Snow Day
It was Tony and Steve’s idea to switch off who in the team was in charge of weekly training during the winter months. They all had specific skills that were great to have individually, but the best way to truly be unified was to share as many talents as possible. At first the idea made Natasha uncomfortable. Even if the Avengers was the closest thing she had to family, trusting them with her tactical secrets was a serious push. However, while it spooked her in theory, it proved to be quite fruitful in application. Tony taught basic mechanics on military vehicles, Steve taught French (though some phrases were antiquated by half a century), Bruce gave weaponized chemistry lessons, Clint honed everyone’s marksmanship, Thor shared Asgardian battle formations, Bucky taught basic Russian with her help, and Sam had everyone in training for their pilot’s licenses. Now it was Natasha’s turn, and that morning they all received text messages that training would begin at five a.m. in meadow of Central Park. She relished in hearing their groans as they dragged themselves miserably out of bed around four while she sat at the kitchen counter already fully dressed and sipping a hot Irish coffee.
“Romanoff, you do realize it’s still dark and snowing outside, right?” Tony grumbled, bundled up in what was probably the most expensive parka she had ever seen. “Dark. Snowing.”
“I feel like I’m back in Russia,” Bucky complained to Steve as he started piling hot pockets into the microwave.
“Good,” Natasha chimed, more than a little proud of herself. “Russia’s best military defense doesn’t come from their military at all; it’s the winters that kill armies. You boys need to learn how to fight in the snow.”
“Then can’t we just hand Siberia over to Loki or Hydra?” Clint asked with a groan before throwing himself down on the couch next to the dozing Sam and Bruce.
“The Black Widow is right,” Thor supported, coming out of his room wrapped in furs. “Sif and I hold similar trainings to prepare our warriors in case the need arises for a war with Jotunheim.”
Still continuing to bitch and moan, they finally made it to the quinjet (at Tony’s insistence over his refusal to be seen in a minivan) and over to Central Park. The sun was just barely beginning to shed some grey light across the park, but the snow was already half way up their calves and showed no sign of stopping its flurry any time soon. They trudged about one hundred yards away from the jet before Natasha stopped and signaled for them to circle up.
“Thor, Bucky, I want you two helping the others,” she instructed. “The most important part of fighting in deep snow is to not let yourself be distracted. It’s easy to get tripped up by the feeling of your feet being inhibited, but you can’t let it pull your attention away from your attackers. Now, try-“
She stopped short. Out of the corner of her eye she just barely saw Clint bending over as if to fix his boot, but she knew better. His hands were too far down to be adjusting the laces.
“Barton, so help me God, don’t you dare throw a-“
Before she could even finish the statement, a packed ball of snow and ice collided with the side of her head, exploding on impact and soaking her hair as the flakes melted on skin. She turned on her heels and without waiting scooped up two heaping handfuls of snow, squeezed them together, and hit him square in the chest.
“Let the glorious battle begin!” Thor shouted with a booming laugh, and suddenly all frozen hell broke loose as everyone dove in different directions to grab their own ammunition.
“Dibs on Cap’s team!” Sam declared, joining up with Steve and Bucky to form a triangle of flying freezing death. Natasha couldn’t help but notice Bucky’s mechanical arm was helping him make snowballs at least twice the rate of a normal human’s ability.
“Bruce, watch my back, buddy,” Tony called as he started gathering snow by the pile to build into a wall they could use for cover.
Thor seemed content to stand his own ground, and while Bucky was by far the fastest at making snowballs, the Asgardian was putting together globes the size of his head, catapulting them like rocks out of a trebuchet to take out Tony’s wall almost as fast as the billionaire could build it back up. Natasha groaned. This was supposed to be a valuable training exercise, and everything had descended into chaos because she was too immature to resist retaliating against Clint and his childish antics. Almost on cue, Hawkeye ran to her side, arms full of assembled white weapons.
“Looks like we’re together on this one,” he panted between breaths. “See, now this is just like Budapest all over again.”
“I agree. The mission was going perfectly until you did something to fuck it up,” she growled, shivering as streams of frigid water streamed down the back of her neck and under the collar of her shirt.
“Come on, lighten up, Widow,” he said, nudging her with his shoulder. “This is the most fun any of us have had in weeks. Now you can either sit here and keep glaring, or you can take that stick out of your ass and help me cream Cap into the ground.”
Natasha rolled her eyes, still a little annoyed, but she couldn’t help her own childish warmth starting to rise in her chest. The Red Room had done a lot to mess with her memories of how she had really spent her childhood, and though she did not know if it was real or not, she did remember running through the streets of Moscow with other children, throwing snow at each other to distract themselves from adult problems they were too young to fully understand. It had been… fun. Nice. She looked over at Bucky, the only other person on the team who understood what they had done to her, but he was too busy having a good time to even notice. Her usually strong and silent ex who had endured more than any of them was laughing, smiling, and living like a normal person for what was probably the first time in decades. If he could give in, so could she.
“Alright, let’s take those idiots out!”
***
By noon the Avengers were back in the kitchen of Stark Tower, all wrapped up in blankets and robes, drinking hot cocoa like they were ten years old again. It was Cap’s idea to take the rest of the day off as a “snow day” and finish out the afternoon with a couple hot pizzas and some good movies. Everyone agreed and began meandering into Tony’s home theater room, but Natasha hung back with Clint since he had agreed to wash the cocoa dishes while everyone else set up for the movie marathon.
“Why don’t you go help Sam with the pillow fort, Nat? I can take care of these myself,” he offered, gathering up the mugs and putting them in the sink filled with soapy water.
“I know you can,” she answered. “I just… I just wanted to say thank you. This is really what the team needed and I wouldn’t have seen it if you hadn’t pelted me with that snowball.”
Clint immediately abandoned the mugs and used the blanket wrapped around his shoulders to throw around hers and pull her into a warm embrace, planting a soft kiss on her forehead.
“I pelted you with that snowball because it’s what you really needed, Tasha. I know you care about this team, but it’s got you wound up tighter than I’ve ever seen you. Someone’s got to make sure you take care of yourself.”
“Thanks, Clint,” Natasha whispered, letting her head rest on his shoulder. “Do you think everyone else would notice if we skipped the movie?”