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“Can I say something?” Bucky asks at the family meal. John looks at him in shock because he honestly doesn’t say much during these bonding nights, let alone ask if he can. Yelena stops chewing, Ava immediately looks intrigued, and Alexei is already motioning for him to continue.
“Of course, Bucky,” Bob smiles, and John notices how he makes sure to look in Bucky’s eyes when he says it, to make sure he knows someone is listening. John immediately leans down to kiss him on the forehead, cuteness aggression is what Yelena has called it. The urge to just squeeze him when he’s this cute and thoughtful, which is always.
“Look, I know we’re happy Bob and Walker finally got their shit together, thanks to me,” John rolls his eyes, “But, are we just not gonna talk about how all of Walker’s hookups looked like Bob?”
It’s silent for a second before Ava screams out a laugh. Yelena falls into her as they laugh together. Alexei, with a loud boisterous laugh, states, “I never saw John’s hookups, left way before I got out of bed, but I can believe it!”
John looks over to Bob, who has his head turned in thought, and it looks like he’s trying to put the puzzle pieces together. He’s trying to recall all the hookups he saw and scowled at, and John needs to put a stop to this before he puts it together.
“No, they did not!” He states it very convincingly. But he knows he’s lying. He had figured it out after the third or fourth hookup, he can’t remember, but it got a little too much when one of their names was Bob, and they looked like him. It was easy to figure out what was going on when that happened.
“Yes, they did,” Ava screams as she continues to laugh. Yelena isn’t even making any sound with how hard she’s laughing. Bucky looks smug at the end of the table, but his shoulders are moving with slight laughter, too. Alexei is slapping John on the shoulder, stating, “The heart wants what it wants, John!”
“Oh, they did look like me!” Bob turns to him with a big smile on his face. He looks pleased as a peach. John just scowls at him.
-
He didn’t realize what was happening at first. He was bringing back a lot of men to his room in comparison to women, but he just thought it was because he was excited about figuring out his sexuality. So, when he’s out the first night at a gay bar, he doesn’t think about the type he’s seeking out. It’s his first time at a gay bar, so he’s trying to look at everyone. At least, that’s what he thought he was doing. But he quickly finds himself critiquing everyone he sees. Their hair isn’t the right color, their hair is too short, their clothes are too revealing, they’re too loud and confident. It’s just not what he’s looking for at all. He sips his beer as he continues to scan the crowd, and quickly finds his eyes set on a guy with longer hair wearing a long-sleeved shirt that has to be too hot and is in the corner laughing with only a couple of people.
He’s the furthest in the corner, like he’s trying to sequester himself off from the rest of the busy bar. It intrigues John enough to walk up to him when he’s grabbing another drink from the bar. It’s easy to have him back in his room, not even an hour later.
He doesn’t know why he was so intrigued by the longer hair, but he writes it off as a kink thing. When they’re making out in his room, the smaller man is straddling his hips, and when he slips his hands into his hair, it’s easy to grip. He can run his hands through it, and feels the man shiver in his lap at the contact. He experimentally tugs at it and is pleased at the reaction.
The man in his lap moans as he tugs at it, just enough to pull them back to look at him. John doesn’t know what he’s looking for when he makes eye contact, but as he looks into his eyes, he finds himself looking for something . The guy goes eagerly, but his smirk doesn’t look right, not what he wants, so John pulls him back in for a kiss so he doesn’t have to look at it.
-
He picks up the second guy he hooks up with at a cafe. He’s typing loudly on his computer, and he’s wearing a crewneck with slightly messy hair. John notices how it’s long, remembers how much he liked having his hands in long hair last time, and gets interested. He sits at a couple of tables away so he can get a better look at him as he eats his lunch. John can’t help but notice, as he’s eating his sandwich, that it’s not as good as something he and Bob would make together. They have just ventured into bread, with Bob surprising him with a sourdough starter he bought off Etsy. (“They said it was over forty years old! That’s older than me,” Bob had said when they were rehydrating it. John snorted out a laugh, “I’m pretty sure that’s just a selling technique.” But Bob had looked so sad, so John tried to fix it. “But you bought it off Etsy, right? Those artsy fucks probably do have forty year old sourdough.” Which had immediately brought a smile back to his face.)
The bread here is obviously just store-bought, and the meat is just plain old bagged turkey. He and Bob would get the good stuff from the expensive meat aisle with all the good cheese. This sandwich just has plain lettuce, but Bob likes arugula or spinach on his, so John has gotten used to that, and he finds himself missing it.
While he’s tearing up the sandwich both figuratively and literally, he looks up at the guy in front of him. The guy is fidgety. His leg is shaking up and down as he looks frantic at his computer. He’s biting his lip as he types, but he’s careful as he brings up his tea to drink. It’s a fascinating site to watch, almost familiar, but John can’t place it. He finds himself entranced by the familiar movements in front of him and decides to make the move.
