secret
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ship: the void x f!reader (x bob reynolds)
summary: where you're dating the void, and not even bob knows it. it was easy to hide the secret from him, it was the others who were the problem.
au: bob and the void are different personalities / did
c/w: post-canon, hurt/comfort (but not for poor bob), void bullying bob
a/n: english isn't my first language and a kudo on ao3 will be appreciated even if you read it here <3
word count: 2281
It had been a good few months for Bob. Although he didn't dare use his powers again, he was now living free with the New Avengers in their tower. He had gained a group of friends, a family who loved him and really cared about him. What he didn't know was that he had also gained a girlfriend, kinda. And to his surprise, she was the one he shared the least alone time with, or so he thought.
It was easy to hide the secret from Bob, it was the others who were the problem. Luckily there were few of them in the team, but they still seemed too many. It didn't help that almost all of them were trained as spies and that one in particular could turn invisible, though at least Void had the ability to see her even if she turned invisible to the others.
They saw each other at night, when everyone was asleep and when Bob was supposed to be asleep, so Bob would have no gaps in his memory and wouldn't suspect anything. But it's hard not to make noise when you meet your partner in your room at night... Although the walls, doors and windows of the attic were soundproofed, they always tried to make as little noise as possible, as some of the team members had enhanced abilities.
And even if there was plenty of room, sometimes it was inevitable that they would bump into someone.
It was three o'clock in the morning when, kissing goodbye in front of Bob's bedroom door, they accidentally bumped into Bucky, probably awake due to insomnia or just awakened by a nightmare with traumatic memories. The couple separated quickly, and luckily the darkness of the place disguised well the facial expression of Void, so different and yet so similar to Bob's.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" said the soldier in a whisper.
"Don't worry about it," she said in the same tone, looking up at him as she took her boyfriend's hand, squeezing it tightly. And he understood perfectly what she was trying to communicate: "Play along with me and pretend". "Please don't say anything to the others, we want it to be secret," and in that sense she wasn't lying. "You haven't seen us and we haven't seen you, okay? This didn't happen."
Though it was dark they noticed him nod as he resumed his silent course, and Void merely said a silent goodbye to her as well, leaning over her slightly to kiss the top of her head as he grabbed the doorknob with one hand to slowly open the door and lock himself inside the room.
If only Bucky had been the only one who had discovered them unwittingly... But as time went on they all discovered them, and they followed the same strategy they had with this one.
Also, as time went on, Bob began to feel something for her. It was more than companionship and friendship, and perhaps it didn't make sense because he didn't have as close a relationship with her as he did with Yelena, but he could tell he had a special chemistry with her. He unknowingly caught the love that Void had for her.
And he might not remember the experiences of Void, but the muscle memory remained. He couldn't help but turn his neck in the direction ______ was facing, fix his eyes on her, sharpen his hearing at the sound of her voice, and even feel the urge to take her hand and kiss her. Clearly he didn't do that, because she wasn't his. He knew that. A voice inside him reminded him of it when he stared at her too long. "She's not yours." But he wanted to make her his, and he knew he needed female advice for that.
"Can we talk?" Bob asked quietly, shyly entering his best girl friend's bedroom after he knocked on the door with a few taps and she told him from inside that he could come in. "I need advice on a matter..." he said as he closed the door behind him.
"Sure," she replied as she got up from the bed she was lying on, sitting cross-legged and locking her mobile phone to put it away. "What is it?" she asked as she watched him approach her bed. "Is something wrong?" she asked as he sat on the edge of the bed.
"No no," he said quickly, reassuring her and dispelling any doubts about his mental health. "You see..." he sighed, staring off into nothingness, mentally thinking about what he was going to say and how he was going to say it, "I like ______," he said shyly, "and, I don't know," he shrugged, "I was wondering if you could give me some advice on... I don't know- Winning her over and maybe asking her out," she looked at him completely quizzical, frowning.
"Weren't you already dating her?"
"What?" he asked now, in the same tone and with the same facial expression. "No."
"Oh so you're just having an affair...?" she asked, a little less confused.
"No, not even that," he said still just as confused, and the same level of confusion returned in her.
"I saw you together one night," she remembered, "kissing in the middle of the hallway."
"Are you sure it was me?"
"Well, yes — it was dark, but..."
And she stopped dead in her tracks, falling silent for a second. As soon as they both heard the word "dark" they looked at each other tense and nervous, but with understanding.
"Do you think she knows it's not me?" he asked.
"How could she not know? If she thought it was you she'd be throwing herself into your arms all the time."
Knowing that she was well aware that it wasn't Bob he felt a mixture of emotions: sadness, anger, surprise, confusion, envy, jealousy... He found it hard to believe, and if that wasn't enough, Yelena added more information:
"______ told me you wanted it to be a secret, asked me not to tell anyone and to pretend I hadn't seen anything even with you- with them," she corrected herself quickly.
"Good God," he said getting up from the bed, pacing back and forth hysterically, "How did- How did he- How did they- Oh my God," he was overwhelmed by all the questions on his mind, but he didn't want Void to show up to answer them, let alone lose control of the body. "What should I do?" he asked looking at Yelena at last.
"First calm down and then talk to her. There is no other option."
Unfortunately she wasn't present in the tower, she had gone out for a while and because of that he went to ask Yelena for advice at that very moment. He had to wait for her to return, and the wait became eternal and deadly.
