Chapter Text
The dawn broke over LA revealing grey clouds and greyer skies. In Robert’s apartment a large lump stirred under a pile of blankets on the futon which this time was actually pulled out to make a bed.
Robert was the first to wake up as usual. It was funny how his body clock seemed to still be running on SDN time, up at the crack of dawn ready to head in, despite being a week into mandatory rest. He groaned and looked up at the grey, slightly cracked ceiling above. Sometimes he wished he could take a leaf out of Visi’s book when it came to a lie in.
Speaking of Visi, the small movement of lifting his head up and then laying it back down seemed to have been enough to disturb her. Not exactly a surprise given that despite a whole bed laid out she’d migrated on top of him in her sleep.
“mrm. stop moving.” she mumbled into his chest.
“Sorry” he breathed out quietly.
“iss okay just more sleep”
He loved having her on him like this if he was being honest, maybe he was just still a little fragile after the whole double/triple agent, will she run will she stay thing with Shroud. Maybe he was just whipped already. Jury was still out on that one. Still. He decided to gamble on something. He leaned up as gently as possible and planted a gentle kiss on the top of her head.
“Mmm” she smiled into him.
He tried for another and placed a hand on the small of her back.
“Ya know you’re making it very hard to sleep here. Pillows shouldn’t move around this much” she grumbled trying to sound annoyed, affection bleeding into her tone and betraying her.
A chuckle escaped his mouth before he went to go for another kiss. This time though Courtney was ready and looked up, springing forward to catch him in a blistering kiss.
“Well good morning to you too” came Roberts surprised response
“Don’t know how good a morning it can be when you woke me up. Good job you’re such a good kisser, otherwise I'd have to reevaluate what I'm doing here.”
The blanket gave way as she sat up properly and stretched out. She was only wearing panties and one of Rob’s t-shirts which lifted up with the stretch revealing her toned abdomen. He couldn’t help himself but glance down before one of her fingers curled under his chin and pulled his head up to look at her.
“Eyes up here Mecha Man, it’s a little too early to be getting ideas”
“Tch, says the girl giving me a show right now”
“Yeah cause nothing says sexy like wearing a t-shirt that says…” she glanced down “The Sonar School of Day Trading, I mean really Rob why do you even own this?” She briefly stopped to wonder why she was even wearing it but she had to give bat boy his due. His t-shirts were surprisingly comfortable.
“Think it came as part of his housewarming present if i’m being honest”
“That figures”
He reached up to wrap his arms around her midriff and pulled her down into another kiss. Courtney let it play out a little longer, let him get a little more worked up, before pulling up with a devilish grin.
“Uh uh, no no Robbie. Not letting you get too carried away this time” she chided.
He groaned.
“Really Visi? Thought you’d be down for a bit of morning action” he countered
“Oh i’m always down for some action with you slugger but we agreed that our first time isn’t going to be on this”. She gestured at the futon that had functioned as their bed, dinner table, and a doctors office for when he dealt with her shoulder wound for the last week.
A deep sigh left Robert as he looked across the room. Not just at the futon but the whole place. He had a bedroom adjoining that was pretty much empty bar some old clothes and spare parts for the Mecha Man Suit that he hadn’t got round to hauling to the SDN maintenance bay yet. There were cracks in the plaster of the walls and ceiling, all a rather dull and depressing grey, made worse by the dark overcast light coming in through the balcony window.
In all his time as Mecha Man the suit had always come first, at the expense of pretty much everything else. The family home had gone with his dad and he had moved into a decent sized studio. That had gone when he’d had to do a near complete rebuild of the legs of the suit and he realised just how expensive upkeep was going to be. He found this place, low rent on a long term lease, and settled down to await the day he died in the suit.
If he remembers right he had always intended to decorate the apartment. He knew that it was always on the cards, it just sort of… fell by the way side as the light went out of the world around him.
The string of memories seem to stretch until he feels something warm and soft and then he is back in his apartment with Courtney leaning down to gently kiss him.
