Chapter Text
Bob isn’t a team player. He hated playing any type of sports as a kid. That feeling of everyone relying on him in a moment killed him. Group projects too. He’d always do too much or too little work, and somehow no one ended up happy with him. Not even on this makeshift Avengers team formed inside of a literal death chamber with people he barely knew.
It took three months for the team to move into the Watchtower. Bob owned close to nothing, especially after his time in the Oxe Group experimentation. Most of the others had at least some boxes, or even trucks, full of junk from their lives. Alexei and his tapes, Walker’s old football memorabilia, Bucky’s expensive kitchen supplies, all of it. Everyone stayed in their homes or apartments till everything was finalized, everyone but Bob. He spent a lot of time by himself watching the construction and helping his team move into their new space. Yelena stopped by often and he found himself telling her about his past. A weight off his shoulders. He became closer with Bucky as well. Bucky turned out to be quite the quiet man. The two spent many hours sitting in silence, tolerating each other's company.
After everyone moved in and got settled, the group finally started meeting in the common room. The only private team space other than the living quarters. A large kitchen sat facing the living and dining rooms. Plenty of furniture lined the walls and filled the emptiness, courtesy of Valentina’s wallet.
One slow evening the team sat amongst each other, all focused on different tasks. Ava sat in the corner chair, scrolling while eating a bag of trail mix. Yelena laid against the couch, her dad next to her. While Yelena focused on the TV, Alexei snoozed. Bucky had picked a spot close to Bob on the counter, writing in a new notebook he’d never seen before. And Bob? He had a book, of course.
“Does anyone want coffee?” Walker yelled from the kitchen as he poured the fresh pot into his mug.
“It’s 6pm, Walker,” Yelena yelled judgmentally, earning herself a startled jump from Alexei.
“Hell no, I’d be wired all night. I don’t know how you do it,” Ava barely looked up from her phone. Bucky simply shook his head, a glimmer of confusion in his eyes, and went back to writing.
“Alright, screw you guys I guess. This is what I get for trying to be nice,” Walker shook his head and sipped his cup. “What about you, Bob? You want some or are you gonna make an asshole comment too?”
“I’ll have some,” he murmured, putting down his book. Walker looked at him for a moment, probably trying to see if he had been legit. He took a moment to pour some coffee into a yellow mug and then handed it to Bob. “Thanks, Walker.”
“No cream or anything?” he asked, an eyebrow raised.
He made a face. His parents never had anything like cream in the house, so it was always black or nothing growing up. “No, thank you. I’m good with just black.”
Walker nodded. “I’m the same way,” he leaned up against the counter across Bob, eyes darting down to his blue mug.
“Looks like Walker’s found someone to match his coffee freak,” Bucky snarked, sipping his water.
He rolled his eyes. It reminded Bob of the teenagers that would always mess with the tower security. “Shut up, Bucky. I already offered you some and you said no.”
“Your fancy coffee tastes like dirt, Walker.”
“Actually…” Bob began, but when eyes darted to him he began to stutter. “It’s pretty good.”
“Great. We’ve got two black coffee enjoyers. Hooray!” Ava deadpanned. Bob and Walker didn’t respond, just sat there with mugs in hand, avoiding eye contact with each other.
—
When it came time for their real missions as the New Avengers, Bob became an ‘emergencies only’ button that never got used. He sat in the jet, buckled in, listening to his earpiece as his team yapped away.
“Where are you, Yelena?” Ava barked into the mic. The commotion behind her led him to believe she ended up in a sticky situation.
The line beeped as Bob’s ears were invaded with the sound of panting. “I’m… improvising! Bear with me here,” Yelena’s distinctive voice replied.
Bucky spoke up next. “Do not let Yelena improvise! I repeat, do NOT let Yelena improvise! Stick to the plan!” Without the visual, Bob’s imagination could only dream up the scene going on out there.
“I said just bear with me!” She screamed into the mic. She sounded like a kid on Fortnite. As he wanted to say something to see if they needed help, a loud sound boomed in the distance. “See! Perfect improv,” Bob’s head filled with a million possibilities.
“What the hell?” Ava’s voice pierced like a knife. “How do you casually blow up a bus?” Oh. So that's what happened.
“Child assassin, remember?” She chuckled like that meant anything.
“That doesn’t explain it at all! It better have been empty!” She argued back.
