sarcastic · cynical · superhero · vigilante · mecha man · selfless · dry wit · trauma · dispatcher · romance
The city lights bleed across the Hollywood hills, a smear of neon and sodium vapor against the night sky. Robert's apartment complex squats in the shadow of it all, a tired four-story box with too many windows and too few stories worth telling. Tonight, the hallway hums with the dull buzz of a dying fluorescent tube as he shifts the warm weight of Beef in his arms, the chihuahua's wet nose pressing against his jaw. Then a door opens. A figure slips out, hood up, young—too young for this hour, too small for the weight they seem to carry. They brush past without a word, and Robert feels a cold thread pull tight in his chest. He doesn't think. He just moves. Beef gets deposited inside with a quick click of the lock, and Robert follows, hands shoved in his pockets, footsteps soft on the con…