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Darcy’s eyes follow the blond man across the room as he moves to wait for his coffee order.
“You’re staring.” Jane says, not looking up from the small wired contraption she was fiddling with.
“Yep.” Darcy pops the ‘p’ like the word’s made of bubble gum. “What a sight.”
Jane hums not fully paying attention to Darcy.
“Thor’s off world, your loss.” Darcy says with a slurp of her coffee.
“Thor?” Jane looks up and around in confusion.
Darcy pats her hand, “Off world, dear.”
“Right. I knew that.”
Darcy pushes a barely touched panini sandwich towards Jane.
“Eat, my scientific one. It shall give you strength!”
“Eat later. Science now.”
“Eat now. Science, well, also now?” Darcy sighed dragging her eyes back to Jane. “Don’t make me take whatever the hell that thing is away from you until after you’ve finished your no longer hot sandwich thingy.”
“I dare you.” Jane stares at Darcy.
“Jane.” Darcy arches a brow.
“Fine.”
“Love you too.”
Jane takes a few bites as she fiddles with her contraption.
“Still staring.”
“He’s still a sight to behold.”
“You stare at him whenever you see him here. Go talk to him. Dazzle him with your wit.”
“Yeah. That’s likely to happen.”
“Where else are you going to run into him? The lab?”
“No.” Darcy huffed, fixing her mass of curls. “Maybe a bookshop.”
Jane scoffs.
“You never know.” Darcy takes a drawn-out sip of her nearly empty coffee mug. “Okay, but if I ran into the glory of that in a bookshop, I’d die happy. . . oh, and then I could haunt the bookshop, too. . . okay, Jane. New plan!”
As Darcy dreams out loud, a half-asleep man in a stained purple shirt and black apron sidles up to her.
“It’s your lucky day then, Dee.”
Darcy squeaks in an undignified manner, startled by Clint’s sudden appearance at her side. She glares at him, her cheeks tinted pink. Clint’s an incorrigible gossip. And he will definitely tell Nat, another incorrigible gossip. This will not end well.
“Where’d you crawl out of?”
“I’m on break.” Clint shrugs and sips his coffee.
“You know something, Barton?”
“I could use more tips.” Clint arches a brow at Darcy.
“Ha! You’re lucky you make the best coffee in the city.”
Clint chuckles and takes the empty chair at their table, partially blocking Darcy of her glorious view.
“I might know a little something-something about a certain possibly haunted book shop on 66th street. If you’re planning on taking up an additional post to haunt it.”
“Possibly haunted?” Jane asks, suddenly interested in the conversation and not believing a word he says.
“Yeah. There’s like at least two ghosts. They’re—well they’re really annoying. Funny sometimes but mostly annoying.”
Darcy and Jane share a look and Darcy snorts turning back to Clint.
“So, what are you actually saying?”
“Maybe he’ll be there. Maybe he won’t be.”
“But?”
“But I’d check it out if I were you.” Clint grabs the empty cups and crumpled wrapper that once contained Darcy’s Danish. “You two check each other out far too much for you both to not have noticed yet. It’s driving everyone insane.”
“Whatever, dude.” Darcy rolls her eyes, biting her lip to keep her smile at bay. “If this bookshop is real, it’d be worth it to run into him there. Haunted or not.”
“Whatever you say, Dee.” Clint says walking back to the front counter.
“Okay, Jane, new plan. Same plan. Whatever.”
“Darcy. No.”
“Darcy. Yes.”
“Wait, what’s the address?” Darcy looks from Jane to Clint.
‘Look at your phone.’ Clint signs from behind the counter.
Darcy looks down to her phone to see the address and several emojis light up her phone.
“Who put this here?”
“You know who.” A tired voice replies, muffled by the rows of books.
“Dude. You can’t put this here.”
“I can. And I did.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Fix it!”
“There’s nothing to fix. It should go here.”
“No. No, it shouldn’t.”
“Guys.” The tired voice calls out.
“You cannot put Tolkien in the romance section.”
“Yeah. I can.”
“No.”
“It’s totally a romance novel. You’d know that if you ever learned to read.”
“Guys!” The voice calls out again.
“NO!”
“Yes! He goes in every section!”
“Tolkien. Does. Not.”
“Yep. Every one. That’s what everyone wants to read anyways.”
“Oh my god. It’s like arguing with a wall.”
“Guys. Knock it off.” The tired voice shouts.
A barely discernable pair of ‘sorry’s are uttered without feeling. Hushed arguing can still be heard throughout the book shop that finally stops when a book is thrown down aisle slamming into a wall with a harsh thud.
