Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Chapter 1

Kate Bishop walked past the Majestic Theater, a thick black plaid jacket hanging down to her ankles, her hair loose under a winter knit cap, and neck and face hidden behind a thick purple scarf to help stave off some of the cold. March this year had been abnormally cold for New York. Or that’s what people were saying, but Kate could recall the last five years of March being bitter cold until the last weekend of it when it finally started to mild itself out. It had been warmer in December than it was now!

Her eyes blinked slowly as she stood on the sidewalk, the cool night air blowing down the block making her wrap her jacket tighter around herself.

She supposed if she wasn’t building her own Avenger Initiative and had spent the last two Christmas’ with Clint Barton, she might have paid more attention to the whisperings of the tourists that were leaving the Rogers show. If she hadn’t worked with Clint Barton and had to take down her own mother two Christmas’ ago, wasn’t the new (and improved–sorry Clint) Hawkeye, if she hadn’t started her own Avengers Initiative, and if her bonafide best friend (sorry Peter) wasn’t a former Black Widow, she might have been more curious about seeing Rogers the Musical. Lord knows she had been when it first came out, but that had been then. 

Kate’s life was completely different than it had been two years ago. She supposed her life had been exciting–just–before she’d gotten involved in the adventure of a lifetime, she had destroyed the Stane clock and bell tower after all. That had been exciting and exhilarating at the time. She smiled at her own memories and how lackluster that excitement was to her now, how juvenile. 

It felt like that was a lifetime ago. 

One week had changed the course of her entire life and put her on the path that she had always wanted to be on: the one to becoming a hero. No super powers for her, but the mantle of being a hero, a heroine really, was hers. 

After the chips fell two years ago, in an effort to keep Bishop Securities from going under after her mother was arrested for murder and racketeering, and a half dozen other crimes that Kate didn’t feel like listing, Kate had become CEO. She finished her last semester of school by testing out and writing her thesis, so she graduated with an MBA—as she’d been in an accelerated Masters program from the time she started college, as well as a BA in computer science. 

Kate had been working at Bishop Securities, learning the ins and outs of every department since she was 16 and had been allowed to get a work pass from school. Before that she used to spend late nights there with her mom working on homework and even learning from some of the best computer scientists in the world. But officially, she’d worked there for seven years, working her way through and up the ladder at her family company, earning her role and the respect of the people she worked with. Now that she was CEO she didn’t have as many work friends, she was the big boss now after all, and people tended to shy away from making jokes with her about the latest British Bake Off episode. 

Kate, instead of sulking in her loneliness after much of the world turned away from her after her mother’s arrest, and she rose to the top of the corporate ladder, Kate decided to put her new role as CEO, and Clint’s blessing to take the mantle of Hawkeye, to good use. 

With her money and her skill, Kate Bishop became the next Tony Stark or Nick Fury—not that she could ever replace either man, or that she wanted to—no, what she wanted was to make sure the world still had a team of superheroes they could look to, to count on, to keep them safe. 

That desire led Kate to start the Young Avengers Initiative. 

Clint had taken offense to the name but Kate loved it, and teased him constantly over it. The grandpa that he was–not a real grandpa none of his kids were quite old enough to be having their own kids yet–but the old man jokes always landed well. At least in Kate’s mind, it didn’t matter if she was the only one that laughed at them during her phone or video calls with Clint. 

As it was Kate’s idea, and it was still just in its early phases, there were only a few members of the team, Kate was still recruiting–with Clint’s help–and their headquarters was Kate’s family penthouse. Currently there was Kate (codename: Hawkeye, LadyHawk), Peter Parker (codename: Spiderman), Jessica Jones (codename: Grumpy), and Cassie Lang (codename: Stature). 

Between working full time and using all her free time to set up funding for the Young Avengers, Kate was busy. But she still found time to have dinner once or twice a week with Jack Duquesne. Which had surprised her. But it was nice. He had turned out to be a good guy, someone who wanted to be kind to her just because he could be, and had taken her in as family even after all her mother had done. He was also glad to have a protege to pass down his skill set to.

WIth Jack and Clint training her, Kate had become a deft expert with a variety of weapons and hand to hand. It was also kind of cute that the two men tried to outdo each other, as if competing for the role of Kate’s “one true mentor” (*cough*Dad*cough*). Cassie and Peter loved the regaled stories that Kate told about the two, even her wayward best friend got a kick out of her tales too. 

