Here is my Christmas story for the year! It's short, sweet and so fluffy! Happy Holidays everyone!
Darcy kept blowing absently at the stray strand of hair in her face as she concentrated on the strand of Christmas lights on the table in front of her. Her headphones were in, and while everyone was assuming she was just listening to music as usual, Jarvis was actually talking her through some rather complicated (for her) electronic work. Finally, she plugged them in and flicked the switch of the little box she had worked on and watched as the lights began to flash in an apparently random pattern.
"Is it right, Jarvis?" she asked, watching the pattern.
"Absolutely, Ms. Lewis. Try the next one."
They went through five different patterns of the lights before Darcy and Jarvis were satisfied with the work. Darcy carefully hung the Christmas lights in the window just in front of her desk in the lab and switched them on.
Natasha was the first to notice. Well, at least the first to mention that she noticed. Darcy was sitting at her desk in Jane's lab, translating 'science-speak' into English when Natasha poked her head in the lab.
"Like the lights," deadpanned the assassin.
Darcy smiled at her, then cocked her head to the side. "Like them, or get them?"
"Oh, I get it, kotyonok. Is it for someone particular?" Natasha asked the question as if she knew the answer already. Which Darcy knew she probably did.
Darcy blushed slightly, then answered. "I guess we'll just wait and see."
"Or you could just talk to him, like a normal person."
Darcy blushed even harder. "I can't seem to find the words."
"Well, there is a first for everything I suppose," muttered the amused redhead.
Steve was walking past the labs later that day, on his way to Tony's, when the cheerfully flashing lights caught his eye. Slowing down, he watched them for a moment, trying to figure out why the lights caught and tugged at the edge of his mind. Suddenly, he pulled the little notebook out of his back pocket and waited for the pattern to start over.
M-E-R-R-Y-/C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S-/T-O-/Y-O-U
Grinning, he continued along the hallway, suddenly feeling in a very cheerful mood. Leave it to the scientists in the lab to program Christmas lights with hidden messages.
It was almost a week later before he was down in the lab hallway again, but as he glanced at the still flickering lights, he recognized the letter 'W' and realized it was a different message. Notebook out again, he wrote down the new message.
I-/W-A-N-T-/T-O-/S-A-Y-/W-I-T-H-O-U-T-/H-O-P-E-/O-R-/A-G-E-N-D-A
Steve stared down at the message on the notebook. He knew it wasn't for him, but it made him smile all the same. Tucking the notebook back into his pocket, he continued down the hallway, whistling a Christmas tune all the way.
Steve found himself walking down the hallway every day, whether he needed to or not, just checking to see if the flickering lights had a new message. It was four days before a new one showed up.
T-H-A-T-/T-O-/M-E-/Y-O-U-/A-R-E-/P-E-R-F-E-C-T
There must be dust in the hallway, because suddenly Steve had something in his eye, making them water. Shoving the notebook away, he headed back to him rooms and his endless files and reports. The thought that someone out there had someone else to admire them like that caused him a flare of jealously and longing, and maybe just a touch of sadness.
"Really Darce? A Love Actually quote?"
Clint materialized against her desk, scaring the crap out of her and making her splash coffee all over herself.
"Shit, Clint! Wear a bell or something!"
"He's reading them, you know."
"Who?" asked Darcy, dabbing at the coffee stain on her ugly Christmas sweater, carefully avoiding his gaze.
"You know who. Just thought you should know." He managed to disappear in the same infuriating way he appeared. Darcy just scowled at the air and glanced at the blinking lights in her window. She could turn them off now and not go through with it. Swallow down this stupid crush and go back to doing nothing.
Or not. She flicked the switch to change to message number four. In for a penny, in for a pound.
Steve avoided the lab hallway for three whole days before finally succumbing to his own curiosity. He hung around at the end of the hallway, scribbling down the message without having to walk all the way down the hallway. He'd done some checking in the past few days, and found out the the window that was currently lit up belonged to Darcy Lewis, the laughing, red-lipped, luscious-bodied lab assistant that he'd been watching out of the corner of his eye for the last few months. To know that she was wooing someone like a firefly on a summer night was causing him some... issues. He had no right to feel those stabs of jealousy, but he couldn't seem to stop himself from taking down the latest message.
A-N-D-/A-L-L-/I-/W-A-N-T-/F-O-R-/C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S-/I-S
Arg! Steve read over the message and promptly turned on his heel and stalked down to the gym.
Barton found him down there an hour later, venting his frustrations on a Stark-approved 'un-breakable' punching bag. "You're really lightin' that thing up, Cap," drawled Barton from the doorway.
Steve stilled the swinging bag and turned to glare at Clint. "What's that suppose' to mean?" he all but snarled, Brooklyn accent thick with frustration.
Clint, recognizing the immediate danger he was in, threw his hands up and backed towards the door. "Nothin' Steve. Just, making conversation. I gotta go!"
It was Tuesday, the day before the day before Christmas. Christmas Eve eve. Also, the day that Stark usually had Steve down to the lab for a weekly 'test the new thing I made while on my caffeine and no sleep high'. Darcy chewed nervously on her lip before switching her Christmas lights to their fifth and final message. If things went badly... Awkwardness everywhere! If they went well... Darcy decided to not think about that. Too much pressure.
She watched the lights flash out their message for a moment before heading out to start the coffee. Science waits for no woman. Or their love life.
Steve almost skipped his Tuesday meet-up with Tony. He really didn't want to head down that lab hallway. Tony however, was more insistent than usual, claiming that what he had to show Steve was 'life-changing', 'possibly miraculous', and somehow 'going to win him a bet'.
With a deep sigh, he turned the corner and started down the hallway. Although he had told himself not to, he couldn't keep his eyes from watching the flickering Christmas lights. The message was shorter than last time's, and somehow, he knew that if he didn't figure out what it said, it would drive him crazy later.
Notebook out, he started to write.
Y-O-U
Of course. All she wants for Christmas is 'you'.
S-T-E-V-E
His breath started to quicken.
R-O-G-E-R-S
He never actually wrote down the last 'S'. He watched the lights fade to black, signaling the end of the message before they started up again. Carefully, he looked back at all the letters in his notebook, his blocky writing spelling out a message that was sweet and hopeful, and somehow, made just for him.
He pushed open the lab door, his eyes finding her before she even noticed he was there, her blue eyes going wide, then a blush rising across her cheeks when she finally did. She licked her lips nervously and stood up from her desk, her eyes flickering for a moment to the cheerful Christmas lights still blinking out her feelings to the empty hallway. He could see the apology in her expression before she even opened her mouth to utter it.
He crossed the space to her in two long strides, hesitating only a moment before leaning down to press his lips gently to hers. "Merry Christmas, Darcy," he whispered into her ear. Her shocked eyes stared into his, and he answered her unasked question by kissing her again, one hand wrapping around her waist and pulling her closer. She leaned into him, one small hand reaching up to run softly through the hairs on the back of his head, deepening their kiss.
A small group of cheers from behind him made them break apart to stare at the crowd gathered at the door. Jane, Tony, Natasha and Clint were all smiling at them as if it had been their plan all along.
"Told you!" crowed Tony. "Life changing, miraculous, and now Banner owes me twenty bucks! Oh, and our meeting's over, Cap! Take that girl out somewhere nice!"
Merry Christmas!