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The sitemaker (Josh Mayfield at https://bsky.app/profile/bean525.bsky.social) has asked for people to come in and kick its tires so he can work out any bugs they turn up. So do give him a hand, if you feel inclined. :)
It was a little unbelievable, even to himself. His childhood was a litany of sounds--bellowing yells, smashing plates, agonized shrieks in the middle of the night--and yet, it was the silence that unnerved him. It was the silence that set his teeth on edge, the anticipation and anxiety burning through his nerves.
Because silence means waiting. It means keeping his guard up, forcing himself to count every shadow and every beat until the inevitable explosion.
And there was always an explosion.
Or at least most of the time there was. Enough times that when John was forced into silence, Bob had expected things to chart a similar course.
It was why Bob hadn't been worried when they learned about the sorcerer (wizard? Bucky has explained the difference to him a million times but it just refused to stick)'s spell. It was a bit funny, in fact. Because John was legitimately one of the chattiest people Bob has ever met. He had opinions about everything, no matter how asinine, like how apparently "math is a blue subject," or "sandwiches can't be eaten at dinner because it is a lunch food," and he was willing to die on pretty much any hill. He doesn't even seem to realize how much he talks, constantly filling up the room with side commentary and random quips without a second thought.
And that wasn't to say he was the only one--Yelena and Alexei were also incredibly talkative and easily willing to make their opinions known, and Bob knows that he himself can have moments where his stream of consciousness becomes a verbal waterfall. But there was something about the way John does it that makes it have more of an impression.
Bob can't help but find it endearing. How engaged John can get even about the most boring topics possible. It was cute, the way his eyes light up and the excited tilt of his mouth as he rambled on. Bob has spend many nights, barely listening as John ranted about the terrible urban infrastructure of New York, staring absolutely enamored at his face and the passion written plainly across it. It was some of the best parts of Bob's day, sitting close together and letting John's words wash over him.
So when the curse took affect, Bob, like the rest of the team, found it a little funny when he saw the pout resting on John's lips. He genuinely expected John to get really frustrated at the loss of his words and then explode into a ridiculous rant the second his voice was back.
But instead, Bob was stuck with silence. They all were.
They didn't even realize that the curse had worn off the next day until they heard the hoarse, "breakfast is ready," calling lightly from the kitchen, which made them all exchange concerned looks from the living room. It only got worse from there.
It was like John had been replaced with a dull, lifeless doll with a set of preprogramed responses sitting in a recorder deep in its gut. He talked, sure, but only when prompted or when he absolutely needed to. Otherwise, he would just silently sit there, eyes glazed like he barely registered where he even was.
It had quickly gone from concerning to alarming. And nothing seemed to help. They tried it all--asking for his input during mission strategy sessions, asking questions about his interests, even purposefully being annoying to try to goad him into yelling at them. None of it worked. And the small part of Bob that was still holding out for an explosion, for John to suddenly snap back into his bright, mouthy self, fully gave up.
It got to the point where it became all too much, where Bob couldn't stop himself from confronting him even though they had all agreed to handle the situation gently, not wanting to trigger anything.
And it was even worse then Bob imagined. Almost baffling if Bob wasn't so scared. Because how could John not realize how bad it's gotten? How could he think that he was doing them a kindness, doing them a favor by taking himself away from them, away from Bob?
This is why Olivia left you, because you think disappearing is a gift, the terrible awful part of Bob thinks viciously, and he immediately hates himself for it.
"Can you tell me about your day today?" Bob asks, and has to stop himself from begging. He grips John's hand in his, wishing that he fix this with just the force of his will. Please, please come back. Stop being this shell of a person and come back to me.
John doesn't say anything, just looks at him with those wide blue eyes, those same eyes that used to divulge every secret and emotion of John's, but were now closed off to Bob. And Bob's heart breaks a little in the moment.
This is my own fucking fault for thinking that things were finally good. That I could fall for someone and it wouldn't immediately get fucked up.
But then. A quirk of the lips. It was miniscule, barely visible, but it was there.
"I-uh, I have been, um looking at recipes for uh alfajores, because Ava said she like them. Do you, um want to help me chose which filing she would like?"
"Yeah John," Bob responds, shakily, "I would. What are the options?"
And when John starts listing them out, Bob can't help himself from throwing himself into John's arms and gripping him tight.
John knows he is annoying. He never says the right thing and almost always manages to dig himself into a deeper hole when he tries to fix it. He is boastful and self-absorbed and a sore winner. He nags too much and somehow constantly misses the queues when he is pushing someone's thinning patience way too far.
It's been a problem since he was a kid. He has numerous memories of his mom snapping at him to lower his voice as she rubs her temples in exasperation. Or the dull-eyed gazes of his family who had quickly checked out when he started rambling on for too long about whatever had captured his adolescent mind in the moment.
The only person who never seemed to get tired of John was Lemar. He would hang on to every word John would say, no matter how repetitive or long-winded, and would even respond. Like he actually cared about whatever John was talking about. Like he enjoyed talking to John.
Not that that matters anymore.
So John is not surprised when the team almost cheers when they find out that John had lost his voice. The latest magic user that they fought managed to get the drop on him and cast a spell before John could bash his head in with his shield. It was only temporary, Wong had assured them, but John would not be able to speak for at least the rest of the day.