Kate was making her way home from visiting Jack now, the winter night had been nice at first, but now she regretted not just grabbing an Uber home.

Kate wasn't  surprised to hear her phone buzz with an incoming call, expecting it to be someone from work or her ragtag group of heroes, but she was surprised when it wasn’t anyone she was expecting. 

Kate frowned, wanting to answer the call but she needed to catch that coming taxi before the tourists did. Decision was made, it was too cold to walk home, and the tourists could just get the next one. 

Kate slipped into the cab and texted a message saying she’d call back once she wasn’t in a compromised position–meaning when she got home. 

Kate’s smile formed unabiden across her face as she settled back into the comfortable black leather of the cab. She gave the address to a storefront a block up from her apartment. She didn’t often stay at the penthouse anymore, not since it became Avenger’s HQ. It was too crowded and Kate liked having a space that was just her own. Sure she could have gotten another apartment, but she liked her apartment. 

Kate’s mood picked up as she looked at her phone, no longer all that cold anymore. Whether it was the warmth from the cab or her caller, she didn’t think too hard about it. Staring at the name on the screen: 

Yelena Belova…
Kate sighed. 
It had been too long. 

Kate was happy that Yelena was calling. It had been almost three months since she’d last seen the blonde. There had been a mission that Yelena was on to free a hive of widows from the mind control they were still under. Someone had been manipulating all of the Widows to try and build a new Red Room. Yelena had warned Kate that it would take time and that she wouldn’t be reachable. It wasn’t as if Kate was unaccustomed to Yelena disappearing for long stretches of time. But it was different when Yelena didn’t reach out while on her missions. 

Kate’s phone memory was bursting from the amount of texting with Yelena alone. They always kept in touch. The longest they had gone without talking in the last two years–before this latest mission–had been a month. A long month. That one month had been hard!

Kate scoffed at the memory of thinking that the first four weeks of silence was hard. Hard , that Kate Bishop didn’t know the meaning of hard when it came to being separated from basic contact with Yelena. 

Three months…
12 long weeks
90 unending days
…was hard .  

Kate hoped that Yelena calling her meant that everything was okay, the mission a success, and Kate could stop worrying. Because, in all honestly, she had been worrying. 

A lot.  

Kate hadn’t–and wouldn’t–tell Yelena that. It wasn’t right for Kate to put any unneeded pressure on the former Widow. Not when this mission had been so important to Yelena. Kate wasn’t just worried, according to Peter was a wreck, Cassie thought she was bereft and Jessica, well Jessica just offered her a lot of alcohol when she would slip into “worry mode”. 

It was no secret, at least to those closest to Kate, that she cared for Yelena, far more than just the friend moniker covered. Yelena wasn’t interested in more than friendship. Kate was sure of that. Even if they hadn’t talked about it. Kate just…knew…Yelena liked her, dealt with her, but Yelena just wanted friendship. 

If that was all Yelena wanted then Kate was content to just be “gal pals” with Yelena. Though, she had done a spit take when Yelena called them “gal pals” five months ago during one of their last hangouts. It seemed the lesbian undertones were lost on Yelena when she’d said it. Making it all the more difficult for Kate to gain her breath back after spitting up her drink. 

“That is gross, Kate. So gross.” Yelena had admonished as she had to wipe herself clean from the water Kate had just spit all over her. 

The memory now filled Kate with soft warmth, a fond smile on her face as she watched the city slide by as the cab neared her apartment. There were so many memories Kate recalled fondly of the blonde assassin. Though, the ones that stuck out the most, were the ones where Kate had tried–and failed, rather miserably–to convince Yelena to join the Young Avengers. 

Yelena had scuffed at her, and turned her down. Multiple times. 

Kate ran her hand over the necklace she wore, idly rubbing the metal warm as she recalled how Yelena still called her by her full name. It was only when Yelena was truly frustrated or angry that Yelena called her by her first name. It was like the opposite of getting in trouble as a kid. Instead of a parent calling you by your full name to reprimand you, Yelena called Kate, just-Kate, when she was in trouble.  

