games
After the incident in the bathroom, Yelena noticed that there was a shift in pace. The people around her seemed to give her a wide berth and even Bobbi seemed to be busy.
The recruits are leaving Yelena alone, which was good on one hand. On the other hand, nobody wished to partner up with her for exercises. There was a new instructor that barely glanced at Yelena twice.
So Yelena lingers in the back and waits and watches as she observes the strengths and weaknesses of each recruit.
And then Bobbi walks in and finds Yelena doing nothing.
“What are you doing?” Bobbi demands and Yelena shifts because by the way she carried herself Yelena knew that Bobbi was in ‘trainer’ mode. While still her friend, Bobbi pushed Yelena in ways she didn’t when she was in trainer mode.
“Observing,” Yelena replies honestly as Bobbi strides across the gym toward her. Eyes flicker to look at them and their partners take advantage of their distraction.
“Get into stance,” Bobbi said and Yelena shifts into her stance, watching Bobbi sink into her own stance. “Come at me.”
So Yelena does and Bobbi knocks her down.
“Again!” Bobbi said and Yelena glances at the others still watching before Bobbi snaps her fingers. “Eyes on me. Not them.”
Yelena climbs to her feet and attempts again, once again knocked down.
“Up.” Bobbi orders and Yelena climbs to her feet. “Come on. I know you can do this, stop playing around.”
Yelena hesitates before going again.
Bobbi was rough that time as she takes Yelena down. Yelena winces when Bobbi’s elbow slammed into her gut as she was taken down.
“Again.” Bobbi demands and Yelena clambers to her feet once again. “Look at me. Are you going to let me win?”
“No,” Yelena replies, shifting into stance once more.
Bobbi nods at her and Yelena darts forward to take her down. Bobbi slammed her down against the mats again.
Bobbi doesn’t let her up this time, her face leaning in until it was just inches away from Yelena’s. “I know you know this move. Why are you holding back?”
Yelena stares up at her before her eyes flicker away.
“Hey,” Bobbi snaps her fingers again. “Look at me. Eyes, Yelena.”
Yelena forces herself to look back up at her. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
Bobbi gripped Yelena’s chin and stares into her eyes. “I trust you.” Bobbi said before letting her go and getting up. “Again.”
Yelena climbs to her feet and shifts into stance once again.
This time she does it properly and Bobbi lets out a grunt as Yelena pins her to the mats quickly.
“Atta girl,” Bobbi praised from under Yelena’s hold. Yelena lets her go, climbing to her feet and offering her a hand up. “Twice more and then we’re good.”
Yelena easily and quickly takes Bobbi down twice more.
The next time Yelena was scheduled to fight with Bobbi, Hunter shows up instead.
“Hey tiny!” He greets her as he strides into the room. “Bobs can’t make it today.”
Yelena feels like everyone is walking on eggshells around her. She knows that they’re hiding something and she can’t help the voice in the back of her head telling her that they’re going to try and separate her from her sister.
“You’re training me today?” Yelena asked, looking up at him.
“Technically, Bobs told me to tell you to give you the day since there wasn’t notice of her abrupt leave,” Hunter tells Yelena. “But she also had bruises on her bruises from sparring with you.”
Shame floods through Yelena and Hunter quickly continues.
“Bobs likes the hurt sometimes. Said it helps her learn,” Hunter said and Yelena didn’t understand that but dropped it. “You want to go for a few rounds?”
Yelena points a finger at the whiteboards. “Those are my rules.” She tells him, watching Hunter walk up to the boards to inspect them. “Don’t break them.”
“Calling the shots, huh?” Hunter hums, his eyes scanning the words before nodding. “Alright. Prepare to get your butt whooped.”
Yelena wrinkles her nose but settles into her stance. Hunter falls into one similar to Bobbi but adjusted for his height and build.
Yelena was used to dealing with big men and easily takes Hunter down within seconds. Hunter lets out a surprised wheeze from where Yelena pinned him to the mats.
“Jesus, tiny! You’ve been holding out on me!” Hunter grins and Yelena moves away so he can stand. “Let’s go again!”
They end up going ten times and Hunter only wins one of them. He’s grinning like a fool when they finish.
“Damn,” He lets out a low whistle. “You really are Bobs attack guard.”
“Am not,” Yelena wrinkles her nose at the name. “You are.”
“Am I?” Hunter raised an eyebrow and Yelena grin.
“Yup. She can make you sit just with one look,” Yelena nods her head. “She calls you and you show up with snacks.” Yelena reaches down from where she had pinned him, ruffling his hair. “Good boy.” She cooed sweetly and Hunter lets out a bark of laughter.
“I get it, I get it!” Hunter reaches up and flicks her forehead. “Get off me, midget.”
“Is your repertoire of nicknames all making fun of my height?” Yelena rolls her eyes, climbing off of him. “I am a growing girl.”
“Sure, sure. Maybe another inch,” Hunter pinches his fingers a few centimeters from each other. “Like, that much.”
“At least I’m growing taller and not wider,” Yelena shoots back and Hunter flexes his arms.
