Thinking about the scrapped concept of Robert being half-Korean and being hellbent on trying to make it work still. Like maybe his dad fell in love with his mom and they got married, and maybe he didn't reveal he was Mecha Man until after the ceremony. (Because Robbie doesn't strike me as the kind of man to be very forward with other people, considering how long he strung Eli along, nor does he strike me as a very emotionally in-tune kind of guy. So yeah, he def should have told his wife he was a superhero way before they got married, but she decided to try to make it work regardless.)
The problem is, the only thing Robbie cares to be overt with is the fact he wants a child explicitly to continue his legacy. He wants a son that he can train to be the next Mecha Man, and also has zero interest in ever retiring or ever really being a family man. Robbie just wants an heir.
Well, miscommunication is almost always a recipe for a disaster. Robert is very young, maybe only a few years old, when his parents split. We know Robbie was a wealthy man, so I can imagine him using his resources to get full custody of their child regardless of whether his ex-wife tries to fight for Robert or not. Maybe he goes as far as to give his ex a lump sum as a sort of bribe to keep her quiet. Either way, she's out of the picture and Robbie destroys all evidence that she ever existed: no photos, no documents, no wedding band, no nothing.
So, Robert grows up thinking he never had a mom. She walked out of his life or something, he doesn't know. He was never brave enough to ask his dad.
But Chase on the other hand?
He probably would've been too young to have known Robert as a baby/toddler, but maybe by the time he joins the Brave Brigade, he starts to hear stories from the other members about their personal lives. Maybe he even goes as far as to ask where little Robert's mom is. Maybe he hears whispers of a bitter, sour divorce.
"The last I heard, she moved back to Korea. Couldn't bear to stay in the states after Robbie ended things with her, poor girl. She was really sweet, too. And a great nurse, it was honestly really helpful having her around. We've got no idea why things ended badly between them."
But hey, it's probably better on the kid if he never knew his mom. He has less heartbreak this way, right?
With time, Chase ends up babysitting Robert when Robbie is busy.
Well, it's not really babysitting. Watching this little kid grow up, getting smarter and bigger every day, is insane. It's amazing. It's like having a brother of his own. But Chase, still being so young himself, maybe just sort of assumes that Robert knows anything about his mother. Robbie doesn't have a lot of personal artifacts around the house, he's not a sentimental person that way, but surely he's told Robert about his own mother, right? What kind of insensitive asshole wouldn't?
Flash forward many, many years. The Z-Team is freshly rehabilitated and functioning like an actual team now. They're no longer a gaggle of insufferable assholes. They're instead Robert's assholes, and he clearly loves them. And Chase is proud of Robert and even begrudgingly proud of the team Robert pulled out of the depths of hell.
Maybe the gang + Chase are out for dinner or drinks, more team-bonding stuff. And while they're heroes, they still have their crass senses of humor. They poke fun at Robert because he's the boss, and making fun of the boss is one of the greatest forms of stress-relief for any team. And maybe someone (Visi) makes fun of Robert for his turbo white man name and his flat (white) ass and it's only funny because they're all kind of drunk.
But Chase just keeps expecting Robert to refute them to any capacity. Why's he just taking their ridicule? That's so fucking weird.
It gets to the point where Robert refers to himself as a white man ("I can't help the fact my ass is concave, you know. It's just my white guy genetics."), when he's abruptly cut off by Chase's indignant glass being slammed on the table–
"The fuck did you just say? You ain't no white man, Robert. Have some respect for yourself."
And the whole table goes quiet as everyone gawks at him.
"Holy shite!" Punch Up shouts, shooting to his feet, "He's having a stroke!"
Half the table jumps up in alarm, ready to rush Chase to the hospital, when he waves them down. "Motherfucker, do I look like I'm having a stroke?"
He points at Robert all stern and serious like a proper older brother, "Don't you disrespect your mother like that again."
Granted, Chase never knew Robert's mother. Never even seen her. But if the other members of the Brave Brigade spoke positively of her the few times they ever mentioned her at all, then he didn't want her son acting like she never existed.
And yet... Robert gawks at him for a long, long time.
"Chase, what are you talking about?"
That's when Chase realizes how grave his mistake really is. He spent Robert's entire childhood under the assumption that somehow, he would've just known his mother. Would've seen some photo or heard some story. Did Robbie really keep such a tight ship that his own son never figured out who his mother was?
Well, looking at him now, it's clear Robert ended up following in his father's steps for a long, long time. He poured everything into being Mecha Man. When would he have ever had time to search for his mother?
Chase really should have tried harder to reach out over the years, no matter how stubborn Robert got. To spend thirty years not knowing who you were was so upsetting. No, sickening.
Chase stares at Robert and wants to pull him aside to tell him, wants his brother to hear first-hand with no drunk assholes around.
But Robert doesn't want to get up. He trusts his team and more importantly, is also kind of concerned for Chase's health. He's obviously spouting nonsense, right? At the very least, they need to cut Chase off and swap his whiskey for some water.
"I swear to god..." Chase says, "I am going to dig up your father's grave just to kill him again."
Robert's brows furrow tight, his frown deepending. "And why is that?"
"Because apparently, that fucker never told you that you had a Korean mother."
(Robert is still not quite going to believe Chase despite how much he trusts him. He'll insist he can't be half Asian because... why would his dad never tell him that? But at Chase's insistence, Robert takes a DNA test. One half of him is a medley of various European/American locations but the other 50% of his entire being? All Korean.)
((But hey! At the very least, Visi (Filipina) and Flambae (Central Asian) will throw him into the air while chanting, "One of us! One of us!"))
