Chapter Text
It had been 6 months since the Battle of New York, and Steve was settling in to civilian life as best he could. He didn’t want to live in Stark Tower, though Tony had offered everyone their own apartment in the building, mostly to keep everyone together in the event they needed to assemble again. Steve had a room in the Tower, where he would sleep sometimes after returning from long, exhausting missions, but more often than not he would drag himself back to his Brooklyn apartment. The neighborhood he lived in was not the same from his youth, he knew the memories would be too painful to face there, so he chose an apartment a few blocks down on a nice street and moved his few personal items from before the ice into the space.
Steve had been living quietly, keeping a low profile as a civilian between missions with the Avengers and working on developing his art skills, was even considering getting a dog. He didn’t see his neighbors very often, polite interactions in the hallway seemed to be enough for most people. It was a particularly quiet Friday afternoon, Steve was sitting at his kitchen table shading a scene he had sketched out at the park earlier that morning, when he heard loud barking and cursing from the hallway right outside his door. He walked to the door and slowly opened his door to see a young woman struggling to carry two boxes while keeping a tight grip on the leash in her hand that was attached to a large black dog that was currently barking at a bee buzzing in the hall.
“Damn it, Bear, shut your trap!” a woman’s voice huffed in apparent frustration. She stopped outside of apartment 311, dropped the boxes onto the ground, and began fumbling in her bag for something. She appeared to be in her mid-twenties, had long dark hair that hung in waves, pale skin, and had a curvy profile that left Steve’s mouth dry. The woman continued rummaging in her messenger bag, when the dog suddenly leaped down the hall towards Steve, still focused on the buzzing bee, causing the woman to drop the leash. “Bear! No!” she shrieked.
Steve managed to shake himself from watching her, and snatched up the leash from the ground as it was dragged past him. The dog stopped short, realizing he’d been caught, and began to bark at the stranger holding his leash.
“Bear, I swear to God, I should’ve left you with Emily,” she said as she walked toward Steve, and he could hear the distinctly southern accent in her voice. “Thank you for catching him. I love the furball, but he his such a pain in the ass sometimes!”
“You’re welcome, ma’am,” Steve said, handing the leash over as she raised an eyebrow in amusement, and effectively shushed the still-barking dog.
“Ma’am, huh? And I was told people didn’t have manners in New York. The name’s Darcy Lewis, and it looks like I’m your new neighbor.”
Steve smiled politely, and stuck out his hand to shake hers. “Steve Rogers, 312.”
“Nice to meet you Steve. And you’ve kinda met Bear, my annoying-but-still-lovable puppy. Any chance you aren’t busy? I know it’s putting you on the spot, but I could really use some help moving my stuff in. My friend was supposed to be here to help, but an emergency came up at work, and well...she’s a science nerd, can’t pull herself away.”
Darcy said all of this very quickly, looking at him with hopeful blue eyes, and as a gentleman, he obliged. “M’not busy, I can help you.”
“Oh my gosh, thank you! I’ll totally pay you in food, because I’m one hell of a cook,” Darcy gushed as she unlocked the door to her apartment, pulling her dog inside as Steve effortlessly lifted the two heavy boxes she was reaching for. “Dude, you are going to come in very handy around here with muscles like that.”
Steve chuckled in response, and felt his ears go a little red. He still had no idea how to be around women, although he was getting better with the help of Pepper Potts and Natasha Romanoff. But he had not met someone like Darcy in a long time, in fact she reminded him of the last dame he’d had any interest in, Peggy Carter. He couldn’t decide if that was a good or bad thing. He shook his head slightly and followed her into the apartment with the boxes.
“Oh, you can set those down anywhere in here,” Darcy gestured to the living room area with a sweep of her arm. “I’m gonna lock the beast in my room for now, he likes to run through open doors and I do not need him getting out into the streets of Brooklyn.”
Steve set down the boxes and waited for Darcy to emerge from the back of the apartment where he supposed the bedroom was. Her space was set up exactly like his, so he had a fairly good idea of the layout of the apartment.
