Crazy Wor(l)d.
Steve was tired, covered in dust, blood and something alien he didn't even want to talk about was getting through the uniform. The Avengers had been trying to get rid of their assailants for hours and they were getting nowhere, Thor had gone to Asgard hoping the Warrior Three would be able to come down to Earth and lend a hand.
Those things were tossing them around like ragdolls, Tony had been able to cut off the wormhole he and Richards had accidentally open but it hadn't kill off the Alien Army like it did with the Chitauri. It was the third time in an hour that Steve ended up being thrown through a window. The working space had been empty and it had been easy to just get back down. In the school he had to deal with both terrified and fascinated children and it took him a good 5 min before he was able to join the others on the streets again. But this was getting ridiculous, he knew New Yorkers were jaded but that was taking it to an all new level.
"Hi!" The woman told him, hands on her mug watching her TVshow on the screen behind him.
"Hi!" He answered from what was left of the coffee table he had not so graciously landed on.
Not that he was all for shrieks or cries but the area was supposed to be empty, and that woman, beautiful curvy brunette with deep blue eye wearing what appeared to be an Avengers PJ pants with a pale pink tank top barely covering her ample breast, she was going on with her life, barely noticing him, she even took the time to take away her coffee before he crashed on her table.
"Is it going to last much longer? I am already like…" She stopped to look at her Cat Clock on the wall. "Wow, 2 hours late for work."
"Sorry for the inconvenience." Steve told her shaking his head, while getting himself out of the floor.
The woman turned the TV off and walked to the window looking outside.
"Don't worry, Tony will buy me another one." The woman told him and Steve was glad she wasn't looking at him as he lost his balance and ended up on his ass again. "I think your BFF is getting jealous, you should get back out there." She said waving at someone he knew to be Bucky on the opposite building roof.
"Okay!" He said finally getting closer to the window so he would be able to jump out, they were only on the second floor after all.
"Maybe you should explain to Thor that 'If you want me to meet your Shield buddies you should send them my way' wasn't meant to be this literal." She told him grinning. "Not that I didn't enjoy it."
"I…" Steve said but really he couldn't find any other words who was she and did she knew all of this. "Thor didn't send me." He finally told her.
"Too bad." She said shrugging. "Captain I think you should get back out there." She told him waving at the battle ground outside. "I'll walk to the tower. It's like 20 blocks I should make it before the Avengers, but if Tony is feeling generous send him my way, I could use a ride." She explained putting her vest on. "Don't worry a Little Bird showed me how to get off the building without ending up anywhere near this mess." She told him and left the place slamming the door behind her.
"Hey Cap, is Darcy okay?" Clint asked getting Steve back to the moment, he looked up to the roof and saw that Clint had joined Bucky.
"She'll meet us at the tower." Steve told them before jumping back into the street falling on one of the alien.
So this was the infamous Darcy Lewis, well in that case the young lady was maybe a little less impressive, because let's face it, Captain America crashing your coffee table was certainly less impressive than Tasing Thor or beating Dark Elves in London streets.
The entire team took 2 more hours to get rid of their opponents, thanks to Sif and the Warrior three they had to admit it. Steve had relay the message for Tony to get to Darcy if he could find her but according to Friday she was already at the tower. They would usually get back upstate to debrief and sleep but Tony had offered to house everyone for the night promising not to through any kind of party so they followed him back to the tower.
"I could eat one of those Bilchsteim Thor keeps talking about." Bucky told him when they got out of the elevator, making Steve smile shyly, hiding it by shaking his head fondly.
Steve had found Bucky waiting for him on Sam's front porch one morning after their run. Sam had agreed to cook breakfast for them, or more accurately to force food into the two men who were looking at each other but hadn't said a word in the prior 20 minutes. Sam knew that those two had been soulmates, actually they still were, Steve had woken up with a new set of soul-marks, but even though he knew Sam had seen them they never talked about it.
It had hurt at first, finding new words on his body was worse than waking up in a new century, especially that one set "Who's Bucky?" scribbled dark black on his hip. It was a permanent reminder that Bucky and his "Punk" on his left arm wasn't there anymore. Of course when the Winter Soldier said it things became different. Bucky had explained to him how he had started to remember about Steve, small images getting through his head after they met that time but Pierce took it all away and it had only come back to him when he saw Steve drowning.
Now days though Bucky was more than fine apart from nightmares, they all had anyway, he was almost back to the Bucky he remembered, of course some things had changed, but Steve wasn't the same either, he got protective over his team for example, not that it wasn't the case with the Howling Commando but it was different. They were a family more than comrades of war.
Steve thought that having his soulmate back with him was the best part of this new century though. It took time and a lot of not so subtle interventions from their pretend friends but they had finally admitted to each other that their past 'platonic' soulmate relationship had evolved the same way they had or maybe it had always been there but Steve didn't want to dwell on lost time anymore.
"I don't know how to cook Bilchsteim." A feminine voice complained from the kitchen, making both Steve and Bucky trip holding to each other so they wouldn't end up on the floor.
"Wow maybe we should find one." Clint said looking at them with worried eyes certainly thinking that they were having hypoglycemia or something like that.
"From what Thor explained about the beast it would take hours, if not days to be done, but I did make cookies and there is a Roast in the oven." Darcy said rubbing her hand on a dish rag joining them in the lounging room.
