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i. Yelena
Sunlight leaked through Bob’s curtains in the morning as he slowly opened his eyes. he looked over at his alarm on the bedside table and sighed when he saw that it was still a few more minutes until 7 am, or when his alarm starts blaring. Instead, he chose to sit up and turn off his alarm for this morning. After a quick stretch, he stands and takes a swig from his water bottle before walking out of his room.
The watchtower in the morning is quite empty and enjoyable, no bickering, no loud sounds coming from god knows where. It’s just him.. And Alexei’s snoring, which can be heard even if you’re all the way in Queens, it’s also the reason why Yelena gifted them all earplugs when they officially became “a team”.
As he walked to the kitchen, he thought about making breakfast for all of them. They all seem to enjoy his pancakes, and Ava honestly looks like she’s going to throw up if Alexei tells her they’re having Wheaties for breakfast again. Bob wished they could have other cereal brands because that whole pantry filled with Wheaties is going to make him throw up as well.
But Alexei insists on it being there, and well.. Even if they’re all embarrassed by the big guy, everyone lets Alexei have his fun. And the last time Bucky complained, Yelena tied all of his shoes together, but she didn’t admit it was her, but Bob knew.
The stack of dishes pulled him out of his thoughts. That’s not supposed to be there? They all had Chinese takeout last night, and Bucky was the one who offered to throw all the packaging in the trash bin, so they really shouldn’t have any dishes..
“ You all can keep eating that greasy slop, because unlike all of you.. I’m gonna eat something healthy. ”
God, Bob could just hear his voice play in the back of his head.
“Walker, you can’t keep doing this . ”
He grumbles to himself as he grabs the dishwashing gloves and puts them on. He’s barely awake, and he’s already playing housemaid.. Not that he dislikes this! It’s better that he’s useful at home than being kept in a facility like Val recommended at first; thankfully, all of the other members immediately gave her a big hard no.
It’s quite amazing the mess that John managed to make, because why did Bob find not just a spoon in the blender.. But also a pair of chopsticks and two forks.
“The hell did this guy make?”
“Oh, Walker? He tried making healthy chinese takeouts but gave up halfway, he ended up making a salad with.. Medium well steak.”
Now Bob thought Yelena was talking from behind him, he was surprised and screamed a little, but he still turned around and looked.. Only to find it’s empty, no one is there.
“Bob.. eyes up here..”
If his first shriek didn’t wake up the other guys, then his second one will. Because why the hell is Yelena in the vents?
“Wha.. What are you.. I-..”
She chuckles a little and makes her way down from it and dusts herself off, Bob is still staring at her in shock.
“Oh, a friend of mine told me that uh.. Her mentor used to live here, and he kept the vents clean, and it’s an easy way to get everywhere without the hassle of having to talk to people.. So I wanted to try”
That is still just such an odd reason for Bob, but after living with them these past few months and getting to know them, being odd and weird is just a part of their dynamic.
“Please don’t do that again, it freaks me out..”
Yelena doesn’t say anything and instead reaches up to one of the cabinets to grab a bowl and an open box of Wheaties. She fills her bowl with her cereal while Bob goes back to cleaning.
“I thought Walker told you he was going to start cleaning after himself after cooking? Especially after what he did when he made macaroni.”
“Ugh, don’t remind me of the fact he adds hot sauce into his macaroni-”
“Okay, first of all.. I accept any Walker diss, but you’ve obviously never tried macaroni with hot sauce, Bob.. and that’s okay, I’ll teach you to like it.”
The room became quiet again as Yelena took her sweet time to grab the milk from their fridge and pour it into her bowl. It was nice and quiet again, Bob was almost slipping back into the cleaning zone, until suddenly.
“You know.. You don’t do this for the rest of us.”
That made Bob huft out a laugh while cleaning the forks, “It’s because you folks don’t leave out dishes like you work in a restaurant that’s always fully booked.”
She hums. “You know some people flirt by just asking each other out.”
Bob’s hand still for a second, the plate in his hand almost slipping out of his hand and into the soapy water. “It’s not like that.”
He quickly answers, but Yelena is already smirking as she puts the carton of milk back and takes her bowl of cereal. She walks near Bob to grab a spoon to eat with.
