I
The crash, when it comes, is a dozen high clinks, loud and noisy. Natasha’s up in an instant, gun in her hand, and peering into the darkness of her bedroom. She’s already making her way to the source of the sound when she spots a moving figure in her living room. They’re shuffling towards the light switch quite awkwardly—something you shouldn’t do in a planned break-in. How would you break into SHIELD, though? You’d need to be skilled in many things, something a—
Oh.
A Widow would have the skills needed.
Natasha studies the ‘Widow’ closely, following her movements.
Almost.
The ‘Widow’ doesn’t notice her. Or is just ignoring her. Natasha hopes it’s the first option.
Close—
Natasha aims, shooting at the figure. The ‘Widow’ dodges the bullet by an inch and it lands on the wall, creating a hole.
Ugh. Her newly painted wall. How will she explain this to Fury?
“What the— bitch —”
Wha—
“Yelena? What are you doing here?” Natasha asks, incredulously.
“What does it look like, dimwit, I’m visiting you,” Yelena says, flicking on the light. Well, at least the bullet didn’t land on the light switch. Fury definitely wouldn’t like a fire hazard in her apartment.
“In… in America?”
“No, in Russia,” Yelena rolls her eyes, making herself comfortable on the couch.
Natasha’s clean couch. That’s very white and very easy to stain. Even the smallest thing would make it ugly. That’s what you get for going for a modern look in your inchoate apartment.
“Get off of my couch!” Natasha scolds, taking a look at Yelena’s outfit. God. How many army surplus vests does she own?
“I come all the way to America to visit you and you greet me with this?” Yelena makes her accent thicker, purposely. She lies down on the couch, with her boots still on. With—is that mud? On her boots?
Ew.
It hasn’t been raining. And Yelena would need to make mud herself and then step on it. Yeah, that’s something Yelena would do.
Spoiled, annoying, brat. Natasha grimaces.
“You could’ve warned me, I almost shot you to death.”
“Hah!” Yelena bursts out. “With that aim of yours? You’re growing soft.”
“No, I would’ve shot you. And what about you? I heard that crash. What did you break?”
Yelena winces, “Nothing, it was planned to wake you up. I just dropped a glass jar filled with salty white stuff.”
Salty white stuff?
“Yelena, you know it’s salt. You can’t fool me. And I keep the salt on the counter,” Natasha points out. “Why would you drop the salt out of everything? And hold up,” she backtracks. “Did you clean it up?”
“No,” Yelena admits. “But, I may have accidentally knocked it over when I was looking for food.”
“Did you find anything to eat?”
“Obviously not! You don’t even have mac ‘n’ cheese or Fruit Roll-ups,” Yelena pouts.
Of course, she doesn't have mac ‘n’ cheese or Fruit Roll-ups. They don’t give you enough energy. Well. Maybe the mac ‘n’ cheese does but not the Fruit Roll-ups. Plus, why does Natasha need that kind of food when SHIELD provides everything she needs?
Natasha makes her way to where Yelena is laying down. “You can stay until morning, the cafeteria will have food.”
“I’m not staying,” Yelena says.
“Why not?” Natasha groans. Working for SHIELD isn't always fun.
“I’m sure the pirate won’t mind an ex-assassin agent breaking into SHIELD,” Yelena yawns.
“Fury won’t if he knows you’re with me,” Natasha insists.
Yelena rolls over, practically falling to the ground in the process. She steadies herself by placing her hands on the floor.
“I need to free a Widow.”
Natasha straightens her back. Finally! A nice, easy-ish, kind of challenging mission!
“I can help you, please?” Natasha asks. Anything to distract her and to spend time with her sister.
“Aw,” Yelena drawls, her accent thickening. “Did you miss me?”
“Yes, you idiot,” Natasha surprises herself by saying the truth. “It’s so boring here! Clint’s visiting his family, Maria is being her usual hot self—”
Oh god.
She did not just mention that. And in front of Yelena? She’ll tell everybody she knows!
Yelena raises an eyebrow. “Usual hot self? Does little Natty have a crush?”
“I’m older than you,” Natasha shoots back. “And no. I do not have a crush. In fact, I do not like her at all.”
The truth. Since when does the truth sound so much like a lie?
Yelena grins, sitting ramrod straight. “I wanna meet this Maria that stole Natalia’s heart!”
Natasha huffs, collapsing on her couch. Can’t Yelena just wait until it’s morning and after Natasha has had her share of coffee?
“Whatever, you can meet her if you stay,” Natasha negotiates.
“Prostite ( sorry ), Natashka, Melina said that this Widow needs to be freed,” Yelena says, actually sounding sorry for once.
Huh.
Looks like she isn’t as annoying as Natasha thinks.
She grumbles and closes her eyes. “At least stay the night?”
Yelena agrees and Natasha leads her back to her room.
“Do you still need cuffs?”
“No,” Yelena shakes her head. “Melina helped me get rid of the habit.”
Yelena takes off her boots (thankfully) and curls up next to Natasha. They fall asleep one after another. The younger one falls asleep almost as soon as she hits the bed.
Natasha makes a mental note of forcing Yelena to sleep and eat more the next time they see each other.
//
(When Natasha wakes up the next morning, she’ll whistle the familiar tune to find out Yelena is gone.)
(Yelena was never going to stay, was she?)
(Natasha would respond to the tune herself, gazing out the window. Window, Widow. It’s funny how close they sound. She’ll be thinking about Maria—
God.
Maria. Why is Natasha always thinking of her? She makes her stomach flutter with butterflies. Not with spiders. Dreykov made Natasha’s stomach crawl with spiders. Butterflies are different. Butterflies are good.)
(Maybe, by the time Yelena visits again, Natasha won’t be feeling all giddy and excited every time Maria’s name is mentioned, so she can prove that she does not, in fact, have a crush.)