Summary: The reader has been trying to muster up the courage to confess to Ava for weeks. The group tries, and fails, to encourage them. After the reader fails at multiple confession attempts, it all comes to a head.
Genre: Fluff, Friends-to-lovers
Warnings: None! Just the reader being a flustered mess.
Author's note: Oh my god, I've been desperate to write something for Ava because I love her so much. I thought I'd take the chance to post this since I've been working on other stuff. Also, I struggled a bit with finding other Ava x reader fics (which is why I wrote my own one lmao), so if anyone has any recommendations, please, please, please send them to me.
Word Count: 1193
You had a problem. A frustratingly wonderful, and terrifying, problem. You were utterly and profoundly in love with Ava. This wouldn’t be an issue normally, in your previous life, love wasn’t a consideration. You only had the energy for survival. But now, with life slowing down a little, you were more human than ever, and with that came these kinds of developments. At first, you had tried to ignore the feeling, hoping it would go away if you just didn’t acknowledge it. That, of course, didn’t work. You also were not very subtle, stealing glances at her during missions, laughing a little too hard at her snarky comments, and lighting up if she offered you even the slightest attention. Oh yeah, you were screwed. And the group had noticed it too.
“When are you finally going to tell her?” Yelena confronted you, leaning lazily over the back of the common room sofa. You choked on your water.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” You wouldn’t meet her eye, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot like you were about to bolt from the room.
“Oh please, you are so obvious. You follow her about like a little, lost dog,” As you opened your mouth to deny her claims, Walker entered the room.
“What’s obvious?” He plopped himself down on the sofa, sinking into the plush cushions with a comfortable grunt.
“That they have a huge crush on Ava,” Yelena stated.
“Oh yeah, it’s so obvious,” Walker nodded his head in agreement. Shrugging at you with an indignant ‘what?’ when you shot him a glare.
“Guys,” You put your hands up in defence, forcing a laugh. “I don’t have a crush on Ava. I just admire her.”
“Admiring is putting it lightly; you stare a lot.” John laughed. Yelena joined in, grinning at you as she continued her torture.
“Yeah – like when you were watching her fight and almost got stabbed because you were so distracted,” You felt your face growing hot at the pair’s teasing. To make matters worse, Alexei barged into the room.
“What is happening? Am I missing super-private meeting?”
“No-” You were interrupted by Yelena.
“We’re trying to get them to accept their crush on Ava.” Alexei bellowed out a loud belly laugh, stepping behind you and putting his hands on your shoulders.
“Ah! Young love!” You tried to wriggle away from him, refusing to look at anyone as you curled in on yourself in your misery. “Do not be embarrassed, little one, I will help you.”
You heard Yelena stifle a cackle as she encouraged the loud man. “That is a great idea. Tell them how you would confess, Dad.” You groaned into your hands, which were now covering your shame-filled face, and dropped yourself to kneel on the floor.
“It is easy! Women love big acts – you should announce your feelings in front of everyone!” You heard Walker immediately burst out laughing. You crawled over to the couch he was on, socking him in the side of his thigh. Alexei scoffed in offence at the blonde man “You think you know better?”
“Actually, yeah, I do.”
Yelena sniggered at John. “Then what’s your advice Walker?”
He paused for a moment; you could literally see the cogs turning in his head. “Well, when I asked Olivia out, I took her flowers.”
“You think Ava is a woman who wants flowers?” Yelena’s critical tone set John off. The group started arguing as Walker insisted that his method was better than Alexei’s, and Yelena stated they were both terrible. You saw movement in the corner of your eye. Bucky was watching from the sidelines, eyebrow raised, and arms crossed. The trio went quiet.
“How much of that did you hear?” You questioned Bucky with wide eyes and horror visible on your face.
“All of it,” He shook his head. “Just tell her, you know Ava would prefer the direct approach,” Bucky said it like it was the easiest thing in the world, tossing the comment over his shoulder as he left. You groaned in defeat.
“Maybe I’ll just run away?”
“You’re a literal assassin, you nearly die every day, and you’re scared of telling Ava you like her?” Yelena chuckled. You sent her a sideways glance.
“This is not my area of expertise.”
“Clearly.”
Three attempts. Three failed attempts at telling Ava you liked her. Miserable, you slumped into one of the chairs at the kitchen table.
