Kate Bishop: Practically an Avenger. (hawkeyeout) wrote in onewaythreads, @ 2019-03-21 17:57:00 |
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Entry tags: | janet van dyne, kate bishop (hawkeye), scott lang |
Who: Jan, Scott, Cassie, and Kate
When: Mid-January
Where: Ned/Jan/Peter/Scott/Cassie’s house
What: Cheering up Jan
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete!
Kate hadn’t heard from Jan in a while--she knew that her friend was really stressed over the holiday, with the business and everything. It was time to correct that, though. It wasn’t like Kate was a stranger to the house, she spent a lot of time there with Scott and Cassie, so her showing up one evening to call on Jan wasn’t weird. She had pizza and ice cream, and a six pack of hard cider they could celebrate with together.
It was hard to carry all the things, though, and her arms were full as she made her way to the front door. She had to knock with the toe of her boot.
The holidays were usually Jan’s favorite time of the year, but it proved to be a bit of a struggle this past Christmas. With her friends disappearances, she threw herself into her shop, making sure everything was aligned and ready to go for the shopping season. She may have been a bit purposeful in being anti-social, a concept that proved to be difficult and unfulfilling for her. She had hoped she could busy herself to the point of forgetting of everything that had happened within the last couple of months, but it seemed to only make her aggravated and lonely.
She was happy when things were able to calm down enough that she could spend more time in the home she shared with the family she had left in Preya. She had been so preoccupied that she hadn’t noticed the influx of newcomers to Preya either.
When she heard the muffled knock at the door, she bounded down the stairs and threw open the door, not bothering to check who it might be. Her smile grew as she saw Kate behind the offerings of snacks and pulled her inside.
“How did you know I was so starved?” she asked, closing the door after her. “I mean, I only assume this is for us?” She grinned, wondering if anyone else was about in the house. She had to do a better job on checking in.
“It’s for all of us.” Scott claps a hand on Jan’s shoulder affectionately. “We thought you could use a little R&R.”
Scott gives Jan a brief pat on the shoulder, then leans in to steal a kiss from Kate as he he expertly takes the cider in one hand and balances the neat stack of pizzas in the other.
Kate was more than willing to be pulled inside by her friend, thankful that she was finally able to get ahold of poor Jan. (While Kate didn’t know that Jan had been purposeful in her solitude, Kate had absolutely noticed her friend being so busy. And she missed Jan terribly!) She smiled brightly, offering up the goodies. “Of course this is for us! Scott suggested--”
Speak of the devil. Kate let Scott take the items from her, then gave him a quick kiss before dusting her hands off and turning to give Jan a big hug. “I thought we could watch some movies and get a little tipsy. You up for some fun?”
Scott’s hand made Jan jump and she whirled her head around to look at him. “Geez Scott, you scared the crap outta me!” She glared at him as Kate pulled her in for the hug, only her eyes visible as she wrapped her arms around Kate in return. She turned her attention back to her friend though, her expression softening and pulling her inside. “That’s been the question I’ve been waiting to hear for soooo long!” She squealed and clapped her hands, grabbing Kate’s hand and following after Scott.
“I’m so sorry I’ve been a bummer friend,” she apologized to Kate, giving her her best puppy dog face. “All I can say is I’m glad the holidays are over and I can take a break!”
"Good to see you too," Scott quips as he makes his way to the kitchen. He sets the pizzas down on the counter and the cider right there next to them. For a moment, he considers transferring them to the fridge, but in the end, his own urge for booze wins out.
Scott pops open the first bottle. "I gotta say, it's been awhile since we've all gotten together like this. The Golden Trio."
“Don’t be stupid, you’re not a bummer friend,” Kate said, swatting Jan very playfully on the shoulder. “I’m just glad that you’re here and we can hang out! It’s been far too long.” She wrapped her arm around Jan’s shoulders, but turned her attention to Scott with the bottle. “You gonna share some of that with your girls?”
Even though Jan had an inkling that she wouldn’t be dropped as a friend to a busy holiday, it still meant a lot to hear Kate confirm it. She grinned as they followed Scott and glanced at him as Kate asked the question. She put one arm around Kate, another on her hip.
