steve/darcy/bucky, next-door neighbors AU
"Son of a bi--bad person!" Darcy cursed, stomping her foot on the linoleum of her apartment's kitchen floor. She glanced at the wall clock; it was 10:15pm, which meant the bus that ran to the 24-hour grocery would stop running in 15 minutes, aka not enough time to make it to buy a bag of sugar and back. A cab was an option, but that would cost at least $15, and Darcy was the epitome of broke college student. "And this would all be solved if Mom would have let me have the damn car," she muttered to herself as she ran a floury hand through her hair. "Why did I volunteer to make cookies again?"
Just then, a thump drew her eyes to the ceiling, and she was reminded of the two hot guys that had just moved in upstairs. They'd exchanged quick waves and smiles while they were moving in, but Darcy didn't even know their names. She glanced at her stand mixer, then back at the ceiling, gnawing on her bottom lip. "Everyone has sugar in their kitchen, right? Even really, really ridiculously good-looking college guys who might or might not be gay."
Darcy took a deep breath, steeled her nerves, and grabbed a glass measuring cup and her keys. "Okay, girl, you can do this. Just a cup of sugar," she said as she locked her door and marched up the stairs. "No big deal," she continued. "Just knock and--"
She was cut off when the door opened just as she raised her fist to knock. The man was taller than her, but not what she would call 'tall,' with tousled dark hair and gorgeous blue eyes. The two-day scruff on his face couldn't disguise his kissable lips and the cleft in his chin. She thought he was John or James. "Hi," she offered, feeling super lame. "Can I borrow a cup of sugar?"
He grinned, showing off slightly crooked teeth that somehow made him more attractive for not being so perfect. "Sugar, huh? You got a candid camera somewhere around?" he asked, making a show of peering around her.
"No," Darcy said, arching her eyebrows at him. "I'm in the middle of baking cookies, and ran out of sugar."
He blinked, confused. "Wait, really?"
"Yes, really," she said, unable to hide her sarcasm.
"Huh. Thought that was just a thing that happened in pornos. Come in, come in," he said, backing away and waving her into the apartment when she gawked at him from the hallway. "Hey, Steve!" he called. "Some hot girl wants some sugar!"
James--it was James, she remembered that now--bent over almost double laughing when his statement was met with a squawk of confusion and a thump as someone--presumably Steve--fell. A blond head poked out of the doorway into the hallway close to floor level, and goddamn, Steve was even better looking than James. "Buck, what the--oh, hi!" He disappeared back into the room, then reappeared, straightening his teeshirt and blushing. "Um, sorry about Bucky, he's kind of an ass," Steve said, shooting his friend a dirty look. "I'm Steve," he said, offering her a hand.
Darcy tucked her measuring cup under her arm and shook his hand. "Darcy, Darcy Lewis, 3A, just downstairs. So, um, do you guys have sugar? I'm baking cookies for my class tomorrow--"
"Yes, yes we do," James interrupted, nudging Steve out of the way with his hip, and offering her his hand. "James, but the big idiot insists on calling me Bucky, because he's a big idiot," he said. James' hand was warm, and he dragged a calloused finger lightly across her palm when he pulled back. "You want sugar, we have sugar."
Darcy swallowed hard. "I'm sure you do," she said, feeling breathless all of a sudden.