Chapter Text
Darcy was sitting in her maths class, trying to listen to the teacher. But it was hard with the overlapping chatter from the other side of the room where sat a group of boys, known widely for being disruptive in the lesson. But this teacher Darcy had was one of those female teachers who seemed like they shouldn't have their job because of their behaviour towards teenage boys they taught. Long story short, this class would be stuck like this for the rest of the year. Darcy hoped Loki would be waiting on her when she left so they could go to English together, which was a nice class and Darcy enjoyed it. Sure, Darcy enjoyed maths and found it interesting, and she also needed it to get into college, but she couldn't learn anything in the class. But no matter what, at least Darcy had her iPod and headphones.
Darcy let out a breath of relief when she seen Loki standing opposite her classroom when the bell rang. "Learn much?" Loki asked as Darcy took out her headphones and shoved them into her pocket. "Nope" She sighed and Loki shook his head. "Bring it up to administration" he suggested and Darcy shrugged, "For them to do what?" she replied, looking at Loki. "They might move you classes" he said and Darcy shrugged again. It was a short walk to English from Maths, which was good for the two considering they didn't really like walking around the corridor.
Poem after poem, that's all they did in English. But Darcy and Loki's teacher was the head of English, so he was actually a really good teacher and a very nice man. Mid explaining Shakespeares "From You I Have Been Absent In The Spring", someone knocked on the door. Mr Lions, the English department head, walked over and swung open the door. "Yes?" he asked. "Mrs Crimble sent me to sit with you" someone informed "Right" Mr Lions turned around and looked around the room. "Sit over there at that free desk" he said, pointing in Darcy and Loki's direction. Darcy and Loki sat at the back corner of the room with a free desk in front of them, to which a tall boy walked to and sat down.
Darcy knew who he was. Pietro was Darcy's best friends twin brother, but the two were nothing alike. Wanda was top of her classes, neat and put together in appearance, and was very well mannered to peers and adults. Pietro, on the other hand, struggled in lessons and most teachers disliked him, and from what Darcy had seen, he was a very angry person in general. Pietro hung around with what Darcy would consider the 'jocks' of the seniors, and they were all pretty mean. Darcy had never spoke to Pietro the few times she had seen him, and she figured she would just continue that way.
Lunch came fast, and Darcy met up with Loki, Wanda and Jane in the library. The librarian was cool with them sitting there during lunch, because she knew they wouldn't wreck the place. "Have you guys thought of colleges yet?" Darcy's stomach churned at the mention. Her parents hadn't shut up about colleges since Darcy had ended her junior year the year before, and Darcy couldn't take it anymore. She didn't even know what she wanted to do in the future, and she was feeling pressured from both her parents and grandparents to apply to colleges. "I applied to a college in England" Darcy lifted her head to look at Jane.
Jane and Darcy met in middle school, when Darcy was admittedly at her worst. She didn't know how to maintain her hair, and her face was just plastered in acne. Jane was very neat, and maintained that neatness all the way to senior year. But Darcy and Jane had been best friends since the day they met, and nobody had came between them. Except Jane's boyfriend, Thor. Thor hung around with Pietro, Wanda's brother, which is how Thor and Jane met. Darcy didn't hate Thor, because he was a nice guy to Jane. She just didn't like how Jane sort of distanced herself from Darcy and the rest of the friend group when they got together.
Darcy didn't say anything. "Darcy, have you thought of one?" Wanda asked, looking at her. "I don't even know what I want to do" Darcy admitted. "You'll find something you like soon, Darcy. Don't worry about it" Loki reassured, patting Darcy's shoulder. Darcy nodded with a smile, but deep down she had a sickening feeling in her stomach that she would never find something she liked, and that she would go nowhere.
Darcy was walking home from the library around nine in the evening. She had went there after school to read up on different degrees she could do, and jobs she could do that might interest her. Walking home, she still couldn't think of anything she wanted to do in the future. It was beginning to weigh on her, and she knew it. Darcy likes science and space, and theoretical things. She likes thinking about things in the universe that could happen. But she couldn't find a job that suited her interests.
