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It was witnessing Darcy Lewis kneeing Agent McKenzie in the groin was what got his attention. Then it was the subtle fist bump Natasha gave to the young brunette as they walked away from a curled up Agent McKenzie was what intrigued him. And the sight of Barton giving her a low-five and Coulson patting her on the top of her head with a small smile on his face after news of the kneeing incident broke-out was what ignited his curiosity even more.
He’d never met anyone so carefree, someone who could light up the place with her cheery attitude whilst simultaneously annoying everyone with her dry humour. Darcy could put Tony Stark in his place without threatening to kill him with her thighs (although to be fair, Darcy did threaten Tony to have Natasha kill him with her thighs), she would entertain Barton with his Nerf war shenanigans and almost beat him every time, and she would drag both him and Steve and sometimes the rest of the team for a movie night which mostly comprised of Disney movies and SpongeBob Squarepants.
They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Bucky didn’t realise how close to home that phrase was. He was falling in love with Darcy more and more every day because it wasn’t just her wit and her charm that drew him to her; it was her delicious cream pies, petit fours, chewy chocolate chip cookies that had him head over heels for her. Darcy knew exactly when and how to cheer him up; after a tough mission or after he had a small argument with Steve, she’d drop by his desk and hand him a brown paper bag filled with delectable pastries or leave a plate of goodies on the communal kitchen table.
He didn’t know how to go about this particular situation. He was constantly internally debating whether or not Darcy would want to go out with him given his metal arm and all that. Most people would shrink away in repulsion, and although he knew Darcy would smack any of the junior agents on the head if they ever looked at Bucky and his metal arm the wrong way, he still was worried she just looked at him as a friend. He’d heard Tony mentioning the word ‘friendzone’ and after finding out what it meant, he didn’t want to be ‘friendzoned’ by Darcy. He didn’t think he would be able to take that kind of rejection.
But all that fear was instantly washed away when Darcy suddenly came rushing over to him holding a bouquet of red roses and kissed him on the cheek. He was still slightly stunned as she gave him a hug and told him to pick her up at 7 and turned around and literally skipped away. That was until he received a text from Natasha that read, “You’re welcome.” He tucked the phone away with a smirk and logged onto his computer looking for a good restaurant to take Darcy on their first date.