Things Are Almost Perfect

Chapter 16 and 1/2 ~ Jingle Bells, Tony Smells, Yelena Got a Gift

I know it's kind of late....

But here's a short Christmas chapter!

This is kind of an A/U off of the ending of Hawkeye (which was amazing btw, go watch it if you haven't already)

((Also, I decided to steal the half chapter thing from ShyCourage.... I like it...... I steal it))

When Clint suggested, (somewhat more like demanded), Yelena come to his house for Christmas to spend it with him and his family, she wasn't sure what to think.

Christmas had always looked like a fun holiday. Yelena had always thought that the trees were cool, and as a child, the thought of getting presents was exciting, but years of not celebrating holidays, she didn't see a reason to start now.

But still, Yelena couldn't help but have a little bit of wishful thinking around the holiday. A small part of her wished that she could experience the same joy that others had on the holiday, on all the holidays actually. However, the Red Room had never supported holidays, and so Yelena had never had a real one, and over the years the wishful thinking had grown smaller.

And when Clint had suggested that, it had returned, and so Yelena agreed, on two conditions. The first being that Fanny had to come, if she couldn't Yelena wasn't going. The second, if Yelena didn't enjoy it, she would leave, and Clint wouldn't do anything to stop her.

(Yelena also insisted that she was only doing this because her sister would have wanted her to if she was still alive. And that that was the only reason. (Clint didn't believe it for a second))

Clint agreed with the conditions without hesitating, and so, on Christmas Yelena found herself standing on the front porch of Clint's safehouse, hands tucked into her pockets and Fanny waiting happily at her side.

Laura was the one to greet her at the door with a cheery hello before pulling her into the house. Stomping to shake the snow off her boots and blowing on her hands to warm them up, Yelena looked around.

The main living room was filled with a warm, flickering, firelight that danced cheerily across the walls. A large tree draped with lights and ornaments sat in one corner, a pile of brightly wrapped presents at its base. The room was filled with more people then Yelena would have liked, Pepper talking to Bucky. Sam was playing a game with Peter, Cooper, Lila, Nathanial, and Morgan, a dog that Yelena didn't recognize, lounging by their feet. Kate was sitting on the couch having a conversation with Clint, that was probably about arrows, and a heavenly smell was drifting in from the kitchen.

Fanny trotted happily into the warmth and over to the kids and the other dog, where she was met with lots of affection.

"Glad to see you could make it," Clint said to Yelena, standing up to greet her.

Yelena gave him a fake smile, "Yeah," she lied, "I'm glad too."

A while later, after many conversations and some amazing food, everyone gathered next to the Christmas tree and Laura passed around gifts.

To Yelena's surprise, Laura stopped next to her and handed her two presents, "These are for you."

"For me?" Yelena echoed, "But... I haven't done anything to earn them."

"You've done plenty," Laura said, smiling, "And you're part of our family, you deserve some gifts."

Yelena took the gifts from her and watched as everyone opened theirs before tearing the wrapping paper off of whatever she was holding.

Under the wrapping paper were two normal looking boxes, and Yelena felt her excitement ebb away. It was just like in the Red Room. There was nothing in the boxes.

"Are you gonna open those?" Nathanial asked.

"Oh uhm, yeah."

And so she did.

Inside the first box was a brand new set of throwing knives, and Yelena found herself grinning at the discovery. But the thing inside of the second box was so much better.

It was a stocking.

A very normal looking red stocking with a white trim at the top and a golden Y decorating the middle. It honestly didn't seem like that much. But to Yelena, it was everything.

She had never gotten a real gift before, let alone one on Christmas, for her, and only for her.

Yelena's grin grew bigger.

"Sorry that it's not much," Laura said to the young woman, "I didn't have much time to shop for you and wasn't really sure what you would like."

"Don't be!" Yelena replied, "It's perfect!"

A few hours later, it was time for Yelena and Fanny to leave, though neither of them were happy about it.

Clint was the last one to say goodbye to Yelena, "Will you be coming on New Year's Eve? We're having another big New Years party."

"Yeah," Yelena nodded, "I'd be down for that."

"Great! I'll text you the info about where we'll be meeting. You better actually show up!"

Yelena smiled, "I'll be looking forward to it."

And this time, she wasn't lying.