Upset and discouraged, Darcy walked through a short wooded area that separated her street from the town. Sure, she could walk along the main road, but that took an extra twenty or so minutes and Darcy was hungry, so she was taking her chances. The woods where a nice, quiet place with a small river running down a ditch off the path. Darcy enjoyed walking through it during the day, but at night it was kind of creepy in a way. But Darcy had walked this route many a times, so she knew she would be fine.
Everything moved so fast Darcy couldn't react. One second she was just walking down a path towards an entrance to her street, the next second she had two tall men grabbing her and trying to drag her down the ditch. Darcy couldn't comprehend what was happening, and her whole body went limp. All she could do was scream, just scream and hope someone heard her. She could hear the men tell her to shut up, but she kept screaming, tearing beginning to run down her face into her mouth. In her head, she begged God to save her and bring her home. She didn't care in what state, but she begged for God to bring her home.
Over her own screaming and the men shouting at her to shut up, she heard someone shout. "Hey!" there was a brief silence. "What the fuck are you guys doing?!" Whoever was holding Darcy must've been scared, because in a flash she was thrown down the ditch and was tumbling towards the river, hitting sticks and stones as she tumbled. Darcy hit the river hard, and her head caught the river bank. She didn't want to open her eyes, she didn't want to move. She heard footsteps of someone coming down the ditch. Despite all the pain she was in, she tried not to move.
"Fuck- Darcy are you alright?". Pietro. Darcy opened her eyes, and noticed her glasses had been knocked off her face. Now she couldn't see. A blurry figure of a man came over her, and all she could identify was the blonde hair. "Darcy?" Pietro asked in a quieter tone. "What the fuck happened?" Darcy choked. "Oh thank God" Pietro breathed and Darcy felt Pietro lift her out of the river. "Where's my glasses?" Darcy asked as Pietro sat her on the side of the river. "I...dont know..." Pietro mumbled, looking around. "What happened?" Darcy asked, squinting her eyes to get a good look at Pietro. Pietro looked at her, "It was Zemo and Batroc" he muttered. "Are they not your friends?" Darcy asked. "Not anymore" Pietro grumbled and looked up.
Darcy was holding on to Pietro for dear life as he got them back up the ditch. Darcy was still soaking wet and sore, and listening Pietro swearing under his breath in his mother-tongue made her wonder what Zemo and Batroc had themselves in for. Darcy knew Pietro was a strong guy, but he was also an angry one at that, and Darcy was now thinking what he might do. Suddenly they were on flat land. "Can I take you home?" Pietro asked. "Can you, please?" Darcy asked. "I'm not leaving you alone, blind and wet to find your own way home, I'm not that mean" Pietro replied.
Pietro let Darcy off his back when he got Darcy's driveway. Pietro took her hand and helped her up the driveway and up the porch steps. Darcy's dad opened the door and frown, "Who are you?" he asked, pointing at Pietro. "And where's your glasses?" he asked, pointing at Darcy. "This is Pietro, Wanda's brother. And my glasses are in a ditch somewhere" Darcy replied. "Look, both of you come in and explain to me what happened" Darcy's dad said and let the pair into the house. Darcy's mother came in and took Darcy upstairs to get her dried, changed and a spare pair of glasses put on. "Your sister is a nice girl" Darcy's dad, Harold commented as Pietro followed him into the kitchen. Harold turned to Pietro, "So, why are you coming home with my drenched daughter who has no glasses?" he asked.
Pietro finished explaining what happened to Harold, who looked slightly shocked. "-so I carried her up the ditch, and I didn't want to leave her to walk home incase she fell, so I carried her home" Pietro finished. Harold nodded slowly, "Why do I never see you?" he asked. Pietro shrugged, "I don't really hang around with her friends. She's at my house sometimes" he replied and Harold nodded. "You're a good man, Pietro. There's not a lot of people left like you in the world" he commented and Pietro smiled. "Thank you for helping my daughter and bringing her home to us. You don't know how grateful we are" Harold said, bringing Pietro to the door. "I'd be grateful to someone if they helped my sister in that situation" Pietro replied and Harold smiled. "A nice man will get further in life than an arrogant one, just remember that" Harold said and Pietro nodded. Darcy came down the stairs, a scar prominent on her temple. "Are you alright?" Pietro asked, looking at her. "I'll not die" Darcy replied and Pietro smiled. "Thank you for that" Darcy said and gave him a hug. Pietro took a second before hugging her back. He said his goodbyes to the family and left, heading home.
