You stayed with Steve in the coffee shop until it closed, forcing you back onto the dark city streets. Enjoying a break from the stress of the past two days, you had stayed in the comfortable coffee shop chairs, talking about anything and everything, from favorite movies to family histories. You listened to Steve talking about how when he came out of the ice, all his family had long since passed away and the avengers had become his new family. He smiled fondly telling you stories of past missions and even practical jokes played on each other around the tower.

It was clear how much he loved his team. The old you would have been jealous of the strong bonds and support system he had been able to make, but your desire for those kinds of connections were long gone. They only led to disappointment. At least, that's what you told yourself.

When he started asking questions about your family the conversation halted. Not wanting to go too much into detail about that particular aspect of your personal life, you gave him the short version of the story. You explained how your parents had split, when you were in middle school. They had been constantly fighting and to you it had felt like the divorce was a long-time coming. Even so, it had been your first time seeing a relationship fail and hadn't exactly boosted your confidence in ever having a successful monogamous relationship of your own.

You knew there was much more to the story in terms of your current relationship with your parents but you weren't ready to share that. Thankfully, Steve hadn't pushed the subject.

As you had stayed at the coffee shop until it closed it had gotten quite late. You decided to take Steve up on his offer to stay in one of the tower guest rooms for the night. It obviously wasn't your first choice but you had lived in New York long enough to know that it wasn't a good idea to take a subway from Midtown alone at this hour.

The conversation with Steve continued to flow naturally as you walked side by side on the city streets all the way back to the living room of Stark Tower. The awkwardness had long since dissipated and you felt the familiar relaxation and comfort in his presence that you had felt on the night you had met.

Too tired to even take off your jacket you flopped down on the couch, your head resting on the pillows piled together in the corner. Steve walked to the opposite side of the couch where he stood resting his arms on the top casually. You blushed noticing the way the movement defined the muscles on his arms even through his jacket. Steve leaned over the back of the couch slowly, moving closer to you when a familiar voice called out to them.

"Hey, you guys made it back! I thought you had left without saying goodbye!" Peter made an exaggerated pouty face followed by a smirk when he saw Steve move away from you standing back up straight.

"Oh good, I'm glad you're here. Maybe you can talk some sense into her," Steve chuckled, eyeing (Y/N), knowing this comment would get a rise out of her. He couldn't help but find it cute when she was annoyed, eyebrows furrowed and the bridge of her nose creased together. Seeing the current look on her face he wasn't disappointed.

"Uhh hello Steve, I'm right here." You added a little sarcastic wave, ticked off that he was talking about you like you weren't there.

Steve knew he shouldn't but couldn't help himself from leaning over the couch again placing a quick kiss on your forehead before heading back towards the long hallway that led to his room.

"Of course, (Y/N). Peter, can you make sure she finds one of the guest bedrooms?"

Your mouth hung half-open in surprise, too frazzled by the fact that he had just kissed you to say anything. Peter's smirk continued to grow seeing the interaction.

"Yea, of course," Peter replied, nodding in Steve's direction. Seemingly satisfied that you would be taken care of Steve continued towards his bedroom, calling out over his shoulder as he went.

"Goodnight sweetheart, see you tomorrow."

Finally snapping out of your daze you yelled after him.

"I'm not your sweetheart!"

He didn't turn around or say anything back but you could have sworn you heard a low chuckle before he disappeared out of sight. You groaned in frustration and stared at the ceiling as Peter walked over to the couch sitting on the opposite end.

"Well it seems like that conversation must have gone well," Peter laughed, clearly amused by Steve's flirting with you.

Turning to face the boy at the end of the couch you remembered something that made you slightly angry. Grabbing a pillow from the large pile behind you, you threw it at Peter who dodged it easily.

"Hey, what was that for!?"

"You totally ditched me!" you cried out before switching to his queens accent and repeating the words he had said to you mockingly. "I'll be with you (Y/N) we can tell him together, you're gonna get through this I promise," you continued to glare at him.

"You said part of this whole friends thing is trusting each other, and then the first promise you make you break a day later!"

