Imagine If You Assembled the Avengers: Volume 1

Let Me Go (Avengers x reader)

But you missed Steve, perhaps the most of all. You missed Tony and Bruce bickering in the lab. God, you missed Wanda and Nat, and the way they would be able to understand you right now, and how they would support your decision because they cared about you.

"Maybe I'm mistaken," came a voice that shocked you to your core, "but not so long ago there was a time when you begged me to let you be a part of the very thing you are now running from. What the hell is that about, (Y/N)?"

Jolted from your thoughts, you coughed as you choked on your coffee when Fury's hand slapped down on your shoulder and held you in place. "Fuck," you mumbled, "how? How and why are you here, Nick?"

"You think I don't know when one of my team goes missing?" He raised his hand to signal the waitress as he sat across from you and leaned back against the booth. You felt his feet reach under the table and his legs ensnare one of yours, holding you back from trying to run.

"Really? Afraid I'm gonna get away?"

"I would be a fool to underestimate you, (Y/N)."

"Please, underestimate me and move your damn feet." You mimicked his posture and leaned back, crossing your arms over your chest to demonstrate your resolve to keep your distance. "You can't keep me here against my will. You're not the director of me."

He smiled and laughed quietly, grabbing your coffee and taking long drink, "I'm not the director of anybody. And I'm not going to keep you here against your will, but I do want to offer you another option."

"Nick, I've already made up my-"

"Hear me out." The waitress approached and he held up your cup for her to bring another. "Rather than closing this door completely, I would like you to open a different one. There's somewhere that I'd like to take you, if you'll let me."

~~~

"We've been at this for hours. Maybe Maximoff is right, we're not gonna find her." Steve had been up all night and now it was well into the following day. His hair was disheveled and his body was showing his fatigue; he crossed his arms on the table in front of him and buried his face in them. "Maybe she's never coming back. I'm never going to see her again, am I?"

Natasha jostled awake with a start, shaking her head as she brought herself back to the moment. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, trying to talk through a yawn that she couldn't hold back, "Cap, we need to take a break. I can't see straight."

"How the hell does Stark do this?" he said with a yawn that followed hers. "The man never sleeps."

"Wait," Nat said, straightening in her chair, "what did you say?"

"That the man never sleeps."

"No, before that."

He lifted his head from the table and looked at her, confused and trying to replay the conversation in his mind. "I don't know? She's never coming back?"

"That's it," she slapped her hand on the table, "you said that you would never see her again." He tried to look away, but she moved herself to stay in his line of sight.

"Steve..."

"Yeah," he sighed, too tired to put up a fight and knowing that he would never be able to lie to her now. "Yeah, maybe if she knew..."

"Steve, look at me."

He closed his eyes and leaned back in the chair, sighing and slowly opening them to look at her and hear things he likely didn't want to hear. He wanted to focus on finding you, not to sit here and talk about his misguided feelings. "What, Nat?"