No Tears | NR

Chapter 56

TW: Suicidal thoughts

Avengers Compound, USA

Yara checked the time. She had to ensure that Natasha was asleep before getting up. It was 1 o'clock in the morning. Yara knew that Natasha stayed up late sometimes, but she had heard her enter her room over an hour ago. The mostly blonde Avenger should be asleep by now, Yara decided and slipped out of her bed as quietly as possible. Natasha was a light sleeper. She needed to be careful. With a hint of amusement, she recalled that night in the UK where she had tried to sneak into the Quinjet. Even then, Natasha had known and more importantly understood her better than anyone else ever did. Her sister tried. She tried to understand who Yara had become, but she never quite did, though Yara still appreciated her for being there for her and trying.

The brunette shook her head to clear her mind and focus on the task at hand: not waking Natasha up. She carefully pulled on a pair of sweatpants and shoes, before she made her way over to the door which she opened extremely slowly. Then she slipped past the door and closed it just as slowly behind her. Finally, she made her way down the hallway on her tiptoes.

It took her almost half an hour to reach the training facilities. Once she got there, she warmed up, before she wrapped her knuckles, got into a fighting stance in front of a punching bag, and started hitting it with her fists.

She had barely started when another person walked into the room. Both of them stopped in their tracks when they noticed each other.

"What are you doing here?", Yara broke the silence.

"You think you're the only one who can sneak out quietly?", Natasha responded immediately. She looked like she had just run a marathon. Considering who this was, she probably had.

"So why are you here?", Yara wanted to know.

"Probably the same reason you are", Natasha replied.

"We shouldn't be here in the middle of the night", Yara noted, knowing that she was right, but not caring enough to change what had become her habit.

"No", Natasha agreed but didn't move.

Yara smiled weakly. "We should really go to bed."

"Yes", Natasha agreed again but still didn't move.

"But what's the point if I can't sleep anyways?", Yara continued, asking no one in particular.

This time, she didn't get a response from Natasha.

"Well, at least it seems that we're in this together", the brunette stated in a joking tone. "Isn't that what friends are for?" She was talking more to herself now than to anyone else.

"You are more than that to me", Natasha muttered too quietly for Yara to understand her.

The brunette didn't say anything but just looked at Natasha questioningly, silently asking her to repeat herself.

"It - it doesn't matter", the Avenger told Yara who was obviously not believing her. Largely because of the fact that Natasha never stuttered. So whatever she had said, must in fact have been very important, at least to her.

But Yara also knew better than to push and ask again. So instead, she finally tore her eyes away from the woman that was standing a few meters away from her and turned around. "Want to spar?", she asked without looking back.

"Sure", Natasha accepted the invitation to a practice fight and made her way over to an area where the floor was padded. She wrapped her hands while Yara brought her bottle over and took a sip of water.

Their fight was fairly balanced for a while. Both women had experience and knew what they were doing. The longer they were fighting, however, the clearer it became that Natasha would win. It made sense; Yara had learned many of her skills from Natasha. The latter, however, had learned these things as a young child. Of course, despite all the training that Yara had done during the past years, she wouldn't be able to compete with Natasha who had done this all her life - not that she was envious of that. Yet, she was proud that she was able to keep Natasha busy for as long as she did.