Darcy Lewis is not one to go out of her way over a boy, but when there's good coffee involved, that's a totally different story.
But, before we even get to that, we have to cover a few things (and briefly, at that.)
Darcy has recently moved back in with her former roomie, since Darcy and her awful mean coffee hating boyfriend forgot to tell her that he was seeing, like several other people that weren't Darcy for the majority of their relationship. (A window was smashed, a cat was stolen, and her stuff was neatly shoved into the back of a taxicab as she angrily rode to Jane's place.)
But that was months ago, and Darcy's over it – mostly. (She's still angry, but she's assured by Jane that she's got every reason to be.)
But anyway, Jane is in the middle of a good streak of her physics paper and is desperate for coffee (from a very specific place, at that), but she's in the rhythm now- and if she takes a break, lord knows how long it will take her to get her to start writing like this again.
So, Darcy sacrifices her concentration on her American Literature paper so Jane doesn't drop dead from lack of sustenance (also coffee sounds really good to her right about now.)
It's three am.
Darcy's really starting to think Jane's crazy because no good, self-respecting coffee shop anywhere (let alone, New York) would be open at this god-awful hour of the morning. But, she believes in Jane, despite the woman's apparent crazy. Darcy recalls Jane's half-dazed directions to a tee, and in a burst of motivation she didn't know she had, she manages to find the place.
It's the shittiest hipster café Darcy's ever seen.
She loves it already.
She barges in the door like she owns the place. There's a dude in the corner sleeping, two girls are whispering and giggling to each other quietly in a booth by a window, and there's two really buff guys talking to the guy behind the counter, who also happens to be super buff. The place is attempting to inflict a sense of nostalgia, and it does, but in a weird, is it nine-teen forty-seven, or am I in some sort of comedy skitsort of way.
Reality seems distorted, and she loves it even more (it's also probably why Jane comes here, now that Darcy thinks of it; her friend is into all types of weird like this.)
The buff guy behind the counter must see her coming, because he tells the other two buff guys to get lost. Which they do. The blonde in the too-tight shirt looks her over as she walks up to the counter, while his buddy in clothes that fit normally elbows him in the chest. They start bickering quietly and she stops paying attention to them when she trips into the counter.
"Goddammit." She moans as she pushes herself up. She hears a quiet sound of muffled laughter in front of her and she looks up (to her horror) to find Buff Guy number three trying to look as serious as he can without giving away the fact that he's laughing at her misfortune.
He's also got the prettiest pair of eyes she's ever seen – and oh, god, he's really hot – like hotter than "Jane's Boyfriend Thor" Hot; she's totally, completely, utterly mortified. Goodness, why is this her life?
Then, of course, he has to open his stupid, pretty mouth, and he asks her what she's ordering. She thinks her heart stops for a second because this man's voice sounds as smooth as honey but also as rough as sandpaper at the same time; she's got no idea how he manages to sound like that or why she's fawning over him (she never fawns like this?)
She blames Jane and her need for coffee at two forty-eight in the morning.
By the grace of God, she's able to place her order and get the coffee and make it back to Jane without making an ever bigger fool of herself.
(Jane's asleep with her head on her keyboard by the time Darcy returns home. She drank her coffee on the way back, and Jane wasn't wrong when she said it was the best. Darcy decides it would be a damn shame if she let Jane's go to waste, so she sits down in front of her English essay that doesn't actually exist yet, cracks her knuckles, takes a sip of Jane's coffee, and gets a-writing.)
It's two thirteen in the morning a week later, and Darcy is trying her damnedest to write up another gosh darn essay; this time however, she can't concentrate because Jane and Thor are being extremely loud in Jane's bedroom.
Jane is not being a good friend.
She's about ready to go in the room (and mentally prepare herself for the bleaching of her eyeballs) when she remembers the quiet little coffee shop that's opened at all hours of the night with the hella good cuppa joe (and where the hot buff guy behind the counter works).
Darcy packs up her computer faster than she can text 'lmao', and heads out the door in hopes of reaching her safe haven.
