Title: Never Say Never
Fandom: Marvel Comics [West Coast Avengers (2018-2019)]
Pairing: Kate Bishop/Quentin Quire
Length: 2,440 words
Rating: Mature
Warnings: some sexual situations but mostly fade-to-black, some swearing.
Written for: fan_flashworks  Amnesty #60 - Challenge #244: Never
Notes: This the second story in a series I never planned to write. undeniable spark is the first one - but it is not necessary to read the first story in order to understand this one.
Summary: After a one-night stand with Quentin, Kate can’t stop thinking about him.



Quentin Quire was a problem. Kate had been reluctant to let him join her team in the beginning but both his power level and the financing he brought with him made him too much of an asset to say no to. He had the kind of dark past that gave her pause, though honestly, a lot of super heroes did. As it turned out, Quentin made a pretty good teammate when he wasn't busy being an annoying jackass.

Not that long ago, most of the team had gone out dancing together. It was supposed to be a team bonding kind of thing. Gwen had just broken up with Quentin, Johnny had recently left Kate for Noh-Varr, and somehow Kate wound up having a one-night stand with Quentin. It made sense at the time. She wasn't sorry, or ashamed, or any of that nonsense. It was sex between two consenting adults, there was nothing to feel bad about. Especially since the sex had been amazing. So amazing that three weeks later she was still thinking about it. Kate felt that maybe she had seen a side of Quentin that she hadn't known existed before, and she kind of wanted to see more. She just wasn't sure how exactly to go about it.

What was she even looking for from him? Did she want to get to know him better or was she just looking for more great sex? How did one even approach starting any relationship with a telepath? It seemed like it would be even more awkward than normal, and normal was pretty awkward. The whole teammates living together thing was a pretty confusing situation all around, add in how they both lived and worked with their exes, and it got much more complicated. Maybe she should just leave it alone?


THREE WEEKS LATER

Quentin was alone in the living room playing a video game. They had several consoles hooked up to the tv in there. Kate didn't do a lot of gaming but since Quentin was alone she thought that maybe it was time to remedy that situation. Was she just trying to check him out a little more? Get to know him better? Yeah, she never said she was particularly adept at this sort of thing, but at least she was trying. Right? Kate flopped down on the couch next to Quentin, leaned over, and asked, "What are you playing?"

"Space Monkey Warriors." Quentin didn't take his eyes off the screen.

"Um, that sounds - interesting?" Kate said.

Quentin turned to her and quirked his eyebrow just a bit. "Did you want to play?" He held out a controller and Kate took it.

"Yeah, cool," she said, pretending that this was a completely normal thing for the two of them to do together.

Quentin showed her how to play and Kate sort of got the hang of it, eventually. She still got her butt kicked but she had fun. She also completely lost track of time. "Shit, it's two o'clock in the morning."

"I see that, wanna call it a night?" Quentin said.

"Um, yeah. I'll see you tomorrow, err later today?" She handed him back the controller and stood up. "Thanks for the game, it was fun."

"Yeah, it was. Good night, Hawkeye."

"Good night, Quentin."


ONE WEEK LATER

Over the next week, the team was so busy that Kate hadn't been able to even think of Quentin in anything beyond a teammate capacity. She'd fallen into the strangely soothing rhythm of shooting arrows at bad guys, icing her wounds, and passing out in bed until the next round of petty villains stirred up trouble. At the end of that very long week, Kate found herself waking up at the kitchen table. Apparently, she'd fallen asleep in the middle of getting herself a snack, her half-eaten Pop-Tart still next to her. It was one of the waffle flavored ones that not even Lucky would eat. In her defense, she'd been feeling pretty desperate at the time.

It took Kate a moment to realize that she wasn't alone. The gentle sounds of cooking and the delicious scent of melted cheese filled the room. That must have been what had woken her up. She looked over to the stove and saw Quentin standing in front of a pan that held what she was pretty sure were grilled cheese sandwiches. Her mouth watered.

"Hey sleepyhead, I hope you're hungry." Quentin had noticed she was awake, apparently.

