A/N Well here we are again... Sometimes when I've got writers block, I'll throw itunes on shuffle and use whatever song plays first as a prompt to get the juices flowing. So I have a bunch of different little warm up ficlets on my hard drive gathering dust so since life's been a little crazy lately and I haven't gotten the writing I want to get done, I thought I would put them to good use and clean them up and start posting these in the mean time... I considered starting a new "story" for them or posting them all separately, but eventually decided to just tack them onto this one since it's all basically the same idea. These all will be longer than the first ten though since I didn't limit myself to finish it before the song ended. Welp that's enough out of me... I hope you enjoy!

If I walk down this hallway
Tonight, it's too quiet
So I pat through the dark
And call you on the phone
Push your old numbers
And let your house ring
Till I wake your ghost

It was another late night at the gym. An attempt to exorcise his demons with sweat and a heavy bag.

It didn't work. It never did.

The click of the deadbolt sliding back, and a slight whine from the hinge was the only noise that dared to break the silence as he let himself into his apartment. Stepping over the purple polka dot rain boots she left by the front door, he dropped his gym bag on the floor and hung his coat on the peg next to the plastic Mjölnir she'd brought home from Toys R Us one day. She'd tried again and again to explain why it made her laugh so hard to have it nestled amongst their outerwear, before finally admitting that perhaps he had to be there.

Walking silently through the apartment and into the kitchen, he reached past the half finished carton of Turkey Hill diet iced tea to retrieve a bottle of water from the back of the fridge. Drawing long from the bottle, he let his hand brush against her favorite mug where it sat next to the coffee maker, his eyes flitting around the room, pausing on the copy of Tender is the Night on the breakfast bar, her Harry Potter bookmark marking her place three quarters of the way through. Chucking the now empty bottle into the recycling, he continued down the hallway, pausing in the doorway to their bedroom.

Moonlight streaming in through the slats in the window covering highlighted the night shirt she had worn and left draped over the foot board in her rush to get dressed that fateful morning. She'd overslept while he had been out on his run, and she was putting on her coat and shoving a hat on her head when he'd come home. She had paused only just long enough to kiss him goodbye and tease that he needed to shower before running out the door.

Peeling out of his clothes, leaving them in a heap on the floor, he crawled into bed, hugging her pillow to his chest. Shutting his eyes tight he could almost make himself believe that it still held traces of her scent.

He knew his friends were talking. Natasha had offered to come over and help him box up her belongings. Tony had offered to take him out and do everything in his power to get him drunk while he paid someone to pack away her things. But he wasn't ready to do it himself and the idea of strangers rifling through her possessions made him sick to his stomach.

Rolling over long enough to snatch the phone off the night stand, he buried his face in her pillow once more, his fingers dialing her number without any prompting from his brain.

He waited patiently through the six rings.

Riiiiiing

It was an accident.

Riiiiiing

He thinks that makes it worse.

Riiiiiing

No super villain to blame, no evil organization to take down, no vengeance to be had.

Riiiiiing

Just a taxi driver who had a heart attack and drove into a crowd of people who were standing at the corner waiting to cross the street, leaving three dead including the driver and seven wounded.

Riiiiiing

The doctors told him it was instant. That she broke her neck when she was tossed against the traffic signal pole. That she didn't feel any pain.

Riiiiiing

It didn't make her loss any easier.

Hey hey! You've reached Darcy, or Special Agent Lewis if you're nasty. You know what to do at the beep!

BEEP

He hit the end button and dialed again.