Chapter Text
To say she was tired would be an understatement.
The cab pulling over out the front of the Avengers Compound jolted her awake a bit, as Natasha hurriedly handed some cash to the driver and pulled her tired body out of the backseat. She ignored the way the driver’s eyes followed her and quickly made her way over to the building, letting herself in and watching the lobby disappear as the elevator doors closed. She checked the time on her phone as she leaned against the wall, her back sore from the long flight and the bruises on her arms uncomfortable.
1:37 am.
Nat sighed. Sometimes, she really hated the fact that she was one of the only Avengers who didn’t have some sort of enhancement, like Steve or Wanda, or some awesome suit, like Tony or Peter. Because she was probably the only one who needed ibuprofen after a fight. Or stitches.
(Not that she’d come back from this mission injured. Sure, the guy had taken her by suprise- not that she would ever admit it- and had gotten in a few decent punches before she’d taken care of him. But the point still stands.)
Getting out of the elevator, she crossed the hall and walked down to her room. Everyone was asleep, or at least in their rooms, by this stage and she knew that she’d need to debrief tomorrow. Right now, however, she was ready for a hot shower, a glass of whatever alcohol she happened to have in her room at the moment and to sleep for about 24 hours straight. Good luck to whoever was sent to wake her up the next morning.
But of course, it wouldn’t be that simple. Nat hesitated by her door, ear pressed to it. No, she wasn’t delusional, there was definitely someone in there. She couldn’t tell who it was because they weren’t talking, but she could hear them walking and the sound of them moving some pots around in her kitchen. She frowned. It didn’t sound like one of the other Avengers, and she prided herself on being able to recognise their footsteps. It prevented situations like this.
Nat sighed. At least she had the element of surprise, she thought to herself as she opened the door slowly, slipping in and silently pulling a gun out of the cabinet drawers. Steve would kill her if he knew that she kept one right there. She held the gun up and pointed it in front of her as she rounded the corner into her kitchen before cursing and putting it down. “Ты шутишь, что ли? <are you kidding me?>"
Yelena looked up, seemingly confused at her outburst, before turning back to the skillet in front of her. “You don’t have any smoked salmon.”
“Why would I- Yelena, what are you doing in my apartment?” Nat glared at her, still tired and aware that she was unintentionally taking out her irritation at life on her sister by everything by blood.
The blonde wasn’t phased by her tone. “I’m making blini!”
Natasha’s eyebrow went up. “At 2 in the morning?”
“Yes, but we’ll have to eat them plain because someone doesn’t stock their cupboards with the necessary ingredients for toppings.” Yelena’s voice was unimpressed, as though not having the right toppings for blini, Russian pancakes, was a worse crime than breaking into someone’s apartment and cooking.
Nat realised that she still held the gun in her hand and put it down on the counter, grabbing the plate of food off her sister and walking over to the lounge.
“Those aren’t just for you so you’d better share.”
“What are you doing here?”
Yelena pouted. “You’re so boring, can’t we just hang out?” At Natasha’s glare, she relented, giving in. “I was in the neighbourhood.”
Natasha shook her head. “Wrong answer, try again. This compound is miles away from anything.”
Yelena sighed. “I freed the other Widows, and I realised I missed my sister. Is that too hard a concept to grasp?” at Nat’s dubious expression, she rolled her eyes. “Can I eat the blini now? Unlike you, I actually cooked them.”
“Using my ingredients, so I think that makes them mine.”
“It doesn’t work like that.”
“It does. But I’ll give you one out of the goodness of my heart.” Natasha smiled sweetly as she handed one over.
“ Спасибо <thank you>.” Yelena gruffly replied.
They got distracted, watching some movie that Yelena had put on. The green screen was terrible, the acting dodgy, but then again, channels didn’t usually put the popular shows on in the middle of the night. It’s not exactly going to get viewed by many people other than Russian spies eating pancakes.
Natasha’s phone pinged as Yelena started to tell a story, one of her few fond childhood memories of when she’d first been taught to make blini. Pulling it out, she swiped up, a smile appearing on her face.
Steve Rogers: are you back yet?
Natasha Romanoff: yeah, just got back to the compound. why are you still awake?
