Juana

————

The bar’s warm, warm in a way that it wasn’t before, letting Chelsea know the flush on her cheeks is solely from the amount of shots she’s been taking with Alice.

Her elbows rest on the counter with her palm under her chin, her fingers pressing her cheek, as she stared fondly at her best friend singing proudly on the karaoke stand a few feet away from their drinks. The rest of the z team is here too, spread throughout the room.

She knows Victor and Colm are swindling suckers out of their money through card games, Janelle is playing darts, Mal is having an arm wrestling match with a guy as big as hulk, Bruno’s outside with a group of smokers, Courtney’s in the bathroom, and Herman is sitting front row to Alice’s impromptu concert with the most sickeningly look of love on his face.

Belatedly, she realizes she’s missing someone—

“Do you think Alice is going to give anyone else a turn?” A smooth low voice murmurs next to her.

Chelsea turns her gaze to Robin. The stick-in-the-ass dispatcher with bags as deep as a suitcase and enough issues to send a psychiatrist to a mental hospital. The image of that makes Chelsea unwillingly snort.

Robin’s gaze snaps to hers from where it had been focused amusingly on Alice. Under her gaze, Chelsea swallowed. “No,” She answered. Chelsea wants to look away from Robin’s prodding gaze but she knows if she does, she’ll lose their unspoken staring contest and she refuses to lose.

“Why? You want to get your ass up there and show her up?” She asks,

Robin’s lips quirk up. “I wouldn’t want to hurt everyone else’s ears with my voice.” She says, the tip of her finger circles over her glass of liquor.

Somehow, Chelsea distantly thinks, she doubts that would be the case.

Instead, she what comes out her mouth is, “Plus, you’d probably upset her audience.” Robin raises a brow so Chelsea clarifies, “Wetfartboy? Practically drooling over there.”

“Don’t call him that.” Robin said, her tone firm. A small shiver runs down Chelsea’s spine. Robin doesn’t notice, thankfully, not with her gaze straying back to the stage. “I think his crush is sweet.” Her tone is much softer as she looks at Herman.

Chelsea shrugs, “it’s not like I can stop it.” She murmurs. Nor does she want to, she internally adds. Try as Chelsea might to hate Herman, she knows that he’d be good for Alice. Would soften her rough edges nicely.

“You know it’s kind of funny,” Robin smiles. She picks up her glass and swallows down half of it. When she places the glass back on the table, her eyes lock into Chelsea’s. “I used to have a crush on you.”

For a second, Chelsea thinks she might be deaf. Well, the better term is hard of hearing. And it’s plausible for that whole second. Not once in a million years would Chelsea think those words would come out of Robin’s mouth. The same Robin that has, ever since she worked here, berate and chide each member of the z team, Chelsea especially.

Chelsea blinks rapidly. “What.” She mumbles.

“I did,” Robin’s still smiling, as though it was the easiest thing in the world to admit. And for her, it probably was. There’s an amused twinkle in her eye as she teases, “Can’t be that unbelievable, can it?”

Chelsea scoffs, “Of course not, bitch. I’m fucking amazing.” Her eyes narrow at Robin suspiciously. “I’m just surprised that you had a crush on me.”

“It was back when I first started working at SDN,” Robin told her. With a chuckle, she says, “Don’t get me wrong, I still hated you.” Her head tilted to the side. “My brain just didn’t seem to always get the memo and I discovered why Janelle reads so much hate sex.”

Hate sex. Those words seem to echo in Chelsea’s mind. Unwillingly, a few images materialize in her brain. Various positions, insults traded back and forth, the type of passion and friction that would send her—

“What happened then?” Chelsea blurts out.

Robin leaned forward, crossing her arms over the bar countertop. She gave Chelsea a small shrug, “I got over myself.”

Before Chelsea could respond, Robin downed the rest of her liquor and stood up from the bar chair. Chelsea watched as Robin walked away to the table where Mandy and, recently, Courtney were making out at.

It’s not a big deal. A simple crush, one that Robin already stated she grew from. Something she moved on from and is able to function without dying of thirst being in the presence of Chelsea.

If anything, she’s flattered. Smug, too. It’s the type of information she’d tell Alice, the type of thing she’d brag about on the comms com Monday morning. Robin would chide her but Chelsea can’t imagine Robin embarrassed of all things. Certainly not after spilling the secret to Chelsea.

But a small part of her wants to keep this secret to herself. It’s personal. And, even if Robin is chill about it, it’s a vulnerable thing to admit.

And a not-so-smaller and so much more insistent part of her wants to pick at it. There’s questions running through her mind. When did the crush really start? Did anyone else notice? What did Robin picture of them? Did she ever get off thinking about—

“Shit.” Chelsea huffs. She shouldn’t care. Really, she shouldn’t. Robin isn’t the first to have a crush on her and damn sure won’t be the last.

