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Today was the day Jeff had been waiting for, where Yelena came to visit. He’d heard all about her from Natasha, and how much she’d love him, but up until this point she’d been too busy to come over. So this would be his first time meeting his aunt, and needless to say, the land shark was very excited.
He’d been pacing in circles around the garden up until the moment the doorbell rang, at which point he beamed up at Natasha, then excitedly ran round in circles; had he not been so intelligent, you’d have thought he was chasing his own tail. “I’ll go get it” Natasha chuckled, leaving you to calm Jeff down and get him ready. Clint had also come to visit today, but he’d come over so often to do who knows what, that neither you, Natasha nor even Jeff paid him any mind.
“Jeff, Jeff, calm down little buddy” you huffed, trying to at least slow him down, but he continued with the excited bounds. “Jeff” you repeated more sternly, and he finally stopped, looking up at you with a wide smile and a hanging tongue as he panted.
“We’ll go meet Yelena in a bit, okay? we have to get cleaned up first, see? you’re covered in mud from all your running, and after that little spinning incident you’ve covered me with mud”
“Mrrr”
“Yeah, I know you were excited. I’ll go run you a bath so you can wash off while I change my clothes, how does that sound?”
“Mrrr”
“Good”
You scooped him up, getting even more mud on your clothes, just so he wouldn’t traipse it through the house, before depositing him in the bathtub and starting the water running. You could hear him happily splashing about as you pulled out clean clothes.
It was only after you scrubbed Jeff clean that you thought to get changed yourself. He’d excitedly jumped up and down in the tub, dousing you in muddy water. You towel dried him, then left him to behave himself as you changed, but, of course, he didn’t.
Jeff knew Yelena was just downstairs, and he was far too impatient to wait for you to be ready, constantly nudging and butting at your feet to hurry you up, until eventually you gave in.
“Fine, Jeff, I still need to dry my hair because of you, so you run on ahead and say hi”
“Mrrr!” he squealed, performing one last spin on the spot before dashing downstairs.
Natasha had heard you run upstairs, and the conversation you had been having with Jeff the whole time, so she knew you and the land shark would need a little longer to get ready.
Still, she brought Yelena through, chatting about what the younger Widow had been up to since she’d last come to visit. Natasha took her into the kitchen to say hi to Clint, though she still wasn’t quite sure why he was here, but he killed some time and kept the conversation going longer.
“Should we move into the living room?” Natasha suggested after a bit, once Clint had finished making a sandwich for himself with their food.
“Do you have a dog?” Yelena almost shrieked, spotting the bed in the corner of the room, “Oh, but you told me not to bring Fanny, are they not friendly? I think they would like me”
“Oh it’s not-” Natasha tried to interrupt, but Yelena was on a roll at the thought of her sister getting a dog,
“And it has a shark toy? oh, that is very cute. Natasha, do you remember when the Red Room gave us shark for like, a week?”
What none of the people in the room has noticed, however, was Jeff’s entry into the room. He’d slowed himself down as he neared in an attempt to surprise the newcomer, but only reached the doorway before hearing the topic of conversation.
Jeff tilted his head, listening in to see whether he’d heard correctly. His eyes widened when Natasha gave an exasperated agreement.
“You’ve eaten shark?” Clint asked curiously, still yet to notice the land shark in the room. “What was it like?”
“Can we not-” Natasha began, only to be talked over by her sister once again,
“It was kind of like chicken in taste. A lot chewier though, kind of stringy, but it was nice!”
By this point, Jeff was trembling in the doorway. This was not the aunt he had been hoping for. “I know it’s illegal now, but I can find you some if you want to try, I have my ways to get it”
Jeff screeched, bolting from the room as quickly as his legs could take them.
“what was that?” Yelena asked, “was that Y/N?”
Natasha swore quietly, turning just in time to see a grey tail tip disappear behind the entrance, “oh god that was Jeff”
“Who’s Jeff?”
“Clint could you please explain, I need to go check he’s okay” Natasha grimaced, already halfway up and out the door.
—————————————————
You were still in the process of drying your hair when a high shriek echoed around the house. You paused, and seconds later Jeff thundered into your room, bashing the door open with his head and stopping, staring up at you with tear-filled eyes.
You set everything down in an instant, crouching and opening your arms for Jeff to run into. “Jeff, what happened? What’s up buddy?”
“m-m-” he shrieked again, unable to get his usual mrrr out. You didn’t push him, cradling him in your arms and reassuring him as he trembled. You’d never seen him so upset, not even when you’d rescued him from literal torture.
Natasha burst in another few seconds later, panting from having to run up the stairs. Jeff yelped, tucking himself further into your chest and burying himself in your arms. Something Natasha had done must have scared him, you concluded.
“Natasha, what did you do?” you scolded in a hushed whisper, putting your hands over where you thought Jeff’s ears might be; you still weren’t really sure where he heard from.
