"No." You state blankly as you give the blonde in front of you a stare down.
Yelena grins as she leans against the pile of pillows sat against the headboard of the bed, "Oh yes. I won. Natasha put her big girl pants on asked out Maria, just like I said she would. I was right, you were wrong."
You sigh heavily as you sit down at the end of the bed too, "Do I really have to carry you around for the entire day? I love you Lena, but you're heavy." You pout.
Yelena gasps dramatically as she holds her hand to her chest, "I am not!"
She was right. She wasn't. Not really. But you couldn't hold her for more than a few minutes before your arms started to ache, and twelve hours was certainly a lot longer than a few minutes. You already knew you weren't going to be able to do it without your arms falling off.
"Please?" You plead as a last ditch effort at getting out of this.
But the blonde simply shrugs, "Sorry. A bet is a bet."
You silently curse your past self for agreeing to this as you scoot forward and wrap your arms around Yelena's middle. She laughs elatedly as she brings her legs up to hook around your waist as you rise to your feet, and you internally groan. You swear she loves to torture you.
"Where to first?" You ask as you bounce her up slightly to get a better grip, your arms looped beneath her backside.
Yelena puts a finger to her lips in thought before pointing to the bathroom, "That way! I have to pee.”
You groan in dismay as you carry her through to the bathroom, your arms, annoyingly, already beginning to ache.
Today was going to suck.
*
"How are you doing?" Yelena murmurs into your ear as her hands tangle absentmindedly through your hair, legs still tight around your waist. It had only been an hour since the bet started, and your arms were already protesting quite badly. You were thankful she wasn't making you support all of her weight as she'd done on your trip into the kitchen.
Currently, Yelena was making you carry her through the street towards the avengers compound. You were getting quite a few strange looks from people who pass you on the side walk, but Yelena didn't seem to care so you try not to either.
"Great," you mutter as you stop once again to bounce her up, your arms now around her lower back, "I'm so going to need a full body massage once this is done."
Yelena nods, her crossed feet resting underneath your butt, "Okay. We can take a hot bath too if you would like." She offers, and you find yourself smiling slightly at the thought.
A normal person in a relationship would take that as an insinuation for sex, but that wasn't how it was with Yelena. You weren't a normal couple. You didn't have romantic feelings for each other. What you two had was known as a queer platonic relationship where you were partners, but it wasn't of a romantic nature.
"Sounds good. I'm so sorry for this, but my arms need a break." Without further warning, you place your hands underneath her thighs and haul her up so she was hanging over your shoulder. Yelena yelps in surprise as her hands scramble to cling to your shirt, and your arms cry out in relief as you loop them around her thighs and continue walking.
"This is unnecessary." Yelena mutters, and you snort as you give her rear end a playful pat. She swats you right back, and you wince at the slight sting that accompanies the action.
"Ouch. You said I had to carry you. You didn't mention a specific way." You tell her, and you hear her huff in annoyance, muttering “my mistake”, underneath her breath.
You grin, "Nearly there."
When you get to the traffic lights, you release her thighs and allow her to slide back down onto your front. She was a little red in the face, and you pout slightly as you give her cheek a soothing touch.
"You okay?" You wonder as you bring your arm back down to support her.
Yelena wraps her legs tightly around your waist, so tightly in fact you knew you had no chance in hauling her over your shoulder again. You didn't mind too much. The compound was only a few meters away.
"Fabulous. Please do not do that again." She states seriously.
You nod, starting to walk when the little man turns green. "Yes ma'am. Does the bet still count if I sit down with you on my lap? My arms do need some rest in between journeys."
Yelena contemplates this for a second, "I suppose that is okay, yes."
You sigh in relief as you bring her chest to rest against your own, effectively pulling her into a hug, and Yelena wraps her arms around your shoulders, the tip of her nose grazing the skin of your neck.
You make it to the compound a few moments later, and you were immediately greeted with an oblivious Natasha heading towards you, unaware of the wrath you were about to unleash on her.
"Romanoff," you greet, "you suck. Do you know that?"
The red head furrows her eyebrows in confusion as she stops in front of you, and you feel Yelena snort in amusement.
"What?"
"You just had to put on your big girl pants and ask out Maria didn't you." You scold, and Natasha's cheeks flush red. "Thanks to you, I have to carry this heavy lump around for the entire day. Do you know how much my arms are aching already? It's been two hours," you continue, unbeknownst to a confused Maria who had just entered the compound behind you. "I swear to god you better make this relationship with Maria work. You better get married, have babies, the whole shebang because after this I'm never going to be able to carry anything ever again and it's all your fault."
Yelena suddenly cackles, and you pull her away from you slightly. She was shaking in silent laughter and when you turn in place slightly, you see why.
Maria was standing there, and her cheeks were just as red as Natasha's were.
"Get to work ladies." Was all you say before you head through to the large living room area, collapsing onto the couch with a small groan. Yelena ends up sat on your lap facing you, and you send her a small grimace as you shake out your aching arms.
