Chapter Text
Darcy stood behind the bullet proof glass, breathing on it and drawing mustaches at customer face level. The manager really needed to call the heater guy again, because it was day three of cold shifts at the Quick Mart. Luckily for her, it meant a slower shift as well. Fewer people came inside the station to buy things. They opted instead to grab their gas and go.
Darcy pulled her cardigan tight and put her fingerless gloves back on. Soon the scarf would be around her neck again. Maybe she would light some cigarettes for warmth. Jane had better get her butt back on Earth soon. Darcy was tired of keeping time sheets. And being nice to customers. And having to deal with alphas hitting on her constantly. And having to be nice to alpha customers that hit on her.
Speaking of alphas, another hulking mass of one was blocking out her view of the sun. The light shined around his shoulders, leaving him in silhouette. A muscular silhouette. What the frick? His shoulders had shoulders.
Here we go again.
“Paying for gas?” Darcy put on a plastered smile. The whole, ‘What can I do for you’ question had been blown to hell the first week. It seemed no alpha was capable of stopping themselves from asking for a blow job at every chance.
“Uh, yes mam.” The man replied after a pause that left Darcy’s smile strained. Polite. It was not the usual tone for an alpha of his size.
“Which station?” Darcy asked, because the word ‘pump’ was also banned. In the first hour, and the guy had not even been an alpha. Just another douchebag beta. She had dated a few of those.
“Darcy?” The man’s voice went high at the question. Stepping closer exposed his face to Darcy. He was a blond haired, blue eyed piece of apple pie. Way too muscly pie. Ken dolls wished they had than jawline.
“That’s what it says on my name tag.” That was not too sarcastic, right? She hated this line.
The man smiled sheepishly. Was this freaking alpha blushing? Seriously, was he going to be adorable to brush off the creepy ‘use your name like I know you’ gag for hitting on her? What she really hated, was that it might just work. Except that he was an alpha, so screw that. However, Thor did manage to not be a creep. So maybe she should pretend like she was not toting a log-sized chip on her shoulder. Be nice. Flirt back like she kind of wanted to. Not be a hippocrit and prejudge alphas.
Yeah, no.
“Right,” The blonde laughed making his eyes crinkle. “Don’t exactly look the same.” The guy looked down before meeting Darcy’s gaze again. His face and voice were not ringing any bells in Darcy’s head. She hated admitting to herself that it was a little disappointing. “I’m Steve.”
Realization dawned on Darcy as the nose and eyes started to match up with a memory. Those lips. She
felt like a dolt for not recognizing the first guy she kissed. She tried to say something to stop her awkward slack jaw pose.
“Scrawny Steve?” Darcy’s voice pitched high before she cut herself off by clamping her mouth shut and biting her lips. It was a nickname he no doubt did not like. She was screwed. Trust her to drop an awkward bomb on the first civil alpha she had interacted with today.
Steve began his reply with a chuckle and continued the shy act. “Yeah, doesn’t quite apply these days.” He waved his hands in the general direction of his torso.
Is that a ten pack?
“No!” Steve awkwardly covered his abs before forcing his hands to the side. She had not meant to say that aloud. Two more points for her.
“Sorry. Rude. How are you doing?” Darcy tried to go back into casual mode. No big deal. Cute, scawny beta had turned out to be a hulking alpha. No big deal.
“It’s okay. Most people react like that.” Steve tilted his head and looked briefly to her left. “Though, usually they are too afraid to call me scrawny.”
“Yes, well, bullet proof glass can give serious confidence.” Darcy put her hands on her hips and shifted her weight.
“I guess so.” Steve looked back at her. Her face, not her body. Something that Darcy appreciated greatly. Jane was going to get an earful about the sexual harassment her assistant had to endure while Jane had been off in Wonderland.
“I, uh, fix things. Kind of a maintenance job.”
“Like a Mr. Fix It?” Darcy asked. She had suspected ‘overpaid pool boy’ to be on his resume.
“Yeah, it’s not quite like that, but close. We take care of emergency situations.” Steve’s eyes darted and his voice slowed at the last two words. Darcy figured that meant illegal emergencies and the messes probably involved bodies. This made more sense to her, because that was a lot of muscle for cleaning. Not too much muscle for the mob.
