Hearts Collide

“Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty,” Alex panted. “There. I finally did twenty push-ups without collapsing,” she stated victoriously as she got up from the floor.

“Good job, Alex. I’m proud of you,” Steve said helping her up from the floor.

“Yeah, but it took you four weeks to do it,” Clint pointed out.

"Shut up," Alex whined punching Clint in the arm, but he didn't even flinch.

"Looks like your hitting can use some work. Go practice on the punching bag."

"But I already did that. Can't we do something else?" she asked.

"What do you have in mind?"

"I don't know," Alex huffed. "Steve, you're a soldier. What did you do for training?"

"Well," he began, recalling the kind of training Colonel Philips put him through. "We would always do obstacle courses, jumping jacks, and laps around the camp."

"Okay, so let's go run around Central Park," Alex said smiling.

"No way," Clint said assertively.

"Come on, Clint, don't be so uptight. I've been training for an hour and a half. I deserve a break."

"She has been working hard," Steve pointed out.

"Fine. Steve, go make Alex run laps around the park. I'm going to go shoots some arrows," Clint said aggressively as he left the training room.

"What's bothering him?" Steve asked puzzled.

"I think he's mad because Natasha had a mission and left him behind," Alex joked.

"I heard that!" Clint called out from the hall.

"I thought your name was 'Hawk Eye', not 'Hawk Ear'," Alex muttered. Steve chuckled at her lame joke before she said, "Come on, solider. Let's go run."

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Alex had no problem keeping up with Steve's pace as the two jogged in central park at first. But as time wore on, Alex slowed down and went from jogging, to fast walking, to walking.

"Alex, are you okay?" Steve asked slowing down.

"I'm fine," she panted. "It's okay, I'll catch up in a sec," she said as she stopped to catch her breath.

"We can take a break if you want."

"You sure?" she asked, receiving a nod from Steve. "Awesome because I think I heard some musicians playing a while back. We should see if they're still there," she said grabbing his hand and running back the way they came.

It didn't take them long to join the crowed of people listening to a jazz band. Alex let go of Steve's hand and began to slightly sway her body to the upbeat sound of the music and Steve watched her in amusement. The saxophone player noticed Alex's little dance and moved toward her so he could shimmy alongside her. Alex chuckled at this but continued to dance.

The saxophonist then made a motion that suggested that Alex dance with the man standing next to her: Steve. Steve politely declined with the shaking of his head and small 'no', but Alex just grabbed his hands and pulled him closer to her. She twisted her body side to side while moving Steve's arms so that he could mirror her movements. Their movements soon became in sync with the sound of the sax and the two began doing more complex moves. Alex would take a step to the side and Steve, one hand on her waist and the other in hers, would follow her. She would take a step forward and he would take a step back. She would move her hand from his shoulder while taking a step back and he would spin her clockwise and then counter clock wise. While the two danced, they locked eyes with one another a few times and smiled at each other; slowly, they became more focused on each other than the music and almost didn't realize when the band stopped playing until one of the band members exclaimed,

"That's our show ladies and gentlemen. Have a great day! And if you want a copy of our music, feel free to purchase a CD from us for only ten dollars."

Alex giggled nervously when she realized that she was still holding Steve's hand. She slowly released it and cleared her throat before saying,

"That was a lot fun. You know you're a pretty good dancer."

"No, you're just a good partner. Besides, you were doing all the leading," he stated.

"Only at the beginning. And that's because you were acting shy," she pointed out. "Besides, you got the hang of it at the end."

"Well, I'm not going to get to listen to that song again so I probably won't get the hang of dancing again."

"Wait here. I'm going to go get something," she said before she ran off in the direction of the band.

"Tada," she said as she returned holding out a small bag to Steve. Steve took the bag and looked at its contents: a CD of the music they just danced to. "Now you can listen to that song and dance whenever you want. So the next time I drag you when we're running here, you can take the lead."

"Thanks, Alex," he said giving her a small smile. "But I'm not going to fall for the 'I'm tired let's slow down' act again."

"Then how about the 'I want to do something fun before my classes start, but Clint has been killing me with training' act?"

"What?" Steve asked confused.

"I start my classes in NYU in two weeks and I want to do something fun before hand, but I'm spending all my time either working in the lab, training, or sleeping because Clint's training wears me out."

"What about all that stuff you do with Tony?"

"We mostly just play video games and go out to eat sometimes, but I want to do something else. I've been in New York for seven weeks and I still haven't spent a day in Times Square, or seen a play, or been to Coney Island."

"Well to be fair, not everyone in New York does that stuff."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm such a tourist," she said imitating Tony, which caused Steve to laugh. "But I still want to do it and it would be a million times better if I could do that stuff with my dad, or Bruce since he needs to have fun too, or Thor because he likes earth things, or-"

"You know, I haven't been to Coney Island since I woke up. And I'm sure Tony and the rest of the Avengers haven't gone there either. And it's still early," he hinted.

"Steve, are you saying that we should have a Coney Island day?" she asked smiling in excitement.

"Yeah. Why not? I think we all deserve it."

"Oh my gosh, thank you!" she squealed as she hugged him tightly. She immediately took out the phone in her pocket and began calling Tony. "Hey dad, are you doing anything today?-Great, tell everyone to pack for the beach then. We're going to Coney Island!-Yes I'm serious. Now get ready. I'll be in there in a few," she said into the phone. "Come on, Steve. Let's go get our stuff."

"Yes, ma'am," he said as he walked with her back to Stark Towers.