Darcy chooses a table outside for her Sunday brunch date with Jane. The heat wave mercifully fucked off and the weather in the city has been absolutely perfect for the last few days. Jane is predictably running late and Darcy assumes science is the reason. Science is always the reason. Well, unless Thor is on the planet, and then the reason is sex.
Sipping her mimosa, she people watches behind the safety of her sunglasses and spies a little dog bakery across the street called Three Dog Barkery. She decides to stop in after brunch to buy a treat for Sarge because she misses that energetic ball of fur. Her phone buzzes on the table and she sees a new text from Jane saying she's running late but she should be there in ten minutes. Darcy knows that means at least twenty, so she opens up her picture folder and scrolls through the recent ones she snapped on her phone. She laughs at a few that she took of Steve and Bucky from the bar the other night once the crowd died down and she had more time to talk to them.
They're good guys, she thinks, even if Bucky is a huge pain in the ass. He's hilariously inappropriate like she is and it is pretty fun to butt heads with him. Steve is just sweet and it kind of throws her for a loop just how nice he is because in her experience most gorgeous guys are dickheads. Part of her is dying to photograph the both of them. They're so attractive it's stupid and she knows they would look amazing through the lens. That's her professional opinion, anyway. Her personal opinion is that she likes having guy friends and she's pretty sure these two are her friends, or at least very close to it.
Darcy spends the rest of the time catching up on e-mail. She hears her name and looks up from her phone to see Jane walking towards the table. "Hi," Jane cheerfully greets. She leans down to give Darcy a hug before taking the seat across from her. "Sorry I'm late; I was just working on some data for—"
"Jane," Darcy interrupts. "It's Sunday. The day of rest."
"Science doesn't take breaks, Darcy," Jane says solemnly and both girls crack up laughing at that.
Jane picks up a menu and Darcy snarks, "They don't have Pop-Tarts, Jane. Already looked."
"Har har," Jane retorts, pulling a silly face.
After they order, Darcy asks Jane about work and tries very hard to focus on all of the science jargon flowing freely out of Jane's mouth. This is the exact reason she had turned down the job to work for Jane in New York. It's not that Darcy doesn't care about it, but so much of it goes way over her head and it's just not for her thing.
"Let me see if I have this straight," Darcy begins after Jane finishes speaking, "you and the rest of the brilliant scientists spend your days being brilliant and brilliantly calculating your brilliant data to brilliantly revolutionize the world of science!" She smirks and takes a huge bite of her strawberries and cream cheese French toast.
"I almost forgot what a smartass you are," Jane laughs, taking a sip from her glass. "Sorry, I was too technical again, wasn't I?"
Darcy holds up her thumb and forefinger. "Just a tad. How is your new assistant? I'm sure he's not as great as I was, but who is, honestly?"
"He's driving me insane! He brought me a salad the other day right as I was about to finish analyzing some data."
"That monster!" Darcy gasps in mock horror. "Has he not learned that sugar pushes you over the edge of brilliant to super brilliant? Should we put the police on this? I say we lock him up and throw away the key." She shakes her fist for emphasis.
Jane rolls her eyes. "I know, I know. I need to eat better and take care of myself, yadda, yadda, yadda. Anyway, what's new with you? Been on any noteworthy dates lately?"
Darcy snorts out a laugh. "No dates period, let alone ones of the noteworthy variety. I've been really busy lately."
"You really should start dating again, Darcy. It's been what, a year since you broke up with Alex?"
"I think 'broke up' is too strong a word for whatever that relationship was. We only went out a handful of times and we stopped because he was dumb, boring, and really terrible in the sack."
"What about your new neighbor?"
"Steve? What about him? Yeah, he's hot, but I'm not trying to date my neighbor. That's a recipe for disaster and I love my apartment."
"Okay, every time you say his name the next word out of your mouth is hot or a synonym for it. Do you have a picture of this guy? I'm very curious."
"I do, actually," Darcy informs her, pulling up a photo on her phone. Jane snatches the phone to take a look and her mouth drops open.
"Shut the front door. Is he real?"
"I know, right? Scroll over and check out his friend," Darcy suggests.
She does and her eyes go round. "Good lord. How is this your life now with all these hot guys dropping into it?"
"Says the girl dating Thor," Darcy counters.
"And you don't want to date either of them?" Jane wonders, baffled.
Darcy shakes her head, "Nope."
"Why the hell not?"
"Well, Bucky is too much like me and if I wanted to date myself I'd just stay home and use my vibrator. Oh, wait, I already do that."
"Darcy!" Jane laughs and looks around to see if anyone else heard her.
"And Steve is a nice guy and I am really taken aback by his gorgeous face every time I see it, but he's my neighbor and I'm not going there. Don't poop where you live, ya know?"
"You are utterly ridiculous, Darcy Lewis."
