Summary: As summer ends, more and more people find out about Darcy and Clint. Some don't take it well. Mostly Loki.
Pairing/ Characters: Clint Barton/ Darcy Lewis; Unrequited Darcy Lewis/ Loki; Thor, Frigga, James "Bucky" Barnes, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner
A/N: This takes place in my Leaving Through The Window Series, a month or so after Third Time Charm.
A/N2: Sorry for the all feels lately. And the fact I can't stop writing more to this series. And the faux British-ism as I wrote Thor's POV. He's not speaking fancy English so I thought I'd make it more modern British.
Warning: High School Alternate Universe
Song Credits: Title taken from My Chemical Romance's song of the same title. Lyrics mentioned are from The Used's song I'm A Fake. All my moody, screamy teen music references are from when I was a teen and are like, 6 years out of date I'm sure. It was either The Used, From Autumn to Ashes or Silverstein. The Used won.
When Thor walked into the house after spending the morning with the 'Warriors Three' (as was the honorary nickname bestowed by their wrestling coach), he heard the echoes of music blasting from Loki's room. It was particularly screamy and whiney today, which was a bit of a surprise to him as he thought Loki was in a good mood after coming back from that acting retreat in England. Deciding that his brother was probably PMS-ing (because sometimes Thor wondered if he actually had a sister with all those mood swings), he shrugged it off and went to the kitchen to grab a snack before meeting up with Jane. By the counter, he found his mother preparing a cup of tea with a frown.
"Oh, hello dear. How is Jane?" Frigga asked with a small, forced smile but she was unable to hide the concern in her voice. Thor instantly recognised the Loki-induced worry lines creasing her face.
"I was going to see her after I ate. Mum, are you all right?" Thor asked, forgetting about last night's left overs and pulling out the milk and sugar for her instead.
"Thank you. I'm just worried. I know you can tell."
"What happened to Loki this time? He not get tickets to that play he wanted to see?" Thor took the postcard that was on the fridge and read through it. It advertised some theatre group Loki fell in love with in England and their upcoming performance of Richard III. While Thor understood the merits in Shakespeare, he never got into it like Loki had. Honestly, Thor would rather be doing something productive than sitting down for a couple of hours and watching actors toil on about life and death.
"I don't know. Darcy was here half an hour ago. Soon after they I started hearing shouts. I couldn't hear everything but Loki was ranting something about her dating some other boy. She ran out crying and he's been blasting that horrible music ever since."
"Darcy's dating someone?" Thor frowned. That was a little...upsetting. He had sort of been quietly rooting for Darcy and Loki. She was good for Loki and made him socialise. It was a godsend when Jane first brought her little cousin along because it gave Loki someone to talk to on the outings that Thor felt obliged to drag him along on. Frigga was always worried about Loki so Thor tried his best to pull him kicking and screaming just to make him stand in the sun occasionally.
Having the talkative Darcy around improved Loki's social skills from rude cretin to semi-acceptable. Thor knew how much Loki liked Darcy, even if the little git refused to admit it. The more Loki hung out with Darcy, the brighter he seemed. Hell, after that actor's retreat, Loki had almost seemed normal and Thor was pretty sure his little brother finally grew a pair and was planning on asking Darcy out soon.
"Well, Loki's actual words were..." Frigga paused to look for a more appropriate word. "Well he accused her of sleeping around for popularity. I tried to talk to him but he just shut me out like he always does. I'm so worried about when your father gets home because I know he'll try to talk to Loki and that always ends in a fight."
Still, he never imagined Loki would shout at Darcy, practically call her a slag (if he was reading his mother's subtext correctly) and make her cry. Mumble and swallow his sadness perhaps, even a couple of snide remarks but never bring her to tears. Loki liked her too much to do that. There must be more to the story.
Watching Frigga wring her hands, Thor knew he had to be the good big brother and try and trick Loki into talking.
"I'll talk to him. See what I can do."
"Will you?" asked Frigga, visibly relieved. She reached out and placed a soft palm on Thor's cheek. "You're such a good boy. I don't know what I'd do without you. Without both of you."
Thor grinned and gave her a hug before climbing the stairs to slay the moody dragon. As he grew closer, the music grew louder and more incoherent. The volume of music, level of screaming and whinge combined in some mathematic equation to show how angry Loki was and therefore when to stay clear of him. Jane had figured it out and Thor had sort of wished he's paid more attention to it. When he reached the top of the stairs, the song changed to some strange speech against the background of rising music. As Thor took his time walking towards the door, he decided to listen and try to gauge how Loki was feeling about the whole situation.
"Would you be my little cut? Would you be my thousand fucks? And make mark leaving space for the guilt to be liquid. To fill and spill over and under my thoughts. My sad, sorry, selfish cry out to the cutter: I'm cutting trying to picture your black broken heart. Love is not like anything- especially a fucking knife."