“Cool. I used to do science things. Now I do cash handling things. Not too exciting, but it pays the bills. And I’m a shitty waitress, turns out. So here I am.” Darcy shrugged at this. She used to have a job that was cool to talk about. Now, she told people about the weirdoes that came into the store. The weirdos got pretty samey after a while.
“Sciency things?” The blonde man raised an eyebrow at her.
“Yeah. Star Stuff. Hoping I’ll get back to that soon. Boss is—“Off planet. “—out of town.”
“Rogers! I’m not getting any gas out here. Did you pay?” A curvy red head popped her head in the door. She was wearing a black hoodie and cargo pants. The dorky glasses did nothing to hide her pretty face.
Taken. Good. Don't have to think about it.
“Oh, almost. Got side tracked.” Steve waved back.
“Get on it, Rodgers. This is going to cost you hot chocolate.” The woman walked over to the cappuccino machine.
“Twenty on two and one hot chocolate, I guess.” Steve slid his money into the slot. When Darcy opened the tray, she got a whiff of Steve’s scent that clung to the money that had been in his wallet.
It was… not offensive. Kind of spicy. Luckily there was a red head to keep her brain off of that path.
“Well, safe travels and good luck with the hot red head.” Darcy said with a slight smirk once she had made the change.
Steve looked confused before he made his way to the door. Eyebrows tried to meet his hairline before he said, “Work only.” That laugh again. “Have a good day. Bye, Darcy.”
Don’t tell me that.
“Bye, Steve.”
***
“Did she call me hot?” Natasha teased once they were inside the van once again.
“Or, she could have been talking about the cute red headed girl at school.” Steve avoided looking her in the eye.
“Whatever, old man Charlie Brown.” She put the van into gear. “Who was she?”
“A girl from high school.” Yes, those road signs were very interesting.
“Uh huh.” Steve hated that tone. It was such a sibling's voice. Somehow it was both annoying and made his heart ache at being an only child.
“I was kind of always afraid of her.” That was the truth. Darcy had been very intimidating throughout junior high and freshmen year. She was kind of nerdy, but had a way of taking charge in team efforts and class activities. He had also admired her. Darcy did not put up with people being picked on. When she came to their school, Darcy had told Carol that holding someone down to kiss them was creepy and not a funny game. The kids lost interest more than had a moral epiphany. Either way, Carol left him alone.
“Uh huh.” He did not have to look to know there was a grin on her face, but he still checked. Natasha’s smug grin only widened as Steve tried to let the conversation die. His sigh melted into a light chuckle. She won. She always won.
“My first kiss.” He watched her at the corner of her eye for a reaction.
“In high school?” Natasha raised an eyebrow, but kept her eyes on the road.
“Okay, first good kiss.” Carol did not count. She had basically just decided they were going out and assaulted him in class with kisses while everyone laughed.
But Darcy... Yeah she was something else. It had been spin the bottle or seven minutes in heaven or something. She probably did not even remember that. Kissing Scrawny Steve in a closet and being found in a compromising position was probably not the highlight of her school days.
“Oh.” The single syllable rolled around in Natasha’s mouth until it ended in a smirk.
“It was just high school, though. Before muscles and stuff.” The last he added with sarcasm that should have made Natasha proud. She seemed unimpressed.
“Oh yeah. You've clearly been raking in all the mates with those.” Natasha replied. Showing him how a pro handled the art of sarcasm. This topic. Steve would be lying if he did not admit to himself that her comment hurt a little.
“We’re busy. Stuff to do. People to save.” People to not endanger in the first place.
“Doesn't seem to stop your teammates.” This included her, which made the words sting more, somehow. “So back to this girl.” Natasha returned to the topic after Steve tried to distract her with brooding silence.
“Eh, she’s from beta school anyway. Not really interested, probably.” Steve shrugged and hoped that would end it.
“How very old school.” There was a coolness in her tone that made him immediately regret that method of blowing her off.
“Sorry, I really didn't mean—“ Steve tried to ameliorate her sudden foul mood.
“I know. So maybe you should actually consider it before blowing it off.” She softened her tone when she added, “Wasting time thinking it wouldn't work out? Sucks.” Natasha knew this from experience. So to blow this sentiment off would be a further affront to her relationship.
The red head let Steve stew in the silence of that for the rest of the drive.
Well, until they started to get shot at.