“Why would I join when you have the spider boy? You must tell me though, why is he called spider boy? He does not have eight legs and hundred of eyes. Just because he can climb walls? That does not make him a spider. I climb walls too.” Yelena used the neck of her half empty beer bottle to point at Kate to make her point. 

Kate’s lips twitched with a smile as she drank from her own beer, “And you're named after a spider too, aren’t you?” 

Yelena blinked, opened her mouth to reply and then snapped it closed and glared, “That is not my point, Kate .” 

Kate swallowed at the singular use of her first name only, “Oh, it’s not?” She knew she was playing with fire. 

“No, Kate it is not. I do not go around calling myself Spider woman.” 

“Well, you shouldn’t. That names already taken.” 

“Kate…” The warning was plain and Kate’s grin only grew. Yelena puffed out an annoyed breath, “You are annoying.” 

“Yeah, but you love me.” Kate bumped her shoulder against Yelena’s, grinning brightly, seemingly uncaring that she was riling up a trained assassin. 

Yelena didn’t verbally answer, she just blushed and took another long draw from her beer. 

Kate leaned her forehead against the cool surface of the cab’s window as she recalled the second time she’d asked Yelena to join the Young Avengers. 

“No, Kate Bishop, for the last time I will not join your fan club.” 

Kate pointedly ignored Yelena calling it a fan club, “But why not?” 

“Because it is not cool.” 

“What does cool have to do with joining it?” 

Yelena continued undeterred by Kate’s question, “You think you so cool now, with your infant club.” 

Kate guffawed a laugh, “Infant?!” 

“You are all too green.” 

“Green!?” 

“Yes, babies. Keep up, Kate Bishop. You are all, the lot of you, too…” Yelena waved her hand around as if that explained what she could not get out. “The lot of you are infants. Except Jessica Jones. She is not an infant.” Kate took an immediate offense to the leer that covered Yelena’s face as she thought of Jessica Jones not being an infant. While she lumped Kate into the group that was infants. 

Kate straightened her shoulders and stood just a bit taller, a little teeny tiny bit insulted, “I can assure you I am not an infant!” 

Yelena snapped from her daydream about Jessica Jones, Kate bristling at just the thought of it, and the assassin quirked a curious brow. Her eyes took a long path up the length of Kate’s body, the way they darkened as they rose up from her hips, to her chest, had Kate feeling flushed.

“No.” Yelena licked her lips, still staring at Kate’s chest, “You are right, Kate Bishop, you are not an infant.” 

Kate recalled the heat of the blush that had stained her cheeks for hours–hours–after that conversation. And yet, Yelena had still said no. 

“I have too much work left to do. Too many Widows to save.” Yelena had finally explained. “I must finish what Natasha and I started. It has already taken too long.” 

Yelena had her own missions, and Kate respected that. “Let me help you.” 

Yelena stiffeend, “No.” 

“Come on, Yelena. If you won’t join my… cool club …then let me help you with your missions. I promise you I’m not as Green as you seem to think I am.” 

Yelena looked at Kate with an inscrutable look in her eyes, it was there like a raging fire and whatever that flame was feeding made the decisions for Yelena when it came to this. “No.” 

“Yelena, please, I just want to help you!” 

“Enough. No, Kate, no.” Yelena’s raised voice caught Kate off guard and stopped her short. 

“I…but…” 

Yelena growled her frustration and stood from her seat, where she’d been sitting next to Kate on the couch as they’d just settled in to watch a movie, popcorn in front of them on the coffee table, when Kate had started this conversation. “I will see you.” 

Kate’s eyes widened in horror at the idea of Yelena leaving, “What? No, please, I’m sorry. I won’t…I won’t help you. Don’t go, you only just got here!” Kate stood and followed the woman towards the door a few steps behind her. She didn’t reach out to stop her, only hoping her voice could convince her to stay. “Please, I haven’t seen you in so long. I promise, I won’t bring it up again. Just, stay.” Kate felt her heart cracking in her chest as it literally slammed roughly against her chest in it’s fury. 

Yelena looked at Kate’s pleading eyes and frowned, her resolve breaking. 

Kate seemed to notice the chink in Yelena’s armor and she took advantage of it, only feeling slightly bad about it, “You’re leaving soon. Just, we’ll start the movie. I won’t talk. You can even have the Buncha crunch all to yourself.” 

