Disclaimer: I do not own the Marvel Universe or the idea of a Soulmark, the interest in both of which were introduced to me by the amazing Stella Malodi, whose crazy!awesome stuff you can read here, or on AO3 (where she is Stella_Malodi and has an entire collection of amazing Steve/Darcy Soulmark fics). Check her out!
Of the many interesting circumstances surrounding the reemergence of Steve Rogers (AKA Captain America), there are two that stand out in the preliminary report filed by S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury.
Upon awakening from his 70 year slumber, Captain Rogers eluded agents and escaped into the middle of Times Square. Among his first words to Director Fury were: "I had a date." Captain Rogers subsequently refused to discuss this matter any further.
The second instance occurred during the ride back to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Manhattan headquarters. At this time, Director Fury began to assure the Captain that the resources S.H.I.E.L.D. possessed would be at his disposal, to aid in his transition to the 21st century. After thanking the director, Captain Rogers sat quietly for a few minutes, and then asked for microwave popcorn. It was provided to him, but he never requested it again and in fact, when asked by the agent in charge of his grocery shopping if he would like to have more, he replied, "No, thank you."
Research has been done into whether Howard Stark was working on his own version of microwave popcorn, but according to records at Stark Industries, there was no project of that nature going on while Stark and Captain Rogers were contemporaries. In fact, according to historical data, microwave popcorn was not invented until 1946, several years after Captain Rogers crash landed HYDRA's Valkyrie.
How Captain Rogers learned about the existence of microwave popcorn is a mystery, but one has to wonder if it has any correlation to his missed date.
Post-battle shawarma is one thing, team unity is another. Following the near-destruction of Manhattan, there were a few times that the Avengers gathered for the purposes of team building. These assemblies included Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, and Dr. Bruce Banner, and were usually arranged by the imperious Pepper Potts.
These exercises did not often end well.
The trip to the fun center for go karts and mini golfing ended with Steve shouting at Tony for winning a go kart race due to an unfairly modified kart engine and a nearly-Hulked out Banner breaking all of the little golf clubs while trying to master the hole with the miniature windmill.
The kayaking trip ended with a nearly drowned Clint after he good-naturedly tipped over the double kayak containing Natasha and Tony.
The group picnic ended with Steve and Tony shouting at each other and Natasha trying to subdue an enraged Hulk.
Actually, these get-togethers usually ended with Steve and Tony shouting at each other and Natasha trying to subdue an enraged Hulk. That is, until Pepper decided to make the gathering a little larger and a little more casual. Dr. Selvig and his associates were invited to the newly rebuilt Stark Tower for a movie night. Tony and Pepper handled the snacks, Natasha chose the movie, and Dr. Banner was able to work until five minutes before the festivities started.
"It's too bad Thor couldn't join us," Tony commented after most of the guests were assembled. He gestured toward the screen set up on the other side of the room while he mixed a drink for Jane Foster. "He's missing out. I don't think they have Casablanca in Asgard."
Jane nodded, and with a sad smile, accepted the drink. Her grad student, Darcy Lewis, was surveying the snacks. "No popcorn?" she gasped in mock outrage. "What kind of a movie night is this?"
"Oh, well," Pepper began.
"No problem, brought my own," Darcy interrupted, revealing a package from within her jacket. "Mind if I…?"
"Not at all," Pepper replied, and led Darcy over to the kitchenette. Natasha wandered over, munching on a handful of peanut M&Ms.
"Why didn't you have any set out already?" Darcy asked.
Pepper started to explain: "Well, it's just that I heard that—" She was interrupted by the elevator, which revealed a slightly tardy Captain America. He looked around for Pepper, and she walked over to greet him and accept his snack contribution: homemade cookies.
"There's a rumor that Steve doesn't like microwave popcorn," Natalie informed Darcy thickly, speaking through a mouthful of chocolate, peanuts, and colorful candy shell.
Darcy smirked as the microwave beeped. She shook the bag and dumped the popcorn into a waiting bowl. "Well, he's about to change his mind." She approached the leather jacket-clad Captain, who seemed to be trying to decide where to sit, and offered him the bowl.
With a smile, he held up a hand and declined with a shake of his head.
Darcy was offended. "How dare you infer that my microwave popcorn is anything less than amazing?! Now sit your world-saving ass down on that ridiculous couch" ("Hey! My couch!" Tony protested) "and prepare yourself for the snack of a lifetime."
Natasha was watching the exchange. She was amused to see that Darcy's body language was able to boss around one of the world's greatest heroes. And though he did not reply, she saw Steve stare at Darcy like he'd never seen a woman before. She knew that Steve was very surprised, but couldn't quite figure out why he was reacting that way.
Ever the gentleman, Steve then accepted the bowl from Darcy, and with a gallant gesture, found her a seat on Stark's ridiculous couch. He seated himself next to her, with the bowl of popcorn balanced on his lap.
Pepper started the film, Natasha wandered over and commandeered the rest of the M&Ms, and Clint waved Tony off, eventually convincing him that no, it was 4:30 in the afternoon, and he did not want a cocktail.
Darcy was enjoying herself. It felt pretty cool to be included on the guest list to an Avenger hangout, and she was sitting next to Captain America, who was much dreamier in person. She was a bit sad whenever she looked at Jane, who was often ignoring the movie and staring at the sky out the window. She was still hopeful that maybe Jane would meet a nice guy from, you know, earth, and stop looking to the clouds for romance. It would suck to try to maintain a relationship with a superhero.
