Chapter Text
Not for the first time in her life, and likely far from the last (though the wounded optimist that still resided in her heart prayed that maybe this time would be different), Kate opened the app store on her phone and clicked the familiar install button for the dreaded app that would connect her to all the other single and lonely people in NYC.
She wasn't lonely, per say. For the first time in years, Kate was actually feeling pretty good about her life.
True, the situation with her mother was far from ideal, but the decision to turn Eleanor Bishop over to the police after going toe to toe with Kingpin had opened up a whole new world of possibilities for her.
Kate had a team now, a group of misfits who had worked their way into her heart. She'd tried to keep the lot of them at arm's length as Kamala introduced new recruit after new recruit to the team, but each member off the team had managed to charm her into letting her guard down. Even Eli, whose hotheaded ideas had a tendency to clash with her own.
She had a mentor, who had not only opened his home to her, but also gifted her his title. She'd spent her teenage and adult years throwing herself into emulating her idol and Clint Barton had casually given her permission to take on the persona of Hawkeye, while passing her a dish filled with string beans and almonds. She only relented and took a spoonful onto her plate after a lethal side-eye from the Barton matriarch.
So she wasn't lonely, not when she had people to surround herself with. People who she trusted to have her back during missions and who actually cared enough to check in on her when they didn't have to. And a place to go during the holidays when her mind and her heart were at war with thoughts of all the previous years of how she'd spent them. She was practically a Barton in all but name at this point.
And now, there had been another new constant added to her life. Someone who had expertly not broken into her new apartment, but simply let herself in and raided Kate's sparsely stocked pantry in order to help herself to yet another box of mac and cheese.
(Kate didn't even want to think about how long that particular box had been tucked away in the back of her shelves. She ate plenty of it over the years to single-handedly keep Kraft afloat with her patronage, but she never touched that specific box. Just in case she ever showed up unexpectedly looking for a quick meal. Just for her. Even if she didn't bother to stick around to share.)
There hadn't been a mission that brought Yelena back into Kate's life this time, or at least that's what the former Black Widow assassin had told her as she twirled one of Kate's many new forks between her fingers with a knowing smug look. Which given her background, she probably had somehow managed to learn that Kate's collection of utensils had expanded shortly into the new year of 2025. For reasons.
She'd assured Kate that her reason for being there was not from a professional standpoint, but rather a personal one. Though if Yelena ever did offer an official spot on the New Avengers to her, there would be more than a little reluctance on her part before she turned it down. She had a team that she cherished and respected, but the world did not know the Champions the same way that they recognized and embraced Yelena's team.
At first, Kate was skeptical of the assassin eating gently expired boxed macaroni in her kitchen. She chalked the whole thing up to a one-off occurrence of someone who had already grown bored of the city she'd been forced to relocate to permanently. Because Yelena was an Avenger now, even if she still didn't know exactly what that truly meant for herself or those who grew to idolize her the same way Kate had once looked up to Hawkeye.
And while Kate WAS Hawkeye now, she was also a 25 year old who lived on takeout, an extremely toxic sleep schedule, and all the crumbs of affection she could get her grubby hands on. Someone who was hardly fit to be anything more than just the flight of fancy for an evening of boredom.
But Yelena kept coming around, letting herself into Kate's apartment in order to spend more time with Lucky, who had swiftly found a new favorite person even though he never, ever got Yelena to part with any of the food off her plate.
The more she came around, the more those plates of food became something more than just paper plates piled high with various different takeout options. The barren shelves of Kate's pantry blossomed under Yelena's regular presence and the questionable food tucked away in Kate's fridge had been replaced by a variety of plastic Tupperware containing dishes that Yelena wiped up for them to share. And not all of those containers were filled with food prepared at Kate's kitchen. Yelena claimed that she enjoyed cooking in the massive kitchen back at the Watchtower and always made too much food (which seemed impossible considering there were three full grown super soldiers who got to regularly got to enjoy Yelena's dishes).
More often than not, Yelena would be there waiting for Kate when she stumbled home after her missions at ungodly hours in the morning with a plate of food warmed in the oven, a walked dog snuggled into his bed for the evening, and a new movie queued up on the TV for them to watch. Only after any wounds were taken care of first, of course.