He brings him another cup of tea, and it’s to get him back in his bed an hour later. He pulls off the crewneck with ease, the corduroy pants he’s wearing come off easily as they’re loose in the legs, and John once again pushes his hands into his hair. His eyes are brown when he pulls him back, and that doesn’t give him what he wants. He tugs at his hair again to get his eyes to clench shut in arousal.
John has found his type in a lot of physical aspects, the hair, their thin lips, their clothes, but there’s a lot of stuff still missing. He just doesn’t know what it is yet. He just has to keep figuring it out.
-
The third guy does it. He picks him up in the park. He’s reading on a bench when John spots him. He’s also got a container of oats next to him, like he was feeding the birds earlier, too. ‘Bob does that too,’ his mind supplied that day, but he ignores it as he sits next to him. He pretends to just be people watching, but he makes conversation quickly.
“I like a man who knows not to feed the birds bread.” It’s stupid, and it shouldn’t work. But the guy peeks over his book, with a small smile playing on his lips. He slides the book down and asks, “Does that work on people?”
John shrugs as he laughs. He was expecting him to be a little more timid, maybe wants him to be a little more timid, but he plays along. It’s easy to keep the conversation going, but thankfully, it stops when they’re making out against his wall. He’s got his hands underneath his crewneck, and God, this one is wearing corduroy too. Are those coming back into style? It doesn’t matter, John just keeps kissing him, feeling him everywhere. He’s got long hair too, and John once again pulls on it. He opens his eyes, and they’re piercing blue as he looks at him, which is almost right. John almost feels eager about it, but there’s still something missing.
“My name is Bob, by the way,” the man breathes out as John is putting the condom on, which has him pausing as it's halfway rolled up. He pauses the movement and then really looks at the guy in front of him. He’s staring up at him with his piercing blue eyes that are framed by his brown hair, his crewneck on the floor next to his ugly corduroy pants, and his name is Bob. He’s got long hair, face framing pieces in the front, he’s a brunette, he has piercing blue eyes, his lips are on the thinner side, and holy fuck. He looks like fucking Bob. His Bob.
Every guy he’s brought home so far has looked like Bob. The first guy, the second guy, and now this guy. Third time's the charm to figure it out.
And, well, John has figured it out. He’s hooking up with guys who look like Bob. Bob, who wears crewnecks, has longer brunette hair and is a sweet little thing. He officially has a type, and it’s Bob. Someone who isn’t into him. So, he continues rolling up the condom, and lets himself moan the name Bob, pretending it’s someone who isn’t the man underneath him.
He’s not getting his hands on Bob anytime soon, so the lookalikes will have to suffice.
-
“In my defense, it only took until the third time to figure out what was happening,” John explains with the scowl still on his face. Bob smiles even wider at the confirmation from him, and he can’t believe he finds it adorable right now, as he’s getting made fun of.
“Yeah? How’d you put it together? Was the guy's name Bob or something?” Ava takes a sip of her water after she’s finally calmed down, and John doesn’t answer. His face must give it away, though, because she has to quickly swallow the water before she collapses into laughter again. Yelena is muttering, “Oh my God, oh my God!” over and over again with a smile on her face.
“Remember the one who talked to us in the kitchen, Yelena? We should have asked for his name!” Ava turns to her as they both continue to laugh.
“You both are so fucking stupid,” Bucky says over the laughter filling the room. John crosses his arms over his chest as he watches the scene play out in front of him, and he can’t believe they figured it out too. He shouldn’t be surprised, but he is.
“Bob saw every single one of those hook-ups come out of your room, and didn’t put the pieces together until right now. You two are perfect for each other,” Yelena states as she scoops up more mashed potatoes to put on her plate. “It’s annoying,” She adds at the end.
-
Bob follows John into his room after dinner, their usual routine nowadays. He sits on the edge of his bed as John just messes around the room. When he turns around, he sees Bob with a smile on his face, his piercing blue eyes, and his face framing pieces that really need a trim. He’s not wearing a crewneck right now, but he is wearing one of John’s hoodies that’s too big on him, but it never stops him from wearing it. He’s kicking his feet just slightly as they dangle off the bed, and John is once again overwhelmed with everything he feels for him.
The hookups may have looked like Bob, but they could never compare to him. His book is on John’s bedside table, and his old cup of tea with the bag still in it is sitting there next to it. If he looks around his room, he’d find more of his tidbits here and there. There’s probably a pair of his corduroys on his bathroom floor right now.
John walks over to him, pressing himself between Bob’s legs as he leans down to kiss him. Bob eagerly pushes himself up; he’s always eager when they kiss, and John loves it. He pushes back just as hard and lets their lips move against each other. He pushes his hand up into Bob’s hair, slightly pulling, which causes Bob to moan in his throat. John pulls back from his lips, and Bob blinks his eyes open as he looks up at him. His piercing blue eyes that have the remnants of a glow to them, and John smiles at him. He’s exactly who he’s been looking for.