Chapter Text
Darcy Lewis had never minded growing up as a foster kid. She was one of the lucky ones, having been taken in by one family and staying there until she was able to go out of the system. It was there that she met her- well, then foster brother, Riley Poole. The pair had been fast friends when they first met. It had all started when their five other foster siblings had ganged up on Darcy for having one of her Barbies like computers and not fashion and shopping.
Riley Poole came to her rescue via literally throwing a G.I Joe into the mix and sending all the girls scrambling away. Being the only boy in the group as well as the oldest had its advantages, as far as he was concerned. He always scared them more because of it.
When school wasn’t in session, the pair were barely apart, be in playing videogames, talking about movies, or finding a way to terrorize their middle siblings.
When Darcy was twenty and Riley twenty-six, the pair had received the news that, by some crazy stretch of the imagination, they were in fact blood siblings. They thought it was the best news ever. Later they both agrees on holding off on finding their real parents. They had bigger fish to fry, be it finishing school successfully or managing to keep a terribly bland office job.
Bi-weekly talks turned to monthly talks when Riley met Ben Gates and Darcy met Jane Foster. Being the sidekick was always hard work.
Three and a half years later, Riley had managed to talk Ben into dropping him in New Mexico before their rag tag team of excused felons headed to California on another impossible hunt. Granted, that had made Ben poke around in old legends about the places around that supposedly held treasure, so he had made them investigate first. It ended just as all the other adventures had: In disaster that they got out of because of one of Ben's connections and a loophole in a law to boot. After all that confusion, Riley dragged his feet when he made his way into Izzy’s Diner.
Darcy smiled weakly at the tousled looking brunette young man making his way into Izzy’s. He spotted her and slid into the booth she was sitting at before slamming his head down on the table and groaning.
She beamed. Sure, she hated seeing her big brother upset like that, but that didn’t stop these monthly get-togethers from being her favorite thing because of that reason. It was nice that someone was having just as crazy of a life as she was having so they could connect more. It was a weekend that she wasn't getting brown up, or having a car thrown at her head, or getting kidnapped (Damn it Loki, she was not queen material!) or anything. It was just the two of them venting about the craziness their bosses and friends got them into. Of course, it was pretty cool hearing about how her big brother got flown in on private jet via the former President of the Unites States a couple of times, and the head of the FBI other times.
She giggled and pushed her root beer float towards him. It was a strange habit with them. They didn’t go for liquor, so something sugary and cold was their go-to substitute. “Rough week, Broski?”
Riley lifted his head. “I almost died,” he reported and pulled the root beer float over, almost cradling it “… again.”
Darcy snorted. “What did Ben have you do now?”
“He dangled me by the ankles to get a picture of some weird hieroglyph on the wall, I don’t know. I kind of stopped thinking when Ben saw something by his foot and loosened his grip to angle himself toward it and let me go for a second. Yeah, I was about a foot away from falling to my imminent death… or a broken arm… or leg… or both.” He sighed dramatically. “What about you?”
“Eh, usual. Jane keeps thinking I don’t understand her when she ‘secretly’ tells everyone about how I slow most things down… Fandral proposed again, that stuff.”
“Oh, and what did you say?” Riley looked genuinely interested there/
“Duh, no, are you kidding?”
"What?! The guy's nice and he digs you!" Riley replied, then leaned back. "Hell, if I went to bat for the other team I'd go for him. You guys could have some glorious Robin Hood babies, and they could turn into Robin Hood babies who had the best hacking skills the world's ever seen after mom and Uncle Riley get done with them!"
“He digged the girls first,” Darcy countered, giving a pointed look down at her chest, and Riley made a disgusted face, more at seeing her grope herself than at Fandral’s antics.
“At least give it a try,” Riley replied. “If I have to hear Mom complain to us about being single one more time…”
“Dude, a god would be terrifying in bed..”
“That’s not what I was getting at, but anyway, really he could be a-“
“Don’t even say it.”
