Exposed
By angellwings
Before Steve Met Darcy (Officially)
Darcy slowly opened the door to the empty suite in Avengers Tower. She'd been directed there by JARVIS and Tony to shower. It had been a crazy day and she was exhausted. Her iPod had been ruined and she felt like the she would never ever be clean again. And not in the fun way. There had been no energy left in her to object when she'd been directed to this particular suite.
So she decided to go with the flow. Even though that went against every instinct she had on how to deal with Tony Stark.
"You can clean up in the Star Spangled Man's suite. He won't mind. Just don't clog his drain with your hair…or the mud," Tony said as he vaguely motioned to her whole person. "Come to think of it. You should both take off your shoes. I just had the floors waxed."
"Fuck off, Stark," Darcy said as she glared at his unconcerned face and flicked her dripping sleeve in his direction. A bit of mud hit him squarely on the nose and Darcy grinned victoriously. "It was your stupid invention that created the damn thing."
"Yeah, but I didn't ask you and Jane to science it to death," Tony said, unphased by the mud, as he turned and walked away.
"Trust me, I would have just walked away but Jane thought she could reverse molecular transvestite polar cap the thing," Darcy exclaimed to his retreating back. "You should be thanking us!"
Jane rolled her eyes. "I know science isn't your thing but you could at least listen when I say things."
"No offense, but listening to you is what gets me into these things to begin with," Darcy told her in a dry tone. She lifted her mud-covered hand and waved it at Jane. "Exhibit A. If I had ignored your text I would have spent my Saturday afternoon eating Chinese food and watching Netflix. Not trying to seed the clouds for rain so that we could delude some gelatinous mud monster. Plus, I wouldn't have lost my iPod. Again."
"Please," Jane said with a grin. "You enjoyed it a little bit. You know you did."
"Bite me," Darcy said as she turned and headed down the corridor. "JARVIS, direct me to Captain America's suite."
"Right away, Ms. Lewis," The AI said obediently.
And that brought her back to now. She felt like she was trespassing. She'd only been in Avengers Tower a handful of times before this. All previous times had been because Jane finally came out of her Thor coma and needed a ride back to the lab. So she didn't exactly feel at home here to begin with and this was Captain America's apartment. She had never met the guy. Not once. Sure, she'd met Son of Coul and Thor and Stark and a few other choice characters but her path had never crossed Capsicle's. It felt wrong to be in his apartment. Just plain wrong. Like defacing the Lincoln Memorial or Mount Rushmore or some other sacred American monument.
She felt completely unpatriotic. Like a traitor to the red, white, and blue. Who let herself into Uncle Sam's apartment without his express permission? It just wasn't done.
JARVIS turned on the lights for her and she gasped at the size of the place. It was huge! Way too much space for one human being. She glanced around quickly and comforted herself with the fact that the place seemed very simply furnished. It felt comfortable and lived in. Which somehow made it seem smaller and cozier. She smiled slightly in approval. It was nice to know that someone in this building had some sense of humility.
Her clothes felt heavy all of a sudden and she glanced down to see the mud drying and caking on her outfit. Oh god she felt so gross. Her misery came back to her in a sudden wave. The mud was seeping through her clothes. It was everywhere. She felt absolutely disgusting. The mud had clumped her hair and it stuck to her face at odd angles. Her glasses were frosted over with the stuff. Thankfully she'd found a cloth to clean them with enough to see. She winced as she noticed the mud dripping onto Captain America's floor.
She hoped Tony paid for the cleaning bill. She certainly wouldn't be able to afford it.
At the end of the hall she could see the bathroom. JARVIS had anticipated her and turned the light on for her. All she could think once she spotted the tile floor through the open door was…shower. God, she wanted a shower. She smelled and felt like sewer bile. All concerns about hijacking someone else's apartment faded and she rushed to the bathroom, stripping her clothes from her battered body along the way.
The water was warm against her skin, but it wasn't enough. She turned it up until the water nearly scorched her skin. Perfection. The mud rolled off her and turned the water going down the drain a thick brick red color. That mud monster had gotten her good. She shivered as she remembered. She wasn't the type to scare easily. Normally she could handle her shit and normally she could taser whatever she couldn't.
But tasers didn't work on mud monsters. It just pissed them off. She noted that in her "Lessons Learned from the Avengers Initiative" mental file. That file was getting pretty thick. She sighed and looked down at the bruises forming on her pink freshly showered skin. She never thought a mud monster would be able to bruise. Then again she'd never thought about a mud monster at all. It was like something out of Scooby Doo.
Except this definitely wasn't a man in a mask. He'd held her in his filthy claw and squeezed tight. Not only that but when he did finally put her down he let the mud pile up past her eyes. She'd been unable to breathe for what felt like ages. She honestly thought she might drown in it. She never thought she'd go out fighting a mud monster.
