Darcy Soup

Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel.


Chapter 1: Nurses don't condone alcohol (Darcy/ Tony)


The whole soulmate thing, Darcy decided, was bogus. It was flaw in her free will, a way society can bend its members to its own agenda and create a mindless army that did nothing but become the person they were destined to be.

Darcy had her soulwords since she was born, but the words were nothing more than a bunch of lines until well past her teenage years. She had a major depressive slump during junior year, because she had no idea what she was going to do with her life, but when she woke one day with the words "are you going to be my nurse today?" fully visible, the problems vanished and Darcy's life was filled with energy again.

Except, Darcy found out, life really wasn't that simple. She had entered uni fully intended to be a bio major and enter nursing school(which, she once thought, was stupid considering that if she was going to go that direction anyway she might as well be a doctor), but that didn't go as planned and several months in, Darcy returned home with a certificate congratulating her on her commitment to political science. Her parents weren't thrilled.

But Darcy didn't give a flying fuck, because she liked poli sci and she was good at it. And if whatever deity that placed these words on her body said that she was going to be a nurse, then screw them, they were wrong. (She took to wearing long sleeves and sweaters to hide her mark just to avoid the accusing stares and the long explanations that would follow).

But the idea about soulmates and nurses weren't that important anymore when Darcy was confronted with aliens falling from the sky (ALIENS!) and her life took a total 360 swan dive into the metaphorical pool of gods and agents and superheros who liked to wear spangly spandex and act as if it was Halloween everyday.

But this time, it really was Halloween and Darcy, who always had a soft spot for the spoopy holiday, forced Jane out of her lab and to Tony Stark's Halloween party several floors up (Darcy totally followed Jane to the Avengers Tower and got a whole SUITE to herself for her "job").

"But Darcy! The readings on the –"

"Oh, shush boss. You can go one day without them. Besides," Darcy said, waiting patiently outside the bathroom as Jane took her first shower in days, "Didn't you make JARVIS automatically keep record of any readings?

"Yes," replied Jane, voice muffled by the shower. "But—"

"Jaaane. You need social time! And as your intern, it is my job to feed you (which I did), water you (check) and give you friendTIME( which I'm going to do)." Darcy smiled as Jane walked out with her costume on (it was just a lab coat that didn't look have 3 week stains on it). "And besides. I heard that Stark's parties are the most amazing parties ever. Did you hear about that time he brought out the Iron Man suit on his birthday and then he totaled his house?"

"Yes," Jane dryly said, drying her hair with a towel. "Every time I saw him this week, in fact. It was annoying."

"I wouldn't know," Darcy said shrugging. "I haven't actually met him. Or talked to him."

"He's signs your paychecks," Jane pointed out, grabbing her things.

"Nu uh. Pepper does."

"With his money," Jane argued as the two of them entered the elevator. "And he gave us our suites."

"No he gave Thor and his hunny bunny and her intern suites," Darcy pointed out, adjusting her cleavage. "He has no idea who I am."

"Be grateful for that," Jane said, sighing and glancing at her watch. "Is the party even going? It's 4AM."

"The party don't start 'till I walk in," Darcy said, sending Jane a saucy wink. Jane shook her head in exasperation, but Darcy knew she didn't mean it by the smile on her face.

Darcy turned to the front as the elevator dinged, and stumbled a bit as the doors opened to a wall of loud techno music. She grinned widely and gestured to Jane, not even bothering you shout above the noise, that she was going to the bar. Waving, Darcy hurried to the bar and took a seat.

Nursing a cold one, Darcy turned to the party and bobbed her head with the music. She adjusted her white nurse's outfit again, and watched as strange couples danced on the floor. Darcy's grin widened as she saw someone dressed like Captain America slow dance with Barney the dinosaur. She quickly snapped a picture to send to Clint. She was sure he would get a laugh and possibly tease Steve at breakfast tomorrow.

Darcy didn't notice someone take a seat to her left until he ordered a drink for her. She turned to say thanks, but her eyes widened as she saw Tony Stark himself dressed like a doctor, making googly eyes at her chest.

"Are you going to be my nurse today?" he slurred, giving her a sly grin.

Darcy blurted out the first thing she thought, "If you say 'SHUT UP NURSE, MAKE OUT WITH ME' I'm going to dump this lemoncello on your lap."

Tony blinked, stared at the drink in her hand, back at her and laughed so hard that he had to put down his own drink. Darcy stared at him unamused, "What's so funny Stark?"

"You." He snorted, "Have. No idea how relieved I am to hear that in that way. Pepper thought I was going to molest a poor nurse while drunk someday."

Darcy was confused, that is until she played back the conversation in her head. She gasped, "You!"

"Me," Tony said, laughter subsiding. "Its…nice to finally meet you." His gaze turned back to her breasts. "And your assets."

Usually, Darcy would have given any man that looked at her like that a shock to his nuts, but Darcy merely just laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation, "I am dreadfully sorry for saying that." (Darcy wasn't in the slightest).

Tony pulled his collar and Darcy saw her words peep out from his collar bone. Darcy stared at her words and the skin it was on with fascination before tearing her eyes away. "I'm so glad I didn't have to be a nurse."

"You? I obviously had the worse end, darling. Do you know how many times I bought a girl a lemoncello? I hate lemoncello!"

"Do you pick up girls often Mr. Stark?" Darcy asked, teasing the older man.

"Only nurses, darling."

Maybe, Darcy thought, soulmarks weren't such a bad thing.