The spell did nothing to his other senses. He could see Bucky and Ava exchange smirks. And hear Yelena's sigh of relief, "this will be so nice. You sure we can't keep him like this forever?" and Alexei's laugh in response.
John is not even sure why he feels hurt. It's logical that they would react this way. He knows he is frustrating, that he has been even more frustrating lately with his insistence on sharing his opinion on everything--arguing about their mission plans, nagging about the household chores, being overly corrective during their training sessions. He knows even Bob, for however much they liked each other, was also getting annoyed with him at times.
So John just lets the hours pass by. And when he gets his voice back the next morning, he doesn't do anything dramatic like refuse to speak again, but he does try to reign it in a little. Be a bit more intentional before he opens his big fat mouth just so he could stick his foot in it. It was little changes--focusing more on the other's experiences and interests during casual conversations, waiting to get asked for his input before speaking up during briefings, keeping his side commentary to himself during group activities.
And it seemed to be working. Yelena and Bucky seemed much less irritated with him and even asked for his opinions a couple of times while they were strategizing for their next mission. He had an interesting conversation with Ava the other day about her favorite foods from when she was a little girl in Argentina. He was getting way less eye-rolls and scoffs and it didn't seem like the others were in as much of a hurry to get away from him. Actually, it seemed more like they were okay with him being around?
That is until Bob confronts him in the common room during a late-insomnia filled night, asking John "did something happen? Why don't you want to talk to us anymore?" John is confused, not really understanding what Bob is talking about, but Bob is insistent.
"You have been so quiet lately it's been worrying us. You will just sit there sometimes, completely dissociating and not saying a single word. And when we try to ask you anything you either avoid the question or give us the shortest answer possible. Yesterday you talked to Ava for 5 minutes and didn't share anything about yourself even though Ava kept asking."
And John can't help but feel like Bob is exaggerating. John makes some minor changes to be a bit more socially aware and they start acting like he is shellshocked or something? But Bob doesn't let John dismiss him so easily.
"It's not just that...every night you used to come and tell me all about your day. Even the boring details. And you just stopped all of a sudden."
Because it was boring. Why doesn't Bob get that John is trying to stop wasting so much of his time?
"I used to look forward to it. I liked it a lot. Knowing that you wanted to tell me about your day. That you wanted to share so much of yourself with me. Even the mundane things. And I guess I just want you to do it again?"
"Can you do that John?" Bob asks, pulling one of John's hands into his own, "can you tell me about your day today?"
Since Firefly is coming back, I need a flashback episode of these two falling in love. We've already seen how they met. Now we need to see HOW Wash won Zoe over.
wild to me that there are people who are unmoved by the idea of 'a better world for everyone' and instead choose 'if you're a good boy/girl you might get rich but most likely not'
i watched thunderbolts* for the 5th time last night and i need to rant about john and bucky's dynamic for a second. can you imagine crumbling under the pressure of your job, like catastrophically fucking crumbling and ruining your life in the most public way possible, while this one guy you work with that you dont really know who has been watching you unravel this whole time and who basically gets front row seats to your demise then has to be the one to deal with you and kind of reel you in before you go off your separate ways into a pit of despair haunted by that moment and then a couple years later you get a new job with people who know a little about your big blow up but none of them were there first hand so at least you feel a little bit more on the same page with them and you start thinking that maybe you can finally move on now and become something other than that guy who spectacularly ruined his life for everyone to see and then the same fucking guy walks in.
can you imagine that. can you fucking imagine that
The Sentryagent / Voidwalker au's that are currently living rent free in my head.
Mama Mia AU (this is also an A/B/O )
Hades and Persephone (John is Hades and Bob is Persephone and yes Cerberus is there and he is the goodest of boys. And yes Bob gets sad when he can't pet all three heads at once)
The Mummy (John as Rick and Bob as Evie)
Thief Bob and Prince John. (Bob is a flirty brat)
Pirate John and Prince Bob.
Magical Holiday Boys (Bob wears Christmas sweaters with puns)
Gladiator John being rewarded with Bob (Bob's dad own's John's contract)
John and Bob meeting in an Irish pub (John saving Bob from some jackass and them dancing to Galway Girl the original version)
Viking John and Witch of the Woods Bob.
Personal trainer John and dancer Bob working at the same gym. (Does John watch Bob bend in impossible poses? Yes. Does Bob drool over John lifting weights? Yes)
I don't know what to do with all of these. Just wanted to share them.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/?
Fandom: Tron - All Media Types
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Kevin Flynn/Tron, Sam Flynn/Quorra, Ares/Eve Kim (Tron), Sam Flynn & Tron, Kevin Flynn & Sam Flynn, Alan Bradley & Kevin Flynn
Characters: Tron (Tron), Quorra (Tron), Sam Flynn, Kevin Flynn, Ares (Tron), Alan Bradley, Eve Kim (Tron), Clu 2 (Tron: Legacy)
Additional Tags: Hand-Wavy Grid logic, Mpreg | Male Pregnancy, Kinda, when a program and a user love each other, things happen, program!Sam, well... partially
Summary:
Kevin has the 'birds and bees' talk with Tron.
He doesn't expect anything to come of it.
Inspired by @devilbunnini ‘s Tron art https://www.tumblr.com/devilbunnini/797574693710381056?source=share