Work Text:
Darcy had been on Tinder for two weeks now. She had swiped left, right and had skipped guys altogether. Keeping her options open, she had even ticked the box for women. By this point she had matched with plenty of people, but few had bothered to keep her attention past a handful of messages.
The day she had joined she was sick, and Fitzsimmons was drunk. It was five in the morning and at this point she had just needed to sleep - badly. They had dropped Jane off at her floor before the duo and herself decided to get some food. She was sober tonight, due to the copious amount of cold meds she had to take for the past two days. She had even opted out of work in the lab for the day just so she could feel better for the night they had planned.
Happy drove them around for a good hour before Jemma decided on McDonald’s, yelling into the drive thru speaker for five McDoubles and a large fries. Happy was eyeing Darcy in the rear view mirror, who could not keep a straight face the entire drive. Jemma’s drunk antics were too good not to be tweeted or posted to Youtube. Fitz was happily snuggling against her side the entire drive, of which Darcy got plenty of photos of.
The two were in town for a few days on some top secret mission from Director Fury. After Ward and May successfully took down their target and took him in, Leo Fitz called up Jane and Darcy to come celebrate with them.
The team was tight-knit and the dynamic duo known as Fitzsimmons were regular visitors to the Avengers tower. They always headed straight for the R&D floors, seeking out Jane to see what kind of genius monstrosity she was building now. Darcy was always there helping out, and making sure the astrophysicist was hydrated and fed. Fitzsimmons and Darcy became fast friends.
And now both of them were laying on her double bed, drunkenly laughing and treating themselves to their greasy burgers. Darcy wrapped herself in a throw blanket and lay on Jemma’s empty left side, laughing along with them.
“Darcy, you should join a dating site!” Jemma said suddenly, rousing her from sleep, of which she had just fallen into. Darcy groaned inwardly, and somewhat outwardly as she buried her face into the pillow. She only realized that the biochemist was serious when she and Fitz started feeling around on the bed in search of her phone. Fitz’s hand was search under the pillows now, and Darcy got a hold of her phone before he could and clicked it on, squinting from the brightness.
“Why on Midgard would I do that?” Darcy groaned, unlocking her phone and finding the app store icon. It was the symbol of Stark’s Arc Reactor, but in a bright purple. The phone was a Stark phone, sort of like an iPhone but with more cool features and a constant uplink to JARVIS, who acted like Darcy’s confidante in the past few months. The app store also had access to more than any iPhone or Android ever could have.
“Ye haven’t seen anyone in ages, Darce,” Fitz said, flopping down beside her to look at her. Jemma shifted to take his other side. They seemed to move around each other in sync, no need to say what they were doing. They just did it. “How long’s it been since the English lad?”
“How dare you bring him up in my presence,” Darcy groaned, feeling the fiery anger in her throat again. After everything that happened in London, Ian had dropped her like a hot potato. He had stuck around for a few months before deciding to chase some British tail in New York. She had only heard from him sporadically after that, sometimes when he was in a tough situation with his newest victim, or when he was alone and horny.
“Darce, it’s time to move on, lass. He was a lost cause from the beginnin’. Don’t ye let yerself get too caught up in him still.”
“Fine…. But I’m not actively looking for a new boyfriend,” Darcy said, tapping the download button on the Tinder icon. Boyfriend wasn’t even the word to cover it for what Ian had been to her. There was no word.
“You don’t have to, just look for someone to talk to,” Jemma piped up, rolling over and resting her head on Fitz’s back to look at Darcy. “Other than Jane, and us, I mean. Someone who’s not a scientist. You know you need someone to rant to about those rubbish sitcoms you watch.”
“Hey! Modern Family is NOT rubbish.”
“Just try the app, Darcy,” Jemma sighed, before rolling over and promptly falling asleep. Fitz rolled over to spoon her. Darcy fell asleep to the sounds of his quiet snores complementing Jemma’s random sleeptalking.
Darcy’s first official Tinder date was tonight, two weeks after she had first joined. She had been talking to a cute guy named Steve for a few days now and she had given him her number even. She had met with two guys so far: one for coffee, one for a movie but neither had caught her interest enough. She had figured by now that she was just picky.
No one would be able to match her knack for social media stalking, occasional gaming and reality tv binging.
But so far, this Steve had professed his love of movies and she was optimistic. This Steve was a looker, not that she could tell from his one picture. He was wearing dark aviators and was sporting a thick, dark blond beard. But his body in the awkward mirror selfie was pretty banging (as Darcy would describe it later to Jane). He was all shoulders and big arms, with a smallish waist. He no doubt had killer abs.
They had decided to play mini-golf that night in Brooklyn, since he had been in the area for a while now and Darcy had not been out much since she had moved in. Darcy had been ecstatic since she had not been on a first date for a long time, or had not officially been on a first date. It was always “Hey, wanna meet up?”, “Let’s hang out.”, “Come over.”,
“Come see me.”, or even the newest, “Netflix and chill?”
Darcy had gotten the “Will you go out on a date with me?” text while waiting for Jane and Thor to get back from boinking all morning. Thor had just returned from a mission with the Avengers, and had rushed over to his and Jane’s shared apartment floor for immediate catching up. Darcy got the text that her friend was otherwise occupied and wouldn’t be working all day, so Darcy decided to text this Steve guy.
Jane and Thor were let onto Darcy’s floor by JARVIS when they were finished (barf) and cleaned up. The big brute of a god came straight over to where Darcy was sitting on her couch, watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and gave her a tight hug over the back of the couch. “Lady Darcy! How pleasant to see you! My lady Jane was most adamant to see you once she got your text message.” Thor’s voice boomed through the room, and he laughed.
Darcy patted his arm and he let her sit properly again as Jane sat beside her. “Thanks buddy. Sorry to interrupt your sexy times, but this is super important! Like SHIELD level 200 important!”
“What is it? What could possibly be so important? Oh….” Darcy had placed her Stark phone into Jane’s hand when she sat down, and Jane saw the text that Darcy had been referring to. “Say yes, Darcy. Please, for me.”
“Are you sure? He could be a crazy stalker guy,” Darcy took back her phone, thumbs poised to type out a reply.
“What does this man look like? Is he a strong warrior?” Thor asked, coming around to sit beside Jane. He was in civilian clothes today, a pair of dark wash jeans and red tshirt. It suited him oddly well, Darcy thought. Thor could almost pass as a regular human. Darcy flipped open her Tinder app and found Steve’s picture, holding it out for Thor to see.
