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“Usually general anesthesia remains in the system for about 24 hours, but with Mr. Walker’s enhanced healing capabilities, we’re unsure when you can expect to see the effects of the drug wear off. As it is, he’s been very calm, and has shown no signs of distress in his current state. We’ve given him some water and crackers to help with his stomach, so if you could encourage him to finish some of it, that would be very helpful. He might also need another hour to rest, but after that, the discharge nurse at the front desk will send you home with a more detailed list of care for your friend once he’s had a little while to wake up a bit more. Then you should be all good to go! Are there any other questions I can help you with for now?” The tired, but friendly doctor smiles at their large group, clipboard held to her chest.
The rest of the Thunderbolts look around at each other, waiting to see if anyone has anything else to ask, before Yelena pipes up from beside Bucky, “Sooo, like…just between us…he’s probably acting really stupid right now, right?”
“Uh.” The doctor stops. Blinks. And then clears her throat, before smiling again, now with her eyebrows scrunched in confusion. “...Mr. Walker is currently still experiencing the side effects of anesthesia, so you can expect him to be acting a bit more differently than you’re usually used to, yes.”
“Oh my God, this is going to be hilarious.” Her eyes go wide and shining, as she pulls out her phone.
“C’mon, Lena, be nice. He’s probably not feeling too good right now.” Bob frowns and messes with the cuff of one sleeve to avoid having to look at anyone. “...There was a lot of shrapnel.”
As if suddenly remembering why they’re there and who she’s with, Yelena offers him an awkward pat on the shoulder with her free hand and a vaguely apologetic smile. “He’s going to be fine, Bob. They told us the surgery went well, remember? He’s just…a little loopy!”
“Right. I’m sure he’ll be back to normal in no time.” Bucky chimes in from behind.
“And in the meantime, we will nurse him back to health like a great, big flock of mother birds!” Alexei booms.
“Yeah. Yeah, no, of course, just…could you guys maybe take it easy on him? You know, for me? Please?” He can’t stop rewinding the moment in his head, how fucking awful it’d been to watch helplessly as the bad guy of the week set off a bomb in central Manhattan, too far away for him to do anything to stop Walker from leaping forward, body jerking backwards with the force of metal components tearing through him. The overwhelming, all-encomposing fear that had flooded through him as it happened had caused tendrils of pure shadow to start climbing past his ankles, and it was only thanks to Bucky’s quick shout of a steady pulse that he’d managed to shove the Void away again, tucked back into the corner of his mind where it belonged.
Seven hours in the waiting room of the best hospital in New York afterwards has done nothing to calm the darkness still crawling beneath Bob’s skin.
Ava reaches over to rest a kind hand on his shoulder. “We’ll be good, Bob. Promise”
He nods, and shoots her a small, grateful smile. “...Thanks. Thank- Thank you.”
“Alright, loverboy, in we go.” Yelena gently pushes him forwards, following close behind with her phone now set to record.
As they make their way into the warmly lit hospital room, Bob can’t help but let out a slow breath in relief. John looks okay. His face isn’t too beat up, surface scratches already healed thanks to the serum, and when his blonde head lolls to the side to take him in, he seems pretty happy to see them. He’s got a half-eaten saltine in one hand, and a glazed look to his pretty blue eyes, ugly green hospital gown rustling as he squirms a bit to try and sit up. “Who ‘re you guys?”
They all share another look, and then Bucky moves closer to stand at the foot of the bed. “We’re your friends, John.”
“You’re my friends? That’s cool.” John sighs and brings his cracker up to his mouth to messily chew on it for a second. Then, his eyes land on Bob, who’s still hovering a few feet away, and he clumsily lifts a hand in his direction. “...Is he my friend, too?”
Yelena slaps a hand over her mouth to contain a snort.
“...That’s your boyfriend, John.” The amusement in Ava’s voice is clear.
“That’s my boyfriend?” His face goes slack with shock. “Are you sure?”
The corners of Bob’s lips twitch up, as he finally moves to take a seat on the mattress beside John’s knee. “Yeah, John…I’m your boyfriend.”
“But you’re an angel.” He breathes out, expression all open and serious.
Oh man, that’s sweet. It gets a small laugh out of him, although he tries his best to tamp it down, so that he doesn’t hurt the guy's feelings. Instead, he focuses on reaching out and gently guiding the cracker clutched in John's hand back up to his mouth. “C'mon, baby. You need to eat.”
