Back to the merriment of gays drinking ungodly amounts of vodka :))) or that's what we think...

Content warnings: alcohol, assault, someone getting beat up, men being horrible, depression, trauma, PTSD, abuse, talk of self harm, talk of suicide, talk of S/A

(This chapter is heavy, please remember there are always people somewhere who love you and want to help)

Kate and Yelena consume nearly two bottles of vodka (Yelena drinks the bulk of it) and who-knows-how-many servings of the bacon mac n cheese they serve at the bar before calling it a night, and Kate's legs ache from dancing with her friend. She slings an arm over the assassin's shoulder and leans into her warmth as they push through the doors and out into the chill of the night, barely keeping herself from nuzzling into her hair.

Kate had always been an affectionate drunk, and she's feeling the effects of the liquor in full force as her heart practically begs to cuddle Yelena until neither of them can breathe. Yelena seems to have already picked up on this, as she snakes her own arm around the archer's waist and holds her tight as they walk.

"Thank you, Yelena," Kate mutters happily, laying her cheek on top of her head, still tall enough despite the blonde's heels.

Yelena squeezes her hip in response and gives a non-committal hum, red lips smiling.

They amble along, soaking in the other's warmth, but, of course, as it had gone the entire night, the peace is fleeting. A body slams into the two of them from behind.

Yelena's body kicks into overdrive immediately; she wraps her arms around Kate while simultaneously twisting around so her back hits the pavement and kicks out with her feet, making contact with the attacker. There's no cry of genuine pain from Kate, so she ignores the burn in her spine from tumbling across the cement and shoots up in an instant once the archer is safely out of her arms, leaping to tackle whoever had jumped them.

She's not even surprised to see Connor, the man who had been bothering them just a few short hours ago, and she doesn't hesitate before kicking him in the groin and bringing her knee up to slam against his head when he doubles over with a groan. He drops immediately, and Yelena has his face pressed into the pavement in less than a second, his arms twisted painfully behind his back and legs pinned down under her knees. A full crack echoed from his shin.

"That was the stupidest shit you could have pulled tonight, ублюдок," Yelena hissed, her grip tightening on his wrists to strain his bones as he cried out. "Men like you never take a hint. You have the law on your ass and you still think you can get away with taking whatever you want from women just because you're a white male."

She grinds his cheek into the asphalt harder, eyes glinting wickedly at the pained noises he lets out, and lowers her mouth to his ear. "You're lucky my Kate Bishop is here, because her presence is saving your worthless carcass from rotting in a dumpster where the rats can feed on you." She leans away and drives her elbow down into his temple, and Connor is unconscious just like that.

Yelena stares down at him, body hot and seething, wishing she had those skates from earlier so she truly could gut him with them. She grits her teeth and sucks in deep breaths, chest heaving. "You prick."

And then she remembers Kate.

"Kate Bishop," she gasps, scrambling over to the archer, who is sitting up and gaping, chest rattling with shallow breaths, cheek smeared with blood from a cut under her eye. Otherwise, she appears relatively unharmed, but Yelena fusses over her, scanning every inch and prodding her limbs to make sure no bones are broken. Kate shakes her head when she asks if there's any pain besides her face, and only once she's completely sure her companion is safe does Yelena release her breath.

She scoops Kate to her feet and pulls her arm over her shoulder, carrying the archer with her in a hurried stride back to the apartment.

————

Yelena is absolutely flabbergasted by how calm Kate is. She has virtually none of the details about the day, but clearly Kate Bishop had been through the ringer. Whatever had her in such a funk this morning seemed like a lifetime ago now, but once they reached the safety of Kate's apartment, Yelena figured the archer would completely crumble. She did no such thing.

"Kate Bishop...?" she said quietly, closing the door behind her as Kate quickly discarded her shoes and flannel and headed for her couch. Lucky barked and jumped around joyously, his tail a golden blur as he hopped up into Kate's lap once she had sat down. Yelena followed suit, putting her platforms and coat into her closet/clothing stash, walking slowly to stand behind the couch. "Kate Bishop," the assassin tried again, dropping the questioning tone.

Kate turned her head to look at her, a smile plastered on her face. "Want to watch something with me?"

Yelena felt something twist deep in her stomach at the haunted shadow in Kate's eyes, and decided she would not press. Maybe Kate would come to her when she was ready. If she could ever trust Yelena like that.

She found herself hoping for such a thing.

"Sure." She grabbed her first-aid kit and sat next to Kate while the archer browsed her streaming services mindlessly, and Yelena unpacked the supplies before reaching hesitantly to touch Kate's chin. She jolted and leaned away, then seemed to realize what Yelena was trying to do and straightened back up.

"Thank you," Kate muttered, tv remote forgotten in her hand, eyes on Yelena as the assassin got to work. She quickly cleaned the blood from her cheek and disinfected the small cut, placing a small butterfly bandage over it. Her fingertips lingered, thumb trailing over her ear and down her cheek to her jaw, Yelena's eyes hooded and scanning over Kate's face for anything else that might need her attention.

Kate stared shamelessly, the shock of the night completely diffusing any shyness she might've normally had. The glow of the tv turned her blue eyes into a flinty silver, and Yelena traced her pinky under the cut gently, heat blazing up through her hand and along Kate's skin.

