Chapter Text
Bob was sat in Yelena’s room watching Cucumber the guinea pig sleep in his enclosure. He had been sat there for about twenty minutes. Just observing.
It was the afternoon, and Bob was alone since the rest of the tower was empty due to the team being on a mission. Everybody except John had been called as he had requested a day off to deal with personal stuff.
Bob had heard the blond on the phone with his Ex that morning, reassuring her that he would be arriving to their meeting spot on time. Today was the first day that he was allowed to see his son again since he and Olivia finalised the divorce.
Missing the mission for his family showed Bob that the asshole he had met in the vault was trying to change. It was nice to see since Bob never hated the guy. They just had a rocky start.
Bob had been in the kitchen putting his cereal bowl in the sink when he noticed John had been talking to someone.
As the usual grumpy man passed him, Bob noticed his hands were twitching.
Without saying anything Bob gave John a thumbs up. It was meant to be some sort of ‘good luck’. He had expected to get cussed out in response, but instead the other man gave him a subtle nod and a small smile as he moved towards the elevator.
Bob blinked. That was new.
“Wow,” Yelena had remarked as her voice filled the room. She had exited the elevator John was now entering, approaching Bob in her tactical suit.
She always came to personally bid him farewell before any mission. It made him feel special.
The elevator with Walker in it shut behind Yelena as she raised an eyebrow. She stood in front of Bob with a teasing smile on her face.
“You and Walker all buddy, buddy now?”
Bob had chuckled, rolling his eyes.
“Absolute best friends, some might even call us Bffs,” he said sarcastically watching Yelena as she grinned, looking up at him with her pretty green eyes.
Bob was convinced that there were flecks of gold in them. They were hard to look away from.
“We will have to get you both a pair of those necklaces that fit together to form a heart,” She responded back, one of her hands now resting lightly on his arm, “I always wanted one as a kid.”
Bob snorted at the mental image of John Walker, US Agent, wearing a necklace with half of a pink heart on it.
“I think we’ll have to build up to that one,” Bob joked back before noticing Yelena’s boots weren’t laced up yet. Without any warning he bent down to tie them for her.
The assassin had let out a small sound of surprise before the tips of her ears were dusted red.
“I don’t want you to trip getting on to the plane or whatever other vehicle you guys are taking,” Bob explained as he finished trying up one of Yelena’s shoes.
“Uhm thank you,” Yelena replied shyly, “Next time you can just let me know and It will save you the back pain.”
Bob looked up at her with his dark blue eyes as he finished tying the other boot. Her lips were pursed nervously as she averted her gaze away from him, mumbling something in Russian.
His heart leaped.
Cute.
“Bending down for a few seconds is not going to give me back pain,” Bob stated trying not to sound offended as he got up from his crouched position.
In her imagination did Bob seem like those goofy characters from high school dramas that get their lunch money stolen and stuffed into lockers?
He hoped not. He knew he could be a little meek sometimes, but he was a man that contained multitudes.
“Because contrary to anything Walker says, I’m not that unathletic. I’ve uh actually been doing a little training with Bucky recently so…”
Yelena’s eyes widened at that.
“What?” She said in a confused tone reaching up to cup his cheeks between her warm hands, “I thought you did not want to do anything Sentry related.”
Bob couldn’t tell if she was annoyed, or even worse, angry at him.
“No! I’m still…still not using my powers or uhm being The Sentry,” Bob stated softly, wrapping his hands around her wrists, trying to clear things up, “Just basic stuff, I was getting sick of being the only one who was clueless about combat and then Bucky offered and I didn’t want to say no.”
He hadn’t really been keeping anything a secret. Bucky would even come and talk about their little sessions in front of the others.
It was like going to a club after school as a kid. Not that Bob had ever gotten to experience that. But he was sure that it was a similar feeling.
“Oh, uhm okay, that sounds nice,” Yelena responded her tone light, but her eyebrows still furrowed, “Maybe I could come watch some time…?”
Bob wasn’t sure about that. He was still learning and spent most of the time on the floor after getting a beat down from Bucky.
It would be very humiliating having Yelena there since she was amazing at literally everything. Always so agile and flexible. She would probably get the ‘ick’ just watching him flop around like a wet noodle.
“Yeah…maybe,” Bob chose to say. He didn’t want her to think he was rejecting her or anything.
Suddenly, the elevator doors opened again startling them both causing Yelena to drop her hands from his face. Bob missed the warmth but then realised that probably made him sound a bit insane.
The older man they had just been talking about walked out. He, like Yelena, was dressed for battle.
“Yelena,” Bucky started, looking between her and Bob, “We need everyone in the hanger in five.”
Yelena huffed, one hand on her hip, “Yes I know that Bucky, that’s why I was going to be on my way in like a minute.”
“Sorry for taking up your time,” Bob mumbled with one of his hands rubbing the back of his neck.
“Don’t be an idiot Bob,” Yelena replied tugging him towards her. She threw her arms around his neck as she stood on her tip toes to hug him.
Bob slowly blinked. She smelt like vanilla.
“I’ll see you later, okay? Remember to-“
“-take care of Cucumber, yes I know,” Bob laughed, his hands moving to wrap around her waist, “Please stay safe, okay?”
He knew it was a dumb thing to say. The team’s job was to literally throw themselves into danger. But Bob couldn’t stand the thought of something bad happening to Yelena while he was stuck at home being useless.
