till forever falls apart

words from isabel

Stubbornly, the first thing that Isabel insists on when she sees Yelena is to play a game of UNO.

It reminds Yelena of their earlier sessions where they'd just play games in relative silence and she'd talk about stuff so surface level that the sessions felt pointless. She understood later that it was a slow build of trust that Isabel carefully constructed and respected her more for it.

"I didn't know you make housecalls," Yelena finally says, muttering a quiet "uno" when she puts down her second to last card.

"I think these are the specific circumstances that would warrant it," Isabel replies, putting down a plus two card and earning a grunt from Yelena.

"Who called you?" Yelena responds, begrudgingly picking up her two new cards and watching as Isabel goes again.

"Your Kate," Isabel replies, "She was worried about you."

"Everyone's worried about me," Yelena retorts, placing a card and waiting for Isabel to make her next move. She twists the one ring she put on this morning with her free hand, biting her tongue a little too hard as she awaits a response.

"Do you like that you have people that care so much about you?" Isabel asks, placing her next card and saying a soft "uno."

Yelena switches the color to blue before sighing, "Well, when you word it like that, I feel like an asshole."

"Why?" Isabel draws a card and Yelena goes again, now on her last card again.

"I'm not used to it," Yelena responds, letting out an irritated noise when Isabel's card switches the colors again, "It's overwhelming."

"In a good or bad way?" Isabel asks as she wins.

"Can we start again?" Yelena asks as Isabel stacks the cards up, "and I don't know. It's nice to know there are people concerned, I guess, but I'm used to doing these things on my own. It's like... I don't know."

Isabel shuffles the cards, "It's a change in your normal."

"Yeah," Yelena shrugs, twisting her ring again, "I don't like change."

"So you've said," Isabel shuffles the cards again, "do you want them to leave you alone?"

"Not alone," Yelena sighs, grabbing her water bottle and taking a long drink from it, "but not... what's the word? It's not overwhelming..."

"Overbearing?"

"Yeah," Yelena nods, "I don't want them to be so overbearing. It's so stressful."

"I can imagine," Isabel deals out their cards, "So, why not ask them to leave you alone?"

"I don't want them to not come back," Yelena replies, looking over her cards and then at the cards on the table, "I go first?"

"Mhm," Isabel responds, "so, how would you ask them then? You don't want them to leave you alone entirely but you find it overwhelming for them to be hovering constantly."

Yelena hums as she thinks, placing her first card on the stack and flicking her cards back and forth against her thumb, "I guess... I'd ask them to give me some space?"

"That sounds like a great plan," Isabel says softly, placing a card of her own, "now... have you gotten a diagnosis yet?"

"I don't remember the name of it," Yelena admits sheepishly, "It starts with an O and it's a kind of cancer. Natasha would probably be more able to explain it. And the doctors are basically going to kill me to cure me, in Wanda's words."

"How have you dealt with that news?" Isabel asks, drawing two cards when Yelena puts that card down.

"I don't know," Yelena sighs, a little irritated with all of the questions. It feels like the first few sessions where Isabel was constantly just trying to get a read on her, "Kate Bishop read all of the side effects last night. They suck."