“Ah yes, he is built for fighting. A good match for a warrior such as yourself, Darcy Lewis.”
“Let’s hope so,” Darcy mumbled before sending off a yes, with a smiley emoji just for good measure.
This was probably Darcy’s second or third shower of the day. She had showered after a quick workout, which had been terrible since her period decided to start today. Fuck you, Mother Nature. Her trainer, the very dangerous and beautiful Natasha Romanoff AKA the Black Widow, had insisted that a bit of cardio would help with the cramps. She was wrong. Darcy wanted to die.
She had quickly rinsed off at the gym showers before going home to her floor for a proper shower. She wasn’t going to be caught dead looking like she did if Tony “I’m Iron Man and Also Super Fucking Fit” Stark or Clint Barton came to work out. Tony would tease her about getting her ass handed to her by Romanoff again and Clint would send chocolates and chips up to her floor to make her feel better. Which helped, but not while Darcy was trying to maintain a visage of health and fitness.
Jane was taking another day off from work to stay in bed with Thor so Darcy took a shower and lay down on her couch all day with a heating pad and a few different flavors of doritos that she had brought up. JARVIS was always prompt with delivering snacks during her menstrual cycles. He had tracked her period down to the very second and always made sure Darcy’s comfort foods were delivered up to her apartment right on time.
By six o’clock Darcy had peeled herself away from her tv and couch and showered again. She spent an exorbitant amount of time trying to figure out what to do with her hair before keeping the thick mess of curls natural for the night. She fussed with it until the curls were dry enough to stay put where she wanted them. She got her eyeliner perfect on the first try and picked out an outfit that was both cute and comfortable in the October air. Darcy and Steve would go to the mini golf place first but after that they had not planned, so she mentally prepared herself for what was next.
Happy was busy that night so Darcy hailed a cab to Brooklyn. When she showed her Avengers Facility employee badge, the driver took note so that he could bill Tony for it later. All of the staff were eligible to use the Stark account for all of the cab companies, and their badges worked as some kind of voucher.
By seven-thirty the cab arrived in Brooklyn at the mini-golf course. It was indoor, which was a score in Darcy’s books so she could take off her jacket and show off herself a bit to her date. Darcy stayed in the cab for a few minutes and chatted with the driver, hoping to stave off the nerves that were building up in her. There was a party inside from what she could see, a children's’ birthday party. The mom-van was the only other vehicle in the small parking lot other than the cab. From what she could tell, the mom in charge was trying to round up the kids into their jackets so that meant the party was pretty much over.
Darcy got the text from Steve that he was almost there and got out of the cab, the driver wishing her luck before driving off. She smiled, tucking her phone away into her bag and rubbing her hands together to stop them from shaking. She pulled her phone out again, texting a small nervous freakout to Jane before turning the Stark phone off and shoving it back into her purse. She decided that she wouldn’t text during this date; it was one of her no-no’s when it came to dating.
A familiar black car pulled up to the parking lot just as the birthday party mom got all of the sugar-filled kids into her van. They were all screaming and laughing, and Darcy stepped away from the doors so she wouldn’t get caught in a mini stampede. There was also a familiar face in the driver’s seat of the black car. No.
“Thanks, Happy. I’ll let you know when to come pick us up if it goes well,”
“Good luck, my man!”
Darcy knew that voice. The owner of said voice, Steve, had gotten out of the car, wearing a Brooklyn Dodgers cap and brown leather jacket. He was clean shaven and was also wearing no sunglasses. She could barely see his face from here in the light from the mini-golf place, but she knew the voice. She heard it on the television so many times, and around the tower. She had never met the man with the voice, but she knew who it belonged to.
“Darcy, right?” Steve smiled, a pure genuine, American boy-next-door smile. Shit. He was walking towards her.
“You’re Captain fucking America????”
Steve stopped in front of her, also in front of the glass doors. He looked confused, before looking back at Happy. Happy was already backing out of the parking lot. “How-”
“How could I not see it before? ‘I’m away on a business trip, someone decided to fuck with our company’s investors so we have to diffuse the situation’? Born on July 4th? ‘My best friend died on tour’” Darcy recounted a few texts from memory, putting up her finger for him to wait until she was done. “And my favourite, ‘My Norwegian buddy has this crazy half brother that almost took out our company recently’?? Thor is basically my big alien brother, I should have caught that one.”
“Darcy--” Steve cut himself off, shoving his hands into his pockets before sighing. His brow was furrowed, lips pursed. “I didn’t know. And I wouldn’t have joined Tinder if it wasn’t for Tony. He wanted me to get out there, apparently. And it wasn’t like I could go out like Captain America… I just wanted someone to get to know Steve Rogers.”
Darcy had crossed her arms while he talked, her fingers tapping against her jacket. She always had a little crush on Steve Rogers, Captain America from history textbooks and museum exhibits. But now he stood before her, nervous as well and far off from the pedestal she had put him on since her teenage years.
“I’m still the same guy you’ve been texting, just let me prove that to you,” Steve said quietly, shifting on his feet. He was trying to make himself smaller, shoulders hunched slightly. But of course he was six-foot-fucking-whatever, which made that impossible.
“Round of mini-golf. I win, I get to tell Tony Stark how you don’t believe that Star Wars is possible.” Darcy said, opening the doors to the mini-golf place. It was warm inside, which was a nice change from outside. Steve followed her in.
“And if I win?”
“Well, I didn’t get that far. Because I’m a pro at mini-golf and I’m sure that you’ll lose.”
Darcy lost.
“Well darling, I don’t know what to tell you, but you seem a bit rusty,” Steve grinned as he handed the girl at the front counter back their small clubs. She seemed to pay them no mind, taking the two with one hand, the other hand occupied with an iPhone.
The mini-golf place was actually really cute. It was glow in the dark, which Darcy had not expected. Her black-and-white striped shirt glowed the entire time, and she could see the Dodgers symbol on Steve’s cap clearly. The place was decked out with Halloween decorations, and Halloween music such as Thriller and Monster Mash was blaring through the speakers. Darcy was given a pair of “3D glasses” to wear when they first arrived, which made the glowing patterns on the floor swirl dizzyingly. Darcy was on her ass more times than she would admit, and after nearly hitting Steve with her golf ball, they decided it was safer for her to stop wearing the glasses.
