Disclaimer: I don't own the Marvel Cinematic Universe or any of its characters.

3 – Steve

"You look tired, Darce," Clint frowned at her across the dining table in her rooms.

Darcy scowled, "well, I'm pretty sure you're not sleeping any better than I am."

They had matching dark circles under their eyes, a direct contrast to Natasha, who looked as if she got at least eight solid hours of sleep every night. It was a bit of illusion, Darcy knew, as Natasha had plenty of demons of her own, it was just that she just dealt with them differently.

A few seconds of silence and then Darcy sighed, "I miss Phil," she admitted quietly.

She wasn't sure if it was wise to bring up Clint's mentor, especially when she knew he was still feeling a deep sense of guilt over Phil's death, despite Darcy and Natasha's attempts to dissuade him of that notion.

As her uncle went pale, Darcy felt a jolt of guilt run through her. She shouldn't have mentioned it, should have just been vague.

Clint could clearly read her thoughts, though, as he leant over the table to squeeze her hand, "I don't want you to lie to me, not about this. Phil … we all need time to grieve him."

He turned away from Darcy, the glint of tears in his eyes. Natasha moved to hold his face with her hands, shifting closer so that their foreheads touched briefly.

Darcy looked away. Clint and Natasha weren't really demonstrative, but sometimes there was something so intimate about the two of them together that she couldn't watch without feeling like she was intruding.

They finished their breakfast in silence, the memory of Phil throwing a funereal sort of feeling over the meal.

Still, by the time Clint and Natasha were getting ready to leave for a SHIELD briefing, the mood was a little lighter. The two of them had years of practice at compartmentalising their feelings and their grief, an ability Darcy wasn't sure she'd ever manage to properly develop.

"Are you re-reading the Harry Potter series?" Clint asked as he spotted the pile of books on one of her tables, "I thought you did that just a few months ago."

"Oh, they're for Steve to borrow," Darcy explained, "SHIELD aren't really doing a good job on catching him up on the last sixty-five years – they're missing out all the good parts."

Natasha snorted in amusement.

Clint frowned, "I don't need to have a talk with the Star-Spangled Man, do I?"

Darcy laughed loudly at the idea, "I won't pretend that I don't have daydreams about Steve's muscles, but he's just a friend."

Clint grumbled something that sounded like 'good' in his best overprotective impression.

Darcy just shook her head, "god, Clint, you sound like such a dad."

Her uncle only shrugged and ruffled her hair affectionately, "gotta look out for you, Darce."

"I've got my taser," she reminded him, "superpowered thanks to Tony."

"Sure," Clint said, "just warn me, please, if you change your mind about Steve."

"Yeah, yeah," she agreed, "but it's certainly not going to happen any time soon, while everyone else remains convinced that you and I are … you know."

"Dating, Darce. You can say it."

She shuddered, "it's just so weird that they think that, makes me want to take a shower or something. Don't you just feel the urge to shout the truth at them?"

"Eh, sometimes, but it's got the bonus of stopping any of those guys from HR or accounting from asking you out – you'd be disgusted if you knew what was on their browser history, you know."

Well, damn. Now she was curious about what the seemingly mild-mannered HR and accounting guys were doing on their computers.

… and suddenly, she was extremely pleased about being BFFs with the all-seeing JARVIS.

"Thanks for doing this, Darcy," Steve said as Darcy closed her laptop and began to collect the books that she had lent him, and which he had recently finished, handing him another sizeable pile to borrow.

"Pop culture 101 with a little History and Politics thrown in," she grinned at him, "and the chance to rant about some of the idiots who have been in charge in the last sixty-five years or so – totally my thing."

"I appreciate it all the same," he told her earnestly, "SHIELD tried to catch me up but …"

He trailed off and she laughed, "yeah, I bet they shoved some standard high school textbooks at you and left you to it."

Steve nodded. She pretty much had it right.

He liked to think that SHIELD had good intentions, but they also had their own agenda and plenty of other problems to deal with, meaning that their attempts at catching Steve up were both bland and fairly narrowly focused. Darcy, thankfully, had noticed he was struggling and appointed herself as his guide to everything he had missed, claiming it gave her a nice break from all the scientist wrangling she did.

