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Incessant buzzing of your watch drew you from the depths of sleep, forcing you to open your eyes and adjust to the darkness. Natasha stirred beside you.
Tapping the watch screen bathed the room in a pale light; you had to flinch away while your eyes adjusted, but you were finally able to read the message.
In the dark, your arm jumped around until it hit something solid; the groan that followed indicated it was Natasha.
"We have to get up," you mumbled, sleep still laced in your voice. You felt her shift beneath your hand, then the room lit up again, under the flow of Natasha's watch this time.
"I want a day off," she sighed, but then flicked the bedside light on regardless. The two of you prepared for work, because despite what either of you wanted, the world didn't wait, so you couldn't either.
"Is Yelena coming?"
"Couldn't see her on the list"
Natasha nodded. She shuffled in the wardrobe for your mission bags, while you let yourself into the room next door to nudge the sleeping shark. He shifted atop the covers, but ultimately stayed asleep. You nudged him again.
"Mrrrr," Jeff said with a yawn. His arms sleepily reached out and grabbed onto your departing hand, pulling you near.
Relenting, and apologetic for disturbing his sleep, you scooped him up with your other hand, grabbed his stuffed toy, and carried him to the car while he dozed on your shoulder.
Natasha was already waiting; your bag and hers were thrown into the boot, while Jeff's pre-packed travel kit lay on the back seats, beside his car seat. You set him down gently, using his plush shark to replace the comfort of your arm, then strapped him in safely. The car was set after that, and you began the quick journey to Yelena's house, dropping Jeff and his belongings off with many thanks and apologies to the blonde, before continuing on to the Compound.
Avengers in various states of wakefulness gathered around Fury in the conference room as the mission briefing was delivered. It would be a fight right from the offset, no retrieval or espionage, just a simple fight…in space.
"Do we need to bring lightsabers?" Tony scoffed, though you imagined he already has a stash ready for the occasion.
"Bring whatever you've got," Fury warned, "Carol's requested help for this one. Carol . I mean no offence but she could take any of you,"
"I'm a little offended by that,"
"Deal with it, Stark. If she needs help, you better bring all the fight you can. Understood?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. The quinjet is already programmed; Hill will give you more information when you're up there. So get to it!"
At the man's orders, your team filtered out, spacesuits were handed out to those who needed them, then you strapped yourselves in. Natasha took the seat next to yours, the ones which had practically become your designated seats on this modified jet. She squeezed your hand with hers as the space launch began. You hoped Jeff would be okay.
—
Maria had given you more information while on the journey to space, yet Carol insisted on another mission briefing after you’d arrived on the spaceship. No matter how interesting her speech was, the whole team had still been roused from sleep and subjected to three briefs on the same topic; all she got in response were vacant eyes and scattered yawns.
That changed when the doors slammed open, everyone lost interest in Carol, in favour of turning to watch the newcomers waltz in. You recognised all the heroes, the ones who had chosen not to become Avengers, despite their capability for it, but most importantly, your eyes were drawn to the blonde leading the group.
"Yelena?!" Natasha exclaimed first.
The younger Widow turned her head toward Natasha and broke into a toothy smile, "сестра! I was invited too!"
"What did you do with Jeff?!"
Yelena jolted at her sister's unwelcome greeting, frowning slightly before she held her hands up with the goal of calming Natasha down.
Still without a word spoken, Yelena shrugged her backpack off her shoulder, unzipped it, then tipped it upside down, causing your favourite land shark to tumble out.
It was your turn to clamour now, while Natasha surged forward to check Jeff was okay. "You brought Jeff to SPACE??"
"Well what was I supposed to do with him?"
You looked beyond the shrugging assassin to see your own Black Widow on the floor smiling as Jeff cooed and ran circles around her, his tail wagging so hard it moved his back end with it. He was unaffected by the whole situation, something Yelena should be very grateful for.
"Not bring him to space?" You sighed. "What did you do with Fanny?"
"Oh, she is with my neighbour!"
