Work Text:
Bucky opened the coffee shop in the DUMBO area because he wanted to be near artists. He felt at home in an artistic neighborhood because of Steve. Before The War, Steve and Bucky spent many nights in, with Bucky reading and Steve drawing. There weren’t a lot of subjects around for Steve to practice with, so there ended up being a lot of portraits and body part studies done of Bucky.
Bucky likes it when he sees artists at his shop editing photos or working on their digital art. If he’s lucky someone will be working on a drawing while they’re enjoying their half-calf, oat milk, latte with no whip, and their choice of flavoring, usually vanilla or salted caramel. They often tagged his shop on Instagram with a photo of only part of a drawing or painting taken to make it look casual even though the artist took five minutes to set up the shot. The photos were always accompanied with some comments like, “the lighting @Brewspiration was perfect for a morning latte with a side of edits to my latest piece.”
The early mornings involved in owning a coffee shop weren’t a bother for someone that was awake anyway. And since he needed to sample the offerings he wasn’t short of caffeine for the morning.
Just a few minutes after opening the store one Monday he heard a woman come in talking on the phone. Bucky was in the back but it sounded like that woman was not happy with someone who she kept calling “not-Ian.” Bucky made it to the counter and took a good look at her. She had raven-colored hair and fire-engine red lips. Her porcelain skin topped off the look he saw many artistic women trying to pull off, whereas this woman was gorgeous.
She looked up and took a breath as she was about to rattle off her order but stopped before she got going.
“Oh,” she exclaimed. “You’re Bucky. Sam and Steve’s friend.”
Bucky cocked his head and tried to place her. She wasn’t calling him the Winter Soldier, but she obviously knew who he was.
“I am friends with both, it's true,” he replied.
“I’m Darcy. My old boss, Jane, used to date Thor. I had a couple of adventures with them a while back.” She stuck one hip out and gestured with her hands, phone in one of them with someone trying to get her attention on the line.
“More recently, though, I went through this thing with Vision and Wanda. With all the contacts we have in common, I feel like we should have met before.” She thrust her hand out.
“I’m Darcy Lewis.”
Bucky shook her hand, “Bucky Barnes.”
Darcy smiled at Bucky and her eyes gleamed brightly. She gave him her business card after her complicated coffee order.
“I have to go try to get my intern to not fuck up my lab. Call me though. Let’s get a coffee,” she said with a giggle.
Bucky watched her walk out, feeling as if a tornado had just gone through his shop. But he also felt like that tornado would make him happy if he let it. He put her card in his jeans pocket and made a mental note to call her after Tiana got to the coffee shop that afternoon to take over. He smiled and greeted a new customer as they walked in the door. It shouldn’t be a surprise that he met someone with a connection. They were made all over New York every day. He had a feeling this one was one of the best he would end up making in his shop.