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The smell of salty water hit Kate Bishop's nostrils as the window to her purple beetle were down, a blonde with short hair driving for her as the sun shinned down on them. It was 8 in the morning and they had been dragged last minute to a beach trip, well not really last minute but Kate's phone service sucked every single day and they got the memo too late while up in the mountains camping. The car radio blasted Fleetwood Mac's "You Make Loving Fun" as the 70s song made Kate's blue eyes look at how nature passed by them, another deep breath and Kate felt today was going to be worth it.
Yelena moved her sunglasses up, hair on her face as it rushed into the vehicle due to the car movement. Her fingers drumming against the steering wheel, her hazel green eyes briefly landing on her raven headed girlfriend, her lips turned into the smallest smile possible as she admired her beauty before looking back at the road. Her hand moving towards Kate's thigh, the archer immediately holding her hand in the softest way possible. Blue eyes turned to watch the blonde, her smile growing brighter as she reached towards the blonde to kiss her cheek, Yelena huffed lightly in protest but leaned more towards her lover.
"Thanks for coming with me today," Kate mentioned softly, "I know you are fifty-fifty with the beach."
Yelena shrugged. She only felt that way with people that drained her energy, and the times she has gone with Kate had been amazing. Not that she would ever tell that to the archer as she could get teased for months to come being called "whipped" for her. "My sisters are going, I figured it would be good to see them." She said.
Kate smiled and pulled back before sticking her head out the window and feeling the rush of air hit her now short bob hair. "I am excited to see Natasha and Antonia again, they hooked me on this crime telenovela and now I need to ask questions to them." She said in an upbeat tone. Kate had discovered telenovelas thanks to Sonya and now it had become a group of them diving into even the Turkish soap operas. It was a rabbit hole.
"¿Haz estado practicando tu español?" Yelena asked Kate, her accent was definitely Spaniard, and it was to expect as the Ukrainian had more European influence in her Spanish, especially from the Red Room as it was based there.
"Claro, pero sigo teniendo dificultades con ciertas palabras. Um, America is still teaching me." Kate's Spanish had that American accent but it was definitely sounding better each month as her best friend America Chavez taught her the ways.
Yelena nodded, a smile on her face. It had become a habit for them to speak in different languages, Kate was trying to master a lot to understand Yelena and even various of her friends. That is majority of her love language, learning to communicate to the ones she loves in various ways, like how she picked up ASL for Clint. Or how she understands the non-verbal queues Antonia expresses and picks up what to do next.
"Sonya keeps telling me she wants to teach me Tagalog, in fact, we have our first session next week." Kate says as she reached to the back for the cooler and picked out a cold water bottle for Yelena as the blonde had gestured her that she was thirsty.
Yelena's small hum was of amusement as her widow friend had offered lessons already, but she did know that Sonya liked Kate and even helped the assassin to ask out the archer properly. It was weeks of Sonya mocking her weak attempts to court the archer properly. " Sounds fun." She mentioned, she sure was going to listen to Kate cuss as her first word.
The beetle began slowing down as they hit traffic closer to the beach, thankfully Clint had reserved their parking beforehand and they just had to arrive. Kate was almost bouncing out of her seat in excitement as it was a group trip, meanwhile Yelena was trying to strategically plan where to position their umbrella so the archer doesn't end up burned. The honk of other cars drowned their music, Kate reaching to turn it up and now it was "Rich Girl" by Daryl Hall and John Oates beginning to play and her head moved with the beat. Yelena sang softly to it as she joined Kate in her silly dance.
A red wave of power startled Yelena as they were finally bringing down stuff from the car, her eyes turning back and relaxing once seeing Wanda. The witch smiling shyly as she let her powers take over their things to help them get to the beach quicker. Another redhead in tow.
"A miracle to see you at the beach, I thought you hated the water." Natasha smiled as she hugged Yelena meanwhile Wanda gave a greeting cheek kiss to Kate and the archer returned the gesture.
"I love the beach, I just like coming with my girlfriend more." Yelena huffed, hugging back and greeting Wanda the same way she did with Kate. She wasn't much of affection towards people outside from her family, but Wanda sure had become family and didn't mind the sweet greetings.
Wanda laughed as she looked at Natasha's frowny face after what Yelena said. "Totally understand, your sister is the same way she just doesn't like to admit." The witch said as the redhead turned to her, a very small pout in her lips before the witch kissed her. Natasha smiled and leaned her head against Wanda lovingly.
