etherealsymphony

[etherealsymphony]

(A random thought in my head so ignore how dogshit this is lol)

Ava, Bob, and Yelena sneaking a cat into Ava’s room before anyone can see them. Cut to John barging in and being like….

“Hey Ava have you seen my sweatshirt, you know the one you were wearing when we— is that a cat?”

“Uhhhhhh”

“Yall are screwed. Buck is gonna act like a crazy cat mom now. You know how much Alpine hates other cats”

Yelena giving her best pout and John’s like “fine I’ll tell him” cause he’s just so boyfriend like that

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never getting over this video

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John checking to see which ones they have on and then proceeds to tell them a story behind the tag they’re wearing

Yelena, Bob, and Ava just listening to him

John has a ton of extra sets of dog tags from when he was in the army, as he lost them so often he had a ton of extra ones made and still has about 10 sets.

So now Yelena, Ava and Bob all wear a set of John's dog tags at all times.

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I'm loving these Johnny/Shalla-Bal fics. Keep em coming

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who is their biggest hear me out?

(We know it's Lockhart, hermione)

I don’t think we should answer this…

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I love the little detail in almost all fics in which Ron gets called “Ronald” by all the Slytherin. Like dude is just getting full named anytime he’s near someone who was in Slytherin

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Bob and Ava making food for Yelena and John when they’re sick and setting them up in front of the TV. It’s giving chill parent vibes.

John and Yelena freaking out and playing doctor when Bob and Ava feel just a little under the weather. It’s giving frantic parent vibes.

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They’re so mean to Huda it’s actually really sad

This isn’t a boundary that Chelley told Huda existed! How was she supposed to know this was somehow different than the situation with everyone else, unless someone told her? This is ridiculous. You can’t get mad about people crossing boundaries that you didn’t tell them were there

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Stayed up until 5am making the New Avengers’ instagrams…. Because they own me.

Yelena’s following is so high because I KNOW Bob follows back eeevvveryone when he uses her account.

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“It will only work if you wait” being the definition of Yelena and Johns relationship.

His years of military conditioning just gets completely sucked in by Yelena who in her own way, is also a solider. They both understand what it means to work on a team even if you don’t like the other person. He listens to her calls and signals. She trusts his judgement.

These two soldiers have found each other and they quite literally are able to perfectly dance around one another because of the machines they were beaten into being.

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Y’all I desperately need a challengers AU with Bob, Phoenix, and Hangman but in this one they realize their bullshit earlier on and just mack it out hardcore style

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i need ur ghostwalker headcanons *cries in read every one of their fics on ao3 at least three time already*

John said her hair was getting too long. So she cut it. No questions asked.

They know each other’s go-to drinks by heart. John’s a warm water and black coffee guy. Ava’s a tea girlie through and through.

Ava keeps walking through the wall into John’s room just to scare the hell out of him. “Oops, wrong room,” she says. He doesn’t even flinch anymore.

She phases through him so often she knows what he smells like. Like soap. And trouble.

When the world gets too loud, John just quietly cups her ears. No words

Ava was the first to see one of his dissociative episodes. She didn’t panic. She just sat down and stayed.

They argue constantly. Before missions, during, after. And the next day? John’s like “what fight?” Ava is still mad.

“Isn’t that hat too hot?” “You’re too hot.” (Ava did not know how to respond to that.)

She sees him staring at his phone too long, scrolling through trash articles. So she snatches it, teases him, and phases through the floor. He never gets it back.

They mock each other’s voices all the time. Ava’s John impression is horrendous. He does her voice scarily well.

After missions, it’s straight to the couch. Ava always shoves a pillow behind him. he cracks ribs like it’s a hobby.

John cooks her late-night snacks. She always pretends it’s gross. Never leaves a single bite.

She steals his beret all the time. Wears it like it’s hers. He lets her.

They’re so synced up that Bucky and Val are like “yeah, you two team up”

One time, they had to pick loungewear for a thing. Picked the exact same set. Now it’s just a pile of identical clothes on the couch.

John can’t sleep half the time. Ava hears it through the wall, knocks, comes over, no questions.

“Your eyes are… really something,” he told her once. Didn’t even look away.

They always sit next to each other in team meetings. Always.

She got used to pressing little forehead kisses on him. It’s a whole thing now.

