Stepping off the plane, back in England for the first time in months, was almost surreal. Darcy hadn't seen Cambridge since she'd come to pick up all her stuff for the move to New York, and she missed that old college town to say the least.
With the wedding only a few days away now, the bachelorette and bachelor parties were that night. That Darcy was excited for. On the other hand, the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner were the following night, which meant Darcy would have to meet Loki's parents.
Loki had assured her that they were nice enough, wouldn't be rude, and would be much more concerned with Jane and Thor, since it was their wedding. Still, Darcy got a chill down her spine just thinking about it. What if they didn't like her? What if they thought she wasn't good enough for their son? With her luck, she'd say something that would ruin their impressions of her right off the bat.
Since their flight got in a little early, Darcy and Loki went to see the others before they were able to drop their luggage off at their hotel. Jane had offered for the two of them to stay with them, but considering the madness that was going with all of the wedding business, Loki and Darcy figured they'd not be in the way as much as possible. According to Jane, her and Thor's new apartment in Cambridge was almost as luxurious as Stark's penthouse. That Darcy was excited to see.
When Loki and Darcy knocked on the door, they heard a small squeal, rustling, and Pepper yelling "Don't rip it!" Jane opened the door a moment later, a huge grin on her face and a big, puffy, white wedding dress on, pinned in a few places.
"Darcy!" she said, throwing her arms around her. "How was your flight? Oh, I haven't seen you in so long. Loki, hi! How are you? Come in," Jane moved to the side to let them pass. They both had to do a bit of squeezing to get themselves and their luggage past Jane's giant fluffy dress.
"Hey Pepper," Darcy called out, knowing she was somewhere. She turned her attention back to Jane, but Loki beat her to speaking first.
"You look beautiful, Jane," he said, smiling.
Darcy heard someone coming around the corner and, assuming it was just Pepper and not caring if she heard her talk graphically, said, "Thor's going to have a great time ripping that off. Tell me, have you bought your sexy lingerie for the big night? We should totally go shopping for it if you haven't. I'll help you pick out something so scandalous Thor won't know what hit him."
Several things happened at once. Jane glanced behind Darcy, gasped, and then tried to hide a snort of laughter. Loki turned and saw what Jane had seen and immediately turned bright red.
Darcy stared straight in front of her, knowing that someone definitely not Pepper was standing behind her. She turned slowly, preparing for the worst.
An older woman— older, but very beautiful— stood beside Pepper, who was currently covering her mouth and trying to hold in laughter. The woman looked a hell of a lot like Thor and Darcy was just hoping that this was an aunt or older cousin who happened to look like him. Anything, really, besides Thor and Loki's mother.
Her expression was unreadable, but she had moved to cross her arms, hopefully not in an angry way.
"Hi," Darcy said, smiling nervously. "I'm Darcy."
"I figured," the woman said, finally smiling. "I heard you had quite the mouth on you. I'm glad I wasn't disappointed,"
"Well, I'm glad I didn't disappoint," Darcy said unsurely, glancing from the woman to Loki. She attempted to laugh to make that seem like a joke, but it came out sounding forced.
"Hello Mother," Loki said, saving Darcy from the quickly worsening situation. He put down his bag and went over to her, giving her a quick hug. "How was your ride in?" he asked once they parted.
"Oh, your father always gets lost in the same part and he never wants to stop for directions. He's almost as bad as your brother, I swear. You boys and your manliness,"
"A trait I suppose skipped me," Loki said, "Darcy's the one who refused to let me stop the time we attempted to find Niagara Falls without assistance."
"Are you calling me manly?" Darcy said, severing her hug from Pepper.
"I said nothing like that," Loki replied with the slightest smug smile.
"I suppose that means I wear the pants in the relationship. I personally prefer when neither of us wear the pants— I didn't mean for that to sound that dirty— but I'm willing to take one for the team."
"Would you like me to be awful and domineering all the time?" he asked, wrapping an arm around her waist.
"Well, not all the time," she said, nestling slightly into his side. Darcy pretended not to notice the smile growing on Loki's mother as she watched the two of them joking with each other.
"If I hadn't heard what you were actually talking about, I'd say that you two were just being painfully couple-y to the point of almost being cliché," Jane said, walking back toward Pepper to finish up what they had been doing.
"Says the girl who's about to have a big, extravagant springtime wedding," Darcy said, following the two women down the hall to the bedroom the fitting had been taking place in. Just before entering the room, Darcy heard Loki's mother speak to him, "I can see why you like her."
"Please, please, please; tell us. Yes or no: do you and Clint have a thing?" Darcy exclaimed.