Yelena gagged at the gesture, audibly so, receiving a soft hit on the arm by Kate and a "be nice" followed by it. The blonde rolling her eyes and pressing her hip against Kate's as the archer engaged in a different conversation with the older women now walking towards their beach spot. In the distance, Steve was playing volleyball with Clint, Bucky, Sam, John, Vision, Rodney and surprisingly Bruce. The men were either yelling at each other or throwing sand at poor Pepper who just wanted some peace. Kate grabbed Yelena's hand before running off to greet Ava and Antonia, who were under their own umbrella in their own quiet section that was disturbed by no other than Kate.
Hawkeye practically jumped up and down as she greeted Ava, the black woman giving in to the energy and just letting Kate be as her girlfriend Antonia did a secret handshake with the archer, their own code to follow. Yelena gestured with her head a hello to her older sister and gently hugged Ava as she liked to see her friend. It was soon before Kate let them be, understanding that they weren't energetic people like her, plus Kate did notice that Ava was having subtle flare ups and didn't want to tussle the woman a lot.
Yelena placed their beach towels and umbrella, strategically so with a clear view to their car, clean exit towards it, and a bathroom nearby. Kate noticed it and just smiled before beginning to remove her clothes to reveal a new bathing suit she bought recently for their trip- more so work trip- to Portugal. The blonde stared, subtly looking up and down before removing her own shirt and ending up with a sports bra. She already had her pool shorts on so there was no need for more change.
Kate, well, was Kate and stared more than subtly look as her girlfriend looked like a goddess, though she admits that is every day of her life even when just waking up, and received a "You are staring" from Yelena.
"I'm not, just admiring, can't a girl look?" Kate protested, picking up the sunscreen and coming over to apply it on Yelena's face while letting the assassin do her own body.
"A girl can look, only if its Kate Bishop," Yelena wrinkled her nose lightly at the coldness of it. "Are you Kate Bishop?" she teased.
"Sure as hell am," Kate rolled her eyes before kissing Yelena's lips, leaning on her as the blonde hugged her and spun her around lightly which made her giggle. "Alright handsome, remember to reapply sunscreen."
"I'm getting the warning? You forgot to put sunscreen while training once and ended up looking like Patrick." Yelena groaned on her shoulder before kissing it.
"It was once and I got sick tan lines!" Kate kissed Yelena around the face and then smiled. The blonde gave in with her small grumpy sounds before relaxing against the raven head and following Kate to the water. It sure was peaceful before John decided to race Bob and now they were all up in their space.
While John bothered Yelena and dared her to win him in swimming, the blonde left Kate's side fuming with the idea of crushing John's ego. Hawkeye ended up in her own competition against Peter and Joaquin, whoever could breath underwater the longest and swim back to shore won. Needless to say, it became a huge competition against each other that didn't end at the shore and more so running towards their things to then run back to water. Natasha just put on her glasses and closed her eyes to the chaos meanwhile Wanda made sure Kate didn't end up faceplanted while pushing Peter out the way.
Soon they were doing races on the sand, somehow the volleyball team ended up leaving the ball behind and joining to whatever competition they had going on. Steve, Bucky and John (who loudly protested) were benched because of the serum. Yelena was having a blast crushing men's dreams in winning against her, what did bring her a challenge was Kate.
"Longlegs over here should be benched!" Yelena immediately said as she pointed over to her girlfriend. Kate just laughed before getting ready to race again, but was soon benched after a leg cramp got her for lack of hydration. The races ended up being equal in the end, Peter didn't get benched despite his powers but that was because majority couldn't say no to the guy anymore, they just loved Peter.
By midday, with Kate back from a hydration timeout, soccer began.
Beach soccer was ruthless because no one wanted to follow the rules. And Kate and Yelena sure as hell made it known that they were cheating, both previous soccer players did not let anything slide past them. Kate being the terrific striker that she is was leaving John and Bob in the dust, and Yelena did not let a single shot slide past her when Bucky or Sam would shoot. They were all sweaty and laughing, Clint got hit in the head accidently as he was on the sidelines eating, sure to say he cussed someone out since his wife had packed really good food for it to touch the sand.
After various matches, Kate and Yelena returned to the shade, both sweaty and exhausted. Their skins were pink, some parts now red, and they sure were covered in sand in places that they wouldn't even think of having it. Rather than call it a day, both stayed under the shade napping, cuddled against each other despite the heat and sweat that covered them. The breeze was gentle, bringing in the cool and sweet sensation accompanied with it.
Ava's speaker had some good songs playing, Antonia had finished that book she so liked, Natasha and Wanda went for ice cream meanwhile the guys keeps playing sports while being careful this time not to hit someone, more so Clint since the man removed his hearing aids to sit by the shore and just feel. His own way of destressing and handling things that weight him down.
