TAKE CARE

Synopsis: University AU He's seen her before. Stumbling, cursing at the world for her luck and yet he's never stepped in out of hesitance for how she'd receive him. Today she's unwell and he decides perhaps it is better they start on shaky footing than not at all. Starcy

For canibecandid – my other half that keeps me sane when dealing with life. This doubles as an extremely late birthday present, and a little cheer for reasons only she knows.

Hope you like it.

much love,

day

Steve Rogers is in the middle of coffee break before he goes to his Shakespearean Literature course in the next fifteen minutes. He's decided to take the long way back. He likes to look at the world. People have their own stories to tell even if they don't know they're telling them to anyone, let alone him.

This morning the wind is particularly nasty but he keeps a steady and slow rhythm as he sips, walking a few paces and looks around before moving on. It's a quiet morning for the most part. Until he reaches the west side of campus. This is his senior year. The last time he'll get to walk these sidewalks and the view that he sees without having to go to a class or meet up with friends for a study group.

He'll be lying if he said he wouldn't miss it. There something about this place that grows on you. It's become a surrogate home to the boy who shared space with his oldest pal, James. James didn't go to this school but he would often find him sitting somewhere on the campus waiting for him. Watching out for him more like it.

As he moved along to head back inside he found himself stopped by a sight. A woman a few years shy of him probably a sophomore at least was struggling to keep walking while tugging at her bag that was twisted around her shoulder. Pages billowing from all sides of it. None of it was secure.

He knew who she was. Darcy Lewis, a political science major who was known for doing crazy experiments with one of the professors. They say strange things happen around her. Steve didn't really see her that way. She was much more than strange. He'd call her beautiful on one of her good days – or always as James continued to tell him whenever he mention he'd crossed passed with her.

Day in and day out the older of the two guys would tell him to just talk to her at least. Turn on his A game as he called it. As if Steve Rogers was smooth enough to pull off more than a few words to a girl like that? She was intimidating too. It was due to her bite when she talked to people that she didn't like which rounded about to everyone.

Today was different. Steve felt a deep urgency to offer some aid to this woman who he constantly felt drawn to. In part it probably had something to do with the fact that he had once stumble just as much as she had. Or it could have something to do with the fact that he wanted to help people in need. He didn't know, either way he changed his route to try.

It was the most he could at this point in time.

"It's twisted." He called once he was a few feet away from her back.

She turned, blinked at him before returning to his struggle as if he hadn't said anything. In this moment he understood his best friend a little bit more. Bucky had always said that women were fascinating but frustrating creatures. Steve never had much of luck in that area as he had but he could see his view.

Darcy had curves though you couldn't tell from the way she dressed. She currently had sweats on, a pair of old beat up chucks and a Ramones t-shirt on. An oversized pull over was covering her.

"That's not going to help." He continued as he sidled up next to her. He let out a sigh when she tried and tried again to untangle the bag from off her shoulder. She really needed some kind of help.

After a few moments of it, she turned to him. "Well what are you standing there for? I assume you want to help."

With that cue, he quickly untangled the one strap that the messenger bag had and situated on her shoulder so that it wasn't all bunched up as it had been. "There you go. I would suggest…" He started only to not even get to finish his thought before she was off walking again.

He huffed, well that didn't go as well as he thought it would have gone. He checked his watch, he only had about five minutes before he would be late.

Great.

Steve moved back in the direction he had been supposed to be going to make it to his lecture.

Darcy thought he was handsome for a man with all that facial hair on his face. They weren't usually her type but the guy had something going for him. He even had the whole lumberjack look to him. It was endearing. She would attempt him if she hadn't been feeling as pathetic as she had been the past couple hours. That had been her excuse for walking away from him then.

She already felt awful for taking him away from what she assumed was his break. He could be a teacher but she couldn't say that for sure. Teachers all looked different to her. She had a young professor in one of her courses last term. There was no clear way to tell unless they told you outright. She had embarrassed herself once with one of them.

She shuddered to think about that hiccup.

The next time she meet the handsome man she hadn't been prepared either. He had just exited the coffee shop she was going into and had just about run into each other. Her immediate reaction was to shout at him. It was much more of a reflex than the fact that she hated the guy.