“Sure.” She mused, “And I eat cereal with a fork.”
After that she walks out like nothing happened, but Bob could feel like she still had that smirk as she went to have breakfast in the community area.
After finishing the dishes, Bob finds himself staring at the now clean plates. He doesn’t notice the stain on his pajamas
ii. Alexei.
The laundry room hums with the low, steady sounds of the dryer. Despite the fabric softener Bob used for the laundry, the faint trace of gunpowder never left considering almost all of them use guns, but Yelena told him it doesn’t work like that so Bob thinks it’s just like this because of the missions they went on.
As he waits for the white clothes to dry, Bob sits on the floor with a pile of dry, dark clothes in a basket. He starts to methodically sort and separate each garment, from socks to undershirt and to tact gear, folding them carefully before putting them all in their assigned positions. While folding he tries to be especially careful with a black long sleeved thermal that has a rip on the side. He smooths it out on the floor while getting up to grab his needle and black thread.
Just as he sat back down again, the door to the laundry room opened, and in came a very sad Alexei.
“Bob,” He hufts as he sat on the floor along with the smaller man, “Why does my laundry smell like soup that has been sitting in fridge for five weeks?”
Bob furrows his brows a bit because–that’s oddly specific, but he doesn’t look up as he starts to patch up the black thermal shirt.
“I did tell you it was in the washing machine Alexei..” He says calmly while his hands move with precision.
“Yes, four days ago! I am only human, Bob, not roomba who does the housekeeping chores.” Alexei hands over his shirt for Bob to smell, “Now it smells like old lady feet and expired soup.. But this is not the first time you did this to us!”
The shirt does smell like expired soup. Bob's nose scrunched up as Alexei starts to go off about laundry.
“You gave Yelena her hoodie that shrunk in the hallway–”
“I told her not to use hot water, but she didn’t listen.”
“and you told her that it was not your fault that it shrank.”
Bob sighed and finished stitching up the clothes and finally neatly folded them to put them back with the other neatly folded pile.
“I don’t know what you want me to say, Alexei, I told you guys that I’ll put your clothes in the machine and the drying and folding part isn’t my job.. I already got my hands full with my own stuff.”
But Alexei wasn’t so convinced that it was all Bob’s stuff, “Yet here you are.. Folding Walker’s clothes.”
Bob rolls his eyes and gets up while grabbing the pile of neatly folded clothes and pants to stack them on top of each other, and puts the pile of socks on top of it as well.
“Walker is terrible at separating his clothes, half of his white shirts are either gray or pink now.. Not to mention, he broke our last washing machine.”
They sigh at the memory, John going off about how in the military, he didn’t get to use stuff like washing machines, so how was he supposed to know not to forcefully open the door while it was washing? But Bucky and Alexei immediately told him that they knew how to use the washing machine, despite where they’re from. And that shut John long enough for him to go to Val and ask for a replacement washing machine.
“You separate his colors.”
“Yes, I have the white ones in there right now.”
“You also iron his socks?”
“Oh, not iron, I steam them.”
Alexei just stares at him, “You mean.. You leave mine there for four days, but you steam Walker’s socks.”
Bob just shrugs, and before Alexei can even say anything else. Bucky enters, he was holding a pair of horrifically stained cargo pants with a kitchen tong.
“I think something mutated and came alive in this..”
That was enough to earn a sigh from Bob.
“I told you it was in the washer two weeks ago Bucky..”
Alexei groans and turns to Bucky, “Look at this man, he’s running a romantic laundromat while steaming Walker’s socks and what do we get? A mutated cargo pants and old soup smelling shirt.”
Bucky looked from Alexei’s very sad-looking shirt, to his own probably now toxic cargo pants, and then to the stack of Walker’s very neatly crisply folded laundry.
He then stares at Bob, “You steam his socks.”
“He seems to like it more when I steam it than iron”
That prompted Bucky to look at his mutated pants, and then his shirt.
“Bob, I’ve been wearing the same shirt for the past six days.”
And Bob just shrugged as he squeezed his way out of the two of them. Behind him, Alexei pats Bucky’s shoulder as the former winter soldier throws the mutated pants away in the trash chute along with the kitchen tongs.
