Author's Note: Oh ho, two in one day? I love this pairing. Just throwing that out there.
Disclaimer: Still don't own it.
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The first time she brings it up, she doesn't even realize she's doing it. All she knows is that watching Bruce work while also trying not to just cuddle the living hell out of his should earn her a reward of some kind.
"So. How much bigger do you get when you turn into Greenie?" Darcy asks, because she is Darcy and none of the conversations she starts ever make sense.
Bruce pauses, as he always does whenever the Hulk is mentioned, but there's a little half-smile on his mouth that lets Darcy know it's all right. He shifts, pushing his glasses up his nose as he leans over a petri dish with an eyedropper filled with green liquid. "A lot." is his simple response, because as much research as he's done on the Hulk, that was never something he had really been concerned with.
"And I'm already short. Man, I can't wait to see how tiny I'd be compared to him—"
"No, Darcy." Bruce interrupts her mid-imagination, with a stern look over the top of his glasses that makes her think a little less boyfriend and a little more teacher.
"Are you still worried he won't recognize me? C'mon, Bruce, I'm kind of hard to forget. He recognized Betty—"
"Betty could have been a freak accident. She was there when I was first exposed—"
"He recognized Tony. He saved Tony, Bruce—"
"Darcy." Bruce cuts her off again. "Please. I'd just really rather not risk it, okay?" he sighs, looking over with a pleading, puppy face that no girl on earth could say no to.
"Fine, fine." But she still tries. She'll bring it up, casually, but Bruce catches her every time. Once, she even manages to get Tony on her side, before he abandons and betrays her because he could "Never go against a brother in science." And now she calls them science bros.
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Darcy Lewis is fearless. She will stand by that sentiment for the rest of her life.
Unfortunately, the reason she's fearless isn't the best. It isn't because she's brave, because dammit, the Destroyer was terrifying. And it isn't because she feels the need to put others before herself.
No, it's because she too damn stubborn to swallow her pride and occasionally run for her life.
And now there's an alien in front of her. It's big and gross and everything you would expect and alien to be, and it's holding the hugest gun she's ever seen.
"Uh... hey, Mister... alien guy. Look, this is kind of my favorite shirt, and I would really appreciate if I didn't get blood and guts all over it—"
It cuts her off with an unearthly shriek, and she finds herself screaming. She's friends with Earth's Mightiest Heroes, now where the hell are they and why aren't they protecting her?
Darcy stumbles backwards, backing away from the creature as it turns the barrel of the gun on her, finger—appendage—whatever it is curling around the trigger, and time slows down. She sees the gun's recoil as it fires, watches the bright ray of plasma hurtle towards her, and quite suddenly, she's just not there anymore. Instead she's watching a shield hit the alien in the head, from fifty fucking feet in the air.
The Hulk lands with a crunch on a rooftop nearby, and with an unexpected gentleness, sets Darcy down.
"Darcy stay." and hell if she was going to argue with that.
She hears herself give a breathless, "Thanks, big guy." and then he's gone, off to destroy the threat and possibly some innocent statues.
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"I don't want to hear it." is all Bruce has to say later, because he sees Darcy with her big smug smile, and red lips and teeth.
And she doesn't say anything, merely winds herself around him and kisses him until Tony, of all people, has the nerve to tell them to get a room. When she pulls back, most of her lipstick is on him, but she was prepared for that, and pulls a tissue out of her pocket to wipe it away with a satisfied smirk and Bruce smiles tiredly down at her.
Aliens were fucking scary, but damn if it wasn't so worth it.
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Love this pairing. Reviews are greatly appreciated, and loved and adored, so please leave them!