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Bucky woke up one morning thinking he was gonna get a normal day... until he got a call early that afternoon.
"Uh... Bucky... Olivia is calling you." Bob said from across kitchen, holding out Bucky's phone that he left there.
Bucky had the same look as Yelena who was sitting on the kitchen island enjoying her Mac and cheese.
"Why would Walker's ex wife call you?" Yelena asked confused.
"Walker asked me to be his emergency contact in case Olivia can't reach him. As for why she's calling... I don't know. I know he left earlier this week to visit his kid." Bucky said, making his way to Bob to grab his phone.
"Put it on speaker, I want to hear what she says!" Yelena quickly tells him.
Bucky gives her a look "you're so nosy when it comes to him, why can't you just leave him alone?" Bucky asks.
"It's for... research... shut up and let me have my fun!" Yelena says. Bucky sighs, knowing there is no point arguing with her so he put the phone on speaker with Bob and Yelena gathered around.
"Hi, you reached Bucky." Bucky said.
"Hey Bucky, it's me, Olivia. Hey has John come home to the tower yet?" Olivia asked.
"No, we haven't seen him since a few days ago actually, we've all been busy. Why?" Bucky asked. He hears Olivia sigh from the other line.
"Of course you didn't. That's when he must have done it!" Olivia said in a low tired voice.
"Done what, what did John do?" Bucky asked, even more concerned now.
Olivia sighs again. "Nothing bad... well, not that bad, but he might tell you otherwise. Listen, just... just tell him that Dylan will get over it when he comes back for another visit and... and that it doesn't look bad, that's how he looks! Okay?" Olivia asked slight desperation in her voice.
Bucky hummed and said "Uh, huh... sure thing." Even though he, Yelena and Bob were all still so confused and Olivia wasn't helping with giving them any details.
"Thank you! Give me a call later, please. Goodbye now!" Olivia said, not even waiting for Bucky to say goodbye before she hanged up, leaving the other three confused.
"What did Walker do?" Yelena asked.
"Beats me... you two haven't had any contact with him recently have you?" Bucky asked the two. Both Bob and Yelena shook their heads.
Bucky sighed "well, this'll be fun. Never a dull moment with this team." He says sarcastically.
Bob turned to Yelena, "What do you think he did?" He asked her.
Yelena smirked, "I bet you he got a nose piercing. And not like a stud either, a whole hoop! Make him look like a bull." She laughed.
Bob laughed along, "I bet he tried to dye his hair but it went horribly wrong!" He guessed, making himself and Yelena laugh more.
"Okay, okay enough with this! Now you heard what Olivia said, whatever he comes back with we gotta respond with... positivity. We can't make him think that this change looks bad." Bucky shut down their teasing.
"Oh come on Bucky, this is Walker we're talking about, he makes fun of my height and Bob's hair all the time. About time he got a taste of his own medicine." Yelena suggested.
Bucky gave her one of his signature soldier looks that told her to shut up and obey orders. She and Bob quickly wiped the smiles off their faces, and acted serious. "Okay, we won't make fun of him." Yelena said, with her hands up in surrender.
Satisfied, he turned away. He was about to call Walker himself before he heard the elevator door opened. Curious, Bucky walked in that direction, took a look at whoever just entered and went back to Yelena and Bob with a shocked look on his face. "Okay, he's back, and Bob... you... kinda won the bet." Bucky said.
Yelena and Bob shared a curious look with each other before rushing to the elevator to see John Walker placing his bag down on a chair. Gasping as they saw the figure right in front of them...
John Walker... but without his beard...
Meanwhile, John entered the tower with his head down hoping no one would notice him come in. Mainly because before he came here he spent a half hour crying downstairs. Stuck in his own world, he didn't even notice the presence of his other teammates. Until Bob saw him and yelled.
"YOU SHAVED OFF YOUR BEARD?!!!" He said at the wrong moment. Yelena looked at Bob shocked, Bucky looked angry. And John... well... John burst into tears.
Deciding not to scold Bob at that moment, Bucky instead rushed to Walker, placed a hand around his shoulders and gently lead him to the couch of the living room to cry more comfortably and not in the middle of the hall, with Yelena and Bob behind their tails.
"Okay, okay... you're okay buddy... wanna tell us what happened in Georgia?" Bucky asked as he handed John a box of tissues that was on the coffee table. John took some and blew his nose while Bucky rubbed his back.
"Did Olivia call you?" John asked.
"Yes, and she gave a very vague rundown of what happened, so care to fill us in? Yelena asked.
John wiped his tears some more, took a deep breath and decided to speak. "Before I left for Georgia, I went to a barber shop to get a haircut and the guy cutting my hair asked if I wanted a shave as well for free so I said 'sure!' Well I went to Olivia's place, saw Dylan and the first thing he did when he saw me, his little face scrunched up and he started tearing up. Then I started tearing up asking what was wrong, then he started crying, then I started crying and... and its been like that on and off like that until I finally left this morning. My son hates it, I hate it, and it was the most stupidest mistake of my life!.... do I really look bad without a beard?" He looked up at them and asked.