The door to John’s room opened as Bob pushed it open with his shoulders. John is in there, slouched on his desk, staring at his computer at a game. It's something Ava got John into, Bob didn’t like it so much because whenever those two play together, they’re very loud. And it’s not fun when you’re in the middle of reading and suddenly those two are calling each other every insult there is in the Oxford dictionary.
“NO– don’t go in there, ARE YOU STUPID? COME ON MAN! That’s a 4v1.. Oh my god, I’m playing with idiots right now–”
Bob navigates through the messy floor of John’s room, despite it already being cleaned by him three days ago. He tries to be careful and not step on a pair of combat boots that were obviously used by John last mission, which he just kicked off when he got home. And of course, John’s taco shield, which Bob keeps forgetting to fix.
“Walker, you left your laundry bag unzipped again,” He says softly while putting the neatly folded clothes on John’s bed.
“Cool. Thanks, Bobby.” John mutters, his eyes focused on the screen. “Just put it somewhere, I guess, I’m carrying this team right now.”
“Uh, there was blood? On your sock?”
“Oh, probably Alexei’s, or mine, not sure.”
Bob doesn’t say anything else, he grabs some empty protein bar packets and was planning to leave and throw them away but he turns around to ask one more thing.
“Do you want sliced apples or oranges?
“What?” John barks out, “Dude, I don’t care, give me whatever.. This support is brain-dead right now.”
Since John gave Bob creative liberties, he made his way to the kitchen, grabbing a fancy apple he bought last week when he went shopping with Ava. Peeling them and cutting them into slices before going back to John’s room and putting the plate on the desk beside John.
John grabs one without looking, he hums when he pops one into his mouth, “Fuji, good choice. Thanks Bobby”
Bob leaves the room when John starts yelling about something in the game.
iii. Bucky
Late afternoons in the watchtower are never quiet, post-mission or not.
Like right now, there’s always something: Yelena blasts heavy metal or 2012 pop from her room, depending on how the mission goes, today it’s pop, Alexei complains from the showers that they have run out of hot water which is impossible, Ava phases through walls as she goes back and forth from her room to the kitchen while waiting for her instant ramen. And Bucky? He’s probably the reason why they’re out of hot water. Not his fault that he has to spend at least 20 minutes in the shower doing nothing but letting the water hit his skin, before finally doing his everything shower.
But today something was different, usually there was also the sound of John yelling angrily at the TV, either at sports or at a game he was playing, or sometimes it was both of those things when he was playing FIFA with Bob, either way, that was missing. So Bucky made his way to the common room to check why, maybe it’s because he’s the current appointed leader, it’s odd when one of them is quiet.
Bucky pads into the common room barefoot, his towel slung over his shoulder. His hair is still damp from the shower, and he’s wearing his Hello Kitty pajama pants that Yelena bought for him as a joke from their mission in Japan last month, and a plain white shirt.
He stops at the doorway when he sees Bob.
Who is crouched in front of the entertainment console, sleeves pushed up, while he grumbles to himself as he’s elbow-deep in a mess of tangled cords. His expression shows that he’s focused, but not exactly happy about this.
“You rewiring the watchtower?” Bucky asks dryly as he walks over to Bob.
Bob doesn’t even glance back when he answers Bucky. “Walker shoved the console into the wrong port again. He cracked the jack, thankfully, he didn’t break the whole thing at least..”
That was enough to make Bucky snort, “Has he ever heard of gently putting things in?”
“Sadly, he only believes in brute force and yelling at loading screens.”
“Sounds like something Walker would do.”
Bucky flops onto the couch and slouches back as he watches Bob work. His eyes then noticed, on the table in front of him, there was a plate of grilled cheese that sat neatly next to a smaller plate of sliced oranges and a bottle of gatorade that seems like it was still cold from the condensation beads.
It seems untouched and is obviously not for him.
“I thought you already ate, Bob?”
Bucky remembers them all coming home from the mission to something that smelled insanely good, only to find Bob eating a burger he had doordashed.
“Huh? Oh no, that’s for Walker.”
