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Yelena climbs through Steve’s window, much like Natasha used to. Steve doesn't think he will ever stop missing Natasha, that losing her will ever stop being this painful, but he's grateful Yelena is here. They can share the pain, at least, and she makes him laugh.
"Everything alright?" Steve asks, glancing at Yelena's bandaged hands and the bruises on her face.
"You should see the other guy," she replies, her accent heavy. "I got him good."
"Good," Steve says. "Coffee?" he asks.
Yelena nods. Then drops herself on Steve’s couch and turns on the TV. It barely gets used unless Yelena is there. Steve struggles with movies these days, most of them hit too close to home, but Yelena loves them.
Steve smiles at her and grabs their cups. Then he turns on the coffee maker. Once it's done he sits down next to Yelena and hands her her cup.
"I missed her today," Yelena says.
"I miss her, too," Steve says. "She always used to know what to do. She pushed me to keep trying, to actually live. Without her… it seems pointless sometimes."
"I know what you mean," Yelena says. "Knowing I had her, it made me want to keep trying. I thought she'd come back, that we could be a family together and then you told me she was gone. My world was gone."
Yelena lets out a sob.
"I know," Steve says. "I know."
He puts their coffee down and pulls her into a hug. Yelena cries into his shoulder and he rubs her back. More than anything, Steve wishes Natasha could come back, that she'd climb through his window. For Yelena, for himself. They need her. She's never coming back.
"It doesn't feel fair, that she sacrificed herself," Yelena says. "She mattered, too."
"She did. She mattered so much," Steve says.
It angers him some days, that Nat would just do that. That she believed her life was worth less than anyone else's. Like she wasn't one of the best, like she wasn't loved, like she wasn't important to them. Other days it just makes him sad.
"You understand," Yelena says.
"I do. She was my friend, she was like my sister, too," Steve says.
"I will be that now. I'm not her and I will never be, but I am your friend."
"You are," Steve confirms.
Yelena smiles through her tears. "Enough crying now, more shitty romcoms."
Steve sits through a shitty movie for Yelena. It's worth it. Their coffee goes cold. That doesn't matter. They will never stop missing Natasha, but at least they have each other.