The place was really charming though, and it didn’t help the fact that every time she fell, Steve would rush to her side and made sure she wasn’t broken before helping her back up. His hands were big and calloused compared to hers, and he smelled amazing. He always picked her up like she weighed nothing, which significantly boosted Darcy’s self esteem.
Their game lasted about an hour, and Darcy spent more than a few of the holes laughing until she couldn’t breathe. Steve Rogers may have the swagger of a man from the 40s, but his humour was still fairly modern. He had endless stories of finding Tony and Clint drunk after a mission, usually ending up in a karaoke bar or having a food fight in a local dive bar. Tony had challenged Clint to a game of darts once and ended up somehow getting one in Clint’s leg. The dart had missed every important artery in his thigh and Clint was way too drunk to be in any pain, until Natasha showed up and pulled it out. Clint wound up screaming and then tried to fight Tony after that.
Happy was out front when they were finished, and his jaw dropped when he saw the two walking out together.
“I thought this was a blind date, Steve. Darcy, nice to see you. Sorry I couldn’t drive you too, if I had known-”
“It’s fine, Happy. Take us to a good Chinese place that’s still open,” Darcy smiled, wiping tears from laughter, trying not to let it ruin her eyeliner. She buckled and leaned against her door, angling herself just so she could see Steve. He had a dazzling smile on his face.
“Of course,” and away the car went.
When they arrived at the hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant, Steve got out quickly and came around to open her door for her, also holding his hand out for her to take it. Darcy mentally thanked whatever gods there were out there for 40s chivalry.
“Happy, we’ll be a few minutes. We’re taking our food to go.”
“Sure thing.”
“Want anything?”
“Wonton soup, please,”
“You bet, my man.”
Darcy and Steve made sure that Happy got his wonton soup and ate their own food on the common floor in the communal kitchen. Darcy had ordered a noodle bowl with ginger beef and vegetables with a side of egg rolls. Steve had ordered three orders of fried rice to go with his three orders of sweet and sour chicken. He could definitely put away a lot of food, and Darcy couldn’t blame him with the super soldier metabolism he probably had. They finished their food close to eleven and after cleaning up, said goodnight. They shared a warm hug when Steve “dropped her off” at her floor.
“So I’ll see you around?”
“I’d like to think so,” Darcy smiled as she got off the elevator at her floor. “You do only live in my building.”
Darcy got a text about an hour after settling in on her couch again, Netflix blaring and phone in hand to give all of the juicy deets to Jane.
I had a really nice time tonight. Hope we can do it again :)
Same. Hang out tomorrow? I’m free and I hear that the bakery down the street has cupcakes ;)
See you then, doll :)
Despite Darcy’s crush, she was a little hesitant on dating an Avenger, but Steve Rogers definitely had her intrigued enough to try.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Darcy bought a dozen different cupcakes from the bakery nearest to the tower, each one a different flavour. She balanced the box in her left hand while texting Steve that she was on her way to his designated floor. She tapped her foot as the elevator moved slowly, slower than usual. She had asked JARVIS to slow its ascent so that she could collect herself and not become a puddle of nerves.
“We are coming up on Captain Rogers’s floor now, Miss Lewis. Would you like me to open the doors or do you need a moment?”
“I’m fine, JARVIS. Let’s do this.”
“I’d say good luck, but I don’t think you need it, Miss Lewis. Captain Rogers has been awaiting your arrival for some time now.”
“Thanks, J,” Darcy exhaled slowly as she stepped out of the elevator and walked up to Steve’s door, knocking on its face hesitantly.
“You’re welcome, Miss Lewis.” and the door opened.
Steve had some 40s swing music playing through the sound system in his apartment, and Darcy walked in to find him in the kitchen, seeing him chopping up some tomatoes at the marble topped island. He looked up and smiled, gesturing for her to join him.
Steve’s smile put some of her nerves at ease, untying the knot in her stomach.
“Hey,” Steve smiled, picking up a remote and turning down the music so that they could hear themselves again. “You look beautiful.”
Darcy fought hard not to blush and set the box of cupcakes down on the island so that she could see what he was doing. “You don’t look so bad yourself. What’s for supper?”
“Well, I’m attempting to recreate my ma’s recipe for meat sauce, goes real well with spaghetti.”
“I didn’t know the Irish were good with pasta,” Darcy smiled, looking into the pot where Steve had gathered everything and was putting a few more cut up tomatoes. “I thought potatoes would be more your thing.”
“Well, I’m good with those too. Maybe next time,” Steve winked, causing Darcy’s heart to go into overdrive.
The sauce Steve concocted actually wound up being delicious, despite his many apologies if it wasn’t. Darcy found it adorable and ate way more spaghetti than she should have. After cleaning up the kitchen, she lay down on the thick rug in front of his couch, groaning in appreciation at the softness. Steve laughed in response and lay beside her, looking over at her adoringly.
“Never knew a beautiful dame could love pasta so much.”
“Blame that on my love of food,” Darcy laughed, rubbing her full stomach. “And also my overactive appetite due to the fact that my body is literally tearing itself apart inside.”
“Do you need anything?” Steve leaned up on his elbow suddenly, looking at her worriedly. “Advil, water? Chocolate?”
Darcy blushed, not realizing that Steve would have caught what she meant right away. “No, I’m fine, thanks.”
“Really, it’s okay. I can get you something. I’d have to go out and buy sanitary napkins or tampons for my ma or Bucky’s sister all the time. Rebecca Barnes was always so sick when her time came around.”
“Steve, it’s okay.” Darcy smiled, sitting up and stretching her arms out slightly. “I’ve got a whole cabinet in my apartment chock full of supplies and goodies. I’ve got this.”
“Hey, have you ever been on the roof of this place?”
“You mean on the helipad, right?”
“No, I mean the roof. It’s higher up.”
“...No?”
Darcy jumped up, the movement bringing forth a twinge of pain in her lower pelvic area. She stifled a groan and smiled to cover the sudden pain. “Well, now you get to be. R&D has a secret elevator up there so that Jane was able to work on her theory for the Einstein-Rosen Bridge.” At Steve’s blank expression, Darcy cleared her throat. “She needed to stargaze.”
“Ah,” Steve nodded, following her out of the apartment to the main elevator. “That makes more sense now.”
