Chapter Text
Several days passed after Darcy and Steve’s unplanned movie night. The rest of the residents of Avengers Tower returned from their short vacations and the usual rhythm of life of a team of superheroes, scientists, and scientist wranglers resumed.
Darcy was ensconced in Jane’s lab cross checking old data. The diminutive astrophysicist had returned from her Asgardian tour with a single minded determination to improve bifrost travel. Darcy hardly understand one word in twelve in Jane’s emphatic rant about why it needed to be improved; so far as she could tell the problem had something to do with vertigo and being cold. Darcy thought it the objection to it being cold was a bit silly, after all it was called the bifrost. The name seemed to hint at it maybe not being the warmest way to travel. Regardless Jane had demanded six months worth of data to be reviewed, charted, and compared which meant Darcy was up to her ears in Excel files.
If it meant that she hardly had time sneeze for three days, well it also meant that she hardly had time to work herself into a froth over a certain blonde, blue eyed, super soldier. Though her subconsciousness didn’t seem to be nearly as inhibited if her dreams were any indication.
But comparing spreadsheets only can take so much time, and if there was one thing Darcy had become especially good at over her time as first being Jane’s unpaid intern and then moderately well paid assistant, it was comparing Excel documents.
Darcy spun around in her office chair at her desk. “Jaaaaane. I’m bored.”
Jane made a sound that could have been agreement, annoyance, or a treatise on why her coffee was cold again.
Darcy stopped spinning the chair by reaching out and grabbing her desk suddenly. The room continued to swing around alarmingly. “Jane! I. Am. Bored. Also, you need out of this lab, for at least an hour. We haven’t had a proper lunch in days, and I’m starting to worry we’re going to sprout mushrooms if we don’t get a little sun.”
Belatedly realizing that her assistant was speaking to her about something that actually required attention Jane looked up and focused on Darcy. “Bweh?” was her less than intelligible reply.
“Lunch, Jane. Preferably somewhere with sunlight. Bonus points if we leave the tower.” Darcy clarified, impatiently.
“What about the data comparison between Thor’s first visit with the current energy readings and power fluctuations?”
“Done.”
“The charts of energy output for the-”
Darcy smirked and interrupted, “Finished yesterday. Before you ask, I’ve finished every piece of data analyzation and charting you’ve requested over the past three days. And at least four you didn’t specifically ask for but I’m pretty sure you’re going to need when you start crunching numbers. Right now, there is nothing left for me to do, because you need to do big brain science-y stuff. So before you try to fry every circuit in the building with your bifrost improvements we should have lunch. I’m in the mood for Thai, but can be talked around to Indian or Ethiopian.”
“You’re sure-” Jane began, sounding torn between the call of research and the promise of tom kha gai soup and spicy panang curry. Knowing her assistant there would probably even be an order of mangos and sticky rice to share.
Sensing she’d all but convinced Jane that going to lunch was a good idea Darcy got up and grabbed her messenger bag, “Yup! One hundred percent positive. Come on, grab your purse and coat and lets go. It’s late enough we’re probably past the lunch rush.”
“Maybe I should see if Thor wants to join us?”
“Er, actually can we have a girls only lunch? I kind of think I need girlfriend advice.”
Jane blinked, momentarily nonplussed, Darcy needing ‘girlfriend advice’ was rare, “Sure, Darcy, not a problem.” she tossed her lab coat over the back of a chair, put on her jacket, and grabbed her own handbag. “Ruen Pair or Thai Pot?”
“Thai Pot.” Darcy replied as they left the lab, walking to the elevator. “They have better red curry. Walk or cab?”
“It’s sunny, lets walk. It’s only a few blocks away.”
As they walked along Jane told Darcy stories from her trip to Asgard. “And then Sif threw Fandral across the feast table! He cleared the platter of goose, but his foot caught the plate of fish on the way down and roasted trout went flying everywhere! One even landed in Odin’s lap. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Thor look so embarrassed.”
