Archive of Our Own ^beta

“I’m just saying that Bucky is our best sniper. He should be the one to do it, he wouldn’t even need to go into the building.” Ava huffed, crossing her arms across her chest.

“He’s good but why wait until he’s in range? I could easily sneak into his penthouse and slice his throat. Quicker and quieter.” Yelena shrugged.

“I think-” John was interrupted by the elevator opening.

“Hey guys. Sorry to interrupt, but does anyone have laundry? I’m about to do a load.” Bob interrupted with a small smile.

Bucky sighed, slapping his hands down on his knees before standing. “I’m good. Thanks though, Bob.”

Everyone else nodded in agreement and Bob shrugged.

“Ok, well if you end up having any, leave it in the laundry room and I’ll get it done. Oh, and also, I made cookies for everyone! Snickerdoodle. They’re in the kitchen cooling right now but they should be good to eat soon.”

“Thank you, Bob. That’s really thoughtful. We appreciate you,” Yelena smiled.

“Can we get back to our discussion?” John asked, leaning back against the couch, “Bucky or Yelena, who’s doing the mission tomorrow night?”

Yelena opened her mouth to answer but Bucky cut her off.

“I am. Yelena, you’ve done three missions this week, let me take this one. Plus that Bishop girl keeps calling, she really wants to hang out with you.”

Ava smirked, “Oh yeah, she left a voicemail a couple days ago, she wants Lucky and Fanny to have a doggy playdate. Her words, not mine.”

“Oh that’s so cute!” Bob said, “Can I come with you? I love dogs!”

Yelena sighed, giving in. She knew Bucky would be able to handle the mission just fine, and she did want to see Kate. Plus, it would be good to get Fanny out of the tower for a bit. It was a big place but Yelena could tell that Fanny was going a little stir crazy.

“Ok, fine. Bucky, the mission is yours.”

Bucky nodded.

“And of course you can come, Bob.”

Before anyone could start another conversation, the elevator dinged once more, and the room was immediately filled with the loud voice of Alexi.

“Avengerz!! I have such great news!”

“This is never good,” John sighed.

“Dad, please. If you tell me that we need to do another photoshoot for a cereal box I’m going to quit. I’m serious.”

“No, ‘Lena, no more cereal boxes. But! The Avengerz are now ambassadors for Colgate.”

The room was silent as everyone stared at Alexi.

“You know? The toothpaste brand? It’s-”

“We know what Colgate is, Alexi.” Ava pinched the bridge of her nose.

Bucky furrowed his brow, “What does Colgate have to do with us?”

John pointed a finger at Bucky “Yeah. I thought we agreed that if you were going to make us keep doing these brand deals and partnerships then you would pick ones that actually had something to do with the Avengerz- or Thunderbolts- or… whatever we are.”

Yelena ran a hand through her hair. “Dad. We are not doing a partnership with a toothpaste brand. That has nothing to do with what we do.”

Alexi frowned, “I already signed the contract, we can’t back out now.”

The room let out a collective groan.

“That actually does remind me to start this week’s grocery list,” Bob mumbled, writing a few things in the notepad on the coffee table.

“Add Colgate! We can’t be seen using anything else for the next eight months.” Alexi grinned.

Ava rolled her eyes, “Alexi. Nobody is going to know if we’re actually using Colgate, it’s not like anyone knows what we do inside the tower.”

“Oh yes! A good reminder! ‘Lena, I talked to your friend Kate on the phone when she called the other day-”

“Oh god-”

“-And she gave me such a good idea for us. She called them vlogs! You film your life and upload it to the internet for everyone to see!”

“No.” Came the immediate answer from Bucky, Yelena, John, Ava and Bob.

“Ok, new tower rule for everyone?” Yelena started, “No talking to Kate Bishop on the phone.”

Alexi huffed, falling onto the couch next to John and pulling out his phone. He opened up the Thunderbolt’s official Instagram page (that he ran) and started scrolling through the comments. He liked the ones that were praising them and deleted the ones of people being mean to the kids.

