It was a year later when you finally returned to the Avengers tower to begin your new job. Following the party, you had received a call telling you that your mother had been taken ill and subsequently had returned home to be with her. When she passed away a few months ago your father had urged you to carry on living your life and even though to you, this seemed impossible, you were determined to make her proud.
You'd been back in New York a week when you finally got through to Miss pepper pots after what seemed like a million phone calls. You'd explained the job offer you had received over a year ago and the circumstances behind your disappearance from New York and she offered to set up a meeting with Tony himself. She repeated over and over again how she wasn't making any promises and truth be told you knew you were asking a lot from Mr stark. If it wasn't enough that he had offered you an on the spot job after seeing no resume, that you had not turned up for, you were now asking him to give you another shot.
The meeting had taken place out of the tower, you weren't sure why but pepper had assured you that this was standard. You had had a short meeting in the back of a restaurant, separated from the other diners. As soon as Mr stark had heard the reasons for your untimely departure he was more than willing to help. mr stark had definitely changed over the years he'd been iron man, the old Tony would never have agreed to meet with someone so unremarkable, a waitress that he'd spoken to for five minutes let alone find it in his heart to hear her story and subsequently offer her yet another job.
You'd been relieved and ever so grateful when he had decided to help you once more. He explained however that the original position had been filled but he was sure he could find something for you to do.
So here you were, dressed smartly in a black long sleeved dress that sat just above the knee, anxiously playing with the ends of your hair as the lady on reception typed into the computer.
"And you say your here to see Mr stark?" She questioned, peering over the top of her glasses, contemplating whether you were for real.
You nodded and she continued to tap away.
"One moment please" she said finally before getting up from her seat and exiting through a door in the back.
You relaxed your shoulders slightly as she walked away turning your back to the reception desk and taking in your surroundings. It really was an impressive building, so vast. You eyed up the other people in the lobby, most of them smartly dressed similarly to you, others in combat uniform that you presumed belonged to shield.
Maybe you should have put your hair up, that might have given a better impression. Just as you were contemplating rushing off to the bathroom to correct the situation the lady behind the desk returned and handed you a lanyard with a security pass on it.
"Top floor, Jarvis will direct you when you arrive" she explained barely giving you a second glance as she flicked through the magazine on her desk.
"Uhm...thanks" you said, taking the lanyard from the desk and walking over to the elevator.
You walked in pressing the top floor button.
"Please present your security pass" a voice said through the speakers. You looked around a little lost and noticed the scanner by the keypad. You held your pass under the scanner and the doors closed, the elevator beginning its climb to the top floor.
"Good morning, Miss Y/L/N" came a different voice.
You looked around sceptically
"I am Jarvis, here to assist you. Tony is currently in the lab but has asked you wait in the seating area to the right" he continued
"Okay, thank...you" you said unsure if you would get a response.
"Of course miss Y/L/N"
The elevator came to a stop and you hesitantly stepped out taking in your surroundings once more. It was all so familiar and yet unfamiliar at the same time. You walked to the right to find a seating area as Jarvis had described and took a seat on the edge of the chair clasping your hands together.
This was the floor the party had been on all that time ago, it looked the same except without all the 40s Decor. As you scanned the room you remembered the different moments that happened in each place, the dance with Bucky, laughing with him at the bar. Natasha taking you under her wing and that kiss...with steve. You blushed a little at the memory as a door to your left swung open and Tony stepped out. You stood immediately
"Ah, y/n glad you could make it this time" he joked raising his brows.
"Mr stark, of course, thank you again for giving me a second chance" you replied with a nervous laugh.
He weighed it up for a second
"You might want to thank pepper for that" he admitted, but you knew he was just trying to pass on the praise, unable to take it himself.
You nodded, smiling shyly in response.
"So, as I mentioned the original position has, of course been filled. BUT" he said holding his finger in the air as he began to walk obviously expecting you to follow, so you did.
"lucky for you, we're expanding..." he smiled with a shrug of his shoulders leading you to another room to the left of the elevator. Inside it was all white walls, glistening floors just as you'd remembered, but there was a huge desk that sat along the back wall. Glowing with white light and a huge "A" for avengers plastered on the front of it.
"When we first started...avenging" he explained "There were only a handful of us, easy to keep track of..."
You listened intently fidgeting with your fingers.
"But, more and more heroes keep coming through those doors, so I figured we need someone to help with schedules and keeping track of the team." He explained.
"Think of it as a receptionist...but just for the team." He finished.
You raised your brows, wow. This was not what you had been expecting.
"Wow, thank you Mr stark. Are you sure I'm right for the job, I thought I'd probably just be making tea and coffee..." you admitted slightly embarrassed "I don't have much exper..."
He cut you off with a wave of his hand.
"I'm sure there will still be lots of tea and coffee making" he agreed with a smirk
"Dont worry, you're gunna do fine. Pepper will be on call if you need her." He patted you on your shoulder and with that, he was gone.
