Down two (or was it three?) levels of stairs (Darcia wanted to work her legs after being stuck in a plane and two cars), Clint and Darcia were walking down the hallway to the lab that Tony so generously gave to Dr. Banner. The others opted to stay in the penthouse, Tony with a drink, discussing possible ideas for new equipment. "I saw you on the television last night. Pepper had it on, looking for Tony and to see if he was as discreet talking to you as he should have been...which he wasn't, by the way," Clint grinned. "You looked great."
"Oh thanks. I quite liked the dress. Pity I can't ever wear it again."
"I don't understand why you rich girls do that. Natasha wears the same stuff over again like it's nothing, same with Pepper. But then I see celebrities that will wear an expensive dress once and then stow it away in their closet as if it's a winter coat and they're in the Bahamas."
"Face saving, I think. I wouldn't be "Hollywood" enough if I didn't conform to the laws of high fashion."
"Right," Clint said, rolling his eyes. "Well, here we are. Do you want me to come in with you or are you fine being the new girl on the playground?" He grinned.
"Ha-ha. You get a joke every once in awhile. I'll be fine, big man. I can tie my own shoes and everything," she replied, winking before punching in the same passcode she used to hack the elevator. "Don't you have to check on them, though?"
"Nah, just did. I just wanted to chat up. See you upstairs," Clint said, waving behind his back before he disappeared down the hallway.
The door slid open as she shouted a 'later' back at him, and she walked in, being forced to blink a couple times under the harsh fluorescent lights. Upon regaining her sight, she was greeted with three pairs of inquisitive eyes, two in confusion, one in shock and then delight.
"Darcia! Daughter of Grace! You have come at last, my friend," Thor said, grinning broadly as he wrapped his huge arms around her.
"Careful big guy. I'm delicate," she laughed. "It's good to see you too. While I find your reason justifiable, I can't believe you didn't visit me a few months ago!"
"Ha! Such big words from such small girl. Come, I shall introduce you to my friends." He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and guided her to the lab table, where Bruce had put down his medical tools and took off his glasses, and Steve hopped off the barstool.
"Darcia Grace. It's a pleasure to meet you Captain," Darcia said, shaking Steve's hand. "I've heard great things."
"I can't say I've heard the same for you, but it is nice to meet you, Miss Grace," he smiled, his cheeks tinting.
Darcia rolled her eyes, a smile on her face. "Please. Don't call me that. You've no idea how much I get that. I'm not a girl."
"Yes ma'am," he nodded.
"Ugh, and no ma'am, either. You're too traditional, Captain," she winked at him before turning her attention to the man she was most curious about. "Dr. Banner. 8 PHds and a knack for destroying things with just a switch of the mind. I've been most anxious to meet you. And your little side kick. Or, a big one, rather."
Bruce gave a timid smile, meeting her eye for a split second before dropping his gaze. "I am pleased to meet you as well, Miss-" he seemed to remember himself and fixed his words, "er, Darcia, if I may."
"Please do. If I hear a Miss or Ma'am or whatever one more time, I'll blow. Not to jab at you, or anything. Strictly a figure of speech," she said, thinking that she might have upset him with her earlier comment.
"You're fine," he replied, the small smile staying in place. Darcia frowned at the lack of emotion (or, you know, eye contact) but brushed it off. She knew he was a reserved person.
"Right. So what are you guys doing? You know, if I can stay. I don't want to be a burden." She almost didn't recognize the words coming out of her mouth. Did she just ask for permission to sit in a chair and study them? Wow. The things she'd do to get to know the doctor more.
"Of course. I'm just comparing the blood samples of Thor, Steve and myself to see how the cell count differs from one other depending on our conditions. Actually, it would be great if you could stay, if you don't mind letting me have some of your blood. It would be interesting to compare the three of us to an actual fully normal person," Bruce said, getting intense about his work. He looked her in the eyes for almost the entire time before he realized what just happened and dropped his gaze once again. Give and take.
Darcia shrugged. "Sure, I don't see why not. It'll be fun. Though, I don't think I'm fully normal," she said, adding the last sentence quietly, as an afterthought almost. It seemed only Bruce heard as his lips turned into a small frown, his brows furrowing. Steve and Thor had engaged themselves in a particularly animated discussion about a Midgard Serpent (or something like that, she seemed to get lost whenever Thor brought up anything about Asgard that didn't sound remotely Earthly) and had ignored most of the last two minutes. "Look," she whispered, as to not draw the attention of the other two, "I'm sorry if I offended you with any of my Hulk-related comments. I am too much like Tony, I'm afraid." She added a little side smile, placing her hand on Bruce's as she spoke. He jumped from the contact and immediately flushed.
