InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "being fire'd sucks"

yelena belova {has a lot of pockets} (alotofpockets) wrote in chances_rpg,
@ 2024-07-01 08:59:00

Entry tags:

dc: jason todd (comics), marvel: yelena belova (mcu)

LOG: JASON & YELENA

Who. Jason Todd & Yelena Belova
When. May 2
Where. Yelena's Lil 'Studio'
What. Just two friends beating the shit out of each other. Totally normal things.
Warnings. casual vague violence? idk

Pick a safeword.

Yelena cut through traffic smoothly, knowing her companion was keeping up without issue on his own bike. The tail of her braid had come untucked from the helmet she dutifully wore and she liked the peace of just riding through a busy city or on an open highway. It didn’t matter. There was a calm there that she didn’t get from many other things. The light turned red ahead and she carefully split the lanes only to come up beside a car that was too noisy to be useful but was clearly compensating for something.

She ignored the men who rolled down the windows to shout something until she decided, nah, let them get a peek. Yelena pushed the visor up and turned her head to look at the boys who catcalled her and just stared at them without blinking. It unnerved at least one of them enough but the other two weren’t quite getting the hint. She slowly lifted her middle finger and still didn’t blink. Even if Jason weren’t immediately behind her, Yelena had zero fear about them trying to follow her. That would be their mistake, not hers. Besides, they had to catch her first.

Just as the light changed, Yelena dropped the visor down again and turned her head to take off like a rocket. ”They’re welcome to try,” she chuckled to herself, bent low over the bike as she picked up speed just for the hell of it. Jason could either keep up or pull over and try to call her.

When she pulled up onto the sidewalk of the space she’d outright purchased, Yelena glanced back and grinned. She would never say it to Matthew but being able to go riding with someone had a certain sort of thrill. Matt trusting her enough just to get on the back of her bike would always be good enough for them. “I was wondering if I’d lose you,” Yelena said, voice raised to be heard over his bike as he approached even as she shut hers off. She offered a gloved hand for a fist-bump when he was close enough.

"Be honest," Jason teased her once he'd pulled to a stop, "you were hoping you would so you could make fun of me for it for the next few weeks."

Jason returned the first-bump easily. "I think you scared those boys into pissing themselves."

He was also pretty sure that they'd assumed he was Yelena's boyfriend when he followed behind with a glare of his own. Which was honestly hilarious, if you knew them at all.

Yelena grinned, unable (and unwilling) to hide it, even as she pulled her helmet off. "I wouldn't have let you forget it for a while," she confirmed. Her bike was shut off and she put the kickstand down before moving to unlock the doors. "Bring them in," the blonde said and motioned for Jason to follow as she set her helmet just inside the doors and went back to push her motorcycle inside where it would be safer while they were getting up to what they were going to get up to.

Her attention went back to Jason and she smirked as she peeled off her jacket. "Boys and their toys. They get too cocky," Yelena smirked. "I almost wish they tried to follow. But then we'd be late here and we'd have had to hold back there." She sounded like it would have been a terrible inconvenience. But that was the crux of it: Yelena didn't want to hold back. That was why she and Jason had picked up this little hobby. Matt had a respectable job and the casual session with him was just a little too dangerous for keeping up his appearance. She had no doubt that he would humor her but why do that when she had a perfectly good, meaty body in Jason Todd? Who wouldn't hold back because he knew she needed him not to, just as much as he needed her to give it all. She would have been sorry that she'd missed Jason's glare at the pathetic boys in their sorry excuse for a car had she known about it; he was fun to watch as he stared people down. "Weapons or bare-handed today?"

"Warm up bare-handed, at least," Jason said. "We can maybe switch to something a little more fun later, but..."

But he needed to fight with his fists, some days. He needed to feel the impact of his knuckles against flesh. He also needed to feel the flare of pain that came with her knuckles against his flesh. Jason guessed they all had a different relationship with pain than other people, him and the others in his line of work. Pain wasn't something to be avoided. It was a fact of life and it was as much of a rush as weaving through traffic on his bike. Jason leaned into the pain and let it make him sharper, faster, stronger.

There were a lot of demons that still lurked in the corners of his mind. Sometimes he had to let them out, just for a little while.

Yelena completely understood the need. She rolled her shoulders as she locked the doors behind them and then moved back into the space of the building that she'd cleared for exactly this use. Law enforcement would have a field day if they ever needed to run forensics on the place given the blood and such that so often got left behind. She never bothered to clean it up with the precision that a job would have asked for and it was always good enough.