As Steve turned to leave, he finally managed to get a good look at what Darcy had strung all across the living area of her quarters, having been distracted for the last few hours as she grilled him about his thoughts on the Harry Potter books and tried to explain Twitter to him.

There were keyrings everywhere, hundreds of them all dangling from a criss-crossing pattern of coloured strings above them.

Darcy clearly noticed where his gaze had strayed because she stepped towards one of the strings and twirled some of the keyrings around, "souvenirs," she explained, "my uncle brings me them back from everywhere he visits."

"He must travel a lot," Steve mused.

"For work," Darcy confirmed, "he's been so many places that I lose track, but he's always got a story for every keyring."

She turned one of the keyrings around to show him, with the Boston Celtics logo on it, "this is the latest one, he sent it to me just last week."

Steve's eyes widened when he remembered that he, Tony and Clint had been in Boston that week dealing with a terrorist cell, a mission that had become more than a little explosive, "he wasn't caught up in the blasts, was he?"

Darcy, oddly enough, had a little smile on her face at his words, as if he had reminded her of some inside joke, though he had no idea what it was.

"He was fine," she reassured him, "he's made of stern stuff."

Steve felt himself relax slightly. Civilian casualties were always a worry for him, especially during missions that went sideways and put the public in danger.

He moved away from the keyrings and, by the door, spotted a large silver frame holding a photo of Darcy and Clint, both grinning at the camera as they held up huge burgers.

Steve mused, not for the first time, that surely the two of them must be dating. They went out for dinner together at least twice a week, and seemed at ease in a way that suggested they knew each other very well. Although they never confirmed anything, he thought that perhaps they were simply keeping things quiet, or were worried about how it might be received considering the age gap of what he guessed to be ten to fifteen years.

"Urgh, those burgers were so awesome," Darcy raved as she came to stand next to him, "Clint's restaurant recommendations are generally either liable to give you food poisoning or amazingly delicious meals at low prices – there isn't really any in between for him. That place was one of the good ones, though. I'll have to take you at some point – they give $100 gift cards to anyone who can finish their Heart Attack order in under forty minutes."

"That sounds … big."

Darcy pulled out her phone, tapped away for a few seconds and then showed him a picture.

"One ginormous burger, pretty much the size of your head. Then two extra-large fries, a giant side of onion rings and two shakes. Thor would inhale it in about ten seconds if he was here – in New Mexico he mentioned eating a whole roast pig, or whatever the Asgardian equivalent is, as an appetiser. Still, I reckon you wouldn't need long to manage it."

"That would be great," Steve smiled at her.

This New York wasn't the same as the one he remembered, but he was certainly enjoying the variety of restaurants, and big portions were an absolute must for him, considering how the serum had altered his metabolism.

As Steve exited Darcy's quarters, he saw Clint come down the corridor towards them. He hadn't been doing anything wrong in visiting Darcy, but Steve still felt the need to explain himself to the archer.

"Darcy was just helping catch me up on my missing decades," he said.

Clint didn't seem bothered, "sounds cool. Has she shown you Dog Cops yet?"

Darcy appeared in the doorway and scoffed loudly, "you're the only one that likes that show, Clint."

"It's dogs," Clint said, as if that explained everything, "… and they're cops. What's not to enjoy? Besides, I know it was you who swiped my boxset – you love it really."

Darcy just rolled her eyes and reached out to tug Clint into her apartment, "come on, you're early so you'll have to wait till I get ready."

She waved vaguely in Steve's direction, "see you tomorrow, Steve."

Steve turned to walk away, listening to Darcy and Clint bicker playfully with each other until Darcy's door closed softly.

Darcy hadn't said anything at all to him, and neither had Clint, but the two of them were so comfortable with each other that Steve couldn't see any other explanation except that they were together.

When they had first met, Steve had briefly entertained the thought that maybe he'd like to be more than friends with Darcy. After all, both he and Bucky had always found curvy brunettes extremely attractive. But, while they got on extremely well, Steve just didn't feel a romantic spark around Darcy, although he had to confess to considering her something of a muse when it came to his art.

It was true that Clint was generally pretty easy-going, and almost hilariously clumsy when he was half-awake and not on the job. Still, it was definitely for the best that Steve and Darcy were simply friends. He didn't imagine the archer would take someone flirting with his girlfriend very well.

As Clint liked to joke, he never missed a shot.

And Steve had no desire to be used for target practice.

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