Chapter Text
Steve was correct in anticipating his reliability to train being somewhat lacking. He seemed to be away or simply too busy to spend an hour working with Darcy. They managed a few times though, and she enjoyed it each time, and it seemed like maybe he did too. And then several weeks passed where she heard nothing at all from him, and only faint buzzes around the building that he was off on some mission, though only he and the Falcon seemed to actually be out on said mission. The rest of the Avengers were going about business as usual, or so it seemed. Thor at least said he didn't know what mission it was, just that Steve was in fact away from the building, and Darcy had no reason to think Thor wasn't being truthful. But the notion that Thor knew as much as she did regarding other Avengers somehow seemed odd. But she supposed she didn't really know how the whole Avengers thing really worked.
It was a Tuesday afternoon when she wandered into the lounge for a snack and there was Steve, sitting and eating like it was just another day. Like he did this all the time. Maybe he did when he was here, but it seemed like he'd been gone for weeks.
"Well, fancy meeting you here. Radio silence for like three weeks. Must have been quite a mission." Darcy smirked, she was teasing, she knew he was busy. It didn't mean she wasn't curious about it though, given how little anybody else seemed to know about where he was or what he'd been doing.
Steve looked up, "yeah, sorry. Had to follow the leads. Can't really say anything more."
"I know. Super secret Avengers stuff. All classified. Sometimes I wonder what isn't classified around you." Darcy laughed a little.
"That's classified too," Steve smirked a little before biting into his food.
"What are you eating?" She smiled lightly and leaned across the counter to see what he had.
"Sandwich." Steve kind of showed her the view of the sandwich where it was bitten into. It always gave the best view of what was inside the sandwich. It appeared to be meat and some vegetables on some whole grain bread.
"How healthy of you." Darcy toasted a pop-tart, she just needed a quick snack before heading back to work.
"I try, especially after a workout." Steve had spent the last hour in the gym, where it was nice and quiet.
"You don't really even need to work out, do you? It's just for fun?" Darcy had heard, but didn't really know anything for sure.
"I suppose. Which I should have some time this week, if you're free and want to take a swing at the punching bags again. And on a related note how's Tony been treating you lately?" Steve had set his sandwich down and was watching her.
Darcy smiled, pulling her pop-tart from the toaster and letting it cool a moment on a paper towel. "Tony has been a little better, but Pepper was just through the other day, which usually keeps him in a better mood for a day or two after. I'm sure I could use some more punching bag soon. I've been in there kind of regularly, so some more pointers would be great."
"How's tomorrow around seven in the evening?" Steve figured he would fairly safely be free at that time, unless something really suddenly came up.
"Sounds good." Darcy grinned between bites of her pop-tart, she moved closer to peer again at his sandwich.
"It's pretty good, doesn't take that long to make. Probably more satisfying than that." Steve pointed at her pop-tart.
Darcy stuck her tongue out at him, "it might not be nutritious, but it's very satisfying to my taste buds. It's sweet and junkie, and that's what I need to get through four more hours of science with Jane."
"Fair enough. Just saying, it might actually give you more energy for getting through that four hours of science with Jane." Steve shrugged, he didn't want to push or nag, just offer helpful advice. He could appreciate eating something simply because it was tasty, but if she really did want more energy for getting through her day, there were better options, that didn't taste bad.
"I know," Darcy might have been vaguely pouting, it was the kind of thing her mother would have said.
"I'm sorry, I'm not trying to make you feel bad for wanting what you want. That's not my intent. I just, I don't know, over helping I guess, where people didn't really ask for help." Steve shook his head at himself.
"It's okay. I know there's better things I could eat as a snack, and sometimes I do eat better things. I cook my dinners most of the time, rather than have takeout or frozen meals like some people do. Just sometimes, I need a pop-tart, or something like that." She did feel like she had to justify it, and that it wasn't what she always did. That she wasn't always lazy and junkie and maybe gross, to him.
"I know. I'm sure." Steve felt bad, he didn't mean it in a bad way. He just didn't know sometimes how to say things like that, especially to women, especially beautiful women.
"I should get back." Darcy nodded, and he sighed a little, when she took the rest of her pop-tart and seemed to hurry away with a tiny wave.