Chapter Text
kate bishop has learned quite a few things in her short but fulfilling twenty two years of life on this planet.
one, nothing is ever as it seems.
two, don’t ever put on a costume without knowing the full history of said costume.
three, never meet your heroes.
four, if a world renowned assassin comes knocking on your door and makes you dinner, don’t antagonize her by thinking you had a chance at killing her. you didn’t.
five, nothing you ever learn will be enough to stop you from making the same mistakes again.
six…life is a bitch, and then you die.
why not have fun with it in the meantime?
granted, she can’t exactly do that when there’s no fun to be had. when she’s had nothing but radio silence for the last two months.
she’s…well, for lack of a better word, she’s fucking bored.
she’s bored out of her mind, and honestly, still nursing some physical and mental scars from the fight that basically ruined her life two months ago with no one who experienced that fight with her here to help her feel just a microcosm better about it.
eleanor bishop is now serving twenty years to life in prison for her involvement in some gigantic money laundering scheme while wilson fisk remains untouchable in his ivory tower, and now that mommy dearest’s assets have been frozen, kate is broke, unemployed, and barely hanging on by a thread.
this hasn't been easy, none of it has, but she can't exactly complain or do anything about it. she can't be upset about her mother being the bad guy, because it doesn't change the fact that she is. she can't be upset about the fact that she essentially put her own mother in jail because she can't take that back, either. she can't be upset that her whole life has been turned upside down because, well, she kind of asked for this, and even if she hadn't, it was her mother.
it was bound to happen anyway.
clint’s been giving her a hand on the money front at least, helping her pay for the renovations and the clean up after the fire to the apartment and keeping her fed at laura’s behest because his wife refused to let kate suffer on her own (it had been a long argument on the phone between the two of them before clint had sighed, hung up and handed her his bank details with a warning of ‘for emergencies only’), and kate’s been good with it so far. she hasn’t asked for anything other than a hundred for groceries to keep her fed for a week or two, cheap stuff like mac and cheese and frozen pizza, and that's it. there's no need to pay rent, she owns the apartment, so it's not too bad.
she’s gotten a job or two here and there, but the thing is…when you’ve worked with an avenger in an attempt to bring down the biggest crime lord in new york city, it’s kind of hard to keep yourself from losing your shit at customers or employers when they treat you like the dirt beneath your boot.
so she’s been fired once or twice now, so what? she’s fine, everything’s fine, it’s-
the punching bag flies off the chain its hanging from as her fist pounds into it for what might be the hundredth or two hundredth time, her fists aching so badly she can’t unclench them as it falls to the floor with a dull thud and rolls slightly from the impact.
“hey, cool it, will you?!” someone barks to the left of her, kate thinks it might be the owner, and she takes a deep breath in and tries not to lose her shit as she picks up her jacket, puts it on and zips it up before grabbing her bag with her fists still clenched tight.
she didn't even realize she was hitting it so damn hard, she's definitely hurt her hands...
she’s stopped before she reaches the front door by a hand gripping her elbow, and she spins around with her bruised fist swinging only for it to be caught by a man with a two dollar haircut and eyes that don’t quite meet her own as he stares off in the distance beside her, wearing simple sweatpants and a wife beater.
“ice them when you get home. and if you come back tomorrow to do it all over again, bandage them three times over. it’ll feel uncomfortable, but it’ll stop them from splitting open again.” he says, his voice kind and soft, a small smile on his lips as kate stares at him in confusion at the way he’s not meeting her eyes, like he can’t…
“they’re not split open, i’m fine…” kate trails off when she looks down at her hands to see the blood staining them through the bandaging, fingers shaking the second she tries to stretch them. she inhales sharply, looking up at the man as he lets her go with a chuckle.
“i may be blind, but if you’re dropping a hundred pound punching bag to the floor, you must be hitting it hard enough to do some damage.” he says knowingly. kate blinks once as he clears his throat and nods.
“take care of yourself. whatever anger you’re feeling…i get it. just don’t let it consume you. find something to keep you distracted and soon enough, you won’t even remember what you were angry for.” he says hoarsely.
kate scoffs almost on instinct.
“yeah, sorry dude, but considering my mom is now serving a life long jail sentence for colluding with the mafia boss of new york city while he gets off with no penalty, i think i’m allowed to be as angry as i want.” she hisses, pulling herself out of his grip.
the man’s eyes widen, still staring off into the distance, but kate knows what he’s about to say.
“wait, you’re eleanor bishop’s daughter?” he asks in a low voice.
kate blinks back tears and shoulders her bag tightly as she steps away from him and closer to the door.
“i’m not anyone’s daughter anymore.” she grunts, and before he can call her back, she kicks the door open and steps out into the crisp, cold february air, inhaling deeply as she looks up at the gym and remembers the name of it with a nod.
fogwell’s gym. she’s pretty sure her week long free trial here is up now. she’ll need to move to another gym in the area.
her fists are aching terribly, but she swallows the pain and keeps walking, making her way home with her eyes constantly scanning the areas surrounding her in fear.
she hates walking home at night, always on edge on whether or not someone might be following her, but clint assured her wilson fisk would spend the next year or two in hiding, not dipping his fingers in any illegal activity to keep himself out of prison for as long as possible.
murdering the daughter of the woman you colluded with because she tried to stop you both is probably something that would land you in jail for life along with her. but kate still wouldn’t put it past him. she’d never even heard of wilson fisk before december last year, before clint came into her life like a goddamn bowling ball, not that it was his fault, necessarily.
she’s the one who put the damn ronin suit on in the first place that lead fisk right to her.
but the guy has flown under the radar for so many years, it’s hard not to be paranoid regardless. she’s a target now for her association with clint barton, and as much as she’d never in a million years take it back, she can’t help but be nervous about it.
still, she’s been okay so far, two months without any incidents, as bored as she is, that’s pretty good, right?
she should’ve known she’d jinx it eventually.
she makes her way home, waving with a wince and a grimaced smile at herman, the owner of the pizza shop beneath her apartment and climbing the steps two at a time before she opens the door and is immediately greeted by lucky, who bounds over to her and barks with his tail wagging and his tongue lolling out like he’s happy about something, and kate’s about to question him when-
“how come every time i visit, you take forever to get here, kate bishop?”
the voice is instantly familiar, and it’s one that has kate grabbing the nearest weapon, which happens to be a fork, and hurling it straight for the source of the voice, eyes wide as she hears a grunt before her eyes focus in on the sight before her.
yelena belova, clutching the fork that’s inches away from her face with a grimace and anger in her eyes, wearing a white tactical suit and a dark green vest with her long blonde locks tied up in two ponytails that have kate staring at her in utter awe.
