Darcy/Steve 10
“You’re serious right now?” Darcy stared over at the smirking redhead who had her arms folded in front of her, a very knowing look in her eyes. “You’re actually serious right now?”
“What?” Nat gave her a look that was entirely too innocent. “You’re the one who wanted to trade favors.”
“Last time I ask you for a favor!” Darcy was just trying to figure out if she could make a quick getaway before he actually noticed her when Steve looked over, giving her a ridiculously nice smile, no trace of awkwardness from The Incident on his face. “Why the fuck is Steve even doing this? Don’t we have a whole Logistics Division?”
“Contrivance.” A look over showed Nat was nodding, a completely unrepentant look on her face. “You two need to get your shit sorted, and this… Well, other than locking you two in a closet, this seemed like the best way to get it done.
“Huh.” Darcy looked back over at the black SHIELD SUV that Steve was sitting in the driver’s seat of.
“And that’s the next step if you don’t do this.” Nat’s tone was so matter-of-fact that Darcy had absolutely no doubt that it was the next step. And if anyone could pull it off, it was Nat.
“Right. Thanks.”
“You can thank me later. Just…” Darcy could hear the smirk in Nat’s voice. “Maybe after a shower.”
Sighing, Darcy made her way over to the SUV. She opened the door and got into the passenger side, setting her large tote-bag-slash-purse down on the floor between her seat.
“Hey,” Steve greeted as she buckled herself in. He looked over with that easy smile before returning his attention to actually driving. The vehicle was already running and he eased it forward, turning to guide it out of the garage.
“Hi.” She turned to look out of her window as he pulled out the garage and onto the basic road that would take them out to the highway. She was silent for a little bit, but the quiet in the car seemed more and more oppressive with every second. “Look, I’m sorry I, um… Interrupted you.” She winced. “And also stared. That was…” She sighed, shaking her head and still refusing to look at him. “Not my finest moment.” To be entirely honest, she’d been afraid of being fired for sexual harassment or something.
“Well…” He was quiet for a few seconds, prompting Darcy to look over and see that his cheeks had gone sort of a pink color and he was staring very studiously at the road. “I probably should have waited until I was somewhere a little more private.”
Darcy nodded. That was definitely a thing that should have happened. Not that she was judging him for taking some alone time, most people enjoyed that sort of thing and she was fairly certain Steve wasn’t actually getting laid. But… Maybe the pool deck wasn’t the best place? “Well, it wasn’t like you normally expect people to be up and about at 2:00 in the morning.”
Steve made an agreement kind of noise, and then the inside of the vehicle was quiet again for a while.
She watched the trees speed by as Steve drove along the highway towards the nearest actual town. The silence wasn’t exactly comfortable, but it was easier than it had been when she’d gotten into the SUV, and certainly easier than the last week of totally avoiding him had been. “What did Nat do to get you to agree?”
He laughed, and she felt the last of the tension fading away. “Told me she’d lock us in a closet together.” He paused for a second. “I’m pretty sure she was serious.”
“Yeah, me too.” She nodded again, her eyes sliding over the dark green that bordered the road.
“Look, do you wanna… Grab dinner? We’re going to be out anyway.” She looked over to see he was staring intently out the windshield, the hand on top of the steering wheel gripping so tightly that his knuckles were beginning to turn white.
She smiled a little. “Yeah. That’s, um… Yeah.”