heroes aren't born.

𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐃 / 𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐒 / 𝐈𝐍𝐁𝐎𝐗 : / 𝐃𝐑𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐒 :

❛  OKAY! let’s go to work, bobby.  ❜    a pause, hands finding his hips and head dipping as he fights a grimace.   ❛  sorry. bob.  ❜    he doesn’t need another lecture from yelena about how he has to ask if he wants to call him bobby, doesn’t understand the hang - up there, but he doesn’t need to understand it to respect that it’s there, apparently. asking, however, is awkward, and he makes a habit of avoiding awkward, if he can, so it looks like he’ll just have to train himself out of the way the nickname slips out without thought. and speaking of training…  a brisk clap of his hands and he’s back to business, ready to get to work.   ❛  so, i know you can throw a punch, that’s not the issue.  ❜    thinks, unbidden, of the last time he’d seen bob swing on someone―or something, he’s still not entirely sure what the void is, outside of being… well, bob. or a part of him, anyway. that all feels above his paygrade, frankly.   ❛  the name of the game today is control. restraint. tapping into all that potential you got locked away up there,  ❜    he taps his temple for emphasis,   ❛  without letting the big guy loose.  ❜    last thing he needs is another ass - whooping from the sentry. his pride still hasn’t recovered from the first damn time. / @centurie, for bob !

❛  SO YOU WANT ME TO TEACH YOU, jemma simmons.  ❜    she could just call her jemma. they’re friends now, or something close to it, there’s really no reason for yelena to distance herself from the other woman any longer, which is exactly what that little “quirk” of hers is all about. distance. keeping others at arms length so there's no risk of getting attached. too late for that, evidently, and besides, it’s objectively funnier this way, particularly when the doctor turns it around on her. she doesn’t know if anyone’s ever done that to her before. yelena’s already unzipping her jacket, shrugging it off to leave it in a pile on the mats that walker would scold her for if he saw it, neat freak that he is. as it is, she merely kicks it aside and assumes a loose stance in front of jemma.   ❛  i can teach you. the others will help.  ❜     like it’s not a question, and really, it won’t be. they’ll do this for jemma. they’re all overly - indulgent with their pet scientist. her head tilts to the side, almost thoughtful, but there’s a smile hiding at the corners of her mouth.    ❛  it’ll be great. like a training montage from an 80s movie.  ❜    / @analyticallyminded !

fortunately, he’s not the only one who can’t seem to get a good night’s rest in this tower. sometimes it’s ava, pacing around and muttering to herself, or it’s bob, burrito’d in his covers in his armchair, just staring into space. tonight? it’s yelena, eyes glued to her phone even as the tv drones on in the background. he knows doomscrolling when he sees it, doesn’t hesitate to reach out and pluck the phone from her hands as he leans over the back of the couch.    ❛  what’re we watching?  ❜    doesn’t wait for an invitation, dropping down heavily onto the couch beside her, but keeping a respectful distance, tucked into the opposite corner. her phone disappears between the couch cushions, just for safekeeping. / @crimsonfive, for yelena !

unfortunately, his summons had not been merely a social call, and the mirth flees from him as quickly as it had come, his fingers digging into the other’s shoulder just barely as he thinks of the circumstances that had drawn bucky back to them.    ❛  and it is good you are here. perhaps… perhaps you will be able to reach her.  ❜    he can only be referring to shuri, of course, who in her grief has lost herself in her technology, her dogged efforts to save their king with her machines and her science. it robs her of time that might otherwise be spent at her brother’s side, though he understands the compulsion, the need to do something. helplessness is not a feeling he particularly enjoys either.   ❛  …she needs a friend by her side, now. before the end.  ❜