Soon, the singer went into guttural screams and made Thor's frown deepen. That wasn't a good sign. Much like Darcy, Loki liked to let lyrics express his mood. It was one of the many reasons why Thor thought they should get together. They practically had conversations via song. No one else seemed to understand Loki like Darcy did. The thought that Darcy had found someone else made Thor's stomach drop uncomfortably at the possibilities and repercussions. Was she and Fandral secretly dating? Thor saw the way Fandral looked at her sometimes and she did stop hanging out with them at the beginning of summer. Maybe she was too flustered to be around Fandral. Though...Frandal would probably have already started to brag about having a girlfriend. Sighing, Thor tried to put it out of his mind and knocked on the door.
"Mum, I said I was fine!" Loki insisted.
"It's not mum. Now open up," Thor started to bang harder on the door.
"Piss off."
"No," Thor could practically hear Loki rolling his eyes. The music just grew louder. It was an attempt to make him flee from screamo emo song overload but Thor knew all about battle strategies. He wouldn't give up so easily. Eventually, the door opened and Loki revealed himself. Dressed in all black, he looked through a crack in the door and glared at Thor. The soft scent of cologne hit Thor's nose and he peaked inside the room and from what little he could see, made out the remaining of a present in the bin. Loki noticed what he was doing and closed the door even more.
"What do you want?"
"I want you to stop upsetting mum," Thor knew that would eat at Loki and automatically, the black haired boy's shoulders slumped slightly.
"Tell her to stop worrying," Loki tried, trying to shut the door but was stopped by Thor wedging his foot in.
"Why don't you talk to her? Or stop blasting that music and try to smile for once. I'm starting to worry that your face is actually stuck like that."
"Fuck off."
"No, wait," Thor decided to try a different tactic. "I...uh, mum told me about Darcy. That she's...dating someone?" A myriad of emotions coloured Loki's green eyes. Mostly pain and a fresh bout of pity hit Thor. "It...it's not Fandral is it? Because even though he's my mate I'll put him in a headlock for you."
"It's not Fandral," sighed Loki, somewhat touched by Thor's offer. "She's dating Barton. Clint Barton."
"Oh," Thor was taken back. That was the last thing he expected. Sure, she lived next to Clint and Natasha but he didn't think they ever interacted. And with Loki and Clint's background...well, it all started to make sense.
"Yeah," Loki shuffled his feet uncomfortably. Suddenly, Thor realised that he still had the Shakespeare postcard in his hand and he got an idea.
"Hey, you wanna go see this play? I know you you've been talking about it and it says discounts for students."
"You want to watch Richard III with me? On stage? It's two hours long. I've never seen you sit still that long in your life," Loki pointed out, surprised at Thor's offer.
"I'll live. Come on, just the two of us. It'll make mum happy. We can even grab dinner at that weird hippie place you like."
"You're willing sit through a play with me and eat at a vegan restaurant? Is mum paying you?"
"No, I'm offering out of the love of my brotherly heart," Thor waved the postcard in front of Loki's face. "I know you want to."
"Fine. If it'll please mum and get you out of my hair till school starts up then okay."
"Great! Shut off your music and meet me in the car," Thor ordered, knowing that Loki was happy with the situation even if he tried to make it out as a hardship. Whistling down the stairs, Thor pulled out his phone to postpone plans with Jane and to ask her if she knew anything about this Clint and Darcy business.
"I don't see what the big deal is," Clint insisted stubbornly before taking another arrow and aiming it at the target down the field.
"The big deal is that he's upset," Darcy tried to explain again. She knew that this was fruitless but she had hoped that Clint would show a bit of sympathy. Darcy had hoped Loki would take the news that she was dating Clint a bit better than he actually did. It had floored her when he gave her a gorgeous silver snake bracelet that was supposed to be a replica of a Viking one found in a British archaeological dig or something. It was the first time Darcy understood that Loki's feelings for her were a little deeper than she previously thought. And she felt so horrible breaking the news to him. She left the snake bracelet in the mailbox as an afterthought because she felt so guilty about keeping it. After drying her tears, Darcy met up with Clint and went with him to the field he liked to practice archery in during the summer. There was no way she was going to tell him about Loki's harsher words and how she had cried. Clint would interpret it all wrong and use it as an excuse to start a fight.
"He's a bitch. 'Course he's gonna be upset. You're better off without him," Clint said calmly, pulling and letting go of the arrow. It hit the bullseye dead centre.
"Clint, he's my friend," insisted Darcy, feeling tears well in her eyes and her throat tighten. "And I feel like I let him down or something. He already has problems making and keeping friends and...and-"
"Hey," Clint said softer when he turned around and saw how upset she was getting. He walked over to where she leaned against the car and placed his bow on the hood. Taking Darcy into his arms, Clint held her tightly and gave her lips a sweet peck. "What's really the problem?"
"I just feel bad," mumbled Darcy, burying her face in his chest.
"I know, but you gotta move on," Clint rubbed a soothing hand up and down her back.
"But-"
"No buts, come here," he shut down the conversation by going in for a longer kiss and pushed her back until he had her pinned against the car. When Darcy leaned her head back and let Clint suck at her neck, he knew the subject was officially dropped. By the time Clint had her giggling because he was trying to suck a hickey onto her shoulder, he was so into it that he was surprised when she suddenly pushed him away.
