A/N: this is my first story for this fandom so enjoy!
Darcy crept down the hallway, cautiously peeking around the corner before sprinting the last few metres to Steve's bedroom. She eased the door open, silently thanking that it didn't creak. She had big plans for this morning and a noisy door would put a stop to all of them. Looking around one more time, Darcy slipped into the room, dropping the bag from her shoulder onto the floor with a soft whump.
She nearly cackled at what she saw as she looked around the room: Tony had obviously had a hand in the decorating. War propaganda from the 40's decorated the walls, all heavily featuring Steve in his star-spangled uniform.
But where to start? Darcy picked up the bag she had packed, opening it to reveal the results of her shopping trip the previous afternoon. Piece after piece of lingerie lay there, just waiting to be hidden to embarrass their resident super soldier.
That will teach him not to stop Tony and my plotting! Not that he'll know it was me. He'll probably think it was Tony. Nah, way too subtle. Loki? Maybe.
The moody demigod had moved into the tower as part of his punishment from Odin and had yet to talk to anyone apart from Thor, as far as Darcy knew.
"Focus Darcy! You have a limited time frame here." She got to work, carefully hiding the undergarments around Steve's room. Ta-da! Only one more to go. She looked around, then smirked, moving forwards to tuck a particularly lacy pair of panties behind Steve's shield.
Man, he's going to be so embarrassed, she thought.
Darcy snickered as she headed for the door.
She was nearly skipping by the time she reached the threshold, taking one look back at her work before wrenching the door open and – smack!
"What the heck!" she exclaimed as she looked up at the body she had ran into. Not good Darcy, not good, she chastised herself. Standing in front of her was Loki, the God of Mischief himself, and he didn't look impressed.
"What are you doing, mortal?" he sneered. Naturally, Darcy's brain-mouth filter was broken again and so she blurted out "It's Darcy, actually."
"What?"
"Darcy. My name. Not mortal." Not cool Darcy, not cool.
He looked nonplussed. "Darcy, then. You still haven't answered my question… what are you doing?"
Make up something smooth. Believable. Fool the God of Lies. No problem.
"Ahhh… I might have been hiding panties around his room to embarrass him when he gets back?" She clamped both hands over her mouth. See Darcy? This is what happens when you open your mouth! Idiot! She berated herself.
Darcy looked up to see what might have been a smirk playing along the edges of Loki's mouth.
"Well," he drawled, "I'm sure there is a little something I can add to that. All in the name of educating our good Captain, of course."
He frowned for a moment, staring at the door before relaxing his face and smirking again.
Darcy couldn't help herself. "What did you do?"
"Hmm? Oh. I added a little something extra to your idea."
"That's all you'll say? Come on, I set the thing up anyway. If you're going to step in and interfere, at least tell me what you did." she snapped.
Loki raised an eyebrow at her. "You are a very strange mortal. First you respond to my questions by telling me about your plans to embarrass the Captain and then have the audacity to question me about what I am doing with such impertinence?"
"Well, yes."
"I find it rather endearing."
"…Thanks?" she tried.
"You're most welcome. In answer to your earlier question, Darcy, I simply… added to the amount of clothing you placed in the Captain's wardrobe." Anticipating her question, he smirked again. "To put it simply, he may be getting an interesting surprise when he opens his cupboard next. Which I anticipate will be in about an hour when he returns from his run."
With that, Loki turned away and disappeared.
Darcy found herself staring back with her mouth hanging open. Close the mouth Darcy, you'll catch flies, she told herself. But damn! She had thought she was busted for sure, but now… was it possible she had an ally for these pranks? Steve wasn't the only one on her list.
An hour later
Darcy sat in the kitchen, idly standing in front of the coffee machine as she strained to listen down the hall. Steve had just entered his bedroom and she wanted to hear his reaction to her prank.
Natasha was sitting on the couch in the other end of the communal area, elbow resting on Clint's head as he snored next to her, slouched down. Bruce and Tony were talking about some science thing using words with too many syllables for Darcy to understand.
Interestingly, Loki was also in the kitchen area, awkwardly perched at the counter. It was the first any of them had seen of him for days. Except me, Darcy thought. I saw him not too long ago at all.
She was still standing in front of the coffee machine when Stark walked up to her.
"Hey Lewis! Are you going to make coffee or just stand there ogling my machine? I know, it's fantastic, I designed it, but– " he was cut off by Loki.
"Shhhhh!"
Everyone went silent just in time to hear a wail coming from Steve's room.
"Arghhhh!" Darcy smirked.
There was a bang from the hallway and a few seconds later Steve came running into the common area, wearing only a towel. Usually Darcy would have appreciated the exposed muscles – the man was a super soldier all right – but today she was too busy sniggering at the lacy bra hanging off Steve's shoulder and his look of disarray.
Stark still stood in front of the coffee machine, eyes boggling. "What happened to you, Spangles?" he asked.
Steve flushed red. "I-I-I don't know!" he exclaimed. "I opened my wardrobe and-and- there were ladies- clothes everywhere!"
Darcy was struggling to keep the laughter off her face as she watched the super soldier squirm.
As Steve continued to explain, Darcy glanced around the room at the others. Natasha had a smirk plastered on her face as she pretended to continue reading her magazine on the couch. Clint was still asleep and Bruce was looking slightly bewildered.
Darcy managed to keep a straight face right up until she caught Loki's eye: he had a full-blown smile on his face and looked genuinely happy. Like she might have imagined he would have looked like before turning evil and trying to destroy the world.
She cracked up laughing, ignoring the questioning looks turned her way. Not only had she pranked Steve and embarrassed him so very much more than she thought she would, she had brought the God of Mischief in on it too!
The future looked bright indeed.
A/N: So I hope you liked it! I'm thinking of developing this into a series of one-shots with Darcy and Loki pranking the rest of the Avengers so tell me what you think!