"Oh my god," Yelena chokes out through her laugher as she collapses against you, "their faces. That was great."
You chuckle slightly as you wrap your arms around her midsection, "I'm glad you're amused lena. Now please can we stop this? My arms really hurt." You beg, pressing your lips in a gentle kiss against her clothed shoulder.
But Yelena shakes her head as she continues to laugh silently, and you knew you had absolutely no chance in getting out of this.
Yelena eventually gets herself together and sits herself up in your lap, "I have a meeting with stark, Natasha and Bruce," she pokes your nose. "Carry me there and you can have a few hours break."
You roll your eyes, "How kind of you." You mutter as you reluctantly rise to your feet, hauling Yelena up with you.
"Oh I know." She grins.
*
You do end up having a few free hours to yourself, and you spend that time mostly lounging on the couch snacking on sour cream and onion chips whilst watching TikTok's. Your arms throbbed slightly with a dull ache anytime you moved them, and you were dreading the second Yelena got back and demanded you carry her again. The end of the day could not come soon enough.
With a small sigh, you bring your attention back to your phone. You got through thirty seconds of the video before your phone buzzes, Yelena's contact name appearing at the top of the screen.
Squishy: come get me
You: What, no manners?
Squishy: please
You roll your eyes as you begrudgingly rise to your feet, heading towards the conference room you knew Yelena and the rest of the avengers to be in. When you push the door open, you see the room empty bar Yelena. You couldn't help but roll your eyes at the sight.
"Really? You couldn't walk a measly two minutes to get to me?" You raise your eyebrows as you close the door behind you and ease yourself down onto the table in front of her.
Yelena smirks, "I could have. I just decided not to. I'm done for the day so we can go home now." She raises her arms.
You huff as you bend down, but when an idea that was most certainly in your favour suddenly comes to mind, you stand back up with a smirk on your face.
Yelena puts her arms down with an frown, "What?"
"New bet,” you start, “If you can do it, I'll carry you around all day tomorrow too. If you can't, the initial bets off and you can use your own legs."
Yelena raises a challenging eyebrow as she stands up and cracks her fingers, "You're on."
"You," your index finger presses firmly against her chest, "are going to carry me home without a single word of complaint."
You were taller than Yelena by about four or so inches, but your builds were similar meaning you only weighed a few pounds more than her. Yelena was pretty damn strong with all the training and working out she does, so she should be able to do this with no problem.
Yelena suddenly smirks, "You call that a bet? I could carry two of you for miles with no problem." She goes to bend down and scoop you over her shoulder, but you take a light fistful of her hair and gently tug her backwards. She looks at you with a small frown of confusion.
"The same way I carried you this morning," you cut her off, and though it wasn't all too noticeable to someone who didn't know her, you see her gulp and you knew you had her right where you wanted her.
"Well? What are you waiting for?" You tease when you see her visibly hesitate.
Yelena glares at you, and you couldn't help but yelp when she suddenly yanks you up into her arms.
"You are so going to lose." She mutters as she begins to walk out of the room, and you snort in amusement as you wrap your legs around her waist and rest your arms around her shoulders.
"You know, I'm not so sure about that." You say as you play with the end of her braid, "but I'll take your word for it."
*
Yelena was struggling. That was easy for you to see. She wasn’t quite showing it, but you could tell by the way she’d suddenly gone silent after muttering insults in Russian underneath her breath for ten minutes straight. The arms beneath you had begun to tremble ever so slightly, and with the way your chest was pressed against your own, you could feel it heaving. There was also a slight sheen of sweat glistening on her forehead.
You were half way home now, and you were unsure if she’d make it without losing the bet. But you see, Yelena was the most stubborn person you knew, so you were well aware she’d struggle until she was in pain just so she’d win.
“How you doing lena?” You question as you tighten your legs around her waist, trying to make it just a little bit easier for her because whilst you wanted to win just as much as she did, you weren’t cruel enough to want to see her in pain.
“Fine.” She grumbles as she comes to a stop to bounce you up slightly, and you roll your eyes at her stubbornness as you sit back in her arms slightly to cup her cheeks. They were flushed and slightly sticky my with sweat, but you still press a gentle kiss to the skin anyway.
“You can put me down. Losing isn’t the end of the world.” You attempt to sooth her, but she simply clenches her jaw and continues to walk.
Knowing there was no way of convincing her stubborn butt otherwise, you lean forward in her arms and rest your head against her shoulder. You glide your hands through her hair, fingers combing through the slightly tangled tresses.
The rest of the journey was done in a comfortable silence, and by time you make it home, you could tell Yelena was now actually in pain. Once you’d unlocked the door for the both of you, she stumbles inside and dumps you rather unceremoniously onto the couch.
You look up at her with an eyebrow raised in amusement, “Good job. Is the pain worth it?” You grin as you sit yourself up.
Yelena rolls her eyes, “Suka.” She mutters underneath her breath as she leaves the room.
You roll your eyes fondly. Looks like you’d lost after all.