shooting
Yelena found Clint Barton to be a bit of an odd man. Coulson was Clint’s handler so the duo met while Coulson was babysitting Yelena while Maria was in a meeting.
Unfortunately for the rest of SHIELD, Yelena and Clint got along like a house on fire. And nobody could really be mad at the duo when they see Yelena finally acting like a child.
Yelena likes Clint. He sometimes overwhelmed her when he got loud and excited but he was goofy and knew plenty of places to hide.
Clint seemed to be the kind of man who knew when to be serious and when it was okay to joke around. Yelena suspects that he has some hidden children somewhere but she’s the only child on the helicarrier so she quickly discards the thought.
Clint teaches her how to shoot a bow and arrow. Yelena’s never dealt with such simple means before. She’s used a gun and she’s used a knife and even her bare hands but never a bow and arrow. She didn’t even realize how useful they could be until Clint shows her that the arrowheads could be customized.
She watches Clint shoot first, perched upon a crate of weapons as she observes his stance. Clint eventually glanced at her and asked her. “Wanna try?”
Yelena does. She slips off the crate and approached him. Clint doesn’t hesitate to hand the bow to her.
Adults will constantly remind Yelena that weapons are not toys, like she doesn’t know that. Some know where she came from, see her using a butter knife to cut her sandwich, and will remind her of that.
Yelena could think of fifteen different ways to kill Clint standing right next to her with nothing but her hands. She doesn’t think they realize that she is a weapon. That she knows what knives and guns to do.
But Clint? Clint doesn’t tell her to be careful or that they’re not toys. Yelena appreciates that. She appreciates that he understands where she came from and her comprehension level.
“Just don’t scratch the paint,” Clint warns with a teasing wink as Yelena’s fingers wrap around the handle of the bow. It’s heavier than she thought and she takes a moment to weigh it in her hand, turning it over to learn it inside and out.
Clint is quiet as she does so, letting her do what she needed to feel familiar and comfortable with the weapon.
When Yelena finishes, she glances up at him and gives him a small nod. He proceeds to kneel next to her and show her how to hold it.
She practices drawing the string back a few times. She struggles, having not realized just how hard it was. Clint made it look easy and effortless but then again he was an adult man and she was a child.
“Right,” Clint finally pulls away. “Wanna try a real arrow?”
“Yes, please.” Yelena watches as he reaches toward one of the arrows with nubbed tips that bounce off of the target. She’s not upset that he doesn’t hand her a regular arrow right away, she understands that she needs to get a feel for the weapon. She learned how to use a gun the same way, shooting blanks until they were deemed competent enough to not shoot their own foot.
Yelena misses the target by a lot on her first try. Clint doesn’t clasp her on the shoulder or tell her that she did great. He merely holds another arrow out and tells her to try again.
So Yelena does.
Then the string snaps against her forearm against one shot and Yelena drops the bow in shock, the stinging feeling in her forearm having startled her but not really hurt.
“You gotta adjust your wrist,” Clint tells her how to fix the problem instead of babying her over the injury. “Ready to try again?”
Yelena rubs the reddening skin along her forearm for a moment before picking the bow back up again.
The first time Yelena hits the target, Clint holds his fist out. Yelena glances down at the hand and then looks back up at him, not understanding what he wanted.
“It’s a fist bump, kiddo,” Clint explains, showing her what she was supposed to do with his other hand. “It can be used as a greeting or a sign of approval.”
Yelena holds up her own fist, glancing up at Clint before reaching out and gently tapping her knuckles against his. She doesn’t know if she did it correctly but Clint is grinning at her widely so she figures she did something right.
Yelena doesn’t realize why her face hurts so much until she realizes that she’s grinning back at him and she’s not used to giving genuine smiles.
Yelena picks up the bow and tries again.
Yelena gets a few bullseyes and shares fist bumps with Clint each time. Clint eventually gives her a new arrow type to try out, telling her to notice the difference in weight and shape.
The shooting range is littered with arrows by the time they’re finally interrupted.
“What are you doing?” Maria’s voice demands and it startles Yelena, who was asking Clint about suction cup arrows and how much weight they could hold.
“Long meeting?” Clint greets Maria, pulling himself to his feet.
“What the hell is this?” Maria demands, gesturing to the shooting range.
Clint blinks at her like it was a trick question. “Making sandwiches.” He said sarcastically. “Maria, what does it look like we’re doing?”
Maria steps toward Clint and Yelena notices the aggressive stance. She sets the bow down, hastily backing away as Maria jabs a finger at Clint.
“You’re teaching my kid to shoot?” Maria demands and Clint holds his hands up to placate her.
“She already knew how to shoot, just showing her a new thing,” Clint shakes his head. “Everything was fine, Maria. There’s no need to be a helicopter mom.”
“You never thought twice about handing a child a weapon?” Maria questioned in a hiss. “She’s ten!”
“You think I don’t know that?” Clint replies calmly. “She’s not an infant, Maria. She is not a normal child either. She knows what she’s doing.”
“You don’t just hand children weapons, Clint,” Maria continues like Clint hadn’t said anything.
