Archive of Our Own ^beta

December 1st

Manhattan, New York

On a rather warm winter day, Kate Bishop stood in the middle of her bedroom looking at herself in the full length mirror that stood in the corner. She had just put on the uniform for her new job and was frowning immensely. 

She looked like Peter Pan fucked a candy cane. 

She had on white and red striped tights, a long-sleeved green dress with a red collar that looked like a poinsettia, little bells on each tip that jingled when she moved, with a matching red edging on the edge of the sleeves and bottom of the skirt that was so short it barely covered her ass. The cherry on top was a fuzzy green hat with an equally fuzzy white ball on the end. A hat that kept falling off her head.

“I look ridiculous,” Kate groaned aloud. 

Money, think of the money she said to herself. 

Kate had recently graduated college but with looming school loans she’d have to start paying and no job, she’d resigned herself to broadening her employment options.

She was desperate. So when her friend Kamala Khan said ‘My work is desperately hiring! Fill out this application and I’ll turn it in for you’, Kate didn’t even pause to think about it, and crossed her fingers the manager didn’t know her name and she’d get hired. What Kamala actually meant though was ‘come die slowly with me and dress up as one of Santa’s Elves at a mall in New York to get harassed by screaming children!’ during the busiest time of the entire year.

Kate tried pulling down the skirt again in the back but it just slid back up, right below her butt cheeks. At least the tights were thick.

Just then, her cell phone rang and she walked over to answer it.

“Hey Kate! How’s it look?” Kamala Khan, a close friend and Young Avengers recruiter half-yelled over the phone. She was clearly outside somewhere.

“I want to kill myself,” Kate said bluntly.

Kamala giggled over the phone, “Don’t be dramatic, Kate. You probably look adorable, just like Cass and I. Plus, think of the money!”

“I am thinking of the money. It’s not worth it!” Kate whined. She shifted the hat on her head that wouldn’t stay put. “Any kid under the age of ten is going to get a front row view of my asscheeks Kamala. And how do you get this thing to stay on?” She grumbled half to herself as she fiddled with the hat again.

“You gotta use bobby pins. Cassie always has extra or we can run to Claire’s on break,” Kamala explained, assuming correctly what Kate was complaining about after she stopped laughing. 

Kate just sighed. “Yeah, alright.”

“When does Yelena get back?” Kamala asked, referring to Kate's girlfriend who was off on a work assignment for the past month.

Kate gathered her backpack and keys, shoving her ugly green elf shoes, complete with a bell on the curled tip, in the bag and putting her winter boots on, “Not until next week. She’s going to make so much fun of me…”

“Ehh, it’ll be fine. She’ll love it. Doesn’t she love Christmas?” Kamala asked. 

“She just likes the fake aspect of the reindeer and elves and shit. I don’t know if she actually cares about real Christmas or not,” Kate answered as she threw on her winter coat, locked her apartment door and headed out the door and into the brisk New York weather. 

“Well,” Kamala said, “She likes your asscheeks. So there’s that at least.”

Kate couldn’t help but laugh, “Yeah. Yeah she does,” she said, her thoughts turning R-rated.

“And with that, I will see you in an hour, Bishop,” Kamala squeaked and the call ended.

Resigned to her fate, Kate begrudgingly made her way to the subway. Her orientation started in an hour for her first official shift and she already couldn’t wait for Christmas to be over.

*****

December 7th

An official week had gone by and Kate Bishop had decided that her initial thought of her new job being the literal worst decision in history had been absolutely, positively, 100% accurate. 

In only a week Kate had been spit on, bit, yelled at and berated by parents, children and her boss, teased, and had been the target of multiple objects of both food and toys. Trying to keep the magic of the season alive was not worth minimum wage but it was better than nothing, which was where Kate’s other job aspects still remained.

Ever since her mom was sent to prison for fraud, embezzlement and murder, the family business had fallen to shambles and her name was blacklisted across multiple well known security businesses and other high-end companies. While her rising credit card debt and lowering job aspects were a real concern, so was being abused by literal children.

Alas, Kate decided to keep the job. She needed something on her resume besides a part-time secretary gig at her mom’s company that she was given without even applying. It was nice to work with some of her friends and it was only for the rest of the month anyway. She’d be back to job-hunting come the first of the year, so might as well get her bills paid for the next 30 days. Plus, maybe she could get a few Christmas presents for Clint, Laura, the kids and Yelena.

Speaking of the blonde, she was supposed to have arrived back in New York earlier that day but Kate hadn’t heard a peep from her. The texts she’d sent that morning had all gone unanswered and Kate sadly had had to leave for another brutal shift at the mall.

Just as the brunette closed and locked the front door of her apartment later that night, exhausted and hungry after a long day, she heard her window in the loft area unlatch.

And immediately a loud and obnoxious cackle filled the apartment. 

Kate groaned, head held back in defeat.

“Kate Bishop! What is this? Is this a sex thing?” Yelena said in regards to the outfit Kate still wore, her voice filled with mirth. Her cackles did not stop.

“No! It’s not a sex thing Yelena! It’s a work thing!” Kate answered with a glare.

“Well it looks like a sex thing. Did you get a job at a….club?” the blonde, clearly not being serious. “Or maybe you are applying at the North Pole?”

“No!” Kate said hotly then shifted to pouting, “It’s–ugh. I got a job at the mall. How come you didn’t respond to me earlier? I thought you were gonna be back this morning.”

Yelena hopped down from the windowsill, closed the window and met the brunette at the bottom of the stairs so that they were almost eye-level, the blonde an inch taller with the step height. “My phone died. The charging ports at the airport were all broken and the flight was delayed a few hours. I’m sorry detka,” Her eyes sparkled in jest as she took in Kate’s outfit and hat.

The two women met each other with a long kiss. Kate’s arms wound around the blonde’s strong shoulders as the kisses she gave the blonde moved to her jaw then neck. Yelena hummed and hugged Kate around the middle. The two stood there a few minutes and relaxed into the now-hug.

“Missed you,” Kate whispered.

“I missed you too,” Yelena whispered back, pressing a kiss to Kate’s temple. Then she sniffed, “You smell like peppermint.”

“It’s the candy canes we pass out,” Kate answered, unwilling to let Yelena go yet.

“Pass out to who?” Yelena asked. Kate could feel the smile on Yelena’s face against her head.

“Spawns of Satan,” Kate said darkly, which had Yelena snickering again.

“Care to share what you actually mean? And why you are really dressed like that? If it is indeed not a sex thing like you say,” Yelena asked. She tugged on the back of Kate’s hat, making the ball at the end boing up and down. The bobby pins Cassie always lent to Kate did their job and the hat remained firmly on Kate’s head.

“Yeah. Can we shower though? I feel gross,” Kate asked as she finally pulled away from the warmth of the blonde and followed her up the steps.

The blonde acquiesced and led them to the bathroom, “Of course. Shower, talk, and sleep. It has been a long day for us both it seems.”

“And food. I’m so hungry,” Kate said with a pout.

“And food Kate Bishop. Of course,” Yelena responded as she turned the bathroom light on.

Kate told Yelena all about her new job while they took turns attempting to wash each other while more or less making out. Their relationship status had only recently changed from friends to girlfriends and Kate couldn't get enough of Yelena's kisses. She didn’t want to explain why she needed the mall job and thankfully Yelena didn’t ask. Whether she didn’t care or didn’t understand bills and debt and how minimum wage jobs worked, who knew. Kate wasn’t sure what Yelena would do if she found out the brunette was in debt up to her eyeballs and was basically unemployable thanks to her mother’s actions. 

Fortunately the conversation was dropped quickly when the water started to get cold and they had to rush to finish. Kate briefly asked Yelena how her job in Moscow went, to which the blonde only answered with “Successful,” and left it at that.

Yelena heated up some leftover pasta for a late dinner and then they fell asleep cozy and warm in Kate’s bed. Kate couldn’t keep the smile off her face once she was curled up against Yelena for the first time in weeks. 

*****

December 8th

Kate finally had a day off work since her first day and Yelena was also free for the day. She just needed to run over to Sonya’s place to grab Fanny, her akita. The fellow widow had kindly offered to watch the dog while Yelena was away. She lived a little further out of the hustle and bustle of the city and had a very small yard for the dog to use. Kate offered to care for the dog and also offered to have Fanny housed at Clint’s, where her golden retriever Lucky currently resided but Yelena refused, not wanting Fanny anywhere near the retired archer unless she was there to supervise the whole time. Sonya’s place only beat Kate’s offer to watch her because of the yard access.

It’d been a very awkward year since the whole Yelena-trying-to-kill-Clint, Yelena's sisters best friend and Kate's teacher and father figure, thing last Christmas

But they were…amicable now. Sort of.

They’d seen each other a few times in passing. When Clint came up to help Kate make more trick arrows, or if Clint, Laura and the kids were in town and came by the apartment. It was always awkward and always short-lived. Clint would say hi. Yelena would say hi. Yelena would soon make a poor excuse of needing to leave. Then Kate wouldn’t see her again until Clint was gone.

When the bills started piling up a few months ago, Kate asked Clint if he could keep Lucky with him temporarily. She knew having a dog in a 1-bedroom apartment in Manhattan was hard enough, but she was worried she didn’t have the money to care for him properly either. She didn’t tell Clint the second part though. Kate knew the kids adored Lucky though, so the retired archer happily accepted babysitting duties for the foreseeable future of the happy-go-lucky pup. When Kate said she’d send money or have the dog’s food delivered, Clint flat-out refused and said he’d take care of it.

Kate missed her furry boy, but knew he was in good hands at the Barton farm with Clint’s kids to keep him company.

When Yelena returned a few hours later, Fanny in tow, the two women settled down on the couch for a pleasant day of doing absolutely nothing.

“Want to watch a Christmas movie?” Kate asked as they flipped through the different movie and show options on one of the streaming services pulled up. They were cuddled up together, hot mugs of tea cooling on the coffee table in front of them.

“Whatever you pick is good. I have not seen any movies that are for only Christmas, so I will enjoy whatever you pick,” Yelena said as Kate snuggled closer, a thick blanket covering them both and Fanny curled on the other end of the couch.

“What about How the Grinch Stole Christmas? The one with Jim Carrey,” Kate suggested.

“Don’t know what that is, so okay,” Yelena answered. 

“What!?” Kate said, popping up to a sitting position. “You’ve never seen How the Grinch Stole Christmas?”

“...No?” Yelena hesitantly answered.

“What about the cartoon version? The original?” Kate countered.

“You will be very surprised to hear this, but also no,” Yelena said.

The brunette hastily went to the search bar of her smart TV to find the original. “I’m sure it’ll be available somewhere…we gotta watch it! You’ll love it. Seriously. It’s about this evil little green guy who tries to destroy Christmas and ends up saving it, kind of. And he’s got a dog!”

“I do like dogs. But why would he destroy Christmas? Like Krampus?” Yelena asked as Kate let out a squeak of joy when said movie popped up to rent on Amazon Prime.

“Because the whos in Whoville are too bright and cheery for him and they annoy him. All they care about is Christmas cheer so he wants to ruin it for them,” Kate poorly explained.

“Who’s who? Wh…Whoville? What are you even talking about…” Yelena asked.

“Just watch!” she answered, pressing play and cuddling back into the blonde as the beginning song started playing on the TV. 

*****

December 9th

A high-pitched scream followed by an incessant cry pierced Kate Bishop's ears as another toddler was thrust onto the mall Santa’s lap. Kate was in charge of photos today and it was Cassie’s job to try and distract the children and hopefully get them to smile for the photo. Parents were right beside her attempting to do the same.

Kate grimaced as the fake Santa held the child awkwardly for a minute. After a few clicks and a thumbs up from Kate, the parents took the child back and walked away holding a piece of paper with the code to get online later and retrieve their photos.

Kate’s scheduled lunch time was in three minutes and she was most definitely counting down. 

One last set of photos was taken before Kate threw the ‘Closed for Lunch’ sign on her podium and together she, Cassie Lang, another superhero and close friend, and Kamala made their way to the second level of the mall to grab smoothies. They were only allotted 30 minutes and didn’t want to spend half of it standing in line for food they wouldn’t have time to finish eating. At least the drinks they could hide under the podium at the entrance of their work area and finish during the rest of their shift.

The girls sat together on the steps that led down from the 2nd level to the first but were usually used as seats.

“What flavor did you get?” Cassie asked, holding her dark brown and most likely full of chocolate smoothie.

“Acai and avocado with kale,” Kate said, passing her smoothie over for Cassie to taste.

“Oh gosh, no thank you. That sounds quite awful,” Cassie said with a fake smile.

“Suit yourself,” Kate said.

Cassie then swapped with Kamala so they could taste each other’s. The teen must have gotten a much more enticing and fruit-y drink than Kate’s

“How’s Yelena?” Cassie then enquired. Both her and Kamala were absolutely obsessed with the blonde, especially now that Kate and Yelena were officially dating. Yelena on the other hand found both girls incredibly annoying.

Kate sipped her smoothie, “She’s good.”

“Just good?” Kamala asked, leaning around Cassie to join the conversation better.

“Yep, juuuust good.” Kate said.

“You’re no fun Bishop,” Cassie responded with an eye roll.

“I know,” Kate said with a smile. “I did get her to finally watch a Christmas movie though. Her first one according to her!”

“Aww, that's adorable! Which one? Rudolph? The Santa Clause? Oh oh! Don’t tell me you got her to watch some shitty romance Hallmark movie?” Cassie began laughing at herself.

“No, we did not watch a Hallmark movie,” Kate said. She didn’t think Yelena would ever watch any sort of awful romance movie with her, but she’d also never asked so…

“Whatever. I don’t believe you. I think that’s exactly what you guys watched. A very straight, very corny movie about a beautiful girl who’s sent home to save her family’s bed and breakfast in a Minnesota lodge in the middle of winter. Until one snowy night–,”

“Ooooh,” Kamala joined in unhelpfully.

“–she loses power and the big strong man who was her childhood friend and who also happens to be significantly taller than her has to bring her some firewood and blankets and wine,” Cassie continued, her voice lowering, “and keep her warm through the night. And then they get a little too warm, and some of their clothes just happen to–,”

“That’s not even a real movie! You’re just making that up,” Kate said. Cassie was just trying to rile her up. She checked her watch; 15 minutes left of lunch.

“It can be whatever you want it to be if it ended with you and Yelena having sex,” Cassie said with a shrug, causing Kamala to giggle.

