It's our Christmas Vacation in school so...

I have more than enough time to update! I'm spending my time writing chapters for my stories because I know I won't have time to write anymore once school starts again.

So... yeah, I'm already giving you guys a heads-up. 

Forgive me if I decided to update this frequently than Against All Odds. xD

I'm still trying to figure out how to write the fight scene between Nat and Steve because I want it to be intense.

In the meantime, I'll give you Chapter seven!

  ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ C H A P T E R S E V E N ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬   

"So you want us to lock them in a closet until they admit their feelings for one another?" 

"Pretty much," said Tony, fiddling with the electric wires that were composing the time machine.

"That's so not going to work." Allie chided.

Tony scoffed, grabbing a screwdriver and pointed at her. "Don't judge my matchmaking skills."

"As if there's anything to judge at all." she retorted.

"Allie," James warned. 

"What? It's true." she defended, crossing her arms.

"Yes, it is. But it doesn't mean you can just talk back. He may be a smug smartass—"

"I heard that," Tony interjected, frowning.

"But he's still our uncle. And he's still the elder." James reminded, taking a seat at one of the stools. "And dad always tells us to never disrespect them, remember?"

"I swear you are like a carbon copy of spangles," Tony remarked, shuddering at the thought. "Righteous, respectful, obedient, modest, damn... now all we're missing is for you to wear the tights and shield, Jamester."

"Gee, thanks, Tony." James said flatly. 

"Can we get back to the main problem at hand?" Allie asked. 

Tony continued on what he was doing, not glancing at the two as he speaks, "Well, I'm out of ideas kid. If you think my ideas are complete shit then I'll stop talking and let you do your own thing." 

Allie sensed the iciness in his tone and it almost made her feel guilty about the way she snapped at her uncle earlier. He definitely knew how to play the guilt card and she had a soft spot whenever it comes to this.

"I didn't say it's bad." she countered.

"But you weren't exactly swimming your way to say yes, Alianovna." Tony chastised.

Allie cringed at her full name, "Look, I'm sorry okay? I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just... I just really want this to be all over."

Tony was still not looking at her. "Okay," he said nonchalantly.

"Uncle Tony..." she sighed, "I'm really sorry."

"Forgive her, uncle. She just really misses a certain— ow!" James stopped short when he felt Allie pinch his arm painfully.

"Be quiet," she growled.

"It's true is it not?" James smiled amusingly at her.

"Shut up, James."

He then started to sing, "Allie and I-can't-say-his-name sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I—oof!"

Allie then shoved him towards the corner of the room. He landed on a pile of boxes and equipment. It looked very painful.

"I warned you," she smirked.

James groaned, trying to sit up. "Yeah, I love you too."

The two glanced at their uncle, whose lips were pressed into a thin line. He looked at them weirdly. "Is this thing normal for siblings?" he questioned. 

Both shared a look before saying simultaneously— "Pretty much."

"Okay," he started slowly, "Going back to our real problem here, oh—and before we could go any further, apology accepted." Tony said, looking at Allie, "If you guys have any suggestions at all on what could work, speak up now. But I really think the locking them in a closet idea really tops the charts."

"It just feels a little... shallow and surfaced. We need something deeper, and something that would get them to just admit it. Besides, I'm pretty sure dad could break down the door in a minute."

"Right," Tony winced.

"But we still have the slow dance thing going on right?" James asked, finally getting up to dust of his pants.

"Yup," The billionaire said, popping the 'p'. "But we need to get them to break things off with their lovers if we want that slow dance to work. And you guys only have three days left to do it."

"Oh, that doesn't seem like a problem." James chorused, remembering the incident with his aunt just hours ago. 

Allie realized what he was talking about and had a look of disgust. "Yeah, a good job trying not to make anyone fall for you in this time, big brother."

"It's not my fault she's hitting on me!" he defended with a scowl.

"Hold up. That quick?" Tony grinning amusedly, "I'm impressed."

"Yeah? Don't be. You wouldn't believe who it is." Allie grimaced, "It's gross."

"Wait—who is the girl?" asked Tony.

James suddenly flushed, feeling more than embarrassed to answer the question. He felt the blood rushing to his cheeks as he said quietly, "Aunt Sharon."

"Aunt Sharon?" he choked. "As in Sharon, your daddy's girlfriend Sharon?"

James averted his gaze.

"Jeez." Tony shook his head, the amusement dropped from his face like a bat. "I guess you look so much like your old man that she just decided to... jump you." His tone turned teasing and he started snickering.

