Chapter Nine: Sweet Talk
"Then when I met you, my virtues uncounted / All of my goodness is going with you now." -Hozier
October 18, 2012 - New York, NY
Steve hadn't planned on spending the day in Brooklyn so his daughter could get a tattoo, but if there was anything to be said about life this century, it was that he was bad at predicting what it looked like.
Audrey hadn't properly spoken to him in over a month now, not since she left for her mission in Europe. When she'd gotten back and sealed herself in her room, he hadn't known whether to reach out or not. Clearly, she'd wanted space. But at the same time, he didn't want her to assume that he didn't care.
"You should text her, then," Darcy had suggested.
So he had—several times, each message to the effect of I hope you're okay, if not please say so, but she hadn't replied until a few days ago to let him know that she was, in fact, fine. But he still hadn't seen her until she came to the common floor that morning, where he'd been reading about the presidential debate in the paper.
"Would you like to come with me to get a tattoo?" she had asked.
She didn't look that different, with the exception of her hair, which had grown much longer. There was something fainter about her, though; something that felt weaker about her presence.
"Uh," he'd said, "Sure. Er—why?"
"It's a long story."
And it was. She told him as they headed for the subway about what had happened in Paris with Bardot, and then how their infiltration of the Russian warehouse had gone terribly wrong. Steve knew that things hadn't gone to plan when Natasha came back with two broken legs, but he hadn't realized how badly things had gone with Audrey.
"I saw the therapist, though," Audrey said. "She diagnosed me with some stuff and gave me medication that's been helping." She blew out a breath. "I just wasn't prepared for things to go that wrong that quickly."
Steve nodded. "I don't think anyone realized how big it would get."
"Yeah, exactly." Audrey winced, as if there was something else she wasn't telling him, but he didn't push. If she needed him to know, she would say.
The train rocked back and forth as they flew south towards Brooklyn. "So. Why are we going to get a tattoo?"
"Well," Audrey said. "When they captured me, I was held for three days." She blew out a breath and went to unbutton the cuff on her shirtsleeve. When she rolled it up, she revealed the word etched into her skin. It had scarred over, but it was still apparent from the pale skin and raised lines what it read—DAISY. "They...marked me. With words that were supposed to mean something to me."
Something protective and fierce in Steve flared up at Audrey's admission. How dare they?
It wasn't that he doubted Audrey's capabilities. If Natasha had been beaten down as hard as she was, Audrey's kidnapping hadn't been the result of a lack of ability, even if she was a junior combatant. But the cruelty of the act. Weren't the memories enough? The risk of death? Why leave messages? Why try to drive her crazy?
"Some of them, I understand, but I don't—this one doesn't make any sense to me," Audrey said.
Steve balled up his hands into fists and pursed his lip. "What were the ones you did understand?" He tried to stop the bitterness from seeping into his voice, but figured based on Audrey's facial expression that he'd failed.
"Um, well, mother. They—they knew who I was, and who Peggy was, and they were trying to get information about her. Crash, I assume, was referring to you and the plane crash." She glanced up at him, as if tracing his reaction, but the reference didn't manage to pull him away from his anger at whoever the hell had done this to his kid. "45, the year I was born. But the rest I don't get."
"How many?"
Audrey took a deep breath. "Ten." She smiled weakly. "But I'm alive, which is good."
The pained expression softened something in him. She was alive. She'd come back from the mission, which was more than a lot of SHIELD agents could say. And even if she'd come back scarred, she'd come back in one piece.
He nodded. "I'm glad for that. Always."
"I'm sorry I was holed away in my room."
"You don't need to apologize, Aud," he assured her, bumping her shoulder with his. "I'm just glad you're back."
At the tattoo place, Diving Swallow, Audrey pulled out her phone to text Darcy. We are outside. Are you here?
Minutes passed with no answer, but a woman swung the door open when she found them waiting. When she realized who had been waiting, her eyes nearly bugged out of her head.
"Captain America," she stated matter-of-factly.
Audrey and Steve shared a glance. "Yes…" he replied, looking unsure about how to proceed.
"I'm Audrey," Audrey said. She knew that people had heard of her. Ever since New York, kids in the park would ask her for photos when she went on runs and actors in Time Square dressed up in cheap blonde wigs and knock-off versions of her uniform to take photos with tourists. Audrey had been featured on the cover of People Magazine a handful of times, usually to be accused of torrid affairs but sometimes to be criticized for her fashion choices whenever she went to the grocery store. It hadn't fazed her much—there was a whiteboard in the Tower's common kitchen that polled how many tabloid stories each of the Avengers had gotten, and Audrey generally placed in second-to-last place before Bruce.
