Work Text:
One morning, Bob is sitting at the kitchen counter, a mug of coffee steaming away on the tabletop. He calls Yelena over as soon as she steps foot into the room.
“Hey, Yelena?”
“Yes, Bob?” She stops a foot away, leaning against the edge of the counter with a yawn. If there was one good thing about sharing a place with other trained agents it was that you could get quite used to sleeping with the knowledge you were surrounded by backup. Protection really did make for deeper sleep, which in turn killed any desire to wake up early. Alas, duty seems to like early wake-up calls.
Bob fidgets for a second, looking down into his cereal with a frown. “You wouldn’t happen to know anyone I could... uh...”
Yelena tips her chin down, encouraging him to continue his sentence with an open expression. It wasn’t like him to ask for anything, so the fact he was making a request at all was good reason to be intrigued.
“I could...” he mutters but trails off, pink tingeing his skin.
It’s during moments like this that she feels Bob has a lot of similarities to a sad cat. The wide eyes, the skittishness. The general aura.
So very pitiable.
But nervousness aside, something suddenly steels in Bob’s resolve, and he finally spills in a flurry. “I could hire for a... job?”
The question takes her aback.“A job?”
“Yeah.”
She blinks at him, mind racing. “What kind of job are we talking about exactly?” Yelena does happen to know people, lots of people. As a matter of fact, she has a contact for anything one could ever dream of needing done. She hopes Bob isn’t asking for a hitman, they’d overcharge for services she’d would do as a favour – the benefits of befriending a former child assassin.
“Well...” Bob looks over his shoulder, then turns back with a nervous bite of his lips. As if he’s about to confess to having committed mortal sin, he blows out a deep breath and lowers his volume. “Alexei won’t let us have any cereal in the house other than Wheaties, and I really, really want some Fruit Loops.”
Bob looks so sad, and it breaks her heart despite the laughter she wants to release from her chest. If he hadn’t looked so damned despaired she might have allowed herself to smile.
“You want to hire someone to buy cereal?”
His grin is sheepish but hopeful, like this could be the moment he’s been waiting desperately for. “Exactly.”
“I mean yeah, sure, but why would-”
All hell breaks loose when Alexei’s voice booms from the entryway, “Did I hear the mention of cereal?”
What follows is a rant about loyalty, and brand loyalty, and brand deals which ‘lead to opportunity and adoration’.
I understand now.
When Alexei finally pauses his speech and disappears into the pantry to find a Wheaties box to admire, Yelena pulls Bob aside and whispers, “I’ll send someone in the morning.”