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“Oh my god, Steve, will you just go talk to him already.”
Yelena tries to sound bored, but puts a little extra frustration in her tone. Sliding her notebook into her backpack, she stares pointedly at Steve.
Steve jerks his head back toward her and starts gathering up his binder and pens as well. His face, which had been relaxed in a sort of dreamy smile, shutters and his lips purse. “No way, Lena,” he says, with a stubbornness Yelena has learned over the past three months goes all the way to the center of the earth.
She rolls her eyes.
“C’mon, Lena, I can’t just go talk to him,” Steve whines. “He’s a sophomore, he’s an engineering major and he’s super-smart, and have you seen him?”
“Yes, I see him right now,” Yelena looks up the rows of the lecture hall to where Steve’s crush is putting on his jacket and hoisting his backpack over a shoulder. “You can see him too, and go up and say hello…”
“I can’t do that,” hisses Steve through clenched teeth. “Why he want to talk to me? He’s so beautiful and glorious, and I’m…well…this.”
Dramatically he waves a hand over his own physique, which, admittedly, is on the shorter and skinnier side. But it’s an attractive skinniness, whipcord muscle hidden under his hoodie and jeans. And Steve doesn’t seem to realize how adorable he is, with a strong nose, full lips, prominent cheekbones, and some of the most beautiful blue eyes Yelena has ever seen.
Not that she’s interested in Steve in that way, mind you; he’s a loyal friend and would make someone a great partner, but she’s taking Kate Bishop to the Winter Formal this weekend.
“Of course he’d want to talk to you,” Yelena says, impatient. “And I don’t think he’s that beautiful and glorious…”
She trails off as someone behind Steve’s crush says “Hi, Bucky!” The other guy turns and gives the speaker a dazzling smile that lights up his face.
And he does have a really, really nice ass. Wow.
“OK, he is very pretty,” she concedes. Steve groans. “But you are gorgeous, too, Styopa.” She elbows him in the ribs as he shrugs on his coat. “It’s almost lunchtime. I bet he’s headed to the cafeteria. You could run into him there, have lunch with him, ask him to the Formal…”
Steve shakes his head so hard Yelena’s afraid he’ll hurt his neck.
“Not happening, Lena,” he says, that stubborn look taking over his face again.
Yelena sighs. Grabs her own coat. “Oh well,” she says, fully intending to wash her hands of this whole affair. Steve’s been mooning over this guy for half the semester, but has he done anything about it? No.
Americans, Господи.
“Are we still meeting tonight? I’m worried this final is gonna kick my ass.”
She flicks her thumb at the slide of Picasso’s Guernica, still up on projection screen. She’s totally ready for her Bio and Chem finals next week, but Art History 101 has been a struggle.
Stupid Gen Ed requirements.
Steve grins, a little wicked. “I gotcha, Belova,” he says, patting his backpack. “I’ll make sure you get a B minus. C plus at the worst.”
Huffing, Yelena pokes him in the ribs again. She loves her friend, but sometimes he can be such a dickhead. He is brilliant at art and art history, though — he’s acing this class, and she’s seen his sketches and knows he’s working on a big landscape for his Introduction to Painting class.
“C’mon, Styopa,” she says, hauling him out of the row and down the stairs toward the door. “If you’re not gonna go talk to your guy, let’s go get some lunch. I’m dying for a burger.”
***
The music is deafening and the dance floor is packed. Yelena decides she needs some water and some air. She makes signs to Kate, who looks stunning in dark purple and who gives her a thumbs-up once she figures out Yelena’s intentions.
“It’s Yelena, right?”
Yelena turns, a little startled, and barely manages not to spit out her water when she sees who it is.
Steve’s crush is wearing a tux, and черт, he cleans up nice.
“Yeah, that’s me,” she says, once she’s sure she’s not gonna spew all over him. “You’re…Bucky, yes?”
“Uh-huh, Bucky Barnes, it’s nice to meet you.” He sticks out his hand, and after a beat Yelena shakes it. “I was wondering if…if your friend was here?”
“My friend?”
“Yeah, the guy you sit with in Phillips’ Art History class? Is he coming to the dance?”
“Ah,” says Yelena. “No, he…he couldn’t make it. Had a conflict.” She refrains from saying that for an hour earlier today she’d tried to get Steve to come with her and Kate to the Formal, but His Obstinate Highness resolutely refused, insisting that he had to finish his painting.
“Oh, that’s too bad.” Bucky’s pretty face falls, but in a couple of seconds he pulls himself together. “Well, good to meet you. Have a nice night.”
He nods at her and jogs off. When she reenters the gym, he’s been swallowed up by the crowd. Yelena is thoughtful, but after a moment she sees her girlfriend waving to her from the floor. Kate hands her a shot and she throws it back and “DtMF” comes on the soundsystem and everyone is screaming and she forgets all about Steve and Bucky.
***
Nat’s face falls when she sees Yelena in the doorway of her dorm room.
“Что с тобой,” she says flatly. It’s not a question.
Quickly Yelena darts in and closes the door. “Sorry, sorry,” she starts in the same language. One part of the pact that she made with her sister to attend the same school was not to talk to her on campus or even acknowledge to anyone that they’re siblings.
Their relationship is complicated, to say the least.
“It’s just…you know my friend Steve?”
A tilt of the head as Nat considers for a moment. She’s a junior and her social circle is much wider than Yelena’s. “Short. Cute. Blond. Good artist.”
This is high praise from her sister. Yelena nods.
“He’s mooning over this other boy, but he won’t talk to him.”
“Tell him to grow a pair and go up and say hello.”
Yelena huffs. “Of course, I’ve told him this many times over the past three months.”
“Three months??” Nat’s eyes are wide, and a more than a little accusatory. You couldn’t get your friend his crush or get him to shut up about it? they say.
“You don’t know Steve.” Yelena tries not to sound defensive. “He’s the most stubborn person I know. More stubborn than you.” She looks at her sister pointedly.
Nat is surprised into laughter. “Oh wow,” she says. “That is something.” Yelena smiles. This kind of self-deprecation pierces her defenses and is one reason why, in the grand scheme of things, she really does love her sister.
Even when she’s a giant bitch.
“Who’s this other boy?” asks Nat. “He must be something if Captain Obstinate won’t just go introduce himself.”
Sighing, Yelena answers. “Bucky Barnes, I think he’s in one of your classes.” Her sister is an IR and Econ double major but TA’s in the Russian department to make some extra cash.
“James Barnes?” A predatory grin spreads over Nat’s face.
“Uh-huh.” Now Yelena is nervous. She thought her sister could help with this situation, but she might’ve just thrown Steve and his crush to the wolves.
Fuck.
“Oh yes, they’d be cute together,” Nat decides after a moment of reflection. She fastens an intent green gaze at Yelena. “Is your Steve free for the charity fun fair on the 7th?” Yelena nods. “Is he OK with wearing makeup? Or a dress?”
“Ummm…yes on the makeup” — when he wants to make an effort, Steve’s eyeliner game is on point — “…and I can bully him into a dress.”
“Excellent,” declares Natasha triumphantly. “Now all you have to do is teach him a halfway decent Russian accent.”
“Oh god,” Yelena blurts out in English. Steve is terrible at languages, and the only other accent she’s heard him do is the deep Brooklyn of his hometown. “I’ll try to do what I can about that.”
“Good,” says Nat. “I’ll take care of everything else.”
Yelena smiles at her sister. “You’re the best, Natashenka,” she says, admiring even as she admits to herself that her sibling drives her batshit crazy.
“Yeah,” Nat agrees, smugly. “Yeah, I know.”