( THIS YEAR, TO SAVE ME FROM TEARS )

[quip]

[ yelena's lived in worse places. some of them had been a day-long stay, others had been months and almost years at a time. kate's apartment isn't the worst, although it's the most sad. it's in desperate need of a little christmas cheer and some sprucing.

it's in desperate need of sprucing. yelena was just trying to be nice in her assessment.

it's so dark and depressing. no wonder kate only has one fork—who would want to come back where with the scorch marks in the floor and the dilapidated rug? the dog's cute, though. she'd definitely come here for the dog.

in the aftermath of the party, yelena doesn't return to her hotel room. considering she had thought she would be on her way to her next destination (currently unclear—she doesn't want to go back to ohio during the big family season and now especially on the back of the news of natasha's truth), she doesn't have anywhere to go. she doesn't have anyone to go back to. she's grateful she still has alexei and melina, but she doesn't want to be around them right now. the gaping void of natasha's absence weighs heavily down on them, too. she doesn't think she has it in her to reveal the truth to them. it's still a heavy weight she carries; she still feels so angry, but clint barton is no longer the target of that rage.

she invites herself to kate's apartment. it's easy to pick the lock (kate really needs to invest in a few more) and it's easy to go through her cupboards (there is absolutely nothing in them, it's so sad) to try and find some decorations to liven the place up. even the dog helps her, although she thinks he's more or less trying to give her some comfort when all she finds is a christmas hat and nothing more.

she gives herself a new mission: make kate less depressing and weird. suspecting she'll have time before kate comes back (assuming she does—doesn't she have a mother and her best bud clint to possibly spend the evening with?), yelena takes lucky out on a stroll and in search of christmas stores that are still open late at night. it's nice to keep her mind busy. she talks to him, asks him for his opinion. he's a good dog who's clearly desperate for a walk. she comes back an hour later with some christmas decorations in hand and a few treats for him.

she's strung them all up around kate's apartment by the time the door twists and groans on its hinges. lucky's wearing a christmas hat and chewing on a little bone happily. a small christmas tree sits in the corner with a few gifts wrapped beneath it (all for the dog) and the windows are decorated with bright lights. the apartment is still depressingly empty, but at least it's a little cheerful now.

yelena belova, the saviour of christmas. there's no need for applause.

sitting on her heels on the floor, she's still in her black widow outfit and her messy braid. she's brushing lucky's tail gently as he enjoys chewing on his early christmas toy. she doesn't look up—she doesn't need to. the heavy footsteps that enter belong to kate bishop. ]

I walked your dog for you. He likes me more than you, just so you know.

Comments

[spines]

[ Christmas is usually pretty ostentatious. Not Kate's choice, but that's just how her mom always did it ever since her dad passed away. Maybe it was because she didn't want Kate to miss out on anything, initially - it's not something she ever asked about and it's not something she exactly plans to ask her mom about now, with the whole...prison thing. Is she even allowed to visit? Does her mom want to see her? It's jarring to suddenly have everything she thought she knew about her parents turn upside down and inside out. She doesn't even want to think about her mom saying her dad owed money to the mob back then, because what the fuck do you even do with that? He's been dead for over a decade and Kate can't really ask him any questions now.

What would you do in a hurricane, except the answer seems different for both of her parents compared to what she'd thought it was.

She's a little bit scattered, unsure, and there's a bunch of shit she should be doing, probably, and figuring out and writing down, but instead she's supposed to be ready to go to Clint's at some point in the nebulous tomorrow that feels a little bit too far off to contemplate. Her apartment was pretty bare even before the fire - less scorched, but she really did have the one fork, one spoon, one knife. One spatula. It's never been this decorated, and Kate stands in the doorway for a confused moment, hand going back over her shoulder the second the door's almost open, before the movement ceases because it's just Yelena.

Who's had like seventeen chances to murder Kate before now (or seventeen hundred, who's keeping count, not Kate) and hasn't taken any of them. Is this a thing now? Was this how it was for Clint with his Black Widow? (Is it weird to categorize Yelena as her Black Widow, what's she even doing here - ) Asking is an option later, though he'd been smiling when he'd said the best shot he ever took was the one he didn't. Though Kate imagines that shot wouldn't have killed Natasha any more than her own shot not taken would have killed the Widow in her apartment.

Still in her own uniform, Kate comes in, and shuts the door. Not like doors and locks do a whole lot of good when people just break in whenever they want! Kate chooses to forget the fact she breaks into places all the time because hypocrisy is sometimes the only way to go. ]

He likes anyone who gives him food, it's a whole - it's a whole thing, especially pizza.

[ Dog food is for people who know how to take care of dogs. ]

Are you throwing a Christmas party in my place? I don't know how to feel about that.

