Widow Sisters and Friends (Restoring Our Broken Hearts)

Cuddles and Camping

Summary: When Natasha hears Peter talking about going camping with Tony, Natasha is reminded of her and Yelena's time together as children in Ohio and of the time when they went camping together in the backyard. So Natasha arranges another camping trip for her and Yelena. Which is a perfect idea except for the fact that it is on the cusp of wintertime, and it gets really cold at night.

"Did you get the sticks?"

Yelena flinched slightly at the sound of Natasha's voice, sending a hot glare her way.

"Yeah, but don't think I'm not resentful of you giving me the way too easy job," Yelena shot back, and Natasha just chuckled as she arranged the rocks around in a circle to make a fire for the both of them to sit by.

Natasha had recently decided to take Yelena out camping since she had been reminded of it by hearing Peter talking about going camping with Tony. Even though it was much too cold to go out camping and enjoy it all that much, Natasha had still resolved to do it anyway. So, Natasha had kept it a secret from Yelena and had gathered all of the supplies before finally telling Yelena on the day that they were set to head out to the camping spot.

Yelena had been so ridiculously excited despite the fact that she had been trying to hide her more extreme feelings about the entire ordeal. She was trying to maintain an air of coolness about her that she was barely able to keep.

When they had finally arrived, they had already stopped for dinner at a fast-food restaurant, and it was sunset. Natasha had just managed to set up the tent when the sun went down. Natasha then had asked Yelena to find sticks since it would keep Yelena near the camp and hopefully would keep her safer in the night. Of course, Yelena had not quite realized this until Natasha disappeared into the forest to get rocks.

Now that Natasha was back, Yelena seemed to have caught onto Natasha's motives in having her gather sticks.

"I was trying to keep you from having to go out in the dark."

"I'm not scared of the dark," Yelena replied, and although Natasha knew it was true, she decided that she would not tell Yelena that it was all a way to keep her safe. She figured that Yelena likely already knew that.

"Alright, put all of your sticks in the middle here," Natasha told her, and Yelena just groaned before following Natasha's instructions. Natasha then plucked two of the longer sticks from the pile.

"How are we setting these on fire?" Yelena questioned, and Natasha raised an eyebrow, maintaining as serious of an expression as she could.

"Use the rocks and make a spark. Here, take this," Natasha told her, offering a crumpled napkin that was in her pocket. Yelena wrinkled her nose, looking at Natasha as if she had lost her mind. Natasha looked down at the sticks in her hands quickly as she withdrew her knife, trying diligently to keep a straight face as she started carving the ends of the sticks into points.

"Okay," Yelena spoke finally, and Natasha glanced upward as Yelena started scraping the rocks together. Natasha allowed her to do this for a long moment, the laughter threatening to spill forth from her lips as she watched her baby sister.

Once Natasha had finally finished working at the sticks in her hands, she reached into her pocket and withdrew a lighter. She then reached forward, bumping it against Yelena's back. Yelena turned around quickly, frustration etched into her features, and Natasha barely maintained her cool façade as Yelena's eyes locked onto the lighter.

However, as soon as Yelena snatched the lighter from her, Natasha grinned widely, chuckling heartily, and Yelena smacked Natasha's leg firmly.

"Jerk," Yelena hissed, but the words were not really that angry, and she wasted no time in starting the fire.