Day 17- Resteraunt!AU/Sense8 Crossover Clint/Darcy/Pietro Rated T
Day 17
Restaurant AU- Sense8 Crossover
Clint/Darcy/Pietro
Rated T
San Francisco, California February 10, 2022
After the last of the staff finished cleaning up for the night, the restaurant manager asked Darcy if she wanted her to lock up on the way out, as usual. When Jane stuck her head in, she noticed Darcy was slicing green peppers for the brunch party omelet bar scheduled for the next day. It was common to find her doing as much of the prep work for the next day as possible late into the evening as the staff cleaned and straightened the dining room and took care of the office duties. What wasn’t common was the absentminded way she answered the question about the front door.
“No thanks, not tonight.”
Jane stared at her, her mouth falling open in surprise. “You sure?”
“What?” The curvy woman asked, looking up at Jane for the first time.
“I asked if you were sure about the door. Are you expecting someone or something?” Jane’s face was pleasantly blank. She knew it was none of her business, but if people knew Darcy was expecting after hours guests, the rumor mill of the restaurant staff would start to turn faster that Jane could say monogamous relationship.
“I’m not sure,” Darcy said with a shrug as she continued to work her knife in her famously quick and precise manner on the vegetables before her.
“You’re not-“ the petite, bird-like woman started and then stopped, her mouth snapping shut. “Is everything okay, Darcy?”
“Yeah, of course. Why wouldn’t it be?” She had moved onto the onions. Her mind was obviously elsewhere. Jane could totally tell the owner and head chef of Food Frisson was only barely listening to her.
“Are you sure it’ll be safe?”
Finally, Darcy rested her hands and the knife she held on the cutting board and gave her friend her full attention. “I’ll be fine, Jane. I’ll get it in a bit. Don’t worry so much.”
Jane shook her head and pulled her coat tighter around her fail frame. “Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow then?” she submitted before being pulled back by Darcy’s next words.
“I’m not going to be in tomorrow.”
“What?!” This was news to Jane.
“I’m taking the weekend off. Maybe next week, too. I haven’t decided, yet.” Darcy shrugged again and went back to her onions. “I already called Wanda and she’s going to step up as head chef while I’m gone.”
“What the hell, Darcy?!” Jane demanded and stomped over to stand against the island, directly across from where the other woman continued her work as if she hadn’t just announced she was taking her first vacation in years, since the restaurant had opened, probably, with only a last minute notice.
“What? Don’t you think she’s ready?” Darcy asked, knowing that Jane did in fact think Wanda was ready for more responsibility. She’d told her as much several times over the last year when she’d been trying to convince the woman to take some much needed time off, which she now was, apparently.
She said as much and Darcy just shrugged for a third time. It was becoming a rather annoying habit, Jane thought.
“What’s it going to take for me to convince you that this is a good thing, the very thing, in fact, that you wanted so badly, and get you to let it go?”
“It’s just so… so out of character. You know you can tell me anything, right, Darcy? If something’s wrong, or something is going on with you and-“
Darcy cut her off there. “Jane, stop. Just stop.” She set her knife down, stepped to the sink against the back wall and rinsed her hands and then walked around the island to put her hands on Jane’s shoulders. “Nothing is going on with me, not yet, not that I know of. And if there was something that might happen, well- Let’s just say that I’m expecting only good things, so there’s no reason for you to panic, and if there ever is anything to tell, you will be the first to know, as soon as I’m ready to tell you.”
“You’re not pregnant, are you?” Jane’s tone was almost accusatory.
Darcy rolled her eyes and dropped her hands from her worried friend’s shoulders. “Give me some credit, please. We both know I don’t have time for a baby right now.”
Jane was relieved to hear it. Darcy was the glue that made Food Frisson run smooth. Jane could take care of the accounting and managing side of things, she was sort of a math genius, but she couldn’t do anything about the food part of the business. That was all Darcy. Her friend had worked hard, harder than was probably healthy, since opening her own restaurant. She didn’t want anything to happen now to ruin things for them, especially for Darcy. She’d had a rough life, Jane knew, and she wanted only the very best for the brilliant and amazing woman.
“Fine. But I expect an update every day. Are you traveling? Where are you planning to spend your hard won time off?”