One time, she grabbed his hand and walked through a wall. He smacked straight into it. She laughed for an hour.

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thunderbolts fans will tell you you can't ship boblena, ghostwalker, buckymel and then infantilize one character even though they are like 30, attribute all the war and moral crimes to depressed ex soldier, claim that the character that went through so much development and growth 'isn't ready' to be in a healthy relationship (even though it was this character's thing since forever), attribute certain sexuality to the film adaptation of the character, claiming that this character's sexuality is canon in the comics while reliability of this information is also ambiguous, try to convince you into thinking that 30-year-old-woman is a fresh out of school girl and made up some crazy theories on why the character can't be shipped with the depressed ex soldier mentioned before bcs 'they have big brother-little sister dynamic' and 'she deserves someone better'

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Nearly 3k words of Polybolts smut (Yelena, Bob, Ava and John)

I'm afflicted with a curse where, if I write something fluffy, smut always comes shortly after. I woke up in a cold sweat at 6 this morning, palming my nightstand for my phone to write this on my notes app, passed back out halfway through, then woke back up and finished it.

Anyway, enjoy, I'm so tired. Why did I do this.

Despite public belief, John is the easiest person on the team to pick on, not Bob. Though Bob is a close second. So, it's not uncommon for John to suddenly find himself in situations like the one he's in now. 

He was starting to think these were coordinated attacks.

It started innocently enough, with Yelena walking into the kitchen to get coffee while John cooked dinner.

"Shouldn't be drinking that so late," John said, but he had a caffeine problem just as bad if not worse. Yelena snorted, doubling the shot of espresso. 

John sighed, but turned back to his pan of vegetables. Yelena leaned against the counter and watched silently, she liked watching--but helping was out of the question. The last time she'd try to help Bob with a biscuit recipe it backfired, she misread teaspoons of baking powder for tablespoons. They needed a new oven afterwards.

"What are we having for dinner again?" Yelena asked through a yawn, dumping the second shot of espresso into a mug with guinea pig patterns.

"Sesame chicken, veggies, nothin' special," John said.

Yelena raised an eyebrow at him, "Isn't sesame chicken too high in calories for you? Also where's Bucky?"

"You guys act like I have an eating disorder," John rolled his eyes. Yelena didn't say anything, and John glanced at her.

"...Bucky's downstairs,"

Yelena chuckled, and sat up on the counter, kicking her feet and continuing to watch John as she drank her coffee.

"Hrm," she said, sliding off after a few minutes. She nudged herself against John's arms, "I can stir them while you cut the chicken--I assume it needs to be cut,"

"I don't trust you do this unsupervised," John shook his head, dropping an arm and letting Yelena slot herself between him and the stove. She took the wooden spoon from his hands, gripping it in her fist and stirring the vegetables in wide circles. 

"Ok no," John said, "You gotta--Jesus you stir like a witch at a cauldron,"

"Is it not stir fry?" Yelena asked incredulously, frowning as John grabbed her wrist and guided her hand through the correct motions. Yelena fell silent, the air suddenly felt charged.

While John's right hand remained on Yelena's wrist, his left drifted from its spot braced on the counter to her waist. Yelena hummed as his fingers played with the hem of her shirt.

John rested his chin on her head, letting his posture sag for once, then jumped back about 10 feet when Ava phased through the fridge.

"YOU–" John pointed the spoon at her, "Fucking stop doing that!" 

Ava rolled her eyes, "If you could walk through walls to get to where you need to go you would. Doors are useless to me."

"I'd play so many pranks on you guys if I could," Yelena said wistfully. 

John groaned, "As if Ava doesn't already to that enough," 

Ava laughed, then looked between Yelena and John.

"Were...you two busy with something?" she asked suggestively, the corner of her mouth turning up. 

John cleared his throat, "Yelena wanted to help with the food,"

"I stir like baba yaga," Yelena declared. 

Ava squinted at her, then nodded, "Well, I can keep her occupied while you wife it up over there," Ava said, walking over to Yelena.

Before John could ask what 'keep her occupied' meant, Ava was hoisting Yelena up and setting her on the opposite counter. John, a man with a pulse, watched as she tangled her fingers in the shorter woman's hair and kissed her. Well, no, it was more like she was trying to dive in her mouth tongue first.