“Thought i’d lost you there for a second Rob. Where’d you disappear to?” she says almost in a whisper. She knows that stare, that slightly glazed over look when someone's going down a rabbit hole of things they’d packed down and repressed. She knows he has his demons and a past arguably more littered with emotional potholes than hers but it still concerns her to see it so bare in front of her. He’s been pretty solid at hiding that from her so far, the over-considerate idiot.
Robert shook his head slightly.
A deep breath. In. Out.
He geared up a pithy comment, something irreverent and silly and hopefully enough to deflect the concern he could see in her eyes.
“Yeah i’m fine, just having a war flashback over here, Lieutenant Dan style”
He holds up his hand in a weak attempt at a salute, trying to hold a smirk on his face.
It hasn’t worked and has in fact signalled very clearly to Courtney that something is actually very much not right right now. Robert realises this as he sees concern etching across her whole face and her shoulders tense slightly.
‘Shit’ he thinks to himself. ‘Gotta course correct before this goes south’.
However that is the extent to which his internal monologue helps him, leaving him only one real option. The option he should’ve taken first time round. He looks back at Courtney. Properly this time making full eye contact and the slight annoyance in her eyes at his deflection melts away and her shoulders droop back to normal.
“Uh. No actually, i was thinking about this place”
“What your apartment sent you into a thousand yard stare? Not sure I buy that one Rob”
“No no not the apartment itself just.. How barren it is. What that means, what that represents…”
She opens her mouth to reply and then shuts it, instead shuffling off him. He sits up properly and faces her, grabbing for her hand and squeezing it.
“I’ve told you before I thought I’d die in the suit”. His hand was squeezed harder then released.
“I guess looking around this place with you here with me reminded me how much I stopped living when I was Mecha Man”
“Yeah I remember wondering why it looked like the kinda place that’s in crime scene photos when i first came to visit”
He chuckled.
“Yeah you really loved my ‘avenging my dead father’ mood board I had going”
“I did. It was hot. I love a tortured soul. Where’d that go anyway i’d love to get that shit back up and add some class to this place”
“I threw it out the first morning I woke up with you here”
She started to cook up another comment. Robert saw the mirth in her eyes and while he loved it he knew he had to get out what was in his head before it was lost in playful ribbing.
“I threw it out because you being here made me realise that I really do have something to live for. Beyond the suit, beyond the grey walls.”
Courtney's face softened into one of care and love, an expression he was beginning to love seeing on her.
“I guess that’s what got me this morning. We’re not gonna fuck on a futon and my soul and certainly my back are very okay with that decision but I realised how much I actually want this place to feel like home now, rather than just my temporary accommodation before going down in a metal suit or home in a wooden box.”
“That’s pretty heavy Robert”
“I guess? Yeah, it is. But I don’t want this to be about that. I want to actually change this place up now.”
“You saying you wanna get this place sorted so we can fuck? Gee, way to make a girl feel special”
She rolled her eyes and tutted but there was no weight behind it. Robert took the bait anyway.
“Yeah the only thing that gets me going is the smell of paint and IKEA flatpack. Kinda a necessity if we’re gonna get it on.”
“Dick”
“You know it”
“Does this mean we’re going furniture shopping today?” she perks up on the sofa with an excited smile.
“Didn’t think you’d be this excited but yeah, why not.” he turns and looks at the grey clouds outside.
“Nothing better to do on a day like this anyway”
----------------
“I take it all back, Visi. IKEA flatpack does not get me going”
They were in the IKEA in Carson and in the forty minutes or so they’d been looking at furniture Robert had already decided that this was not what he had in mind.
“Aww you telling me you dont want a…” she had to take a moment to double check the label. She frowned slightly as she read it and then turned back to him.
“Telling me you don’t want a Viskafors Robert? What about a Brannboll?”
“I swear you are just making shit up now Visi”
“We could just go somewhere else Rob. Unless you want to swallow some balls?”
That took him aback slightly, if just in that he had no clue what she was trying to line up.
“Really Visi, that one’s pretty sloppy even by your standards.”
She shoved him and pointed towards the sign for the cafe.
“You don’t want any Swedish meatballs? Shame. I wouldn’t mind some balls in my mouth” she teased.