“Oh, Bob, will you add those chocolate cookies that I like to the list? Ava finished them yesterday without offering to save any for anyone else,” John said, sending a glare in Ava’s direction. Bob nodded, jotting it down.

Ava scoffed, “I did not. I don’t even like them.”

“Then why was the wrapper in your bedroom trash can?” John accused.

Ava sat up, taking her boot clad feet off the coffee table. “Why are you snooping through my trash?”

John rolled his eyes, “I wasn’t snooping through your trash. In case you’re forgetting, trash duty is my chore. I was taking the trash out and I saw the wrapper sitting on top. You didn’t even try to hide it.”

“Enough,” Bucky sighed. “We’ll get more. But while we’re on the topic of food, whoever finished off the protein bars and then put the empty box back in the cupboard, why did you do that?”

“I’m not saying that it was me,” John said, “But if it were, it would probably be to remind us that we’re out of protein bars.”

Bucky tilted his head, “But… Why not just put protein bars on the grocery list? Putting the empty box back in the cupboard is just saving trash for no reason.”

Ava grinned, “At least when I finish something off, I throw the trash away.”

John glared at her.

Yelena looked up from her phone where she had been texting someone, presumably Kate. “Could one of you feed Bolt breakfast tomorrow?” She asked, referring to her recently acquired pet guinea pig.

“I can do it,” Ava offered, “But why can’t you?”

Yelena slid her phone back into the pocket of her vest. “My therapy session was moved to the morning instead of the afternoon. And then I’m going out for brunch with Kate Bishop. Bob, check your texts, yours is right after mine so yours probably got moved too.”

Bob quickly pulled out his phone, reading his text with wide eyes. “Oh. Yeah, it was moved up to 9 am instead of 2.”

“I’ll drive you,” Bucky offered, adjusting his metal arm, “I, unfortunately, have a meeting with Valentina, Mel and Sam to discuss the legality of the Avengers name. I am not looking forward to it.”

“Trouble in paradise,” John laughed.

Bucky glared at him, “You’re one to talk.” That shut John up.

“Hey,” Alexi warned, “No being mean to each other. We are a team, a family, we do not say mean things to each other. We lift each other up! Like a big pelican who-”

“We got it, Alexi. Thanks.” John stopped him.

“I’m just saying. We need to work together, do you think the Avengers ever fought with each other?”

“Yes,” Yelena deadpanned.

“They literally destroyed an airport over one disagreement,” Ava added, “I really don’t think they’re the best example to use here.”

Bucky chuckled, reminiscing, “Good try though.”

“Well, we are not the Avengers. We are the Avengerz with a Z! We do not fight.”

“Speaking of fighting, don’t forget we have our team therapy session next Tuesday. We were told to make lists of our issues with each other so we could discuss them,” Bob added helpfully.

John stood up, heading to the elevator, “You’re right. I better go start on my list now so that I’m done in time by next Tuesday.”

“I’m gonna shower before dinner,” Bucky followed, joining him in the elevator before the doors closed on them.

Ava stood up too. “I’m going to go and finish my book.” Is all she said before phasing through the walls to get to her bedroom.

“I am going to go downstairs. I need to add Colgate to our new jumpsuits, I’ll find room somewhere,” Alexi announced, walking to the elevator and leaving Bob and Yelena alone in the living room.

Bob turned around and gave her a smile.

“I guess I’ll get started on dinner. I was going to make spaghetti. It’s a safe meal until we figure out what foods we can all agree on liking.”

A soft smile melted onto Yelena’s face as she stood, following Bob into the kitchen.

“Let me help. When we were younger my sister taught me the best way to make meatballs, they’ll go well in your spaghetti.”

As the two of them worked on dinner in a comfortable silence, only interrupted by the faint arguing from John and Ava a couple rooms over, they both found that they felt happy. Really happy.

Their team may be crazy, and it might take a while to get used to being around each other all the time, but there was no doubt that this was where they were meant to be.