Summary: Every year we both go all out for holiday decorating and we've developed this rivalry so intense that we're p much famous in our town for it
Characters: Darcy Lewis, Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Pepper Potts
Tags: Female-Male Friendship, Humor, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - No powers
Darcy's utterly exhausted, sprawled out on her couch and trying fuse with the cushions. The passed few days have been nothing but nonstop work, she boxing up her aunt's belongings and storing them in the basement for the time being while moving in her own furniture and appliances.
A knock at the front door rouses her and she groans as she reluctantly climbs to her feet. Then trudging to the front door, she instantly regrets answering the door with the way she looks when her gaze lands on the two most handsome men she's ever seen in her life. Both are tall, one blonde hair and blue eyed while the other was a brunette and blue eyed as well. While the blonde had hair cropped short atop his head, the brunette had longer hair that was tied back and a metal prosthetic left arm.
"Uh.. hi?" She mumbles, absentmindedly tucking a wayward lock of hair behind her ear. "Can I help you?"
Two sheepish smiles are directed at her and the blonde lifts a up a pie so Darcy can see. "Hi. We're, uh, we're some neighbors of yours," he says. "We just got back from vacation and heard about your aunt Muriel. We're really sorry for your loss."
Darcy forces a small grin. "Oh. Thanks." As she takes the offered pie, she gestures with her head and steps away from the door. "Would you like to come in?"
The two men share a look and the brunette shrugs. "Sure. Why not."
As they enter the room, they introduce themselves as Steve and Bucky, husband and husband. And while Darcy mentally scoffs about all the good ones either being taken or gay, she's a little relieved now because they won't care too much about her appearance.
A low whistle catches her attention and she glances over her shoulder at Bucky who's looking around in wonder. "You really did a number on this place, didn't 'ya? Muriel was a bit of a hoarder."
Darcy snorts. "Yeah. I didn't know her, but when I got the tour of this place I was blown away by all of her collected junk. It's all in the basement if you're interested. Take what you want."
"Wait, what?" Steve blurts.
As they enter the kitchen, Darcy sets the pie down and immediately pulls out bottled waters from the fridge to pass around before taking a seat at the table. "Kooky aunt Muriel never reached out to me," she shrugs. "I didn't know she even existed until after the funeral when her lawyer sought me out to hand over the house and stuff. She never reached out when my mother died or when I was sent to the orphanage, but since I'm the last of the Lewis line.. she apparently left me everything."
Bucky leans forward in his seat. "When you say everything-" Steve smacks him upside the head and Darcy laughs.
"I mean everything," she tells them. "Apparently aunt Muriel was loaded. I seriously don't have to work for the rest of my life if I choose not to, but I'm not that much of a free-loader. I just gotta find my groove here in a neighborhood that I don't belong in."
Steve smiles sadly at her. "Don't stress. You'll find your groove soon enough. When Buck and I first moved in, people were kind of cold towards us because we're gay. But Muriel- Muriel accepted us right away. So whether you knew her or not, you have our condolences. She was a great lady."
"And we'll be glad to go through her things when we have the time," Bucky muses and then dodges his husband's swat. "Muriel was one crazy lady and there's a lamp or two I saw that I liked when I came over to help her with a few things a while back."
Darcy laughs some more as Steve scowls at his husband. "Name the time and place, man. You're welcome to snoop. Especially if I ever need a handy-man in the future and I can call you up or something."
After a good hour or so of Steve and Bucky sharing every memory of Muriel with Darcy so she can know who her aunt was, they finally give her the low down on their neighbors up and down the street. CEO of Stark Industries Pepper Potts and her husband Tony Stark live directly across from her, Professor Banner lives in the neighboring house to their right, and Steve and Bucky live in the house to the left of the Stark's. In the houses on either side of Darcy, one is a family of three and the other a family of five. Then down at the end of the turn-around, Natasha and her long time boyfriend Clint live next door to Daisy and Lincoln who are apparently a newly wedded couple.
They tell her which of their neighbors are bigoted and very opinionated, which of their neighbors are laid back and welcoming, and they tell her that she's welcome to their home whenever she feels like some company.
Darcy's first Halloween lets her know just what kind of neighborhood she now belongs to. No lights or decorations go up, with the exception of fake cobwebs on people's porch railings, and the trick-o-treaters go from door to door before the sun even sets.