“It’s called muscle. You’re all bony,” He retorts with a wiggle of his eyebrows.
Yelena looks up at him. “Where’s Bobbi?”
The abrupt question quiets Hunter down. “Uh, dunno. Classified.”
Yelena scrunches her face up at the word before sighing. “Can I ask you something?”
Hunter draped an arm around her shoulder and gave her a noogie. “Course you can.”
Yelena shoves him off of her, smoothing her hair down. “I feel like everybody is hiding something from me.”
“Not a question,” Hunter points out before shrugging. “We’re a secret government agency. We’re hiding a lot.”
“I don’t see my sister a lot. They keep sending her out. I feel like they’re taking her from me,” Yelena blurts in a moment of weakness and wistful longing for her big sister.
Hunter’s playful stance shifts at the topic. “They’re not taking her from you.” He said with such assurance that Yelena tries to believe him.
“Maybe not… but I feel like they are. They’re quiet now. The Commander. Coulson. Even Bobbi,” Yelena folds her arms. “I don’t like it.”
“Listen, they’re not going to separate you and your sister,” Hunter said, approaching her and setting a hand onto her shoulder. “Don’t worry about it.”
“That’s like telling me to ignore a house that’s on fire,” Yelena said and Hunter raised an eyebrow at the analogy. “Whatever. Never mind, I’ll try.”
“Good,” Hunter nods his head. “How about me and you play some video games. Clint’s not very good at Halo.”
“Halo?” Yelena repeats with a small frown. “What’s Halo?”
Hunter lets out a gasp, looking down at her. “Right. Have you ever played video games before?”
“I learned to play Pac-man as one of my covers. They made me play until I could get a high enough score…” Yelena comments, unsure of what answer he was looking for.
Hunter is staring at her with wide eyes. “We need to fix that. Go get showered and meet me outside the locker rooms, I’m gonna teach you to play video games.”
“Why would I need to learn that?” Yelena asked him.
“You don’t need to learn it. But it’s fun to play,” Hunter tells her. “Not everything you learn has to be useful.”
“What do I do with it though? Why would I learn it if it’s not useful?” Yelena questioned Hunter and the man reaches up to scratch his chin in thought.
“Man, they really fucked you up, huh?” Hunter comments and Yelean bristles at that. “Calm down, tiny. What do you like to do for fun?”
Yelena stares at him for a few moments, unsure of what answer he wanted.
“Tiny?” Hunter prompts and Yelena eventually shrugs. “Come on. If you need to be persuaded into playing video games then call it hand-eye coordination.”
“Okay,” Yelena concedes, and Hunter fist-pumps.
“Yes!” He grins. “Now go shower.”
Yelena heads into the locker room and showers before changing, still feeling the lurking echo in the back of her mind whispering that there was something big being planned behind her back.
Yelena shoves the thought away, pulling her hair back into a ponytail and meeting with Hunter, who had also showered and changed, outside the locker rooms.
Hunter leads her to his room. Yelena is a little uneasy about the prospect of being in a man’s bedroom but also knows that she can take him down if he tried anything as proven by their sparring matches earlier.
Hunter, as if sensing her nervousness, offers her the seat with a clear shot to the door. There’s a television mounted on his wall and a gaming system already set up.
“Right, since you’re just learning then we’re gonna start you off easy,” Hunter holds up a video game case. “Super Mario 64.”
Yelena watches as the game loads up and Hunter rifles through a minifridge before pulling out and tossing a can of beer at her.
“How old do you think I am?” Yelena questioned. Hunter paused, looked at her, and raked his eyes over her form before shrugging.
“I won’t tell if you don’t,” He comments, cracking open his own. Yelena looked down at the beer, debated about it for a moment, before she too popped the pull tab and took a swallow.
Hunter teaches her how to play Super Mario. The beer helps settle Yelena’s nerves some and she finds herself glancing at the door to ensure a straight escape less and less.
Yelena doesn’t realize how long she and Hunter had been playing for until the door to Hunter’s room swings open and Bobbi steps in.
“Hunter, we can’t find--” Bobbi paused when she saw the two of them. “Oh, there she is…” Her eyes then fall onto the two beer cans sitting on the coffee table and she lets out a sigh. “Oh fuck, did you give her alcohol?!”
“They’re mine,” Hunter said, snatching Yelena’s can up and drinking the rest of it just to prove a point. “What kind of person do you think I am?” He then whispers not so quietly to Bobbi. “How old is she?”
“Not enough to drink,” Bobbi moves toward Yelena. “Your sister is looking for you. Couldn’t find you.”
Yelena twists to glance at the clock by Hunter’s bed and her eyes grew wide. She hadn’t realized how much time had passed. “Thanks.” Yelena passes the controller to Hunter.
“Wait!” Hunter calls out to her, stopping her from leaving. Yelena twists to look back at him. “Did you have fun?”
Yelena paused, looked at the television, and then down at the controllers held in Hunter’s grip before looking back up at him and nodding.
Hunter lets out a cheerful whoop as Yelena leaves the room.