“and why are you always throwing things at me?!” yelena exclaims, hand dropping as kate blinks a couple of times as if she’s trying to reassure herself what she’s seeing is real.
“why are you always scaring me? can you knock on the front door like a normal person instead of breaking in?!” kate glowers, fingers itching to reach for her bow a couple of steps away from her as yelena drops the fork onto the table with a sigh.
“you really almost got my brains all over your only fork, kate bishop. what would you use to eat with, huh?” she says with a grin, kate glaring at her in anger.
she shows up after two months and all she wants to do is make fun of her?
she clenches her fist, gasping at the pain it causes, but refusing to acknowledge her damaged knuckles as she kisses her teeth.
“look at the table.” she says through slightly clenched teeth. yelena frowns, but glances down, her eyes widening before she gasps-
and holds up both forks.
“you bought another one!? look at you go, moving on up in the world! you’ve also cleaned up the place, that’s good!” yelena says, dragging a finger along the table top and looking around the place with an impressed nod as she places the forks back down.
“yeah, grills helped me get the place back in order after the fire…what are you doing here, yelena?” kate cuts off her tangent and gets to the task at hand, keeping the assassin distracted as she slowly inches her way towards her bow in the corner.
she can’t trust this woman and she knows it. the last time she was here, she basically threatened kate in a very offhand-ish way and she also tried to kill clint, so-
“well…i thought i’d come visit my friend, but seeing as she’s inching closer and closer to her bow, i’m going to take a guess that i’m not welcome here.” yelena says with a sigh, shoulders sagging as kate sighs as well in defeat and smiles weakly at her.
“can you blame me, yelena? last time i saw you, you were trying to kill clint. then you just disappeared, and clint wouldn’t tell me why. what happened between you two?” she asks, watching as yelena’s fingers tremble slightly when they reach up to wipe the sweat from her brow.
that has kate frowning.
kate knows why she’s currently sweating despite the cold air outside, she just finished a workout.
…why is yelena?
“we worked out our issues…and the woman who hired me was sent to prison, so killing him no longer served a purpose. now kate, can you please not grab that bow? i’m not exactly in a good enough position right now to defend myself, but i will if i have to even if i’m not and it won’t end well for you, trust me.” yelena sways a little now, and kate knows something’s not right the second she sees it.
“wait, what do you mean? what’s wrong?” she asks, immediately stepping forward just as yelena reaches out and grabs the top of the chair in front of her with a gasp, clutching her side as she does.
“well, i kind of got a little stabbed on my latest assignment-.”
“WHAT?!”
kate abandons her bow and runs straight for yelena, pushing her towards the couch in the corner of her apartment as the woman groans and tries to get her to stop.
“i’m fine, i’ll be okay, it’s just a bit of pain-.”
“shut up and lay down, let me see!” kate demands, watching as yelena rolls her eyes, but slowly drops down onto the couch with a cry of pain before she pulls the zipper of her vest down.
kate’s heart drops when she notices it.
the slight patch of red that covers almost the entire right side of her white suit.
blood.
it’s then that she realizes there’s cuts on yelena’s face as well, small ones, barely noticeable, but a bruise forming on her jaw and above her eyebrow-
“shit! yelena, what the fuck happened?!” kate asks, jumping up and running straight for the med kit on top of her fridge, her heart pounding in her ribcage almost painfully.
“if you g-got here sooner, i’d have the strength to tell you, right now i want to sleep.” yelena rasps out, grimacing as kate drops down beside her and begins feeling through the suit and the vest for some kind of gash.
when yelena swears loudly in russian, she knows she’s found it.
“okay, just breathe, this is gonna hurt.” kate croaks out, pressing down onto the wound through the gash in the vest and wincing when yelena cries out and grabs her wrist in an attempt to pry her hand off, but kate somehow manages to use her free hand to pin yelena’s down to her side, and that’s when she knows yelena’s pretty badly injured here.
she’s a black widow assassin, she could take kate’s hand off and use it to slap her with in two seconds if she wasn’t.
“how bad is it?” yelena pants out, groaning again as kate tries not to cry and tries to stay focused, but yelena is bleeding, staining the vest darker and it doesn’t look good…
“come here, boy!” kate whistles, looking up as lucky whines and makes his way over to her.
“can you grab me that rag over there, buddy?” kate pants out, nodding towards the rag hanging off the hook next to the sink, and lucky, ever loyal, barks and makes his way over to it before grabbing it between his teeth and making his way back to them.
“good boy!” kate cries, grabbing it off him and pressing into yelena’s wound as she cries and writhes slightly from the pain. lucky whines and heels beside yelena, his head resting on his paws as yelena taps the top of his head weakly.
“you’re a good doggie.” she croaks out.
“hey, yelena, tell me what happened, who did this to you?” kate asks, tapping her cheek and watching as yelena groans before she looks up at kate with a sheepish smile.
“slap me again and i’ll break your fingers.” she grumbles. kate rolls her eyes.
“you’re bleeding on my couch, you owe me an explanation.” she demands. yelena sighs, and kate presses a little harder, causing her to yelp as she slaps at kate’s elbow weakly.
“ow, okay! i was on…was on an assignment…there’s a widow protecting my target. she’s still under mind control, so i tried to s-save her…didn’t go so well for me. it’s why i had back up before the snap when i was hunting them down…natasha always used to say, ‘two widows are better than one’.” yelena manages to get out, sighing as kate frowns and reaches for the zipper on the top of her widow suit with hesitation.
“may i?” she asks. yelena nods once, and kate pulls the zip down, her stomach dropping further and further the more yelena’s skin is exposed to her.
she’s covered in bruises and scratches, and right where kate’s pressing down, right between her ribs…a thin cut that’s still slowly bleeding…
kate has only met yelena three times now, and every single time, she’s shown nothing but confidence, this aura about her that kate can only guess comes with being a highly well trained assassin.
but right now…right now, she looks scared. she looks vulnerable.
“hey! hey, you’re gonna be okay, alright? we just gotta stop this bleeding.” kate whispers, pressing down a little harder as yelena grunts and looks up at her with a breathless, soft laugh.
“i’m surprised you’re trying to help.” yelena says hoarsely. kate scoffs.
“why wouldn’t i?” she asks.
“we haven’t exactly seen eye to eye on things…you’ve only known me a few months-.”
“yeah, well, you broke into my home and made me mac and cheese, you made an impression, okay?” kate says breathlessly, smiling as yelena hums and blinks up at her blearily for a few moments.