Kate didn’t want to even finish the conversation with them after that, nor did she want to confirm or deny if her and Yelena had indeed ended the night prior naked or not. Who slept with pants on anyway?

“Believe what you guys want, but maybe you should obsess over someone else’s relationship. It’s getting old,” Kate said grumpily.

Cassie threw her arm over Kate’s shoulders, “Aww, c’mon Katie. We’re just joking. We really are happy for you two.”

“Yeah!” Kamala said, “Really. It’s not our fault your girlfriend is so hot.”

“Oh my god Kamala,” Kate groaned.

“You’re hot too Kate!” Kamala said, trying to backtrack.

“Kamala!” Kate screeched but quickly shrunk down as a few people nearby turned to look at her.

Cassie squished Kate with a hug then, Kamala getting up to hug Kate on the other side. “We love you Bishop and we love your girlfriend, even if she hates our guts. We’re just teasing.”

Kate sighed, “I know. I guess I’m just extra grumpy. I hate this job… I hate working with kids…I just wish…I dunno. Things just suck right now I guess…”

“But at least we have each other, right?” Kamala asked, her big dark-brown eyes shining with sincerity. “This job would be awful without you guys.”

“It’s awful even with you guys,” Kate complained with a small smile.

“Yeah. That’s true. But it’s like, slightly less awful?” Kamala countered while holding her thumb and pointer finger apart an inch. Kate smiled and both girls smiled back.

The trio huddled together in an exhausted hug, dreading when their shift would start back up.

“Four more hours, ladies. Just four more hours,” Cassie said wearily.

*****

December 12th 

It was late, well after midnight when Kate came stomping into her apartment and ripped her backpack off her back, chucking it across the room. Fanny walked over to sniff it as she slammed the front door closed a little too hard, rattling the glass items on top of the fridge.

“Kate?” Yelena called from upstairs. She must have woken the blonde. Shit.

“Sorry. Shit. Sorry,” Kate said loudly to Yelena, then again more to herself. She kicked the wall, cursing herself before opening the fridge for something cold and alcoholic to drink. She only had cans of gross IPAs that Cassie had bought and left last time she’d been over. Kate crouched and began to move things around in the fridge in hopes of finding something else but came up empty. Just old pizza, some leftover noodles from two nights ago, a few bottles of water and an assortment of condiments and hot sauces.

She felt Yelena’s arms wind around her from behind, the blonde’s forehead between her neck and shoulder. 

“Bad day?” Yelena asked softly.

Kate scoffed.

“Bad day…bad week…bad everything…” Kate said. Her second paycheck had just come in and she knew as soon as the deposit processed, it would be gone to pay for necessities.

Yelena reached over and pushed the fridge door closed while pulling Kate away and with her.

“Kate Bishop…want to talk about it?” Yelena cooed, voice still a little scratchy from sleep. She led them to the couch and Kate more or less fell into her, absolutely exhausted. 

Kate closed her eyes. “No. Yes. No…”

Yelena began unpinning the green hat off her head and threaded her fingers through Kate’s tangled hair once the offending item was thrown to the floor.

“Just…tired,” Kate eventually said, “I got in trouble today and it’s just so stupid.”

“Trouble? From whom?” Yelena asked, slightly more awake.

“My boss. He said I have to be ‘jollier’. That I can’t have RBF. I guess some parents or kids complained about me or whatever…I dunno.” Kate trailed off, exhaling deeply and trying not to get upset again.

Yelena continued her brushing of Kate’s hair, “A child’s parent complained about you to your boss? Because you were…what is RPF?”

“RBF. Resting bitch face,” Kate said.

“What…what does that mean?” Yelena asked, highly confused.

“It just means I wasn’t happy and smiling like the good little elf he’s paying me to be apparently. It’s like…it means you aren’t very approachable. Like you had a really rude face or something. I’m really bad at explaining things. I’d google it for you but my phone is dead in my bag. That I threw. Somewhere. I was just super over today. Too many crying kids and Cassie and Kamala worked the earlier shift so I was all alone the last hour of the night and had to clean up by myself,” Kate said, ending in a grumble.

“You Americans and your acronyms. Your boss did not help you clean?” Yelena questioned.

Kate shrugged. “A little but not really. He usually doesn’t anyway. He was chatting most of the time with some bimbo he’s got the hots for who works at a nearby shop. I just wanted to get home and not get yelled at again so I did most of it by myself.”

“You should not be required to do all the work alone, Kate. Just because this man is your boss doesn’t mean he should do less,” Yelena said sternly.

“I know. I know…I just wanted to go though. I won’t let it happen again,” Kate said, even though she was certain that if the situation came up again, she would 100% let it happen again if it meant she was left alone and wouldn’t get micromanaged or yelled at.

“Do you work tomorrow?” Yelena asked. 

“Yeah. 2 to 10,” Kate said.

“Okay. Well, tomorrow is a new day. It will be better,” Yelena responded, kissing the top of Kate’s head and helping her sit up so they could go upstairs. “C’mon sleepy, let us go to bed.”

The warmth of Yelena’s body disappeared and Kate pouted, “When did you turn into Miss Positivity?”

“When the most positive person in the world came home sad and pouty wearing an elf outfit,” said the blonde and booped Kate’s nose.

Kate waved her off. “I’m not pouty,” she said with a very obvious pout.

“Of course not malen’kiy yastreb,” Yelena said. “PJs and bed?”

“Yeah. PJs and bed,” Kate concurred. Sleep sounded wonderful.

Yelena ended up half carrying Kate up the stairs. The brunette selfishly didn’t want the blonde out of her arms any more that night. She’d been keeping the heat low in the house to save on gas money but it meant her apartment was perpetually cold, and after the shitty night at work, the blonde’s presence seemed to be the magic touch in calming and relaxing Kate and making anything better.

When they woke up in the morning, Yelena forced Kate to shower and then wash the bedsheets, complaining that she had a bad dream about killer candy canes because of Kate smelling like peppermint all night. Kate just laughed and did as her girlfriend asked. 

*****

December 13th

Kate was glad that most of her shifts were the same as her two friends. It was miserable when she was working alone. Sure, there were other people there in the same god-awful outfits doing the same job. The only difference was they actually liked their job. They’d give Kate nasty stares when she’d be impatient with a kid or complain about something. She never actually did it where the kid or parents could see or hear her, but had no qualms on if her coworkers could.

They were past the halfway mark until Christmas, and that thought is what kept Kate going through her current shift.

That was, until some kid accidentally, or maybe on purpose, she wasn’t sure, puked on one of her jingly elf shoes. She had to try extremely hard not to also puke just from the smell. The shoes were very thin and Kate swore that some of the liquid was seeping through the fabric and into her sock.

She covered her nose and ditched her spot she was assigned to that day to run to the nearest bathroom.

Fifteen minutes later found her hobbling over holding one very wet shoe that she’d washed and rinsed. Her boss curled his finger to motion for her to come over and she went over to him as slow as possible.

“Last warning Bishop. You can’t ditch your post and you can’t leave messes for others to clean up. Do what I pay you for or I’m writing you up next time,” her boss Jared said. 

“You don’t pay me in the first place, the company does,” Kate scoffed while waving her shoe around in hopes to dry it faster.

Jared snapped his fingers, “Last. Warning.” and walked away.

Kate trudged back over to where she’d been put for the day, towards the entrance of the line and near Kamala. She was still holding her shoe in one hand, the other curled into a tight fist.

“You good, Kate?” Kamala asked.

Someone had already cleaned up the kids mess, probably some poor mall maintenance guy. 

“Yeah, good. Fine. Great. Just dandy,” Kate growled out.

Kamala stared at Kate’s wet shoe. “You…sure dude?”

A large sigh left Kate’s chest, “Yeah. Just ready for the day to be over.”

Kamala clapped Kate on the back of her shoulder, “Almost there, Bishop. We can do it.”

“Halfway there,” Kate parroted.

Then Kate almost tripped and fell on top of Kamala when the girl stopped dead. 

“Dude what the heck?” Kate said, steadying herself on Kamala’s shoulders.

“Oh…my…god…is that…?” Kamala exclaimed while starting to laugh and pointed far off into the distance of a green figure streaking through the crowds of shoppers, knocking people over and tossing their shopping bags everywhere. It was fast, very fast. And running straight at them.

“It’s the Grinch!” someone screamed, and then there were screams everywhere. From happiness to laughter to terror.

Kate and Kamala both stood with their mouths agape and did absolutely nothing to help the chaos that was the line to see Santa. Kids scattered, screamed, cried, and laughed. Parents yelled, threatened, and consoled their little ones. The Grinch, or rather person in a Grinch costume, was bounding in and out of the line, under and over the velvet ropes. It cackled and tossed confetti and glitter in the air, not caring if it was on an angry parent, crying child, or laughing passerby.

Jared was running around chasing the green figure that was now getting in the faces of kids that weren’t actively crying and growling obnoxiously. It was honestly hilarious and Kate and Kamala started laughing. 

When the manager was close enough to the crazy green figure, whoever was in the obnoxious outfit stuck its very furry hands in its pocket and threw what had to be half a pound worth of green confetti and glitter right at the man’s fuming face. Tomato-red couldn’t even describe the color of his cheeks.

The man spluttered and spit, almost tripping backwards. The green figure let out the most ridiculous cackle then pulled out a glittery green grappling hook that they shot high above and propelled up towards the ceiling. It climbed through a hole in one of the glass windows above and disappeared.

Hundreds of people all around were taking pictures and videos with their cellphones, Kamala included. Kate was too stunned to do much else besides stare and try to stop laughing. A giant smile graced her face.

“What the hell just happened?” Kate exclaimed.

“Dude, that was epic,” Kamala half-screamed, “I can’t believe Cassie missed it! I’m texting her.”

After some of the excitement died down and their boss’s face was slightly less red with most of the confetti brushed off, Cassie came bounding up as fast as she could while still walking.

“I picked the worst fucking time to go pee. Show me show me show me!” the brunette screamed and all three giggling girls huddled together to rewatch the video Kamala had captured of the Grinch chucking tiny pieces of paper and plastic at their boss, rewinding it multiple times before they were hollered at to get back to work.

*****

December 14th

Kate had the current Sunday off of work and had decided it was a good day to decorate the apartment. She didn’t have much in terms of Christmas decor, but the few things she did have deserved to be hung or displayed for the short time it was acceptable to do so.

“Do you have a stocking?” Kate asked Yelena, who had just walked in from walking Fanny.

The apartment had a tiny fake tree up in the corner with a few ornaments hung up and a string of rainbow lights wound through it. A few random trinkets Kate had collected throughout the years were put on the TV stand, kitchen table and window sills.

“Stocking? Like a long sock?” Yelena asked, wandering to Kate who was sticking some window decals of snowflakes onto the windows. 

“Mhm. To hang next to mine,” Kate answered, pointing to her stocking hanging on the side of the railing. 

“Oh, you mean for Santa to fill. Nyet, but that is okay, we can share. I do not need my own,” Yelena responded, sitting next to Kate by the tree. The rainbow of the tiny tree lights blinked on and off slowly and helped the chilly apartment feel a little more Christmas-y.

“Are you sure? I mean, we can get you one…” Kate offered, feeling a little bad that she hadn’t asked before just hanging her stuff up and around the apartment. Sure, the blonde had her own place but she rarely stayed there these days. Maybe they should talk about moving in together? Or was it to soon?

“I can just take mine down! I should have asked, I–”

“Kaaate, stop. No. Here, look.” Yelena got up, walked to the junk drawer in the kitchen, pulled out a notepad, pen, and tape. She drew a giant bold ‘Y’ on the note, ripped it off, stuck a piece of tape on it, and then walked over to tape it on the stocking. It had an elegant ‘K’ stitched into the fabric, with a gaudy purple note now taped next to it.

“There. See? We share. Santa will not mind,” Yelena confirmed, leaning over to kiss the top of Kate’s head as she smiled at the renovated stocking.

“Maybe Santa will bring us lube.” Kate said, “You know, because KY? Like the company? Like…”

Yelena cackled evilly. “You are naughty.”

Kate just shrugged, not even trying to hide her smirk.

“You’ll be home for Christmas right?” Kate paused and asked. She hadn’t thought to ask before now, instead just assuming Yelena would be there to celebrate with her. But Yelena did have her parents… Kate supposed she could always go spend the holiday with the Bartons again.

“Yes. I will be here for Santa to visit Kate Bishop,” Yelena confirmed.

“Yay,” Kate did a little happy dance. “Maybe you can make us breakfast that morning? Your special french toast?”

“Whatever my malen’kiyy ptitsa wants, she will get,” Yelena said as she hugged Kate from behind, resting her chin on the top of Kate’s head while she watched her finish decorating the small tree.

Once all the decorations were put out and dinner was ordered, a large pizza to share, the two girls settled onto the couch.

“Want to watch the Jim Carrey Grinch movie tonight?” Kate asked, already flipping to the correct streaming service. Yelena seemed to enjoy the cartoon version very much the other day.

“Of course detka. I cannot wait. If it’s anything like the old cartoon one we watched, I think I will get much inspiration,” Yelena said, a secretive smile on her face.

*****

December 15th

It’d been two days and talk of the mysterious person dressed as the Grinch had finally died down. Mostly.

Cassie was still mad she missed the entire thing.

“Maybe they’ll come back!” Kamala stated hopefully.

“I seriously doubt it. Security was insane all weekend. Mall cops wandering the levels like a swarm of ants because of that crazy person,” Kate said.

“I still can’t believe they got away. Who keeps a grappling hook on them?” Kamala exclaimed as the three girls walked over to grab another meal of smoothies. It was a cheap and quick meal that had Kate cringing the least each time she handed over her debit card.

“Well, it’s 2024. Apparently half of New York thinks they're a wannabe-villain,” said Cassie.

“Why a villain? Why can’t they be a superhero? Or a wannabe superhero?” Kate asked.

“Superheroes don’t use grappling hooks Kate. Duh. They can usually already fly or they have like, jetpacks, special suits or superpowers, or whatever,” Cassie explained.

“I use grappling hooks sometimes. So does Yelena. And Clint. And–” Kate argued.

“Yelena is more of an anti-hero, Clint is retired, and you’re…you,” Cassie responded with a wave of her hand.

