Warnings: none...I think
Sorry if this one kinda sucks. I've been going through a bit of a writers slump lately.
I hate goodbyes. You never know if it's going to be the last one you're going to tell that person. Saying goodbye sucks ten times worse if it's someone you care about.
Yelena and I were standing on the landing pad at the Avengers Compound, a gentle breeze sending slight shivers up my spine. The morning sun was just beginning to peek through the nearby trees, casting a warm red glow to the surroundings. Natasha could be heard muttering profanities from inside the Quinjet, probably frustrated with something not working or that we were taking so long to say goodbye.
My girlfriend had been called in to help with a mission when Natasha came across some information about newly escaped widows from the Red Room. Naturally, the red head and the blonde wanted to find them and help. They knew how confusing the world could be after just escaping from that place.
Widows rarely escape from that hellhole. I had heard the horror stories from Yelena and Natasha, who I was a fellow Avenger with. If there were some escaped widows running around, then that means they would be hunted, not just by Dreykov, but by other interested parties. Nat and Yelena needed to get to them before anyone else could.
First they needed to find them. That was the hardest part and the reason for this preliminary recon mission.
"Bye baby, I'll see you later tonight." Yelena said, pulling me into a kiss.
"Promise you'll be safe?" I asked, holding her by her hips so she couldn't escape.
"I promise I'll be fine. I'm a trained professional." Yelena smirks at me, soothingly rubbing my shoulders.
"That doesn't exactly help reassure me." I giggled, knowing that Yelena was in fact, a child at heart and can be reckless.
I had tried to talk them into letting me come on the mission, but it was such a personal mission to the both of them, that they decided it would be for the best that I stayed behind as backup.
"I'm serious, y/n. I promise I'll be fine. It's a simple recon mission. I've run dozens of them before. Plus, if something does go wrong, which nothing will, I'll have Nat there to back me up." Yelena took my hands off her hips and held them tightly, giving them a reassuring squeeze.
Knowing that Natasha was going to be on this mission as well helped calm my nerves slightly. At least Yelena wouldn't be alone if something did go wrong.
"Yelena, we need to go." Natasha called, sticking her head out of the Quinjet.
"Remember, I'll be back before you know it. You have the whole day to yourself." Yelena tried to help me look on the brightside.
"But I want the whole day with you." I pouted, not wanting to let go of her hands.
"You'll have the whole day with me tomorrow. I promise." Yelena pulled me into one last kiss, then turned to leave and board the Quinjet.
I watched the superjet take off, still feeling the lingering butterflies that Yelena's goodbye kiss stirred up. I knew they both would be alright. It was just a recon mission. But so many missions had gone wrong in the past that I couldn't help but believe something would go wrong with this one. Maybe I was jinxing it, but all I wanted was for the both of them to come home safely.
I turned on my heel and wandered back inside once the Quinjet had flown out of sight. I still had no idea what the hell I was going to do today. In a way, I felt lost without the blonde bouncing along next to me, suggesting we go do something fun like go-karting or paintballing. Yelena was always up for trying something new, wanting to make up for the lost time that the Red Room had taken from her.
Wanda gave me a half hearted smile when she saw me shuffle into the living room. I must have looked upset from the look of sympathy she was giving me.
Eventually, I wandered up to my bedroom that Yelena was temporarily sharing with me, given the fact that she was technically a visitor, here only for the mission she was currently working on.
I changed out of my pajamas into a pair of leggings and an oversized t-shirt that belonged to Yelena. A small smile crept onto my face when her scent hit my nose, filling me with a slight sense of comfort.
Now on to what to do for the day. I knew what I was going to end up doing, because I did this every time Yelena or someone else close to me went on missions. I had a bad habit of going and sitting in the conference room, monitoring their comms channel and watching their blips move around on the map. It was the best I could do to give myself some kind of reassurance that they were alive. Yelena never liked it when I did that and Wanda said that it wouldn't help my anxiety. I begged to differ.
Eventually I found myself there, sitting down in the conference room, pulling up the live mission data. Their comms hadn't been activated yet, considering they had just taken off like ten minutes ago. I watched their tracker blips move across the screen, content in just being able to know where they were.
I heard the door to the room open and close behind me, quiet footfalls filling the room. Wanda appeared next to me, placing a plate of food down right next to me.
"I figured you'd be here." she said quietly, placing a cup of coffee down next to my plate.
"Thank you." I whispered, grabbing the coffee and taking a timid sip, being careful not to burn my mouth.
"You know they're going to be ok, right?" she asked me, leaning against the table and crossing her arms.
"Yeah, I know."
"Then why are you in here?" She was quiet, wanting to help.
"So I don't spontaneously combust." I joked, picking up the plate of breakfast and beginning to pick at the food.
Wanda just laughed, shaking her head at my sarcastic response.
"I'll leave you alone then. Wouldn't want to be around you when that happens." Wanda turned around and went to the door, obviously not wanting to try and convince me to go and do something else with my day.
Their blip eventually settled, indicating that they landed.
"Secure channel seven." I heard Natasha's voice come through the speakers.
"Seven secure." Yelena replied.
Somehow, I smiled like an idiot when I heard her.
The two of them began the recon portion of the mission, scouting the area, exchanging banter, information, eventually splitting up to cover more ground. I didn't like that they did that. I didn't like that Yelena was off on her own.
But nothing happened. Surprisingly, the mission was going smoothly.
"Nat, I've got eyes on the widows." Yelena announced.
I leaned forward, studying the map of the area they were in. Yelena's tracker blip was blinking one end of the screen, while Nat's was a few streets down.
"How many?" Natasha asked, her blip moving to rejoin her little sister.
"Two. They're young, maybe late teens."
"On my way. Keep an eye on them."