“You’re babying her,” Clint retorts, holding a hand up to silence whatever Maria was going to say in reply. “You’re a soldier yourself. Doesn’t having your gun on you make you feel better? She’s a soldier as well and you refuse to let her have any weapons, treating her like she’s going to intentionally slice her hand open if you even give her a butter knife.”
“She shouldn’t need weapons!” Maria says sharply. “God damned it, Barton--”
“Stop it, Maria, yer scarin’ her!” Clint finally snaps at her and Maria abruptly goes quiet, spinning to look at Yelena who had clasped her hands over her ears at the shouting.
The fight and anger abruptly leave Maria. Yelena watches, hunched in on herself with the worry that she had done something wrong. If she knew Maria didn’t want her to shoot then Yelena wouldn’t have done it. But Yelena liked it. She liked the feeling of the bow in her hand.
Maria approached Yelena and the girl can’t help but flinch slightly in anticipation of punishment that always comes after yelling. Maria inhales sharply, thinking for a few moments. Yelena remains stiff, her hands still clamped over her ears as she chews on her lower lip in worry.
Maria finally turns and leaves the room without another word. It baffles Yelena and she doesn’t know if she’s supposed to follow her or wait. She slowly lowers her hands, glancing warily at Clint.
“Maria’s not mad at you,” He says, taking a seat on the crate. “Wanna come sit with me?”
Yelena notices that he doesn’t approach her, giving her the option to approach him instead. Yelena slowly shuffles toward him until she can take a seat next to him. They sit quietly for a few moments as Yelena tries to get her breathing back under control. She hadn’t even realized it until Maria left.
“Hey, Clint?” Yelena finally pipes up and the man lets out a hum of acknowledgment. “What’s a helicopter mom?”
“Ah, heard that, did you?” Clint shrugs. “A helicopter mom is a mother who is overprotective and overbearing.”
“But Maria’s not my mother. I don’t have a mother,” Yelena replies. “Why would you call her that?”
A small sad smile crosses Clint’s face. “I guess it slipped out.” He answered with a shrug. “Maria loves you, do you know that?”
Yelena wrinkles her nose. “Love is for children.” The reply is automatic. “Besides, nobody loves people like us.”
The smile drops off of Clint’s face. “Hey, look at me.”
Yelena tilts her head up to peer up at the man, startled at the sudden seriousness in his tone.
“Nobody is unlovable. And maybe Maria isn’t your mom but she’s your family. Maria loves her family and just wants to protect them,” Clint explains. “That includes you. You’re her family too. Unfortunately for people like us in this line of work, we become isolated from our families. They can’t be used to hurt us so we rely on each other, make another family here. Maria’s my family.”
“And she loves you?” Yelena questioned.
“She might call me an asshole and a dumbass but she loves me,” Clint nods his head. “And I love her. She’s my family and I don’t have a lot of that but I’m grateful for everyone that I do have.”
“Hey, Clint?” Yelena questioned once again and Clint grunts. “You can be my family too.”
A genuine smile crosses his face this time. “Thanks, Yelena. You can be my family too.”
Yelena smiles back at him before looking down at the red skin on her forearm that was starting to bruise.
Clint checks his watch and groans. “I’ve gotta go. Don’t forget what we talked about, ‘kay?”
Yelena nods, sliding off of the crate to head back to her room.
Maria joins her much later on, asking if she can sit next to Yelena on the bed. “I’m sorry for yelling earlier.” Maria apologizes, taking a seat when Yelena nods. “I don’t know everything like everyone thinks I do. I didn’t even really think about the whole weapons thing until Clint brought up a few good points.”
Yelena watches as Maria draws a sheathed knife from her pocket.
“Here. This is for you,” Maria says and Yelena’s eyes widen slightly. “I trust you to not hurt yourself with it and only use it in an emergency.”
Yelena reaches out to take it with a little prompting. The feeling of the blade in her hand immediately makes her feel better. “Thank you, Ria…” Yelena whispers, pulling the blade from the sheath to inspect it.
“I didn’t realize how unsettled you must have felt without a weapon on you,” Maria says apologetically. “I’m sorry.”
“No more apologizing,” Yelena didn’t like apologies. “This.. this is good. Thank you.”
Maria smiles, reaching out to ruffle Yelena’s hair slightly. “Good. Go get washed up for dinner.” Maria stands.
“Wait--” Yelena blurts out and Maria pauses. Yelena thinks over how to phrase her thoughts. “Uh… Clint said-- he said that you love me… is that true?”
Maria approaches Yelena once again, this time crouching in front of her instead of taking a seat beside her. “I do. I haven’t told you because I wasn’t sure if you were ready to hear it.”
“I’m not Alyssa,” Yelena can’t help but remind Maria.
“Maybe I loved Alyssa Daniel but I love Yelena Belova so much more,” Maria holds her arms open and Yelena readily slides forward into her arms. “I love you, Yelena.”
Yelena remembers what it felt like to love and be loved in return. She thinks of her older sister in Ohio who loved and protected Yelena just as Maria had done.
“I love you too, Ria,” Yelena replies hesitantly, unsure if Maria expected her to say it back.
Maria squeezes Yelena tight, affectionately kissing the top of her head.
Yelena thinks she could just stay wrapped up in Maria’s hold forever, safe and loved.