"Darce," Ray said after tugging on the wire of her ear bud.
"That was not fifteen minutes."
"Sorry to interrupt your power nap, but there's someone at your door."
"Huh?"
Ray pushed up onto his knees and leaned over her on the couch. "How about you get the door and I brew another pot of coffee."
"Smartest thing you've said all night," she smirked as he stood and offered her a hand up. Darcy snagged her glasses off of the coffee table, and wound her way around the open textbooks and piles of paper that littered her living room floor.
"How old is this Chinese?" Ray asked as he poked around in the fridge to grab the creamer.
"Probably too old. If you want something to eat, we should order in," she replied while standing on her toes to look through the peephole. "What the hell?"
"Everything okay?"
"I hope so," she said while tugging open the door. James' eyes snapped up from the floor to meet hers, a somewhat frantic look in his eyes. "James?"
"I didn't know where else to – "
"Darce?" In front of her, James tensed and he looked over her shoulder to peer at Ray. He was standing behind her, arms crossed over his chest and eyeing James' long hair covered with a baseball cap and baggy sweatshirt.
"It's okay," Darcy said, "James, what's wrong?" He looked at Ray again, eyes narrowed slightly before shaking his head.
"I shouldn't 'a come here. Sorry."
"Hey!" she reached out to catch his arm when he turned away; he tensed again, as though trying to keep himself from jerking away from her touch. "What happened? Why aren't you in New York?"
"Don't worry 'bout it, Darcy," he said softly.
"James, stop. Please?" she said, darting around him and pressing a hand to his chest to stop him. He looked down at her hand before meeting her eyes. "What happened?"
He didn't say anything for a long moment before shaking his head. "I did something stupid."
"What?"
"Don't wanna talk about it."
"You sure?" she asked, looking at him over the rims of her glasses. When his expression didn't change, Darcy sighed. "Okay. Are you going back home tonight or do you need someplace to crash?"
"I'll find someplace," he shrugged. "It was stupid to come."
"Hey, no," she said, stepping closer. "You can stay with me. The couch is more comfortable than it looks."
"I don't want to – "
"And here we go." Darcy grabbed his hand and pulled him around to face her door. James allowed her to pull him into the apartment, and stayed a step behind her as she cleared her throat. The guy in her kitchen tried and failed to look as though he'd been engrossed in the pile of take out flyers spread across the counter. "We're adding one more to the order," she announced, drawing his attention. "James, meet Ray. Ray, this is James. He's gonna be crashing here tonight."
"Oh, cool," Ray shrugged, pushing off of the corner and reaching out to shake his hand. James saw his eyes dart to his hair and baseball cap, and he was thankful he'd grabbed a pair of gloves before running out of the apartment. "Nice to meet you, man."
"Same," he grunted. Darcy looked between them before rolling her eyes.
"Did you decide on what we're ordering? Because I'm not feeling pizza again, unless it's from that really good place that does specialty pizza."
"I was thinking Indian."
"Indian sounds good. James?"
"Sure."
OOO
Darcy wasn't exactly sure what had woken her up as she untangled herself from the ear bud wires. For a split second she thought it was some drunken guy on the street until she realized the muffled arguing was coming from her living room.
She jumped out of bed, worried that Ray had come back to say something after they'd had a hurried fight in the hallway. He'd wanted to stay the night – "Please, Darce, the guy looks like a serial killer" – but she'd kicked him out with an agreement to call him first thing in the morning. Quickly, she threw on a sweatshirt over her thin t-shirt and crammed her glasses on her nose before throwing the bedroom door open.
The fighting stopped the moment she stepped into the living room. James was standing near the window, while an irate looking Captain America leaned against her kitchen bar. Both men turned to look at her.
"Oh, uh…sorry to interrupt," she said, dragging a hand through her messy hair.
"Didn't mean to wake you up," James grunted.
"Yeah, sorry about that," the Captain said.
"No! Don't worry about that. I was listening to some music anyways," she lied. There was an awkward silence until the Captain glanced at James before taking a step towards her. "You must be Darcy. It's nice to finally meet you."
"Yeah, that's me. And thanks, Cap." He winced slightly but tried to cover it up.
"Please, call me Steve."
