Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves
When Natasha pulled into the school parking lot the next morning, she wasn't surprised she was the first one there. It was 7:03am, and the sun was just rising over the horizon, painting the sky with a kaleidoscope of colors, but Natasha couldn't bring herself to enjoy the natural beauty of nature. Her mind was plagued by the events of the night before and the morning of the tryouts.
Natasha had forced herself to stop crying before she'd gone inside where she was immediately confronted by Edith, but when she looked around, Clint was nowhere to be seen. After a long lecture and many tearful hugs from Edith, Natasha went upstairs to find Clint's door closed. When she knocked, she received no response. Clint's door was still closed when Natasha woke the next morning, but his car was gone by the time she'd made it downstairs. No matter how hard she tried to ignore it, Clint's behavior still hurt her.
To avoid focusing on it, Natasha busied herself with preparations for the day's tryouts. She pulled her old gym bag out of the back of her closet and stuffed it with gear, including two water bottles and a few power bars from the kitchen. Natasha's prior athletic activities were limited strictly to dancing and running, so her clothing had been an issue until Carol had lent her a pair of athletic shorts.
Once she was sure she had everything she needed in her bag, Natasha got dressed. She donned the borrowed shorts over a pair of knee-length leggings, selected the sturdiest sports bra she had in her possession, and practically wrestled her arms and torso into a skin-tight, sweat-wicking racerback. In an effort to keep her wild curls out of the way, Natasha weaved her red hair into a tight French braid, allowing it to fall down her back. She double-checked and tripled-checked that she was ready to go before slipping into her cross-trainers and heading out the door.
Even though the tryouts wouldn't start for almost another hour, Natasha couldn't stand the thick silence in the house. It was suffocating her. In all the years she'd known Clint, they'd never fought—at least not like this. And when they did have fights of any kind, it was never her fault, although, she still couldn't understand why she was accepting this as her fault. Regardless of the reason, the effect made the house feel claustrophobic. She wanted out of there as soon as possible.
And that was how Natasha found herself sitting in the school's empty parking lot at 7:03am just as the sun was starting its daily climb into the sky.
When she couldn't sit any longer, Natasha begrudgingly climbed out of her car, shouldered her duffle bag, and marched out onto the empty field. She found a spot near the bleachers and started getting ready for her own warm-ups.
About half-way through, Carol arrived dragging Maria with her, and Valkyrie appeared a few moments later. It took Natasha a second to realize that Carol was talking to her. She'd popped in earbuds and was listening to music during her warm-up but had greeted the other girls with a small wave, so she jumped a bit when Carol tapped her on the shoulder.
"Sorry, what?" Natasha asked, pulling the earbud out.
Carol's head jerked backwards, and her hand flew to her mouth to stifle a chuckle. "I am so sorry. I didn't realize you had those in."
"You're good. I probably should've taken them out when I saw you walking up. That's on me," Natasha said, desperate to take the blame.
They both laughed awkwardly.
"So, um, what were you saying?" Natasha asked.
"Oh, I was just going to give you these." Carol dug a plastic bag out of her own duffle bag and handed it to Natasha.
Inside the plastic bag, there was a box. Inside the box, Natasha found a pair of brand-new cleats. She looked up at Carol.
"You mentioned that you were gonna wear cross-trainers since you didn't have any cleats. I know a store that stays open late and went and got 'em for you last night. They should fit. I snuck a peek at your shoe size when you were at my house last night. I hope that's okay. I mean, you probably can't wear them today, but you'll have 'em for when you make the team."
"That's incredibly kind, but I can't accept these."
"Why not?" Carol asked.
Natasha stared at her incredulously. "Because they're probably way too expensive. Besides, what if I don't make the team. You heard the captain. There aren't any guarantees."
"Pfft. First, you're going to make the team, so don't even think like that," Carol said. "Second, they were on sale. It's not a big deal. I'm not going to take them back unless there's an issue with them. If you don't like it, good luck finding the receipt. And third, I meant what I said about us girls sticking together. I got your back, Romanoff."
Natasha searched every inch of Carol's face, looking for some sign that this was too good to be true, but it never came.
"Are you sure?" she asked.
Carol laughed. "Yes. I'm sure."
Natasha turned the shoes over in her hand, examining them, then she plopped down on the ground and started taking her cross-trainers off.
"I wouldn't wear them today, though," Carol said.
"Why not?"
"They're new. They're going to be stiff. If you try to wear them doing something like this for the first time, you probably won't be able to walk tomorrow," Carol replied.