"No, don't be. I'm sorry if I gave you any misleadings..." he said just as quietly. Darcia pursed her tinted lips. Getting to him would be a lot harder than she thought.
"So how do you want me?" she finally asked, forgetting her slight irritation with the good-looking doctor.
"Wh-what?" he responded, his eyebrows shooting up and his eyes going wide. His face flushed a brilliant red and he seemed to be panicking. She didn't understand what had just happened, but now Steve was watching them closely, despite the fact that Thor was going on about one of his many victories.
"Uh, how do you want me to be for the blood drawing?" she thought she was more confused than he was surprised.
"Oh. Oh, right. Um, okay, just," he coughed slightly, his color fading back to the tan he had. It was then that she realized what she said could have been misconstrued as something sexual. She almost collapsed trying to hold in her laughter. He was so mild-mannered! So meek! It was humorous to think that she might have had more sex in the last six months than he did in his entire life. No, wait. She frowned. Now that she thought about it, that wasn't funny at all. Kind of sad. She had heard of a Betty Ross character, a girl who he married but then left because of his self-destructing habits, but it just now dawned on her: what if he doesn't have that much experience at all? He was so young and still fresh in his Hulk character when he was with Betty, what if they never actually consummated the marriage? Why is she thinking about this? It's none of her business. So why does she care? Because he's a challenge.
"I like challenges," she murmured, definitely too quiet to hear correctly.
Indeed, Bruce responded. "I'm sorry, what was that?"
"Huh? Oh nothing. Sorry, go on," she flushed at the thought that she had not heard a word he said.
"Actually, I finished talking awhile ago. You seemed to have been having...an inner battle, which I agree can be pretty thought-consuming," a flicker of pain shot through his face just brief enough so that only a person paying absolute close attention could have noticed, like her. She frowned again, somewhat guilty.
"Well, what were you saying?" she smiled prettily, trying to make up for her lack of attention.
He seemed unfazed by her smile, though. He plastered on that (what she is assuming) trademark soft smile and started talking again as if he hadn't been interrupted. "I'll need to take quite a bit of blood, so it may be best if you sit in a chair with a back or lie down. You might want to pull her hair back, if possible, too." His eyes lingered on her straight hair before he looked for a few medical tools on his lab table.
"All right," she said, standing up straight (she was leaning against the counter) and looking around for a high-backed chair, though finding none, she resigned to laying down on the examination table, throwing her hair up in a ponytail with a rubber band she grabbed from the counter. She felt awkward and slightly nostalgic (though not entirely in a good way) but remained still and calm anyways (through a series of deep breaths she caught through segment of yoga she was walking past in the gym), waiting for the good doctor to begin.
"Maybe if you're good, you'll get a cookie," Bruce said quietly, smiling. It took Darcia a full ten seconds before she realized he was making a joke, at which she started laughing. Bruce seemed immune to her laughter though (which she though was odd; she had a very appealing laugh, she knew) and patiently asked her to roll up her sleeve on her sweater. She looked down at her outfit and frowned immediately.
"I can't do that, it's cashmere. No rolling allowed."
He quirked an eyebrow, thinking a moment before responding, "I can't take your blood if there is fabric in the way. I can't feel for the vein."
She pursed her lips before sitting up quickly, making the doctor jump. Thor and Steve were now looking at her. "Ah, Darcia, you are going to have a test done on you as well? Excellent! The more the merrier!" Thor said, grinning. She smiled back.
"Sorry if this bothers you boys, but I have to take my sweater off. I can't roll cashmere. Don't worry about me though, I'm fine in my own skin," she seemed to chuckle ironically at the end of this, a private joke to herself, before taking her hands to the end of her sweater and pulling it over her head. Sitting in her bra (a very sexy one, mind you, one of Victoria's Secret's newest Angel bras), she gently folded the expensive fabric before handing it to Bruce. "Please put that somewhere, gently. No wrinkles. They're a bitch to get out."
She glanced at Thor and Steve: Thor was staring openly at her before he seemed to regain himself and excuse himself, saying loudly, "I shall not see such a good friend in a state of undress as this. It is unfair." And before she could stop him with a "No, really, Thor, it's fine," he had left the laboratory. Steve on the other hand, had his face a seemingly permanent shade of scarlet, and tried (but failed) to not stare at her before excusing himself entirely, and quickly. Old fashioned.
