Christmas in July

Birthdays Are For Children

Kate stared at her recent outgoing calls list.

Yelena Belova-lova 08:53

Yelena Belova-lova 09:05

Yelena Belova-lova 09:27

Yelena Belova-lova 09:32

Four unanswered calls. FOUR. That was the most in history. Yes, their history as a pair had been short, relatively speaking, but never had Yelena let four calls go unanswered, or at least unacknowledged. Normally if Yelena was too busy to take a call from Kate, she'd send a text or pick up and let her know she'd give her a call back when she was available. So, you see, for unanswered calls was rather unprecedented, and if not a little anxiety inducing.

Kate had woken up in her bunk at the Avenger compound, Yelenaless. Neither of the friends were really known as morning people, especially as they spent their nights chatting shit, watching shit and eating enough shit to compensate for the amount that they were burning in the day time.

Since Yelena had been inducted at Avengers HQ, Kate's activity levels had gone through the roof. If they weren't training in combat, they were in the gym or at the firing range, or running situational simulations in the war room. Being a hero was serious shit, and turns out, much to Yelena's chagrin, there were particular ways you were supposed to go about things. Kate had already lost count of the number of times Yelena had told Carol that she wasn't a hero, and being a hero wasn't what she signed up for; she was far more effective than that. Kate had also lost count of the amount of ranty tirades Yelena had subjected the heavy bag to.

Last night, after their mandatory Facetime with Lucky via Grills, they'd settled down to watch a couple of episodes of Blue Planet in their bunks, and shortly after Kate drifted off to sleep to the welcomed sound of Yelena's rasping chuckles. She'd recently taken to watching mixed martial arts, and was going through a phase of binging hours and hours' worth of compilation videos such as 'MMA's most horrific injuries' and 'UFCs most devastating bone breaks' before bed. Of course, she found them all highly amusing, and would often quietly chide the fighters for their stupidity. Yelena Belova wasn't one for constructive criticism. Unless your name was Kate Bishop.

But to Kate's surprise, upon her waking that morning, no Yelena Belova did she find in the bunk next to hers, much to Kate's frustration. And what made it even weirder, was that the bed was made, Yelena's bed was never made. A small act of non-conformist rebellion after years under a strict regime. So, why today? Kate had made sure to fall asleep before Yelena and she'd made sure to wake up before Yelena normally rises, and yet, there was no Yelena.

Kate's brow furrowed with indecision as she stared at her phone once more and chewed nervously on her bottom lip. How could she have miscalculated so badly, and how had her friend managed to elude her so comprehensively. It was almost as if she hadn't wanted to wake Kate. It was almost as if... her Yelena was avoiding her. Of course, that was a stupid though, Kate told herself. Sure, they'd spent a lot of time together recently, which was probably an understatement, but Yelena had shown no signs of fatigue or annoyance, in fact, they had grown closer and closer as time had gone by. So why today of all days, could Kate not find her friend?

The time stood at 09:45. Was it too early to call her friend again? Some might say yes, some might say leave it alone you needy bitch, but today wasn't a normal day, and their friendship wasn't a normal friendship.

"Fuck it." Kate whispered to herself, and hit the call button. Yelena's phone rang once, then twice, then three times then-

"Hello?!" Came Yelena's voice, loud and clear above the cacophony of noise on the other end of the line. Kate practically jumped out of her skin with relief and excitement.