InsaneJournal

Adrenaline was racing through Emily in a good way, for once. She wasn’t being kidnapped, stalked, or even threatened by monsters, but she was about ready to hurl herself off the edge of an incredibly high cliff.

Sunshine glinted off the water in the Quarry below. It was a warm - bordering on hot - afternoon in Vallo, and Emily had stolen Kate away for a day of playing outside. They’d taken a waypoint to the Quarry, set up their things on the soft, sandy beach, and were debating what to do first when Emily had decided on cliff jumping. It was just like using a really, really, really high diving platform.

She grinned back over her shoulder at Kate, then steeled herself. She got a running start and flew off the edge. Her feet left solid ground and butterflies swirled in her stomach at the feeling of weightlessness for just a second before her body started back downward again.

A laugh-scream erupted out of her on the way down until she hit the water with a splash. As that cool, familiar feeling of water surrounded her, Emily spun underwater and grinned before she headed back up toward the surface. She broke through and wiped the water away from her eyes so she could see Kate, still waiting at the top. “Your turn!”

Kate wasn’t really much of a swimmer. Not because she couldn’t or didn’t enjoy it. She’d just always had other activities to prioritize, and most of them didn’t involve water. On the rare occasion it did, the pools didn’t go deeper than six feet and almost always involved just a smidge of alcohol and a group of equally intoxicated people splashing each other, all the while cackling like joyous hyenas.

Somehow, she hadn’t expected Emily’s suggestion for their beach day at the Quarry to be cliff diving. She agreed, of course, fearless (mostly) in the face of what could probably be considered recklessness as always. She stood back, arms crossed over her chest and grinning as Emily took off running and plunged into the deep waters below.

She gazed down at her girlfriend and called out, “If you insist!” accompanied by a rather dramatic salute with two fingers. She followed suit, backing off a good distance, then took a running start before jumping feet first, hoping with everything she had she wouldn’t belly flop.

Thankfully, she plunged underwater smoothly and let it swallow her up, her heartbeat seeming to echo louder in her ears amongst the sounds of rushing water. She resurfaced and immediately slipped her arms around Emily’s waist, laughing as she breathed out an awed, “Holy shit!”

As Kate got her running start, Emily stretched her arms out and executed a smooth backstroke so she was out of the splash zone. She paused and watched her girlfriend go flying off the edge of the cliff with a large grin. Once Kate hit the water, Emily swam forward again so she’d be close by once she resurfaced.

As soon as her head was above water, Kate’s arms seemed to slip around Emily like a magnet. With a small laugh, Em tugged her in closer, her legs easily keeping the both of them afloat.

“Pretty incredible, right? I knew you’d like it.”

“You called it.” Kate grinned and leaned in to steal a kiss, keeping their foreheads pressed together and her hands flat against the small of Emily’s back. “I can’t believe I’ve never done that before. Are you more of a daredevil than me?”

The smile that flashed over Emily’s face at that was downright wicked. “Maybe I just like to get your heart racing.”

With Kate’s arms secured around her back, Emily managed to maneuver them both through the cool water until her feet found purchase with the sandy bottom. With a bit more stability on her side, Emily wrapped her hands around Kate’s hips and pulled her in for a much longer kiss.

Oh, there was no way Kate was interrupting this kind of kiss. She sank into it, unbothered by the shared taste of salt, fingers lifting to press into Emily’s shoulder blades. She could happily have done just this all day, but she liked the excitement. She liked trying something new.

“You didn’t need to get me to hurl myself off a cliff for that,” she countered when they finally broke apart, a little breathless and dark-eyed. “All you have to do is smile at me.”

Emily hummed softly with pleasure at that. Kate had always been wonderful that way, never shying away from sharing her feelings and desires. Emily had spent so much (too much) of her life either being forced to hide her emotions, or being manipulated by them. So for her to be with Kate, who was so open and genuine with what she was feeling, it was freedom and safety all wrapped up in one ridiculous, amazing, beautiful package. The look she gave Kate was nothing short of absolute adoration. “I love you.”

“Love you too,” Kate returned, stealing another kiss. She was crazy lucky to have Emily and she knew it. She’d grounded her and stabilized her in a way that she needed in this world away from her own. She had her sisters, and she knew she would have them to lean on as long as Vallo deemed fit. But having this woman she loved so deeply, who had seemed to know her through and through since the beginning, was a stroke of luck she couldn’t explain.

The best kind of luck, obviously.

“I actually had something I wanted to ask you about,” she went on after a moment, “and I’ve sort of been holding back, but since you threw all this adrenaline at me, I’m gonna take advantage.” It was a ridiculously natural high, jumping from that high up and living to tell the tale. It didn’t necessarily loosen her tongue like marijuana, but it ripped away that hesitancy that had her talking around the situation with Yelena.

“Would you want to move in together?”

Emily’s expression shifted from gentle curiosity, to amusement, to absolute joy all in the space of a few seconds. “I really, really do.”

She spent so much of her time at Kate’s house already, and while the fancy apartment at Stark Tower was great, Kate’s house had always felt like more of a home. She surged forward in the water to kiss her girlfriend again.

Kate laughed when she was pounced on, the sound smoothing into a hum when Emily’s lips found hers again. She held her tightly, heart pounding with another rush of happy adrenaline. She had known the answer she would get – it sort of felt inevitable – but the relief of getting that answer was like a cool wave washing over her.

“You’re okay moving in with everyone? I know it can feel a little packed with Nat and Yelena, and all the animals. If it’s too much, or you feel like you’re intruding, that’s okay. We can– I mean, I’d be willing to just move into Stark Tower, if that’s more comfortable for you.”

Emily was still grinning from ear to ear when they broke their kiss, but it melted into something much softer at Kate’s question. “Kate.” Her tone very much conveying a feeling of don’t be ridiculous with just that one word. “I would never, ever ask you to leave your sisters. We’ll make it work.”

It had taken some getting used to at first, all the chaos and noise of Kate’s house. Growing up, Emily’s own home had been pretty much the exact opposite. The more time she’d spent there, however, the more she’d come to love it for exactly what it was. There was never any shortage of love within those walls, and that was all Emily cared about. All the rest of it was just details.

“I know. I know you wouldn’t,” Kate assured her. Emily had accepted Kate’s relationship with her elder sisters from go. Her clinginess may have tempered in the past year they’d all spent living together, but Kate still tended to prioritize Natasha and Yelena first and foremost. That could definitely be tough on a relationship, but Emily had never seemed bothered, and Kate had always made sure she told Emily how much she meant to her, too. “And I know we’ll make it work. Like, no doubt. I’m kinda really attached to you at this point.”

“I’m kinda really attached to you too.” Emily leaned in and touched her forehead to Kate’s. Her life had been in various shades of turmoil for one reason or another for close to a decade. While outwardly it felt a little strange that the most settled she’d felt in all that time was the year she’d spent in Vallo, it also made perfect sense to her. Because Vallo had Kate, and their future together, and as long as Emily had that, she was confident in all the rest. She leaned in for another quick kiss, just because she could.

“Want to try jumping off together this time?”

“Hell yeah,” Kate agreed, releasing her girlfriend after a moment to coast over to the grassy landing and tug herself out of the cool water. She reached down to offer Emily a hand. “You’re gonna hold my hand the whole time, right?”

Emily grinned at Kate’s quick enthusiasm and took a moment just to watch her before following after. As she took her girlfriend’s hand to climb out of the water, she gave it an extra squeeze. “For as long as you want.”