Chapter Text
Forget the bull in the china shop
There's a china doll in the bullpen
It's all in the wrist, fire from the hip
Talk a little shit, roll thick
Whole clique
Let's begin
--- Dessa
“You’d be prettier if you smiled.” The security guard was smiling flirtatiously at Darcy Lewis as the young woman tipped her head to the side and cocked an eyebrow. Steve looked down, hiding the smirk on his mouth as he glanced up through his eyelashes to watch what was sure to come. She had that same flat look on her face that Natasha got when someone did something she found to be truly stupid.
“Do you realize that commentary like this dictates a societal expectation of how we, as women, are supposed to look despite any of our own personal preferences and that this, in turn, stifles our natural ability for self expression?” Her voice was flat and thoroughly unimpressed. Steve crossed his arms, lifting one hand to half cover his mouth as his smirk grew and the security guard blinked.
“Look, it was just a compliment,” the man tried to explain. Darcy planted a hand on one hip and took a sip from her neon green coffee cup. She was always walking around with a coffee mug of some sort, not that he’d been looking at her in particular, of course. Not when Sam or Natasha were around, anyhow.
“A compliment is telling me I look pretty. An insult is telling me I don’t look pretty when I don’t smile. A criticism is telling me I don’t smile often enough. Backhanded compliments are telling me something good while you tell me something bad and man-splaining is telling me I’m wrong when I’m obviously right.” Now she raised both eyebrows and took another drink from her coffee cup.
“Look, I was paying you a compliment, if you want to take it that far out of context that’s on you, not me.” The man backpedaled, obviously annoyed at the entire situation.
“Trying to make me feel crazy by twisting my words is called gaslighting.” She smiled brightly at the man, waiting for him to go on. He didn’t. Smart. Darcy waited another beat before moving past the security checkpoint and heading to the science wing.
Steve stayed back, sunglasses, leather jacket, and jeans stopping people from noticing him. Natasha had been right - people saw what they wanted to see. A bomber jacket and aviators and they looked right past him. Captain America was clean cut and wholesome, far too serious. Steve Rogers was a normal guy, people couldn’t see him without the uniform on. He dropped his hands and moved forward, taking his glasses off and smiling politely.
Or, he was smiling politely, but then the guard called Darcy a bitch. Sure, it was under his breath and muttered in a defensive huff because the man had been schooled on his behavior, but even so, Steve couldn’t put up with that. He stopped smiling and put on his disappointed face.
“Son, you might want to think about what you say before you say it.” The tall blond told the stockier brunette.
“Sir.” The guard snapped to attention.
“You might also want to brush up on the company policy as it regards harassment of any kind before you make the mistake of talking to someone more dangerous than Ms. Lewis like that. I know quite a few women who wouldn’t be as polite as she was.” He noted, waiting for the green light to flash so he could move through the checkpoint.
“You’re adorable and mean well, so I’m finding it hard to be mad, but I’m definitely annoyed.” A voice informed him from beside a bank of elevators. His blue eyes found Darcy Lewis, formidable shield maiden (according to Thor) and keeper of the scientists (according to the plaque on her office door.)
“I don’t know what to apologize for …” He trailed off, blinking a bit as he realized the woman in front of him was definitely his soulmate and he likely should have worked up the courage to talk to her before now, but also that he had done something wrong. Her messy scrawl circled almost entirely around his waist, the first Y looping playfully around his belly button. It had been quite a surprise when he’d first woken up.
“Well damn, now I can’t be annoyed either.” She grinned and the door to the elevator opened. She got on first, scanned her card, and leaned against a corner while he leaned against the opposite deciding to follow her around (NOT like a puppy!) for now.
“So, what did I do?” He asked.
“You let him off the hook.” The woman informed him, scraping her hair behind her ear with an impatient flick of her fingers.
“I wasn’t aware that was what I was doing.” Steve informed her, perplexed. He supported feminism and equality for all, always had. He’d been raised by a tough single mother who had a sick kid that couldn’t help out much. He worked with Natasha “Black Widow” Romanova on a daily basis. He knew women were just as strong and capable as men. She grinned up at him.
“I know, that’s why I’m not that upset. Still, you basically swept in behind me and told him you get it, but he should do better.” She was gesturing grandly with her hands, coffee slopping up the sides of the mug but never over the rim. “That’s great and he should do better, but not because you told him to. He should do better because his first instinct shouldn’t be to make a woman prove she’s good enough for him.”
“So what should I have done instead?” He asked, honestly curious.
“Report him. Show him that other men hear it and aren’t okay with it. If you don’t like when people act like that, do something about it. Don’t kick it under the rug like a good old boy.” She told him. “Men have to police other men because women are seen as hysterical for not wanting to perpetuate rape culture and the mentality that women will never be as good as men.”
“Rape culture?” He said it slowly, not liking the taste of the first word at all.
“It means that in our society sexual violence against women is normalized and excused in the media and popular culture. We see it and too many people just ignore it. Also victim blaming is a huge problem. A woman gets attacked and the media asks what they were wearing and how much they had to drink.” Darcy continued, stepping off the elevator and toward the labs. He followed her, brows furrowed as he thought about that.
“What does what they were wearing have to do with being raped?” He asked, confused again and feeling a little sick at the idea.
“Exactly!” She cried, throwing her arms wide as she stepped into the labs. “Put a pin it for a second, though, I love getting all up in my feminism but I need to check on Jane.” She set her cup on her desk and disappeared through a doorway.
Steve sat down on a mostly clean table and pulled out his phone, googling the terms she’d been using. He had a feeling he was going to need a boost if he was going to keep up with Darcy, she was a firecracker and this conversation was likely going to continue for quite some time.