A/N: Here's chapter 4! I hope you like it, and please R&R! Lots of Steve in this one, and Loki and Darcy fight some more! I had lots of fun writing this one. :)

Sorry if updates get more sparse, school's started! I'll try to keep up, though.

TT

Chapter 4

Darcy met Steve in the library, as they had planned. Normally, there was football practice after school every day, Steve had mentioned earlier, but Coach Phillips had canceled all practice that week for some such and such reason. Darcy couldn't remember. It was something like surgery, either his or his mother's or something. Teacher problems didn't concern her.

She waved at Steve, but as she approached, she heard loud voices. Considering it was the library of all places, it was highly unusual, but when she saw Mr. Coulson and Tony Stark going at it, it was normal again. Tony Stark always was fighting with teachers.

Steve smiled at her, but he kept glancing over at Mr. Coulson and Tony.

Darcy glanced between Steve and the other two. "You want to get out of here?" she said. "This is supposed to be a learning environment, but I'm getting the antagonist vibe in the room."

Steve, frowning, nodded. "Yeah," he said. He glanced over his shoulder one last time as they left.

"Are you okay?" Darcy asked.

"Yeah," Steve said, and he smiled. To Darcy, though, it was way too forced.

They left the library and made their way to the parking lot. Steve had a car, and they could go to Darcy's house to study.

"Shit," Darcy said. She caught Steve's arm. "Hold on, I'll just be a minute. Forgot a book in my locker."

Steve said he'd go with her, so they rushed through the halls. Steve was able to easily keep up with Darcy's quick pace, damn those long legs.

But when she got to her locker, she saw Loki leaning against it. He was talking to one of his little buddies. Just great. Darcy set her shoulders back, took a breath, and marched up to her locker.

"You're in front of my locker," she said loudly. "Move it."

Loki, who had been laughing at whatever his friend had said, looked down at her. She saw recognition cross his face, and he smirked. "Not wearing your perfume today?" he said. "Pity."

Darcy refrained from punching him square in the face. "If you liked it so much, you should get some for yourself," she retorted. "It'll really suit your personality."

Loki's smirk twisted into a sneer. He glanced from Darcy to Steve and snorted. "Didn't know you liked them dim-witted, Rogers."

"Hey!" Darcy shoved Loki into the locker. "You got something to say, you say it to me!"

Steve reacted quickly, pulling Darcy back. "Hey, cool it," he said. "He's not worth it."

Loki's smirk was at least gone. He pushed himself up from the locker and straightened his sweater with a tug at the hem. "You should listen to him," he said. "I'm surprised someone as dumb as you can get such a smart boyfriend."

The bastard! Darcy didn't give a damn what Steve thought. She was going to deck Loki. But, to her surprise, Steve got there first. He pushed her back and got up in Loki's face. He was just shorter than Loki, but that didn't stop him from being menacing.

"Look, I don't know what your problem is," Steve said, and he was about an inch from Loki's face, "but you better back off right now. We'll leave you alone, you leave us alone."

"Yeah!" Darcy said with her fists raised. The two of them could take on Loki and his friend, no problem.

But Loki snorted, raising his chin so he could look down his nose at them. "Whatever," he muttered, and to his friend, he said, "Come on, Victor."

Darcy glared at their backs as they left. Steve laid a hand on her shoulder. "Just forget about him," he said. "Loki's trying to get you to react."

Darcy shrugged off Steve's hand. "I could have taken him you know," she said as she grabbed her textbook from her locker. She slammed the door shut. "I didn't need you to protect me." She crossed her arms in front of her over the book.

Steve's cheeks reddened, and he was doing that thing again, not looking at her breasts, which were only partially hidden.

"I know," Steve said with a shrug. "It was more to stop you. Fighting on school grounds is against the rules."

"Hey, you're the football star. You're the one who should be worried."

Again, Steve shrugged. Darcy was finding out that that was about as common a thing for Steve as not looking at her breasts was. "I wouldn't have fought back. You would."

They walked to Steve's car and climbed in. They continued talking as they drove to Darcy's place.

"What do you two have against each other anyway?" Steve asked.

Darcy indicated that he take the next right before replying. "I don't know, he's the one who laughed at me first. And now, he just keeps doing things to keep bothering me." She slumped in the seat. "He's a jerk."

Steve hummed and didn't respond.

Studying for the history test proved boring. It was almost more fun trying to get Steve to almost look at her chest, just because whenever he realized what he was doing, he would turn bright red and look away. He was way too nice, if a little awkward.

It got to the point where if Darcy had to list one more person blacklisted during the Red Scare, she'd scream. So she turned to Steve, her face set, and said, "Why do you always look at my chest?"

This time, even Steve's ears turned red. Now that was amusing. "What?" he stammered. "I don't- I mean, I'm- no, I- what?"

She stuck out her chest, looking down. "I mean, they are pretty nice, but you seem to be really interested in them."

Steve was looking very determinedly at the wall. "I don't know what you are talking about."

Darcy laughed. She decided to take pity on the poor boy. Teasing him was fun, but she felt a little bad about it. She tapped his shoulder with a notebook. "I think I've done all I can for today. I'll see you tomorrow?"

Steve looked confused for a moment. Then he said, "Oh, yeah, sure." He gathered up his books and pens.

Darcy showed him to the door. It had started raining while they were studying. Steve looked dismally at the sky.

"Hey, you want to borrow an umbrella?" Darcy asked, grabbing one from the stand.

Steve smiled at her and shook his head. "It's fine, it's just a little rain," he said.

"Fine, schmine," Darcy said, shoving the umbrella at him. "You can give it back tomorrow."

Steve took the umbrella awkwardly. He raised it up and said, "Thanks, Darcy. And thanks for studying with me."

She patted his shoulder. "Trust me what I say I've got the better end of the deal."

Steve smiled, and she returned it. They stood there awkwardly for a moment. At last, Darcy waved her hands to the door.

"Oh, right," Steve said, his cheeks coloring slightly. He ducked out the door, opening the umbrella. "See you tomorrow!" He ran to his car and climbed in. Darcy waved until the car was out of sight.

She slowly went back up to her room. The day had proved surprisingly exhausting. She just wanted to collapse on her bed, but there was chem homework she needed to finish, which really wasn't fair, since she only had it because Mr. Ross had made her miss class.

Her phone buzzed at her. It was a message from Jane.\

"Come over," she had written. "At Thor's. Loki's here."

Darcy frowned and sent back, "Yeah, right, no thanks." She turned off her phone and tossed it aside.

Jane was so wrong. There was no way she liked Loki. She would rather date Steve than date Loki.

She turned on her iPod and fell asleep with the entire thing on shuffle