That caught Bucky off, that he genuinely had to do a double take and when he saw that Bob was being serious he finally said something.
“You made this for Walker?” He couldn’t even hide the shock in his voice.
The laundry thing was one thing, but preparing him food and slicing oranges for him? Now Bucky understands why those young people on the internet love to ship two best friends, or whatever John and Bob had going on. Because Bucky thinks that he ships these two right now.
“He hasn’t eaten since you all came home from the mission.”
Bucky wants to add that he hasn’t eaten either, though Yelena did order sushi for him and Alexei to eat together, but that hasn’t arrived yet, so he’s also sitting here on an empty stomach.
“You know you’re not his mom..?”
“Well, he doesn’t eat unless someone reminds him to eat.”
“Still not his mom.”
Bob just sighed softly before getting the final cable into place and hitting the power button. The TV flickers on, and that’s when Bob plugs the game console back into the TV and.. It works!
Right on cue, footsteps echo down the hall, slower than usual and a little uneven.
John appears from the hallway, limping since he accidentally got a bullet that grazed his hip. His damp hair was pushed back as he wore an oversized hoodie and sweatpants. Bucky watched as Walker made his way over to them and looked at the plate of grilled cheese and sliced oranges.
Apparently, this was such a normal thing that John just grabbed one of the grilled cheeses and dropped onto the couch. He ate with his right hand as his left hand grabbed one of the controllers so he could pick to play FIFA. Bob got up and grabbed two other controllers, he handed one to Bucky who declined it.
“Are you two..? How do I say this..” Bucky looks at the two of them as Bob sat down next to John, but not close enough to make anything obvious, but it’s still very obvious at the same time. “Are you two like a thing–”
“What?”
“Excuse me?”
Before they can say anything Bucky cuts in, “I’m just saying, it’s okay for you two to be into each other! Hey I might be born in 1917 but I get with the times, I support gay rights as a congressman, all I’m saying is that–”
John hit him with a pillow before he could even finish that sentence.
It was only until Yelena came up from the elevator with a plastic bag that Bucky finally left the two love birds alone. He got up, didn’t even say goodbye, he patted John on the shoulder, which only got a grunt from the man who was focused on playing with his fictional soccer game. Bob looked up at him, but it was almost like it was instinctive, like he was afraid that Bucky might intervene with whatever they had going on.
Like he would ever.
So he made his way to the kitchen instead where it was filled with the clatter of a takeout box followed by voices with thick russian accents.
The kitchen lights are dimmed, and the only ones emitting light are from the under-cabinet ones. They all agreed that those big main lights hurt their eyes, so after Ava and Bob figured out how to use those smart lamps Mel had the technician install on their tower, they’ve been putting all of them on the dim settings.
In the middle of it all were Yelena and Alexei. Yelena sits cross-legged on the counter, something that Bucky told her to stop doing multiple times, while she dips a nigiri into soy sauce. Alexei was standing up and he had a pair of unused chopsticks beside him on the table but he ate the sushi with his hands, either he gave up halfway or decided not to at all.
“You know, I let you buy this with my credit card. The least you can do is tell me when it arrives.”
Yelena doesn’t look at him as she pops the sushi into her mouth. “You seemed busy.”
“I wasn’t busy.” He said, grabbing the third chopstick and opening it to take one of the rolls.
“Well, how was I supposed to know you had your post-mission brooding face on,” She says with a smirk. “And you were busy trying to understand if Bob and John were a thing, and I feel like you, as the de facto leader, should be the one to figure it out.”
Alexei grunts, cutting into their banter, “Is the rice supposed to be sticky?”
“Yes,” Yelena and Bucky say in unison.
Then they fall into a natural rhythm–passing soy sauce, and ignoring the faint sound of John’s voice down the hall, yelling and groaning as he play his games with Bob.
After awhile, Yelena finally says something about it.
“Do you think they are together?”
“Nope–”
“Bob probably thinks they are. The man treats John like he is a soviet soldier, Bob is his beautiful wife. He is loyal, quiet, folds socks, and keeps house from crumbling. Then he watches over John like nervous dove..”
Yelena cringes at what Alexei says, “Oh my god dad..”