“It wasn’t- can I explain without Jeff present?”
“Jeff is shrieking and shaking and he won’t even ‘mrrr’, he came to find me and he needs comfort”
“Y/N, I really need to. Otherwise he’ll be more scared”
“Fine.” You conceded, carrying Jeff gently back into the bathroom and running some shallow water for him to splash in while you and Natasha talked outside. He didn’t splash though, he just lay, still trembling, in the centre of the tub. “I’ll be back soon Jeff okay, I’ll sort this out” you promised, shutting the bathroom door behind you.
As soon as it clicked shut, Natasha began her quick explanation, “Yelena was rambling and she saw Jeff Jr. and it reminded her of how we’d occasionally be served shark meat on the Red Room, and Yelena being Yelena she said it out loud, and we didn’t realise Jeff had walked in the room”
“You let Yelena talk about eating shark when we have a shark in the house?!”
“I thought he was with you! he’s a lot quieter than you when he’s on his own so I couldn’t hear him approach! Obviously, I would have stopped her if I’d known”
“So now he thinks the aunt he was so excited to meet is going to eat him” you frowned, “but why was he afraid of you?”
Natasha’s face gave it all away, and you gasped, “you didn’t…”
“I might have admitted I ate shark too”
“Natasha! That could have been Jeff’s grandpa!”
“I’m pretty sure it didn’t have legs”
“You wouldn’t know, because it was all cut up into chunks for you to eat”
“That’s not the point! The point is that Jeff is scared of me and Yelena, and probably Clint too for asking questions”
“… Clint’s still here?”
“Yeah he was making a sandwich downstairs”
“That food thief”
“And now he’s explaining Jeff to Yelena”
“I’m kind of regretting giving him that spare key. But anyway, what are we doing about Jeff? He thinks you might eat him!”
“I will explain very kindly that I won’t”
You glared unamused, Jeff wasn’t going to accept that, but then your eyes trailed to the side, seeing the pack of Jelly babies on the bedside table.
“Jelly babies!” you exclaimed,
“Excuse me?”
“We eat gummy versions of ourselves, convince Jeff you and Yelena ate gummy sharks, they must exist somewhere.”
“… yeah, that’s a better plan”
—————————————————
“Hey Jeff” Natasha began softly, entering the bathroom with you in tow. The shark trembled, his tail splashing to propel himself into the farthest corner.
You walked ahead, sitting beside Jeff and stroking his fin, “there’s been a bit of a misunderstanding buddy,” you informed him, nodding at Natasha to continue.
“Well, when you heard me and Yelena talking about eating shark earlier-”
A soft whimper cut her off
“-well we were talking about gummy sharks, like gummy worms, remember them? just shark-shaped, they’re very rare”
“Mrrr?” Jeff said hesitantly, looking up at Natasha for the first time, then at you for confirmation.
“Yeah that’s right Jeff” you nodded, “but we understand you getting scared”
“Mrrr” Jeff confidently agreed, then, with his playfulness returning, he dipped his head into the water and whipped it up, aiming directly, and accurately, to splash Natasha.
Despite the soaking, she laughed, “yeah I guess that’s equal payback for scaring you, sorry Jeff. But do you want to meet Yelena for real this time?”
He nodded, and you hoisted him out of the bath, letting him trot downstairs between the two of you. Natasha has sent Yelena and Clint a text to inform them of the slight lie, but apparently, the man had already left. You really needed to put a tracker on him, it would stop him startling you every time he appeared in the house.
Yelena was waiting patiently in the living room though, leg bouncing as she awaited the land shark she’d made a very poor first impression on.
“Mrrr!” he beamed, running off ahead to meet her properly, and jumping up to put his front feet on her knees.
“You must be Jeff” she guessed, “I am Yelena, Natasha’s sister”
“He knows that already Lena. He’s a smart shark”
“I know, I know, I just want to make the proper introductions. I always thought you would get a cat, but he is more similar to a dog, I like him.”
“He’s been very excited for your arrival” you chimed in, “excluding that slight first meeting earlier”
“I am very sorry about that Jeff” Yelena apologised sincerely, “I hear you have been told I was talking about gummy sharks. That is true. Natasha and I ate some… very chewy… chicken flavoured… gummy sharks.”
“Mrrr?” Jeff opened his mouth, pointing into it with a finger.
“He’s asking if you can get him some to try” you translated, “he wants to know what they’re like”
“Well, I mean-”
“You did promise you could source some for Clint earlier, remember?” Natasha glared, daring Yelena to contest.
“Yes, I did. Very rare. But for Jeff, I guess I’ll find some of these gummy sharks”
“I think that sounds fair” Natasha smirked, knowing the challenge she’s set her sister now, “an equal payback for scaring my son.”