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Summary
The battle with Shroud had left Robert battered and bruised, but for the first time, he wasn't recovering in the solitary dark confines of his 'minimalist' apartment. Instead, Mandy’s apartment offered a sanctuary he didn't know he was starving for: warmth, safety, and the only person who saw beneath the Mecha Man suit in the way that she did. A home.
For too long, they had drifted around one another in a gravity well of unspoken tension—partners in the field, pointedly focused, but incapable of slowing the tide that burned between them. But tonight, amidst the glow of the television and a half-finished bottle of wine, that orbit finally decays. A cynical debate over a reality show dating finale turns into a mirror for their own fears and insecurities, and the deflection stops.
Tonight, the superhero masks come off. What starts as tender triage transforms into a collision of raw honesty and undeniable heat. It is an affirmation of a love long overdue—a shift from "partners" to "us," sealed with a quiet question in the dark and the approval of a very sleepy dog.
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Canon-compliant, Post Ep. 8 • Robert/Mandy Centric