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“Guys… it is time.” Ava announced that morning, while part of the team was at the kitchen table, trying to have a decent breakfast for once.
Bucky was in Washington, because Valentina wanted to use his popularity to make the group more successful. Or just less hated. No one could argue against her strategy, Bucky literally killed a president and still was the most voted congressman in America, people just liked him that much. Alexei was also absent, but his reason was his “marketing business”, which Yelena preferred not to know about.
Walker looked at her, and Bob did the same, expecting from Yelena the next command.
“Ok… we’re doing it. But how exactly can we make Bob fly?”
They decided this months ago, just some weeks after Valentina put them all together in the tower. Eventually, they would try to make Bob use his powers again. They didn’t plan much, nothing at all if they were honest, but the idea was at least making him fly again. It was his first display of power, and the most useful one that wouldn’t cause a big problem if it went wrong.
“I have an idea.” Walker raised his hand before saying. “We should push him from the top of the tower.” Yelena looked at him in complete disbelief, because he was dead serious.
“No.” She said.
“It will work! Bob reacts to fear and he has fear of heights! The worst case scenario is him breaking the asphalt down there!”
“No.” Yelena repeated, shaking her head, letting out a loud sigh. “Why do we even listen to you?” Ava started to laugh, while Bob had an empty expression, probably imagining himself falling from his dead, even though he couldn’t really die. “Someone else has an idea?”
“If we do this, but in a pool?” Ava suggested, and the other three looked at her. “There is a new Olympic facility in Harlem. They opened like… a month ago, I believe. They have an Olympic pool, with diving platforms. It’s tall, but not too much. And Bob will fall in the water.” Yelena looked at Bob and he nodded to her, giving a tiny smile.
“It’s a good idea.” Bob murmured, and when his smile grew, Yelena felt her heart flutter.
“It’s exactly my suggestion!” Walker complained.
“No, it 's not.” Yelena said. “Ok… let’s see if we can rent the place for some days.”
“I’ll ask Mel about it.” Ava concluded, and the first part of the problem was solved. They would push Bob from a 30 feet tall platform, not a whole skyscraper.
The Olympic gymnasium part was easy, the actual athletes used the pool all week, but not on the weekends, so would be the perfect days for them to have it. Mel rented the place for eight weekends, all day, so Bob would have enough time to learn. The platforms were in three different stages: five, eight and ten meters. Walker wanted Bob in the highest one, trying to make his fear of heights interfere in his ability, but against popular belief, five meters was still high as fuck, and Yelena insisted for him to start slow.
“I can’t do this.” Bob said, looking at the giant structure. It was scary, Yelena had to admit, especially for someone that didn’t like heights that much. The pool also was 3 meters deep, and that part got her more scared than the height itself. Yelena knew how to swim, she had to learn in the Red Room, but never went to a pool that large. “Really. I-I can’t, guys.”
Walker went like this was his vacation, a shorts with tiny Avengers logos and a shirt with his own face in it. Ava made it for him, as a joke. The picture was not the best, in a terrible resolution also, yet he loved the thing so much that he wore it all the time.
Ava couldn’t come that morning, she wanted to make some changes on her uniform with the tech team. Yelena ditched the vacay visual, just went with her regular jeans and a shirt.
“Is there any other way?” Bob looked at Yelena, big eyes blinking a bunch of times, and Yelena could not help to notice how brown they looked, even though they were blue. He was so adorable that it was aggravating.
Yelena wanted to squeeze him. Sometimes she saw his arms, in the rare times Bob used a shirt without sleeves, and wanted to bite him. Then kiss all over his face. It was a strange sensation, she never felt like this before, let alone for a man.
“We can at least try once. And if it really doesn't work out, we try another way.” She said, and he nodded.
Bob’s eyes lingered at her, and for a second Yelena feared that her weird impulses were visible on her face.
“Can we do this today, yet?” Walker screamed at them from the top of the platform. He was at the five meters mark one, that still was way too tall, but less drastic than his original idea.
Bob looked at her again, searching for assurance.
“You can do it,” Yelena said, and he nodded again before walking to the platform. Bob refused to wear a swimsuit, but Ava didn’t let him do it in sweatpants, so they went to Target just for a pair of trunks and a UV shirt. He was pulling the hems nervously, looking at Walker up there. “I will be right here!”
