Work Text:
Darcy stared at the stack of Jane’s notes she was supposed to be transcribing and sighed. Some of them were written on take-out napkins, others were scribbled onto the back of used envelopes. All were nearly illegible to anyone but Darcy and Jane, and maybe sometimes Erik.
She missed Bruce. He was a nice distraction when things in Jane’s lab got just a little too tedious. Like now. Or when Jane was a little crazy. Which, ok wasn’t now. Jane was sitting quietly in the corner reviewing data, like a good little scientist. But that didn’t make Darcy any less bored. And Dr. B was on sabbatical, or something, until his lab was rebuilt.
Darcy grabbed another sheet of gibberish and began to translate it into clear english. As she worked, her fingers stabbing away at her keyboard she mentally cussed out the Green Goblin. If that haunted house reject hadn’t exploded the lab she could be bugging Bruce right now instead of trying to puzzle out Jane-speak. Darcy huffed, maybe it was time for a coffee break. Yeah, coffee was good. She would give her brain a break and go say hi to Jack.
“Jane, I’m going to go get some hot stimulant infused beverage, you want?” Darcy waited patiently for the 30 seconds it took her question to penetrate Jane’s science haze.
“What? Stimu... Oh, yes please. Triple shot latte, nonfat.” Jane hadn’t even looked up from her notes. She was in that super focused place she got into sometimes when the sciences were making sense and doing what she wanted them to do. Progress was being made apparently. Darcy would pick up something edible to force feed to Jane on the way back from Kerrigan’s. If the scientist wasn’t poked regularly she forgot to eat, and that lead to fun things like blood sugar dives and fainting. Apparently it was a common flaw in the sciencey types. Even Bruce occasionally needed to be reminded that he had to break for sustenance.
Darcy grabbed the bottomless satchel of army surplus awesome and slung it over her shoulder, “You got it boss-lady. One jet powered cup of joe coming right up.” She marched out of the office, her scuffed doc martens thudding softly on the carpet. Yeah, after the splodey incident she had shifted her workplace style to something a little more 90’s grunge. Epically more appropriate in case of super villain attack. Not that she didn’t take her awesome red wedges out on the weekends. Because, seriously, they were too epic to hang out in the closet.
The ipod came out the moment she exited lab and the earbuds went in. She scrolled through her playlists for something walking appropriate. And, inspired by today’s flannel and ripped jeans ensemble she chose her 90’s alternative playlist and hit shuffle. A grin spread across her face when “Smells Like Teen Spirit” started playing in her ears. “Perfect.” She trotted down the hall and through 3 security checkpoints before she exited the building and started power walking towards caffeine.
Her timing was great, she managed to arrive at Kerrigan’s during the late morning lull. Which meant she could chat with Jack a bit while she ordered and she didn’t have to wait in line. She hated lines. Especially when they meant waiting for her coffee beverage.
“Hey Jack. How’s things?” She stared up at the menu for a second, as if she wasn’t going to order her usual mexi-mocha.
Jack grinned at her, “Things are good. Makin’ coffee, you know, the usual. What’ll it be today?”
Darcy hmmed and tapped her chin with her pointer finger, “I think I am going to be adventurous and go with a large Mexican mocha, non-fat.” It wasn’t that she never tried anything else. She had tried just about everything on the menu, and a few things that weren’t, Jack was a coffee genius after all. But she loved loved loved her mexi-mocha.
Jack laughed, “Sure thing Darce, one usual. Large?” He was clearly amused by her and her specialness. As he should be.
She nodded, “Oh, and a large non-fat triple latte.” She peeked into the pastry case to see if Jack had anything that would be halfway appropriate for Jane’s lunch. But it was all delicious baked goods, and Jane didn’t need anymore starchy sugary things. She had been living on pop tarts for the last three days. Darcy on the other hand had nommed a salad for lunch and totally deserved the extra large crisped rice marshmallow square thing. “Ooh and one of those marshmallow thingums please Jack. And all of it to go.”
While Jack busied himself steaming milk Darcy took a minute to look around the cafe. It was full of the usual types, couple of crafters in the corner, a hipster and a macbook sitting near the window and a large blue plaid wearing soldier type on the couch reading a tattered paperback.
Darcy may or may not have made an excited squee type noise when she recognized her favorite all-american style SHIELD boy. She stealthily and comically tip-toed over to stand behind him at the couch. For about a fraction of a second she considered putting her hands over his eyes and going with the old ‘guess who?’ But she had enough experience with SHIELD people now to know that would likely end badly and probably painfully for her. So she went with, “Do you only own the one shirt? Or do you have several and they all happen to be blue, plaid and button down?”
Steve, the adorkable creature that he is, jumped off the couch and landed lightly on his feet, facing her. Yeah, it was pretty fun to startle agents, at least when you were out of the line of fire. He blinked at her a moment before smiling and relaxing his stance, “Hi Darcy.”
She grinned back at him, “Hey Steve.” She looked down at his shirt, “But seriously, tell me your wardrobe has more variety than different blue plaids.”
He looked down at his shirt, “I uh...” He pinched at the material slightly, “Yeah, I don’t have a lot of things right now.”
Darcy blinked at him, “Seriously? Can I take you shopping?” Oh man she would absolutely love to dress this giant adorable man. “You are going to need some more shirts at least, and though I totally love those slacks, we should probably get you more of those too. Maybe some jeans? Do you wear jeans?” Yeah, she was now staring at his pants, which may have made it look like she was staring at his crotch, which she wasn’t. Really. Mostly.
“Uh...” Steve was now looking down at his pants too. And blushing, goodness blushes were adorable on him.
“Yeah, we are going shopping.” She smiled and averted her eyes back up towards his face. “Let me know when you are free, I’m always hanging around either Jane’s or Bruce’s labs.” It was about this time that Jack called to her that her order was up. So she gave Steve one more big grin and collected her noms, thanking Jack.
“I’ll be seeing you Steve!” She shouted as she headed out the door, travel cups and brown paper bag of marshmallow goodness in hand. She needed to find a deli or something and pick up a sandwich for Jane on her way back to science land.
Steve, meanwhile, still stood by the couch, paperback forgotten in hand, looking once again tall, blond and confused.
Jack just grinned.