“i’m s-sorry. about your mother.” she whispers. kate’s heart sinks somewhere to her feet, and she swallows thickly before she simply shrugs.
“s’okay…i’m sorry you didn’t get paid.” she whispers back. yelena snorts before she grimaces and rests her hand on top of kate’s that pushing into her wound, desperate to stop the bleeding.
“always so funny, kate bishop…” she breathes, eyes fluttering slightly as she pats her hand before she swallows and nods.
“when it stops bleeding, you’re going to need to stitch it closed. she didn’t hit any major organs, i don’t think. the bleeding would be a lot worse if she did, the vest protected me.” yelena rasps out, this look coming over her eyes that kate can’t explain, half pained, half almost grateful. kate swallows the lump in her throat and nods.
“okay. so just keep pressure?” kate asks.
“just keep pressure. you’re doing great.” yelena tells her. kate smiles.
“how are you feeling?” she asks. yelena chuckles.
“been better, but it’s just the shock hitting my system now the adrenaline is wearing off, i’ll be fine. i've had much worse injuries than this.”
“really?” kate asks with a frown. yelena grins widely and suddenly holds up the last three fingers of her left hand.
“i can’t feel anything in these three fingers. i’ve ruptured my spleen, displaced my knee, broken my wrist…i’ve been shot five times-.”
“what?” kate barely squeaks out, eyes wide as yelena keeps going like she hasn’t heard her.
“-stabbed seven times, now eight, i fell from a plane about thirty thousand feet high and landed in debris with only a parachute to soften the blow, that wasn’t fun…but natasha was with me.” yelena’s eyes go soft now, this pain in them that has kate’s heart aching at the sight of it.
“she fall out of the plane, too?” kate asks with a sarcastic smile and in attempt to lift her spirits, and she feels like she shouldn’t be surprised at yelena’s response, but she is.
“no, she jumped off it after me to save me. it’s how i got the parachute.” she says with a smile and a laugh. kate shakes her head in disbelief.
“life of a black widow, huh?” yelena laughs again a little louder this time, wincing only a little at the pain it causes.
“life of a black widow.” she echoes. kate watches her for a moment, checks on the wound to see the bleeding is slowing, and she lets out a sigh of relief as looks up at yelena with a smile.
“what is your story, anyway?” kate croaks out, getting more comfortable in her position without removing her hand as yelena looks at her, eyes blinking slowly.
it’s quiet for a few moments before yelena clears her throat.
“can i have some water?” she asks. kate’s eyes widen before she nods.
“oh-yeah, yeah, sure! just-here, hold down, i’ll grab some for you.” kate lets yelena hold the rag down on her wound before she jumps up and goes to the fridge, grabbing a bottle of water and two protein bars before making her way back to the injured woman. yelena sits up a little, sighing as she does and only wincing a little as kate opens the water and hands it to her.
yelena suddenly grabs her hand holding the water, turning it over to see her bruised and battered knuckles, and she raises an eyebrow as kate shrugs.
"got a little too into boxing training today. it's nothing." yelena sighs, but takes the water regardless.
she takes a few small sips as kate takes over pressing down on the wound. yelena sinks back against the couch and takes the protein bar kate offers her. she takes small bites, kate still waiting for an answer, but yelena is almost halfway done with her protein bar before she answers.
“it’s not a fun story, kate bishop.” she says simply. kate swallows thickly, looking at her as she licks her lips and shakes her head.
“you don’t have to tell me. but we might be here awhile…” she says softly, but yelena doesn’t budge, just stares up at the ceiling for a few moment minutes in silence before she clears her throat again and nods at the wound.
“how are we looking?” she asks. kate sighs in defeat, wondering when exactly she's going to learn more about this woman, but pulls it back and looks.
“slowing down, but still coming.” yelena nods again before she taps the top of the medkit.
“good, time to stitch it then.” she says simply. kate hesitates.
“uhh…”
“it’s like sewing clothes. easy peasy. come here, i’ll do the first stitch-.”
“no, i…i know how to do stitches, clint taught me that…that night, it’s just-i mean, don’t you want something for the pain?” kate asks with a wince, watching as yelena smiles at her almost fondly.
“you are kind, kate bishop, but no. i’ve been through much worse, remember? now quickly, there should be a suture kit already in there, no?” yelena asks, and kate sighs before she grabs the medkit, flips it open and reaches for the already prepackaged suture and needle packet.
“alright, if you need a second just stop me, okay?” kate tells her, reaching for the forceps also in the kit as she quickly puts some gloves on, wincing as it brushes against her bruised knuckles and trying hard not to remember that night at rockefeller center and the aftermath of her stitching closed a cut on clint’s bicep that he couldn’t reach.
there had been a lot of gagging and a lot of fear, she’s kind of hoping that doesn’t reoccur here.
yelena scoffs, and when kate looks up at her, there’s some slight color to her cheeks now that she’s had some water and a snack.
“quite the medkit. i’m guessing you bought it after everything at rockefeller center?” she asks hoarsely. kate simply shrugs.
“clint told me to in case i get in trouble here. didn’t think i’d be using it on a black widow, but here we are.” kate sighs, and she pulls the needle out with the forceps and looks up at yelena, who simply nods at her.
kate inhales deeply before she’s sliding the needle into yelena’s skin, and if yelena’s in pain, she barely shows it at all.
only a wince and a hard grip of the couch in her hand before she exhales shakily and nods for kate to continue. she’s infinitely a better patient than clint, he had cursed at her and almost slapped her at one point when she dug the needle in a little too deep.
“so a widow did this to you?” kate asks in an attempt to distract yelena from the pain.
“yes…one still under mind control.” she says with a sigh, wincing again when kate pushes the needle through the other end of the broken skin.
“yeah, you said that before, what do you mean, ‘mind control’?” kate asks in confusion. yelena swallows thickly before she stares up at the ceiling, her lips turning downwards slightly in sadness. it’s like she’s wrestling with her mind, unsure of how much to expose before she clears her throat and looks down at kate expressionless.