“I can’t do it; I’ll just never tell her.” You whined. The blonde Russian watched you judgmentally from the other end of the table. Saying nothing as you monologued about the unfairness of life while she peeled an apple with her knife. You paused. “Is that the knife you use to stab people?”
“It’s clean,” she shrugged.
“Is it ever really clean, though? I mean it’s literally been inside someone-” You started bickering with her, focused on the hygiene of an inanimate object.
“Hi,” A voice beside you made you jump. Your stare caught bright green eyes.
“Hi… oh- uhm, hi Ava,” You struggled to sit up straighter, stumbling over yourself in your attempts to seem normal. “What’s up?” She leaned over your shoulder, face inches away from yours.
“A little birdie told me that I make you nervous…” Ava smiled, tilting her chin down as she studied your face. You slowly looked at Yelena, wide-eyed.
“And that’s my cue to leave.’ The blonde practically fell out of the chair in her attempt to stumble out of the room, leaving you alone with Ava.
“Whaaaat? What are you talking about?” You leaned back a little, looking around wildly for an escape.
“So, my source was lying to me?” You mentally cursed Alexei.
“Well… You’re supposed to be a bit intimidating- right?” She raised a brow at you. “Fuck- wait, no. I mean, it’s part of the job sometimes.” She smirked, moving around so that she was between you and the table, leaning on the edge of it. Your breathing was fast, and your heart felt like it was going to explode from your chest. She still wasn’t saying anything, so you conceded. Shyly trying to anywhere but her face. “You make me nervous when you look at me like that…”
Ava tilted her head, placing her hands on her knees to support her as she leaned closer. She was inches away from your lips. “Look at you like what?” she whispered, breath fanning over your face. You felt your eyelids fluttering closed as you instinctively leaned into her, pressing your lips together. Her kiss was surprisingly gentle, and so was her touch as she brought one of her hands up to caress your cheek. When you parted, you were left with a breathless feeling – like you had just run a marathon.
“I’m gonna guess that means you like me back?” You felt a smile twitching across your face.
“No, I hate you,” She deadpanned, rolling her eyes at you as she stood up straight. You stayed silent for a moment, mentally preparing for the pain of the question you were about to ask.
Alexei’s loud voice booms down the crowded street, people in line turning their heads to see what the commotion was. Yelena practically melts behind you, her gentle reminders there are people asleep doing little to quell the man’s excitement.
“Alexei, you’re gonna attract a news chopper.” John says as he scrolls through his phone, not even glancing up. Bob yawns beside him, arms stretching high.
“LET THEM COME. SEE HOW WE DEFEAT THE HOUSE!!”
Bucky rolls his eyes, continuing down the street with a practised stride, leading the lot of you towards the decorated house teeming with people.
Ava sighs beside you, looking like she’d rather be anywhere else.
“I don’t understand why we have to do this.” You roll your eyes, gently elbowing her side.
“Because! It’ll be fun.” She gives you a side eye, her short hair clipped up, fingers pulling at the sleeves of her oversized sweater. You shrug. “Well, it’s not my idea of fun. But it was Alexei’s night to pick what we did for team bonding night.”
“Right. And a haunted house seems like the perfect idea for a bunch of traumatized delinquents to wander through together,” Ava scoffs. Yelena laughs, her hand coming to rest on Ava’s shoulder.
“What! You’re not scared, are you?” Ava frowns, pushing Yelena away.
“No. They're only men in costumes. It’s just a little weird if you ask me.”
“No weirder than people riding roller coasters. Humans love to push the limits of thrill. Take high velocity rides- one change in design and you’ve got a death trap,” Bob chimes in. You all turn to him and he flushes. Yelena sighs, moving to the man and reminding him it was alright.
It was weird. A weird, thrilling tradition people always clamored for during Halloween. Haunted houses.
You take in the large mansion as you walk closer, the deep colored lights bathing the place in an eerie shade of purple and red. From where you stand on the sidewalk, you can see the flickering lights inside, the fake fog rolling over the yard covered in decorative tombstones and overgrown weeds. And the screams-
They were an equal mix of excited and terrified; shrill squeals of laughter and fear that sent chills up your spine.
“Okay,” Bucky turns around to face the lot of you, his hands on his hips like a tired old man who had much better things to do than waltz around a house full of costumed creeps. “Here’s the deal. We’re sticking together in pairs. No wandering off. No touching anything or anyone.”