The five women— Darcy, Jane, Pepper, Natasha, and Thor's friend Sif who was totally cool but kind of quiet around the other women— were sitting around the table in the fancy restaurant Jane had chosen for the first part of her bachelorette party. The women were so absorbed in conversation that they sat around talking an hour after dinner. They were supposed to go off to a club once they finished, but that could definitely wait until after they talked for a while. The third bottle of champagne between the five of them was nearly depleted and the current conversation topic was Nat and her potential romantic involvements with Clint.
"That is…" Nat answered, pausing thoughtfully before continuing, "classified information. I will neither confirm nor deny."
"That's totally a yes. You and Clint are doing the nasty. How long until your big white wedding? Don't wait until you're preggo— I had this neighbor when I was in high school and her water broke during the reception. On the plus side, her wedding anniversary and her son's birthday are the same day, which means her husband is that much less likely to forget the day!"
"That was not a yes and there will not be a big white wedding. Neither of us are exactly the type for weddings or for children." Nat remarked, afterwards taking a long sip of her drink.
"Oh, come on," Darcy finished off her third glass of champagne, successfully becoming thoroughly tipsy. She was going to add something to her comment, but she felt her phone vibrate in her lap. A text from Loki popped up on the screen and Darcy nearly laughed out loud. Luckily, only a small snort actually escaped.
"What?" Jane said, looking half curious and half concerned for her friend's blood alcohol levels.
"Loki just sent me 'Do I have to go with them? They want to go to a strip club.'" Another message was received on the phone, this one even better than the last. "This one says 'One of Thor's friends just suggested we start our own version of Fight Club. Please tell me you got sick and need help of some kind.'"
"Tell him to suck it up," Pepper said. She had just finished her fourth glass and was giggling a little more than the others. "Oh, and warn him that Tony fights dirty."
"And make sure you tell him that if anyone in the wedding party has visible bruises Saturday, Thor will be sleeping on the couch the entire honeymoon," Jane said.
"Clint and Tony might just beat the shit out of Loki and Thor and— what was the other guy's name?" Darcy turned to Sif and asked.
"Fandral," she replied.
"Yeah, those guys might just rough up the whole male section of the wedding party just to put Thor through a terrible honeymoon," Darcy said. "I bet you they're that cruel."
"I'll have to think up a punishment for them if they do that," Jane said. "Preferably at a time where I am slightly more sober."
"Nah, drunk logic is the best. But you should do it more of like a reward for not pissing you off. Like, tell them you'll flash them if the three boys don't have major facial or bodily harm for the wedding pictures. Can I go ahead and tell Loki that?"
"No!" Jane and Pepper both exasperated at the same time.
"You ladies and your modesty, I swear. Whenever I want Loki to do something that I'm too lazy to do, all I have to do is say I'll show him my boobs and bam! He's suddenly willing to do whatever I asked."
Pepper and Jane looked slightly scandalized, Nat looked amused, and Sif looked like she had just heard a little too much information about one of the guys she had apparently grown up with. Darcy couldn't help snickering at their expressions.
"Loki is such a gentleman when I see him, but by some of the things you say about him, he sounds like such a horndog," Pepper said.
"What can I say? He knows how to behave in public. You know, he probably would've had more fun here tonight. Steve and Bruce, too. But this'll be good for them; help all the guys become closer."
"Speaking of that, kind of, we should probably get going," Jane said.
"Oh, suddenly you're eager to get off to the club," Darcy grinned.
"We're going dancing, not going to see men dancing. It'll be fun, in a slightly more moral way."
"What's the point of a bachelorette party if you still have morals?" Darcy mumbled as she pulled herself up.
Thinking back on it, having those shots with Nat while already more than a little tipsy from champagne at the restaurant was probably not a great decision. Pepper, Sif, and Jane hadn't had nearly as much wine, so at least there would be people present that weren't completely shitfaced. Well, Darcy was the only one at that point.
The dancing portion of the evening had been short-lived for Darcy; instead, she found herself in more of a drinking mood. However, Nat could probably drink Thor under the table, so Darcy's belief that she could keep up with her was definitely not her best move.
Walking up to Sif, who was currently standing at the bar of the club ordering herself a drink, Darcy slung an arm over her shoulder and grinned at her dumbly.
"Hey, Schvif,"
"Hi Darcy. Are you feeling all right?" she asked, eyeing her weirdly.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm totally fine. Are you feeling all right? I feel like dancing. No, I think I might throw up. Why did you ask if I'm all right? Is there something wrong?"
"Nah, I was just making sure you were good, being a little drunk and all. If you're feeling all right, then that's perfectly good. However," Sif turned around and gave the club a onceover, "I think it's about time for us to be leaving."
"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm about ready for another drink," Darcy reached for the cocktail the bartender was handing Sif, but she quickly pulled it out of Darcy's reach.
"Oh, no. You've had enough. I don't think you, Jane, or Pepper quite know how to handle your alcohol to the extent you think you do,"
"What? No," Darcy rolled her eyes and scoffed, unintentionally stumbling a bit to the side as she did. Well, she was wearing heels. It wasn't like she almost fell over on nothing.
