"In the dead of the night. I'll come knocking. I'll make your door shake and I'll ask:
Darce, what are you wearing?" -
"Why don't you ever shut up, Barnes?" -
"I'm sure it's pathological, nothing to be done about it, doll." -
"Yeah, well, we all know that you're sick." -
"Aww, Agent Lewis that's so -
"Guys! Radio Discipline!"
There was just a hint of exasperation in Barton's voice. Everyone knew how much he disliked being in charge during missions. Despite always looking incredibly tense Darcy knew him as someone with very little fucks to give. If you gave him just a shred of responsibility though he'd instantly lose all chill. Some people just can't deal with the threat of having to answer for any mission mishaps instead of leaving that to the superiors.
On any mission where both Agent Lewis and the Wintersoldier were deployed Clint already lost his patience during briefing.
Maybe because he was in this line of work to get away from childish bickering from time to time.
Maybe because they didn't let him in on their quipping, like Tony would.
Maybe because he didn't want to feel old enough to be babysitter to a 98 year old.
He really wished they'd stop being so god damn efficient when put on the same team.
They'd always finish their missions with stellar results and a reprimand by Barton.
By now everyone saw him as the bad guy. People kept telling him to loosen up.
What was he supposed to do though? Once they'd played music over the comms, called it a soundtrack, called it absolutely necessary to look badass, you know, and rated each others choice of songs.
"You know, this would just feel so much better if all this information still required me to drop a ton of files on your desk instead of just handing you this tiny, jewellery looking cube. I'm being deprived of the satisfaction to hear you groan with reluctance."
Darcy once used to joyfully overreact when being startled. She'd believed that to be charming. She'd soon stopped dramatically yelling whenever someone made their way to her desk unnoticed due to her intense concentration when Barnes made it a habit to do just that.
It got old soon and he enjoyed her violent jumping way too much.
"Demoted to errand boy again? Seems like you're in no ones good graces for long, Barnes."
She made a point of not looking up from her screen. They both knew she did so because she'd blush if she looked him in the eye.
Darcy could always keep up appearances around men she just appreciated. Hiding it when she actually liked someone was impossible though. Not because she got flustered around him, Darcy was too stoic to lose her cool like that. Being mostly unfazed in the face of just anything had been her thing for too long, she had learned to exact complete control over her voice, facial expressions and words. She couldn't control the blushing though. Having him give her that smug grin of his had her face as red as if she just ran a half marathon.
"You know I do this because it always brightens my day to stop by to see how hard you're working to keep all of us safe, Agent Lewis." Barnes said, making it sound just a little hurt, as if he was the type to be offended when told to stop with all the unwarranted attention.
"Would you please take this sensitive information out of my hands?", he held out the tiny data cube, that was cleverly designed to not look like it held days of tedious work.
"Are you gonna deliberately brush my hand just short enough too make it look unintentional when I take this from you?", she talked to his huge hand, examining his surprisingly soft looking palm.
"Of course, Doll, wouldn't want to disappoint you, now, would I?"
Their friendship was probably what contributed most to everyone around the new base easing up around James "Bucky" Barnes. Who was trying to become the former Winter Soldier. With little success since the name was too catchy to not stick with him and no one with a security clearance below level 5 could know just how much he did not want to be tied to everything it meant.
He' d given up on trying to tell people to not call him that pretty soon, because it stood in the way of appearing approachable and pleasant.
Agent Lewis, analyst extraordinaire, obscurely talented, loved by all peers, feared by many superiors had listened right away. She'd told him that she'd rather make up her own nicknames for him anyway and that maybe she'd already had some lined up. Many of them highly innapropriate.
She'd never showed any sign of fear or even wariness around him. She treated his presence like she did anything and anyone else: with friendly interest and her own brand of fatalism.
Darcy didn't only know rationally that her personal worries wouldn't change anything about the amount or quality of shit that was going to happen, the thought also accounted for her constant and unrivalled state of ease.
Around her, James could feel himself become the new self he needed to become. The self that was neither Bucky nor the Winter Soldier but still both of them. The self that incorporated his guilt but also his wish to not be determined by just that. The self that grew mostly without his deliberate input and was considerably less amiable then some people, himself included, would like it to be.
Darcy enjoyed the company of that new self. Watching her made others feel, that they could, too, that Barnes maybe, actually, really, was one of them.