“Ok.” He murmured. She walked behind him before stopping by the pool, close from where he should fall. Bob went up, with Walker screaming and clapping at him to ‘give support’, but Bob’s face didn't change for the pure hesitation and doubt. No one could blame him, having a fear of heights and having to jump five meters high probably wasn't pleasant at all.
Bob had one eye closed as he walked to the border of the platform. The good thing was that he managed to get there, which was a small victory itself. Then, he closed both of his eyes as he positioned to jump. Even with a big distance, Yelena could see his hands shaking. John was still supportive, repeating ‘Good job, Bob!’ every ten seconds.
And then, he jumped.
Yelena and Walker watched him fall for a second, then started to float mid way. A little scream left his mouth, but Bob went silent after, realizing that he was actually flying. A laugh escaped his mouth, and Walker cheered in celebration. Bob looked at Yelena’s direction, and a smile slipped before the ‘effect’ ended, and he fell to the pool. Water went high enough to hit the girl’s face.
“Yeah! That was good!” Walker screamed. Yelena wiped her eyes, looking at the water. Bob was still submerged. "We just need to keep trying until you can stay floating for longer!" Walker came to the edge up there, looking at the water too. "Bob?"
Yelena panicked when realized he wasn't returning, and threw herself into the water without thinking much. Her eyes burned when opened underwater, and dove deeper when she saw Bob floating there, unconscious. Yellow light escaped from her eyelids.
Her hands wrapped around his torso, hugging him tightly, as she used all her strength to pull him out to the surface. Yelena couldn't express how relieved she was at seeing Bob opening his eyes again, lungs desperate for air.
"Oh, thank God," she said, and found herself brushing the wet hair from his forehead. Their faces were close, her nose bumped against his. "You don't know how to swim?"
"No?" Yelena looked at him in disbelief.
"Bob!"
"I thought..." He rubbed his eyes, now a little red. "I thought I wouldn't need it, that it would work on the first try." Yelena was at a loss of words. “It worked that time with the bullets.”
“Yes! And you fell like a comet a minute after!” She argued back. “He doesn't know how to swim!" She yelled to Walker, and even from up there, she could see John’s expression getting progressively more confused.
“Don’t… Bob, what the hell?” Walker yelled.
“I thought I was going to fly!” Bob yelled back.
“I can’t believe…” Walker got off the border, probably to go down the platform, while Yelena looked back at Bob. She knew he would not drown, yet they could not risk it with Void.
“You’re okay?” She asked, still holding him close. Bob was trying to move his legs with her, which she found adorable, but would not say anything about it. He nodded. Their faces were closer, his lips a little pale. Yelena caught herself staring. His eyes looked bluer up close.
“I’m… I’m fine…” He ran his tongue over his lower lip, still pale, and for a moment, Yelena thought of biting it until the color returned. She wanted to kiss him so bad that her mind was getting twisted.
“Ok! Idea!” Walker screamed as he came closer to them, making Yelena realize that she should pull Bob to the pool border and not stare at his lips. “Yelena and I will be your lifeguards, Bob!” He offered a hand when both got near enough, pulling Bob out first and Yelena after. “We will take you out of the pool, till you manage to fly and don’t need us anymore.”
“Like… literally lifeguards?” Bob said.
“Exactly.” John smiled.
“What do you think?” Yelena asked him, Bob looked a little unsure, but nodded.
"Maybe this could work." He said, and Walker gave him an even bigger smile.
“You can do it, I'll be the lifeguard today and Yelena can be tomorrow! With better clothes, I guess.” She gave him a grimace, but it could be a good idea. “In some weeks you will manage just fine.” Yelena nodded. They would keep him safe from fainting and Bob would be flying in no time. And for a first try, he was better than expected.
“Ok…” Yelena murmured. “Maybe it could work.”
+++
“What are you doing?” Yelena asked, walking out on the dock, seeing Bob was next to a jet, giving little jumps in the air. She tried to not smile, but he moved his hands each jump, like it was his wings. He looked like a penguin. “You made progress on the pool today.”
“I just flew two times out of forty-six jumps! My hands are still like this,” and he showed his palms to her, full of wrinkles. “I was more in the water than in the air. I thought that I would progress with fear, but I only got scared for nothing. I think I don’t even have fear anymore!”
