Chapter Text
After they were named the “New Avengers” quite a lot went down.
Lots of press questions, lots of interviewers. The whole team was busy for the rest of the day. It wasn’t until, during the late hours of the night when the team made it back to the old avengers tower, they realized how long they had been out there for.
To put it simply, they were all exhausted.
So when they all made it to the living room and all collapsed into various forms of seating -Walker sprawled across the couch, Bob in the bean bag chair, Alexi on the floor, ect- The last thing any of them expected Yelena to do was to walk right into the room, past the entire team, and into her bedroom.
There had been some group of workers that had brought all their stuff in from each of their various houses, so by the time they were done the press could watch them walk unified into one building. They would all be living there together from now on, being as cold as Yelena seemed irresponsible.
Alexi at least thought he had earned a goodnight. Bucky didn’t seem to care as much, coming to the conclusion that she just needed space. Bob had the idea that he should go check she was alright. He had to begin repaying that debt anyway.
But all of their theories were shut down when just a few minutes later she rushed back out of her room holding her phone up to her ear.
Her voice came in a hushed whisper, not hushed enough apparently because all of the Thunderbolts leaned towards her to further listen in to what she was saying.
“Yeah, no, just wait outside I’ll be right down.” She was slipping on her shoes, one of only two people to take them off when coming inside. Bucky had left his by the door at the top of the elevator. With her shoes on she rushed her way to the elevator.
“I know there’s a bunch of reporters outside, yes I’ll be fine. I’ve been talking to them all day.” There was a slight hint of some odd emotion in her voice. Bucky almost thought to himself how it sounded like affection, but he brushed the thought away.
As Yelena stepped into the elevator and turned towards them with the doors already closing Walker yelled,
“Care to tell us where you’re off to?” Ava could have hit the man. Had he learned nothing about Yelena at all?
To no one’s surprise, she didn’t answer. Yelena barely had time to flip him off before the doors closed and the elevator headed down.
“Well great, no you’ve pissed her off and she’s never gonna tell us.” Ava snapped at Walker. She pushed his legs off of the couch so she could have room to sit down.
“Maybe she’ll let us know what that was when she comes back?” Asked Bob.
“Hah, yeah and maybe she’ll read us all a bedtime story to help us fall asleep tonight,” scoffed Alexi, “You’ll have better luck getting a true story out of one of those reporters down there.”
Bob sighed, and there was a slight sadness in the air because of it. Almost as if his hope of getting an open and honest Yelena was fading away in front of everyone's eyes.
“Any guesses on who it was on the phone?” Walker broke the silence. Almost immediately people answered.
“A new rich person looking to hire a new assassin!”
“A long lost enemy!”
“A lover!”
That last one, said by Bob, got a good laugh out of the group. A few more random suggestions for the mystery phone caller were thrown out, and more laughs were exchanged. It almost felt… normal didn’t seem like the right word after all they had been through, but Bob couldn’t think of anything else. He felt warm on the inside in a way he hadn’t in a long, long time.
While they were talking and giggling Ava stood up from the couch and walked to the window. One of the floor to ceiling windows that gave them a beautiful view of New York.
Ava could see down to the ground floor from here, she could also see all the reporters at the bottom. The person on the phone mentioned the reporters which means somewhere among that crowd was probably the mystery person.
“I’ll be right back.” Ava said, leaving before any of them had a chance to reply.
Ava fazed down a floor, then another, then another, trying to get a better look. She knew that Yelena would be out the door soon, if she wasn’t already, and Ava wanted to see who in the crowd she went too.
She was on the ground floor now, lucky for her their elevator had been slightly damaged during the commotion earlier and now worked slightly slower than intended. Ava managed to hide behind a pillar before hearing the ding of the elevator stopping and the sound of the doors sliding open.
Yelena was talking to the guards at the front before the doors even finished opening.
“Hey, you, see that woman right there? Let her in.” Yelena’s voice left no room for argument. And even if it had, who would bother arguing with one of the New Avengers?
Ava heard a brief moment where the crowd outside got louder as the doors opened, then they shut.
Yelena was still walking towards the door, almost about to cross out of Ava’s line of sight, before someone else came into view.
There was a brief flash of purple and black running from the door before a woman completely wrapped Yelena in her arms.
For a split second Ava thought something must be wrong, that Yelena would push her away. She thought that this was a softer side to Yelena that she didn’t think she would have been shown for months had she not snuck down here to see it.
But Yelena didn’t push the taller woman away.
She melted right into her.
It was like all the weight Yelena had been carrying today was lifted off her shoulders. Maybe even all the weight the whole team had been carrying. Ava knew that despite acting distant at times Yelena cared about some of them more than they did for themselves. She knew that the whole team was grateful for all the work Yelena put in, even if they didn’t all show it so clearly.
The way that Yelena tilted her head into the other woman's neck, the way that she had one hand on her back and the other threaded through her hair. Like she might just disappear if she held on any less.
Ava watched as both women took a deep breath, Yelena tightened her grip, and as they started to pull away from each other Ava fazed back up the building.
—
The boys didn’t even notice that Ava had left. Bucky had seen her get up and walk to the window, he even noted that it was a good idea to try and figure out who this new person was without invading Yelena’s privacy, but a moment later he turned to see Alexi trying to show off how much he could lift by picking up Bob and it was safe to say Bucky got a bit distracted.
(You could also say that Alexi ended up dropping Bob on the floor after failing to lift him over his head, and then spent the next ten minutes profusely apologizing.)
So there was no one to point out when Ava returned with a small smile on her face. She took a seat back on the couch and the only acknowledgement she got was Bob noticing her smile and mouthing What? From across the room. Ava shook her head and waved him off.
Then, just a few moments later, the elevator doors opened up.
Inside was Yelena, as to be expected.
And the woman Ava had seen downstairs.
Yelena walked right into the room but Bob noticed just a slight bit of hesitation before the woman walked in behind Yelena. Yelena walked right past everybody without saying a word and the woman followed her for a few steps before stopping with a smirk.
“Come on, Yelena. You aren't going to introduce me to your new friends?” She seemed to glow at Yelena's reaction.
That's strange. Thought Bob. If Yelena ever looked at me that way I think I would be scared.
Yelena stiffly paused and turned around with a sigh.
“Team, this is Kate Bishop. Kate Bishop, this is the team.” Yelena vaguely gestured her arm around the room at everybody. Then looked back at Kate with an expression that seemed to say, Was that good enough for you?
Evidently, it was not. Because Kate kept talking.
“Oh, wow, that was great.” She clapped her hands together and leaned back on her heels. “So, do they all get individual names or is this, like, a package deal situation?” She looked around the room then back at Yelena.
Yelena put a hand on her face,
“No, they all have names, Kate, I just figured ‘Team’ would be more efficient.” She rolled her eyes. “I mean, Kate, some of these guys will talk forever if you give them too much of an opening. It’s better to just walk on by.”
Kate smiled, as if that was what she was waiting on.
“Well, that's perfect! We have plenty of time to get to know one another. Don’t we, Yelena?” Then Kate walked into the living space and sat herself on the carpet right next to Bob.
She stuck out a hand,
“I’m Kate.” Bob smiled and returned the handshake.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Bob.” Kate’s grin grew wider as she turned back to Yelena. Then Kate patted the ground next to her.
“Come on Yelena. I’d love to hear all about how you met.” Yelena took a deep breath before walking over and sitting cross legged on the floor next to Kate. She almost rolled her eyes as she did so, and as she got closer Bob noticed a faint tinge of pink across her face spreading down from the tips of her ears.
That's when he figured out why she was acting odd.
Yelena was embarrassed.