The superhero sitting next to her wasn't sharing the popcorn. He'd eaten a few handfuls but hadn't looked like he was enjoying himself. "It's not that bad," she murmured to him. "If you don't like it, you can always pass it around or something; you don't have to eat it all yourself."
In reply, he shoveled in another mouthful and smiled at her.
"Fine," she whispered, and to retaliate, leaned forward to the table in front of them and snagged one of the cookies he'd brought. She nodded in approval after the first bite. "Not bad. You made these yourself?"
He nodded and leaned toward her to whisper back: "You know, I tried this stuff when I first got here, and I thought then that once would be enough to last me forever." He paused. "And you know what? I was right. I still hate it, but I'll eat it anyway, because you don't say 'no' when a gorgeous dame makes you the snack of a lifetime."
Darcy choked on a mouthful of cookie.
"Are you freaking kidding me right now?" she mumbled, trying not to spit crumbs on him or on the ridiculous expensive furniture.
He grinned in reply.
"Seriously?" Darcy began to giggle. She couldn't help herself. Rick was inaudibly telling Sam to go ahead and play La Marseillaise, so it was an inappropriate time to be giggling. Her amusement drew looks from Jane and Natasha.
Through another mouthful of disgusting popcorn, Steve shushed her.
Darcy was not deterred. "Nope, you're gonna have to prove it. Bust it out; let's see it."
"What?"
"Lemme see it!" she insisted. "Unless it's like... well, mine's… on my leg, so you'll have to take my word for it, but really, I wanna see it."
Blushing, Steve set the popcorn aside and shucked out of his jacket. "It's, uh…" he began, but Darcy lifted up his shirt without preamble and quickly located the words she'd said to him running at an angle across the well toned oblique muscles under his right arm. She ran her fingers over them, and he let out an un-hero-like squeak.
Mirth danced in her eyes. "You're ticklish? This just keeps getting better and better."
Muffling another snicker, Steve grabbed Darcy's hands and lowered his shirt at the same time. "Stop," he requested.
Darcy shook her head. "Wow, when you get to know me, you'll know that that kind of thing will never work." And she attacked him.
Steve attempted to fend off his Soulmate's vicious tickle campaign with the least amount of disturbance to the others, but he was unsuccessful. Their interaction had already drawn the attention of Dr. Selvig, Pepper, and Clint. Clint elbowed Bruce, who took his eyes off the screen, blinked, put his glasses on, and turned to watch Steve flirt with Jane Foster's grad student. After a moment, he reached over and tapped Tony on the arm. Stark looked at him. Bruce indicated the amorous encounter at the other end of the couch. Stark looked.
"Hey, that's where the popcorn was hiding! I've been smelling it the whole movie. Nice; thanks, Cap." He reached for the bowl.
""No!"" Both Steve and Darcy lunged forward to protect their life-changing snack.
Tony frowned at them. "Okay, I'll just have a cookie, then?" He gave them a weird look and went back to watching the movie.
"Darcy…?" Jane ventured.
Darcy laughed and drew the now-protected popcorn into her lap. Steve put his arm around her and explained. "We're Soulmates." This announcement was met with several exclamations of surprise.
"Wow, congratulations," Clint offered.
"Great, you two!" said Dr. Selvig.
"That's wonderful!" Pepper declared.
"Wonderful, great, yeah, can we watch the movie?" Tony asked, gesturing his cookie at the screen. This earned him a whack on the arm from Pepper, an eye roll from Natasha, and a sigh from Bruce. "What?" he protested. Then, turning to the two on the end of the couch, he said, "Why don't you brand new lovebirds get outta here and let us finish this? It's not like you've watched much of it. Go! Show her the city or somethin', Cap."
Darcy glanced at Jane. "It's fine," Jane said, with what Darcy recognized as her Brave Smile. "You can catch up with us later. How often are you going to get to hang out with your Soulmate for the first time, right?"
Steve shrugged and looked at Darcy. "Okay, I guess…" she said.
"Do you like motorcycles?" Steve asked as the two of them walked toward the elevator.
"I don't do dangerous vehicles much," Darcy replied. "Although one time I hit the god of thunder with a truck."
Tony waited until the elevator doors closed before he absconded with the popcorn. "Ten bucks says they start kissing in the elevator!"
Natasha shook her head. "He'll wait until the end of their date."
"He would, yeah, but what about her?" Clint wondered.
"Fifteen says she kisses him in the elevator on the way back," Jane stated.
Natasha smirked. "Only fifteen?"
Jane smiled. "It's everything I have in cash right now."
"Well, we can settle part of the bet pretty soon," Tony said, as he munched on some Soul popcorn. "JARVIS?"
"Of course, sir," came the disembodied voice of Stark Tower's AI. "They are currently holding hands while descending past the seventh floor, but so far, the only thing that has happened is that Captain Rogers has asked Miss Lewis if she'd like to go dancing."
If anyone in the room had been paying attention to the movie screen, they would have seen an airplane taking off, and two men walking toward the horizon. "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
Author's Note (January 15, 2016): This was amazingly fun to write. To read more of my blather on the subject you can hit up my fic blog, iwillwriteyourfic DOT blogspot DOT com. And you should really definitely go read all of Stella's hilarious ShieldShock fics on AO3. Right now. Do it.