"And you couldn't have done the same with Jeff?" The land shark scrambled over to you now, and your intimidating stance on Yelena was ruined by your need to crouch down and give Jeff the head scratches he was after. It was worth it; you knew Yelena wouldn't be the slightest bit scared of you no matter how you stood.
“Oh yes, let me think,” Yelena mused, “hello neighbour who does not know I am Avenger. As well as my dog, can you also watch this special, one-of-a-kind land shark?” She rolled her eyes. “You think that would be a good idea?”
Natasha got to her feet, ready to chastise her sister for her tone, when the doors burst open again, a new group of heroes entering the room.
"How many ships have they sent up here?" you muttered.
"And are we gonna have to sit through another briefing?" Tony asked.
"Who even are they?"
"The Guardians of the Galaxy have arrived!" came the announcement of the one who seemed to be the leader.
"Ha! they brought a dog! see? I was not so silly bringing Jeff up here!"
"Cosmo is powerful member of team." The dog growled, for some reason in a strong Russian accent.
"Is that dog Russian?"
"Cosmo is from Soviet Union!"
"Oh wow, it's like Yelena in dog form." Natasha laughed, but her comment went unheard by her sister, because she was already crouching in front of the Russian dog, littering her with questions including, but not limited to "how did you get here?" and "can I give you head scratches?"
Before you knew it, Jeff had approached the dog too and the rest of the Guardians were groaning at the lack of appreciation for the rest of the team.
Cosmo swung around to face Jeff, her stance changing to crouched legs, raised hackles, and a motionless tail. "Identify yourself, shark," she growled.
Jeff, meanwhile, dropped his back legs to sit on the floor, his tail sweeping the area around him while his tongue lolled out his mouth. "Mrrrr."
Cosmo paused. Her tail raised ever so slightly as she cocked her head to the side. "говорить по-русски?" (speak Russian?)
"Mrrrr."
You started blankly at the two. Jeff was speaking Russian; you know because you could translate it from land shark…but not from Russian back to English. Natasha and Yelena, however, expressed a different sentiment. They both looked in shock at your land shark, before turning to each other, then finally settling on you.
"You never said he spoke Russian?" Natasha questioned.
Your cheeks flushed at the thought of the confession you would now have to make. "He doesn't usually speak it," you said, your voice trailing into a murmur by the end, "he just…translates it."
"Jeff, Вы понимаете меня?" (do you understand me?)
"mrr"
"He says yes," you and Cosmo translated at the same time. He'd said it in Russian again, but you could translate that much at least.
"He's been helping me learn," you told Nat sheepishly, "you're more romantic in your native language, when you think I don't understand, and I'm about to marry into a Russian family so I didn't want to rely solely on Jeff to translate."
Natasha froze, her mind returning to the nights she'd spent in bed with you, while Jeff was curled asleep in the corner. She thought of all her sleepy ramblings to you in Russian and how Jeff would purr and you'd cuddle closer. She'd assumed it was a coincidence, and that Jeff was just sighing in his sleep. But now she knew, it was her turn to blush.
"Ah Natasha, Natasha, what have you been saying?" Yelena laughed in a fake scolding. Then the blonde left you to it, much preferring to talk with Jeff and Cosmo as they played.
"You could have asked me," your fiancée said softly, "I'd help you learn."
"I know you would, my love, but that's not the point of a secret, is it? Besides, your mother has been helping when I call her. And Yelena-"
"Yelena?!"
The younger Widow looked over again and shrugged at Natasha's open mouthed stare, accompanying it with a 'what can I say?' kind of smirk.
"It was supposed to be a surprise," you reasoned and she smiled at you, taking your hand in hers before the team were called to focus and actually do the mission you were there for.
"We still don't know what we're doing about Jeff," Natasha called out, "is the ship safe to leave him here on his own?"
Carol grimaced. Jeff would be safe on the ship, yes, but was the ship safe from Jeff? She knew what the land shark could do when left unattended, and she also knew what Goose tends to do when she's on missions.
Before she could express those concerns though, she was saved by Cosmo speaking up. "I will take care of shark. We have lots of people. Not all necessary."