[quip]

We are throwing a Christmas party at your place.

[ looking up at kate, yelena gestures between her and lucky, who happily chews his bone. is she trying to share the blame with this gorgeous, soft man? yes. but he'll forgive her, surely. the simplest way to a dog's heart is through his gut, and yelena's made good on worming her way in there. she's had a lot of practice, after all. her own dog has been displeased with her—and no doubt is unhappy to be spending their first christmas not together. she hopes melina is taking good care of fanny and keeping her far from her pig pen during their celebrations.

if kate thinks that yelena's appearance in her apartment is out of the ordinary, she doesn't let on. yelena's grateful for it. she already feels so out of place in new york. it's loud and bustling and the buildings are awfully tall. some of the people are a little weird, too. from tracksuit wearing moving company specialists to people who "larp"... she's had a little too much excitement to last a year.

but sitting in kate's apartment with lucky and kate herself is nice. this is a sad little place, but it's kate's sad little place. it must be nice, having your own space.

and it seems she's welcome in it. yelena doesn't allow herself to smile, but she does take note that kate hasn't stomped her feet and grabbed her by the ear to throw her out. ]

You did not RSVP. Tsk.

[ honestly, kate. how could you not rsvp to the party yelena decided to host for three an hour and a half ago? honestly. for shame. ]

[spines]

Iiiiii did not receive an invitation? But I haven't gotten my mail in like...wow, I don't know, I probably should do that at some point.

[ Little details like "mail" and "life in general" have slid to the wayside for the past few days due to, you know, things happening so much. She ends up going toplace her bow and quiver down safely and out of harm's way before anything else.

Kate's never really tried to throw anyone out of her place, minus Jack out of her mom's place, but then it turned out he wasn't even anything other than a mildly goofy dude in the end. She feels a little bit bad about that in retrospect. Doesn't know how she can actually keep people out with broken windows - shit, should she tape those or something? - or why Yelena is apparently suddenly celebrating Christmas after deciding not to murder Clint, but...

Well, maybe it's a little bit nice someone who speaks English is around. Lucky isn't the best conversationalist. He's still ignoring her for that bone, the traitor. ]

I also do not know if any of my clothes, like, survived. Is there a dress code?

[quip]

There is. You need to wear an elf suit and a red nose.

[ yelena taps her fingers to her nose. rudolph the red-nosed reindeer is an interesting fellow, but she likes how everyone seems to dress up as him. it's a little freaky at times, but given that she knows that there are people who literally dress up in capes and suits, everyday people dressing up as a reindeer shouldn't really surprise her these days.

and she thinks kate would totally wear the nose. it seems like a kate bishop thing to do. so innocent, so festive, so normal.

leaning down, she rests her ear against the top of lucky's head and murmurs, ] Yes? You think so. Okay.

[ clearing her throat, she rights herself and continues to brush lucky. he's such a good dog; she's so grateful kate saved him. ]

But Lucky and I will permit you passage as you are. But just know you are on thin ice, Kate Bishop.

[ on thin ice in her own home. how comical. ]

[spines]

[ ...She's not going to ask how Yelena knows the dog's name. It's probably safe to just assume that everything in her life, Yelena probably knows. Maybe not about her mom being arrested? But everything else, yeah, it's probably already been exposed.

Kate comes over anyway, steps still loud to Yelena even if it might pass for sneaky to normal people who weren't trained from a young age to detect that sort of thing. She'll crouch down to greet the dog, scratching behind his ear, because hello pay attention to her now too. ]

It wouldn't be the first time my holiday party dress got me on thin ice.

[quip]

Really?

[ yelena doesn't sound judgemental; she sounds amused. she peers up at kate with a smile and an arch to her brow. kate bishop lives a life that feels like it could come out of the television screen. while she's definitely no carrie (thank god), she's interesting and incredibly normal. yelena wonders if she hangs around kate, maybe she'll be a little normal, too. ]

No, no way. You are too much of a goody-two-shoes. [ her russian accent grows thick as she teases, ] You would not get into any trouble at all.

[ she laughs. of what she's seen of kate, she definitely gets into trouble.

and goes where she shouldn't go. does things she shouldn't do. befriends people she shouldn't welcome at all. ]

[spines]

My mom always put out a dress for me to wear, but I almost always went rogue.

[ It was probably her smallest form of rebellion, compared to other things she's pulled off. But, well, she just has different tastes than her mother.

And different morals. Apparently. ]

[quip]

[ moms dressing their daughters. yelena remembers a day where she had dressed in various dresses for various holidays. it'd been a confusing whirlwind that had been fun at the time. now, she just thinks it's pathetically sad.

resting her hand in lucky's fur, she regards kate with a furrowed brow. ]

Why didn't she let you pick your own?