Darcy smiled fondly at her friend, “It’s nice to know even Thor can be embarrassed by his friends. Makes him seem a little less godly.”
“Darcy! That’s not nice!”
“Jane, the man is practically perfect. It’s just nice to know he can be embarrassed in front of his dad by his friends being idiots.”
Jane huffed at her as they opened the door to the restaurant. “He’s hardly perfect. He snores like a freight train and keeps shorting out the toaster.” She glared at her giggling assistant. “And don’t you dare tell him I told you he snores. Not a word Darcy Lewis or I will use you as my human guinea pig for testing the bifrost modifications.”
Darcy mimed being shot in the heart. “You wound me Jane. What sort of horrible friend do you think I am?”
Smirking, Jane swatted her. “The sort of friend who has no problems with using information to blackmail me into giving you a raise.”
“You don’t sign my paychecks. Tony does. Or more accurately Pepper does. So if I want to blackmail anyone into giving me a raise it has to be them.”
“The fact that you are so analytical scares me sometimes. I swear you could be an evil genius bent on world domination if you put your mind to it.” Jane turned to the hostess of the restaurant holding up two fingers. “Two please?”
“I never understood the point of world domination, I mean think of all the work to get there and then you have to spend all your time fending off people trying to take the world back. What’s the point?” said Darcy with a shrug as they were led to their seats.
Their conversation lulled as they mulled over their lunch options and placed their order.
Jane took a sip of her water and asked, “So what’s on your mind. You asking me for girlfriend advice is sort of like a fish asking a cat how to swim.”
“Cats can swim.”
“But not as well as a fish. Stop stalling and talk to me Darc.”
“I meant what I said earlier.”
“You’re going to super glue Tony to a chair the next time he comes down to my lab because he keeps touching your filing?”
Darcy blinked. “I said that?”
“Yesterday after Tony came down and moved something you were working on.”
“Well at least I’m not threatening to taser him. But no, actually I meant it when I said I’m bored.” Darcy took Jane’s expressing of polite bafflement as a sign to continue. “Everyone else in the tower is a superhero or a super genius scientist. I’m the only ‘normal’ person there. And I have to be honest, this isn’t really what I’d expected to do with my life after graduation. I’m still not entirely sure why you hired me as your assistant when you went to Tromsø. I don’t have any specific qualifications and ninety percent of the time I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”
Jane interrupted, “There was money in the Tromsø budget for an assistant and I hired you because you’re good at keeping me on track, you’re REALLY good at organizing my data, and grant applications don’t terrify you like they terrified my last three interns.” she paused and continued, “Pepper isn’t a genius OR a superhero so your argument is suffering some logical fallacies.”
“I’m not convinced Pepper isn’t a superhero, she’s just too smart to tell us what her power is. I mean she worked for Tony for ten years without quitting or killing him. And anyway grant applications are easy; but that’s sort of my point. I’m still doing the same things I did for you back when I was your intern. There’s no challenge to it. I’m not equipped to help you with the science, so I just do the same things I did as your intern. I got my degree in political science, my grades were even good. I kinda thought I’d get my six credits, graduate, take a breather, take my LSAT, and go to law school. What? Don’t look at me like that!”
“I’m sorry, but I have trouble seeing you as a lawyer.”
“Blame my hippie, activist parents. Somehow it made a convoluted sort of sense in my head. They raised me to think I could change the world. I thought going into law would be how I’d do it.” Darcy shrugged and sipped her drink. “But after New Mexico, ugh, it didn’t make sense anymore. There were other realms! Demi-gods! Taking my LSATs after that seemed anticlimactic. I keep thinking I need to be doing something with myself that isn’t just fetching coffee and cross checking spreadsheets. But if I do...” she trailed off for a moment. “If I do, it means giving up being near all this awesomeness. I like that I get to be sort of friends with superheroes and super genius scientists. I don’t want to give that up.”
“Don’t you dare quit on me!” Jane said, anxiously.
