Work Text:
Yelena sprinted through the hallway firing shot after shot at the glass window in front of her.
Never a dull day.
Bang
Bang
Bang
Usually she would take the front door.. but she was what Kate called taking care of business… and her business wasn’t exactly walking her out and insisting she come again soon.
In fact, she was currently being chased by about fifteen Slavic men in truly unflattering matching tracksuits, screaming BRO in some context or another about every five seconds. Боже how did her life end up like this ??
One minute she was putting down mafia leaders and toppling regimes and now?
Yelena spun around and shot a grappling hook into the concrete window sill.
“пока-пока, bro,” she smirked and threw her back into the panes and down, laughing as the tracksuits realized they couldn’t follow.
Now she was having the absolute time of her life.
As she fell floor by floor, Yelena was praying that Kate Bishop had completed her one task and secured a getaway vehicle. She would kill Kate if there was a repeat of last time. Last time Yelena had been made to wait, unamused, sitting on the curb for twenty minutes. Later she had found out that Kate had encountered some stray kittens in the back alley and was “distracted”. She usually loved the girl’s big heart, but that day was so annoying. Plus, dropping off the kittens at the humane society whilst in her tactical suit was.. awkward to say the least.
“Caw Caw!”
A throat cleared loudly while Yelena unhooked herself from the grapple line. She refused to respond to who she knew was right behind her.
“Ahem, Uber here for one Yelena Belova?”
Yelena rolled her eyes but a grin threatened to pull at her lips at the sound of Kate attempting to lower her voice a few decibels. She turned around to… a taxi cab. Kate was sitting in the drivers seat of a full on yellow New York taxi cab.
“Kate Bishop, you had one job! Find a nondescript getaway vehicle. What about this is subtle? Nothing, that’s what,” Yelena ranted as she tossed her gear in the back seat.
“Hey, it’s really hard to find a hot-wire-able car nowadays! They’re all basically fancy computers or whatever,” Kate defended her choice, kicking open the passenger door for Yelena.
“These all sound like excuses to me,” the assassin quipped, sliding into the open spot. “It fails me how you can complicate the most simple of missions, Kate Bishop.”
Then,
“But I suppose this is a win, considering there are no stray animals in the back.”
Kate was suspiciously quiet at that, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel and focusing intensely on pulling out into the road. Which was probably a good idea since the tracksuits were likely on their final flights of stairs towards the bottom floor. They had the foresight to disable the elevators.
That didn’t defer Yelena’s train of thought though.
Yelena squinted her eyes and hummed, “…right?”
She couldn’t hear any noises coming from the back of the car or see any tiny animals… Her death glare intensified.
A tiny bark came from the general direction of one nervously shifting archer who still refused to make eye contact. That’s when Yelena noticed a small lump under Kate’s sweater.
“Kate Bishop do not make me ask again.”
“ Therewasatinytlittlepuppyandijustcouldntleavehimimsosorry,” Kate spoke a mile a minute, using one hand to lift the hoodie enough to reveal a truly tiny little puppy. Yelena groaned and buried her head in her hands yelling something in Russian.
“How did this happen not once, but twice?!”
“I was looking for a car, right? And then I heard a small cry from the dumpster. My inner voice said kate, someone awful did something awful . And you know me, I can’t ignore an animal in distress—“
“You’re about to be an animal in distress.”
“—I’m going to ignore that very rude comment and continue my story—“ Kate signals left as she turns sharply to the right, the smell of burnt rubber permeating the air. “And what did I find when I opened the dumpster?! This tiny dude. Nothing belongs in the trash like that.”
“I could think of someone.”
“Yelena,” Kate glared, whipping the car to the right (while.. you guessed it.. signalling left. Yelena had no idea who gave this girl a fucking license)
“ I suppose this means we have to make a pit stop at the shelter?”
“……yeah.”
“ You owe me Kate Bishop.”
“……yeah.” Kate sighed.
“I’m changing my outfit before I go in this time. Last time one of the male volunteers implied as I was handing the kittens in that I was doing some kind of ‘cat woman’ cosplay. What even is that? You Americans are so weird,” Yelena reached into the bag she had tossed in the back and grabbed a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. “At least your suit can pass as work out clothes without the arrows.”
“It was kind of funny,” Kate mumbled, using her one free hand to stroke the puppy snoozing on her lap. “I told you I can have a suit made for you. Branding, Yelena, it’s all about branding.”