"Uuuh," John felt the dumb look on his face and shook his head, "You guys should take that to your rooms. Preferably Ava's since Yelena's is a mess,"

"Oh, quit being a stiff," Yelena panted as Ava pulled off of her and latched on to her neck, "We all know you like when we do it in the common areas,"

John tore his gaze away, willing the vegetables to cook faster as the very wet sounds of kissing resumed.

"You're both performing for the male gaze, and I refuse to look," John said valiantly, even as his pants started to feel uncomfortable.

"None of what we do is for you," Ava scoffed as she pushed Yelena further up the counter and tugged her sweatpants down.

"Then go somewhere else," John hissed through his teeth, his heightened sense of smell picking up on the arousal between Yelena's legs. 

"We have perfectly good counter here," Yelena said, giggling as Ava put her legs over her shoulders. 

John pursed his lips tightly as very non-PG sounds started to fill the space. He reached down and adjusted the growing bulge in his pants, "Seriously guys, I gotta start cutting the chicken so, JESUS–"

John found himself pointing a spoon up toward the ceiling as Bob floated into the kitchen, using the doorway as an anchor.

"Oh...wow," he breathed at the sight of Yelena splayed over the counter. Both she and Ava looked up at him, expressions puzzling.

"...why?" John asked the higher power that definitely had it out for him, sagging against the counter, "Why can't I just have one day...and why are you flying?"

"Oh, yeah I was trying to practice earlier but now I can't uh...stop," Bob said sheepishly, pushing off of the ceiling and moving towards the floor. His feet only touched it briefly, before they were off again, and he was hanging off of the door frame, his legs kicking uselessly in the air. It was like he was suspended in an upward current of air or water.

Ava started laughing, even as she shoved two fingers between Yelena's legs. Yelena, who'd been snickering, yelped in surprise.

"...can I help?" Bob asked, and all three of them turned to look at him. Bob blinked, then clarified, "With dinner?"

"...could you maybe just...move those two off the counter? That would be more than enough help," John sighed, reaching for the spice rack to start seasoning the vegetables.

He heard sounds of struggling, then an "Oh!" from Bob, then clothes rustling and Yelena snickering again. 

John sighed and chanced a glance back at the counter, forgetting how to breathe when he saw the new predicament. Now, Yelena was straddling Bob, pinning him to the counter to keep him from floating off. Ava had moved behind the counter. John couldn't see her face, but he could see her hands moving under Bob's shirt.

"Is good that the kitchen has lower ceilings than the rest of the floor, yes?" She asked, cupping Bob's face in her hands. Bob nodded dumbly, eyes fluttering shut as Ava's hands went from under his shirt to the hem of his pants.

"Shit," John muttered, turning back to the stove to mix the spices into the vegetables, ignoring the tell-tale glug of olive oil as someone used the bottle he'd left there. 

The vegetables were taking forever to cook because there were so many of them--four bell peppers, five heads of broccoli, two packs of mushrooms and three zucchini, crammed into the biggest pan he could find because, with three super-soldiers on the team, food always had to be abundant. Ava's appetite also fluctuated between normal and enough to feed three people depending on how much she used her powers on any given day. Still, with enough coordination it was possible t--

"Ffuck–!" John heard Bob yelp, and closed his eyes. Did he dare turn around again?

Yes. Yes he did dare.

He couldn't see clearly, but he had a good guess of what was happening. Both Yelena and Bob's pants were in a heap on the floor, and John could hear the distinct sound of Ava's phasing. He could see her shoulder working behind the counter, Bob's thighs flinching under Yelena's. His mouth hung open, and he looked about ready to drool all over himself. Yelena was grinning lopsidedly, tugging at Bob's cock at a torturous pace. Ava's arm kept moving under the counter, and John was able to parse out that she was phasing her hand up and through the counter–which would put it right up Bob's...

"Jesus," he breathed, feeling the last of his resolve fall away as Ava smirked at him from over Bob's shoulder.

John was around the counter in seconds, caging Ava against it and telling her to shut up as she laughed in triumph. Her cheek was pressed against Bob's back as John shoved a hand down the front of her pants. He felt himself going half crazy between the feeling of wetness against his fingers, and the sound of Bob moaning into Yelena's mouth, and the blood in his head rushing south. John curled his fingers, and Ava hummed.