Her chest felt heavy all of a sudden and she could feel that muddy hand crushing her again. Oh God, how had this become her life? She hadn't signed up for this. A nerdy little internship with an astrophysicist wasn't supposed to be life threatening. How could she have known the God of Thunder would literally come crashing into her life? She considered Thor a friend but damn if he hadn't pulled her into a crazy complicated mess filled with espionage, psychotic villains, and secret organizations out to destroy the world. This was way over her head.
She was as out of her depth in Avengers Tower as she had been in that pile of mud. She leaned against the shower wall and willed herself to breathe. Something was happening. She felt frantic and out of control. She was never out of control. Well, rarely ever. But right now, she felt absolutely tiny and vulnerable. Tears stung her eyes and she slid down the wall to sit in the tub. She buried her head in her hands and sobbed. What was wrong with her?
She was fucking Darcy Lewis. She could handle this. She could deal as long as she was armed with her sarcasm and her taser. But in this moment her taser was far away and her sarcasm was buried under fear and panic.
Shit. She thought as she felt herself curling into the fetal position and weeping even harder. The water turned lukewarm and then cold, but Darcy couldn't move. She didn't want to move. She never wanted to move again. Her left side stung suddenly and she realized breathing had become a serious struggle. It was a very painful reminder of the events of the day. She almost died today. Jesus Christ! She almost fucking died today. This Avengers thing that she'd stumbled into would probably and literally be the death of her.
And there was no getting out of it. She was a target whether she liked it or not. Sobs racked her again and this time she let them. For the first time in a very long time she allowed fear to overwhelm her.
Steve wasn't expected home until tomorrow, but the mission had wrapped up early thanks to Nat's exceptional interrogation skills and so here he was. He walked in the door and started to make his way to the kitchen. He was starving and in the mood for the Chinese food leftovers he knew were waiting for him. But he froze mid-stride when he noticed something dark red on his living room floor. His senses went on high alert. That wasn't right. The sight of something dark red and ominous on his floor made him glance around the room warily. Was there someone else here? Someone who was injured? His thoughts drifted to a certain brother in arms he'd yet to find and he quickly approached. As he stepped closer and knelt down to get a better look at it he realized it was a pair of jeans. A pair of small jeans and they weren't covered in blood like he'd feared. The color was off. It was too brown for blood. It looked more like rust. He noticed the way it had dried and caked on the jeans and his brow furrowed.
Was that mud? A few feet from the jeans were a jacket, a shirt, and then finally a very lacy set of underwear. All of it was drenched in the same red mud as the jeans.
What the hell? Steve asked himself as he glanced around his apartment. Apparently there was a very naked woman around here somewhere. Steve jumped as JARVIS suddenly spoke up.
"Good evening, Captain Rogers, I took the liberty of letting Miss Lewis into your room to clean up from one of Mr. Stark's...accidents."
"Who?" Steve asked in confusion. "And what accident?"
"Dr. Foster's assistant, Ms. Darcy Lewis was given authorization to use your suite after helping Dr. Foster liquidate a rather large mud creature. She is currently using your restroom in an attempt to tidy up."
"Let me guess, a Stark experiment gone wrong?" Steve asked knowingly.
"Yes, Captain. It was quite a mess."
"Is that why the Times Square subway station was blocked off?" Steve asked with a sigh.
"I am afraid so, Captain."
"Is everyone alright?" Steve asked.
"Dr. Foster is with Thor in his suite and appears to be," the AI paused and Steve wondered if it was possible for a computer to struggle with words. "Well taken care of."
Steve smirked and decided yes it was possible. He collected the muddy clothes from the floor, blushing slightly as he picked up the lacy underthings, and took them to his laundry room as he asked, "And Ms. Lewis?"
"It is impossible to accurately scan her injuries in her current position," JARVIS replied.
He threw her clothes in the large sink and ran the water. He tested the temperature and frowned. It was ice cold. He paused as the AI's wording sunk in. "Her current position?"
"The fetal position does not allow a full body scan for accurate injury analysis."
Steve took in the cold water and the information JARVIS had given him and put the pieces together. "JARVIS, how long has Ms. Lewis been in the shower?"
"One hour, 45 minutes, thirty-two seconds and—"
"Thank you, JARVIS. I get the gist," Steve said with a shake of his head and a sigh. He turned off the water at the sink and then leaned against it. There was a crying naked woman in his shower. He'd never been the best with women and crying women especially were worrisome for him. "Any ideas?"
"I would advise you to check on her well-being and allow her to borrow your bathrobe, Captain," the AI told him.
Steve nodded. "Sounds reasonable enough."
On his way down the hall he grabbed the bathrobe he never used out of the linen closet and then gently wrapped his knuckles against the bathroom door. "Ms. Lewis? Everything alright in there?"
He heard choked sobs and then a small squeak.
"Oh God, what are you doing here?" A panicked yet emotional voice called through the door.