After about 3 more trips down to her car, which was packed completely full, they had everything inside. It helped that Steve was able to carry more than an ordinary man could, though he tried to be careful not to reveal too much strength. He didn’t want to raise suspicions about who he was, he’d been able to remain anonymous since the Battle of New York and wanted to keep it that way.
“Lord love a duck, moving is hell. And I hate stairs,” Darcy panted out as they set down their last set of boxes in her kitchen. “How the hell are you not even a little bit winded? Steroids, right?” she asked, eyeing Steve with a joking expression.
Steve just laughed, as he had no idea what to say, or what she was even talking about. “Nope, no steroids ma’am. I’m, uh, ex-military.”
“Okay, really, the ‘ma’am’ thing was cute at first, but now I feel old. So just call me Darcy, yeah?”
“Okay, Darcy.”
“Awesome. Thanks for your help, you probably saved me from having a heart attack right there on the stairs, so hey, you’re my hero,” she said with a grin.
“No problem, glad I could help,” Steve said as he turned to leave.
“Hey, Steve!” Darcy called after him as he stopped in the hall, just before reaching his door. “Any food allergies I need to know about? I was serious when I said I’d pay you in food.”
Steve began to protest that she didn’t need to do anything, that he was helping because it was the right thing to do, when she held a hand up to stop him. “You can either tell me now, or I’ll just keep bugging you. You should know I’m a very persistent person.”
He just smiled at her and said, “No allergies to anything. Welcome to the neighborhood, Darcy.” She turned around with a smug grin, and went back into her apartment as Steve entered his own and closed the door. He spent the rest of his evening finishing his sketch from the park, and began to absently draw, letting his hand move across the page with a mind of it’s own. As he drew, he couldn’t help but think that Stark had been right, his life was a little boring. Well, as boring as getting called out to fight some kind of crazy villain every other week could be. Steve just wasn’t ready to get back out into the world again.
He couldn’t know it then, but with the arrival of Miss Darcy Lewis in his life, things were about to become decidedly less boring.
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“What’s this meeting about, Stark? I’m losing very valuable time at the shooting range, I really wanted to play with my new bow,” Clint Barton asked as he walked into the conference room where the rest of the Avengers were already assembled. He took his usual spot next to Natasha, who was sitting quietly waiting for said meeting to begin.
“All I know is Pepper said to be here at 0900 on the dot, she had someone to introduce to the team. Beyond that, you’re guess is as good as mine. Well, probably not as good as mine, since I’m a genius and everything,” Tony said, sounding every bit his usual arrogant, snarky self.
At this Thor let out a barking laugh, and held a smug grin on his face. “Man of Iron, I do believe that for the first time, my guess would be better than yours, since I do in fact know who Miss Potts is introducing to the team.”
Steve couldn’t help but laugh at Tony’s blank look of shock, for he often teased Thor about his level of intelligence compared to his own, or his girlfriend, Jane Foster. “Looks like the God of Thunder got one over on you, Stark.”
“Whatever.”
Steve chuckled, and looked back down at the page he had been sketching on, which was taking shape as a rough drawing of Bear, his new neighbor’s dog. It had been three days since Darcy moved in, and Steve had seen her briefly, mostly coming and going. She had even brought him a plate of homemade cinnamon rolls her first morning in the building, as payment for helping her move her “shit ton of stuff” as she put it. They had been the highlight of Steve’s week so far, and he had cleaned the plate in about five minutes. Metabolism problems.
He was so absorbed in his doodling, he didn’t notice Pepper had entered the room with a young brunette woman trailing behind her, until someone cleared their throat. Steve snapped his head up, and instantly locked eyes with none other than Darcy Lewis, standing at Pepper’s side, wide blue eyes looking at him in shock.
