Hi hi hi! So glad you're here <3 Who's ready for another dose of that gay shit? This chapter is pretty much 100% pure fluff and I love them so much so please enjoy. I know absolutely nothing about ice skating please don't come after me :)
Content warnings: I'm so sorry I made a foot fetish joke and I quoted baby Yelena it's two birds with one stone I absolutely should not have a drivers license
The ice-skating rink in central park is mysteriously low on people, especially considering that it was still cold enough for the winter activity and most kids would have gotten out of school an hour or so ago. But when Kate and Yelena arrived, bundled in their long coats and breaths fogging in front of red, smiling faces, only a few parents with little ones and a small group of teenagers were on the ice.
Kate excitedly led Yelena over to the ice skates rental, relaying their shoe sizes to the girl behind the counter and paying before Yelena could even blink. Kate accepted the skates with a happy thank you, and dragged her friend to a bench to properly strap themselves in.
"Kate Bishop, why do you know my shoe size?" Yelena asked with a laugh, taking the skates and pulling off her platforms. She paused as she put them on. "These blades are excellent quality." She looked up to Kate, grinning almost mischievously. "Very sharp. They would gut a man quite nicely."
Kate blinked at her for a second before letting out a loud, disbelieving laugh and pressing forward to put her gloved hands against Yelena's smiling mouth. "Oh my god, Yelena! You can't just say stuff like that out loud!"
The blonde giggled heartily and continued to tie the laces of her skates. "Hurry up, Kate Bishopppppp, I'm going to beat you. Also, again, why do you know how big my feet are?" Her eyes turn suddenly serious, and she somehow seems to tower over the archer as she sits up straight and leans towards her. "Don't tell me you have a thing for toes."
Kate is so taken aback that before she even has time to be a little mortified at what Yelena is insinuating, the blonde's facade has already dissolved into a fit of self-righteous giggles. She shakes her head and rolls her eyes.
Kate would never have guessed in a million years that this was a side to Yelena that existed, much less that she would get to personally see it. She recalls a few listened in on conversations and brief explanations of Yelena and Natasha's past, but the biggest thing that stuck out to her was that Yelena was filtered into the Red Room at the tender age of six. The woman beside her had been stolen away from her childhood and mercilessly beaten down before being built right back up, stronger and smarter and faster, and so angry and deadly it was a wonder the world wasn't burning in hell.
It was a wonder that Yelena could be like this at all, truthfully. A miracle.
"You're staring."
Kate blinks, and Yelena's right. She was totally staring. The blonde just laughs and stands, so steady and sure in the skates that Kate doubts for a moment they're even on.
"I'm super bad at this, remember," Kate reminded her, bracing her hands on the bench railing and slowly standing onto her now weaponized feet. Yelena watched with amusement, but her face wasn't cruel, and she looked ready to leap forward should Kate inevitably fall.
Which she did. Of course.
And, as predicted, Yelena was there.
She grabbed Kate's wrist the moment she wobbled just a bit too much, and Yelena's stance is strong to keep them both from falling. She tugs Kate up and therefore close, their chests almost touching, breaths fogging together. Kate's cheeks are flushed from the cold and the exhilaration of being out here with the woman in front of her.
"Thanks."
Yelena gives another smile, something she seems to be handing out to Kate in droves. "I'll catch you, Kate Bishop." She keeps their hands twined together and gently tugs the both of them towards the entrance onto the ice, and Kate is transfixed by the little snow crystals on the blonde's lashes.
Kate had not been ice-skating since before her father died in the Battle for New York. She had enjoyed it at the time, but the memories stung and she lost any muscle memory she might have built up with him there to help her. She stops right before stepping out onto the slippery rink, eyeing it warily. The doubts were creeping in. She most likely would fall and crack her head open and make a fool of herself, in highly typical Kate fashion.
Yelena noticed her hesitation, and wordlessly held her hand out for her, palm up and inviting.
Kate took it, and was pulled carefully out onto the ice.
Her balance was spotty at best, but Yelena held true and guided Kate to a walker on skates of its own, where the archer latched on gratefully. Yelena smiled and led the two of them out further into the middle of the ice, moving fluidly and swiftly to the point that Kate couldn't decide if she was impressed or envious of the ease the assassin displayed.
The assassin traveled further away, taking the space to glide freely, letting her mind quiet as she sank into the smooth motion of flying over the ice. Kate watched her, entranced as she mindlessly followed in her silly bright red skate walker.
Kate gave herself about twenty minutes to get used to the feeling of ice underneath her with the walker before she let go of it slowly, carefully pushing away from it in a wobbly line. Yelena was by her side immediately, arm extended to give Kate the choice to hold on should she choose to do so.
Kate smiled softly at her, cheeks glowing from the cold as she accepted it and linked her elbow with Yelena's. They went slowly around the rink, the gentle circles lulling Kate into a feeling of security. A thin layer of snow began to fall, and they giggled together, admiring the delicate flakes.
"Want to try by yourself, Kate Bishop?" Yelena asked after a time, her smile encouraging and instilling confidence deep into Kate's soul, who nodded and let go of her friend, the momentum carrying her a bit forward.
For a couple of small moments, the archer stays steady and glides forward, her heart buoying in her chest. Her father would clap and cheer for her if he was here, dark hair wild and grizzled cheeks full with a smile. A laugh bubbles up from her stomach, light and fluffy.
But as soon as Kate thinks she might be safe, it shatters when her foot slips out from under her, and she immediately accepts that she is about to eat shit as she plummets backwards.
Except she doesn't.
"Oh, Kate Bishop, you are so hopeless," Yelena's voice groans into her ear, the assassin's body warm against her back as strong arms and gentle hands cradle the head that had been about to crack against the ice. Kate blinks up at her, looking startled and dazed. Yelena's laugh is soft, and her gloved fingertips trace over the archer's cheek, pulling strands of wavy hair out of her face. "Are you okay, Kate?"
"You're a bit upside down," Kate mutters, chest aching and out of breath. From the fall, she tells herself. From the impact on her back.
At Kate's words, something in Yelena's eyes seems to shift, akin to a pain so deep and old that Kate could drown if she even so much as touched it, but it quickly melted into a mesmerizing fondness she didn't recognize.
"I told you I would catch you, Kate Bishop."
She is breathless because the air was knocked out of her lungs. She is breathless because Yelena is beautiful and kind when she has every right to be hateful.
She is breathless because her friend was about to get hurt. She is breathless because Kate Bishop looks at her like she's worth redeeming. She is breathless because Kate Bishop looks at her the way Natasha did. She is breathless because Kate looks at her and does not seem to want to look away.
They are both breathless out on the ice in the middle of New York, and the cold does not reach them at all.
They could kick me in the stomach and I would say thank you can I do anything for you
Did you catch that repeated line?
Translations: none
Kate Bishop counter: 8
QOTD: Have you ever gone ice skating? Do you enjoy it?
This chapter's meme:
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