Robin *sexually repressed since her teen years*: should we slow down having sex?

Less likely is it for himself and instead for others but that doesn’t make it any less appealing for me.

As a black woman, I am so excited and so happy to see the amount of appreciation posts for black characters in all of my fandoms.

Black people have come a long way and it took a while for us to be represented in media without stereotypical roles and racial bias. To show everyone else that we can be bigger than just ‘the black best friend’, ‘the thug’, ‘the mammy’, or ‘the angry black woman’. We can be just as complex and expressive as anyone else because we are like everyone else.

Because dispatch is the fandom I’m currently posting about (and is a fandom most of my followers and mutuals interact with me about)

I have to talk about Prism!

I have my own personal gripes about the way they threw jokes at Prism in Dispatch and it’s nothing that other black women haven’t talked about before. It’s in the episode of someone getting cut from the z team after their first shift where Robert confronts them about their behavior and tells them their phoenixes. Prism says that they need a better dispatcher and Robert tells her that he’s right here, Nikki Mirage.

That’s not the tasteless joke. It’s actually funny because of Nicki Minaj’s mix of rap and pop and her colorful scheme that she presents herself with. What isn’t funny is the Cardi C joke that follows after (which is weird because there’s correlation to Prism nor Cardi B). Now, to clarify, I don’t think Robert is racist, I just think the writers are weird for that joke.

If the z team wasn’t presented in the game as aggressive, loud, chaotic, and crude, this post would’ve been about how Prism is presented in the game (and this post would’ve been posted ages ago because trust I would’ve been ON IT) but she is just as rude and crude as anyone else on that team. Thankfully.

I’m glad that dispatch post went and gave her powers like this. I was getting sick and tired of seeing blacks people with only lightning powers. This is MUCH more interesting and I have so many questions about how her powers work! Ugh, I love prism soo much! And she’s a pop star! She’s such a great character to me and I have been obsessed with her but I don’t even post her as often as other characters.

That’s a fault of mine, I shall rectify that soon enough, promise.

I’m always glad to see black women represented in media. Which brings me to my next character, Coupe!

Without that assassin thing, her whole quiet, blunt, and sometimes shy demeanor is soo cute to me. And she’s a nerd too. lol. She’s practically me. I’m also very interested in her powers, the way she controls her shadows, AND I’m interested in her wings. As far as I know, they’re just apart of her costume but that makes me so curious on why she decides on wings.

I know she was a villain (if you cut her) in the game but she was soo cool as a villain like she had more reasons for it, it felt more personal. Especially because Sonar’s fight as a villain came off more…silly? Like I was cringing. Sorry. (I like Sonar, don’t think I don’t).

personally i've just been imagining waterboy in the au being like a janitor for after school hours bc i was a janitor at my high school and would come across and interact with like clubs and sports teams and such a lot on my routes. not saying this as a suggestion or demand to put him in or anything (bc you might just want to be keeping it to og z-team) but i just thought it was a fun idea to share.

anyway your stuff is awesome and again i love the breakfast club au, genuinely made my day when i saw your most recent post regarding it and it reminded me to send my little ramble lol :]

I’m so glad you love it!! I’m happy just hearing your praise, love.

Were you a janitor as a student? I didn’t know schools allowed that. You were still paid, right?

I see what you’re saying about Waterboy. I like it. He’s one of the kids in the school hierarchy that lets others walk over him. Robert interacts with him a few times and each time he feels not pity but just sad for the kid. One time, Robert even had to save Waterboy from a bully.

Well, enough was enough.

Robert goes to Mandy and petitions for Waterboy to join the afterschool club (without anyone having to be cut—yay!) and she agrees.

He watches Waterboy walk into the club nervous and awkward, stuttering through his introduction and shrinking into himself when the others start laughing and teasing. It’s cruel to throw the sweet boy into a pack of wolves. Yes. But what Robert wants is for Waterboy to go through…exposure therapy? That’s the word, right? I’ll edit later if it’s not.

By Robert’s canon logic: Waterboy is needed. If you have flames, you need water to put them out. Him and Flambae cancel each other out in a way that works. Waterboy’s issue is his lack of confidence and Robert canonically says to that, “fuck them, fuck me, fuck everybody.” Because who cares? The z team won’t stop their words just because Waterboy feels a bit sensitive about it. So Waterboy is forced to have a tougher skin.

Now apply canon logic to this high school au and you’ve got Waterboy added to the z team. He sits with Robert at his table which just makes the z team frustrated because—in the whiniest way possible—they wanted to sit with Robert at his table.

