y. belova (doesnotpose) wrote in momadness_log, @ 2022-08-01 20:22:00 |
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Entry tags: | ~inactive: eliot spencer, ~inactive: yelena belova |
Who: Eliot and Yelena
What: Dinner
Where: Yelena’s place
When: During the Vormir trip
Warnings: Flirtations
Status: Completed GDoc
Yelena kept her room at the Facility, though she had an apartment not too far from campus as well. She split her time between the two so she could be close to action when necessary, and far from it when not. The only people who knew about her apartment were her sister and her husband. That’s where they were meeting tonight for dinner.
Yelena headed there early, with Fannie, and set about tidying up before he arrived--not that the place was messy. But only being there every few nights or so meant that the place got dusty. She had to clean the countertops and run the vacuum.
Fannie, as she was wont to do, found her favorite stuffed toy, and went to lay down on her bed for a nap before Eliot arrived.
*
Some might find it odd that Eliot and Yelena were married and lived separately. Given their marriage was largely one of convenience because they were trapped in Camelot together for a year, it worked for them. They spent time together, usually once a week or so, but other than that, not much changed in either of their lives upon their return. In fact, Eliot hadn’t even mentioned his marriage to Hardison and Parker and he didn’t think Yelena had told anyone about it either. It wasn’t that they were embarrassed or ashamed of it, especially since it likely wasn’t even legally binding in New York, it was more that they were both private people and there was no reason anyone needed to know.
Eliot arrived at her apartment, arms laden with grocery bags. Though he did have a key, it would have been too much of a hassle to fish it out of his pocket, so he knocked on the door, with his foot, and waited for Yelena to open it.
*
Fannie must have smelled that it was Eliot, as she didn’t start barking. Instead, the dog climbed up off of her bed and hurried to the door just before the knock, wagging her tail happily and whimpering. After the knock she lifted her paw to scratch at the door.
“All right, Fannie. All right, I am coming.” Yelena hung up the vacuum cleaner on its mount on her way to the door. She pulled it open to see him on the other side. “Why, if it isn’t a knight in shining armor,” she broke into a smirk, then reached forward to help him with the groceries.
The relationship that Yelena and Eliot had was unusual. They were closer than friends, intimate like lovers, though the feelings she bore him were… not quite romantic. He was a partner, a friend with whom she shared parts of herself no one else got to see. He was the only person in her life who had a key to her apartment. (Natasha didn’t need one to get in.)
*
“Thanks,” Eliot said, rolling his eyes at her joke as he let her take one of the bags before heading into the kitchen to set things down. Fannie was right on his heels which was no surprise and there was a treat for her in one of the bags. “I’ll pet you in a minute.”
Once he had everything on the counter, he leaned in and kissed Yelena on the cheek before crouching down to give Fannie head scritches. “There’s a B-O-N-E in one of those bags,” he told Yelena, being careful to spell the word so the dog wouldn’t go insane.
*
Yelena closed the door behind him once he was inside the apartment safe and sound, then turned to follow him into the kitchen. “Never you worry, Fan, he just has his hands full.” She said to the dog while they both followed him in.
Then there was a kiss to her cheek. Yelena smiled softly, and set the bag on the counter. “I’m sure she can smell it,” she said before digging through the bags to start emptying them, digging for the B-O-N-E. “You’re trying to bribe my dog to like you, aren’t you?”
*
Eliot smirked at her. “I don’t think bribery is really necessary, do you?” Though he came across as dangerous and threatening to most adults, kids and animals tended to love Eliot. Underneath his gruff exterior was a surprisingly kind and gentle man, at least to people who deserved that kindness. In his experience, most adults didn’t. Kids and animals retained an innocence that he fought like hell to preserve.
As she emptied the bags, he organized things into piles based on which dish they went with. Some items would need to go in the fridge and others he would need right away. “So what’s new with you?” he asked. “Anything interesting?”