It took a beat before Bucky, Yelena and Bob finally answered.
"Uhhh no?"
"No."
"Definitely not."
John's face turned into a scowl. "You three hesitated." He said.
"No! No we didnt!" Bob immediately defended themselves.
"You look fine!" Yelena added.
Bucky sighs, "John, I saw you before without the beard, you still look like you!"
"Yeah, well tell that to Dylan." John said sarcastically.
Suddenly the elevator door opened and two voices entered loudly announcing their entrance.
"Hello team! Good news from Mel, Valentina cancel stupid press interview. So we have weekend all to ourselves!" Alexei announced loudly, followed by Ava.
"Hey did John come back yet, I just saw his bag at the do-OR? OH MY GOSH, What the hell happened to you?" Ava blurted out upon seeing them.
John immediately covered his face with his hands and made a sad noise, while receiving groans from Bob, Bucky and Yelena.
"Okay... touchy subject. What- why did you decided to shave it off?" Ava asked.
"I thought it looked good... and judging by your reaction... it isn't." John lamented.
"What?! No no... I never said it look bad, you were mistaken! I was just surprised that's all! You look good!" Ava tried to cheer him up, but it wasn't helping convincing him.
"Yeah? Well my son doesn't think so. He hated it!" John lamented.
"Bah, children that young doesn't understand. They cannot handle change so they freak out at a small change in appearance. I know from first hand experience." Alexei revealed, gaining a curious look from John and the others, but Yelena knew where this was going.
"Dad..." Yelena warned, but he ignored her and told the story anyways.
"I had this beard for very long time until I was sent to go undercover on mission in Ohio. The first week my Melina and I adopted Natasha and Yelena I still had it and that's how Yelena knew me in the first week of mission. She was only three years old, such small little thing, and the first thing she said to me was that I looked like Santa Calus. Well... Dreykov didn't think the beard exactly gave off suburban family man so right before we took family photos he told me to shave it off, so I did. Oh how Yelena cried and screamed at me for shaving it off. She would say 'Daddy why did you shave off your beard? Daddy I loved your Santa beard! You don't look like daddy anymore!' Broke my heart to see her in such a state. Even ruined some of the family photos because she refused to let me hold her and kept on crying in the photos. I think they still exist in fact." Alexei explained.
"Oh my god, just get to the point so Walker can feel better and you can stop embarrassing me!" Yelena yelled after hearing snickering from both Ava and Bob.
"Okay okay fine, little one! Anyways, point of story is that... she got over it, she moved on, and soon I was her favorite daddy again, even without Santa beard. Listen little soldier, toddlers will throw a tantrum at the most random things, but it does mean they love you any less. Dylan will get over this new look faster than you can blink." Alexei finished. He turned to Yelena and asked "Are you good now?"
"Yes, and thank you so much for embarrassing me by telling the whole team stories from my childhood for the third seperate time this week!" Yelena said.
"So you think... you think Dylan will get over my new look?" John asked.
Alexei placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and looked at him in the eye. "I know so, Vanuysha" Making John smile.
"I guess I'll give Olivia a call, ask her how's Dylan doing." John looked at his teammates and smiled. "Thanks guys." He said before leaving the room to call Olivia. Leaving the rest of the team in the living room.
There was silence before Bucky spoke up. "There was a time where you didn't have that beard?" Bucky asked.
"You don't not believe me Winter Soldier?" Alexei asked.
"No I believe you it's just... I can't imagine you without it." Bucky said.
"I tried to grow a beard once... I looked bad so I shaved it." Bob said.
"I think you would look good." Yelena said.
"Think so?" He turned to her and asked. Yelena nodded.
"Okay nevermind that! Alexei, you're telling me there's still photo evidence of Yelena as a toddler?" Ava asked enthusiastically.
"Ava..." Yelena warned.
"Yes, it is with Yelena's mother, Melina. She still has it and more, possibly." Alexei answered.
"Dad!" Yelea protested.
"I will give you 100 bucks if you get me those photos." Ava bribed him.
"Dad, don't do it!" Yelena begged.
"You don't need to pay me, I've been meaning to ask Melina for copies anyways. I'll give her a call." Alexei said. He took out his phone and left the room.
"DAD, NO!!!" Yelena cried, already embarrassed.
"YES! Alexei, you're the best!" Ava cheered, following him with Yelena close behind.
Bob and Bucky shared a look with each other then laughed. "Leave it to Alexei to cheer up John at Yelena's expense." Bob said.
"Yeah... I kinda wanna still see him without a beard though." Bucky admitted.
"I'll make sure Yelena doesn't succeed with convincing Melina not to send those pics." Bob said.
Bucky gave him an approving look, before Bob leaves too.
Bucky pulls out his phone to send a text to John.
Bucky: After you're done talking with Olivia, come back to the living room, Alexei might show us some photos of Yelena as a toddler.
A second later, John responded with a thumbs up emoji. 👍