“You think Walker knows?” Bucky asks, he chews and swallows the roll in his mouth before continuing, “That Bob likes him, I mean.”
That earned an eye roll from Yelena, “Walker? Please. That man has the emotional range of a wet napkin.”
The three of them go quiet again, sharing a meal lit together in a dimly lit kitchen and the comfort of knowing exactly what’s going on even when the people involved don’t.
Eventually, Alexei peeks over to the hallway, Bob finally beat John in FIFA after losing countless rounds, “They’ll figure it out..”
Bucky shrugs, “Probably.”
iv. Ava
The third punching bag gives out, with a final miserable crunch as sand began to cover the training room floor again.
John stepped back for a second, his breathing hard, as he removed the wrapping on his arm to remove the punching bag from the chain above it. He threw the broken punching bag along with the other piles that he managed to ruin that day, which is four counting the most recent one.
Unbeknownst to him, Ava is standing at the doorway, she has been there for the past 10 minutes watching him go at it. When she watched him go to the storage room to get another one, that’s when she knows she had to stop him.
“That’s the fourth one.. Today.” If she thinks about it, it sounds ridiculous, “You know we aren’t sponsored by a gym yet, right?”
The only answer John gave her was a grunt and Ava sighed as she sat down on the mat, the one that managed to not have sand all over it. She watched as John put a new punching bag on the hanger and he started to wrap his hands again.
“I needed to hit something.”
“You always need to hit everything, I don’t think the watchtower expense can handle this.”
John scoffed and turned to her, “Val and the government are supporting us, I don’t think buying punching bags is a problem.”
Ava raised her eyebrow as she watched John preparing to punch the punching bags.. Again.
“You only go berserk when you have something on your mind.”
That made him stop mid-swing, he turns to glare at her, and Ava smiles when she realizes she got to him. John sighed and sat in front of him, legs crossed as he looked down at the floor before staring at her.
“I know Bob likes me.”
“Everyone does? You’re not special.”
John groans. He gave her the middle finger before continuing what he wanted to say.
“I know he likes me, He does all these.. Things for me–cooking, does my laundry and he knows that I like it when my clothes are steamed, he gives me food and snack when i’m doing something like I’m some sort of fucking five year old.”
“You don’t like it?” Ava’s tone was a bit judgmental, and John caught it.
“I like it! It's just.. It messes with my head!” He put his hand on his face and groaned, “I’ve spent so long being treated like a military and government asset. Like a dog on a leash. Either I'm useful or I'm not. That’s how it’s always been..”
Ava nods slowly. She doesn’t say anything else just yet, she lets him vent, knowing how much he needed it. Despite his foolish personality and big ego, both her and Yelena know that just like everyone else on this team, Walker is broken.
“So when Bob started treating me like, like I’m–” He stops for a moment to choose the right word, “Like I’m worth to be cared for..? Like I matter for no reason? My brain makes me think that there’s a catch. Like after doing all of this, Bob’s gonna realize that I’m not worth it.”
“You’re not a bad man, John.”
John rolls his eyes at her, “You called me an asshole this morning because I used your hair towel to wash my face.”
“Asshole, yes. A bad man? Definitely not.”
It was quiet for a moment after Ava said that, John just rested his chin on his palm as he stared off into the large mirror they have in the training room.
“I’m scared he’s gonna disappear when he finally has enough of me,” His voice was shaky, like the thought of Bob not being there scares him. “Or worse– he’ll stay and I’m the one who ruins it. I don’t know how to have nice things, Ava.. I’m not–.. I’m not built for it.”
It reminded him of his son and his ex-wife, Olivia. And how he fumbled them so badly, after years of being nothing but a government attack dog, he finally got what he wanted, a beautiful wife and a healthy son. But he just had to ruin it, it was all his fault. Every night he thought about it. If he didn’t attack that flag smasher in public, if he didn’t waste his time doom scrolling and if only he was present in his son’s life.
Ava then moved to sit beside him, even if the sand will stick to her clothes, Bob’s probably not gonna be happy when he sees sand on the washing machine.
“You don’t have to be built for it, to deserve it, John.” She smiles a little as she puts her hand on his shoulder.