Steve was good material for tabloids, since he was especially bad at dodging paparazzi and any interaction he had with a woman was promised to be the start of the next great love story—whether that was shaking Pepper's hand after a press conference or thanking the barista at a cafe. Natasha and Clint were easy—were they together? Were they both actually a pair of identical twins? What kind of workouts did they do? Audrey knew the answer to the last one, because she'd been subjected to them, and the second one because it was obvious. But even living with them didn't provide any insight as to the first.
Thor topped the charts, usually. Was Jane pregnant with his baby? Did Jane already secretly give birth to his baby, and was it going to wreak havoc on the Tower? Or did she give it up for adoption? Or did she send it away to be raised by Thor's relatives? What was usually portrayed as a passionate, on-again, off-again romance was actually pretty mundane. Jane knit socks for Thor when he was away in Asgard, and when she refused to stop working, Thor would bring her food and convince her to take a break to eat with him.
Audrey knew that Bruce was intensely private, and so there wasn't much for the press to twist when it came to him. As for her, she supposed she was just boring.
Which is why she insisted on introducing herself whenever she met people. It always just felt narcissistic to assume they would know.
The woman in the doorway, though, replied, "I know."
"I'm Darcy's friend," Audrey continued. "She said Quinn would do a tattoo for me?"
"I'm Quinn," she said. "Darcy's not here yet, but she's also supposed to drop by. She wanted me to tattoo something on her finger for her. But anyway." Quinn dragged her gaze back to Steve. "You're Captain America."
Steve raised an eyebrow. "Yes, ma'am."
"Darcy didn't say she was friends with Captain America. If she'd told me, I would've shown up in something—not so anti-American." She glanced down at her own shirt, which read, FUCK RONALD REAGAN. "I'm sorry."
"Please," Steve said politely. "I think you might be onto something."
Quinn pumped her fist. "This is the best day of my life. I'm still going to fight Darcy, though."
As if she'd been summoned, Darcy pushed the door open, a bag in her hand. "I'm late, but I brought donuts, so I think it evens out."
"Yes," Audrey said, immediately. She stuck her hand out and Darcy gave her the bag of donuts, before going to hug Steve. At the last second, she shot a panicked glance in Audrey's direction and dropped her raised arm, seizing his hand in hers and shaking it firmly. In response, Steve nodded matter-of-factly. Audrey narrowed her eyes at the awkward exchange.
Quinn led them over to a flat cushion resting atop what seemed to be a cross between a table and a bed, sectioned off from the large room by a floral dressing screen. Bright pop music played in the background, and she gestured to the seat. "Take a seat here for just a second, and I'm going to go grab something from the back." She turned to Darcy, who was playfully jabbing Steve in the shoulder. "Hey, Lewis," Quinn said, through gritted teeth. "Why don't you come with me to grab some designs from the back?"
"Okay," Darcy said, before Quinn dragged her into a back office, leaving Steve and Audrey alone again. She swung her legs back and forth on the edge of the table and took around the rest of the workspace. A desk covered in sketches was off to the corner, and the walls were adorned with paintings—all in the same style, bright and vibrant and floral.
"—Captain-motherfucking-America!" came a shouted whisper from behind them. Audrey glanced up at Steve, trying to see if he'd caught it too. They both had much better hearing than the average person, and so she wasn't surprised when the corner of his mouth twitched up in a smile.
"You're quite the celebrity," Audrey told him.
"Everything I've ever wanted," he replied dryly. "It's so strange that everyone suddenly cares about me. I know—I mean, back during the War, I was a mascot, and when I was fighting, I had no idea if anybody actually knew what I was doing or if they cared."
Audrey nodded. "I think that the only person who's used to it is Tony, since he's been a public figure for most of his life. He's comfortable with it."
Tony usually placed just behind Thor, both in the tabloids and in the actual newspapers. Every other week, he was unveiling a new multi-million dollar donation, or shaking hands with a politician, or being accused by The National Enquirer of a new affair. Tony had learned to ignore it a while ago, or twist it in his favor, a skill Audrey had never entirely understood.
"He seems more than comfortable with it. The man courts the press even better than his father."
She shrugged. "I guess so. He manages to use it in his favor."
"Gotta give credit where credit's due," Steve said, shaking his head.
Quinn returned then, with two sheets of paper. "Drawing," she said, "and stencil."
She held up the first drawing, a neatly sketched lavender branch. It was delicate and beautiful, and Audrey nodded while grinning. "I like it," she said. "A lot. Thank you."
