Venting

By: MysticFantasy

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Disclaimer: (I own no part of this movie or the characters in it.)

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I shouldn't have done it. Steve thought to himself. Why did I get myself into this situation?

"How you doing Captain?" a voice asked over the small black walkie-talkie.

Steve groaned as he reached to his belt and grabbed the small object. He pressed the button and answered the call.

"You do realize that I'm going to kill you for this later right?"

"Torture, maybe. Kill, doubt it. You're Captain America. Captain America doesn't kill for fun."

"You're seriously getting me to the point of proving you wrong about that Barton." Steve replied and was sure that Clint was laughing on his end.

With a sigh, the blond soldier continued to crawl foward. Intent on finding a way out of the large air vents he was crawling around in with Clint doing the same although in a different location. Most likely another level of the tower.

Somehow, Steve had spotted Clint crawl by an open air vent in the living room and questioned what he was doing and why. Clint answered that he was 'getting familiar with the territory' incase a situation during a mission called for him to crawl through air ducts.

The archer claimed that it was great excersize and helped him to figure out new tactics. He had right away asked the captain if he wanted to join him and they could compare notes later.

Steve had been hesitant at first, ready to turn the request down, when Clint said that it was like going through boot camp all over again and that Steve couldn't take it.

If there was one thing that suckered Steve into something it was when his military training was challenged. His training before and after becoming Captain America had been hell but he'd done it and he wasn't about to let Clint get away with the remark.

So now the two were crawling around the dark vents and having a little game of hide and seek with a twist. Unlike the traditional way of playing the game, the two were armed with small paintball guns.

When they spotted each other, shots would be fired. The person who landed the most hits would win but they could only be in each other's presence for fifteen seconds before going opposite ways and starting the search all over again.

How do I get myself into these situations? Steve asked himself. Clint knew I would prove him wrong when it comes to military training and tactics. I bet he planned this all along. Bet he couldn't get Natasha to crawl in the vents with him. Tony would never agree to something like this, Bruce wouldn't take the chance and Thor is bigger than me and would get stuck trying to move around in here. Doesn't help that I'm the only one here with real military training.

Steve turned a corner and spotted a vent a few feet away. He quietly made his way toward it and stopped short of it when he heard something coming from inside the room. It sounded like...humming.

Slowly, not making a sound, he inched his way over and looked through the metal slits. He spotted Natasha, sitting at the vanity in her room as she brushed her hair.

Feeling a knot form in his stomach from spying on a woman and fellow teammate, Steve was about to continue down the vent when Natasha stopped brushing her hair and pulled something out of one of the vanity drawers.

Steve could see that it was a picture of someone but he couldn't make it out because of the angle she was holding it. As if to help him figure out who the picture was of, Natasha turned a bit. Allowing Steve to see the picture perfectly. When he did, his jaw dropped.

The picture was of him! The picture was of him from the shoulders up and he had a bright smile on his face.

He remembered that picture. The press had been on him about various things, mostly about what it was like to be in a new century and what working with the Avengers was like, but the thing that had brought a smile to his face was seeing a little boy around six years of age wearing a mask like his and holding up a toy Captain America shield.

Honestly, Steve had thought people had forgotten about him after be'd crashed the Hydra plane. To see that people were looking up to him again was heartwarming and it gave him new hope that this new century wasn't so bad.

Steve was totally stunned when he saw Natasha smile at his picture. Almost in a 'loving' way.

"When are you ever going to notice?" she asked the picture softly as she ran a finger over his face. "How can you be so handsome and not notice when a woman has her eyes on you?"

Steve felt his face and ears grow hot and realized that he should leave the area. Backing up at quietly as he could, Steve turned and went the opposite direction. The heat in his face slowly began to fade.

After a few turns, Steve came to another vent. This time he heard two male voices. He crawled over and saw that he was looking into Tony's lab where the said man was at a table explaining some new gadget of his to Bruce who had a thoughtful look on his face as he stared at the new item.

"Hey guys." he called out and grinned when the two looked around looking for whoever called them but saw no one in sight. "Up here."

The two men looked over to the air vent and were confused when they saw the leader of their team in the vent.

"Barton talked you into it, didn't he?" Tony asked knowingly.

"He mocked my military training." Steve answered.

"That's no excuse to be acting like a child." Tony teased.

"Has Barton been by here?" Steve asked.

"He passed by a few minutes ago. Didn't stay to talk." Bruce answered. "Did he talk you into the paintball game?"

"Yep." Steve answered. "Well, I better get going."

"Be careful in there." Bruce called.

"If you get stuck I'm taking pictures." Tony added.

"Thank you Tony." Steve said sarcastically and was out of distance from the two.