Imagine If You Assembled the Avengers: Volume 1

Hello (Wanda Maximoff/Stark x reader)

Based on that one song we all know: Hello by Adele

Hello, it's me

I was wondering if after all these years you'd like to meet

To go over everything

They say that time's supposed to heal ya

But I ain't done much healing

"Hey kid, wanna grab some lunch?" Tony asked you, standing at your desk with his hands deep in his pockets and rocking back and forth on his heels, looking almost nervous. You stared at him for a moment, trying to gauge his mood, but you weren't getting anywhere with your assessment.

"Why?"

"Why?" he chuckled. "Because people need to eat on a regular basis or they die."

"No, I get that," you laughed in return, seeing his body relax with your jovial tone, "I mean what are you up to, Tony? I left the team for a good reason, and you don't need to play babysitter. I'm fine."

Tony put his hand to his chest in mock pain and opened his mouth in shock, "I'm not babysitting! I'm just being nice!" He paused, lowering his arm and shoving his hand back into his pocket coyly, "okay, I see your point. Didn't sound like me, did it?"

"No," you sighed, turning back to your work, "and you don't need to look out for me, Tony. You know that I'm working here only because you insisted that I not disappear completely. I'm not stupid. I know you could find me, so I'm just saving us both the trouble."

"No other reason? None at all?"

Closing your eyes, completely frustrated now, you slowly turned your chair around to face him again. You opened your eyes and gave him a look that would hopefully scare him off once and for all; if you wanted to talk about Wanda Maximoff, you would have just stayed at the tower. "For the last time, no. She knew what she wanted and it wasn't me. I'm fine, Tony. Completely."

"Okay, great!" The sudden change in his tone and volume of his voice made you jump in your chair slightly. His eyes brightened, as did his smile, giving you a quick pat on the shoulder as he walked away. "Because I've got someone to introduce you to, and he's taking you to lunch."

~~~

Hello from the other side

I must have called a thousand times

To tell you I'm sorry for everything that I've done

But when I call you never seem to be home

When Tony returned to the tower that evening after work at Stark Industries, he was met almost immediately by Wanda, and it wasn't anything that he hadn't already been expecting. You had been working with him for nearly two weeks now, and she had met him after each day like clockwork. "She's good, Maximoff. She came to work, she worked, she went home."

"You're lying to me."

"Am not!"

Wanda took a few steps closer to Tony, backing him against the wall but not touching him. She studied his eyes as if she could see into his mind, then watched his expression change from confusion to annoyance at her persistence. "When you're lying, your left eye twitches. We all know that."

"Seriously?" he gasped, slapping his hand over his eye, "you all know?" She continued to watch him as he squirmed a bit, then finally resolved to tell her the truth, accepting his fate. "Okay, she may have gone to lunch...with a guy...that I set her up with." He squeezed his eyes shut and cowered, waiting for the slap that was most likely to come. When it never came, he opened one eye cautiously, then the other, surprised that she was no longer standing there.

When Wanda reached her room, she found herself nearly hyperventilating, finally able to let her tears spill down her cheeks in privacy. She knew full well that she was the reason you had left, and it was her decision to end her relationship with you, but now that it was gone she felt nothing but remorse and loneliness. She didn't know if she wanted you back, or if she was just sad, but either way, she knew that it hurt.

She charged across her room and pulled her phone from the bedside table and began to dial your number but stopped, wiping her eyes and taking a deep breath to clear her mind. She had already called you more times than even she could remember, and there was nothing left that she hadn't already said.

Wanda dropped herself down on the edge of her bed, her body still shaking from the ragged breaths of crying, her eyes and cheeks stinging from the salt in her tears. She cleared your number away and opened her messages, pausing before finding your name. She wouldn't call you again after today, and this would be the last message that she would send. She had to resolve herself to this for her own sake and her own sanity.

I hope that you find happiness and I'm sorry that I couldn't be that for you. I won't call again.

~~~

Hello from the outside

At least I can say that I've tried

To tell you I'm sorry for breaking your heart

But it don't matter it clearly doesn't tear you apart anymore

"Hey, you okay?" Tony asked quietly, putting his hand on Wanda's shoulder as she looked out the window, looking out over the night sky and down at the city below. "You don't have to join us if you don't want to. There's no pressure here."

"I know, but I want to. What kind of a person would I be if I made it difficult for her to come here and be with her friends?" She reached down and smoothed the material of her dress, then tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and straightened her stance, turning to make her way to the dinner planned for your visit. "It may be nice to see her again, and to see her happy. As she was when we met; it's been a long time."

Tony took her hand and escorted her to the dining room, but the route he took passed them by the view of the tower entrance where you were just arriving. Wanda glanced down to the main level door and watched as your driver opened your door to help you from the car, then pulled you in for a hug and a goodbye kiss that was too long for her to watch without feeling a stab in her own chest.

You looked genuinely happy and relaxed, enjoying the company of the man that Tony had arranged for you to meet. How was it that Stark could see what you needed so clearly, when she could not? Suddenly Wanda felt as if she didn't even know you, and it helped her to begin to see you differently.

"Thank you, Tony."

"For what?"

"For knowing what she needed. She looks quite happy now; I'd forgotten what that looked like."

Tony stopped and turned her towards him, aiming her away from the sight of you coming into the building. "Or maybe, try considering that it was rather that I knew what you didn't need." He patted her hand gently and turned her back towards the group, smiling as they entered the dining room full of greetings, laughs, and conversations amongst a team that felt whole again.

"Alright, Maximoff," he sighed, releasing her hand, "go and say hello."