Kamala stepped in, “It’s okay Kate. You’re a superhero even if you use grappling hooks. But Yelena isn’t…well, Yelena doesn’t count, that’s all. And Clint–”

“Why doesn’t she count?” Kate asked as they got in line, trying and failing to not be offended.

“Because…well, because,” Kamala said lamely.

“Because, Kate. She’s not a superhero,” Cassie said.

“Says who?” Kate argued, getting annoyed. 

“She’s not out there trying to do good like we are,” Cassie explained. “She’s an assassin. That doesn’t exactly scream ‘superhero’.”

“She does good too. You can’t judge her based on just her past,” Kate countered, trying not to let the conversation affect her.

“It’s her present too, Kate…” Cassie said.

The girls paused to order and pay. Kate’s debit card went through and she sighed to herself. 

“Kate, I know she’s your girlfriend and all, but you can’t tell me she doesn’t do shady shit. What are the jobs she keeps getting hired to do? Huh?” Cassie asked.

Kate just shrugged and avoided eye contact. She didn’t actually know what Yelena was doing whenever she was gone for ‘work’. She would sometimes tell her vague locations, like her recent trip to Moscow, or if Sonya was working with her, she’d simply say she was ‘working with Sonya’.

Kate knew Yelena kept things from her to keep her safe but it didn’t mean it didn’t bother Kate. She had no qualms of telling Yelena everything. Well…everything except her recent money issues…

But Yelena was good. She was good.

Kate decided to not respond to Cassie’s comment and the conversation topic was quickly switched by Kamala after they all got their drinks. She was mid-story about something her brother did and how it got her out of trouble for getting home in the middle of the night when they were interrupted by Jared, their boss. 

Today he was wearing an extra-ugly Christmas sweater and a red and white Santa hat.

“Bishop, I need you back. Jensen went on lunch early and I need someone to step in for photographs,” Kate’s jerk of a boss said.

“I'm still on lunch, Jared. Why can’t you do it?” Kate asked before she thought about it, annoyed she was being asked to end her lunch early.

Cassie and Kamala both gave her wide eyes and avoided Jared’s glare. “Seriously? My office. Now, Bishop,” Jared said and walked away. 

He was mad, very mad.

Kate sighed and handed her smoothie to Kamala. “Keep my drink safe for me?” Kate asked.

Kamala took the drink with a grimace. “You gotta think before you talk Kate... I know you’ve never had a real job before but you can’t say things like that to the managers…” Kamala explained with Cassie nodding along, straw in her mouth.

Kate just shrugged, as she couldn’t take it back now. She followed the heavy-set manager to his tiny office which was just some random closet that they’d thrown a desk, two chairs, and a metal storage unit in for the season.

Kate sat in the stained fabric chair as Jared shuffled through some folders until he pulled out a paper, scribbled Kate’s full name and started scribbling words on.

“Sign,” Jared demanded, spinning the paper around.

“‘Insubordination’ and ‘questioning management’?” Kate read.

“Let me be clear, Ms. Bishop,” Jared started.

“It’s Kate,” she interrupted.

“You work here for fifteen dollars an hour to do pretty much whatever I tell you. I’ve been doing this job for years. Years. I have no issues with firing you right here and now,” the jerk manager said.

“So then fire me,” Kate said haughtily. She clearly did not want to get fired, she needed the money, but this asshole was pushing her buttons.

“And where is the famous Bishop, heir of Bishop Securities, supposed to work then, hmm? Who’s going to hire you?” Jared said, leaning back in his chair, “You clearly don’t have many options if this was the best you could get.”

Kate wanted so badly to ask why the best the older man could get was as a manager of the Mall Santa operations. She wanted to cuss him out or just walk out before he could get another word in.

But she needed this job. And she didn’t want it to affect any future jobs she’d apply for either.

So instead Kate sat there and fumed, trying to make sure her glassy eyes didn’t show off the tears she was holding back. She signed the stupid piece of paper who the boss then made a copy of to give to her and let her go.

As soon as the man told her she was free to leave, Kate stood up and opened the door to escape. Just as the cheap door was pushed ajar, the vent above Jared fell open and about 5 gallons of bright neon-green slime poured down. Right on top of him and all over the desk, chair, and floor. And conveniently the write-up Kate had just received.

Kate slapped her hand over her mouth in shock as she watched the scene unfold.

A venomous cackle echoed through the vent above while confetti that looked very familiar sprinkled down like snow and stuck in the slime.

“Cheer up, Jared Davidson, it’s Christmas,” said an eerie voice as a furry green hand reached down and pulled the vent closed. The cackle was much creepier in a closed space as it rang through the vents, echoing for a long time as it got further and further away.

Kate continued to stand there, hand on her mouth and eyes bugged out as she stared at the man who had just written her up and was now completely covered in green slime and confetti. They made eye contact but neither of them said a word. Kate wasn’t sure if the man was even breathing. She had no idea what to do.

“Mommy look! That guy is covered in goo!” some random kid yelled nearby. More voices yelled out similar words and a commotion of feet followed closer.

After that, Kate scurried out of the office and back to Kamala and Cassie.

“Dude, what the heck did you do!? He’s gonna fire your ass for sure Kate,” Cassie berated, staring past Kate at their boss aghast.

“I didn’t do that! It was the Grinch!” Kate loudly argued.

Kamala and Cassie looked at each other before busting out laughing, bent over and everything.

“Oh, come on guys. It was! Really! That’s why the goo is green! It was that guy from the other day! He was up in the vent and then poured a whole bunch of slime down and–and threw confetti on him and did a wave and then laughed all creepy!” 

“Okay! Okay Kate, we believe you!” Cassie said between laughs. Kamala was wiping the tears from her eyes while pulling her phone out to capture their boss in all his gooey glory.

“This is so amazing…” Kamala said.

Their boss left and never came back for the rest of the night and it was the best shift the girls had had since the holiday season had started.

*****

December 16th

“Baby, it was soooo awesome! I mean, at first I was super upset because the asshole was writing me up, but then he was covered in slimy green goo! Like it was Slime Time!” Kate told the tale of her shift the previous day. The blonde hadn’t gotten home until after Kate was already asleep in bed so she’d been unable to until now.

Yelena was lounging in bed as Kate animatedly told the story of her boss getting pranked by the Grinch character that’d now made two appearances at the mall.

“It sounds like a very good day at work then, da?” Yelena asked as she pet Fanny who was on the bed with her and stealing most of Yelena’s pillow.

“Yeah, it ended up being! I mean, the day was kind of shit until all that happened and the job still sucks, but it made the rest of the shift amazing,” Kate said.

“If the job is so sucky, why stay? Surely you can get a better one,” Yelena asked.

“Um…yeah. I could…” Kate said vaguely, looking away. She didn’t want to tell Yelena about her job and money issues. Kate knew Yelena wouldn’t be upset. She was more worried of what Yelena would do to try and ‘help’.

As usual, Yelena was more observant than Kate gave her credit for.

“What are you not telling me Kate?” Yelena asked.

“Um… I…kind of need this job. I’m not exactly hireable to any companies in the commutable vicinity as of late,” Kate cringed as she said the words. “At least not anything that pays a wage that I can live off of…”

“Hireable? You mean places do not want to hire you to work for them? Why?” Yelena asked, concerned.

“Yeah…ever since mom went to jail and the company went under, my last name kind of put a bad taste in the mouths of every major company that pays well I guess. And I’m running out of money…” Kate explained, cringing even more.

“What? Kate Bishop, you are having money issues? Why didn’t you tell me?” Yelena asked, sitting up in the bed. 

Kate huffed, “I didn’t want to worry you. It’s not your problem, I can figure things out. It’s just…I just…I dunno.” She began fidgeting, picking at some non-existent fuzz on her shirt.

“Kate, you are the heiress to a multi-billion dollar company. How do you not have money?” Yelena asked, confused but serious.

Kate sat down on the edge of the bed and stared at the wrinkles in the comforter on the bed, “The lawyers said until mom’s court stuff is all done, the money is all frozen. My credit card got maxed out a few months ago and my debit card is almost empty…and…this was the only job that was willing to hire me that I could find on such short notice…” Kate was more than embarrassed. 

“Kate, look at me,” Yelena said softly and waited for Kate to meet Yelena’s green eyes with her own watery ones. Yelena reached and held one of Kate’s fidgeting hands in both of hers. “We will figure this out. Together, okay? Hmm?”

Kate eventually nodded, pressing at her eyes. Yelena leaned over and pulled Kate so the taller girl was curled up between Yelena’s legs and hugged her closer.

“I love you,” Yelena whispered with a kiss to Kate’s forehead.

“I love you too,” Kate said wetly and relaxed into the blonde’s calming embrace, trying to let her money worries disappear for the moment.

*****

December 17th

The rest of the day prior had been pretty eventful. As much as Kate did not want to bring up the topic of bills with Yelena, the blonde was persistent. The talk ended up turning into Yelena more or less asking if she could move in.

It wasn’t how said talk should have gone in Kate’s mind. She didn’t want Yelena to feel obligated to move in and pay for things, but after Kate said one too many times that it was Kate’s problem since it was Kate’s apartment and bills, Yelena suggested moving in since she was there all the time anyway, and then it would be ‘their bills’. Kate hadn’t the heart to deny the request, as Yelena living with her was something she really wanted.

She just felt extremely crummy about the situation. She felt like a burden.

She was supposed to be happy about Yelena moving in. This was a good thing; the next step in their relationship. And Kate was supposed to feel a weight lifted off her shoulders, but instead the weight just felt heavier. Now Yelena thought that Kate couldn’t support herself without her family’s money that she’d never needed to work a day in her life for.

Kate sighed, locked her bike on one of the bike racks at the mall and trudged in. Yelena had recently filled the tires in the bicycle once she’d learned Kate was taking the train to work and back every day and questioned why she didn’t ride the bicycle she owned. Kate had misplaced her air pump and never replaced it, but Yelena explained that many gas stations had air pumps for free or very cheap. Kate never knew, as she didn't drive and had always just…had an air pump. But riding her bike did save money after all. It was a pretty nice day in terms of winter in Manhattan, the temperature just over 40 degrees and not too windy either, so it was a nice ride in the end.

Cassie and Kamala both had the same shift as Kate that day but as she walked up to her two friends who were just getting ready to clock in, she was stopped short by her very annoyed boss blocking her path.

“H-hi Jared,” Kate said, looking up at the man who was a few inches taller than her. He’d somehow gotten the green goo out of his hair but his skin looked a little raw, “I’m just about to clock in…can I help you?”

“I don’t know what your game is, Bishop, but I got my eye on you,” the man said threateningly before walking away.

“Ohhhkay…” Kate exclaimed, eyebrows scrunched, and slowly walked around him and to her friends.

A girl Kate had never seen before was beside Cassie and the two girls were whispering.

“Hey Kate. This is MJ,” Kamala said, motioning to the girl with long wavy hair.

“Hi, nice to meet you,” Kate said and held her hand out to shake.

“Sup,” MJ said in a bored tone and shook Kate’s hand.

“Welcome to hell,” Kate responded with which earned her a smirk.

They all clocked in for their shift and after double-checking where they were supposed to be for the day, went about their business.

Two hours into Kate’s shift and she finally noticed that the mall security seemed to have doubled overnight. There were even a pair of police officers located at the main entrances of the mall.

“Security is a little ramped up today, no?” Kate asked Kamala who was working the beginning of the line with her today. Cassie was training MJ at the photograph podium.

“Everyone is super pissed about the whole Grinch thing. Jared went to mall security and whatnot and complained. Even threatened to sue,” Kamala explained. How Kamala always got all the details from every situation Kate would never know, but she trusted that whatever information Kamala got was the truth.

“Jesus christmas,” Kate said. “It’s just some harmless pranks, who cares?”

Kamala shrugged, “The owner of the mall who doesn’t want to get sued, apparently.”

“Well, there’s only eight days until Christmas. I’m sure whoever it is will stop before then, or give up with all the extra security in place,” Kate said.

“Maybe,” Kamala said, but didn’t sound convinced.

*****

December 19th

Kate’s shift the day prior had no incidents of said green furry troublemaker, but the next day the same could not be said.

Right after lunch, Kate was on duty to be one of Santa’s main elves during photos so she had to help get kids standing close to him or sitting on his lap. Any age besides babies and toddlers, which she was to let the parents be in charge of the screaming gremlins.

Cassie was again helping to train MJ, which Kate had learned her name was actually Michelle Jones but she preferred the nickname which suited her personality anyway. Kamala was off for the day for a family thing she had going on that evening but had decided to use her free time during the day to come say hi and have a quick lunch with the girls. But Kate wasn’t stupid.

“You’re just here in case that crazy green man in a Grinch costume shows up again,” Kate accused.

Kamala gaped, “What!? No I am not.”

“You’re a terrible liar Khan,” Kate said with an eye roll. 

Cassie nodded. “You really are Kamala,” the other girl said with a laugh. MJ had separated from them, no longer needing training and was off on her own and passing out photo codes to the guests leaving.

Kamala groaned. “It’s going to happen today you guys! I swear! And I want to be here for it!” the girl said, bouncing on her tiptoes as Kate and Cassie ushered more people in line to keep moving while handing out candy canes from bags.

“Whatever you say, dude,” Cassie said. 

The girls quickly shuffled away from each other when they caught the gaze of Jared staring at them talking amongst each other. Their lunch was technically over but Kamala had followed them to continue chatting.

The manager had been especially asshole-ish to them all, especially Kate, ever since the slime incident. But Kate had managed to be on her best behavior and not get into any trouble. Yet, anyway.

It was two hours before her shift was to end and only the rowdiest of kids seemed to be in line. Many of the kids were too old to have even believed in the jolly fat man. These were the kids whose parents were not with them to supervise and therefore were giving Kate and the other elves a hard time.

A brave and incredibly stupid teenager decided at that moment it would be a good idea to grab the ball on the back of Cassie’s elf hat and yank down on it. Hard.

The teenager also clearly didn’t realize the hat was pinned to her hair and she ended up falling backwards with a yell both in surprise and slight pain.

“Hey!” Kate yelled, abandoning her position and stomping over to the huddle of boys laughing. She pulled Cassie up and after checking that she was okay, spun towards the boys in anger.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing!?” Kate growled at the boy and his friends.

None of them could have been more than 13 but two were almost her height. The boy who’d pulled Cassie down was just about eye level and he glared back at her.

“What are you gonna do about it, Jingles?” the boy, who’s voice had clearly not fully dropped yet, said to Kate.

