м о н с т р

But he’s tired and cold tonight, barely a third way through his midnight shift, and more lenient than usual. That she’s here now might just be that one in a thousand chance. It helps that she’s pretty easy on the eyes, too.

“Crazy is one way to put it,” Jack mutters, eyeing her from where he’s leaning against the wall of the shop waiting for his shift-partner to order food. “You uh, you doing alright now sweetheart? Sleep off that hangover nice and good, yeah?”

Until her eyes rise to meet his and they are fathomless. Shark black and trailing his face like she's trying to commit ever inch of him to her memory. Trying to decide which parts of him to spare.

"-Me?" Yelena bats her eyelashes at him with a grin. "I'm absolutely fine now Officer-" she puts a hand to her chest, head tilting to the side "-your concern is duly noted." her shoulders lift, a shrug, nonchalant and carefree. She had been mostly sober at the party, 2 glasses of wine and a quick swallow of scotch before leaving, hardly had her laid up in bed the next day. She wasn't going to tell him that though. As far as he seemed to be concerned, Yelena had spent the rest of the night getting liquored up.

She saddled closer, boots scuffing the ground again, hips twisting from side to side with her hands in her pockets steering the direction. She's close enough now that she can see the creases in his shirt, the shine of his badge. It's a rush almost. Being this close to the enemy. Like she is a wild animal, staring down a trap. It could close at any minute. The thought makes her grin.

“Not built to last,” Bo corrected her. “But at least to last longer, with proper maintenance.” Which they figured… Yelena would have them for. If there was anything Bo couldn’t stand, it was machines that needed love, and they cleaned plenty of them, for a little money here and there. “A thousand? Less probably, I wouldn’t need to get you the best graphics card to play that Sims game.” 

They grinned at the name use. It was not strange to be called by their name, the nickname that fitted them like a glove. Boudhayan was only now heard in professional places, reminders of hurt and loneliness rather than love. Bo suggested a closeness. And a shyness seeped into their bones, whether made or created, he faked it because it suited him. To pull his shoulders inward and make himself small. 

“It’s calming,” Bo explained. “It makes sense. Machines don’t lie, they give the outcome that they can calculate, and they fit in a specific way because that’s how they were designed, and how they can work. If they’re broken, they’re broken, perhaps their pieces can still fit other places, or they are broken completely.” 

"-unbelievable." she finished. Yelena reclined back on the little stool and it creaked precariously. There was a moment, in which she huffed in silence, before finally, the mention of her silly little stress relief game made her eyes light up.

"Oh Bo-" Yelena said whimsically, "-you should really try it. You can make little houses, and little people-" she trailed of, glanced at them and almost laughed at the look levelled in her direction "-ok ok, nothing expensive then."

More silence, in which she just watched Bo work for a while. It wasn't awkward, the way some silences are. It didn't shroud them both in something shadowy and uncomfortable. It was just a quiet. In which she sat and observed, and they sat and worked. She wanted to offer them a cup of something, a coffee, tea maybe? But didn't dare interrupt. Not when their attention became so rapt that she could have sworn she heard them stop breathing.

"Zmei Lazarevich, ochen priyatno." Of course, he's not lying, but finally someone might get the 'joke' of how fake his name sounds. Dragon Wolf's-son is a codename if he's ever heard one, or the name some hyper-masc forest creature from the old stories would come up with while pretending to be a human before creeping away to eat naughty children. He'd have called himself Zmei Zmeyevich if he could have gotten away with it, in full skazki style. As the kids say, it's gender. or somthing. He grinned. "Don't mind if I do-" before grabing one of her six shots and throwing it back before she could stop him.

Yelena shakes back, as vigorously as she can manage. There is a pause though, the name sinking in and then registering. Yelena stares at him and then slowly, an eyebrow rises. He lets go of her hand and she reclines back against the bar again, a lazy lean that seems to be her preferred perch.

"Zmei Lazarevich, ah?" Yelena nodded, making a face around the grin she still wore "-was Vladimir Vladimirskiov taken?" Yelena barked a half laugh, as strange a reaction as it was and then, sank one of the shots she had bought. Sliding the empty glass away, she sucked on her cheeks and peered at him, Zmei, this huge man.

