It was a stalling tactic, a distraction so simple he was impressed with how effective it was. He would be lying if he said it wasn't working, but only just. Her eyes fluttered slightly, glancing up at him with a twinkle and this fire that seared him to his very core. He swallowed as she turned her red lips up into a smirk, the lollipop being pulled in to her mouth as she twisted the stem to touch the whole thing. His jaw clenched.
Definitely a distraction.
She wasn't looking at him now but that quirk of her lips was still there and he was once again reminded she was no fool. He wasn't even sure how they got to this point if he was really honest with himself. His comfort around her, how he almost craved her small touch and playful jokes make something in his chest ache.
He recalls the first so many times around her of course. That was something he would never forget. He was so unsure and it almost killed him. He was never unsure, or wary, or as she would tell him later totally freaked out. Steve would drive him insane with the glances and looks he thought he didn't notice. It was harder than he would ever admit to anyone else but learning everything he couldn't sent his emotions into overdrive. When he really was at his worst, she showed up and damn if it wasn't some sort of divine intervention.
It really wasn't some sort of magic or spectacular meeting. She was there with her friend Jane who was doing some sort of work he wasn't even going to try to understand. Given who Jane was seeing Steve thought it would be a good idea to introduce them all and that was how he found himself trailing slightly after his friend as they walked to the floor Jane worked on. (Steve was too good a friend to expect Bucky to walk into the lab, even if it was not…that kind.)
They turned a corner into a lounge area with push pillows and couches that screamed opulence. The tower was not meant for discomfort and a television was mounted on the wall with speakers rounding the room. A wall lined with books and magazines and games dotted the other side. All of that dwarfed in comparison however to the coffee station that took up the far side of the room.
Tony had apparently learned the hard way when the coffee machine broke on the 65th floor a couple months previous and that scientists on that floor, shaking and twitchy, devised a plan to steal from one of the corporate floors. He had found he grossly underestimated their need, skills, and sheer determination.
They had blueprints.
The event didn't exactly go off as planned and no one really knew the true details but Tony, in a wise move, decided that scientists were not to be trusted without their caffeine and put the coffee stations in. This is where Steve was walking him towards as two women were casually standing near the corner of the station. One was talking animatedly with her hands, the other stirring her coffee slowly as she nodded along.
They both turned when Steve stopped before them and offered him a smile. Being that he was slightly behind his friend Bucky was able to glance and note who was who from the files he had skimmed on them earlier.
The introductions were casual and easy. Bucky felt himself relax as Steve drove them into a quick conversation about the coffee bar and explaining some of the points to Bucky who nodded along, already knowing the story.
His eyes kept jumping around the room and he half listened to the group as he shuffled his feet, starting to get uneasy. He heard what Steve had said to them, heard what they all were saying really, but his detached attention caused it to register seconds after the fact. So when Steve casually mentioned with a laugh and a smile that even though the scientists plans failed they at least got a nice new set up it took him a second to hear the girls (Darcy?) response.
"What makes you think our plan failed?"
His head shot to hers and he registered the implication as she shot him a wink sipping her hot coffee, the fog misting her glasses but doing nothing to hide the smirk.
He never questioned her name again after that.
Her methods had only improved with time. If he ever saw her as just a scientist before he was sadly mistaken. She was smart, beautiful, and insanely clever - and she knew it. She could see things so far in advance it boggled his mind that she wasn't planning half the missions. Then again, he wouldn't know.
Granted, this time her method was playing down and dirty with his mind and good god if it wasn't working. He was an assassin, a trained killer and he was being completely run over by a god damn lollipop.
Her lips 'popped' as she pulled the dirty thoughts on a stick from her mouth. He glanced to her mouth then up to her eyes and willed himself to hold the stare. Her eyes held the taunt of knowing exactly what he was thinking, and he hoped his gaze held the promise of just what was to come.
"Gonna answer me doll?"
She tilted her head to the side and smiled as her hair slid over her shoulder just grazing the marble counter that sat between them. She moved to put the candy back into her mouth and just as it ghosted her lips she spoke in a low whisper.
"Go…fish."
As he threw his cards down and reached across the cool marvel to grasp the back of her neck and pull her close he had the fleeting memory of the Great Coffee Raid (as it was called) and the final understand that Darcy Lewis always has a plan.