“long story short, there was a program for many, many years that involved the kidnapping of little orphan girls all over the world to become russia’s best super spies. natasha and i were put in the program as children, and we were brainwashed at first into believing the man in charge of the program, dreykov, was our leader. whatever he needed us to do, we did. when natasha broke free of his brainwashing and escaped, he used the method of mind control instead. we were fully conscious but we had no control over our own bodies. someone created an antidote, i was sent on a mission to retrieve it, i was exposed instead. i reached out to natasha, we brought the program down together, and i spent two years tracking down other widows around the world to try and free them from the mind control, until i disappeared for five years and came back to my sister being dead. all their trails have gone cold, and i’ve been trying to locate some of them again while also still doing contract work because money doesn’t grow on trees.”
kate’s just finished snipping off the first stitch when she looks up at yelena with her mouth dropped open in shock, unsure of what exactly to make of what the woman has just said, and she sighs before she reaches to grab the forceps off her.
“i’ll do the rest myself-.”
“no! i’m fine, it’s just…jesus, yelena, it’s a lot to wrap my head around!” kate breathes, shaking her head as the spy scoffs with a roll of her eyes.
“you wanted in on this world, didn’t you? a world of heroes and helping people? well, it’s filled with a lot of bad shit, too. welcome to the bad shit.” yelena deadpans, her gaze once again focused on the ceiling, and kate sighs as she once again begins stitching up yelena’s wound with slightly shaking hands now.
brainwashing children? she remembers reading the files natasha romanoff had leaked onto the internet all those years ago, remembers reading about secret programs in russia involving children, but to know yelena was involved with something like that...
“how many widows are there?” she asks hoarsely. yelena chews on the inside of her cheek before she shrugs.
“i don’t know…over two thousand, i think.”
kate’s hand almost slips. yelena hisses at the pain it causes from the thread tugging on her wound, and she glares as kate looks at her in shock.
“two thousand? holy shit, how many-.”
“have i saved? i don’t know anymore…before the blip, before i disappeared, the widows i saved eventually went out on their own to save others. my mother, she fronted the operation, so she knows official numbers, but she was lost to the blip as well-.”
“wait, your mother? i thought you said orphaned girls were kidnapped…” kate says in confusion. yelena licks her lips before she rolls her eyes with a sigh.
“she was…when we were children, natasha and i were sent on a mission together in ohio where we had to pretend to be some suburban all american family. we played the part of sisters, and melina…she was our fake mother. we also had a fake father, too. the four of us…we knew we were not blood, but we were still family, and we spent three years living that lie, so…” yelena trails off now just as kate finishes the third stitch, and her heart sinks when she looks up to see yelena blinking back tears now, that pout back on her lips as she fiddles with the lapels of her vest.
so her and natasha aren't blood related. it doesn't change anything in kate's eyes, clearly didn't change anything for natasha or yelena, either, but the pain in yelena's eyes...
“yelena-.”
“anyway, with my mother and i gone, without us, the whole operation fell apart. i’ve been trying to get it back up and running, we both have, but a lot of the widows who survived the blip and were freed gave up and began to live their own lives. i can’t exactly tell them they’re not allowed to and drag them back into this life of getting stabbed and shot at, so…it’s just me now.” yelena finishes off quickly, sniffing as she continues to grip her vest for comfort while kate finishes off the fifth stitch and begins working on the last one.
“just you, trying to free thousands of widows from mind control.” kate reiterates, staring at the girl in disbelief as she nods and bites down on her lower lip.
“someone has to do it.”
“and when do you get the chance to live the life you want?” kate blurts out, no idea where this thought even came from as yelena looks at her in surprise.
“for someone so adamant on being a hero, i’m shocked you’d ask such a question. you think i’d just leave them to a life of being mindless zombies with no control over their own bodies? being manipulated and used for someone else’s gain? is it because i’m an assassin and you think i’m heartless, kate bishop?” she snarks. kate snips off the final stitch and looks up at her with a sigh of exasperation.
“no, of course not, come on! but it makes me sad that you’re doing this all on your own, i-.” kate freezes, hand hovering over a bandage to cover the stitches as her heart begins racing with excitement, and the words are out of her mouth before she can stop them.
“let me help you.” she breathes.
she can practically feel the way yelena tenses up before she’s scoffing and slapping kate’s hand away from her wound, reaching for the bandage herself and sitting up slowly with a wince.
“no.” she deadpans.
“why not?!” kate cries out. yelena peels off the sticker and slaps the bandage over the stitches, grunting in pain before she’s glaring at kate angrily.
“why not?! i come into your home, bleeding out and weakened after a two minute fight with a widow, you just stitched a gigantic cut in my ribcage, i’m covered in wounds and you want to come with me? join my little crusade of liberating dangerous and deadly widows who would not hesitate to kill you?!” she growls. kate jumps up and crosses her arms over her chest defiantly.
“yes, i do!” she says firmly. yelena laughs now, fully laughs as she slowly stands up and begins zipping her suit back up, but she takes off the vest and examines it, no doubt looking for the gash in the fabric with a frown.
“you’re insane, kate bishop. find another hobby. join a gym or i don’t know, start a pilates class-.”
“wilson fisk could come knocking down my door any minute now with a gun pointed straight at my head for what happened at rockefeller center! clint said he’s likely gonna lay low for awhile to keep the heat off him, but i’m watching my back every time i step outside this apartment! i can’t stay here, yelena! and if there’s people out there, especially women, that need help, then i want to help! i’m sick of sitting here and doing nothing, not when you and i both know i’m capable of a lot more than that!” kate ends her rant slightly red in the face because she’s said it all in a rush, but yelena’s looking at her with slight surprise, and she even looks a little impressed as kate stands tall and tries not to buckle under her piercing glare.
even injured, yelena belova is intimidating as hell. but kate's not backing down.
she wants to help yelena. she wants to do something other than sit here and wallow in self pity over her mother, her father, her entire family situation. she wants to help someone she cares about help other people.
it's all she's ever wanted.
“no one’s saying you aren’t brave, kate. you are brave, incredibly brave, but this job? it’s gruesome. it’s painful. it’s watching women who have had no control over their lives waking up from a living nightmare and coming to terms with the terrible things they’ve done, and the terrible things that have been done to them. this isn’t a fun adventure. this isn’t being a hero. this is reality, a harsh reality that yes, is worth it to give them the freedom they deserve, but that hurts no matter what outcome we get. it’s tiring…and it’s heartbreaking.” yelena’s eyes are shining with tears once more, but kate’s mind is already made up.
“all the more reason you shouldn’t be doing it alone.” she says back, watching as defeat shines heavy in yelena’s eyes and her shoulders slump.
“you’re not going to let it go, are you?” she deadpans.
“not a chance.” kate snipes back. yelena sighs, watching her for a few more moments before suddenly…she nods.
“…fine. how awake are you right now?” she asks.