"Really? Because I was just going to look the other way." Yelena retorted. I snorted at her comment. Her ability to always be able to crack jokes never ceased to put a smile on my face.
Soon, Nat's blip joined Yelena's and their comms were silent.
Hours passed, Wanda brought me lunch, wanting to know how things were going. She left me alone once again, and I kept sitting there until early evening.
I watched their tracker blips split up once again.
What the hell were they doing? Maybe the widows went off in different directions.
"Yelena! They're being followed. Hydra is here." Natasha half yelled into her comms.
"Wha-" Yelena's response was cut off by a sharp crackle of static.
"Yelena? Yelena, are you there?" Natasha asked, her tracker blip stopping.
Static.
I felt my heart clench, my breath catching in my throat.
"Yelena, answer me!" Natasha ordered, pleading for her baby sister to reply. Her blip began moving backwards, back the way she had just come.
"I found those Hydra goons you were talking about." Yelena's thick accent filled the speakers. She sounded out of breath and tired.
A deep sigh escaped my chest, my entire body deflating at Yelena's proof of life.
More hours passed and the two sisters were on their way back. It was now around eleven, nearing midnight. I had finally left the conference room and was just stepping out of the shower. I pulled on a fresh t-shirt, once again swiped from Yelena's closet, and a pair of sweatpants.
"Ms. y/l, the Quinjet is landing." Friday announced.
"Thank you, Friday." A smile grew on my face at the relief that the two of them were back.
I rushed out of the bedroom and ran to the compound's landing pad, arriving just in time to see the superjet touchdown on the tarmac. Clint appeared at my side a few moments later.
The back of the jet opened, releasing a very tired Natasha and Yelena, who was holding her side and walking stiffly.
Clint and I ran forward, the prior meeting Natasha and taking her away for a debrief while I looked after Yelena.
"What happened?" I asked, placing a gentle hand over the tender spot on her side that she was holding, looking for any bleeding.
"I got jumped by some Hydra goons. They were after the widows." she said, meeting my eyes for a second. She looked tired, emotionally drained.
I knew this mission and the lives at stake were important to be her and Natasha. They wanted to help as many people as they could get free from the Red Room and help them start over in life. But these two women had managed to escape from Dreykov and were trying to learn how to operate in the world. They were being hunted by other corrupt people, who just wanted to use them as weapons and nothing more, not seeing them as valuable to anyone. Except they were valuable, valuable to Natasha and Yelena because they understood how difficult that kind of life was.
"Come on. Let's get you cleaned up and into bed. It's been a long day." I say, helping to physically support her so we can make it to the medbay for a checkup.
"You listened to the comms, didn't you?" she breathed, holding in a wince of pain.
"Perhaps." I replied quietly, knowing exactly where this was going. I didn't even question how she knew. Somehow, she seemed to know everything.
"Baby-"
"Look, I know what you're gonna say, but I was nervous about your mission and wanted to help in some way. I know the two of you wanted to go alone, so I resorted to helping on the backend." I readjusted my grip on the blonde as we kept walking through the halls.
Yelena just let out a sigh and kept quiet. She knew how stubborn I could get when it came to me wanting to make sure she was alright, especially on missions.
Truth was, I didn't want someone I...care...about to get hurt when I could have helped prevent it.
Care. Not love. I didn't even know yet if I truly did love Yelena. I cared for her so deeply, never wanting anything bad to happen to her. I wanted to always look after her and care for her. If that was love, I had no idea. I'm still new to this love stuff.
We stumbled into the infirmary, setting Yelena down on the examination table while Bruce did his thing. Turned out she had a few bruised ribs and a messed up knee. He explained the specifics but I didn't catch it. Medical stuff wasn't my area of expertise.
Bruce ordered a few days of rest, no extraneous activities, which got a groan from Yelena. Although, I'm not sure if she was groaning at the order to rest or the no extraneous "activities" part.
Eventually we made it back to our bedroom. It was getting her out of her mission suit without causing her extra pain that was the hard part. After a few cursed profanities and many death threats made towards the piece of clothing, she eventually got it off and into the shower.
I left her to shower on her own while I got her pajamas ready. Remember, no extraneous "activities."
Soon, she was out of the shower and in her comfy clothes, yawning a big yawn.
"Alright, tough girl. Let's get some sleep." I mumbled to her, helping her sit and lay down in bed, being careful to lay on her good side. Fortunately she was facing me, so I was a happy about that.
"I'm not that tired." she huffed, watching me turn off the lights.
"I think you are, baby." I crawled into bed and instantly felt Yelena cuddle up against me.
She just hummed in response, shaking her head slightly as she started to let her exhaustion take over.
I pulled her closet, careful to avoid the tender spot that was her ribs, and began running my fingers through her damp hair. She was always cute when she was tired, always denying it and always extra cuddly.
"Y/n?" she whispered against my neck.
"Yes, baby?" I began to gently scratch her scalp, trying to soothe her deeper into sleep.
"Thank you for taking care of me and looking out for me." she replied, pressing a few gentle kisses to my neck.
"I'm always going to take care of you and do my best to protect you." I returned the kisses, placing one on the top of her head.
"I love you." she blurted out.
I felt my whole body tense and my breath hitch, but not in a negative way.
The thing is, we haven't said our first 'I love you' yet to each other. I'm not sure what stopped us before, but I had known for a long time that I cared for Yelena. She made me happy and made my life seem beautiful. She gave me a reason to wake up each morning. She was my reason to smile.
Maybe this was love.
I was just never sure that she felt the same way about me.
I guess she did.
She loves me. She actually freaking loves me.
"I love you too, so very much." I replied, an instant smile growing on my face as I felt my heart warm.
I knew I had found my person. My significant other. My Yelena.