And up until now
I had sworn to myself that I'm content
With loneliness

Because none of it was ever worth the risk

But, you are, the only exception

-The Only Exception by Paramore

"What's that?"

"What's what?"

"That little cubicle over there."

"The photo booth?"

Steve narrowed his eyes. "Photo booth? What does it do?"

"It takes photos of you and your friends. Wanna see?" Ellie asked. He nodded. Luckily, nobody was inside. Ellie slid inside and pulled Steve in after her, before closing the curtain.

"Hello there. Welcome to the Photo Booth, where memories become reality. Please choose a theme."

"Alright…what do you want? Romantic?" she asked mockingly and pulled a pouting face. Steve laughed. "Funny? Patriotic? Or no theme at all?"

He thought about each option as he looked at the examples on the screen. "Uh, what about no themes? All of them look pretty tacky."

"Are you sure you don't want the patriotic one?" she teased. He playfully nudged her arm as he pressed the last one. She sat up straight with a big smile on her face. "Alright, look up at the camera and smile. I think we get four pictures, so let's have a different face for each, okay?"

He nodded. "Okay," he agreed and looked around for the camera.

"Get ready. One –"

"Ellie, where's the camera?"

"Two –"

"Huh? Oh it's up th –"

"Three! Say cheese!"

Steve's eyes paced around frantically, searching for the camera while Ellie smiled away. Each picture took about five seconds to take before moving on to the next one.

"Uh, camera, Ellie?!" he panicked, but she couldn't help but laugh. She pointed at it, but he still couldn't see it. The more he looked for it, the harder she laughed and soon, he joined in. "I still can't see it," he snickered, gasping as his laugh got thicker and thicker.

He wasn't really sure why he was laughing so much, or why she was either, but at that moment, with both of them laughing and just having a good time, nothing else mattered. By the time they calmed down, all four photos had been taken and a few people were queuing outside. They got out and Steve caught the picture after it printed.

The first one was of Ellie smiling at the camera, while he confusedly looked in another direction. Ellie already called it as her favorite as soon as she saw it. The second one was of her laughing, while his mouth was open wide. It looked like he was complaining about something or giving her a lecture. The third one was of both of them laughing, looking at the camera without even knowing it. And finally, the fourth one was of them looking at each other, still laughing. He was looking at her, while she faced him with her eyes closed.

"That was interesting," he smirked, still looking at the row of pictures.

Ellie bit her lip. "Which one's your favorite?"

"Definitely not the first half. I look ridiculous. I'd say either the third or the fourth," he said, handing the photos to her for her to see. After looking at them, she tore the slip in half, separating the first couple from the third and fourth.

Handing him the last two, she giggled at her half before putting it in her pocket. "Well I'm keeping these pictures forever because of how ridiculous you look. It's gold."

Steve shook his head as he looked at his half again. He studied himself for a few seconds. Was that really him? Was he really that happy? He hadn't felt or even seen himself like that in years –nearly seventy. The last time he laughed like that was with Bucky. He never thought he'd ever see himself like that ever again.

His eyes turned to Ellie on the photo. She looked just as happy as he did. He thought about if she hadn't ever joined the Avengers. Would he have been the same in that case? Would he have been just as happy? Nobody else in the team would've dragged him off to some childish carnival. Hell, he wouldn't have even dragged himself. Had she never joined, he'd have been sitting at home by himself, drowning in his self-pity.

"Everything alright?" she asked him, stepping closer to him and interrupting his trace of thought. Steve tore his eyes from the picture and looked at her. The wind blew her black, wavy hair over her face and covered her mouth. Unconsciously, he lifted his hand to her face and gently tucked the strand behind her ear. The sun, which sat directly over her, transformed her dark eyes into a light, caramel shade of brown.

He shook his head. "Yeah, no, uh…everything's fine," he assured her, quickly taking his hand away and taking a step back to create some distance between them. He took out his wallet and carefully put the photo inside, to ensure that he wouldn't lose it. "Hey, did you still want to grab lunch? What do you want to eat?"

"Well right now I'd kill for some nachos."

"Alright. Where can we get nachos from?" he asked, looking around. Ellie joined him as he searched for a food stall somewhere around them. Her bottom lip was taken by her teeth as she narrowed her eyes. In the distance, there was a bright orange and yellow-striped canopy sheltering a small shop with a line of a handful of people. Around it, there were wooden tables and chairs.