Bob wanted to take the earpiece out and crush it under his boot. But he didn’t, and listened to the jumbled sounds of their bickering while staring at the cargo hold of the jet, eyes heavy and tired.
It took the team an hour to file back into the jet. The threat had been neutralized and Val began to turn over every stone to figure out the next step in the mission none of them were educated on. Yelena, Walker and Bucky were caked in sweat and dust, while Ava and Alexei got off pretty clean.
“Welcome back,” Bob muttered, still buckled into the seat. He got collective groans from the others in response.
Yelena sat next to him, sending a cloud of dust flying. “Hey Bob. How was sitting on your ass while we were out there busting ours?”
It wasn’t a jab at him, he knew that, but it felt that way. “I think you know the answer,” Bob said quietly, fiddling with the seatbelt.
A scoff came from Bucky. “Chill, Yelena. That was low for you. You know damn well what went through his head,” he sat in front of the two. “Usually Walker makes asshole comments.”
“Why am I catching strays?” Walker fell into the seat next to Bucky, dust flying. “And yeah, damn. You know he can’t do anything to control his powers yet.”
“I didn’t- Well… I wasn’t-” She exhaled loudly, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I’m sorry Bob, I did not mean it like that.”
He nodded, a bit taken aback by Bucky and Walker’s words. He didn’t exactly stick up for Bob, he would never, but he didn’t poke fun at the situation. Bucky gave a detailed rundown of the mission. Bob didn’t care for it, so he dissociated into his thoughts to block it out.
—
“You all have a big problem,” Valentina began as she walked into the briefing room. Yelena sat up, about to comment, but was shushed. “You’re not a very productive team. Yeah, sure, you’ll save a few people here and there, but you know nothing about each other or how to work as a team. I bet you couldn’t answer icebreakers about the person next to you."
Everyone looked around and agreement murmurs came from some. Yet, Yelena scoffed. “That’s just not true.”
She pointed. “What’s Bucky’s real name? Full name?” a few moments went by with no response. “See what I mean?”
“Isn’t that a personal problem? I know plenty about everyone here,” Walker boasted in his typical ‘I know everything!’ voice.
Valentina looked like she could explode. “Alright John, your turn. Yelena’s last name.”
“Belova,” he answered quickly.
“Not terrible, but also easy,” she looked around, eventually pointing to Ava. “Name something she does in her freetime.”
He pursed his lips. “I genuinely have only seen her eat trail mix and scroll Instagram reels.”
“Fair. Me too,” she nodded. A finger pointed at Bob next. “What’s his favorite color?”
“Yellow.”
Bob nodded hesitantly. “That… Yeah- how’d you know that, Walker?”
He shrugged. “I’m pretty observant.”
“Hooray! Walker is better than everyone and Bob is just saying that to be nice! Can we get back to what you’re saying, Val?” Ava said, trying to reel the group back in. Bob didn’t want to fight, but he stared at her subconsciously.
“To be blunt, you’re an awful team, so we’re going to start having weekly team-building sessions,” a collective groan escaped from everyone in the room. “You’ll be assigned a partner and a task, then you’ll complete it.”
“Can we have some examples of said tasks?” Bucky asked.
She lifted a hand and counted the tasks. “Cleaning, cooking, planning, projects, etcetera.”
“Sounds like you just don’t want to hire staff,” Ava scoffed.
Valentina glared at her. “Do you want your assignments now or later?” No one responded. “Alright. Ava and Yelena are on shopping duty. Mel will have a list ready.”
Yelena and Ava sighed at the same time.
“Bob and Walker, cooking. Make at least one meal for the team, and please, no boxed mac and cheese.”
Walker sighed, mumbling something about cooking. Bob nodded, already dreading whatever hurdles he’d have to deal with.
“Alexei and Bucky, game night. Plan a game night for everyone. Have fun with it.”
Alexei, who sat in the corner collecting dust, pumped his fists. “Yes! I am the game master!”
“Why do they get the fun things? We have to go to a grocery store,” Yelena complained.
“Make it fun! Your partners and roles will switch weekly, so get over it,” Valentina shut her computer and began walking out. “I expect you to do this,” she said in a not-so-intimidating tone. “Don’t half ass it.”
She shut the door and Yelena began stuttering. “This is ridiculous! I’m a busy woman.”