The crashing of the waves diverted Yelena's eyes on the walk to the water near to them. After the nap they had decided to take a walk around the beach, Kate more yapping away about the day, how much she has enjoyed it and how connected she felt to the team. Yelena listened to her lover, looking back at her and smiling softly before tracing every single curve, hair, scratch, scar, mole. Everything. She wanted to keep that version of Kate engraved into her memories, burned to it.
A camera could never recreate the shot in which Yelena's eyes see Kate. With the outermost love, and the devotion to her in the unexpected ways. They had come a long way, from their differences, to friendship and growing apart from each other, to the connection and the yearning that came with knowing, or more so wanting to know more of each other. That year would mark their third year of being a couple, and Yelena could never ask for more.
They had gone to aquarium dates, beach dates, festival dates, walks, dinners be at home or a restaurant, concerts, sports tournaments, hiking, camping, scuba diving, sledding, snowboarding, ice skating, or just to tour other countries on their spare time. Kate would always find a way to make sure Yelena felt comfortable in everything, and the blonde melted in the sweetest kisses ever given because she loved Kate.
She loved the mess that the archer was, she loved the courage, the confidence, the stubbornness, she also loved how intelligent Kate was despite her denying. There was so much to Kate that Yelena could list and one paper, or a life time, would not be enough to write down. By the time she had realized they had stopped walking, Kate just waited for her, quietly and patiently.
"What?" Yelena rasped out.
"Are you enjoying the walk?" Kate had that slight worry in her tone, that maybe she had forced Yelena to something. The blonde clearing her throat and nodding. Their hand holding turning to a light squeeze coming from the blonde.
Kate looked at the way the setting sun shined on Yelena's hair, and she wished she had a camera to capture the beauty that she witnessed. How her hazel green eyes shined when looking at her, how her face muscles would twitch lightly like holding the biggest of smiles known to mankind. And Kate wanted to be selfish and keep that love in her eyes and those smiles, and the way her hands would touch, and the way her voice would say her name all to herself. God, Kate only wanted her for this life time, and the next one, and the next one.
Her blue eyes moved to the subtle movement, how Yelena began to kneel so suddenly and her heart rate picking up with worry until melting as she saw the blonde bring out a small box. There was no way-
"Katherine Elizabeth Bishop," Yelena tasted in her mouth first out loud, how that name became one that she devoted herself to in ways more than one. "I was finding the right time to bring this up," Her voice carried, the box still not open. "But there is no right time to search with you, as every second that I spend by your side is just right." The box began to gently open, Yelena's newly painted black nails shining over it.
Kate felt the tears rush, she wanted to bring up marriage to Yelena without seeming like she was rushing her or forcing her. Her hands trembled as she felt the delicate touch her girlfriend always provided, even in times of stress, the type of touch that could make her into a puddle of happiness. Something to do say, Kate loved the way Yelena's eyes had a brighter green in them, as if she had waited for years to say this.
"Would you marry me?" Yelena asked, feeling the weight of the question in her entire being as she let the ring show. Those were weeks of searching across the globe for the perfect stone, the perfect color, and with the secrecy that Wanda Maximoff held for in favor. Her nerves shot up as she saw the tears streaming down Kate's face, her gentle features filled with happiness as she nodded.
"Yes." Kate tried wiping away her tears as she hugged Yelena. Pulling away to kiss her deeply as she heard the distant cheers from both teams, some crying (Clint) as they witnessed such touching moment that was on their own bubble. No one else on the beach but them, and their teams in the distance. No need for a crowd to shout out that they were engaged.
Yelena spun her fiancée around as they kissed and laughed, turning into a mush of tears as Yelena broke down from the nerves of keeping such important moment bottled up for the longest time. They shared a lot of gentle moments before going back to their group, earning hugs and congratulations. Antonia hugging Yelena and Kate tight as the earned one more little sister to take care of. Wanda was already calling Kate her sister-in-law, and Clint couldn't stop crying because that was his protegee getting engaged.
The newly engaged couple shared a celebration drink, thanks to Pepper, and cheered with their family and friends as they entered to a bigger chapter of their lives as a couple. Kate took pictures of Yelena the entire time after that, filling her already full gallery of more pictures of her girlfriend, some shots of her ring, others of just how giddy Yelena was the whole way home. They sure got the worst sunburns known to man, but at least they woke up the next day knowing that the person at the altar will be the same one they would want on the next life.
"I love you." Kate said against her lips as they sleepily clung to each other.
Yelena smiled against her lips and murmured. "I love you."