The early morning light crept softly through the slats of the blinds, painting faint stripes across the room. The quiet hum of Aveng3rs Tower pressed gently against the walls, low and constant, like the steady breath of something massive but sleeping. It was a comfort, almost, to know the world was still spinning outside this moment, but it felt far away.

Yelena was curled around you, her forehead pressed against the curve of your shoulder, her breath slow and even. One arm draped across your waist, possessive even in sleep. You could feel her heartbeat against your back, calm and steady, and the warmth of her skin grounding you.

You were safe here.

The bed was tangled with sheets and softness, your legs twined together beneath the covers. Somewhere deep in the tower, life was waking. Footsteps in the hallway. A door closing. A faint buzz of conversation from the floor above. But none of it belonged here. Not in this room. Not in this bed.

You stirred slightly, shifting to look at her. Her eyes remained closed, but her lips pulled into a sleepy frown as you moved.

“Five more minutes,” she mumbled, voice hoarse and soft, thick with sleep. Her arm tightened around your waist, as if anchoring you in place. “Don’t even think about getting up.”

You let out a soft laugh, resting your hand over hers. “We’ve been laying here for hours.”

“I don’t care,” she murmured. “Five more minutes. I’m not ready to share you with the world yet.”

You smiled and pressed your head back against hers. You could feel the sincerity in her words. With everything you were, everything you had been made to be, she still looked at you like you were hers first and foremost. Not a weapon. Not a project. Not a danger to be monitored. Just hers.

It hadn’t always been that way.

The memory of the bunker still clawed at the edges of your thoughts. You could remember the first time you saw her. How she stepped through the metal doorway like a knife through fog, blonde hair pulled back, green eyes sharp. She had been sent to find something buried, something dangerous. Instead, she found you.

The last surviving Sentry project.

They had left you in the dark with wires embedded in your skin and fire roaring in your blood. You had nearly destroyed her on instinct. But Yelena had not flinched. She stood her ground. Spoke to you like a person, not a ghost. And when you screamed, when you begged her to leave you there, she stayed.

She told Valentina to go to hell.

She told you to hold on.

And you did. For her.

Now, wrapped in her arms, it almost didn’t feel real. You still felt the weight of your power like a second heartbeat under your skin, but with Yelena it wasn’t something you had to fear. She understood it. She helped you control it. She helped you become something more.

Yelena shifted behind you, nose brushing the back of your neck. “You’re thinking too loud,” she said softly.