Chapter Text
The tower was freshly refurbished and ready to house it's new occupants. Although the occupants were slightly unsure if they were truly ready themselves.
Valentina had announced to them all that they were free to do whatever they wanted with the place, and it's design. There was obviously a training gym, a communal living room/ kitchen area, a lab, offices and a garage for all the vehicles (which currently consisted of Bucky's motorbike and Alexei's limousine. They had each gotten the opportunity to decorate their rooms, which none of them had ever really experienced before, well except John who had had the luxury of living a relatively normal life before the super soldier serum.
Yelena had absolutely no clue what her style was, or her taste in furnishing. Thankfully, Val gave her a push in the right direction and ended up sending Yelena options and images of decorated rooms for her to choose from. It was no surprise she leaned towards the room with a forest-green colour palette and darker wood. The one thing she had requested was to be nearby Bob, wanting to keep an eye on him and be nearby whenever he may need her. She wondered what his room would look like.
The elevator that took her upstairs barely made a sound, and there was a very high-tech looking keypad in the corner that she didn't even want to know what did. Security was for Bucky to handle. The door opened with a small chime and she was there in the hallway of her new home. She walked down to the door that she knew to be hers and pushed it open standing in the threshold. It had couches and a TV on one side, an entire kitchen on the other. There were doors at the back which presumably led to the bathroom and bedroom, but she didn't venture further. Instead, she ungracefully deposited her suitcase and other bags on the floor and then immediately exited to find Bob's room. His room was located in the corner of the hallway, half-hidden by a plant pot. She gave it a gentle knock, waiting for a moment until a small, slightly uncertain voice called out,
"Come in,"
Yelena was pleasantly surprised by his room. It was bright and full of natural sunlight streaming in from the large windows. The couches were a rich navy colour and there were assortments of plants resting on shelves or windowsills. She also noticed the large amount of bookshelves in one corner of the room, it was secluded in it's own little section and there was a window-seat. Bob had his very own reading nook.
"Wow," Yelena said pleasantly "this is nice, you have good taste."
Bob, who had been standing slightly awkwardly in the middle of the room as Yelena looked around gave a small smile.
"Not really, Valentina did most of it, I just asked for a place to read, mentioned how I liked sitting by windows. Oh, and I like plants." He nodded towards a very pretty looking succulent which sat on his coffee table.
"You like it?' She asked him with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh yeah it's great" He nodded firmly, as if afraid Yelena would be annoyed if he said no.
"Then that's all that matters." She grinned. "Now come, we must find the others and probably look at the rest of this place."
The two of them turned to head to the door, when Yelena stopped suddenly, causing Bob to nearly crash into her.
"Bob why do you only have that bag?" Yelena said curiously, staring at a very tattered looking backpack that sat, sadly slumped against the wall by the door. "Did you not bring the rest of your things? I can help you if you need."
Bob's face flushed red and he nervously rolled back on forth on the balls of his feet. "I uh, that's all my stuff."
"What? But that is ridiculous you cannot possibly have all of your- oh." Yelena's voice trailed off slightly as she came to the realisation that, yes, everything Bob owned was in that bag.
Bob was now staring at the floor, shuffling his feet and chewing on his lower lip, shame radiating off his hunched appearance.
"No matter," Yelena said firmly, "We shall get you more things, after all we are rich now."
She leaned forward and grabbed Bob's elbow, pulling him out of the room and towards the elevator. The doors slid shut and Yelena fiddled with the fancy looking keypad until they began to rise. A pleasant chime welcomed them to the main floor of the tower, where Bucky, Alexei, John and Ava were currently congregating.
"Ah Lena!" Alexei boomed, waving his arms around in excitement, "Isn't this excellent? Avengers together!"
"Yes Dad very exciting," Yelena said in a monotone voice, depositing Bob in by the doorway before taking in the room.
It was quite impressive. Floor to ceiling windows allowing rays of golden sunshine to leave their glowing marks on the perfectly polished flooring. Plush looking mustard-yellow couches sat in an arc around a TV so large it was almost comical. The kitchen was sleek black marble with black, white and gold appliances (really leaning into the theme there Val) complete with a breakfast bar and a dining room table.
"Was wondering when you two'd show up," Ava remarked, sipping steaming coffee from a mug with the Avengers logo emblazoned on the front.
"My god is everything a walking advertisement in here?" Yelena remarked, opening a cabinet to discover more of the same mugs.
"Yes! Look Lena! Look what they have!" Alexei practically skipped over to the very large pantry and yanked down a wheaties box, brandishing it in her face with vigour. "They have the wheaties box!"
