Into the Snow || A Captain America Love Story

9

"Thanks, Cap." I say, once Steve comes from the shadows.
"My pleasure," he says. "That guy was starting to peeve me off."
"I feel your pain."
The crowd cheers, clapping and whistling. Steve stands next to me, his mask pulled over his face. My heart starts to thump against my chest, my mind starts to race. Steve lays a hand on my shoulder, catching my attention. I snap my head in his direction, gazing into his eyes. He nods reassuringly at me, remembering our previous conversation. I start to return to my normal state, but my heart keeps thumping. Steve just touched me.
The crowd cheers even louder. The agent lays sprawled on the ground, still cursing. Footsteps come from behind me and sounds of something flying swoosh through the air.
     "What are you doing?" Tony asks, more annoyed than ever. "You're an Avenger for fifteen minutes, and then you think you're invincible. You had me worried sick! I-"
     "Tony!" I scowl. "If you weren't being so overprotective, you'd realize what I - what Steve and I did."
     Tony, in his suit, stares at the H.Y.D.R.A. agent. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents come and drag the agent away. Tony looks back at me, looking guilty.
     "I'm sorry," he says. "You're right."
     "Now," Steve says. "Let's get back to the quinjet and change. We need to come out and enjoy ourselves."
     "Yeah," I exclaim. "We should."
     Tony offers me a hand to fly with him, but I politely reject. He shrugs and flies into the air to return to the quinjet. Steve and I start walking back, not saying anything, at first.
"So," Steve says, breaking the silence. "I'm surprised that you left that quickly and didn't hesitate to attack that agent."
I laugh. "It's a force of habit. I've been a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent since I graduated from high school."
"So, how many years ago was that?" he asks.
"Well, I'm almost twenty six years old, so, about seven or eight years ago."
"Really? I am so much older than you, no surprise there." he chuckles.
"You don't look any older than twenty seven."
"That's because I was twenty six when I went into the ice."
"That makes sense,"
I stop walking on the sidewalk, catching Steve's attention. He stops walking too, waiting for me to say something.
"Was my father the same when you met him?" I ask seriously.
Steve laughs softly. "Tony is a spitting image of him, so, just take Tony's personality and put it in Howard's body."
"So, he wasn't-"
"No, he didn't act differently around me."
"Oh, thank you. I've wondered that for a long time. If I asked Tony, it would ruin his day."
"Oh, look," Steve says, pointing to the landing station. "C'mon."
He starts to jog to it, and I follow. I start to jog faster. He grins and jogs faster than me.
"On your left," he says.
I grin, getting the memo. "On your right!" I say, sprinting as fast as I can.
It goes on and on until we are both sprinting for our lives. Once we reach the quinjet, he presses two fingers to it.
"I won," he says, panting lightly.
"That's not fair," I pout, trying to hide my little panting. "You're a super soldier, I'm not."
Tony walks out and stops in his tracks when he sees Steve and I. "I'm not going to ask," he says, starting to walk back into the quinjet.
"Racing," I say. "Steve won."
"Like I said: not going to ask."
"Oh, c'mon, Stark. You don't know fun when you see it." Steve says to Tony.
"Oh, yes I do," Tony says, coming back out. "While you two were out, I was looking for a place to go tonight. So, get dressed and we're out of here."