Yelena’s face remained stoic, hard, uncertain, but she wasn’t moving closer to the door or her coat, so Kate took it as a win. “I get all of the chocolate?” 

“Yes, all of it.” 

“And you will not talk incessantly during the movie?” Yelena ribbed, her lips twitching into a grin. 

“You know what…” Kate wanted to snip back at her talking being called incessant, but bit her tongue at the challenging glint in Yelena’s eyes. “Fine. Fine, I won’t talk.” Which was going to be hard, because she always talked during movies, and although Yelena pretended to hate it, Kate knew her secret–Yelena secretly loved her narrations, exclamations, and commands she would give the fictional characters on the screen. 

“You’re going to miss my comments. You know you are. They’ll be very missable.” 

Yelena moved back towards the couch and sat down, far more stiff than Kate liked. It had been almost two years since Yelena was this uncomfortable in her apartment, sitting on her couch. Kate sat right next to the assassin, their legs pressed intimately together, and she bumped her shoulder against Yelena’s. “Stop that.” 

“That wasn’t part of the deal. I can’t talk but you said nothing about bumping, touching, poking, or holding and hitting you.” Which she did a bit too often during their movie nights. Often grabbing Yelena’s arm and pulling it across herself when they were watching a suspenseful movie, or she poked the blonde during comedies to form a connection with her as they both laughed at the joke–or just Kate laughed at it and Kate was trying to kick-start Yelena’s laughter. Or how Kate bumped into Yelena when one of her many guesses or points was proven halfway or at the end of the movie. 

“You are…” There was a softness in Yelena's eyes as she looked at Kate, she couldn’t even bring herself to fake true indignation, and the sweetness of the stare made Kate’s chest flutter pleasantly. 

“I am?” Kate challenged as she popped a piece of popcorn into her mouth, chewing in an exaggerated manner to deliberately be annoying, and yet endearing. But something was off. 

Yelena frowned as she watched Kate, the frown caused Kate to still in her antics. “Yelena?” 

Yelena seemed to have trouble saying what it was she wanted to. She started and stopped twice before she sighed heavily and just sat back into the couch, “...annoying.” 

Kate fell back into the couch beside Yelena pouting, “You always say that.” 

“Perhaps because I am right.” Yelena pointed out as she took some of the popcorn, and came just that much closer to Kate, their sides pressed together. 

Kate rested her head on Yelena’s shoulder for a moment, “Nah, if I was that annoying you wouldn’t come back just to tell me I’m annoying.” 

Yelena smiled, but didn’t refute anything Kate was saying, “Hand over the chocolate.” 

“Ma’am, yes, ma’am.” Kate fake saluted, laughing at herself as she picked up the bag of sharable buncha crunch and gave it to Yelena, settling back so her head was resting on Yelena’s shoulder as she watched the movie. 

Halfway through the movie Yelena thrust the same bag towards Kate and shared with her. 

Kate wanted to help Yelena. But she also promised not to. It killed her to promise not to help Yelena on her mission, but Kate refused to accidentally put her friend in danger by getting involved without Yelena’s permission and guidance. The web that Yelena was trying to deravel was intricate in its complexity and any unexpected snag would not come from Kate. But three months, was too long. 

The anxious need to do more, to protect more people, to make a bigger difference, was what had spurred Kate on to start the Young Avengers Initiative. And so far, it was working. Even if Yelena Belova took immense pleasure in teasing her over it. 

The cab coming to a stop a block from her apartment pulled Kate from her memories. Peering at the clock of her phone, it had taken Kate longer to make it home than she would have liked, especially when she had work tomorrow morning, but she had a pop in her step. Excited to call Yelena back. 

As she unlocked her building’s front door–now with the use of a finger pad, key, and keycard reader–she’d made sure to update the security to top notch. It had made the tenants somewhat grumple about the multi-step identification to get into the building, but they were happier that it was safe, and Kate hadn’t increased the rent to cover it either. The doors were also no longer glass but solid and heavy. 

Kate’s brow knit together when she felt her phone buzz once in her pocket. She pulled it out to see she had a message from Yelena waiting for her when she got into the apartment. Strange, that call had been almost twenty minutes ago. Shrugging, thinking it just had to do with unreliable service, Kate continued up the stairs, two at a time. 

