"I don't know if this is such a good idea," Clint said shakily, standing by the edge of the pond.

Natasha smiled at his terrified expression. "It's perfectly safe," she said, skating in a perfect circle. "See? I didn't hurt myself."
Somewhere across the lake, a small child began to wail in pain and Clint's face paled.

"That kid sure sounds like they hurt themselves."

"Oh come on Clint. That's a child. You're a grown up for crying out loud."

Clint pulled a face and stepped out onto the ice, wobbling. Natasha skated over to him and took his arm to steady him.

"I don't like this one little bit," Clint whispered.

Natasha felt bad for him, but she wasn't going to let him worm his way out of it. He'd promised to try and learn, and if Natasha had anything to say about it, he would learn, and by the end of today he'd be flying around on the ice like he'd been doing it all his life.

Trying to make Clint feel better, Natasha decided to share something with him about her past. She didn't normally do stuff like that, but for Clint she would make an exception.

"When I started ice skating, I was terrified too. I'd seen people fall and hurt themselves in all kinds of ways, but I still pushed myself because it was something I wanted to do. I know you can do this Clint."

Clint looked at Natasha. "You pushed yourself even though you were scared." Clint took a deep breath. "I can do that too."

Natasha smiled at Clint, who was looking much calmer now. Some of the colour had returned to his face and his breathing was slowing. She felt a twinge of guilt. She'd actually lied to Clint about pushing herself. She hadn't pushed herself. She hadn't even wanted to learn how to ice skate. Ballet on its own would have been plenty for her. But her trainer had pushed her, threatening her with punishment and worse pain if she didn't do it. But Natasha saw no need to tell Clint that, so she decided to stick with her lie to make him feel more confident.

"Can I let go now?" Natasha asked.

Clint nodded determinedly. Slowly, Natasha moved her hands from his arm and skated backwards slowly.

Natasha tried to remember what her instructor had taught her all those years ago. After the first couple of months, skating had become so natural to Natasha that she forgot what she had to learn to start with, but with a bit of concentration she pulled the most important things she could think of out of her mind.

"Clint, you need to relax," Natasha said, noting how stiff Clint's shoulders and back looked. "It's going to be harder for you to skate if you're too tense."

Clint scratched his head. "Right," he muttered, taking another deep breath and shuddering a little. He didn't relax much, Natasha could see, but she figured she should probably be happy with what he did do.

"Bend your knees a little, and then you should be able to glide forward."

It took Clint most of the day to learn how to skate properly, and he fell over at least twenty times, but he didn't let himself give up.

The sun was slowly going down when Clint managed to do one lap of the lake without falling over once. There was hardly anyone left on the lake, which might have helped him a little. Everyone moved, so he really didn't have to weave around people. But all the same, Natasha was proud of how far he'd come in one day. Natasha had kept her tricks to a minimum today. She hadn't wanted Clint to think she was showing off or rubbing it in, so she merely skated beside him as he practised.

"I think I'm doing well," Clint said, skating in a shaky circle before flailing suddenly and falling over, landing heavily on his butt.

Natasha flinched and skated over to him, holding out a hand to help him up. "You right?" she asked.

Clint winced as he got to his feet. "I don't think my butt can take much more."

Natasha stifled a giggle and shrugged. "Well let's go home then. I'm hungry and tired."

"I think I'm going to have to sleep on my side tonight," Clint groaned as they stumbled off the ice and towards the car.

"Oh don't be such a big baby," Natasha laughed, digging the car keys out of her back pocket. She unlocked the car and opened the back door to grab her other shoes so she could change them. "If your butt hurts so bad, you can walk back to the cabin."

Clint straightened up. "You know what, I've decided it doesn't hurt that much."

Natasha laughed. "Good. Now get in and let's go."


A/N: Yes, I realise this is waaaaaaaaaaaay behind. I'm sorry. I'm trying to catch up.

I hope you guys like a little bit of Natasha's history. Its not canon but eh.

Hope you guys like it ~