It's night fall when Kate comes staggering into the apartment, carrying the load of a precarious days work on her shoulders. Yelena is lying across the couch but sits up when she hears her roommate moving toward her. The exhausted rookie collapses onto the couch between their two comfy dogs. She reaches into her coat to retrieve a plastic bag from her pocket and tosses it to the unsuspecting blond.
"What is this?" Yelena asks.
"Real mac and cheese, according to Grills," Kate says. "He bought some to the station pot luck once and I asked if he could make some for you. He just got around to it."
"Yeessss," Yelena moans with a guttural excitement. "I knew I liked that guy," she adds, before digging into the bag and pulling out her food. She fans the pasta with her hands, allowing the fragrance to waft upward into her nostrils. "I need a fork," she says. Kate's face is buried in the throw pillow by now, but that doesn't keep her from getting up to retrieve the needed utensil.
She passes the fork to the hungry Russian and plops back onto the couch. "Out of the blue, he asks if me and you are together," Kate tells her.
"We are together, all the time," Yelena says, dryly.
"I think he means in a more intimate fashion," Kate says.
"I know," Yelena says; while she munches down on her dinner. Staring down into her dish she asks, "what did you say to him?"
"Told him we are friends of course, and that's just how we like it."
The pensive assassin stares up from her food, "Did you inform him that I'm not built that way?" she asks, making direct eye contact with Kate.
"I would never do that, it's not my place," Kate says, softly.
"It's no big deal really, you can tell him. You can tell who ever, I'm very comfortable with myself." The blonde goes back to focusing on her meal. "There's pizza on the table by the way,"she adds.
"Seriously- you could have told me sooner," Kate says. She rushes to the kitchen then returns to the couch with a piece of pizza. The greasy slice is dangling from one hand and she uses the other as a drip tray.
Yelena glares, gestures to the couch, then back up at the drippy slice. Kate rolls her eyes but darts back to the kitchen and returns with a plate. "Thank you-" Yelena says, before refocusing on her own meal. "So can I ask?" she says, "you bring up this thing with Grills, why?"
The usually brash brunette doesn't look at her friend who's laser focused on her. Instead, Kate concentrates on the television, she shrugs, "Because we were talking about him and that tidbit came to mind," Kate says, "you know, just trying to share my day."
Yelena nods in acceptance before placing her attention on the television as well, "And that's the only reason?" she asks.
Kate looks up from her pizza with a half smile, "Yeah pretty much," she replies, staring at the glaring light coming off the side of her friends milky skin.
Awakened by a loud explosion, Yelena is rattled as she jolts up on the couch. She breaths a sigh of relief when she realizes it was just the action movie they left playing. Through groggy vision she notices Kate's head parked on her chest. The brunette's arm has a stronghold around her waist, and the compact assassin is confined to her position on the sofa. Her arms flail trying to find a suitable position on her friend's body.
She settles one arm at the end of the couch cushion and places the other around Kate's body, careful not to wake her exhausted roommate. She uses the remote to silence the movie, then relaxes back into the cushions. Her eyes fixate on the contours of Kate's high cheekbones, then finds herself gently brushing the lengthy locks away from her friend's face. After tucking the strands behind Kate's ear, she settles there, caressing the brunette's earlobe between her fingers. A tranquilizing experience as she begins to doze off.
The sound of her phone vibrating off the glass coffee table rejuvenates her senses. Yelena snatches the phone from the table and buries it into her chest, but it's too late. The slumbering archer wakes and signals her permission for the agitated blonde to answer. Yelena's soft bearing changes the instant she looks at the phone. She edges Kate from atop of her, and plants her feet squarely on the floor before answering. "Yes..." she says.
Kate tosses her head backwards before shooting up from the sofa to start cleaning. There's a consecutive string of affirming words leaving Yelena's mouth, but also a look of dissent in her eyes. Kate circles back from the kitchen and Yelena grabs hold of her hand. "I'm sorry," she mouths. Kate gives a nonchalant shrug then continues clearing the living room.
Yelena hangs up, "I have to go," she says.
"Naturally," Kate says.
"Kate- please," Yelena groans, a haze of exhaustion in her tone.
"She always manages to call when we make plans on my day off," Kate complains, "it's a pattern is all I'm saying."
"So what, you want me to say, no?" Yelena asks, "say sorry, I have plans with Kate Bishop," she says, struggling to slip on her boots.
Kate leans on the kitchen island, "You could just retire from the life. You know, cash out the assassin 401k and move on," she says.
"Not having this conversation again," Yelena says, rising from the sofa.
"I don't see how you can trust Valentina after she sent you to kill Clint," Kate argues.
"I knew you were still mad about that," Yelena says. She starts toward the door, but suddenly makes a detour in Kate's direction. The parting blonde leans her rosy cheek toward the archer, then pats the side of her face.
"At the most she purposely sent you to kill an innocent man, at the least, she was too incompetent to check her information," Kate says; giving no attention to her friend's lingering cheek.
Yelena concedes and kisses Kate on the lips in lieu of receiving her own peck, then heads toward the door. "See you soon," she says, before slipping out the apartment.