Chapter Four! Here is where we go all Shakespeare-y. If you haven't seen Much Ado About Nothing, this chapter might make less sense, but hopefully it's still good! Also, if you haven't seen Much Ado About Nothing, well, then we can't be friends. :)
Darcy was being checked for a concussion down on medical and had no idea she was the topic of much discussion ten floors up.
"So, what happened?" Steve asked, leaning against the kitchen counter as Tony poured coffee into his 'This Is How Science Shit Happens' mug. "Last I heard, Clint had met his match."
"Game, set, match. Birdbrain is perfect for Short Stack and vice versa, but somewhere along the line, their wires got crossed and now... who knows?"
Natasha, Jane and Thor came into the kitchen then. "Darcy'll be okay. Bruce wants to watch her for another half hour or so, but he think's she's alright," reported Natasha.
"Glad to hear it. Hell of a way to meet a room-mate, though," replied Steve.
"It's just Darcy's way," Jane waved the comment aside. "Tasering people, getting kidnapped, falling off buildings. She doesn't do half measures."
Natasha eyed the group of people in the kitchen with a penetrating stare. "We need to do something about Clint and Darcy."
"Like what? Lock 'em in a room until they kill each other or have sex?" Tony got a bit of a maniacal look in his eyes as he spoke, obviously seriously thinking about it.
"Where is the archer right now?" Thor asked, eyes darting up to the ventilation shaft over the island. Everyone knew about Clint's prowling of the Tower's smaller spaces.
"He's at SHIELD HQ for an ops debrief about Bucharest. He'll be there for a few hours at least," Natasha assured everyone.
"Does the Lady Darcy even know of the man's feelings towards her? I have noticed he is most reluctant to share his deeper feelings."
"Loki messed him up real bad. Not that he was great with them before that either. I think he's struggling with the age gap, the hero/rescuer thing and the whole mortality issue."
"But he likes her?" Steve tried to confirm.
"I think even more than he is willing to admit," confirmed Natasha.
"And Darcy?" Steve turned to Jane.
"She never came out and admitted it, but I'm pretty sure it was getting there before things soured between them."
Steve gave a sad sort of smile. "No one should wait for their chance at happiness. You may not get a tomorrow."
"So do we have a plan?" Tony asked, getting to the heart of the matter.
"I am the man with a plan... Has anyone read Shakespeare?"
Clint stretched out his neck in the elevator, rubbing calloused fingers along the knot that had formed at the intersection of neck and shoulder. Debrief meetings at Shield HQ always left him in knots. Too many people giving him the side-eye, too many whispered conversations that died down as he came within earshot. He was happy to take solo sniper missions across the globe these days. He needed to get away from the thinly veiled mutterings of distrust at work, the sad noises of pity from his roommates at home, and mostly, from the haunting eyes of one Darcy Lewis.
This life would see him dead sooner or later. He was a soldier, an assassin, an Avenger. He was lucky he had survived this long with no super soldier serum or iron armor to protect him. No, he was a raw nerve, exposed to everything he came into contact with, and that included witty, charming girls with pin-up figures and the courage to match. He was much too old to be mooning over some girl, and even if she could somehow see past the thirteen year age difference, there was no guarantee he would come back from the next mission a whole man, let alone alive. No girl deserved his baggage train of issues. And she didn't even like him, her snarky attitude made that pretty clear!
Arrrg! He needed to stop thinking about her! Every time he wasn't actively focusing on something, his mind returned to her!
The elevator chimed, and Clint exited into the Avenger's common floor, skirting past the living room to make his way to the private hallways.
"It's good to be home, Tony!" Echoed a voice from the living room. "Now, tell me about Darcy being in love with Clint?"
Clint stumbled over her own feet. What? Cap was back? Cap was back and talking with Tony about Darcy... loving him? Too many strange things all at once.
"I was not sure that Lady Darcy would love any mere mortal," came Thor's booming voice.
"Neither did I, but I find it hilarious that she's fallen for Legolas, especially since she seems to hate him!"
"Is she just... faking it? Her affection, I mean." Steve inquired, sounding confused.
"Fake it? You haven't heard her talk about him. It's positively... passionate." Tony answered with an exaggerated shudder.
"What does she say?" Steve asked with genuine interest.
"You heard my sweet Jane tell you..." Thor began, then lowered his voice. There was some whispered murmuring Clint couldn't quite hear. He crept closer to the edge of the doorway.
"That's amazing! Has she told Clint?" Steve sounded enthusiastic about the idea.
"No. And she swears she never will. It is her torment." Thor replied sadly.
"Shouldn't we tell him, if she won't?" Steve offered.
"To what end? He would but make sport of it and torment her worse!" Now Thor sounded upset.
"She is such as sweet girl, though. If she thought of me that way, I wouldn't reject her! I say we tell Clint." Clint felt his hands clench into fists at the thought of Steve and Darcy together.
"No," advised Thor, "Let the ladies counsel her in what to do."
"She'll wear her heart out before Jane and Nat come to any kind of agreement," warned Tony.
