Chapter 2
After a good half hour of Yelena toddling after her, tugging on her sleeve and repeated cries of ‘mama’ ‘mama’ ‘mama’, Melina finally relented and frowned down at her youngest.
“Can we go to the park today, please?” She asked, sweet as honey. Melina sent a questioning glance over to Natasha, sat at the dinner table playing some game cube or whatever their father had spent his money on despite Melina’s arguments. The blue haired girl just shrugged, going back to the game.
“Елена, I thought you didn’t like going to the park.”
“I don’t.” She said simply, grip tightening on Melina’s sleeve. “But I want to see if that weird girl who likes bugs will be there today.”
Alexei snorted at the description, sobering when Melina sent him a harsh glare. He cleared his throat.
“That is not a nice way to talk about someone, Светляк.” Yelena pouted a moment before tugging at her Mama’s sleeve once more.
“Can we, Mama? Please, please, please, please, please, please, please-“
“Yes, yes you can.” Melina cut in, rubbing at her forehead. “Natasha, take your sister to the park, make sure you are both home before dinner.”
“What?” Natasha lowered the screen she held, looking over in disbelief. “Why do I have to take her? Can’t you do it?”
“No, Наташа, your father and I need to discuss something very important. Just take your sister to the park or you can go upstairs to your room.”
Nat let out a loud, overdramatic groan, placing her game-Pokeman-box on the table before sliding out of her chair.
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“- And then I told her that she was a crybaby and then she said she wasn’t but then I said she was and then this lady came up to us and she was being mean to her,” Yelena explained, without even taking a breath.
Nat merely kicked the pebble she’d been kicking the whole walk over. She was trying to make it a sphere, like she learned in science class.
“- She was saying that she did piano lessons and I was thinking ‘what? Piano?’ And then guess what? She grabbed her wrist like this,” Yelena mimed grabbing her own wrist harshly, making sure Nat was watching. “And I could tell it hurt because her skin went inwards like this, and then she took her back home to her Mama.”
“Really?” Natasha asked, unenthused.
“Really. And then-“
“So what was her name?” Yelena pouted for a moment at being interrupted before continuing.
“Kate Bishop.”
“Is she here yet?” Yelena scanned the playground, observing every child on the slide, swings, the kids playing jump rope. Nothing.
“No.” The blonde frowned, half-wondering if Kate had just been making fun of her and how she didn’t really want her help. It served her right for getting her hopes up, none of the kids ever really wanted to play with her.
“Well,” Natasha sighed, watching her younger sister’s crestfallen expression with sympathy. “What does she look like?”
“She has dark hair and she has blue eyes but not too blue like the ocean but light blue like the sky and she wore a dress that looked like a big person’s dress but it was little like her,” Yelena listed off quickly. “And-“
“Is that her?” Natasha pointed away from the playground, a little further from the concrete playground where a girl with dark hair sat kneeling down on the nearby grass.
Her fingers picked at the little blades of grass and there was a large mason jar sat next to her as she inspected a the inside of a hollowed log in front of her.
“Yeah! Thanks Natty, bye.” Yelena sent Nat a quick wave over her shoulder, hurriedly running over to where Kate sat, excitement filling her.
The older sibling rolled her eyes at being tossed aside before turning. Hopefully, she could head to Clint’s house nearby so she could play her games there.
Meanwhile, Kate was immersed in her discoveries. She had already found two whole bugs!
After lots and lots of convincing, Miss Sosa allowed her to take one of the books about bugs species from the grand library room with her and she even managed to sneak a big jar from the kitchens into her backpack while Miss Sosa wasn’t looking.
She’d found an ‘Argentine ant’ and a ‘Tetramorium immigrans’. Kate didn’t know how to say those big words yet so she just called them ‘Armand’ and ‘Armand’, after some funny twins she’d met at one of her mom’s parties with the same name. They were both real short, so it made extra sense.
When she got back home maybe she could even ask Miss Dawson how to say the words and she would tell her, because Miss Dawson was nice. She could even show her them in the jar and Miss Dawson would be so impressed she’d probably get one of the nice candies from her purse.
The sound of pounding footsteps thudding against the grass broke Kate from her concentration. She turned away from her book and was faced with the sad blonde she’d met the other day. Kate felt her heart swell, a grin growing on her face.
She sat up on her knees, waving her hand frantically in the air to get her attention.
“Hey, ‘Lena! ‘Lena over here! It’s me, Kate!”