“Kate, it’s okay–” Cassie tried to say but Kate stopped her.

“No, it’s not okay. He assaulted you!” Kate exclaimed. 

“I’m fine, really…” Cassie said, trying not to cause a scene or attract their boss’s attention. 

Kate heard a weird noise from behind her but ignored it, instead getting closer to the teenagers.

“Listen, you pompous little weasels. If I wouldn’t get arrested for doing so, I’d pound your face so hard that–” 

“Kate!” someone from behind yelled. Kate turned her head to see Kamala pointing up above where Santa sat on the large fancy wooden chair.

Behind the fat man were long velvety curtains that created a sort of background for the photos as well as some lovely holiday decor for the area they were in, which was a giant room with the walls and ceiling all made of glass. 

Curtains that were now fluttering down from where they’d been attached to the ceiling. And above said curtains was an opening into one of the glass ceiling windows. And down this hole, hanging upside down by their knees was the Grinch holding a very large fabric bag.

They opened the bag and out fell six very large, very real, and clearly very angry Canadian geese.

Complete chaos ensued.

The geese caught themselves well before they neared the ground and started flying all over the mall. There was screaming, laughing, bird poop falling. Women were covering their heads with bags of purchases or their purses. Kids were crying. Mall security was running around in a panic, not knowing how exactly to get ahold of the crazed birds.

Most customers were hiding under the 2nd level floor and in stores as the birds flew around. One goose landed and attempted walking into the Gucci store near the entrance and exit doors and a worker screamed, throwing things at it, making it honk angrily.

The costumed green character far up in the ceiling was clapping their hands and cackling like a mad-man. It almost sounded familiar to Kate but there was no way she recognized anything about this weirdo.

The brunette was currently huddled with her friends as they watched the chaos happen and could do nothing more than watch. Kate had unfortunately been unable to avoid one of the geese that flew near her and a lovely splat of white and black bird poop managed to land on her shoulder.

Kamala had been videoing the scene the entire time.

“This is fucking hilarious,” Cassie exclaimed in awe.

“You wouldn’t be saying that if you had bird shit on you,” Kate said in disgust, pulling her hair to the other side and over the opposite shoulder. The bathrooms were on the other side of where they were and she did not want to get shat on again.

“Hey!” Kamala said suddenly. “Do you know what day it is? Six days before Christmas!”

Kate and Cassie just stared at the girl. “And…?” Cassie said.

“On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to meee…” Kamala sang.

Kate began laughing. “Geese!”

“Six geese a-laying!” Cassie joined in Kate’s laughter and finished the song lyric. 

“Isn’t it supposed to be like, on December 6th? Not six days before?” Kate asked between giggles. Kamala shook her head, her eyes gleaming with mirth and unadulterated entertainment.

“This is crazy. That guy is totally going to get arrested. Do you think he cut a hole in the glass or do the ceiling windows actually open?” Cassie asked.

Neither Kate nor Kamala knew the answer.

The Grinch character pulled a weapon of some sort from atop the roof, pointed, and shot.

Instead of a bullet, hundreds of pounds of confetti flew out the end of the gun about 30 feet out. Still upside down, they pointed and continued to shoot until the entire radius of the mall under the glass windows looked like that scene in America’s Got Talent where Simon hits the golden buzzer. 

Green confetti was everywhere. Literally.

Amazingly, Kate’s shift ended early that night because the mall had to evacuate everyone to get the poor birds out and Santa’s Workshop was officially closed for the rest of the night.

When Kate got home that evening, she walked in to find a few boxes sitting in the kitchen. Upon closer inspection, she found the boxes filled with items that had come from Yelena’s apartment.

Kate called for her girlfriend and heard her respond from upstairs.

Yelena was pulling clothes out of a box and setting them on the floor in Kate’s–well, their bedroom? Their bedroom!

“Hey baby! I saw the boxes in the kitchen. Oh, you can have half the closet and I’ll clean out one of my dressers too,” Kate said when she saw the clothes. “I have two, you can pick whichever you want,” Kate finished. One was a skinny and tall wooden dresser, the other was a painted gray that was wide and shorter that she used to put random things on top.

Yelena turned and eyed her with a small smile. “Sounds good detka,” she said. 

Kate walked up and bent down to give the blonde a kiss. As she pulled away, she thought she saw something green in Yelena’s hair and reached to pick it out, but the blonde turned back to unpacking her box before she could and when Kate looked again, the green speck of whatever it had been was gone.

“How was work? You are home early, no?” Yelena asked.

Fanny came over to say hello finally and Kate sat between the dog and Yelena as she unpacked. “Work was awesome actually. They evacuated the mall because that psycho dressed as the Grinch released real live geese into the mall and they were flying around and pooping on people. They had to call animal control. I think one even bit an old woman, but I’m not sure. Kamala said that’s what someone else said on tiktok. Since the mall closed, we all got off early. Didn’t even have to clean up for the night or anything!” Kate said as she pet the akita beside her in comfort. Just talking about what had happened during her shift had her laughing again.

“That certainly sounds like an exciting evening for you,” Yelena responded. 

“Mhm. It was crazy, but also absolutely hilarious,” Kate said.

“Well, I am glad you had a pleasant shift,” Yelena stated as she reached the bottom of her box.

“Yeah, it wasn’t too bad. Nice to be off early for once. Maybe…since it’s not too late–” Kate started to say but Yelena suddenly leaned over and started kissing her, eventually putting weight on Kate’s shoulders until the brunette was laid on the floor. 

Yelena was on top of her, still kissing her but trailing the kisses down her cheek and jaw. Once the blonde pressed a kiss behind Kate’s ear and puffed out a breath there, Kate shivered. Her eyes closed tightly before flashing open again and she could feel herself getting very turned on. She gripped Yelena’s biceps tightly and pulled her knees up so they were on either side of Yelena’s hips.

“You were saying, Kate Bishop?” Yelena smirked, her long hair down, framing her face and tickling’s Kate’s cheek as the brunette met Yelena’s green eyes. They were dark in the lighting and with Yelena’s widening pupils, which gave away how affected she also was.

“Shit. No fair,” Kate said lamely while breathing heavily. She couldn’t remember what she’d been about to say. 

Yelena laughed. Her hand slid down from Kate’s knee, past the back of her thigh and cupped her candy cane-striped ass under the very short green dress she still wore. Then Yelena squeezed, causing Kate to moan and tighten her knees around Yelena’s hips before the blonde laughed again and removed her hand. “I will not fuck you unless you shower the candy cane smell off, moya lyubov’,” the blonde said, voice an octave lower than normal. Yelena’s small Russian sayings never ceased to make Kate’s stomach flip.

Yelena kissed next to Kate’s ear then pulled the brunette to sit up. Kate rose unsteadily to her feet and booked it to the bathroom.

Kate didn’t think she’d ever stripped and showered faster in her life. 

Both girls ended up showering again much later that evening. Kate had planned to watch another holiday movie with Yelena that night but much preferred where the night had led to instead.

*****

December 20th

Kate woke up the following morning to an interesting text from Kamala asking her to bring a few pairs of earpieces and some of her stakeout gear. Kate found it odd but did as requested, not questioning the girl’s request and shoved what she could in her backpack before heading to work that day. She biked again as it hadn’t snowed too hard yet that winter so there shouldn't be any ice on the roads or sidewalks yet, maybe just some slush or puddles.

Since the goose incident last night and also since apparently no one had any clue who the crazy person in the Grinch costume was, security and police officers were everywhere at the mall. Kate even saw people up on the roof patrolling.

Kamala came bounding up to check if Kate brought what she asked.

“As requested,” Kate said, opening her bag and handing an ear piece to each of her friends. She gave one to MJ too and explained how it worked. She still had 2 pairs of binoculars, a few tiny notepads, pens, some flashlights, a fancy swiss army knife that Yelena gifted her for her birthday, a pair of black clothes and mask, and a video camera.

“They’re gonna give out $1,000.00 to anyone who knows anything about the guy!” Cassie explained to Kate, Kamala and MJ as they all waited for the top of the hour to clock in.

“And,” continued Kamala, “they’re offering $5,000.00 to anyone who can capture him.”

Kate thought about what she could do with that money, and how long it could keep her afloat once this job ended.

“This is why I brought all this crap, isn’t it?” Kate asked.

Kamala nodded. “Yup. C’mon, Kate, we could totally use the money! And who’s better adept at catching this loser than us?”

Giant green dollar signs flashed in Kate’s mind and she smiled.

They could totally do this. Game on, Mr. Grinch!

*****

December 21st

They totally could not do this.

All Kate and her friends had managed to do yesterday was get written up and cause the old man dressed as Santa to quit.

At some point during the day before, the Grinch had somehow had time to spread extreme super glue to the bottom of Santa’s seat. So when the man inevitably had to get up at the end of the night to leave, he was stuck to the seat. 

The old man had to have been in his 70’s or older and didn’t have the flexibility or body type to shimmy out of his pants while sitting. So unfortunately, someone had to physically cut the red pants off the poor guy and an ambulance was called to get him checked out. He’d sat in the glue long enough that it had seeped through the fabric onto his skin and caused some type of rash.

While all of this had been happening, instead of trying to help with the upset children who couldn’t see Santa or console the poor old man, Kate and her friends had been frantically running around the mall while talking to each other with their ear pieces as they all tried in vain to find any clues to how the costumed nuisance had been able to sneak under their radar.

Since they had been the only ones near the old man all day besides the obvious neverending line of brats, their boss accused them of the super glue prank and wrote them up, along with ‘abandoning their work while on the clock’. To Kate’s dismay, no green goo poured out of the vent onto the man either while he filled out each write-up.

It was Friday, and only five days remained until Christmas Day. Which meant only four more days of work. 

Four more days for Kate to hope that the Grinch would show up at the mall and she and her friends would have the opportunity to capture them and then split the reward money.

Everyone was scheduled the next four remaining work days for 11 hour shifts, noon to close plus an hour for clean-up. It was completely unfair and everyone complained about it but still everyone showed up.

Since they had no Santa, Jared had to don the outfit that day.

It was horrible. 

He was nice enough to the kids but was the most asshole-ish he’d been since Kate had started the job.

It was so bad that MJ offered for a friend to step in for the remaining three days and had to beg her friend Ned to take on the job. He agreed if he was allowed to join the group in the surveillance and capture of Grinch so he could share the money.

MJ’s boyfriend Peter showed up as well most of the day to help keep an eye out too. Kate, Cassie and Kamala knew he was secretly Spiderman, the city’s friendliest and well-known native superhero. They all also preferred to keep their superhero identities a secret though too, so most of their days consisted of being a normal person and not using any special powers.

Kate wasn’t really part of that group, since she didn’t have special powers or a special suit of any kind. But she did respect her friends and their decisions.

Alas, by the end of the night, the group of friends were exhausted. 

There was no sign of the Grinch that day and it was slightly disheartening.

They each trudged home and Kate slightly regretted taking her bike to work that day. Riding it home at night with sore feet would not be fun.

When Kate got home that night, Yelena was awake and waiting for her. The brunette told her all about her and her friend’s plan to catch the masked man and about the reward money. Even her exhaustion couldn’t contain the excitement she had at getting the reward money.

“It’s not even that much, detka… I will give you that much money if you will just get through the next three days unscathed,” Yelena said to her as she opened a book to read while Kate got ready to take a shower.

“Yeah, okay, because you just have $5,000.00 lying around?” Kate said rhetorically.

“I can,” Yelena answered nonchalantly while looking down and starting her book.

Kate hummed at that, feeling embarrassed and a little upset, and quietly excused herself to the bathroom. The feeling of being a burden once again reared its ugly head and Kate didn’t want to deal with it or take it out on the blonde. Sure maybe Yelena was joking, or maybe she would have gotten the money illegally and therefore Kate wouldn’t have been able to accept it. But still…

While showering, she made a plan though. A plan she was going to have to get to work extra early tomorrow to enact.

She took her time in the bathroom after showering to message the group chat Cassie had made that included herself, Kamala and now MJ, Ned, and Peter.

The Grinch hadn’t shown up today, so they had high hopes that tomorrow he would make an appearance.

*****

December 22nd

“West entrance is secure. Hawkeye over,” Kate said while inconspicuously pressing the talk button on her ear piece. She heard a few snickers come through.

“South end secure, Cassie over,” Cassie said mockingly.

“Pssst. You’re not supposed to use your real name. Over,” Peter said over the coms.

Christmas music was playing all around them through the mall speakers so no one paid them any mind as they quietly spoke to themselves. Kate pouted but remained silent, keeping her eyes and ears alert.

It was halfway through their shift that day and so far there’d been no sign of the Grinch.

Ned was dressed in the Santa suit and was going through the motions of ho-ho-hoing and asking what the kids wanted and whatever else Santa did and said.

MJ was on photography duty, Kate was at the entrance to the line which started at almost the entrance of the mall on the West end. Hence her earlier com message.

Kamala and Cassie were with MJ keeping the flow of traffic moving smoothly to and away from Santa with Kamala passing out candy canes and photo code papers.

Peter was in the food court again on the second level with binoculars and a small I-pad sized tablet.

Kate had gotten to the mall so early that she’d seen some of the winter mall-walkers. Keeping an eye on security and being as sneaky as possible, she had successfully installed a few cameras around the large shopping center. The tablet Peter was using had access to all of the cameras. A few looked at the surrounding entrances and exits. One looked directly at the glass ceiling. The other was on the second level and pointed directly at the line to see Santa, with the view ending on Ned in the wooden chair.

“Hey Kate, where’d you get all this stuff anyway?” Peter asked while assumedly flipping through the different camera feeds. Kate could hear fuzzy beeps coming from her ear piece every few seconds.

“Clint and Yelena. Clint gave me the cameras, Yelena gave me the ear pieces,” Kate answered after ushering a few kids and parents in line and giving them the estimated wait time of fifteen minutes.

“Oh really? They gave them to you?” Cassie questioned.

Kate looked ahead at the entrance, “Well I mean, Clint left them in my bag…and just never asked for them back. But yes, Yelena gave me the earpieces to use. Because she uses them for good,” Kate stated, making a dig at Cassie and hoping she got the hint. It was true that Yelena had given her the ear pieces, but it was technically for ‘Hawkeye Business’ and not necessarily ‘Grinch Capturing Business’ but that wasn’t important. What Yelena didn’t know wouldn’t kill her, right?

