Did you say fun winter activities??
Are they gay???
YES
YES THEY ARE YOUR HONOR
Content warnings: minor injury
Kate trudges grumpily behind Yelena, Lucky whining and pulling at his leash to get to Fanny. The assassin and her akita were several yards ahead of them, both of them basically bred for the snow and completely accustomed to it, unlike the two behind them.
Lucky was still faring alright, Kate supposed, but she wasn't used to being in the snow all that much, and New York's five inches that floated down last night were becoming a bit of a bother.
"Are we almost there, Kate Bishop?" Yelena calls behind her, her cheeks rosy as she and Fanny bound along in the white powder.
"You're the one who's ahead of me!" Kate shouts back. She almost faceplants into the snow when Lucky gives a particularly hard tug, and she relents, unclipping his leash to let him run ahead and catch up with their friends. "Little psycho," she laughs.
"Kate Bishoooooop! Hurry uppppp!"
"Yelena Belovaaaaaa! Slow downnnnnn!"
The blonde cackles but does slow, waiting for Kate to catch up to her and the dogs. Lucky has sat himself next to Fanny rather dutifully, his feathery tail swishing with contentment.
"Simp," Kate says under her breath, patting his soft head. He barks and trots along. Yelena grabs Kate's hand to pull her faster as they continue to walk. "Remind me why we didn't just find a path that's been paved already?"
"Because you told me it would take longer, Kate Bishop."
"Not that much longer..."
Yelena hums and twines their fingers together, patting Kate's arm. "Poor Kate Bishop, walking in snow. Russia would eat you alive."
The archer grumbles. "I just don't like being cold."
"Neither do I, Kate Bishop!" The blonde throws her other hand out and gestures at the scenery around them, trees and rocks and a blanket of snow. "But it is beautiful out! And we are dressed warm, so as long as you don't throw a snowball at me, we will be fine."
Kate huffs, kicking at the powder as they walk. "What happens if I throw a snowball at you?"
Yelena's smile is terrifying. "It will make me grumpy. Also, I will take it as an open invitation to fight back."
"Ah, noted. Thanks."
They reach the hill that Kate has in mind a few minutes later, and she's both relieved and surprised to see that there are only a few teenagers and little ones sledding around; especially seeing as it's the weekend. "Huh. Though it'd be busier," she mutters.
"Kate Bishop, we did not bring any sleds," Yelena points out, tugging at the archer's sleeve and frowning. "Tell me you do not expect me to slide around on my ass."
"No no no," Kate laughs, leading her to a cluster of bushes and pulling two brightly colored disks out of the foliage. "Tada! Kids leave their sleds laying around all the time."
Yelena tilts her head. "Those are not sleds, Kate Bishop."
"What do you mean? Of course they are."
"Really, Kate Bishop? Those things?" She waves at the pieces of plastic in Kate's hands, which are neon pink and green and shaped like oversized dinner plates. "They look ready to snap in half at moment's notice."
"They slide real good though," Kate argues simply, shrugging. "We're not trying to surf on them, so who cares if they're flimsy?"
"What if I was planning on surfing on them?"
Kate raises a brow at her, unamused.
"Okay, fine. Kidding. But I still refuse to use these pathetic excuses for a sled."
"What'd you suppose we use, then, huh?"
Yelena pulls a mini hatchet out of thin air and gives a wide grin. "We make our own, of course!"
Kate does a double take. "Where did you-"
"Come, Kate Bishop! We need to find sturdy tree!"
"Yelena, where did the-"
"Keep upppppp!"
"Where the fuck were you keeping that...?" But Yelena is already gone, disappearing into a thick copse of trees. "Is she really about to make a fucking sled from scratch?"
Fanny and Lucky just stare at her.
"Thanks, guys. Super awesome ideas you've got for me, there."
They bark and wag their tails, spraying Kate's legs with snow. She sighs and pats her thigh for them to follow, going in the direction Yelena bounded off to. "C'mon, Fanny. Let's find your mom."
Fanny seems to take this as an indicator, because she bolts after Yelena without any further prompting, and Lucky chases behind her before Kate can grab him. She just shakes her head and trudges along.
Yelena has somehow already downed a small hardwood tree by the time Kate catches up, and she's hard at work stripping and chopping it into long, sturdy looking planks. She looks completely in her element- breath fogging around her, rosy cheeked and working hard in the snow.
"I'm almost 100% sure it's illegal to chop the trees down in Central Park," Kate comments, watching the blonde with a keen eye as Yelena continues to hack away with a deadly precision that looks almost comical when used on twigs and sticks.
"No police, no trouble," is her only response. Kate can't argue with that logic, but she's still on edge.
Not even ten minutes later, Yelena holds her creation up in the air with a look of pure triumph. "Tada!" she sings, sketching a bow in the snow and showing the sled off to Kate.
Kate, on the other hand, is completely dumbfounded. Yelena is holding up a sled that she watched her make, and yet she can barely comprehend what just happened. The sled is beautiful, and looks strong enough to hold both of them and still leave some wiggle room, with a wide, flat base curling in at the front, two sharp metal skate pieces holding it off the ground, (where the fuck did she get those?) and a thick red rope acting as reigns at the front.
"Do you not like it, Kate Bishop?" Yelena pouts, face falling a little.
The archer quickly steps forward and takes the sled, looking over its details. "No, Yelena- I think it's super cool."
"But...?"
"I'm just so fucking confused on how you just built a whole-ass sled in fifteen minutes."
Yelena shrugs and does a cheeky little hop on her toes. "A Widow never reveals her secrets."
