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The day of Kate’s Bishop’s graduation, Yelena was a restless mess. Everything had to be perfect, because her Hawkeye was perfect, and therefore deserved nothing but the best. She paced circles into the floor the minute her girlfriend had left their home to get ready for the ceremony itself, her cheeks flushed from Yelena’s lips on her cheeks and hand between her legs. A proper send off, if you will. But now that Kate was doing her part on her big day, it was Yelena’s turn.
No pressure, suka.
She starts with cleaning the apartment- easy enough, unless you factor in the two large, energetic dogs that liked to try to help. Their assistance usually looked like chewing on the decorations she was trying to put up, or just causing general chaos. Normally, Yelena would be patient with them and use it as a training opportunity, but today was not that. Fanny and Lucky ended up in their crates, and that was the end of it.
Balloons were scattered, streamers were placed over the entry ways, and a banner spelling out GRADUATE in big purple block letters was hung on the back wall. Among other decorations, Yelena stood back and dusted her hands off, feeling satisfied with herself.
While she was happy with the main room of the apartment, most of her pride was in her work on her and Kate’s bedroom. But that was for the archer to discover later, in the privacy of each other’s company.
——
The stadium is beyond loud, the roar of people here to see their own graduates practically deafening. Yelena had initially flinched and huddled away from it all, but Natasha had dug out her noise cancelling headphones and settled them over Yelena’s ears before it could completely overwhelm her. She shot her sister a grateful smile, nudging their shoulders together before scooting over to make room for Clint and his family. Nathanial wiggled into her lap right away, and the blonde giggled, holding the little boy close.
”How are you, kiddo?” Clint signs to her, his smile easy and tired.
Yelena returns the gentle look and takes her hand from Nate’s hair. “Excited to see our Hawkeye,” she signs back, leaning into Clint’s steady warmth as he wraps an arm around her shoulders and hugs her close.
Bucky is settled in the row behind her, exchanging low words with Natasha and a soft kiss to her brow before he notices that Yelena isn’t focused on Clint anymore. He leans forward and loops his flesh arm gently around her front to hug her swiftly, a kiss pressed into her hair. She smiles brightly and leans back into him, their eyes meeting. The corners of his crinkle in happiness.
“Love you, little bear,” he mouths to her, and Yelena’s smile only grows, her chest warm and heart swelling.
The ceremony officially starts a few minutes later, and Yelena is laser focused on the crowd of graduates as their names are read off one by one. Kate is up relatively quickly, and Yelena takes her headphones off, wanting to hear her girlfriend’s name over the speaker.
“Katherine Elizabeth Bishop!”
Yelena lets out a roar and jumps to her feet, holding Nate on her shoulders as she screams and shouts and cheers, her voice rising above even the giant crowd. Kate’s eyes find hers, so bright and so happy that Yelena finds herself crying. Her Kate Bishop. That was her girl. She was so proud.
The entire rest of the ceremony, Yelena’s gaze is solely fixed on Kate. The archer periodically turns her head to catch Yelena’s eye, exchanging looks and secret smiles meant only for each other. When the last student’s name has been called out and every graduate is once again seated, the Dean stands from her chair and walks to the podium, her smile blinding.
”It is so wonderful to have you all here today, graduates. This day means so much to me, for you. We’ve had such a successful year.”
She talks for a few minutes before Kate’s name catches Yelena’s attention.
”Please welcome our very our graduating class Valedictorian, Katherine Bishop.”
”What!?” Yelena’s jaw drops, her eyes wide as she watches Kate stand yet again and stride to the stage, her stance tall and stride powerful. Yelena is effortlessly turned on. Valedictorian? When did this happen? Surely Kate would have told her about such an important thing?
”She wanted to surprise you,” Natasha tells her quietly after Yelena takes her headphones off.
Yelena scoffs, but her cheeks are glowing and her smile is bright. “Of course she did.”