“Hasn’t Thor ever explained the bridge to you? The Bifrost and all that?”
“A bit, but I wound up reading about it in mythology books to better understand what he meant.”
“Well,” Darcy stepped out of the elevator when it came to the R&D top floor, and made her way through what Steve thought was a maze of offices and labs. “Jane worked on a scientific theory to support that, and her work was published after the events in London. She even almost made a gateway to open the bridge from this side.”
“Did she succeed?”
Darcy put her thumb on a scanner by the hidden elevator, and after he came to her side again, she pressed the button that had a giant R on it. “Not in the way she wanted it to. Erik - ah, Dr. Selvig took her design and used the Tesseract to finish it up. Once Loki came through the portal he made with her device, she stopped trying. Oh. Here we are.”
Steve was met with a cool October breeze as soon as he stepped out of the elevator. Fortunately he was always warm, the serum had taken care of that, making his blood pump faster through his body. Darcy’s arms shivered as goosebumps formed, and he impulsively went to her, placing his hands on her cool flesh. She looked up at him and smiled, which sent his mind into the void. He had seen beautiful dames before in his life, but Darcy was special.
“You’re like a space heater, wow.”
“I just tend to run a little hot.” Steve looked out at New York’s skyline, lights shining everywhere and the regular sounds of the city far away. Here it was just quiet, with the sounds of the wind and their own voices.
“You’re telling me,” Darcy snickered under her breath, and Steve rubbed her arms in response. “It’s a really nice view up here. Probably my favourite. New Mexico was too flat, and London was too crazy. But New York, this is my city.”
“Mine too,” Steve leaned in and directed Darcy to stand in the direction of Brooklyn, pointing towards the lights of the Brooklyn Bridge. “I used to live down that way. Of course, it wasn’t as populated as it is now. And the buildings are bigger now.”
“I wish I could’ve seen it then.”
“Something tells me you’ve seen it a lot in history textbooks,” Steve teased, moving to her side and keeping one arm over Darcy’s shoulders to keep her warm.
“Well that’s different, I was mostly looking at pictures of you,” Darcy looked up at him, a mischievous smile on her lips.
“Hope you didn’t get tired of seeing my face on every page,” Steve met her eyes, feeling his heart beat faster than normal.
“Nope,” Darcy leaned up on tiptoe just as Steve leaned down to meet her, his lips pressing to hers softly. It only lasted a moment, but Steve felt a tug at his heart, pulling him towards Darcy again.
“We should go inside, you’re freezing,” he said quietly when they pulled away. Darcy’s eyes were hooded, her skin flushed from either the cold or the kiss.
“Yeah, let’s do that.”
Once they were back in the elevator, Darcy touched his hand gently, and Steve stepped closer to her. Her back against the wall, he leaned in and placed a hand on her neck lightly, angling her chin so that he could capture her lips again. She sighed against his mouth, her lips moving with his slowly.
JARVIS’s voice startled them out of their kiss, Darcy’s eyes opening just as suddenly as Steve jumped. “We’ve arrived back on the R&D floor, would you like to exit the elevator?” Darcy could almost detect a hint of humour in the AI’s voice.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but would you like to come back to my place and cuddle? I don’t mean anything by it,” Steve said shyly, taking Darcy’s hand and walking with her back past the research labs.
“Steve Rogers, I don’t think I could have taken it any other way with the way you said that. But yes, I’d like that.”
Darcy and Steve met on the roof a few days later again, after Jane had left for her apartment for some much needed rest. Darcy swore to her friend that if she didn’t go to sleep soon, she’d lace her next cup of tea with heavy sedatives, the kind that Fitzsimmons used in their Night-Night Gun. The dendrotoxin dose was enough to knock a small woman like Jane out for at least two days. Jane was less a fan of missing precious work time for more than she needed to, and left.
Steve met Darcy up on the roof with a couple of warm blankets and a mug of hot chocolate, where more making out was done than stargazing. Darcy didn’t mind though. Neither did Steve. Darcy’s lips were soft and warm, and they fit perfectly with his.
Darcy’s form was warmer whenever Steve was around. For one, he was a walking furnace. Two, his touch set her skin on fire and all she wanted was for him to touch her more. Their texts over the last few days had quickly gone from sweet and flirty, to dangerously sexy. Darcy had never wanted to jump someone’s bones this much before, and as Steve kissed her on the roof of Avengers tower, she had to hold back so that she wasn’t literally in his lap.
“Come home with me,” Steve whispered against her lips. Darcy’s head spun, and she laughed in a breath. A shaky breath, no less.
“Not tonight,” she placed a soft kiss on Steve’s lips for a second before pulling away again. “Tomorrow, I will. I want you to go crazy waiting.”
“Dammit,” Steve groaned slightly, causing Darcy to laugh again. He sighed. “Fine, but tomorrow you’re mine.”
“Deal.”
Tomorrow couldn't come soon enough. And at this point, neither could Darcy. She spent the day in the lab buzzing from anticipation, only some of the buzzing coming from the massive amount of coffee she had already. Jane even noticed when Darcy seemed to stare off into space in the middle of Jane's rant.
“Darcy? Did you hear what I said?”
Darcy shook her head, bringing her back to reality when Jane waved her hand in front of her eyes. “What? Sorry, no. What's up?”
“You alright? You seem like you're…. Not here.”
“Sorry, I uhh…” Darcy blushed, her face and neck getting hot as she remembered the last text she had received from Steve. Something about wanting to hear her moan his name as she rode him, or something. It took Darcy's mind to far away place. “Steve and I, might do the deed tonight.”
“Might?” Jane snickered, pulling up a stool and seating herself beside her friend. “By this point, my friend, if you don't hit that, I will kill you. And Thor will kill him.”
“He's just so… Ugh.” Darcy covered her face with her hands, realizing she hasn't overthought sleeping with a guy before.
“Maybe it's because you like him? And well, he is Captain America. That is a bit intimidating.”
“You think? He's perfect, and I… Well, I'm just me.”
“Darcy,” Jane placed a hand on Darcy's back, patting gently. “You are one of the best people I know. You're my best friend. If I didn't have Thor, I'd marry you. Platonically, of course. But you're just as awesome, if not more, than he is.”
“Thanks, Jane.”
