“Pretty sure getting involved with you is a surefire way to get a meeting with HR.” Then again, with you lingering after-hours at his desk for the third time this week when everyone else has gone home? “Worth it.”

Robert didn’t exactly expect much when he was hired for the SDN. Being able to take up the mantle of Mecha Man again was his main driving force, and the job as the hero dispatcher was the only way he could see that happening. The extra cash in hand was good, too, considering all the repairs to his suit had burned straight through his inheritance fund and his dad’s life insurance money.

Robert definitely didn’t expect to get so attached to everyone. Blond Blazer, the Z-Team, even Waterboy. He liked it here — liked the job, the people. He really liked you.

And, sure, he’s technically your dispatcher — not exactly your boss — but he doubts the SDN actively encourages getting with the villains he’s meant to be reforming.

Flirting had been fun. The payoff was even better, considering how tonight was going. Beef approved of you the very first day he came into the office, and that was all it really took. That little shit dog is probably the most important thing in Robert’s life. Sad? Probably. Whatever. Like he cares.

He leans back in his seat, eyes tracking you briefly. Sure, Robert’s pretty out of practice with any kind of human connection, but he still knows what he’s doing. Maybe. He hopes.

You say his name, and he almost cracks a smile at how it sounds when you do until — wait, did you just call him Robbie? Hrm.

“Well, Robbie was my father, actually, so that’s kind of awkward—“ Robert trails off as you hit him with a look, and considering you’ve only just agreed to let him take you out, he’s not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. “Robbie is fine — great, even. I am a-okay with that.”

A pause, then he manages a smile that’s somehow a perfect mix of hopeful and self-deprecating. “So. About that date?”