As she approached, Yelena slowed to a walk before falling to her knees on the ground next to Kate. The pair grinned at each other for a minute.
“I know who you are, глупый, I can see you.” The blonde jabbed playfully, laughing. Kate didn’t know what that word meant, but she giggled along with her friend.
“Look, look! You wanna see these cool ants I found?”
Yelena let out a loud groan at that, flopping backwards to lay on her back on the grass, arms spread wide. “No more bugs. They’re gross.”
Kate frowned at that, staring at her jar with Armand the First and the Second crawling around. She had taken the time to lay some grass, branches and even some pretty flowers in there so they would have a nice pretty house. Kate found it hard to understand why Yelena thought something so cool was gross.
Hell, she’d even sacrificed one of the apple slices mommy had packed her so they wouldn’t be hungry. If she was lucky, maybe she’d even get to see them eat it.
Kate finally deigned not to argue after careful consideration. She’d been down this road before and it hadn’t ended well.
“Fine.” She huffed brattily, cheeks puffing out with the harsh breath. “What do you want to do?”
“Hmm,” Yelena’s hand raised to rub thoughtfully at her chin. “I don’t know.” It flopped back down with a soft thud.
“Well then, you have to help me find another Mr. Berney.” Before Yelena could protest, Kate rushed to explain. “You killed Mr. Berney number one and you said you’d help me yesterday so you have to. It’s the law.”
Yelena wasn’t one to argue with the law and she didn’t have any better ideas, so she pushed herself up to a seated position and shuffled over to where Kate sat in front of the hollowed log.
“Now what?” She asked. The resident bug expert picked up her comically large encyclopaedia of bugs and dropped it between them with a loud thud.
“We need to look for one of these,” Kate pointed to the picture of a mantis, poised on a branch with its arms raised. “In there.” She pointed to the inside of the hollowed log.
“Eww,” The blonde wrinkled her nose, “I don’t wanna put my hand in there.”
“You have to, otherwise we won’t be able to find a mantis reli- relig- ‘religiosa’.” Kate was quite proud of her pronunciation, knowing her lessons had been paying off.
“Then you do it first.”
“No,” Kate drawled, levelling Yelena with a skeptical look. “You’re just tricking me. You’re going to make me do it and then you’re not going to.”
“I am, promise.” Yelena lied, her free hand snuck behind her back to cross her fingers.
A staring match ensued between the two girls, Kate’s eyes narrowing at Yelena’s innocent expression.
“Okay.” She shrugged, unceremoniously reaching inside the log from the opening in the centre.
“Eww, what does it feel like?” Yelena’s eyes sparkled with morbid excitement, leaning forward to watch Kate rummage around inside the dark opening. She didn’t like bugs, but gross stuff always piqued her curiosity.
“It’s, kinda wet. And sticky too.” Kate grimaced, hand rummaging around while her face eagerly peeked inside. “There’s definitely gonna be lots of cool bugs in here.”
While Kate rummaging, Yelena occupied herself with looking through the big book of bugs. ‘Eww’ing and ‘blegh’ing at all the gross close ups and descriptions. Suddenly, little voices called from the other end of the park and the two perked up.
“Hi Kate!” A little girl called from inside the playground, she had a friend with her who waved exaggeratedly.
Yelena felt her insides twist a little, jealousy filling her at Kate’s ability to make friends. Jealousy at the stupid girls trying to steal her new friend and she felt upset once more that she seemed to be the only child who couldn’t manage to get along with anyone.
The blonde stole a glance at Kate, expecting her to be waving back but she looked uncomfortable, shifting back and forth for a moment. She offered them a small polite smile, practiced and perfected, before going back to rummaging.
Curiously filled Yelena as she wondered why Kate reacted like that. The girls didn’t seem to notice anything, merely skipping along to go about their day. Were they not Kate’s friends?
“Are they being mean to you?” Yelena asked, frowning. Kate just shook her head, looking down at the hole.
“No, they’re not mean. They just don’t wanna be friends with me.”
“What do you mean? They were saying hello to you just now.”
Kate shook her head again, focusing on her task. For a second, Yelena thought that was all the talkative girl was going to say on the matter before she continued.
“They wanna be my friend but it’s because their mommies told them to. And their mommies wanna be friends with my mommy, so they want us guys to be friends too so they can go on play dates.” Kate explained solemnly, “I heard them talking about it before. They don’t really wanna be friends with me.”
