The Midnight Snack Club
By: Hogwartwonderland
All was quiet in the Avengers Tower on that Saturday night. Tony was on a date with Pepper, Jane and Thor in Asgard, Bruce was on a retreat to Calcutta, and Natasha and Clint were on a mission. That left Steve all alone with nothing to do- or so he thought.
It was midnight when he shuffled out his room, heading for the kitchen for a glass of water. Once again, Steve experienced a rather nasty nightmare that depicted Schmidt shooting Bucky, Peggy, and every one of the Howling Commandos in the head and then bringing them back to life only to have them kill him. He had been experiencing nightmares such as this every night since he had awoken from his icy slumber. It was actually coming to the point to where Steve was considering taking Bruce up on his offer to prescribe him sleeping meds. Unfortunately, Bruce wasn't there so Steve has to make do with his glass of water.
He took a large gulp of his drink before emptying the rest of it down the drain and placed the cup in the dishwasher (the one modern kitchen appliance he knows how to use). Steve was on his way back to his bedroom when he heard the sound of crying (more like wailing) coming from the entertainment room. Curious, Steve stuck his head through the doorway and looked around for the source of the noise. He noticed that a movie (which one it was, he couldn't tell) was playing and a woman was curled up on the couch, snacking on strawberries. Steve recognized her as Darcy Lewis, Jane Foster's lab assistant.
Now, Darcy Lewis was generally a person that Steve avoided. Despite the fact that Darcy looked like a 1940s pin-up girl, she was brash, loud-mouthed, and a tiny bit annoying. Everything that came out of her mouth was about some pop-culture reference; she always has that tiny box that came with ear phones on her; and she wasn't afraid to make fun of others at their expense. All-in-all, she was the definition of a modern woman and Steve was afraid of her. Despite her extremely modern ways, she still managed to remind him of Peggy- strong willed and a force to be reckoned with. Not once had anyone- let alone Steve- seen her cry. That fact alone is what drove him to hesitantly walk into the room where the crying brunette's was still fixed upon the large screen.
"Uh, Miss. Lewis? Are you alright?"
Darcy quickly pressed pause on the movie, the screen freezing on a red headed girl and a dark haired girl dancing side by side, and quickly wiped away her tears before shifting her position on the sectional to look at him. The first thing Steve noticed about her appearance was that her normally bright blue eyes were glassy and rimmed with red, obviously from crying. She wasn't wearing any makeup, which was oddly appealing to the super soldier. Steve quickly shakes the thought out of his head. He couldn't find her attractive, could he?
"Oh, I'm fine," Darcy waves off his concern, attempting to make light of the situation. She quickly gives him a once over (taking only a few moments to appreciate that he was wearing nothing but sweat pants, showing off his muscled bare chest) noticing that his hands were still shaking slightly from his nightmare before. The serum helped him a lot, but he was still known to have shaky hands (now known to be a common trait in people) whenever he was nervous or upset. "Are you ok?"
Steve's face flushes when he notices her checking him out and nods in response. "Yes ma'am, I am alright. But I could have sworn that I heard crying." Steve cringes internally as soon as the last sentence leaves his mouth. If Miss. Lewis said she was fine, then why ask again? She obviously doesn't want to talk, which is a feeling Steve knows all too well.
Darcy sighs and pops in a strawberry in her mouth. "First of all, what did I tell you about calling me ma'am? Call me Darcy, Your Royal Highness, Lab Gopher Extraordinaire, or anything else. Just not Ma'am."
"Sorry Miss- I mean Darcy," Steve says sheepishly.
"Second of all, don't try to pull the 'I'm-Captain-America-and-I-like-to-keep-my-feelings-bottled-up-because-no-one-would-understand' shit with me. I babysit Tony Stark, Jane Foster, and Bruce Banner, all whom are known to bottle up whatever they are feeling in the name of science. I know better. So why don't you try again?"
The last comment strikes a nerve with the Captain and makes him angry. He supposes that it less about the comment and more about who said it, but Darcy Lewis has a way of bringing out Steve's snarky side. "You wouldn't understand. You are not a soldier nor were you stuck in ice for over 70 years, only to be unfrozen in a time where all your family and friends are gone."
Darcy narrows her eyes at him before surprisingly bursting into tears. She turns her head away from him and uses her long mahogany hair to shield her face from him. Feeling bad for his harsh words, Steve quickly strides over to sit next to the plucky assistant who isn't afraid to tell him off, which is something that nobody has done since Bucky. He sits on the edge of the couch, moving the bowl of strawberries to the coffee table, and awkwardly places his hand on the younger girls shoulder. "I'm sorry for what I said. I shouldn't have been so harsh."
