"It probably would be fun," B agrees. "I already know I'd be a coyote, which is kinda dog-adjascent. Since that's what my daemon is, and all," he adds, which she knows, but that's why he knows he'd be a coyote at heart. "Definitely the same kinda playful as they are."
He drops lightly onto the blanket and offers her the plate to let her choose the first cupcake. There's six of them, total, three of each flavor.
"That would be adorable," Yelena decides, after scrutinizing him for a moment. She settles onto the blanket across from him, and plucks one of the strawberry cupcakes from the plate.
"Mmm," she says, after taking a bite. "It is a very good thing that Steve Rogers isn't the kind of person who decides to become an evil overlord, because I am pretty sure half the ship would follow him just for the baked goods."
"He doesn't even need baked goods to get people to follow him," B comments with fondness. "I mean, you might've heard about one of his many impassioned speeches. But the cupcakes and shit would sure help." He considers a chocolate marble cupcake thoughtfully. "That's one thing I always admired about him, even as a kid. He was always more of a leader than I ever would be. Or wanted to be, if I'm being honest."
They're not really here to talk about his and Steve's past, but it might be easier, at least for a few minutes, than bringing up her now-graduated friend.
"So it was your job to keep him from getting into too much trouble?" she guesses - and then pauses, giving him a crooked little smile. "Or to wade right into the trouble along with him?"
B chuckles. "Bit of both, really. If I was meeting him somewhere, or didn't know where he was, I got in the habit of checking every alley and backlot, to make sure he hadn't gotten into a fight. Usually wound up getting involved in them, in the end. Hell, the last day before I officially went off to war, he was getting into a fight behind a movie theater when I finally found him."
"You know, before San Otrera, I don't think I would have been able to imagine him as the back alley fight type," Yelena admits. After San Otrera, she definitely can. Helen's brother certainly had been, and much as she's been trying to shove those breach memories down where they can't spark unwanted fondness, she can't deny the similarities there.
"God, no, he was scrappy as hell growing up," B says fondly. "The Steve in that city was real familiar to me. The kinda guy who'd turn his back on the government if he knew the government was wrong-- and take them down if he could." He knows his Steve is just as strong as he ever was, even if he doesn't have as much to fight here, but the signs are still there.
"Is that your way of saying he's definitely on board for going back there and causing trouble," Yelena asks, flashing him a quick, teasing grin. She hasn't forgotten their plan.
She still has no real expectation of ever graduating, still isn't entirely sure that she wants to, but she hasn't forgotten.
"Oh, he loved the idea," B says, because he hasn't forgotten, either, and he's in fact kind of looking forward to it. It'll be a much more straight-forward way to helping people than the Barge. "Even suggested we find a few more places to liberate, the three of us."
"I think three would be a crowd, if it was more than a one-time engagement," Yelena says with a laugh. "But if you ever need a black widow to help break a tyrant, you will know where to find me."
"We'll see," B says. "Three wasn't a crowd in that San Otrera apartment." He stretches out a foot to nudge her knee gently. "You were family then, and you're family now."
A pause, then he adds, "And me and Steve don't get up to stuff as often as you might think, so you don't have to worry about getting in the way of that."
"That's because I could escape to visit Lau- Piper when it was obvious the two of you needed privacy," Yelena says, with a dismissive flick of her hand that mostly masks the squirm of discomfort when he names her family. It's not that she objects, exactly, but it's - complicated. Family is always going to be complicated. "And not just for sex."
She takes another bite of her cupcake, then adds, "I really am the little lost puppy everyone wants to take home, apparently."
"Yeah?" B has a bite of his own, finally. It's really good. He knew it would be. He tasted the batter before it got baked. He's not going to push on the family thing, because he knows it's complicated for her, but he said it and he'd wanted her to know it. "Who else has invited you to go off with them?"
"Well, Jamie said that I would have a place with him and Corvo when I graduated. And Walter invited me to come home with him." There's a hint of bafflement in her voice, like both of these offers had taken her entirely by surprise. For different reasons, maybe, but still, the surprise is there.
"And then Chase asked me to come home with him, and suggested we could pass me off as his long-lost half sister."
Huh. B had known she and Corvo were friends, but he hadn't known about Jamie. And of course he's aware of Chase. That being the whole reason he invited her for cupcakes today in particular. "You and him really don't look alike," he points out. Which is a little ironic for B of all people to say, considering how much Chase looks like him. "But maybe a half-sister could be convincing if you really want to sell it somehow."
