natasha romanoff. (morethanstories) wrote in valloic, @ 2023-08-07 10:23:00 |
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Entry tags: | !: action/thread/log, marvel: kate bishop, marvel: yelena belova, ₴ inactive: natasha romanoff |
That wasn’t altogether unusual. Her sisters cooked often, and though they were more likely to share a dinner, breakfasts weren’t uncommon. Personally, Kate enjoyed having tons of food set before her on the dining room table and being able to pile her plate as high as she pleased, no matter the time of day. She didn’t even mind having toast thrown at her – which was a one-time incident but one she would never forget – because, well, she thrived on the occasional chaos that went on in this house.
Now they were all past their one-year mark of living together at Black Widow House (named such at her insistence), and they were a well-oiled machine. Part of that machine was morning training – at least for Kate and Natasha. If she didn’t get up on her own, her sister would come shake her awake at the asscrack of dawn, and they’d go off to the Compound to get a morning workout in.
Then breakfast. Only on the weekends would breakfast come first, and today, as far as she could remember, was not a weekend.
So, her attention was piqued. She kissed Emily’s cheek as she continued snoozing beside her, deciding she’d let her sleep in a little later, as most human beings preferred, before crawling out of bed. She glanced in the mirror on the wall and wrangled her messy dark hair into a bun that, really, was only fractionally neater, then snagged a silky purple robe to put on, just in case. She didn’t remember Steve sleeping over last night, but there was a 50-50 chance. She’d be polite.
She was surprised to find the kitchen empty when she poked her head in, expecting to see one or both of her sisters moving around. It had clearly been used, there was no mistaking that, but nothing was currently cooking. She stepped up and through to the dining room, and there it was. Breakfast was in the process of being laid out on the table by Natasha’s hand, and Kate’s brows rose curiously.
“Did I fall into some sort of time portal?” she questioned, maybe half-serious (because you never knew around here) and working through lingering sleepiness. “Because this feels like a Sunday breakfast, and last I checked it was… not Sunday. Anymore.”
Setting a stack of waffles down on the table, Natasha looked consideringly for a moment. The opportunity to tease her sleepy younger sister and run with the It’s Sunday gag held a certain amount of appeal. Ultimately she decided against it and straightened up to throw her arm around Kate’s shoulder in a one armed hug. “You didn’t miss anything, promise. It just felt like a big breakfast kind of morning. And no, I’m not going to make you train after this either.”
She released Kate and headed back toward the kitchen to grab butter and syrup for the table. “Coffee is brewing if you want some. Yel should be down to join us in a bit too. I heard her up and moving around.”
Kate frowned. Not at the hug – she would always take a hug without complaint – but the explanation. It felt like a big breakfast kind of morning? She wasn’t going to make Kate train? That was weird. Part of her was tempted to go with the flow and let Natasha be sentimental; it was totally possible that was all this was, but she’d call the probability kind of low.
She stood there, brows now creased into a worried expression, and watched Natasha return with her bottle of syrup and stick of butter. Once she’d set them on the table, Kate reached out for her and unceremoniously draped the back of one hand across her sister’s forehead while the other gripped her shoulder to hold her still.
“What’s with you? Are you sick or something? You don’t feel hot.”
“This is why I don’t do nice things more often.” Natasha rolled her eyes and swatted Kate’s hand away from her forehead affectionately. “If you don’t want my food, there’s cereal in the cupboard, you know.”
Though she played it off, Natasha felt a small prickle of guilt at the base of her neck, because the truth was she did have an ulterior motive for this breakfast, and it wasn’t an accident that she’d specifically made several things that she knew were Kate’s favorites. She was slightly concerned Kate would take the news of her wanting to move out of the house poorly and was hoping that a spread of breakfast foods might soften the blow slightly.
“I didn’t say that,” Kate huffed. She let herself be swatted back and her expression softened as she pulled Natasha into an actual hug, pressing her face into her hair. “Thank you, Nat.”
She hadn’t really taken the time to identify the breakfast Natasha had put together for them, but when she turned and saw all of her favorites, that suspicious, antsy feeling clawed at her chest. She briefly rubbed the spot, as if it was a physical ache, before deciding to brush it off for now. If Natasha had something to say, she would say it when she was ready.
Kate could be patient. For now.
“I hope you know I’m not waiting on Yelena to start eating,” she said, taking her preferred seat at the table (to the left of the head) and reaching for a plate.
“If you did, I’d probably have to check your temperature. Enjoy, you goblin.” Natasha gave Kate a wink then disappeared back into the kitchen. She could sense Kate’s suspicion, which wasn’t surprising. Nothing about this impromptu breakfast was exactly subtle. She sighed softly as she piled a few dirtied pans and plates into the sink. Sure, she liked to joke about being immune to Kate’s sad puppy face, but they all knew she was much softer than she let on when it came to her youngest sister.