“Yeah Scott, are you gonna get some for us too?” But she grinned, only wanting to tease him with one of her best friends. She loved this the most with the two of them; it was never awkward and she never felt like the third wheel. They were just a couple of friends, hanging out.
“Where’s Cassie tonight?”
Scott sets his bottle down long enough to open a bottle for each of the women in his life. "Out at a friend's place," he says. "Birthday slumber party. Feels like she's got one every other weekend now."
How Cassie had so many friends, even Scott didn't know. He passes a bottle to Jan and then to Kate. "Adults only tonight."
Kate was more than willing to have a grown-up night. Not that she didn’t love Cassie to pieces, but she spent a ton of time with Cassie, and sometimes it was nice to have an adult beverage while watching a rated R movie.
She accepted the bottle from Scott with a smile. “Thanks, babe.” Then she gulped the cool liquid. It was a really good way to start the night. “I’m good with adults only. So, what should we do with our time? Games? Movies? You guys have a pool table, right?”
“Wait, we have a pool table?” Jan looked at Scott, really unsure if they had one. She really had to come up with a better plan for this year’s holiday season. She couldn’t miss a ¼ of the year because she couldn’t get her shit together. Seasonal hiring...that was a thing, right?
She took a long gulp of her drink, wiping her mouth across the back of her hand and shrugging. “I’m game for any of that. All of it?” Why not? “I don’t have to go in to work tomorrow.” Alright, so there were also a few perks to owning your own business.
“Yeah, I picked it up from a garage sale like, two weeks ago. Everyone’s been selling really good stuff since that Marie Kondo show came out on Netflix.” Scott, naturally, had watched it one idle Saturday morning when Jan was out at work and Cassie was out at one of her numerous birthday parties and the teenagers were out being teenagers, probably.
“You know what I haven’t watched yet? Birdbox. If we’re gonna watch a movie, we should watch that one.”
“Oooh, yes.” Kate lowered her bottle with a grin. “Pool and/or the movie. I still haven’t seen Birdbox, either.” She probably would have watched it with Scott if she’d seen it at all. Kate loved a scary movie because it meant she could cuddle up against Scott and bury her face in his shoulder if she got scared. And Birdbox was scary, right?
“The who what show?” Man, Jan really had a lot of catching up to do! Not only with her own friends, but her Netflix too! She shook her head, telling Scott it wasn’t important and she’d figure it out eventually.
“Birdbox? What’s that?” So this must be what it was like to live a life without social media or friends. “This is weird, I feel so outta the loop!” She made a face. “How about we play a game of pool and you guys can catch me up on everything? Then we can watch the scary movie after I own both of you at billiards!” She winked, finger gunning both of them.
Scott suddenly feels like the couch potato of their trio. He probably watches more TV than what is healthy. It's one of his habits from his house arrest days.
"Marie Kondo," Scott says, leading the way down to the basement. "She's this Japanese woman who helps people get their stuff in order. And Birdbox? I don't know anything about it except there's this woman who's always got to wear this blindfold for some reason. There's about a thousand memes about it."
The pool table looks used, but aside from a few scratches in the wood here and there, it's in pretty good condition. It's the only thing in the room right now, save for a few bean bag chairs and a few framed posters up on the wall. One of them is of Captain America circa World War II. It looks pretty worn in the way old things -- no matter how well-cared for -- do.
"Trying to get this place cleaned up and looking decent," he says, gesturing to the Captain America poster. "No one tell anyone about that poster or I'm never going to live it down."
Scott was definitely way more into tv and other tech stuff than Kate. She wasn’t the most tech savvy person in the world, though she was learning. And he was introducing her to all kinds of cool stuff, too--which was something that brought them closer together. And now they could introduce Jan to cool stuff, too!
“Captain America, huh?” She’d seen it once before, and thought it was adorable. But they should absolutely give him a hard time about it. Kate came into the room and made herself at home, grabbing up the triangular rack thingy so she could set up the balls on the table.