“Lucky, Lucky boy I’m home.” Kate called out into the apartment. She tossed her keys into a dish by the door and started unbuttoning her wool coat to hang it on the hook by the door. She toed off her boots and bent down to Lucky’s happy, slobbered greeting. Ruffling him behind the ears and bumping her head against his as he greeted her. 

The apartment was completely refurbished and remodeled. The glass that made up the one wall had been remodeled so the lower quadrant was now brick and wall and the glass that did remain was military grade bullet proof. The wall wasn’t all she’d remodeled in the last two years, she’d also upgraded what tech she had in the apartment. It looked more like a working vigilante owned it, rather than a college kid. 

“Let’s get you something to eat, huh boy? Are you hungry? Huh?” Kate asked the wiggling and wriggling golden retriever as he followed her into the kitchen. Once Kate had filled his bowl and he was happily munching at the food, Kate pulled out her phone and went to her blinking icon that said she had a waiting voicemail. “Guess who called, Lucky!” Kate waited, as if he would look up from his bowl and answer her, “Your aunt Yelena. She called, so maybe that means she’s in town and will be by soon. You’d like that wouldn’t you?” 

Kate hit play on the message as she parroted her conversation to Lucky. 

She was expecting a sing-song greeting of “Kate Bishop” to come through her speaker. Instead there was just this muffled sound of, movement? A rustling of some kind. It wasn’t loud. It was soft, so soft that Kate had to strain to hear it. 

Kate narrowed her eyes as she held her phone against her ear and walked around her apartment picking up a few things and organizing a bit of her mess. If Yelena was back in New York City then she needed to pick up. No telling when the assassin would stop by. 

Kate peered at the phone in her hand and waited for the screen to light up, noting that the message was actually 19 minutes and twenty seven seconds. But Yelena wasn’t talking. Had she been butt dialed? 

“Strange.” Kate muttered to herself as she put the phone down on the kitchen counter beside her sink and ran the water, putting the message still playing and counting down on speaker. She still just heard the rustling of fabric, nothing too noisy at all that she could hear. Just a short breathy release of air every few seconds. 

Kate sent a text message to Yelena, the message still playing in the background, “Think you butt-dialed me. Let me know if I can call.” Kate didn’t want to call Yelena if she wasn’t supposed to. The last thing she wanted to do was put Yelena in harm's way because she called at the wrong time. 

That thought put her on edge. Was there no real sound coming from the phone because Yelena had been trying to call her for help but hadn’t been able to ask for it before something happened? No, no, that couldn’t be it. If that were the case there would be the sound of a struggle on the other end of the phone. Noise louder and more disturbing than just the soft ruffling. 

Kate listened carefully to the sounds on the recording. The soft puffs of breath were a bit firmer than Kate was used to hearing when Yelena was asleep. When comfortable, Yelena had the sweetest little “puff” of air she released as she slept. But when she was exhausted Yelena could snore loud enough to wake the neighbors. 

Maybe Yelena was sleeping. 

Kate couldn't really decipher what kind of sleep Yelena might be having. After all, if she wasn’t in New York and was anywhere East of here, it was much later in the evening. If Yelena was having a nightmare she could have rolled over onto her phone and called her on accident. Maybe that was why the breathing was a bit more labored and heavy than Kate was used to hearing when the woman was sleeping, and the constant rustling of fabric could be the blonde twisting up in her bed. Kate frowned, not liking any of the images that filled her mind's eye at those thoughts. Not one bit. 

Kate was about to hang up and risk calling Yelena, because she was 85% sure that Yelena was in private, in her own bed, and almost 90% sure she was having a nightmare. And if Kate could save her from any kind of discomfort she was going to. Even if it was as silly as waking her from a nightmare. It wasn’t silly to Kate to protect Yelena whenever and however she could. 

“Ughhh…uh…mmmm…” 

Kate froze, her finger hovering over the pause button, her eyes widened to comical proportions at the sound suddenly coming from her cellphone’s small speakers. Yelena…oh, that was, oh god, that was Yelena’s voice. Not just her voice, it was just sounds, she was releasing the most arousing sounds Kate Bishop had ever heard in her life. Because how many times had Kate imagined hearing these sounds? How many times had her own fantasies at night, when she couldn’t help how fast her hand slid between her legs, been centered around being the cause of these sounds, of making Yelena moan, and oh, groan just as she was now, through this recording. 

