Chapter Text
Her coffee was dark and rich that morning, tasting sweeter in the sense that it felt more like actual fuel than a “harmless” addiction.
When she sipped, she felt energized again. Not even twelve hours after Yelena had returned and had gotten one single night of sleep, with approximately just under four hours under her belt, she was already itching to get back to tap dancing.
She credited that to being back with her favorite person.
Next to her, also resting against the kitchen counter, was Bob, who was reading one of his latest comic book finds - once again, bought off of Valentina’s card, and she didn’t need to know that (but even if she did, Yelena would remind her who was really in charge here). A Superman issue that looked pretty cool; she may have to swipe it at some point.
Or she could just ask. He would probably say yes. She could tell he was happy that she was back, and that made her happy in turn. Just a circle of goodness that kept on repeating itself.
When the last drop - still good - coursed down her throat, Yelena made an exaggerated sigh and put her cup in the sink, letting it clink against the mountain of other dishes.
“Well, Bob,” she started, figuring there was no time for bullshit - not when there was dancing to be done, “I’ve waited long enough, I think. show me this ‘new studio’ you’ve found for us.”
Bob eagerly flipped to the last page, skimming it and its beautiful artwork and then tucking it back into his hoodie pocket. In a perfect world, he could’ve left it on the counter and just returned to grab it later, but no doubt John would carelessly spill coffee on it or Ava would pick it up and then claim she knew nothing of its whereabouts. What a family they were.
“I’m so excited,” Bob told her, his hands nearly vibrating as he folded them in front of the hem of his hoodie. “I… I hope you really like it, Yelena. I think it’ll be cool.”
“If you say it is cool, I tend to believe you.” Yelena gave him a genuine smile and a little rub on the cheek.
Almost immediately at the contact, his flesh warmed, and Yelena couldn’t help but go soft inside. Anytime she needed a reminder of her purpose, she often went to moments with Bob as a reason to keep going… This was a perfect addition to the collection.
It was pretty obvious.
He loved her.
She loved him back.
More than just about anything now.
And now, they were on their way to their secret tap dance lair - officially coined that by Yelena when they were safe within the confines of the elevator to discuss things that they didn’t care for anyone else to hear.
~0~
“Oh yeah, this is good.”
Yelena’s mouth was in a wide smile as she walked in a simple rectangle pattern around the not-so-little closet. It had premium wood flooring, the kind that tap dancers dream of destroying, that seemed like it had been polished… fairly recently…
“I-I actually tried to clean it up a little bit,” Bob chuckled shyly. He ran his fingers through the ends of his curls, a tic that Yelena had noticed when they first spent some alone time together. “So, like… I got the swiffer out. Pulled off some of the shelves for more room - except for one, ‘cause we can like, put our tap shoes there.”
“Ah!” Yelena scoffed, turning on her heel. “Bob, you genius!”
“Oh, I don’t know about that-”
“No, that is, like, I would not have thought of that!” she insisted. “Otlichnyy, Solynshko! Otlichnyy!”
If Bob’s face had been red before, he was beetroot red now. “Thank you… You’re sweet.”
“Only to you,” Yelena smirked. It wasn’t a lie either - she could be mean as a snake to the other residents of the Tower if she wanted.
Not once, though, had she ever raised her voice at Bob. She hadn’t needed to. Didn’t much anticipate it, either.
The honey blonde continued, excitedly looking at the familiar bags on the floor, “Now… speaking of tap shoes…”
She pulled her shiny black pair out of the bag, sighing low and gratefully as the smell of leather filled her nostrils… And a scent of feet. That wasn’t as appealing.
“Ahhh, I missed them.” She eagerly sits down on one of the two office chairs Bob hauled from the unused cubicle section of the Tower, and takes off her socks. “Shall we dance, Bob?”
“Uhh… sure!” Bob nodded, a bit hesitant. “I-I mean… we don’t have a mirror… and it is kinda hot in here…”
Yelena hadn’t even noticed the droplets of sweat that had formed on her own brow - and she was only wearing a t-shirt and a skort.
There was a pretty simple solution to this, in Yelena’s mind.
