Chapter Text
It had been years since anyone knew y/n's whereabouts. After the Red Room collapsed and she was finally free, she vanished without a trace. Yelena assumed she'd started a new life somewhere no one could find her. She didn't want to admit it, but she'd always wondered why y/n never came back. Why she'd left her behind.
As children, they were inseparable. The Red Room's two brightest students. The prodigies. No one else could compare. After Yelena's makeshift family fell apart and she was torn from Natasha's arms at nine years old, it was y/n who helped put her back together.
Assigned to the same dormitory, the two grew close quickly, eventually becoming inseparable. For years, there wasn't a single mission, punishment, or victory they didn't survive together. Every traumatic moment one endured, the other did too. They understood each other in a way no one else ever could.
Yelena had always believed nothing, not even freedom, could come between them. She'd been wrong. y/n had made that clear. Or so she'd thought.
Broken from her focus on cleaning her room, for the first time in months, Yelena heard a knock at her door. Bob. It was always Bob. She didn’t even look up at him, too caught up in wiping a circular stain off her bedside table. She must have left a mug there for too long. And without a coaster too? Bucky would be disappointed. But how disappointed could he be? He’s the one who cleans his prosthetic arm in the dishwasher. She shook her head.
Coming up beside her, Bob spoke, “I think there's someone here to see you.” He glanced down at the rag she was furiously scrubbing her table with. “Are you busy?”
“Who could it possibly be?” Yelena frowned. Still very upset with how uncooperative the stain was being. “I swear if it is another journalist pretending to be my friend so they can speak to me, I am going to lose my mind.”
Bob chuckled. “I’m not sure who it is. She didn’t give a name. But she sounded pretty genuine when she said she was your friend.”
“Ugh.” Yelena groaned. Turning towards her bedroom door. “Why does it have to be today of all days? I promised myself I was going to clean my room today.”
Bob followed behind her. “There’s always tomorrow,” he said, a smile on his face. She just scowled at him.
“Actually I have plans for tomorrow.” She paused in front of the elevator, pressing the down button.
“Really?” Bob asked.
“Yes, plans to lay around and do absolutely nothing. It would be a shame if I had to cancel those,” she joked.
The elevator door opened and she stepped inside, flashing him one last smile. “Wish me luck.”
It didn’t take long for the elevator to reach the ground floor. Something about it being a super advanced elevator or something. Valentina had told her, but she didn’t remember. She didn’t really listen to Valentina.
The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Yelena took a step out and immediately froze. Sitting comfortably in one of the lobby chairs was a figure she hadn't seen in years.
It couldn't be. There was no way.
She took a hesitant step forward. At the sound of her footsteps, the figure sat up and turned toward her.
It was.
“y/n?” She could barely hear her own voice. The sound of her heartbeat drowned out everything else.
“Hey Yelena.” y/n murmured, giving her a small nod. “Been a while.”
Yelena hesitated for a second. Been a while. Yeah, it's been a while. It's been years. “Where the fuck have you been?” she demanded.
y/n's eyebrows shot up, clearly caught off guard. She gave a sheepish smile, rubbing the back of her neck. “It’s a long story,” she finally forced out.
“We have the time,” Yelena replied sharply. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the person standing in front of her, the person she'd spent years wondering about. The person she'd convinced herself she would never see again.
“You’re not even going to give me a hug?” y/n asked quietly.
Yelena let out a humorless laugh. “Do you think you deserve one?”
y/n clenched her jaw. “...Probably not.”
Yelena shook her head. Beginning to pace the lobby. “What are you even doing here? After all these years. You just show up like that.” She snapped her fingers. “You don’t get to do that.”
“‘Lena,” she started.
“Don’t.” Yelena warned. That name belonged to someone who knew her. Someone who stayed. Someone who didn't disappear without a word.
“You know, I waited for you.” Yelena's voice dropped. “After… After everything. I waited for you to come back.” She swallowed “And you didn’t.”
Her gaze dropped to the floor. She felt exhausted. Not from cleaning her room, not even from dealing with Walker’s cranky attitude earlier that day. No. She was exhausted because the moment y/n walked back into her life, everything she'd spent years putting back together had started falling apart.
“I didn’t even know if you were alive!” The words came out louder than she intended.
y/n stayed quiet. She didn't interrupt. Didn't defend herself. Because Yelena was right. She deserved this.
