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Darcy Lewis’s day started as normally as usually did, well as normal as any day could when working for SHIELD. She had gotten up, washed, dressed and downed copious amounts of coffee. She had arrived at the office at 8am and started to sort out the mountain of paper work on her desk. As she only worked in the finance office in the mornings, her afternoons where spent in the Labs geek wrangling, she had a lot to get through. Like most of her days it was very normal and very mundane.
However her day ended with an explosion, with her embraced in a pair of green arms, surrounded by half the Avengers and a member of the finance department twitching on the floor.
Clint slowly approached the couple. The Hulk had backed them up into the corner of the room; his body hunched protectively over Darcy’s shielding her from view. The floor was covered in debris and rubble, one of the lab benches was in two jagged pieces and the remains of Bruce’s lap coat was peeking out from underneath.
“Darcy are you ok?” He asked his hands rising in, what he hoped, and a non-threatening manner.
The response he received was not from Darcy, but instead from the Hulk as he growled at the unconscious body on the floor and further curled his body around Darcy.
*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/
It was a widely held belief that Darcy Lewis was raised by Hippies. It was assumed by most that this happy and unconventional upbringing had led to her eccentric taste in clothes, music and pop culture and was also in direct relation to her loud personality. Her wild child parents had obviously been too lax with her, causing her to lack direction and cause her to frequently change majors in order to pursue her dreams.
This belief was incorrect and was far from the truth.
Instead of 70’s throwbacks she was raised by a normal suburban middle class set of parents. It wasn’t that they were bad parents, she wasn’t neglected or abused, it was just that they were emotionally distant. Instead her father worried about his work and preventing her mother from finding about his mistresses and affairs, whilst her mother kept up appearances amongst her friends and various neighbourhood committees.
This preoccupation meant that she was mostly left to her own devices whilst growing up. She never saw much of her father as a child. He worked as the CEO of a medium sized car rental company which allowed him to travel across the country. Allowing him the perfect excuse in indulging in his extramarital affairs. Her mother, although not a full blown alcoholic, was usually found with a glass of wine in her hands. Although doing the best she could Darcy’s mother was emotionally distant and was not one for physical displays of affection. Her early memories were of her playing quietly on her own in her bedroom with her dolls house.
Her high school career was not much better. She was always deemed too quirky, too different to be accepted fully by her peers. Due to puberty hitting her early and been overly generous, she was accused of being a slut by her peers. With the girls spreading nasty rumours about her and stage whispering snide nasty comments behind her back every time she walked past. The boys however showing enough interest in her to gain her confidence and except their invitations for dates. It took a couple of these dates ending with the guy forcing his hand up her top and his tongue being forced into her mouth for her to realise that they were more interested in her body than her.
This theme was further highlighted when she went out, with lecherous looks being sent her way. With men odd all ages thinking she was fair game due to her breast size. At the age of 14 she raided her father’s closet and ‘borrowed’ his sweaters and jumpers. Whereas all the girls in her school choose to wear provocative and fashionable clothing she instead choose the hide her feminine curves in oversized tops and sweaters and loose fitting jeans. Instead of preventing further insults the bullies to added words like hobo to the collection of insults aimed at her.
School was a lonely period of time which taught her to be self-sufficient and not to rely on others. Her singular graduation present from her parents was an iPod, her father missed the ceremony and her mother forgot to take any pictures.
College however taught her how to put on a loud front. Her buxom appearance was no longer something to be sneered at and could be used to her advantage. College allowed her to reinvent herself in a way that was socially acceptable. Clothes once intended to hide her bust now had another function, allowing her to express her individuality as a shield. For the first time in her life she had friends that different judge her for being different her eccentricities were encouraged. She went to parties, to concerts which started her obsession with music and filling her iPod was a broad range of genres and styles. Drawing her out of her the shell that high school forced her into.
However there was always a voice in the back of her head that told her to avoid people. It was ok to joke and go drinking with them but it was as though she had an invisible bubble around her, which allowed her to keep a physically distance. Her loud and occasionally abrasive personality acted as a shield and avoid physical contact.
However this carefully constructed persona was almost came crumbling down during a date with a guy from her intro to English literature class. It wasn’t as though he was doing anything wrong or untoward, he had simply tried to hold her hand whilst walking her back to her dorm from the coffee shop, however she had freaked completely out. As soon as his hand connected with her skin her heart started to pound and not in the typical sexually motivated way romantic dates often cause.
Instead her heart started to race painfully in her chest and her brain started screaming at her to run, to move, to get away from this foreign and unwanted touch. Yet her body was frozen to the spot her legs, her body, unable to follow her brains desperate commands. Her date fortunately had noticed her reaction and removed his hand; he finished walking her back to her dorm and apologised. He did not ask her out again.
Her roommate Chloe, a psychology major, diagnosed her as suffering from Haphephobia - the fear of being touched. With its symptoms presenting themselves similar to that of other phobias. Chloe explained that although the condition was often triggered by a trauma, sometimes sexual, that was not always the case. With some sufferers often not knowing the cause.