So no, Kate was not lonely. Far from it.
But she was single. No matter how much of her time was spent pursuing justice with her team, or fielding texts and phone calls from the Barton clan, or even sharing 'Girl's Night' with deadly assassins who made some of the most comforting soul food that had ever graced Kate's refined taste buds, she always went to bed alone.
Her life felt fulfilling for the first time. Years of honing her skills was finally getting put to good use, but there was still something missing. Something that couldn't be found in a quiver full of trick arrows or in the home cooked meals squirreled away in her fridge.
Riding off the high that her life had become, Kate redownloaded Tinder on her phone with hopes that she could finally find that missing puzzle piece. Or at least, keep her bed warm.
"You have been on your phone a lot these days." Kate looked up from her screen to see Yelena's eyes locked down at the device in her hands. She'd only reactivated her account two days ago and so far there hadn't been any promising matches, but the city was vast. And horny, apparently.
But already Yelena had clocked in on the change in her behavior as Kate mindlessly swiped through the men and women between the ages of 22-28 in her general vicinity.
On the screen in front of them, Elle Woods was proudly declaring that she was not going to give up the chance of happiness just because her stupid lunk of an ex-boyfriend had found someone else in such a short amount of time after their breakup. Kate had seen Legally Blonde enough times that she could quote certain lines if prompted, but it was Yelena's first time seeing the masterpiece of cinema, so Kate was eager to put it on for her to enjoy.
Mindlessly, she had opened the app on her phone and checked for any new matches, but when none had magically appeared since she'd checked just before dinner, she'd started swiping as the movie played on.
It was no surprise that Yelena had quickly zeroed in on the fact that Kate was distracted, though it had taken her a fair bit of time before calling her out for the rude behavior. Kate locked her phone and moved to tucked it into her hoodie pocket, but Yelena was already pressing pause on the remote and turning to fix her with a curious look, tilting her head ever so slightly in the same way that Lucky did when Kate told him that he couldn't live off of pizza alone.
Unfortunately for her, the intended effect was quite similar.
"I uh, decided to get back onto the dating market," Kate admitted, feeling rather sheepish now that she was being confronted by the fact she had been blowing off a movie with a friend to pursue matches.
"You are texting someone?" Yelena asked as she pulled her legs under herself, settling firmly into the couch. The action seemed like she was preparing herself for what she assumed was about to be an enlightening conversation as Kate revealed a secret relationship. Except Kate had no juicy gossip to offer her and there was almost a sadness underneath the curiosity.
Like perhaps their new arrangement being in danger if someone else new came into Kate's life. And she wasn't about to let that fear beyond the budding stage.
"Not yet, no. Just putting feelers out there right now to see if anyone is interested. I've only been back on the scene for a couple of days and no one has really caught my eye yet," she explained, watching as Yelena's face remained neutral at the new information. "But even if I do match with someone, I'm not looking to jump into anything right away."
"I see." Instead of relaxing at Kate's admission, Yelena's entire body seemed to tense up at the possibility that there might be something serious on the horizon. Kate wanted to reach out to take Yelena's hand in her own when she reassured her, but she had a faded thin scar on her neck as a reminder that randomly touching a widow was a dangerous choice.
Against her better judgment, Kate shifted closer until her knee hovered just a breath away from Yelena's, the baggy material of her basketball shorts bunched up in a way that surely Yelena could feel Kate's presence through the material of her sweatpants.
But she didn't dare move closer, allowing her movement to close the gap between them to be her version of offering some kind of reassurance without spooking Yelena with any unwelcome touch.
"I'm happy. Happier now than I've been since…" she trailed off, hoping her unsaid words would be understood to spare her from having to bring up the topic of her mother. This time Yelena reached out, placing her palm over Kate's knee as a show that she understood, and she didn't need Kate to spell it out for her. Kate took a deep breath before continuing. "Yeah, so. Happy. Safe. And I figured that maybe it was time to try to put myself out there again. See if anyone was interested in seeing all my baggage."
"Anyone who is not interested is a fool," Yelena told her, earnest in a way that felt a little too honest for a Tuesday evening, but it made Kate's heart skip a beat and she tried to turn her head to hide the way her lips twitched into a small smile, embarrassed by just how touched she felt because of what her friend had said.