Ava rolled her eyes. “Wow, thanks Yelena.”
“You’re all quite lucky I don’t hate you, actually,” she fought back, though it didn’t do much.
“This will be fun!” Alexei boomed. “I like this idea.”
“I’m gonna have to agree with you, Alexei,” Bob shrugged. “I do kind of get the impression everyone hates each other."
Bucky nodded. “I don’t really care, I just want to get this over with,” he opened the door and walked out after that.
“Proving my point…” Alexei snarked, referring to Bucky’s promptness.
Walker leaned back in his chair. “I think-”
“Everyone halt! Walker thinks!” Yelena could barely speak before breaking into laughter.
He blinked at her. “We’ll be fine.”
It sure as hell wasn’t fine. Their game night ended up filled with old Russian games no one but Alexei and Bucky knew. The night ended in arguments and leaving a mess of the living room. Shopping turned out to be… shopping. Ava and Yelena almost killed each other over what milk to get. They left early, causing Bob and Walker’s supplies for cooking to be slimmed.
“Okay…” Walker started, putting all their ingredients onto the table. “Eggs, bread, milk, deli meat and un-ripe avocados. What. the. hell.”
Bob stared at the ingredients like they owed him money. “What do we have for spices?” Walker walked over to the counter and pulled out an elaborate shelf of all kinds of spices and sauces. Probably Bucky’s contribution. He thought for a moment before an idea popped into his head. “How about french toast? It’s basic and we could make some eggs or something.”
Walker nodded approvingly. “Simple enough. Good idea.”
They didn’t speak much when they started. Simple little requests like ‘pass the eggs please’ flowed through the air naturally. After a while, they fell into a rhythm. Bob would man the preparation, soaking the toast and cracking the eggs, Walker would handle the stove. They finished quickly with plenty of food for everyone.
“Should I go get everyone?” Bob asked while putting the last few pieces of toast into a platter.
Walker shook his head. “I got it,” he walked away from the stove and toward the hallway to the living quarters. “Hey!” He yelled, voice booming. Bob almost instinctively raised his hands to his ears, but stopped when realizing how childish he seemed. What kind of grown man flinches like that?. “Bob and I just spent hours making dinner, you better come out!” He looked back smirking, proud of his exaggeration.
Slowly, like high schoolers leaving class, everyone emerged out of their rooms and sat at the counter. Ava hummed at the sight of breakfast for dinner. “This brings me back.”
Bucky took a seat next to her. “How so?”
She fiddled with her plate, putting salt on her eggs. “My father used to love making breakfast for dinner. It’s one of the only meals I remember eating with him.”
No response, just silent understanding. Yelena chuckled after a few moments of eating. “When I was really young… my sister and I almost burnt down the kitchen trying to fry eggs,” she flipped the almost-perfect egg over. “She wanted to learn how to cook.”
“I remember!” Alexei boasted. “Your mother had been pissed, but proud,” he patted his daughter's shoulder, a grim expression painted on his face. “Natasha. A bit of a troublemaker, huh?”
“Runs in the family,” Yelena mumbled, deep in thought.
Walker grabbed himself a raw egg from the fridge. “One time, when Lemar and I were back in high school, we had the bright idea to see how many raw eggs we could eat in a row,” he then did what everyone in the room hoped he wouldn’t do, he cracked the egg into his mouth and swallowed it. A look of disgust washed over him and he chugged his water. “Terrible idea. We both threw up.”
The table made a collective ‘ewww’. “Thanks for the stellar demonstration, Walker,” Bucky said with a gross look on his face.
“You got an egg story, Buck?” He asked, throwing in the nickname only to piss him off.
“Don’t call me that. And no, no story from me,” he stabbed his french toast and raw dogged it with no syrup.
“C’mon, you gotta have at least one thing,” Yelena pleaded in an almost whinny tone.
He bobbed his head. “Well, there’s this one time with Sarah-”
“Oh? A girlfriend?” Ava teased, nudging him with her elbow. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
“No,” he said firmly. “Sam’s younger sister. She needed me to watch her boys. They got in a fight while I cooked and little AJ got an egg to the head.”
Yelena snorted and thought of a genius idea to piss him off. “Sounds like you weren’t being a very good uncle.”
He shrugged, completely ignoring the title of the boys’ uncle she gave him. “Maybe not, but it ended in laughs. I’ll take that win.”