There was a muffled commotion on the earpiece and then Peter was whispering harshly into their ears, “Seven o-clock! Seven o-clock guys! ” 

Everyone with an ear piece spun in circles and looked in different directions.

“My seven or your seven?” Kamala asked in panic.

“We’re facing the same direction you dummy!” Cassie patronized while also looking in the wrong direction.

“Oh my god. The food court!” Peter yelled after realizing no one had any clue what he was talking about.

Kate turned to where Peter was seated at the very front of said food court. He was at one of the tables next to the ledge that overlooked the first level so he had a great view of where the rest of the group were. He must be able to see something they couldn’t from inside the food aisle though as he was staring the opposite direction and down where a bunch of food establishments resided.

It was confirmed when a few screams were heard from the aforementioned location. Peter started recording everything with the tablet. With the amount of people, it was too risky to use any of his webbing, but they’d taken that into account.

It was seven superheroes against one idiot in a Grinch costume. Their odds were more than good. 

Right?

What they hadn’t taken into account was the Grinch hopping around and shooting thousands of actual, literal bills of paper cash ranging from 1’s to 20’s from a similar gun they’d shot confetti out of. Because of this, the screams went from fear to excitement. 

People were diving left and right, fighting each other to get to the money.

The Grinch ran right past Peter with an odd little wave, jumped on the ledge of the second level, shot its bright sparkly green grappling hook out and swung as far as it was able to, all while still shooting cash around and cackling obscenely. Upon closer inspection, confetti and glitter was mixed with the money, so it must have been the same weapon.

As the grappling hook lost its momentum, the costumed man was now hanging in the middle off of the 40-foot tall ceiling. One hand held the grappling hook while the other was still causing money to rain down like snow. 

Evil ridiculous laughs began to boom from the mall speakers.

Kate ran up to where Kamala was cowering beside the Santa’s List podium, trying her best to avoid the cacophony of people doing whatever they could to get their hands on any of the paper bills.

“Kate, this is insane!” Kamala was forced to yell out to be heard.

The shooting stopped as the gun, presumably empty, was latched to the back of the green costume. The now empty green hand pulled out a phone from a pocket, pressed a few buttons, and then the mall speakers started blaring ‘You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch’ as loud as humanly possible.

“Jesus Christ,” Kate groaned.

MJ skidded beside Kate and Kamala. “You gonna cut the wire or what, Hawkeye?” MJ shouted out, pointing to the green fuzzy nuisance hanging above them.

Kate nodded and crawled over past Ned in his Santa suit. Behind his chair she grabbed the last thing she’d brought; her collapsible bow and a few arrows. Kate had complained about having a collapsible bow like Clint a few times but wasn’t in good enough cahoots with anyone at SHIELD to be gifted any weaponry. The bow she now owned had been a gift from Clint for her birthday after Yelena threatened him, saying that he was sending Kate to an early grave by keeping perfectly good and helpful weapons from his protege. As much as she didn’t love the idea of Yelena threatening the man she looked up to, she really, really loved her bow.

The brunette looked around for Jared and after not seeing him in the nearby vicinity, opened the bow with a snap of her arm and nocked an arrow. 

“You’re going down, stupid green fucker,” Kate growled, and let the arrow lose just as the booming lyric of ‘you’re a bad banana’ blared. 

Exactly what Kate planned happened; her arrow sliced clean through the wire attached to the sparkly green grappling hook and thunked into the wall behind.

The Grinch let out a very unmanly surprised yell and freefell right onto one of the giant palm trees below. Its fuzzy green gloves couldn’t get a good grip on the palm leaves and although the tree broke the fall and kept the person unscathed in any dangerous injuries, they finally fell the last fifteen feet to the floor right on their butt. Glitter and confetti dumped out of its pockets and the money gun wiggled on their back, almost falling off.

Kate was up and streaking towards the person, having to dodge people diving and fighting over the still-raining money. The Grinch was now also on their fuzzy booted feet and making a break for it towards the nearest exit. She had no idea where her friends were but didn’t waste time to find out. Sure Kate could have nocked another arrow and shot the crazed person, but she didn’t want them maimed or dead. She just wanted them in handcuffs. And a big fat check in her hands.

“HEY! Stop you…stop!” Kate yelled like an idiot.

The crowd had thinned slightly and both her and the costumed character were sprinting, Kate only about fifteen feet behind them, her long legs helping her decrease the space between them quickly. They were closing in on the exit doors, both running so fast between shoppers and security that they were all but a blur in Kate’s peripheral. She could hear the bells on her collar and shoes jingling like crazy as she got closer and closer.

Just as Kate’s fingers were able to grip the back of the person’s fuzzy costume where she could see a zipper, they plucked something from another pocket, one without glitter, and threw it at Kate’s ankles.

The object they threw happened to be some sort of growing version of the goo that had been dumped on her boss. It quickly weighed her down and Kate came down in a crash of limbs, weaponry and green fuzz. Her grip on the costume hadn’t loosened but instead of pulling the person down with her, she just managed to rip part of the costume.

A very distinct and very familiar image of long blonde hair cascading down a familiar tank top and muscled back was suddenly in her face.

The Grinch, the insane costumed nuisance of a man, a man who Kate was suspecting this entire time wasn’t even a man at all, turned and met Kate’s very shocked and very annoyed stare with its mesh-covered eyes looking through the mask it wore.

Kate could hear yells of all sorts coming from her ear piece as well as around her but was too dazed from her fall and recent revelation to actually register any of the words. She lay there on the floor in shock as the Grinch sprinkled confetti from one of their pockets right onto Kate’s head, booped her nose with a very annoying “boop!”, and ran out the nearest revolving door set. They ran around the entire thing twice, not letting anyone on but filling the entire floor with more confetti and glitter and then they were gone, sprinting outside and into the darkened city of Manhattan.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Kate screamed, slapping the ground just as her friends caught up to her.

*****

December 23rd

By the time Kate got home, it was past midnight. It had snowed on and off all day so she’d taken the train instead of her bike. Because of the absolute mayhem of the day, Jared forced them all to stay even later than scheduled to help clean up as did most of the other shops that had been in the vicinity of the Grinch and their mess. Peter had been the only one to snag some of the dollar bills, making a little over 80 bucks, as none of the girls had pockets to stuff the bills in and Ned hadn’t had the chance from where he sat. Peter offered to share the winnings but they all declined. Kate wasn’t sure about everyone else’s reasonings but she was too upset about the situation to take Peter’s pity money. Besides, he needed the money as much as the rest of them.

Given the late hour, Kate had had a lot of time to think though while she made her way home. And think she sure did.

No way Kate told herself. No way was Yelena, her girlfriend, an assassin, the one dressing up as the Grinch and creating these crazy, chaotic situations at Kate’s job. That was insane. Crazy talk. Ridiculous.

But after thinking about every single time she’d seen the Grinch, and every time she told Yelena about the scenarios, she wasn’t so sure. She’d had plenty of time to think back on how Yelena had responded. How she really didn’t know what Yelena had been up to since finishing her last mission a few weeks ago. She had been slightly busy the past few days moving items to Kate’s apartment, but that was a more recent thing. Kate had just assumed that Yelena had been spending time with Fanny and Sonya. She wasn’t given any new assignments or missions as far as Kate knew either.

Yelena had however very recently watched two of the ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ movies with Kate. And she had enjoyed them both. Immensely. Yelena’s laugh that had turned to tears when the Grinch crunched on glass and shoved an entire tree up a chimney had been better than watching the movie in Kate’s opinion. And Yelena was capable of easily avoiding capture from any sort of enforcement, law or otherwise. And all this Grinch stuff had started right after showing the blonde the movies.

Was it feasible that the blonde could be the Grinch? 

The simple answer? Yes, she could absolutely be the costumed looney. 

Yelena owned grappling hooks. Yelena had the skills to bounce around through the crowd like a maniac. Yelena had a cackle that possibly rivaled the loudest hyena in existence and therefore could most likely imitate the Grinch if she so chose. 

So, Kate formed a plan on her way home and by the time she walked through her front door, she felt ready. It might have been a half-ass plan but…that was alright.

It was late, very late, but Kate found her girlfriend still awake and on the couch when she walked in. The TV was on with some silly holiday ad playing.

“Hey baby,” Kate said as she closed and locked the door.

Fanny trotted over to say hello and Kate bent down to give the dog some pets. “Such a good girl,” Kate cooed.

“Hello detka, how was work?” Yelena peeked over the couch to ask.

Kate shrugged nonchalantly, “It was fine,” she said. She stood up and took off her backpack and hung it up along with her coat. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Yelena’s eyebrows scrunched slightly at Kate’s response. 

“Yeah? It was a…good day?” Yelena asked after a pause.

“Mhm. It was good. Jared didn’t have to be Santa so he mostly left us all alone. MJ, the new girl, got her friend to wear the suit and he did a good job, although a few older kids accused him of being too young to be Santa. Which, like, they aren't wrong, ” Kate explained. Ned was younger than her and even when he tried to deepen his voice, his age was still pretty noticeable to anyone over the age of eight.

“You did not get in any trouble today though, right?” Yelena asked as Kate came over to give her a hug and kiss.

“Nope,” Kate popped out as she bent down to climb on Yelena’s lap. The blonde was very warm compared to Kate who’d just been outside.

“And…you did not see your masked green friend?” Yelena eventually questioned as her arms circled Kate. 

Was Yelena really being this obvious?

“Mmm…actually wait, yes! We did see him today! But alas, we were not able to turn that sucker in for the reward money. Another day, another…day I’m poor still,” Kate said, failing to get the statement right. She tried pushing the blonde down so she could lay on the couch with her. She was exhausted but knew she’d have to shower before she got too tired. The couch wouldn’t get her too sleepy though...

Yelena began unpinning Kate’s hat off her head like she’d done the other day and running her fingers through Kate’s hair. She hummed while she did it, a tune Kate couldn't place. 

The bottom of Kate’s leggings were crunchy from the dried goo she hadn’t been able to fully clean off in the bathroom sink earlier but she was on top of the blanket covering Yelena so it wasn’t noticeable.

“You are sure nothing crazy happened today? I thought I saw on a news station a video of your green friend causing more messes at your place of employment…” Yelena said.

Kate smirked into Yelena’s shoulder. “Well, now that you mention it, something did happen… Kamala got a funny video of it too.”

The blonde let out a hum of curiosity but was quiet so Kate could continue.

“It’s already got over 100,000 views. It’s this amazing video of the Grinch weirdo looking super lame and falling right on their ass by all the kids in line to see Santa after hitting one of the palm trees after I shot him–”

“I–they did no such thing!” Yelena exclaimed, her mouth open in protest before she could think about it. Kate couldn’t hold back her giggles and snickered into Yelena’s neck.

“I mean, I do not–I do not think that is how the news portrayed it fully,” Yelena uttered in defense.

Kate didn’t respond other than snuggling her face closer into Yelena’s neck and failing to hide the smile when she thought of the insane shenanigans Yelena had sort of just admitted to doing.

“There’s one more Grinch movie if you want to watch it tonight,” Kate eventually did say after she could feel her body getting that fuzzy, sleepy feeling. Yelena playing with her hair certainly wasn’t helping.

Yelena perked up, “There is?”

“Mhm. It’s like the least good…as in, it kinda sucks. It’s a cute movie but not very Grinch-y in my opinion. But we can still watch it if you want to,” Kate offered. It was that newer one made by the people who made the Minions movies and the Grinch was barely even mean in it. Kate also might fall asleep mid-movie, but she’d seen it before. 

“After you shower, little bird,” Yelena murmured and kissed Kate on the top of the head.

“M’kay,” Kate responded, making no move whatsoever to get up. Yelena giggled and eventually sat back up, bringing Kate with her and began poking her in the stomach.

“Ha he ha he ha he,” the blonde said in a silly voice, imitating the Grinch poorly but getting Kate to laugh and smack her hands out of the way from the ticklish gesture.

“Stoooop,” Kate whined.

Yelena laughed but did and hugged Kate around the shoulders, instead playing with the jingly bells on Kate’s collar.

“You are incorrigible, babe,” Kate said but did eventually slide off Yelena’s lap and wander up the loft steps. 

“Do you want me to heat up dinner for you? There’s some leftover chinese in the fridge,” Yelena called to which Kate happily agreed and meandered up the rest of the stairs, slightly more awake at the prospect of food.

When the movie was over, Kate was fast asleep on the couch, clean, warm and with a full belly. Yelena carried her to bed like a koala. Kate bleerily asked if Yelena had finished the movie and enjoyed it but the blonde just scoffed and said they would not be watching that movie ever again. They fell to bed together and went back to sleep with Kate's head on Yelena's chest. 

*****

December 24th

Christmas Eve

It was Kate and her friends’ very last shift and she could feel the energy vibrating off them all. They were ready. Ready for this job to be over. And ready to get that gleaming pile of reward money in their hands.

It was most likely the last chance they’d have to catch the Grinch. Kate hadn’t been able to get any more information from Yelena as to if she’d be pulling one last holiday scheme other than a very mischievous smirk and a mysterious “Who knows? Anything is possible Kate,” when asked if she thought the Grinch would show up again. 

So, the chances were high.

Kate also chose to not tell any of her friends about the information she had and her conclusions on her girlfriend being the culprit. Just that morning, Kate had snuck downstairs to Yelena’s work bag and opened it up to see if she could find any evidence. What she had found in the bag was not only evidence confirming her suspicions, but Yelena’s entire Grinch costume and assorted weaponry. Even the sparkly green grappling hook.

“Some assassin. She didn’t even try to hide it…what a dork,” Kate whispered to herself with a wide grin as she zipped the bag back up and finished getting ready for work.

Kate and her friends were all outside together at the Northwest entrance of the mall helping to finish setting up the outdoor aisles with metal fencing that was decorated with fake garland. The whole Santa thing was to be outside that day instead of indoors, something that Kate and her friends did not look forward to. It wasn’t too cold out yet with the sun shining. They’d all been given matching gloves to wear and they were allowed to wear their own winter coats, but it was still going to be a long and chilly day. 

Santa hadn’t even appeared yet but the line was already forming. There were special events the whole day, with real reindeer that the kids could pet and feed, hot cocoa, cider and roasted nut stalls scattered about, a stage that was to have an array of local bands play throughout the day, a lottery drawing, and lots more. It was an all day thing going from noon until eleven that night and the mall went overboard every year, but it was always super successful and really loads of fun. 

