Hearts Collide

"Steve!" Alex blurted out after snapping herself out of the daze. "Where's Clint?' she asked after noticing that the S.H.I.E.L.D agent was not in the training room.

"He said he had something to do, so it's just us two for now."

"Of course," she said sarcastically while cursing Clint and Tony in her mind. "So where do we begin?"

"How about we start with what you know. So, what do you know about defending yourself?"

"I know that if you press the 'A' and left button on Super Smash Bros Brawl, Pip can block any attack with his staff," she answered jokingly. Steve gave her a confused look causing her to blush slightly. "I mean I don't know anything. Fighting's not really my forte."

"Well that was an—interesting way to put it," he replied. "And it's alright. I'll start you off with basic defense."

"Okay, what do I do?"
"First, square off your shoulders and center your balancing point, like this," he said as demonstrated to her.

"Alright," Alex said as she copied his movements.

"Next, you want to place your weaker leg in front of you and both of your arms in front of you to block your torso," he instructed as he continued to demonstrate to Alex how to do it.

"Wait, why do I need to put my weaker leg in front?" Alex asked confused. "Shouldn't my stronger leg be in front?" she asked as she adjusted herself so that her stronger leg was in front of her body.

"Well if you're going to kick someone, it's more effective to do so with your stronger leg in the back, but also because this can happen," he said as he gently kicked the inner heel of Alex' weaker leg causing her to stumble. Alex let out a small "eep" as she braced herself to hit the ground, but she never did. Instead, a pair of strong arms wrapped themselves around her waist, catching her from her fall. She looked up and saw Steve, his face less than a foot away from hers, giving her a small smile. Steve continued to explain the stance, but she wasn't really paying attention to his words.

"Wow," Alex thought. "He has really nice lips; I bet they're really soft. And his eyes are so beautiful. And his arms! I knew he was ripped, but I didn't know he was that ripped. Ugh! I sound like a shallow fifteen year old. What's wrong with me? I'm supposed to be paying attention, not staring at—"

"Alex?" Steve said snapping Alex out of her thoughts.

"Yeah?"

"You alright?" he asked semi-concerned. "You seem out of it."

"Oh, no. I'm fine," she reassured nodding her head frantically, "It's just that…you have nice eyes," she admitted as she looked away blushing (?).

"Oh," he said being caught off guard with her comment. "Well, thank you," he said clearing his throat and scratching his nose to hide his slight blush. "You have pretty hair," he stated as he gently moved a strand of her hair that fell out of place when she had shaken her head.

As Steve tucked the strand of hair behind her ear, Alex looked back at him.

"He's so gentle for a strong guy," she thought. Steve's hand lingered on the side of her face as he looked at Alex. The two stood their silently staring at one another until they heard someone clear their throat.

"Am I interrupting you two?" Clint asked.

"What—no," the two mumbled. "I was just—"

"She was just—"

"I had something in my eye—"

"Her eye—"

The two's stammering causing Clint to give them a suspicious look.

"I thought you had something to do," Alex said clearing her throat to regain her composure.

"Yes, I did. And now I have to train you," Clint answered bluntly. "Now drop and give me twenty," he ordered.

Alex sighed as she got on her knees to do female push-ups. "One, two, three—"

"I meant real push-ups."

"Ugh," Alex groaned as she plopped herself on the couch of the rec room. "I thought you were going to go easy on me, Clint. What the heck was that?"

"That was basic training, S.H.I.E.L.D style," he remarked as he took a seat on the chair adjacent to her.

"No, that was death disguised as a work out!" she exclaimed. "Right, Steve?"

"Ummm—"

"No, that was training. Right, Steve?"

"Ummm," Steve mumbled. "Technically, it was training," he stated.

"Ha!" Clint mocked.

"But you were pretty tough on her, Clint. I don't think Alex is used to that kind of training."

"Thank you, Steve!" Alex exclaimed. "Next time go easy on me, Clint. Okay?"

"Fine," Clint sighed. "Baby," he muttered.

"You're lucky I can't move. Otherwise, I would have to kick your ass," she groaned.

