"I know exactly what I want and who I want to be."
- "Oh No!" by Marina and the Diamonds
Part One: The Meeting
Darcy's date went well. That's what she planned to tell Jane tomorrow, when she ended up back at her apartment, Tommy's mouth on her neck with his hand down the front of her jeans.
She was on top. It was her preferred position because it meant she got what she wanted, and she was never left unsatisfied. As soon as Tommy grunted and came underneath her, the sweat beginning to dry on their skin, Darcy climbed off of him and went to the bathroom.
She peed, showered and returned to the room, the condom tied off and in the bin by her bed.
She'd never seen Tommy before that night. Darcy did not play games. She was busy enough to know what she wanted and how she wanted it. She went to check her phone on her bedside table and Tommy craned over her shoulder.
"Tinder? Are you serious?"
He sounded genuinely offended, and Darcy gave him a cursory glance. He was cute, intelligent enough to understand the jokes in the satirical movie they went to, or at least, he was smart enough to know when to laugh. He was a banker but not particularly interesting. There was never anything said within their four hours spent together that told Darcy this was otherwise a casual hook-up.
Darcy shrugged a shoulder, and Tommy's face twisted in disgust.
"That's cold."
"Not really. You sent DTF, I just sent back yes," she retorted.
She swiped right on a blonde engineer named Derek and Tommy tutted, sitting up and pulling his discarded pants toward him to redress.
"You could have come with me to a wedding this weekend," he muttered with his back to her, and Darcy rolled her eyes.
"Oh, please. I'm not the girl you take to some lame wedding."
His whipped his head toward her, frowning. "Y'know, you're not all that great."
"I really am, though," Darcy said, narrowing her eyes and giving him her best patronizing smile. "And I'm not some chick you trick into caring about you feeling insecure for being single. That's sounds like a you problem."
A text came up on her phone and she was momentarily distracted while Tommy pulled back on his shirt, shaking his head at her.
"I wasted my Saturday on some man-hating bitch."
Darcy laughed without mirth. "I love men. I don't like boys."
He muttered something under his breath, shoving his shoes back on. Darcy read the text, she had meeting scheduled for ten AM the next day, with a possible donor for her non-profit.
Tommy stalked out of her bedroom and Darcy heard her front door slam seconds later.
Not her worst date by far. She slept well.
She circled the reception at work the next day, coffee in hand. Her 10 AM was running late, but Darcy wasn't above waiting if it meant more money.
She started the non-profit with Doctor Jane Foster after she finished law school. They were once roommates at Culver University in New York, and since it turned out Darcy hated practising law, she swapped her comfy pay check for scrapings and slummed it with Jane for the last two years.
They specialised in supporting underprivileged young women, emphasising empowering women to pursue jobs in STEM. Darcy had no background in STEM, but she still knew its obvious importance.
It was past 11:30 when a knock came on Darcy's office door and she looked up from her desk, expecting her secretary Charlotte to tell her the meeting had been cancelled.
Instead stood a middle-aged man wearing a cream linen suit with tinted sunglasses, his pocket square blue and crisp, his hair perfectly coiffured, his smile bright. Darcy's eyes widened.
"Are you… lost?" she asked, because the man looked just like Tony Stark.
"If you're not Darcy Lewis, then, yeah – I'm lost," he replied, and he sounded just like the billionaire turned superhero, too.
Semi-retired superhero, but that was a rumor. Darcy remembered seeing him on TV. One of the teenage girls who came in every day after school for homework help always wore her Iron Man snapback.
"You look a lot like Tony Stark," Darcy said, clicking her pen as he came over to sit in the chair in front of her desk, crossing one leg over the other.
He dusted one pristine sleeve and smiled. "I get that a lot."
It was definitely him. Darcy stopped clicking her pen and put it down abruptly, clearing her throat.
"Mr. Stark, it would be a pleasure to have you as one of our patrons –"
"Tony," he interrupted, and Darcy paused.
She never got star struck. That was more Jane's thing. Darcy saw people as mostly the same. She could measure everyone she met pretty well, but seeing someone like Tony Stark in her pokey office in Queens made her reconsider her words carefully.
"Mr. Stark," she said again, enunciating each syllable carefully. "If you want to make a donation then it's better for everyone if you're on time."