Thanksgiving is spent with Bucky and Steve who've invited not only her but Clint and Natasha as well, and she gets to know two more people from her street. And it's after Thanksgiving that Darcy realizes how much of a fun sucker her street truly is.
"Why does everyone put up only white lights?" She asks one day as she and Bucky watch Steve sand down Darcy's kitchen table in the driveway. Apparently it had been atrocious and Steve just had to work on it.
Bucky shrugs and takes a drink of his ice cold beer. "It's kind of an unspoken agreement," he says. "With the exception of the Stark's. Sure they have white lights, but Tony usually puts up some red lights that line the inside of their windows. No one wants to annoy the richest and most influential couple on our block, so he's gotten away with it for as long as Stevie and I have been around."
"But it's so boring."
"Don't gotta convince me, doll. Stevie and I agree with 'ya on that, but we cause enough gossip just being who we are so we just go with the Christmas flow around here."
"But there's no neighborhood handbook that says we have to have only white lights, is there?"
Bucky's mid-drink when he glances at Darcy, one eyebrow raising as he gulps down his swig of beer. "No. There is not." Darcy seems to perk up some and Bucky chuckles. "So I see that mischief gene runs in the Lewis line. Muriel got the same look in her eye when she heard some rather homophobic remarks aimed at Stevie and I. So one day, just for the hell of it, Muriel placed seven netted lights on the hedges by the porch railing- each net a different color of the rainbow. She even flew a Pride flag during Pride month just to annoy the homophobes on our block."
Darcy gleefully laughs. "Every story I hear of aunt Muriel makes me wish I had known her. I guess I'm just going to have to keep reminding our block that a Lewis woman still occupies the home and be the odd one out on our street."
"I like the way you think, sweetheart. If you need help, we're just across the street."
.xXx.
True to Darcy's word, she does make her house stand out. She manages to find white curtain lights that she purchases for every window of her home, but the rest of the lights are multi-colored. She even buys a few inflatables just for the hell of it, and Steve and Bucky are only too happy to climb the ladder for her to string up her multi-colored icicle lights along the top of her home.
She places what appears to be clear candy canes up and down the sidewalk and the little walkway up to her front porch, her two new best friends cackling when she turns them on and they see each one is a solid color and that there's a rainbow of candy canes on Darcy's lawn.
The inflatable Santa and Snowman sit on either side of a blow-up Snow Globe that houses the North Pole and swirling snow inside, and Darcy's only too happy to gesture her neighbors closer to the pretty inflatables when their children are delighted to see such things.
There are, of course, snobby women and scoffing men who talk about her display of rebellion, but she merely lets their words go in one ear and out the other.
She spots Tony Stark one day standing in front of her home, he smirking as his wife Pepper stands at his side, pointing and cooing at Darcy's decorations. She steps outside to introduce herself since she's never had the opportunity and as soon as Tony spots her, he grins and waves her over. "You got balls, kid. I didn't think there was anyone other than me bold enough to stick it to the people around here."
Darcy chuckles. "Steve and Bucky have been telling me about my aunt. I wanted to keep her spirit alive around here somehow."
"Well you're doing that and then some," his wife says. "I'm Pepper, by the way, and this is Tony. It's nice to finally meet you."
"Darcy," she introduces herself. "And I kind of knew who you two were already. Steve and Bucky gave me low down on everyone."
"I like you, kid," Tony just plows right on, slinging an arm around his wife's shoulders. "You didn't immediately throw out knowing us because of our fame."
"Don't get me wrong, I follow what SI does in the News, but this.. this is home," she says, gesturing around her. "If I wanna fangirl, I'll save it for a gala or something. Home is where you're supposed to be comfortable and not worry about people falling at your feet because you're famous or whatever."
"Oohh, you're perfect," Pepper sighs. "Please never sell your home. I quite like you."
Darcy blushes and gulps, and Tony grins at her. "Don't worry. I don't plan on selling."
"Good. Because next year," Tony says. "It's on. You and me are going to duke it out via Christmas lights. I can't let anyone out-do me. I'm Tony Stark."
Pepper's eyes roll fondly. "Of course you are, honey. Now come on. Let's get home and let Darcy get back to whatever she was doing before."
Darcy laughs some more as Pepper drags Tony back across the street, Darcy actually not getting to go back inside as two other people walk up and introduce themselves. Daisy and Lincoln are quite the breath of fresh air, the two of them closer to Darcy's age than anyone else down their street, and Darcy's only to happy to take their goofy pictures with her Christmas inflatables.