“uh…pretty awake, why?” kate asks with confusion as yelena makes her way over to kate’s window, sliding open the latch and pulling it up to expose the cold air. she grabs a yellow checkered coat kate didn’t even notice on the railing of the stairs and looks at her expectantly.
“let’s do a trial run. come on.” she extends her hand, a grapple hook of some kind extending from her widow bite bracelets and connecting to the ledge before she’s stepping over it.
“wait, r-right now? but you’re injured-.” kate calls out, but yelena’s already prepping herself to fall backwards off the ledge in fashion.
“yes, right now! be good, doggie!” she calls out, waving at lucky as kate rolls her eyes.
“his name is lucky!”
“that’s a boring name!” yelena yells as she falls over the edge and descends out of view.
“you’re a…ugh, umm…stay here, lucky! eat your food and stay here, i’ll be back soon, i hope.” kate rushes, kissing the top of lucky’s head and grabbing her bow and quiver of arrows, hooking them over her shoulder before she’s running towards the window and stepping over the ledge of it.
yelena’s waiting for her at the bottom, looking up at her with a grin, and kate rolls her eyes before she reaches for the light pole next to her window and wraps her legs around it. she shuts the window with a grunt to make sure no more cold air gets into her home, and she’s sliding down the pole with ease and joining yelena at the bottom as the woman puts her vest back on with a sigh and puts her coat on over that to hide her outfit from view.
“you don’t have anything to hide the weapons?” yelena grumbles, nodding at the bow and arrows on kate’s back, and she’s about to respond when-
“hey! nice katniss everdeen cosplay!” someone yells out, waving at kate from across the road as she waves back with a smile. she looks at yelena with an almost shit eating grin that has the widow rolling her eyes as she leads them down the road and holds a hand up to hail a cab.
“we’re going back to my mark, and i’m going to finish the job i was supposed to earlier tonight. i’ll take him out and you…” yelena suddenly reaches into her coat and pulls out a vial that has some kind of red liquid inside it, shining brightly even beneath the dim lit light pole hanging over them.
“you are going to free the widow.” yelena says as the cab comes to a stop in front of them. kate stops short and just stares.
“you want me to fight the widow that stabbed you?” she asks incredulously as yelena ducks down and gives an address to the driver that kate doesn’t quite catch.
“no, i’m going to infiltrate his hotel room. you’re going to watch my back. when she comes running to protect him, you’re going to use one of those little arrows of yours to explode this in her face. it’ll free her, and it’ll leave me with an easy path to taking him out.” yelena hands her the vial, and kate frowns before she takes it as yelena opens the door and hops into the cab.
“oh, so you want me to help you…take someone out instead. who is your mark, anyway?” kate keeps her voice low, eyeing the driver to make sure he doesn’t hear as he takes off, and yelena leans in close to her, her voice just as low as her breath tickles kate’s ear and makes her shiver slightly.
“a man responsible for the sex trafficking of women in four different countries. he was caught and posted bail and is planning on escaping the country to avoid a prison sentence. the person who hired me is the mother of one of the girls who died because of him and his little operation.”
kate pulls back, stares at yelena in complete awe as the woman puts her seatbelt on and avoids eye contact with her.
“contract work doesn’t always mean killing good people, kate bishop. sometimes you do, but sometimes, you take pleasure in the people you kill.” she murmurs, staring out of the window as kate continues to look at her in surprise.
the ride there is quiet, kate unable to stop her fist from clenching and unclenching with nerves until they reach a hotel building that has yelena calling for the cab driver to stop. he does, and yelena hands him money and steps out with kate following her and looking up at the building with a frown, but to her surprise, yelena takes her across the street to the building opposite of the hotel.
“wait, where are we going?”
“he’s staying on floor five, room six, which is luckily, a balcony view room and is only one floor higher than the rooftop of this building. you’re going to keep watch, stay as far away from the widow as possible, and when i give you the signal, you’re going to hit her with the antidote. here, take this.” yelena hands kate an earpiece, one she places into her ear and turns on just as yelena takes her inside the building and into the elevator, wincing slightly at the static from the earpiece before she grabs the elastic band around her wrist and pulls out an arrow from her quiver, one with a trick arrow head.
an explosive.
she ties the antidote to it, secures it and holds it balanced in the palm of her hand, trying to get a feel of how much the antidote vial weighs down the arrow so she knows whether to aim higher when releasing the arrow, and yelena watches her before she smiles at kate with a nod just as the doors open. yelena leads her to the flight of stairs to the left, and they only climb one flight before yelena’s pushing open a heavy door and leading her out into the cold night air on the rooftop of the building. she leads her to the ledge, facing the hotel building.
“stay here. his room is this one.” yelena takes out what looks like a laser pointer and shines it over the concrete of the balcony of a room a little higher than kate’s vantage point, and the girl nods and keeps her eye on it as yelena grips her shoulder and squeezes it.
“i’m counting on you, kate bishop. he’s likely going to have extra security measures in place on his floor after my attack earlier tonight, so make sure you get it right.”
“yeah, no pressure.” kate grumbles, nocking the arrow into her string, but not pulling it taut just yet as yelena hooks that grapple onto the ledge and zips down the side of the building once again, kate resisting the urge to scoff at her.
why is she always so dramatic with her exits…
kate stays focused, eyes peeled for any movement, and when the light to the man’s room flickers on after a few minutes, she tenses, and clears her throat.
“light in his room just turned on.” she mumbles.
“really? shit, is he on the balcony?” yelena whispers, sounding a little out of breath. kate narrows her eyes and sees two shadows behind the curtain.
“no. but he’s in there with someone else-.”
“it’s her. alright, i’ve just taken out his four security guards in the hallways, she's the last line of defense. keep your eyes on them."
“on it.” kate says firmly, eyes not moving from the two figures as they seem to be talking before the door leading to the balcony suddenly slides open-
and a man steps out in a bathrobe, lighting a cigarette caught between his teeth as kate curses and ducks behind a vent on the rooftop to hide herself from view just in case he sees her across from where he is.
“he’s out on the balcony smoking a cigarette. she’s still inside and you don’t have the antidote, yelena!” kate hisses, peeking over the side to see it’s still just him on the balcony as he sits down on a chair and puffs out smoke. he looks distressed, but the widow doesn't join him, kate still able to see her shadow from the light behind the curtain.
