Steve watched (Y/N) walk away from the tower, regret and guilt quickly taking hold of him.

It took all of his restraint not to run after her. He couldn't help feeling like he had just made a huge mistake. Whether or not she would admit it to herself, Steve knew she had felt something more for him. They had clicked in a way that he had only ever found once before in his life. Yes he had only just met her, but Steve had always been of the mindset that "when you know you know, so don't let go." Only he had let go. For the second time, he had found the possibility of happiness only for it to be ripped from his grasp. He should have stopped her from leaving, forced her to confront her feelings and let her know he was someone she could trust.

On the other hand, after what (Y/N) had experienced with her previous boyfriend, he understood why she would have her guard up. The last thing he wanted was to push her into something she was not ready for. As much as it killed him to say those things, he knew it had been what she needed in that moment. She needed time. She needed space to heal on her own. All he could do was hope and pray that one day, when she was ready, she would find her way back to him.

(Y/N) was practically sprinting away from him now, putting more and more distance between her and Steve, until she turned the corner, disappearing out of sight. Sighing sadly, Steve headed back up to the penthouse of the tower.

Bringing home girls was not something he did very often. He hadn't seen much point in dating since he came out of the ice all those years ago. The one casual relationship he had tried since then had not ended well and he was not keen to relive that experience again. Because of this, he knew that when he walked back into the living room he would have to answer nagging questions, and wasn't at all surprised to see Tony and Peter waiting for him when the elevator doors opened.

"What happened to (Y/N)?" Tony asked seeing that Steve had come back alone.

"I told her to leave, so she left," Steve replied curtly. He really didn't want to relive the whole conversation over again. It had sucked enough the first time.

"What? Why?" This time it was Peter that spoke up.

"Because," Steve replied bluntly hoping he would take a hint and leave him alone.

"Was she mad because you didn't tell her you were Steve Rogers?"

Steve gave a low chuckle. The kid was annoyingly persistent. He knew Peter wasn't much of a kid anymore, but Steve would always see him as that scrawny little teenager he met in Berlin. He couldn't blame Peter for being curious, and figured he was better off explaining what had happened or else he would never leave him alone.

"No, I don't think so. It was definitely a shock for her but she was freaked out the minute she woke up."

"I'm sorry-" Tony interrupted. "This girl stayed the night and then you asked her to leave the next morning? I'm impressed, Rogers, that doesn't seem like your style. Sounds more like mine. Maybe I'm finally rubbing off on you-"

"It's not like that," Steve interjected defensively. "I wanted her to stay but she wanted to leave."

"I thought you said you asked her to leave?" Peter chimed in.

"Look," Steve began, resigned to his fate of describing the painful experience. "She was hurt recently. She lost her trust in the two people closest to her and was looking for comfort and I was there. She woke up upset this morning because she's not ready to trust anyone again after what happened, so she tried to sneak out without me noticing. That's when she bumped into you two."

Peter nodded sympathetically as Steve talked but Tony's expression was blank.

"I told her to leave because I could tell she wanted to but she felt like a jerk for trying to run out this morning while I was in the shower. So I told her it was a mistake and that she should go so she could leave without feeling guilty about it," he finished sadly.

They all stood in silence for a moment. Steve was waiting for one of them to call him an idiot for telling (Y/N) to go but they both stayed quiet. Eventually, Peter spoke up breaking the silence.

"I'm sorry Steve. It all sounds really complicated. Maybe you guys will be able to work things out after she has some time to process things."

He appreciated Peter trying to cheer him up. He looked genuinely disappointed that things hadn't worked out for him but Steve's hopes of ever seeing (Y/N) again were low. Smiling half-heartedly, he nodded in Peter's direction in acknowledgement of his words but didn't say anything.

"Peter I think you should try and find her on campus, maybe even keep tabs on her for a little while," Tony cut in.

"Why?" Peter said, confused.

"Think about it. This girl knows that you are Spider-Man. Now I know she said she wouldn't tell anybody, but none of us really know her or what she would do. Think about what she could do with that information. Maybe I should have had her sign an NDA..."

"I wouldn't worry about it. She has no reason to tell anyone, she wouldn't do that," Steve spoke, trying to steer Tony away from this line of thought. He felt like he needed to stick up for (Y/N) since she wasn't here to stick up for herself, and that she wasn't the type of person to do anything with that kind of information. If there was anything he understood about her from last night and this morning it was that she valued privacy and preferred to be alone rather than meddle in other people's business.

"Besides," he continued sadly, "I really doubt she wants anything to do with any of us after the way we left things. She probably just wants to forget the whole thing."

"Well, at the least it seems like the girl could use a friend, or someone to look out for her. It sounds like she doesn't have anyone," Tony shrugged.

It was clear to Steve that Tony didn't really care much about (Y/N)'s friendships so much as her ability to reveal Peter's identity. Tony was always on high alert, it was a hazard of their line of work. But sometimes it got very frustrating when he would continually see the worst in people before the good. Not wanting to start an argument he decided to leave it be, even if he didn't like the idea of Peter trailing (Y/N).

"Alright, I'll try to find her," Peter said, shifting his gaze awkwardly back and forth between the two men.

----

You were sitting on the bed in your apartment, trying to finish up an assignment but your mind was elsewhere. Three weeks had passed since you had left Steve at the tower that morning. The cold February weather had begun to shift into warmer spring temperatures, though it was still too cold to go out without a jacket. You were very much looking forward to the days where you would be able to walk to class without one.

You had seen Amanda around campus a few times, but would always quickly turn the other way. Amanda and James had both tried to text and call but both had given up after not receiving any responses.

You had tried not to be hurt by how quickly they had given up on trying to make amends. To be fair, there was nothing either of them could say to make things go back to the way they were. You just wanted to forget about them. But being so carelessly thrown away by the people you had trusted most hurt nonetheless. There was no getting around that.

To your surprise, there had been a few occasions where you could have sworn that you saw someone in a familiar looking red and blue suit with a spider logo, watching you from a distance. Just a few days ago you had walked out of the nearest convenience store after purchasing the biggest tub of ice cream you could find, when you saw him crouched on the roof of the store, in shadow. Shaking your head and blinking rapidly, you looked closer to where you thought he had been but the spot was empty. You remembered laughing to yourself on the way back thinking something along the lines of "great, now I have no friends and I'm seeing things, this is just fantastic."

As far as how things stood with Steve? Radio silence. This was unsurprising given how you had left things, but you couldn't help yourself from missing what it had felt like to be with him from time to time. That night with Steve had been the only time you were truly happy since you had broken up with James. He had made you feel comfortable and safe. Then again, James had made you feel that way once too, and look how that had turned out.

Pushing away the thought of the annoyingly attractive man, you went back to working on your assignment. Focusing on your classwork was soon made difficult by the pounding sensation in your forehead. After making your way to the bathroom, you opened the medicine cabinet looking for ibuprofen, or anything to stop the migraine. You were reaching for Advil when a large box of pink tampons caught your eye and you froze.

You felt a pang in your stomach staring at the box. How long had it been? You grabbed your phone looking for the date. Crap. Too long. You took slow and steady breaths doing your best to stay calm.

There was no need to panic. Right? Your first instinct was to call Amanda immediately. After all, you had helped her out in situations similar to this before. But things were different now. You couldn't call her anymore. You were going it alone.

Deciding it was pointless to stress about anything before taking a test, you took a few more deep breaths and went back to your bedroom. Grabbing your purse and keys, you left your apartment and headed straight for the nearest pharmacy.