look after you × winterwidow & oc

V. the cool bad influence aunt

"You've gone suspiciously quiet." Natasha noticed, pulling Yelena out of her thoughts. She kept holding the beer bottle, titling it from one side to the other. Katya stopped leaning at her shoulder and instead put her head down on her crossed arms, resting at the table. "What're you thinking about?"

Making a quick decision, Yelena chose to lie, realizing that saying she was thinking how hard Katya could kick their asses if she was on the other side, could be a little bit awkward. "That it would be cool to find the Red Room and kill Dreykov. I mean if it wasn't impossible to find and too slippery to kill."

"Could be cool though." Natasha arched an eyebrow. "And I would be on board if I was alone." she tilted her head at Katya.

The girl's head jerked up from the table, her short braids jumping due to the sudden movement. She turned her head to Natasha with a subtly resentful look and furrowed brows. "But I can go with you."

"No, you can't," Romanoff replied with a shaking her head shortly, thinking that this was it.

"But I can help!" Katya protested, sitting upright.

"This is not up for discussion," Natasha said calmly. She wasn't completely surprised by the girl's reaction, judging by the recent changes in her behavior. "I'm not taking you with me because I'm not going anywhere either."

"But you're not going because of me, you just said that! So you want to go and I want to go too because I want to help you, we can go together!"

Yelena looked between them at first, before standing up with her arms open in a defensive gesture. "I think you need to talk alone, I'll leave you to it. I'll be... somewhere over there." she pointed at the gas station and started to walk away.

"I am not taking you with me, this would be dangerous, you were there, you know what it looked like and you heard Yelena, now it's even worse." Natasha kept explaining, trying to keep her composure.

"That's why I want to go!" Katya raised her voice, surprising Romanoff. "I heard Yelena and what she said about all these kids. I used to be one of them, right? But you and Papa helped me. And these girls there don't have someone like you!"

"You are right." Natasha agreed. She always tried to avoid making Katya feel ignored, understood or accidentally belittling her, by making her opinion and feelings seem ignored, not worthy, or insignificant. "But this is not your job to help them or even worry about them."

"Then whose it is if not ours? Someone has to help them. And Yelena can't do it alone. We can do it together." Katya insisted. Romanoff reached for her hand, hoping to calm her that way but she moved away.

Natasha sighed and looked away, clenching her jaw, trying to compose a right answer. The worst part of it was that Katya's arguments were making sense. "We've got another place to be, I told you. Someone is waiting for us..."

"I don't care!" the girl pushed away from the table and stood up. Even in the dim light, Natasha noticed how the boiling anger made her eyes darken. "If it was as important as you say, we would go straight there! We wouldn't go to Norway and then we wouldn't end up here, none of this would happen!" Katya was avoiding her gaze, she bit her lower lip, trying to contain her feelings. "And if someone is waiting for us, then they know us and if they do, I'm sure they would understand." tone of her voice shifted to a softer one, on the verge of trembling.

"Zvezdochka..." Natasha stood up and reached for her, but the girl took a step back.

"Don't call me that." Katya shook her head and clenched her jaw. She swallowed and met Romanoff's eyes with newfound confidence. "Dreykov did bad things to all of us. So why do you and Yelena deserve to have your revenge but I don't?"