Widow Sisters and Friends (Restoring Our Broken Hearts)

Paging My Poser

Summary: When Natasha is having one of those days, Yelena steps in to cheer up her big sister, playing the part of the caretaker for once.

   "What're you doing in here by yourself? You left me to eat my cereal alone," Yelena dramatically declared as she stood in Natasha's doorway to her room. Natasha barely looked up from her phone, humming a bit with amusement.

Yelena felt her smile fading significantly as she took in the fact that Natasha was wearing their vest. That was always an immediate indicator that something was wrong with her older sister.

When Yelena had woken up that morning, Natasha had gotten her cereal as per usual, but she had seemed to skip eating herself in favor of retreating into her room and hiding away back there. Yelena had rushed through her breakfast and had quickly headed back to see what was going on.

Natasha had not been wearing the vest when Yelena last saw her, but she must have put it on after she had gone into her room.

Yelena wasted no time in heading over to the bed, and sitting down at the foot of it, inspecting Natasha carefully.

"You okay?" Yelena asked, and Natasha just nodded barely, trying her best to remain engrossed in her phone despite the fact that Yelena could see the faraway look in her eyes.

Yelena furrowed her brow a little, pulling her legs up onto the bed as she started to move nearer to the redhead, her eyes locked onto Natasha's downcast gaze where she was stubbornly not looking at Yelena.

"My poser? Paging my poser?" Yelena goofily questioned, crawling up the length of Natasha's body where the redhead was leaned against the headboard. Natasha looked at her with a slight smile on her face that did not quite meet her eyes as she moved her phone aside and sat it down on the nightstand. Once Yelena had plopped down her torso in Natasha's lap, she paused to look at Natasha.

"What's wrong?" Yelena asked concernedly, knowing that something was not right with her favorite person in the world as she tugged gently at the clasps on the vest. There were a few moments of silence as Natasha just looked over her face before finally meeting her eyes again.

"It's just one of those days," Natasha replied to her finally, her smile growing a bit more strained as she gazed at Yelena. Yelena felt a tug of sympathy for her older sister as her smile faded somewhat in its vibrancy.

They both sometimes had those days where nothing was right. Those days where the guilt and the trauma were a bit heavy. Natasha's ordinarily did not come quite as often as Yelena's, but when they hit Natasha, it always made Yelena's heart ache painfully. She could not bear to see her older sister in this sort of state.

Yelena moved up further, clambering up so that her chin bumped against Natasha's chest. She rested her chin carefully there, looking up at the redhead. Natasha let out a small sigh, her smile faltering a little as she just moved forward and pressed her lips against Yelena's forehead. She brought her hands up, gently threading them both through Yelena's oddly freed hair.

Yelena mentally thanked her lateness in throwing her hair in her usual ponytail or braid. This feeling of Natasha running her fingers through her hair was just pure heaven. Yelena groaned lightly, satisfaction filling her heart as she tilted her head forward just a little in an attempt to expose the nape of her neck for Natasha to gently scratch.

Of course, Natasha complied, and Yelena just hummed gratefully. Natasha moved her lips away from Yelena's head softly, allowing Yelena to move more closely against her chest.

After a moment, Yelena decided to move out of Natasha's grasp no matter how much she did not want to. Yelena knew that Natasha was redirecting a lot of her focus onto Yelena, but she also knew that if she gave Natasha attention and forced her to look at her and interact, it might distract her from things even more significantly.