Steve sighed loudly. "I love Clint dearly. I wish he would honestly examine himself and see that he is worthy of such an amazing girl, and she of him." There was a pause in the conversation.
"Well!" cried out Tony, "I have stuff in the lab to do, let's finish this little chat later."
Clint barely had time to duck down the hallway before the three men emerged from the living room. He ran all the way down the hall to his room, his mind on fire with their words.
He would think it was a trick, except that Steve wasn't that kind of guy. And Thor was a terrible liar. It had to be true! Darcy loved him. Darcy loved him! He couldn't just ignore that, he had to tell her how he felt. She was a smart, beautiful, capable girl... uh, woman. He knew there would be some ribbing about his long bachelorhood and his attitude toward her until now. But those quips would not alter his feeling towards her. He loved her too, he realized.
His mind raced on the hamster wheel of emotions until a knock on his door interrupted his thoughts. Clint opened it to find the object of his rumination standing there, a slight frown marring her otherwise perfect face.
"Tony says Jarvis is down for maintenance, so I was sent to tell you that dinner is ready."
Clint tried for a sincere smile, but probably ended up looking a bit crazy instead. "Thank you, Darcy, for the trouble."
Her eyebrow arched in disbelief. "It wasn't any trouble, Barton," she said, clipping off the end of his name in agitation. "It it had been troublesome, I wouldn't have done it." She shook her head at him and stalked off down the hallway.
Clint leaned out the doorway to watch her disappear around the corner. "That could have gone better."
Darcy was awash in a sea of red, her thoughts angry and confused at whatever the hell that was that just happened at Clint's door. She was sure he had been teasing her, but she wasn't sure what about. His smile was too broad, his eyes a bit too crazed for it to be actual happiness. Plus, she was pretty sure he was incapable of feeling that particular emotion. Deep, wallowing self pity? Check. Arrogant, egotistical self-glorification? Totally. Mean spirited ten year old boy style humor? In spades. Happiness? Not so much.
So when she heard Clint's name come wafting from Jane and Thor's not-quite-closed apartment door, she slowed down for a bit of shameless eavesdropping.
"But are you sure Clint loves Darcy like that?" Came Natasha's mellow voice. Darcy's breath caught in her throat and she nearly stumbled into the wall. Wait... What?!
"That's what Steve and Thor say." Jane. The little gossip.
"And are they going to tell her?"
"They told me I should, but I don't think it's a good idea. For Clint's sake, I think he should just forget about her and move on." Darcy's mouth hung open, both with shock and betrayal at Jane's words.
"Why?" Natasha sounded displeased and Darcy was glad to hear she had at least one friend still in the Tower. "Doesn't he deserve at least a shot of happiness with Darcy? They seem well matched."
"Oh, it's not about Clint, he'd be wonderful for her. I know he deserves to be happy, but nature never made a prouder heart than Darcy's! Every guy she's ever set eyes on has always had some fatal flaw that only Darcy can see. She cannot love!"
"She does nitpick. It would be good then that she not know about his feelings for her. She would just make fun of him." Natasha the traitor. Did she have no friends anymore?
"I'll go to Clint and tell him to fight against his feelings. The poor man is going to be a wreck."
"How can someone so smart and wonderful like Darcy not see what a great catch Clint is?" Natasha wondered aloud.
"He is the best man around. Well, except for Thor, of course." Jane giggle. Giggled!
"Well, dinner is ready I suppose, and we should go before we're missed," Natasha's voice called out.
Darcy scampered back from the door and retreated around a corner to hide herself from the tiny assassin. Now her mind was racing with new thoughts. Thoughts of Clint and his silly smile only minutes before. Was that him trying to turn over a new leaf, let her know that he had feelings for her?
Her hand came up to cover her mouth in dawning horror. Had all those moments they'd had together, all those times he had said something witty, left the room after delivering another one-liner... Had he been flirting? Had she missed all the signs? She was so sure that he could never feel anything for her like she did for him, she'd never considered that he was just returning snark for snark.
Darcy stumbled back to her room, her heart thumping with anticipation. She would go down to dinner with the rest of the team. She would be kind, sweet, helpful. She would smile at Clint and not be a snarky bitch. She would also brush her hair and wear something nice. If he really liked her... If he loved her... Well, she obviously loved him back. Darcy had just laid out her favorite dark blue skirt when alarms sounded out throughout the Tower and Jarvis' voice came over the intercoms (wasn't he off-line?).
"Emergency call from the Helicarrier. They are under attack from forces unknown and request the Avenger's immediate assistance."
By the time Darcy had pulled clothes back on, sprinted out of her room, down the hall and to the Quinjet launchpad, the entire team was aboard. She pressed a fisted hand to her lips as her best friends in the world (and the man she loved), prepared for battle. Jane slipped an arm around her waist and Pepper stood on her other side, watching as the team took off.
The last Darcy saw of Clint, he was sitting in the pilot's seat, maneuvering the jet away from the building. She thought, perhaps, that he had looked right at her and nodded slightly before giving her a slight smile. It might have been wishful thinking though.