“Easy. We go off memory, and take off our shirts.”
Whatever she said, however easy it sounded to her, broke something inside poor Bob’s brain. “W-What? No, no, I-I don’t wanna make you uncomfortable…”
Yelena couldn’t help but sigh. He was such a gentleman, but sometimes, he needed that little push.
Selfishly, too, she thought, if they were going to go anywhere beyond friends someday - and after missing him dreadfully for every picosecond of her brief mission, she was worried that she was being hurtled towards asking for just that - she would have to be a little more forward.
“Bob, you’ve seen me cut to hell and back, and you’ve stitched my wounds,” she reminded him. “I know I’m not the most ‘in shape’ by Hollywood standards, and I do not give a fuck. I am comfortable around you - we do not have to if it makes you uncomfortable, but I am just happy to be with you. Shirt, no shirt, whatever. We deserve to be comfortable together, da?”
Bob was still for a second.
Perhaps she had been a bit too forward…
Then, without saying anything, he reaches for the hem of his hoodie, and yanks it up over his head. Dust that was stray in the air comes off, and with the hoodie and the dust, so too goes his plain black tee that he was wearing.
Yelena gave him a proud smile.
And, gods forgive her, she regretted her decision immediately - that serum… whatever it did to his abs, she thanked anyone who listened for it.
Refocusing her locus of control to her brain, as depraved as the thoughts inside of it were right now, she tugged her dark green shirt over her own head and laid it aside.
Now, she proudly sported nothing but a black bra that covered only ten percent of her ladies, a skort, and tap shoes.
“I-I like your skirt,” Bob said as he tied the laces on his own shoes. His innocent little giggle made Yelena’s heart skip a beat.
“Oh, spasibo,” Yelena said gratefully, doing a little twirl and skidding her tap across the floor to make a nice, low dragging noise. It soothed her brain in all the right ways. “Yeah, when we went to the mall after getting our shoes? This was a purchase.”
“Oh, yeah,” Bob nodded in remembrance. “Yeah, that looks great.”
As he looked up and came to stand next to her, she noticed him modestly keeping his gaze down on their feet. Again, gentleman…
“You can look, you know,” Yelena told him, gently rubbing her thumb across his backhand.
Bob seemed like he was about to choke on his own spit. “W-What?”
“I mean, I’m looking at all… this… if you do not mind,” Yelena gestured wildly to his chest and laughed in her low, rumbly laugh. She half thought of it as a defense mechanism to hide how terrified she was of being so forward - especially now. “So, like. My boobs are for viewing.”
Bob coughed into his hand. “Uhm… Y-Yelena…”
Yelena’s face drooped. “I’m sorry. I should not have been so forward. You can-”
“What if… I wanted… t-to do more?”
Her eyes went wide. She was convinced, if they had a mirror, she would look and see them bulging out of her sockets like a Looney Tunes cartoon.
“W-Well…” she stammered; despite the numerous times she had fantasized about what she believed she was currently in the middle of - if this really was that - she was so not ready for him to take that step forward first…
And gods, it did something to her.
She reached down to snake her finger around his.
He let her go further - he even reached for her hand.
“Guess I needed a little push,” he chuckled nervously. “And… And you are beautiful, Yelena.”
Yelena giggled. She felt like she was a giddy child on a true Christmas morning - elation like this hadn’t pierced her soul since Ohio.
“You’re tapping…”
“Wh-What?” Bob asked.
Yelena gestured down to where his shoe was nervously making little click-clacks against the flooring of the closet.
“Ah, shit, uhm, I guess I’m-”
“Hey. I’m nervous too. But… I think we both want the same thing, do we not?”
Bob raised a brow. “To… dance? And that’s it, right? Nothing else?”
For a brief moment, Yelena was terrified that he was serious. But when his demeanor shifted and the little giggle broke out from behind his teeth, her heart floated with relief again.
“Well, yes, I want to do that,” she nodded, tapping her own tap shoe, “but first… let me kiss you.”
