InsaneJournal

Who: Rose Hathaway and Kate Bishop
When: Recently
Where: Archery Range
What: Sparring and an Archery lesson
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete


The sweat was dripping down her forehead and Rose was doing her best to not let it distract her. Kate was weaving around and Rose was determined to get her opponent down on the ground. Her patience was thin though and she blew some air up into her forehead to help cool herself down as her brown eyes stayed true to their target. Kate was a pretty decent sparring partner and Rose was quite enjoying that she had someone new to do this with. Now, if only the sweat would just disappear, but she had to chuckle, “Come on, Kate. I can see you starting to tire, let’s end this.”

Kate had learned quite a bit of self-defense over the years. After being attacked as a teenager, she vowed that no man would touch her against her will again. That didn’t mean she was great at sparring. She could kick a crotch and run, or bash her head into a stranger’s nose, but when it came to this prolonged sparring stuff? She was just as sweaty as Rose was--probably more! At least she had a headband on to pull her hair out of her face. She grinned softly. “Here we go.” Then she grappled forward to try and take Rose down. Rose was way, way more likely to win this round, though. (Like most of the others… unless Kate got lucky.)

She picked up on what Kate was going to do a moment before she did it and she started to move her way out of the attack. Unfortunately her foot caught a bit of sweat on the mat and she felt herself begin to slide. Kate’s body managed to make contact with her just enough that she fully slipped on the spot. This wasn’t the most graceful she had ever been as she tumbled down onto the mat and let out a groan, “Ah- fuck. Okay, you win this round. Uggggh!” She laid there on the mat for a moment as she tried to get her heart beat back to normal and absorb the pain.

Kate was actually quite shocked when her body made contact with Rose’s. Then they were both falling to the floor. Luckily, Kate landed on top… so that made her the winner? Kate burst into laughter and rolled off of her friend. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?” She asked, sitting up.

“Oh god no, the mat hurt me more,” she explained with a laugh. Her hand was resting on her stomach and it hurt a little bit. The wind had been knocked out of her, so she was still a little tender when it came to laughing, “Great job though. I slipped and you were right there, which was good for you. I’m impressed.”

“You’re much better at this than I am,” which was a given. Kate didn’t even need to say it, really, but it was said anyway, “but I’m thankful that you’re giving me the chance to learn it. I feel like I’m learning from the best.” Kate climbed back up to her feet and held out a hand to help Rose up.

“That’s just years of training,” Rose commented as she took the hand that was offered and got off the ground. She dusted herself off and flashed a smile to Kate, “You’re doing great though. I’m happy to teach you because it’s good practice for me. I’m kind of leaning more towards teaching again rather than just fighting constantly.”

“Teaching is really fulfilling.” Kate said, nodding. “I think you’d make an excellent teacher. Hey, we should do more trading. I can get a bow and arrow in your hands, and you can continue to pummel me under the pretense of self defense classes.” She grinned playfully.

“I really should do that. Give me like twenty minutes and I can give a go at some archery,” Rose commented with a laugh as she went to grab her water bottle and put in some protein powder into it, “I really do want to learn more because it’s a really useful skill to have. It also makes you look like a badass.”

“What, archery?” Kate asked, breaking into a smirk. “I dunno if that’s a widely-spread opinion on the sport, but I’m okay with it. Let’s keep spreading that around, thanks.” She followed after Rose to the break room, and pulled a vitamin water out of the fridge. “So, wedding planning? For real?” Kate couldn’t imagine getting married right now. She was far too independent. Besides, she couldn’t imagine Clint getting married… ever.

“Yes, it looks badass. I don’t know how you can watch Hunger Games and not think that,” Rose pointed out with a laugh, “And I do a small bit of it in my dreams, so maybe it’ll be a little more natural than if I didn’t. And yes, wedding planning for real. I am getting married.” She was really looking forward to getting married, but the planning was the worst part of it.

Kate chuckled, too. “I guess it’s kinda badass.” She nodded. “We’ll work with whatever skills you get from the dreams, if any. It’d be good to have a teacher who understands that you’re not coming into it blind.”

She paused, holding the bottle of Vitaminwater and thinking about it for a minute. “Is it terrifying?” Kate asked, genuinely curious.

“Is getting married terrifying? Yeah, a little bit. I’m super excited to live with Tom forever because he makes me incredibly happy. It’s a little stressful to plan because his family is...quite influential, so his mother wants me to make it a big wedding. I’m more nervous than terrified,” Rose explained to her with a smile as she took a drink. That made some sense, right? She couldn’t wait to be married and she was happy to be with Tom.

“Doesn’t it feel… suffocating?” Kate asked. She climbed into one of the chairs and curled up to talk. It was better than trying to chat out in the gymnasium where it was so big and echoey. “I mean… not the wedding part, but the ball and chain part.”

“I don’t think it’s really a ball and chain. I love being around Tom and I want to spend all my free time with him. That’s how you know that it’s actually love, when you don’t get completely sick of the other person. I know he won’t suffocate me,” she explained a small smile with a shake of her head, “It sounds silly, but I’m looking forward to it. He’s my best friend.”

Kate couldn’t help but think of her own situation. Did that make her selfish? Whatever, she was thinking about Clint, and how much she liked to be with him. She didn’t get sick of him. She wanted to hang around with him and Lucky pretty much all the freaking time. It was a little disgusting, but at least she wasn’t in the boat alone. Rose was there, too, with her Tom.

“No, that’s… it’s really sweet.” Kate, perpetual tomboy, was actually kinda romantic and girly when it all boiled down to it. She smiled. “But if you ever tell anyone that I’ve got a soft side, I might have to attempt to kick your ass.” A tease. A playful tease.

“Ha, thanks for the warning. I’ll make sure to think twice before revealing all your dirty secrets. Alright, let’s go see if I can attempt to keep up with you in the archery range,” Rose grinned happily at Kate. It was cute that Kate appeared to be smitten with her mystery man, whom she hadn’t gotten to meet yet. She wouldn’t reveal that side to her friend, but it was great to see people blossoming from love.

Kate beamed. “Yes.” She said, then turned to lead the way back to the range. They could grab a couple bows and quivers and do some basic lessons. And soon Rose and Tom would likely get to meet her mystery man. Kate was just about ready to show him off to the world.