Bucky looked between Darcy and Steve, but Steve kept looking at Darcy for a while before shaking his head at Bucky who decided to keep his mouth shut for now. Steve wasn't the only one with a new set of soul-marks, they both had woken up in this new century to build a new life with each other and with who they had thought would be their third soulmate. Triad were rare, having three separate marks on a body rarer, two of those being tied to the same person exceptional, but their third not being the same person placed them on a very weird pass to medical tests again.
So Darcy was Bucky's soulmate but not his, they could do with it they could manage, they had spent most of their life pinning for each other and they only grew stronger from it, they could easily keep going, anything would be fine now that Bucky was back into his life nothing was more important than that.
"Tough crowd." Darcy said tousling Clint's hair the man leaning onto the touch, Nat checking that the woman wasn't injured by pacing around them, Thor had already given her a quick side hug and Tony and Wanda waved at her from the other side of the room. "Sam, Pietro I swear if even one cookie is missing from the plate I will avenge them." She screamed toward the kitchen and the two men appeared with their mouth too full to answer her.
"You should go talk to her." Steve whispered to Bucky pushing his friend slightly away from him but the man was stubborn and went back to his place beside Steve. "Come on we're okay I promise." Steve told him leaning so he would be able to kiss his cheek, not really what he wanted to do but for a Public Display of Affection it was already more than anything they would have done in their uniform, he hoped it had reassured Bucky.
Bucky finally moved away but sat down next to Clint talking to the man ignoring Darcy, this was one of the things they would probably never get back from the old 40's Bucky, he didn't flirt outrageously anymore. The young woman wasn't fazed though, she just shrugged hold up her other hand above Bucky's head turning slightly to look at Nat who nodded and Darcy started rubbing Bucky's hair the same way she was with Clint, smiling at Steve when she caught him looking at them.
"Hi!" Bucky finally told her looking up at her and Darcy faked being shocked by him.
"It talks." She cried out not getting her hands away from the heads she was massaging. "I see you got your BFF back, or maybe BF from what I just saw, I've been away for too long and Dad doesn't keep up with the gossip, I miss JARVIS." She said quickly making both Bucky and Steve crook an eyebrow.
She didn't seem to react when Bucky spoke to her, and that was weird enough, but her father should have known they were a couple, only a handful of people knew and none of them had kids.
"I don't think he knows." Clint told her. "He would have called to fangirl about it for hours." The archer added.
"Yeah you're right. Don't worry I won't tell the man, he would jump into a Quinjet and I will never hear the end of it, I think the comics that said you two were non-platonic soulmates had always been his favorites." Darcy said.
"Coulson is your father?" Steve yelled although it was not his first instinct.
"You didn't know?" Darcy asked chocked for real this time.
"He didn't even know who you were before he crashed your place." Sam explained to her.
"Now that I think about it you're right. We never met before." She seemed lost in her thoughts for a minute before she started looking between Steve and Bucky for a very long time the others keeping the conversation flowing between them, Steve eyes and brain only focused on his soulmate and his soulmate's soulmate, wondering when she'd make the connection.
"Is it somewhere I can see now?" Darcy asked tugging at Bucky's hair so he would look up at her.
Bucky nodded, her words were on his back in between his shoulders high enough for her to be able to see them just by tugging the shirt down.
"You know that 'Hi!' is a very stupid soul-mark?" She asked but looked at the both of them not knowing which one she was talking to, Steve remind himself of their first encounter, and yes he had said this same words to her. "Jane has been trying to figure out why it changes colors." She said showing her wrist and the world 'Hi' tattooed on it. "I guess she owes me $20 because I figure it out before her." She said and gave her wrist to Bucky to play with.
Bucky traced her black letters and they turned Red, Steve had never seen this before, never even heard of anything like it before. Before he could know what was going on he was by their side Clint having left to join the others on the other side of the room observing them. He traced his fingertip to the letters too and they went back to a dark black, his finger was burning but the sensation was pleasant not overwhelming, the heat traveling all over his body slowly. He lost time, when he got back to himself it was to Bucky tracing his own words on his hip, having pushed his hand past the waistband of the suit. Everyone had left, and Steve could hear the hubbub in the kitchen tell him where they were but his brain really didn't seem to care.
"I never saw anything like that before." Steve said and he thought he had said it low enough to keep it between them but Tony must have heard.
"It because you both said the same thing to her." Tony screamed followed by "Ouch Nat!"
"How did you know it was us then?" Bucky asked.
"Steve touched it when we were at my place." She said shrugging. "I just thought that it could wait until you were down fighting aliens." She explained and Steve tried to remember but he hadn't touch her he would have remembered that sensation in his fingers if he had.
"Oh I fell on your feet." He said suddenly remembering his hand touching something warm next to him, he had thought it was some coffee she had spill when he crashed, but now he could remember that she had picked up something from the floor and his finger did graze her wrist when he tried to get her away from the splinters and broken glass.
"It was all romantic, story to tell our kids and all." Darcy said laughing.
"Story to tell your dad I am sure, I heard he is a big fan of Captain America." Bucky mocked tugging Darcy over the couch's manhandling her so she would fall on his laps Steve sitting in front of them on the floor, making her giggle for it.