“We have to stick together?” John glances at Bob, who shrugs. Bucky glares.
“Yes, stick together. I’m not having another bowling night incident.” You roll your eyes because the bowling thing really wasn’t that bad (but honestly, what was he expecting picking bowling. Three super soldiers hurling ten pound balls was a recipe for disaster) and if anything the chaos of the evening was more fun than anything.
“There’s an uneven number,” John glances around. “One of us has to go solo.”
“I WILL. I WILL FACE THEM ALONE-”
“No,” Bucky sighs, metal fingers massaging an invisible headache along his forehead. “No, I’ve already decided I’ll go by myself. Make it easier on you all.”
You lean over to Ava as Bucky continues to drone on, “I’m sticking with you if that’s alright.”
Ava turns, looking at you with bored eyes, trying to hide the way her fingers were fidgeting beneath her sweater.
“Don’t care really. As long as you don’t scream my ear off, you can stick with me as long as you want.”
“And what’ll you do if I do scream?” She smiles wickedly.
“I expect cinnamon rolls when we get out of this awful place.” You laugh.
“Deal.”
The seven of you make your way up to the mansion, the massive brick driveway filled with other guests, people dressed in grotesque costumes trudging past, glaring mischievously. A few jump at people, a girl screaming as she clutches her friend, another lumbering towards two teenage boys as they sprint up to their group.
Yelena cracks her neck, Alexei practically vibrating beside her. John finally slides his phone in his back pocket, not even pretending to be remotely excited as Bob lingers close to him. Ava stands to your side, her arms crossed as she looks at the house. You can practically see her counting down the minutes in her head till the night was over and she could be back in bed, curled up with a warm mug of tea and one of those documentaries she liked to watch.
If you were being honest, you were nervous to go in. Never good with jump scares in horror movies, you knew tonight would be tough. But Ava didn’t seem bothered. And you definitely didn’t want to seem like a wimp in front of her.
Bucky pays for the entrance fee and hands each of you colorful wristbands. He gives each of you a stern look as he places the plastic wristband in your hand, reminding you to be on your best behavior. And then it was time. The mansion’s double doors stay shut as the worker checks his watch, waiting for the right time to let in your group.
You can see Ava swallow thickly beside you, her own dark eyes sliding towards you. You both look at each other, Ava’s lips remaining in a firm line as yours tug upwards.
You take her hand, squeezing it. “It’ll be fun. I promise.” She doesn’t say anything, just exhales with a huff, looking forward once more.
The mansion's doors finally open with a creak, faux spiderwebs and dangling vines wrapped around the entryway. Music echoes through the hall and you take a breath, holding on to Ava’s hand as all of you step inside. There are two paths of the house. From the sign you’d looked at outside, both of them led to the same exit and both were a mix of nightmare inducing terrors.
It’s a minute of creepy music and neon lights as the seven of you begin to walk inside. Yelena looks back at Ava and you with raised eyebrows, Bob pushing John in front of him as the man rolls his eyes. And then the chaos begins.
There’s a loud soundbite of a whirring chainsaw, an actor in a grotesque butcher’s costume stepping out, a fake chainsaw in his hand. Ava grips your hand, tugging you forward, Yelena pushing Alexei out of the room. You don’t see where the others go as Ava begins to speed walk down the hall closest to you.
“Oh my gosh,” you breathe, squealing as an animatronic zombie pops up behind a gravestone.
“Who does this for fun?!” Ava yells as you both run down the hall. The haunted house is a mix of zombies and ghouls, actors who pop out behind furniture or who chase you through rooms.
There is a particularly intense room with a zombie who will not let you leave, inching closer to both of you. Your hand grips Ava’s tightly and you shut your eyes, leaning into her as far as you can. The hot breath of the actor bares down on you and you squeal as you hurry away peeking your eyes open just enough to see where you’re going.
The lights are dizzying, the strobe effect casting long moving shadows along the walls. There were shadows of spiders, of ghosts and witches. You can see a warped mirror in the next room over, a masked actor laughing maniacly as Yelena and Alexei run through.
Ava squeezes your hand, her breath shaky as you both speed walk through the place.
“Are we almost there?” She yells, the jaunty music blaring.