Darcy's still drifting about, not quite sure what to do with her life, but her new friends tell her not to sweat it.
Daisy and Lincoln spend most of their time with Darcy after realizing how young she was, and it's during their time spent together that Darcy realizes Daisy is excellent at coding on her laptop and that Lincoln is a certified Electrician. And one day while spending her time watching random videos on Youtube, Darcy comes across Christmas light shows- lights that flash and blink along to music.
"I know what I'm going to do this year," Darcy tells Steve one day, she having informed Steve and Bucky of Tony's Christmas challenge. "It's going to be a Light-O-Rama!"
"A Light-O-what?"
But Darcy's already lost in her thoughts, she clicking through website after website and trying to find the perfect lights, and texting Lincoln and Daisy for help when she realizes she can't set up the lights all on her own.
.xXx.
Daisy and Lincoln work hard to help Darcy with what she wants, they figuring out how everything was to be placed and plugged in so they could work quickly after Thanksgiving. Several people side-eyed Darcy yet again when they saw the lights during their testing phase, Darcy only ever letting Lincoln light up her house when Tony and Pepper were at work.
She doesn't bring out the inflatables this year, but three poles of various sizes do go up in their place and she drapes lights from the very top of each pole to the ground to create Christmas trees. The multi-colored candy canes are back out once again and net lights are placed on the hedges by the porch railing. The curtain lights are back up again and a cheesy plastic Santa with his sleigh and reindeer is added to her roof. And instead of the multi-colored icicle lights, they're now a solid white-blue that line the roof of her home.
"Why do I have a feeling that your display is better than mine again, Lewis?"
Darcy, Lincoln, Daisy, Steve and Bucky all tense before turning around, Darcy laughing at Stark's suspicious gaze. It's still two weeks before Christmas and Darcy has yet to turn on her display, but the Stark's Merry Christmas yard sign has been lit up since the day after Thanksgiving. The red lights have bled outside to wrap around the porch banisters and their own icicle lights fade from red to yellow.
"Whatever. I will admit defeat this year, but only because Pepper kept me reigned in. I couldn't go as flashy as I wanted."
"Aw, Stark, you're cute," Darcy coos. "Now come stand with us and behold Daisy and Lincoln's magnificent work. I totally kicked your ass this year in the neighborly challenge of yours."
"Yeah, yeah. Get on with it."
The sky has now darkened just enough and Daisy eagerly holds her laptop. At Darcy's nod, Daisy hits a few buttons and the familiar tune of "Carol of the Bells" by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra starts to play aloud from hidden speakers, but not too loud to have the cops called on her for disturbing the peace. The decorations flash and light up in sync with the music, and Darcy's friends ooh and aww.
"Dammit," Tony grumbles once the show is finished. "I would have lost either way. Why didn't I think of lights dancing to music? Music is my thing!"
"Apparently not," Bucky teases. "Better watch out, Stark. The Lewis Household has outdone the Stark household twice in a row now."
Tony scowls. "Keep it up, Tin Man, and I'll tell Pepper who it was that flamingo'd our lawn. She still rants about those tacky birds, 'ya know."
Steve chuckles as his husband tenses. "You wouldn't?"
"I would. It'd be spectacular to see Pepper rip you a new one."
By the third year, Darcy's finally decided to finish her college education and enrolled herself in the nearest college to finally get her Political Science degree. Between her school schedule, school work and shifts down at the local coffee shop, she's too stressed out to do anything flashy for Christmas. She tells Stark as much, that she's not really up for a good 'ol Christmas challenge, and after seeing just how tired Darcy truly is he agrees not to gloat too much.
The friendlier neighbors have added more color to their houses this year, but not much. Professor Banner has added some green, Natasha and Clint have added some red and purple, Steve and Bucky have added some red and blue, and Lincoln and Daisy have added some yellow, blue and green.
Stark's Merry Christmas sign has moved from the lawn to the roof of their house, and the red lights are still wrapped around the porch banisters. White curtain lights are strung up in their trees to give off a whimsical vibe and LED arches line the sidewalk up to their front steps.
Steve and Bucky manage to convince Darcy to put something up since the children seem to be rather excited about the Lewis and Stark Light Off, and her multi-colored icicle lights get hung back up. White net lights are placed in the hedges and the inflatables are blown up and put back on display.