“No, you passed out in the 8 meters one.” She pressed her lips, trying not to laugh. It wasn’t fun at the moment, Yelena ran desperately to him fearing that Void would take over when Bob literally blackout on the stairs, but it wasn’t the case. Bob, thankfully, only fainted. “It’s the first two days. We will try again next week.” He nodded, entangling his fingers.
“I… I want to be useful. For the team.” She walked closer, there wasn’t much light up there, but the moon was really generous that night. The pale light made his hair look darker, and half of his face was in the shadows. Made her remember Void again. “The government is not happy because we’re basically all super soldiers.”
“I’m not. I’m just a regular human.”
“But you’re perfect.” He said at once, and even though the light was so scarce, she still could see him blush. “Like… you’re a trained assassin. And is a spy! And… you know?!”
Yelena wanted to bite his cheeks.
“Thanks, Bob.” He nodded to himself, nudging the hem of his shirt. “You don’t have to worry that much. The team is handling things well anyway, but someone that can fly would really help, so don’t give up, ok?”
“Okay…” They were really close at that moment. They were in a distance like this before, but as they got to know each other, Yelena felt her whole body react more aware of his presence, making her more hesitant. “I… I never said this before, but… I'm really grateful for you sticking with me.”
“You don’t need to thank me for that.” She murmured.
“I do…” He pressed his lips together. “You knew me for so little.”
It was true. They didn't know each other for more than an hour or two, yet back in the vault, she wanted to keep him close. Back then, Yelena had imagined that Ava and John would go different paths, while Bob and her would find their own way. Go into hiding together until Valentina gave up or ended up in jail like Bucky wanted. They had chosen each other that day in the vault, and didn't let go even since.
“Thank you…” He reached his hand to hers, and Yelena felt her heart pumping like crazy, because it looked like he wanted to kiss her. It had been so long since she was kissed… Yelena tried, after having her autonomy back, to have the experience and feelings that were denied to her.
She went to some parties, willingly kissed a bunch of people, but was just fine. Nothing exciting, and sometimes not even good. Nothing close to that funny feeling that she was getting right at that moment. They looked at each other's eyes in silence, and Yelena thought about reaching for it, and just kiss him.
“Hey! Dinner is ready!” John screamed from the elevator, making the two jump, stumbling away from each other. “Fast, before Alexei eats everything.”
“Ok!” Yelena screamed back, glancing at Bob for a second. A buzzy feeling made her blush. Maybe… maybe he liked her too.
It was so strange to have this. A crush. Yelena read about it, she saw in the bunch of movies she went to watch, trying to recover all the time lost in the Red Room. As she watched every one of them, Yelena smiled to herself, pressed her lips together trying to contain the warm feeling, hoping to have it too one day.
But with Bob, in real life, she didn't know how to contain herself.
“We should go.” He said, walking first in the elevator direction.
Yelena nodded, smiling to herself again, before following him.
+++
“Walker and Yelena, what is the report?”
Bucky was trying to catch up on everything after the most recent photoshoot. He hated being a celebrity, hated being on billboards and cereal boxes, but the team could take Bob to these things while he couldn’t be on missions, so Bucky made an actual effort to keep doing it and keep Bob entertained. And the cereal box was a ‘team photoshoot’, so he hated less.
The trio was in a small meeting room, some floors up from the HQ.
“He is doing great! Like… really good.” Walker said, and Yelena tried to not show her confusion. “He’s flying for long minutes, and is doing well enough to do it without jumping from the platform sometimes. Really stable, also. He still needs to jump sometimes, but the progress is truly amazing.” John didn’t realize, yet Bucky seemed to notice her expression.
“Lena?” He asked.
“Yeah… he is doing good.”
It was a lie. Bob was terrible! She constantly had to save him because he barely flew more than ten seconds, they didn't move past the 8 meters platform, and Yelena was coming back home as wrinkled as he was, because he ended up in the water all the time.
“I think he doesn't even have the fear of heights anymore.” John concluded, and with that, her mind finally connected the dots. Yet, part of her didn’t want to believe. Not because she had a problem with this, just that felt too real.
