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“Y/N!” Yelena exclaims as she bursts through the doors of the gym. She asks the closest person, “Have you seen Y/N?”
They point her to the opposite side of the gym. She finds you in the middle of a sparring match with her sister. She doesn’t care to interrupt. “Y/N!”
“Kind of busy here, Yel,” you say dodging a combo from Natasha.
“Are you in love with me?”
You lose focus and Natasha lands a punch. It’s dead silent in the gym and you realize that everyone heard Yelena.
The only sounds you hear are the swinging of the punching bags, people’s heavy breaths, and your heart pounding in your chest. You can feel everyone’s eyes on you and Yelena, including her sisters, all waiting for a response from you.
“What?” is all you manage to get out, too shocked to feel the aftermath of a Romanoff punch.
“Are you in love with me?” she repeats without hesitation, as if she is asking you what movie you want to watch tonight, not something so heavy.
You gulp. “Why would- I mean why do you think that? Did someone say that?”
“You know how we were arguing about which movie was better, Ella Enchanted or Enchanted?” She reminds you.
“Yeah?”
“So I was rewatching both and making a comparison chart in order to prove you wrong, obviously,” she supplies.
“Obviously,” you say, not surprised at all.
“And then I got to the musical number of Enchanted and I realized. You do everything she says someone should do when they are in love with someone!”
“Huh?”
“I’ll explain. Someone search the lyrics up,” she commands. She points at somebody that has their phone out. “You. If you're going to eavesdrop, do me a favor and look up the lyrics for me.”
The guy, Tanner you believe his name is, turns red at being called out by Yelena, but does as he’s told.
“Yelena, what are you doing?” Nat sighs from beside you.
“Shhh! Hear me out. What are the first lines of the song, guy whose name I don’t know?” Yelena asks Tanner.
“My name’s Tucker.” You were close.
“‘How does she know you love her?
How does she know she's yours?
How does she know that you love her?
How do you show her you love her?’”
“Skip to the verse, Tucker.”
“Oh, um. ‘Well, does he leave a little note to tell you
You are on his mind?
Send you yellow flowers when the sky is gray?
Hey’”
“You always send me memes or pictures of random things and say they make you think of me. And two weeks ago, you got me flowers just because,” she compares.
“You got my sister flowers?” Nat quirks an eyebrow at you. You fluster and excuse it with, “I just thought they’d look nice in her room?”
“You’ve never gotten me flowers,” your friend points out. You struggle to come up with something for that.
Yelena moves on. “Tucker, next verse.”
“ ‘Well, does he take you out dancing
Just so he can hold you close?
Dedicate a song with words
Meant just for you?’”
“You always ask me to dance with you when Tony has his parties.”
“Friends dance,” you shrug.
“But they don’t ignore their date the whole night to dance with their friend,” Yelena states.
Oh yeah. You forgot you in fact did do that once. You scrunch your face, cringing at your behavior that night.
You hear someone in the gym cough, “Ouch,” and another person murmur, “That’s cold.”
“Oof. Yeah. That was hard to watch, but the glare she threw at Yelena was pretty funny,” Nat recalls.
“I- well, she didn’t want to dance and everyone knows I can’t pass up a good song,” you defend yourself weakly, your voice going an octave higher.
“And you’ve got a playlist on your phone titled ‘Yelena’ with a heart emoji. And you played it for me when we were on a stake out.”
“What color is the heart?” Tucker asks.
“Yellow,” Yelena answers.
You blush hard when various oohs are heard throughout the gym. Tucker makes a tsk noise at you, shaking his head. “You’re down bad, dude.”
You cross your arms across your chest defensively and mumble, “It’s just a color.”
Tucker continues without having to be told, “ ‘Because he'll wear your favorite color
Just so he can match your eyes
Rent a private picnic
By the fire's glow’ ”
“When I borrow your favorite hoodie, I always get compliments on how it makes my eyes pop,” Yelena claims.
“‘Borrow’?” you scoff. The last five times it’s been seen, it’s been worn by Yelena. She only ever ‘returns it’ when she gets something on it and throws it in your hamper.
She chooses to ignore your poke and continues, “We watch movies together almost every night and when I asked if we should invite Kate or Nat you said no because you like it when it’s just the two of us.”