Yelena frowned down at the book, eyes flitting between the words, though she wasn’t really reading them. The idea that Kate had people who wanted to be friends with her, but she turned them down was completely absurd to Yelena. She wished she had people who wanted to be her friend.
“And before,” Kate hurried to continue, as if she feared being cut off, “We were playing and they only ever played their games and whenever I wanted to go find some bugs to play with they would be mean to me and call me weird.”
“You are weird.” Yelena snarked, “Nobody wants to play with bugs.”
“I do.” Kate sent Yelena the harshest glare she could muster, the blonde only responding by blowing her a raspberry.
That sent them both into a fit of giggles, the silly noise proving too much for the girls to handle.
After a few silent seconds, Yelena let herself lay back on the grass once more, folding her arms over her stomach while she looked at the clouds and tried to find shapes in them.
“Are you my friend really?” Kate asked quietly, almost whispering. Yelena glanced over only for Kate to quickly look away and focus back on the log.
“Yeah.” She said after a pause. Both girls wore matching smiles at that. “Are you mine?”
“Yes.” Kate replied quickly, grinning down at Yelena. “You wanna see something cool?”
“What?”
“This!” Kate abruptly pulled her hand from the log, revealing a plethora of ants and spiders crawling over it. Sticky bits of tree sap, moss and dirt clung to her palm and fingertips, while the insects weaved in between her fingers, some sneaking down into her dirtied, muddied sleeve.
Yelena’s eyes widened and she let out a loud shriek. She scrambled to her feet and ran as fast as she could. Kate openly cackled at her reaction, quickly getting to her feet and chasing after her with reckless abandon.
“Stop! Stop! Leave me alone!”
“Muahaha! Admit they’re cool! Admit it!”
“Never!”
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As soon as the door swung open, Yelena was swooped up in a large bear hug. Papa grinned at her giggles, spinning her in a circle while peppering her with kisses.
“Papa no!” She laughed, pushing weakly at his face as he blew a big raspberry on her tummy.
“But I am so excited to see you my little Светляк. Your sister is staying upstairs playing her game so I have been so lonely, I just wanted to say hello!”
Gently putting down the young girl, Alexei extended his hand and playfully and gave hers a shake. “Hello, Светляк.”
“Hello Papa.” Yelena continued to snicker. This was so silly, of course Papa didn’t need to shake her hand!
“Hello Mr. Belova.” Alexei would never admit he jumped at the little voice, but there was no other name for it. Hand on his chest, he looked down at the little girl stood behind Yelena.
“Hello, little one.” His voice had a lilt of question to the end of it. “Are you lost?”
“No, Papa. This is Kate, the bug girl.” Yelena sighed in exasperation at having to explain something so obvious. “Her mommy said she can have a sleepover.”
“And if you say no then I have to use your phone and call her and I know her number off by heart, you wanna hear?” Kate added helpfully.
“Uhh,” Alexei suddenly wished Melina had answered the door like she’d said she would. “No, no, it’s fine, little one. Come in, come in.”
The huge, burly man opened the door wider, squeezing himself against the door so the two girls could get inside. Kate regarded him with wonder as she walked past, hand in hand with Yelena. She had never seen a man that big before.
“Алексей, call Наташа from her room, the food is ready!” Came a strong, feminine voice from further inside. As the pair rounded the corner, they were met with Melina stirring up a big pot of spaghetti, sleeves rolled to her elbows. “And Елена, hurry inside and close the door, you’ll get sick!”
“I already did.” Yelena huffed, dragging Kate along to the dinner table since the girl seemed stuck in place, looking around the house with eyes wide as saucers.
She’d never seen a home like this before. Usually the ceilings were much higher and there was far less colour, the tables were usually much bigger and the kitchens were a seperate room, rather than being a part of the dining area. It was as if she’d stumbled into one of the houses she’d seen on TV.
Yelena pulled out one of the chairs, then another, hand never leaving Kate’s. “You sit there and I’ll sit here, okay?”
Kate nodded, hopping up on her assigned seat. Her chin barely reached the top of the table, and her feet hung limply off the chair so she could kick her legs.
Thudding came from the ceiling, than stomping on the stairs, Kate following the loud noises with her head, watching as a blue haired girl who seemed much older than her and Yelena descended upon the table, pulling herself onto a chair opposite Yelena.
She took a moment to huff, glaring at her Papa who held the game-box-cube in his grip, putting it in the cupboard above the sink. She then turned, blinking a moment as she took in the little girl on her Mama’s usual chair.