“I’ll try not to throw myself off of anything too high,” Yelena teased, peering up at him through her long lashes, “Just for you.”
Bucky coughed reminding them that he was still standing there.
Bob embarrassed, released his hold on Yelena as she gave him one last goodbye before walking away.
Since then, Bob had tried to watch a movie, read a book and even go to the gym. But he just wasn’t feeling up to doing any of those things,
“And I know it’s stupid, but I just feel like every time they go off on another mission, and I’m stuck here like a jobless hermit I become a little crazier,” Bob whispered to Cucumber who had probably woken up at some point during Bob’s mental recount of that morning’s events.
Cucumber looked up at him and let out a tired squeak but didn’t move much.
“And don’t worry I didn’t just come in here to talk your ears off,” Bob joked, making fun of himself, “I did also fill your bowl of food.”
Cucumber moved towards the food like he could actually understand what Bob was saying.
Of course, Bob knew that was probably not true, but talking to the adorable little animal made him weirdly happy…?
It was strange.
But considering what Bob had become after all the experimenting, not even remotely the strangest thing about him.
Crossing his legs on Yelena’s black rug, he watched as Cucumber slowly nibbled some of his food.
Cucumber was Yelena’s Guinea pig. Bob had only met him when they first moved into the tower. Apparently, Cucumber was from one of the OXE labs they had been experimenting on Bob. And similar to Bob, Yelena had also rescued the little guy from a life of containment and mistreatment.
She had been eager to introduce the two of them, even announcing that Bob had been the one to inspire the name she chose for her new pet.
Since then, they took turns taking care of him. When she was on missions, it was Bob’s turn and whenever Yelena was home it was hers. Bob still tagged along though. It was fun when they spent time with Cucumber together.
“Are you not hungry?” Bob asked puzzled as Cucumber sluggishly continued to eat before stopping. He hadn’t even eaten a quarter of what he normally did.
Bob’s eyebrows furrowed at the guineapig’s behaviour. He was no expert on their kind, but he spent enough time with this specific guineapig to know that something was different. The animal was usually very excited at mealtime and ate quite swiftly.
He fed him often enough to know.
Ava joked that the guineapig was like his and Yelena’s child. With John jumping to make a remark about Cucumbers attitude coming from Yelena since he could be a bit prickly with people he didn’t like.
Bob smiled at the memory, before opening the enclosure to take a better look at Cucumbers condition. Yelena had texted him the day before asking if he noticed how Cucumber had been napping a lot more recently.
Back then Bob had said he wasn’t sure but now that he thought about it, he hadn’t really played with the little guy the last few days as he had seemed pretty out of it when Bob came to visit.
Bob gently stuck his hand into the guineapigs home as Cucumber just stared blankly at his food without eating it. He made a little noise, noticing Bob moving towards him.
“Sorry for intruding,” Bob whispered picking the animal up and taking him out of his enclosure, “I’m just trying to get a closer look to see if you’re okay.”
Now that his hand’s were full of fluff, Bob peered closely at the guineapigs face, trying to identify if there were any signs that something was wrong. Cucumber looked up at the man holding him, before nuzzling further into his hand.
Bob almost melted from the sight.
Until he noticed how Cucumbers breathing felt uneven.
Yelena’s room hadn’t changed in the last month. And last week, Bob had even built the guinea pig an obstacle course which he had excitedly zoomed around in. So, he had been fine then.
So, what was wrong now?
Bob’s midnight eyes slowly scanned the critters face again to make sure that the uneven breathing wasn’t the only thing out of the ordinary. His eyes widening when he noticed that Cucumber had a runny nose.
He hadn’t even known that guineapigs could get colds!
If that is what was wrong with Cucumber.
Bob didn’t want to assume so he gently placed the sick little guy on Yelena’s soft duvet as he pulled his phone out to use google.
As he typed ‘My guineapig has a runny nose and is breathing differently pls help’ into the search bar, he heard Cucumber make a sad noise at being put down.
Poor thing must have been feeling horrible for days and they hadn’t even noticed.
He especially hadn’t even noticed.
What kind of guinea pig parent was he? Yelena was going to be so devastated when she came home.
As Bob scrolled through the search results, he used whichever hand that wasn’t holding his phone to stroke Cucumber’s fur.
He hoped it was comforting.
His mum used to play with his hair whenever he was sick at night when she thought he was asleep. Usually as a silent apology for shouting at him for catching something from the other kids at school in the first place. He didn’t really blame her for it.
Bob being sick usually put his dad in an even worse mood than usual. And his poor mother always got the worst of it.
Cucumber made another pained noise as Bob clicked a link that looked reliable.
“It’s okay, baby,” Bob muttered out loud to Cucumber as he read about guineapig respiratory infections, “Shit uhm okay uh…I need to take you to the Vet like right now.”
Everything Bob was reading sounded really bad.
What if it got worse? What if it was to late?
It might sound embarrassing, but Bob loved the little guy. He couldn’t imagine not seeing him ever again.
Or having to see Yelena’s reaction to losing another person in her life…
A flash of her quivering downturned mouth and her big eyes being filled with tears entered his mind.
Squeezing his eyes shut, Bob pinched himself.
He had to stop himself from spiralling. If he acted now, everything he just thought of could be prevented.
Gently, he picked Cucumber up and held him to his chest.
Act now, worry later.