“Putting aside the whole point of this exercise is so you might just get that chance, I expected better out of your Visi. That was pretty low hanging.”
The open promise of action and the chiding left her standing slightly stunned trying to come up with a comeback. She hadn’t expected it to be returned so quickly. His hand slapping her on the ass pulled her back into the room as he chuckled and started walking towards the exit.
“Come on, let’s see if we can do better somewhere else”
She grinned and followed him out.
-------
He takes it all back. Every bit. Please universe, just take them back to IKEA right now or better yet home. Just anywhere away from this.
They’re in a bed store. Why did he take Visi into a bed store? He should’ve known, this was so obviously going to happen.
He looks back to the bed they’re currently looking at. It’s a pretty standard grey divan style bed. It’s completely unremarkable. What is remarkable is that Visi is laying on it pulling seductive and sexy poses, biting her lip, and asking in her most sultry and sexy voice things like
“Oh Mr big bad dispatcher, don’t you want to just take me right now!”
She’s so in for it. He doesn’t quite know how but god will he get her back for this.
She’s done this at every bed they’ve looked at. One had metal frames for the head and footboards. She immediately wrapped her hands up the frame and asked “So how would you like me? Just tied here? Hands and feet spread eagle?”
One had a larger headboard and not as much support. It was also next to a wall, so naturally she knocked the headboard into the wall to ‘check how much the banging carried’.
They were on bedframe number 4 currently and Robert had only just got the incredibly embarrassed store attendant to just leave them to it. The poor kid seemed absolutely intent on being the attentive customer service advisor and Visi was torturing him. The torture was intended for Rob but Visi wasn’t one to care for collatoral damage in embarrassing him in public.
They walked around a little longer until they reached a wooden bedframe. It stood not too far off the floor, a nice rich deep brown, almost ruby. The headboard had some bars to make a frame but not a full solid piece of wood. Rob had to admit he actually quite liked it. He could imagine it making quite the cosy addition to a barren bedroom.
Unfortunately for him, Visi had noticed his interest and sprung into action. She bent herself over the side of the bed, testing the height and sticking her ass into the air. She whipped her head round and gave Rob her best bedroom eyes, scowling when she realised he wasn’t looking.
“Hey Mecha Man, eyes on the goods please, i don’t put a show on for just anyone” she purred.
He didn’t even flinch, carrying on reading the label attached to the footboard. He finished reading and moved on to checking out different parts of the frame. Visi could’ve sworn she saw his gaze flinch up to her just briefly. Well. Time to double down.
She spread herself on the display mattress in a variety of positions ranging from tame to lewd. She called out to him things that’d make a nun faint. All the while he carried on ignoring her. She decided to go all out. She leaned against the headboard and motioned as if to undo her pants. Before she could even utter a word of the absolute filth she was about to inflict on the store she felt rough hands push hers against the headboard. All of a sudden he was there, very close, a storm in his eyes.
She started to look away from the intensity of his gaze, worried she might’ve taken it a little too far. Scratch that. She knew she had taken it too far but she couldn’t help herself. The pressure holding her hands in place lessened as a hand pulled her to look back at Rob. His eyes had a darkness to them she couldn’t quite place. Leaning in towards her ear, he whispered
“You’re lucky i’m a patient man but this little show isn’t going on any longer.”
“At least. Not until we’re back at my place and you can show me how it ends.”
He bit the lobe of her ear slightly before pulling back and letting go of her hands. She shuddered and sat stunned as he walked off to find the store attendant asking for that specific bed.
She shook her head.
“Fuck that was hot”
Then leapt off the bed and practically ran after Robert who was in the middle of negotiating at the counter.
--------------
Any hopes of resuming whatever the hell had happened in the bed store was dashed by the day dragging out with a variety of other store visits. Robert had insisted on Home Depot for plastering supplies and paint to repair the damage to the walls and ceiling. Visi protested thoroughly until they were looking at paints.
“Well what do you think?”
“What do you mean what do I think? It’s your apartment Rob”
“Yeah, well. Still. What do you think?”
