Widow Sisters and Friends (Restoring Our Broken Hearts)

Haunted

Summary: It is October, and Yelena very skillfully tricks Natasha into pulling over into a haunted house parking lot. After much begging and guilt-tripping and convincing, Yelena manages to get Natasha to agree to go inside of the place. Needless to say, the visit is quite eventful.

   "Pull over in there! Quick!"

Natasha's eyes widened as she swiftly complied with Yelena's words, unquestioning as she expected some sort of threat was causing Yelena to give the command.

The both of them had been peacefully rolling down the road, heading home after going to the grocery store, and Yelena was just looking out the window. It was in the middle of this comfortable silence that Yelena started yelling like a madwoman.

Natasha pulled into the parking lot quickly, looking all around with her hands clenched tightly on the steering wheel.

"What is it?!" Natasha yelled in reply, and she was shocked to see a huge childlike smile spreading across Yelena's face.

"I want to go in there!" Yelena proclaimed, pointing at the building to the side of the car. Natasha leaned up a bit in her seat, her muscles still tensed, and her brow knitted tightly as she followed Yelena's finger.

Homer's House of Horrific Haunts.

Natasha groaned aloud, letting her head fall against the steering wheel so that it avoided the horn.

"Are you kidding me?! You scream at me to pull over while we're going at least fifty miles per hour down the road just to go into some haunted house?!" Natasha demanded, raising her head up to glare at the blonde, and Yelena smiled that cheese-eating grin that she always had any time that she was enjoying something that she did to aggravate Natasha.

"Yes."

"Yelena—"

"Come on, please? All Americans have done it at least once. I want to see what the fuss is about!" Yelena declared, and Natasha shook her head, passing a distrustful glance at the building. She could feel Yelena's gaze on her, and just as she realized that she had taken too long to answer, Yelena gasped dramatically.

"Natashka... You've never been to one, have you?" Yelena gleefully questioned, and Natasha sighed, closing her eyes as Yelena cackled.

"All the more reason to go then!"

"No, no, no. We are not going in there. It's just pointless scaring. You know how I tend to react to scaring, Yelena," Natasha explained, trying desperately to get the blonde to give the whole thing up.

"Trust me, my eye still remembers that lesson well," Yelena deadpanned, and Natasha shook her head as she remembered when Yelena had snuck up behind her and somehow managed to scare her one day. Natasha had accidentally punched her in the face, giving Yelena a black eye, and Natasha felt terrible about it for days as she gave Yelena plenty of cuddles and practically followed her around like a lost puppy until Yelena's eye was healed.

"You'll be fine, Natashka. You rarely get scared and when you're expected something to happen, you can't get scared," Yelena explained, her voice ringing with nothing but the most convincing tone that she could force into her voice. Natasha just shook her head, unconvinced.

"And for me? Well, nothing that they can throw at me in there will be any worse than the Red Room," Yelena pointed out, shrugging nonchalantly. Natasha felt a pang of guilt wash over her, and she looked down at the steering wheel.

"Besides... I was hoping to have a new experience with you. Something that you've never done before and that I've never done before. But I understand if you don't want to," Yelena pitifully spoke, and Natasha's gaze snapped to Yelena's as the guilt stabbed more sharply into her chest.