“Why are you suddenly playing therapist for me right now?”
As John gives her a tired smile, Ava just rolls her eyes. “Because Val obviously forgot that Bob’s not the only person on this team with depression.”
They laugh for a moment before Ava gets up and dusts herself off. “Seriously, Let Bob in.. He sees something in you that you don’t see in yourself. I know you probably think being mean is the only way to keep your walls up.. But the kid is like a kicked puppy when you call him names.”
Suddenly, the door opens with a giant hiss. And in comes Bob, with a shaker bottle in his hand, and his hair slightly mussed like he’s been running his hand through it all afternoon. And judging by his expression, he was obviously caught off guard by the amount of sand on the floor and the fact that Ava is also here.
The three of them didn’t say anything, but Ava still moved to the treadmill. She put her water bottle in the cup holder and turned the machine on. She quickly puts her airpods in, as if signaling to Bob that she won’t be listening to their conversation–well, maybe a little.
Bob walks forward and heads towards John, who gets up and finally takes a good look at the mess he managed to make.
“I brought you your protein shake.”
John turns to him with a soft look on his face. “You didn’t have to, Bobby..”
“I know. But I wanted to.”
While they were staring at each other, Bucky made his way in the room.
“Walker. Ava. Suit up,” His tone is flat but not unkind, more like he’s focusing on so many things at once, by how his eyes are laser-focused on the tablet in his hands.
“Val’s dropping a sudden mission on us. Immediate deployment. The files are already sent to your phones.”
That made both John and Ava groan as they gathered their stuff before leaving. But before making his way to the door, John turns to Bob.
“We’ll talk more after this.”
v. the whole team and Val
The whole team files into the meeting room, their boots echoing across the polished floors. This floor is basically untouched unless Val tells them to have a meeting here. They all usually hang out upstairs, despite each of them getting their own floors at the start. But when Bob tells Yelena that he felt lonely being all alone in the tower’s penthouse, that immediately made the whole team move to the top floor.
John entered the meeting room first, throwing his bent shield on the table as he sat down, leaned back on his chair and kicked his feet up. Ava was next, she sat down beside him, she focused on her phone reading through the mission files. Yelena then comes next, she sat beside Ava, chewing on a mint toothpick as she looks over Ava’s shoulder to read the mission file. Alexei lumbers in behind her, spouting on and on about how the mission was great success –it wasn’t, not at all. Bucky came in after counting all of them, just in case he’s missing one.
And he was, Bob came in late since he was alone upstairs and only came down when the A.I system told him they were home. When Bob finally sat down across from Walker on the other far end of the table, Bucky finally sighed and sat down at the head of the table and opening the tablet to read about the mission again.
Val enters the room like a storm in heels, Mel tries to catch up with her but stumbles slightly. When Val put her tablet down, she let out a disappointed sigh.
“Two things.” She says softly, with her annoying fake smile. “One: I don’t like being surprised, Two: I really don’t like it when you people are the ones doing it.”
John exhales loudly, “That’s totally not ominous at all.”
“Save the sass Walker, you almost blew up the entry point after shooting those explosives.”
“By accident.” John grumbles, as Val glares at him.
“ By accident is a word that gets people killed. I swear I thought you’d be better, especially since the government chose you to be the replacement Captain America before Sam Wilson came.”
When Bob noticed John was about to pull out his gun, he immediately gestured for John to stop, but instead, that caught Val’s attention.
“Anything you want to add, Sentry? Oh.. I’m sorry– I mean, Bob. hmm? Do you have something you want to add when all you did was sit in your little tower and let your–”
“That’s en–”
Before Bucky can tell her to stop, Walker stands up and points his gun at Val.
“Is there a fucking reason for this meeting or are you just here to complain for no reason again.”
Val flinched when John suddenly pulled out his gun, and when nobody stopped him, Mel didn’t even point the kill switch at him. She sighed and turned back to the table. That’s when John sat down again.
He took a glance over at Bob across him, and the shorter man was fiddling with the string on his hoodie. Well, at least Val wasn’t yelling at him again.
“Intel shows secondary movement from the contract site,” Val explains as she flips through the holoscreen. “That means you’re all going out again, probably within forty-eight hours.”