After a shorter day than she thought, Darcy cleaned up at her apartment quickly. When she meant clean up, she meant a shower, legs shaved, the whole nine yards. And when she meant quickly, it wasn't as quick as she'd have hoped.
She arrived at Steve's door at half past nine, her hand poised to knock when uncertainty washed over her. Was Steve still a virgin? His texts implied otherwise. Would he like what he saw? What if he didn't? What if he decided to scram after this? Would it be awkward with them living and working in the same building? Darcy's mind ran and before she could muster the courage again, the door opened.
“Hey,” Steve smiled sweetly. All of Darcy's doubt's went out of her mind the moment she saw him.
“Hey, yourself. Sorry I'm late.”
“No, it's fine doll. I was just finishing up with a shave.” He opened the door, stepping aside slightly to let her in. As soon as the door closed behind her, she was up against the wall.
“I've been waiting for this all day,” he said in a low, husky voice. A shiver ran down Darcy's spine, and she closed her eyes the moment his lips touched hers. They kissed softly at first, but Steve's hands tightening on her waist made her feel differently.
Darcy reached up and held the back of his neck, tilting her head and teasing Steve's mouth open. His groan was all too sexy, and Darcy felt heat pool between her thighs as he deepened their kiss. His body pressed against hers against the wall more, his thigh lifting to part her legs just a bit. Darcy gasped, her breathing already ragged and heavy but she had a feeling it would get much worse soon.
Steve’s tongue teased against Darcy’s lower lip, his hands gripping her waist tighter when she met his with her own tongue. His thigh lifted just a bit to rub lightly at her center, and Darcy could feel herself unwinding. A small moan escaped her lips, which proved to be just the thing to send Steve into a frenzy.
His hands moved to grip her round bottom, before moving to her thighs and spreading them just enough to lift Darcy up. Her legs wound around his waist instantly, toeing off her flats and letting them hit the floor with a dull thud. Steve pressed his lips to hers again and pushed off from the wall, carrying them to his bedroom.
“I wanna taste you,” he said against her lips. Darcy smiled, taking his lower lip between her teeth and biting lightly.
“Then what are you waiting for?”
Steve groaned, laying her down on the bed. His lips moved to kiss along her jawline softly, making a small trail of fire along her skin. His fingers nimbly undid her jeans and he kissed down her neck towards her cleavage slowly. Darcy's chest was heaving with how heavy she was breathing. “It's okay, doll,” his lips moved against her chest, hands pushing down her jeans, taking her panties with them. “I got you.”
Darcy groaned slightly, wiggling her hips out of her jeans and kicking them off clumsily. She laughed when they got stuck on her left foot, Steve laughing as well as he helped to free her. By the time his head dipped between her thighs, Darcy was a panting, moaning mess.
“So good,” Steve groaned, his tongue working around her clit in ways that Darcy couldn't even fathom was possible. Any of her exes were never this eager to eat her out, or just didn't measure up to whatever Steve was doing down there.
“Fuck,” Darcy bit her lip, hands gripping Steve's hair by the handful when she felt the first waves of her orgasm wash over her. Steve worked her through her climax, sliding a finger in slowly to feel her.
“Are you good?” He asked when he sat up, massaging her thighs lightly. He had removed his shirt at some point and was unzipping his jeans.
“I'm clean, and I'm on the pill, so yeah.” Darcy grinned, wiping a bit of sweat from her brow. She took Steve's hand and pulled him to lay down, which he complied to with enthusiasm. She swung a leg over his hips and pulled his erection from the confines of his underwear, pushing them down just enough. “Are you good?”
“My immune system doesn't let anything in, can't catch or give anything.”
“Cool,” Darcy stroked the length of his manhood a few times before positioning herself over the tip. Steve reached up to grasp her hips and helped to guide her down as she lowered herself onto him. They moaned in unison, Steve's head rolling back against his pillows.
“Oh god, Darcy,” Steve took her hands with his own once she had taken him all in. “Fuck.”
“I know,” she gasped, before moving herself up and down slowly to adjust to him. Steve's hands gripped hers tightly in response. Her whimper caused him to open his eyes suddenly, and his voice was tinged with worry.
“I'm not hurting you, am I?”
“I'll be fine, it's just been a while.” Darcy smiled. Her hips moved slowly, and she began riding him in earnest, each time he moaned spurring her on more.
The rest of their clothes came off quickly, and Darcy found out that night about how quickly a super soldier could be ready for another round. There was some sleeping that night, but not much until Darcy was awakened again by Steve. In the morning she was sore for all of the right reasons, with Steve wrapped around her in his sleep.
In the morning she had to send Jane a quick text, before she said her goodbyes to Steve.
Won't be in til the afternoon today, gotta get some actual sleep!
OoooooOooH Darcy!!! Get it gurl! was Jane's response.
Darcy made it back to her apartment and slept blissfully for the rest of the morning.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Darcy had bought a tiny toy elephant. It was purple and had big sparkly eyes. Unfortunately, he died. Darcy hid a tiny note inside him, replacing the small bag of beans and most of the cotton fluff. She felt bad for removing his vital organs for such a trivial thing, but she knew that it would make Steve laugh. She wrote “Surprise inside! Open me up” on the tag on the elephant’s ear and left it on the end table by Steve’s couch for him to find eventually.
It only took him a few hours before he noticed it.
“What’s this?” He read the tag, his brows raising in confusion before heading off to the kitchen in search of a knife. Darcy followed him, her hands shaking suddenly. Her heart was hammering away in her chest, and she watched him anxiously as he located a knife.
“Do you wanna talk about the elephant in the room, Steve?” she managed to choke out.
That seemed to confuse Steve even further, and he cut the stitching along the tiny stuffed toy’s stomach area. He removed the fluff and bean bag, finding Darcy’s planted note, along with a small polaroid picture of the pair of them. The note read “I love you”. Steve smiled immediately, and turned around, taking Darcy into his arms and hugging her tightly.
“This is the best thing ever,” he smiled against her ear, holding Darcy tightly. She sighed, feeling a million times lighter. “I mean, I’m not quite there yet. And I appreciate this so much. You are amazing, doll.”
“Of course, I wanted to do something cute for you.”
“It’s so cute. You’re cute.”
