Who: Yelena and Natasha What: Siblings talk about guys and other stuff like they’re almost normal When: Dinner Time July 2nd Where: Their house Rating: low
“I brought home pizza to be all patriotic and stuff.” That was definitely not the reason for the pizza since pizza wasn’t Canadian or American, but that was what Yelena said as she entered with a few pizza boxes, some of which had wings - wings were more American, right? The truth was she had just been hungry for it and got it. “Hope you didn’t cook dinner.” Yes, she was trying to be funny even if it came out deadpanned.
Setting the pizza on the counter, she went to the fridge for a drink. She decided beer made more sense with pizza than vodka did.
–
“Steve’s birthday isn’t for two more days,” Natasha replied, looking up from where she sat on the couch, having been going over papers and licenses that they needed to get the security firm up and running. Sure, it may not see a lot of business in town, but she’d been in this world long enough to be able to make a few international connections so that they might be able to pick up the occasional odd job in areas where the transportation services went.
“But pizza does sound good for dinner,” she added, tossing down her notebook and standing to follow her sister into the kitchen to grab plates and paper towels.
–
“I was saving hotdogs for then.” Hot dogs were arguably more ‘American’ than pizza, though Yelena liked both. Pizza ultimately won out though.
She had caught sight of the paperwork. Yelena twisted the cap off to her beer and before she brought it to her lips said, “You look like a real business woman.” Yelena was letting her sister figure out the particulars. While she could do that sort of thing, Natasha was definitely more of a planner. Yelena was more of a rusher.
–
“Good idea,” she replied. Natasha snorted softly at her sister’s words as she opened the pizza and pulled out a couple slices. “I’ve had the practice,” she pointed out, before looking over at Yelena thoughtfully.
“Actually, you might not know about it. I first got mixed up with the Avengers thanks to Nick Fury, but before it was even formed, he sent me undercover at Stark Industries. That’s when I first met Tony and Pepper, I infiltrated the company to get close to them.”
–
Yelena heard a little bit about it, but not to any real extent. It didn’t sound anything outside of her sister’s wheelhouse though. “So you learned a lot from Pepper, then.” This was mostly a joke, though Yelena was aware that Pepper was the real brains behind the whole thing even if Tony was a smart man. “For what it’s worth, I think you won’t be so terrible at running this thing.” Maybe Yelena would even follow orders and stuff.
She reached for a slice of pizza and took a bite, chewing and swallowing and even taking another swig of beer before she finally asked. “So… what do you think of Dieter?” She could have asked after the dinner, but she hadn’t. Not that she hadn’t been interested, but it seemed too soon to ask Natasha to come up with her full opinion. Her sister had more time now to do that.
–
She made a face at Yelena for the joke, but it was true that she’d had to work more than expected to keep up with Pepper’s quick mind. It was when her admiration of the woman had initially been developed.
And really, anyone who could handle both Tony Stark and Bruce Banner earned Natasha’s respect.
At the compliment from her sister, Nat smiled a little, then took a couple bites of her own pizza. The question wasn’t unexpected, but she was a little surprised Yelena had waited this long to ask. “He’s…adorable. And a good man. Does he make you happy?” She asked in return.
–
He was adorable. Yelena was secretly glad that her sister used the same word to describe Dieter as she did. Was it expected? No. If Yelena was going to fall for someone, she always assumed it would be someone who could keep up with her Black Widow side of things. She’d have never predicted Dieter be the one to grab her attention.
“More than I think I should be.” This was an honest answer. Sometimes it was hard to believe they deserved that sort of thing. “It’s weird to say, but he makes me forget all the bullshit from back home, you know?”
–
Natasha took another bite of pizza as she studied her sister, watching as she worked her way through the question. When she finally replied, Natasha felt something loosen deep down in her own gut. Even if she’d never have the chance to fall in love or have some semblance of a family - her sister could. If she disappeared tomorrow, Yelena would still be able to love someone and be loved in return.
“Then that’s all that matters. And it’s not weird. I’m glad you found that,” she told Yelena honestly. “Hold onto it.”
–
Yelena wasn’t good with the mushy stuff. It wasn’t like they trained you for that in the Red Room. She had memories of being mushy when she had thought herself just a American girl in Ohio, but that reality had crashed down on her hard. When Natasha died, Yelena had grieved in a variety of ways, but it was only at her sister’s tomb that she had actually let herself say words she really meant.
She looked across from her sister while in the middle of eating a piece of the crust (because the crust was the best part of a pizza) and for a moment wasn’t sure how to respond. Her natural response would be something sarcastic, to push the feelings somewhere safer, but Yelena didn’t feel the need to do it as a kneejerk reaction this time.
“Yeah, well… you should too, you know.” She put down her pizza and grabbed her drink, though she didn’t lift it up from the table. “I know this place has been pretty shit to you, but what better way to give it the middle finger than to find someone for you too?”
–
Natasha sent her a rueful smile, then shook her head as she finished off her first slice and reached for a second. “How about for now, I leave the romance to you?” She’d tried three times and lost three times, and honestly Natasha was tired of it. Hopefully things would work out differently for Yelena.
“I’m going to purchase the building next week, and I have a contractor lined up to start renovations immediately,” she said. Maybe it was an attempt to change the subject, and maybe it was just her wanting to let her know how things were going for their firm.
–
Yelena thought that Natasha was worthy of something more than nothing, but she had no idea how to help her sister get that except for maybe asking Darcy to include her in the next speed dating, whenever that is.
She caught the subject change and Yelena paused for a moment as if to decide whether she wanted to press the subject or not. Then Yelena seemed to let it go and nod. “Do I get to have a corner office with a view?” She didn’t actually care about that. If she ended up stuck in an office all day, she might go crazy. She’d definitely drive Natasha crazy.
–
Natasha snorted as she took another bite of pizza and sat back, stretching out her legs. “I’ll consider it,” she replied dryly, while inwardly saying ‘no way in hell’. They could never handle living together and working in the same space day in and out. Besides, she planned to find someone else she could trust to handle the business. As for Natasha, she wanted to ensure she was out doing whatever job needed to be done.