“We call each other baby?” John's eyes fall shut as he dutifully finishes off the cracker, and accepts the new one Ava puts in his hand from the other side of the bed.
An embarrassed blush floods Bob's cheeks. “Just worry about your crackers, okay?”
“Okay.” John nods jerkily and goes quiet for a minute. Then, he seems to think of something, and his blue eyes flutter open. “How long have we been dating?”
Bob swallows down another laugh. “Um…a while.”
“Wow…” The soldier sighs again and drops his cracker on the bed, struggling to pick it back up. Bob carefully helps put it back in his hand, and ignores the fondness that rips through his chest when John tries to hold his hand instead. “You're the most beautiful guy I've ever seen.”
He can’t even blame Yelena this time when she outright giggles, impish delight shining on her face. “This is amazing. Can we keep him like this?”
Bob ignores her and reluctantly smiles at the man still staring him down from his slouched position on the bed. “You’re silly.”
“You’ve got dimples?” John waves a hand in the direction of Bob’s face, and then turns to look at everyone else. “Holy shit…did y’all see that? Wow. I’m, like…the luckiest guy in the world.”
Even Alexei and Ava are chuckling now, and Bob feels his blush spread down his neck, but it doesn’t matter, because John is here. He’s here, and he’s okay, and he’s goofy as fuck, but he’s going to be alright. “...You wanna know something crazy?”
“Huh?” John tips his head back and breathes out messily around a particularly big bite of Saltine.
“I love you.” Bob says, just to make John lift his head again, blown pupils tracing the lines of his face.
“You love me?” He points at himself and looks like he’s about five seconds away from crying.
Bob would feel bad about playing dirty while Yelena’s still filming, but John’s just so freaking cute like this, that he can’t help it. “Mhm.”
“I must have…must have been real smart to get someone as pretty ‘s you to love me.” John bobs his head up and down a few times and then reaches for the cup of water by Ava’s elbow. When she moves to hold the drink for him, angling the straw towards his mouth with only a small amount of exasperation, the blonde taps on one of her knuckles to get her attention. “He loves me.”
Now they’re all cracking up, but Bob’s not too worried about it anymore, because everyone’s clearly so fucking relieved to have made it out of another bat shit mission without losing anyone, and it’s just- it’s really nice, all of them being together.
“What’s your name?” John finally asks him, once the room’s quieted down again.
“Bob.”
“Bob.” John repeats, letting his eyes fall shut again. “Bob, Bob, Bob. That’s…that’s a real good name.”
The curly-haired man shakes his head and gives in to the urge to take one of his hands now that he’s eaten a little. “You mostly just call me Bobby, actually.”
“Really? Bobby…Bobby.” He hums and then tips his head to the side a little. “Yeah, that’s good, too.”
Bob snorts. “‘M glad you like it.”
“I like everything about you.” He’s clearly starting to get sleepier, but even drugged out of his mind, he manages to sound earnest. “...Are we gonna get married?”
Bob chokes on his own spit and has to take a second to hack up a lung, while forcing his mind to try and come up with a reply that won’t be incriminating as hell once John watches this footage later on “Oh. Um. I mean- I- we haven’t…but- but yeah…yeah, probably. Someday, I guess.”
John seems to like that answer. He nestles deeper into the hard hospital mattress beneath him and lets out a soft, high noise from deep in his chest. “...Awesome.”
Bob looks at his boyfriend for a long time, taken aback by a wave of love for the other so strong it nearly brings him to his knees, and then he squeezes his hand just a little. “...You try and get some sleep now, okay? I’m gonna be right here with you.”
“‘Kay.” John clears his throat and shifts around a bit to get comfortable, as his breathing falls into something slow and even. “Love you, Bobby.”
“...I love you, too.”
The room falls silent, everyone just staring down at the messy-haired man now passed out in front of them. Then, there’s the sound of a finger tapping against glass as Yelena finally stops recording and plops down into a nearby vacant chair. “He’s never going to live this down.”
“Oh, yeah. There’s no way.” He huffs out a small laugh in agreement, and refuses to peel his eyes away from the man he loves, sleeping safe and whole beside him. “...But he’ll live.”