“then i guess we’ll have to improvise!” yelena breathes, and just as kate hears knocking through the earpiece, hears yelena yell out ‘housekeeping!’ in an oddly spot on british accent, she sees the man turn to look inside his hotel room before he’s waving at the woman who peeks her head through the curtains as if telling her to answer it.
she hears a bang through the earpiece, sees the man jump up in shock and turn, and that’s when she sees the glint of silver being pulled out of the pocket of his bathrobe-
a gun.
kate quickly drops the antidote arrow and reaches for a regular arrow in her quiver, nocking it and aiming it before she’s sending it flying straight for the man, and it catches him right in the shoulder as he cries out in pain and falls forward, dropping his gun, crashing into the chair and clutching his shoulder in agony.
she hears yelena grunting into her ear, hears the sound of fists hitting flesh and she winces before she kicks the antidote arrow balancing on her foot up into her hand and nocks it.
“lead her to the sliding door, yelena!” she calls out, one eye closing to focus better as she aims it straight for the open door and over the man’s head.
“coming your way in three, two…one!” kate sends it flying, watches it zoom right over the man's head, through the curtain and into the hotel room and hears the soft explosion through yelena’s earpiece and hears the woman cry out in surprise.
she hears only soft panting for a moment or two before-
“where is he?” yelena cries out.
“balcony! i got him in the shoulder!” kate says with a grin, watching as the curtain is pulled back-
and yelena stands there, her coat gone and in her white suit, looking at the man in the chair with pure disgust, and kate can see the widow behind her wiping at her face and shaking her head from the red dust that’s still dematerializing around her.
“don’t watch this, kate.” yelena murmurs, and kate frowns in confusion before she sees yelena step behind the man in the chair and grab a handful of his hair, exposing his neck with a glint of silver shining in the light in her other hand-
kate barely turns with a gasp, her breathing heavy as she tries her best to ignore the bile that rises in her throat.
she knows he’s not a good man, but yelena is still killing him and it’s…
don't panic, please don't panic...
she doesn’t turn back…doesn’t even look, but she hears the sound of gurgling through yelena’s earpiece, hears yelena’s heavy breathing before she’s sighing loudly in kate’s ear.
“go home, kate. i need to…i need to clean up here and i need to help her. i can already tell this is going to be a difficult one to adjust, and you don’t need to see this. you’ve seen enough as it is.” yelena murmurs. kate squeezes her eyes shut, shakes her head, because she promised, she promised yelena she’d stay and help-
“yelena, i…”
“i’ll come to you, i promise. you did an amazing job, kate. i…thank you. but please, go home for now. this part of it i don’t need you for.” kate hesitates, and part of her wants to turn back and look at yelena, but she knows if she does, she’ll see that man’s dead body, and…
kate rushes towards the fire escape and makes her way down, turning off her earpiece as she does before she’s making a beeline right for the subway.
—
yelena returns just as the sun is beginning to rise and kate’s beginning to doze off on the couch.
lucky is asleep at her feet, and kate hasn’t been able to sleep since she got back home at about midnight last night from their little mission, pacing back and forth, trying to determine if letting yelena kill that man was a good or bad thing until she had come to the harrowing conclusion that either way, it didn’t matter.
yelena is an assassin, and that man was as good as dead the second she was contracted to kill him.
besides, she remembers how yelena had laughed in her face at the mere concept of kate killing her on that rooftop two months ago when she’d been trying to kill clint, she figures yelena would probably outright howl with laughter at the idea of kate stopping her from killing that man, too.
kate looks down at the earpiece yelena gave her with a harrowed look where it rests on the table, and she shivers as she covers herself with more blankets, cursing herself for even leaving the window open in the first place, but she knows yelena is more than likely-
a grunt.
a leg appears on the ledge of the window, followed by a figure and then a mop of blonde ponytailed hair, and there she is.
yelena belova steadies herself as she climbs inside kate’s apartment, once again wearing her coat over her white outfit and vest and smiling up at the woman before she’s shivering and closing the window behind her.
“so cold! why would you leave the window open?” she exclaims.
“is that a serious question?” kate deadpans. yelena shrugs and makes her way over to her, and kate winces when she notices the fresh new bandaged cut on yelena’s forehead that’s still bleeding slightly as she bends down and grabs the earpiece, bouncing it in the palm of her hand with a grin.
“okay, so maybe we make a good team, kate bishop!” she says heartily, collapsing on the couch beside her as kate looks at her expectantly.
“how is she? is she okay? the widow?” she asks eagerly. yelena’s smile falters slightly and she sighs tiredly, rubbing at her eye as she does.
“she’s okay. still a little disoriented and confused, but i gave her the address to a base nearby where a few of the widows are living free from all of this…shit. i gave her my number if she needs anything, but they’ll keep her calm and explain everything to her, give her options of what she might want to do next, but ultimately, it’s up to her.” she yawns suddenly, covering her mouth as she does as kate chews on the inside of her cheek.
“what are her options, exactly?” she asks. yelena’s bright smile returns as she looks at kate blearily.
“well, that’s the best part about what we do, kate. her options are endless now.” she croaks out. kate can’t help but smile at that, and she pokes yelena’s shoulder tenderly and nods at her.
“and you?” she asks.
“and me what?” yelena asks back.
“are you okay?” yelena simply shrugs at that.
“usual bumps and bruises. i’ll be fine.” she murmurs.
“you killed a guy today.” kate blurts out.
“i’ve killed many people on many different days.” yelena retorts just as quickly.
a pause.
“you saved a woman today, too.” kate says hoarsely. yelena chuckles and looks at her in amusement.
“so what does that make me, kate bishop? hero or villain?” she teases. kate smiles despite herself, but it fades as she slowly comes to a conclusion in her mind.
“i think i’m starting to realize that heroes aren’t always what you think they are.” she croaks out. yelena cocks an eyebrow at her.
“what do you mean?” kate inhales sharply and simply shakes her head.
“i mean that sometimes…sometimes heroes are avengers who protect the world from danger and sometimes heroes are assassins who kill bad guys for money, but most of all…they’re just people trying to do the right thing. sometimes the right thing isn’t always good.” kate murmurs, bowing her head and fiddling with the frilly little fabric at the end of the blanket covering her body as yelena suddenly inhales deeply.
“‘we’re defined by what we do’-.”
“‘not by nice words’. yeah, i remember.” kate says, copying yelena’s accent for the first words as the assassin groans and shakes her head.
“don’t ever do that accent again.”
“what? not russian enough?” kate teases. yelena stands up with a shake of her head.
