Work Text:
There was something comforting about doing chores around the tower. Something about feeling useful struck somewhere deep in Bob's soul and lifted his worry away like a strong gust of wind to a newspaper. All he wanted was to do something, anything to get through the day feeling accomplished, like he was helpful, needed, loved, it was all the same to him.
He didn’t mind being busy with chores, folding laundry or unloading the dishwasher were mindless things that kept him just distracted enough that his thoughts couldn't wander. A sense of peace that could wash over him in the instant he moved towards productivity.
Productivity that was easily broken by Yelena bounding into the kitchen and hoisting herself up onto his clean countertops with her battleworn clothes dragging mud across the freshly wiped surface.
He didn't even have time to protest her ruining his counter before she was swiping an apple from his very recently stocked fruit basket and taking an annoyingly obnoxious bite, letting the juice drip and make another mess for him to deal with in the near future.
There's barely a second between that moment and the next, where she places the apple Dow bite first against the counter and wipes her hands on her pants.
“What are you doing? Being boring?” Didn't even take a second to finish chewing the bite before speaking, he watches as she wipes her mouth with her sleeve, “Don’t answer that, I don't want to know.”
“I'm-” Bob pauses, gesturing half-heartedly to the kitchen around him, “Cleaning?”
“Why is it a question? Nevermind, I told you not to answer me, why did you answer?”
Bob squints, a little annoyed, a little amused, a lot confused. He stares at the apple still on the counter, now ignored and still messy.
Whatever.
He sighs, drying his hands and leaning back against the sink, “Did you come here just to mess with me or do you need something?”
Her eyes light up, and he can't help but smile too.
“I actually did have a question for you, a very important question.”
Bob crosses his arms, suspicious of where this could be going, “You have a question for me?”
Yelena rolls her eyes, “That is what I said, was it not?”
“Yes, but-”
“Yes but nothing Bob, this is a serious matter! You seem to think I am joking when I am clearly not.”
He tilts his head, definitely confused, because she is joking, he can tell by the tiny smirk curling at the corner of her lips, but Bob decides not to press and just see what she has to say.
“Okay, so we’re being serious?”
“Yes.”
“About what?”
She smiles again, hopping off the counter and twirling around to the other side to lean over top of it, suddenly lowering her voice into a whisper and coming in close like she has a secret to tell. He mimics her movement, bar actually touching the countertop because he doesn't want to dirty his arms, she has long sleeves on and he does not, he is not protected from the dirt and apple juice like she is.
“About your crush.”
Bob stares at her, dumbfounded at her words. His mind sparkles with possibility and confuzzlement. His jaw must have dropped because she reached forward and shuts it for him with a click, teasing.
He sputters for a moment, leaning back, eyebrows knitting together, “What?”
She pushes back too, both hands bracing herself against the marble, “It is so obvious, Bob, you must be aware of it, yes?”
He is decidedly not.
“My what?”
“Your, quite frankly outlandish and unwarranted crush on Walker,” she shifts to leaning on one elbow, chin tucked into her palm, “He’s not exactly the best guy; looks are alright, I suppose if prissy ruined blonde is your flavor of choice.”
Bob is so taken aback he doesn’t know what to do with himself, he is shellshocked to say the least. Rattled to his core with questions, all racing through his head too fast for him to grasp and spit out.
“Is it drugs maybe? Are you on meth again? Because we can get you help for that, I feel meth chicken and Crush on John Walker are about the same level of bonkers. Yes? No?” Her hand is waving in front of his face, snapping him out of his stupor.
“No, I- I am not on drugs,” again, she is joking, he knows this, he is not offended, she loves poking fun at him but she also knows what's too far, and even he knows meth chicken is funny in hindsight.
But a crush? On John nonetheless? It seemed out of the question, romance had never been a big plot point in his life, not in his house growing up, not in high school, not in flings, not anywhere really. Connection had always been a little hard, but it was found now because he had found people who don't mind his awkwardness and strange personality quirks.
He pondered the idea for a moment, letting Yelena stare at him in silence as the cogs in his head churned out half-cooked, wrinkled-paper-esque ideas. He felt a sense of love for all his friends, he did, it was a feeling he was less than super familiar with, but recognizable still. Was the way he felt about John different than how he felt about anyone else on the team?
Yelena seemed satisfied with her meddling for now, at least on her way out of the kitchen she took the time to grab the apple off the counter and take it with her. Mindlessly, Bob reached for a paper towel and began to re-wipe down the counter, using the task to process the realizations that were crumbling the towers in his head.
It made sense, as he skimmed through his own memories, how he would hone in whenever John was speaking, the tone of arrogance and bravado captivating him in a way he had never been before, the surprising ease that came from being around the man, even when just sitting in silence.
There was awkwardness, and tension of course, at the very beginning, but in the last few months, as the team only grew closer living in the tower that tension slowly dissipated.
His phone buzzed in his pocket, his brain catching up to the present as he realized he had stopped wiping the counter and was just standing and staring at nothing for an unknown period of time. After quickly dropping the now dirty towel in the trashcan and washing his hands, he fished the device from his pants and read the message that lit up his homescreen.
Yelena: just ask him out do not overthink it
Maybe. Maybe he could do that.
You liked this message
-
It took a day or two for Bob to work up the courage, and then another few days for him to actually try, but eventually he found himself in the kitchen again, doing dishes alone and John came in to grab a snack.
Bob said hello, of course he did, he was polite. John hummed a greeting in return. Bob found his heart started to pound and his nerves started to flare in panic; real panic or butterfly panic he wasn’t one hundred percent sure, but he pushed through either way.
Just as John was about to leave the room, chips in hand, Bob spoke up, “Hey- uhm, John?’
John paused and turned around to meet his gaze, “Yeah, man?”
Now or Never.
“Do you want to go see a movie? With me?”
Smooth.
“Sure, are we inviting the oth-”
“No,” Bob cut in, voice shaking the slightest amount, “No, just us. As a- a um- a date?” His face must be so red right now, if the heat in his cheeks is as present as it feels.
John laughs for a second, and Bob feels his heart sink a little, stomach dropping in anxiety.
“You want to go on a date with me? Me? Fuck up extraordinaire? Thats-” John stops talking to catch his breath, “That’s mind boggling. What the hell could you see in me?”
Once again, Bob is blown away, John thinks of himself as unworthy? What a shock, how two people can hold themselves back.
“I just- You’re nice to me?” He shouldn't have phrased it as a question, it was true.
John looks just as taken aback as Bob feels.
“I guess so, are you sure?”
Yes.
“Yeah.”
A beat.
“Maybe a movie isn’t the best option, going out in public sounds like a horrible idea with our public image tanking and everything else going on.”
Bob thinks for a second, “This tower is huge, I'm sure we can find a working projector somewhere in here. Stay in movie night? We can just have, like, frozen pizza and microwave popcorn”
John smiles, awkwardly holding his chip bag with two hands like a football, “Yeah, that sounds great. I’ll, uh, see you around."
“Yeah,” success? “See ya.”
Yelena was going to lose her shit.