"Mediocre as always Walker," she sighed, grabbing his wrist and guiding it to do what she wanted, "Pay attention,"

"Kay, mkay…" John breathed, forehead thumping against Ava's shoulder. He let his eyes slip shut and moved his fingers the way Ava wanted, but they snapped back open when Bob and Yelena started getting louder, if that were possible. 

John glanced up dazedly, seeing the muscles in Yelena's thighs working as she bounced in Bob's lap. The muscles in Bob's back flinched, and John wasn't sure when he'd even gotten his shirt off. He reached out with his unoccupied hand, mesmerized, spreading his palm over the other man's skin. 

When Ava started arching back into him impatiently, John helped her get her pants off. Ava went to remove the hand that was phasing through the counter and up into Bob's ass, but was met with, "No no please, don't, s'too good,"

Yelena, breathless from bouncing, still managed to call Bob every synonym of cute as he begged for god knows what. 

Ava hummed, kissing Bob's back and resuming fingering him, while John lined himself up with her pussy, Bracing a hand on Bob's shoulder to support himself.

Ava sucked in a breath as John sank inside of her, and John let his head fall back as he groaned, fingers gripping Bob's shoulder with what had to be an unimaginable amount of force. Ava kept a hand on his wrist, keeping his fingers down her panties, mumbling "Play with it, play with it please,"

"You better play with her clit John," Yelena panted. She sat up, Bob whining as his cock slid out of her, to get a view of what was going on behind his back.

"Keeping r-riding him Yelena or else you'll end up getting ffff...sucked into a vent," Ava managed between John's thrusts, eyes rolling back into her head. Bob, still stuck in flight mode, began rising from the counter, but John's grip on his shoulder kept him mostly in place.

"Ok, yeah, right," Yelena nodded, placing her hands on Bob's shoulders, one of them bracing over John's, and hovering over him on her knees.

Bob blinked, his brow furrowed; Yelena pecked him on the nose, "You're not gonna make me do all the work are you?"

Bob whimpered and shook his head, "Can't, ugh, please..."

Ava had mercy on him, phasing a hand through Bob's back and guiding his cock back inside of Yelena, who started laughing.

"If anyone here's a witch it's her," she breathed, biting her lip as she fully seated herself in Bob's lap.

"You're, nk, still on that?" John asked, pushing Ava tighter against the counter and Bob's back as he pinched her clit between his fingers, putting an ungodly amount of pressure behind it. 

"Ouffck," Ava squeaked, her voice reaching the register it did when she was close, the hand that had been phasing through the counter falling limp, "No, no no I don't wanna be first, fuck, Yelena do something,"

"Ngh...trying, ugh, Bob takes forever to…oh god," Yelena groaned with effort.

"Yeah that's it," John groaned, nosing at Ava's neck, "Go on Ava, c'mon,"

"Noo..." Ava wailed as John somehow intensified his assault on her clit. John grinned, but made a noise of confusion when his fingers were suddenly pinching around nothing. 

"Are you–" he crushed Ava tighter against the counter, "Are you phasing your fucking clit??"

Yelena started cackling, and Bob was too fucked out to know what was happening. 

"I'm, ngh, not doing the dishes for a week," she managed. John bought his hand up to cup Ava's jaw, "That's fucking cheating,"

Ava's smug laughter was swallowed as John slotted his lips over hers. 

"More..." Bob murmured, "...publease,"

John moved his hand from under Yelena's on Bob's shoulder downwards, brushing his fingers over Bob's nipple. He did the same thing he'd been doing to Ava's clit, making Bob go, "Yeah...ngh, thank yous’much,"

"You're so sweet," Yelena said, almost pained, rocking her hips and leaning forward to press her lips against Bob's.  

Bob started groaning, weakly bringing his hands up to Yelena's hips, trying to buck his own without flying off the counter. Yelena continued relentlessly for a while, before slowing slightly at the sight of Bob's eyes.

"Oh shit," she breathed, seeing the gold swirling in his pupils, "Bob, you ok babe?"

"..." Bob's jaw was tight, and his hands gripped Yelena's hips even tighter. Yelena didn't have time to prepare before Bob, now Bobtry, was slamming up into her. Her grip on his shoulders weakened, and she nearly fell backwards, but Bobtry wrapped his arms around her middle. He pounded into her again, and again, to the point that even John was whining. 

"Jesus that's hot," he panted almost wistfully, and Ava laughed, "Is it?" tightening around him.

