When they were all back home, they made the sleeping arrangements. Natasha let everyone know, "Yeah, despite only two people living here, we have a big ass house and several beds. Me and Yelena have separate rooms, and then another room for Laura and Clint, and two extra beds in another room. Kate told her that she could just sleep on the couch, as she'd done it before, and honestly didn't mind at all. Lila said she and Nathaniel could share a bed, and that Cooper should get his bed to himself since he's a bigger guy. Everyone was happy with the sleeping arrangements and went to bed.
Nathaniel noticed his sister moving around a lot, and being unable to sleep. "Lila?" She turned to him and didn't say anything. "Are you okay?" She unconvincingly said, "Yeah..." Little Nathaniel then said, "Are you sick? Chest pains? Headache? Tummyache?" She shook her head, "No. Can I have a hug though?" "Of course." Lila sat up and happily embraced her little brother. She was happy that her little brother was caring just like her and Cooper. Cooper got out of his bed, and went to Lila. "So, what's bothering you, sis? You seem sad." She sighed, "I don't know. Time seems really weird lately. It feels great to actually be able to spend time with you now that it's summer, and obviously, I like seeing aunt Nat and Yelena, and of course Kate, too. But...I just don't feel ready to go to my last year of high school. I guess being sad does actually make my stomach ache." Cooper knew what it felt like. "Yeah, don't worry, little sis. That's normal. I felt that way, too. Just know, that we all may be getting busier and needing to do more and more work, but you know that we all love you, right?" She nodded. Cooper added, "You know that I would do anything for my little badass sister, right?" She nodded, with a few tears in her eyes. "Lila, stop it. When you cry, I'll cry." She got closer to him and they hugged. She quietly said, "I'm sorry." He gently told her, "Please, don't apologize. It's okay. Seeing you cry...is like knives to my gut." Nathaniel added, "Yeah, you're our best friend! We love you a lot." He hugged her from the other side. She softly laughed hearing her little brother helping her out. "Oh, both of you. I love you guys so much. Cooper, I'm so glad that you still live with us, despite being in college now." He said, "I'm close to home, and doing great. So of course I'll stay."
She said, "And that's why I've already decided that I'm going to the same one. Gave me a scholarship a few months ago." Cooper beamed and hugged her again. He squeezed her ribs harder than she expected. "Congratulations, Lila." Lila then told him, "Thanks. I love hugs from you, big bro. But easy with the monster hugs, I could feel my ribs cracking!" She quickly turned to Nathaniel and told him, "Not really, it's just an expression. Don't worry about me." She sighed, and said with a smile, "I'm so lucky to have such good brothers." Cooper told her, "Not sure you're as lucky as me. Here I am often feeling inspired by my little sister, and wanting to be like her." She laughed, "It's nice of you to always tolerate my complaining."
"Not a problem at all, we're here for you." Cooper sat on the bed with his siblings. Lila started lying down but made sure to stay awake. "It really does feel great to be here again. These three women are basically our family." Nathaniel added, "We call them auntie Nat and auntie Yelena for a reason!" Lila added, "And Kate is such a good person, too. I'm glad she's staying here since she doesn't have anyone back home." With a pang of sadness, Nate asked, "Is she an orphan?" Cooper told him, "Not exactly. Her dad died in the battle of New York, which was our dad's first major battle with the Avengers. Her mom...well, while she was a good mom to Kate for the most part, she turned out to be a bad person and is in jail. So...Kate's house doesn't have any other person in it. She does at least have Lucky though." Nate said, "He's so cute. Both he and Fanny are such cute doggies." He yawned, "I'm getting a little tired now." He closed his eyes while hugging his sister, but then he turned at a bad angle. "Wait, Nate, that hurts can you-" He instantly got up, "I'm sorry, Lila. Are you okay?" She told him, "It's okay, I'm fine. Your elbow was just pushing into my stomach, and it hurt. I know you didn't mean to." He kissed his sister on the cheek. "I love you, Lila. I guess I won't go to sleep hugging you, so give me a hug here." She smirked at Cooper, and then squeezed her little brother. She wasn't physically big like her brother, but she was a really strong girl. Nathaniel could barely even hug back. He said, "Cooper, you'd better keep working out. Lila is getting too strong for me." His little body got squeezed extremely hard by his sister. He began to drift off. "Ahh, little Nate. If only I could sleep that easily." Lila smiled, "Yep." Cooper asked her, "It's our first night at the Black Widow house, and neither of us are tired. Wanna just stay up and chat for a bit?"