“Bah, you’d be so much better off with an assistant who actually knows astrophysics it isn’t funny. And it’s not like running off spreadsheets is hard.”
“But I’d MISS you!”
Darcy sighed, “Didn’t you hear me? That’s why I don’t want to leave! Because I’d miss my friends. Gah. I swear I’m having a mid-life crisis and I’m only twenty-four.”
“You’re my friend Darc. If you really want to go to law school then you should. I’m sure if you agreed to be my assistant part time you could even stay in the tower...”
“I don’t know if that’s what I still want. But I kind of think maybe I should move out of the tower regardless.”
Jane looked utterly shocked, “WHY?!”
“BecauseIhaveagiantcrushonSteveRogersandI’mprettysureifIstayinthetoweranylongerI’mgoingtomakeahugeassoutofmyself.” said Darcy in one long rush.
Jane blinked. “Translation Egon?”
Darcy looked acutely pained. “Because I have a giant crush on Steve Rogers and I’m pretty sure if I stay in the tower any longer I’m going to make a huge ass out of myself.”
“That’s what I thought you said.” said her friend sagely. “What happened?”
“Well for starters, I’m not blind. Steve is, well, Steve. Tall, gorgeous, and entirely too ripped. Anyway, you know how everyone went off for a few days?” Jane nodded. “Steve came back a day or two after everyone else had left and we got to talking. About people we missed, and what it’s like to feel as though you’ve lost your entire world.” Jane’s expression became sympathetic. “He told me about some of his friends from before, and the girl he wanted to ask out during the war. A couple of days later we had dinner and... I still can’t believe I did this. I had him watch ‘The Princess Bride’ with me.”
“But you told me...”
“Yeah, I haven’t watched that since before my parents died. I tried a few times, but it was just too hard. Watching it with Steve wasn’t too hard. It actually felt nice.” Darcy’s smiled tremulously. “But there were a few times when he just smiled at me and once when he held my hand while I talked about my folks. I swear it felt like my heart was trying to beat out of my chest. So yeah, giant mega crush on America’s living embodiment of freedom. I’m reasonably sure I’m breaking laws with the thoughts I’ve had.”
“He does have a nice ass.” Jane said with a sly smirk.
“Jane!”
“What, I’m taken, not dead.” retorted Jane. “And you’d have to be dead to not notice that there is an improbable number of incredibly hot people living on the residential floors of the tower.”
Before Darcy could formulate an appropriately scathing response their waiter delivered food to the table, refilled their water, and vanished with a speed that put Darcy in mind of ninjas.
Jane took a few bites of food before picking the conversation back up. “So you have a crush on Steve, I don’t see why that means you should move out. And since when are you unwilling to ask a guy you like out? You practically ambushed that grad student, Sven, who wanted me to review his thesis when you wanted a date with him.”
Darcy waved her fork dismissively, “Sven was cute, but he wasn’t Captain Freaking America. Steve probably has girls literally throwing themselves at him. Hot girls. Girls who probably come up to at least his shoulder.”
“Have you ever thought that Steve might not be that impressed by hot girls throwing themselves at him and he might find more value in someone who is genuine and kind? Who isn’t trying to get a leg over on a national treasure and is interested in him as a person?”
“Genuine and kind? Jane, are you high? I’m a walking pop-culture wikipedia. I’m addicted to the internet, coffee, and chocolate. Not necessarily in that order. I watch anime and reprehensible romantic comedies on Netflix. I read crappy romance novels and write scathing reviews for fun. I snark everything and think MST3K is genius. I’m the kind of friend who sticks her cold hands on your back to warm them up and because I think making people squeak is funny. I have ZERO brain to mouth filter and say the worst things at the absolute WORST possible moment. Genuine and kind my left butt cheek.”
“You’ve also made sure I’ve eaten, bathed, and slept when I’m head deep in some problem I’m trying to solve. When Bruce is down in my lab you always make sure he has tea. You somehow managed to find out everyone’s birthday AND their favorite dessert. Don’t think I didn’t notice how you just so happened to have a pastry box with funnel cakes on Clint’s birthday in November. Or the tray of lemon bars that turned up on Bruce’s birthday. I’ll bet you anything when my birthday rolls around there will be a tres leche cake.”