"What do you want to watch?" Yelena asks softly, slowly dropping her hand away from the other woman's face. Kate's fingers twitch as if she wants to grab it, to keep the skin-on skin contact, but she doesn't move.

Kate swallows thickly and shifts around, grabbing the remote again. "Queen's Gambit is pretty good." She presses play and they watch for a little while, and Yelena feels herself actually getting into the story when Kate suddenly starts talking.

"That was my ex," she whispers, barely audible over the noise of the show. Yelena immediately tunes into her, but she keeps her eyes on the screen, silently willing Kate to keep going. "We were together for about five months. It was a couple years ago, in the middle of the blip. I was 19 and starting my first year of college. Everything was-" Kate stopped, her lips pinched as she took a deep breath. "Everything was... really crazy. My mom dived into her business head first to avoid the grief of the people she lost and I was alone a lot of the time, so I moved out and was dorming with some friends on campus. My meds weren't really working and the only therapists we ever considered were all dusted.

"He and I had calculus together and he asked me out after class one day, and I didn't stop to think about it before I said yes because he was one of the only guys I knew who seemed to care about school."

Kate's voice cut off, her eyes glassy and glued to the screen but clearly unfocused. Yelena dared a glance at her, keeping herself from physically reaching out.

"He was the perfect boyfriend, at first," Kate started again, a husk in her throat. "He got along with my mom, he planned dates, he tried out things I was interested in, he respected my boundaries, he actually listened." A moment. "But halfway through he started getting angry. Really angry, all the time. Both of his parents were in prison before the blip, and they were both dusted, too. He didn't have anybody but me. So when he started to- when he started to yell, and to lie, and to back out on plans we'd had for weeks, I just tried to be there for him. I just tried to love him."

Yelena's hand slipped over to settle on Kate's thigh.

"He started to threaten me about a lot of things. That he would cheat on me if I didn't do certain things, that he would kill himself if I didn't sleep with him. I got scared to leave him alone, so I moved in with him even though that just made it easier for him to take things out on me. I stopped talking to my friends and my grades started to drop and everything was getting really bad." Kate stopped and sucked in a big gulp of air, her hand clasping Yelena's on her thigh. The show played absently.

"One night, I tried to tell him that I was scared I might hurt myself," she whispered, "and he lost it. He started yelling about how crazy I was, that I was insane and selfish, and when I tried to get away, he grabbed my wrists and started dragging me to the roof of his apartment. He said that if I wanted to kill myself, we were both better off just dying together, right then and there."

Kate went silent, her words impossibly heavy in the air. She stared ahead blankly at the tv, but Yelena could only look at her with wide eyes.

"How did you get away from him, Kate Bishop?" Yelena dared to whisper, her thumb rubbing slow circles.

"I fought him. I panicked and bit his arm and flipped him over my shoulder into the wall, and I ran. He chased me to the police station, but the bruises on my wrists matched his hands, so they believed every word I said. And I had money." Kate let out a humorless laugh. "I got lucky."

Yelena Belova had quite literally been through hell and back. She had been stolen away from her life, broken and trained to be a killer. There was so much blood on her hands that when Natasha died, sometimes all she could see at night was red. Her soul was tarnished and blackened and so irrevocably gone that she didn't even dare to consider salvation. But now, she could only stare at this woman across from her with a slack jaw and eyes threatening to spill tears. Kate Bishop sat there with her on that ratty couch and spilled herself out for Yelena, and Yelena had not done a single thing to deserve it.

Yelena was broken, but she looked at Kate and saw someone who needed love. Yelena was unloveable, but she thought maybe she could try to be what Kate Bishop needed.

Should she care about the strange circumstances that had led them here? Probably. But did either of them care? No.

"It was a long time ago," Kate whispered, a muscle in her neck feathering as she grit her teeth and screwed her eyes shut. "Sorry."

"Kate Bishop." Yelena grabbed the tv remote and turned the screen off, plunging the two of them into a numbing, silent darkness. With the quiet ringing in her ears and the shadows pressing against her eyes, Yelena brought her hand up to cup the back of Kate's head. "You just told me something very dark. Something you probably have not told anyone else. I will not stand for an apology." The assassin dared to lean forward, pressing her forehead against Kate's.

"You are brave, Kate Bishop. Strong. Good." Yelena dug her fingers into Kate's skull ever so softly to ground them together, acutely aware of their breathing and proximity.

There was a lull, and then Kate was sobbing, the anger and fear from the day bubbling over in wave after wave of hot tears spilling down her cheeks. She fell forward into Yelena, her muscles shaking as she let herself go weak. The blonde caught her- surely, lovingly, her arms strong and warm. Kate melted against her, hiccups rocking her chest and the scent of dried flowers, smoke, and fresh snow sinking deep into her lungs.

"Will you stay tonight? Here, with me?" Kate choked out, her body still shaking as she clung on.

"Of course Kate Bishop. Of course." Yelena held her close, this woman who was young and immature but so funny and so bright and had a smile that was contagious. "Always."

"Thank you," the archer managed to get out, her nose buried in Yelena's neck.

"That's what friends are for, are they not?" A kiss, pressed to the crown of her head through dark, wavy hair.

Kate's heart glowed at that.

She could use a friend.

Would you believe me if I said I never planned for this angst...? It literally popped out of nowhere :,)))

Translations:
-ублюдок (Ubludoc): Bastard

Kate Bishop counter: 11

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