"Sure, let's do it." Cooper told her, "I enjoyed our day out today. That's the most fun I've had in a while. The kids rule, am I right?" "Most definitely. It was mostly thanks to you and Kate though." He said, "I mean, it's only natural. We're the biggest athletes out of all of us." She responded, "Yeah. I'm pretty good at volleyball and running, but Kate...she's insane. She plays like four different sports competitively and is great at all of them." He replied, "Yeah. Also, you telling Nathaniel that...god dammit, I guess it helped our team, but hopefully he doesn't do it again. To aunt Nat." She giggled, "Well. I wanted to win, and he wanted to guard her. So I did what I could to help us out. But looking at how we whupped their butts, we would've been fine without that." Cooper then said, "And it's still surprising. I know Yelena and Nat don't do missions anymore after the battle in Wakanda in 2018, but I'm surprised by how they...y'know..." Lila gestured by patting her stomach. Cooper guiltily nodded. She assured him, "You can say it, it's true." "Both of them have...gained weight and gotten a bit of a...gut. Y'know, let's stop. I don't feel good talking about this" Lila sighed, "Yeah, me neither." Cooper reassured her, "They are both in no way weak though." Lila agreed, "Definitely not. Maybe they can't run as fast as us or as much, but aunt Nat still beat Kate in a sparring match. But then aunt Yelena beat Natasha, and we saw how Kate absolutely bodied her. She's insanely good at fighting." Cooper laughed, "Yeah. Kate probably wasn't trying her best against Nat." Lila laughed, "true. I'm definitely surprised though, Kate knew to target her weakness. I mean, sure, aunt Yelena has a tummy as well, but it seems that hers is even more sensitive than aunt Nat." Cooper nodded, "Yeah. They both have mom-bods now." Lila laughed, "Yeah, that's a good way of putting it." Cooper suddenly said, " I'm getting kinda hungry now. Can you get some food, Lila?"
"Sure." She went to the pantry and took some barbecue chips after drinking a full glass of water. She brought them back to the room. "Let's try not to spill anything. I made sure not to get Sour Cream & Onion because that's Yelena's favorite." "Smart move. I'm guessing they have sweets and stuff, right?" Lila laughed, "Yes. Not right now, but definitely later. I don't want to have any stomachaches. Or cramps, but I know I don't have much of a chance to get those here." Cooper said, "Yeah please don't. I was terrified for you, and don't want you dealing with that again."
"Me neither, bro. Me neither. As far as I know, I'm only allergic to passion fruit. But sometimes I start feeling sick or gross if I have too much sugar at night." Cooper said, "Only if it's too much. Not if it's just a little." She assertively said, "Cooper. No." He said, "I know. Just teasing, sis." He poked at her sides, causing her to laugh a little, and she tried to hide it. "No, no, not now. I'm very ticklish, and my laugh is louder than you think. I don't wanna wake anyone up." "Okay, good point." Cooper decided to test something out. "Hey, did you hear that Nate has a little girlfriend?" Nate quickly got up, but realized too late, "Aw man, you got me!" Lila asked, "Have you heard everything we've talked about?"
"Some of it. Like you guys saying auntie Nat is fat." Cooper sternly looked at him. "Nate, shut up. We never said she was fat. Just that she's gained weight." He quickly submitted, "okay, I'm sorry Cooper." "It's okay. But know that what we say in this room stays in this room, right?"
"Yeah." Lila nodded, "good." Lila randomly hugged her brothers. Cooper with one arm, and Nate with the other. "I love you guys." Cooper said, "We love you, too." Nathaniel needed to ask, "Are you feeling any better now? You're not still sad, right?" She beamed and said "Yes. Much better." Nate said, "Good. I think I'm gonna try to sleep again, can you give me a goodnight kiss?" She kissed him on the head. "Sweet dreams, little Nate."
"Goodnight, Lila. Goodnight Cooper." "Goodnight, lil bro." And Nate fell asleep again. Cooper checked with her, "No stomachaches either, right?" She assured him, "Yep, I'm just fine now. That water helped, too." He told his sister, "You're such a good sibling. To little Nate, and to me." She thanked him and said, "What kind of sister would I be if I wasn't? And I have an amazing big brother to go look up to and know who to be like." Cooper said, breaking up a little, "Thank you so much Lila-god dammit." Upon seeing tears in her brother's eyes, she quickly got her arms under his and gave him a big hug. "I love you, big bro." "I love you too, sis." She then whispered in his ear, "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." "Good, please don't." He kept hugging her and said, "I don't wanna let go." She laughed while still hugging him, "Okay, just a little longer." He challenged her, "Hard as you can." She squeezed him very hard, and since her arms were under his, there was only so much force he could hug back with. Once they finished, Cooper sighed and said, "Jeez, you're getting too powerful. Strong enough to move your big bro to tears and almost break his ribs. Wait, are you also-" She nodded, also with watery eyes. "Yes. For the second time tonight." While giggling, she said, "I think our ribs are even now." Cooper chuckled, "Hell yeah they are."
"We should probably go to bed now." He agreed. He kissed her on the forehead, and said, "Goodnight, Lila." "Goodnight, Cooper." After heartwarming talks, they both went to bed, smiling ear to ear.