"I'm starving." Kate really hoped she hadn't been snoring or drooling or whatever other embarrassing thing she could have been doing while sleeping with her head down on the table.

"Good thing I made sandwiches for both of us." Quentin flipped the sandwiches onto paper plates like he actually knew what he was doing. She was impressed.

"I didn't know you cooked," Kate said.

"I'm a man of many talents." Quentin levitated the plates to the table, grabbed a bag of chips from the cupboard, and sat down across from her.

After giving it the appropriate time to cool off, Kate picked up the sandwich and took a bite. "Oh my god, this is amazing." Yes, Kate was talking with her mouth full, but she didn't care, it was too good not to.

Quentin smiled. "Of course it is, I made it."

Kate rolled her eyes and took another bite of the best grilled cheese sandwich ever.

Kate looked more closely at Quentin and saw that she wasn't the only one who was exhausted. "Thanks for this," Kate said.

"Not a problem. I was hungry and figured I might not be the only one. Of course, you'd already beaten me to the kitchen."

"Where my exhaustion defeated my hunger and I apparently passed out at the table." Kate felt only a little embarrassed by that.

"It has been a long week."

Kate finished her sandwich and downed the last of her soda. "And on that note, I'm going to drag myself up the stairs and pass out in my bed this time." She super casually touched Quentin's shoulder on her way out of the room.


FOUR DAYS LATER

Quentin sat on the couch watching television and eating a bowl of cereal. For a moment, Kate lingered in the doorway. "I'm going to be in the sparring room if you want to join me." She bit her lip. "We could maybe work on coordinating our moves?" Had that sounded like an invitation to sex? Kate really hoped it hadn't. Not that she was opposed to the idea, but she was trying to get to know Quentin as a person, not just become better acquainted with his body parts. She headed downstairs, not waiting for an answer.

Quentin showed up in the sparing room a few minutes later dressed in the rumpled t-shirt and shorts he'd been wearing on the couch. "What did you have in mind?"

They did some warm-ups before taking it outside. Quentin moved Kate around in the air with his mind, while she shot arrows and tried to stay on target. After a while, Kate's muscles were nicely sore and she was feeling a little fatigued. They'd been at it for almost two hours. "I think that's enough, wanna get a bite to eat?"

Quentin wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Sure, what were you thinking?"

"Pizza?" Kate was always thinking about pizza.

Quentin shook his head. "Hawkeyes and their pizza."

Kate began to pack up her gear. "Did you have a better idea?"

"I've been hearing some good things about the new taco truck on the street next to the basketball court, we could check it out."

"Okay, sounds good. Let me grab Lucky and we can go."


TWO DAYS LATER

The weekend had just begun and nearly everyone was out for the night except for her and Quentin. After several minutes of deliberation, Kate knocked on the door to Quentin's bedroom. He opened it fully dressed and freshly showered. For a moment Kate doubted her plan. "You going out?"

"Nah, just thought I'd get a shower in now while everyone was out. Well, almost everyone." He gave her a lopsided smile.

"Did you want to watch a movie with me?" Kate rubbed the back of her neck. "We can make popcorn."

"Sounds cool, I've got some hard soda that I'm willing to share if you're up for it."

"Bring it. I'll meet you downstairs," Kate said.

Kate let Quentin choose the movie while she got the popcorn popped. Was this a date? Or just a couple of friends/teammates watching a movie together?

Quentin picked a buddy cop action-type of film. No kissing at all, which was probably a good thing, because that would have made the night awkward. Thankfully, it wasn't awkward. It was fun. They ate popcorn, drank boozy soda, and yelled at the screen.

When the credits started, Quentin stood and stretched his arms up over his head. "Bathroom break and then watch another one?" He asked.

"I'll make more popcorn," Kate said.

This time Kate picked the movie, a dark comedy she'd been meaning to watch for ages. It was funny but maybe a little too slow-paced. She started yawning about a quarter of the way in. She finished her second hard soda (grape), put the empty bottle down on the coffee table, and leaned her head on Quentin's shoulder. Quentin moved the popcorn bowl and offered her his lap so she could stretch out and rest her head. Kate only hesitated a moment. Quentin's fingers running through her hair was the last thing she remembered before falling asleep.