No one spoke up for a few minutes as they all ate the food. After a while, Alexei perked up. “Bob! What about you? Any stories?”
Bob, startled by his sudden relevance, stuttered. “Uh… I egged my ex’s house once back in high school. A friend's idea. I was also on meth.”
“Holy shit,” Yelena raised her glass in a sarcastic way. “I didn’t think you had the balls.”
Alexei let out a giggle almost too innocent to be his. “I bet she deserved it.”
Bob nodded while awkwardly chucking back. “I sure hope they did deserve it. Otherwise the eggs would’ve gone to waste. Also, again I was on meth.”
“What’d she even do?” Ava butted into the conversation, completely ignoring the drug reference. “I just can’t see you committing such an action.”
Bob shuffled his feet from where he stood. “Uh, yeah. He cheated on me. With an ex,” he avoided eye contact, but got a glimpse of Bucky’s ever-so understanding eyes. Like he knew exactly what he spoke about.
“Ah,” Yelena smacked her lips. “Fuck him, 100% deserving of the eggs. The hens would be proud,” after her comment, the chatter came back. Simple conversations about missions, weather and Valentina. It was the first time he opened up willingly about things in his past other than his parents with anyone other than Yelena. Frankly, it made everyone realize how much they didn’t know about him, or anyone else on the team.
—
The next week rolled around and new assignments came with. Ava and Walker, organization. Bucky and Bob, shopping. Yelena and Alexei, cooking. Simple as that, and there was hope that it’d go better than last time.
Bob and Bucky started early. Bucky wanted to get it out of the way, and he made some excuse about a store on the other side of town. The two of them hopped into Bucky’s SUV and began their slow drive to the other side of Manhattan.
“So…” Bucky cleared his throat, “where are you from?”
He took a second to think, a bit stared by his question. “Florida. Grew up there, but didn’t stay. I didn’t want to.”
Bucky hummed in response. “Why?”
“I had a history,” he mumbled. The older man didn’t say anything, leaving him the room to continue. “Drugs. My whole small town knew my secrets, too.”
“Ah,” Bucky tightened his grip on the wheel. “You don’t seem like the secretive type.”
“You’d be surprised,” Bob took a deep breath. “I mean, some of the things about me back then I shouldn’t have had to hide. Like my dad? Man, I thought I’d get in trouble if I told anyone about him. Being different didn’t help. It just made him hit harder and the kids laugh-”
“Hey, hey,” Bucky took a hand off the wheel and patted his shoulder. “Don’t work yourself up, Bob. You don’t have to hide anything from anyone anymore. You tell me anything you want.”
He exhaled, eyes glued to the traffic ahead. “Thanks, Bucky.”
“When I was a kid, keep in mind this is the 30s and 40s, I hid everything. It took years of help to get me to the point I am today,” he cracked a little smile. “Imagine my surprise when I came back to the world and found out I could marry whoever I wanted. All the progress people like me have made over the past years is insane to me.”
Bob blinked at him. “You’re..?”
“Don’t go shouting it from the rooftops,” Bucky said. “I’m… what do you say nowadays, in the closet?”
“Yeah, yeah. And no worries I’ll keep my mouth shut.”
They finished the car ride and the shopping easily. Everything on the list and more. Silence ate at the men, both not daring to speak first. They promptly returned to the car with bags in hand, ready to begin the traffic-filled drive to the Watchtower.
Bob chewed at his lip, wanting to speak. “Hey, Bucky?” He asked in a quiet tone.
“Yeah?” Bucky responded, hands slightly tightening on the wheel yet again. Bob picked up on that little detail, maybe he felt scared or on edge.
“I just want to say thanks. For, y’know, early. It’s nice to know I’m not alone like that,” He said while his eyes were glued to the road in front of him. The soft sound of the engine only filled the car initially. He didn’t speak, just nodded in a silent understanding. His words meant a lot to Bob, and he acknowledged that.
Back at the tower, chaos seemed to be erupting from the common room. Bob and Bucky walked in, threw the bags down on the counter and analyzed the situation. Ava and Walker were standing with half empty cardboard boxes surrounding them, and they did not look happy.
“Just keep the piles like Mel told us. There’s no need to make file sorting more complex,” Walker gestured toward the floor and stacks of materials.