Darcy chuckled and walked back to her work. “I don’t really have any solid plans, yet. If everything goes well, I’ll be spending several days in bed.” She winked at Jane gave her the kind of lascivious smirk that she knew would make her blush.
“Fine, fine. I’m going. Keep your secrets if you must. Just let me know you’re still alive every 24 hours or so, so that I don’t have to send the hounds after you.”
“If it will get you out of my hair, then fine.”
“Fine. I’m going.” Jane huffed in mock outrage.
“Good,” Darcy snapped back, but her eyes were smiling. “See you later!”
“You better!” Jane warned and then, with the shift of air pressure that came when the front door was opened, and an empty silence that replaced the woman’s small, but energetic presence, she was gone.
Darcy heaved a sigh of relief. She loved Jane, she did. There were just some things that were just best left unexplained. Much like the impending sense of something important about to happen that Darcy had been feeling all day. Call it a premonition, or Déjà vu, or, more accurately, call it Presque Vu. Whatever you called it, it had been building around her since just after breakfast. She thought she might know what it meant, but she was afraid that if she said it out loud, that would somehow keep it from being true.
She covered the containers of prepared vegetables and carried them into the walk in refrigerator so she could place them on the shelf near the door. Then she grabbed a thing of butter and a small block of Muenster cheese. She located a half loaf of sourdough bread, selected an avocado from the pantry and retrieved a package of thick cut bacon from the freezer.
She turned the oven on and sliced the bread and cheese and laid out the bacon on a tin-foil covered cooking sheet. Then, once the oven had finished preheating, she slid the bacon in and started the timer.
As it cooked, she assembled the rest of the sandwiches, buttering the outsides of the bread, layering on the Muenster and then began slicing the avocados to add. The buzzer rang just as the sense of anticipation approaching reached a critical point, and she had to shed her thick chef’s coat as the weight and texture seemed suddenly overwhelming against her too sensitive skin.
She removed the bacon and divided the slices up amongst the four sandwiches she was preparing, and then finished them by adding slices of cheddar cheese and grilling.
Darcy was just lifting the final sandwich from the grill and turning off the Panini machine when she felt the pressure shift again. Smiling, she used a large knife to cut each one in half and placed the completed fare on a large plate. She pulled out her phone and sent a short, simple text, only two words.
He’s here.
Then she pocketed her phone and lifted the plate before walking towards the front of the building.
“Hello?” a deep, male voice called from the front just as she stepped through the doorway and into the dining room.
Making sure not to make any noise she set the food on one of the tables between the chairs that were upended on top of it. Then she stepped into the light to greet her after-hours guest.
“Hello,” she said quietly and let her eyes move over him, taking him in for the very first time.
The man turned, to face her. He’d been looking around, taking a good look at the place, and she was sad to lose sight of his backside, but managed to find adequate compensation in the viewing of his open, wonder filled face.
He was handsome in a rugged, weathered way that she found pleasing. Just as she knew she would. Just as she always had.
“Darcy,” he sighed as his eyes found hers.
“Clint.”
“The place looks fantastic! Really, classy and quirky and elegant, and perfect,” he gushed.
She blushed and took another step towards him. “You sound like you’ve never seen it before,” she sounded equal parts amused and exasperated.
“Well, yeah,” he admitted sheepishly, “I’ve never actually been here, though. It’s different.”
“I suppose it is,” she granted and took another towards him as he spun for another look.
“It’s really somethin’,” he finished and then faced her again with a melancholy smile. “Your mother would be so proud of you, Darce.”
She felt a pang of regret at his words, and let her smile match his. “Thank you.” She turned to gesture towards the place she’d worked and slaved and poured her heart and soul into for seven years. “It’s all because of you, you know.” She took a step.
“No,” he demurred instantly. “This happened because you made it happen. I had nothing to do with it.”
She took another step forward. “No, really. If you hadn’t told me how amazing my cooking was, if you hadn’t convinced me I was good enough-" Step. “Well, my life would be very different right now, for sure.” Step. “When mom died I was so lost. Your encouragement and guidance kept me sane and helped me figure out the best way to spend my inheritance.” Step. “Pretty sure I would have just blown it on porn and booze, if not for you.”