Even if Steve didn’t say it back, Darcy could tell he was close. She could feel it in the way he spoke, how he looked at her, and the way he touched her. He was constantly touching her, as if to assure himself that she was still there. Darcy was always there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It had been a long day at work for Darcy. Jane was working her ass off again for all hours of the week since Thor had to make a short trip back to Asgard for whatever reason this time. Jane had explained it to her, but all Darcy could make out was Asgard-Alien-Politics-Loki-Death-Destruction-Warriors-Mead. It seemed reasonable enough, but now Jane was going full tilt again.
It was around seven-thirty when Darcy managed to pry Jane out of the lab, and almost asked JARVIS to lock her in her apartment until she had gotten at least seven hours of sleep. Ten would be ideal at this point, what with how exhausted she herself felt by now, but Jane was impossible.
Hey hun, supper tonight?
Of course, what were you thinking?
Meet me at my floor when I’m off
See you then xx
Steve was waiting for Darcy when she got there. Darcy stepped into the door and came face-to-face with Steve in all of his beautiful, tall glory. The lights were off and there were candles around him. They weren’t real candles (thank the gods, Darcy was terrible around fire), but the plastic kind that looked authentic and could be turned on by a little switch on the bottom. Steve stood holding a small bouquet of roses, a trashy tabloid magazine, and a giant package of Reese Cups.
“What’s this?” Darcy smiled, stepping closer to Steve and letting him envelope her in a warm hug.
“Just a little thing to say how much I appreciate you,” Steve said softly, placing a kiss on her head. “And you’ve been working so much that I just wanted to do something nice for you.”
“Thank you, Steve.” her heart swelled, filling her with a warm, tingly sensation that had nothing to do with how tired she felt.
“I love you,” he whispered against her hair.
“I love you too,” Darcy smiled, before pulling away slightly to look up at him. “So food? I’m starving.”
“Straight to the point, I like it.” Steve laughed, turning off the fake candles and putting the roses on the table nearest to her front door. “Of course, let’s go. We’ll get a vase for these when we’re out too.”
Darcy took Steve’s hand, feeling happier than she had been all week. There was a sudden skip in her step that hadn’t been there previously. She leaned into his side as they rode down the elevator, Steve’s arm resting comfortably around her shoulders.
Darcy didn’t think it possible that she could love Steve Rogers this much.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Avengers Tower had certain protocols in place, especially for those in R&D. Jane and Darcy were made to take daily multivitamins and had to take special hazmat precautions for when they were working with alien technology. Jane’s favourites were the Chitauri pieces of weaponry that were left behind after the battle in New York.
After the Chitauri virus that Coulson’s team had investigated, Jane and Darcy were extremely careful with their health. They were put into closed off chambers after exiting the labs and disinfected with a strong smelling spray. It reminded Darcy of hospitals.
Even with all of these precautions, Darcy fell prey to a cold. She woke up one morning with her chest closed off and her breathing extremely wheezy. It was January in New York, which explained a lot but not really. She hadn’t been out in the city as much as she would have liked, but then again she did return home to her mother’s house over the holidays.
Her younger cousins were down with the flu when she was visiting, and she made sure not to get too close to them. She could stand alien viruses, and even Thor’s super alien man colds, but nothing freaked her out more than a four-year-old volcano eruption. They came without much warning, save for the occasional “I don’t feel so good,” and three seconds later you were covered in today’s lunch.
“JARVIS?” Darcy pulled out her Stark Phone and clicked the middle button. JARVIS was programmed to acknowledge her over the intercom system in her apartment, but she made Tony put certain limitations on him so that she would feel less like her personal space was invaded. If necessary, she could call on the AI through the intercom and he would reply, but usually only whenever she couldn’t find her phone. Not surprisingly, that happened a lot.
“Yes, Miss Lewis?”
“Please ask Happy or someone to go out and get me some Buckley’s, and a huge amount of Kleenex.”
“Would you like me to call on one of Mr. Stark’s personal physicians as well?”
“No thanks, I’m sure it’s just a cold. Nothing to do about it.”
“Of course,” JARVIS paused. “Happy will be here within the hour with everything that you require, Miss Lewis.”
“Thanks, J.”
“You’re welcome. Get some rest. I will inform Dr. Foster that you will not be in today.”
At the end of the day, Steve was let into Darcy’s apartment. By that point, Darcy had migrated to the couch with the coffee table covered in multiple types of cold medications, a Kleenex box, bottles of water and Gatorade with varying volumes of liquid left over, and a stack of blu rays.
“How’s my girl doing?” Steve leaned over and felt Darcy’s forehead, which was only a little warmer than usual. Darcy was wrapped up in her favourite duvet and there was a hefty bowl of chicken noodle soup on her lap. “I got your text, and I brought burritos.”
“I feel like shit,” Darcy sniffed, trying to clear one plugged nostril. It didn’t work. “Probably look like it too.”
“Nonsense, doll,” Steve sat beside her on the couch, taking one side of the duvet and wrapping it around himself too. “You look beautiful as always.”
“Easy for you to say,” Darcy laughed, which resulted in a wheeze then a cough that rattled her lungs. “You still love me.”
“Of course, darlin’,” Steve smiled, leaning close and placing a kiss to her temple. “What are you watching?”
“Friday the 13th, it’s an old 80s slasher movie. I’m on the fourth movie now.”
“Mind if I join you for the rest of the marathon? I don’t have to report in tomorrow for anything, so I can stay with you tonight.”
“That’d be awesome, babe.”
They got to Jason X that night, watching at least the last three movies in fast forward since they were too terrible to watch completely. Darcy and Steve laughed at the ridiculousness of each time Jason Voorhees rose from the dead, or whenever the main girl(s) fell while running away from Jason. By the end of Jason X, Darcy was too tired and hopped up on cough syrup that Steve decided it was time for bed.
Darcy wheezed all night, and her nose was plugged to the point where she could barely breathe through it, despite multiple attempts to clear it out in the middle of the night.
“Okay, doctor tomorrow. JARVIS?” she called out this time, not wanting to bother Steve in his sleep by reaching over him for her phone on his side of the bed.
“Yes, Miss Lewis?”
“Make an appointment for me with the Tony’s doctor, please.”
“Of course, Miss Lewis.” A pause. “Doctor Cho will be over in the morning.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Go back to sleep, Miss Lewis.”
Helen Cho was one of Tony’s favourites. She flew in from Seoul consistently to tend to the Avengers. She was one of the only doctors that Tony trusted with his team, even though she was only considered part-time. Darcy liked her though, she had met Helen after missions once she had started dating Steve.