She busied herself with tidying up the kitchen a bit and getting herself a cup of coffee before she returned to the dining room. Kate had a bit of waffle caught in the corner of her mouth and Natasha had to press her lips together to keep from laughing. “I take it the food’s good?” She settled herself down at the head of the table and took a long sip of her coffee.
Kate plucked that escaped piece of waffle (because she could feel it, she was raised in polite society, thank you) and gave an approving nod as she popped it into her mouth. “A-plus,” she said, giving Natasha a syrup-sticky thumbs up. She may have gone about the process a little backwards and decided to rip the waffle into sizable slices after pouring syrup all over it, but oh well. “Yelena’s missing out.”
“Yelena had things to take care of first,” she said, walking into the room, Mango perched on her shoulder. “To begin with, cleaning out this chaotic little shit’s cage.” The bird chirped in response.
The amount of food may have also had her raising her eyebrows at Natasha if Yelena wasn’t focused on just getting stuff in her belly first. She took a seat next to Kate and started to grab at a few things. Did she think it was sus? Of course, but whatever the reason was, she was not about to complain. Yet.
“Glad you made it down before Kate devoured everything.” Natasha smirked slightly over the rim of her coffee cup as Yel came and joined them at the table. Once Yelena had filled her plate, Natasha finally took some of the food for herself as well. She grabbed a waffle and some strips of bacon laid neatly on top.
The rest of the meal went mostly as anticipated with the three of them eating and teasing one another as they always did. There was a heated discussion about who had gotten blood on Natasha’s sweater and a (probably too) competitive game of Rock, Paper, Scissors over who got the last blueberry muffin.
Most of the tension had eased from Natasha’s shoulders by the time plates were emptied and they were trading barbs over another round of coffee. “I have something I want to talk to you two about.” She set down her mug and glanced over at Yelena first, then Kate.
There it was. The reason for this unusual weekday breakfast. Kate had suspected something, but she’d been content to let it slide. After all, she had to defend herself in the sweater conversation (which was dumb because it was obviously Yelena, ugh) and emerge victorious in the Battle for the Blueberry Muffin (which she graciously cut in half to split with Yelena, you’re welcome).
Basically, other things had taken precedence in her very busy mind.
But as soon as Natasha said she wanted to talk, her grip on the handle of her purple coffee mug tightened. She tried her best to brush aside the notion that immediately entered her brain – nothing good ever comes from those words – but it was no easy task. She tried not to look overly worried and just focused on her sister.
“What’s up, Nat?”
Yelena was far too busy scarfing down her half of the blueberry muffin to answer with anything proper. Plus, she didn’t need to. Natasha knew she was always listening even if she looked like she wasn’t. But in response to her, Yelena simply raised her eyebrows at her, waiting to see what she had to say.
Natasha hid a smile at the on point reactions from the pair of them. Kate, looking worried and trying not to show it, while Yelena managed to both listen attentively and shove half of a muffin in her mouth at the same time. “It’s nothing life-altering or bad,” she offered, hoping to assuage that wrinkle of concern that was building between Kate’s eyebrows. “Steve and I have been talking and we’d like to get a place of our own soon.”
Oh. Kate’s face may have fallen a bit there. She was glad it was nothing life-altering or bad, like Natasha had made a point of mentioning, but well. This kind of was life-altering, wasn’t it? She was moving out. She wanted to leave. Not for any bad reasons, sure, and Kate got it. She wanted to move Emily in with them, because she loved her and she wanted it, and it made sense. She understood.
That didn’t really mean she liked the idea. She liked Steve, he was a good friend, and like, Captain America. She couldn’t really ask for a better brother-in-law, or someone for her sister to be with. She just didn’t like the idea of Nat being away, even if it was only Morningside or Stark Tower or something. But she knew that wasn’t fair, not even close to it. Natasha deserved to do what made her happy just as much as Kate did, if not more.
So, she smiled and nodded and said, “That’s great, Tasha,” even though she wanted to say I wish you wouldn’t. She looked over at Yelena, bumping her shoulder against her sister’s. “Right? It’s great!”
Yelena couldn’t help the eye roll she threw at Kate. She knew her well enough to sense her heart wasn’t entirely into it. Yelena often had to adapt to change in her life but since she had come to Vallo and since the house had appeared, things had decidedly not changed that much. She was starting to get used to it.
Still, Vallo tended to be unpredictable in so many ways that she always kept it in the back of her mind that anything can change at any time.
