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Familial

Fluff

Raindrops pelted the car like mini bullets on your journey to your Aunt Yelena's house. Being an eleven-year-old, this gave you the opportunity to entertain yourself during the couple of hours it took to reach the house.

You watched your passenger side window intently as the many raindrops competed in races. The races may not have been real, but the disappointment felt when your chosen raindrop didn't win was. It was real to you.

Excitement ran through you when the rain somehow got even heavier, the races had become a lot more interesting. You had to restrain yourself from hopping in your seat when your designated raindrops won three times in a row.

One thing that kept distracting you, however, was your mother in the driver's seat huffing away at how bad the weather was and how it needed to end soon.

You frowned slightly, the rain was your favourite weather so you didn't want it to stop any time soon. Though your mother who was driving was incredibly concerned about your safety and was mindful of the fact that the road was a lot more slippery than it was at the start of the journey.

Your mother's frustration had been enough to distract you from the adrenaline-filled raindrop races, and so instead your train of thought went to how bored you were in the car. It had been an hour since leaving your house, and quite frankly you would rather be at home again.

"Mom?", you questioned as you turned to face her, drumming your fingers against the armrest between the two of you.

She briefly looked over at you in acknowledgement before immediately snapping her eyes back onto the road, still mindful that these were not good conditions to be driving in. "Yes, малыш?".

"How much longer", your voice came out in a much more whiney tone than intended, you had honestly tried to keep your tone level knowing that your mom would tell you to talk properly. But you were so bored.

Your mom let out a dry chuckle whilst shaking her head gently, "What's with the whining?", she teased and looked at you with a pout.

"I'm bored", you dragged out with an even more prominent whine as you threw your head back onto your headrest. "I'm trying not to kill us here, hun", was the response that you got as she gestured at the windscreen wipers that were giving zero visibility.

You grumbled a bit knowing that there was nothing you could say to respond to that. "Aww, is my poor baby bored?", your mom once again mocked with a pout.

"Mom!", you tugged on the edges of your hoodie sleeves and your cheeks turned a shade of scarlet from your Mom making fun of you. "Okay, okay", she surrendered knowing not to push it, you had entered that delicate age group where everything causes some form of embarrassment, "We still have another hour left".

"Are you kidding me?", you groaned and once again pressed the back of your head into the headrest. An hour was too long to be doing imaginary races in your head. You needed out.

Your Mom's tone of voice with her reply of "Watch it, you", made you snap your head to face her, thinking that you had somehow gotten yourself into actual trouble. Not that you found that a difficult task these days. But when you saw her eyes flash with amusement as she briefly looked at you, and the smirk that rested on her lips, you knew that she wasn't serious.

Thank Thor.

"But hey, we get to hang out with Auntie Lena all day", she tried to reason with you and stifled a laugh at seeing you weighing it all out in your head. "Yeah, okay", you shrugged, trying your best now to show childish excitement, but inside a bunch of party poppers were going off.

You didn't see the way that your Mom's eyes practically rolled all the way to the back of her head. What a lovely phase you were going through. How she missed the days where you would loudly show her new dances in the middle of the Dairy aisle in the shops, but now she would just breathe and you would tell her to stop embarrassing you.

Some parents would get upset at their child entering this stage of their youth. She just saw it as an opportunity to see just how easy it was to push your buttons. Turns out it was incredibly easy.

You were relatively quiet for the rest of the drive, silently listening to the radio. Now would not be a good time to annoy your mother as she drove through torrential rain on fast roads.

You and your mother got on like a house on fire, you were both incredibly close. She was your best friend more than anything, but she could still scare the crap out of you if she needed to.

Most people experience that terrifying 'Mom Stare' when you royally screw up. However, you had to experience the 'Natasha Romanoff Mom Stare', and man, that was a whole different ball game. You had seen it multiple times throughout your life, but you were still certain that when she pulled that card, you would die.

Though your mother wouldn't really kill you, right?

As this train of thought passed through your head you eyed her side profile suspiciously. "Y/n, what are you doing?".

You quickly looked back to the front, your ears turning a shade of pink at being caught. "Just thinking". Natasha just shrugged it off, she didn't have time to be thinking about anything else other than not killing you in a car crash.

---

"Aaaaand we are here", your mother smiled at you as she yanked the handbrake up.

You were ecstatic, your Aunt Yelena was your favourite person, after your Mom of course. So, she had to follow you out of the car as you sprinted over to the front door and started banging frantically on the door. Your mother was about to scold you for being annoying, but the door suddenly flung open and she watched as a rush of blonde engulfed you in a big hug and swung you around in circles a few times as you both laughed. Natasha couldn't help but smile softly at the sight in front of her.

"Is that my favourite niece?!", Yelena half-shouted as she put you back down onto the floor and ruffled your hair up.

"Aunt Lena, I'm your only niece", you giggled as you tried to flatten your hair down, unsuccessfully.

Seeing your hair still looking like you had been dragged through a hedge, Natasha moved forward and licked her hand before running it down your hair to make sure the frizz wasn't frizz anymore. "Ew Mom! Gross", you began freaking out and raking your fingers through your hair.

"You came out of me and you're worried about a bit of spit?".

Your face scrunched up at your mother's words, "That's the worst Mom phrase ever".

"Yes Natasha that was a low point even for you", Yelena deadpanned whilst Natasha looked between the two of you ganging up on her. She threw her hands up in the air in exasperation and moved forward to give her sister a hug.

