Chococo

Peter and Bob started running through their worst memories, one after the other looking for Joaquin or Johnny, whoever they could find first at this point.

“This is pointless,” Peter gasped, “how are we going to find them?”

“Last time with the thunderbolts they found me at my old room just like you did” Bob explained to Peter.

“Do you think they are looking for us?” Peter asked him.

“It is a possibility” Bob replied “or they might be too overwhelmed to do so.”

Peter and Bob took in their surroundings, luckily and without noticing they had stopped to take a break at Peter's new apartment. Bob knew about Peter barely making ends meet sometimes, but he had never really seen his apartment so far.

“Maybe we can look for them in memories we have in common” Peter thought out loud “there has to be at least one of all of us together here in the void.”

“I have no idea where that would be.” Bob said.

Truth be told, for Bob having Peter, Joaquin and Johnny in his life had brought so many good memories he couldn't see or imagine the Void side of him using them since it took advantage of people's pain.

“I think I might know where to find Joaquin,” Peter said.

Bob followed Peter through his memories, letting him take the lead. They finally found themselves at the Tower's gym, it was completely empty except for one guy punching away angrily a punching bag. A look closer and Bob realized it was Joaquin, he seemed exhausted like his body was begging for a break, but he refused to stop.

“Not.Strong.Enough” Joaquin mumbled through his teeth.

“You know his accident…” Peter started to explain “he's too hard on himself sometimes when training.”

Peter needed help with a project for school and he wanted Joaquin's input on it, no one better than his new tech obsessed friend to give feedback on his robotics project. Peter was met with Joaquin's harsh tone and irritability.

“I'm training Peter! Just leave” Joaquin had said that day.

Peter didn't take that personally, he had learned about Joaquin's falling straight in the Indian Ocean, Joaquin had opened up about that with them, about the recovery, about how he felt his strength wasn't the same and he just wanted it back. Peter accepted Joaquin's apology after insisting it wasn't necessary and worked on his project together that afternoon. Bob on the other hand knew about this, however he hadn't seen it first hand.

“Oh God!” A voice behind them exclaimed, they didn't have to turn around to know it was Joaquin “Guys!”

Joaquin ran towards Peter and Bob, happy to see his friends after wandering in some of his worst memories.

“I knew I'd find you here!” Peter exclaimed.

Joaquin quickly took in his surroundings, it was one of those days when the negative thoughts at the back of his head won leading him to overwork himself during training, even staying for hours after Sam left, nevertheless his focus wasn't on the bad memory right in front of him.

“Bob, you ok?” Joaquin asked.

“I should be asking you that” Bob said, grabbing the back of his neck.

“It's ok, Bob” Joaquin quickly assured “we know that this was triggered by what happened this morning…we will never hold anything against you.”

“We have to find Johnny now” Peter said “any ideas where he could be?”

“Do you think he could be looking for us?” Joaquin added, looking at Bob.

“Yeah, it's possible” Bob shrugged “but chances are he has no idea where we are or what's going on.”

“We only find you because we share this memory” Peter added.

“We have to focus” Joaquin said, “what could the Void be showing to him?”

…

Johnny was looking at himself, a younger version of him, the one that had just gotten his powers. Right after that trip to space they quarantined, until they could control or until Reed figured out what was going on, whatever happened first.

Johnny locked himself in a room away from his family, he remembered those days very well. He remembered the despair, the worry.

You could ask him now and he'd say that his powers were the best thing that happened to him, but at that moment he was scared. He saw Reed and Sue's suits, burned on one side like they had quickly reacted to him being on fire.

“What if I had hurt them?” Johnny thought “what if I never control this? What if there's no going back?”

A hand on Johnny's shoulder made him jump, the same way he jumps whenever Sue decides to use her powers to scare the crap out of him only this time it was Peter's hand on his shoulder, Joaquin and Bob by his side.

“Thank God!” Johnny almost groaned pulling the three into a hug “I had no idea where to find you guys.”

“Did you have to see a lot?” Bob asked, almost embarrassed and feeling just as guilty as when he saw Joaquin.

“No…well yeah, but I got through most of that with my sister” Johnny shrugged “nothing I couldn't handle anyway.”

“I am so sorry guys” Bob said to all three of them “I never meant-”

“We know, Bob” Peter stopped him “like Joaquin said we would never hold anything against you.”

“Yeah, we support each other Bob” Johnny said “you guys are my favorite part of this universe.”

“No more apologizing Bob” Joaquin added “we are friends and now we need to find a way out.”

Bob closed his eyes and focused on the good things that had happened since the Thunderbolts found him in Valentina's vault, how he found Joaquin, Johnny and Peter and how they still seemed to trust him even after what had happened that night. 

“Bob, you did it!” Joaquin cheered “we're out of the void!”

Joaquin's voice made Bob opened his eyes and realized how they had returned to their sleepover setting, it didn't take long before Peter and Johnny tackled them into a hug.