Prompt: You live in the apartment above me and your water pipe burst and is flooding into my apartment and you can hear me yelling so you come down to my apartment to see what's going on and witness me standing in my kitchen/bathroom/whatever, holding an umbrella, screaming at the water pouring out of my ceiling and crying because I have no idea what to do and we both just kinda stand there in shock as my stuff gets ruined and you let me crash in your apartment until my apartment gets fixed because you feel bad AU
Characters: Darcy & Robbie Reyes
Tags: Reluctant Friends, At Least On Robbie's Behalf, Humor, Darcy Might Have a Crush, Robbie/Ghost Rider Lived Murder-y Ever After, He/They Did Not Disappear As Shown On AOS, Post- Civil War

After the Sokovia Accords made it's rounds to those closest to the (no longer together) Avengers, Darcy took her leave from the Big Apple. She didn't have the brains (like Jane, Tony and Bruce), she didn't have any skills sets (like Natasha, Clint and Steve) nor was she of royal alien blood (like Thor), so the Government had little care whether or not the caretaker of the most sought after Astrophysicist signed their little agreement.

Jane, of course, had blown off the Accords as nothing for her to worry about and just when their guards were down the Government came knocking for both her and Thor's cooperation, and the alien Prince was whisked way with his beloved without a warning. Darcy wasn't mad to have been left behind, but she was pissed when the Government kept her for twenty-four hours and spent sixteen of those hours interrogating her about Jane and Thor's whereabouts.

It was Tony who surprisingly sprung her from Ross' clutches and Tony who told her about a small secret branch of Stark Industries that was established in California should she need to get away and start over somewhere new. She didn't know if she could trust him and after seeing the suspicion in her gaze, Tony explained himself and his decision to work under/alongside Ross.

If we have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer he had told her. And yeah, okay that made some sense. It was better to have some input on their missions and save some civilians than have no input whatsoever and let everyone die.

And then two weeks later, Darcy finds herself now residing in East Los Angeles.

For several months already, Darcy's settled into a decent routine. The secret Stark Industries location was actually an underground facility that started to work against Ross and his Accords fairly quickly. She didn't mind the change in work load and actually looked forward to when a team that was backed up by Pepper Potts herself brought home the other half of the Avengers that were still in hiding.

And while she gets a nice paycheck that covers all of her bills plus some, she likes to- as Tony would call it- slum it in an apartment building that would be somewhat affordable by someone who didn't secretly have a secret bank account with a majority of her money.

The building itself was amazing and homey- not to Tony's standards, apparently- but Darcy loves her place. The building is clean, hardly ever has any problems and if there are some they're quickly fixed. She doesn't see much of her neighbors since her focus is more on her work, but the ones she has crossed paths with always receive a smile and wave in greeting. Even the surly ones who reside somewhere in the building receive a smile and wave, one in particular who Darcy has seen a couple of times pushing who she presumes is his brother in a wheelchair- a brother who is only too happy to return her kind gestures.

.xXx.

Darcy's rearranging her apartment, and figuring out what's trash and what can be donated to make room for some newer items when there's a rather suspicious thump! from above her head. She figures her upstairs neighbor likely dropped something and shrugs it off, and tries to figure out whether or not her couch is suitable for donation or if she should just trash it.

A couple hours pass by with she boxing up some items she knows for sure someone else would enjoy, and just when she's decided that she's going to go ahead and give away the couch to someone in need there's a rather curious tap! tap! tap! coming from her living space. Brows furrowing, Darcy follows the sound and her eyes widen when she walks around her couch to see water dripping on her coffee table.

Darcy glances up and there's a huge water stain on the ceiling that's never been there before, and a small hole which the gathered water is dripping from. "Oh, come on!" She groans and rushes into the kitchen to grab up the biggest pot she owns.

After thrusting the pot under the leak, Darcy digs out her phone from her back pocket. She's scrolling through her contacts for the number of the maintenance man when there's an ominous creak from above her. Dread filling her, Darcy then glances up to see the ceiling now bulging slightly and jumps out of the way just in time as a piece of her ceiling crumbles onto her coffee table and couch. She yelps as a waterfall just pours into her home, her mind first immediately dawning on the fact that the couch she was going to donate is being soaked in water.

Darcy frantically grabs up an umbrella by the hall wall, she mentally praying that what she's about to do doesn't amount to any bad luck in the near future. She stands directly under the leak, allowing the water to bounce off the now opened umbrella and hit her other belongings while protecting the couch.

"You've got to be shitting me!" She yells to no one in particular as she watches the water soak through anything and everything. Her socks have been soaked through because her carpet is soaked through, and under the protection of the umbrella she tries her phone once more.