"I bet you can't even kick my ass in a video game," he scoffed causing Alex to raise her head from the coach.

"Wanna bet on it?" she dared.

"I thought you couldn't move?" Clint questioned.

"I was over exaggerating. Duh! But five bucks says I can beat you," she teased.

"Deal," Clint agreed as Alex got up to grab the game controllers and set up the game.

"Steve, I got an extra controller. Do you want to play?" Alex asked.

"I don't think so. I don't really know how to."

"It's not that hard. You just have to press buttons. Please," she begged sticking her bottom lip out in a pout.

"Alright," he sighed, smiling and taking a seat next to her.

"Clint's thing is attacking me, what am I supposed to do?" Steve asked frantically as he pushed random buttons.

"Press the up button. You can fly, remember?" she replied as she made her character attack Clint's.

"No fair! You're helping him," Clint complained as he blocked Alex's attack.

"Hey, Alex, what's that floating rainbow ball on the screen?" Steve asked confused.

"It's kind of like a power ball. You're supposed to catch it and—Oh my gosh, Steve, thank you!" she exclaimed excitedly as she navigated her character to the rainbow colored ball.

"Oh no, you don't," Clint muttered as he too navigated his character to the power ball.

"Wait, what's going on?" Steve questioned randomly hitting buttons.

"Come on, come on, come on—Yes!" Alex squealed as she got the power ball, allowing her Pikachu to power up.

"Dammit!" Clint exclaimed as Alex's Pikachu electrocuted the whole arena, killing the last life he and Steve had.

"Does this mean I lost?" Steve asked sadly.

"Yeah, sorry about that, Steve," Alex said remorsefully. "But in your face, Clint. I told you I could beat you."

"You only won because of Steve, and it's only a game."

"True, but I still won," Alex pointed out. "Best two out of three?"

"I think I'll pass," Clint said as he got up and left the room.

"Fine. Steve?"

"I'll pass too. I still don't fully understand it."

"I'll show you for real this time."

"Alright."

"Okay, first of all, you're not holding your controller right," she said as she leaned over to adjust his hands. While her small hands adjusted his large ones on the controller, Steve noticed how warm and soft they were.

"Okay now you see that weird gear shift button with the arrows on it."

"Yeah."

"They control the direction. So if you want to go up," she began as moved his thumb upward, "you move it up. And it you want to go left—"

"I move it to the left," he said victoriously as he flashed Alex a small smile.

"See, you're getting the hang of it," she said, smiling back at him.

"What do these colorful buttons do?"

"They're different attacks," she stated. "And if you want to move and attack at the same time," she began, leaning over once again to move his thumbs so he was pressing a colored button and moving the 'gear shift' to the left. "You do that. So you ready play?" she asked as she took her hands off his.

Steve frowned a little when Alex took her hands off his. He missed their warmth, but responded with "I think I'm ready"

"No. No. No," Alex whined, fiercely hitting buttons as an attempt to block an attack. "Steve, how are you beating me?"

"I have the power ball, Alex, your Zelda is powerless against my Kirby," he responded as he mercilessly attacked her character.

"Block! Block! Block!" she exclaimed, but it was useless. With two hits, Alex's character lost their last life, making Steve and Kirby the victors. "Dammit," Alex sighed frowning and looking down. "I can't believe I lost to a noob."

"Hey, it's okay, Alex," Steve said reassuringly as he placed his hand on her shoulder. "And what's a noob?"

"I a noob is a person who's new to a game," she groaned.

"Well, it was just a game."

"Yeah, I know," she sighed. "But you just beat me at the only thing I'm good at besides science."

"That's not true. You're great at figuring stuff out and explaining stuff. You're also really nice and you're really good at that dance game."

"The last one doesn't count because it's also a video game," she pointed. "But thanks," she said smiling to herself. "You know you're really good at making people better," she said wrapping her arms around him hugging him. Steve automatically tensed at the sudden gesture, but soon returned the hug.

"Thanks, Alex," he said as he relished in the warm feeling of her body against his.