With one final step she was within arm’s reach of this stranger she knew so well.
He smiled down at her, the blue of his eyes and the crinkle around them making her heart flutter even faster. “As usual, you aren’t giving yourself enough credit.”
Darcy shook her head and dropped her gaze to her hands. She was sure her chest would implode if she continued to look into his beautiful face. She focused on the feel of her cotton tank top as she tugged at the hem and slide it back and forth between her fingers.
When his hands appeared and grabbed onto hers to lock their fingers together she couldn’t help her eyes jerking up to him again. It wasn’t that she was surprised; she’d sensed his intention and knew it was coming, but it did startle her to be holding his hand for real. It was exactly the same and completely different than every time they’d visited before.
Their eyes locked and their minds connected, just as fully as their hands and, for a second, Darcy felt the weight of the others joining them. The air was heavy with the weight of their focus on the pair of them and tension sizzled in the air around them. Then, as one, the others bestowed their blessing and then melted away. Darcy could taste their joy and acceptance in the back of her mind and made sure to broadcast her gratitude and pleasure back at them.
“I made you food,” she exclaimed suddenly, shattering the emotionally charged moment as she pulled Clint back towards the spot where she’d left the plate of sandwiches.
“You knew I would come.” It wasn’t a question. She released his hands long enough to pull two of the chairs down and set them upright at the table. When he saw what lay on the plate, his eyebrows shot up in pleased surprise. “Are those what I think they are?”
She nodded and grinned at him. “My famous Bacon Avocado Grilled Cheese. Figured you could use some comfort food after your trip.”
He sat down and reached for one of the halves, holding it reverently as he brought it to his face and breathed in its delicious scent. “Holy fuck, Darce, do you know how long it’s been since I actually had anything to eat that wasn’t fast food or prison slop?”
“I do,” she said with a smile as she sat across from him and selected one of the grilled triangles for herself. It had been close to eight years. Eight years since he’d been sentenced and imprisoned for his brother Barney’s crimes. Eight years through which all his freedom had been experienced through the senses of their cluster.
He nodded and then took a bite. His groan of pleasure was positively sinful.
“I told you,” he said, talking as he chewed, but she couldn’t help but find it anything but endearing. “This is like an orgasm in your mouth. Sooooo good. I might have died and gone to taste bud heaven.”
She rolled her eyes and kicked at his shin playfully. “Just eat up and try not to get come all over my chairs.”
He wiggled his eyebrows at her. “No promises,” he said with another satisfied moan.
Darcy nibbled on her half as she watched him eat. He’d finished his first half and then worked his way through two more sandwiches. When he reached for another she slapped his hand away with a teasing scold.
“You’ve had enough. The last one isn’t yours.”
He pouted and she raised an eyebrow in challenge.
“You trying to put yourself into a food coma your first day out? It’d be a shame for you to die from a coronary now.”
His mouth twitched at the corner. “Worth it, though.”
She rolled her eyes again. “Now, Clint, don’t be greedy-“
She finished her half and sucked the grease from her fingertips. His eyes narrowed in on her mouth and she watched his irises dilate.
“I suppose there are other things I’d like to do again now that I have my independence back, you know, before I give up the ghost and kick the bucket from gorging myself on your tasty treats.”
Darcy tipped her head back and laughed bright and free. “Worst line ever,” she gasped as she tried to get enough air.
“I’m a bit rusty, okay,” he chuckled and nudged her back with the toe of his boot under the table. “Give a guy a break.”
“Sure, sure,” she giggled agreeably, “you’re allowed a grace period to get back in the swing of things.”
He watched her face, examining the radiance of her smile and the exuberance dancing in her eyes. Through their link she felt the depth of emotion that swelled in his chest and his appreciation and admiration. The power of it flowed into her like a river of molten chocolate silk, all warm and rich and deep.
Her entire body shivered, and she felt her laughter evaporate in the wake of such intensity.
“Clint,” she gasped and he stood and held his hand out to her.
“Darcy.” His voice was deep and full of all the things he was sharing with her, all the things that he said with his eyes and through their bond.
She took his hand and stood. He was standing so close, she had nowhere to go, but right up against his chest. “As for the next thing I’d like to cross of my bucket list, there’s something I’ve wanted to do for a really, really long time.”