Mr. Handsome was too kind for her sharp tongue.

"Watch it, Mr. Tall and Bearded! Other people are walking here." Okay, so maybe she had managed to not curse him out as she had done previous people.

Yet again he ended up surprising her by showing concern for her in the opposite way that she was used to. "I don't think coffee is your best bet for getting better. Orange juice or something with citrus might do you some good though."

She stared at him unsure if this dude was actually real. "What?" She balked.

"You look worse than the last time we crossed paths."

"It's been like a day." She sputtered, before ducking under his arm that was poised against the door. She ignored her utter admiration of the muscles that were in abundance on that guy.

She fully expected him to just continue on his way but he hadn't. Instead he was trailing behind her like a puppy. "What now?" She exclaimed, turning only to hit him in the chest. "Back up." She sighed and he obliged but wasn't really paying her much attention in the first place. He was looking at was on the chalkboard menu. It looked like he was looking for something specific.

He even had the gall to put his hands on her shoulder to move her up when there was some available room for her to move forward. She had already been making a scene by shouting so she just let me do it up until she was the next in line.

Darcy had a simple order that she always got and she had planned to stick to it if only Mr. Handsome hadn't decided to order for her as if she hadn't a mouth to do so herself. He even got her something she had no mention of wanting. "It'll help." Was his only reply when he shoved the drink in her hand and left without accepting a thank you or a 'what the fuck is your deal' from her.

They were always leaving each other one way or another.

The drink itself wasn't really anything she would ever get for herself. Something made with oranges and citrus tastes just as he said she would need. Despite herself she made herself drink it because a guy had bought her something. It was rare that anyone did that and didn't want anything in return. At least she hoped he wasn't expecting anything from her. She wasn't that type of chick. At least not when she was still sweating out a fever and coughing up a lung in the process.

Later, all bets were off.

At least that's what she told herself when the next favor by Mr. I Still-Don't-Know-Your-Name-But-You're-Hella-Handsome was brought to her attention.

It was later in the week and she had her last class before she could rest for a few days without interruption. The same course that she got on Tuesday when they met, she had on Friday. The scheduling was weird but she had gotten into the class late so who was she to argue about it anyone.

Somehow he had found out her class because the second she got inside and got to her seat she found a Styrofoam cup sitting where she would normally toss her bag. Attached to it with tape was a page ripped from a memo pad and folded over nicely. Her name was even written out in messy handwriting.

'Darcy'

He knew her name but she didn't know who his was. Not yet anyhow. She was determined even before opening the cup that she needed to know who he was. A name to go with these acts of sweetness.

She didn't know if she wanted anymore of them. As much as it suited his character from what she got of him from their interactions. She still didn't know what to make of him.

When she ripped the paper off the lid and unfolded it she felt eyes on her and so she balled it up. When people were still eyeing her she gave the most menacing look she could muster. "You're all freaks." She grumbled. That seemed to do the trick and they left her be for the moment.

She grabbed the crumbled piece of paper from her pocket where she had shoved it and unfolded it from under the desk.

There was a simple message in that messy scrawl of his.

Take care. – Steve

Now normally she would have just chalked it up to a weirdo being really stupid. She warranted lots of bozos in her day but it was the way it was deliver that it made it seem like that it would be better to consume what was inside rather than chuck it into the trash. After all he had gone out of his way to find her class and where she sat normally in order to give her this.

She pulled back the lid a smidge in order to sniff at the fluid and whatever chunks were mixed in. She realized that it was soup, more than likely homemade. She had to fight back the smile. Well wasn't he really fucking cute.

She shut the lid, deciding to wait until this class was over before gulping it down because it deserved a good chug.

The weekend passed and Darcy had begun to feel like herself again. Ready to kick everyone's asses and take no shit from anyone even herself. She also was prepared to knock the socks off a certain fellow name Steve who was really too good for her badassery levels but she decided that she at least had to thank him for looking after her in his small ways even if it annoyed her to no end.