You weren't really mad at Peter but he had lied to you. You didn't blame Peter for leaving you alone with Steve and given that everything had gone well you knew you would never hold it against him. But he had promised you he would help you tell Steve and then left you to deal with him on your own, and you were enjoying your revenge watching him squirm under your gaze.

"I'm sorry, I know I promised you I would be there. I just thought it would be better if you two talked alone. Steve would never hurt you and I was right upstairs if anything went wrong you could have come up and got me."

Peter had scooched over to your side of the couch, his hand was resting on your knee gently but firmly. His hazel eyes were boring into yours imploring you to understand his point of view. Deciding you had made him worry enough you cracked a smile picking up your foot and nudging him in the stomach. He smiled back swatting your leg away in return.

"Steve told me he wants to be involved with the baby and asked me to move into the tower," you stated, filling him in on what had happened.

"See I told you he would take it well!" Peter smiled, clapping his hands together and rubbing them back and forth excitedly.

Rolling your eyes you stretched your hands back through your hair twisting it up quickly into a loose bun with a scrunchie.

"I still don't know if it's a good idea. I just have such a hard time saying no to him, with those eyes and that smile..." your words came out lazily at the end as your mind wandered to the man only a few doors down from you. Something about him made you feel so at home. You told yourself it was just his good looks but deep down you knew it was more than that.

"Yea you know not being able to say no to Steve is what got you in this situation in the first place," Peter retorted, pulling you out of your daze.

Laughing at his joke, you leaned your head back onto the pillows behind you. Peter had a great sense of humor and you couldn't help but notice how easy it was to talk to him. Not to mention, the humor kept you from having to talk about yourself which you always greatly appreciated.

"But seriously (Y/N), why wouldn't you move in?"

"It's complicated," you replied shortly.

"Well uncomplicate it for me because from what I can tell it's the perfect solution," he argued. "Think about how great it would be to have the father of the baby around all the time. You guys could be a real family."

Sighing and looking at the boy across from you, you thought about how to explain what you were feeling in a way that Peter would understand. So much for not having to talk about yourself.

"I don't think a real family will ever be in the cards for me, Peter. My parent's relationship was a mess, they tried to make it work for me and it only made things worse," you explained, tugging on the sleeves of your sweatshirt slightly. "Steve can still be as involved as he likes without us living together, it just puts too much pressure on everything. If something bad went down between Steve and I the baby would be caught in the middle and I can't risk that."

"But who says anything bad would go down? Why are you so convinced that it would never work?" Peter pushed, wanting to know more.

Lifting your head off the pillow you looked into his confused eyes knowing he would see the sadness in yours. Deciding being vulnerable was the only way to make him truly understand, you sat up a little straighter, choosing your words carefully.

"Because Peter, in my experience these things never work. I've lost count of the number of times I've mended my heart just for it to be broken again. Every time it breaks I find a way to put it back together the best I can. But with each break I've lost certain pieces making it harder and harder to fit all the pieces back together. It feels like I have these holes all over my heart, and it's walls are too thin now, barely holding it together. One more break and it will all just crumble and fall apart and I won't be able to put myself back together at all anymore."

Peter stared at (Y/N) as she spoke, seeing she was hurting much more than he had previously realized. It was clear her ex had done a number on her and from the sound of it, that fiasco hadn't been the first time her trust had been broken.

He couldn't imagine the things she must have experienced to make her so convinced that all people would hurt her in the end. He had known she was hesitant about agreeing to be friends with him, but he figured that her emotions were all out of whack having just found out she was pregnant. The situation was obviously much more complex than that. Even now when she was sitting on the couch next to him he could feel that she wasn't really there a hundred percent. All he could do was take solace in the fact that she was sitting and talking to him still, taking baby steps towards trusting someone again.

"Look, I don't know what you've been through so I'm not going to tell you that what you're feeling isn't valid," Peter sighed, shaking his head back and forth a little, momentarily staring at the wall across from him before turning back to face (Y/N) directly.

"What I do know is that life is too hard to not let anyone in. Just because some people let you down doesn't mean all people will. If you don't keep trying to let people in it won't even matter that you didn't give someone the chance to break your heart because you will have broken it yourself. Don't give up on people, (Y/N). Not when they haven't given up on you."