Title: friends, actually
Fandom: Marvel Comics (West Coast Avengers)
Characters: Kate Bishop & Quentin Quire
Length: 2,091 words
Rating: Teen
Warnings: minor injuries
Challenge: #305: Sharp
Summary: Kate doesn't really consider Quentin her friend but when she foolishly goes on a mission alone, he proves her wrong.



KATE

The initial pain was sharp and it burned. It quickly dissipated only to be replaced by a dull throbbing. Oh no, what did she do this time? Kate opened her eyes and looked around. It took her a moment to realize what must have happened. The floor had given out beneath her and she’d fallen through at least one level. Looking around she realized that it was probably two. She’d been on the second floor when it had happened and this looked to be a basement of some sort.

“Okay Kate, enough lying about it’s time to get up and find your way out of here.” Yeah, she was talking to herself. What of it? Everyone needed a pep talk now and then. A scurrying sound over to her left caught her attention. Awesome, rats. She shuddered. Then her imagination ran wild, leaving her to hope that it was something as mundane as rats.

Kate rolled to her side and tried to push herself up with her hands. The pain switched back to that sharp stabbing sensation and she collapsed back to the floor. Okay, that wasn’t happening. Maybe if she just rested a moment -- her phone, maybe she could call someone. She fished her phone out from the inside pocket of her jacket and checked it. No bars. Crap. She really shouldn’t have come alone. It was just reconnaissance though. It wasn’t supposed to be dangerous.

Kate sighed and tried to get to her knees. Knees first then she could worry about getting to her feet. If she could get to her knees she could crawl out of here if she had to. No one had to know.

The pain was excruciating, but she managed to support herself on her hands and knees. Mostly. It would have been humiliating if there had been anyone around to see her.

She used the flashlight on her phone to get a better look at her surroundings. There were broken boards and other debris all around, but beyond what looked like a water heater in the corner, the room looked to be pretty empty.


QUENTIN

Quentin wasn't following Kate. It was more like a quick meandering in her general direction. If he were being honest, he wasn’t even that quick about it. If he’d been quicker, or if he’d actually been following her, he might have been able to prevent her from falling through not one - but two crumbling floors in what had to be a very condemned building.

He really should have been following her more closely. Then again maybe she shouldn’t have gone alone. She was the one who was always lecturing him about the importance of teamwork - or something to that effect. Honesty he mostly tuned her out when she got in lecture mode.

He’d been enjoying a middle-of-the-night snack in their shared kitchen when Kate had passed through to grab a bottle of water and some energy bars. Quentin could tell something was weighing heavily on her mind, and it was possible that he’d skimmed her surface thoughts and saw that she pretty determined to go on whatever mission she’d been heading into.

For a moment it had almost seemed as if Kate was on the verge of asking him to go with her but it never happened. She looked at him, shook her head -- like she found him lacking -- turned away, and headed out the door. So, he took his time finishing his bowl of sugary cereal before grabbing his stuff and heading out into the night to see what exactly she was getting herself into.

When he finally caught up with her, she was crawling around a dirty basement floor in the dark while experiencing a significant amount of pain. She radiated with it. It was overwhelming. He strengthened his shields before moving closer.

“Lose something, Bishop?”

Kate startled and he almost felt bad for a moment.

“Quire, is that you?”

“The one and only.” He spread his arms out and began slowly levitating himself down into the hole because yes, he was that awesome, thank you very much. “Need some help?” He carefully landed in front of her. “Looking kind of rough there, Hawkeye.”

“You, think?”

“Good to see you have you still have your usual pluck and spirit.” He picked her up off the floor and levitated the two of them out of the collapsed building. He didn’t want to be inside too long incase the whole thing decided to come down on their heads.

Once they were out he put her down on some nearby grass and checked her over. There was a shard of glass embedded in her hip that worried him. It was big, and in deep enough that he didn’t feel comfortable pulling it out himself. “Hospital?” He asked.

“No, there’s a first aid kit and some frozen peas in the freezer with my name on it back at HQ,” Kate said. She tried to get up on her own but couldn’t quite manage it.

He shook his head. “Seriously?” What is wrong with you Hawkeyes? You fell through a freaking building, Kate. A bag of frozen peas isn’t going to cut it.” He offered her a hand but she pushed it away.

“Says you,” Kate said and then stuck her tongue out at him.

“What are you, five?” He watched her try to get to her feet again. She was obviously in a lot of pain. He sighed, scooped her up in his arms, and headed in the direction of the hospital.


KATE

Of course, it had to be Quentin who found her crawling around on a dirty basement floor. He was so annoying. He was also stupidly competent and definitely taking her to the hospital right now. She thought about arguing with him about it some more. She could insist that he bring her home but she knew that was just her stubbornness talking. She was hurt and she really wasn’t sure how badly. She hated to admit it but going to the hospital was probably in her best interest. Luckily the hospital wasn’t far.

“Why are you doing this?” She asked.

“Doing what, taking you to the hospital?” Quentin asked.

“Yes -- no -- sorta.”

“Well, that was clear.”