How many times? Too many. Too many times. 

“Uhh…yesss…” 

How, oh how, could something with such small speakers release something so earth shattering into the air? Kate felt like her reality was shattering around her. This couldn’t be happening. Surely this was just a dream–a beautiful nightmare. 

Kate’s face flamed the brightest red it ever had in her life. Even worse than when she’d gotten sun poisoning after spending the week in Aruba with her girlfriends. 

“Da, imenno tak…(yes, just like that)...” 

Kate didn’t speak fluent Russian, but in the last two years she had made an effort to learn, a pretty big effort. She wasn’t a novice anymore but she wasn’t an expert either. She could hold a basic conversation with Yelena, but hearing Yelena moan a command like this to someone, someone that was touching her, and Kate, Kate was here in New York City listening as someone else touched her? Made her moan the things Kate had wanted to cause to leave the blonde’s lips. It was…it was too much!

Kate’s hand started to tremble as it remained above the cellphone that continued to release the sounds of…of…Yelena having sex with someone else. 

Kate was going to pass the fuck out. 

Air, what was air? How did one come about getting some air into their lungs? Really, Kate needed to breathe!

Breathe! Kate screamed mentally at herself. 

Kate sucked in a deep breath, the sudden sounds from the phone were louder, like Yelena had gotten closer to the phone. There was a new sound that Kate detected. It was the distinct creak of bed springs and a thump of a headboard or just the baseboard of a bed banging against a surface. 

“Pozhaluysta…(please)...Pozhaluysta…(please)...” 

Kate whimpered, the finger she’d had hovering over her phone came up and stuffed itself between her lips, her teeth sinking into her index finger as she stared murderously at the phone before her. 

She should turn it off. Yes, yes, she needed to turn the phone off. Right now. Right the fuck now!

This wasn’t right. She shouldn’t be standing here listening as Yelena was fucked well enough to cause the normally stoic woman to make such desperate pleas. 

It wasn’t right for Kate to be hearing these things. This was an intimate moment between Yelena and whoever she had allowed into her bed. This wasn’t for Kate to hear. Yelena had made her choice and her bedmate wasn’t Kate, so what right did Kate have to stand here and listen to her mewling like a cat in heat? 

Kate felt tears prick at the back of her eyes, none. She had no right. 

Kate’s breath stuttered as it left her lungs, her hand moving towards the phone. She picked it up with shaking fingers, using the back of her other hand to wipe away the tears that fell on their own accord. 

“Kate…” 

Kate’s breath got lost somewhere between her lips and her lungs, sticking there like gum might on hot metal during an Indian summer. Kate’s whole body broke out in goosebumps.

Kate dropped her eyes, vision blurry, to the phone in her hands.  

“Yes…Kate, uhh…pozhaluysta…please. Please… ” 

Kate dropped the phone. Her fingers just couldn’t hold it anymore. It bounced on the counter before plopping on it’s back, somehow, somehow the message continued to play. 

There had to be an explanation for this. Surely? Yelena…took a lover named Kate? Well, that thought was horribly devastating. Yelena would sleep with another woman named Kate, but she wouldn’t sleep with her . 

Why? 
What was wrong with her? 
Why wouldn’t Yelena want to sleep with her? 

Kate’s frown deepened as she thought about the questions she was busy asking herself.  

“Bishmmm….”  

Kate’s eyes narrowed at the phone and it’s tiny speakers with the–louder than it should be– sound. 

What was that last moan? Kate wanted to shake the phone to make it repeat that sound. Instead all it was doing was making Kate’s insides melt to a quicksilver of…of what?

Was it anger? Yes. Kate was still angry that Yelena would sleep with another woman named Kate, but wouldn’t sleep with her. What did this other Kate have that she didn’t? Why would Yelena want them, but not her? 

Was the feeling swirling around in her gut arousal? Yes, of course it was! Kate had been imagining what Yelena Belova would sound like in the throes of passion for two years. There was no way that the molten heat in her belly and spreading through her very blood wasn’t arousal. 