But of course through time the z team gets a bit more sensitive with their jokes and Waterboy gets a tougher skin. That doesn’t mean he’s necessarily changed, he’s still a nice grandma’s boy, yeah? But the insults his bullies throw at him just roll off his back (like water—ha!)

And when the z team gets close to Waterboy, they start hanging out with him at school. None of them share many classes with him. Alice shares chemistry and Victor shares financial literacy with him but outside of that they meet at lunch.

Hanging out with kids like the z team? A bunch of mean delinquents with terrible reputations? Waterboy finds out quickly how fast some people back off of him because of that. Especially when Alice or Victor walk him to class. Even Robert makes the sea of students in the hall part ways when they pass (moreso because of his rich dad but ehh).

Robert just disappears. For both aus the z team figures out who Robbie is and who Robert is about to be—Mecha Man—through the funerals

There’s two funerals for him to attend. One for Mecha Man and one for Robbie Robertson. He attends both of them with Chase but after the second funeral, he goes ghost.

He stops picking up calls from his friends, drops out of highschool, doesn’t continue his sessions with his therapist, he pushes everyone away.

Robert would even go as far as selling his old man’s house and getting a smaller studio just to help further pay for the repairs of the suit and ensure no one could get to him.

Now, this could end one or two ways.

A) Forced to Stop Being an Idiot

The z team get a hold of him thanks to a combination of efforts (Mal, Courtney, and Alice) and find out where Robert is hiding.

They practically burst into his studio and kidnap him. All while berating and threatening him for what he did. Robert feels guilty but not enough to regret his actions, just regret the way it made his team feel.

The z team looks out for Robert as Robert becomes a hero. It’s a bit odd considering this is a group of delinquents. But they change their tune after months spent with Robert. This is what makes them become heroes much younger.

But it’s still hard becoming a paid hero without some kind of connection in the world. So, Robert uses Mecha Man (title) to get them deals and stuff until they get contracted by SDN. And the z team celebrates with drinks.

The end. (Lovely ending, yeah?)

B) Road to Canon

Robert was successful in driving off the others. And while it’s depressing, there’s a sick part of him that feels vindicated about it. Like it can finally gloat that not everyone stays around. Even those that promise.

He still becomes a hero, much of what’s canon happens here. He does fifteen years of hero work, looks for Shroud clues, still gets blown up but Courtney is even more guilty because she knew who Mecha Man was (the whole team did) from the start.

When Blazer shows him the team, Robert can’t help but feel a sense of pride. Proud that these guys are heroes, even with the criminal background he’s staring at. Robert knows that a lot of them went into villainy because it was what society pushed them into, what they only knew how to do, or what they did to survive. So, he’s proud of them. He’s not sure he’s allowed to be.

Introducing himself on the comms means less laughs and more gasps and screams of shock.

The second that the lunch shift hits, Robert couldn’t take one step into the break room without being accosted by the team. A mix of hugs, punches, and nuggies are delivered to him and while there’s still guilt around the way things ended, he revels in the familiar warmth he feels whenever he’s with his team.

Don’t think the z team will let him off the hook so easily. But they’ll save the emotional conversations for after work. There’s much they need to talk about (e.g., Robert’s disappearance, him blowing up not that long, Mecha Man’s death, etc)

(I don't know if it's a non-superhero au, but if it is, the Mecha Man legacy could be like a family legacy of paramedics, maybe.)

What would they do to try and make Robert feel better? I'm thinking they take turn to invite him over for dinner at their houses everyday so Robert doesn't have to eat dinner alone or self-teach himself his homework.

I’m so glad you like it! And for this particular au, it’s still the canon hero world!

It’s a slow realization for the z team and for a good reason. The first month of Robert being in the after school club is him and the z team warming up to each other. It takes a few days before they get curious and start hanging around him because of the stuff he brings. Then, they get curious about him. Ask him what he does and stuff.

Thing is, I can totally see Robert being one of those very active children, The ones who’s parents puts them in a lot of sports, you know? And Robert used to be that kid before he started acting out. He still does track practice with Chase though. In fact, a lot of the normal teenage things he does is with Chase and he recognizes that his day to day life might not be normal for kids who don’t have heroes as parents (which is a majority of kids, lol).

So he says video games, track practice, going to the park, all the things Chase does with him when he babysits Robert.

Going a bit deeper into this—Robbie slowly stopped allowing Chase to be around Robert all the time. At first, it was convenience. The kid was still young at the time, around seven-years-old, and Robbie wasn’t confident that Robert wasn’t going to mess around with things he wasn’t suppose to. So, he let the speedster watch him. But Robert got older, trained with Robbie a bit harder, but he also got distracted. Would light up with Chase and after the speedster left, Robert had toys. Trinkets. Things that Robert found as a distraction from his goal. So he lessened their time. As much as Robbie could. Didn’t change him from being neglectful and out all the time, it just forced Robert to be more self-sufficient.

