Thanks so much for the follows! Thanks for the reviews, too - keep them coming! :)
Steve was the first to wake up the next morning. He awoke to the sound of birds singing loudly. The sound was shrill, but distant. Probably the birds had been scared from the area by Thor's snoring.
Steve got dressed and came out of his tent. The sky was the pale whitish gray that precedes dawn. The fire had burned down almost completely; only a few embers remained. He added more firewood and some kindling; then he got a stick and stirred the embers, trying to bring the fire back to life.
A few minutes later, Natasha came out of her tent. "Gosh, it's so cold," she complained, crossing her arms and hunching her shoulders. She went and stood next to the fire, so close she was practically standing in it.
"There's like no heat coming from that," she concluded a minute later.
"Not yet," Steve agreed with a half-smile.
"Get one of Tony's matches," she suggested, bouncing on her toes to try and get warm.
"Hold on," said Steve. He knelt down and blew on the embers. A few sparks jumped to life. Quickly he put more twigs on them, then blew again. The twigs caught fire.
Clint came out of his tent and walked over to the fire. "Cold, Nat?" he asked when he saw her posture.
"Freezing!" she replied. Her teeth were chattering.
"It's not that bad," he said in amusement.
"Are you kidding? It's practically frigid," she returned.
Steve and Clint knew better than to laugh outright at Natasha (Clint had nearly pushed her to the limit the night before), but they both hid smiles. In reality, it was probably in the forty to fifty degree range, Fahrenheit.
One of the bigger logs caught fire. Steve stood up and dusted off his hands. "Shouldn't be long now," he said before going into his tent. He emerged a few seconds later with his jacket. He came up behind Natasha and draped it around her shoulders.
"Better?" he asked, rubbing his hands quickly up and down her arms to warm her up.
"Thanks," she said, shivering.
The sun was already up when Bruce made his appearance, followed shortly afterward by Tony. Thor's rumbling snores showed no signs of letting up.
"Did everyone sleep okay?" Tony asked as he passed out water bottles. The responses ranged from "Haven't slept better in years" to "I may have caught a wink or two."
"I slept pretty well, myself," Tony announced.
"Sounds like Thor feels the same way," Bruce commented.
Tony hesitated. "On a scale of one to ten, how mad do you think he would be if we ate without him?"
"Eleven," Clint and Natasha said together.
"We really have to get him up somehow," said Steve about half an hour later. A few of them had gone over to Thor's tent and shouted already, but to no avail.
"Why the sudden hurry?" asked Tony.
Steve glanced swiftly at Bruce. "He gets angry when he's hungry," he said quietly.
Instantly, Tony turned and charged towards Thor's tent. "Thor!" he shouted, going inside.
Shortly afterward, he returned with a sleepy, rather cross-looking Thor in tow.
"Did you sleep well, Thor?" Steve inquired.
"Hardly," Thor responded haughtily. "I was awake all night, actually."
Tony opened his pack and handed out granola bars, doughnuts, oranges, and bananas.
"How much food do you have in there anyway?" Bruce asked.
Tony shrugged. "Enough to sustain six active adults for two days."
"If you could call Steve active," Clint quipped.
"If you could call Clint an adult," Steve retorted.
As they ate, Tony said, "So! Today… I was thinking an all-day hike."
"My legs hurt already," said Clint.
Tony ignored him. "When we get done eating, we're gonna leave. We'll have lunch away from camp, and head back in the afternoon. The goal is to get back to camp before it gets too dark and we get attacked by the ghosts of crippled children. Sound good?"
The others agreed.
They finally finished breakfast (which took a while because Thor kept getting more doughnuts). Then they set out on their hike with Tony in the lead.
"K, guys, we're going west again," Natasha announced, looking at her compass. Tony turned right. "North," she added.
"So who's been enjoying this camping trip so far?" asked Tony.
"I have," Steve spoke up. "It's actually been really fun."
"Don't sound so surprised," said Tony, feigning hurt. ("Northwest," said Natasha.) "You didn't doubt you'd enjoy it, did you?"
"I didn't doubt it," Steve began unconvincingly. ("Southwest," said Natasha.) "I mean, I wasn't sure – I mean… anyway, I'm having fun."
"So am I," Bruce agreed. ("South.") "It's reminding me of all the camping trips I went on as a kid… the hot dogs and marshmallows and sleeping on the ground and all."
"Yeah, sleeping on the ground is different," said Clint. ("West.") "Okay, Nat, we get it. It wasn't too bad, it's just hard to get used to. The storytelling was kind of a highlight, too." ("Southwest.") "Nat, we get it!"
"How about you, Thor?" Tony asked. "Enjoying your first camping trip so far?"
"Well, it is a strange idea for recreation," said Thor. ("West." "Natasha!") "However, yes, I am enjoying it. The food is particularly satisfying."
"Southwest." "Natasha, put away the compass." "I'm not using the compass, I can figure it out without the compass," she said.
"Well, stop figuring it out," Clint suggested.
"I just hope the weather holds up," remarked Steve, squinting up at the sky.
"Relax, it'll be fine," said Tony unconcernedly.
"Southeast."
"Nat, cut it out!"
It was only slightly annoying at first, but after five minutes or so, the others started begging Natasha to stop updating them on their direction.
"Hey, I'm just trying to make sure we don't get lost," Natasha said, grinning. Clint privately thought that she was punishing him for laughing at her the night before. He kept this opinion to himself, however; and instead remarked that he'd rather get lost.
"Try walking in the same direction for a while," Steve suggested to Tony.
But Tony had other ideas. Instead, he led the group on a crazy, winding path in an attempt to confuse Natasha."
"North-Northeast-East-North-West-North-Northwest-West-North-East-Northeast-East-South-Southeast-Southwest-South-East-North…"
Somehow, even without the compass, he was unable to confuse her. At last he stopped, gasping for air.
"Okay," he panted. "Whoever leads next, figure out some way to confuse her. I don't care, do whatever it takes."
Natasha raised her eyebrows, grinning. "Oh? In that case, I think I'll lead next."
The others groaned.
However, letting Natasha lead turned out to be a solution in itself, as she apparently didn't feel the need to inform them of their direction each time it changed when she was leading. But there was a different problem with the lead change. Whenever the ground was slanted even a bit, Natasha always led them uphill. This was okay for a while, but soon their legs began to ache. Another odd quirk she had was, whenever she happened upon a rocky outcrop or a steep drop-off, she always took it upon herself to climb it rather than just go around it.
"C'mon, give us a break, Tash," Tony puffed after half an hour.
"No," she said determinedly. "This is good for strength and stamina."
"And making enemies," Steve observed.
After she'd been leading for an hour, Natasha was finally persuaded to take a break. The six of them stood in the woods, panting hard and dripping in sweat.
"Please," Clint panted, "can we have someone who will go easy on us next?"
"I suggest Dr. Banner," Thor said quickly.
So after a substantial break, Bruce led them. He was mercifully easy on them, and led them downhill whenever he saw the chance. Another upside was that Natasha forgot about the direction-reminding thing after her turn was up. The others neglected to mention it to her.