till forever falls apart

rooftop meeting

SHUT UP I DIDNT ALMOST FORGET

Kate draws back an arrow, narrowing her eyes and focusing on the bullseye.

There aren't a lot of things that she feels exceptionally good at in this world, but archery is one that's been tried and tested and she knows it's what will calm her down right now.

Her head has been spinning ever since Dr. Perez and Yelena had that talk in the ER. She should be downstairs right now, collecting things for Yelena's stay at the hospital tonight like she said she was going to do, but she needs a minute. Everything is spinning out around her and she just needs a minute.

She fires, the arrow ending up in the bullseye. She smiles to herself. It's been at least a month since she's been up here, but she's still got it. She's still got it.

She nocks another arrow, holding it for a little longer before firing it. The arrow splits the first one down the middle.

She's good. Maybe she can't get her girlfriend's cancer to go away, but she sure as hell can shoot an arrow and split a second one. She's good like that.

Gently, she puts the bow down and goes to clear the target, humming the melody of a random song to herself. She needed this.

She discards the arrows on the ground and puts them in her pile, she'll collect them all later for the garbage, and heads back to her spot.

She picks her bow back up, checking the drawstring and feeling it in her hand for a second before grabbing a new arrow, nocking it, and firing it.

Bullseye again.

She smiles to herself, half-wishing she brought the dummy up here to see if she had the aim for going against villains, but she brushes the thought aside. She instead nocks the new arrow, going to fire.

She hears the door to the stairs open and wonders who's up here but doesn't break her focus.

One, two, three.

The arrow slices through the first one again and lodges itself in the target with a satisfying thud. She smiles to herself again, now wondering if she can hit the edge of the target. She doesn't want to collect her arrows yet.

So, she nocks a new arrow, aims for the outermost ring, and almost does a happy dance when it just lodges itself in the edge of the target. She's good.

"That wasn't a bullseye."

Kate whips around, eyes wide when she notices that the new person on the roof is looking at her.

They're wearing dark blue jeans and a red t-shirt with their blonde hair spilling over their shoulders. They have a black leather jacket in one of their hands and some kind of approving look on their face.

It takes another second before Kate recognizes who it is.

"Holy shit," she exclaims, "What're you doing here?"

The woman - not just any woman, Carol fucking Danvers aka Captain Marvel - smiles, "Your girlfriend's sister called me. Said you're having a crisis. And you must be if you're missing like that and still proud of it."

"What- no, you're mistaken," Kate splutters, "You see the target, right? I spliced that arrow. The shot you saw was just for fun. Grazing shots are great distractions."

"Uh-huh," Carol nods unconvincingly as she walks over. She sticks her empty hand out, "Nice to meet you, Kate Bishop."

Kate fumbles, shoving her arrow in the hand with her bow and returning the handshake. She thinks she's trembling, but she hopes Carol doesn't notice. Holy shit, Captain Marvel is shaking her hand. Holy shit.