“I think you need to be less indecisive. Really screams what a man you are worrying about paint”
“Ever the charmer Visi”
“Well paint’s paint surely”
“Yes, paint is indeed paint, that much is true. Now what paint do you think would look nice in the apartment?” There's a slight tiredness to his voice at this point.
“I’m no decorator Rob i don’t know what works, don’t know if you got the memo but my area of expertise isn’t internal decorating”
A deep sigh. She had to admit she kinda liked bringing those out of him. Glad she could still annoy him at times, didn’t want it getting too soft between them.
“Don’t really know what you want me to say Robert, I’m just here accompanying you on a big DIY quest i didn’t realise i’d be making decisions for you”
“Courtney. I’m asking because I value your opinion and I'd like your input. Can you please park the cool indifference and just tell me what you like or think? We’re gonna be here all day otherwise”
Oh. That hit home a lil bit. She’d been too caught up in being tired of the day's shopping and just defaulting to banter that she’d missed the fact he was genuinely asking for her opinions. He’d been a man on a mission the last couple of stores so she’d been operating on a more supportive girlfriend position(even if they still hadn’t properly unpacked the whole girlfriend/boyfriend dynamic yet) than an active participant.
She looked along the various rows of colours and was a little bit unsure where to begin. She could suggest a beige or cream but that risked looking a bit boring and one-note. There was some pastel colours which seemed interesting but then it caught her eye. A light blue, a little darker in tone than Rob’s SDN shirt and a little lighter than the colour of the Mecha Man suit. It was light enough to brighten a room, dark enough to pair with the wood furniture bought so far, and most of all it was so very Robert.
She grabbed a can and took it over to where Robert was pulling brushes off a rack into a trolley, holding it up for him to see. He looked up, saw the colour and smiled.
“Looks perfect”
--------------------------------------------
It was around 4 in the afternoon when they returned to the apartment. It hadn’t felt like 7 hours to Courtney, more like 17. 70 even. What even was time when you were shopping.
They were both sat on the sofa. Courtney leaning into Robert, Beef on her lap enjoying scratches and belly rubs as he rolled around. She looked up at him.
“We’re gonna have to talk about what you said in the bed store” she teased
“Mhmm. Talk about just how inappropriate you acted”
“You loved it”
“The poor kid working there didn’t”
“Hey he got a great show”
“Yeah i’m sure it’ll be the talk of the town, the couple with some severe repressed issues expressing them in a bed store. What a hit show, when’s it gonna be on broadway?”
She lightly nudged him.
“Asshole, I was just messing”
“I know.”
“Was kinda hot what you did though, I liked it”
“Thought you might”
At that she sat up, disturbing poor Beef who rolled off her knee and moved over to Rob.
“What's that supposed to mean?!” she cried out, indignance laced in her tone.
“Well I know you love to act the hard top, what was it you said, the peg-er not peg-ee. I think it’s a front”
“And what would you know about it Mr ‘I don’t want to have sex yet’’”
“Think you’re missing a bit there. It’s actually Mr ‘I don’t want to have sex yet because your apartment block is currently still closed for repairs following the attacks and i’d rather not do it on this futon covered in dog hair and specks of your blood from changing your bandages’”
That took some of the wind out of her sails. She’d already agreed that she wanted to wait, wanted it to be… not perfect necessarily just not settling for it for the sake. Didn’t mean she wasn’t annoyed he’d called her out and she was struggling to find ammo to push back.
“For what it’s worth I don't think you’re all submission and no spice. I just think you’ve let yourself build a persona of being the one who takes because you’ve never had someone you feel safe enough to let yourself give with.”
The silence was thick as the weight of what he said settled in the room.
“God you asshole. I would’ve knocked you out for that a few weeks ago.” She tried to be exasperated or annoyed, tried to work up some fight for the fact he’d just matter of factly psychoanalysed her and come up pretty much 100% correct.
“I know. What can I say? Gotta keep up my reputation”
“What, presumptive know it all?”
“Being right?”
