SONG OF THE CHAPTER: Exit music (for a film) - Radiohead
Once they arrived back at the compound, Natasha met them almost immediately.
She ran and hugged Y/n, causing her to try her hardest not to wince. However, she failed in doing so and let out a small wince, hoping only she could hear it.
Natasha pulled back and looked at Stygian, confused at the noise. Before the redhead could even question it, y/n spoke.
"What's this for?"
"Clint told us that you two had been compromised."
Y/n shot Clint a glare, thinking he had also told the team about her injuries.
"I'd messaged you, but you didn't respond. I thought you were injured. "
"Oh, Nat, I'm sorry, I just didn't check my phone, I'm fine, though. Thank you for checking on me."
Natasha just simply smiled back, and y/n gave Clint an 'I'm sorry' smile.
"Hey, so, Uhm, I'm pretty exhausted, and I feel pretty dirty, so is it okay if I go sort myself out? I'll come to see you after."
"Yeah, sure, that's fine. Take as long as you need." The redhead said with a sweet clueless smile.
With that, Y/n took off to her room. She immediately went into the shower for a quick rinse before stepping out. At least, she thought it had been a quick rinse. The blood loss had made her movements slow and caused her to take a while.
When stepping out, she took the needle and stitches out of the first aid kit.
Slowly, she began to stitch herself up. Finishing her third wound, she placed a large bandage over her stomach and taped it, hopefully keeping it from infection.
She left to go get changed when she noticed the time on the way past. It had been two hours since she had gone into the shower...
Quickly but carefully putting on a hoodie, she cleared out her bathroom, placing her bloodied clothes in her laundry basket.
She sat on her bed for a second, embracing the comfort. A lot had happened today; she was still trying to catch up.
After a while, she felt like she was sinking into the bed and began to lie down, giving in to the manipulation of sleep.
It had been a day since Y/n had gone to her room; Natasha was getting worried. Not because she hadn't come to see her, she understood that she was tired, but because she hadn't left her room. When she got back off the jet, Natasha also noticed her weird behaviour.
The redhead knocked on Stygian's door.
No reply.
She knocked again.
No reply.
She was starting to get worried now. She didn't want to intrude, but the girl hadn't left her room in over 20 hours.
"Y/n?"
When no response came, she opened the door, hoping to see her well.
She did see her. She was just asleep. Curled up on her bed, tangled in the blanket, wearing a large hoodie and some sweatpants.
Natasha's nerves rested at the sight, a small smile creeping on her face. She gently moved to the side to close the door, resting on the wall.
Once she took a closer look at Y/n, she realised something. Her hoodie had been lifted slightly, revealing a large bandage wrapped around her stomach.
Once again, the redhead's nerves returned.
Walking over to take a closer look, she could see small patches of blood through the material.
What can she do? Wake her up and make her seem like a creep for watching her sleep? Or let her bleed to death?
It explained why she was acting so weird when she came back.
"Hey, Y/n?"
The brunette slowly started to stir. She pulled her legs up to her chest, then winced once she remembered her injury.
Once her eyes opened, he groaned, not seeing Natasha. When her eyes met her, however, she jumped slightly, having been scared at the fact that someone was there.
"Oh -" she coughed, trying to make her voice audible. "Hey, Nat. What, why are you in my room? Can't spend an hour away from me?" She joked playfully.
"Y/n, it's been a day since you went to your room. I was worried."
"Oh, Nat, sorry," Y/n said as she sat up. She looked down at her stomach and realised it was on show, suddenly pulling her hoodie down, hoping Nat didn't notice.
Natasha tucked a bit of the brunette's hair behind her ear, "You're injured, aren't you?" She said with a frown.
"No. Why are you asking that?"
"I saw your bandage Y/n. Don't hide it."
"I'm not injured, Nat. Stop worrying about me. I'm fine."
"You can tell me, you know. I'm not going to judge. I just need to know you're looking after yourself. Have you seen Bruce?"
"I don't need doctors." Stygian spat.
Natasha was slightly taken aback by the harshness of her comment.
"Sorry," Y/n grumbled, not meaning to hurt Nat.
"What happened?"
Y/n sighed. She was still exhausted, and her patience was running thin.
"Is there anything else you need?"
"Can you please answer-"
"Good then, if you don't mind, I need to go to the bathroom, see yourself out." She said with a fake smile.
Natasha was shocked. Before she could even stop the other girl, though, the brunette had walked off into her bathroom.
"Can you at least let me help with the wounds?"
"I already stitched them," she said through the bathroom door.
"I was trained about it. How to treat wounds. I can help."
Without another word, the door opened to a defeated-looking Y/n.
Natasha walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. When she turned back around, the other girl had begun taking her hoodie off.
The redhead immediately blushed. She felt her cheeks rising in temperature. She also couldn't help but stare.
Y/n faced the mirror, starting to unwrap the bandage, being extremely careful. She tilted her head back and held her breath because of the pain.
Natasha took the first aid kit out of the cabinet and filed through it, looking for the stitches.
"What happened out there, hun?" The assassin spoke, hoping to distract the girl from the pain about to come.
Y/n sighed. "We were compromised, as you know, they told us to surrender or they would kill us, Clint hesitated -" she inhaled sharply as Natasha was taking the stitches out.
"Clint hesitated, and they began to shoot. So, I took the bullets."
Natasha had finished stitching up the first wound and brought her hand up to the girl's face, stroking her cheek.
"You're so brave. You've barely been on serious missions, and you've already taken wounds for others."
"Hm,"
They stared at each other, both completely in awe at the other person.
Natasha began fixing the other wounds, and Y/n began speaking again. The brunette couldn't help but think about the assassin's gentle hands on her stomach. They were warm.
"Also, Uhm, something else happened. It scared me."
"Go on,"
"Well, when I was killing the agents, I had a flashback. But it wasn't like my normal ones. It was more real. For example, if I did something, I'd get hurt again. I was, Uhm, back at the -" She took in a shaky breath, trying to stop the tears about to fall.
"I was back at Hydra, in the "medical" room. They used to have this tray of needles that were full of the super soldier serum. It hurt," she let out a fake laugh and some tears tumbled down her face. "It hurt so much. The doctors used to torture me all the time until I'd pass out. But when I got out of the flashback, it was like I was my old self again. Like I had lost control of the gears and it was doing its own thing. So, those agents, rather than dying normally, I gave them hell, and they died in the most brutal ways."
Natasha had finished and looked at Y/n with pure sympathy. She wiped the girl's tears and pulled her into a hug.
"It's okay, I understand. You're not with them anymore, you're with us, doing the right thing."
Y/n buried her head in Natasha's neck and cried.