Darcy sputtered. “Birthdays are important. And people are way too hung up on the idea of having cake cake for birthdays. If its your birthday, you should get the dessert you want most. Not some arbitrarily assigned socially conformist dessert.”
Jane smugly took a bite of her curry and just stared at her assistant.
Darcy glared in return.
“Darc, just because you are who you are, doesn’t mean you aren’t genuine and kind. And really all being genuine is, is knowing who you are and accepting it. I think you’ve got that in spades. If you have a crush on Steve you should ask him out. But whatever you do, don’t do it in front of Tony unless you want him following you all over town on your date.”
“Oh god no.” Darcy said with a shudder.
“Just, see if he’d like to get out of the tower and go get coffee. He’s big into art and you still haven’t been to the Met. You should ask him if he’d like to go with you.”
“You honestly think I have a shot with him?”
“Honey, if anyone has a shot with him I’d think it would be you. It already sounds like you’ve hit it off.”
“But I told him I was glad we were becoming friends!” wailed Darcy. “I think I accidentally friend-zoned him without meaning to.”
“Didn’t you once tell me your parents were friends for months before they got it into their heads that maybe the reason they were spending all their time together was because there was something else there? And didn’t you also tell me that they’d introduce each other to new people as ‘This is my best friend and husband-slash-wife’ because that was how they honestly felt about each other?” pointed out Jane, reasonably. “So invite him out for coffee and a trip to the Met as a friend. Spend some time not having super emotionally loaded conversations and see where it goes. Maybe he’ll say or do something that makes him entirely unappealing.”
“Not fucking likely.” muttered Darcy. “Damn you for being logical.”
“Its my nature as a scientist. Have logic will travel. Now will you share an order of mango and sticky rice with me?”
“Get two, and bring one back to the lab, we can stick it in the fridge and you can use it to bribe Tony to come down and do complicated maths with you.”
“Ooh, good plan. See, this is why I need you as my assistant.”
“I appreciate the reassurance Jane, but I’m pretty sure I can train just about any grad student to do my job for you.”
“If you’re serious about taking your LSAT and going to law school I’m going to have to take you up on that.”
“I still haven’t made up my mind if I’m going to do that. I keep wondering if I’m setting myself on that road because it would have made my parents proud, or if I’m doing it because I honestly want to go into law and make a difference.”
Jane flagged the waiter and put in their order for a mango and sticky rice for the table and one to-go before turning back to her friend. “Well what do you want to DO with a law degree? If you go into law to make a difference it implies certain things. Public defender doesn’t seem your style. Neither does a district attorney type position. So what would you do with it?”
Darcy shoved her remaining curry around her plate with her fork before answering. “Environmental lobbying.”
Jane pulled her head back in surprise, eyes wide. “Okay, I didn’t see that coming.”
“Yeah, I know right?” Darcy replied with a wry smile and a shrug. “I realize it sounds like a Herculean labor. But we’ve spent our industrial and post-industrial revolutions screwing up the environment really badly. We need to do something about that if we want to continue to have clean air and clean water. And while we’re at it we need to drastically improve access of those things to people in poverty stricken countries. It’s actually why I’m kinda proud of the fact that I’m employed by Stark Industries. I’m drawing a paycheck from the company that is revolutionizing green energy.”
“I had no idea you felt that way.”
“Yeah, I know. But after New Mexico it seemed... trivial in comparison to alien demi-gods.”
“I think everything seems a little trivial after almost being blown up by a giant robot thing and having your iPod stolen by jack booted thugs.” Jane teased.
“Hey, my iPod was important. It was engraved and everything from my parents when I went to college.”
“I know, I just like teasing you about it.”
Their server dropped off the dessert and the check before vanishing again. The women tabled their conversation while they devoted their attention to the important task of devouring the dessert.
