Title: Coffee Breaking
Rating: PG/K+
Originally posted: July 2013
Originally written for: a challenge at Avland on Livejournal
Characters/Pairings: Steve, Tony, Bruce, Darcy, Clint, Nat, Thor (mentions Bruce/Darcy, Nat/Clint)
Notes: Coffee Shop AU
The usual patrons of the coffee-shop erupted in applause as newest waiter, Tony Stark, dropped a tray full of mugs... again! It wasn't his fault, he just wasn't used to this kind of 'manual labour' as he termed it. When the rich guy ran out on his wedding, his family cut him off. Now working here was all he could do to make rent, and even then it was only because old friend, Steve Rogers, was doing him a favour on the rates.
"One day, you will get the hang of this," Darcy assured her work-mate as she helped him clean up.
"Yes, the day I will be a coffee serving proficient, is the day Barton gets that girl to even look at him," he joked, reaching over the back of the couch to bat his buddy Clint in the head.
"Hey! She looks at me!" he argued, eyes returning to the red-head across the coffee-shop who seemed to only have eyes for the guy she was with. "Just, y'know, not much."
"She's not the only girl in the world," said Bruce from behind his book, somehow managing to pick up his coffee from the table and take a drink without his eyes ever leaving the page.
"Said practically married guy," Tony smirked, even as Darcy walked by Bruce's chair and dropped a kiss on his cheek on the way.
"Hey, everybody," said Steve as he walked in then, gesturing to Darcy who immediately reached for a cup to make his usual. "What's going on?" he asked his friends as he dropped onto the couch next to Clint.
"The usual," Tony told him. "Barton is staring at red hot and unobtainable; Banner hasn't stepped outside of a book in an hour, and yours truly just knocked another five dollars off the four I earned so far today."
Steve winced at all of that, and then more so at a crash from the kitchen.
"Well, however much pay you lose on breakages, it could be worse," he said then, peering over the back of the couch at Tony. "You could be as harsh with the cups as Thor," he grinned, as Darcy handed him his usual latte.
"He's doing his best," she insisted, opening her mouth again to say more when suddenly a loud crack of a different kind was heard.
All eyes turned to see the beautiful red-head named Natasha, who Clint fawned over on an almost daily basis, stalking away from the boyfriend she had just slapped so hard his face was already red as a stop sign.
"Oh, yes!" Clint exclaimed, vaulting over the back of the couch. "She's gonna need a shoulder to cry on. These babies are available!" he said as he flexed, then ran out the door.
His friends all shared concerned looks, but in the end, nobody could help but laugh. It was just another day at Fury's Java House, and they wouldn't have it any other way.