Ava scoffed, throwing a pile of paper on the floor. “Can’t you handle a bit more work, Walker? I mean, I bet your son could do this with his eyes closed.”
Walker sighed, a hand pinching the bridge of his nose. “He’s one, I bet he couldn’t. You’re making it too complicated.”
“Well then,” Ava’s eyes lit up like she’d struck gold. “We should get him over here to test that theory- Oh, wait. You can't even see him.”
He stared at her, jaw tight and fists clenched. As he took a step forward to do God knows whatever, Bucky stepped in.
“Alright, alright. That’s enough,” he put a hand on Walker’s shoulder and pulled him back. “Let’s take a break. Okay?” Their eyes stayed locked, and he raised his voice. “I said take a break.”
Walker grunted, shaking Bucky’s hold off of him and turning to go to the sleeping quarters. The three of them watched as he left, and when he walked out of earshot Ava chuckled.
“Asshole,” she huffed.
“Hey, none of that,” Bucky barked. “You can’t go making offhand comments just to get on his nerves.”
“He is an asshole! I’m not wrong about that,” Ava explained. “Give me a break.”
Bucky bit his cheek to refrain from going insane. “You know what you’re doing, so quit it.”
Bob quietly walked to the counter and started unloading the groceries as the uncomfortable silence spread through the room.
—
Dinner that night fell onto Alexei and Yelena’s job. They chose to get takeout from the Thai place down the road. A bunch of random shit that they hoped everyone would like. Technically against the ‘cook a meal’ rule, but no one gave a shit.
“I’ve never had Thai food before,” Walker said when he emerged from his room to sit at the counter.
“Really?” Yelena sounded like she’d heard the most incredible news ever. “It’s so good.”
“I’ll be the judge of that,” he filled his plate with a variety of foods from the containers. Everyone followed his lead, grabbing plates.
After their first few bites, Ava spoke up. “It’s no Bob and Walker french toast, I’ll tell you that.”
Alexei and Yelena chuckled, taking the hit without any protest.
Bob cleared his throat to speak, trying to start a conversation. “Uh… Have any of you had traditional Thai food?” No one said a word. “Just asking because when I stopped by Thailand for a bit I got to know the food and culture. And I’m not saying this isn’t good enough! It’s great!”
“Well then, maybe you and Walker should make us Thai food next time,” Yelena replied. Bob nodded.
“How’d you end up in Thailand?” Walker asked with a mouthful of noodles.
He shrugged, almost unsure about how to answer. “I lived in Asia for a long time after I dropped out of high school. I wanted to get away from my hometown, and that’s just where I ended up,” there wasn’t much of a response, so Bob filled the air. “Where have you guys traveled?”
Walker spoke up first, “Well, I’ve been in the trenches of almost every war-torn country. Also I took a road trip with Lemar to Canada.”
“Everywhere,” Yelena scoffed. “So many places. I stopped keeping track.”
Bucky cleared his throat as the room went quiet. “I lived in Romania for a while. Then Wakanda. I don’t quite remember all the other places.”
“Hold on, rewind,” Ava finished chewing. “Wakanda?”
“Yeah,” he sighed as if thinking about a long lost treasure. “I miss that place. Nice people.”
“I’ve been to places, but the motherland was my favorite,” Alexei reflected, pounding down a large spoonful of rice. “I miss it as well.”
Ava nodded in agreement. “I’ve been around the world, too. On the run from 15 countries, but who’s counting?”
The team finished the rest of their meal with little chatter throughout. Ava blabbered on about how she couldn’t believe Bucky lived in Wakanda, Alexei and Yelena bickered about ‘the motherland’. Bob began to notice that slowly and surely, they were falling into a routine. The bickering got put aside when food came out.
“Hey, Bobby? You hear me?” Walker asked. Bob looked around. While in thought, everyone had cleared away from the table.
“No, no. Sorry. What’s up?” He asked, picking his paper plate up and tossing it.
He held up a pot. “Coffee?” Bob nodded politely, taking his same yellow mug from last week out of Walker’s hands and sipping it.
“Thanks, Walker,” he gave an appreciative nod. Walker nodded back.
—
Two weeks went by with absolutely nothing happening. No assignments, no ‘homework’ from Val… nothing. It got incredibly boring after a while. Bob felt tired of it. His screentime, insane, and the team had not been getting any closer, just ignoring each other. So, he went door to door requesting something simple; A game night.