John cussed, "S'not that hot you fuckin’--I’m making dinner I'm not doin' the dishes for a week,"

"You're the one who came up with that stupid rule," she moaned, and John cussed, “I was drunk,” taking his hand from her jaw to get to her clit again, only for it to be gone.

"Fucking...cheating...fuck," John felt his knees buckle, his weight sagging against Ava's back as he came. Ava whimpered at the feeling of being filled, but didn't move, her own legs feeling like jelly.

"God damn it," John panted, looking up to the counter only to find Bobtry and Yelena gone. But he still heard them. He and Ava looked up, finding Bobtry and Yelena pressed against the ceiling, still fucking.

"Ssssory," Bobtry grunted, "Still can't...stop, can't stop, m'sorry," he said, kissing Yelena's neck.

"...don't get wet spots on the ceiling," Ava said, "Also John the veg is burning,"

John said, "Oh god fucking damn it," and ran (as best he could given how weak his legs felt) around the counter to check the stove. The veggies were charred beyond repair. He sighed, shoving the pan off the hot eye and switching it off. 

He and Ava watched for the next 15 minutes as Yelena and Bobtry went at each other like a couple of feral cats. Yelena finished first, then again when Bob finally finished, and slowly floated down until they were both on the kitchen floor. 

"...you ok Yelena?" Bob asked, combing his fingers through her hair.

Yelena's face was in Bob's chest, she mumbled something, but gave a thumbs up.

"I guess," John sighed, "We'll order takeout."

"I get to pick since I didn't finish," Ava said, making John splutter, "You're the one who kept ghosting your clit,"

"There are other ways Walker, you could've played with my tits," Ava shrugged, moving to the smart fridge to open a delivery app. 

John waved a dismissive hand, looking dejected at the veggies, “That was two pounds of vegetables…” he murmured. 

"Oh, Val says we've been tipping too high by the way, says we should keep it to 25%," Yelena said, rolling over. 

"Fuck Val," Ava said, "Do we want Mediterranean?"

"Yeh," Bob said weakly.

"Alright you two, get off the floor," John said.

"Don't you mean 'git off the daym floor,'" Yelena laughed, before squawking as she was picked up and thrown over John's shoulder. John walked off with her in the direction of the bathroom, while Bob helped Ava finish on the fridge. He had a knack for remembering everyone’s orders. 

They all convened in the bathroom, which had a shower that seemed unnecessarily huge when they'd first moved in. Now, they use it together about once a week.

"You've still got dishes John," Ava teased, scrubbing a scouring pad over his back. John scoffed, but Yelena raised a hand from her spot under a shower head, "Actually...it's me,"

"Huh?" Bob asked, the crown of suds on his head dripping down over his eyes. 

"Yeah I actually came three times, right as Bob turned," she said.

"Hah!" John smacked his thigh, "Your scheming failed!"

"It wasn't scheming," Ava laughed, "It was just...involved planning," she rubbed her thumbs into John's shoulders, "And for what it's worth you still did good, Walker,"

John coughed and said, "Y-yeah, I know," but a blush spread across his cheeks anyway.

"It's honestly an accomplishment that you didn't finish since you were in the hot zone," Yelena snorted. Usually whoever was in the middle of their skirmishes had to spend the next day recovering in bed. But their position this time around was a little strange anyway.

"Yeah no, I'm still gonna need a day," Ava said, pointedly cracking her back and making the others wince.

"Me too honestly," Bob said, "...but we have that photoshoot tomorrow right?"

A very loud collective groan echoed through the bathroom, followed by overlapping complaints.

Meanwhile, on the floor below, Bucky thanked every God there was for his new noise cancelling headphones.

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Thanks for reading, I gotta stop doing this to myself :,)

[etherealsymphony]

2k words of Polybolts Fluff (Yelena, Bob, Ava and John)

Pretty much just fluff and very self-indulgent. Bear with me, the hot people still live rent free in my brain. Relationship is established but not explicitly stated. Bucky and Alexei are here but not involved in the polycule. They're just vibing.

Also huge thanks to @etherealsymphony for making a post that reminded me to write this!

Anyway, enjoy :)

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The invulnerability and reflexes are the only consistent aspects of Bob's powers. They aren't something that can get turned on or off—unlike strength or telekinesis or flight, they're just there.