Paying for lunch and stepping back out into the sun with the carry out container with the second dessert order Darcy spoke, “So you don’t think I’m crazy?”
“Yes, I do.”
Darcy bumped hips with her friend. “Jane!”
“Darcy!” Jane replied matching her assistants tone.
“Augh, you’re impossible.”
“No, just highly improbable.”
“Smart ass.”
“Takes one to know one.”
“Seriously though. You don’t think I’m crazy?”
“For what, wanting a career you think your parents would be proud of you for? For wanting to make a difference in the world. Or for crushing on Captain America and asking him out for a coffee and museum date?”
“Any of it really.” replied Darcy as they walked along the sidewalk.
“I think that if being a lawyer and lobbying for environmental concerns will make you happy then you should. I’m not sure it will though.”
“Why not?”
Jane looked thoughtful trying to compose her answer. “Because you like getting things done. Because you like having projects with end points. And there isn’t a lot of that in law. Especially lobbying I would think. Also, you’d have to learn to do something about your brain to mouth filter, and one of the things I like best about you is your unyielding honesty. Even when it stings. If you want something in green energy that’ll let you change the world I’d say you should talk to Pepper, tell her what you want to do. Maybe she has a job you can do.”
Darcy made a noncommittal noise.
Jane continued, “But for the other? The crushing on Captain America. I don’t think you have a crush on Captain America. I think you have a crush on Steve Rogers, who is a very nice man, who you have some unusual things in common with. I think you should stop wibbling and ask him out. Yes his nineteen forties sensibilities might be a little shocked, but he goes into battle with a femme fatal assassin. I think he’s accustomed to the idea of women who ask for what they want. Just let him open doors for you and pull out your chair.”
Darcy reached out with her free hand and grabbed Jane’s. “You really think so?”
“I really think so.” and she squeezed her friends hand in reassurance.
“Thank you Jane.”
“What are friends for?” Jane said cheerfully.
Back at the tower they took the elevator up to Jane’s lab. Along the way Jane asked Jarvis to relay a message to Tony that she was holding an order of mango and sticky rice hostage against his cooperation with some new complex variable equations for improving travel via bifrost.
Tony texted Jane almost immediately that he would meet her in her lab in twenty minutes.
Darcy moved to follow Jane off the elevator on the lab level but Jane pushed her back into the elevator car. “Go on, you have the rest of today and tomorrow off. You said I have the data I needed organized done. If Tony’s is in my lab it means Jarvis will babysit us so we don’t forget to eat.”
Darcy quickly hugged her friend and occasional mentor. “Thank you.”
“You can reward me by naming your first born for me. Now git!” and Jane stepped back, waving at Darcy as the doors slid shut.
Darcy pressed the button for the communal living floor and waited for the elevator to take her the rest of the way up. Part way there she realized she actually didn’t know where Steve was. “Jarvis?”
“Yes Miss Lewis?”
“Where is Steve?”
“Captain Rogers is out of the tower.”
“Oh...” Darcy tried to keep the tone of disappointment out of her voice. She was never entirely sure how much the AI relayed back to Tony.
Jarvis spoke again, “I believe the Captain indicated he was running a brief errand to the art supply store and would be back within the hour. Shall I tell him you are searching for him?”
Pleasantly surprised by the information she replied “Yes please, Jarvis. I think I’d like to head all the way up to the garden though if I may? I’ll be there for a bit.”
“Happy to oblige Miss Lewis. And Miss Lewis, if I may be so bold. I thought you would like to know that Captain Rogers is without any engagements tomorrow after ten am.”
“I... Er... Thank you Jarvis. I appreciate the information.”