Yelena stood up on her metal tip-toes and swore she heard Bob moan before she even made contact. His warm abs chiseled a pattern into her own stomach that felt like two puzzle pieces in a massive box that finally were pressed together, as her lips clashed with his. His breath was fresh and minty; Bob registered hers tasting like cinnamon from her breakfast, and with richness from the coffee she had drank with him.
He lifted her up off the floor slightly so she didn’t have to strain just to keep this going. He wanted this to last forever - they both did.
And, it could have.
Just them.
This closet.
Their tap shoes.
Unconventional for a first kiss, perhaps. To the lesser of minds, certainly. To those that are enlightened, however… and right now, the two are definitely enlightened.
Bob’s lack of mirror placement came as a blessing in disguise when Yelena guided him to press her against the front wall of the closet. In his arms, she had never felt safer, despite the reality he could probably ram her through every wall with a single push.
God, he had never been anything but gentle with her.
Bob… Sentry… Void…
Yeah.
She could get down with this.
“F-Fuck,” Yelena groaned in pleasure, “I-I can’t breathe…”
Bob immediately drew away from her, panicking, thinking he may have hurt her. “Shit, shit, shit, I’m so sorry Yelena… A-Are you-”
“No, no, that was… I liked it,” Yelena said. A teasing lilt came over here as she reached up to cup his cheek, “Why did you stop?”
Bob stammered as his brain worked to catch up with other parts of his body that were sending all sorts of signals. “I-I mean, u-usually… When people, when they say, y’know, ‘oh, I can’t breathe’, that-that’s not… that’s not a good thing, right?”
Yelena pursed her lips.
That logic was… difficult to argue with.
“Well, I guess we will need to develop a safeword.” Yelena put her hands on her hips, which ran with sweat now. “If you’d… I-I mean, I would like to continue this… See where it goes.”
A genuine smile came over Bob. “I would love to.”
Yelena softly smiled back.
“I’d also like to actually work on our combo,” she admitted, “but I understand if I took all you had in you…”
“Nah, I think I’ve actually got more energy than I’ve had in… weeks, honestly,” Bob chuckled, jumping in place a few times and stretching his arms as he clacked loudly down on the floor - toe-toe-heel-heel.
That sounded very nice, actually.
Yelena repeated it back.
Toe-toe-heel-heel.
Bob noticed the pattern.
He also noticed how damn good she looked, eyeing her with a hunger that completely ignored his breakfast. When Yelena noticed, she blushed, gesturing for him to do that move again.
He does just that, jumping up: toe-toe-heel-heel.
Yelena jumps and does it too.
Then Bob does it again.
Then Yelena does it again.
Then Bob does it again-again.
And then, Yelena does about three of them in a row, laughing like a maniac as she does it. Bob laughs along with her, and they naturally step closer to each other like it’s second nature.
“You are so… silly,” Bob sighed. “I’ve wanted to say that for a while now.”
“Oh, you had to wait until I became your tap dance girlfriend to say that?” Yelena asked, incredulous but full of happiness at what just left her lips. “I will always accept being called silly.”
Bob sucked in a breath, sharper than the ones that tried to steady his heart after the massive adrenaline spike of the last few minutes.
“You… want to be my girlfriend?” he asked softly.
Yelena nodded as soon as the words left his mouth. “Very much so, Bob. And I want you to be my boyfriend.” She reached for his hand and took it once again. “I think we… We’re tied, in some way.”
Bob nodded. “Yeah… and, just so I’m not bullshitting myself: you don’t plan to end this as soon as our tap classes end for the year, right?”
Yelena shook her head with a low rumbly laugh. “God, no. But, speaking of tap, I suppose we should actually… do some tap dancing.”
“Yeah,” Bob pursed his lips. “I did enjoy the other stuff, though.”
“Oh, we’ll do plenty more of that,” Yelena promised.
“I like the sound of that.”
“Yeah, me too.”
Yelena and Bob stood side by side at attention, pretending like there was a mirror before them as they ran through Miss Christina’s basic eight count combo from last time. They’d have a bit of catching up to do next week…
So would the class, though.
If they paid attention to how that honey blonde and tall brunette were almost definitely going to be holding hands quite a bit more than last time…