“But here you are,” Yelena whispered. “Standing in front of me like nothing happened.” Her voice cracked. “I thought I’d never see you again.” A tear slipped down her cheek. And then the rest followed. “I missed you!”
“Oh ‘Lena.” y/n murmured gently, taking a step forward.
For a moment, Yelena just stood there. She wanted to be angry. She wanted to remind herself that she had spent years wondering if y/n was dead. But she couldn't. She never could. She let y/n pull her into an embrace. And after years of missing her, Yelena finally let herself hold on.
“I missed you too,” y/n whispered.
They stayed like that for a while, neither of them wanting to be the first to let go. When they finally pulled apart, Yelena wiped her face with her sleeve.
“Don’t you ever do that to me again. You hear me?”
A smile tugged at the corner of y/n’s mouth. “Never again ‘Lena.”
——————————————
Yelena did not let y/n leave.
When she’d asked where she was staying and y/n had hesitated, she had made the decision for her. She would stay at the tower. ‘There are plenty of empty rooms,’ she had said.
So y/n had followed her into the elevator and up to the top of the tower where everyone resided. When the elevator doors opened on the top floor, there was someone waiting.
“How’d it…” The man paused mid sentence, his eyes looking at y/n in confusion. “...go?” He finished. He quickly tugged at his sleeves, smoothing them down as if he could somehow make himself look more put together. “Hi?”
Yelena moved closer to him, standing right by his side. She took his hand in hers. “It is okay Bob. This is y/n. Say hi y/n.”
“Hello,” y/n said calmly. She studied him carefully. The way he held himself. The nervous energy behind his eyes. The small, uncertain smile. Put simply, he looked pathetic, she thought.
Bob turned to look directly at Yelena, giving her a questioning look. “Is she…?”
Yelena nodded like she knew what he was going to say. “Yes, she was the one who called me down.”
“No but is she… That y/n?” That caught her attention. Yelena had mentioned her. To him. Who was this guy?
Yelena sighed. “Yes. No. Maybe. I don’t want to explain it right now.” She moved past him into the common area and collapsed onto the couch. “Make yourself at home. I am going to take a nap.”
She pulled a blanket over herself, turned away, and closed her eyes. She had had enough of life today.
That left y/n standing alone with Bob. For a moment, neither of them spoke. Then Bob gave her an awkward smile. Not unfriendly. Just unsure.
“Do you know where the empty bedrooms are?” y/n asked. Bob almost jumped at the sudden question but quickly recovered.
“I– um, yeah, follow me.” He turned down the hallway. He knew there was an empty room next to his, that would probably be fine. He could just show her that and leave. Simple.
As they made their way down the hallway, y/n could feel the tension in his shoulders. It took a second, but he spoke. “Yelena told me you two grew up together.”
y/n glanced at him. “Did she?”
Bob immediately looked nervous. “Yeah. She said you were... important to her.”
Important. Such a small word for something that had once been everything.
y/n looked away. “She was important to me too.” Bob looked at her for a second, almost surprised by the answer, but before he could say anything else, they reached the door.
“This is it.” He gestured toward the room. His fingers immediately went back to the hem of his shirt. “Um... if you need anything, Yelena's room is down the hallway to the left.” He hesitated before pointing across the hall. “And I’m right there.” That shy smile returned.
“Okay,” y/n said. “Thank you.” She then opened the door, walked into the room, and shut it behind her without another word.
Bob stared at the door for a few seconds before finally turning away. He liked people. He did. He just wished interacting with them didn't feel so exhausting.
Inside the room, y/n surveyed the room. It was bigger than anywhere she had stayed in years. That alone felt strange. There was a bed. A dresser. A closet with empty hangers waiting for clothes she wasn't sure she would ever hang there.
y/n set her bag down. Then she paused. She didn't unpack. She didn't know how long she would be here. A night, maybe. A week, if Yelena insisted. Anything longer felt like asking for too much.
She laid down on the bed. She was tired too. The whole morning had been spent trying to psych herself up to go see Yelena. Then came the reunion. The anger. The yelling. The tears. That part she had expected.
What she hadn't expected was the hug. The forgiveness. The fact that Yelena had opened the door and let her back in. She had half expected Yelena to tell her to leave. To say she never wanted to see her again. Maybe, deep down, she thought she deserved that.
But now, she was here. She had a place to sleep tonight, and she had Yelena. For the first time in years, that was enough.