Though as Christmas nears and Darcy gets her well earned break, an idea strikes her. She gets the muscle combination of Steve and Bucky to help her after explaining her idea, and the two men accompany her in a rented moving van to various good will's in and around their town.
.xXx.
"This is cheating, Lewis," Tony pouts as he walks up her driveway and around several sofa seats. "You said you weren't going to do anything flashy."
"This isn't flashy, Stark. It's.. it's relaxation. Fun for all those who want to take a chance and chill with kooky Muriel's niece."
"Are you kidding me? You got a popcorn cart popping popcorn just right there!" He points to the red cart, eyeing the treat and the ice chest of soft drinks just right next to it. "There's all these couches and love seats in your driveway, and is that- is that a movie projector?!"
Darcy laughs as she finishes taping a large white sheet on her garage door. "Yep. We're starting off with Elf and then Jim Carrey's The Grinch That Stole Christmas. After that, we're watching the cartoon Christmas classics."
"Dammit, Lewis. How did you even come up with this idea?"
She shrugs. "Saw it Facebook, but the lady was giving out hot dogs and had supplies to make gingerbread houses with the neighborhood children. I wanted to do something more relaxing with my new favorite people."
Tony sighs and plops down on one of the love seats. "Stop buttering me up. Who else is coming?"
"Well Steve and Bucky are bringing water for those who don't drink soda," she says. "Clint and Natasha are bringing Twizzlers and chocolate, and then Daisy and Lincoln are just bringing themselves," she laughs. "And come to think of it," Darcy suddenly muses, "I'm surprised you didn't know about movie night. I told Pepper a couple of nights ago and she said she'd be attending. I think she's actually picking up pizza as we speak."
Tony mockingly gasps, his hand flying to thump over his heart. "Betrayed by the wife! How rude."
"Uh huh. Anyway, I invited Professor Banner and another Professor I befriended at school- a Doctor Foster. She and her husband Thor have two eight year olds that they wanted to bring, but they weren't sure they were going to be able to make it."
"Pft. What kind of name is Thor?"
"Be nice. But yeah, that's all who I personally invited. I'm going to put up a sign in a bit that welcomes any of the other neighbors. I'm not a total monster to tease the neighborhood kids with Christmas movies and treats, and then not invite them."
Tony chuckles. "You're a good egg, Lewis. Don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise."
As Christmas sneaks up on Darcy the fourth year, she's in no state of mind to compete with Tony. She had become too wrapped up in her boyfriend that she had started dating just after Valentine's Day and had started to distance herself from her friends. No one held it against her when they didn't see her as often, though Tony did snark at her whenever he caught her coming home, but she always laughed it off. Then the boyfriend had to go and cheat on her right before Thanksgiving time, and play games with her heart and mind for a couple weeks which left her in no state to playfully challenge Tony to yet another Christmas Light-Off.
Bucky, Steve and Daisy were there to help Darcy piece back together her heart and self confidence, and she slowly gets back into the groove of things. It's too late to do anything too grand with what Christmas decorations she does have, but an idea does strike her the night before Christmas Eve and she works all through the night to complete it.
It's a simple arrow sign that's larger than Darcy herself, but she only plans to take it out to her yard after the sun's set. Then when all the lights start coming on up and down the street, Darcy hurriedly plants the sign in her front yard, angling it towards the Stark's magnificent Christmas display. Once plugged in, the word DITTO is bright for all to see. Work then done, she heads inside and waits to see everyone's reaction.
And she's not let down when not even ten minutes later, her phone's blowing up with text messages from all her friends.
Steve: There's the Darce we've all come to love. Glad to see you're feeling like your usual self again.
Bucky: Doll, I have no words. The sign is simple, yet hilarious. I can't wait to hear Stark start ranting.
Clint: Ur my hero!
Daisy: Lincoln says you're a genius & we're copying your sign whenever we get too lazy to decorate XD
Natasha: You're an idiot. I love the sign.
Pepper: Oh my God! Thank you for this. Seeing Tony's face was priceless when he looked out the window. You just made my night, Darcy.
Tony: Jesus Fuckin' Christ, Lewis! Stop saying you're not doing anything and then managing to one up me!
Smiling and cackling to herself, Darcy then takes the time to reply to each of her friends. She might have once thought that she'd never fit in, in such a neighborhood, but boy was she wrong. She fits in just fine.