John is the first to suggest it after expressing frustration with the training dummies in the gym. Instead of anything proper or even durable, they get cylinders with cylinders for arms anchored to the ground.

"I keep telling Mel to tell Val to get us dummies that are person shaped," John sighs, "And something more durable, these don't even last an hour," he kicks the dented pleather dummy; it smashes into the far wall.

"I think they're fine," Yelena says, "Thought it'd be nice if they could fight back."

"I heard Stark had entire simulations fine-tuned for each team member," Ava said, crouching to examine the dummy that she'd severed on accident, "Standing in one place and wailing on an object only does so much."

"And John doesn't spar fair," Yelena says, shooting him a look. John raises his hands in exasperation.

"Well we both get too distracted by your constant fucking scissorlocks," Ava says under her breath. Yelena raises a brow at both of them, John coughs and looks down at his feet.

After a moment of silence, the entry-way door slides open.

"Oh, hey guys," Bob says, wearing a Florida swim club t-shirt and shorts. The others wave and nod, mumbling some 'heys'. He pads over to the treadmills—the only activity he does in the gym. He's too afraid of sparring with the others, given how unpredictable things get with his powers.

Yelena resumes sparring with her dummy, while Ava wonders what to do with the halves of hers. John, meanwhile, is staring at Bob, who is stretching half-heartedly.

"Say, Bob," John calls out, making the others look at him too. Bob glances up, "Yeah?"

"Could you stand here?" John pointed to the center of the floor. Bob nodded, "Sure, ok," And walked over to where John was pointing.

"So, if you got shot right now,"

"Christ Walker," Ava says, and John waves her off, "You'd be fine, right?"

Bob nods, "Pretty sure,"

"And like if I were to punch you?"

"Wouldn't do anything I don't think," Bob says, tilting his head, "Why?"

John's tongue pushes on the inside of his cheek in that way he does when he's thinking of something stupid. Yelena says, "John," but John is already saying, "You wanna be my dummy?"

"…"

"…"

"…like to punch? And kick? And stuff?"

John nods, "Yeah uh, if that's cool with you I dunno if," he doesn't say it, but they all hear it. Bob shakes his head, "Oh, yeah I've been working through that stuff, you don't have to worry about hurting me,"

Emotionally.

"Cool," John nods.

"Cool," Bob smiles.

"Right, then I'm gonna," John clenches and unclenches his fists, and Bob looks a little unsure what to do with himself, "Should I just stand here?" he asks.

"Yeah just kinda, hold your arms up like this a bit," John says. Bob mirrors him.

Yelena and Ava both flinch when the blows start landing, the sound akin to a gorilla punching a wall of solid steel.

"Sheesh," Ava says, watching John windmill kick a completely stationary Bob across the face. Of course, he's unscathed. "That was a bit much," Bob says, "Aren't flashy moves like that worse for like…combat and stuff?"

"Yeah but, it still looks cool," Yelena offers.

Ava snorts, "Did you just say Walker looked cool?"

"No," Yelena shakes her head, "No, never. Ever."

"Jesus," John sighs, side-eyeing Yelena before looking at Bob, "You really don't feel a thing?"

"Nah," Bob shakes his head.

"Cool, cool," He says, rearing his hand back for a right hook.

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Yelena, during her first months at the tower, insisted that she didn't want to be touched, hugged, patted, anything. In reality, she was more than fine with it, so long as she initiated it first.

John and Ava are always in the living room first for the biweekly movie night, sitting on the couch in silence and waiting for the others to filter in. It starts at 8, but most of the time the movie doesn't get started until 9, or 9:30 if Bob wants to make snacks.

"We are to watch Final Destination 3 end of discussion." Yelena announces as she walks into the living room, cradling Wiggles in her arms. Ava rolls her eyes, then makes an 'oof,' sound as Yelena makes herself comfortable in her lap.

"…why?"

"You're right here aren't you?" Yelena says, knowing damn well that Ava won't bother to push her off. Alexei comes in next along with Bucky, bombarding him with some war story. Bucky sits in his recliner (which is off limits to anyone else). Nobody on the team knows how old it is, but they know he's had to get it reupholstered twice. Alexei sits on a stiff chair next to it that everyone else finds uncomfortable. He says it's good for posture.

