Marvel Women One Shots

A deep breath...of water - Yelena Belova

Truth was, I don't know how to swim. I never learned when I was little. My parents weren't in my life a whole lot, so I never really got to experience things that most of the kids were experiencing, like learning how to swim. It never really got in the way of things though. Sure, not knowing how to swim made me boring at the beach and at pools, but it never really bothered me. I was used to being the boring person.

I had never told Yelena that I had never learned how to swim though, which was one of the reasons why I didn't want to come to the beach with them. When she insisted that I come, I just couldn't say no to her and her puppy dog eyes. I just figured I could sit at the water line while the two of them messed around in the deeper parts of the water.

It wasn't that big of a deal, not knowing how to swim. It was just that everytime I told people, they would always make fun of me and give me shit for it. I would always get the same response, that it was dumb that I didn't know how to swim. I didn't want to go through the same thing with Yelena, because I knew she would tease me for it. I know, that's petty, but it's just the way my brain works.

"Y/n! Come on!" Yelena called, waving for me to come in the water with her.

I just shook my head, squatting down in the ankle deep water and began fingering the sand a little.

After a few moments, there was the sound of wet, stomping footsteps. Yelena appeared in front of me, dripping wet with her hair all crazy.

"Come on, you have to get in the water." she tried, gesturing at the ocean before us.

"I am technically in the water." I retorted, smiling up at her.

"Y/n, being three inches in the water doesn't count." she smirked, sitting down in the water right next to me.

"I know. I'm just not in the mood to get in the water yet." I sighed, giving my girlfriend a tiny smile. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be boring."

"Hey, it's okay. I'll sit here with you, keep you company." she smiled, scooting closer to me.

"No, it's fine. Go be with your sister. This trip was so you two could spend some time together." I urged, trying to find an excuse so she could go have fun, because in reality I wasn't going any deeper into the water.

"I know, but I want you to have fun too." she tried, joining me in playing with the sand around me.

"And I will have fun. Trust me, it'll be fine. Go be with Nat." I smiled, looking over and catching Natasha's eyes for a moment.

"Are you sure?" Yelena asked, and I could see how badly she actually wanted to go have fun with her older sister.

"I'm sure." I nodded.

After a beat of silence, Yelena, smiling brightly, muttered a quick thanks and 'I love you' before pecking me on the cheek and running off towards her sister in the deeper end of the water.

I watched the two sisters as they swam about. Yelena splashed water at her older sister, starting an all out war between the two of them. Natasha eventually tackled Yelena and dunked her under the water in a fake attempt to drown her. The blonde instantly took hold of Nat's legs and took them out, making Nat fall with a big splash into the water. A little laugh escaped me when I saw Nat splutter and try to get above water.

Sighing, I began looking around the beach area from where I was sitting. The gentle endings of the waves were lapping against my legs as I took in the sights.

There was a pier on one end of the beach, crowded with people who were walking back and forth from the boardwalk and the pier.

On the other end of the beach was a cliff edge, and I could make out a few smaller crowds of people gathered at the edge, presumably for cliff diving into a deeper part of the ocean. The cliff wasn't that high up, but was tall enough to apparently make the experience exhilarating. I'm not sure what people saw interesting about that, but people were still there, jumping and diving into the water.