James turned redder, narrowing his eyes. "What's funny about this? This is all messed up."

"Everything is." Tony said, still laughing. "At least it's not Nat who fell for you. That's even a bigger problem."

"Let's not push that theory or else it would be the next thing we're dealing with," Allie remarked.

When Tony's laughter finally died down, he said with a smirk, "But hey, look on the bright side, at least you know you have just the face to be hit on by girls."

"Yeah, a girl that just happened to be my dad's girlfriend." James retorted.

Allie then decided to push his strings, "At least you know you're just as attractive as dad. Be flattered." Then she grimaced, "No matter how revolting that earlier incident is."

James hummed in agreement, "I guess so... back in our time they did say I look a lot like dad. This finally proves it." he added subtly, "Wait, is dad even attractive? Because I don't think so."

His sister rolled her eyes, "Of course you wouldn't think he's attractive, silly. He's dad after all." she thought about it for a moment, "But now that you mentioned it... he is quite attractive."

James widened his eyes, gasping, "Don't tell me you hit on him?"

"Wha—" she gaped, blushing hard, "Of course not! I'm just simply answering your question! Right, Tony?"

"Don't look at me." he said, busying himself with his work, "I'm not sure I'm the right person to ask if Cap's hot or not."

"Yeah, that would be weird indeed." James added. He noticed his sister smiling as if she just thought of something useful. "What?"

"I know the perfect plan." she announced. 

"Spin the bottle?" James surmised.

"No," Allie eyed him flatly, "Much thrilling than that."

"Okay, you got my attention." 

"Tony," she called. "The team's going to have a small bonding of some sort later on right?"

Tony raised an eyebrow, "How do you know that?"

"Mom." she answered simply.

"Figures," Tony said, before putting down his tools and shifting in his seat to explain, "Yeah, we kinda do. And I'm guessing you guys want to join us?"

"If it's not any trouble of course." James chimed.

"You're too polite. Ugh." he complained, before giving a smile. "Of course you can come."

"Great. So, it's settled then." Allie grinned, clasping her hands together. "I know the perfect game to play."

"What?" Tony's ears were perked up.

She smirked devlishly, "Do you guys know the game Suck and Blow?"

"Suck and what now?"

James widened his eyes in realization. "That's what you've come up with?" he exclaimed. "That's a terrible game! I'm sure dad wouldn't dare—"

"We won't know if we won't try." Allie cut him off.

"Still, the chances are slim to none."

"What's suck and blow?" Tony asked, his eyes glinting with something else. "It sounds a hell of a lot like—"

"There's no sex involved." 

"Bummer."

Allie rolled her eyes.

"It's just a game that involves kissing." James explained.

"Oooh. Okay, I volunteer." Tony raised his hand up childishly.

James sighed, this was going to be a long night.

—————————————————————————————

Natasha had just returned from their meeting with the team. She had thought it had something to do with a new mission but it turns out, it was just an official announcement about the two young agents that they had become fond of recently.

Well, she is fond of them.

She just didn't have any good explanation why though.

Striding back to their floor, she went straight to the kitchen and grabbed a carton of milk from the fridge. She grabbed a glass from the countertop and was about to pour in the milk when her eyes landed on the box of Coco Pops in the pantry.

Her stomach made noises.

Ditching the glass, she instead grabbed a bowl and a spoon. She walked nearer the pantry but was frustrated when the cereal turned out to be too high for her reach.

She placed both her hands on her waist, a crease appeared on her forehead as she figured out how to get it. Then an idea came to her mind. Quickly, she took a chair and dragged it to her former place. She stepped on it and smiled in satisfaction when the box was now at her eye level.

The moment she took the box in her grasp, a small spider suddenly came into view and had crawled its way to her hand.

Her eyes widened as she let out a scream, "Ahhhhh!"

It caused her chair to rock unevenly and made her lose her balance and slip. Just when she was expecting to hit the floor face down, a pair of hands caught her by the waist.

The cereal box flew from her hands and sprawled to the floor. She came face to face with a chest instead.

"Gee, Nat. I think this is the first time I've seen you so clumsy." A deep voice sounded, his tone laced with amusement.

She looked up to meet a familiar shade of blue eyes. For a second, she was quite lost in them. "Oh, hi Steve."

"Hi, Natasha."

When Steve seemed to notice that she wasn't showing a sign to move, he smiled teasingly at her, "Enjoy being in my arms, Nat?"