But as hot as it was, there was still a coolness to it, something that kept it moving, but not rushing or gushing over its predetermined banks. No, there was a chill in it, and that feeling Kate knew. It was heartbreak. The coldness that kept the other two at bay, controlled and corralled them both. 

Why wasn’t she good enough? 

“Ohhhh…Kah-Kate Bishop-p…” Yelena’s voice sounded through the room, followed by another obscene moan, and a gruff puff of laughter, “Mhm…I have missed you.” 

Kate’s knees wobbled and she lost the ability to stand. The only thing that kept her from hurting herself was her arms reaching out and grabbing onto the counter in front of her, which slowed her decent, so the ringing shot of pain up her legs from where her knees connected with the floor was minimized. 

“What…the…fuck…” Kate gasped the words, choking on them as her head felt heavy and it was a struggle to lift it, and herself up from her kneeling position before the phone that continued to release sounds, gloriously beautiful and sinful sounds. 

Yelena wasn’t with a lover. Unless there was another woman named Kate Bishop, and gods, Kate really hoped there wasn’t. 

But that would…
…wait…
…that would mean…

“Oh god…” Kate’s head dropped low against her sternum, her arms shaking as she was in an  in-between position, somewhere between kneeling on the floor and trying to lift herself back up to her feet. “...oh…my… god …” Kate’s face turned a deep scarlet red. She bit down on her bottom lip so hard she was sure it was going to be bleeding. The shaking that started in her arms spread until she felt like her entire body was shaking, like she was being tazed and the electric current was searching for a way out and couldn’t find one so it just looped back around and began the trembling cycle all over again. 

Yelena Belova was touching herself thinking about her. Her! Kate Bishop. Yelena was calling out for her! 

“Oh…” The resulting feeling of being nauseated while highly aroused was far more uncomfortable than Kate wanted to admit. The arousal was winning out though, easily the winner in the second round, knocking out the nausea as what was happening truly settled over Kate. 

Yelena Belova was masturbating to the thought of her. 
Yelena Belova was touching her own body, imagining that it was Kate touching her. 
Yelena Belova was god knows where picturing Kate vividly enough to call out her name, plead for her, lament how much she had missed her. 

Like…like Yelena did this more than this one time. Right? Right!? 

To be missed, it had to have been a significant amount of time since Yelena had seen Kate and this was true, Kate hadn’t seen her now in three months but was this wishful thinking on her part? Was she hoping that Yelena imagined her when touching herself more than just this once? 

Yes!
Yes, that shouldn’t even be a question of course she wanted that to be the case. Of course! 
And yet…what, what did that mean? What…

“Kay-Kate…ne ostanavlivaysya…(don’t stop).” 

“For the…nnnggg…” Kate bit into the knuckle of her index finger, hard, hard enough to leave marks, the noise she made was loud enough to obscure whatever sound the speakers were releasing into the air. 

I need to turn this off. Kate thought desperately, her legs literally feeling like jello and all of her muscles like wet cooked pasta as she tried, valiantly tried, to stand up so she could turn off this message. This was too much. It had always been too much. But now? Now it was even more than too much! 

“Yeah…nope.” Kate admitted defeat, as she fell to the floor she swiped her phone off the counter and hard right into her sternum before she and the phone, fell unceremoniously to the wooden floors. “Uhh…I…” She knew she should turn off the phone, she knew she should turn it off, stop listening, this was crossing so many boundaries, so many, but she couldn’t help it. The muffled moans that were coming from the phone were making her entire body tingle, she felt like she was going into shock almost, yet it felt good. So…

“...good. Yes, so good. Such a good girl.” 

Kate growled loudly, almost sounding like she was a dying animal as she banged her head against the cabinet doors behind her. Whining, Kate pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her, the phone nestled in the crux of her joined legs. 

She needed to turn this off. She knew that. She truly did. But how? How could she do that? Her own mind was reeling, beginning to imagine what it was that Yelena thought she–the imaginary Kate Bishop–was doing. What would Yelena want her to do? What did that Kate Bishop do to be praised, and called a…Kate shivered…a good girl .

