afterwards : y.b

i really came back after a few months and decided pain, huh? but in honour of my love florence pugh’s bday - here’s a yelena piece

masterlist/permanent taglist/etsy shop-requests open!

yelena decides to go visit a place that brings her peace, only to find another there. (contains black widow and hawkeye spoilers) 1.1k

Leaning against the sink, Yelena blinks rapidly staring at her reflection. Immediately she notes the surroundings have changed, the wallpaper is different, the mirror she looks into differs entirely from mere seconds ago.

With a heavy sense of unease, she wanders out from the bathroom to see a family sitting there.

“Yelena,” The woman rises to her feet whilst her partner takes a hold of their child, backing away from the scene. “you’re back?”

“I, what’s happened?” Yelena manages to ask, bewildered by the reactions presented. “I just went in there and,” Trailing off, the woman helps her toward the couch and proceeds to explain what happened.

“And somehow, you, you’re back.” The woman chuckles in disbelief, sitting beside her old comrade after five years.

Nodding slowly, Yelena processes everything, feeling tears forming in her eyes at the realisation. “I, I have to find Natasha.” She quickly stands, her mind rushing with thoughts of her sister; her family. “Will you help me find her?”

“Of course.” The woman says, taking Yelena’s hand, squeezing it lightly.

*

It’d been a while since you’d visited. In truth, you were afraid to see it still standing there and facing the fact that she was really gone.

The look on Clint’s face when he returned alone, holding the stone in hand is one that haunts you. Hearing Natasha says with a smile ’see you in a minute’ with the hope that the plan would work still brings you to tears. Nothing’s the same, even if you were able to save everyone, you lost your best friend.

With a bunch of peonies clad in one hand, you approach the large tree and see the headstone beneath.

Bunches of flowers lay around the stone, her name embossed on the granite surface along with notes of adoration, thanks and appreciation. Most of the ink has run from the paper, now just a memory like Nat is.

“Hey, Nat,” You start, kneeling down to place the peonies in the centre of the pile, removing the withered ones aside. “of all the places, you really picked Ohio?” A chuckle sounds from you, picturing her smile at the thought, imagining her witty response. “Sorry it’s been a while, things haven’t exactly been the same since,” Trailing off, you stand back up, sensing someone else was with you.

Quickly, you turn around to see a blonde woman standing there, flowers in hand too as she stares right at you.

“Who’re you?” You’re the first to speak up, both of you keeping your ground and not daring to move first.

Few knew of Natasha’s final burial place, most left flowers near the Stark Tower.

“I could ask the same,” The blonde asks, her voice thick with a Russian accent. “why are you at Natasha’s grave?”

“What does it look like?” You quip, the tears you felt mere moments ago vanishing into anger. “I’m paying my respects for a friend, family even.” You tell the blonde, watching her shrug at your response. “And who are you to ask in the first place?”

Holding her hand up, you watch a look of realisation cross the woman’s face. “Holy Shit,” She starts. “you’re one of the Avengers aren’t you?” A laugh follows her question, one filled with sarcasm as opposed to excitement that usually follows with such.

“Yeah,” You tell her, sighing to yourself. “well, I was. I, I’m not really involved anymore.” Lowering your tone, you glance over to Natasha’s tone, seeing the words beneath her name. ’Daughter, Sister, Avenger.’

“I know who you are,” She states. “you’re Y/n. aren’t you?”

Nodding in response, the blonde steps closer. “Hold on,” You pause, paying closer attention to her. “no,” You mumble. “are you,”

The blonde raises a brow, noting the expression that mirrors the one she wore.

“Yelena?” Your voice almost cracks as Yelena’s expression changes from stubborn to sorrow. “Oh my god, you’re Nat’s sister.” A watery laugh sounds through your hands as you cover your mouth. “I, I can’t believe it.”

“You, you know who I am?” Yelena asks softly, a small frown playing on her lips.

“I, of course!” You admit. “Nat, she, she talked about you a lot. When we were on the run she told me about her sister, this amazing woman she’d turned into that she admired, and missed deeply.”

Without noticing, Yelena could feel tears fall down her cheeks.

“She really loved you, you know?” A sad smile etches itself on your face as Yelena nods to herself. “She’d be proud of you. Nat, she, she saved the world., for everyone.” Wiping away your own tears, Yelena sniffs loudly.

“I wish I got more time with her, you know?” Yelena painfully says. “You got to know her, she told me about you too. About her best friend, Y/n, the fighter with the gentle heart.”

You can’t help but chuckle at that. Of course, that’s what Nat would label you as.

“She told me we’d get on,” Yelena adds, half smiling to you. “I just wish she was here to see it all.”

Turning around, you face the grave once more as Yelena stands by your side. “What happened to her, I don’t think any of us will ever fully heal from.” You mutter, lifting your head up to see Yelena beside you with her eyes focused on the fresh peonies you placed.

“Why did she do it?” Yelena asks, knowing there are few who know the details, the truth behind her sisters death. “Clint Barton should not have let it happen, I,”

“Hey,” You interrupt her. “Clint wanted to go, I, we’ll never know what happened fully, but Natasha sacrificed herself for everyone, for Clint to have his family back and for you to come home.”

After a long silence, Yelena eventually finds her voice. “I just wish it didn’t have to be this way.”