Natasha grinned. "Oh, I don't think that's going to be a problem."
Years of ballet training had prepared Natasha for an occasion such as this. She pulled a lighter out of her purse, which had been jammed into her duffle bag. She also grabbed one of the water bottles and a roll of toe tape. Carol, Maria, and Valkyrie watched as Natasha settled into the automatic process of breaking in new shoes. When she finally stepped into the cleats, Natasha was confident that they would be perfect.
By the time Carol was leading their small group through football-related warm-ups, other people were starting to arrive. Players, on-lookers, and finally Coach Wilson. He looked less than pleased to be there and kept grumbling about losing more time that could be spent preparing for the homecoming game at the end of the month. When 8am came, the coach blew into the shrill whistle around his neck, signaling the beginning of tryouts, and everyone fell into line.
"Okay! Tryouts: take two," Coach Wilson shouted. "Here's how this is going to go. We're going to start with some basic warm-ups. Then were going to move forward with a speed assessment followed by endurance testing. For those who pass that round, y'all gonna do some drills. The drills are going to test your hand/eye coordination, upper and lower body strength, balance, footwork, blah, blah, blah. If I cut you during any portion of the tryouts, I better not hear any backtalk.
"Given the nature of this tryout," he continued, "I have been informed that every member of the team must participate. And to ensure fairness, we'll be joined by Mr. Fury and Nurse Parker." Coach Wilson gestured to the sidelines where Natasha's new favorite teacher and nurse were standing.
Nurse Parker looked like her usual ray of sunshine self, while Mr. Fury looked like he was one student's (or coach's) stupid comment away from committing a felony. When he saw Natasha, however, his glare softened for a fraction of a second.
Even though she should've expected it, Natasha was still unprepared to see Bucky standing with the other players. He kept looking over at her as if trying to communicate telepathically with her. She made an exaggerated effort to avoid eye contact with him.
Coach Wilson prattled off the instructions for the first round of tryouts. The shrill whistle sounded once more, and tryouts were officially started.
Natasha and the other girls made it through the speed assessment with ease. In addition to Carol, Maria, and Valkyrie, Maria Hill had arrived just before 8am and she was joined by another tall brunette. Gamora and Nebula had also shown up. Each one of the eight girls were allowed to move on to the next round.
The endurance round was a 5k—a 3.1-mile—run around the track. They nearly lost Maria Rambeau before the run even started. She was grumbling about being tired, but another pep talk from Carol seemed to do the trick. Just before the run, Natasha fished her running sneakers out of her bag and changed shoes. The cleats wouldn't work as well on the track.
While Natasha was changing her shoes, she struggled to avoid Bucky, who seemed to be following her wherever she went. Natasha was thankful when the break was cut short as Coach Wilson kicked off the endurance round. Bucky may have been athletic after years of playing football, but the year off and the difference in their sizes worked in Natasha's favor. She was easily the fastest one there.
Natasha finished the 5k in just over 18 minutes. Even Coach Wilson was impressed by Natasha's 6.10-minute miles. After Natasha, Carol was the second person to cross the finish line followed closely by Steve Rogers. Unfortunately, Maria Rambeau and Maria Hill's friend were amongst the last to cross the finish line. Their times were still in line with the requirements for passing the round, so they were still allowed to move on to drills.
They took another break in between the endurance round and the drills, and Natasha had to hide in the bathroom for most of it to avoid a very persistent Bucky.
Drills were kind of boring for Natasha. She had to step quick to avoid ending up at the same drill as Bucky, but for most of it, she managed to stick with Carol, Maria, and Valkyrie. What she lacked in speed, Maria more than made up for in strength. Of the four of them, Maria was possibly the strongest. At least, that's what it looked like on the surface. Natasha had a feeling that Carol was stronger, but the short blonde probably wanted her friend to have a win. Regardless, all three were stronger than Natasha.
As boring as the drills were, Natasha managed to amuse herself by getting to know the other girls. She'd never really had female friends before, and she couldn't help but feel an innocent kind of jealousy while watching Carol and Maria's easy friendship, but that wasn't the most interesting interaction. Natasha was more focused on the awkwardness between Carol and Valkyrie. Despite the first girl's confidence and the second girl's relaxed attitude, as well as their clear desire to be around each other, something about them seemed out of sync to Natasha. She stored the memory away to muse on later.
By the time drills were over, six of the eight girls were still in the running to make the team. Nebula had twisted her ankle, while Hope—Maria Hill's friend—dropped out of her own volition.