"What's that sound?" Darcy asked and Clint waited a moment until he heard distant music and revving of engines. The song sounded vaguely like Big Pimpin'. Turning around but keeping an arm around Darcy's shoulder, Clint looked out towards where the road ended and saw two cars approaching. One was a white classic Bentley and the other was a sleek red Ferrai. Even though he could see the drivers by this point, he didn't need to in order to identify them because there could only be one person...
"You are shitting me," Clint said, watching as Bucky and Steve drove up in the Bentley and Tony and Bruce followed in the Ferrari. Bucky parked the Bentley so that the driver's side was right next to Clint and Darcy and Tony turned the Ferrari so that it was blocking the front of Clint's car. He wasn't technically trapped but it sure felt like it. Steve looked a little sheepish next to Bucky and was trying to apologise with his eyes while eating what appeared to be an Arby's roast beef sandwich. Bucky, of course, was sucking up the glory of driving a car that wasn't shit and eating curly fries. He was probably extra cocky because he'd been able to convince Nat to take him back once again after more of his fuckery. Next to Tony, Bruce looked like he was trying to assess the situation, eating his own batch of curly fries.
"Well lookie here boys," Tony said, sleazy smirk in place once he turned down the volume. "When Bucky told me that Clint wasn't gonna to join us because he's been feeling up Double D on a daily basis, I had to admit I thought he was lying. So Double D, how's our boy holding up?"
"Double D? Do people really call me that?" Darcy asked, a hint of paranoia in her voice. Clint had only recently learned about the amount of talking that happened behind Darcy's back and he knew he had to shut down this fear immediately or else they'd be talking about it for hours.
"Nah, don't listen to him. He's being a jerk."
"Hey, you're the one who made up the name," Tony pointed out, peaking over his sunglasses and giving Darcy a once over. "Though...I guess it's Triple D now. Congrats." Darcy crossed her arms and aimed a pointed look at Clint who mumbled a promise that it was all lies.
"Stark, does daddy know you're taking his car out for a joyride?" Clint asked suddenly, trying to change the topic.
"He went straight for the daddy issues. Smooth Barton," Bucky smirked and mock whispered to Steve, pulling his aviator shades back down over his eyes. Steve sank a little into the passenger's seat, not wanting to be apart of the conversation. Meanwhile, Bruce gave Tony a warning jab.
"No he doesn't Barton and my offer for you to join us has officially been revoked."
"I'm hurt, really I am," deadpanned Clint. "Why don't you bother someone else?"
"What, you suddenly too good for us now that you have a girlfriend?"
"Come on Tony, let's go cruising for chicks," Bucky interrupted. Even though Clint really wanted to make a crack about Natasha, he bit his tongue because he was actually grateful for Bucky trying to distract Tony.
"Fine, come on boys, we ride!" Tony exclaimed, revving up his engine for show before speeding off. When the cars were out of sight, Darcy turned towards Clint.
"And you think my friends are annoying?"
Loki was amazed and amused at how well Thor had taken to the play. Though the company was superb and knew how to handle Shakespeare. The extra gore was a surprise and he supposed Thor never realised any of that could be done on stage.
"Did you see that? He bit her fuckin' finger off! That was amazing! Did they teach you how to do stuff like that over the summer?"
"Well the violence was...magnified in this show. Though he did it well. And we did learn some finer points of stage fighting," Loki pointed out with a small smile. The night had been nice. He felt like he had a brother again.
"If you guys put on a play like that at school, everyone's gonna want to see it," Thor said, bouncing on the balls of his feet.
"I doubt the principal would approve of all that blood."
"Yeah, that sucks," Thor deflated slightly.
"I was thinking about suggesting Macbeth to the Drama Club. They haven't performed a Shakespeare play for a while."
"That one have fighting?"
"Yeah, and ghosts and witches."
"Well, I know you'll get the lead, even if you're pale enough for the ghost," Thor ruffled Loki's hair and he only marginally protested.
"Thanks, there was a compliment in there I'm sure."
"Hey, so are there any more plays like this happening? Shakespeare or just...something cool like that?"
"You want to see another play?" Loki asked, raising his brow in surprise.
"Yeah! It was fun. We should do this again. Maybe bring mum and dad. I'm sure we can convince dad. I know he's hard sometimes on the whole acting thing but if we get him to really see how much you like it, he'll understand."
"Uh, sure," shrugged Loki, a little lost for words. "And um, thanks. For tonight. I needed it."
"It's what brothers do," Thor said simply with a smile and pulled a protesting Loki in for a headlock. He couldn't fix the Darcy situation but maybe he could actually start to get to know his brother a little better. It was the least Thor could do. Hell, maybe he'd get a cool new hobby from it too.
End Note: The description of the violence in Richard III was actually borrowed from a very bloody production that played a year or so ago here in Boston. There are actually no scene directions of Richard biting anyone's finger off, in case people were wondering.