She lifted two of the remaining four vodkas, and handed them over. "-but eh-" she shrugged her shoulders, scrunching her face in tandem "-whatever your name is-" Yelena lifted another of the tiny glasses and tilted it at him. "-it is nice to hear that accent again"

She threw the shot back, slammed the glass down and grinned at him again. It seems to be a perpetual fixture on her face, she seemed to not be able to go a moment without baring her teeth.

"Not yet, but here's hoping." Olivia made a show of crossing her fingers as she raised her hand for her to see and looked hopeful before trying to swiftly move on, hoping that Yelena wouldn't delve deeper.

"I've got this round, you can get the next one." Olivia flashed a grin as she pocketed the small change before lifting a pint in each hand to take back to their table.

Dropping into the chair heavily, only after setting her pints down, Yelena rearranged herself into a curve, elbows braced on the table top, legs crossed neatly under it. She looked like she meant business, all eagle eyed and smiling, that dark stare levelled on Olivia. There was a moment, not long at all, when all Yelena did was look at her, the expression on her face sharp but docile.

"Hmm-" she seemed to unfreeze then, reaching for the pint closest to her left hand and sucking down another hefty gulp. She was licking the overlap of taste from her top lip when she grinned at Olivia again "Nah-" Yelena waved her hand dismissively. "-Don't be such a chicken Olivia, kids go there all the time." Yelena glanced over the rim of her glass, still grinning "-do you want me to go with you?" her tone was only slightly mocking, but it was the friendly sort. Banter, she had heard the English say once. It was all Banter.

(via ▶︎ (SIGH) | Unloved)

And yet, when he opens the door to find her boots and coat in the entryway, he’s happy about it. And when he sees Yelena herself, sitting on his couch like she belongs there, his heart surges, and he automatically returns her grin. There’s so much he has to think about these days, to analyze and calculate and do everything he possibly can to make the best choice for his family.

But with Yelena, it’s easy. At least for now.

“Good morning,” he answers, leaving his own boots and coat next to hers and stretching out next to her. He’s moving a little stiffly—he’d had an uncooperative target the night before and come away with a slash down his ribs, which Sabahat had stitched up before sending him home in Emir’s borrowed clothes while she tried to salvage his bloodstained ones. But once he’s next to Yelena, his head resting on her thigh and her warmth easing the tension from his neck and shoulders, he’s suddenly comfortable. Holding a hand out for a piece of baklava—and cutting a brief look up at her as he realizes how little is left—he says, “Guess how long my mother complained about my tattoo today.”

But the grin from a moment before hasn’t really left his face, and he can’t be annoyed right now—not with Yelena here, so close he can pull her down to kiss him. “Where’d you come from?” he murmurs, still smiling against her lips. "Have you been here long?"

"Hmm-" Yelena reclined back on the sofa, lifting her legs to rest her feet on his coffee table. Her other hand reaches down to ghost along the bicep she knows bares all the ink. "-knowing Sabahat, and knowing how much she hates it-" Yelena grinned at him, giving the bicep in question an affectionate squeeze "-Ohh....I'm going to say an hour straight." Her grin is unflinching as she stares down at him "-No breaks."

She crosses her ankles but is careful not to jostle him. Bora looks tierd, but comfortable, so she does all this slowly. When she looks at him again, it is with a smile so sweet it could crack a tooth. He kisses her then, and even after all this time, Yelena still can not help the giddy surge that makes her heart thunder in her chest.

She kisses him back, and its all sweet edges and the lingering taste of honey from the food they shared. There is the electric lick of smoke too, from the cigarettes he likes, and when he pulls away, Yelena is almost laughing aloud with the delight of it all. She is so happy with all this domesticity, she could burst.

It had been months and he still wasn't used to being so... known. And how wide her smile was. Sharp eyes danced wordlessly on the injury that rested on her lip, assessing how fresh it appeared, his gaze lingering for maybe just a moment too long before a paper map was thrust to him. "Is it that obvious?" He chuckled, rather dry and bereft of the humour that usually accented his superficial interactions with the public. "It's not my first time but with how... poorly my memory is when it comes to dinosaurs, it might as well be my first time." He rose an eyebrow, looking down at the map. "I'm... enjoying myself, though." He nodded as though that would help sell the fabrication of the lie.

"The Dinosaurs are the best. thing here" Yelena eventually affirmed and there was a softness to her suddenly that was almost juvenile. She turned her face away, eyes wide and wandering across the animals bones as if they were the closest thing to true art she had ever seen. The smile that lingered on her face bore a sadness in the stretch of it.