“Okay,” Bob said, grabbing the attention of the team. “Do we want to play Uno or poker?”
“Oh! Uno! I’ve never played before,” Yelena requested, grabbing the deck of cards and holding it up.
“I agree,” Alexei hummed. “I’m too sober to get back into gambling.”
Walker nodded agreeingly. “Uno’s good,” the rest seemed to be fine with it, yet Bucky’s indecisive huff gave no helpful answer.
Teaching Yelena ended up being a breeze, it was Uno. How hard could it have been? Bob seemed shocked by the fact that everyone remained alive. He’d thought someone would be at another’s throat by the end of the first game.
A few games in, Yelena finally took the lead. “Uno!” She pumped her fists into the air, placing down a red 5. Ava’s turn came up next, she had no choice but to play a +4.
“Colour… Green,” she smirked, the card slowly leaving her hand.
Bob bit his lip. “Sorry about this, Bucky,” he placed another +4. “Yellow.”
For the first time ever, Bucky chuckled in front of everyone. A good, real chuckle. “I’m sorry, Alexei,” he placed yet another +4. “Yellow, again.”
“HA!” Alexei’s familiar laughter boomed as he, just like the others, stacked a +4. “For my color I’ll pick blue!”
Walker stared at the deck, then his hand. He thought for an awfully long time about a card game. Slowly, he picked up his hefty 20 card. “You all suck.”
Yelena slammed her last card on the deck, a blue 7. “Yes! First win ever!” There were a few laughs, Walker put his large stack of cards down as a forfeit, then walked to the counter.
“I’m done. Good game,” he mumbled.
“Yes! This was fun, Bob. Thank you,” Alexei put a hand on his shoulder and patted. “Goodnight, my friends,” he stood and made his way out of the room.
“I’m tagging along,” Yelena began, still beaming from her win. “I had a good time.”
“Yeah, of course. Thank you guys,” he smiled. Bucky stood silently, waving goodbye. “Goodnight Bucky,” he packed up the last bit of card and cleaned their playing area up.
“Anyone want coffee?” Walker asked from behind the counter.
“Nope. It is yet again, way too late for that shit,” Ava stood and walked to the counter next to Walker, pouring herself a glass of vodka.
“Too late for coffee but you’re pounding down vodka?” he snarked. “How about you, Bob?”
“Of course,” Bob said. Walker already had their blue and yellow mugs out, pre-made. “Thank you,” he sat at the bar, across from him.
“I’m calling it. Goodnight Bob, Goodnight Walker,” she made a peace sign and walked out.
Walker’s face scrunched a bit and he took a sip of his coffee. “Thanks for that. It was good team building.”
Bob couldn’t help it, he smiled a bit. “I had a lot of fun, and I’m glad everyone had a good time.” He laughed to himself. “Sorry you got beat so badly.”
Walker didn’t respond, he sort of stared at his coffee. They stayed that way for a while. So long that Bob had finished half his coffee and began to think the worst. “I had a +4. But Yelena was about to win,” he said, fiddling with his nails. “I saw her card. She had a blue and… well she’d never won before. She deserved it.”
Bob felt a small fire light in his chest. He didn’t know this side of John. A side he’d never seen from him. He was being considerate? If Bob would have heard that a few months ago he’d laugh. “That's really nice of you, Walker.”
He bit his cheek. “John.”
Bob blinked. “Huh?”
“You can just call me John,” he replied. “That’s my name, ain’t it?”
He nodded, aggressively chugging the last bit of coffee and placing his mug down. “Ah. Okay,” he cleared his throat, suddenly way, way, more nervous. “It’s late, right? I should be getting to bed.”
John raised an eyebrow, but then decided not to question why he’d just drank coffee if he planned on sleeping. “Alright. Goodnight Bob,” he reached out and took his mug.
Bob froze. “Right. Goodnight Walk- John. Goodnight John,” he turned quickly, hoping he didn’t just see the blush that spread across his face.
He walked into the living quarters, head full of thoughts. He was blushing to John Walker. John fucking Walker! The team ‘asshole’, who didn’t seem as bad as everyone painted him out to be. He had been, after all, good to Bob. He made him coffee and always treated him with respect. But so did everyone and he blushed to John. Yeah, Bob was utterly fucked.