Looking down, her fingers brush against yours lightly. “I know,” You whisper, hearing your words get lost into the breeze. “but Nat is looking over us, wherever she is.”

Yelena chuckles. “Oh, she is, probably drinking beer with that Tony Stark.”

“Sounds about right.” You add. “She’ll never be gone, not truly.”

Placing her flowers beside yours, Yelena returns to your side. “Thank you, Y/n.” She tells you. “I, I would like to hear more stories, if you have time?” Yelena asks apprehensively.

“We’re in Ohio, Yelena,” You remind her. “I’ve got all the time in the world.”

With a nod, the pair of you retreat from Natasha’s grave as the blossom on the tree blows down, clearing the last of the withered petals from her name.

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home for christmas

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yelena belova x reader

word count: 902

a/n: this was an (unofficial) request from @gigistylestomlinson…also, timeline wise, this occurs after black widow and before infinity war (like 2017). happy holidays everyone and enjoy :)

warnings: a tad bit of angst regarding yelena’s family, but otherwise, none :)

requests are open!

malysh - baby

You and Yelena were excited for the holidays this year for a multitude of reasons. First, it was the first Christmas you two would be spending together. Second, you both loved the holidays. And third, you were going to spend Christmas morning with Yelena’s family. Yelena wasn’t as excited as you were for that third reason though.

Sure, she loved her family so much, but as you knew, there was a long, complicated, and, most of all, painful history between them. You didn’t know every little intimate detail of the family’s history, especially not of how Alexei betrayed Nat and Yelena when they were little, but you knew enough to understand Yelena’s hesitation.

You two got up at the very crack of dawn on Christmas Eve, went to the airport for a flight at noon, and sat on a plane for 17 hours. Travelling actually took longer than that since you spent about 30 minutes in a taxi to the airport, then had a 4-hour layover in Istanbul. That totalled to two and a half hours shy of a full day of travel (21 hours and 30 minutes).

When you pulled up to the little homestead in St. Petersburg, you saw a flash of something on Yelena’s face. Maybe it was nervousness or fright or something else. It went away quickly as she saw Melina scolding Alexei outside the pigpen, presumably about something he did (or didn’t do) regarding the hogs.

Excitedly, you jumped out of the car, leaving Yelena no other choice but to follow suit. At first, she didn’t want to be there, but as soon as her boots hit the ground, she was so happy.

You watched as she ran to her mother and father, practically attacking them with a hug. You noticed the slightest hesitation from her mother, but it slipped away as soon as it had come.

As you watched the three Russians hug happily, you didn’t even notice a fourth, a redheaded one who you knew to be Natasha, run out of the house.

After a moment, the family broke away from their hug and small conversation that you couldn’t really hear. It was Alexei who noticed you first.

“Who is that?”

“Mama. Papa. This is…well, this is my partner.”

You noticed Natasha’s little smirk. She had already known since Yelena had called and told her ahead of time so the surprise wouldn’t be as big.

“Little one! You’re too young to be married,” Alexei exclaimed gently grabbing Yelena’s face in such a way that her lips and cheeks pushed out.

“Firsht of all,” she said, her words slurring together slightly because of how he was holding her face, “I am 28 yearsh old. Schecond, we are not married. And third, get off of me.” She swatted the man’s hands away from her face aggressively as she said so.

“Yelena, why didn’t you tell us,” her mother asked, her dark eyes darting between you and her daughter.

“Because,” she started before a pause. She honestly didn’t really know why she didn’t tell her family about you. “I-I don’t know.”

The family spoke in Russian for a few minutes, leaving you unaware of what they were saying. All good things you hoped, but you couldn’t be sure.

Soon after, you and Yelena were ushered into the house by her excited family and sat down before a tree. Taking a closer look, you saw little ornaments that had pictures of Yelena and Natasha when they were younger, around 6 and 11 respectively. You didn’t know this, but they were copies of the pictures from that old picture book Melina had saved.

You looked at the steady collection of ornaments that hung on the tree. Many seemed to be older, likely 20 years or so. Quite a few of them had little drawings that appeared to be in crayon with a name, mainly Yelena, written somewhere on it. One was a group of people, a tall dark-haired man, a dark-haired woman, and two young girls–one with blue hair and the other blonde. It took a moment to realize that it was a drawing of their family by a very young Yelena.

You were taken away from the ornaments and brought back to reality when Alexei began to give out the gifts he bought or made everyone. His gifts were followed by Melina’s, then Natasha’s, and finally Yelena’s. You were the only one without gifts. Well, that’s what you thought.

Yelena presented you with a squat box. It clearly had some kind of jewelery in it, likely a necklace or bracelet. You opened it carefully, expecting some kind of fragile and expensively jeweled necklace. You could not be more wrong.

Instead, you found a simple beaded bracelet with lettered beads. It looked like a friendship bracelet that little kids would make. Not that you minded, of course. You loved the thought behind it. Looking closer, the white beads said “I LOVE YOU” in blocky black letters and they were surrounded by beads of your favorite colors.

It was such a simple, yet meaningful gift. You put it on and immediately wrapped your arms around Yelena tightly. “I love it so much…thank you.”

“Of course, malysh. I’m glad you like it.”

And so, your present unwrapping in Yelena’s family home ended in a tight, loving hug. If Yelena was asked about it, she would’ve said that you were the real gift.