The next day rolled around and now Darcy had to live with a throbbing pain in her lower back, a prominent scar on her temple, and new glasses. Darcy's previous glasses had been rectangular, brown, and narrow, and thin framed. But these new ones her mother had purchased for her not long ago were square and black, but they were also thin framed. Darcy figured they would need some getting used to, but hoped the pain and scar would go away.
"Oh here, look at this" Loki said as Darcy met him at the corner of the street. "Loving the new glasses" Loki complimented, then squinted his eyes. "And the scar" he muttered. Darcy sighed, "long story" she waved him off and Loki just shrugged. If she didn't want to talk about it, she didn't have to. The duo began their walk to school, which they would go off route momentarily to get Wanda halfway to school. "Do you think Jane is getting distant?" Darcy asked, looking up at Loki. "I've been thinking that for a while, y' know?" Loki replied in agreement. "Your brother's a good guy, don't get me wrong. I just think Jane's like..." Darcy trailed off, not sure how to word it. "I know what you're on about. It's affecting Thor too. He was talking to me not long ago about not being able to go out with his friends very often because Jane keep asking to go out" Loki explained and Darcy nodded. "I see that".
The pair got to Wanda's house and waited. Wanda came out the front door, followed by her younger sister, Lorna. "Hey Lorna" Darcy greeted. "Hey Darcy" Lorna replied with a smile before walking on. "Pietro has to walk with us" Wanda sighed as she stared at the open door. Pietro came into view, but with the youngest Maximoff sibling holding onto his leg. Anya was latched onto his leg like a koala, which was obviously annoying Pietro. "Annie let me go, I need to leave" Pietro said, shaking his leg. Anya just giggled. Pietro sighed and bent down, pulling his sister off. "I'll be home later and I'll take you to the park, okay?" he compromised. Anya huffed as Pietro set her down. Pietro rolled his eyes and left the house, shutting the door behind him. "Are you sure that's your sister and not your daughter?" Loki asked. "She's got some weird attachment issue to me" Pietro replied, shrugging his shoulders. Wanda and Darcy walked behind Loki and Pietro, heading on towards school.
"Do you think Jane's being weird?" Darcy asked, looking at Wanda. "Most definitely" Wanda agreed, almost glad someone had brought it up. "She keeps like, blowing me off to go out with Thor" Darcy remembered and Wanda nodded. "She keeps doing that to me too!" Wanda exclaimed. "You were telling me about that, weren't you?" Pietro asked, looking over his shoulder at his sister. "Yeah!" Wanda replied. Pietro hummed, "It sounds like, to me, that she's way to absorbed into having a boyfriend. Probably because she's very bland" he commented. "She is bland, isn't she?" Loki agreed.
Darcy, Loki and Wanda were sitting together in the library during lunch that day when Pietro appeared. "Why are you here?" Wanda asked, looking up at her brother. "I seen Jane with Thor, decided to come up and see you guys" Pietro replied and sat himself down. "No surprise there" Loki sighed. "I don't get what Thor see's in her. I really don't" Pietro muttered and Wanda nodded. "Honestly, just let him talk he knows a lot and he's the most honest person I've ever met" she said, looking at Loki and Darcy. "Thank you, sister" Pietro said with a hint of sarcasm before leaning back. "She's bland, has no personality, she's flat in both ways, and frankly, I don't think she has a soul sometimes" he listed. Darcy snorted, "Flat" she cackled, causing Loki and Wanda to giggle.
"Look, all I'm saying is that you guys are cool as fuck and have personality" Pietro said, shrugging his shoulders. "You're like all into witchy stuff" he said, pointing at his sister. "You're like a really cool goth emo and I love that" he said, pointing at Loki. He turned to look at Darcy, "Be fucking for real, you're probably the coolest girl I've met bar my sisters" he decided and Darcy smiled. "So I don't know how Jane mixes in with you three. Sure, she has a nice jaw and all, but is her jaw her whole personality?" the three burst out laughing at that comment.