Darcy raises her mimosa and winks at her friend. "True story."
Steve's sitting at his drawing table by the window sketching the scene outside of kids playing superheroes in the street when a knock sounds on his door. Sarge clambers from his dog bed to bark at whoever is on the other side. He puts his charcoal pencil down and attempts to brush away the dust off his hands before answering the door.
He pulls it open to see Darcy on the other side holding what appears to be bakery boxes, one with black paw prints on the side. "Darcy—hi," he greets, surprised to see her.
Sarge instantly goes crazy when he sees Darcy and starts jumping around excitedly. "Well, hello to you, Sarge," she coos, reaching down to pet him on the head. She smiles at Steve and holds up the boxes for him to see. "Howdy, neighbor. I brought treats for Sarge. There might be one for you, too." His surprised smile is very endearing.
"Wow, that's so nice," he tells her, leaning against the door. She looks back at him expectantly and gives him an amused half smile. "Oh. Sorry, I'm—come in," he manages and takes the boxes, stepping back so she can walk through the door.
She hesitates at the door, feeling a bit like she's imposing on him. "Am I interrupting something? I can go if I am."
"No, not at all," he insists. "I was just drawing a little. Please come in."
She smiles softly and follows him into the apartment. "Well, that explains the smudge."
His brows arch questioningly. "Sorry?"
"On your face," she points to her cheek.
"Oh," he blushes, swiping at his cheek with the back of his hand. "Did I get it?"
"No." She chuckles softly and steps closer to him. He just blinks and clears his throat. It amuses her greatly how easily embarrassed he is. "Hold still," she instructs, reaching up and gently swiping the pad of her thumb across his cheek. "There. All gone."
Steve's lips twitch into a half smile. "Thank you."
"No sweat," Darcy shrugs and kneels down to pay Sarge the attention he's desperately seeking. "I was at brunch today and I saw the cutest dog bakery across the street. I just knew I had to buy something for my furry friend, here. Didn't I, boy?" She laughs when Sarge sits up and puts his front paws on her chest. "Oh, you men are all the same," she jokes. "Then I walked past a regular bakery and thought you should have a treat, too. And here I am. I hope you like cookies."
Steve rubs his hand over the back of his head and huffs out a laugh while he tries to absorb all of that information. "You're something else, Darcy." He blanches a little as soon as the words are out. It was meant to be a compliment but she's looking at him like she might actually be offended. "In a good way," he clarifies, making her snort out a laugh.
"You're too easy, Steve," she tells him. "It's fun messing with you."
One thing he's learned for certain in the short time he's known Darcy Lewis is that things will never be boring while she's around. "I don't know how I'm supposed to respond to that," he says dryly. "But we thank you for the treats. Don't we, Sarge?" Sarge barks once in agreement.
Darcy stands up and tucks her hands into her back pockets. "Sarge's treats are the ones with the paws on the box," she says seriously.
His lips twitch. "Smart ass."
"Now you're getting it," Darcy laughs.
Steve puts the boxes down on the counter and opens up the one with Sarge's treats inside. "These are dog treats?" he asks skeptically. They look an awful lot like the iced sugar cookies he likes to get from his favorite bakery, but these are bone shaped and smell like peanut butter and something else he doesn't want to guess.
"New York City, am I right? You can find anything in this town," she muses.
"That's true." He tosses a cookie to his dog who happily runs off into the other room with it between his teeth. He gets a cookie for himself and takes a huge bite. It's chocolate chip with walnuts and it's probably the best cookie he's ever had. "S'is so good," he mumbles before he's even finished chewing, which is not at all polite. His mother would kill him. Once he's finished chewing he apologizes. "I'm sorry. That was bad-mannered."
Darcy waves him off as she casually looks around his apartment. It's slightly larger than hers and has a quiet masculinity to it. The walls of the living room are painted a warm shade of beige and decorated with framed sketches and vintage movie posters. She especially likes the black and white Casablanca poster. There's an oversized brown leather couch (he is huge after all) that looks ridiculously comfortable facing the television and he's got an old drafting table near the window. She's admittedly very curious about the drawings inside the sketchbook that sits on top. "I like your place," she tells him.
"Thank you."
"What were you drawing before?" she asks.
"Oh. Um, these kids outside." He takes in her arched eyebrow and covers his eyes with his hand. Great, he admonishes himself. Darcy probably thinks he's a pervert or something. "God, no. That sounded terrible, didn't it? These kids were playing superheroes outside and I sketched the scene." He walks over and grabs his sketchbook and flips it open. "Here."
Darcy bites the inside of her lip to keep the laugh at bay and takes the sketchbook from him. She doesn't know what to expect when she looks at the picture, but it's good. Like, terrific actually. The scene is so good that it nearly springs to life off the page. She doesn't say anything, just continues to look at it and soak up all the little details.