Steve Rogers: i’m watching a movie. It’s really bad but i can’t seem to be able to turn it off? I’m gripped at this point.
Natasha grinned, her fingers quickly typing out a response.
Natasha Romanoff: i think i’m watching the same one. low budget, cute brunette?
Steve Rogers: that’s the one
She watched the typing icon for a second, but either he was writing a really long message, wasn’t sure what to say, or had forgotten to press send. Either option was possible with Steve.
She was so distracted that she hadn’t noticed Yelena had stopped telling her story. She’d pretty much forgotten about the blonde until her phone was snatched from her grip and held out of arms distance while Yelena looked at who she was texting.
“Ooh, Steve Rogers. Oh! Captain America, right?”
Natasha ignored the question, reaching for her phone. “Give it back!”
Yelena raised an eyebrow. “You two text a lot. Is there something I don’t know about going on here?”
“What? No, of course, there isn’t. Stop reading my texts!”
“I’m only skim reading.” she defended.
“There isn't a difference!”
“There’s a very big difference, google it.”
“Maybe I could google it if you gave me my phone back!”
“Ooh, he sent you a text! Wait, I’ll read it to you.”
“Yelena-”
Yelena dropped her pitch, doing her best imitation of Steve. “Want to come over and we can watch together? It might make the painful experience of this movie more entertaining.” she squealed. “Natasha, he’s asking you on a date!”
“What? No, he’s not. It’s just a movie night, we have them all the time.”
“All the time?” she wiggled her eyebrows.
Nat rolled her eyes. “Platonically. Now give me my phone so that I can reply.”
“Too late, I’ve already sent something.”
“Yelena!”
Natasha Romanoff: yeah sure. can i stay the night?
Nat reached over and yanked the phone off her sister, reading what she’d sent before shoving her away. “I can’t believe you just did that! Oh my God, this is so embarrassing.”
“It’s actually kind of funny.”
“It’s definitely not. I’m going to murder you.”
Natasha Romanoff: shit sorry. i didn’t send that text. i meant to say i can’t but maybe next time cause i’m super tired rn and i want to go to bed
Steve Rogers: who sent the message if you didn’t?
Natasha Romanoff: well
Natasha Romanoff: i dropped my phone
Steve Rogers: and it sent a whole message?
Natasha Romanoff: it bounced off a few things on it’s way to the floor
There was a moment’s pause before his response came through.
Steve Rogers: right
Steve Rogers: goodnight then?
Natasha Romanoff: yeah. see you tomorrow
Steve Rogers: sleep well
Nat shut off her phone and groaned, staring at the ceiling for a minute before glaring at the blonde. “You are in so much trouble.”
“I think you should say things like that more often. Then you might actually get together someday.”
“You barely even know each other! And we’re not going to get together someday because we don’t like each other.”
“You didn’t see your face when you started texting. It was so embarrassingly love-struck. I felt like I was watching Disney.”
Natasha glared at her. “Love is for children.”
“And Avengers. Honestly, haven’t you heard that saying?”
“That’s not a saying! You just made that up.”
“Ask Captain America if it’s a saying. I bet he’ll agree that Avengers can fall in love.”
Nat groaned loudly, exasperated beyond belief. “Shut up. I’m going to bed.”
“I’m staying in the guest room,” Yelena called after her.
“Why can’t you just show yourself out?”
“I would, but I don’t have anywhere to stay in New York. So deal with it.”
Nat slipped her shoes off and flopped backwards onto her bed, too tired for a shower or anything anymore. It was warm that night, a comfortable temperature, which made her eyes instantly close. Whether the temperature was to do with the actual weather, or just Tony’s fancy technology, who knows, but it was nice and Nat couldn’t find it in her to complain.
“спокойной ночи <goodnight> ” Yelena called softly from the other room.
Natasha echoed the words, her voice calmly replying in her maiden tongue. Since moving to the USA and working for S.H.I.E.L.D, she’d always found the Russian language soothing, relaxing.
She was asleep in minutes.
The door swung open almost instantly after he knocked. “Shh, you’ll wake her up.”
