Chapter 22
Yelena doesn’t know how to plan a date.
So she goes to the person she knows holds the most relationship knowledge.
Tony was working in his lab when Yelena approached him.
“Hey,” Yelena steps into his view so she doesn’t startle him when she spoke.
“Hey yourself,” Tony hums, focused on soldering something. “What can I do for you, kiddo?”
“I asked MJ on a date,” Yelena said, shuffling in place when Tony’s head jerks up to look at her.
“Congrats… didn’t realize you liked MJ like that,” Tony sets the soldering iron down. “What can I do for you?”
“I have absolutely no idea what to do as a date,” Yelena admits quietly. “I have absolutely no idea what people do in relationships.”
Tony lets out a hum. “I appreciate that you felt you could come to me about this…” He said. “Come take a seat.” He points at the couch.
Yelena sits on the couch, watching him curiously as he turns off the hot iron before moving to sit next to her.
“Right.” Tony nods his head. “Let’s talk.”
Yelena watches as he pulls up a hologram that’s blank.
“What do you know about going on a date?” Tony questioned and Yelena shrugs.
“Uh… just what I’ve seen in American movies and the Red Room,” Yelena admits quietly. “You… go out and kiss and hold hands?”
“Not necessarily,” Tony said as he glanced at her. “Going on a date if just spending time with someone you like. It’s often about getting to know someone better.” He wrote that down on the hologram with his finger.
Yelena watches in confusion. “Oh. I’ve gone on plenty of dates with MJ then.”
“Not really,” Tony shakes his head. “This is your first proper date. You want to do this as a couple, right? Not just friends?”
Yelena nods her head. “Right. I want to do this because I like her. A lot.”
Tony grins at her but doesn’t tease her about it. “That’s great. What do you think people do on dates?”
“Uh… the movies say that they go out to eat or the movies,” Yelena said and Tony lists that on the hologram. “But with SHIELD and Ross, I’m not allowed to go out without one of the ‘big ones’ and I don’t want them to go on the date with me.”
Tony nods his head. “So you’re limited to the tower. You can still do plenty of things here.”
“I want this to be special. I want MJ to know how much I like her,” Yelena admits sheepishly. “MJ comes over all the time and we’ve done a lot of stuff in the tower.”
“MJ should like you for you, not because you give her things,” Tony said, writing that on the board. “But I have an idea if you’re willing to hear it.”
Yelena perks up, nodding her head. “Yeah.”
“You ever been on a picnic?” Tony questioned and Yelena stared at him.
“When in my sixteen years of existence, ten of them being in the Red Room, would I have had time to go on a picnic?” Yelena questioned incredulously.
Tony rolls his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. What do you know about stars?”
Yelena blinks at the abrupt turn in conversation. “What are you trying to ask me?”
Tony shrugs. “Answer the question, kid.” He said, writing PICNIC under the last bullet point he made.
“I know how to find the north star, and a few other constellations as one of my covers when I tried to get in good with an astrophysicist,” Yelena finally admits. “Why?”
Tony writes STARS under PICNIC. Yelena stares at the word because it was one of her trigger words.
Now it’s just a combination of letters.
“What kind of food does JJ like?” Tony questioned and Yelena lets out an exasperated sigh.
“You know her name is MJ. Call her Michelle if you must,” Yelena huffs but there’s a grin on her face.
“Right. TJ,” Tony nods his head, grinning when Yelena laughs. “Food?”
“She likes sweet things. Baked goods, mainly. But she also likes sour candy and really spicy food,” Yelena relays the information, watching Tony list it. “Why are you writing down everything?”
“Shh, I’m helping,” Tony pressed the capped end of the marker against Yelena’s lips to quiet her. “Now, how good are you at dancing?”
“I know thirteen types of dancing,” Yelena said. “Including ballet, contemporary, ballroom, tap dancing, jazz--”
Tony cuts her off. “Great. I’m going to give you the tools you need and this list and you are gonna do the rest.”
“What?” Yelena yelps. “I came for help to plan this!”
“And I have given you what you need,” Tony gestures to the hologram. “I can’t do everything for you. JJ wants to go on a date with you, not me.”
Yelena supposed that was fair. She looks at the list, thinking hard. “What if I screw everything up?”
“You know, the very first time I went on a date with Pepper, I got so nervous that I threw up,” Tony said. “Pepper thought I might be drunk but I was just so nervous because I really liked her and I wanted to make things work. We’re still going steady despite that awful first date. A date is a formality. You can date her with no big fancy dates like the one you want.”
“But I want this. I want to do this,” Yelena ducks her head down embarrassedly. “I want to make MJ happy. I like it when she smiles.”
Tony sets a hand onto her shoulder. “You are a good kid and I know that she’ll like whatever you plan. You could scrap this whole list we just did and just sit and eat popcorn and watch a movie in the living room if you wanted.”
Yelena chews on her lower lip in thought before nodding. “Thank you, Tony.”
“No problem, kiddo,” Tony senses the conversation is over and leaves the hologram up as he moves to sit back at his workstation and heats the iron back up again.
Yelena’s in the middle of planning her date with MJ when Natasha and Maria show up. Their faces are the picture-perfect definition of calm and that’s why Yelena knows something is wrong.
Natasha didn’t hide her face around Yelena. Not anymore.
“What’s wrong?” Yelena stands from where she had been thinking over the list.
“We need to make a pitstop at SHIELD,” Maria said and Yelena looks at Natasha.
“What? Why?” Yelena demands, fear ebbing into her tone. “I don’t wanna go.”
“Fury is holding your identity and the files on Ross hostage. He wants to negotiate terms,” Maria said with a sigh. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t careful and got caught.”
“What kind of terms?” Yelena asked quietly, all thoughts on her date with MJ gone as she focused on the situation at hand.
“Yelena, I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” Maria reaches out and sets a hand onto Yelena’s shoulder. “But we can’t push this off.”
Yelena swallows hard, glancing at Natasha. Natasha slowly shakes her head as she agrees with Maria.
“I want Coulson there,” Yelena said immediately. “And I want to carry weapons on me. And I need my vest. And--”
Natasha steps forward and wraps her arms around Yelena. “I won’t let anything happen to you. Take a breath.”
Yelena inhales sharply, curling her fingers into Natasha’s shirt. She pressed her face against Natasha’s shoulder. “He scares me.” She whispers the admission against Natasha’s collar.
Natasha cups the back of her head. “He just likes to throw around his weight. I won’t let him hurt you.” She said it with such sincerity that Yelena couldn’t help but believe her. “Go get dressed. Do what you need to do. I’ll be here talking with Maria.”
Yelena slowly peels away and heads to her room, pulling the red vest out from where she had tucked it away with her old soiled green one. She pulls it on the weight feeling familiar and comforting. She loads the pockets with weapons before finally inserting the photo she took with her everywhere. The photo strip of her and Natasha as children.
Yelena then heads back down to the pair and she follows them out to Maria’s car, her thumb running along the tracking bracelet Tony made her.
She had people who would keep her safe. She had to trust them.
So much for date night, though.