"I feel kind of bad. Steve seemed in complete shock. I guess I'm not used to having someone from the forties here. You're...all right, right?" she asked, looking over at Bruce.
He was by the lab table, head down and examining a few tools with all his concentration before coughing and saying, "Yeah, he's a little bit old fashioned, you could say." He seemed to ignore the last question and instead walked over to the table, an intense look on the needle and tube he was holding. "I'll need you to make a fist and, uh, not move." She tried to catch his eye (not succeeding) but decided to stare at his slightly reddened face, making a fist as he asked. "This, uh," his eyes flickered up to hers for the briefest moments, "might sting."
"Hit me with your best shot," Darcia replied. Idly, Pat Benatar's voice popped in her head, and she couldn't help but humming the song. She jumped slightly when Bruce put his cold fingers on her arm, leaning over her and keeping all eye contact on the crease of her elbow. He muttered a sorry. "You're fine. I just wasn't expecting it."
His shy smile reappeared. "For that reason, I don't get too close to people." As if he could sense she was about to interject, he continued talking, "That's a good song. It's been a long time since I've heard it. Take a deep breath, please."
Giving up on trying to placate him, she resolved to continuing this conversation. At least they were talking at all. But first she took her breath, letting it out as he stuck the needle into her vein. "Yeah, I don't imagine they'd have great radio signal in India." He smiled in response. She forced back a sigh. "Well, you've had to of heard some music lately. I know Tony is a fan of hard rock, among other things."
He took a moment before responding, prodding at the tube to make the blood flow easier. She winced slightly. "He does play AC/DC a lot. And that other band, Black Serpent or something like that."
"Black Sabbath?" Seeing his nod of recognition, she continued, "That's one of his favorite bands."
"And your favorite band?" his eyes flickered up to hers as he asked that, staying on them long enough before a thought seemed to come to his mind and he dropped his gaze.
"I like AC/DC too," she said quietly. "Though I think Aerosmith is my favorite, overall. Do you have a favorite?" she added the last question as an afterthought.
"It's been awhile," he replied after a few seconds, withdrawing the needle and grabbing an alcohol pad and bandaid. "I've grown used to folk music, the kind that the Indian children would sing, hymns, ballads." His eyes flicked to hers for a second before he swabbed the bleeding and put the bandaid on.
Before he could continue any further, the lab doors swung open and Tony walked in, chewing on something. "Woah woah woah, what do we have here?" He took in the sight of Bruce leaning over Darcia, her shirt off. He seemed to either fail to notice the packet of blood or chose to ignore it. "If I would've known this is how you run 'blood testing'," he used hand quotes, swallowing whatever he was eating, "then I would've come down here a long time ago, Banner." Bruce flushed before taking the blood packet, writing Darcia's name on the container, and setting it next to two others.
"Not everyone is as obsessed with sex as you are, Tony. Get your head out of the gutter before it gets stuck," Darcia snorted back, sitting up slowly and feeling only the tiniest bit dizzy. Bruce turned around, forgot that she was indecent and immediately back turned around to gather her sweater. He looked away as he handed her the fabric, Tony watching the interaction with mild curiosity, Darcia ignoring him and putting it on with care (which also required her getting the nonexistent wrinkles out and flattening her hair).
"Too late," he grinned finally, "But sorry to ruin the moment. Guess you're not too into threesomes, eh doctor?" Tony said, making the moment even more awkward for Bruce.
"Not with you," Darcia bit, getting off of the table and giving Tony a look.
"Ouch. That stung a little. I feel it," Tony said, prodding his heart, "here." He nodded, as if reassuring himself. Even Bruce didn't have the restraint to keep from rolling his eyes.
"Come on, we were just about to go get cookies, I think," Darcia said, flashing a smile to Bruce, who nodded shyly.
"Oh, good. You know, Pepper makes these fabulous Macadamia Nut cookies, or whatever they're called. I'll have her whip some up. And in the mean time, we can discuss how you got your hands on those tiny arc reactors," Tony rambled, leading the way out of the lab. Bruce held the door open for Darcia, who smiled graciously at him.
He raised an eyebrow. "Tiny arc reactors?"
The only answer he got was her pointing to her earrings, a sly smile on her face.
(A/N: POW. I completely forgot how fabulous 13 Going on 30 was. Sooooo much inspiration, not to mention you guys. Who all utterly rock. I'm working on the next chapter now so lemme know what you think and what you wanna see!)