That One Time We Kissed // Bishova College AU

Burnin' Up (For You, Baby)

Kate Bishop could not have been more grateful for Spring. Most of the slippery Winter ice melted in the radiant glow of the warming sun, and while winter was her favorite season with its cozy mugs of hot chocolate and delicately gorgeous snow, Spring reminded Kate of Yelena. Yellow and warm and humming with energy, bursting with life and joy.

A few weeks into March, Kate's cast was sawed off, replaced with a walking boot (or as Kate called it, a skating boot). However, her injured limb was still too fragile and unsteady to properly skate, so one weekend she and Peter engineered an extra long board in which they Frankensteined two boards into one long enough for Kate to lay flat on. So for now, with her abomination of a long board, Kate could don her helmet gifted from Yelena as she flew down hills without fear. Well, with a little fear. So much as the squeaking of brakes was enough to make her scatter.

Spring also brought the end of sorority campaign season, culminating in an election that Yelena won handily. Natasha and Kate claimed it was all thanks to their posters, and Yelena let them think so.

As the reigning First Lady of Tri Delta with a brand new longboard and a shiny new walking boot, Kate Bishop felt pretty good about Spring, about the rest of her semester. Someone should really tell her to stop feeling so optimistic every time things go well for a week, because last time she got run over by a VW Beetle and now, as April approached, Yelena came down with the most dreadful illness.

More cranky than usual, the sniffling blonde laid sequestered in her plush bedroom, not even Wanda daring to knock and disturb the girl. All she wanted was Kate, and though her nose ran and her eyes watered, the brunette simply could not resist. When Yelena Belova tells you that she wants you and only you, how could Kate not oblige?

One sunny afternoon, as Kate said her goodbyes to a nasally Yelena on the other end of a phone call, MJ eyed her.

"The missus?" MJ asked, opening the door to the campus bookstore for the both of them.

"Yeah, how could you tell?"

"You were smiling like an idiot. It's disgusting."

"Like how Pete does with you?"

"Also disgusting."

"Disgusting, eh?" Kate smirked. "Is that why you're getting him a new journal, even though he hasn't asked?"

MJ shoved Kate lightly, hand scratching the back of her neck. "Yeah. He gets so caught up in his schematics and doodles that he never notices he's running out of paper. Someone's gotta keep him supplied."

"It's cute. And hey, I'm not one to talk. I'm here to get some cough drops for Yelena."

  "Guess we're both whipped." MJ's lips tightened. "So Yelena, huh? How's that going?"

"Going well, still. Even though you ask me that every other day."

MJ perused the selection of moleskin journals, long fingers brushing over covers. "Just gotta keep tabs."

"On?"

"Her."

"MJ..."

"What?"

"She's fine. We're fine. We've been back together for like, almost four months. I think you could call that steady."

"I believe you. I trust you, Kate. Her, on the other hand..."

"I trust her, isn't that enough?"

"That's what scares me," MJ confessed, closing the cover of a journal. "You trusted her before, didn't you?"

Kate nodded without hesitation. "Of course."

"And you don't regret it?"

"Not for a second."