A blonde girl, maybe in her late twenties, pulled him into Natasha’s apartment and shoved him in the direction of the living room section.
Steve opened his mouth to say something but she was already speaking again. “I was going to make her breakfast but I don’t think she ever plans on waking up.”
His eyes shot to her upon hearing that. “Where is she?”
The woman seemed to realise too late how that might sound. “She’s alive, I didn’t kill her! Don’t worry. She got back really late and she’s still sleeping, she’s in her room.”
Steve was opening the door to Natasha’s room before she had even finished her sentence, quietly poking his head in to check that she was okay. Her red hair stood out boldly against the white of her pillow and he could see the way her chest rose and fell as she breathed in and out slowly. He shut the door after watching her for a moment and turned to the other woman in the apartment. “Does Natasha know you’re here?”
“Of course she does. What, you think I broke in?” she laughed lightly, moving into the kitchen and pouring herself a glass of orange juice.
“Then who are you?” Steve asked, following her.
“Yelena Belova. You must be the famous Steve Rogers,” she smirked, as though there was some sort of joke behind that.
“And how do you know Natasha?”
The smirk faded slightly. “She hasn’t mentioned me?”
Steve narrowed his eyes, trying to think if the name rang any bells. Her accent was Russian, and her name sounded Russian. He doubted she was someone from Nat’s past because he knew that after Clint had brought her in, she hadn’t stayed in contact with anyone. As far as he knew, she didn’t have any family either. She had gone to Russia recently for some mission. Maybe she’d met Yelena there?
“No. She doesn’t talk much about her private life.”
Yelena snorted. “Some things never change,” she mumbled.
“I guess. So, how do you know her?” he asked again, confused and curious now.
Yelena opened her mouth but another voice cut her off. “She’s my sister.”
Steve spun around to look at Natasha but Yelena didn’t even look surprised. “доброе утро <good morning>. он действительно горячий. Я понимаю почему он тебе нравится <he’s really hot. I get why you like him>
“Молчи <shut up>.” Natasha’s eyes flicked from Yelena to Steve. “Do I have to go to the debriefing?” she casually asked.
“You have a sister? Since when?” He asked dumbly, his eyes flicking between them.
“Usually, the way it works is that girls have been sisters since the younger one was born-” Yelena sarcastically stated.
Natasha interrupted her, rolling her eyes. “We’re not actually sisters.”
Yelena rolled her eyes back. “Mood kill.”
“What?” Steve was confused. It made him feel weird, realising for the millionth time that just when he thought he knew Natasha, there was more below the surface.
“We were raised as sisters. It was… undercover, I guess you could call it. For three years, when we were kids.” Natasha said bitterly, still resentful towards the whole situation. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Natasha-” Yelena started.
“не сейчас, Елена <not now, Yelena>.” Natasha turned back to Steve, who stood awkwardly in the corner of the kitchen. “I’ll come with you to the debriefing in a minute, just let me get ready.”
He nodded and then awkwardly stood in the kitchen as Yelena left, running after her sister.
“Natasha.” Yelena sat down on the edge of her sister’s bed as Natasha dug through her wardrobe, looking for a shirt to go with the jeans she had pulled on earlier, before coming out to talk to them.
“What is it? I don’t want to talk about it.” she frowned, pulling out a black, short-sleeved tee.
“It’s not about that.”
Natasha sighed. “Yelena, I have to go in a few minutes. Cut to the chase.” she tugged off the shirt she’d been sleeping in and pulled on the new one, shooting her sister a look.
Yelena rolled her eyes. “Can I stay with you for a while? I don’t really have a job so I can’t afford an apartment in New York. And you have a spare room…”
Natasha narrowed her eyes. “Why do I feel like you have an ulterior motive for this?”
“I don’t. Promise. I’ll even be on my best behaviour.”
The older girl stared at her for a moment longer, before Steve interrupted them, shouting from the other room that they had places to be.
Nat sighed. “I’ll talk to Tony, alright?”
“Yes! Thank you!”
“You better make me Pelmeni for dinner though. You have all day after all.”
The door slammed closed behind her and Yelena sighed in exasperation. “Yes, mum.”
She knew she wasn’t really annoyed though.