"Over there. That looks like a food stall. Let's go check it out," she told him and began to walk. Steve followed her with his hands stuffed into his pockets. By the time they reached the shop, a couple more people had added onto the line. Steve and Ellie waited in patient silence for their turn. Both took the time to scope out their surroundings. Children carrying teddy bears of all shapes and sizes ran around playfully, with their parents trying their best to apprehend them.

At one point, a clown dressed in a large, colorful suit waddled by. His eyes met Ellie's and not even a second after that, she quickly looked away and cautiously stepped closer to Steve –so close that she slightly knocked into him.

"What's the matter?" he asked, tilting his head a bit.

She shook her head and glanced back at the clown, who had stopped to stare and wave at her. Steve turned around and spotted the colorful guy, who at this point, was starting to come their way.

"Get lost," Ellie snarled at him, before he could say or even do anything. The clown attempted to show her some kind of magic trick, but she refused to look at it whatsoever. She even turned her back on him and folded her arms. The clown tried to tap her on the shoulder, but she caught his gloved hand and pushed him back as hard as she could. "Leave me alone for fuck's sake. Can't you see that I don't give a shit?!"

The clown quickly spun around and went out of her sight.

"What was that?" Steve questioned her, folding his arms.

"What was what?"

"It was just a stupid clown. Why'd you go all 'agent' on him?"

Ellie sighed. "I really hate clowns."

"Well you sure picked a hell of a place to come today," he retorted, a small smirk on his lips.

She shook her head as they moved to the front of the line. "Yeah, well I haven't seen a clown since I was ten. You'd think I would've grown out of that by now," she explained, leaning over the counter. She turned to the old man behind the counter. "Hey, can I please have some nachos?" she ordered, then nudged Steve for his order.

"I'll have what the lady has."

Ellie jokingly rolled her eyes. "Two sets of nachos please and two Oreo milkshakes."

The old man yelled her order to the cooks at the back before adding it up and telling her their final price. Steve paid and when they got their food, they found a small table. They both dug right in and ate like they had never eaten before. After lunch, they walked around, stopping at a few games along the way.

One particular game they enjoyed was a game that included a line of glass bottles on one side. Someone had to hit all of them down in order to win the grand prize, which in that case, was a Captain America action figure. Steve got all bottles down during his first try. The scorekeeper was so shocked, that he stood there for a couple of moments with his jaw hanging wide open.

"I believe you own us a Captain America Premium action-figure," Ellie piped in, leaning over the counter. The man reluctantly bent over, and grabbed the sealed, pristine box that contained a limited edition action figure of Captain America himself. He handed it to Steve, who looked at it for a second, before just handing it over to Ellie, who ripped the box open.

"Aww," she cooed and moved the doll's arms, "I have my own little Steve Rogers now."

Steve puckered his eyebrow and shook his head with a very amused look on his face. The pair continued walking; only stopping at the 'interesting-looking' stores, as she put it. After a while, seeing the same stalls and walking around in circles became boring.

"Can I show you something?" she asked him, stopping. He stopped and looked back at her, taking another lick of his chocolate-flavored ice-cream.

"What?"

She bit her lip, smiling and grabbed his hand as she maneuvered her way through the stacks of crowds. She took him to a less crowded area and the further out they went, the less and less people there were.

"Where are we going?" he asked her, trying his best to keep up with her fast walking.

She carried on going. "You'll see."

He left it at that and decided to rather see where they ended up. She led him to one of the biggest rides and instead of going on it, she started climbing up the fire escape's ladder, which led right to the top. As she began to climb, Steve worriedly looked around to see whether anyone was looking or not.

"Are you sure we're allowed to do this?" he asked her in a hushed tone, trying not to draw any unwanted attention.

She paused and looked down, laughing at him. "Relax, Capsicle. I used to do this all the time without getting caught. The trick is to not make it look obvious," she scoffed and cocked a brow at him standing there, still looking around. "Well if you're going to stand there, looking suspicious, what do you expect? Get your butt up before someone sees. Trust me, it'll be worth it."

He sighed, and eventually started climbing reluctantly. They got up rather quickly and before he knew it, they were right on top. There was a long platform on top, that couldn't be seen from the ground. Ellie plopped herself down with her feet swinging over the edge, overlooking not only the entire carnival; but half of Central Park, as well as the front of Midtown Manhattan. At the back of the picture-perfect setting, stood the tallest building in the whole of New York; the Avengers Tower.