"Yeah," Sif said, grabbing Nat by the arm as she walked by. "I think it's about time to get these ladies home," she said to her, motioning with her head at Darcy.
"Come on," Nat hooked arms with Darcy and walked her toward the exit. "Hey, I forgot to ask you before we came in. Not that it makes any difference now, but are you even old enough to drink?"
"I'm twenty four," It came out sounding more like a question.
"Are you asking me?" Nat raised an eyebrow at her as she opened the door for them.
"No?"
"All right, Crazy. Let's get you some fresh air while we wait for the others,"
As Darcy stepped out of the club, she walked straight into a large figure and nearly fell over. She would've hit the ground if the person she walked into hadn't caught her as she fell.
"Darcy?"
"Loki? What are you doing out here?" Darcy righted herself and took in her surroundings; directly in front of her was Loki, looking utterly confused. Steve, Bruce, and another man were also staring at her, more concerned than anything. Farther down the sidewalk, Thor, Stark, Clint, and two others were just now noticing the other half of the group had stopped.
"We were heading to some club Tony heard of. Leave it to Stark to find a place like that in Cambridge," Loki said.
"I don't mean to be rude," Darcy moved in really close to Loki so that she could whisper and only he would hear, "but is that Jackie Chan?"
Loki glanced at one of the men with him, "No, I'm pretty sure that's not him. Last I checked, that was Thor's friend Hogun, but I could be wrong."
"I don't appreciate your sass," Darcy said. She felt herself going wobbly again so she put a hand on Loki's chest to steady herself.
Stark and all of the others rejoined the group gathering in front of the entrance to the club. "Oh, you guys found it. I guess I was off by a few blocks. Hey, chucklehead; look alive," He directed the last part at Darcy, who had started to drift off right where she was standing. Loki had caught that and had turned to stand beside her and wrap his arm around her waist. "How many drinks did you have tonight, anyway?" Stark asked.
"She and I started doing shots and she thought she could out-drink me," Nat said, crossing her arms. "She's going to have one hell of a hangover tomorrow."
"Hey, Thor," Darcy said, her voice slurred heavily. "You need to be careful. Jane's around her, and you're not allowed to see her before the wedding,"
"That's only for the day of, I believe," Thor replied unsurely.
"You," Darcy pointed at one of the men she didn't know, a man with a particularly impressive mustache and goatee. "I dig your style, mustache-man."
"It's Fandral, but thanks," he said, seeming confused.
"Fandral! I know you. You're Pepper's other half for the wedding. You're in Thor's bridal party,"
"Something like that."
"Brother," Loki addressed Thor and spoke lowly, "I'm sorry, but I'm going to duck out early and take Darcy to the hotel. She is no condition to be alone,"
"I completely understand. I should probably see if Jane's anything like this and take her home if she is as well,"
"You know, I thought us guys were going to have a crazier evening, but look at this; it's only one thirty and Darcy's already past the point of no judgment," Stark said, putting one hand on each Odinson's shoulder. "I think the next time clubbing and drinking is on the agenda, it should be a co-ed occasion,"
"Totally. I would pay an arm and a hand to see Thor and Nat in a drinking contest," Darcy said.
"Come on, Darcy," Loki gently guided her and started walking down the sidewalk.
Darcy turned as she walked and looked back at Fandral. She put two fingers in front of her eyes, turned her wrists so that the fingers were pointing at him, and went back to her original position in the classic 'I'm watching you' motion.
"I'm see you, mustache-man. I'm looking you."
"You're looking him?" Loki asked.
"Looking at him. You knew what I was saying."
"Of course, darling. Oh, here; watch step."
"Shut up. I hate you, like so much. Oh hey! You should totally get really drunk too. I think that'd be like really fun,"
"You know, this is one of the first times I haven't been able to tell if you're being sarcastic, and it is mostly because you're so intoxicated."
"Please. I'm only like halfway drunk. You should get to like where I'm at and then we can talk."
"I think, instead of that plan, that we will walk into the hotel room, you'll probably pass out, I'll lay you on your side and take off your shoes, and then I'll set out pain killers, water, and probably a bowl for you to throw up in tomorrow."
"What a gentleman. You're like a real knight in shining armor. Do you ever realize how good you are? Like a regular Prince Charming,"
"Again with the sarcasm, dear?"
"I find myself thinking that like almost every day."
"Darling, do you realize how much you say 'like' when you're drunk?"
"I hate you."
Loki smiled. "I love you too."
So very sorry for the delay. This chapter was a little longer, so hopefully that made up for it. The next chapter for this story will be the wedding, so I suppose you'll have that to look forward to. As for now: Happy Holidays, my wonderful amazing readers, reviewers, followers, and favoriters. I love you guys from the bottom of my heart. Keep up the excellence, you fantastic people. See you next time.