And safe enough for Yelena to jolt from sleep, surprised to find she’d actually committed to dozing off, dark room’s only light nothing but the TV screen’s logo slowly, agonizingly, bouncing around in screensaver mode, movie they’d picked and bonded over never having seen before finished. It told Yelena she’d been asleep long enough for the streaming service to automatically shut off and TV go quiet.
Quiet, the place was. Shockingly, given her newest, rowdiest, and most unhinged roommates. With one exception, and Bob was here safely tucked against her. Yelena smiles softly at his sleeping face, absentmindedly letting nimble fingers gently reach out to brush away stray curled strands. This was the reason why she hadn’t been afraid of him. His gentleness and innocence, lost and trying to wade above suffocating darkness just like her. Felt like an electric shock when spring colored orbs met ones of slate painted teal that pierced her soul, seeing her. Knowing her. That familiar longing… and loneliness.
Yelena shifts, about to fetch him the blanket, and her movements must’ve made him stir because she stops when a soft mumble reaches her ears. Bob’s voice carries a plea, a sound similar to her own, the wish that people would stay. Just a little longer. They’re curled up on the sofa, high above the world in what used to be Avengers Tower. Newly renovated and their new home… ironic too given their title — brand — as a group. Strange, the adjustment, and Yelena didn’t do well sleeping in unfamiliar places. Hell, she didn’t do well sleeping regardless. And after seeing her past with such clarity that it was like seeing it all for the first time again? Acceptance was a road she was currently navigating.
“Yeah.” Cleared throat, rousing sleep from it. “Yeah, I’ll stay. As long as you need.” She leans back in, comfortably, rest and peace something Yelena’s chased for a long time and somehow found in the strangest way possible. Maybe Bob had found it too, which was why they’d both fallen asleep so easily in each other’s presence. “I’ve been told I make a comfy pillow, or a strong weighted blanket because of my size. I found the reason for that one offensive but for you? I might make an exception.” A natural motion, Yelena had taken Bob’s hand in comfort. A constant tether. Established when she clung to him to pull him off his alter ego. ‘I’m here.’
“You know… meeting a man fresh out of a box… not something I thought would be a first. Or maybe Captain America when my sister became an Avenger… but no, it was you.” Just before they’d been fighting for their lives to get out of Valentina’s vault, seconds from being set on fire, nothing left but melted skin and bones. “You okay? Any nightmares?”
@av0id sent: ❝ don’t go. just a little longer, okay? ❞ ( Robert ‘Bob’ Reynolds to Yelena Belova )