Bucky looked at her, almost like he had read her thoughts, a smile cracking on his face.
“Ah, John… Can you excuse us for a second? I really need to talk with Yelena.” John didn't move. “In private.” And he arched his eyebrows. “Get the fuck out!”
“Ok, ok.” He made a face for both of them before getting up and leaving, Yelena could even hear him complaining all the way to the elevator before everything went silent.
“So… just to be sure, the training sessions are just with you two?” Bucky asked, and Yelena felt her face getting warm before nodding. “How bad is he?”
“Can’t fly more than ten seconds.” She said, and Bucky let out a loud laugh. She had even asked Mel to book the pool for more weekends from how bad he was! “Oh my god…”
“It’s adorable, you have to admit. All this effort to be saved by you.” Bucky was still laughing. “You want me to talk to him, like corporate talk or-” Bucky stopped to talk once he realized how red her face was getting. “Oh…” He said this time, a big smile on his face. “So, the solution for this is… ask him out. You both like each other, and he is flying already, so save yourself some time.”
“Do you think so? We shouldn’t…”
Part of her felt pathetic. Even exposed. She was in love for the first time, and was for the guy she saved months ago. A real and powerful superhero… Who was pretending to not know how to fly to spend more time with her.
“It’s okay. Everyone knows,” she looked at him in pure shock. “Why with this face? We even have a Bob-count!”
“What?”
“You say his name all the time,” Yelena desired that the ground would open under her and swallow her whole. “He does the same, but you do mention Bob in every circumstance, about every subject.” She closed her eyes, in pure shame. “It 's cute.”
“I will jump from the balcony.”
“No!” He said firm, but laughed when realized she wasn’t serious. “We talked about suicide jokes!”
“You do it all the time!”
“But I’m old!” Yelena really didn't grasp his argument. “We’re all kinda waiting for this to happen. Bob is doing good, making an effort to be mentally stable and I think you have much to do with that.” Yelena hid her face between her hands.
“I… I never had this before.” Yelena confessed, sliding her hair back, letting out a long sigh. “Never felt that I was capable of… the Red Room took so much of me that…” Her words got lost, trying to not dwell on the past and get herself sad. “If it ended up bad?”
“But if it doesn't end?” Bucky argued back. “I can really see you guys making this work.”
Yelena nodded, feeling a smile cracking on her face. She was in love. She wanted to laugh. Wanted to cry. She wanted to run and hide under her bed. In a fair world, she would have her first love as a teenager. She would share with her sister, and Natasha would tease her, like it happened in the movies she watched.
Yet, Yelena was happy that it was Bob. So happy.
“I will… I will talk to him.” She said, at the end.
+++
Now that she knew that Bob was pretending, hiding her smile was almost impossible. Yelena felt a little silly as she changed clothes that morning, shirt and shorts because she didn’t want to use a swimsuit or a bikini. She did it once, just the top part of a bikini with shorts, and looking back, she should have realized before, because Bob couldn’t stop staring.
Bob went up the platform like always, and Yelena pressed her lips together as she noticed him, pretending to be nervous at the stairs, without realizing that she could see him at some points that he thought she could not.
“Just ask him out, just ask him out”, she thought to herself.
Yelena never had a date, not a romantic one, at least. They could get coffee, like people did on TV. Maybe a movie. Maybe both. Yelena moved to the pool border and was trying to act courageous and be the one that gave the first step, while Bob was going to the eight meters platform. He smiled for her from up there. Yelena smiled back, and he jumped.
This time, Bob flew immediately.
It was the first time with her that he flew just after a jump, which was shocking. Probably not even him was expecting to fly that easily, because Bob let out a nervous laugh like he was also surprised about his own success, waving at her again, and Yelena smiled wider.
“You’re doing g-“ She didn’t finish, because Bob fell like a rock, water poured out high, giving her a bath from head to toe. Yelena ran her hands through her face, a laugh escaping her. Yelena blinked, feeling her eyes burning a little. “Bob!” He was still underwater, the vague silhouette visible as the water moved. “Bob! Fly out, I know you can!”
But he didn’t. His body was still submerged, not moving an inch.
“Bob?” And like the first time it happened, she panicked.
Yelena jumped in the pool, getting even more desperate when realized that no light was escaping his eyes like in the last time. He was deeper in the pool also, making her move her arms with more strength to get to him.