After a thorough checkup, Dr. Cho diagnosed Darcy with an upper respiratory infection. It wasn’t the first that Darcy had had in her life, so Darcy knew the drill. She was given antibiotics, multiple inhalers and a vapourizer machine to help open up her airways again.
“Does this make me look like Darth Vader?” Darcy asked with the mask over her face. She had been taking all of her prescriptions to a T now. And Steve made sure that she didn’t miss any doses. She had to use the machine at least three times a day, even though she hated it. The Salbutamol vapour made her mouth dry and made her hands shaky. She couldn’t work until Helen said so. And Jane wouldn’t trust her until her hands were steady again.
“A bit, but a cute Darth Vader,” Steve smiled, taking her feet and placing them onto his lap. Darcy grinned behind the clear plastic mask. She had gotten Steve to sit with her through the entire Star Wars saga within the first few months of them getting together. He held up surprisingly well during it too, even with Darcy’s random squeals of delight and continuous commentary. Steve was shaping up to be every fangirl’s dream guy, and yet Darcy was the one with his heart.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Darcy and Steve’s relationship took a sharp turn with the fall of SHIELD and the emergence of Hydra. Steve went on the run as a wanted fugitive with Natasha, which meant that Darcy had less than little contact with him. She and Jane hid in a secret bunker with Maria Hill until everything smoothed over. The second they were allowed back into the Avengers tower, Darcy made sure to have Thor and Clint help her clear out her own apartment. It all went into Steve’s.
Steve came home a few days after Natasha spoke at Capitol Hill, exhausted and dirty, and with a new friend. Sam Wilson was quickly taken in for questioning, for only a short time by the sound of it, and made an Avenger officially by Tony. After getting him cleaned up, Darcy stayed with Steve as he slept over the course of the following week. She ordered takeout and made sure he ate. He wouldn’t speak, and walked around like he was on autopilot.
Darcy settled herself into his apartment, claiming half of his closet for herself, and making herself a small station for her laptop and research in the living room. She hung a few posters, and placed a few knick knacks in random places around the apartment to help it feel less empty. Steve didn’t have much in the first place, so his place always seemed a little too bare.
One night Steve rolled over and wrapped his arm around Darcy’s middle and pulled her closer against him. She sighed, placing her hand over his arm and rubbing softly.
“Hey,” she whispered. “You alright?”
“Yeah, better now.” Steve’s words were heavy with sleep and he started to snore again.
Tony kept Darcy’s floor empty, “just in case reasons” he would say. By this point in her relationship with Steve, she was pretty sure the only break up they would have would be due to death. Which seemed pretty plausible in his line of work. Darcy tried not to dwell on it.
They found a good rhythm after a few weeks of living together. On days where Darcy worked late, she found Steve either watching tv on her Netflix account or in bed already. On the days where she couldn’t get Jane to stop until after nine o’clock, Steve made sure she had food ready when she got through the door. It was either that, or Darcy would become a crying, hangry mess. She had even taught him the art of KD mac ‘n’ cheese, which was a saviour on most late nights.
On days where Jane finished up early, Darcy either ordered in or cooked. She was good at timing everything perfectly so that as soon as Steve was done with training or some Avengers meetings, there would be a massive amount of food fit for a ravenous super soldier. He always thanked her with lots of hugs, kisses, and sex.
The only problems they really had were the nightmares. Steve had nightmares of crashing the plane into the ocean, seeing Bucky fall, seeing Bucky again as the Winter Soldier and even sometimes of random skirmishes he was sent out to deal with around the world. He would always wake up and hold Darcy until he could feel relatively normal again, her warmth pulling him back into the present. Darcy had nightmares too; most of them consisting of New York or London. She could still see the alien dark elf creatures swarming around her before being shaken awake by Steve. To calm her mind, she would go to the kitchen and bake.
Darcy loved to bake, but only a handful of people within the Avengers tower knew it by now. She had constructed a Mjolnir cake that was so nearly identical to Thor’s own hammer that he was confused for a good twenty minutes until Darcy stuck a candle in the top of the handle. She hadn’t been able to lift Thor’s hammer in order to study it, but she managed to snap a few pictures for reference whenever he wasn’t looking. The fondant she used to cover the cake was decorated in the same Asgardian symbols that were on Mjolnir’s surface, which Darcy had painstakingly recreated by hand.
Darcy’s favourites to bake though, were apple pies and cupcakes. Anytime she woke up from a nightmare she would ask him “Pie or cupcakes?” and whatever he would respond with would be what she would bake that night. JARVIS always made sure that their kitchen was fully stocked for her baking needs. Her creations would never last long, since Steve took a liking to anything she made and tended to gobble everything up within a day or two. Whenever the Avengers were out on a mission, Darcy made sure to feed Jane a few slices of pie or a couple of cupcakes so that Jane’s bender didn’t make her weight dip down too much. They both tended to forget to eat while their men were away, and sugary snacks definitely helped in those times.
Despite Steve being called away on missions frequently, and Darcy staying in the labs with Jane late into each night, she wouldn’t have it any other way. Steve was her home now, and she’d always be glad to be with him, even if for a brief time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The team, along with all of the scientists and staff at Avengers tower were moved to a new location. Tony Stark renovated his father’s old warehouse upstate, which everyone called Avengers facility, and the team was placed there. Darcy didn’t mind the change of scenery, since it meant that Steve came home safe (again) after everything calmed down (again). They were given their own quarters in the facility, which didn’t have nearly as much space as their floor in the tower did, but it was home now.
During the celebration after the Avengers retrieved Loki’s scepter, Darcy and Jane were in London, where Jane was becoming well known for her studyings on the Convergence a few years back. She was planning on moving to London, and was in the process of looking at different flats. Darcy tagged along, only slightly moping as they explored the floorplan of each one that the realtor took them to. And then Darcy’s Stark phone went out.
That was the first sign.The next was the news broadcast in the pub at the end of the day. Darcy looked up from her meal of fish and chips when she saw heard the words “Avengers attacked.” There, on the screen, Avengers tower was on lockdown, and multiple anthropomorphic figures flying around where the common area would be. A few of them circled around the windows before breaking through the glass and into the building. A few seconds later, one of them was thrown out again, broken this time.