He polishes off the first cupcake. "You take any of those offers seriously?"
That's part of the surprise - she and Jamie had gotten along well enough when they crossed paths, but he'd never been someone she'd really thought of as a friend.
"I think it would make me look like a con artist, trying to worm my way into a wealthy family," Yelena says with a laugh. "But I think Chase really meant it, at least."
"I bet you could sell it, with enough time and effort," B says, which is half truth and half just blind faith in her, and in how much he imagines Chase would want to sell it. "He doesn't seem to be going anywhere yet, though. That likely to keep up?"
B remembers Chase from his first round-- the kid helped Steve bust him out of prison, once-- and he knows him well enough from the periphery to know that's going to be rocky. B might've been terrified of the idea, but he also liked people and didn't hide away in the library 24-7.
"Much as I know you'd rather he get out of here, I'm glad he's staying, if just for your sake," he admits. "And I will absolutely drop you off there at some point after we kill SOPHIA, even if just for a visit."
"If the universe had gone completely insane and I'd graduated before him, I would have stayed to see him safe." It's not at all what she'd been going to say, but the truth - that if he hadn't decided to stay for a deal, she would have been sorely tempted to stay and make one on his behalf - is both a source of guilt and might require more explanation than is hers to give.
"Which would probably have made him throw something heavy at my head." One corner of her mouth ticks up in a little smile. "Even if he said it would make him a bad friend, leaving while I'm still stuck here."
"Or maybe he'd have been relieved to not lose a friend, too," B points out, taking her explanation at face value. "My warden actually tried to stay on for Steve, herself, though she didn't make it long enough to see him graduated. I was glad that he wasn't gonna have to be alone, back when I thought I wasn't coming back."
"Those are not mutually exclusive reactions," Yelena replies. She inspects her cupcake for a second, then opts to take another moderately-sized bite in lieu of popping the rest of it into her mouth like a feral goblin.
"And it seems to be a common trap, getting invested enough in people to not want to just - leave them behind, not knowing if they'll ever make it out."
"Common trap with any situation with a lot of people stuck in the same limited space, not just a weird spaceship," B allows. "We had that thing in the army, too. You got real close with your squad mates, even if in civilian life you'd have nothing to talk about, and it made you a lot more determined to win to keep them safe, too. Hell, I bet HYDRA even did it, just not with me." Since the goal was isolating him completely, and all. The Red Room probably discouraged it, given the disposable nature of the agents, but he would be willing to bet there were friendships and alliances made among the girls anyhow.
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He drops lightly onto the blanket and offers her the plate to let her choose the first cupcake. There's six of them, total, three of each flavor.
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"Mmm," she says, after taking a bite. "It is a very good thing that Steve Rogers isn't the kind of person who decides to become an evil overlord, because I am pretty sure half the ship would follow him just for the baked goods."
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They're not really here to talk about his and Steve's past, but it might be easier, at least for a few minutes, than bringing up her now-graduated friend.
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She still has no real expectation of ever graduating, still isn't entirely sure that she wants to, but she hasn't forgotten.
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A pause, then he adds, "And me and Steve don't get up to stuff as often as you might think, so you don't have to worry about getting in the way of that."
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She takes another bite of her cupcake, then adds, "I really am the little lost puppy everyone wants to take home, apparently."
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"And then Chase asked me to come home with him, and suggested we could pass me off as his long-lost half sister."
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He polishes off the first cupcake. "You take any of those offers seriously?"
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"I think it would make me look like a con artist, trying to worm my way into a wealthy family," Yelena says with a laugh. "But I think Chase really meant it, at least."
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"Until he graduates an inmate of his own and gets a deal," she says.
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"Much as I know you'd rather he get out of here, I'm glad he's staying, if just for your sake," he admits. "And I will absolutely drop you off there at some point after we kill SOPHIA, even if just for a visit."
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She cuts off, shaking her head, and slants a glance in his direction again. "There are so many people I will miss here, if I ever get to leave."
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Then he decides to prompt, on the subject of Chase: "If?"
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"Which would probably have made him throw something heavy at my head." One corner of her mouth ticks up in a little smile. "Even if he said it would make him a bad friend, leaving while I'm still stuck here."
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"And it seems to be a common trap, getting invested enough in people to not want to just - leave them behind, not knowing if they'll ever make it out."
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