She then glanced over at John, who was still glaring at her.
“So if you’re mad. Get over it quick.”
Then Val turned off the holoscreen and took her tablet. “Briefing over, decompress, rest. Try not to break the punching bags again. I won’t buy you all new ones after this.”
As she leaves the room with Mel, whom she immediately starts barking out orders to. John sighed as he watched the rest of the team standing up to stretch. Except for him and Bob.
“I think I want to make a sandwich, would you like a sandwich, Ava?”
Ava just shrugs and follows Yelena out. Alexei follows behind while telling Bucky they should probably train for the next part of the mission–aka Alexei found out about the A.I training simulation a few days ago while sparring with Bucky.
When Bucky was about to leave the room, he lingered by the door and glanced over at John and Bob. In the end, he lets Alexei pull him out of the room and doesn’t say anything, though it was obvious that his eyebrows were furrowed when he left.
And the room gets quiet again. The only sound that filled it was John tapping his fingers against the wooden desk. Bob stayed quiet across the room, his eyes locked on the floor.
“I should’ve gone with you all..” Bob broke the silence, his voice low and rough as if it took so much to force that out of him. “You guys.. Could’ve died. And I was just here..”
John turns towards him. His brows draw in, not angry–just tired. “That wasn’t your call Bob-”
“But I could’ve made it easier,” He says as he looked up to stare John right in the eyes. “I could’ve ended all of it before you all got hurt.”
“Yeah,” John sighed, “You could've”
That statement made Bob flinch. John sees it and just shakes his head.
“But you didn’t,” He adds, his voice softer, a hint of a smile on his lip. “And look at us, we’re not dead. So what’s actually eating you, Bob?”
The way John was looking at him, the soft voice, that was too much for Bob, so he just hid his face with his hands. “I don’t know what my use for this new avengers team is. If I go all out, If I use the powers that I have–it’s not just the sentry.. It’ll also be the Void too. And I can’t–I won’t risk that. But if I don’t go out.. You guys are putting yourself in danger, and I’m.. useless.”
“You’re not useless.”
“You don’t get it, Walker,” Bob says as he leans forward and buries his face in his arms on the table. “Just today, you were shot, Bucky dislocated his shoulder, Yelena said she cracked her rib, and Ava–god Ava phased during the explosion so she could move Alexei out of the way, but both of them ended up–”
“Alive, they’re alive and well.”
John’s voice was closer than it was before. When Bob looked up, John was standing beside him with a soft smile.
“You tend to forget that me, Bucky, and Alexei are super soldiers.” He sat down beside Bob while he said that, “Ava moved Alexei and herself out of the way at just the right time for Alexei to cover her.. And Bucky’s dislocated shoulder? It’s probably fine by now.. And look, no bullet wounds.”
To show Bob he wasn’t lying, John pulled up his uniform to show his now sorta healed bullet wound on his abdomen. It had a slight scar, but it was healing. After getting shot and shooting the enemy, he managed to pull out the bullet by himself.
But it did catch him off guard when Bob’s hand moved to touch his skin. John flinched, only slightly, but it was enough for Bob to retract his hand and look away so he could hide his blush.
The room quickly became quiet again, with both of them blushing. John quickly fixed his uniform and cleared his throat.
“Listen, Bobby, you think being powerful is what makes someone useful?”
Bob doesn’t respond. He refused to turn and look at John.
John moves his chair closer to Bob and put his arms around Bob’s shoulder, pulling Bob closer to him. “You bring me my protein shakes. You clean our dishes. You fold my goddamn laundry. You show up to team game night bringing chips and freshly cut fruits.”
He pauses. “You don’t have to be Sentry all the time. And you sure as hell don’t need to be The Void. I want–we all want you to just be Bob. That’s who we see standing with us, not the Sentry, not the Void, just.. Our Bobby”
Bob doesn’t know how long he’s been holding it in, but hearing John’s words made him exhale softly. His shoulder eased up a little as John drew circles on it with his thumb.
They stayed like that for a while before John smirks a little and turns to Bob again, “Maybe if you promise to you know, not to put everyone in Manhattan into a shame room again so they can live out the worse moment of their lives, maybe Bucky would let you come along.”
