thunderbolts* as love languages
characters included (in order): bob reynolds, john walker, yelena belova, james "bucky" barnes, ava starr, alexei shostakov, antonia dreykov
includes (in terms of narrative): angst, fluff, unnamed and undescribed reader, found family/platonic dynamic (although you can read it through a romantic lense), purposeful lowercase
bob reynolds; acts of service
bob likes doing small tasks for you - it could be cutting up fruit or cooking, doing chores around the house, or just making your life easier in some way. oftentimes, bob feels useless to the team (his powers often being a hindrance or even a nuisance) so he just likes to make himself useful at the watchtower. he especially likes when you mention how much it helped in front of the team (maybe a sentry-esque bit of him wants to preen a little, who can blame him)
bobs depression states are also important to his love language, I feel. when he's in a dark place (maybe quite literally), he finds absolute peace in finding that small things (things he might struggle with, being in an episode) are dealt with and he can focus on spending time to himself to feel better.
a moment he treasures is also connected to his love language: when he was coming down from a manic state as sentry, he came to his floor on the watchtower and found (what can only be described as) a gift basket. and not one of those ones you send to co-workers, oh no, this was full of things carefully picked out - things he loved, things he would genuinely use for coming down from an episode.
for instance: one of your oversized jumpers; boxes of his favourite cereal in set amounts that he could just open them and eat them dry (either honey nut cheerios or some kind of kid-y cereal with a cartoon animal on the front of the box); singular-use toothbrushes; wet wipes; a couple of hand-held puzzles and different kinds of rubix cubes; a blanket with frayed edges for him to pick at and, most delightfully, a pack of jolly ranchers with everything but his favourite flavour picked out, clearly multiple packs poured into one. he remembers holding the jumper to his face and smelling that distinctive shampoo you use and feeling safe and warm. the episode passed quickly and with more ease than usual, and since than you've always made a care package for him.
john walker; words of affirmation
poor soldier boy just wants to be told how good he's doing, man. I imagine open and clear communication is pretty much all he wants, but he might be difficult with reciprocating that (because he's, you know, an asshole). I think he'll try being gentle now, though, even if it's only because of a deep-rooted fear of losing you.
telling you how much he loves you is never an issue though. john knows what he wants, he's just bad at getting it (he's been given what he wants so easily all his life that these relationships where he has to work a little more than usual might frustrate him).
most often the easiest way to talk to him is by keeping you two close together. he might lay his head in your lap, or against your chest, or hold you to him, and talk about whatever he's dealing with. he likes being told he's being brave, or did the right thing, or just that you love him no matter what. a safe, warm space with just the two of you and whatever he wants to talk about. depending on his mood, he might want to stare at your face, but sometimes he'll close his eyes or stare at an object nowhere near you. you both often find eachother falling asleep here, but if anyone wakes you before you're naturally supposed to get up, john will jump up, go ruddy in the face, shush whichever member of the team it was and usher them out without trying to wake you.
yelena belova; gift giving/recieving
I imagine it starts all the way back in the red room for her, where the only time she's ever given proper gifts is by the rare times she sees natasha. from her, it'll likely be a photograph or a bit of artwork, occasionally a tiny useless trinket for safekeeping, or a note she has to puzzle out in the dark of her shared assassin's dorm room, squinting until she decodes it and has to smother a laugh.
from you, though, it's bigger things.
a t-shirt you lend her that she knows is your favourite; one of those fancy expensive candles she saves for her baths; nail polish in a shade you think is just her or, if you're a maker type, something she can clip on her suit that will help her out in the field. even if helping might mean she can look at it, and be reminded of you. a reason to come back.
and the gifts she gives you - well, they're probably small, but only because these tiny sentimental things are the ones she personally treasures most. if you like creepy stuff, she might give you a baby tooth she's kept for you to make into jewlery, or if you like cute stuff, she might go with you to build-a-bear and pay extra to record a message that will play when you press it's belly (even though she knows she's not the best with words). she wants you and her to have so many things that you share - to live together, so close so it's impossible for you to squirm away. she wants you close to her heart.
(maybe because a bit of her deep down thinks that maybe, just maybe, if she had kept natasha closer, she might've stayed too.)
james "bucky" barnes; quality time
I can see him liking to do adult things with you, like putting together an ikea shelf or standing beside eachother, shoulders brushing as you do the dishes.
it's not only that he appreciates the help, - he does though, of course - but that he enjoys sitting with you, doing things with you, doing nothing with you. it makes him feel like a real person.
I feel like the reason you'd want to be around bucky is obvious, but if I had to give an excuse you might give to someone else if they asked, you might say the stories he'd tell.
bucky doesn't talk about his past often, but when he does it's either in passing - a mention of a bit of history he lived through and remembers, like the berlin wall or the moon landing - or a story about his time before the winter soldier.
when you're teammates and not friends, maybe he'll tell you something about one of his team doing something silly during training, or a prank him and his friends played on a higher-ranked officer, before they realised that they might not win this war.
but when he gets close to you, it's a whole new ball game. he actually tells you about steve: about him curling around a live grenade; about his unchanging humbleness, even after the serum had changed him so absolutely; about his athsma before the serum and how he had to carry around a massive inhaler just-in-case. about his love for his country and his comrades, and his gratitude and kindness towards everyone, no matter if they had done bad things yesterday, because steve had forever believed there was always tomorrow.
ava starr; physical touch
before the cure, ava didn't know what her love language was. she assumed she didn't have one. why not, anyway? just another difference; another thing to 'other' her from the rest of the world.
and then the cure came, and someone brushed their shoulder against hers, and walked away like it was just normal, like it was obvious what she had been missing all this time. it was like an electric current had shot throughout her whole body: she savoured it. it was so different from the soft, fuzzy not-quite-real state of ghosting.
and when you touch her - well. the new electric current might be welcomed, yes, but it was still unfamiliar, and she appreciated how your touches were never too lingering or overbearing, how they were careful but firm, like something solid against her. something real, that she could feel in her soul, but not something too much all at once, or in places that might make her wince or groan like the middle of her torso or the very tips of her fingers. your touch was, well, grounding.
alexei shostakov; food
jesus, if you give this guy a scrap from your plate he'll follow you around forever (calling himself your "big strong man bodyguard protector", often enough) and swat your flies for you.
and you might say you enjoy cooking for him for the praise of your cooking it gets you, or the fact that alexei will insist on doing the dishes for you afterwards as a 'thank you', but I think you know you just like to cook; to satisfy and to feed him; to give him cut up fruit in the shape of a palm tree when he's sad to cheer him up, or make him a hearty traditional russian meal to finish his day with when he needs something that tastes like home.
antonia dreykov/taskmaster; space and solitude
taskmaster needs her space. she's been left alone all her life - being in a tiny dark room helps her think, in a way. she likes little spaces she can worm her way into (possibly why she's such a stealthy assassin) and needs a bit of alone time to calm down sometimes.
often, she might walk away mid-conversation or wander away when with the rest of the group. take no offense to this. she simply needs to think on her feelings before they drown her.