“I don’t know. I hope we ar-”
Your words are cut off as a zombie actor jumps in front of both of you. Bright red paint drips down his green skin, fake wounds plastered up and down his body. You both scream, your hand gripping Ava’s as you run down the hall. You barrel your way into the next room, the spinning lights and fog disorienting you as you lean against a wall. Trying to catch your breath, you let out a shaky laugh, finally catching sight of the exit.
“Ava,” you laugh, “Ava we did it. We’re almost there!” You move to squeeze her hand… only to realize she wasn't beside you. You’re alone in the room, the woman gone. Disappeared.
“Ava?” You call out her name again, heart beating in your chest as you move back into the room slowly. The zombie actor who had been chasing you turns around, lurching towards you again. He growls at you, trying to scare you again. But you’re so worried about Ava, you don’t even have the capacity to find him scary anymore.
“Stop it. I’m trying to find my friend.” You squeeze past him, eyes darting around as you look for Ava. You call out her name, peering behind furniture and grungy decor. This wasn’t the first time she’d disappeared on you like this. Although she’d never admit it, you could tell Ava had bad nightmares. Memories from her past.
Things that haunted her. She sometimes disappeared during movie nights, like the time John picked out “The Fly”; or during mission debriefs, when the images of victims or casualties became too sickening to look at. You should have known this might have set her off. That despite her insistence at not being scared, she was actually terrified.
You finally find her curled up behind a large gravestone set piece, her legs tucked close to her chin as she stares at nothing. Ava’s eyes are glazed over, her breathing uneven. It breaks your heart to see, your shoulders slumping as you move closer.
“Oh Ava,” you whisper, kneeling near her. You carefully reach for her hand, not wanting to scare her. It takes Ava a moment before she squeezes your hand back, blinking slowly before she glances at you.
“I don't need your pity. I’m not afraid.” She whispers, a dull protest.
“It’s okay if you are,” you smile gently. “I won’t tell.” she gives you a weak smile.
“I just… that man back there. He reminded me of… I thought I was back-” her breath is still uneven and you pat her shoulder.
“You don’t have to talk about it. Not here. Let’s just get out of this stupid place, meet the others and get home.” Ava sighs, nodding in agreement. She accepts your hand and stands with your help, huffing with pain.
“I will say, you owe me cinnamon rolls at home.” You scoff, turning to her.
“Excuse me- you screamed just as loud as I did.”
“I thought you weren’t going to tell.” She gives you a weak amused look, and you laugh.
A scream breaks you both out of your bubble and you watch as Yelena and Alexei run past, the zombie actor chasing them.
“Was that… blood on Alexei’s face?” Ava asks, brows knit in confusion. You shake you head, taking her hand.
Maybe one where there’s city wide black out and you get trapped together w no electricity or anything 🙈
Author's note: Hello there! I finally got around to completing this request - took a bit longer than I'd have liked bc i started a new job lol.
Anyway, I hope this is what you were looking for! It's always fun to write for Ava bc I feel like she's got a really fun bit of bite to her character. I'm sure I'll explore that with some extreme angst at some point lmao
Thunderbolts Ava x Fem!Reader
'EMP to the heart'
Summary: You've been ignoring Ava for weeks, hoping to avoid revealing your crush on her. Unfortunately, a combination of Yelena's skewed sense of humour and Walker's incompetence means that you're trapped with her in a city-wide blackout. And she's not about to let this go.
Genre: Fluff with a teeny bit of miscommunication angst
Word count: 1,828
Bored. You were completely and utterly bored. The other members of your group had gone on a random mission, something about labs and top-secret information that Val wanted buried. However, after a few bumpy escapades, the team realised that someone had to be the man in the chair. The backup. The sucker.
And so, you watched, lounging on the sofa of the common room and staring into the dim screen of your laptop, which had direct access to your friend’s brand-new comms devices. Being something of a tech savant, you were the designated hacker, map reader, and informant that the group relied on. So, obviously, you were the routine ‘chair bitch’.
However, you were never alone. The group rotated who stayed behind as the backup. This time it was Ava. Because, of course, Yelena had noticed your growing crush on your teammate and found this idea hilarious.
Did this mean that you had handled the situation like a mature adult? No. not at all. For the past few weeks, you had opted to ignore your festering crush. Literally. You hadn’t spoken to Ava in over two weeks simply because of your inability to speak without literally falling over yourself in her presence.