"Perfect!" Quinn said. "So, I eyeballed the size of your arm, but if you want to adjust the sizing we can.
When they'd sorted out the proper stenciling size, Quinn pulled up a chair, shaved Audrey's arm, and placed the stencil over the scar. The blue ink covered up the word easily, and something felt like it was settling in Audrey as she watched. Her skin felt like it belonged to her again.
It had hurt at first, but Audrey got used to it as time passed. As Quinn tattooed, Darcy played a game on her phone, and Steve wandered around the gallery with her hands in his pockets.
"Your shading is incredible," he said.
Quinn looked up and beamed. "Thank you!" she said. "It takes a lot of practice, especially with, like, tattooing. Because of the way the ink tends to behave."
"I could never get it right," Steve said. "I'm better with linework."
"You draw?"
"From time to time. Not as much, now." He paused. "Now, like this century."
"Well, if the whole superhero thing doesn't work out, I'm open to taking apprentices," Quinn offered.
Steve laughed. "I'll keep that in mind."
"How did you guys meet?" Audrey asked, looking between Quinn and Darcy.
"Oh," Darcy said, looking up from her game. "Quinn used to practice tattooing on me in the dorms at Culver with a stick and poke kit."
"Darcy lost a bet, is what she means to say," Quinn corrected. "She told me that if I managed to stay pre-med all four years, I could give her a tattoo when I graduated. And then junior year, she decided that she wanted me to know what I was doing when I gave her the big one."
"You have others?" Audrey asked.
"Just a few," Darcy replied. "I have a dove on my ribs and I used to have a heart on my finger here." She flipped up her ring finger and pointed to a spot on its side. "But it faded."
"She's replacing it with an eyeball," Quinn said.
"Why?" Audrey asked.
"Just thought it might look cool," Darcy said. "I'm trying to conquer my fear of eyeballs."
"You have a fear of eyes?" Steve asked, looking taken aback.
"Not, like, eyes. I can look at people in the eye, I just don't like eyeballs."
"So you're getting one tattooed on your body?" Steve asked.
"Well, it's not like I can see the two I have. That's the beauty of it."
Audrey tuned out their conversation as she focused on the hum of the tattoo gun. It stung, the feeling of the needle buzzing against her skin, but it was also mesmerizing to watch. Quinn finished outlining the branch, and then replaced the inkwell with purple, and began to fill in the flower.
Before she knew it, she was done. Quinn took a picture and put saniderm over the scar. Through it, Audrey could see that the word was hardly visible at all. One would have to know what they were looking for to find the scar on her skin.
"How much?" Audrey asked. "I brought cash."
"Oh, no. This was a favor."
"But—" Audrey stopped. "No, I'm going to pay you. Is a thousand enough?"
For the second time that day, Quinn's eyes bugged out of her head. "Um. Yes." She nodded vigorously. "Do you guys mind if I take a picture of you two to post on instagram?"
"Instagram?" Steve asked, looking to Darcy for an explanation.
"I'll explain more later, but it's basically just a way to share photos."
"Oh," Steve said. "Okay."
"Perfect," Quinn said. She pulled out her phone. "Say cheese."
"You know," Darcy said, a few hours later, "you guys should consider getting on social media."
They three of them had stopped for burritos after the tattoos were done, and they were finishing them off on a bench in Central Park.
"Why?" Audrey asked.
Steve still didn't entirely understand the point of Instagram. When he wanted someone to see something, he would just send the picture to them individually.
"Branding," Darcy said, shrugging. "I feel like you guys could establish yourselves as public figures more and that would help with the lack of...trust. From certain people. Just...distinguishing yourselves from SHIELD."
"What's wrong with SHIELD?" Audrey asked. She didn't seem offended, just curious.
Darcy scrunched up her face in thought. "It's kind of faceless. Like, the work SHIELD does is good, usually, but nobody really knows what it is. But you guys—people know who you are, and what you can do, and it would make it easier for people to trust you if you also made yourself a little bit accessible to the public."
Steve considered this. He recalled the conversation he'd had with Darcy a month ago, while Audrey was away, about the difference between himself and Captain America. Maybe there was something good he could do outside of fighting after all.
"What about for the spies?" Audrey asked. "I don't know how keen Clint and Natasha would be with being public figures in that way."
"Yeah, that's true," Darcy said, shrugging. "I guess maybe it could help if they were planting red herrings."
Steve was fascinated now. "Red herrings? What do you mean?"
"Well like, if they posted a photo from the tower while they were away in Bulgaria, it would make their instagram unreliable about their locations at particular times, which would add even more confusion if they were trying to sneak up on someone."