After months of self-imposed isolation, and amateur counselling sessions from Chloe, she had agreed to go out with her roommate for her birthday. It was a Saturday night and the bar was packed. She had kept her cool for most of the night by taking deep breaths and avoiding all physically contact. She had a couple of guys trying to come onto her which she politely refused before stepping outside in order to get some air. Unfortunately a drunken moron had decided to follow her outside and was unable to take no for an answer. A few screams later her friends had come to her aid and she escaped with nothing more than a few harsh gropes to breasts and a hand half way up her skirt.
All the progress that she had made since her date was destroyed and she was back to square one. Her roommate suggested that she find a way of making herself feel safe around others. A quick Google and a fairly large dent in her credit card, she had purchased her first Taser.
In her last semester she was given a choice by her course advisor, as she was 6 credits short of graduating she could either take a physical education and a science class or she could take an internship. Two weeks later she found herself interning in New Mexico for a tiny geek.
The internship itself was easy, she mainly filed and fed Dr Foster a combination of Pop Tarts and caffeine, and for the first time in her life she felt relaxed and at ease. The voice at the back of head quietened down as there simply was very few other people around and no threat of accidental touches. This changed after Thor God of thunder has landed at their feet, her tasing of previously mentioned god, and SHIELD relocating them to New York after the battle of Manhattan.
SHIELD don’t really know what to do with her. She has no real job experience except from geek wrangling and has no real scientific knowledge and they can’t get rid of her as she knows too much. Instead her time is split in the labs filing and insuring Jane is fed and full of caffeine and three mornings a week in the finance office. It’s different than New Mexico and all the people set her teeth on edge.
Although being loud and friendly and making sure that her presence was felt in the labs she avoided making any true friendships.
/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*
She was just checking through some acquisition forms for lab supplies for Dr Banner, when Paul approached her cubicle to drop off some paper work.
There was just something about him the automatically put her in a state of unease. Although he had taken her refusals of dates with him with seemingly good humour, it had not prevented him from leering at her breasts and ass whenever he thought she was not looking. Although she could not prove anything, she suspected him responsible for some unflattering rumours about her spreading like wild fire through the office.
“Hey Darce” the over familiarity and shortening of her name made her uncomfortable. Subconsciously she moved back on her chair, angling her body away from him, as he placed his hand on her desk so that he towered over her.
One of roles in the finance office was dealing with the financial paperwork that Bruce and Jane produced. Paul fulfilled a similar role for some of the other labs for the more general and less specialised research. He had been with the SHIELD for a number of years, due to his father working higher up in the ranks putting a word in for him, but had never been able to progress any higher in the ranks than his current position. Despite this, his longevity within SHIELD had left him arrogant and with a reputation as being a womaniser.
She greeted him in return and they chatted for a bit before he took a lingering gaze at her chest and left. This light hearted banter was something she could do. Something that she taught herself in college which allowed her to appear normal and to deflect attention away from the real issue.
She finished in the office at 1 and made her way to the canteen in order to pick up some food for Jane and Bruce. Despite his Hulk persona, she didn’t feel threatened by Bruce. She had never seen him ‘hulk’ out but had seen footage of these incidents during the mandatory SHIELD orientation. Despite this, Bruce always went out of his way to put her at ease.
Jane’s and Bruce’s Labs where next to each other so she often flitted between the two, making sure that before scientists where well fed and got enough sleep. Bruce was always kind to her, taking her eccentricities in his stride and never looking at her like a sexual object. She had debated asking him out for a coffee, not in a romantic date way, just as friends. Not that she didn’t find him attractive, she did have eyes after all, it was just that she couldn’t imagine a romantic relationship with anybody not with her condition. So she buried her feelings and decided to be content with his friendship instead.
Bruce was always careful around her. Due to his own condition he was hyper aware of his own proximity to those around him and actively avoided initiating any touches with those around. If he was aware of her phobia, which she did suspect, he kept it to himself. Like with everybody else he was highly respectable of her personal boundaries, but he did occasionally look at her with understanding whenever she flinched when someone brushed past her in the lab.
She gotten into the Labs around her normal time and placed coffees in front of her favourite scientists. Due to her distraction she didn’t notice Paul entering the Lab behind her.
“Just one date Darcy” Paul whispering into her ear making her jump. His proximity caused all her old fears to resurface; she felt her heart begin to race, cold sweat started began to bead on her forehead and the muscles all other her body froze in terror. She was not sure how but she was able to turn to face him adamant that she was not going to wither away from him and show fear.
“Girl like you Darcy needs a real man in her life, I know what to do with that delectable little body of yours” His hand began to reach up to caress her face.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Bruce tense and start to move over to her. She wasn’t sure if it was just the lightening or her imagination but she could have sworn that his eyes flashed an intense shade of green.
“Yeah I do … but I like my men seriously cut and not be a creepy douchebag and you don’t count as either of those” Her impatience of his repeated pick-up lines allowing her to mask her fears with her trade mark snark. Paul’s face lit up with anger before being quickly replaced with a smarmy smile. He was about answer when Bruce called out interrupting him.
