Chapter Text
Bucky recognized the signs. He’s seen them in soldiers during the war, in the other Thunderbolts, and–uncomfortably–in himself. But the difference now was that he wasn’t ignoring them anymore. He was doing the work, slowly, unevenly, but forward all the same.
This new team helped more than he’d expected. Maybe it was that, in one way or another, they understood each other. No explanations needed. They could sit in silence, and it didn’t feel heavy. And in the moment one of them was hurting–physically or otherwise– it never went unnoticed. They’d learned, without ever saying it out loud, how to help each other.
Yelena and Bucky worked well together, both on and off missions. Somewhere along the way, they’d settled into an easy rhythm–keeping an eye out for each other and keeping the rest of the team from going completely off the rails. There was an understanding between them. When one of them was struggling, words weren’t required. They could sit in silence, and somehow that was enough.
Yelena took to therapy more easily than the rest of them. She didn’t overthink it–she wanted to be better, and this was part of that. After everything with the Void situation, she and Bob gravitated towards each other. Ava, too. She and Yelena clicked quickly, falling into a quiet habit of relying on one another. Ava didn’t go to the therapist every week, but she showed up when it mattered.
Bob hadn’t really been given much of a choice after the Void/Sentry thing, but he took to therapy faster than anyone expected. He put the work in. Even Alexei had shown up a few times, courtesy of the team-mandated therapist, treating it like a chore but not skipping it.
Slowly, the team started to feel like something dangerously close to a family, damaged, dysfunctional, all working through many, many issues, but family nonetheless.
There was just one problem
Walker.
At first, the signs were in everyone, too-alert eyes, sleepless nights, the careful avoidance of anything that hit too close to home. But over time, as they actually started dealing with it, something shifted. The tension eased. Shoulders lowered. For the first time, it felt like each of them could breathe.
But then there was Walker.
He wasn’t getting better. If anything, the opposite. The tension clung to him, sharp and unpredictable. It got bad enough that they restricted him from carrying his gun around the tower after the number of times he’d drawn it on a teammate who had come up behind him too quietly, and with teammates who are trained assassins, they were always walking up behind him too quietly.
The mood swings didn’t help. Small things set him off–an offhand comment, a wrong look–sparking either an explosive flash of anger or a complete shutdown. There was no middle ground with Walker.
It had gotten bad enough that Bucky and Yelena sat down to talk about it.
As they sat in his room, Yelena started the conversation.
“It’s affecting the team,” Yelena said, leaning back against the wall, arms crossed. "And if I hadn’t stepped in the other day, he could have triggered another Void incident.”
Bucky sighed, “I know. But this isn’t something we can fix overnight.”
“I know that,” Yelena said. “But pretending it’s not happening–what he’s doing–that’s not helping. It's making it worse.”
Bucky glanced up at her. “So what do you suggest?”
“We talk to him,” Yelena said. “And we don’t let him walk away from it.”
Bucky opened his mouth to respond–but the tower intercom crackled to life
“WE HAVE MISSION,” Alexei's voice booms through the room.
Bucky snapped his mouth shut and pushed to his feet.
“This conversation isn’t over,” Yelena said as they headed for the door.
As they exited the room, heading to the elevator, they ran into Ava as she exited her room.
“You know what this mission is about?” she asked.
“No,” Yelena said. “Didn’t even know we had a mission.”
Ava hummed in response.
They stepped into the elevator, Bucky reaching past Yelena to hit the button for the briefing room floor. The doors slid shut, and then a hand caught them. The doors open again, with Walker entering the elevator.
Walker avoided eye contact as he entered the elevator, moving to the back and pressing himself against the wall. From the corner of Bucky’s eye, he caught the way Walker’s right hand clenched, then loosened–over and over– his gaze fixed on the floor.
“You good, Walker?” Ava asks
It didn’t go unnoticed—the way he stiffened when she spoke, his eye snapping up to her.
“I’m fine,” he said sharply. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I was just asking,” Ava said, rolling her eyes. “Haven’t seen you in a while.”
Walker didn’t answer. His gaze drifted back to the floor. Shoulders drawn tight as the elevator slowed and came to a stop.
They exited the elevator and headed for the briefing room. Alexei and Bob were already seated at the table. Valentia stood at the far end, arms crossed, watching as the others filed in.
“What took you so long?” Valentina said as they sat down. “When I call, I expect urgency.”
“What is the mission?” Yelena asked, ignoring Valentia’s comments entirely.
“Also, technically, Alexei called us. Not you,” Ava added
Valentina shot a look over to her before giving a rundown of the mission.
I was simple: break into a highly guarded facility and steal intel about some type of weapon that this unsanctioned group was developing.
So, simple for them at least.
“Plane leaves at 20,” Valentina said, already turning for the door. “Get your shit together.”
The team begins to move, grabbing their gear and heading to the plane. The engines were already spinning up by the time they reached the plane. As the others boarded, Yelena fell into step beside Bucky, the roar of the engines swallowing their voices
“He looks like he’s about to fall apart at any second,” Yelena commented quietly.
“We just have to get through this mission, then we can work on the Walker problem,” Bucky said as they made their way to the rest of the team.
Yelena glanced toward the plane. “You’d better hope he makes it through without becoming a liability.”
Inside, Yelena took her seat beside Ava, Walker sitting across from them. Bucky moved up front with Alexei in the cockpit. One by one, they clipped in and activated their comms.
“Bob, you there?” Yelena asks.
“Loud and clear, Lena,” Bob answers.
As the plane lifted off, some of the tension bled out of the cabin. Even Walker seemed to settle. Heading into a fight was a familiar territory for them. For better or worse, war made sense to each of them. The team found an uneasy kind of comfort in that death and violence.