Typically, this would be fine. Except for now, since she had plopped herself down on the sofa across from you, thrown her legs up on the table, and stared you down for nearly half an hour. And rather than having a conversation, you had buried your face in the computer, completely hyper aware of her presence and definitely having some sort of meltdown. It didn’t help that you had to watch Walker’s stupidity through his bodycam.
So now, it was a matter of who would crack first.
“You’re ignoring me.” Ava wasn’t questioning you; she was stating a fact. Your eyes never left the screen.
“I am not. I have to focus on the team.”
“Alright. Maybe not right now, but you’ve been avoiding and ignoring me for the last week. I came into the kitchen the other day, and you left without saying anything.” She was right, you had left silently, not expecting her to notice the lack of an active greeting. But clearly, she had.
“You’re reading too much into this,” You scoffed, your own voice sounding foreign and hollow, echoing outside your body as if it were someone else’s. “I had things to do,”
“Oh yeah? What ‘things’?” You finally looked at her as she rose from the couch, crossing the room in two quick strides and bending down to stare into your eyes. Her arms were braced on either side of the armchair you were sitting in, trapping you.
You spluttered. “Do you need to know everything I do? Since when was this an interrogation?”
“Do you not trust me? Is that why you’re being so secretive? Or do you just hate me and not have the guts to say it?”
“Oh my god- I don’t hate you. Don’t you see how pushy you’re being?”
“So that’s it? I’m pushy?”
“No- you’re-“
John’s voice escaping your speaker was a good excuse for you to break away, offering you something to focus on other than the gentle wafting scent of Ava’s shampoo and her sharp glare. “Hey, I don’t know if you can see this, but there’s some kind of device here?” You squinted into the dark footage of Walker’s bodycam, zooming in on the image of the piece of technology he was standing in front of. A huge metal casing surrounded by thick wires and warning lights.
“Oh… I… I’m not entirely certain what that is. Can you find a panel on it?” you heard Ava chuckle sarcastically.
“I thought you were supposed to be the one who knows everything. First, you don’t know why you’re ignoring me, and now you don’t know what kind of technology we’re looking at.” You sent her a pointed glare.
“I do know why. I don’t have to tell you anything. And I am about to find out what this is.” You started pulling up files related to Val’s bunker, quickly finding a few possible matches for what the device could be, but before you could reply to John, Ava’s face sank lower, hovering within inches of yours.
“So, you are ignoring me.” You freeze, swallowing hard.
“Walker,” You can hear how tight your own voice is. “It appears to be some sort of EMP device that Val has confiscated from an invading military operation. She’s been looking for a way to destroy it. If you can find the wiring, I can help you cut the one to disable it.” Ava grabbed your chin, yanking your face towards her.
“Stop doing that!” You narrowed your eyes at her, standing up and forcing her to back away from you.
“You want me to stop doing my job, just so I can listen to your temper tantrum-”
“No. I want you to stop ignoring me and give me some damn answers.”
“I don’t need to give you anything. And I can’t think straight when you’re around me like this. Back off-” You held your hands up, stepping back to create some space between you and Ava. Her eyes narrowed, and you felt your breathing hitch as the room fell into an awkward silence.
In the heat of your argument, you had missed the impatient voice of your teammate over the speaker. Only now did you hear the resigned “I guess ripping all of the wires out will have to do,” from Walker. You spun back towards the computer.
“Wait- John, don’t!” A massive bang erupted through the speaker of your comms device. Accompanied shortly after by a tingling quake that shook the ground below you.
The lights in the room flickered in the aftershocks from the wave. Ava slowly looked to the ceiling, a growing horror on her face.
“What the fuck was that?” Your stomach flipped, and you rushed to the laptop that had once been linked to your friend's comms. The screen was black.
“Shit. No, no, no.” You grabbed the laptop, shouting into the microphone frantically. “Yelena? Bucky? Walker? Do any of you hear me?” The silence returning to you was deafening. Blood rushed through your ears as you smacked buttons on the computer, trying desperately to turn it on. After a few minutes, you gave it a final resigned smack and whirled around to growl at Ava. “I can’t get through to them,”
You turned on her. “Why couldn’t you just leave me alone for two minutes! I could have explained everything after.”
“Yeah, because you’re great at explaining things. Clearly.” She glowered.
“I was trying to find the right moment. How do I tell you that I literally can’t stand to be around you right now? That’s not an easy thing to tell someone.”
You looked at her properly for the first time that night, only to be hit with the sight of her curling in on herself in pain. Eyes wide as she processed what you had said.