He chuckled, which only made Darcy annoyed. He was one of those rich guys who never looked at his watch. She spied a large silver one on his left wrist, heavy and shining. It had to be worth more than a couple years' worth of her rent.
"I'm not here to make a donation."
"Oh," she said, and she glanced away from his watch back to his face. "Then what is it?"
"I mean, I could make a donation but I'm here to offer you a job."
"I'm not going to work for you," Darcy said immediately. She had no clue how he had even heard about her. Maybe one of the partners and Angler, Poole & White told him about the little sharpshooter who dropped everything for girlie scientists, as one asshole boss told her once.
She couldn't help it, she started laughing uncomfortably and Tony joined her.
"It's not with my work. I'm thinking of going into politics."
Darcy paused, her smile fading. "That's… good. Putting your powers to good, sort of. You going to run for congress?"
"No," he said, and he flicked some more invisible dirt from his sleeve. "I was thinking the White House."
"What." Darcy said the word more like a statement than a question, flat and short. She picked her pen up again and clicked it, tilting her head. "You're serious."
"Sure, I am," Stark said with a shrug, and Darcy narrowed her eyes while tilting her head to the other side. "You look like a puppy when you do that."
She ignored his comment, still stuck on his last sentence.
"You want to run… for President?"
"Yes," Stark said firmly, with a nod. "And I'm gonna win."
"What?" Darcy said, louder. There was a scuffle down the short hallway and Darcy called out, "Charlotte, I'm fine!"
"Okay!"
Darcy bit her lip, shaking her head a little. Stark just kept looking at her, making her uncomfortable.
"Why are you here, Mr. Stark?"
"I'm offering you a job," he said, leaning forward to take her pen from her and write down a number on a legal pad he snatched by her elbow.
Darcy froze, watching him write down a long number.
"I don't care about the money," Darcy said, and Stark scoffed.
He gestured around the dank office. "Clearly."
"You want to pay me three million dollars for a campaign that might never leave the ground?"
Tony threw down the pen. "That's a year's pay. I'll quadruple it by 2020 when I win."
"You want to run in this election," Darcy whispered. "That's insane. I have no experience running a campaign for starters. I have no idea about your policies –"
"I'm really into clean energy," he said, seemingly amused by her. "Also, I don't like terrorists."
"Your dad sold weapons. You sold weapons," she said, pointing at him.
"I don't anymore," he said lightly. "And I'll write you a check for this place. I'll give every kid a Stark Scholarship."
"That's bribery, Mr. Stark."
"Again, Tony. My father was Mr. Stark," Stark said, frowning a little.
"You're both Mr. Stark," Darcy retorted.
She leaned back, staring at the piece of paper with all the zeros on it. The sound of a fire truck could be heard outside while a phone rang in the distance.
"You're the first person I've gone to."
Darcy's gaze met Stark's, and she saw he was serious.
"Why?"
"What?" he asked.
"Why me?" she said, and he pulled out his phone, scrolling for a few seconds before holding up the device for her to see.
It was a picture of the last time Congresswoman Gunn gave a speech at the NYC Science Slam two months ago. Every year it was usually the same speech, and Darcy could be seen in one corner with her nose stuck in her phone, completely disinterested.
"You tired of politics?" Stark asked, and Darcy frowned.
Generally, people didn't get much change to occur. There was so much money, so many hands exchanged. People wanted secure jobs which meant less risks, less promises kept.
"I'm really tired of politics," Stark said, tucking his phone away.
"I'm the only one you've talked to about this?" Darcy asked. "So if I say no –"
"I'll find someone else, but you are my first choice."
"And if I tell anyone about this meeting?"
"I'll sue," Stark said, his tone light.
Darcy blanched, disgusted. The entitlement of it all.
"Actually, no," he amended, "I like you."
Darcy opened her mouth, but he suddenly got up from his seat and turned his heel, walking out her door.
Darcy followed, and Stark turned around, a business card appearing in front of her face.
"Call this number tomorrow."
Darcy took the card wordlessly, and Stark left her in the hallway with Charlotte staring after him from her desk.
Darcy took three seconds to let everything sink in, staring at the card in her hand.
No other words would suffice:
"What the fuck?"