Yelena started unzipping her suit and snorted, “And what would you brand me, Kate Bishop.. murder? espionage?”
“I was going to say new beginnings with a side of functional pockets, but yeah murder could be a vibe too.”
Yelena did laugh at that one, slipping deftly out of the practically clinging fabric.
The car jerked harshly to the left, causing Yelena to smack her head against the window.
“Eyes on the road, Kate!”
She yelled out a flustered “oh my god, sorry!” And clung onto the wheel, knuckles white and eyes wide ahead in focus. Yelena smirked at the way a burning blush clung to Kate’s cheeks and drifted lower into the neckline of her suit.
“Remember, we have precious cargo, малышка,” Yelena quirked her eyebrow, enjoying the way it seemed to effect her friend even more.
This was a line that they had been toeing very carefully the last few months, something hot and heavy between friendship and more. To be honest, Yelena was pretty sure Kate was getting so close to the line that if she leaned over a tiny bit more she would tumble on top of her.
The only problem that she had, is that it was taking Kate forever to make a move. And she would do it herself, but part of her wanted to be sure that her friend had the same feelings.
So she waited and waited in baited breath for absolutely nothing to happen.
So fine, shoot her, maybe she was playing this up a little to get Kate riled up. A little push was not against the rules. A subtle bite of her lower lip while she tied her hair back, exposing bare collar bones and the sloping valley of her breasts. A slow push off the seat to slip one foot after the other into the skin tight jeans and a shimmy of her nearly bare hips.
She glanced up just in time to see a very fast approaching intersection.. that Kate was very clearly not paying attention to.
“Hey Kate?”
“Hmm? Yeah?” Kate blinked, somehow clutching the steering wheel even tighter.
“There’s a red light right there.”
“What? Oh Fuck!”
She slammed on the breaks, and Yelena laughed, head falling back against the seat.
“It’s not funny you know. I’m trying to drive and you’re distracting me,” Kate muttered, tucking the frazzled puppy against her sweater.
“Kate Bishop, I am doing no such thing. It’s not my fault if you’re a bad driver,” Yelena quipped, buttoning the jeans and smiling inwardly at the way they clung to every curve. Only a few more plays and she was sure Kate would have to have some kind of response. “It’s green now.”
“I know that!”
“Sure, the man honking behind us was a clear indication.”
Before Yelena could start to slip the t shirt on, the car was being swung to the side and to a stop. At least Kate’s driving was on brand for New York taxis.
“Why did we stop?” Yelena frowned, not sure what to make of Kate’s heavy breaths and dark eyes.
“For this—“ and then oh . Kate was kissing her. Like really kissing her, pulling her tight in all the right ways and sending Yelena into the fastest check mate she’d ever experienced. Her hands were entangled in her hair and her tongue was begging for entrance and honestly thoughts were objectively really hard to form right now.
It was only when an indignant yip sounded between them that they broke apart for air, Yelena laughing softly at the wriggling puppy.
“I’m really glad you finally worked up the nerve to do that, Kate Bishop,” she laughed, enjoying the way she could still taste the archer on her tongue.
“I’m sorry, what?! You’ve known this whole time?!” Kate yelled, covering the puppy’s ears with her hands. Yelena couldn’t decide what was more comical.
“I am much too talented not to notice you practically undressing me with your eyes.”
“One, you undressed yourself thank you very much. Two… I can’t think of anything else right now.”
“Because of the undressing part?” Yelena bit back a smile.
“…Yeah,” Kate sighed and pulled back out onto the road.
The silence only lasted a few seconds.
“Should we talk about what just happened?”
“Kate Bishop, keep driving. The faster we drop our passenger off, the faster we can get home and talk about it.”
If Yelena noticed the taxi cab travelling well over the speed limit the entire rest of the way to the shelter? She didn’t say anything at all. Not a single thing.
Check. Mate.
——
Yelena swung the door open to the shelter and flinched at the harsh bell that signalled their arrival. Why it was necessary was beyond her. The desk was literally right in the main entrance.
But Kate Bishop just skipped right up to the employees, holding out her newest rescue with pride.
The man behind the desk, who was seriously closer in age to a boy smiled wide.
“Hey! It’s Kate and her Catwoman friend!”
Kate absolutely grinned at that.
Yelena was never going on another mission with her again.