a/n: A photo prompt from asirensrage over on tumblr. You can find me at paradigmflaws - I'm accepting prompts and requests.
"Oh, c'mon," she groaned, rolling her eyes. It was a gesture that should have been disguised by the thick frames of her glasses. However, to anyone who knew that tone of voice, it was clear that Darcy Lewis would be making that expression. "Dude stole my iPod-" "-three years ago," Steve interjected with the full measure of his not inconsiderable patience.
Darcy scowled at him. "Ru~ude," she chorused. "Don't cut me off. I wasn't done." She paused, recollecting her thoughts. "Sure. IPod thing. Not a great way to start out. But I swear, dude keeps trying to intentionally make you work when we're supposed to, yanno, be dating? Having fun?"
Steve opened his mouth to speak, his expression more amused than anything.
"Ah!" Darcy cut him off, as she raised her finger. "No. None of the Captain America schpeel, gramps. I don't care if you've got a job. So do I - hush, wrangling scientists counts. Unless you want me to let Tony loose in the tower again? - yeah, thought not - but I still make time for us. Mister Suit keeps dicking with that."
To be fair, Steve thought, he couldn't really argue with that. Not that he wanted to, anyway. It had been far too long since he and Darce had managed to get away.
…Actually, no. The more challenging part was being alone. The last attempt had been prematurely aborted when Tony had caught wind of it. This time, at least, Pepper had agreed to keep Stark occupied. Steve took his eyes off the road briefly as he glanced over at Darcy. Her knuckles were white from how tightly she gripped the book in her lap. Not even the relaxed posture she had, with her feet up on the dashboard, could hide her tension.
She was worrying her lower lip between her teeth. It was something she did when she was concerned.
Steve removed his right hand from the wheel. His eyes remained fixed on the road as he placed his hand over her thigh. His grasp was large enough to bracket the majority of her leg.
"Darce," he said lowly, the hum of the car's air conditioning serving as a background, "Darcy. Don't worry." He paused, struggling for words. This, he had never been good at.
"It's alright. No matter what, even if it's hard sometimes to see each other, you know you're my best gal."