Riley grinned, then jumped when the door to the diner swung open and hit the wall hard.
“GLOW BOX MAN!”
Riley flinched again, and almost smiled when he spotted Izzy turn around as Thor all but charged over. He barely let out a squeak before Thor had yanked him up and out of the booth and into a nearly bone-crushing hug. “Thor! Hey, uh, buddy! Remember how humans need to breathe?”
Thor set him down carefully. “Many apologies.”
“S’Okay,” Riley replied, smacking the man’s bicep reassuringly and hurting himself in the process. He waited for Thor to get done hugging Darcy carefully before the god held them at arms’ length.
“So! What news? What do Son of Coul and the One Who Was Formerly a Gate have you doing?” Thor asked.
“Ben Gates, Thor. Ben. B-E-N. Not 'been'. And there’s an ‘S’. And typical stuff. Thanks for the thunderstorm that forced him to cancel going to find Atlantis, by the way. There was no way I was swimming when they found that great white right where we would’ve dove.”
“Great white what?” Thor asked.
“It’s a… …”
“Giant, sorta killer fish-like… thing. It’s called a shark,” Darcy supplied. “We’ll have to show you "Jaws" someday.” When Thor just did his usual ‘I’m going to smile like I know what you mean and look too adorable for you to question me or explain further’ smile, she sighed. “I'll add it to the list, and… not much yet. He’s still mad I won’t give the shooting range a try.”
“Are the skills acquired from Barton’s archery lessons and your familiarity box of lightning not sufficient?” Thor frowned.
Darcy tried to de-Thor Speak the statement. “Not yet. He wants me to get to the real stuff. Like, guns, guns.”
Thor looked displeased at the last word, as did Riley. “I’m not happy either. Like, there’s some cool British people I’ve heard of in his lab, but apparently two brains like theirs are enough on the compound, so I need to be super-rounded. It sucks,”
“I can speak to him, if you wish,” Thor offered.
“And risk what happened last time?” Darcy countered.
Riley looked between them. “What happened last time?”
“Classified,” Darcy replied without a moment’s hesitation.
Riley mock pouted before sliding back into the booth.
Darcy followed suit, and Thor joined in order not to be the odd man out.
A couple of moments later, Darcy made a face and Riley turned when the bell on the front door rang. He tilted his head at the balding man in the suit who looked like he was a man on a mission. “Who the Hell’s that?” he asked, then frowned when the man looked at him and started making his way over. “Ben, what did you do now?!” he hissed.
The man reached the table. “Miss. Lewis, I need some help with some- who is this?” he eyed Riley. “Wait a minute, you’re the assistant to Ben Gates who made Washington D.C go on lockdown three different times.”
“And I’m still just ‘Ben Gates’ Assistant’…” Riley deadpanned.
“No, you’re Riley Poole and you have obnoxiously good hacking skills that almost passed our systems once,” the man pointed out.
To say Riley’s face lit up would’ve been an understatement. “Yes I am!"
“What’s up, Coulson?” Darcy cut in.
Riley turned to her, then back. “Wait you know this guy?”
“I’m roughly her boss. And you need to come with me. Miss Lewis, you too. Thor, we don’t exactly need you, but I think the world would feel a little more comfortable if you were in a larger space.”
After a moment, Thor shrugged and nodded in agreement.
“Wait, you need me?” Darcy raised her eyebrows.
“Oh, like you didn’t see this coming,” Coulson replied before turning on his heel and walking back towards the exit.
Darcy wanted to grin. She absolutely adored how Coulson’s professional mode just dropped with her since she had always managed to troll him about it subtly enough that he didn’t even try anymore. “Coming, Boss!” she threw a twenty dollar bill down on the table. “He doesn’t like to be kept waiting. Something about cold coffee and the driver’s bad taste in music."
“But I’m not even in… whatever you’re in!” Riley objected, even as Darcy grabbed his sleeve in order to drag him out.
“And that’s what makes whatever this situation is awesome!”