Jeff purred lowly, completely unaware of the relieved sighs released by everyone in the room.
"Good dog, Cosmo," the raccoon praised.
You paused, wondering how all the animals on their team spoke English, and whether they could teach Jeff, before you added your own advice, "give him plenty of food; he gets hungry quickly."
As if on cue, Jeff's stomach grumbled as you ran to join the others. "Be good, Jeff!"
—
The shuttles launched from the base and carried the heroes onto their battlefield, leaving Cosmo and Jeff in the great hall on their own.
"Mrrrr," Jeff whined
"да (yes), they will be back."
"Mrrrr."
Cosmo watched on as the land shark drooped. His head bowed first, then his whole body slumped until his face rested on the floor, buried mournfully between his hands.
The space dog reached out and hovered a paw over Jeff, unsure how to comfort him through this sudden onset of sadness. But then she remembered your advice.
"We can go to kitchen?" Cosmo offered.
Jeff perked up instantly. Before the word 'kitchen' was even finished, the land shark was back on his feet, hopping around for Cosmo to lead the way.
Cosmo wagged her tail with the success, then tilted her nose in a 'follow me' motion. Dog and land shark snuck through the ship, until they burst a door open to find the treasure they both sought. The delicious aroma of various foods – along with hints of the previous cooked meal – hit both of them with force, thanks to their heightened senses of smell.
Though they had met just moments before, the two animals knew instantly what they had to do. Working together was not a problem when food was on the line.
Jeff balanced on Cosmo's head for extra height, and used his flexible digits to pull the cupboards open.
"I take over now."
Jeff hopped off and watched with a salivating mouth as Cosmo used telekinesis to float snacks and meats from the high shelves down to the ground. Once the feast was laid, both animals nodded, showing appreciation to the other for successful teamwork, before diving straight into the food.
—
You returned from the mission exhausted; it had been a long fight, but a successful one in the end, with nobody coming back with anything worse than a few scrapes and bruises.
As the group emerged from the shuttle, chatter soon began to fill the previously silent hall and echoed around the station.
Natasha noticed it before you did.
"Why was it so silent?" The conversations stopped; the group kept their eyes on Natasha's outstretched arms, and listened for the scuffles and purrs that one might expect when a land shark and dog are left alone. They heard nothing.
"Jeff?" the Avengers called.
"Cosmo?" the Guardians followed.
There was no reply, so you soon went searching. The group raided and checked every room and corner of the ship until-
"Found them!"
Steve's voice led you all towards him, beside the kitchen door. You should have guessed.
You weren't sure what to say when you saw inside. Jeff was curled up happily on the floor, a look of contentment on his sleeping face, while Cosmo slept beside him, using his body as a pillow to rest her head.
Your immediate reaction was to coo at the scene (and some of the others did) but your eyes were next drawn to the litter of wrappers and packets and gnawed bones that scattered the area around them.
"I don't think they left us a single post-mission snack."
"Your shark is a bad influence on our dog!"
"How do we know your dog isn't the bad influence?"
"Well, let's not kid ourselves here-"
A low growl interrupted the argument as Cosmo sprang to her feet, instantly ready to defend the ship, until she noticed who the 'intruders' were.
"Did you both eat all the food?"
Cosmo's mood sank the moment those words were spoken. Though she had been excited to see the group return, her ears soon folded back, and her head bowed to look at the ground, only occasionally flicking her eyes up to see you all.
"Is Cosmo bad dog?" she asked, her voice so full of sadness that nobody could find it in themselves to agree.
"No, you are хорошая собака (good dog), Cosmo." Yelena stepped in. "You took care of Jeff and kept him happy! That is what we asked."
Cosmo preened, her mood changed immediately by the praise. Since the others had yet to agree, the space dog designated Yelena as her safe spot, moving to sit between the Widow's legs and resting her head against Yelena's knee. She hummed again when Yelena started to scratch around her ears.
"You come visit me if you come to Earth, okay? You have home at my place any time."
"The whole team, or-?"
"Just the dog."