"Ok, Steve," she smiled shyly before crossing her arms under her chest. "So, uh, are you going to be staying the night?"
"No," Steve said quickly. "I don't want to put you out. I'm just here to get Bucky and head back home."
"I'm not heading back with you," James said.
"Buck," Steve sighed, eyes darting over to Darcy.
"Well hey, look, you're more than welcome to stay here tonight," Darcy said, rocking up onto her toes. "I told James that the couch folds out. All we'd have to do is move the coffee table."
"Really, it's not – "
"I'll get you some towels," she smiled, turning on her heel and walking back to her bedroom. After snagging a hair tie from her bedside table and pulling her locks into a messy bun, Darce grabbed two towels and washcloths from her closet before grabbing one of the decorative pillows from the floor.
Standing in the doorway, she took a deep breath and made her way back to the living room, where Steve and James had moved the coffee table against the wall and pulled out the fold out bed. They were in the process of putting the sheets she'd given James earlier on the bed, but looked up when she cleared her throat. "I've got another blanket if you guys need it."
"No, this is good," Steve said. Darcy looked at James, who gave her a ghost of a smile before shaking his head.
"We're good, Darce."
"Sorry the bed's not bigger."
"We've slept rougher. This place is bigger than our apartment in '42," Steve grinned.
"Right," she nodded, holding up her armload of linens. Darce raised her eyebrows in James' direction, as if asking if he were okay with everything. He shook his head subtly and gave her a tight smile. Steve acted as though he hadn't seen the exchange. After a moment, she cleared her throat, "Okay, well here's some towels for the morning, and feel free to help yourself to anything in the kitchen. I'm gonna crash – I've gotta head into the office early."
"Night. And thanks again." She nodded and gave a short wave before turning back into her room.
"Hey," James called, just as she was about to shut the door.
"What's up?"
He glanced back towards the living room before shaking his head. "Sorry 'bout dragging you into this."
"No worries," she smiled. "What are friends for? Although a little bit of forewarning would have been nice – I could have had bras hanging up all over the place."
"I'm sorry I missed the sight this time," he smirked. Darcy rolled her eyes.
"I knew you were a perve, Barnes. Just remember, I know exactly how many bras I have so if one goes missing I'll know it."
"Damn. But Darce," he said, his gloved mechanical hand reaching out to brush her knuckles. "Thanks for letting us stay here."
"It's no problem. Gotta keep my bank robbing partner happy," she grinned. James chuckled and looked at the ground, his hair covering his eyes.
"I…Night."
"Night," she nodded before turning and walking into her room. He was still looking at her as she closed the door, and Darcy thought she heard him sigh before turning away.
Her hand hovered over the lock, debating whether or not to turn it. There were two relative strangers sleeping in her living room, after all. Granted, she'd texted to James at least once a week over the last few months, so she kind of knew him. But Steve? Nada. Every once in a while, there'd be an added 'Steve says hi' in the text but that was the extent of their acquaintance-ship.
Darcy let her hand drop, the door still unlocked. After all, if you couldn't trust your soul mate and Captain America, who could you trust?
OOO
"You wanna talk about it?" Steve asked in a hushed voice as he tossed the worn quilt over the thin mattress.
"No."
"Buck…"
"No."
"You can't just kiss a guy and run out."
Unwilling to meet his gaze, Bucky sat on the opposite side of the bed and looked at the thin curtains that barely kept the street lights out. "Forget it happened," he said quietly.
"Buck…"
"It was stupid. I just…I got a little confused and…sometimes it's hard to remember what was real and what wasn't." There was silence for a heartbeat.
"Oh," Steve breathed before asking, "Did you…was that…something that felt real to you?"
"Forget it, Steve," Bucky said, turning to look over his shoulder at him. He forced a grin before shaking his head. "Just add it to the list of fucked up things HYDRA did to me."
"Right," he nodded slowly.
"Night, Steve."
"Night." He watched as Bucky lay down and turned to look out the window again before turning off the living room light. The bed squeaked slightly as he got in, adjusting the quilt so it lay flat over his stomach and clasping his hands behind his head. "Hey Buck?"
"Hmm?"
"I thought all that practice kissing you had when we were younger would have made you better at it."