Steve shifts nervously and tucks his hands into his pockets. It's always so nerve-wracking showing his art to someone and wondering what they're thinking as they stare at it. "I was just—messing around," he offers lamely.
She doesn't say anything for a long time, but she finally lifts her head and looks at him in surprise. "This is fantastic, Steve," she breathes out.
That pierces through him and makes him feel like a million bucks. "Thanks," he smiles bashfully. He's in sort of a hurry to get that book away from her though, because he remembers the drawings he's done of her recently and he just can't take anymore embarrassment for the day. He also doesn't want to look like a total creep. "I was just about to take Sarge to the park. Would you like to join us?"
"I can't say no to an offer like that," Darcy smiles. "Let me just grab my camera. I might be able to get some work done while we're there. Be right back."
Steve smiles after her and yells for Sarge.
"So," she begins after he throws a Frisbee halfway across the park for Sarge to fetch, "where'd you learn to draw like that?"
"I don't know," he shrugs, grinning when Sarge leaps high into the air, twisting around to snag the flying disc in his teeth. "It was just something I started doing as a kid. I liked drawing scenes from movies, comic book characters, people I knew. Things like that." He hears a click and glances over to see Darcy with her camera pointed at him. "What are you doing?" he asks laughingly.
Darcy lowers the camera a bit and flashes a sly smile. "Working. My life is so hard." She likes his answering smirk and when she glances down at the display, she sees that she was exactly right about the camera loving his face. "I find I get great shots when I get my subjects talking about something they enjoy. And you clearly enjoy drawing. Did you ever take classes?" She's got the camera pointed at him again and he hesitates. "Just pretend this isn't here," she encourages, "and talk to me."
There's something comforting about her voice so he forces himself to relax and tries to forget about her camera. "I—yeah, I took a couple about a year ago. They were interesting and I learned a lot." Sarge returns with the Frisbee and he sends it flying once again.
"Draw any naked people?" she teases.
Steve knows she's purposely trying to embarrass him now and he's not going to take the bait. "Maybe," he draws out.
"That's a yes. I bet you went red as a tomato when the model dropped her robe the first time."
He heaves a sigh and slants a pinched look her direction. "You enjoy teasing me, don't you?"
"Duh!" she laughs again.
"You know, I'm not the goody two shoes you seem to think I am," he retorts, arching a brow.
Darcy hums in amusement. "Color me intrigued." She snaps a couple more pictures and points her lens at the dog when he drops his toy at Steve's feet. "Hey, Steve," she calls. He looks over and Sarge takes that opportunity to lick his owner's face. It's the perfect shot.
His phone rings and he frowns when he sees the display. "Rogers," he answers. He listens to Natasha as she gives him vague details of the assignment. "Departure time? I need to make plans for my dog." He ignores the string of Russian curses she hurls back in response. "I will handle it, Romanoff," Steve clips. "1800 hours, I've got it." He ends the call and shoves the phone back in his pocket.
"Very intrigued indeed," she tells him. "Super secret security stuff?"
"Alliterative," he chuckles. "And yes."
Darcy considers his situation for a moment and while she wasn't exactly trying to eavesdrop, she couldn't help but overhear that he needs someone to dog sit. She thinks maybe she could handle Sarge for a bit. "How long are you going to be gone?" she asks. "Or is that classified?"
"Two days; three max. Why?"
"I can watch Sarge for you—if you want," Darcy offers.
Steve lifts his brows in surprise. "Are you sure ? I could find someone—"
"Stop. I want to," Darcy answers honestly. "That's what friends do. Just tell me what his routine is and I'll do my best to adhere to it while you're out being Delta force or James Bond or whatever it is that you do."
Steve's lips twitch into a smirk over her guesses; she's not far off for this one. "Okay. Thank you, Darcy."
She nods and calls Sarge over to put his leash on. "We'd better get moving, soldier. And when you get back, you can draw me a picture as a thank you. Deal?"
"Yes, ma'am," he teases, falling in step with her as they head home.
Steve boards the plane and sees Bucky lounging comfortably with a boot propped up on one knee and reading from a file. He presumes that Natasha is flying and must be readying for takeoff. "Bucky," Steve greets, stowing his bag in the compartment overhead.
"Hey, buddy! Tash, he's here," Bucky yells towards the cockpit.
Natasha walks out a moment later, lips pursed, and hands him a file. "Memorize this," she tells him. "Wheels up in five."
He frowns at her icy tone and gives her a sarcastic salute that she clearly doesn't appreciate. "Did you get my shield and suit?" he asks when she turns to walk away.
"You're going to need a different suit for this mission, Cap," she calls over her shoulder and disappears into the cockpit again.
Bucky grins mischievously across from him. "Better buckle up, pal. It's time for your first undercover assignment."
Steve answers Bucky's grin with one of his own and sits down to study the file.