She crosses her arms, posing in a way that says I dare you to challenge me and you try your best. “I- You- Kate eats all the snacks halfway through any movie and Nat doesn’t even pay attention to the movie!”
“I pay attention,” Nat swears beside you.
“Yeah, to your phone texting Bucky or Maria or whoever it is these days,” you remark, bringing a few snickers from the people overhearing.
The glare Nat throws at you should make you tremble in fear and it does frighten you a little bit but it also brings you some relief because for a moment you are feeling something other than panic from being called out by Yelena in front of your peers.
“You are lucky you are in the middle of a love confession with my sister.”
“That’s not what’s happening,” you groan, irritated.
“So all those things don’t mean anything even though the song says that’s exactly how to show someone you love them?” Yelena asks carefully.
“I mean, of course it means something. You’re my friend,” you claim.
“So you’re not in love with me? You think of me like you think of Natasha and Kate? You do all these things with them too?”
“I mean, like, do I cuddle with them when we watch movies? No. Do I hold their hand when we’re walking across the street to get coffee? No, but we’re still hanging out like I do with you,” you begin thinking your argument is sound. “And maybe I laugh a little louder at your jokes and feel proud when you laugh at mine. And sometimes I’d rather sit around and do nothing with you than go to the mall with Nat or skating with Kate.
“And maybe I don’t think so much about what I’m going to wear when I hang out with them, but, like, you always show up looking ready for a photoshoot so obviously I’m going to try a little harder when it’s with you.”
“She does have really cute clothes.” You hear some girl whisper to her friend.
“Right?” You point at the person, looking for some validation about what you are saying. “And it doesn’t help that she looks so good in everything. The amount of guys that will come up and talk to her while we’re out is annoying and they never say anything new. Like, dude, we get it. You think she’s hot. She doesn’t want your number. Bye.”
You feel yourself growing annoyed just thinking about it, so you reel it in. “So, yeah, just because I do things a little differently with you doesn’t mean they aren’t my friends.”
“Is she even listening to herself?” Tucker mumbles to Yelena.
“That’s not what I was asking,” Yelena persists.
“You asked if I saw you like Nat and Kate and I’m saying I see you three as my friends even if it’s different with you,” you retort.
“Yeah, you don’t get this upset when some guy comes to talk to me,” Nat points out, smirking.
“That’s ‘cause you’re so intimidating, it’s amusing to watch guys almost shit their pants to come talk to you. At least I know those guys are brave. The people that come up to Yelena are shameless and your sister deserves better.” You elaborate, “She should be with someone smart and put together and who will treat her right and make her smile and feel good.”
“Someone like you?” Nat asks.
“Yeah! Wait no. That’s not what I meant,” you rush to say.
“Okay, so not you. What about Tucker?” Nat moves to stand next to him, patting him on the shoulder.
“What about him?” you sigh.
“He’s smart and put together. I mean, you have to be, to be here. He knows how to listen. He’s been doing everything Yelena’s told him to do this whole time. Women tend to find that attractive. He’s also not so bad on the eyes,” Nat points out, smiling at you.
You can see right through it. You know she is only trying to get a rise out of you but damn her if it isn’t working. There is a reason she’s been SHIELD’s top agent. Tucker blushes at the compliment. “Uh, thank you?”
“Natasha, what are you doing?” Yelena hisses at her sister, not missing the stare down you and Nat seem to be having.
“Clearly, Y/N is implying that she isn’t interested. She’s just a concerned friend who wants you to be with someone worthy of your time. What I’m saying is that Tucker here is a good agent and can check all the boxes,” Nat answers. You try to hold your resolve and hold down Nat’s stare, clenching your jaw. You want to look at Yelena so badly but you don’t, willing yourself to stay strong. You aren’t going to let Nat have this one.
“Um, I have a girlfriend,” Tucker chimes in weakly, afraid to speak up because the tension is so high. The idea of his girlfriend finding out about him in this situation and him not mentioning her is scarier than what is happening right now, so he is glad he did say something. However, it gets ignored.
“Maybe your sister can decide for herself who she wants to date,” you argue.