"What is it, honey?" she asked as she set her bag on her desk, her back to him. He wasn't surprised by the nickname as she often called him and the other men in the group that. They were in her bedroom, with the door closed. She had just arrived and didn't even have time to take off her shoes.
"By that do you mean me? Or Void?" He said behind her, trying not to sound too annoyed, and it was a good thing she had her back to him, because the way her face darkened wasn't at all disguised. She tried to recompose her facial expression before turning to look at him.
"What?" She asked pretending to be confused, though she really was, but in the way she was pretending to be.
"Don't play dumb with me," he said, not completely annoyed but clearly not happy — he was nervous and tired, eager for this awkward moment to be over as soon as possible. He didn't like confrontations, even if they were only verbal and seemingly peaceful.
"What do you know?" she asked, now really serious.
"Enough," he nodded, infected by her seriousness.
"And how do you know that?" she asked as she crossed her arms.
"That doesn't matter now," he replied. "What kind of relationship do you have?"
"We're dating," she reported matter-of-factly but still folded her arms, lifting her shoulders slightly and looking at the ground for a second. The confirmation from her side felt like a stab in Bob's chest. There it was again, that mix of emotions inside his chest.
"Okay, leave him," he said.
"Just because you say so?" she said sarcastically as she laughed, snorting through her nose. She didn't mean to be rude, but she wasn't liking the conversation and wanted to make her position clear. "I'm not leaving him," she said shaking her head subtly, "and he's not leaving me. Our love life is none of your business."
"A monster like him can't fall in love," he informed her, trying to talk some sense into her.
"He's not a monster, and he can," she said annoyed and hurt.
"It's impossible," he replied.
"No," she shook her head again, growing more and more annoyed and hurt.
"I mean- You're wonderful, but-" he hastened to correct himself, blushing slightly, closing his eyes tightly and holding up his hands.
"I know him better than you do Bob," she said.
"Better than me!?" He couldn't help laughing in the same way she laughed before, but the laughter didn't last long. "I just want to protect you," he said desperately now.
"I don't need your protection," she said annoyed.
"You're not safe with him!" he said, also annoyed.
"He's changed!" She opened her mouth to say something else, but was interrupted.
"Oh, you fixed him?" he said annoyed but with a smirk, laughing as he looked at her raising eyebrows.
Now she was the one stabbed in the chest. Her face softened, but not in amusement or joy, but in utter hurt. She looked at him as if he had betrayed her. Her eyes widened like discs as she listened in surprise at such audacity, but they also trembled, as did her narrowed lips. He quickly realised the mistake he had made, and in sorrow he approached her to try to take her hands and apologise, but she took a step back.
"...He talks to me better than you do," she said again, wrinkling her forehead as she subtly shook her head.
"𝖄𝖔𝖚'𝖗𝖊 𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙 𝕽𝖔𝖇𝖊𝖗𝖙, 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖆𝖑𝖜𝖆𝖞𝖘 𝖒𝖆𝖐𝖊 𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖘 𝖜𝖔𝖗𝖘𝖊."
"Nonono," he said in despair at hearing that, overwhelmed by the situation and feeling himself losing control. His facial expression and body language changed in an instant, as did his tone. "Robert, the hero," he said sarcastically as he moved closer to her to calm her in his arms. "I swear I'd kill him if I could," he said as he kissed her head furiously, looking furiously at the nothingness behind her back.
"He means no harm..." she said softly as she hugged him tightly.
"But bad execution," he said as he pulled away from her to put his hands on her cheeks, making her stare at him. "Don't listen to him. I love you," he said seriously.
"I know..." she said, looking him in the eyes. "But..." She looked down, sorrowful.
"He's jealous, he thinks he's a better choice for you," he said as he released her cheeks to take her hands.
"What?" she asked confused.
"Yeah, he's been in love with you for a while. I've tried to contain it as much as I can."
"Oh..." she said crestfallen and thoughtful. "Don't torture him too much," she looked back into his eyes, "he's got enough, the poor guy," and he rolled his eyes as she let go of his hands, but he had no choice. "I'm sure he knows it from the others," she said annoyed as she leaned her buttocks on the edge of the desk, arms folded. "Maybe it's time to come forward..." She sighed deeply, thoughtfully and worriedly as he raised his arms and rested his head in his hands.
She didn't like having a secret relationship, but she was aware of the opinion others had of her partner. It made her sick to remember it now, but in the beginning she thought badly of him too. How things had changed... She fell completely at his feet, but she had no regrets — he gave her no reason to do so, surprisingly.
"I don't give a fuck about what they think of me," he said nonchalantly, "but I know that unfortunately you don't," he huffed in annoyance, lowering his arms. "Are you sure about that? You know their first impression of me wasn't a good one."
"Why is that?" She said sarcastically, to which he couldn't help but laugh, moving closer to her, dangerously close, and placing one of his hands on the side of her hips, dropping the weight of his body on his arm and ducking his head and gaze.
"I can behave, you know that," he said smirking, and also leering.
"You can when you shut your mouth because you want them to think you're Bob," she reminded him without returning his gaze, still slightly annoyed, but he knew it wasn't personal but with the situation.
"I'll try," he laughed quietly, "just for you," he said softer now, sweeter, "mm?" He asked as he lifted and moved her chin in his direction with the index finger of his free hand, causing her to look back at him. She couldn't help but smile, albeit tiredly, and nodded her head silently. But then he leaned closer to kiss her on the cheek, now provoking a genuine smile and a slight blush on her.
© trainer-from-unova / alicent burton | don’t plagiarise or translate any of my work