"That's really smart," Steve said. "Maybe there's some benefit to people thinking they know everything about you."
Audrey nodded in agreement. "You should talk to Pepper about it. She'd probably listen to you. Seriously."
"Does it just have to be pictures?" Steve asked. "If I wanted to talk about something, could I do that too?"
"In the caption, yeah." Darcy held out her phone for him to see, and though the screen was cracked, he was able to make out what her profile looked like—mostly, pictures with Jane, captioned with various adoring captions.
"So if I wanted to call attention to an issue, or something like that, I could?" Steve asked.
"Oh yeah, for sure," Darcy replied. She quirked up her eyebrow. "I'll talk to Pepper about it and see what she has to say."
Back at the Tower, Steve was summoned by Tony to test out modifications to his uniform. Darcy hit the button in the elevator for the labs. "I should go check on Jane."
Being with other people had been nice, and Audrey wasn't quite ready to go back to sitting alone in her room. "Do you mind if I come with you?" she asked.
"Not at all, babydoll," Darcy quipped. The glass elevator carried them up to the floor that housed both Jane and Bruce's labs. Everything was sleek and shiny and brand new—nothing like the windowless rooms that Lindsey had gotten used to working out of when Tac Team Q was operating from the Hub. These labs had panoramic windows that could filter out light to give the impression of any time of day. While Bruce typically left his standard, Jane's seemed to be locked in night mode.
When the doors did slide open, Audrey and Darcy were confronted with three immediate facts.
One, something in Jane's lab was on fire.
Two, Bruce was trapped in Jane's lab, his eyes a bright green.
Three, Jane was outside her lab, holding a fire hydrant above her head, as though she intended to smash through the glass wall with it.
"Oh my God!" Darcy shouted. She rolled her eyes and shoved the bag containing her leftover burrito into Audrey's chest. "Jane, stop." Darcy marched to the door and entered a passcode, allowing the door to slide open. She pulled the fire extinguisher from the scientist's arms and aimed it at the flames, which dulled. "Audrey, can you help with, uh—" She pointed aggressively over her shoulder at Bruce, widening her eyes.
"Oh, yes." Audrey scrambled over to the lab and waved at Bruce. "Hey," she said. "Do you wanna—we could go over here?" She gestured broadly over at his lab, which was immaculately organized. She winced at her own ineloquence, but when she caught sight of his eyes, still green, she pushed the worries away. There were more important things to worry about. Jane's lab, which was scattered with papers, looked stressful enough even without being on fire.
Bruce nodded. Audrey didn't know if talking would make it worse, so she just placed her hand on Bruce's shoulders and guided him over to his own lab.
"Privacy, JARVIS," she said. "And soundproofing, too."
"Certainly, Miss."
Almost immediately, the panicked sounds from the next lab over dulled and the walls faded from transparent to white. Audrey wasn't sure how it worked, but she was less than concerned with the technicalities as she glanced at Bruce. The last time he'd transformed had been in New York, and she didn't want to be locked in a room with him if he broke that streak.
Maybe locking the door had been a stupid move on her part, but undoing that would do nothing but tell Bruce she didn't trust him—and he hadn't reacted so well to that on the Helicarrier. So now, she just needed to do a really good job of calming him down.
"What can I do?" she asked quietly.
Bruce was taking deep breaths, with his eyes screwed shut, and Audrey regretted asking the question as soon as she realized that it was probably more disturbing than productive. Bruce had figured out well enough how to keep himself in check, and she would just need to be there to make sure nothing bothered him while he did.
To put some distance between the two of them, Audrey turned from him to sit on the opposite side of the island in his lab, where he had a cup of tea, now cold, and the Times open to the crossword.
14 Across: Boston or fox.
Terrier? Audrey filled in the letters to see if they fit, while she waited for Bruce to calm down. When she had finished the word, she looked up to find him staring at her, looking bewildered.
"Sorry," she said. "I can erase it."
"No, it's—it's okay. I'm not competitive about my crosswords. Which one was it?"
"14 across. Terrier, I think." She considered telling him that she'd had both kinds of the dog growing up, as Peggy had a particular fondness towards them, but that felt less than relevant. "How are you feeling?"
He gave her a wry smile. "I wouldn't have kept working here if I couldn't handle Dr. Foster setting small fires from time to time. Thank you, though."
"Does this happen often?"
"More often than Darcy and I would like, but less often than it could be."
"I guess that's one way to look at it."