When she nears the place, she sees the same two girls fawning over each other in the window booth, the blonde and his friend are still at the counter talking to Super Ultra Hot Guy behind the counter.
And she's not over completely making a fool out of herself a week previous, but none of these people know that; so she opens the doors and walks in like she owns the place.
Nobody pays attention to her.
Huh.
This, this is good; this means she can quietly sit down at a seat and work on her paper. This means that she doesn't have to worry about tripping over nothing just yet. This means –
"Are you freakin' serious?" she exclaims as she walks into a chair.
This, does gain the attention of everyone else, and she just lets out a sigh as everyone turns their heads in unison to get a look at her as she sits down as fast as she possibly can.
She's just really not a morning person.
She doesn't pay attention to them though, she's got that stupid essay to write. And so she does. For two hours straight she does not look up from her computer or her reference books. She is very proud of herself, even though she's only just about halfway finished.
But, it's pushing five in the morning and she has a class at nine thirty; she's not willing to risk pulling an all-nighter and embarrass herself even more (and Jane and Thor need to be done going at it like rabbits by now. So, she packs up her things as fast as she can without hurting herself, and gets out of there as fast as humanly possible).
She feels bad for not buying anything at five after ten the next morning.
It couldn't hurt her to stop in again just to have a pity purchase. Well, going with her streak of being a klutz, it probably could, but the coffee's good, and that cancels out all the red.
"Janey, you want coffee from that place of yours or what?"
"Mhhhm."
"I'm taking that as a yes." Calls Darcy from the door. Jane is doing some sort of science right now and can't be bothered with the rest of the world, so Darcy just sort of assumes that she wants the delicious black liquid that is coffee.
Darcy all but skips to the coffee shop, and once she gets there, she practically waltzes up to the counter. The Buff Guys are sitting down at a table, and the two girls are giggling to themselves at their window booth.
She does not trip on the way in. She orders her coffees with the grace of a king. She composes herself like a diplomat when Super Ultra Hot Guy comments on how he's proud of her for not falling on her way in today (she's proud of herself, too.)
Hubris is man's great weakness.
She trips on the way out, spilling hot coffee all down her leg.
It's to fucking early for this.
"Luck is seriously not on your side." Ultra-Hot says, as he helps her up.
"Yeah, well, it's not my fault this stupid coffee shop hates me. I haven't fallen this many times since I was in third grade." He gives her a questioning gaze (and she finally catches his name, which is on a name card on his chest; something she would have known is she wasn't so worked up about falling every single damn time she came here.), "Okay, fine," she huffs, "It was last week, at some frat party that I crashed because I had nothing but a paper to write and that's a bore."
He lets out a chuckle as she's led back over to the counter. He leaves her in front, and he emerges with a roll of paper towel, which she takes gingerly and attempts to dry her jeans. He goes back behind the counter and makes her two new coffees in her struggle to make herself dry again.
She offers him money, but the stupid asshole won't take it. She compromises by showering him in thank-you's.
"Dude, I am not risking spilling your delicious hot coffee all over me again, so please, for the love of all things holy, walk me to the door." He laughs (and, sweet Jesus, she'd pay to hear that joyful noise again) and takes her arm in his.
"Sure thing, doll." He smiles. Darcy wilts.
She thanks him one more time before she walks out the door into the crisp morning of the city
(Bucky's left looking wistfully at the retreating figure from inside the stupid coffee shop, and flips off Sam, Steve, Peggy, and Angie when they start making remarks about how stupid he is over this clumsy girl that can's seem to stop falling.)
"Darcy," Jane mumbles from the couch, "it's like, too early o'clock to be going anywhere; come back for snuggle time with Jane."
"Mhh, but my stress is high and that means studying and coffee."
"It's three in the morning." Jane deadpans. Darcy shrugs.
"I'm in college; I'm allowed to have no sense of time; it's all made up, anyway."
"You need sleep." Jane pushes.
"As my dear, great grandma Lewis used to say, 'I'll sleep when I'm dead.'"
