No More Excuses//Katelena

19: We Have Animals to Cross, Kate Bishop

Thank you for almost 4K reads!!!

Animal Crossing is one of my three favorite comfort video games, aside BOTW/TOTK and Minecraft :> I think these two are super silly and need to kiss already

Content warning: angst and Tom Nook that bastard

Yelena looks like she's aged twenty years by the time they get back to the apartment, so Kate carefully leads her up the stairs to her loft bedroom and asks her if she wants to lay down, to which the blonde doesn't respond, but does sit on the mattress, still holding the figurine box. Kate will take what she can get. Yelena is still trembling, albeit less than she was half an hour ago, but the archer still frowns and dares to press Yelena down onto her back.

"Rest, Yelena," she mutters, not entirely sure what she's doing. How do you comfort someone in this situation? She pulls her thickest quilt over her friend's shoulders, and, after a moment of her hand hovering, dares to brush the hair out of the assassin's face and press a featherlight kiss to her forehead.

"Rest."

Kate gets started on a pot of fresh macaroni as soon as she's back in the kitchen, and the dogs wind around her legs for a moment before both trotting upstairs to bug Yelena. She dishes the noodles up into bowls before dumping a generous amount of hot sauce into her friend's macaroni and grabbing two forks from her suspicious silverware.

Yelena is in the same position as when Kate left her, but the box is now clutched tightly to her chest and her eyes are closed. Kate sits carefully on the edge of the bed and puts the bowls on her nightstand, hesitantly resting a hand on the assassin's shoulder. Something she has noticed in the past few days is that Yelena runs warm, and the heat coming off of her now is like a cozy furnace.

God, I want to cuddle her so bad.

She pushes that thought away and gets back up to her feet when Yelena doesn't stir, but before she can pick her own bowl of macaroni up, a calloused hand wraps around hers.

"Stay, Kate Bishop."

Kate jolts and flushes warm at Yelena's quiet voice, turning to look over her shoulder. The blonde's gaze is burning into her, eyes hooded and brows furrowed as she pouts. Kate can't get her brain to compute her words, so she just nods softly and picks up the bowls and forks and goes around to the other side of her bed.

Yelena sits up and scoots to rest her back against the wall and Kate settles in next to her, handing her bowl of spicy mac-n-cheese over. Her friend takes it with a small, appreciative smile.

They eat together in silence, thighs pressed together, and Yelena says a silent thank you to Kate Bishop for being such an angel.

————

"I think I would like to try this Animal Crossing now, Kate Bishop," Yelena says once her bowl is empty. Kate looks up from her own food, mouth still full. She swallows quickly and almost chokes, but nods excitedly and takes both bowls and forks.

"I'll put these in the sink and grab the Switches." Kate is quick to rinse the dishes and grab the bag from the Nintendo store, and when she gets back up to her room, Yelena is sprawled out on her back to stare at the ceiling.

"I don't know if you're gonna wanna take a nap, Yelena. Animal Crossing awaits," she jokes, digging through the bag to pull out the OLED's and Animal Crossing chips. Yelena only hums in response, but props herself up on her elbows.

"I always wanted a game console of some sort when I was little," Yelena mutters, accepting the Switch that Kate hands to her. "My mama and papa would say they might get me one when I turned eight, but I bugged them about it every other week. I didn't make it to eight with them." The assassin pulls the device out of the box and admires it for a moment before looking up at Kate. "Thank you, Kate Bishop. It is nice to feel like small girl again."