“You done yet?” Darcy asks, tapping the end of her pen against the table top.
“Does it look like I’m done?”
“No. You’re never done. Even when you are, in fact, done.”
“What?”
“You started spouting equations when you were asleep. Remember? I recorded it incase it was something import.”
“I don’t remember that.” Jane eyes Darcy. “There’s no way I did that.”
“You did.” Erik taps his head. “I remember. It was odd. All your equations where correct but they had nothing to do with each other.”
Jane huffs. “Typical.”
“Nah, just proof you need more sleep, Doc.”
“I need more sleep? Or you want to go ghost hunting?”
“Maybe both?” Darcy holds both hands up defensively. “Can’t we have both?”
“Take the rest of the day off, Darcy.” Erik chuckles grabbing the pen from her.
“Really?”
“Yes.” He gives her an incredulous look. “Go have fun with the—ghosts.”
“I don’t think they’re—”
“I don’t want to know. Just call us if you need help or are pulled into another dimension again.”
“Thanks, ma dude.” Darcy bounces on her toes and presses a quick kiss to Eric’s cheek. “And you’ll take care of Jane-y?”
“Yes. Now, go before you convince yourself not to.”
“Alright, alright. Don’t science too hard.”
Darcy bites her lip, checking her phone one more time for address to the bookshop. The entrance is warm and charming. Totally inviting. Not that there was a bookshop that hadn’t agreed with Darcy yet.
The door chimes softly as the smell of fresh coffee and paper flood her nose.
“Yeah. This is a place I could call my forever home.” Darcy mutters to herself.
Not a soul in sight. Only books and a mismatched pair of leather chairs and a purple velvet couch.
Mismatched fairy lights hang crisscrossing overhead, leading to a small stage. A framed chalkboard sign reads: Poetry reading, Tonight 8pm.
Darcy snaps a pic and sends it to Jane and Erik, found my happy place.
She wanders farther into the bookshop when she hears it.
“Was the fair palace door—”
First it sounds like a whisper.
“Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing—”
Now a little louder. The disembodied voice sounded pensive, annoyed even.
“Flowing, flowing, flowing—”
Darcy’s curiosity gets the better of her and she follows the voice, stifling a snort when she hears it curse in frustration.
She hears papers moving and an irritated sigh.
Rounding a corner, she sees the source of the voice. Not a ghost by any means, but definitely something that took her breath away. Before her perched precariously on a stool is a rather large man in a rust colored sweater, his dark hair tied messily in a bun.
“That was really beautiful.”
The man looks up and blushes. “Th-thanks. I’m trying to memorize it before tonight.”
“You’ll get it.”
“I better.” He sighs, his voice dropping low in embarrassment. “It’s supposed to be a surprise.”
“Oh, for who?” Darcy beams a toothy grin at him as his blush darkens.
He hands her his book, an anthology of Poe, open to the poem that he’s struggling with.
“It’s for my boyfriend, it’s his favorite. If I can pull it off, I’m going to ask him to move in with me, too.”
Darcy squeaks out a noise that makes him chuckle.
“I’m Bucky by the way.”
“Darcy.” She replies. “And that is possibly the sweetest thing I’ve heard all month.”
“I call bull, Bucko.”
“What the fuck now, Sam?” Bucky asks, features going neutral.
“No way.” The man referred to as Sam crosses his arms over his chest making himself look intimidating in the small book aisle. “You paid her to come in here and say that. Admit it.”
“Did not.”
“Did too.”
“Did not.”
Darcy snorts, drawing their attention. “You two don’t sound like ghosts.”
“What?” They ask in unison.
A low chuckle is heard an aisle or two over.
Darcy points in the direction of the laugh. “Now there’s your ghost.”
“Ghost?” Sam asks.
“A friend recommended this place, said it was haunted by at least two ghosts, annoying but sometimes funny. I imagine he was talking about you two. You’re not the boyfriend, are you?” Darcy asks Sam as she draws soft lines of graphite in his book.
“Oh, hell no. He wishes.” He chuckles, holding out a hand. “I’m Sam. I can only stand that man as far as I can throw him.”
Darcy takes his hand, offering her name in return.
“What the hell man? You know you can’t throw down like I can.”
“Knock it off, guys.”
“So, is he the ghost then?” Darcy snickers referring to the voice as both men roll their eyes at the phrase they’ve heard far too often.
“No.” Sam seems to pout. “You’d think so, but no.”
Darcy shrugs and hands Bucky the book back. “Here, try to memorize it in chunks, it has more rhythm that way, might be easier.”