The blonde listens with rapt attention as Kate speaks, her eyes laser focused on the woman that she loved. Kate was grinning, unable to contain her joy as she stood up there in front of her peers, her cheeks flushed. Towards the end of her speech, she mentions her family and friends, her eyes on all the people that Yelena is surrounded by, and her two closest friends in the crowd of graduates with her.
”And to my darling, my beautiful girlfriend, Yelena.”
Yelena’s breath catches in her throat. Kate’s eyes are right on her, shining a mesmerizing sky blue.
”Without you, I’m not sure I would have made it this far,” Kate says softly into the mic, her smile lovestruck. “You have been the tallest lighthouse for me in the storm that is college. You’ve helped me find who I am, and what it means to love myself. With every late night spent with you, every early morning run in the softness of dawn, every cram session where you made sure I was fed, and hydrated, and helped me study, I have fallen more and more in love with you. You are my world. I can never thank you enough for loving me with the intensity that you do, or for being my partner in the challenges that we face together.”
There are tears in Yelena’s eyes, my jaw slack as she holds Kate’s gaze, her entire body on fire.
Kate suddenly swallows and turns to look at the Dean behind her, and the woman nods, smiling softly. The archer’s shoulders relax, her smile nervous when she turns back to the mic. “Yelena, my love- will you please come join me on stage?”
Yelena blinks hard, sitting up a little straighter. The stage? Her?
Clint and Natasha are both chuckling softly on either side of her, and when they rest their hands on her back to encourage her up, she can’t help but feel that they’ve been in on something she isn’t aware of this whole time.
Kate’s smile is nearly blinding as she watches Yelena maneuver her way to the stairs and walk down to the floor. Is this why they had been sitting so close to the front? When she reaches the stairs to the stage, her steps are wobbly, and Kate meets her halfway, offering an arm to help her up. Yelena holds onto her gratefully, looking up at her archer with a furrowed brow. The brunette only smiles reassuringly at her.
When they get back to the podium, Kate clips a smaller mic onto her collar and turns to Yelena, taking her hands and pressing her lips to each knuckle. Yelena can only stare, her lips parted and eyes wide as her heart flutters and her stomach fills with nerves.
”Kate Bishop…?” she whisper softly in question, only for her darling to hear.
Kate kisses her hand one more time before clearing her throat, her fave nervous but loving. “Yelena Belova, you complete me.”
Oh. Oh. Was she- was Kate…?
”I want to spend every day of my life with you.” The archer swallowed thickly. “There are so many things that I can’t properly put into words, but I hope to be given the chance to try to voice how much I love and admire you every day for the rest of our lives. But to get that chance, I need to start with this.”
Yelena watches Kate sink to one knee. She watches her take off her grad cap and pull a small velvet box from somewhere inside it. She is distantly aware of the dull roar of the crowd screaming their heads off, but all she sees and hears and breathes is Kate Bishop.
Her archer opens the small box to reveal a beautiful obsidian ring, and Yelena feels the tears burning down her face.
”Yelena Belova,” Kate says, her voice strong and sure despite the nerves in her gut, “will you be my wife?”
”Kate Bishop,” Yelena sobs out softly, her voice thick and catching on her tongue as she covers her mouth with her hands. “Oh my god, Kate Bishop.”
She is so beautiful, and she is everything Yelena has ever wanted.
Yelena pulls Kate up onto her feet so that she can kiss her, cupping the archer’s face and slamming their lips together in a breathless tangle. “Yes, yes, always yes,” she sobs into Kate’s sweet mouth, kissing her hard and holding her close.
Kate is crying too at this point, and they can’t hear the roar of the crowd in their own little pocket when Kate pulls back in order to slip the ring on Yelena’s finger. The blonde stares at it in awe for a moment before looking up to meet Kate’s gaze, and the sheer abundance of love she finds there nearly sends her to her knees.
But Kate scoops her up into her arms before she can fall, as she always does, holding her close in a bone crushing hug as she lifts the blonde from her feet and twirls them around. She spins her, and spins her, and spins her, and Yelena never wants it to stop.