Bob hufts out a quiet laugh. “No promises.”
John smiles and pats Bob’s shoulder as he gets up and heads towards the door, he turns back to Bob before leaving. “Let’s talk more after this, like I said.”
Bob nods and quickly trails behind John as he leaves the room.
+ 1
There was something in the air when the watchtower door slid open.
No it wasn’t the disgusting smell of swamp and fish that stuck to the team as they all made their way in to the top floor, their boots heavy, soaked, and dirty with mud as they drag in filth to the usual squeaky clean floors.
“I’m sorry Bob.” Yelena mutters as she’s the first one in. A cut now decorated her cheeks, her sleeves are torn and was just hanging by a thread and sheer willpower. She threw her hair tie to the side along with her gear and she pulls a muscle while doing so.
Behind her came Bucky, “I’m not.” His expression is unreadable, but his free metal arm is still twitching as if he still feels a blade there. His right arm is holding a tablet, judging by his furrowed brow, he’s reading the mission report.
Ava follows, she doesn’t say a word as she phases in and out, her body too tired to hold itself. Her suit’s damp, mud covered the white suit from the waste below, and worst of all, it had already dried on the way here.
Alexei was one of the last, he was pulling at his soaked gloves, complaining about the disgusting swamp water and how America has to take care of its dirty water problem.
Of course, when the A.I system told Bob that the quinjet arrived, he immediately left his room and went to the door. He counts them, a bad habit he stole from Bucky, as they walk in one by one. But even if he cares for them all equally, he’s waiting for John. When Bob was checking in on comms when the mission was at its peak, John stopped responding to all of them in the middle of it. That got him terrified, to the point that Bucky told him it might be better if he just got off comms. Which he did, and he immediately practiced his breathing and buried himself in a book.
But still, the sigh of relief he lets out when he sees John walk in, his uniform is slightly crooked, the beret has seen better days, and there is a long streak of blood from his jaw all the way to his collarbone. His taco shield still in hand, as he groaned about probably pulling something on his back.
The moment the door sealed behind them. Bob immediately made his way to John, his body moved on its own as he pushed away Alexei, who was asking about something that Bob didn’t care enough to worry about right now.
Before John could even register who was in front of him, Bob was already wrapping his arms around him. It was tight, almost as if Bob wanted to remind himself that John is still alive.
It made John freeze for a moment, because after that John immediately wrap his arms around Bob’s body and clings to his shirt.
“You didn’t answer me,” Bob murmured against John’s shoulder, “I panicked. I thought something happened to you and I..”
John shushes him, “I lost my earpiece while I was in the swamp.. Didn’t mean to scare you Bobby.”
“I thought I lost you John..”
“I’m here Bob..”
Bob pulls back just enough to look at him, to take in the sight of John after this mission. Dirt and mud covered his face, there was a bruise forming on his cheeks, blood on his nose. His eyes are exhausted–but he’s here, and he’s alive.
And as if on instinct, Bob leans in, and plants his lips on John’s.
It was clumsy, unplanned, and obviously both of them are unsure how to even continue the kiss. John leans forward and grounds himself on the kiss by holding Bob’s waist. The kiss was desperate, full of mud, and was held back for too long.
After a minute or so, they pulled back. John chuckles and kisses Bob on the forward. They stared into each other’s eyes for a moment until–
“Finally!” Yelena exclaims, “God. I was starting to think I hallucinated the tension.. Or Bob’s little housewife thing.”
“You know I have been waiting for this to unfold like soap operas that played in soviet era,” Alexei laughs as he brings out a bottle of beer out of the fridge, “This has better ending, of course.”
Bucky looks at Bob and John judgingly before walking past them, “Two months of weird tension for one hallway hug and a forehead kiss. God, even I did better.”
Ava smirks before phasing through a wall, “I’m closing the betting pool!”
Despite the teasing, John doesn’t care for once.
Bob’s forehead rests against his. They breathe together, close and quiet, as if it’s just them in this room and the world stopped for them.
“Thank you, Bobby.”
“You’re welcome, John.”