Crumbs of affection at their finest. And Kate, well, Kate was starved for those moments.
"Uh, you… I… thank you," Kate settled on, fumbling for a proper response and earning a small smile for her efforts. The light reflecting off the TV where their movie was still paused and watching ever so patiently for them to return to illuminated Yelena's hazel eyes enough that she could just barely make out the flash of something in them before she settled back into her neutral expression.
"You are welcome, Kate Bishop. Now, I will admit that my knowledge about dating apps is limited. I never needed to use one during my missions, so I'm unaware of why you'd be so focused on your phone if no one has jumped at the opportunity to get all up in your… baggage." The urge to giggle at the stilted way Yelena described Kate's situation bubbled up and she was forced to clear her throat before she could ruin the mood, even though Yelena was only mirroring the language that Kate had already used to describe her endgame.
But the way Yelena spoke sounded so sincere, as if she truly wanted to understand the process. Perhaps to be supportive, or perhaps so she could crack more accurate jokes at Kate's expense (most likely a combination of the two).
So Kate pulled her phone back out and unlocked the screen, returning back to where she left off making sure to swipe the screen to the left to get rid of the profile of the man who was wearing a muscle tee sporting the ever controversial phrase that 'Thanos was right' that often would appear as graffiti around the city, or even actual merchandise. It always served to leave a sour taste in Kate's mouth and she hadn't even been a victim to the snap.
Yelena had never explicitly told her that she'd lost five years of her life, but between the vague pieces of lore that Clint would drop about Natasha and the timing of Yelena's attack on her mentor, Kate had put the pieces together herself. She made sure the image of the ignorant dude-bro was long gone before she tilted the screen so Yelena could get a clear image of what Kate had been doing instead of watching the movie.
(She had half a mind to swipe right on any other people sporting insensitive pro-Snap propaganda in their pictures, if only so she could track them down and make them pay for potentially upsetting Yelena.)
"Alright so, after you make an account, you're shown other people's profiles depending on the settings you select for who you're interested in," Kate said as a relatively cute blonde woman's profile popped up next. Yelena narrowed her eyes at the woman on display, obviously judging her for every little fault that she could find. Again, there was a fluttering in Kate's chest when she realized that Yelena was sizing up potential candidates for her friend.
"You are interested in empty headed bimbo's with fake breasts?" Yelena asked, a hint of edge to her voice and Kate's grip tightened around her phone as she considered yeeting her phone out that window and forgetting the whole 'looking-for-a-significant-other' thing.
"Uh, no. That's not… the settings aren't that specific. I don't think that her, no, nevermind. I'm not even, lemme just, hmmm. Okay look, under the photo. She's a year younger than me and lives relatively close. Those are the markers you can set when you're searching for people to match with," Kate explained, only mostly fumbling her way through her sentence as she tried her hardest not to stare at the woman's chest. Which now that Yelena had mentioned it, did appear like some work had been done. Not that Kate would ever judge someone for what they did in order to feel comfortable in their own skin.
Kate's stuttering over her words earned an almost inaudible chuckle from Yelena who watched her struggle with amusement.
"Okay. You like your women younger and close by."
"I like both men and women. And I prefer to keep my settings set to 3 years in either direction, but I'm not opposed to connecting with someone older than that. Not younger though. If they can't legally drink, they're pretty much a baby," Kate said, feeling her confidence return slightly now that she was focused on the specifics again and not the physical aspects of her potential matches.
Yelena chuckled again, much louder than the last time and Kate scrambled to figure out what exactly she'd found so amusing with what she just said.
"And you would be an expert on dealing with babies, since you lead a team of them." Kate let out a groan as Yelena doubled over with full blown laughter once Kate realized exactly what she'd walked right into. She'd let her guard down, too distracted with using a dating app again to remember just how much Yelena enjoyed teasing Kate for the age range of her teammates.
"Okay, yeah. Ha ha, laugh it up." And laugh it up she did. Kate couldn't help chuckling along with Yelena, enjoying the completely unguarded expression that settled on Yelena's face. Slightly dehumanizing to constantly be reminded that she was the oldest member on the team, yes, but worth it to see Yelena let her walls down.