*
Yelena smirked softly until she came across the dog toy in the bag, and then pulled it out and unwrapped it for the dog. “She is a good judge of character,” she admitted, turning to lean a hip against the counter as she watched the dog running off to her bed with the bone in her mouth.
“Nothing even remotely interesting,” she admitted with a gentle shrug of her shoulders. “Honestly, my life has been boring without you in it,” she teased, though it wasn’t exactly a lie. “What about you? Are you and your posse up to no good?” Another tease.
*
If he was the only thing interesting in her life, Eliot was seriously falling down on the job. He’d have to think of something fun for them to do soon. “Hardison’s digging into some corrupt politician,” he said. “And Parker’s been on a sugar high since she bought a fifty pound bag of the marshmallows from Lucky Charms.”
He knew that one of these days, he was going to need to introduce her to his crew, though he wanted to put it off as long as possible.
*
Yelena snorted softly. “From what I know of Parker, it sounds like her.” Indulgent. She was the all in friend, wasn’t she? Yelena was looking forward to meeting them both, even though she’d spoken briefly with them online… it wasn’t in her position as Eliot’s spouse. And he would have to meet Natasha in the same capacity.
“What politician is it?” She asked, curiously, as she watched him organizing the supplies on the counter. Maybe she could help. She had experience with that sort of thing.
*
“Didn’t catch the name,” he said. “Hardison talks a lot. There was something about shady real estate deals in his past.” As much as Eliot loved his friend, sometimes he couldn’t help but zone out when he got to babbling. He shrugged. “He was trying to pull up old permits.” Eliot wasn’t sure what the plan was, probably something to get money to the people the guy ripped off.
Eliot felt a little guilty about not introducing them yet. It wasn’t like he was ashamed of his relationship, such that it was, with Yelena. What they had worked for them and he didn’t want anyone to judge their choices. Logically he knew that Hardison and Parker wouldn’t judge, so he wasn’t entirely sure what was holding him back. “You’ll have to join us for dinner sometime.”
*
“Is he looking for assistance?” Yelena asked. She could likely dig around for things, too, though she didn’t want to step on any toes. Offering to help was one thing, swinging in and taking over was quite another. Yelena would never do the latter. Besides, she should probably… meet Eliot’s friends first.
The thought was bouncing around in her head when he invited her to dinner. Both eyebrows rose. “Is it time?”
*
Eliot shook his head. “No, Hardison’s the best at digging up dirt. If we decide to run a con on him, I might tap you in though.” It would be good to have another capable hitter available, especially since Sophie wasn’t here to grift.
“Soon, I think,” he said. They hadn’t discussed their relationship since returning from Camelot having agreed that what happened there didn’t have to extend to home if and when they were sent back. Even without discussion, they’d fallen into this routine of meeting for dinner once a week or so and it was comfortable.
*
“You know how to get ahold of me,” Yelena said softly. She took the bags, now empty of groceries, and folded them up to store them under the sink. She was trying not to get her hopes up about it. Working together with Eliot and his friends would be great.
“I’m looking forward to it.” She turned and leaned against the counter, watching him as he started to go through the food, pulling out ingredients, preparing dinner. “...and it is probably time for you to meet Natasha. Properly.”
*
Meeting each other’s families was a big step and they both knew it, even if they left it unspoken. “Sure, let me know when is good for you both,” Eliot said. He definitely didn’t think they were ready for a combined thing. Parker took a lot of getting used to and he’d rather win over her sister before interjecting Parker’s special brand of crazy into the situation.
With everything organized, Eliot rolled up his sleeves. “All right, wash your hands and you can chop vegetables while I get the sauce started.”
*
Yelena was a bit nervous about this next step. It was a big deal, something they’d avoided for far too long. She knew that it was long overdue, and assumed that Natasha was going to have words with how long this had gone on without her knowing about it. Still, it felt like they were both ready to move forward, and that was a good sign. “I will.” She was already trying to figure out how to explain this to her sister.