Her jacket was dropped onto the back of one of the chairs at the card table set up off to the side. The thing that definitely couldn't take the weight of a human slamming through it. Her cotton shirt went next, both for the sake of sweating and because it always somehow felt more real without the extra layer. Her pants and boots were fine and she didn't bother changing out of those. If Jason wanted to lose their boots, she would follow suit. The sports bra left too many scars on display but that was another thing she shared with those in their line of work. Scars, like pain, were proof that she was alive. Yelena shook out her hands and then bounced a little on her feet to make sure she felt limber and solid. She flashed a grin and waited for Jason to indicate he was ready. And then her bare fists came up and she rushed forward. Matt and Jason made her bring out some of her best Widow moves, both because she needed to and because she wanted them to learn how to counteract them. It was a painful lesson, usually, but a lesson all the same. Just because Yelena was smaller didn't mean she couldn't take a (much) larger man down. And Yelena never held back.

Jason didn't want her to hold back. That was what he liked about fighting with Yelena, he could use every trick at his disposal and still have to work for it. If he won at all; there was no guarantee of that either.

It felt good, getting to really stretch himself. Getting to lose himself in the rhythm of motion and pain until everything started to bleed away. Sometimes Jason thought he was only really himself in a fight, that everything else was just some kind of mask that he was putting on, some act that he maintained for his own sake to pretend that he wasn't some kind of savage animal still.

His life was good here. He had his brother, he had friends, he had Quentin. There was so much that Jason had never really gotten to experience before that was just everyday life in this place, so why was he still so angry underneath it all?

Yelena only ever lost herself in a fight when she needed the distraction. She had done that several times with Matt and she knew the signs even if she ignored her own.

She brought out a new throw, one she hadn't let Jason see yet, and tossed his ass to the mat with a grin as she backed up enough to give him space. Yelena was a little winded and a bead of sweat ran down her spine to soak into the back of her sports bra. She had reddened areas in all the right places from blocking properly and some would bruise more darkly than others. "Pick a safeword," Yelena said without any lead-up as Jason regained his feet.

That stopped Jason short in the middle of the advance he'd started as soon as he regained his footing. "I'm sorry, what?"

Yelena looked at him with an impatient expression. He had heard her, she was sure of it. "I said, pick a safeword," she repeated.

"I guess I meant more... why?" Jason dropped his fighting stance and stared at her, confusion written in every line of his face. They'd just been sparring. It wasn't like they were doing anything... you know. Weird, or kinky. The thought of doing that with Yelena was... he wasn't sure if it was hilarious or horrifying.

The blonde blew out a breath and rolled her eyes. Her stance relaxed though both of them knew the other could easily slip right back into violence between heartbeats if the situation called for it. "Because you don't know when to stop," Yelena explained. "You have demons biting at your heels, you keep going. So if you won't stop then I will stop you. Safeword. I say it, you stop. Same idea as how it's usually used." Or so she assumed.

She made a small gesture between herself and Jason. "Matthew knows how to stop me. When to stop me. I don't think you know how to stop yourself. So I will do that for you." There was no judgment in her tone or her expression; Yelena saw a lot of herself in Jason and he likely saw some of the same. But she had been at the deadly game a lot longer and her habits were ingrained. Jason still had a chance at stepping back.

"I know when to stop," Jason argued more out of reflex than because he truly believed himself. He sighed, then corrected himself. "I know when I should stop."

Making the decision to actually do it sort of depended on the day.

He considered her for a moment, and her request. Knowing Yelena, until he complied she wouldn't keep sparring with him. That was what it really came down to, wasn't it? If he wouldn't stop, she would stop him. Even if that meant not engaging in the first place.

Blowing out a deep breath, he told her, "Robin."

When Jason argued, she arched an eyebrow and a smirk appeared as he gave in and corrected himself. Still, she waited.

Yelena didn't echo the word back and simply nodded; it was easy enough to commit to memory. "American Pie," she said, instead, and lifted her fists again before flashing a grin. It was two words but did anyone really think Yelena would stop at just one word? Did anyone really think she would follow her own rules just for the sake of following them? "Again," she said before launching into her attack. She had given him plenty of time to prepare himself again and Yelena had set the boundaries. Neither of them would use the words to take a break because that wasn't the point. The point was to see the darkness in the other, the point where they were driving themselves too far into the shadows and needed to be pulled back by someone who understood. Yelena didn't hold back with Jason but she also knew that he wouldn't need to pull her out. He wasn't within that layer of her trust--not yet. Natasha and Matt were deepest. Jason could find himself there but it would take time and trust from the both of them.

Yelena let out a delighted laugh when Jason slipped out of a hold just before she would have locked him into place to drag him to the mat. He was learning.

This time, Jason met her with a bright grin and a laugh of his own, the darkness from earlier faded in the face of his surprise at being stopped and... a little bit at knowing that there was one person there that he could trust would stop him when he needed to be stopped. Someone that knew how far was too far for someone like him.

He came back at her with a punch, expecting to be blocked and not disappointed.