She gasped in pain as her body glitched, shuddering as it struggled to hold itself together. She groaned, wrapping her arms around herself like she was trying to hold her body in place. “The blast… it must have disabled my suit too…”
You watched her for a moment, growing panic flooding your chest. “Ava – I thought you were stabilised?” Ava visibly grimaced as another wave of pain ripped through her. She began tapping buttons on the side of her suit, with little visible response occurring.
“For the most part. It still happens when I get angry or upset – especially without the suit.” A pang of guilt washed over you.
You went to walk towards her, to try and hold onto her, but as you approached, Ava stumbled back away from you.
“Ava… I-” A sigh slipped out. “What I said- that… it… it came out wrong.”
Ava shrugged at you, offering little in the way of a verbal response. “I guess you have time for that explanation now. If you can stand it.” The sarcasm hurt, but it was understandable.
You approached her slowly, feeling the way she stared at you like a wounded animal. “ I didn’t mean it like that,” You sighed, gently reaching for her hand. “I’m struggling to be around you because… you’re you.” She eyed you warily while you continued, listening. “I think you’re amazing, you’re funny, you’re smart. You have nice eyes…” Those same eyes caught your own, softening as you spoke.
“I can’t stand to be around you because I want to be with you, and I know that sooner or later one of us will get hurt – or die- because of these missions. So…I’ve been trying to pretend that I don’t like you, in hopes that it would go away and I could be normal around you again.”
“You don’t have to pretend.” She moved closer. “We’re probably going to die from our work anyway; there’s no point in avoiding living because of it. Doesn’t mean you weren’t a dick about it though.” The silence between you both was charged, electric as you drew Ava into your body. She collided with your chest in a gentle thump.
“You feel pretty ‘there’ to me. Has the glitching stopped?”
“Only one way to really find out.” She smirked, pressing her lips to yours gently. The kiss was grounding, gentle. But it was still intense enough that you could feel her intent behind it. As she pulled away, you both sighed, revelling in the silence for a second.
“Oh yeah. I’m definitely there.” You gently thumped her arm as you went to pull away, but she yanked you back in for another go. This time, the kiss was more intense, and she walked you backwards toward the sofa. The pair of you fell into the soft cushions with a grunt, a tangled mess of limbs. Pinned under her body weight, you observed as she pulled back a little, staring at your face as she traced your cheek with her fingers. “I think you owe me a proper apology,” She grinned temptingly as she leaned down to kiss you again, only to pause as the building hummed back to life.
The lights flickered back on, allowing you a much better view of Ava’s mild irritation at being interrupted. The computer had also restarted in the background, resuming its operations as it had before. Walker’s voice crackling through the speakers sent you both scrambling away from each other.
“Dude! What the hell was that?!” You found yourself laughing at the man, who (obviously) had no idea what he had just interrupted. Sending an amused shrug Ava’s way, you shuffled back over to the computer.
She responded by draping herself over the arm of the couch, much more content to just watch you work now that her question had been answered. After that, you couldn’t ignore her even if you wanted to.
Summary: A team night out ends with a drunken kiss and killer hangover. The problem? you don't know who you kissed. Luckily for you, some teammates are acting more suspicious than others. And some feel extra helpful. With your colleague, Yelena, as your second-hand man, you set out to confront your mystery kisser.
Genre: Fluff
Author's Note: Hello! I'm back after a break. Life has been a bit crazy lately, and I don't have as much time as I used to, so please be patient with me! Missed you guys!!
Taglist: @a-little-bit-of-everybody
Wordcount: 1,920
Parts: Part 1 | Alexei | Bob | Bucky | Walker | Yelena |
The barren emptiness of the building is what struck you first when you scoured the various social areas found in the tower. Usually, you’d have run into at least one of your teammates by now, and judging from Yelena’s equally confused reaction, you weren’t the only one weirded out. It didn’t take long, though, before the sound of the lift caught your attention, followed by Alexei’s overjoyous babbling. Peeking your head around the kitchen door, you saw Bob walking with the heavyset Russian man, eagerly nodding along to whatever he was saying with wide eyes. The shopping bags swinging from their hands gave you a good idea of their previous whereabouts.
“Hello there!” Alexi’s booming yell indicated he had noticed your presence. You felt your head throb a little in response to his volume, wincing as you greeted the men. Alexi brandished a box of cereal as he waltzed into he kitchen, with Bob trailing in behind him.
