Imagine If You Assembled the Avengers: Volume 1

I Can't Lose You (Stark/Rogers x reader)

It really made it hard to concentrate when he stood over you like he was; his disapproving glare, his arms folded tightly over his puffed out chest, his tapping foot. All you wanted to do was pack your gear in peace, and maybe take a few minutes to yourself to mentally prepare for the mission you were about to start with Steve. Tony couldn't make it any clearer that he was pissed off at Steve for selecting you, and now it was beginning to seem like he was actually pissed at you for accepting.

"Dad, you need to calm down. You're making me nervous."

"Good. You should be."

"If you're so worried about me, then just come with," you groaned, "it's easier to deal with you there than one more minute of this."

"Steve won't let me."

Now there was a statement that you thought you'd never hear in your lifetime; someone not letting Tony Stark do something, much less that someone being Steve Rogers. "I'm sorry, did you say that he won't let you?"

"Don't enjoy that too much," he warned, pointing at you, "he's one of the few people who can get away with that." His brow furrowed slightly at the sight of you zipping your bag closed for the final time, watching as you put on your shoes, then your jacket, and finally throwing your bag over your shoulder and walking towards the door. "I can't lose you," he said in a whisper.

When you turned back to respond, he didn't look like Tony Stark. He didn't have the air of confidence and that smirk that he wore more often than not. He wasn't owning the room, but was rather being swallowed up by it. He looked smaller. He looked scared.

"Well then it's a good thing that you're not going to, right?" you said with a small crack breaking your voice, hoping that he didn't catch the sound and the lapse in confidence. "Dad, please, you need to trust me." You took a few steps forward to close the gap between you, wrapping your arms around him and gasping slightly when he took his grip, so tightly that you worried that he might not let go. "Come on, let's go. See us off."

~~~

"Steve, I swear that if you die, I'll resuscitate you and kill you again, just out of spite. I can't lose you. Not when I'm the only one here."

"I'm not going to die, (Y/N)," he moaned, holding the side of his chest where a stray bullet had lodged in his lung. He grimaced with each breath, and now he began to wince in pain with every step that he took. "Well, maybe not right away."

"Can you make it to the jet?"

"Do I have a choice?" he tried to chuckle, but instead coughed and looked surprised at the blood on his hand when he pulled it away from his mouth. "That can't be good." His legs began to buckle slightly, and despite your tightened grip, the Captain couldn't hold himself up and crumbled to the ground with a yelp as he landed.

"Steve, what did I just say?" you scolded, dropping onto your knees next to him to hold your hand over his wound, trying to make a seal and hoping his lung would re-inflate. "Not cool."

You were stuck. The jet was a few hundred yards away, and there was no way you could carry Steve on your own. Each time that you looked down at him, he was a little bit more pale and his lips were just a little bit more blue. After working so hard to convince your dad that you could handle this, you took the hit to your pride and called him in.

"This is your fault, Rogers," you hissed, "but at least you get the lecture from him this time and not me."

~~~

After what had felt like forever, you could hear Tony's suit approaching. Steve was barely conscious and you had done the best you could with the first aid supplies available to keep him that way. When Tony landed next to you, your adrenaline finally began to drop and you felt a little faint from the shift.

"It's Steve's fault," you groaned, leaning forward and holding your head in your hands. "He gets the lecture, not me."

"That's what you're worried about?" Tony chuckled, leaning down to lift Steve but pausing when he saw the paleness in your face. "Woah, kid. Are you injured?" He almost set Steve back on the ground, but you quickly raised a hand to stop him.

"No, dad, I'm fine. Just exhausted. Go, I'm right behind you." You watched the two moving towards the jet and began to feel well enough to join them after only a few minutes. The closer you got to them, the clearer Tony's voice became, and you couldn't help but smile to yourself as the words became more pronounced and you could make out what he was actually saying.

"You should know better than to bring her to a mission this dangerous, Rogers," he scolded, "and to have just you and her on this job? Really, you need to think about things like this. You're pretty damn lucky that she kept her wits about her, you know that? I mean, of course she did, she's my kid, but it pisses me off that you put her in that position at all. And another thing..."

"Next time, just kill me, (Y/N)," Steve groaned, covering his eyes in frustration. "Just kill me."