Darcy meets his blue eyes with hers through her curtain of hair. Steve never really gave much thought until now how blue her eyes were. They were like an ocean on a stormy day. "Never assume that I don't know how it feels to lose someone dear to me. You know nothing about me," she says harshly, her tone low and gravelly from crying.
Steve cringes at her harsh but true words. "Your right," Steve admits, "I don't know you. So why don't you start off explaining why you are sitting at home on a Saturday night crying. I figured a beautiful dame like you would be out with some lucky fella tonight?"
"You think I'm beautiful?" Darcy teases, her voice shaking with laughter. Obviously she finds his awkward way of cheering her up enjoyable.
"I didn't mean- Well, yes- But-"Steve stutters, obviously flustered by his impromptu confession. While he may have found her annoying at times, Steve always did have a thing for feisty, curvy, brunettes. Darcy laughs at his lack of articulate response.
"Don't worry soldier, I won't tell anyone." Suddenly her face becomes solemn. "And as for the crying, it's a long story. You probably wouldn't be interested."
"I asked, didn't I?"
"That's true," Darcy admits. "Fine, I will tell you. But you have to watch this movie with me from the beginning without complaining.
Steve hesitates for a second, weighing the pros and cons of the situation like the strategist he is, then nods in agreement. One movie can't hurt, right? He kicks off his shoes and quickly moves to the opposite end of the couch to settle down and watch the movie with Darcy. Darcy watched the super soldier with interest as he settled into a comfortable position then looked at her with a wide eyed expecting book. She almost forgot that she owed him an explanation.
"Well, to make a long story short and hopefully a little less painful, I had an older brother, Riley-who was in unit 58, pararescue-, that was killed in action about a year ago while on a mission. When we both happened to be home, we would always watch this movie since it was our favorite. This is my first time watching it since his death," Darcy admitted.
Upon hearing the name 'Riley', Steve let out a deep, shaky breath. Steve knows exactly who she was talking about. Darcy's brother Riley was the same one that was Sam's friend that got knocked out during a routine mission. "I'm sorry, Darcy. I am sure he was a hell of a good soldier. In fact, I know so since I just happen to know your brother's former wingman, Sam Wilson."
"You know, Sam?"
Steve nods his head. "He is the Falcon. He helped me during in the battle at the Triskelion." This fact makes Darcy smile a little bit.
"Is there any way you could get me in touch with him? I want to personally meet the man my brother considered to be his best friend."
"I can certainly do that. Now, why don't we watch this movie of yours?" Steve suggests.
Darcy smiles faintly, grabs the remote control, and presses play. She had already rewinded it so that it began at the opening scene. Music began playing over the state of the art surround sound system while names flashed in orange on the otherwise black background. The music then faded along with the words to show a plain building that had the words 'Shermer High School' embossed in bright blue on it.
"So what exactly is this film called?"
"The Breakfast Club. It was released in 1985 and is considered to be a classic hit. It will show you what high school was like in the 80s," Darcy explains to the super-soldier. "Now shush up and listen. You are missing it."
Steve does as she says and remains quiet for the rest of the movie. To his surprise, he finds himself enjoying it. He loves how dynamic and flawed the characters are. To his surprise, he finds himself identifying with Bender. While Bender is more of a criminal and bully, he is often misunderstood by others around him and is not given a chance to prove himself as a person. Steve relates that to his struggle to make it into the army back when he was smaller and weaker. Nobody was willing to give him the time of day.
As he continued to watch the film, Steve would find himself looking over at Darcy, watching her mouth the words verbatim from heart. Every so often Darcy would notice him watching and would catch his gaze and wink. Every time she did so, Steve would wink back. Steve was coming to understand that there was much more to the sassy assistant that at first glance and he found himself wanting to peel back all of her layers. Around the halfway point, the two had migrated closer to each other; Darcy settled comfortably against Steve while he had his left arm slung around her shoulders. The bright purple fleece blanket Darcy had now covered the both of them and the bowl of strawberries was settled onto Steve's leg, where they both had easy access.
They both remained in that position until the end of the film, the only difference being that Darcy's head lied on Steve's shoulder and Steve rested his head against hers; the both of them clearly asleep. The empty bowl lay forgotten on the floor while the ending credits rolled past on the large screen. When the main menu popped up again, neither woke up. It wasn't until Tony, who had just come back from his date with Pepper, came in and noticed the two that he turned off the DVD player. Pepper had followed her boyfriend in and silently cooed at the pair before taking out her Stark phone and snapping a picture. Tony snickered quietly, turned off the light in the media room, then led Pepper back to their room, leaving the assistant and the super soldier alone until they woke up the next morning- which was when Darcy promptly told him to meet her at the same place next Saturday for another movie date night. All Steve did was smile and agree, silently promising to himself that he would take her dancing one day.