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Jeff lifted his head and slowly blinked. He tried to rouse himself just enough to understand what his parents were doing, though he soon decided that was too much effort and, with a huff, dropped his head back onto the ground. Jeff limited his movement to his eyes, lazily watching Natasha chuck a compound’s supply of blankets and pillows to the bed where you neatly arranged them.
“Mrrr?” Jeff hummed; you had approached him, and now he was being raised off the ground, awakened from his warm and sleepy state. Jeff slumped his head to watch as his limbs dangled and swung in the air, swishing every time you took a step. When you stopped, the land shark spun to complain, so frustrated at the loss of his entertainment that he hadn’t even noticed where you stood. That was, of course, until he was unceremoniously dropped into the mountain of comfort.
“We’re going to see the show,” you explained, burying Jeff as you spoke. “Are you going to be okay here? You comfy?”
Jeff purred his reply; he still wanted to go back to sleep, and the warmth of the blankets was escorting him back towards a peaceful slumber.
“Okay,” came your soft reply; you could tell he wouldn’t stay awake for long. “We’ll come to check on you later. Sweet dreams, Jeff.”
And with that, you followed Natasha out of the room. The door clicked shut behind you, leaving Jeff with all the peace and quiet he needed to drift off.
—
Jeff woke to the sound of an explosion. Disoriented and scared, Jeff scrambled his way out of the sheets and off the bed. He ran to the door, hopelessly scratching it to find his way back to his family. But the door wouldn’t budge, and the handle was far too high for the shark’s tiny body to reach.
He slumped to the floor, cries and whimpers escaping his body and only getting worse with every bang. Soon, Jeff went to the bedding, curling up tight and wishing you would fulfil your promise to check in soon.
Jeff was too caught up in his own sobs that he missed the door clicking open and softly shutting.
Nick Fury had been walking the halls of the Avengers compound. Fury had heard that you had proposed to Natasha, asking permission from Alexei rather than him. Sure he was happy for the two of you, but Fury had a reputation to upkeep. He couldn’t stand for that.
His plan was just to intimidate you a little bit, which required his arrival to be after yours.
But then he heard the cries from behind your door. He’d seen you and Natasha cry, and neither of you sounded like that… but then the dots connected. Fireworks night. Unaware pet land shark. Almost guaranteed anxiety.
Gently, the director pushed the door open. Jeff would have been untraceable had the tower of pillows not shaken with each sob. Fury brushed them off, moving slowly so as not to startle the creature, but ultimately, it was no concern. Jeff didn’t even open his eyes when Fury greeted him.
“I can’t believe your parents would leave you alone on a night like this.” The change in Fury’s voice surprised Jeff; he opened one of his eyes just to glance and make sure this was the same man he had met with you and Natasha before. Fury looked the same, but he sure didn’t act like it.
Soon, Jeff was being removed from his resting spot for the second time of the night, lifted up and onto Fury’s lap. “Is this okay, Jeff? Is it the fireworks scaring you?”
“Mrrr?” The quiet question came between continued whimpers; Jeff knew only you fully understood him, but even Natasha guessed right sometimes.
“The fireworks are the big bangs.”
“Mrrr?!”
“I also had an unusual pet once. Spend enough time with pets; you get to work out what they’re saying. Perhaps you would call it an educated guess; I can’t understand you as much as Y/N does.”
As he spoke, Fury continued to soothingly stroke Jeff. He stayed curled in Fury’s lap; the comfort was helping him, but he still missed you. And the bangs - or fireworks as he now knew - weren’t stopping, only frightening him more.
A few moments later and you finally came to check on Jeff. You opened the door as cautiously as Fury had, wary of finding an upset or sleeping land shark. Instead, you caught the sight of your boss perched on the end of the bed, whispering sweet words of comfort as he held your land shark close.
Your eyes darted around the room, wondering what could be said in such a scenario. But settled for clearing your throat instead. “Director?”
His eye turned from Jeff to you, steeling as it travelled. “Y/N,” came his gruff reply. The man held Jeff as he stood and paced quickly to you. A raised eyebrow had you holding your arms out, completing the handover of Jeff. “Your land shark needs comfort. I could hear his whimpering from the corridors, delayed me in getting to the fireworks.”
“Oh, um-” It was bad enough to get scolded by your boss, but this man was Natasha’s father figure more than her own father. To have your parenting critiqued by him? It left you almost as nervous as Jeff. “Thank you for looking after him. And sorry. That I wasn’t here, you know. And so you had to go out of your way and all.”
“Look after the land shark, Y/N.”
“I’ve got it now.”
You brought Jeff to his bed again, putting your hands over his ears when a series of fireworks began to go off. Or, at least, where you thought his ears were-
“What are you doing, Y/L/N?! You’re covering his gills! He can’t breathe; give him here!”
Jeff looked up at you. You looked down at him. Then the both of you looked to Fury, side-eying him as your heads still faced each other. Never had you seen so much emotion from the spy; even when he cared for Natasha, he refused to show it as openly as he just did.
Even the fireworks paused as if to allow the silence in the room to prosper. Without a word, you offered Jeff up to your boss. Lion King style. He coughed, refusing to meet either of your eyes as he took Jeff back. “I mean… I know some stuff about animals…”
“I’m sure you do, Director.”
“He needs his gills free to breathe. His ears are here.” Fury indicated two small holes on either side of Jeff’s head, the land shark’s eyes going wide when they were covered.
“Mrrr.”
“He says everything went much quieter. You were right.”
“Mrrr.”
“But wrong about the gills. Jeff only needs them to breathe underwater; he has another method on land so he was breathing fine.”
“Oh-” Fury met Jeff’s eyes, then quickly set him down on the nearest available surface. Jeff mrrred at being left standing on your desk. He tipped his head over the edge, seeing what the jump down would be like… until another firework went off and Jeff leapt. Straight at Fury.
Years of professional espionage did not go to waste; Fury managed to catch Jeff smoothly, holding him close to comfort his renewed trembling.
Natasha, thankfully, came in just after, a pair of fluffy pink earmuffs in hand. She gave you a soft smile, undoubtedly noticing the tension between you and Fury and looking to comfort you; it worked too. You felt more at ease the second Natasha walked in. “These are for Jeff,” she announced, but the second she walked towards him, the land shark began to squirm, almost falling out of Fury’s arms.
“Give them to me,” the man instructed, swapping Jeff for the earmuffs with Natasha. Your fiancee turned to you with wide eyes when Fury put said earmuffs on; you shrugged in reply to her surprise. A whole other side of SHIELD’s most intimidating spy had come out tonight.
“You got any more of these?”
“Um, yeah, I brought some for Y/N, but-”
“Try to put them on Jeff now.”
Natasha approached again, a second pair of matching earmuffs in hand; Jeff didn’t budge this time. In fact, he even leaned closer to get them on faster. Fury held Jeff in front of him, showing off their matching outfits; you noticed Jeff even closed his left eye, but one look from Natasha warned you not to mention that.
They were a true pair, ready to watch the fireworks without the loud noises setting Jeff off. They led the way, you and Natasha following behind. No Avenger dared to comment on Fury’s headgear, though some snickers were shared and promptly quashed by the Director’s glare.
Jeff had found a new friend in Nick Fury, just as you had seen a different side of him. And tomorrow, you were buying Jeff his eye patch.