The garden was really more of an over sized (and grown) sunroom that Tony had decided to install after the renovations of the tower. Pepper had made a passing comment about missing Malibu, warmer weather, and loving orchids. The result was something that felt like an orchid conservatory crossed with a zen garden. Bruce often came up to the garden to meditate in the fragrant quiet. Darcy enjoyed it as a place to read. Though after one memorable experience of running into Clint she made sure her trashy romance novels were either on her e-reader or had a book cover obscuring the cover. People could be so judgemental when they found out she read romance novels. The only thing that had kept Clint in line was the threat of Darcy withholding her source of funnel cakes.
Darcy made her way through the garden until she found her favorite reading nook. Curling up in the chair she pulled her e-reader out of her messenger bag and began reading. She passed a quiet fifteen minutes or so when Jarvis interrupted her. “Miss Lewis, Captain Rogers has returned to the tower. I’ve let him know you were searching for him and took the liberty of giving him your location. He should be arriving momentarily.”
She smiled and put her reader away. “Thank you Jarvis.” Nervously she ran her fingers through her hair and wished she’d thought to stop at her apartment and freshen her make up.
By the time she was convinced that Steve had changed his mind and wasn’t going to come she heard someone walking along the path and Steve’s voice call out. “Darcy? Are you up here? Jarvis said you were looking for me.”
“Over here!” she called and began walking toward the sound of his voice.
“Oh! There you are.” Steve smiled widely at her and Darcy swore she could feel her internal organs rearrange themselves. “I haven’t seen you around for a few days. I was starting to wonder if everything was alright.”
Darcy found herself returning Steve’s smile with abandon. “Oh Jane went off on one of her science tears and I’ve been crunching numbers and running data for her non-stop. I’ve finally got a little break. She’s bribing Tony with mangos and sticky rice in exchange for his big brain. Hopefully he leaves the ego up in his lab. I think Jane’s is too small for it to fit.”
“I think Tony’s ego is too big for his body. So, other than your work for Jane, how’ve you been?”
She tried to shrug nonchalantly, “Oh you know, just having an existential crisis over what I’m doing with my life. No big deal.”
Steve looked down at her with a surprising level of concern, “That sounds like a big deal to me.”
“Oh don’t worry about it. I’ll figure it out. Jane gave me some really good advice and I’m going to think about it for a few days before I really do anything.” She took a deep breath, trying to steady her nerves. “Anyway, I was thinking. Jane’s going to be in new science mode for the next day or two and she’s given me some time off. Would you be interested in going to to the Met with me? I’ve been living in New York for almost eight months and I still haven’t been, which I think is probably some kind of crime. Like on the books and everything.”
“I’d love to!” the pleasure evident in his voice. “I should be free after ten tomorrow morning. Would you like to go then?”
“That’d be great. We can go in the morning, and maybe get a late lunch after? I’m sure there’s all kinds of places to eat around there.” Darcy was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet.
“Sounds perfect. I’m supposed to go meet Clint and Natasha for some kind of SHIELD meeting so I need to run, but I’ll see you tomorrow morning at ten?” he asked.
“Absolutely! Should I meet you in the living room?”
Steve paused, considering her question, and mostly considering how likely it would be that Tony would be there and say something obnoxious. “Why don’t I just come down to your room and pick you up? We can go from there.”
“It’s a date! I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
Steve smiled slowly before embracing Darcy in a warm hug. “It’s a date.” As they drew apart he found himself holding her hand until he stepped back a little further. “You have a swell evening Darcy. Thanks for thinking of me for a museum trip.”
Unaccountably tongue tied she blurted out, “I think of you a lot.”
Steve blushed to the roots of his hair. “I’ve been thinking about you too.” The phone in his pocket chimed. “Damn. I really have to run. I’ll see you tomorrow okay?”
Darcy could feel her own blush coloring her face. “Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow.” and watched as Steve trotted down the path to the exit of the garden.
Feeling as though her knees had suddenly turned to water Darcy sat down. She reached into her pocket and sent Jane a text message: I swear to god Jane if you change your mind about needing me tomorrow I’m going to have to kill you and hide the body.
The reply she got back made her laugh: I promise not to change my mind. Just remember you're naming your first born for me. You can thank me later.