“terrible, absolutely terrible. now…do you have a shower, a spare towel and some clothes i can change into?”
yelena crashes on the couch for the night, or well, morning, after her shower, and it takes a long time before kate falls asleep in her bed upstairs, but she’s woken up by the smell of bacon and the sound of a soft voice speaking a language she definitely doesn’t understand.
she blinks blearily, her whole body throbbing and her knuckles aching from yesterday’s events, but she jumps up and pads down the stairs slowly to greet the now setting sun, turning the corner to see yelena in the kitchen with her phone to her ear as she stirs something in a pot.
she’s speaking in russian, that much kate can tell, but she has no idea what she’s saying or who she’s saying it to, only sees her face is filled with concern before she’s hanging up and looking up at kate with a smile, wearing long checkered sweatpants and an old band t-shirt of kate’s with the cuts on her face now bandaged properly, her hair out of their ponytails and cascading down her back in gentle waves.
it’s almost unfair that she looks this good after what kate can amount to about six hours of sleep after getting stabbed and beaten up. kate’s pretty sure she looks a mess in comparison.
“good morning, kate bishop! i made some breakfast, bacon and toast, it’s all you had in the fridge.” she says cheerily. kate comes to a stop beside her and leans her elbows on the counter.
“haven’t gone grocery shopping yet. so…considering last night was a success…how do you feel about me joining you?” she asks with a grin. yelena scratches at her bandaged brow with a sigh.
“i’m still contemplating it.” she sniffs.
“oh come on!”
“kate, this is dangerous work, okay? if you die because of me, what do i do then, huh?” yelena asks with a slight pout that has kate rolling her eyes.
“who cares? it’s not like i have anyone who would, my dad’s dead, my mother’s a criminal in jail and since that news got out, all my friends have pretty much abandoned me. the only one who’d give a shit is probably lucky, but he could just go to clint, anyway. he'd be happy there.” kate shrugs as she steals a piece of bacon that’s resting on the plate beside the ones yelena is cooking, and she sees the blonde’s jaw clench before her hand whips out-
and the wooden spoon she’s holding whacks kate right on the elbow.
“ow! what the hell!?” kate shouts, rubbing her wound comfortingly.
“clint would give a shit! and what about me?! you think killing you would make me happy or something?!” she barks, her face getting angrier as kate steps back slightly in fear.
“i-but-.”
“you are a very stupid girl sometimes, kate bishop! very stupid!” she growls, brandishing the spoon like a weapon before she huffs and turns back to the bacon.
“jeez, i’m sorry! okay fine, you and clint would care, but you’d get over it eventually! you two don’t even like each other so it’s not like you’d see each other to get all weepy about me!”
“that’s not true! clint’s…alright!” yelena exclaims sheepishly.
“you tried to kill him!” kate shoots back, yelena loading the plate up with more bacon as she shrugs.
“…okay, yes, i did, but that was a long time ago. besides, he gave me back my vest, so i can’t kill him now even if i wanted to. that vest is special.” she grumbles, nodding towards where kate now sees her white tactical suit and her vest are hanging on a hook on the wall beside her archery gear.
“it is? why?” kate asks with a frown. yelena bows her head and doesn’t look at her.
“…has a lot of pockets.” she murmurs. kate watches how she clenches her jaw, how she seems to be avoiding talking about the vest as she clears her throat and nods at the plate of bacon.
“eat.” she says simply. Kate sighs, but takes a few more pieces and listens with a smile as yelena hums under her breath.
“do you know how many more widows are out there?” kate asks to change the subject, eating her bacon sheepishly while yelena shrugs.
“lost their trail, like i said. i’ve only managed to find a handful since i came back from the blip.” she sighs. kate nods, contemplating if she should ask her next question, but she does anyway because she has no impulse control.
“so…five years gone. what did that feel like?” she asks. yelena’s shoulders visibly tense before she looks at kate.
“it felt like nothing. it was like i blinked and suddenly everything was different. the room i was in changed around me. it’s hard to explain…but with one blink, five years had gone by and my sister died.” she says hollowly. she looks back down at the toast now frying in the pan, and kate swallows thickly at her words.
she's never really spoken to anyone who was snapped and came back from the blip before. her mother and her didn't get snapped, neither did any of her friends, but she remembers the chaos in the moments after it had happened...
it was like the battle of new york all over again, but ten times worse.
“i’m sorry, yelena.” she croaks out. yelena offers her a sad smile.
“don’t be. i’m guessing you didn’t disappear?” she asks.
“nope. stuck around…” kate murmurs. yelena nods at her.
“what was that like?”
kate licks her lips before she simply shakes her head.
“…terrifying. really terrifying. watching people just disappear, it was confusing. for days we all just wandered around, checked in on our loved ones, tried to figure everything out, and then…” kate stops abruptly, unsure if she should say the next part, but yelena is watching her so intently…
“and then your sister and steve rogers held a press conference, and they told everyone what happened. they said they were looking for a way to bring everyone back, but with every year that went by and we barely heard from them, it seemed less likely they were going to be able to do it.” she says in a low voice.
yelena inhales sharply, and when kate looks up at her, she’s flipping the toast over with a look kate can’t read.
“did she…how did she look?” she asks after a few moments.
“natasha?” yelena simply nods.
“she looked upset. really upset. clint told me she practically locked herself at the avengers compound for five years, trying to figure out a way to bring everyone back. she never gave up. everyone else did, but…not her.” kate tells her firmly, watching as yelena’s lips lift into a small smile.
“she always was stubborn. always needed to win.” she scoffs. kate finds herself smiling.
“clint said that, too.” she tells her. yelena’s smile widens only for a moment before she sniffs and chews on the inside of her cheek, clearly trying to stop herself from crying.
“…i miss her.” she says hoarsely. kate’s heart sinks with pain.
“i know. i’m so sorry, yelena.” she reaches out, her hand landing on yelena’s shoulder, and the girl simply bows her head, fingers fiddling with the wooden spoon in her hands when kate clears her throat a little awkwardly and decides to shoot for gold.
“can i hug you?” she asks. yelena’s head snaps up at that.
“what for?” she demands. kate fights back a nervous laugh.
“it’s what people do to comfort other people.” she tells her. yelena scoffs again.
“i know that.” she sniffs.
“good, so come here.” kate says simply, holding her arms open. yelena hesitates before she steps forward, and kate takes the initiative and wraps her arms around yelena, one hand cupping the back of her neck and the other rubbing her back gently. yelena’s tense in her arms at first, but slowly, as her arms reach up to wrap around kate’s waist, she relaxes, her head resting on kate’s shoulder as the tension slowly begins to leave.
“not so bad, huh?” kate whispers in her ear after a few moments with a smile, and to her surprise, yelena sighs and sinks into her even more, gripping the back of her shirt between her fingers as she does.