Once the giggles had managed to subside in both of them, Kate raised her device up again to continue with her demonstration.
"Anyway, yeah. Those are my parameters for the suggested profiles that get sent to me. And then comes the most excruciating part of the whole process which is to weed through all the different profiles to decide if I want to possibly get matched with them." Yelena leaned over as she wiped the edge of her eye, clearing away the single tear she'd shed during her little laugh attack, to get a better view of the blonde woman who probably was at least 3% plastic (Kate felt her cheeks go red as she mentally altered that calculation in her mind, it was at least 4%).
"And would you like to get matched with this woman, Kate?" Kate chewed on her bottom lip as she angled the phone slightly to get a better look at the woman's profile. She'd dated an Ashley before (date was a strong word for their one dinner date that ended back at Kate's old place above Herman's Hearty Slice, but it technically counted) and had gone to school with two others, but the Ashley on her screen now looked nothing like Kate's former associations with the name.
Ashley was obviously attractive, even without taking into consideration her, ehm, assets. She had a gentle smile that Kate felt like was fairly genuine, so used to having grown up around people who faked more smiles than they actually meant. Kate's eyes trailed further down the page to see what Ashley had put to draw potential matches in and she frowned when she spied Mayor Fisk's campaign slogan used as a quote.
Ugh. Maybe she needed to brush up on her people reading abilities.
"Uh, well considering that Wilson Fisk almost killed me and kind of tainted my memories with both of my parents, that's a definite no." The playful mood seemed to sizzle away as Kate swiped left to get rid of human equivalent of a bad taste in the mouth and looked back up at Yelena to see that all amusement had disappeared off her beautiful face and she was back to studying Kate to see her reaction.
"Kate, I'm-"
"It's fine. It's… fine." Kate offered her a half-hearted lift of her lips, but Yelena shook her head, reaching out to lock Kate's screen and lower the hand holding her phone until her hand settled back down in her lap.
"You shouldn't have to be reminded of that man," Yelena offered and Kate shrugged, trying to brush the entire thing off.
"It comes with the territory. Seeing the worst the world has to offer for a chance to maybe find someone who isn't completely awful," Kate said as she tucked her phone away again and turned her attention back to the TV again, hoping that they could just end the conversation there and return back to their movie.
But Yelena wasn't done yet.
"You deserve someone who is more than just not awful. You deserve someone who sees you, who wants to share both the good and the bad with you. Who makes you feel happy and safe," Yelena said, her voice quieter than it was before. As if she was afraid that her words might somehow drive Kate away.
Because if Kate was the one saying that to her, then perhaps it would drive her away. The moments they shared were usually light and uncomplicated, with any kind of heavier topic driving their interactions towards the teetering scale of their friendship. If Kate was too much, too honest or too thoughtless, then she ran the risk of sending their scale unbalanced. And Yelena would abruptly take her leave, ending their hang outs without another word.
But she always came back. Kate was slowly learning what was too much for the former widow to handle, so she tried to keep her own emotional declarations limited as much as possible.
This same rule did not apply to Yelena though, as Kate did not operate on a hair-line trigger for her fight or flight response.
Though the praise she was being subjected to did make her want to flee, to escape having to hear the soft compassionate way that Yelena spoke regarding her future. A future that might not exist, plagued with the toxic ideals of two absolute fucking douchebags and one extremely picky archer.
"We should, uh, probably finish watching this movie," Kate suggested, moving to scooch back over to her original spot on the other end of the couch, but Yelena slid her arm in between Kate's elbow, keeping her in place and blocking her calculated retreat.
With her attempt at flee blocked and the fire to fight all burned away, Kate instead settled back into her new seat, allowing herself to relax as Yelena bumped their shoulders together after hitting play on the remote, resuming the 'Kate Bishop Required Movie Curriculum' without any more delays.
"Hey Yelena?" Kate could feel the quizzical eyes staring at her, but kept her own gaze focused on the TV. It wouldn't do her any favors by being careless with her next words. "Thank you. I hope that if all that is something you want too, that you find it. Because you deserve it too. All that and more."
Yelena didn't respond. But she didn't leave either.
Small victories.