The maintenance man doesn't answer his phone and Darcy starts swearing up a storm. The water is just pouring through at an alarming rate and as the seconds tick on by, she starts to panic. She's not a very materialistic person, especially since she now has the money to replace what she's no doubt going to have to replace, but watching on as the water damages everything and her emergency call continues to go unanswered.. it's just- it's too much.

Tears prick at the corners of her eyes, and her breathing comes faster and faster until aggravated sobs pierce the air. "MOTHERFUCKER!" She yells at her cell. "IS IT TOO MUCH FOR YOU TO ANSWER YOUR GODDAMN PHONE!?"

She's too busy swearing up a storm at her cell phone in one hand, grasping tight to the umbrella handle in the other and keeping her couch relatively dry, and stifling agitated sobs that she doesn't hear the knock on her apartment door. She does, however, hear the crack of wood splintering and yelps when a man rushes into her place.

Darcy recognizes him, sort of, and the both of them just stand there- she in shock that someone's just broken into her place and he because she's sure she paints quite the picture standing there in the middle of her apartment under an umbrella with a major leak above her head.

"You okay?" He gruffly asks and for a moment, Darcy's distracted by the spattering of brown freckles along the bridge of his nose and cheekbones. He's one of the Reyes boys that lives directly above her, the grumpiest between the two, and the same guy that she might have gave lingering looks to whenever she saw him passing by in that black leather jacket of his.

She sniffles and shrugs while glancing up when the water suddenly cuts out. Startled, she hesitantly moves the umbrella and tosses it aside when there's no more leakage. Glancing up at the damaged ceiling and then at her waterlogged everything, she asks while pointing upward, "Your doing?"

The guy clears his throat. "Naw. My little brother Gabe heard a pipe burst under his feet before our sinks decided to pull an Exorcist on us. We got our mess cleaned up pretty fast, but I'm guessin' the water continued to collect beneath the floor. Looks like Gus the maintenance man got it handled, though."

"Yeah, but not fast enough," she mumbles sadly. "I'm gonna have to look for another place to stay while they fix the damage in here."

He doesn't say anything and as the silence stretches on, Darcy hesitantly meets his gaze and pushes out her bottom lip just a little while widening her eyes. She's not sure what the hell she's aiming for, but she watches several emotions war against one another across his rather handsome face and he eventually sighs. He shifts his weight from foot to foot and grimaces as the carpet squelches beneath his feet. "You, uh, if you're comfortable with sleepin' on a couch-"

"Yes, please, and thank you!" She immediately blurts and watches as Reyes tenses before gulping and nodding.

"I'm Robbie, by the way. I'm pretty sure you've talked to my brother Gabe once or twice."

"I have. And I'm Darcy, just so you know. Darcy Lewis," she smiles sheepishly.

Robbie shifts back slightly, his gaze now assessing and Darcy's gut instincts start to tingle. "Not the same Lewis girl that threw a tantrum over an iPod out in desert, are you?"

"H-How did-"

Something must have shown on her face or in her eyes (fear) and Robbie's quick to hold his hands up, palm out. "Got a friend in common," he quickly assures her. "That's all. I heard a couple of stories and yours stuck."

"Yeah? Well the only people who know of that are my best friend or SHIELD. You don't look like someone Janie would hang out with and SHIELD-"

"Coulson talked about you a lot. Still does. Sometimes."

Darcy's eyes widen. "Coulson? That sonnuvabitch is still alive?!"

This time, Robbie's eyes widen. "Was that.. not public knowledge?"

"No!" She yells and then takes a moment to calm herself. "SHIELD said-" and then she cuts herself off, brows furrowing and mouth snapping shut as she rethinks the words that were just about to tumble out of her mouth. She scoffs. "Of course SHIELD said he was dead," she mumbles, annoyed. "Nothing but a bunch of jackbooted thugs is what they are. But why- why would he keep it a secret this long?"

Darcy looks to Robbie for an answer and he shrugs. "Look, chica, I don't know. I'm just a recent.. consultant that they've added to the team. It's been weeks since I had any contact with them and that's just fine with me. I gotta worry about Gabe now and could care less what that shady government agency is up to nowadays."

She huffs, but concedes. "Alright." A second passes and then, "Well if the offer still stands, I'd appreciate a place to crash while they fix up my apartment. I got a bunch of stories if you're interested. As far as I'm concerned, those NDA's I signed long ago were voided the moment SHIELD turned out to be mostly HYDRA and Rogers crashed the hellicarriers into the Triskelion."

"Uh, yeah. It's cool."

"Excellent." Darcy sighs and then takes a look around her place.

She more than a bit annoyed that she's going to have to sleep elsewhere for the time being, but on the other hand.. at least she got an introduction to the hottie upstairs.