“not bad at all. actually quite nice.” she grumbles. kate chuckles, and she goes to pull away, but yelena’s grip on her tightens slightly as if she wants her to stay just a little longer…
so she does, willing to give her as much time as she needs.
it's almost a full minute before yelena huffs against her.
“fine, you can come with me to rescue other widows.” she mumbles.
kate pulls back, looks at her in shock-
“I CAN?!” she exclaims. yelena winces and pushes her back lightly, reaching for the toast to take it out of the pan with a sigh.
“yes, but on one condition!” she demands, holding up the wooden spoon threatening.
“yeah, course, anything!” kate says quickly, her heart racing with excitement as yelena munches on the toast and looks at her with a raised eyebrow.
“you follow my lead for every mission we go on, and you stay safe here between missions.” kate blinks owlishly at that.
“uh…did you miss the part where i’m not exactly safe here? kingpin, remember?” she deadpans. yelena shrugs as she takes another bite of toast.
“clint’s right, he’ll stay hidden for now. besides, i don’t exactly have a permanent home to stay at, kate, i wouldn’t know where to take you other than wherever the missions take place.” she says with a sigh. kate looks at her in surprise.
“you don’t have a place to stay? or like...a base ops or something?" she asks. again, yelena shrugs.
“not really. our base ops in romania was taken over during the blip. i have friends in ohio, widows i saved many years ago, that’s where i go back to the most because fanny is with them, but other than that i move around a lot.” she says simply.
“fanny?” kate asks in confusion.
yelena’s grin is breathtaking.
“my dog. i don’t have a place and i didn’t want to move her around all the time, so she stays there. it sucks but it’ll have to do for now.” she finishes off her toast, and once again, kate’s speaking before she realizes the implications of what she's saying.
“stay here, then.”
it only smacks kate in the face about a second later what she’s said, and yelena’s staring at her like she’s just grown two heads.
“what?” she breathes.
kate licks her lips, hesitates, unsure of what to even say, but again, that damn impulse control is out of the window and the words are coming out before she can stop them.
“bring fanny here! this can be our base ops! fanny will have lucky to play with, herman who owns the pizza shop downstairs already looks after lucky when i’m gone, he wouldn’t mind looking after fanny, too. come stay here with me!” the more the words come out of her, the more she can’t believe she’s even saying them, but she doesn’t find herself wanting to take them back as yelena lets out a shaky breath.
“kate, that-it’s-.” she stutters.
“what?” kate interrupts, chewing on more bacon as yelena licks her lips from the crumbs of toast clinging to them and shakes her head.
“…why?” she whispers.
“why not?” kate asks. yelena chuckles despite her shock.
“but why?”
“why not?” kate says again. yelena sighs and shakes her head once again, staring at kate for a long time before she replies.
“i’m a black widow, kate bishop. i’m an assassin, i kill people for a living. i tried to kill the person you idolized just two months ago. why would you want me to stay here?” she croaks out. kate chews on her bacon, ponders what yelena’s just said before she nods and looks at the woman before her with as much sincerity in her eyes as possible.
“why did you come here last night when you were injured?” she asks. yelena’s eyes widen, but other than that, she doesn’t betray any emotions.
“…i didn’t want to go to the hospital and i needed help-.”
“and you came here for it because you trust me, right?” kate asks. yelena doesn’t say a word, and kate knows she’s got her.
her heart also kinda grows ten times in size at the idea that yelena trusts her, but whatever.
“i trust you, yelena. maybe it’s crazy and maybe i shouldn’t, but i do. you are a black widow assassin, which means at any point if you wanted to kill me, you could with a flick of your wrist, but you don’t, and instead, you worry about my safety and about me dying which means yeah, i can trust you and i do. so stay here with me. we can work right from here, go wherever we need to go and enjoy whatever downtime we get here. together.” yelena’s eyes soften, this smile beginning to light her face up that she quickly erases with a shake of her head.
“kate…this is crazy-.”
“it’s really not. you need my help and you’re my friend, so just stay here.” kate says with a shrug, chewing on more bacon from her nervousness as yelena swallows thickly and looks at her intensely, as if trying to pick apart if she’s being honest or not.
finally, after what feels like forever…
“i…need time to think about it. okay?” she says hoarsely. kate blinks once in surprise, but nods quickly.
“i…y-yeah, sure, course.” she says firmly, nodding despite the disappointment that yelena hasn't found this to be a fantastic solution to her problem as yelena suddenly clears her throat and takes another piece of toast, placing bacon in it and folding it in half.
“i’m just gonna eat this and go…i need to think about everything.” yelena murmurs, already reaching for her white widow suit and her vest and putting them into a duffel bag kate didn’t even realize she had on her.
kate is amazed at how quickly she moves, almost like she's desperate to get the hell out of here-
she probably is. nice job, bishop.
“oh, i…okay. yeah.” kate mumbles, leaning against the kitchen counter and trying her best to blink back the tears that rise in her eyes, avoiding watching as yelena packs her stuff.
she shouldn’t of said that, she shouldn’t of said that at all, now yelena’s probably gonna leave and not come back because kate can’t fucking stop herself from putting her foot in her mouth.
why would yelena want to stay here? why would she want to be anywhere near kate when she's the biggest fucking loser in new york city? dumb. dumb, dumb, stupid, dumb, idiot-
footsteps echo in front of her before she feels yelena’s fingers grip her wrist, pulling her up off from leaning on the counter until they’re standing face to face, and any other time, kate would find the fact that she’s a few inches taller than yelena a bit funny, but right now, it just makes her sad.
“i’ll message you…i promise.” yelena whispers, staring her straight in the eyes and leaving her fighting back a shiver as she bites down on her bottom lip and nods.
“okay. don’t take too long.” she whispers back. yelena smiles at that, squeezing her wrist comfortingly before she licks her lips.
“i’ll try not to.” and then…
she leans forward, kate’s breath hitching until yelena’s lips make contact with her cheek in a kiss that has kate’s stomach dropping to somewhere beneath her feet.
“stay out of trouble, okay, kate bishop?” yelena says into her ear in a way that has kate’s head dropping despite herself, her forehead almost making contact with yelena’s.
“i will. promise.” kate croaks out. yelena sighs against her before she’s pulling back, moving away from the archer and grabbing her bag to put on her shoulder.
“see you later, lucky.” yelena murmurs, leaning down to kiss lucky’s forehead and cup his chin in her hand as he whines and watches her walk to the front door.
kate tries her best not to cry, but it isn’t long after that before she’s curling up in her bed and crying herself to sleep.