"Hey!" said Jane Foster, as she reached the front of the queue with another pretty girl and a lanky man in a hat. "You're… Eva, right? Eva. The trees girl."
"The very same," she smiled, flattered that such an important scientist would remember her. "What can I do for y'all?"
She took down their orders, and learnt that the other two's names were Darcy and Ian. Darcy stayed at the counter as she made their drinks, beaming widely.
"So," she said, "trees, huh?"
"Trees," Eva agreed, pouring a shot into a tall glass.
"Sounds… interesting."
Eva declined to comment. "You an astrophysicist too?" she asked her.
"Kinda. I mean, I dabble," said Darcy, fiddling with the sugar sachets, "I helped her and Thor save the world a couple times- not that I get any credit, obviously."
"Obviously. What're you doing in New York?" Eva asked, having long since learnt that asking about a customer's problems was like opening a floodgate that could not be closed.
"Our friend Erik was meant to be doing a seminar at the university," Darcy explained. Having emptied the sugar pot, she moved on to rearranging the spoons. "But since he's too busy with the Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Jane said she would do it instead."
Eva recalled the slightly odd man she had seen around the HQ; she had brought him coffee a few times, and had a soft spot for him since he often had classical music playing in his lab. The occasional lack of pants was an issue, but they didn't talk about it. "What's it about?"
"Wormholes, or something. That's what they're normally about," Darcy elaborated. "I stopped listening a while back. Like, two weeks after I started working for her, actually. But it's not like I'm being paid, so it's totally cool if I don't listen."
Eva nodded. "Who's Downton Abbey?" she asked, nodding at Ian as he tripped over a chair on the way to the bathroom.
"Oh, he's my boyfriend. And my intern. I mean, I know people always say not to mix business and pleasure, but-"
"You never listened to them?" Eva finished for her, and Darcy snapped her fingers and winked in her direction.
"You got it," she said, swiping her card on the machine as Eva slid the coffees over the counter. "I don't really like to be restrained by dumb rules, anyway."
Eva chuckled as the payment logged on the cash register. "Have a nice day, ma'am."
A/N these might be some of my favourite characters in the whole MCU tbh. And yes, the title name does mean there shall, at some point, be scientists vol 2.