Bob eventually wanders in and, seeing everyone in the living room says, "Oooh, it's movie night,"

"Where've you been all day?" Ava asks. Bob sits down next to her, making Ava adjust Yelena in her lap. Yelena doesn't move, letting herself be handled until she's spread evenly across John, Ava and Bob.

"Briefing room," Bob says, "S'quiet in there. Everyone avoids it,"

"Cause it's the worst room in the tower," Yelena says, holding Wiggles up above her head, "Wiggles refuses to go in there—he has sixth sense I'm sure of it,"

"God I hope not," John mutters. He twines a finger around one of Yelena's blonde locks, "Last thing we need is a guinea pig with super strength."

"Aha, but it would be amazing mascot," Alexei says, "Guinea pig with super strength, flies around," he arched his hand through the air. 

"Pretty sure it's still a normal guinea pig," Ava says, "Though it'd be kind of funny if he could fly,"

"More like kinda horrifying," John murmured. 

Bob hummed, "I think it'd be cute," and stood, careful to move Yelena's feet from his lap to the couch, "M'gonna make some popcorn real quick,"

"Bucky, you don't think this thing has powers, right?" John asks. With no response, he cranes his neck to look at him, only to find him passed. out.

"Is like the chair casts a spell on him every time," Yelena cackles.

"This has to be a new record, right?" John asks, "Conked out and the movie hasn't even started."

"Hope it never does," Ava mutters, but everyone knows she'll stay to watch it—offering copious sarcastic remarks.

After a while, Bob returns from the kitchen with two giant bowls of popcorn, along with Hulk Out!™ seasoning mix Bucky bought as a joke months ago; it was surprisingly good. 

Yelena especially likes it, and snatches both the seasoning and the bowl out of Bob's hands. She shoves the bowl in Ava's hands, unscrewing the bottle and dumping green powder over the popcorn.

"Ugh, Yelena," Ava sniffs, puffs of green wafting up to her nose, "I keep telling y-you naugh, nuugh," her eyes flutter. Before Yelena can register, Ava is aberating, and sneezing, and falling through the couch—then through the floor. The popcorn bowl tips over now that nobody is holding it. Distantly, the team hears a thump resound from the floor below. Bob is flabbergasted, John is already laughing his ass off, and Alexei is dutifully rising from his chair to take the elevator down and check on Ava.

Yelena looks at the now empty spot, before shrugging and tipping the bowl back over, "Is not completely ruined," she says, resuming dumping the Hulk Out!™ mix on the remaining kernels.

Bucky is woken up by all the commotion, looking very confused. 

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"Could we maybe stop by Target on our way back?" Ava asks Mel on a ride back from a bomb threat that turned out to be very very real.

Everyone in the SUV turned to look at her.

"We all kinda smell like gunpowder," Bob says, but Ava rolls her eyes, "Who cares? Besides, I won't be long, I promise,"

"Your promises are made of tissue," Yelena puts her head in her hands.

"Just—I have an idea for an end table that will really make the reading room pop—it'll just be a placeholder until we get a replacement. It's annoying to not have anywhere to put my tea while I'm reading."

"…it is kind of a pain," Bob says.

Since moving into the tower, Ava has been slowly working to decorate every space. It was technically Mel's responsibility to deal with decor, but Ava ended up taking over before anyone knew what was happening. The sterile living room ended up covered in throw pillows and blankets, all of which were changed out every month because "You cannot have a pillow this orange sitting out during the winter, Bob,"

It wasn’t just the interior design she cared about either, even formal events see Ava "gently advising" the team on their outfits, and fussing over everyone right up until they're minutes away from whatever venue they're due to attend. Yelena has a picture on her phone of Ava straddling Bob in the car, clawing at his hair to wrangle it into place. Her caring about appearances fluctuated along with her manic episodes, but everyone on the team had manic episodes so it wasn’t that much of a bother. 

When they get to Target, Mel looks them over before they go inside, and nods, "Yeah, this'll be good for PR," she says, reaching out to swipe some rubble off of John's shoulder.

"Good for PR, how exactly?" He asks.

"In a…. 'polar bear in Arlington Texas' kinda way," Mel says, stepping back and brandishing her phone to snap a photo of them, since she was in charge of their official Instagram account. 

"Hehehe," Yelena laughs, because she's the only one who gets the joke. The usual looking and pointing ensues while they walk across the parking lot to the entrance.