“Ass”
“Takes one to know one”
“Seriously Rob, that's the best you can do? Some playground shit. Don’t make me rethink this” she pointed between the two of them.
“Sue me. I’m tired and we’ve still got so much to do”
“We can just not do any more today you know” she got up and walked to the fridge to see it was pretty empty bar a few beer bottles and a rather sad looking bag of salad.
“Okay we may need to go to the store some time but other than that we can just not do anything else today”
“No we really should paint the bedroom at least”
“C’moooooon Rob that's so boring and it’s already like what, four thirty? Five?”
“Yep and the bed frame is being delivered and assembled at noon tomorrow so quicker we paint it, quicker we can get on with whatever the hell you were hoping for in the store”
At this Courtney sprung up to attention, there was something pretty juicy at stake now and she wasn’t going to miss out if she could help it. She snapped a crisp salute and grabbed a handful of brushes before marching into the bedroom chanting "Yes Sir Lieutenant Dan" much to Robs amusement.
“How’s about this Court, you go to the store and grab dinner and i’ll start painting?” he said as he stood up giving Beef one last scratch and moved to the bedroom.
Courtney was grinning at him, already having moved the couple of boxes remaining in the room to the centre.
“How’s about a little bet instead?”
“Why do I feel like I'm gonna regret this..?” he sighed.
“C’mon Mecha Man let loose a little. Let's have some fun while we do this. We split the room in half. Whoever finishes their half first gets to pick takeout, the loser pays.” There was a playful glint in her eye.
“Fine, but I want that wall properly painted Visi, no lumps no patches”
She placed a hand on her chest and pulled a face of fake indignance.
“Me? Do sloppy work? I would never”
“Yeah sure. Just remember it, i’m not buying you takeout cause you half assed it to beat me”
“Bring it on Robert”
The room descended into painting chaos, only punctuated by occasional laughter and one call of ‘time out’ to grab the beers out the fridge.
Later that night they sat on the futon, empty containers littering the table, both wiped by a long day and then far too much food than was needed.
“So what do you say”
“Yes Visi, I bow down to your painting speed and skill. I have not seen brush strokes like that before, oh great artiste”
“Thank you, thank you. If you liked my brush strokes, should see how I stroke other things”
“And there's the moment gone again”
Light low laughter bounced around the space.
“Today was fun. Thanks for letting me be a part of it”
“Don’t think it would’ve been right without you being a part of it Courtney”
“Shhhhh no need for the big emotional speech Rob. I’m very tired and so are you”
She was right, he felt exhausted. He knew he should stand up and clear the takeout leftovers. Should probably take Beef out one last time. Definitely should clear the last bits of painting mess in the bedroom. That would mean standing up from this really comfy futon and from the woman already falling asleep beside him. Her head was falling to the side, so very gently he pulled her over so it rested on his shoulder. He reached over and grabbed a blanket and pulled it over the both of them.
He looked over the room. He’d managed to get most of the plaster cracks. There was now a much nicer coffee table in front of them. The TV stand had changed from old cardboard boxes to a nice wood and metal number. He’d made sure to buy one with space for Courtney's consoles if she ever wanted to bring one over, he knew how much she enjoyed gaming with Golem. On one side of the room now stood a bookshelf and a bureau, bare for now, but already changing the space from a grey box to a home.
More furniture was on the way, decor too. In another week or two it’d look like an actual functioning home. He actually felt excited at the prospect of building a home. A gentle, quiet, yet unmistakable snore from Courtney next to him distracted him from his musings. Leaning it he placed a gentle kiss onto her head and relaxed back into the sofa.
The realisation hit that he wasn’t just excited to be building a home himself. He was excited to build it with her. The TV stand with space for her console, the shelves and bookcase ready for whatever either of them wanted to put in. The wardrobe he’d ordered because he liked the wood grain and colour and the fact it divided pretty neatly into two so they could share it easier.
Oh he’s so whipped. Jury has come back, there's no doubt. Life sentence. Lock him up and throw away the key.
One more kiss to her head and a very quiet “thank you” and he starts to drift off to sleep. He didn’t notice the smile spread across Courtney’s face as he said it.