THE NEXT NIGHT

It didn't take a telepath to see that Kate was interested in him. She'd been going out of her way to spend time with him. It started soon after the night they'd fallen into bed together. That night had been fucking amazing. Kate was incredibly enthusiastic and all kinds of flexible. Quentin wasn't sure if she wanted a relationship or just more sex. Honestly, he was up for either scenario. Quentin didn't usually date normals but Kate was pretty amazing for a human. Especially one without powers. He respected her, which for him was a rare thing.

Most of the other members of the team were out again. They all seemed to have busy social calendars lately, even Barton. Whatever.

Quentin found Kate in the kitchen standing in front of the open refrigerator. "Hey," he said.

Kate turned around and her face lit up when she saw him. He skimmed her surface thoughts and saw that she had been hoping to run into him. Nice.

"I can't decide between old Chinese food or leftover pizza," Kate said.

Quentin leaned against the door frame. "Are those our only options?"

Kate shrugged. "It's what we have."

"Why don't we order something and watch the rest of that movie? You fell asleep before the good part."

Kate looked skeptical. "There was a good part?"

Quentin shrugged. "Good is a relative term. Let's just say it ended better than it began."

"That's a stellar recommendation there, Quire."

"I still have some of that hard soda left," Quentin said.

Kate shut the refrigerator door. "I'm in. Where do you want to order from?"

"That new sandwich shop does fresh-cut French fries." Quentin knew that Kate was a sucker for fries, especially the hand-cut type.

"How are their sandwiches?" Kate asked.

"There's only one way to find out."


It turned out that the sandwiches were pretty great. The movie was mediocre but watching it with Kate was enjoyable. She made things better and more fun. She also kept casually touching him, and every time she did he got a flash of happy feelings. Hers. She liked spending time with him too. The movie was over all too soon. He wasn't ready for the night to end.

Kate laughed. "Well, that was pretty bad."

Quentin shrugged. "Eh, could have been worse."

"How?" Kate put her hand on Quentin's thigh.

"It could have been longer." That was a lie. If the movie had been longer the night wouldn't have to end here.

"You've got a point." Kate hadn't moved her hand.

Maybe the night didn't have to end here. "So, is this our first date, our fifth, or what?" Quentin leaned back and hoped he didn't just completely fuck everything up.

Kate laughed. "Oh God, have I been that obvious?"

Quentin nudged her shoulder with his. "Maybe a little."

"Any objections?"

He shook his head. "Not a one."

"Good." In one smooth move, Kate was sitting on his lap, straddling him, an impish grin on her face.

Kate kissed him slowly, deeply, and insistently. He slid his hands under her shirt, cupped her breasts, and rubbed his thumbs against her nipples through the satiny fabric of her bra. She moaned into his mouth and gently bit his lip. Quentin's clothes felt too tight and he needed them gone. He needed her skin against his. "Bedroom."

"Yours or mine?"

She was letting him choose? He wanted her in his bed again but this time he wanted her to stay. "Mine, but no sneaking out this time."

"Agreed," Kate said.

Quentin stripped off his clothes as soon as he was in his room. Kate closed the door, pulled off her shirt, and slipped out of her shorts. He could feel her desire radiating off of her and it fueled his own.

Kate pushed him gently so that he fell back onto his bed. Leaning back on his elbows he watched her remove the rest of her clothes.

Quentin liked to think that he was pretty good at sex. Being a telepath meant that he could anticipate his partner's needs and he could redirect his actions in response to his partner's thoughts without them having to say a word. But if he was letting all that in and not shielding hard, he was at the same time opening himself up to hearing things that might deflate his ego - and other things. People's minds wandered and few were disciplined enough to control it, even for a short while.
Kate was focused. She was thinking about him, what she wanted to do to him and what she wanted him to do to her. He appreciated the effort, and it made him like her even more.

It was better this time if that was even possible. When he woke up the next morning she was still in his bed, curled up next to him. Quentin didn't know where this thing was going, but he decided that wherever it was, he was sure as hell going to enjoy the ride.