"What?" she was confused. When she saw Steve's eyes drifted down, she realized what he was talking about and blushed. "Er... sorry." She stood up straight and pulled down her shirt.

Steve chuckled, "It's fine. Be careful not to fall next time." [1]

"Yeah," she said. "Thanks for catching me. So... what are you doing here?" [2]

He raised an eyebrow, "Am I not allowed to be here?"

"Am I not allowed to ask you that question?"

"Touche, Romanoff."

Natasha lightly smirked.

"I was just on my way to my room." Steve replied, cringing to see the mess in the kitchen, "Poor cereals."

"Ugh," she whined. "That was supposed to be my snack."

"Aw, don't worry." Steve knelt down, taking a piece of the Coco Pop. "They're still as good as they were in the box. And isn't there like a five-minute rule for this?"

"Five seconds." Natasha corrected, laughing.

"Oh," Steve muttered, scratching the back of his head. "My bad." He then threw the piece of cereal at her. It hit her straight in the nose.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, kneeling down to grab a fistful of the cereals and hurl it at the captain. It landed on his face.

"Arghhh..." he complained, feeling a piece went inside his shirt. "This is hard to get rid of!"

"You started it!" Natasha remarked, still laughing. "Now clean this up."

"Woah, woah," Steve arched an eyebrow but all the while still chuckling, "I have to clean this up? Aren't you the one who dropped the box?"

"Because a spider crawled my hand." Natasha defended.

Steve's laughter boomed across the room. "A little spider caused this?"

Her cheeks tinted pink. "Spiders creep me out..."

The captain found this pretty amusing. He couldn't help but think how cute it was the Black Widow was afraid of spiders — considering her superhero name is a spider.

"I guess I'm not the only one creeped out by them." he admitted.

"You too?"

"I can handle other things like snakes and rats because you'll easily see them. But spiders can just be on you and you won't even know they're there. The next thing you know is something tickling your neck or crawling up your shirt." he shuddered at the thought of it.

"Wow," she decided to tease him, "That's a very lengthy explanation about your fear of spiders." 

"Oh shush." Steve grabbed the broom and handed it to her, "Here, start cleaning this mess."

She raised her hands in surrender, imitating Sam's accent. "I ain't cleaning this up, captain."

"Obviously you're hanging out way too much with Sam."

Natasha smiled sweetly at him before taking a few steps back, "Bye!" 

Then she took off running.

Steve didn't need to think twice before he dashed out of the room as well, obviously trying to catch her. "Natasha!" 

Natasha quickly turned a sharp right to the other room. Faintly hearing Steve's voice behind her and desperately tried to search for a hiding place — when she came across a janitor's closet. She tried to see if it was locked and was relieved to find out it wasn't.

"Natasha!" Steve's voice rang out across the hallway.

Quickly, she pulled open the door and went inside, closing it just in time she heard the captain's footsteps appeared outside. She clutched dearly on the doorknob and was trying to keep her breathing as quiet as possible.

It was pitch dark inside so she really couldn't see anything.

"Natasha?" she heard him call. "This isn't fair! You need to clean that mess you left!"

She bit her lip, still unable to stop the smile spreading across her lips.

"You know I'm still going to find you sooner or later," Steve said. Natasha raised an eyebrow at his declaration, not sure if that was particularly correct.

As if he read her mind, he added hesitantly, "If I don't, I'll have Clint help me out."

Okay, that sounded believable.

She was doing pretty good when she felt her nose suddenly getting a lot itchier. No, you have to hold it in, Natasha. she reminded herself.

But it was only getting stronger and harder to ignore. No. No. No— "Achoo!"

Uh oh.

Without even thinking, she pushed open the door and ran as fast as she could. But just as she expected, Steve was there just in time to catch her.

"Gotcha!"

Natasha felt the very same pair of strong hands enveloped her body. He held her firmly when she struggled out of his grasp, "No!" she lashed out.

"Told you I would find you, Nat." his breath tickled her ear.

Natasha felt her heart pounding much faster than before, feeling a trail of goosebumps traveling down her arm once more. 

And her being in his arms wasn't helping at all.

"Let me go, Steve," she demanded. "That's not fair! The dirt made me sneeze!"

Steve laughed, "You think the sneeze gave you away? I already saw you enter the closet. You run really slow."

Natasha frowned, her eyebrows furrowed, "I'm not a slow runner. You just happen to have the speed of a God."

"Well, I am faster than Thor when running."

"Oh, shut up, Rogers."