Clint’s hand rose to cup her jaw and her eyes fluttered shut as he let his thumb rub lightly back and forth over the curve of her bottom lip.
“Clint-“ she sighed as he leaned in.
The pressure shifted for a third time and Darcy and Clint both froze.
With a reassuring smile she reached up and pulled his hand from her face and held it in hers as she stepped around him to look at the newcomer.
“Is this him?”
Clint had yet to turn around, but the slightly accented, masculine voice caused a wave of affection and lust in Darcy that he couldn’t help but pick up on, given that he was right next to her and holding her hand.
Darcy reached out with her other hand and Clint felt his world crashing down.
“Yes, Pietro, I want you to meet Clint, another one of my eight.” The words landed like a punch to his solar plexus.
Just another one of her eight. No one special. Just one of the people she was forced into being connected with.
“Clint, this is Pietro, my boyfriend.”
Clint let the word press into him like the slow, fatal kiss of a shiv up under his ribs and into his heart.
“Your boyfriend?”
Darcy looked concerned, a crease forming between her eyebrows as she sensed his distress. “Yeah, we’ve been together for almost four years now. His twin sister works here at the restaurant and introduced us.” She squeezed his hand, attempting to comfort him. “You didn’t know?”
Clint just shook his head, not trusting his voice, as he turned to face the source of his agony.
For eight years, since the rebirth of their cluster as sensates, she’d been the glimmer of light that helped him keep his life from being consumed by the darkness of his life- the betrayal of his brother, his hopelessness in the face of his innocence, the cruelty and constant beat down of prison life. She’d been in his mind almost constantly since the first moment they’d discovered this new thing between them. He’d been her strength and support through her mother’s final months, her comfort and guide after her passing. She’d been the bright pinpoint of joy that had motivated him to keep breathing, keep fighting to live. They’d both been there for the other six, as well, shared and visited and assisted in all the ways they could as they struggled to understand each other and the strange connection they shared, but for him, she had always been something special, something more.
He’d thought she’d felt the same for him.
Sure, he’d felt the echo of her pleasure as she been with other men over the years. She was young and free and he had never really expected her to wait for him to finish his sentence, but this was… What he felt Darcy feeling for this young man was just as deep and real as what she seemed to feel for him.
“I knew there were… I guess we’ve just gotten better at shielding each other out over the years,” he offered as he stood there looking between Darcy and her man. He knew he’d worked extra hard to keep the awful, brutal things that happened to him from her. She couldn’t help but know how he felt about her. Perhaps she’d been shielding as well in a bid to offer him her own brand of protection.
“Oh,” she said, seemingly stunned by the idea. “Well, he knows about everything. He’s even met the others when they’ve come to see me.”
He knew some of the others had had a chance to meet. He’d been visiting Darcy the previous summer when Natasha and Sam had arrived together, and he knew Toni and Steve had both flown in for the opening of the restaurant, Toni with her fiancé Pepper and Steve with his husband Bucky. Thor and Helen hadn’t visited yet, but they were both busy people. Helen had her medical research in South Korea and Thor was always dealing with some disaster or other with his family in Sweden.
“Since he and his sister Wanda are twins he sort of gets it. Not totally, I suppose, but he didn’t look at me like I was crazy when I told him and he’s been a real support for me when things have been difficult.” Darcy said, holding Pietro’s hand and pulling him closer to them.
The smile she bestowed on him made Clint’s gut clench with a sense of irretrievable loss. “That’s great, Darce, really. I’m glad you’ve had someone close to you.” The ‘When I couldn’t be’ went unsaid. He pulled his hand from hers and stepped back. “I should probably go. It’s late and I need to find somewhere to stay that I can actually afford…” he trailed off and the reality of his situation hit him even harder than ever before.
He was an ex-con with no job and no money and no future. He had nothing to offer this beautiful, successful woman. Their lives may be forever interwoven, but he didn’t belong in her world. Not really.
“Nonsense,” Darcy said and stepped closer to him. “You’ll stay with us, I insist.”
Pietro nodded, his face a neutral mask that Clint couldn’t read. He was handsome and lithe with muscle and grace, and his gorgeous blue eyes seemed to be searching for something in Clint from under the soft looking waves of his bleached hair. He looked exactly like the kind of guy Darcy should be with, strong and sexy and young and carefree.
