till forever falls apart

the lost 24

i felt like being generous today 🤷‍♀️

"Kate Bishop," Yelena's voice wormed Kate out of her dreams, and when she opened her eyes, she could feel the excitement radiating off of her.

"It's so early," Kate whined, burying her face back in her pillows. "Why are you up?"

"It's nine o'clock, Kate Bishop," Yelena replied, moving the covers off of her, "Now, come! I have something to show you!"

Kate sighed, reluctantly getting out of bed and smiling when Lucky tries to lead her downstairs.

She didn't know what she was expecting when she went downstairs, but it surely wasn't purple streamers and a happy birthday banner hung off of the balcony and pancakes with a candle on them.

"Happy birthday!" Yelena grinned, almost buzzing with excitement, "I have a cake, but we can't eat cake for breakfast. Far too impractical. And the pancakes are from the place around the corner that you love and I got the purple streamers because... you know."

She waved her hand at Kate, emphasizing the fact that Kate's in purple PJ pants before taking one of Kate's hands and leading her to sit. It was a notable difference from three months prior when Yelena was trying to get information out of her.

"This is so sweet," Kate said softly, not letting go of Yelena's hand, "Thank you."

"No big deal," Yelena replied, brushing the compliment off, "I just thought... when you were telling me about your birthday, I should do something special."

Kate's heart warmed at that and Yelena lit the candle on top of the pancakes, "I remember dreading my birthday when I was in the Red Room, so... to new traditions, as you like to say. Happy birthday, Kate Bishop."

-

Yelena isn't the first one to wish Kate a happy birthday this year.

Last year she was, and Kate attributes that to the fact that Yelena lived with her and always hung on to her words, but this Yelena - the one with cancer and on chemotherapy - has a much harder time with that.

She's been exhausted from this round, and Kate knows it's only going to get worse as she gets more treatments. She can also tell that Yelena's doing everything in her power to distract herself from the fact that she doesn't have hair anymore.

Either way, the first one to wish Kate a happy birthday is Clint.

His call wakes her up from her sleep, and she quickly leaves the bed as to not disturb Yelena as well.

"Happy birthday, Hawkeye."

"Thanks," Kate curbs a yawn with the back of her hand, "Why so early, though?"

"Didn't want to forget," Clint replies, "do you have any plans? It's your 24th, that's a good number."

Kate sighs, "No, no plans."

"Well, I know things are limited this year," Clint says, "but I think you should do a little something. It's your day."

"Clint, I don't need to do something," Kate reassures him, "My birthday isn't that big of a deal. Besides, Yelena's still exhausted from her chemo and Peter's leaving tomorrow. And 25's the one to be excited about, anyway, not 24."

"Okay, kid," Clint responds, "if you need anything, call me, alright? I know that we're coming to visit in two weeks, but I'm always around if you need something."

"I know," Kate picks at a loose thread on her shirt, "Thanks, Clint."

"Of course," Clint sounds a little happier now, "Happy birthday again, Hawkeye."