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Late-night missions never got easier. Staying up ‘til 3 am would make anyone tired, but staying up until 3 am because you’ve been training, in conferences, in mission briefings, and finally in a hand-to-hand battle against an army of soldiers for the last 4 hours? Yeah, that brings a different level of exhaustion.
Still, the day wasn’t over until you were home, and the Quinjet only took you as far as the Avengers Compound. For most of the team, that was it, even the ones who had moved out could crash in their old rooms and call it a day, but for you and Natasha, there was a land shark you had to return to. You could picture him now, sitting by the door, waiting for you to finally return and bid him goodnight.
Natasha nudged you in the side, waking you from a nap that you hadn’t even realised you’d fallen into, before taking your arm and looping it around her neck. You clung tightly to your soon-to-be wife and she escorted your drained body off the plane, not showing any effects of exhaustion herself. For Natasha, resting seemed to be more of a courtesy; she slept when you did, but it would take days without sleep for her to actually show that she needed it.. or being shot… but the first option worried you less.
“Wait here,” Natasha instructed. She squeezed your shoulder as a comfort, then left you alone, propped up against her car. Your head began to droop with sleep; your mind going in and out of consciousness. You managed to catch yourself and jolt awake a few times before Natasha returned, to which she just smiled and guided you to the passenger seat of the car. But two Natashas were approaching you; that couldn’t be right, could it?
“I’m bringing Wanda back with us, love.” Oh, that explained the other redhead. “Her place is a bit further than ours, and she gave up her room here, so it’s safest if she crashes at ours for the night. Are you alright with that?”
“Mhmm,” you hummed and nodded your head slowly. When you turned around, Wanda was already asleep in the back, clearly as exhausted as you. “Yeah, that seems for the best.”
—
Natasha thankfully didn’t attempt any conversations on the journey home, she was content enough with the constant rumble of the engine and the light breathing of her two teammates. Similarly to the Compound, she helped the two of you into the house, guiding you to the doorway and unlocking it quickly.
Jeff shot out in a flurried rush, just as you’d imagined, and he weaved between all of your legs for attention; his tail woke you up somewhat as it slapped your shins uncontrollably. “Yeah, yeah, Jeff, we’re home,” you muttered, “good to see you too.”
“I’ll take you to your room, Wanda,” Natasha said, then guided the witch away. Meanwhile, you headed to your own bedroom, carrying Jeff with you, and set the shark down on his bed in the corner.
“Goodnight, Jeff.” The shark stretched his head towards your outstretched hand and purred happily at your pets. You tucked his plush toy under his arms and stroked his head until his eyes began to flutter closed. As much as you wished to join him, you needed to prepare for bed first.
You trudged into the bathroom, took a seat on the edge of the bathtub, then grabbed your toothbrush and vacantly started to brush your teeth, the mint sensation doing nothing to stir your senses back into liveliness. Instead, you just thought of your warm bed, and how relaxing it would be when you could finally climb into it. Tomorrow’s training was called off, so there would be no early starts, just you and Natasha getting some well-earned rest; only two minutes of brushing stood between you and the bed.
When the door creaked open, you assumed it was your fiancée coming to do the same, but instead, a small ‘mrrrr’ caught your attention, and you shot your head down. Jeff had nudged his way into the bathroom to sit in front of you; his eyes followed the movement of your toothbrush while his head tilted to the side. Eventually, he pulled his lips back and exposed several sharp rows of teeth in Jeff’s own version of a toothy grin.
“Oh.” You locked your teeth on your own toothbrush to hold it stable in your mouth, then grabbed another one and set a pea-sized dollop of toothpaste atop it before handing it over to Jeff.
At that point, Natasha did enter, with Wanda trailing behind her. “The bathroom is just here- JEFF, NO-!”
Unfortunately, she was too late, and both yours and Jeff’s eyes widened when you realised it. Nobody had time to move before Jeff clamped down on the brush – one of his instinctual reactions to any problem. All four of you stood frozen in shock before Jeff’s jaw suddenly dropped open, mrrrs and whines escaping him that roughly translated to: ‘AHHHHHHH’.
“Spit it out, Jeff. Spit it out!” You cried, defaulting to your own base reactions to scoop Jeff up and hold him over the sink. Jeff flopped in your arms so only his midriff was supported, while his head and tail fell under the pull of gravity. He continued to scream until he stuck his tongue out, his little arms writhing in order to scrape the unexpected taste out of his mouth, but still, it lingered.
“Here.” Natasha handed a glass to Jeff, but didn’t take a hand off of it until she instructed him very clearly, “move the water around your mouth, then spit it into the sink, understood?”
Jeff nodded and took the glass from Natasha with both of his hands. Since his short fingers still couldn’t wrap around it securely, Natasha kept supporting the glass from below, helping him tip the clear liquid into his mouth.
You watched expectantly as his cheeks swelled, filled with the swirling water in his mouth until it reappeared. “Is that better, Jeff?” Natasha asked, and the land shark nodded again, slumping in your arms. “Good, then the two of you better get to bed. That’s enough drama for one night.”
“Is your house always this exciting?” you heard Wanda ask after you’d bid them goodnight.
“Almost always,” came Natasha’s reply, “and somehow, the house is still standing.”
Jeff returned to his bed, and you collapsed into yours, already on the verge of blissful sleep when Natasha came in a few minutes later. You watched through half-open eyes as she pulled the blanket back over Jeff, then rolled over to face her when she crawled into bed.
“Get some sleep, my love,” she told you. “You’re buying me a new toothbrush tomorrow.”