Unless you were working the event. Then not so much.

Kate had brought all her gear with her again, shoving her backpack under Ned’s Santa chair, and had already passed out the ear pieces from the day prior to her friends. 

It was thirty minutes to eleven and all Kate and her friends had to do was wait.

The day went fast and soon the bright sun had dipped down and was casting a rather beautiful sunset across the Hudson River. The twinkling lights of Jersey City could be seen across the river.

There’d been no sign of the Grinch all day and although Kate and her friends were a little disappointed, it had been a really nice day so far. The temperature had reached into the 50’s, their boss had been too busy to pay them any attention or give reprimands with everything going on, and almost every person they spoke to wished them a Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas or some sort of nice variation of well wishings.

All in all, the best last day of the worst job of Kate’s life.

All good days had an end though.

Just as the last few rays of light filtered behind the far-off buildings across the river and the cold chill of the night began to cause Kate to rub her hands up and down her arms and bounce on her toes for warmth, she heard a small whistle above her. It sounded almost like something shot but when she looked up, she didn’t see anything. There were lights strung up between the buildings and trees, but nothing out of the ordinary.

She pressed her finger to her ear, “Keep your eyes open, team.”

Replies from her friends buzzed in her ear, excited, alert and ready to go.

Ten minutes later, another small whistle. Quieter, maybe farther away, but still noticeable.

“Did anyone else hear that?” Kate asked, looking around again, but nothing caught her eye.

“Maybe it’s a bird?” Kamala said, unsure, into her ear piece.

Kate had her eyes squinted slightly, laser-focused on her surroundings. “Definitely not a bird, Kams,” she said.

Another whistle, and then a thunk. Kate spun around but again, saw nothing. She was getting frustrated. “Do you see anything, Peter?” Kate said quickly. Peter had arrived about an hour or so ago and had been traipsing about through the event and nearby park with a hot cocoa he kept getting refills on.

“I don’t see anything out of the ordinary, Hawkeye. But it’s pretty dark,” Peter said in answer.

A flash of blonde hair caught Kate’s eye but when she turned, she found it was just a random stranger in a puffy orange parka, laughing with a group of friends.

Cassie’s voiced buzzed into Kate’s ear, “Hey guys? What are all these black lines above us? Were those there before?”

They each took extra care to find the lines Cassie was talking about. There were plenty of lights around them, with sidewalk lamps, patio lights strung up, Christmas lights wrapped around every available tree and fence, boat lights from the nearby deck that led into the Hudson, and all of the nearby skyscrapers and buildings, but it was still dark out. 

The black lines Cassie ended up noticing were thick cables that in just the right light caused a reflection off them. They were long, taught, and didn’t seem to have much of a purpose. Peter was even able to climb up a ledge nearby and mess with one of the cables without being seen. It made a funny sound when he flicked it but remained in place.

“They don’t seem to be holding anything up. They’re kind of thin and bumpy, but sturdy for sure. Looks like they’re attached to some of the buildings around here.” Peter eventually said. 

“There’s no zipline attraction here is there?” MJ asked. 

That stopped Kate. Zipline…?

The lights around them suddenly blinked off. Every single one of them. At least 300 feet in every direction from Kate was pitch black. 

There were many screams and yells, mostly from children, but then slowly, area by area, bulb by bulb, the lights faded back on. Only this time, every single bulb was a green color.

“Oh no…” Kamala murmured.

“Oh yes!” Cassie exclaimed evilly. 

Kate gripped her collapsed bow that she’d attached to the belt she had worn under her dress along with one of her trick arrows from an inside pocket; one that released a spinning bola.

The green lights grew and grew until it was actually quite beautiful of a scene. But the beauty ended once a dark laugh echoed through the speakers surrounding the audience.

It was silent except for the laugh. Either the audience thought it was part of the show, or they’d heard of the Grinch fiascos the past few weeks at the mall and they were there for it, ready to see the final showdown. None of Kate’s friends even said anything in their ear pieces, waiting to see what would happen too. The sound of the Grinch’s–no, Yelena’s laughter seemed to grow deeper but the actual woman in costume was nowhere to be seen just yet.

A green flare shot out from the top of a tall building to the south of the event. It arced in the sky, dying out well before it hit the water below.

Another flare from a middle ledge of a building, this time one just north of them and much closer shot off and followed the same arcing path.

More flares followed from all around them, all except the west as there were no buildings on that side, just the river. From the most Northwest building on the corner, to around the mall roof and the skyscrapers surrounding the shopping center, to the tall buildings South of them, green flares shot up and then sprinkled down over and over. There were claps and cheers from the audience. Kate tuned in and realized that the laughter that had previously been coming from the outdoor speakers was now playing a loud but rather nice instrumental version of ‘You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch’.

“This isn’t actually so bad,” Cassie said in Kate’s ear.

Kate agreed but didn’t want to say so out loud and tip her friends off that she knew something they didn’t. To her right, Kate saw Kamala bopping along to the song playing and she rolled her eyes in jest. Did the Avengers ever goof off on missions like they did? She had a feeling the answer was yes, though none of them would probably ever admit it. Except maybe Sam.

On a ledge halfway up the building just to the right of the mall entrance, above a food court, there was a slightly brighter green flare shot off. A pop of smoke appeared, and then Yelena in all her ridiculous and furry Grinch glory was standing there. Only this time, she wore a Santa outfit on top of the green costume, just like how the Grinch did at the end of the movies.

“Hah! Merry Christmas, all you Whos of Manhattan!” Yelena said in her best gritty Grinch voice. It was honestly pretty good, her Russian accent aiding in giving the voice a deep and low tone. She must have been wearing a tiny microphone that connected to the speakers as her words mowed over the musical song playing.

“Apparently Christmas is the time of giving. So, on this Christmas Eve night, before holly jolly Santa Claus comes to see you…I give you one last gift,” Yelena said.

Police officers and security were quietly scrambling around and talking to each other during Yelena’s short speech but it was clear they had no plan or knew how to get her down from where she stood over 50 feet above them all.

Just as Yelena pulled out the glittery green grappling to use, a red dot flashed on the Grinch.

“Oh shit,” Kate said on seeing the colored dot. Yelena must have seen it too and she ducked, shot her grappling hook up and ascended swiftly to the top of the tall building just as a shot rang out. 

“Shit. Shit shit shit,” Kate breathed out and ran forward while looking around and trying to find where the shot had come from. None of them had planned on their mission turning from capturing the Grinch to saving them. 

She could see Yelena had just climbed to the very tippy top of the building and was finagling with something in her gloved hand.

The same locations that the green flares had been shot off of a short time ago now shot out thousands of pounds of…everything, from giant cannons.

Green paper money, yes, but also glitter, confetti, tinsel, grass, lettuce, pine needles, green paintballs…

Kate couldn’t see Yelena anymore but as the green mess rained down on her and the audience, she began laughing. Her girlfriend was crazy, but hilarious.

What the hell, Yelena…

The audience was a cacophony like yesterday, only it was twice as crazy with the vastly larger amount of people, the array of events, and the scramble from everyone to get their hands on the money raining down.

 “Where did she even get all this shit anyway?” Kate said, forgetting that her friends could hear her.

“Woah! Who get what?” Kamala asked after avoiding getting elbowed in the face.

“Uhh…nothing!” Kate said as a nondescript van parked on the side of the road caught her eye. A back window was cracked a few inches and the very tip of a sniper rifle could be seen in the very corner.

“Gotcha,” Kate said quietly to herself, then louder, “Guys, sniper located at the uhhh shit–South! South roadblock! I’m almost there now.” 

“Is it the cops?” Ned asked.

Kate studied the van but came up empty, “It’s too hard to tell. It’s not marked, but it could be?”

“Be careful Kate!” Kamala said.

“Real. Names!” Peter hissed.

MJ and Cassie both groaned and said “Who cares!” in unison.

Kate swapped her choice of arrow from the trick bola to a normal one as she slowed down and crouched under the leaves of a tree that still had enough foliage left to protect Kate from most of the cannon’s droppings. She aimed and shot as soon as she had a chance to where she was 85% sure she saw the hand or wrist of the shooter. An angry scream was heard as her arrow broke through the car window’s glass and right into a body part.

Oooh…That is definitely going to hurt.

The van shook around before the side door slid open with a slam and four men jumped out, one gripping his bloody forearm where an arrow had been gouged in moments ago. The rifle he’d used to shoot at Yelena was in his other hand. He wasn’t even trying to hide it out in the open. 

Whoever the sniper was, he was good. The four men were dressed in all black and it was honestly so hard to figure out if they were law enforcement or not. In any case, Kate didn’t even have time to collapse her bow back before one of the men, the injured one, caught sight of her with her weapon and gritted his teeth dangerously. He yelled something to his friends and they looked at Kate too.

“Whoopsie…” Kate said, turned, and booked it while awkwardly trying to reattach her bow to her belt as she did so.

“What? What whoopsie? What did you do Kate!?” Cassie exclaimed through her ear piece.

More cannon noises boomed around her in tandem with the holiday music and the screams of laughter and joy around Kate as free money continued floating towards the ground.

Kate ran as fast as she could, trying to blend into the crowd. She headed towards where Ned was sitting and ducked behind his chair. “There’s four guys…,” she panted, “one had a sniper rifle…shit, has a sniper rifle… I might have maybe, possibly, shot him in the arm with an arrow, and maybe, possibly, super pissed him off…” Kate rambled into her ear piece as she caught her breath.

“Jesus Kate. You okay?” Ned whispered loudly, having the chance since the line to see Santa was at a bit of a stand-still, the crown just a tad preoccupied with everything else going on. It was a little funny hearing his voice both through her ear piece and right behind her, like an echo.

“I’m good, but we should probably take care of those guys,” Kate said in reference to the sniper guy and his buddies. The good news was the gunman had put the rifle back in the van according to Peter before chasing after her. The bad news was he was actively looking for Kate now.

A helicopter was heard way up above them and was circling around the scene with a bright spotlight that it was moving around on the top of the building the Grinch had just scaled.

“Dude, it’s ABC7!” Kamala said. Kate could just barely hear an echo of her too from somewhere nearby but couldn’t tell which direction.

“Just be careful,” Kate warned. “Act like you’re part of the audience or the show or something.” 

“I mean, we’re dressed as elves. We kind of are,” Kamala admonished with a sarcastic laugh.

So far Kate was the only one who’d caught the eye of the men from the van and she was hopeful to keep it that way.

Kate looked up to the top of the building Yelena had climbed to and saw the helicopter’s spotlight shining on her, in all her green furry Grinch glory. Kate shook her head as she watched her girlfriend frolic around on the roof of an extremely tall building, pressing something in her hand in a very obnoxious way.

“You are a psycho…” Kate said to herself, just quiet enough that it wasn’t picked up by her ear piece.

A triumphant laugh sounded through the speakers over the instrumental music that was still playing, still repeating the same instrumental song over and over. 

Atop the building the Grinch stood on the ledge of, along with the same surrounding buildings that had held the cannons and flares, was now shooting off green fireworks. The middle building was the last to go and some of those big, huge fireworks that rained down like willow trees were shot. 

Kate would be lying to herself if she said it wasn’t an amazing sight.

She wasn’t really sure what Yelena’s end goal was either. Was it to ruin the event? Ruin Christmas for everyone? Or end the night in a more joyous way like the end of the movies did?

The fireworks continued to go off and there were cheers all around. Yelena wasn’t visible anymore but it was assumed she was still on the top of the building.

Peter’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Hey Hawkeye, I’ve got eyes on your guys. They’re near the reindeer enclosure, where it meets the park,” Peter said.

“Oh hey, I see them too! Wow, that guy looks pissed Kate,” Ned said.

An audible sigh was heard from Peter through the coms, assumedly because of Ned using her real name again. 

The reindeer enclosure was close by so Kate peered around the wooden chair Ned was on, the same one from inside the mall, and about 20 yards away she saw the men. Well, she saw three of them. The fourth was either obscured or elsewhere, but the one she’d gouged with an arrow was in her sights. Kate pulled a trick arrow juiced with electricity, enough to knock the guy out but not kill him, and shot fast as soon as she had a clear line of sight. Her aim was true and the injured man went down like a sack of coal. 

She dove back behind Ned’s chair. “Sniper is down,” Kate said.

“Damn, night shot,” MJ commented. Kate wasn’t sure where the girl was but she had to be close by to have seen Kate’s shot.

“How are the reindeer not absolutely freaking out with all this stuff going on?” MJ then asked incredulously.

“Beats me,” Kate said. She was surprised too. She sent a look at the cute animals but they remained calm.

“They must just really like Christmas,” Kamala said in explanation, which wasn’t an explanation at all.

“Or maybe they’re drugged up,” MJ provided sardonically.

“Ohhh! Don’t say that!” Kamala whined. “Poor babies…”

“I’m sure that’s not true, Kam, don’t worry. They’re just used to city life,” Kate said as she started making her way in a low crouch over to the three men. She’d still not seen the fourth guy again though. “Does anyone see the other guy? I swear there were four…” 

Just as she asked the question, Kate felt a tap on her shoulder and turned her head to look up.

Guy number four, a very tall man with a bald head and a messy beard, stood in front of her with a very annoyed look on his face. He grabbed Kate by the front of her jacket and pulled her to her feet.

“What do you think you’re doing, little lady?” Baldy asked.

“Uhhh…spreading holiday cheer?” Kate said, trying to be charming. She was on her tiptoes, as the guy was significantly taller than her and had a tight grip.

Baldy clicked his tongue a few times and said, “We’re getting that money. And you’re getting in our way.”

“Well, it’s like this…umm…no,” Kate responded, and then took her collapsed bow that she’d inconspicuously unlatched from her belt and thrust it up into the bottom of the man’s chin. He let out a groan of pain and released her to grip his face. He spat blood down his chin and onto the ground, narrowly missing Kate in the process. 

The archer fell to her feet and with a quick “Bye!” ran off. She again headed towards the other three men, the two still around the guy she’d shot, trying to wake him without catching anyone’s attention. Luckily, no one seemed to really give a shit about the unconscious man. This was New York, after all.

Since Kate’s bow was open again and she summoned her best parkour skills, successfully jumped up on one of the park cement ledges near the reindeer, aimed, and fired down. 