He nodded stiffly and looked down at his hands. Audrey didn't know how Bruce felt about her, exactly. They'd only interacted a handful of times since she moved into the Tower, and she couldn't tell if he was avoiding her or if they just ran on schedules that were that different from each other. She'd wanted to get to know him better. Something about him made her feel as if they'd known each other before. Maybe it was just that they were similar, but talking to him felt like recognizing someone she already knew.
"It's been a while," she threw out, attempting to sound casual.
"It has," Bruce agreed. "When did you get back?"
"Officially, a month ago," she admitted. "But I was kind of...out of it for a while."
He nodded. "I understand," he said, and Audrey knew that he meant it. After New York, he'd told her about what happened to him after a transformation, and it had been essentially what she did after Moscow. "Well, I wish I had exciting updates lined up for you. Mostly I've been working. Tony's been planning an elaborate Halloween ball to…" he trailed off, picking up his phone. "I'll find the message, I feel like you would appreciate it verbatim.
Audrey leaned across the table and Bruce did the same, until they were shoulder to shoulder. He scrolled up for a moment and she took the opportunity to watch him. He'd gotten new glasses, she realized. The wire ones had been replaced by a pair of much sharper wooden frames.
"Um, here," he said, offering her his phone.
[11:43pm] Tony Stark (Bossman): What do you think would happen if I threw a halloween ball a la met gala to swindle all the rich people i know out of their money but then donated it to the NYC relief fund?
[11:43pm] Tony Stark (Bossman): I think it would work. we'd just have to set a theme so they'd have an excuse to buy designer and overpriced costumes. that's how you lure the press. red carpet baby
[11:47pm] Bruce Banner: I think it's a noble idea, but do you think Pepper would let you start planning a massive party only two weeks before it's supposed to happen?
[11:48pm] Tony Stark (Bossman): i knew you'd agree. i'll handle pep.
"Wait," Audrey said, pulling away. "So is that happening?"
She wanted him to say yes, because Audrey loved Halloween, and Audrey loved Tony's elaborate parties—well, Tony's parties that Pepper usually planned. Her most recent birthday aside, Tony's idea of a party was as much expensive booze as he could find on short notice and whoever happened to be walking by at that moment.
"Oh yeah," Bruce replied. "And somehow, I got roped into RSVP-ing yes."
Audrey grinned at him dumbly. "Are you going to be wearing a costume?"
Please say yes.
"No," Bruce said, shaking his head in mock-exasperation. "That's where I draw the line."
"Bummer," Audrey sighed. A beat. "Um. Did he pick a theme?"
"He did." Bruce nodded. "Um, Time Traveler's Ball."
"And you're still not dressing up?"
"I'm not dressing up like a steampunk character?"
"Well it doesn't have to be like that. You could be a medieval prince."
Bruce laughed, and Audrey took pride in the fact that she'd been the one to elicit it from him. "Oh, how could I have forgotten? I'll dig out the tights I keep in my closet."
"Or a space pirate from the future."
"Right."
"Or one of those Greek imperialists that would just show up somewhere and destroy it all."
"Ouch," Bruce winced. "That one hits a little too close to home."
The grin dropped from her face. "Sorry," Audrey said quickly. "I didn't….I didn't mean anything by it."
He shook his head. "No, no, I'm joking, Audrey. Don't worry about it."
"Are you sure?"
"I promise. I can take it." He offered a genuine smile, and then exclaimed, "Oh!" He pulled the newspaper to his side of the table. "Sorry, I just remembered the capital of Bulgaria."
Audrey took that as her cue. "Well, I'll leave you to it."
"I mean…" Bruce started. "You could stay? And help, if you wanted. Two heads are better than one, type thing."
"Oh." Audrey wanted to say yes, but she didn't want to seem too eager, so she pretended to weigh her options. She could either stay alone in her room for the rest of the afternoon before ordering in pizza and going to bed, or she could spend time with the person she'd been trying to befriend for six months. "Sure," she said.
Bruce passed her the pencil. "I'm stuck on 31 down. How much do you know about the show Friends?"
A/N: hello community! i hope you enjoyed this lighter chapter and more steve/darcy and bruce/audrey moments. next chapter will be tony's halloween ball because to keep it completely real i am a sucker for those big glamorous parties with pining and tense dancing….so i hope you will stick around for that!
i'm gonna try and read more stuff too because my classes are almost done for the year and i'm going to have a lot more free time so if you have any mcu fics (oc or otherwise) you want me to check out lmk in a review and i will read and review ! otherwise, let me know what you thought about this chapter!
also, someone asked for the blog for this story, so if you're interested in edits/oneshots/asking questions, check out audreycarterrogers dot tumblr dot com