"This is amazing," Steve huffed as he sat down beside Ellie. She put her arms on the lowest pole of the railing and rested her head.

"I used to come up here when I was younger. Whenever I got lost, or separated from my mom, I'd come up here and just wait it out. She always knew that if she couldn't find me, I'd be up here," she told him, gawking at the city and enjoying the light breeze that was brushing against her face.

Steve looked at her for a while. There was a faint smile on her lips as she dreamily looked ahead. It took her a couple of moments to feel his gaze burning the side of her face, and when she looked at him, he quickly looked away.

"The last time I was at a carnival, I was about seventeen. My best fri -," he stopped and took a deep breath before he could continue.

She frowned and lifted her head. "Hey. You alright?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. It's just…I used to go to places like this with my best friend, Bucky."

"James Barnes?" He quickly turned to her, narrowing his eyes as to how she knew. She shrugged. "I've seen the exhibition at the museum and we had files on him at S.H.I.E.L.D," she explained as if she had read his mind. "I'm –I'm so sorry, Steve. About him. I can't imagine how that must feel."

Steve nodded once, accepting her condolence. Both turned back to the view and watched in silence as the wind-rustled trees blew around them and children's playful screams came from below. After a while, they got bored, but neither of them really knew how to restart the conversation.

Ellie eventually took out her cell phone she had been keeping in her jeans' pocket. Her ear phones were plugged in, so she ripped them out and played some music from her phone. The first song that played was 'Don't Wake Me Up (Before You Go Go) by Wham!. Ellie bobbed her head as she softly sang along.

"Ever heard of George Michael?" she asked him, breaking the silence barrier.

"Never."

"Well, he was the lead singer of this band. And he had almost every girl in the world wrapped around his finger. They loved him. But then a few years after the band broke up, he moved on and started his solo career, and it came out that he was gay," she explained, turning her body completely, to face him.

Steve frowned. "Why's that such a big thing?"

"Look, I dunno how, no offence here, your time handled guys and girls being gay, but for a while it's been such a controversial thing."

She put her elbow on the railing.

"How do you feel about it?" he interrogated her. The music was still playing in the background.

She shrugged. "I'm all for it," she sighed. "All it is really is two people sharing their love for each other. It's no different than a girl and a guy. I think any form of love is beautiful, you know? I mean, if they're happy, what gives people the right to take that away from them?" she rambled on, looking at the ground. A small laugh escaped her lips. "God, that was so cheesy."

Steve smiled. "No," he said, shaking his head, "I see what you mean and I completely agree with you. Back in my day, it wasn't really that big. Only because people were too afraid to come out with it, I think. The other day I saw these two guys holding hands and laughing. I didn't know how I felt about it, but I think I do now. It's really no different to Stark loving Pepper or Thor loving Jane or –do you have anyone?"

She took her lip between her teeth and shook her head. "No. I, uh, I'm not that good with dating."

He frowned. "Do you ever think about finding someone?"

"Yeah, of course. I hate being alone. For seconds or even years, I just –It's what I'm afraid of the most."

He chuckled began to slowly swing his legs to and fro. "Well you won't be alone. You have all of us."

She didn't say anything. There was nothing to be said. A warm, strange feeling seeped its way into her stomach like a tidal wave. Suddenly, she didn't feel the cool breeze piercing her skin anymore. For the past few months, the strangers she had been living with –fighting alongside had turned into her new, broken family. But, it was enough. More than enough.

"Hey, Ellie?"

"Hmm?" she moaned.

"Thank you."

She let out a cynical snort. "For what? Dragging your ass here?"

"For being more than just a teammate."

The smirk on her lips quickly disappeared as she stared at him. He had gone back to admiring the skyline. She hesitated, but without even realizing it, her body shifted closer to him until she was close enough to put her head on his shoulder. At first, he was surprised. He wasn't sure what her actions meant. Reading her was harder than he thought it would be. Nevertheless, he gulped a ball of air down his throat and rested his head on top of hers.

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Chapter 10 done! Getting closer to the juicy stuff ;D

Thanks for reviewing, reading and following. Please don't stop reviewing, reading and following.

Hell yeah, team Stellie, am I right? Who watched Age of Ultron?