Kate’s whine turned to a moan as she thought of it, thought of how it would feel to touch Yelena, to make her moan like this. And who knew!? Who knew that Yelena was such a vocal lover? Kate hadn’t. When Kate had fantasized about touching Yelena, it had always taken a lot of work and a lot of personal knowledge of the blonde’s body to make Yelena utter a single sound. Yet here Kate was, listening–god she REALLY should not still be listening–to Yelena moan her pleasure and encouragement, gasp and groan her pleadings for Imaginary!Kate to not stop, to touch her…just like that. 

“Ughhhh…” Kate sobbed. 

Too much. This was all too much. 

Kate felt tears prick at her eyes, her frustration mounting as she tried to squeeze her legs together. It felt wrong, so wrong to be as wet as she was. This wasn’t, this wasn’t right. Yelena didn’t know she had called Kate, she didn’t know that she left this voice mail, she didn’t…

But wait…
Kate lifted her head, eyes wide, trying desperately to ignore the sound of a rocking body against a mattress with a creaky spring. 
What if Yelena did know. What if Yelena had called Kate on purpose. What if Yelena left this voicemail knowingly? What if…

“Yes, close, Kate. Yes…so close. So…” 

Kate’s eyes widened in alarm as she stared down into her lap, watching the second tick by on the playing message, how close the marker was to the end of the recording, there was only…three or two minutes left and that…that SOUND …the frenzied euphoric chant of breathy moans and raspy thrilling grunts of…of… bliss .

Kate’s whole body tensed, that building panic in her body wasn’t panic, no, with the way her body quivered in an almost empathic response to Yelena’s orgasm…oh no. That hadn’t been panic building in her making her cry, it had been pleasure. Pleasure that she was ashamed of to her core and yet, the message continued to play as she sat huddled in her kitchen, not even having touched herself at all to reach her own–unsatisfying, so so unsatisfying–peak. 

“Mmmm…Kate…Kate…” The soft way Yelena said her name, really did make Kate cry as she dropped her forehead onto her knees, the wrap she had on her legs tightening. It was so soft, so gentle, so sweet, so…

“Kate!?” Kate’s eyes snapped open at the sudden edge of panic in Yelena’s voice. “O net, net. Net, etogo ne mozhet byt'. Net. Kate!? Net! Eto ... ebat' (no, no, this cannot be happening, no. No. Kate?! No. This…Fuck!)”  

Oh, Kate heard a lot of no’s being repeated over and over again and yes, that was the word fuck thrown in there for good measure. Yelena’s voice came in clearer, like she finally picked up the phone and was speaking directly into it rather than having it lay beside her. Kate supposed this reaction removed the remote possibility that Yelena had left this message for her on purpose. Which only made her feel dirtier. “Ebat, (fuck) Ebat, Kate, are you, Kate are you there?”  

Yes, Yes, she was here. She was here. Listening to this message. But she was listening to the message after the fact. She hadn’t been there to answer Yelena, not when she really asked the question, so Kate kept herself silent. 

“Ebat! (fuck!) ” Yelena cursed one last time before the message ended. 

Fuck indeed. Kate thought bitterly, staring at her phone as if the inanimate object could tell her what she was supposed to do now. 

What the fuck was she supposed to do NOW?

Kate looked down at the quiet unmoving and unresponsive voice mail on her phone and shook her head. It had finished playing it’s incredibly sexy and inappropriate message, a message that upended Kate’s whole world. 

What was she supposed to do now!?  

Kate felt Lucky nudge her from the side, the golden retriever whining at her, concerned. She turned to look at the one eyed pup and felt her heart melt in her chest as he used his long tongue to lick at the tears on her cheek. “You just like the salt.” Kate accused him, but her words didn’t deter him from making sure every bit of proof she’d had any tears fall were gone. “I’m okay. I promise, Luck. I’m okay…thank you. Thank you.” 

“You’re a good dog.” Kate praised the pup as she brought both hands up to fluff up his ears and scratch around his head when he finally stopped licking her. “But now I really need to shower.” Covered in dog saliva, the beginnings of a cold sweat, and an embarrassing slickness between her legs, a shower was definitely what she needed. 

Kate brought her phone with her into the bathroom, grabbed her robe, and a portable bluetooth speaker. She could use a nice long hot shower, those always helped her think and relax. She also had a detachable showerhead that could also be of some assistance if she found the need for it. And right now, with how weak her legs felt, she wasn’t sure it was a safe idea. Another time, yeah…yeah, another time.