“I’m just giving her options, unlike you who only seem to be taking them off the table,” Nat supplies innocently like she actually believes that’s what she is doing and not saying this to get you to admit your feelings for her sister. “Obviously, she thinks you two might have something but if you say you’re not interested, then why should she wait for something that’s not going to happen? Right, Yelena?”
You aren’t slick enough to hide your nervous gulp from the spy. She smiles triumphantly, knowing you are at your breaking point when you give up the staring match to look towards Yelena to hear her answer.
“I don’t want to date Tucker,” Yelena replies, aggravated and wondering how it got to this.
Your body loses the tension it held when waiting for her response, clearly a sign of relief. “See?” you throw your hand up in her direction. You tell Nat, “She doesn’t even want to date him.”
“Again, I have a girlfriend,” Tucker repeats himself, this time a little louder.
“But Nat is right,” she continues. “I came to get an answer and I got it. It just wasn’t the one I hoped for. I guess I read too much into it.”
You nearly choke on air in surprise. “Wait, what?”
“Yeah, I had this whole scenario in my head,” she admits. “I thought you would say yes, you are in love with me, and then I would say it back and apologize for not seeing it before and then I’d kiss you and you would ask me out on an actual date and this would be a cute story to tell people.”
Your head is reeling. Never in a million years did you think she would feel the same way. All this denying from your part in order to try to preserve the friendship and not do anything to ruin this connection you have appears to have been unnecessary.
“But now it’s awkwarrrd,” she sing-songs, trying to make light of the situation. “I didn’t expect you to say no, but I respect it and I won’t bring it up again. Sorry.”
She tries to work up a smile that you can’t even look at because you are too busy watching the hopeful glint in her eyes vanish. You can hear people in the gym mumbling in disappointment but you don’t mind them. Your attention as always is on Yelena. You’ve never seen her look so defeated and embarrassed and you hate yourself for making her feel like that.
You had to fix this quickly. She’s already turning away to leave, so you rush out, “I never said no!”
She halts and turns around. “What?”
“I never said no when you asked if I am in love with you.” You are really doing this, huh?
“You didn’t say yes,” she reminds you.
“Honestly, I was embarrassed that if I said yes, you would turn me down in front of everyone.” You motion around the room to all the people who are still very invested in seeing how this turns out. “If I knew you felt the same way, I would have said something a long time ago, but I stayed quiet because I didn’t want to ruin what we have.”
You slowly approach her until you can reach and hold her hand in your own. A small smile forms on her face and you do your best not to mess this up. “I don’t want you to date Tucker or anyone else for that matter because I’m in love with you, Yelena.”
Aww’s are heard all around when you finally confess and then there is Tucker who emphasizes, “Her name is Bridget. Bridget is my girlfriend’s name.”
“I love you too. If I had known sooner, I would have said something then,” she tells you, giving your hand a squeeze.
You chuckle, “I believe you. I mean you literally just stormed in here like a mad woman.”
She scoffs, “Psht, I did not! You’re being dramatic.”
“Oh, I’M being dramatic,” you tease.
“Just ask me out already,” Yelena whines.
“But that’s not the order. If I remember correctly it’s supposed to go I say I love you, you say you love me, then you kiss-”
Your words are muffled by Yelena’s lips on yours. It’s a sneak attack you weren’t prepared for and it’s much too late to kiss her back when you realize what’s happening because she pulls away.
“Okay, now ask me.” She smirks seeing how she’s left you struggling to keep up. You stutter, trying to figure out the words to say. “I-I, um, would love to take you out on a date. Is that alright?”
“Sounds great,” she smiles. “That wasn’t hard, was it?” She laughs before pulling you into another kiss, one you reciprocate ecstatically, until Natasha pulls the two of you apart.
“Ew, no. Not in front of me, thank you,” she says. You reluctantly pull away from Yelena, both of you chuckling at Nat’s reaction. Yelena throws her hands up as she walks away backwards, “Okay, okay. I’ll let you get back to exercising. I have a movie to finish anyway.”
“Yeah, the better movie!” you shout.
“We’ll see about that!” she yells back before exiting the gym. Everyone is back in their zone as they were before Yelena walked in. With a shit eating grin, you move over to where Nat is waiting for you to resume your sparring match. You think nothing could wipe the smile off your face right now, but then Nat says, “So what was that comment you made earlier about me texting different people?”