“Мама знает, что она здесь?” (Does Mama know she’s here?) The girl leaned back in her chair, tilting up her chin at Yelena with an amused smirk.
The blonde merely shook her head, looking down at the placemat inconspicuously. Natasha snickered at that.
“Она тебе нравится?” (Do you like her?) She drawled, motioning to Kate with her head.
“Очевидно, она моя подруга, глупая.” (Obviously, she’s my friend, stupid.) Yelena rolled her eyes at the obvious question, crossing her arms.
“Я не это имею в виду. она твоя девушка?” (I know that. Is she your girlfriend?) Nat asked, though she didn’t wait for Yelena to respond. She laughed at the blush on Yelena’s cheeks, wrapping her arms around herself and making exaggerated kissy noises.
What she said, Kate didn’t know. She just watched the interaction with a tilted head and a small polite smile when Yelena suddenly started to shout, lunging across the table.
Alexei quickly approached, tugging Yelena back to her seat and placing a kiss to her forehead, speaking loudly to hear himself over them. It wasn’t long until Melina joined in, hushing them while clanging around pots and pans in the kitchen.
Even without understanding what they were saying, Kate found herself smiling at the antics. Her dinners were usually much quieter and much lonelier. Just her in the dining room by herself, when mommy had to work - which was quite often. -
After a good few minutes of Russian chaos, Melina finally approached the table, placing the steaming pot of spaghetti down on the table. She carried a wooden spoon which she used to bang on the side of the dish to quiet the rowdy family.
Her mouth opened to speak, eyes surveying the table before she paused, glancing back over to her usual seat where a small girl sat, kicking her legs innocently with a smile as she waited for Melina to talk. Perfectly natural.
“Alexei, who is that?” She asked calmly.
Her idiot husband remained unaware of the danger he was in, pulling the pot towards him to begin putting spaghetti onto his and Natasha’s plate.
“Yelena’s friend.” He replied after a mouthful of spaghetti filled his maw.
Kate giggled at that, both hands covering her mouth. Everyone knew you weren’t supposed to talk with your mouth full. If Misses Margaret, her etiquette teacher, were here, she would be furious.
“Okay,” Melina finally sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. She then turned to Kate. “Does your Mama know you are here, little one?”
Kate turned to Yelena, who nodded her head exaggeratedly. Kate mimicked the movement.
“Yes.” She said firmly, before realisation struck and her eyes filled with fear. “Why? Are you going to tell her? Oh, please don’t tell her I’ll be in such big trouble-“
Yelena slapped a palm over her face.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Alexei’s eyes flitted to Yelena’s with a disapproving look, “Светляк, you told me her Mama said yes?”
“She did.” Yelena mumbled, foot kicking at nothing. “She just thinks Kate is at a different girl’s house for a sleepover.”
“But I still know my mommy’s number, you wanna hear?” Kate cut in, eyes hopeful.
“Actually, yes, I do.” Melina responded, moving to the landline on the wall.
“Okay. It’s 518-“
Yelena slapped a hand over Kate’s mouth, hand tracing a zipper across her own before she locked it and threw away the key. Kate let out a muffled ‘ohhh’ before nodding her head in understanding.
Natasha was snickering from her end of the table, happily eating her food while watching as the golden child dug herself into a hole.
“Please let her stay? Please, please, please? She really wants to.”
“Mmhmm, and I’ll be so good too.” Kate pried Yelena’s hand from her mouth, pleading gaze falling to Alexei’s. “You won’t even know I’m here, I’ll be so quiet and I won’t make any noise and I’ll clean up all my messes. Please?”
“Why are you looking at me, child?” Alexei felt his forehead began to sweat as Yelena’s own puppy dog eyes fell on her Papa. She smelt the blood of her father’s weakness in the water. “Look at your Mama, it’s her choice.”
“Please, Papa? Pleaseeee?”
Alexei’s eyes flickered between the two young girls’ adorable faces and the stern glare from his wife. He reached for a nearby napkin and dabbed at his forehead, there was no good option for him to pick.
“Why don’t we let her stay, милый?” He finally relented. Both girls cheered loudly as Melina rolled her eyes and left the phone on the charger. Natasha’s brows furrowed and she began to shout about ‘favouritism’ and ‘if I ever did that’.
The chaos continued all throughout the dinner, the evening and for the rest of the day till morning and Kate found herself enjoying it much more than she thought.