Yelena’s arms reached for him, grabbing Bob by his shirt, swimming all the way up. Yelena’s lungs were burning when they reached out, and she looked at Bob, who still had his eyes closed.
“Bob! Bob, please,” she grabbed his face with one hand while hugging his body with the other arm. “Bob, wake up… Please wake up…” She looked down, fearing that Void would steal his body. He was incapable of dying, yet the other one could be a real problem to beat.
“Lena…” He said, and she let out a sigh of relief. Bob's eyes were still closed, yet she felt his hands reaching for her waist. “It got all black…”
“It’s okay, you passed out.” Yelena let out a nervous laugh, at least they knew that his fear of heights still remained. “It 's okay.” His head moved, pressing against hers, slowly recovering his breath. “It’s okay…” She repeated, caressing his cheek. Yelena’s heart was beating like crazy, his presence making her too aware of herself.
“I shouldn’t pass out… I trained,” his eyes finally opened, tongue running through his lips. “I can fly and…”
“I know you can fly. Like… Walker told us. To me and Bucky, that you fly really well.” His lips opened, nervous about being discovered. His cheeks went red, just like his ears, and Yelena could grasp the embarrassment in his eyes. “You… you did for me?”
“Yes… I-I’m sorry, I just… I really wanted to have more time for us together without the team.” A giggle escaped her. The sound was so not herself. She was not one for giggling! But she did! Yelena felt even more like a teenager. Too seen. Bob looked at her, clearly confused about her reaction. “I… you don’t-“ Yelena couldn’t let him finish, and just pressed her lips to his.
Yelena didn’t have kissed someone in a very long time, and Bob probably was the same, because both were insecure about the touch, just lips pressed together. Her hands on his face, his on her waist, both trying to keep themselves above the surface. She could feel her heart flutter, anyway.
Bob was the one that went a little deeper, his tongue pressing in, and Yelena heard herself sighing, sliding her fingers through his wet hair, diving into the touch. She felt like she could float, even before they started to really go up.
The air made her tremble a little, pressing her body closer to his, and she felt his hands on her back, under the shirt. A moan escaped her lips.
“Bob…” She whispered, and the feeling of flying was not that different from flowing in water. The pressure was not there, however. It was… liberating.
“I wanted to do this…” He pressed kisses to her cheeks, to her chin, pressing down to her neck, intoxicated on his own desire. “For so long…” Yelena took his lips again, because she also had the same craving. She could feel him smiling, his fingers holding her more firmly, as they went even more high.
“How long have you been flying…?” She whispered the question, and looked to the side just enough to see they were right next to the five meters high platform.
“By the second week with Walker… but I just stopped passing out when I got too high last week. Well, not really, I just did today.” She let out a little laugh. “I’m sorry about lying, I… I really just wanted more time with you.” They were really high that moment, and seeing Bob so at peace about that made the whole situation even more unbelievable.
They were really flying. This was really happening.
“It 's okay. But next time, just ask me out.” Bob smiled back at her.
“You want to go on a date?” She nodded. “We could go today. Or tomorrow. Or any other day that you want.” Yelena kissed him again, that bubbling feeling on her chest was even more strong. It was new and different, yet nice and warm. She caught herself pressing kisses to his face, and pressed her teeth to his chin, making him laugh. “What the hell?” Yelena moved to his lips again, biting the lower one. “How long did you wanted to bite me?”
“Really long… and I still want more to bite,” he laughed, moving away the wet hair from her face, kissing her lips again.
“So… a date? Like… a coffee. Or a movie.” Yelena smiled as he mentioned the same things she had thought about. “Both?”
“Both.”
“Good, so… no more fake flying lessons. I can do it in the tower, without pretending.” Yelena nodded to his words, stealing a peek from his lips.
“Actually, you could use some more lessons here.” He looked a little confused, “But this time, you learn how to swim.” Bob grimaced in pure horror. Walker had tried after that first day fiasco, yet it went nowhere, Bob refused all his attempts. “I can be your teacher, and don’t need to pretend to drown for me to kiss you.”
Bob smiled, holding her a little closer as they flew a little higher.
“Ok…” He added with a smile. “With you, this could work just fine.”