“That better not be another box with my face on it,” You chuckled half-heartedly, eyeing Bob while he sent you an apologetic grimace.
“It’s even better! A box with all of our faces on it!” Alexei exclaimed, shoving the brightly coloured cardboard towards you.
“You are waaay too loud right now,” Yelena groaned from her seat at the table, head resting in her hands. You stifled a laugh as you watched Alexei walk over and slap his hands onto her shoulders, loudly rambling about some hangover cure he swore by.
“How are you doing? You drank a lot.” Bob’s quiet voice drew your attention. You started to answer, but movement by the doorway drew your attention. John, freezing, pulled a face as he stood by the door before quickly spinning on his heels and marching away from the room. You looked to Yelena, motioning your head in a silent ‘did you see that?’. She nodded, eyes wide and totally focused on you despite Alexei’s incessant talking at her. Returning to your conversation with Bob, you answered his gentle questioning, but the encounter lingered in your mind.
Eventually, the duo of men started to focus on unpacking their shopping, and you used the opportunity to drag Yelena away.
“That was weird, right?” You queried as you both watched the numbers on the lift change.
“Very strange, we need to put some pressure on him. See if he’ll crack y’know?”
“You think John would tell us something if he knew it?” Yelena let out an unsure noise.
“I can probably get it out of him,” She shrugged as the two of you stepped off the elevator. The gym was just down the hall, and you could see Ava exiting the room, a sheen of sweat layered over her skin. Her hair was in a bun, flyaways wild from the training session. You could see the way she tensed when Yelena called after her.
“Have you seen Walker? We need to ask him about something,” Ava shook her head and shrugged, taking a long drink from her bottle of water. She still hadn’t looked at you.
“You don’t seem too hungover,” you observed, watching the way her throat moved as she swallowed hard.
“Uh… well, I didn’t drink quite as much as you.” Her voice was surprisingly quiet, almost hesitant. She looked at you, really looked, expectant and like she was about to say something she’d regret. Walker’s voice cut through the tension.
“Ava! I’ve been looking for you. We have a meeting.” His voice was over-exaggerated and his eyes wide. Definitely suspicious. John motioned at her in an obvious manner, and you could see the gears turning in Ava’s head. Suddenly her eyebrows rose and she made a noise of agreement.
“Right. Of course. The meeting, the one that we have right now.” She turned back to you and Yelena. “I- uh have to go. I’ll see you both later.” And the pair skittered off down the hall, talking lowly between themselves.
“Ok, this is getting really weird now.” Yelena sighed. Watching the pair run off, realisation dawned on you. Valentina never told the rest of the team when meetings were occurring; she usually passed the message on through Bucky, because he was the only one who could tolerate her.
“We need to find Bucky.”
The ex-winter soldier could usually be found in his room, sipping coffee and reading up on current events in the news. And this day was no different. You knocked hard on the heavy metal door, stepping back when it slid open to reveal his dark form.
“What?” His question was sharp, matching his ever stoic and persistently tired expression. You didn’t blame him. Usually, when the team came to his door, it was to drag him into some shenanigan. Plus, this time, there was the added jab of the hangover that he was likely nursing.
“We were just wondering if there were any meetings scheduled for today?” You felt yourself stand up straighter, like a child talking to a teacher.
He looked up, evidently trying to think through the information he had received from Val at their last meeting. “I don’t think so. Why?” Yelena shared a knowing look with you.
“Walker and Ava are acting weird.”
“Weird how?”
“Walker has run away from me twice today, and he practically dragged Ava off when we were talking to her because they 'had a meeting.’” You motioned some quotation marks with your hands, rolling your eyes at their excuse. He raised his eyebrows at you in surprise.
“Oh, Well I understand some of it, but I don’t know why Walker would be running away from you.” That caught you off guard.
“What do you mean?” Bucky stared at you for a moment, eyes flickering between you and Yelena in uncertainty.
“I think you’re better chatting with the others yourself, but from what I understand, there were some... interesting actions last night,” Bucky stepped away from the entryway with a little wave, never breaking eye contact as the door slowly slid shut. For a moment, there was a shared silence between you both. And then, from your peripheral, you saw Yelena slowly turn with a huge grin.
