Robin was a library assistant at the University that Icarus Utterson attended. Robin was gay but closeted to most of his friends and family.
Robin asked Icarus out and Icarus accepted. Thanfiction described their relationship like this; "They chatted, hung out, watched movies, went to dinner, occasionally had sex... all in a deliberately shallow unspoken agreement that there were no elephants, certainly not in the middle of the room. They cared aboout each other as deeplyas you can care about someone with whom you deliberately have no actual intimacy, if that makes any sense at all."'
Icarus had been missing for about two weeks before Robin finally asked Russ' parents about it (Russ' parents hadn't known Icarus was gay), and he found out Russ had been murdered. Robin had been worried that Icarus had jumped off a bridge or commited suicide in some way.