Yelena then turned toward him again, shifting so suddenly it was almost comical. "No no" she said, gesturing to the space he already occupied "-please, you aren't in anyone's way-." She nodded gravely then, hardly giving him time to breathe. "You have to be consistent with things like this, they tend to change the bones out sometimes. You never know when spike here'll go back into storage-" she pursed her lips, mostly in mocking.

Silence then fell like a shroud over them both and Yelena exhaled loudly before it could get clawing "-are you sure you are ok?" she asked him, cocking a brow "-here, I mean." Something settled then in her eyes, something hard and almost taunting. Yelena cocked an eyebrow, head tilting in tandem "-you are sure you wouldn't rather be anywhere else? Hey-" She turned in a sudden sweeping gesture, pointing the map of into the distance "-they have a great vase exhibit in the west wing at the moment, if that's more you're style."

Yaz shuddered, shaking her head. A nine to five sounded like her worst nightmare. Doing the same thing over and over again, day in and day out. A life of crime was exciting, an adrenaline rush you couldn't get elsewhere.

Let alone that someone be parents.

Yelena made a noise, a half snort in the back of her throat as her eyebrows popped and she pursed her lips. "-what would you like to do though, Yasemin, if you didn't do this. Really, I mean" Yelena reared up onto the heel of her shoe again, fidgeting."-I think I would have liked to make dresses." Yelena smiled at her suddenly, all the warm bleeding back into her face so quickly, that her cheeks seemed to un-hollow on the spot. "-or plan weddings, that would be fun."

Thankfully, having a friend like Yelena was a blessing. Olivia knew that she could always count on her, and vice versa, as long as their hectic work schedules allowed. They could spend their time together, laughing and having fun, instead of getting caught up in the daily grind. However, despite the joy she found in Yelena's company, it still didn't quite satisfy Olivia's longing for something more. She wasn't sure what she would do if she couldn't find it.

Yelena snapped out of her daydream with a smile that was more polite than it was anything else. Olivia was looking at her, and there were the beginnings of two pints on the bar top. Yelena tilted her head to the side and grinned suddenly "-No?" That's a shame." Yelena shook her head, as if disapproving. "-come on Olivia, there must had been something here that's peeked your interest?. It's a big city. Lots to do, lots of people to meet. Anyone caught your eye yet?"

The 20 Olivia had pulled made Yelena shake her head, "Olivia-" she said, tutting under her breath. "Please let me-" It was too late though, the bartender having picked up the money with a flourish. Yelena glanced in his direction with a frown, she grinned though, suddenly and then with a flirtatious arch of her body, angled herself toward the men behind the bar. The pints came quickly then, and she and Olivia were left mercifully alone.

"Positive," they said in response, as they pried another piece loose and cleaned the inside of the old laptop.

They noted the sudden nearness and risked a look over their shoulder. Yelena looked different through the tiny glasses, so they quickly refocussed on the machine. "Hmm, perhaps not cheaper than buying one from the store right now, but certainly cheaper than getting the one you have fixed. And I could make you a better one. They don't make them as sturdy as these anymore," they said as they tapped on the old laptop. "Certainly not making them to survive anymore. If you want something that can hold out a decade, you need a custom made." They carefully removed the touchpad. "I would get you a good price."

Bo was absolutely in their element. They were even smiling, a half thing that was hardly there at all, but it was. It made Yelena's mouth quirk too. Bo was so earnest about everything, so intelligent. They knew things about the way this machine worked that Yelena couldn't dream about knowing. That was cool, she supposed.

"Built to last huh-" she nodded, mouth pursing. "-not that it's an issue, but how much as we talking for a space age machine that can do everything for me for the rest of my life-" she grinned at them, eyebrows popping for emphasis when she said his name "-Bo."

She nodded along when they spoke then, eyebrows flaring at intervals as if to say 'Yes I absolutely know what you're talking about and I have no further questions at all'

Only she did have questions. Lots of them.

Yelena leaned forward again, arms up and hands splayed. She settled her chin in her open palms and blinked up at them, her smile lazy.

"You really like doing this, huh?" she said, voice so low it could be argued that she was talking to herself. "-taking these things apart and seeing how it all works." Her head cocked to the side, and she stared up at them "-Why?"