling around the edges.
She cupped his face in her hand and said something that Robert didn’t really hear. But the softness of her tone washed over him in a way that he didn’t need to know what the words were. He sank into her touch and sighed, melting in the warmth.
Robert let his eyes slip closed again, and Mandy ran a wet washcloth over his shoulders, doing her best to be gentle over his bruises and other injuries. She lathered soap over his body, lifting his arms to rub across the back of his biceps and forearms, his hand placed so gently in her palm. He managed to lean back a little while she did this, pressing his shoulders into the cool porcelain behind him.
“Thank you…” Robert murmured when he felt like he could get his words to cooperate. Mandy cupped some water and ran it over his chest, it trickled down his front and petered back into the tub. He sighed softly. “For all this…”
“Of course,” Mandy said softly, keeping her voice low. She nudged him to sit up again and started to rinse the conditioner out of his hair while combing her fingers through the strands. Robert sighed.
When all of that was finished, Robert did feel a lot better than he had before, although it could just be because he was allowed to sit down for a long time. Mandy pulled the plug and let the gross-looking water drain. Without the warm water, Robert felt a few shivers roll down his spine.
“Let’s get you up and to bed,” Mandy helped him back up to his feet. Robert groaned and caught his balance on the wall when his legs trembled and nearly gave out on him. He had forgotten how much everything was hurting when the warmth had soothed the aches.
Mandy wrapped him in probably the cleanest towel Robert had at the time and helped him step over the edge of the tub without stumbling. Robert was squinting at her through heavy-lidded eyes, barely listening to anything she was telling him. He yawned and scrubbed at his face with the towel, scrunching it through his hair weakly, only able to keep his arms lifted for a little bit.
He still couldn’t bend down without risk of collapsing from the pain in his legs and chest, so Mandy had to help him a little bit with finishing drying off and getting dressed in clothes that were thankfully much cleaner than what he had been wearing before. Mandy slid her hands over his shoulders, rubbing his biceps gently. Robert dropped his head to her shoulder and sighed, swaying where he stood.
Now that he was clean and much more comfortable, Robert felt impossibly exhausted, like he was only being kept upright because Mandy was there to hold him up.
Thankfully, Mandy took pity on him and finally helped him into the main room of his apartment, where he could collapse onto the couch. He was pretty sure he was out before his head even hit the cushions, barely having just enough energy to pull himself fully onto the couch.
Robert dozed for a while, flickering in and out of consciousness due to pain and light streaming in from the balcony window. At one point, he peeked his eyes open to find the apartment empty, but he could hear the sound of water running in the bathroom and noticed the bag of Beef’s food had been moved as well. He fell back asleep before he could do anything about that information.
Then, an indeterminate amount of time later, he startled a little bit when he felt a small form jump up onto the couch with him. Beef curled up to his chest with a soft little sigh. He was dry, but smelled clean. He licked Robert’s face and then settled down to sleep as well.
Another figure followed, sinking onto the pullout couch on Robert’s other side, a warm body curled against him. Arms wrapped around his torso, and a face buried into his shoulder. Robert sighed and sank into Mandy’s arms, relaxing fully against her. Finally able to fall into a deep, much-needed sleep.