A net arrow sprung out from her arrow and straight at the three men grouped together. The two men that she hadn’t zapped unconscious were crouched down so the net went over them easily. It would have been better if she’d been able to be higher and get more power to the shot, as the edges of the net weren’t embedded in the ground very firmly, but it would be enough for now.

“Does anyone see a cop nearby?” Kate asked, scanning for one near her as well.

“Actually,” Peter said, “I think they are cops.”

“What?” Kate said in panic. She’d shot a cop? Dread filled her.

MJ didn’t catch onto Kate’s internal panic and responded then with an affirmative. “There’s two officers getting cocoa by me,” she said.

“Damn it, okay. Where are you? Can you send them over by me? I’m by the park, near the reindeer,” Kate then asked, keeping her bow taught but pointed down as she watched baldy try and make his way to her. Because of his size and apparent lack of balance, he was having a harder time than she had with the large crowd of people in his way. 

“Yep, sure thing Kate,” MJ responded with. Kate ignored the groan from Peter. “I mean Hawkeye,” MJ corrected with way more sarcasm than necessary.

Then Kate almost went deaf in one ear.

“Yo! No way!” Cassie screeched through the coms, way too loudly.

“Cass! What the hell?” Kate hissed.

“The Grinch is giving up!” Cassie exclaimed.

“What!?” Kate yelled, the rest of the group joining in.

“Yeah! Look towards the docks,” Cassie said.

Kate walked a few feet on the ledge and around a tree so she could see the area Cassie was referring to. In front of the west entrance to the mall was an array of wooden docks. It was extremely packed with boats of different types along with a large yacht on one side. The small water entrance had 6 locations that could be used for docking, with the front that was closest to the mall containing a wooden dock that ran along the entire front, meant for the smaller water vessels. Where the boats would head back into the Hudson was a long pier on each side, almost like a bridge that didn’t connect in the middle.

On the very end of one pier was someone sitting in a chair with a bright green flare lit beside them. 

“What the…is that…?” Kate was so confused. 

On a chair sat the Grinch, or rather Yelena in her costume. Flashlights from nearby law enforcement along with the spotlight from the ABC7 helicopter broadcasting live from above lit her up in all directions. But Yelena was up on the roof? Kate looked back to the top of the building Yelena had been flouncing around but it was now Grinch-less.

“Kate! Look out!” Peter yelled just as Kate felt her feet fly out from under her. She landed hard on her back in the dirt behind her.

“You bitch!” an angry voice yelled. Baldy was back and he was not happy. He gripped Kate’s wrist hard, the one that was attached to her hand holding her bow, and began to drag her closer to him. His other hand grabbed her by the jacket lapels again.

Kate kicked out at him with her feet and tried to get leverage to get away with a nearby tree or something else she could grab onto with her free hand but there was nothing but dead plants and dirt. The only tree she could reach was too wide around the bottom to hold onto with just one hand and her fingers just barely skimmed it before it was out of reach.

With surprising strength, baldy got her close enough to pick her up and, with a yell of anger, tossed her on top of his friends still under the net. 

Kate groaned, catching an elbow in her ribs from one of the still-conscious men under the net, and then she rolled off and onto the pavement. 

“Ow,” she said pathetically. 

Peter skidded over and gave the large man three quick punches to the face and then flipped him backwards so he landed on his back, hard. The man didn’t move after that. 

The people nearby had given Kate a small berth but mostly the entire scene had gone unnoticed. Peter walked over and gave her a hand. Kate gratefully took it and got to her feet.

“You okay Hawkeye?” Peter asked.

“Yeah,” Kate huffed out, “Shit. I’m good. Thanks Spidey. Sure am glad we invited you,” she said humorously. “Everyone else okay?”

Peter nodded, “Yeah, everyone else is fine. It was just these four losers. Guess you really did piss them off,” Peter said. 

Kate shrugged. She didn’t care, and was glad no one else had been hurt.

“I think they just wanted the reward money. Sheesh, what a bunch of goons. Well, the net should hold until the other cops get over here,” Kate said. She could see two officers nearby with flashlights walking her way.

“Ah! Ye–uh, the Grinch! We need to get to the docks!” Kate suddenly remembered. Both she and Peter jogged over to where they had a view of the docks but it was too late.

The cops were already dragging Yelena away in handcuffs.

“Nooo…no no no!” Kate whined.

“Bye bye money,” Cassie said sadly.

“Aww man. We were so close!” Kamala complained.

After a moment, MJ’s voice then buzzed in their ears, “It doesn’t make sense though. Why would he just give up?”

“What do you mean?” Peter asked.

Kate was too busy wallowing and thinking of if she’d have to bail her girlfriend out of prison or break her out to fully pay attention to her friends at that exact second.

“The Grinch. The guy in the mask. Why would he just be sitting there, waiting to get caught?” MJ asked.

“He wasn’t,” Kamala said. “He was tied up there in a chair. The cops had to cut the rope.”

“Tied up?” Cassie said, “Why would he tie himself up? Wow, this guy is extra stupid.”

Kate slowly made her way back to where Ned was. Most of the chaos had died down and the line to see Santa had started to move again.

“What do you mean, tied up? He tied himself to a chair? And just sat there and waited for the cops to show up?” Peter asked. 

“The cops are about to pass me with the guy in handcuffs. I’m going to get a closer look,” Cassie said.

“Be careful Cass! Don’t get caught,” Kamala cautioned. 

Cassie scoffed, “Please. Me get caught? Hah.”

Kate rolled her eyes. She had to assume Cassie was using her suit that allowed her to shrink down in size, based on Kamala’s remark. They’d all agreed that powers or special suits were off limits, but when did Cassie Lang ever follow the rules?

As the adrenaline left her system, Kate was able to take in the scene around her a little more clearly. The lights were mostly still all green, with only a few food carts and flashlights back to a normal white or yellow color. The music was still playing a lovely instrumental list of holiday songs, not yet back to whatever catchy holiday songs the event program had been playing on a loop prior. There were no more fireworks, flares or cannons going off anymore, but it was still rather dark. 

So Yelena had just…caused mass pandemonium and then turned herself in? It just made no sense. Plus, Yelena knew of the reward money! She knew Kate and her friends were trying to get that money…

“Dude,” Cassie exclaimed after a few minutes, “No. Fucking. Way.” Cassie began laughing hysterically.

“What? What way? What do you see?” Kamala asked in a rush.

“It’s fucking Jared!” Cassie yelled between laughs, again way too loudly. Even being less than an inch tall, she could yell louder than anyone.

“Where?” Kamala asked. The rest of them with their ear pieces still in remained silent, listening to the two girls.

“Here! In the cop car!” Cassie said.

Kate paused in her ushering of kids through the line. They’d all gone back to their assigned areas for work, all except Cassie. Peter was hanging off to the side near where MJ stood. Some of the parents with younger kids had started to complain so even in the dark they went back to work as best they could.

“Why is Jared in the cop car Cass?” Kate asked.

“Because he’s the Grinch!” Cassie said in a fit of giggles.

“What? No he’s not!” Kate said loudly, catching the attention of a few parents near her. “Sorry,” she said to them and turned around. “Cassie, Jared is not the Grinch.”

“Yes huh he is Kate!” Cassie argued.

“No! He’s not!” Kate argued back. Yelena was the Grinch! What the hell was going on?

“Well unless I’ve gone blind, which I obviously haven’t, he is 100% sitting in this cop car with me,” Cassie argued. “And! Get this! There was a sign on his back that said ‘Captured by your friendly neighborhood Spidey’.”

Peter’s incredulous voice piped up, “Whaaaaat…?”

“Guess you can still get that reward money, Pete!” Cassie exclaimed giddily.

“But…but…” Kate trailed off. She was beyond confused and didn’t know what to do. She had been sure she was right. She’d seen the outfit in Yelena’s bag, for crying out loud! Plus, Jared definitely wouldn’t have been the one to pour slime all over himself when he’d written Kate up the first time. No way was he the Grinch!

The cops eventually drove away with Jared in handcuffs in the back of a patrol vehicle, to officially charge him. After that, everything seemed so very…calm.

The instrumental music switched off after the end of a song and Faith Hill’s ‘Where Are You Christmas?’ started playing. It made Kate smile even in her confusion.

Then the lights flicked off again. And from the black wires that Cassie had noticed earlier, hundreds of fireflies started jumping off and flying around. They buzzed and slowly flew up and into the winter sky.

Now this, this was beautiful.

Kate pulled out her cell phone and sent a text to Yelena.

Me: A little cold for fireflies, isn’t it?

The little dots appeared on Kate’s message thread with the blonde but then they disappeared without a response popping up.

Kate frowned in disappointment. She started typing a second message when her spine tingled.

“Merry Christmas, moy malen’kiy elf,” whispered a voice in Kate’s ear and she spun around.

“Yelena!” Kate said incredulously.

The blonde smiled from ear to ear. She still wore her get-up of a green body suit of fur with a Santa suit on top, minus the mask.

“You look warm,” Kate said, “And not in police custody.”

Yelena squinted her eyes at Kate’s cheeky comment, leaned closer, and wrapped her furry green arms still covered in gloves around Kate’s middle. 

“And you still smell like candy canes,” Yelena responded with. She stole one of the candy canes in Kate’s pocket, making a yoink sound, and cracked it open to suck on.

“Those are for the kids you know,” Kate said, touching her forehead to Yelena’s.

Yelena smirked and pulled the white and red striped candy stick out of her mouth. “I won’t tell if you won’t,” she whispered before touching her lips to Kate’s softly.

Kate's eyes fluttered closed and her hand came up to cup Yelena’s cheek. She couldn’t do anything except smile at the fact that she was kissing her girlfriend surrounded by fireflies, lips tasting of peppermint. The evening shenanigans faded into the back of Kate’s mind.

“And they are not real,” Yelena said. “The fireflies. They are fake. It is much too cold for fireflies, detka.”

Kate shook her head. Of course they were fake. Because only her girlfriend would have access to thousands of robotic bugs.

“I love you, you crazy girl,” Kate said once their lips separated.

“And I love you, my Kate Bishop,” responded Yelena.

“Come,” Yelena gently requested and pulled Kate along until they were standing in front of the Hudson. Kate’s job was long forgotten and she couldn’t care less.

They stood together and looked upon the river, hand in gloved hand, until the glow from the fireflies were no longer visible.

*****

December 25th

Christmas Morning

No alarm went off, no chimes or songs or chirps. It was a quiet morning. Instead, the delicious smell of coffee mixed with chocolate started waking Kate up. Chocolate and…peppermint?

Kate slowly opened her eyes when a hushed voice began speaking and she felt a finger running down the bridge of her nose.

“Dobroye utro, Kate Bishop. Merry Christmas,” Yelena said so gently, it made Kate want to fall back to sleep. Her insides felt all gooey.

Kate hummed and reached one of her hands from under the blanket to hold Yelena’s to her chest in a cuddle, kissing her knuckles. “Morning baby,” she said in response, then sniffed, “Hot cocoa?”

Yelena’s eyes glittered, “Coffee and cocoa mixed with peppermint. It’s like a homemade mocha. I picked it up during a mission with Sonya one winter when we were staying at a shit hotel,” she explained and took a small sip.

“Mmm…smells good,” Kate said. She closed her eyes again, content.

“It snowed last night,” Yelena told her.

“Yeah?” Kate responded.

“Mhm. Christmas Day snowfall. Very cheesy. Fanny loved it,” Yelena said. “Probably reminded her of Russia. I had to drag her back in.”

Kate hummed a laugh, thinking of the fluffy pup frolicking in the snow.

She heard Yelena set her mug down on her nightstand. “Christmas morning cuddles?” Yelena asked.

Kate quickly let go of Yelena’s hand so she could lift the blanket up and scooch back in bed to make room. Yelena snuggled in close, tucking her head under Kate’s chin and leaned against her chest.

It was perfect.

Kate laid there with Yelena tucked into her for awhile. She couldn’t remember a day in a long time that she felt as happy as she did right at that moment and she was in no hurry to let the feeling go away anytime soon.

And then her stomach ruined it with a growl.

Kate could feel Yelena giggling into her chest.

“French toast time?” her girlfriend asked.

That woke Kate back up. “Really?”

“Of course, detka. I promised, didn’t I?” Yelena said.

“Mhm,” Kate agreed excitedly, squeezing Yelena around the middle happily, “You sure did.”

Kate was fully capable of making her own french toast. Of course she was. It was just bread dipped in eggs and heated up on the stove, sort of like making a grilled cheese sandwich.

Did Yelena’s taste way better because it was made with love, cinnamon and a little Russian magic? Absolutely.

Yelena got out of the warm bed, dragging Kate out with her, and together they walked downstairs. While Yelena cooked, Kate had gotten her phone to video chat with Clint. It was a little bit of a fiasco when he answered the call with the kids running around, especially the youngest Nate who had already eaten way too much sugar before 10:00 am. When Lucky’s face popped up on screen, Kate lit up.

“My baby boy!” she yelled. The one-eyed dog barked upon hearing Kate’s voice and started jumping around. “How is he? Will you guys give him Christmas snuggles for me?”

“He’s good, Kate. The kids keep him busy. He misses you though,” Clint said.

Kate curled into her blanket, “I miss him too.” She missed her boy so much but knew he was being well-taken care of at the moment. She just really missed his cuddles and goofy antics.

“I have a few presents for you guys,” Kate said, hoping it wouldn’t be too long before she could see them again. It was a far drive from Manhattan to Iowa and seeing as she didn’t drive, she wasn’t certain when she’d be able to go. Sure she was off work, permanently, but it all still cost money she didn’t have to get there and back.

“Us too. I meant to mail them out before Christmas but…well, you guys’ll get them soon enough,” Clint explained. Laura laughed in the background and yelled, “He forgot to go before the post office closed!”

“Guys?” Kate questioned, caught up on Clint’s words.

“You and Yelena,” Clint said.

“You got…both of us gifts?” Kate asked. She tried and failed not to tear up. 

Clint smirked over the phone, “Of course we did, Kate. You’re family.”

“Oooooh,” Kate waved her free hand at her eyes, “I love you guys.”

The phone was passed around a few times between Clint, Laura and the kids after Kate’s tearful scene. Kate showed them Fanny wearing a headband of fake reindeer ears made of fleece and it was a hit. Lila laughed and asked where Lucky’s headband was.

“As adorable as he would look, he’d totally destroy it in ten seconds flat,” Kate explained, not even bothering to give Lucky wearing a headband like that a realistic thought.

