A Lot To Ask

Darcy/Pyro

FireShock

Theme song:

John Farnham – Burn For You

Background note: Comic-canon Pyro is also a journalist. This is a slightly older, wiser John…

"Can I have Wednesday afternoon off please, Jane?" Darcy asked.

"Sure," Jane didn't even look up from the machine she was tinkering with.

"Why?" Tony asked, popping his head around from the other side of the machine. "Got a date, Lewis?"

She made a face at him. "No, Stark. Don't be nosy."

"You do remember that you're obliged to let JARVIS know where you are at all times, right?"

Darcy sighed. "And JARVIS will tell you anyway. All right. I want to go to the Mutant Rights rally."

"Why? Are you X-gene? Do you have a cool power?"

"No, I'm not X-gene," she denied, but seeing Tony's inquisitive stare, sighed and realised she might as well tell him. "My best friend growing up, she was unidentified X-gene. When her power manifested – well, we lived in a small town. There was a lot of anti-mutant prejudice. She and her family all wound up dead." Darcy swung slowly back and forth on her chair. "It's why I chose poli-sci. I felt like it was the only chance I might have, to make a difference. To get a voice, to fight for mutant rights."

Tony stared at her for a moment, looking a little startled. And then he tipped his head to her in a surprising gesture of respect. "Good for you, Lewis. Have a good time at the rally. Be careful, though. Why not take Cap along as a bodyguard? He's got some pretty strong views on mutant rights too."

"Yes, and he and Sam took off for parts unknown yesterday on Barnes' trail," Darcy shrugged. "If he gets back in time, I'll ask him." Privately, she was hoping that she wouldn't have to. Because she wasn't just attending the rally.

She'd co-written the speech for one of the principal speakers. And she was scheduled to meet and talk with Allardyce, a journalist who she knew had written some great, insightful articles about mutant rights. He was on the public record as being X-gene positive, though he'd never revealed what, if any, power he possessed. Darcy was curious but willed herself not to ask.

Steve and Sam didn't get back in time, so on Wednesday Darcy fed Jane her lunch, reminded her that she had the afternoon off, and promised to be back to give Jane dinner before heading out, cheerfully farewelling JARVIS in the elevator.

The rally was well-attended and peaceful, a few anti-mutant groups turning up with signs that read FREAKS OUT and the like, but they were ignored. Darcy had time to listen to the first three speeches – including the one she'd co-written, which was very well received – before she had to go and meet Allardyce. They'd never spoken, but they'd communicated by email and agreed to meet at a nearby café.

On arrival, Darcy scanned the room, but didn't see anyone who looked likely. Shrugging, she pulled out her phone and texted the mobile number Allardyce had sent her. You here yet? How do you like your coffee?

5 mins. Black with a shot of vanilla syrup, please he texted back after a moment, and she grinned and ordered for both of them.

It was a little less than five minutes later when a good-looking blond guy entered the café and looked around. His gaze settled on Darcy and he gave her a rather uncertain smile, so she smiled back.

"Hi, I think you might be waiting for me?" The stunning brunette was the only person in the café on her own, though she had two cups in front of her. John could hardly believe his luck as he headed over and greeted her hopefully.

Big blue eyes widened behind her glasses, and her smile went from expectant to megawatt. "All my life, I think," she said.

John nearly fell over with shock. "What?"

Darcy pushed up the sleeve of her sweater to reveal the words on her forearm, smiling happily up at him. He took her hand and traced his fingers – wow, and they were really warm, considering that it was a cool day outside and he didn't even have a coat on – over the scrawling letters.

"You are St. John Allardyce, I'm assuming?" Darcy asked, since he seemed to have lost his voice, just staring down at her arm.

"Yes – please just call me John." He seemed to snap back to attention and slid into the seat opposite her, blue eyes tracing her face. "Darcy."

"That's me." She wasn't about to pretend to be shy and bashful, so she stared at him, drinking in his narrow, clever face, his surprisingly broad shoulders, his strong hands.

"You're beautiful," he said quietly, and she did blush a bit at that. He had an accent, not American.

"Where are you from?" she asked, a little puzzled.

"Melbourne, Australia. Originally, anyway. My parents moved here when I was thirteen." He shrugged. "The accent's never quite gone away. What about you, Darcy Lewis, where do you come from?"

"New Jersey," Darcy said with a wry grin, "very unexcitingly. It's not at all like Jersey Shore."

That made him laugh, and she pushed the coffee she'd bought him across to him.

An hour later, he got up and bought the next round of coffees. Two hours after that, they went to dinner together. John was easy to talk to, a wonderful listener – Darcy felt as though she could have talked to him all night. She'd texted JARVIS earlier, telling him that she'd met her soulmate and to please have someone make sure Jane ate dinner, before switching her phone off. Otherwise Stark would probably be raining all over her parade by now.