He finally released his hold and grabbed the broom beside him to put it in her hands. "Here. Clean up."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine but you owe me."

Steve was too tired to even argue with her about how he even got involved with her and just simply went with it. "What do you want?"

She smiled teasingly, wanting to see him blush.

"A kiss."

"What?"

He stared at her, dumbfounded. Feeling his heart dangerously skipped a beat.

"Just one kiss." she continued to tease. "Come on, you did it before right?"

Steve flushed red but was clearly not amused. 

"Absolutely not." he hissed. "And aren't you with Bruce?"

Natasha's playfulness quickly washed away when she realized he was actually serious.

"Hey, sorry. I was just teasing you, Steve. I didn't mean to offend you."

He sighed, saying more softly this time, "I'm sorry. I got surprised."

"Clearly..." she muttered absentmindedly.

They stood awkwardly in silence for a few seconds when the sound of a guy shouting reached their ears.

"Woohoo! Take them down!" the guy's voice yelled out.

Natasha furrowed her eyebrows. "Was that...?"

"I think that sounded a lot like James," Steve remarked.

The two made their way out the hall and came across the lounge. The sight of the two agents filled their view. James was standing up with a wide grin on his face while Allie was sprawled across the couch with her phone.

"Go Dodgers!" James jumped excitedly, his eyes intently watched the screen.

Steve's eyes then twinkled with wonder. "You're a Dodgers fan too?"

Both siblings glanced at his direction.

They seemed surprised but James managed to recover first and grinned at him, "Yeah! I mean the Yankees are good but the Dodgers are just way way better."

"I completely agree with you, pal." Steve grinned as well. "They're the best team there is."

"Wanna come and watch with us?" he offered.

Steve turned to Natasha as if he was asking for her permission.

She raised an eyebrow in response, "What are you looking at me for?"

He flushed red, indignant, "B-Because it would be awful if I left you clean the kitchen by yourself."

"Who said I was going to clean anything?"

She flung the broom to the side.

Steve had a doubtful look. "But—"

"I'll clean it up later, I promise," she assured, taking a seat beside Allie.

Steve sat across them, taking the solo couch. He leaned back, facing the TV before looking back at James.

"So, you like baseball?" he asked the obvious.

"I love it." James corrected. "It's absolutely thrilling to watch."

"I don't see how watching a ball fly across the field after being hit with a bat is considered thrilling at all," Allie said, putting down her phone.

Steve blinked, looking at her while completely dazed.

Something at the back of his mind went off with a click. As he stared at Allie, he couldn't help but glance back at Natasha. It was then, that just now, he noticed how extremely similar the two women look.

They almost have the same face, and both have the same fiery-red hair. Not to mention, the way she just talked right now. Their only difference was their eyes.

While Natasha has striking green ones—Allie had baby-blue ones.

"She does have a point," Natasha said, "I have to agree with you on that, Allie. It's not worth your hours to watch a people throw, catch, and run after a ball."

"Thank you,"

Both women shared a look of understanding. While James and Steve shared a look of disapproval, shaking their heads.

"How can they say that?"

Steve sighed, "They just don't understand sports like we do. Trust me, I've been having this talk since I got out of the ice."

"Well, I've been having this talk since dad took me to a baseball game when I was eight."

James nodded his head at Allie's direction.

"She doesn't like baseball. Guess she took after mom."

"Your mom doesn't like baseball?" asked Steve.

"She's not too fond of the game mechanics," James said, taking a seat on the couch next to Allie. "But she does come watch it whenever I play at school."

"She's very supportive, though. Even dad." Allie smiled.

"Your parents sound very cool," said Natasha.

James smiled, his eyes trailing off to the both of them. "They are."

Natasha suddenly stood up. "This was a fun chat but I'll be off to clean the kitchen."

Steve stood up as well. 

"You too?" asked Natasha.

"I'm going to help you right? Unless you got this—"

"Come on." she grabbed his wrist before looking over her shoulder, "I'll see you around guys."

James and Allie watched as their parents made their way out of the lounge. They couldn't help but smile at the sight.

Yes, they were going to do everything they can to get them back together again.

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[1] Ooohh... I think the more appropriate statement is: "Be careful not to fall for me, Nat." Kidding. It's corny I get it.

[2] A double meaning perhaps? *winks winks*

So this chapter is surprisingly better than the previous one. Who else agrees? xD

KEEP IN TOUCH GUYS. I'M GONNA HAVE TO UPDATE AGAINST ALL ODDS NEXT.

- AUTHOR