There was silence for a long moment before he heard, "Never had a complain before."
"Not a complaint," he corrected, "just an observation."
When Buck called him a jerk, Steve couldn't help but smile.
OOO
Steve woke up to the soft creak of the floorboards and a shuffling walk. Without turning over, he knew Darcy was trying to sneak through her living room. There was a 'click' of the lock before she opened the front door.
"Morning," a male voice said. "Coffee?"
"Shh!" Darcy hushed, "they're still sleeping."
"They're?" he said again before being shushed again.
"Come on, let's go to my room so I can finish getting ready."
"Whose that guy?"
"I'll tell you in a minute, now shut up." Darcy pulled him through the living room, and he was obviously lingering, trying to see who was sleeping on the bed.
As soon as the door closed, Buck said quietly, "Her boyfriend."
"Oh," Steve said, opening his eyes. "Does he know?"
"About me?" Buck asked, rolling onto his back and scratching at his chest.
"About you and Darcy," he clarified. Bucky's eyes slit open before he grunted.
"Dunno."
Steve knew that he and Darcy had some kind of arrangement but he didn't quite understand it. He only wanted the best for Buck, and by extension Darcy, and that meant them being together. But for some reason, whatever made the marks appear had seen it fit to make two of the must stubborn people soulmates, and now she was dating someone and Buck…Steve wasn't quite sure what was going on with Buck. He licked his lips, remember the dry brush of Bucky's lips on his the afternoon before.
He was pulled from his musings by the sound of Darcy's bedroom door opening again. Bucky closed his eyes, feigning sleep, but Steve sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed, making sure that the quilt covered his boxer shorts. They were trying to be quiet again, but he cleared his throat to alert them to him being awake. "Morning."
"Oh, hey," she said before lowering her voice to just above a whisper when she saw Bucky still asleep. "I hope we didn't wake you."
"No," he assured her. "I'm an early riser."
"Ah. Well, we're going to head to campus," Darcy smiled while tugging a jacket over her emerald button up. She pulled a key out of pocket and set it on the cluttered kitchen bar. "So here's a house key in case you guys decide to head out today. Are you…are you guys planning on hanging out or heading back to New York today?"
"Um," Steve said, glancing over his shoulder at Buck. "I'm not sure. He's…"
"You guys are welcome to stay here as long as you need," she said quickly, ignoring the look the guy standing next to her gave her. "My last class ends at 4:00 so I should be home around 5:00 at the latest. I haven't really had a chance to go shopping, but help yourself to anything you'd like. We can go out and grab dinner or something tonight."
"Sounds good. I'll let Buck know when he wakes up."
"Okay. Well," Darcy said, shifting slightly. "I, uh, guess we're gonna head out."
"I'm Ray, by the way," the guy interjected.
"Oh! Right, Ray – Steve, Steve – Ray. Introductions done, and we have to go or we'll be late. Have a good day!" After grabbing her backpack from the floor, Darcy took hold of Ray's arm and pulled him towards the door.
"See you later," Steve called as they stepped out into the hallway.
"Later!" she chirped, tossing him a smile. Steve waited until he heard the door lock again before getting out of bed and walking to the kitchen. It took a few tries to find the right cabinet with glasses, but he eventually located it and got a glass of water. But the short search had shown just how little food the woman had on hand.
"So we've got cereal or pop tarts," he reported. There was a squeak of springs as Bucky sat up and ran a hand through his hair.
"Any eggs?" Buck asked. Steve smirked at him before turning to open the fridge and saw it nearly bare as well. A quick index showed coffee creamer, a couple beers, some diet soda, a few condiments, and take out containers.
"Nope. And no milk either, so it's dry cereal or pop tarts."
"Pop tarts it is."
Author's Note: Ok, once again major apologies for the time between updates. As I've said before, I'm a PhD student so my work/life balance sucks. Add to that a few personal issues and a non-restful trip home for the holidays, and you've got the perfect storm for writer's block. All but the last 3 pages of this were sitting on my desktop since the last time I updated but the words just wouldn't come. Sorry again, and I hope this was worth the wait.
Also, sadly, Darcy's fridge is modeled on my own. I hear it's pretty common with grad students, lol.