"I knew you loved me", Yelena joked as she patted her back in return before gesturing for the two Romanoffs to make their way indoors.

"Where's Fanny?", You asked as you moved forward into your Aunt's living room, it was rare for the golden retriever to not greet you yet.

"Oh, Miss Fanny is locked in the kitchen. When I open the front door now, she's had a habit of running away recently and I am sick of chasing her like a maniac down the street", she turned her head to see you giggling slightly imagining your ex-assassin Aunt sprinting down the street after her dog. "It's not funny Y/n Romanoff!", she exclaimed whilst pinching your rib.

"Sounds pretty funny to me, right Mom?", You turned to face who was looking at you disapprovingly but also had the same amused glint in her eyes as you did. "Don't laugh at your Aunt".

"Thank you!", Yelena exclaimed whilst throwing her hands up in the air as she moved towards the kitchen to let Fanny out. Though her smile was short-lived when Natasha continued, "No matter how stupid she may look".

You burst out laughing at the way your Aunt's face snapped around to turn to the both of you. If looks could kill then the Romanoff bloodline would have ended there and then.

Immediately you pursed your lips to avoid the likely scenario of her grabbing a vase from the table next to her and launching it at your face. Being struck down in your prime wasn't on your bucket list, and your Mom probably wouldn't appreciate it either.

"You know what, I'm just going to let Miss Fanny deal with you", was the last thing your Aunt mumbled before opening the kitchen door, and out bounded Fanny. Loud barks painfully rang through the house as the dog sprinted towards you like you were her next meal. You loved Fanny though, so when you saw her barreling towards you, you dropped to your knees to allow yourself to be engulfed by the fluffy dog.

Your laughs echoed through the room as you started excitedly patting Fanny whilst she began sniffing you frantically, inhaling your scent that she hadn't smelt for a while. Yelena was also laughing at seeing your small stature being completely covered, and Natasha looked on with pure adoration at hearing your giggles. Her favourite sound in the world.

"Okay Fanny that's enough", Yelena pulled Fanny away from you to allow you to catch your breath. Your Mom laughed at your dramatics when you flopped to the floor in a starfish position with your chest heaving.

"Come on drama queen, get your ass up", she lifted you up from under your armpits, and you had expected for her to put you down onto your feet to be able to stand, but instead she walked through to the living room with you in her hands, Yelena trailing behind curiously.

"Mom, what are you- umph". She had launched you onto the couch. The lion, the witch, and the audacity of this b-, "That was rude", you deadpanned whilst plotting revenge in your head. She just pulled a face and began to walk back over to her sister, so you decided that you had to act fast.

You reached behind you and felt for a cushion before pelting it at the back of your Mother's head. "Y/n..." your Aunt warned as your Mom halted in her tracks and slowly spun around on her heels, daring you to make another move. You gulped when she bent down to pick up the cushion and held it in her hands, looking like she was examining it.

Frowning, you stared at her, why was she looking so intently at a cushion? Before you had much longer to think about it, she threw it back at you with full Black Widow force. The noise of it hitting you and Yelena rushing forward sent Natasha into hysterics.

"Get your grubby hands off of my cushions, I spent ages puffing these up before your visit!", Yelena panicked and began patting the cushion down after launching you onto the floor to give her room.

"You- you puffed up the cushions?", your Mom asked with what could only be described as pure confusion. Auntie Lena was not the type of person to puff up cushions to impress people. "Well I wanted to give the impression that I am more put together than I actually am", she defended with a huff.

Her response earned more laughter from you, "And you thought that cushions were the way to do that?".

"When did my favourite niece gain such an attitude, huh? Where's the tiny, sweet Y/n gone?", Yelena mocked whilst your Mom shrugged, also wondering the same. "She's in hiding", you grinned.

"Well, we'll just have to find her won't we?", your Aunt scooped you up from your place on the floor and tossed you onto her shoulder. "Put me down!", you screeched as she took off on a run through the hallway and out of the front door. In between your fits of laughter as she ran around her front yard and down the street, you kept telling her to put you down at once, but your efforts were futile, and all your Mother did to help was record the whole ordeal.

---

Your day with Yelena was tiring as always, so when your Mom saw how your head kept falling forward before you jumped awake again, she wasn't surprised. It happened after every Yelena day visit.

"Малыш, let yourself fall asleep, it's okay".

"No Mama, I'm not tired", you said through a yawn making her roll her eyes in amusement. If the yawn wasn't telling enough, then the fact that you had called her 'Mama' certainly proved her right as you only went back to that when you were almost asleep.

"Sure you aren't", Nat laughed when you once again jumped awake and covered it up with a cough.

"I'm not a child I can stay asleep until we get home", you defiantly tried to figure back, but your eyes closing of their own accord really didn't help your case, and only caused your Mom to silently chuckle when shaking her head.

"I believe you", she reassured just to make you feel better even though it was clear as day that she thought that you were lying through your teeth. Plus, she found it funny how you didn't constitute eleven as a child but that was an issue for another day. So, instead of pushing back to your comments, she started humming a lullaby that used to work like a charm.

You looked as though you were going to protest her methods, but by the time that you tried to turn to her it had indeed worked and your head slumped onto your shoulder as you succumbed to the darkness.

Natasha briefly looked over at your sleeping figure with fondness. Even though you thought otherwise, you were still her little baby.

"Please stop growing up so fast", she whispered as she turned her attention back to the empty road in front of her.