“Darcy, Have you seen yesterday’s test results?” he called over to her from the other side of the room.
“Yeah they’re in that pile over there” She replied, thankful for the distraction and excuse to move away from Paul.
She turned her body towards Bruce in order to escape to the safety and concern he seemed to radiate. Because of this, she did not see Paul reach out to grab her arm and pull her roughly around to face him, completely unfazed by Bruce’s presence in the lab. His grip tightened around her arm, his hold tight enough to send a flash of pain up her arm.
“Look here you little slut…”
Instinctively she reached into her purse with her other hand for her Taser. Before she had time to think or even to consider her actions, the Taser connected with Paul’s chest and her finger squeezed the trigger. He went down with a shocked yell collapsing onto the floor.
“You bitch!” he managed to choke out whilst convulsing, his body curling up into itself.
He reached out a shaking hand to grab at her ankle, his hand connecting with her flesh just as a fierce roar erupted from behind her.
She quickly turned pulling her leg away from Paul, to find herself standing in the shadow of the Hulk. He was emitting a slow and fierce growl, however he was not looking at her instead he gaze was fixed on the now terrified quivering mass on the floor. He reached out with a massive hand and grabbed Paul by the back of his shirt and threw him across the room. He connected with one of the lap benches causing it to crack and split down the middle.
The Hulk looked down at her expectantly, ignoring Jane and the other lab technicians who were already calling in the code green.
“DARCY OK?” His voice came out as a low rumbling growl. Instead of the anger and rage the others in the room assumed would be aimed at her, his face showed nothing but concern for her.
“Yeah” She breathed out, her heart still racing with the excess adrenaline that had flooded her system when Paul’s hand had made contact with her skin.
Suddenly the lab door banged open and armed shield agents swarming into the room being led by Clint in full battle gear with his bow raised pointing at the Hulk.
“Miss Lewis move away from the Hulk and come to us” Said one of the interchangeable agents reaching out to grab her.
She was in a state of shock tears where now streaming down her face barely registering what was going around her. The Hulk sensitive nose picked up on the smell of her fear his growl aimed at the agents getting louder. Not fully realising what she was doing, she turned to the only person in the room in which she felt safe with. She closed the gap between her and the Hulk and wrapped her arms around his broad chest.
One strong arm wrapped around her middle pushing her face first against his strong muscular chest lifting her off her feet. His free arm swinging out hitting an agent that had gotten to close causing his body to fly across the room. He growled at the others whilst backing himself and Darcy into the corner of the lab, his excessive weight causing indentations in the floor after each footstep.
His back connected with the wall and he slid down curling his body around Darcy’s until most of her body was hidden from view. Despite the loud growls and being surrounded by his touch she did not feel threatened. His touch was neither alien nor unwanted. The normal anxieties and fears which usually blossomed when she was touched didn’t surface. Instead his touch made her feel safe and secure.
“Darcy are you ok?” She heart Clint call out, his words barely audible over the thundering of Hulk’s and her own heart. The Hulk’s responding growl vibrated through her body making her bones shake.
“Darcy, I need you to tell me that you are ok” Clint repeated, his hands still in front of him in a placating gesture. His bow hanged loosely from his right hand and his arrows where in their holster strapped to his back.
Again the Hulk growled and the sound of gun safeties clicking off echoed throughout the room.
“Darcy?” he repeated again, more of an order than a shout.
His sense of urgency punctured through the cocoon of warmth and safety of the Hulk’s arms. She shifted in his arms and arranged herself so that her face was visible above one of his massive arms.
“Yeah I’m cool” She managed to say with more confidence than she felt.
“You sure?” He asked not sounding totally convinced.
“Yeah perfectly fine” She answered, proud that her voice didn’t waver.
“Darcy what happened?” Clint asked, however it wasn’t Darcy that replied.
“Man hurt Darcy, Hulk hurt man” The Hulk ground out.
“Is that right Darcy?”
“Yeah” Well it was close enough to the truth she thought.
“Ok then we don’t have a problem then … Agents stand down and leave the lab” Clint ordered. The other agents looked at him quizzically but followed his orders regardless.
“You did a good job keeping Darcy safe but it’s time to let Bruce come back” He stated once the room was empty apart from the three of them. Jane and the other techs where ushered out silently when Clint and the agents arrived.
“Darcy safe” The Hulk growled out.
“Yeah Darcy’s safe now” Clint confirmed.
“Darcy safe” he repeated. She felt a shift in the arms around her. She watched as his skin turned from green and turned back to its original soft pink. Her bum collided with the floor as the Hulk’s large thighs were no longer there to take her weight. More and more the room became visible; her eyes connected with Clint’s as he nodded towards her and left the room.
As Bruce came back to himself he loosened his grip slightly. So that she could easily break free if she wanted but his remaining hold is enough to reassure and comfort.
Bruce’s eyes stared down into hers full of concern and warmth.
“Thank you” She said at a loss of anything else to say that could express her overwhelming gratitude towards him.
“Anytime”