"I can see that," Kate mutters, running a hand over the sled's railing. "Well, let's give it a test run, shall we?"
Yelena perks up. "I thought you would never ask."
————
"This is a terrible idea. We're gonna die."
"Kate Bishop, what are you talking about? This was your idea!"
"And now I'm regretting it, okay?!" Kate's hands tighten on Yelena's shoulders as the blonde continues to inch the sled forward, nearing the tipping point that would send them plummeting down a steep hill. The bottom ends in a small dip that acts as a ramp, and a large group of trees spreads out after it.
"We're gonna die," Kate says again, teeth chattering. "Do you know how many kids have gone to the hospital because of this spot?" Myself included, she doesn't add.
"Nope!" the blonde says cheerily from between her thighs. Yelena grabs Kate's hands from her shoulders and tugs her closer, securing the archer's arms around her waist before grabbing the rope and scooting them even closer with her feet. "Ready, Kate Bishop?"
"No!"
"Whoopscan'thearyouherewego!" Yelena pushes off and brings her feet back onto the sled as they tip over the edge and immediately rocket down, snow spraying up around them. Kate hugs herself to Yelena so tightly she thinks they might be glued together, but the wind whipping at her hair and cheeks dispels all thoughts.
"This is so awesome!" Yelena shouts, her laughs so loud and joyous that Kate can't help but to join in. Except that when she opens her mouth, all she can do is scream. Yelena steers them expertly, narrowly avoiding kids and rocks to the point that Kate almost thinks she's trying to hit them.
"We're gonna fucking die!" the archer shrieks, eyes bugging out when she spots the infamous ramp just feet in front of them.
"At least it'll be cool!" is Yelena shouted response, and she whoops loudly when they hit the ramp and go flying, catching way too much airtime for comfort. Kate's stomach drops out of her ass and she swears she can hear it hit the snow beneath them.
The sled slams into the ground with a huge wumph, and Kate and Yelena both go tumbling off of it into the snowy trees. The dogs are going insane over the excitement, barking and dancing around after catching up to them.
Kate's body eventually comes to a rolling stop against a tree, and the air slowly comes back into her lungs as she sucks in deep, desperate breaths. Lucky licks at her chilled face for a moment before getting bored and chasing snowflakes with Fanny. The archer groans as she blinks up at the cold sky through the bare branches.
Her shoulders are gonna really feel this later.
She sits up slowly with a hand propped against a tree, head spinning. "Damn, okay. That was wild," she mutters, rubbing her eyes. "Yelena, I have to disagree," Kate calls out into the snow. "That wouldn't be a very cool way to die."
There's no response.
Kate frowns after a moment and picks herself up, dusting snow from her back and butt. "Yelena? You okay?" She makes her way to where she can see the sled peeking out from a pile of white powder, looking for footprints or Fanny. Both dogs are off in the trees somewhere, playing and barking happily, but there's no Yelena.
"Yelena? This isn't funny!" Worry starts to build in Kate's chest, and it skyrockets when she spots a blonde little lump under a tree. "Shit shit shit," she mutters, tripping in her haste to reach the prone assassin as heat pricks her eyes. "I swear to god I'm gonna fucking kill you if you got hurt because of that stupid sled, Yelena."
The archer falls to her knees next to the assassin and brushes snow off of her face, doing her damn best to not hyperventilate. She almost sobs in relief when Yelena's eyes open without any prompting, and the blonde gives her a dazed smile, eyes a bit unfocused. "That was so cool."
"That was totally not cool!" Kate retorts, giving a wobbly laugh as the adrenaline slowly fades from her system. She scoots an arm under Yelena and slowly helps her sit up, watching for any signs of pain. "You scared the shit out of me- that was not funny."
"I'm sorry, Kate Bishop," Yelena mumbles, leaning into Kate's shoulder for support. "I can't help it."
"Shit, please don't have a concussion," Kate mutters, taking her gloves off to brush and poke through Yelena's hair in search of an injury. There's a nasty looking bump on the back of her skull, and it's already swelling up, but Kate doesn't see any blood. "Hey- I need you to follow my finger with just your eyes, okay?" she instructs, holding her pointer finger up in front of Yelena's face and moving it side to side and up and down in a steady motion.
The blonde tracks the movement easily, and her pupils look pretty normal and have already refocused, so Kate lets out a sigh of relief. "Well, you'll probably just have a headache and a fun little bruise. Any nausea, Yelena? Are you dizzy?"
Yelena shakes her head carefully after a moment, wincing when she pats the back of it. "No more spinning. Ice pack and ibuprofen will fix me."
Kate sighs again and helps the blonde stand up, keeping an arm around her waist. "No more sledding today, you crazy bitch."
"But Kate Bishopppp, we just got here!" Yelena whines, leaning her head on Kate's shoulder.
"Shouldn't have pulled that shit, then," Kate tuts. Yelena pouts at her, but she refuses to give in. "Nope, not gonna work on me. We're going home to ice your head."
The assassin grumbles but ultimately concedes, whistling for the dogs and keeping her head on the archer's shoulder. "Our home, Kate Bishop," she grumbles, the communism in her really shining through.
(For legal reasons please do not take me seriously)
Kate's chest flushes warm, and she bites back a nervous smile. "Yes, Yelena. Our home."
*laughs nervously*
Hi everybody how are you?
They are my favorite thing ever and I think Yelena would absolutely build a sled like this in desperate times aka not having the sled she wants what an icon :)
Translations: none
Kate Bishop counter: 15
QOTD: what's your favorite winter activity?
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