en pointe
It’s only a few months into Yelena’s training with May when Clint interrupts them, slightly out of breath from running. “I need to borrow Yelena.”
“Can it wait?” May questioned, raising an eyebrow at him.
“No. Not really,” Clint turns to look at Yelena. “It’s about your sister.”
Yelena jerks toward him. “What’s wrong?” She demanded. She glanced at May warily.
“You’re dismissed,” May tells her and Yelena turns back toward Clint. She follows him out and back down the hallway he came from, jogging to keep up with him.
“What happened?” Yelena demands, sliding around a corner with him and past other agents.
“I dunno. We were training and something triggered her and she’s all stabby now,” Clint replies as they approach one of the smaller training rooms.
Yelena falters in her step when she sees Coulson blocking the doors. “Sir…”
“Yelena,” Coulson said and the sound of her first name made Yelena relax. “I don’t want you going in there unless you think you can help her.”
Yelena opens her mouth to snap at him before clenching her jaw before she said something that could warrant her punishment. “I can help.”
She’s relieved that she doesn’t have to push past Coulson and that he steps out of the way for her to enter.
She immediately spots Natalia pressed against one of the walls, her face blank as her hands clasped in front of her with her head bowed.
Yelena approached her, purposefully making her steps loud as she nears and stops a few feet away from her. “Natalia.” She spoke, switching to their mother tongue.
Natalia makes no acknowledgment that she heard Yelena.
“En pointe,” Yelena demands and Natalia immediately shifts onto her toes. Yelena doesn’t hesitate to lift herself up as well. “First position.” Doing ballet brought them into a safe headspace because they knew exactly what to do. They couldn’t mess it up. It was safe and it was easy for them.
Natalia’s heels move together as her feet point outward, Yelena dropping to follow.
“Good. Second position,” Yelena coaxed and the two slide their feet in a parallel line, their toes still facing outward. “Third position.”
Their left foot raises to rest their heel against the instep of the right foot. Yelena lets out a hum of approval before calling out the next. “Fourth position.”
Their left foot slides to rest 12 inches in front of the other, both of their feet turned out. “Fifth position.” Yelena continues and their feet move to press the heel of one foot against the toe of the other. “Arabesque.”
The girls lift themselves up onto the toes of one foot, leaning forward to extend their other leg behind them, their arms outstretched to keep balance.
“Attitude.” Yelena calls out and they shift to bend the knee of their raised leg ninety degrees to the back of their body.
Yelena looks at Natalia. “Are you back with me?”
Natalia’s eyes flicker to look at Yelena. Yelena drops her form and Natalia hesitates before following and giving a jerky nod. “I need--” She trails off.
“I know,” Yelena does. She moves to get back into position. “En pointe!”
Natalia follows and Yelena taps the tempo onto her stomach before humming to the music they usually danced to.
The two girls dance through their usual routine. Yelena’s already tired from training but she keeps going despite the protesting ache in her toes and ankles.
Yelena comes to a stop in front of Natalia when they finished, both girls breathing harshly from the long and difficult routine. Yelena reaches up to cup her sister’s face, pleased when she doesn’t pull away. “Better?”
Natalia leans forward into Yelena’s touch, letting out a small hum of confirmation as her eyelids fluttered shut.
Yelena brushes her thumb along Natalia’s cheeks and the bridge of her nose and brow. Natalia lets her head fall forward into Yelena’s hold.
“It’s safe,” Yelena whispers to her. “I’m here. I will protect you.”
Natalia reaches out to curl her fingers into Yelena’s tank top and pulled her closer so she could wrap her arms around her.
Yelena holds her sister until the fluttering heartbeat in her chest settles down as the panic and fear fade away.
Natalia pulls away and Yelena drops her hands so that Natalia could cup her face in turn. Yelena smiles up at her when she feels her sister gently brush her fingers along her cheek and forehead.
Natalia then pulled away and turns toward the door where Yelena could see the shadow of Coulson still standing there.