When Darcy was finally able to come back to America, Jane didn’t come with her. She stayed in London once she had heard that Thor had left for Asgard - again. So Darcy was now on her own. Well, not really. With the move, she was promoted to the head of R&D, and made sure all of the scientists had what they needed for their labs and was in charge of what research got published and what was funded (all of it was, of course).
It was five-thirty when Darcy woke up, the new AI Friday pinging her new Stark phone as her alarm. It was tuned to a frequency only Darcy could hear, since Steve slept through almost everything now. She tiptoed out to the common area of their quarters and got out the bag of sticky notes she had stolen from the office supplies. The colours were red and blue, which would contrast nicely against the pure white walls.
It took only a half hour for Darcy to arrange the sticky notes on the barest wall she could find (it wasn’t easy, all of her posters took up a lot of space now). She nodded to herself then went back to bed, curling up against Steve’s warm back, an arm draped over his side.
They both slept for another five hours, and when Steve awoke, he nearly missed what Darcy had left for him. He blinked his eyes a few times, staring at the wall until it clicked.
“Happy Bday Steve” was written out in the sticky notes, punctuated with a red and blue heart. A gift bag full of goodies was left nearby on the couch, the bag decorated with American flags.
Darcy woke up next, mostly due to the super soldier who decided to cover her face in kisses.
“What is it?” Darcy laughed, trying to roll and keep her face buried in the pillow as Steve straddled her and tried to kiss her face still.
“I found your little note, and your gift,” he said softly, using his arms to prop himself up so that his full weight wasn’t on her.
“Did you like it?”
“I loved it doll, it’s so cute.”
“Happy birthday baby,” Darcy smiled, finally giving in and rolling onto her back so she could take a look at her boyfriend properly. “What are you now, a thousand years old?”
“Hmm, close,” Steve laughed, leaning down and kissing her left cheek once before moving to place another on her right cheek. “Ninety-five, I think. But without the ice time it’s more like twenty-seven.”
“Still an old man,” Darcy laughed.
“True, but I’m your old man.”
“Gross. I love you.”
“Love you too, darlin’.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It had been a shitty day for Darcy at work. Without Jane, Darcy had to hover around the more inept scientists that Stark had hired on. They weren’t really inept, they just didn’t have the same level of genius in them that Darcy was used to. And they required a lot less help, since they were more worried about safety precautions in the lab and didn’t go into a frenzy as soon as they had an epiphany. It was quite boring. Darcy was getting sick of it.
Steve’s week of work wasn’t much better either. Each day he came home, dropped his shoes by the door, and flopped facedown on their bed. He groaned profanities into the blankets for a few minutes until Darcy managed to get him up for a shower. He had been working with Tony on rebuilding plans and support efforts for the people in Sokovia. Tony and Steve tended to clash on a few subjects, both men too stubborn to move until Pepper stepped in and defused the situation with logic.
The rebuilding efforts were difficult. The Sokovian politicians didn’t want to accept help from Stark Industries after everything, or the Avengers. The answer came in the form of Pepper Potts (the business genius that she was) creating a not-for-profit cover company that gathered donations, with no known ties to either Stark or to the Avengers. Steve also had to fight Tony on the fact that the new housing had to be modern in the sense that there was no Stark tech built into everything. Tony took a while to budge on that one.
Darcy was eating from a jar of dill pickles when Steve came in from work. He came up behind her from where she sat on her favourite bar stool, and wrapped his arms around her.
“Hey babe,”
“Hey darlin’,” Steve sighed against her back, squeezing tightly. She could feel some of the tension leave him as he held her for a few moments.
“Supper’s in the oven already, so it should be done pretty soon.”
“Awesome, I’m starved,” Steve smiled, letting go of Darcy just long enough for him to remove his slacks. He took his girlfriend back into his arms, now just clothed in his dress shirt, tie, boxers and socks. Darcy couldn’t help but giggle into Steve’s chest.
“What else is new?” Darcy winced as Steve bumped her knee, which was covered in a bandage. “Oh, other than my new bruise.”
“What happened?” Steve pulled back to inspect Darcy’s knee, his tone one of curiosity and humor. “What dared to injure my girl this time?”
“The stairs in one of Stark’s main robot labs. There’s like three steps right beside the ramp where DUM-E wheels in. I missed the first step and my knee found the second one.”
“Awww, darlin’,” Steve’s old Brooklyn accent slipped through as he knelt to place a small kiss on Darcy’s bandage. “Was anyone there?”
“Just DUM-E. But we know how useless he is,” Darcy laughed. “I went to Helen and she made sure nothing was broken. She dressed it up and sent me on my way, with a lollipop and everything!”
Steve laughed, hugging Darcy to his chest. Even when she sat on the bar stools in the kitchen, he still had a major height advantage on her. He kissed the top of her head and walked out of the kitchen. Darcy watched as his tall, hunky form (her words, not his) disappeared into their bedroom.
Darcy contemplated following him, but thought better of it when she shifted on the bar stool. The movement alone caused the throbbing pain on her bruised knee to start up again. She decided to stay and wait for Steve, absently keeping an eye on her phone, where she had set a timer for their supper.
Steve returned after a few minutes, still in his boxers but he had ditched his socks and dress shirt for a simple grey t-shirt. To Darcy, he was still a dream. His shoulders were wide and the shirt was tighter at his chest, and the boxers showed off his strong legs. And he was holding something in his hands, a pair of cargo pants he reserved for missions only. They were dusty and battered, but they were his favourite.
“What do you have your pants for?” Darcy’s right brow raised upwards in a sad attempt at the famous eyebrow move by The Rock. Steve barely noticed though, his back turned to her.
“Well, I wanted to go and get this.” He turned, dropping the cargo pants to the ground to reveal a small grey box in his hands. A ring box. Darcy gasped.
“Darcy, my darling. My love. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and I don’t want you to have any doubts about yourself or about us,” Steve got down on one knee, opening the box. Darcy began to cry, part of her ashamed for the waterworks being instantaneous. The thought made her laugh. “I love you more than anything else in this entire world. Now will you marry me?”
Darcy nodded, trying not to hiccup as she laughed, tears streaming down her face. Her eyeliner was now surely ruined, but she didn’t care. “Of course! Yes!”
Steve slid the ring onto the third finger of her left hand, a smile so big it might have broke his face. He stood and kissed Darcy’s forehead softly, basking in the presence of his new fiancee.