Steve, who was still expected to make the team and keep his role as team captain, was tasked with throwing together a team practice game that included the new recruits, while the coach watched and took notes.
Natasha was put in the role of wide receiver. From what she remembered during Carol's football lesson, a wide receiver was kind of a big deal. Natasha tried not to be nervous. To make matters worse, once they were lined up on the field, she found herself staring opposite Bucky in the cornerback position. Thankfully, Carol was put in the running back position. Before everything kicked off, she explained Steve's instructions from the huddle and warned her what the cornerback would try to do. All Natasha had to do was catch the ball if it was thrown to her and run faster than Bucky.
Running from my ex? No problem…
The whistle blew and everything happened really fast. Immediately after the snapback, Natasha took off down the field, keeping the mess of other players in her peripheral. She flew past Bucky, keeping her head partially turned back in case the ball came her way.
It did.
Just as she was looking back and evading Bucky, she spotted Carol's practice jersey number. Carol was searching for Steve, but he was blocked and couldn't take the pass. Then Carol's eyes landed on Natasha. Carol reeled back and the ball went flying through the air. Natasha took a deep breath, following the ball's trajectory with her eyes, while keeping Bucky's advancing form in her peripheral vision.
The ball finished its climb into the sky and was rapidly plummeting towards the ground in a wide arc. Natasha rushed to catch the ball and was surprised when it landed comfortably in her hands without bouncing off of her chest. With Bucky bearing down on her, Natasha took off in the direction of the end zone with the entire defensive and offensive team trailing behind her.
As she was running, she could practically feel Bucky breathing down her neck, so she pushed through the pain and fatigue, willing her legs to stretch further, go faster, move quicker. Bucky got lucky for a moment and almost succeeded in tackling Natasha. They both went down at the 10-yard line, but years of dancing had Natasha back on her feet and running towards the end zone again, ball still safely secured in her grip. Before Bucky could blink, Natasha had scored a touchdown.
The offensive team joined Natasha in the end zone to celebrate. It took Steve a while to get everyone back under control. It was only when Coach Wilson jogged over that everyone shut up.
"I gotta say, that was pretty impressive. What's your name?" he asked.
"Natasha Romanoff."
"And yours?" he asked, turning to Carol.
"Carol Danvers."
"Mhmm. Mhmm. Okay. Well, I think I have what I need for the day. Aside from those who didn't make it through the rounds, everyone will have either a spot on the varsity or JV team. I'm going to go over my notes in my office. I'll post the official positions and teams tonight at 8pm. Rogers, you can either keep practice going with some more plays or cut everyone loose. It's your call."
Coach Wilson walked off the field as Steve Rogers took control.
"Okay everyone. Tryouts are exhausting, I know, so I'm going to call it quits for today for the new folks. Congrats to those of you who made the team. We're off tomorrow, but I expect to see you ready to work hard on Monday at 3:30pm. For anyone who'd like to stay, I am more than happy to keep a practice game going, otherwise, move to the sidelines and start your cool-downs. Alright, break!" Steve finished, clapping his hands together.
Natasha, Carol, Valkyrie, and a few others stayed behind, but almost everyone else cleared the field. Ultimately, Steve was forced to give up on practice altogether. Bucky had also stayed behind, hovering near Steve. When they all started heading towards the sidelines to cool down and stretch, Bucky caught up to Natasha.
"Hey, can I talk to you for a minute? Just a minute, I promise," Bucky begged.
Natasha turned around, prepared to give him hell, but she was struck by the desperate sadness in his expression. She took pity on him. When Carol and Valkyrie paused, she motioned to them that she would be fine, and they kept walking towards the bleachers.
"What Bucky? What could you possibly have to say that would fix what happened?"
He stared at her, and she watched as whatever speech he'd prepared came crumbling down in his mind. Even though he was only seventeen, he looked so much older in that moment.
"You're right, Natasha," he finally said. "You're right. There's nothing I can say or do that will make up for what I did. The only thing I can possibly do is apologize, so I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I must've put you through. I'm sorry for the pain I've caused. And I'm sorry for bothering you. I—what the hell is he doing here?"
Natasha followed Bucky's line of sight just over her shoulder. The bleachers were behind her and, based on his tone and facial expression, Natasha had an idea who "he" could be. She turned around and was hardly surprised to see Tony Stark lounging on the bleachers. She was, however, surprised to see another figure sitting right next to him. The moment she recognized Stark's companion, Natasha's brain nearly imploded.
Clint?
*Song Inspiration: "Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves" - Eurythmics (ft. Aretha Franklin)