"Um, I live here," Steve said lamely.
"But they said—you're not supposed to be here!"
"My mission finished up a day early," He said slowly as he nervously ran a hand through his hair. He could hear the tears in her voice.
"Shit, I'm sorry. I wouldn't have—I mean I didn't mean to intrude. I just needed a place to—I can go if—"
"No, don't worry about it. I don't mind. Take all the time you need, really. I just wanted to make sure you were okay," Steve said as he quickly interrupted her stuttering. "JARVIS told me about that attack. Did Stark have anyone check you for injuries?"
She was quiet for a long moment before she let out a faint. "No."
Steve cursed under his breath and shook his head. "Of course he didn't." Another silence stretched out between them and then he finally spoke, "I'm going to open the door. I swear I won't look. I'm just going to leave a bathrobe for you for whenever you finish up."
"Okay," She said softly.
He opened the door and pointedly kept his gaze away from the tub. He'd yet to even meet Darcy Lewis and he didn't think the first time should be as she was curled up naked in his shower. He felt himself blush in embarrassment as he quickly hung up the robe on one of the hooks on the wall and then shut the bathroom door again. In that moment he was very thankful for the enhanced reflexes the serum gave him. If it was possible it was more useful in this situation than it was against his enemies.
As he closed the door he heard her shut the water off and then he walked back into the laundry room. He finished running the water to soak her clothes and then came back into the living room to wait for her. There were a million things Stark did to get on his nerves. One of which was forgetting that not everyone had a suit of armor to protect them. While he waited he found his latest batch of clean laundry and pulled out sweats and a shirt. Her clothes were going to take a while. In fact, he'd be surprised if they weren't completely ruined. He set the clean clothes on the back of the couch and then sat down to wait.
She finally came out and sheepishly walked into his living room. He stood up and smiled kindly at her. She gave him half of a smile in return and cleared her throat.
"Thanks for letting me use your shower," She said. She glanced down at the floor and then around the room. "Have you—have you seen my clothes?"
"They're soaking in my laundry room."
She quirked a brow at him. "You did my laundry?"
He shrugged. "I just got it started for you."
"Of course you did," She said with a chuckle as she unwrapped her hair from the towel and then ran the towel over her hair several times to dry it. She bent at the waist slightly to reach the back of her head and hissed in pain.
"You're hurt," Steve stated as he took a step toward her. She let go of her dark hair and he could see it forming soft waves already.
She winced and shook her head. "No, I'm—I'm fine."
"JARVIS," Steve said sternly. "Can you scan her now?"
"Of course, Captain."
"Hey!" Darcy shouted indignantly as she glared at Steve. "Is nothing private around here? Geez."
"Ms. Lewis has sustained severe bruising and two cracked ribs," JARVIS stated plainly. "I recommend a regimen of pain management to prevent contracting pneumonia. The ribs should heal within six weeks."
Steve gave her a pointed look and a small sympathetic grin. "See, you're hurt."
"Yes, with something that will heal on it's own as long as I 'manage' my pain. I got this, Boy scout," Darcy said with a huff.
"I was never a boy scout," He pointed out with a small grin.
"Could have fooled me," Darcy muttered as she crossed her arms over her chest. She winced slightly in pain and Steve rolled his eyes.
"I pulled out some of my sweats for you to wear while we wash your clothes," Steve told her as he reached for the bundle of clothes and held them out to her. "I thought after you got dressed we'd take you to the infirmary to have you checked out."
"I told you, I'm fine," Darcy said as she continued to glare at him.
"Are you always this stubborn?" He asked with a glare of his own.
"No, sometimes I'm worse," Darcy said honestly.
"Why am I not surprised?" Steve asked with a smirk. "Look, I'm just trying to help." He paused and watched her thoughtfully. She was taking short shallow breaths. A sure sign that her ribs were causing her great pain. "It's hurts to breathe, right? And any time you move you feel like something's stabbing into you? You're afraid to breathe deeply because it feels like something might break if you do? Yes, the ribs will heal on their own but you could develop complications if you can't breathe deeply like you're supposed to. So, can we please take you to the infirmary to get you some prescribed painkillers?"
She bit her lip for a moment and then quirked a brow at him. "You guys got the good stuff?"
He chuckled lightly and nodded. "The building is owned by Tony Stark. What do you think?"
She gave him a measuring stare and then finally accepted the clothes he'd offered her earlier. "Okay, fine. I'll go." She shifted the clothes and tucked them under her arm before carefully holding out her right hand for a shake. She'd moved slowly and he could tell she was afraid of jostling her ribs.
He shook her hand with an unusual amount of gentleness and watched closely for any signs of pain.
"Darcy Lewis. I don't believe we've met properly," She said with a light blush. God she made one hell of a first impression.
He smiled and nodded. "Steve Rogers, at your service, Ma'am."