Chapter Text
Little Things
Monthiversary
June 2026 - One Month After The Ball
The final piece of tape went onto the package smoothly, and she let out a relieved exhale.
Wrapping presents was one of the things she could add to the long list of mundane tasks that she had very little experience with.
But, the box looked good in its shiny black and purple paper with a bow perched jauntily on top. Yelena set the package on the kitchen island and took a step back to admire the aesthetic.
Along with the carefully wrapped box, there was a bottle of champagne chilling in a bucket, and the table was set for a romantic dinner with candles and a vase of lush flowers.
She walked over to the table to light the candles and glared at her hand when she noticed that it was shaking.
In the weeks since she and Kate had started dating, she’d been realizing that the other woman made her have all kinds of uncomfortable, fluttery feelings in her body.
In some ways, it was maddening. She prided herself on her self control, and yet sometimes one look from Kate (her girlfriend) made her feel like she was recovering from a sucker punch to the solar plexus.
Perhaps she had done some secret searches on the Google to make sure she was not suffering from a mysterious illness.
The search results all came back with the same answer: Love.
Neither of them had said that word to each other yet, though to be fair, Kate had nearly slipped a few times and barely caught herself, which Yelena had pretended not to notice.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to say those words, or to hear them, especially from Kate.
But there were so few people in her life that she’d said them to and meant it, that they felt special, and weighty.
Kate was worth it though. She was messy, overconfident, easily distracted, and when left to her own devices had the most appalling eating habits. But she was also loyal, driven, and generous. A chaotic force of nature with a heart of gold.
They worked well together as a team, balancing each other out in sometimes surprising ways.
Yelena smiled, realizing that yet again she had lost track of what she was doing while daydreaming about Kate Bishop.
Apparently, this was another symptom of love.
She clapped her hands together once to refocus her own attention. She still needed to finish food prep before Kate got home from work.
By the time Kate breezed through the door with Lucky, already talking a mile a minute, Yelena had the food ready and waiting and had taken the time to fix her hair so it fell in alluring golden waves.
As she noticed the candles flickering on the table, Kate abruptly stopped moving and speaking.
Lucky gave her a confused look before trotting over to his food bowl.
When the brunette had apparently taken in the scene to her satisfaction, she turned to Yelena, eyes soft.
“What’s all this?”
The blonde cursed the nervous flutter in her stomach and replied, “I wanted to celebrate.”
Kate came closer and took one of Yelena’s hands, gently lacing their fingers together.
“Oh yeah? Any particular occasion?”
“It is our one month anniversary.”
This close, Yelena could see how Kate’s eyes brightened at this, and the expression on her face shifted into a surprised happiness.
Watching Kate react to the world around her was one of Yelena’s favorite things.
Then, the brunette looked slightly puzzled.
“Wait, is it our monthiversary?”
This distracted Yelena as she rolled that word around in her mind and then on her tongue, pronouncing it carefully.
“Monthiversary.”
As she did that, Kate was doing the calculations in her head.
Having completed them, she blurted out, “Wait. Are you counting our anniversary date as the first time we had sex?”
Yelena looked into Kate’s vivid eyes and then dropped her gaze and grumbled, hoping that the heat she could feel in her cheeks was not visible.
“When would you have me count from?”
“Maybe the day I officially asked you to be my girlfriend?”
“Oh, you mean a few days after The Ball when we were walking in the park and you muttered something I could not hear? And then when I asked you to repeat it, you shouted so loud that the man in front of us dropped his hot dog on the ground?”
Kate did look slightly embarrassed at this recollection, but quickly recovered.
“Well, you said yes and Lucky got a surprise treat, so I’d call that a win/win.”
Yelena rolled her eyes, and tried to get the conversation back on track even though she now felt nervous about this confession.
“That date is special to me because that is the first time I ever had sex with someone who…”
She stopped abruptly, realizing that she was not following the script for the romantic moment she’d planned.
Of course, Kate was not going to let that go.
A hesitant smile was blooming on the brunette’s face as she stepped closer and asked, “Someone who?”
Though her posture was as stiff as if she was anticipating a blow, Yelena tried to consciously soften her voice as she said, “Someone who I love.”
Kate grinned like an absolute fool and started rambling, words spilling out almost too quickly to follow.
“I’m so glad to hear you say that. I’ve been having such strong feelings about you and I didn’t know if you felt the same, and I wanted to say something…I really, really did. But I was worried it was too much or too fast, and I know you haven’t been in a relationship before so….”.
“Kate Bishop.”
“Yeah, baby?”
Hearing that word still caught Yelena off guard, and she flushed and lost her train of thought.
As they stared at each other, Kate’s smile softened into something so tender that it gave Yelena a pain in her chest.
And when she spoke, that tenderness was apparent in her tone, which was soft and earnest as she said, “I love you too.”