Hearts Collide

"Steve!" Alex called out as she walked over to Steve who was sitting on an empty table outside a café writing in a notebook.

"Alex," he responded as he looked up from the drawing he was working on. "Hey," he greeted as he and Alex shared a quick kiss.

"Hey, yourself," she flirted as she looked down at his notebook. "Do you always draw when I'm late meeting up with you?" she teased.

"I don't know. Do you always forget to take off your goggles when you're running out of your lab class to meet me?" he joked as he slowly removed her goggles and tucked a lose strand of hair behind her ear.

"Ha ha. Very funny," she scoffed lightly before she took Steve's hand in hers. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes, ma'am," Steve responded jokingly.

"Okay, save the gentle man talk for when you meet my mom on Thursday," Alex pointed out before the two began walking to Macy's.
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"Hi! Welcome to Macy's! My name is Jessica. Can I be of any assistance?" the preppy blonde sales woman greeted as Alex and Steve stepped into the men's clothing section.

"Hi," Alex answered awkwardly. "I'm just looking for something nice for my boyfriend to wear for when he meets my mom."

"Okay, what did you have in mind?" asked Jessica.

"I was thinking maybe a tie," Steve guessed as if he just came up with that idea.

"Right," uttered Jessica. "Well, if you follow me this way, we have a wonderful tie selection."

"Thank you," Steve smiled as he followed Jessica to the tie section.

Alex walked around looking at the men's active wear that was on display when she was suddenly caught off-guard by someone tapping her on the shoulder. Alex turned around and was face to face with the preppy sales woman.

"So, your boy friend's meeting your mom on Thanksgiving?. How cute," she cooed.

"Thanks," Alex replied. "I'm actually a little nervous," she admitted. "Steve's not like some of the other guys I've dated. So I really want my mom to like him."

"Well, I'm sure that, with the right look, your boyfriend will make a great first impression. So, what is he going to wear?" Jessica asked.

"I don't know. Probably his usual get up since that's all he has…oh, but with a tie?"

"Really?" Jessica asked as she gave Alex a questioning look.

"Yes," Alex began, "Is there something wrong with the way Steve dresses?"

"No," Jessica piped as her voice got higher. "There's nothing wrong with dressing 'old school', but I'm not sure that's appropriate for a Thanksgiving Dinner—"

"Well, then what would you suggest he wears?" Alex interrupted.

"Might I suggest our collection of polo sweaters and fitted jeans?" Jessica chirped as she showed Alex to the sweaters.

Alex began perusing the sweaters and picked out the ones that she liked. As she was doing this, Steve ran over to her with a tie in his hand.

"Alex, what do you think?" he asked as he gestured at the white and blue striped tie that he had picked out.

"That looks nice," she mumbled, giving the tie a quick glance before returning to look through the sweaters.

"What have you go there?"

"Oh, just some stuff I thought you might like to try," Alex mumbled. "Hey, what's your pant size?"

"34, waist. Why?"

"Try these on," she demanded as she grabbed a few pairs of pants and handed them to Steve along with the sweaters. Steve gave her a quizzical look before he went off to the changing room.

"So what did your boyfriend think of the clothes you picked out?" a preppy voice from behind her asked.

"You sales people have to stop coming out of nowhere!" Alex exclaimed half- startled. "And I don't know. He's trying them on now.

"Well, let's go take a look," suggested Jessica.

When Alex and the sales woman reached the outside of the men's changing room, Alex called out Steve's name.

"Give me a moment," he replied as he stepped out of the changing room. Alex's eyes widened in shock when she saw Steve walk toward her wearing a dark pair of fitted jeans and a navy blue V-neck sweater with a white shirt underneath. When Alex failed to say anything, Steve sighed, "I know. It's not my style. I think I'll just get the tie."

"What? No. Steve, you look great," she gasped as she placed her finger tips on his shoulder and ran it down his arm. "You should get it."

"I don't know," he mumbled. "It's not something I'm used to."

"Please, Steve," Alex begged.

"Sorry, Alex," he apologized as he went back to the dressing room to change back into his usual clothes.

"So what did he say?" Jessica asked as she returned from taking care of another customer.

"He said no," Alex pouted as Steve returned carrying the clothes he wasn't going to buy.

"Excuse me, may you please return this?," Steve asked as he handed the pile of clothes to Jessica.

"Of course," Jessica responded.

As Steve began walking to the cash register , Alex stopped and stated,

"I think I forgot my phone in the dressing room. I'm going to go grab it. I'll meet you on the first floor entrance. Okay?."

"Okay," Steve responded as Alex ran back toward the dressing room.

"Jessica!" she called out to the preppy blonde sales woman who was folding the clothes that Steve had given to her.

"What do you want?" she asked slightly annoyed.

"I need you to put those clothes on hold for me. I have an idea," Alex said as she smiled at the sales woman.
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"I don't see why I have to get dressed for this. Christina came here to meet Steve, not me," Tony complained as Alex tried to hand him a pair of black trousers and a polo shirt.

"Because this is the first Thanksgiving I've spent with you in seven years and I want you to look nice," Alex answered.

"But your mom's not coming for another four hours!" Tony pointed.

"Pepper," Alex sighed.

"I'm on it," Pepper answered as she took the clothes and lead Tony to his bedroom.

"Thank you," Alex sighed.