You'd been on the desk for a week before you saw Steve or Bucky.
They had been out on a mission somewhere in Slovakia with both Natasha and Sam, which had given you time to get to know some of the other avengers and adjust to your new role. It was pretty simple really and to be honest you were pretty sure Jarvis already handled all of the things you were doing. This made you even more thankful that Tony had taken pity on you.
You'd found time to hang out with some of the team who had all been very welcoming. The team now consisted of Clint, Natasha, Tony, Rhodey, Sam, Bucky, Steve, Wanda, Vision, Thor, T'challa, Bruce and Peter although you still weren't entirely sure what his role was within the team.
Clint had taken you under his wing when you first arrived, taking it upon himself to introduce you to the rest of the team. He reminded you of one of your best friends at home, so you'd easily fallen into a comfortable friendship. T'challa didn't stay on site and so you hadn't spent much time getting to know him and the same went for Thor. Wanda and vision had kept themselves to themselves for the first few days but had eventually warmed up to you. You and Wanda had even spent some time watching reruns of friends, much to Tony's annoyance. Tony and Bruce spent most of their time in the labs, which you had been strictly told to stay clear of, but Tony still found time to torment you. He was trying to find you a nickname but was yet to find one he was fully sold on.
Then there was peter. Peter was the kindest and sweetest guy you'd ever met. He was full of enthusiasm and often hung around your desk, obviously bored with half of the team away on missions. He was still at school so wasn't around all of the time but you were always glad when he returned, usually with hilarious tales of his friends Ned and MJ.
Peter was sat on the edge of your desk when the quinjet landed beside the tower.
"They're back" he said simply, grinning from ear to ear.
Your stomach flipped as you realised what he meant by that and you straightened up in your chair causing him to shake his head with a smile.
"Shut up" you said simply pretending to look busy.
It wasn't 30 seconds later when Steve, Bucky, Natasha and Sam exited the elevator and into the new reception of the top floor. You made the mistake of looking up, swallowing thickly as you took in their appearance. The last time you'd seen them they had all been in evening attire and while that was hard enough to resist, this was much much worse.
Steve was in his full captain America uniform, his suit a dark navy with a white star clad across his chest. His shield positioned on his back, his thumbs hooked in the band of his trousers and a small amount of stubble upon his chin.
Bucky was dressed in dark clothing too, his leather jacket revealing his silver and gold arm. His hair was slightly longer than the last time you'd seen him and was brushed over to the side.
Sam was in his full tactile gear also, his falcon wings still strapped to his back and natasha looked incredible in her tight fitting gear, her hair cropped and blonde as opposed to the red hair she'd had at the party.
All of them were covered head to toe with various weapons. A few cuts and bruises littered their exposed skin that was on show. It seemed like it had been a rough mission, Natasha seemed to be limping ever so slightly.
You cleared your throat to stop yourself from gawking turning your attention to peter to continue your "looking busy" approach. Natasha was the first to spot you her eyes widening.
"Only took you a year..." she hummed sauntering over to the desk. You looked up a smile falling over your features
"Hey...yeah, its a long story" You admitted
She nodded in response
"Well I'm glad you finally made it" she offered, turning back to look at the rest of the team
"Look fellas...Y/n is here" she almost sang looking between you and the super soldiers.
You followed her eye-line making eye contact with steve, offering him a small shy smile.
He cleared his throat, his features remaining serious as he approached the desk.
"Miss (Y/L/N)" he addressed you, causing a frown to immediately flood your features.
He placed a briefcase on your desk matter of factly.
"Please make sure Fury gets this. Wouldn't want it getting in the wrong hands" he said curtly with a nod before walking Cooley away.
You were in shock. This was not the steve you had met at the party, this was Captain Rogers. Why had he addressed you as miss (Y/L/N) ? What had you done to deserve that reception? Was he mad that you'd been gone for a year? Did he hate you now? You looked to Natasha, but she just shrugged.
"Hey Y/N" Bucky finally spoke up staying in his position by the door.
"Bucky" you replied your eyes soft, a mix of happiness and hurt.
He allowed a half smile to fall over him before following in the direction steve had gone.
Silence.
"Ouch. I do not know what you've done to piss them off, but I would not want to be in your shoes right now, let me tell you that" said Sam a little too cheerily.
He walked over to the desk to stand beside Natasha.
"its good to see you Y/n" he said with a genuine smile.
"Thanks Sam, I'm glad someone is." You sighed.
"Hey. Two people are" Natasha defended "So half...that's not bad going" she wagered.
Peter let out a small chuckle to the side of her.
"Hey Y/n" Natasha started "Did peter tell you that he's Spider-Man yet?" She said casually, winking at him as she strutted out of the room.
Sam followed obviously just enjoying all the drama.
Peter froze, looking at you.
"Youre Spider-Man?! " you asked in disbelief
"Uhm...No?" He tried.