Always You

Chapter 8: Sister

As time passed, Yelena grew more tired and told herself she'd stand up soon and go up to her bedroom. Y/N just looked so comfortable and truly, she was pretty comfortable herself. She'd spent the last two hours running her hand up and down their back as they stayed snug next to her.

While she did, she began to feel herself drift off. I'll just close my eyes for a few minutes... she thought.

Before she knew it, the sun was peaking through the window. She'd managed to accidentally fall asleep where she was with Y/N laid on top of her. Somehow, they still had not managed to wake and were still fast asleep on her stomach.

Overnight, she'd slipped down a bit on the couch and Y/N's head had made its way from her stomach to her shoulder. Their arm wrapped tightly around her torso made her feel safe as she rubbed her cheek on the top of their head and hugged them gently, doing her best not to wake them.

More than anything, she wanted to just scoot down and wrap Y/N's arms around her fully. She just wanted to pull them in close and feel the warmth they'd been radiating all night. Their arm around her just like this made her feel safe, but she yearned to feel them pull her close, to feel their soft, sleeping breaths on her neck as they laid just behind her.

Friends do that, right? She thought.

Sadly, she wasn't sure. Yelena hadn't had many friends. She'd only been free of the Red Room for about six months and was still learning how to even function as a normal human. Some friends she'd seen on shows were rather touchy, but when it came to holding someone close like she wanted to do with Y/N, it was always in a romantic manner.

So, she did her best to quietly slip out from under Y/N's arm without waking them. She gently laid their arm down and headed out of the living room. Before she reached the stairs, she turned back to look at them.

A damn heavy sleeper, she thought, that's for sure.

But this was the right thing to do in her mind. She wasn't sure how Y/N would react and she also didn't want to risk Nat coming down to see the two of them cuddled up like that. Things were confusing enough without her input.

When she made it to her room, the alarm clock next to her bed read 7:03 am. A few more hours of sleep would do her well. She needed to shake the night from her brain and get herself back on track for her mission.

Yelena finally fell back asleep a few minutes after laying in her bed, but Y/N managed to wake up not long after she'd gone. It was nearly 7:45 now and they finally stirred awake. Stretching their arms back and their legs out, they looked around to see if anyone else had woken up yet.

Unsurprisingly, they were the first up and decided to go ahead and try to go for a run. Today would be filled with lots of planning and preparing for their assignment. A few miles to themselves would be helpful to sort through the thoughts they'd been having the past few days.

As they slipped on their shorts and shoes, they heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Leaving me?" Nat said with her mouth dropped jokingly in shock.

Y/N laughed, "Of course not. I'm going on a run, actually."

Nat turned on her heel before looking back over her shoulder, "I'm coming. I need to get a good run in. Wait for me?"

"You have two minutes, Romanoff!" They yelled jokingly as she ran up the stairs to get dressed.

Within the next minute, Nat was running down the stairs to meet Y/N at the door, "Alright let's get going!" She yelled as she ran out the door past them.

Laughing, they jogged out the door and caught up with her quickly. The morning was bright and the weather was beautiful. It had been a while since either of them had been able to experience nature like this.

Half a mile down the road, after a few minutes of talking about the weather and scenery, Nat remembered something she'd noticed the night before.

"I have a question," She asked through forced breaths as she jogged alongside Y/N.

They looked over and smiled, urging her to go on.

"Do you know that you cuddle up to people when you sleep?" She asked with a grin.

Their jog slowed a bit as they pondered the question, but they continued on, "I mean I knew I did with Daisy and I remember doing it with you a few times, why?"

Nat laughed to herself and tried to keep it down. She'd gone downstairs the night before to grab some water and saw Y/N laid comfortably on her sister's stomach. It didn't bother her to see this, but she started to wonder now that she'd said something if it was a good idea to bring up.

Seeing how Yelena acted the night before when she'd left to go to bed showed how uncomfortable it made her. Talking to Y/N might not be the best idea, but she couldn't help her curiosity.

"Well, I came downstairs last night and saw you cuddled up to Yelena. It looked like you had laid over her. I'm not sure if she was aware, or if you were, but I figured I would ask," She said as her smile faded a bit, worried that it might make them uncomfortable to hear what they'd done.

Fortunately, all they did was laugh in response, "Now that you say that, I vaguely remember waking up in the middle of the night and seeing that I was on someone. I thought it was a dream if I'm being honest."

It seemed innocent. They must not have known, but Nat couldn't help but want to pry a bit further. It was clear to her how Yelena was feeling. The way she looked at them and how excited she got when she knew they'd stay for the assignment spoke volumes. However, Y/N was hard to read.

They'd been best friends for nearly ten years now, but every time they were interested in someone, Nat wasn't able to tell unless Y/N told her themselves. To be fair, they'd only ever been with Daisy in the time she'd known them anyways. Trying to gauge how they were when it came to romantic feelings wasn't easy.

Sadly, she couldn't think of how to ask. The innocence in their answer stooped her. There wasn't even an ounce of awkwardness in their tone whenever she'd told them what she had seen. Instead, she decided to leave it alone.

The two jogged nearly four miles together and barely missed a beat. Their times were just off when they used to train together, finishing up around half an hour after they'd left the house. When they returned, they slipped off their shoes by the door before Y/N called dibs on the shower first.

"I made breakfast yesterday. Today, it's your turn!" They said as they raced her down the hall to the bathroom, just barely making it in and locking her out.

"You asshole!" She laughed as she heard them laugh maniacally while starting the shower.