“Soo…” You spun on your heels, marching off down the hallway. You heard her trailing after you, audible humour in her tone as she teased. “This is either going to be a great day for you or a terrible one,” You were starting to wish you’d never told her about the feelings you harboured for Ava.
“Look, I never meant to tell anyone about how I feel, and you found out by accident so don’t get all weird about it.” Yelena scoffed at you.
“Please. You weren’t subtle,” her voice rose as she imitated a girlish ‘Hi Ava’ while batting her eyelashes. You snorted.
“I do not do that.”
Your bickering continued as you marched through the building, making a beeline for the meeting rooms. Clearly, you were loud enough to be heard, as you soon saw John come frantically barging through a door. He leaned against the frame in a ‘casual’ manner, stopping both of you in your tracks.
“Hi Walker,” You tilted your head at him knowingly, raising your voice in mock confusion. “I thought you had a meeting?”
“Yeah… well, y’know. Val wanted to talk to Ava alone sooo.”
“Oh, so Ava is in there?” You went to look through the glass window, only to be body blocked by Walker’s muscular form.
“Yep, top-secret meeting stuff happening, so I can’t let you see,”
Yelena rubbed her face with a groan, stepping in front of you to grab Walker’s attention.
“Seriously, Walker? We know you’re lying.”
He began to stutter. “Lying? What do you mean? Why would you think that? What do I have to lie about?”
“I don't know, what do you have to lie about?” Yelena crossed her arms, staring the man down. An awkward silence filled the hallway as neither made a move.
The stand-off was eventually interrupted by the door swinging open, and a stressed-looking Ava appeared. She side-eyed the two blondes for a moment before pointing at you.
“You. In here. Now.” Your blood ran cold at her stern tone. She disappeared further into the room, and Walker and Yelena turned to look at you expectantly. Slowly, you stepped around them and wandered into the meeting room. “You two: Get lost.” You could hear some quiet protesting towards Ava from the pair outside the door, mostly from Yelena. However, shortly after, they moved out of view of the window. You stood in between the doorway and the long table, watching Ava’s back as she shut the door and stared at it with a deep sigh.
“Everything ok?” You regretted asking as soon as she turned around, eyes fixed on you with an icy stare.
“What’s your deal?”
“Sorry… What?” You balked at her, confusion etching itself onto your face. She softened a little at your reaction, but remained stern in her demeanour.
“Do you remember what happened last night?” You considered feigning ignorance briefly, but would that make the situation better or worse? Settling for a half-truth, you nodded hesitantly.
“Some of it,” Ava crossed her arms, striding towards you. Her movement forced you backwards until your legs hit the table behind you.
“So, what’s your deal? Are we friends? Did that mean something? Or was it just a drunk impulse?” Her questioning left you speechless. But it was very ‘Ava’ of her to be so direct. What was considerably less ‘Ava’ was the hints of fear you could see flickering in her eyes.
“Did you want it to mean something?” That gave her pause. Ava stared at you for a moment, eyes flickering between your mouth and eyes. You didn’t move, didn’t pull away. Even when you realised how close you stood. How easy it would be to reach her. To kiss her, feel her mouth on yours again. The memories of the night before flashed behind your eyes, finally complete as you remembered her. The way she smelt, the way she felt, the way she held you.
Ava shifted, about to pull away, and you took her arms. Gently. She could escape you if she tried to. “Ava.” She stared into your eyes, mouth slightly parted as she leaned closer. Your voice was low, shared only between you two. “Answer my question. Did you want it to mean something?”
“Yes.” Her voice was breathless, barely there. The distance between you both was easy to close. Mouths colliding in a gentle determination. A kiss that told you both it was real. That this meant something. You held her tightly, arms circling one another and bodies pulled together.
When you broke apart, a smile tugged at your cheeks. “Good. I’ve wanted to do that forever. I just wish I hadn’t been drunk the first time,” Ava laughed quietly, but didn’t say anything. Instead, she rested her forehead on your shoulder.
“Not to ruin the mood, but I’m not certain that Walker and Yelena actually left,”
“No, I know they didn’t. Because they’re staring at us through the window.” Ava bolted upright, spinning in your arms to stare at the pair. You saw Yelena flash her a wink and Walker give an exaggerated thumbs up before the duo ran off down the hall.
“Oh, I am going to kill the pair of them,” Ava growled, starting off towards the door, but stopping when you grabbed her hand.
“Killing them can wait ‘til later, I want another kiss first.”