“We have space here,” she said. “We wouldn’t be too annoying. I mean, I would be able to tone it down. This one,” Yelena tilted her head at Kate, “not so much.”
It would be a lie to say that Natasha didn’t consider it for a brief flicker of a moment. She loved these two with all her heart, and she loved their life together in this house. It had been a wonderful balm for all of them at a time when they’d really needed it, and brought them all closer than she could have ever hoped. Unfortunately, she was also pragmatic enough to see the glaring issues with moving Steve in with them. She gave Yelena a half smile. “Don’t think I didn’t consider it. But five people and four animals in one house is a lot, even if everyone is on their best behavior all the time.”
She let her gaze drift over to where Kate was still valiantly trying to look excited at the prospect. “Kate, it’s okay. You’re allowed to be sad about it. Why do you think I plied you with all your favorite foods first? There’s part of me that’s sad too. I love living with the both of you. But I’m also looking forward to things changing in a positive way for once.”
Kate was definitely trying. She wanted more than anything to just be the supportive sister and had herself convinced that anything other than that would make her into more of a brat than usual (and in a much worse way). She had briefly let herself hope Yelena’s suggestion would be taken, but she knew better. They’d all crammed in here plenty of times for overnights, and it was tight. She’d had that concern herself, too, when Yelena had broached moving Emily in last month.
“You deserve that,” was her response. Her smile was small but genuine. She loved Natasha, maybe more than anyone, and she wanted to see her happy. If that happiness was something she needed outside of their house, she did understand. That should be enough for her to rise above her dumb feelings.
“I just…” She pulled her teeth over her bottom lip, hesitant before she continued. “I don’t want you to go.” She shrugged, cheeks turning a little pink at the admittance. That definitely wasn’t the supportive vibe she was going for, and she felt a little bad saying it, but it was honest.
Natasha reached a hand over and grabbed one of Kate’s. “I’m not leaving right this second. We haven’t even had a discussion about where we want to move yet because I wanted to talk to you two first. We have some time, and I promise I’ll try to disrupt things as little as possible. I’ll still be over here all the time, we can still do dinners together or breakfasts on the weekends. And you can come visit me anytime you want.” She thought about that for a second, then amended herself. “Almost anytime you want.”
Kate chuckled and clasped that hand with both of hers, squeezing tightly for a moment. “I know.” She sighed, meeting Nat’s eyes for a moment and feeling ridiculous. “I know. And I’ll be fine. We both will.” She hooked her foot around Yelena’s chair to drag her closer. “I’m really happy you’re happy. I mean that.”
Yelena let herself be dragged, though the motion only slightly upset Mango on her shoulder who batted her wings before settling against her neck again. “It’s a good thing you said ‘almost’ because you know this one would be over there every hour of the day.” Not that she thought that was actually true considering she had just given her permission to move Emily in.
But, Kate wouldn’t be the only one who wasn’t entirely looking forward to this. Sure, Yelena spent a lot of time outside of the house, and sometimes she would really just come home to sleep. The amount of times she saw her sisters on a regular basis wouldn’t change. It was just that she knew that she was coming home to them at the end of the day even if she didn’t always see them in passing at home, especially after she did her later shifts at Galahd.
“We do weekly dinners together. Or twice a week, either here or wherever you end up moving to. Once a week during weekends, maybe every other weekend, we do breakfast. And then, of course, our usual training. How’s that?”
Natasha couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face at that suggestion. To anyone outside of them, three dinners together a week for grown women probably seemed like a lot, but to her it was perfect. “Throw in a movie night once a month and you’ve got yourselves a deal.”
“Like once a month is going to be enough,” Kate scoffed, but she was smiling through it and nodded. “Deal for at least one movie a night month. And I promise to keep my harassment minimal.” She paused. “Well, semi-minimal. We still have our shows to watch.”
Natasha picked up her coffee mug and held it out to Kate. “I’ll drink to that.” Their mugs clinked together.
“Twice a month movie night,” Yelena amended, picking up her own mug and downing the contents in it like it was a shot, before standing up. She knew it was a new thing right now, to be told that she was going to move out, and while Yelena didn’t think she had anything else to say about it right now, she knew something would crop up later. Something to talk about with Natasha or with Kate, separately or together. She’d cross that bridge when she got there.
There was still an undercurrent of sadness running through all three of them. Natasha could easily feel it. Change could be rough even in the best of circumstances. She looked from Yelena, to Kate, and back again. Her family.
“Who’s up for playing hooky today?”
“I’m down. Where are we going?”
“I don’t know about you two,” Kate chimed in, “but the couch looks good enough to me.”