Then she laughed. “Wait wait wait. I thought you were going to come over and cook for me. Now you are making me do all the work?” She moved over to wash her hands, too, bumping her hip playfully into his.
*
“Are you saying you don’t want to play with knives?” Eliot teased. She had as much skill with blades as he did, one of the many things they bonded over both in Camelot and since their return. Chopping things was easy and he was confident she could handle it.
While she was washing her hands, he moved behind her, pinning her between himself and the sink. “I need to wash mine too,” he said, his lips against her ear.
*
“Oh, no, I always want to play with knives. I just don’t want to work,” she teased.
Yelena wasn’t new to sex in her adult life. As a Widow, she’d been trained from a young age to use sex as a weapon. Because that was so ingrained in her, she hadn’t thought about it as something to do for fun--it was a tool. She’d never felt either romantic or sexual inclinations toward… well, anyone. Not until she and Eliot spent an entire year together in and around Camelot, on adventures and wearing corsets. (She wore the corsets, not him.)
Things with Eliot were so natural. They’d started as aquaintences, then moved to friends, and then best friends, and suddenly everything--romance, sex, partnership--had become comfortable as breathing.
So when he pinned her to the sink, Yelena felt heat swirl gently within her. She turned her head just a little to smirk at him over her shoulder. “What is stopping you?”
*
Eliot knew that their relationship, however you wanted to define it, was far from conventional. They’d been thrown together by circumstance and made the best of it by sticking together and doing what they could to circumvent the outdated social mores of the time. Their marriage of convenience had become a deep friendship and mutual respect and maybe more. After what happened with Maria, he wasn’t sure if he would ever put himself in a vulnerable position again. He had Parker and Hardison and the rest of the team and that was enough. Or so he thought.
“Someone’s hogging the sink,” he teased though he made no effort to move. Eliot knew well enough that if Yelena didn’t want to be in that position, she would make it known.
*
The word relationship was fair. Yelena didn’t want to put any other label on what they had. Marriage was also true--maybe something more. And she was just about convinced that it was time to tell Natasha what she and Eliot had. Dinner. It was the next step. Though, maybe she should figure out what, exactly, she wanted.
“What? There is plenty of room,” she said, motioning a soapy hand toward the sink.
*
There was plenty of room, but Eliot had other things besides cooking dinner on his mind now. He reached around her and took her hands, moved them under the faucet to rinse off the soap, and then turned around with one hand while shutting off the water with the other.
“We could wait on dinner,” he said.
*
While Yelena could very easily pull away from him, she let him take her hands, rinse them, and then shut off the water. “Oh?” A little smirk came to her features.
“Is this you trying to get out of cooking me dinner? Or do you have something more entertaining in mind?”
*
“I would never try to get out of cooking you dinner,” Eliot said, his voice low. “I thought maybe we could work up an appetite first.”
*
Well, that was quite the appealing proposition. Yelena stepped closer--right up against him. She smirked as she teased, “How do you know I am not already famished?” Though, of course she was interested in working up an appetite with him.
*
Eliot moved one of his hands to her lower back. “Are you?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. “Because far be it from me to starve a lady.”
*
Yelena lifted her arms to drape around his shoulders, finding that being wrapped up in his arms was both familiar and comforting. She liked the way it made her feel--liked the way she could tell it made him feel. “Well, now that you’ve offered activities which promise to work up an appetite, I’m not sure I can think of anything else.”
*
Leaning in, he stole a very quick kiss and then turned to put the rest of the food in the fridge. When that was accomplished, Eliot turned back and scooped her up in his arms. The gesture would have probably had more impact had he not taken the time to take care of the food, but the chef in Eliot couldn’t let the ingredients sit out and potentially go bad.
*
Thankfully there weren’t that many ingredients to put away. By the time Yelena had helped put the last of them away, he was already turning to scoop her up into his arms. With a little laugh, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.
They could work up an appetite first, then he could cook her a delicious meal.
*