“You’re supposed to be in training,” Natalia comments quietly and Yelena lets out a hum of confirmation.
“You’re more important than training,” Yelena said. “May dismissed me for the day.”
Natalia moves toward the door and pulls it open. Coulson jumps and turns to face her, giving her a smile when he sees her. May was standing there next to him and they don’t even bother to hide that they were eavesdropping.
“Nice to see you back with us, Natalia,” He said, glancing at Yelena. “You did a good job.”
Yelena doesn’t understand why the praise sends a flood of warmth through her. She can’t help the small smile that crossed her face briefly.
“I think that we’ve had enough training for the day,” Coulson tells them. “Shower up, get something to eat, and then you’re free for the rest of the day.”
“Belova, a word?” May asked and Natalia glanced at her.
“Go.” Yelena nudged Natalia’s shoulder. “I’ll catch up.”
Coulson walks with Natalia toward the showers to ensure that nobody bothered her. Yelena glances up at May and waits for her to speak.
“I didn’t know you could do ballet,” May comments, and Yelena ducks her head down.
“You never asked…” Yelena mumbles quietly.
“How long have you been doing it?” May questioned and Yelena glances up at her in confusion.
“Every day from four to ten hours since I was six,” She replies honestly, watching as a brief flash of surprise flickered over the woman’s face.
“If you are up to it then I’d like to ask you to teach me,” May said and Yelena froze, staring at her SO with wide eyes.
To admit that they didn’t know something was forbidden. To ask for help learning it was preposterous. SO’s knew everything and if they didn’t know then you wouldn’t know that.
“You can say no. There is no pressure for you to do this,” May tells her. “But I think it would benefit both of us if you could teach me something in turn.”
“I can teach you…” Yelena slowly nods her head. It was mainly to satisfy her curiosity.
What would happen if May handed Yelena the power? How would Yelena react to being put in charge of teaching someone something?
May’s lips twitch up in a smile. “I appreciate it. We can start tomorrow if that’s alright.”
Yelena nods her head and May dismisses her.
Yelena showers and changes into her uniform and finds Natalia who was with Clint. Clint had snuck them some junk food and American candy.
Yelena talks with them about May and the offer extended to her. Clint looked delighted at the fact that Yelena could “boss the boss”.
Natalia brushes her fingers over Yelena’s damp hair. “Are you sure about this?”
Yelena nods her head and the next day when she showed up to train with May, there was another whiteboard.
“You got to set out rules to make you feel safe while I was training you. These are my rules,” May said.
Yelena knows that this was a test. To see if she would stay within the parameters set out for her. Still, she nods and starts.
May listened quietly as Yelena explains different positions and mentions how to not hurt herself. May learns quickly but still had trouble picking up at some parts.
Yelena abruptly stopped herself the first time May messed up. She nearly backhanded the woman like she was used to doing to the others she taught.
She tucks her hands close to herself and clenched her jaw and took a moment to breathe before correcting May.
May lets out a small hum after their training. “You did well today.”
“Shouldn’t I be the one telling you that?” Yelena raised an eyebrow.
“You respected my boundaries and taught me in a way that’s different from what you’re used to,” May replies before reaching a hand out so Yelena can see it before resting it onto the teenager’s shoulder. “I’m proud of how far you’ve come.”
Yelena can count the times that the Red Room praised her on one hand and still have fingers left. She doesn’t know how to deal with the sudden surge of pride and joy that flowed through her. She’s smiling widely before she can help herself.
May lets out a fond sigh. “You’re dismissed. Go find your sister.”
Yelena flees the room until she finds her sister and slams into her, wrapping her arms around her and nuzzling close.
Natalia thinks something is wrong at first until she sees the grin on Yelena’s face and understands immediately that Yelena doesn’t know what to do with the joy in her body.
Yelena knows how to handle anger and pain and sadness and fear. Positive emotions are unfamiliar and it makes her feel weird. Natalia holds her close, letting Yelena just simmer in whatever made her happy.