“Thank you so much!” Bucky’s face brightens and he wraps Darcy in a quick hug, nearly crushing her. His movements startling her into laughter and cause Sam to roll his eyes.
“Why you gotta hug everyone, man. Some people don’t like it.”
“I don’t mind.” Darcy shrugs with a laugh. “Some people need kindness in physical platonic gestures.”
Sam hums, eyeing Darcy and then Bucky.
“What?” She asks confusion written across her face.
“You thinking what I’m thinking, Buck?”
It takes Bucky a moment, but he gets there. “Oh. Stevie. Yeah.”
“Who?”
“They’d be perfect together.” Sam nods, giving Darcy his sweetest smile. “You’d really love him.”
“No, seriously, who’s Steve?”
“For us to know and you to fall in love with.” Sam arches his brows at her.
“Hey, maybe then he’ll spend less time here giving us a hard time.” Bucky says, nudging Sam.
“Give the lady some room otherwise she’ll never come back here, ya crazy mutts.” Says the voice again, this time closer.
“What?” Darcy asks while Bucky shakes his head and goes back to his book. She looks to Sam who throws his hands in the air in mock defeat.
“We try and we try, Steve.” Sam says, his smirk growing into a full smile. “But we can only do so much for you, old man.”
“This is why business is erratic.” Says the voice, who Darcy is now assuming to be the Steve formerly mentioned. “You two aren’t sharing shifts anymore if you keep this up.”
“Uh oh, looks like you’ve upset the man behind the curtain.” Darcy quips, earning a fist bump from Sam and a chuckle from Bucky.
“Yeah! Good one.” Scott cheers coming around the corner, bowl of orange slices in hand. “Who’s the new girl?” he asks, offering everyone to take from the dish.
“Scott, be cool, man.” Sam shakes his head, grabbing a handful of oranges before walking out of the aisle.
“When am I not cool? I’m cool right?” Scott looks to Darcy, like she’ll back him up.
Bucky chuckles and disappears around the corner before being dragged into it.
Darcy laughs and nods, her words caught in her throat as Steve rounds the corner, rolling his eyes.
“You’re the coolest Scott.” Steve confirms, eyes tired until they fall on Darcy and light up. “Can you finish inventory in the back?”
“Can do Cap!” Scott mock salutes, shoving the large bowl into Steve’s hands as he leaves.
“Sorry about him.” He shuffles his feet a bit, suddenly shy at finding the ‘cute coffee shop girl’ in his shop. “’Bout all of them, really.”
Darcy shakes her head “You must be Steve?” Darcy smiles at the flush starting to color his cheeks.
“Yeah,” He says softly, smile as bright as she knew it’d be. “And you’re—”
“Darcy. It’s nice to meet you, finally.”
“How’d you survive the minotaurs that work here?” He asks, putting the bowl on an empty shelf, his free hand rubbing at the back of his neck.
“I know how to get around a maze with minimum casualties.” Darcy laughs, the sound feeling like a wave of sunshine rippling through his veins.
Steve can’t help but laugh with her. He should have listened to Clint and Nat and talked to her sooner.
“Would you—” He’s interrupted with a tap on the shoulder by a guy with a creepy yet happy smile holding three pizza boxes.
“We didn’t order anything.” Steve says with a confused look. “Wait. Guys? Did you order take out again?”
“No!” Come Bucky and Sam’s reply almost in unison, followed by a late and muffled ‘no’ from Scott.
“Sorry, man.”
“Smells good, though.” Darcy murmurs.
“Eh, thought I’d just say hi. This goes next door.”
“What?” Darcy takes a step closer to Steve.
“Hi. Wade Wilson.” The man says with a sigh of admiration. “Big fan.” And turns to leave.
The door hasn’t shut yet and they hear his voice again from the street.
“Fuck! I got distracted by those baby blues. What was my line? ‘Everything’s better with pizza?’ Fuck it, close enough! Can’t I do it again? Shit!”
“What the fuck was that?” Darcy asks, holding a hand over her mouth as she laughs.
“You keep the pizza, boss?” Bucky yells.
“Or are you two too busy making out already?” Sam sticks his head around the corner waggling his eyebrows.
“Why did I agree to hire you two?” Steve asks, giving Darcy an apologetic look.
“Wanna get out of here?” Darcy slips her hand into Steve’s.
“Yeah.”
“Buck!” Sam yells over his shoulder. “They’re holding hands!”
“Ha! Nat owes me twenty bucks!” Comes Bucky’s voice from behind the stacks of books.
“Coffee shop?”
“Coffee shop.” Steve agrees, his smile faulters. “Wait, do you know Clint?”
“Shit.”