"Hey, Alex," Steve's voice called out. "You're missing the parade." Alex walked over to Steve who was sitting on the couch watching the Thanksgiving Day parade.

She sat next to him, watching the parade for a few minutes before she asked,

"Steve, do you have the clothes that you're going to meet my mom in ready?"

"Yeah," he responded, "I put them in the dryer this morning along with the rest of my clothes. I'll change into them later."

"Okay," Alex smiled as she kissed Steve's cheek. "I'm going to check on the turkey. Call me if you need anything," she said nonchalantly as she left the room.

Alex made her way to her room and, once she was in, she took out her 'hacker board', and plugged it into a panel in her wall connecting it to the building's data base.

"Jarvis," she demanded as she entered a code into the panel. "Activate sequence 193B in the laundry room."

"Yes, Miss. Alex," Jarvis responded.
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"Alex!" Steve cried out as he walked into the kitchen where Alex was fixing dinner. "Something's happened to my clothes."

"What do you mean something's happened to your clothes?" she asked innocently.

"Well," Steve began as she unfolded his shirt to reveal a series of burnt holes in it. "I don't know what happened. And the same thing happened to the rest of the clothes I put in there."

"Maybe you set the temperature on the dryer too high," Alex suggested as she examined the burnt clothes. "Do you have something else to wear?" Alex asked with concern in her voice.

"No, I don't. All I have is are my pajamas, .y work out clothes, and the clothes I'm wearing now. I'm sorry Alex. I know your mom is going to be here any minute and this isn't what you wanted but I'm going to have to—"

"Wait, I have an idea!" she exclaimed as she went over to the next room and brought back a bag of clothes. "Here, try these."

"Wait, why do you have these?" Steve questioned as he gave her quizzical look.

"I— umm," Alex fumbled but was cut off by Pepper calling her.

"Alex, your mom is here."

"Go get dressed. I have to greet my mom," she averted as she left the kitchen and walked to the living room. Steve let out a slight sigh before he made his way to his room.

"Mom," Alex greeted as she gave her mother a hug. "I see you and dad already greeted each other," she stated as she noted that Tony was standing in between Pepper and Christina uneasily.

"Something like that," Christina mumbled. "Anyway, I missed you!" she exclaimed, hugging Alex again. "My gosh! You look so beautiful," she complimented.

"Thanks mom," she gushed.

"So where's your boyfriend?"

"Ummm. He's—"

"I'm right here," Steve said as he entered the living room.

"Hi, I'm Christina: Alex's mom. You must be Steve," she greeted.

"Indeed I am," Steve responded as he shook Christina's hand and flashed her a smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Alex, he's so polite and much more handsome in person. He's definitely a keeper,"

"Mom!" Alex gasped as a small blush formed across her face.

"I'm only teasing. Is dinner ready?"

"Yeah, you guys can go sit in the dining room. I already have everything set up."

"So, basically, when I'm not in school or in the lab, Steve and I either watch movies or walk around town," Alex stated before she put a spoonful of mashed potatoes into her mouth.

"That's so sweet," Christina cooed. "You're so nice, Steve. I knew Tony was just being over protective when he called to tell me that you were dating my daughter," Christina teased which caused Tony to glare slightly at her.

"Thank you. And you did a wonderful job in raising Alex. She's an amazing girl," Steve complimented.

"Thank you. So how did you and Alex meet? She said you were a bit older than her which I'm fine with."

"Well—"

"Steve was part of a proposition Tony had with an agency," Pepper cut in. "Tony worked with that agency to make part of his building available to them which is how he and Alex met."

"Oh, that's interesting. What kind of agency was it?" Christina asked curiously.

"It's just this agency that kind of helps and protects people. Not a lot of people know about it."

"So what are you Iron Man's little helpers?" Christina joked, which caused Tony to grin and Alex to choke on her food.

"Iron Man's helpers," Tony chuckled. "I like the sound of that. We should be called that instead of the Avengers," he uttered.

"Tony," Pepper scolded.

"What?" he asked.

"Alex?" Christina question. "What is your father talking about? Why is he bringing up those people that saved New York a few months ago?"

"Well," Alex dragged out. "When you joked around that Steve was 'Iron Man's helper', you weren't far off from the truth."

"What do you mean?"

"Steve is an Avenger," she sighed bracing herself for whatever her mother was going to say. Christina sat in shock and said nothing for a while. "Mom?" Alex asked cautiously.

"Please don't tell me that you're that Hulk thing?" Christina begged as she turned to face Steve.

"No, ma'am. I'm Captain America," Steve answered awkwardly not exactly sure how Christina would react to his answer.

"Oh, thank God," Christina sighed.

"Wait," Alex began, "So you're still okay with me dating Steve?"

"Well, he's not the typical kind of guy I'd want you to date, but I expected something weird to happen since you're living with Tony and what not," Christina admitted. "And at least Steve is a gentleman so I trust you with him. Plus you're an adult now, so I can't stop you from dating Steve anymore than Tony can."

"Hey!" Tony whined.

"So, are you planning to bring Steve when you come visit me for Christmas?" Christina asked.

"What are you talking about, Christina?" Tony asked. "Alex is spending Christmas with me."

"No. You had her since July. She's spending Christmas with me," Christina asserted.

Alex giggled as she watched her parents fight and laced her fingers in Steve's underneath the table.

"Happy Thanks giving," she whispered to him.

"Happy Thanksgiving," Steve smiled.