"So," she looked across the table a little nervously at him. He'd brought her to a little Italian place he knew of, and they were sitting with their knees bumping under the red-and-white checked plastic tablecloth, a candle in a Chianti bottle between them casting shadows on his face. "I know this is a really rude and personal question…"

"You're my soulmate," his smile was still wondering at his good fortune. "You can ask anything you like and I promise I won't take offense."

"You're on the record as being X-gene positive, and having been educated at Xavier's. What – um – what do you do?"

He smiled. The candle flame between them suddenly flickered, catching Darcy's eye – and she stared as it suddenly began twisting around in a spiral. John reached up and cupped his hands, a flicker danced from the candle across to them, and suddenly there was a glowing orb of fire suspended between his palms.

"I won't show you any more here," he said quietly, pressed his hands together and the fire went out, the candle flame resuming its normal flicker. "Too dangerous indoors."

"Wow," Darcy breathed, her eyes huge. "Fire! That's so cool. Well, hot."

John grinned at her, reached to take her hands. The smile dropped off his face, though, as Darcy asked "Do you have a code name?"

"I did. I don't use it any more, really. I – made some pretty stupid mistakes when I was younger. The name is – the X-Men know who I am, but if was public knowledge that I used to be…" he sighed as Darcy gave him a quizzical look. "I could probably, well certainly, still be prosecuted. I've done my best to make amends, to use whatever influence I have as a reporter to do things right this time."

Darcy still didn't understand. "What, were you with the Brotherhood of Mutants?" she said with a laugh.

John didn't smile.

"Oh. My. God." Darcy added two and two and came up with four. "Pyro."

"I was young and dumb and hot-headed in more ways than one," he said quietly. "My stupidity cost lives, it cost me my best friend, it set the cause of mutant rights back by years. By all rights I should be in prison, but," he shrugged. "Once I realised that what I'd done was wrong, I went back to the X-Men. Helped them turn the tide of the war, and asked them to judge and sentence me when it was over. I don't think I'd have fared well at the mercy of all-human courts."

Darcy grimaced. He was perfectly correct in that, not in the aftermath of that mess.

"All the rest of the Brotherhood were either dead or escaped, and the ones that escaped, could never have been imprisoned safely. I'd have been the one to take the fall for all of it. The X-Men agreed it wasn't fair, and offered me a deal. I could go free, but I would finish off my degree in journalism and then spend my life fighting for mutant rights without inciting anyone to violence. Battle with the pen rather than the sword."

Darcy nodded slowly, understanding. "I see."

"If you don't want to – I understand if you want to walk away," John looked down at his hands, twisted his fingers together. "It's a lot to ask of you, to accept me, knowing about my past."

She reached out, put her hand over his. "John. We've all got stuff in our past we're not proud of."

"Are there dead people and betrayed friends in yours?" His eyes were hollow as he looked up and met her gaze.

"Not mine, no… but I consider Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton to be two of my closest friends. And there's more than enough blood staining their histories for anyone. They chose to change sides, to make the right choice when it was presented to them. How are you any different? Why are you any less deserving of forgiveness?"

John opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He just sat, staring at Darcy, who squeezed his fingers gently before continuing. "Nat calls it red in her ledger, that she has to wipe out. Making amends. So yes, I see exactly where you're coming from, why you're doing what you're doing. What the X-Men asked of you was perfectly fair, and considering that I think I've read pretty much your whole portfolio, I'd say you're more than holding up your end of the deal." She held his eyes steadily. "In fact, if you're willing – I've got some ideas for your next opinion piece."

"I'm going to fall in love with you very fuckin' quickly, Darcy Lewis," he said huskily.

She smiled at him, her face alight with happiness. "Excellent. I think I was in love with your writing long before we met. The fact that you're a hot superhero with a conscience is totally a bonus."

The waiter delivered their meals just then, and there was a flurry of pepper-grinding and parmesan-grating and wine being poured. Darcy inhaled the vapour rising from her fettucine carbonara, sighed with pleasure, and twirled her fork, taking a quick bite. "Mm," she mumbled as the ambrosial flavour hit her taste buds. She swallowed and looked up at John, smiling.

"And if you know any other secret little restaurants this good, I think I'll be falling in love with you pretty quickly too."

John grinned. "Aha. Well in that case, our eternal happiness is assured. I long ago hacked our food critic's secret restaurant database."

Because OF COURSE the little shit would have done that. It's exactly the kind of thing Darcy would do, too.

This was inspired by a Tumblr prompt I saw that had Darcy studying poli-sci because she wanted to fight for mutant rights. Unfortunately I've managed to misplace the original source, if it was you please get in touch and I'll credit you for it!

And please feel free to come and prompt me on Tumblr (I'm ozhawkauthor), if you've got ideas for how any pairings I haven't written yet should meet, or what you think they might have in common – I'm sometimes struggling for inspiration with these obscure ones!