“It’s not like you couldn’t just read my mind.”

“True, but believe it or not -- I have manners.”

She scoffed. The idea of Quentin Quire being polite about anything was absurd.

“Think what you want, but I do try to avoid going spelunking in my friends’ brains unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

Were they friends? They were teammates, yes, but friends? Kate didn’t usually lump Quentin in with her friends, maybe she should have been.

Quentin navigated the emergency room red tape for her and soon Kate found herself being lowered onto a gurney behind a flimsy curtain and waiting for a nurse to come take her information. Luckily, it wasn’t a long wait.

The nurse was short, with spikey purple hair, and a really cool nose ring. Her name was Mia, she looked to be a few years older than Kate, and she alternated between way too chipper and vaguely grumpy. It was disconcerting.

Mia took her vitals while Kate explained what had happened. After she checked out Kate’s injuries, Mia informed her that the doctor might be a while and left.
All through this Quentin had leaned against a nearby wall and kept his mouth shut. The nurse hadn’t even glanced his way.

“It sounds like it might be a while, you can go if you want.” Kate leaned back and tried to get comfortable. “I’ll be fine,” she lied. Kate really didn’t want to be alone. She hated hospitals almost as much as she hated feeling vulnerable.

Quentin rolled his eyes. “Don’t be stupid.”

It took forever. The doctor came in, hurriedly checked her over, and sent someone to remove the glass from her poor battered body. They also sent her to get X-Rays, but mostly there was a lot of waiting. So much waiting. By the time they let her go the sun was starting to come up. She’d been there all night and Quentin had stayed with her the entire time. He’d kept her company, dealt with insurance bullshit, and generally made things suck a whole lot less than they would have otherwise. Apparently, they were friends and she’d just failed to notice until then. She felt kind of bad about it.

“Want me to call for a ride?” Quentin asked.

“What? You don’t want to carry me all the way home?” She joked.

Quentin laughed and pulled out his phone. They didn’t have to wait long for the car, which was good because she was hurting. Nothing was broken, thankfully but she was seriously banged up and she now had a bunch of stitches in her hip. She might end up being out of commission for a few days. The doctor had said weeks but that was just crazy talk.

They stopped at the pharmacy to pick up her shiny new prescriptions the nice ER doctor had called in for her, before heading home. She stopped and stared at the stairs leading to the door.

“Want me to carry you in?” Quentin asked.

Kate wasn’t sure if he was serious or not. “Did we just get married and no one thought to tell me?”

“Very funny.” Quentin shook his head and gestured for her to go first.

While she managed to get out of the car without too much trouble, actual walking turned out to cause her excruciating pain. She tried really hard not to scream. Quentin scooped her up and carried her inside while she tried not to feel completely mortified.

He brought her straight to her bedroom and deposited her in her bed. Everyone was out for the night -- some for the whole weekend. That was why she’d gone on the mission alone in the first place, it’d been only her and Quentin.

“Could you get me some water, I want to take one of these pain pills.”

“Sure -- be right back.”

Quentin got her set up with her water and pills. She then got set up with her tablet so she could watch some stupid comedy or something to keep her mind off the pain until the meds kicked in.

“Anything else?” Quentin was being so bafflingly helpful.

She bit her lip -- “Do you think you could walk Lucky?” Poor thing had been cooped up inside all night.

Quentin groaned. “Sure, fine. I’ll walk your dog.” Then he bowed and muttered, “Mistress.”

“Thank you.” Kate smiled. Quentin complained a lot but he was a lot less prickly than he tried to make everyone believe. She was starting to think it was his way of protecting himself. He was like some weird pink psychic porcupine.

Quentin brought home Chinese take-out when he returned from walking Lucky. Kate hadn’t realized how hungry she was until the delectable scent hit her and her stomach growled.

They ate together in her bedroom. The pain relievers finally kicked in, making her feel a whole lot less awful. They also made her feel a bit more squishy and emotional. “I probably should have asked you to come with me, huh?”

“What on your little mission of doom? Yeah, that would have been the smart choice — especially since you so love to lecture the rest of us of not going on missions alone.”

Kate took dug into the Veggie Lo Mein while she tried to organize her increasingly fuzzy thoughts.

“I know you see me as a fuck up, and honestly it’s easy to let people think that about me. If no one has any expectations, I can’t disappoint them,” Quentin said.

“That’s kind of sad.” Kate was so used to Quentin acting like he didn’t care about anything that it hadn’t even occurred to her that it might be all an act. “I’m sorry,” she said.

Quentin shrugged. “Whatever.”

She reached out and touched his wrist. “No, really. I’m sorry. I should have trusted you.”

“Ugh, you’re not going to get all gushy on me now that the drugs have kicked in, are you?”

“Yup, I totally am and now I’m gonna tell you that I do trust you, and not only are we friends and teammates, but we’re also family.”

Quentin just stared at her.

“I might even hug you later,” she told him.

“Gross.”

Kate knew that Quentin was secretly happy with her mushiness. He even smiled, and later when she hugged him, he hugged her back.