“Good morning everyone, glad you could make it on short notice. I’d like to introduce Darcy Lewis, the newest member of our team. Since the Avengers initiative is not affiliated with SHIELD officially, and the bulk of the team’s activity occurs here at Stark, we’ve taken measures to make sure you all have the tools you need to be successful. Darcy here is a nurse, and will be assisting Dr. Banner in his medical duties for the team, as well as taking over some of his duties that are in her scope of practice. We’re hoping at that Dr. Banner will have more time to devote to his research, and Darcy will handle all medical needs that she is able. She comes highly recommended, and is a personal friend of mine, so her clearance is no matter.”
“Lady Darcy, it is good to see you again! My Jane has spoken happily of this joyous news for weeks! We are most glad to be working with you!” Thor exclaimed after Pepper finished her explanation of Darcy’s role. He stood from the table and swooped her into a bone-crushing hug, a radiant smile on his face.
“Hi Thor. Ok, hard to breathe...need oxygen -” Darcy managed to squeak out as released her from his colossal arms.
“Wait, you know Thor?” Tony asked, looking very much out of the loop.
“Yeah, I was assisting Jane when he landed in New Mexico. I was the one that dropped him like a bag of potatoes with my taser,” Darcy said, beaming proudly.
“Her weapon of lightning is quite formidable,” Thor admitted, grinning proudly at Darcy as though she were his little sister.
“Well, welcome to the team Darcy,” Tony said, looking adequately impressed.
As the rest of the team introduced themselves to Darcy, Steve was glued to his seat. Had Darcy moving in next door to him been a ploy to have a way to keep tabs on him? Pepper didn’t seem the type to do that, so he chalked it up to coincidence, something he typically didn’t believe in.
When Steve realized the room had grown quiet, he looked up to see everyone else had gone on their way, except Darcy and Pepper. Steve shook himself from his thoughts and found his manners, and went to the front of the room where the women were standing.
“Captain Rogers, this is -” Pepper began, but was cut off by Darcy.
“Captain Rogers, eh? And here you told me you were ex-military,” she said with a teasing grin, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Technically, I was honorably discharged, no longer on active duty,” Steve said sheepishly as he ran a hand over the back of his neck.
Pepper looked between the two of them, trying to figure out exactly what was happening. “I’m sorry, you know each other?”
“He’s kind of my neighbor. You remember me telling you about the guy that helped me move my stuff in and foiled Bear’s escape attempt? Here he is,” Darcy said, gesturing at Steve with one hand.
“So he’s the hot blonde that you -” Pepper began, but stopped when she saw Darcy’s death glare and Steve’s cheeks turn faintly pink.
“And with that, I’m out of here. Gotta go see Dr. Banner, get our stuff set up. Good to see ya, Steve! Later Pepper!” Darcy said as she began backpedaling to the door of the conference room.
Pepper quirked her eyebrow at Steve, who simply shrugged. As if she could read his earlier thoughts, she told him “I had no idea she was your neighbor, I promise. This wasn’t planned at all.”
“No problem, just a funny coincidence,” Steve said. “But I’m confused, how do you know her? And if she’s a nurse, what was she doing interning for Dr. Foster?”
Pepper looked at him with a serious face, and Steve could see her choosing her words very carefully. “I know her from our hometown, I was friends with her older sister. We’ve stayed in touch over the years, and I’ll leave it at that. She’s got an interesting story, but it’s hers to tell, so you guys should talk. It’d do her good to have a friend here; she’s not a city girl, and this is a pretty intimidating team to become a part of overnight.”
“She seems so young, though. How much experience does she have with nursing? Is she really ready for something like this?” Steve wondered aloud.
“She’s 25, and absolutely brilliant even if she plays it down most of the time. Darcy has many layers, every one of them interesting. Yes, she’s ready for this. Again, you should talk to her, I think you’ll find you have a lot in common,” Pepper encouraged Steve, who completely missed the sly look on her face because he was still looking at the door where Darcy had left.
He didn’t know why, and acknowledged that it sounded crazy, but he felt pulled to Darcy, like she was someone he had to get to know. He found himself agreeing with Pepper, nodding his head absently.
“Friends would be good.”