Jan glanced at the poster and couldn't help but laugh. “Aw c’mon, you know Steve would love it!” Well, maybe not; he seemed to be a fairly down to earth kinda guy and things like this made him feel uneasy, like it wasn’t really him. Well, maybe this new Steve would like it. Who knew?
She leaned against the table, glancing from Kate to the rest of the room. “Yeah, I think we could definitely make this a bit better!” She held her hands out in front of her, creating a square with her fingers and closing one eye. “We could bring some other posters down, maybe some cool pop culture ones? You know, like Marilyn standing on the grate or a map of Westeros!” She panned her hand to the bean bag chairs. “If we have these, we should look into those Lovesac ones! You know, the super cushy, super big ones that you have to have someone help you out of?” She moved again. “And we should definitely get a big screen TV down here. This could be a great rec room!” Being the only girl in the house probably meant she would be the one decorating. The boys wouldn’t care one way or the other, right? Especially if she was able to make it really cool!
She glanced at Scott, grinning. “Then we can have all the Netflix binge nights we want! In comfort and in style!” Her gaze moved to Kate. “Think how nice it’ll be to bring your girlfriend here!” She giggled, feeling silly and bounded over to her friend, resting her chin on her shoulder. “You’d like that right? A nicer place to watch movies and stuff?”
Scott looks at Jan blankly. “You can’t be serious.” He looks at Kate and directs a finger at Jan. “Tell me she’s not being serious.”
“Oh, I think she’s dead serious. This room definitely needs a LoveSac.” Kate picks up a pool cue and begins to chalk the end of it, little blue flakes drifting off and falling slowly to the floor. She leans against it once she’s finished, raising a playful eyebrow at Jan. “I’d be willing to come here with or without a fancy room, y’know. I’m here already, aren’t I?”
Jan couldn’t help but roll her eyes at her friends reaction, but laughed nonetheless. “Of course I’m serious! Have you ever known me to not be serious? For the sake of design?” She hurried the last bit before anyone could interject otherwise. “Alright, how about we compromise? I won’t go all out, but can I still do a little things here and there?” She looked at Scott and pointed at Kate. “She said yes to the LoveSac!” She’d take that as a point in her favor.
She glanced at Kate and gave her foot a nudge with her own. “Yeah, well, it’s because you love the company over the decor. It would just be nicer for you to come to a well furnished house!”
"I have no idea what a LoveSac is, but I already know I don't like it." Scott's words come out as a warning as he tugs out his phone. His fingers move smoothly over the screen as he thumbs in L-O-V-E-S-A-C-K on his on-screen keyboard.
"I really hope I'm not going to regret having SafeSearch off." He taps Enter.
There's a perceptible shift on Scott's face as the results pop up. "L-O-V-E-S-A-C?" he asks, looking up at the other two. "Are we talking about one of the giant bean bag chair things or the weird-looking custom sofa things? I'm more partial to the giant bean bag chairs, but I'm pretty sure once I get in one of those things, I'm never gonna get up."
Kate actually blushed a little. (A little.) She nudged Jan right back with her own foot. “Well, what can I say? I like hanging around at my boyfriend’s house. I didn’t know that was illegal.” The grin came back full force.
“The giant bean bag chairs.” Kate bounced over to lean in close and look over Scott’s shoulder at his phone. “Maybe that’s why I want you to have one. I’ll get you trapped just where I want you.” She grinned, then poked him in the side with her index finger.
Jan rolled her eyes at the two and walked over to get her own cue stick, copying Kate’s example and rubbing the chalk on the end. She didn’t really understand what this did, but it looked cool. “Yeah, my vote is for the bean bag too! And you’ll definitely be able to get up ‘cause I want my turn in it!” She grabbed another stick and held it out to Scott.
“Are we gonna play or what?”
"Or we could just fill the floor with them," he says, taking a pool stick, his silent yes I'm playing to Jan. "Who needs carpet, anyway?"
Scott starts following Jan and Kate's lead with the chalk. "We should probably decide the wager before we start playing."
Yes, Scott has just assumed they’re going to be playing for fabulous prizes.