"How's that working out for her?"
"I don't know, Jane. But I'll be sure to ask her next time I visit her."
"She's still alive?"
"No? She died when I was like, five? It's too fucking early for this."
"Tell the hot guy I say hi!" Jane attempts to shout from her spot on the couch as Darcy exits their apartment. It sounds more lethargic and teasing in manner than anything Jane's ever said before, and that has Darcy smiling while she walks to her the coffee shop.
Bucky is behind the counter when she walks in; she smiles even wider at him, and waves at the two girls and the Buff Guys as she makes her way to her table to put down her books and her laptop.
She's about to walk over and place her order, but she can hear the buzz of machines and the clattering of measuring devices, so she doesn't bother. She just assumes that he's going to bring over her coffee.
It saves her the aggravation of falling on her face; it's a win-win situation if she's ever heard of one.
So, she starts studying. She's not really paying attention to what's happing around her, and somehow manages to fall out of her chair when he taps her on the shoulder and places her coffee on the table.
They share a moment of panicked eye contact before she hits the ground.
"I'm really starting to regret not listening to Jane." She complains. He offers his hand to help her up. She takes it gladly (it's warm and soft and calloused, and Darcy doesn't want to let go.)
He's just some dude that works the graveyard shift at a coffee place that she's only been coming to for a month now – it's not like they're friends (or anything more than that). Besides, she comes in here during the early hours of the morning (braless, half the time) looking like a train wreck and only really ever studies.
Their interactions basically involve her ordering coffee, tripping, and him teasing her about being so clumsy.
(It's true love if she's ever seen it. Which she hasn't. So, she has no idea what she's talking about.)
"And why's that?" he asks, knocking her out of her train of thought. She brushes herself off lightly before she sits back down, making sure she glares at her seat. The look doesn't go unnoticed by Bucky, who tries his hardest not to grin. (It's cute, she thinks, that he believes he can hide his amusement from her.)
"Because snuggles hurt a lot less than falling off a chair." She replies honestly. He sits down across from her.
"If you knew you were going to fall, why even bother coming here in the first place?"
"The second I figure that out, you'll be the first to know. Right now, though, I'm pretty sure it's because you're the only coffee place open that accommodates my weird sleep schedule and my particular taste."
"Yeah?"
"Yep."
"Well," he begins, rubbing his hands together, "I'll leave you to study. Nice seeing you."
"Yeah, Bucky, you too." She smiles again (she's been doing a lot of that this morning; damn this boy.)
"Thanks, doll. Never did catch your name."
"Oh – It's Darcy. Darcy Lewis."
She extends her arm in response to him doing the same. Her hand is in his (again!) and again, she really has no interest in letting go of it.
"James Barnes, but my friends call me Bucky." He points with his other hand to his name card. She lets out a giggle as he lets go.
When she gets back to studying, she's having trouble concentrating; Darcy is seventy-eight percent sure that Bucky's Buff Friends are talking to him about her and she's not sure whether to be hopeful or something else.
She's always been a bit of an optimist, so she settles for the former, and gets back to work with a shake of her head.
Darcy becomes a regular at the shop. She becomes friends with Angie Martinelli and Peggy Carter, the two girls at the window booth. Angie works at a diner not far away, and Peggy gets out of her night classes pretty late, and the two usually meet up here for some catching up and drinks before heading home.
They're also friends with Bucky via Steve, a mutual friend of Peggy's and Bucky's.
Darcy also becomes a mutual friend of Steve, the tall blonde buff dude that's actually the walking definition of Justice and Freedom with a little more 'Meme It' and 'little shit' rolled in.
In other words, Steve is great.
But Steve's friend, Sam (Buff Guy Number Two) is even better. He's intelligent and helps her study sometimes when he isn't too busy yelling at Steve to stop being such a little shit. Sam has the weirdest music taste she's ever heard (and that's saying something coming from her) and he's also mutual friends with Thor.
It's a small world.
Actually it's New York, a very small portion of New York at that, and it makes perfect sense that the two men know each other because they both work out at the same place.