“I couldn’t,” Clint said and looked anxiously towards the door. It had been a mistake to get his hopes up. He never should have come here. He just wanted to get away, to find a bar and get wasted enough to forget how he had hung his future on the one bright line of this girl being his everything while he got his feet under him so that they could continue to be everything to each other and build a life together.
Now that he looked at it, it seemed like such a joke. A not-so-funny one.
“I’ll get out of your hair,” he said and with one last look at the plate and its one remaining sandwich, (it was for Pietro, of course it was), and weaved around her to head for the door.
“Clint, wait,” she called and chased him, her legs shorter, but her desperation driving him just as quickly as his. She reached him as he went for the door handle and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Listen, you stubborn lug,” she said as she pressed her face against his shoulders and held onto him tight.
It felt like she might be the only thing holding him together.
“I’m sorry, Darcy, I can’t-“
“Just listen!” she insisted and slid one of her hands under his leather jacket and his t-shirt to press against the hard ridges of his abdomen.
He couldn’t help but open to her. He wanted nothing in the world so much as he wanted to be open to her always, whether she was his or not, he doubted that fact would ever change.
The rush of memory and emotion transported him out of his body and into a place where he could witness all the things she wanted him to see.
He saw her making up the gift packages of food and treats that she had sent to the prison for him almost every month he’d been inside. He hadn’t ever received them, but it helped to know he’d been in her thoughts that way. (He’d known, he’d always know, really. He’d just momentarily forgotten.)
He saw her crying herself to sleep at night, her grief and frustration to be closer to him, second only to her desire to make him proud by becoming the successful, talented chef he’d always believed she could be. He saw all the times she’d wanted to hop on a plane and fly out to Iowa to visit him, but couldn’t because the business needed her.
He saw her pressing her fingers between her thighs as she reached for him with her mind and her pleasure.
He saw her laughing with a beautiful young woman, her hair dark and her eyes green and flashing, saw her meeting Pietro and got the reader’s digest fast forward version of his pursuit of Darcy. Saw how Darcy tried to keep her distance, despite his persistence.
He heard her explain to him about her connection to the others, and saw Pietro’s instant acceptance.
He heard her as she told him of her eight, and especially of her Clint.
He listened as she told Pietro that she couldn’t promise him forever, that she was already waiting for her Clint.
She showed him Pietro’s acceptance and kindness and the way she’d fallen for him, despite her best efforts.
She showed him the compromise they’d made, the pact they’d agreed to, and her promise to give him what time she could if he promised to step aside when the time came.
He understood the moment that she had felt his attraction to one of the guards, a kind eyed man with a dry-humor and a lean, muscled frame that had helped Clint stay alive a time or two.
He recalled the many conversations they’d had over the years about their sexuality and what they liked.
He took it all in and realized what it was she was trying to say.
He comprehended what she wanted for them.
She loved him. Had for years, and wanted to be with him always. She also loved Pietro, couldn’t help but love the man who had given everything to her, been everything for her that Clint couldn’t. He was selfless and caring, and passionate and full of life and the drive to be happy and make others around him happy as well. She knew that the two of them would be amazing together, once they were finally free to do so, but she’d discovered another piece to their puzzle. She’d found a treasure, unsought, and she hoped he would want to share it with her, as they’d shared so many things. She wanted Pietro to be to Clint what he’d been to her.
She wanted the three of them to be an even better everything.
He gasped and gripped her hands holding them to his torso.
“Holy shit, Darce.”
“I know, right?”
He pulled her limbs away and turned to face the other two. Pietro was looking at them as if they had just laid a perfect pair of golden eggs.
“That was-“ Unsurprisingly, Pietro couldn’t find the words. They’d never been able to, so that was nothing new to them.
“I know, right?” Darcy said again and looked back and forth between the two of them. “So what do you say, Barton? You want to come back over here and try this again?”
“I promise not to bite,” Pietro said with his hand outstretched to the both of them. “Not unless you’re into that sort of thing,” he added with a cocky smirk that did things to him that he could feel echoed in Darcy.
“Will you let me introduce you properly?” she pleaded.
He smiled, and she knew his answer.