So this was how she found herself in front of the apartment building that he was living in. How she got that address she wouldn't share the story with anyone. It was on her 'no one needs to find out' list of about fifteen things so far. If he tried to ask she'd come up with something.

However she wasn't sure how she was going to go about saying it. Or if her nerves were punched with steel as she always said they were.

She drew in a deep breathe ready to go in when someone came up behind her. "You're Darcy, aren't you?"

Darcy just about got whiplash at how quickly she turned around to see a tall messy hair guy with a lazy expression that somehow also looked smug at the same time. His hair although messy was pulled back into a ponytail on his neck. He was also sporting a pretty nice set off arms that looked quick appealing with nothing covering it because he was wearing a muscle shirt and a pair of jeans.

Where are the hot guys coming from, she wondered.

"Uh, yeah. Who are you?"

"You can call me James. I'm Steve's friend." Her eyes widened slightly.

"Hi. I was looking for him actually."

As if he expected this to happen he gently pushed her aside so he could unlock the door to the building. "He's not here at the moment but should be back soon. Want to come in and wait?"

This is how Steve found Bucky and Darcy when he came home from a run through the park. He did a double take at least three times before realizing that yes the girl who had been interested in was in his apartment and seemed to be having a funny conversation with his best friend.

"Welcome home, Steve." Bucky said when he heard the door close. While Darcy swiveled her head in his direction and what a sight she saw. She thought she was attracted to him when he was in his plaid shirts and giving her things because he was nice. This look with him all sweaty was more appealing than that, if that was humanely possible at this point.

She took in a deep intake of breathe.

Beside her Bucky smiled, "A sight, isn't he?"

If Darcy didn't know any better she thought his best pal was admiring him appreciatively. She decided to ignore that but replied anyways, "Sure. Took him long enough to get here though. We've been talking for hours."

Steve feeling bad already, "Sorry. Didn't expect anyone to stop by unannounced." He rolled his eyes at her even though he wasn't really annoyed with her. He was feeling a lot in this situation.

"I'm going to leave you guys to it. It was nice meeting you Miss Lewis. Hopefully we can do this again sometime." Darcy smiled at Bucky as he headed down the corridor to where the bedrooms were she suspected.

She got to feet once she heard a door close. It wasn't too hard to hear it. It was pretty quiet in this area. "So, Steve. It's going to be weird to call you something other than Mr. Handsome or Mr. Tall & Bearded but I think I'll managed."

Steve still standing where he was crossed his arms and smiled. "Handsome, really?"

"Don't tell me you don't look in the mirror and not see that?" She gestured toward him. Normally she would face palm or get out of it somehow but he wasn't making fun of her exactly. He seemed to enjoy it.

"I do see it but let's just say I don't get the compliment a lot from women I actually am interested in."

That took her by surprise. She had to stop walking towards him for a brief moment. "Okay. I really only came here to say thanks for what you did for me."

He shrugged it off. "Mama taught me how to take care of people. It's not a big deal."

"It is for me." She whispered as she grew to stand right in front of him.

The wiped his face free of sweat. "This isn't exactly how I wanted us to talk. I'm the gross one now."

Her nose crinkled a bit as she thought about what they could do. She hadn't really planned on staying but it seemed he wanted to talk to her more. She didn't have anything she specifically wanted to do tonight but if he was game so was she.

"Well, if you are up for it after you take a shower we can go get coffee." She suggested.

"You really like your coffee don't you?"

"Keeps me lively." She beamed.

He shook his head accidentally spraying her with droplets of his sweat. She stepped away freeing herself from it. Before he could begin to apologize she just smiled. "I don't think you have a problem with that."

"You'd be surprised, Steve."

Steve quirked an eyebrow. "Surprise me."

She was going to watch out for him, she could already tell. She shooed him away to shower and let out a sigh.

She took a seat back on the couch and waited. She hopped she was no fool for giving this a go. Somehow she didn't think so. He seemed like an all-around good person and she needed good in her life. She was starting to crave it. She could blame him now. Steve Rogers – the tall lumberjack man who he had her wanting to get closer to him if only to learn what he knew. She could tell by his eyes that he had his own view of her too.

So she waited, and soon they started on their journey for coffee and something more. Maybe.