And Bucky, bless his heart, helps her up after she trips every time. He's funny (also a little shit) and kind and sweet and most of the time completely ridiculous and charming. Darcy's pretty sure, by her fourth month of coming to this corner coffee shop, that she knows the reason why she keeps coming here.
And by some twist of irony, it is because she's falling. (Falling on her ass, and falling in love; she can't seem to make out any sort of difference.)
Jane figures it out. Thor figures it out. Steve, Sam, Peggy, and Angie figure it out. The only one who hasn't realized she keeps coming here at godforsaken hours of the morning – compromising her sanity and everything else, is Bucky.
She doesn't know how he keeps missing the point of her being there; she barely even looks at her books anymore because all they do is talk. She knows that Steve and Sam are dropping hints that she's totally got a thing for him like they're Kim Kardashian or something. She knows that Peggy and Angie purposefully talk boisterously about her obvious attraction to him.
She knows he watches her walk out of his shop with a special glint in his eyes every morning.
What Darcy doesn't know how to do is tell him about how she's feeling – mostly due to the fact that there is never a good time to say that she's not even coming here for the coffee anymore.
Her life is a walking romance novel – full of pining and misery and coffee shops run by handsome men.
And then, one day it sort of slips out.
Well, actually she slips, and he's not ready to catch her this time, so he gets knocked over in the process; Darcy's about ready to scream because yes, this 'falling' thing has been happening for several months now, but never like this. She's never actually had enough force behind her fall pull him down with her.
They land in the weird position where she's half on top of him and facing him, which, she does suppose, is better than his face being nuzzled in her boobs; that's fun for no party involved.
Before she can apologize, however, he starts laughing, and she's in a dazed state and just continued to lie on top of him like he's some sort of sunning rock and not a human.
"This puts a whole new meaning on 'falling for you'."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, asshole, laugh it up; I've been falling on your goddamn floors every morning for the past couple months – and, Bucky, your coffee is good, but it isn't worth harming myself like this."
"'S'that so?" he asks with a cocked brow; he's staring up at her with a mischievous glint in her eye – something that she can't help but to reciprocate.
"Yep." She replies with a smack of her lips. His eyes flicker towards the source of the popping sound if only for a second; but Darcy's quick, and Bucky can't hide such things from her, "Also, if your gonna kiss me, now would be a really great time."
He does. He tastes like nutmeg and smells like coffee and sweat and some weird cologne, but it's distinctly him, and he makes it work. He's gentle with this kiss, which she knows is deliberate – this is a test run (of hopefully many more to come), so there's always later to be tough and assertive. Although, a short time later, Steve clears his throat like some blushing virgin and tells them to at least have the decency to go in the back.
Darcy and Bucky stand up, share a look, and flip Steve off. (It's not like him and Sam haven't swapped spit (among other things) in the shop before.
And then they run to the back, hand in hand, where they kiss until they're silly and can't stop giggling. Peggy has to go to the back and tell them to leave because their happiness is "infectious, and not in a good way."
Darcy goes home that morning with a love-sick smile on her face, a new number in her phone, and in a car (because Bucky is a gentle man and offered to drive her home safely).
She can't find any reason to complain.
Plus, he totally walked her to the doorstep and kissed her like it was some kind of movie she used to watch with her grandmother. She might have actually melted, but that's nobody's business but her own.
At the end of the day (or the very beginning, she supposes), the bruises that litter her body are totally worth the happiness she has as she watches Bucky drive away at three thirty on a Wednesday morning in April.
(When Jane wakes up, she makes a joke about how Darcy literally fell head over heels, and Darcy whacks her. It's a good day (plus she gets to see Bucky off of work hours, so that's an even better score.)
whoop whoop here i am again.
this one's for matt, who #inspired me to write a coffee shop au after he texted me in horror when he found himself writing one on accident. (GET REKT MATT)
hopefully its okay, but i'll let you get to it.
follows/reviews/favorites are the Bucky to my Steve :-)