Anyways, point is? It takes a while. Especially because Robert has gotten so used to listening and copying how his peers talk. He knows to mention popular shows and memes (ones that he probably hasn’t seen) gets a majority of people off his back.

The first sign is the fact that Robert walks home. That’s one they easily brush off. A lot of kids walk home, even alone. It’s fine. They get a little concern when Robert has to walk in the rain but they figured his family didn’t have a car and some of them offer rides with their parents. Robert refuses. He hates to intrude and hates to be in debt. Of course, some don’t take no for an answer (*cough* Chad, Alice, Mal *cough*).

So, okay, Robert walks home. Big deal, right? He’s not special. The second thing they notice is his phone.

Robert’s phone has parent lock. Is that what it’s called? He has privacy restrictions and screen time implemented from his father. He doesn’t have many apps aside from the basic apps; setting, maps, photos, notes app, phone, messages, etc. The basic apps. His app store doesn’t work, he’s not allowed any games, and after school his phone is on lock. It’s weird. It’s one of the more alarming alerts but Robert assures them when they press a lot that his father is simply strict. He can’t tell them it’s because of an accumulation of his father not allowing distractions and past kidnappings.

But the biggest alert happens weeks after this. The z team had gotten much closer, close enough that they didn’t skirt around the bush with their families, but Robert was still so tight-lipped about his father. They already know about Chase and from a bad-timed joke that Robert’s mother is dead, but what they know about Robert’s father is somehow even less than that.

Robert refuses to open up for any reason. And snooping through his phone doesn’t prove much to Courtney. The texts between Robbie and Robert are few and curt. If he’s so strict that he’s restricting Robert’s phone then she can’t be surprised at his attitude.

For the z team to be completely sure are two things; A) Robert’s aversion to touch and B) The phone calls Robert receives from Robbie, as few as they are. Robert is the type to stiffen and freeze any time someone touches him whether it’s a casual sling of the arm on the shoulder, side hug, full hug, etc. Robert is the type to go out the room for a call but the z team is a nosy bunch and ease drop. They can hear the way Robert’s voice, that was soft and warm with the team, now small and hesitant as he speaks with his father.

They listen to his father, he’s speaking loud enough, berate Robert for his grades still failing. Telling him that if he doesn’t get them up, it’s only going to make their training rougher. Z team thinks that Mr. Robertson is talking about track practice (because earlier mentioned Robert told them he still does track practice with Chase) and think it’s a bit unfair Mr. Robertson is pushing Robert so hard for track.

It’s something that makes their chests ache. They don’t all have the best homes so some resonate more than others. They’re a bit softer with Robert. They invite him for hangouts and sleepovers. And it’s at one sleepover that Robert accidentally reveals the scars on his body. And now the z team is worried. Beyond worried. They’re concerned. Clearly Mr. Robertson is not only strict and firm but abusive. He’s putting scars and bruises on Robert’s body. He’s the reason Robert has sores so bad at such an early age.

The z team make it a mission to keep Robert from his house as much as possible. They have Robert over for dinners during the days Robbie can’t make it (a majority of the time). Chad, Alice, and Victor’s families absolutely love to feed Robert and stuff his plate full then still give him leftovers. Chad and Alice are more upfront with their intention to feed Robert and stop him from being unhealthily skinny.

Courtney takes Robert out to hangout and kick rocks. Vandalize a building because she knows that’s what he got in trouble for. They do random shit a lot and it makes him feel good. Especially whenever they go to a rage room.

Bruno can’t do much for Robert but he does bring Robert a plant. Robert takes care of the plant. He also ropes Robert into making a page in Bruno’s sketchbook while they make music.

Robert gets invited to Victor’s and Mal’s (they don’t live together but they do live in the same neighborhood) under the guise of tutoring. And the two do need tutoring but they also purposely distract Robert so he stays over longer than he planned. And when it gets late they plead for him to stay the night.

Janelle doesn’t have the best family due to her connections with the mafia but Colm’s family welcomed her with open arms and she wants the same for Robert. They sit in Colm’s living room, whispering to each other about books. Janelle likes to take Robert to the library or to her safety base where they can watch ballerina movies.

Colm family is quick to take in Robert like he’s one of their own. When Robert expresses desire to help, unlike in Chad’s or Alice’s house (“Because we don’t believe in making the guest do work, that’s just impolite—go sit down, Robert!”), Colm’s family let him in and carefully teach him how to cook the meals they cook.

It’s perfect. Robert couldn’t have imagined him having so many close friends at his age, so used to sitting alone and hoping no one would notice him, but he doesn't have to do that anymore. Not with the z team.