"I always like how this place smells," Bob says as they walk in, before wandering off to the toy section. Yelena jogs to catch up to him.

"Children, both of them," John mumbles, rolling his still aching shoulders, "You're really gonna make us walk around Target after 5 hours of clean up?"

"You're the one who kept going for the heavy stuff," Ava says, turning to him. She looks him up and down, then smirks, "If you humor me, I can give you a back rub when we're at the tower, hm?" she holds up aberrating palms.

John folds quicker than Sentry folded his shield, and follows Ava into the depths of the store. She looks at end tables for 30 minutes—which honestly isn't too bad. Nobody in the store asks for their picture, but they're trending an hour after they leave.

"Bob," Bucky asks later at the debrief, folding his arms and looking down the table at him, "Why did I open Instagram only to see a video of you and Yelena shooting toy guns at each other?"

"…you use Instagram?" Bob asks.

There's a lot of back and forth but, in the end, the Target visit ends up being great for PR. Mel gets a bonus.

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"Oil," Valentina had said.

"Ol," John repeated.

"No no, oil," She said slowly.

"…ol,"

"Yeah, ok no," She sighed, "This is no good, you're gonna need coaching. A lot of coaching,"

When doing publicity training for being the 'next Captain America', John had to do extensive vocal training. He’d been committed to fitting into the mold left behind by Steve, to the point where keeping his accent general just became…normal. Most people he met after the fact would've never guessed he was from anywhere near Georgia.

But it did slip sometimes, particularly when he was worked up.

Ava looks up from her laptop at the sound of her room door opening, frowning as John walks in briskly. It was late, too late for any favors anyway. But for them, emergencies always seemed to come late. 

"What?" She asks, starting to close her laptop. 

"Ah—nothin'," John waves his hand, "Uh, I m—nothing, I'm fine."

Ava blinks at the slip, and John cusses, "Don't."

"You saw a bug, didn't you?" She says, not bothering to fight the grin crawling on her face.

"No," John says. Ava keeps smiling, so he says, "Ok—yeah, in my window there's some kinda—I dunno it's like long an' fuckin'—jus' please," he pinches the bridge of his nose, "I don't wanna deal with that thing, it disappeared before I could dispatch it,"

"…so," Ava raises a brow at him. John doesn’t say anything, but looks pointedly at her bed.

"Seriously?"

"I thought we were all committed to supportin' each other n stuff," John says.

"Well yes but, I really like the idea of you pulling your sheets up to your chin, lips trembling in terror, flinching at any brush against your skin in fear of it being…" she gasps, "a bug,"

John isn’t impressed by her theatrics and asks, "…so can I sleep in here or not,"

Before Ava can answer, the lump under the covers that John assumed was just a pillow shifted. Yelena emerged, bleary eyed, looking between John and Ava with mild irritation.

"This bed is huge," she says, gesturing broadly across the mattress, "There shouldn't be any debate," She flops back down, "Now hush, I sleep,"

John points a finger at them, "…how long…?"

"Don't ask," Ava says, scooting over, "Come on. By tomorrow the bug will have crawled into a vent and died or something,"

"Right," John says, it sounded more like 'raat', "Preciate it," 

Yelena sits up slightly, frowning at her current position, and crawls over Ava, settling between her and John. She takes out her phone, thumbing across the screen.

"You can't complain constantly about not getting sleep and then use your phone in bed," Ava says absently, still looking down at her laptop herself.

"You’re one to talk.” Yelena scoffs, “And I'm just texting Bob," she finished, tossing her phone on John's stomach. He raised his hands in offense, but sighed and reached over to place it on the nightstand to his right. 

The bed is huge, sure, but by the time Bob joins them it's a touch crowded. Still, Bob had a knack for making himself smaller, for better or for worse, and latched onto John's side along with Yelena.

"Ava," John isn’t sure what to do with his hands, "Take one of them please,"

"I'm busy," She says, fingers sliding across her trackpad, "You did this to yourself,"

Yelena starts to snore, and John lays back to accept his fate.

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Thank you for reading!

[etherealsymphony]

Begging all writers please put some poly Thunderbolts (Bob, Yelena, Walker, Ava) on my plate I’m so hungry…..

(I’m to lazy to write it myself)

[etherealsymphony]

Love that Bob and Yelena both have that crispy, wheezy laugh going on