“Unlike Lucky, Fanny is a proper lady,” Yelena said with fake haughtiness, overhearing the conversation. She gave a polite wave towards the phone when Kate walked over to put them both on camera while she cooked. “Merry Christmas, Barton family,” she said politely.

They responded in kind as Kate cuddled into Yelena’s back while she finished plating their breakfasts. It made the task more difficult with Kate stuck to her back like glue, but no one said anything.

Kate hung the call up soon after and found herself seated on her living room couch with a plate of delicious french toast, syrup on one and powdered sugar on the other, a side of cut up strawberries, and her own mug of the coffee mocha concoction Yelena had been drinking previously. A candy cane was sitting in it, used both for stirring and eating.

They ate their breakfasts with one of those fake fireplace shows put on the television screen and music playing. Fanny was lying near one of the windows still wearing the doggy headband.

“Perfect breakfast on the perfect Christmas morning,” Kate said once she was done eating.

Yelena set their now empty plates on the coffee table. “We give presents now, yes? And see what Santa Claus brought us?” she asked, suddenly giddy with excitement.

“Yes, okay,” Kate said. She walked over to where their shared stocking hung. She unhooked it and brought it over to the tiny tree she’d decorated the other day. Her blanket from the couch was still around her shoulders like a cape, keeping her warm.

The stocking felt heavier than Kate remembered. She had put a few little things in there for them to share but she hadn’t expected anything extra.

Yelena sat in front of Kate, legs crossed. “Ready?”

Kate handed the blonde the stocking, “You do the honors.”

Like a child, Yelena took the stocking and dumped it upside down onto the floor with glee written all over her face.

Kate laughed at the items dumped between them. “Is this lube?” she asked, grabbing the first thing that caught her eye.

Yelena grinned, “Ah, yes. Peppermint. Santa must think you were a very good girl, Kate Bishop.”

Kate sniffed. “Woah. Peppermint-y.”

She capped it back up and set it to the side. “That is hilarious, oh my gosh. But for real, I can’t wait to use it,” Kate said, trying and ultimately failing to keep her sudden arousal down. She wanted to get through presents first!

Other than the bottle of lube, there was a few different kinds of candy, two pairs of holiday socks, a holiday edition bottle of hot sauce from a nearby shop that Yelena immediately cracked open and taste-tested, and a deck of cards with a different holiday drink on each one. The last gift was an ornament that had look-a-like clay imitations of Fanny and Lucky with the words ‘Christmas 2024’ written under it. It had been wrapped in bubble wrap, so Yelena’s dumping hadn’t broken anything on it. Kate cooed and immediately hung up the ornament on the tree, right in the middle near the top so it was clearly seen.

There was also a keychain of a little plastic Grinch face.

Yelena picked it up. “Really?” she asked.

“For your house key,” Kate said with a giggle. She’d seen it at one of the booths last night and couldn’t resist.

“Hah. Santa is hilarious. As if I need a key,” Yelena said.

“Santa is also extremely sweet,” Kate said, touching the ornament of their dogs fondly.

Kate then reached over and pulled a small box from under the tree and slid it to Yelena.

“Here. That’s for you,” she said shyly.

The blonde’s fingers gingerly touched the wrapping before picking the box up. “You didn’t have to get me anything, moya lyubov,” Yelena said. She was holding the box like it was the most special treasure and would break if held too tight.

Not knowing what to say, Kate just stared at Yelena, nothing but love and care in her gaze. “Open it,” she softly requested.

Yelena took several minutes peeling the wrapping off so it wasn’t ripped, but eventually she was able to open the box.

Inside was a stocking that matched Kate’s. Everything except the calligraphed ‘K’. On Yelena’s was a fancy ‘Y’ instead. Other than that, it was an exact match. She’d gotten the stocking a few years ago from an online shop and luckily they were still in business. Kate had been able to purchase a second one and received it just in time for Christmas.

Kate waited for Yelena to say something, or do something, but she just sat there holding the gift in her hands and staring at it.

“It’s um…for next year…” Kate said in explanation. “If you want to keep sharing though, then we can. Or… I just…I thought…” Kate trailed off. 

Oh gosh, she hates it. She hates Christmas. What a stupid idea. She never wanted to even celebrate, did she? This is the worst, I’m the worst. It’ll never–

“It’s perfect, Kate Bishop. You are perfect,” Yelena said in a watery voice with glassy green eyes that finally looked up to meet Kate’s own blue.

Yelena let out a slow breath before hugging the gift to her. “Thank you, detka . Truly,” she said.

“You’re welcome, baby…” Kate said after clearing her throat. 

“Now you,” Yelena said. She pulled an envelope from under the tree. Nothing special, just a green paper envelope with the words ‘Holiday Cheer’ on the front. She waved it at Kate until she took it.

Kate wasn’t really sure what exactly Yelena was giving her, but just knowing her girlfriend had taken the time to get her anything, in addition to making her breakfast that morning, was the cherry on top of a perfect day already.

Unlike Yelena, Kate didn’t bother trying to keep the wrapping nice and neat. With a cheeky smile, she ripped the envelope open and pulled out some paper.

Kate unfolded the larger one and inside was…

“Jared’s mug shot!?” Kate began laughing hysterically. “Where–how did you get this? Oh man, I need to show this to the girls,” Kate said, referring to Kamala and Cassie, “They’ll love this.”

“Keep going,” Yelena said, nodding to the other papers.

Between giggles, Kate picked up the other documents that she’d pulled from the envelope. One was a hand-made card with pictures of dogs and stick people that looked vaguely like Kate, Yelena, Lucky and Fanny. On the bottom was written in Yelena’s scrawl ‘One Free Trip to Casa de Barton (to rescue our boy Lucky)’. Kate hugged the paper to her. 

“You mean it?” she asked.

“Of course I mean it. We need our Lucky back,” Yelena said adamantly.

Kate squeaked out a happy noise, “I can’t wait to have my boy back here! I just…didn’t want him to suffer, you know? I was running out of money and…yeah,” Kate said, unsure of where she was going. She looked at the paper again and Yelena’s drawings and smiled. She was definitely hanging this ont the fridge. She’d figure the money stuff out, get another shit job if she needed to.

“He should not be held hostage by the likes of the Barton clan. Besides, Fanny is bored,” Yelena said. The dog in question heard her name and woke up only to spin around and curl back into a furry ball, looking content and not bored at all. 

“Cute. Okay, one last paper,” Yelena pointed to the ground where a third small red paper had fallen.

Kate picked it up. On it was written a phone number next to a smiley face and a capital ‘S’. 

“Huh. Should I…know this number?” Kate asked in confusion.

Yelena laughed, “No. That is Sonya’s number. She has a job for you.”

Kate was still very confused. “Sonya? A…job?”

“Mhm. She is looking to have some very high-tech security protocols, computers and cameras put in at her new business. I told her you could help. Plus, she might have some light, very light, freelance work that Hawkeye might enjoy,” Yelena explained.

“So let me get this straight,” Kate said, still staring at the number, “for Christmas you…got me a trip to bring Lucky home, and a…job?”

“You needed a job, no?” Yelena asked.

“Y…yes…” Kate eventually said.

“I mentioned it to Sonya when we spoke last week, when she helped me move some of my boxes. She likes you and felt the same as I did. Your mother’s actions should have no effect on a company hiring you,” Yelena said to Kate earnestly. “You are a good person. You are smart and very good at what you do, regardless of your last name. It is more of a referral anyway. Ultimately Sonya has the final say. You do not wish to entertain the idea of me helping you be independant, but I do not want to see you struggle or stress over something so simple as money, so…” Yelena finished with a wave of her hand towards the paper.

“You got me a job,” Kate said again.

“Yes, detka,” Yelena said.

“A real job!” Kate said.

Yelena was now laughing, “Like I said, it is more like a referral, but yes.”

“I won’t be broke! You got me a job!” Kate exclaimed.

“Kate Bishop! You are repeating yourself,” Yelena said loudly between laughs.

Kate jumped over and flung herself onto Yelena, crushing their gifts between them.

She thought of all the things that she wouldn’t have to worry about any more. Taking care of bills and Lucky. Having a good-paying job that she actually liked. Not being homeless. Working with Sonya would be great too, she enjoyed her antics and how she would tease Yelena.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Kate mumbled and began showering Yelena with kisses all over her face. Yelena’s giggles were everything Kate wanted to hear at that moment.

The kisses of thanks turned into more sensual ones. The blanket around Kate was flung off when she started to get too warm and her hands tangled into Yelena’s long blonde tresses as they exchanged kisses. She could feel Yelena’s fingers skirting around her body, from her arms to her hips to her sides. Kate’s long fingers brushed Yelena’s cheeks as their tongues danced in a taste of syrup, peppermint and coffee. 

Yelena maneuvered them without breaking contact between their lips so that Kate was now below her. Kate put a firm grip on Yelena’s asscheeks just as Yelena’s rough fingers ran under Kate’s shirt, cupping a breast with a thumb on one of Kate’s sensitive nipples.

“Oh god,” Kate gasped. She subconsciously lifted her knees up on either side of the blonde.

“I knew you were a butt girl, Kate Bishop,” Yelena smirked, licking Kate’s neck. “We use Santa’s last gift, yes?” she asked.

As if Kate was going to disagree.

“Yeah…let’s…okay yeah…” She nodded as she panted the words.

Yelena reached over, grabbed the bottle that had fallen from the stocking, and ripped off the plastic seal.

“A lasting reminder of your first job,” Yelena said mischievously. 

“Ugh…don’t remind me. It was the worst and you know it,” Kate said.

“I don’t know about that. I much enjoyed your outfit,” Yelena said.

Kate just groaned both in annoyance and impatience while trying to remove her shirt with Yelena on top of her. She gave up and instead focused on helping her girlfriend with her own top. Neither woman wore pants to sleep, usually opting for a long shirt and underwear, and Kate was forever grateful.

Just as Kate went to attempt to push her underwear down, Yelena stopped her. She tapped a wet finger to the fip of Kate’s nose and Kate got a whiff of peppermint.

“Hey,” Kate complained, slightly weirded out that there was lube sitting on her nose. “That’s not where that goesohhhmyguhholyshih–” 

The minty smell had distracted Kate from the fact that Yelena had hooked onto Kate’s underwear, pulled them down, and had fingers covered in cold peppermint lube rubbing circles directly onto Kate’s sensitive clit. And dear god.

The lube must have been made with something else besides the scent of peppermint. Kate could feel tingles of hot and cold radiating between her legs.

“Merry Christmas, Kate Bishop,” Yelena whispered in Kate’s ear as Kate fisted Yelena’s hair and rocked into her. Kate couldn’t respond in intelligible words, even though she tried to. She vaguely heard the sound of Fanny’s collar jingle as the dog went to hide upstairs in their bedroom.

Probably for the best. She didn’t want Fanny there any more than the dog wanted to be near them.

Kate could feel her legs start to shake and she tried wrapping them around Yelena. Her feet were sliding on the floor as she tried moving to Yelena’s rhythm. “Len…Yelena…faster…” she said between panted breaths.

Yelena acquiesced as she created a work of art on Kate's neck with her mouth.

After the room stopped spinning, Kate found herself crouched between Yelena’s thighs, arms wrapped around them and hands splayed on her beautiful asscheeks.

The scent of peppermint was everywhere . 

“We’re going to have to use the rest of this fast, babe. I don’t think I can handle the smell forever,” Kate muttered before attaching her mouth on Yelena’s swollen clit and dragging a moan out of her girlfriend.

“T-that can be arranged, moya lyubov ,” Yelena said, holding the back of Kate’s head tightly and moving her hips to the rhythm Kate began with her mouth.

Oh yeah, they definitely needed to use this up soon.

*****

December 25th 

Christmas Evening

At some point between the time it started to snow again, the time one of their stomachs growled from hunger, and the time that Fanny had to go pee, they’d made their way from the floor, to the couch, to the bed, to the bathroom, and back to the couch.

The now empty bottle of lube was tipped over on the floor and Kate and Yelena were sharing a pot of quickly-made macaroni and cheese. The television was flipped to Youtube as Kate perused some of her favorite Christmas songs. 

“Okay, this one you’ll love,” Kate said as she pressed play.

Yelena looked at the screen and laughed, “You do not think we have heard this song enough the past few weeks?”

“You’ll love this version! Promise. It’s pretty,” Kate said. She’d just pressed play on Lindsey Stirling’s ‘You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch’.

“As long as it is not too poppy or whatever,” Yelena said as she spooned pasta covered in her new bottle of hot sauce into her mouth. The pot had been crudely separated in the middle, one pile for Yelena and a more bland pile for Kate. The only side of noodles still remaining was the hot and spicy section.

As the song started playing, Yelena perked up, “Violin?”

“Mhm. Lindsey Stirling is amazing. She plays the violin while dancing!” Kate explained as they watched the holiday music video on the screen. “Not all of her songs have singing in them like this one, but a lot of them do. I’ll have to show you the one with Lzzy Hale. It’s great.”

“Hmm. You are right, it is quite beautiful,” Yelena said, setting the now empty pot down as a fun version of the song mixed with violin strings floated around the room.

It was dark out now, with sunset long past, and both girls were cuddled as close as they could get on the couch. Their naked skin was warm under the fuzzy blanket covering them both.

After the song ended, Kate pressed play on one of the recommended playlists and set the remote down. Her arms circled Yelena’s soft skin and in that moment, everything felt perfect.

Yelena had hung up Kate’s stocking back on the side of the stairs and hung hers up right next to Kate’s with a reminder of ‘Make sure it says KY and not the other way around!’ with a snicker of a laugh. Yelena had called Kate a child but had hung the stockings up in the suggested order.

The lights in their now shared apartment were all off except for the television and the twinkly Christmas tree lights. Kate could feel Yelena’s body get heavier against her.

“Hey Yelena?” Kate said to her girlfriend.

Yelena, who’d been dozing off, peered into Kate’s bright blue eyes, “Yes?”

“This is the best Christmas ever,” Kate finally said, cupping the blonde’s cheeks and gazing into her soft green eyes, so dark from the light at that exact moment. “Thank you for being here. With me,” Kate said, “I love you.”

“Oh, moya lyubov. I love you too, my Kate Bishop,” Yelena responded with and ended her sentence with the most perfect and finally peppermint-free kiss.

*****

Konets - S Rozhdestvom

The End - Merry Christmas