"Because how could we ever forget that?" John drawled from where he was sprawled on the couch.
"You guys find your rooms okay?" Bucky asked, ever the businessman.
"Yep, all satisfactory. Bob's room is quite nice." She said, winking at Bob who looked slightly embarrassed.
"Yeah well I think any room is better than John's, everything in there is black and blue." Ava smirked, looking at John to gauge his reaction.
"Yeah? well your's is all white and clean!" He shot back.
"I think mine is best." Alexei said proudly, puffing up his chest.
"What is it? red and covered with posters of your Red Guardian propaganda?" John asked him pointedly.
"Exactly!" Alexei cried, causing John to snort loudly.
"Okay okay no need to bicker over the colour of your walls." Bucky said with a sigh, already looking tired of them.
"Ahh that's just because you know your room cannot live up to the Red Guardian!" Alexei boomed, "It is all dark and moody, not fit for heroes like THE AVENGERS!" He shouted this last bit at the top of his lungs, causing Ava to nearly drop her mug. Out of the corner of her eye, Yelena noticed Bob flinching violently at the noise and a surge of worry and panic shot through her. Thankfully, he seemed to be okay, although definitely unnerved.
Oh god how were they going to do this?
"Everyone unpacked yet?" Bucky asked the group. A collective silence was all the answer he needed. "I'm only saying it because we could go to the store, get essentials people need and stuff like that."
"That's a very good idea Bucky, to your rooms people lets go!" Yelena said, clapping her hands together, but smartly making sure she didn't make too much noise for Bob's sake.
"Yes mom," Ava said, slightly alarmed at Yelena's eagerness. Of course she didn't know that Bob had literally no possessions which meant that Yelena was rather eager to make his bedroom his.
"Uhm, Bucky do you need a hand? I've already finished." Bob said, almost too quiet to actually hear, looking incredibly uncertain.
Bucky's usually lined face broke into a smile, "sure kid, thanks."
Yelena had a sneaking suspicion Bucky was having difficulty saying no to Bob, which she found adorable.
Bucky and Bob headed into Bucky's room. It was a lot different than what Alexei had described. While the bedframe and most furniture was black, it wasn't at all overpowering and was a nice, modernised room. He had framed pictures of different drawings on the wall, each in pencil and some slightly faded, as if they had been made a long time ago. There were drawings of motorbikes, buildings, army soldiers and more. They were fascinating and Bob couldn't stop himself from staring. There were also photos of Bucky with Sam, the two of them smiling at what appeared to be a dock, beers in hand, Bucky's hair much shorter. But the thing that Bob found the most hilarious, was the poster of the original Captain America, Steve Rodgers, wearing the cheapest Captain America suit known to mankind, posing in front of an American flag with the slogan "Every Bond you Buy is a Bullet in the Barrel of your Best Guys Gun!" There were also photos that were clearly very old, taken in black and white. Bob's breath caught as he noticed Bucky, young, with short hair perfectly styled. He had a long sniper's rifle on his back and he wore a navy blue jacket . He was smiling, standing arm-in-arm with a bunch of other men, Bob noticed Steve next to Bucky, grinning just as widely.
"Like them?" Bucky asked, causing Bob to jump as he forgot Bucky was even there.
"Oh! Uhm yeah they're cool, sorry I didn't mean to be nosy, I can go if you want-"
Bucky stopped him before he could place one foot towards the door.
"Don't be silly, I don't mind." He stepped towards the photo wall, a nostalgic expression etched on his face. He pointed at the photo of the men smiling, arm in arm.
"These are the Howling Commando's, they were my team back during WWII."
"Oh yeah, I think I remember that name from somewhere," Bob nodded, following Bucky's finger as he explained.
"These drawings were done by Steve, he had a whole notebook. You tell which ones are from the 30's and 40's." Bucky said with a chuckle. "And obviously this poster is too funny not to hang up. After he saved me from the prison camp and I found out about "Captain America" I would tease him endlessly, that hat is the funniest thing I had ever seen, definitely lightened the mood."
Bob nodded, staring in awe at the collection. He was so used to the grumpy, grumbling Bucky that had graced his presence over the last few days that he had almost forgotten that Bucky had a history, had a life. Even if most of it was ripped away from him, and even if he was a man out of time, Bucky had friends, he had a family, he had experiences none of them would ever know about. Bob wondered what happened to Bucky's family, he wondered what his days used to be like in the 30's, hanging around with Steve before he became a national icon.
Bucky was a person just like the rest of them. And that idea comforted Bob.
They were a family. Or at least they hopefully would be.