manual drip | coffee shop au
Darcy stared enviously as Wanda smiled shyly at the handsome British exchange student, jamming an elbow into Pietro’s gut when he started muttering darkly under his breath.
“That hurt,” he whined, before flinching back under the force of her glare.
“You mess things up with Wanda and Vision, and I’ll personally see that you end up on toilet cleaning duty for the next month,” she hissed, smirking when he paled a little. “I’ve invested way too much into this relationship to see it fail because of some misguided societal bullshit about protecting a woman’s virtue. Stay out of it!”
“Y-yes, boss!” Pietro nodded quickly, and sent one last scowl towards the pair before scurrying back to the cash register.
“A little harsh on him, aren’t you Darcy-doll?”
“Please, I pay him,” she said airily, winking as blue eyes crinkled up into a smile. “Or more accurately, Bruce does – besides, a healthy dose of fear never hurt anyone.”
Bucky laughed, grinning as she slid the cup of manual drip coffee in front of him, neatly placing a plate of blueberry scones at its side. “Don’t let Steve hear you say that,” he said slyly, his smile turning into a smirk. “He likes his women brunette and mouthy.”
Her glare lost its effect as she felt the flush climb up the side of her neck. “Goddammit, Barnes,” she muttered, and when she couldn’t look him in the eye he chuckled.
“There’s a running pool on when the two of you get your acts together,” Bucky drawled, the smile tugging on his lips as he watched her clean the espresso machine with a little more force than necessary. “Clint lost already, but he was being optimistic – a month was a little fast, especially with the punk’s track record, but Tasha thinks you’ll end up making the first move from, and I quote, ‘sheer sexual frustration.’ ”
“Have you seen those shirts he wears?” Darcy groaned, too mortified to look up just yet. “I can’t even look at him – all I want to do is climb him like a goddamn tree, for fuck’s sake.”
Bucky snickered. “Yeah, well, Tony’s got money on never, considering how the punk couldn’t even look you in the eye for a good three weeks – ”
“Never? Really?” a familiar voice interrupted, and Darcy’s head snapped up, her eyes widening. Steve sat in front of her, large hands folded on the countertop, and she couldn’t help but let her mouth snap shut, her ears burning. She cast a pleading look at Bucky, who merely sent her a shit-eating grin that had her swearing revenge.
After, of course, she crawled into the nearest barrel of coffee beans and died of embarrassment.
She slowly turned back to Steve, his blue eyes intense as she ducked her head shyly. Without looking away from her, he asked, “Who has money on four months?”
“Sam, I think, why?” Bucky looked between the two of them, eyes widening as something clicked in his brain, and he said, “Whoa, whoa, let’s not get any ideas just yet, six months is a nice, round number – ”
“Darcy, would you like to get dinner together sometime?” Steve interrupted with a beatific smile, and Bucky swore.
Darcy blinked, her mouth opening and closing wordlessly for so long that Steve started to lose his smile, but Bucky reached across the bar counter and poked her in the shoulder. “Oi, Lewis! Breathe, for god’s sake, don’t die on us here.”
“Yes,” she wheezed, laughing a little in disbelief, and nodded furiously as a ridiculously large smile started growing on her face. “Oh god, yes, yes, yes – ”
“You sound like he just proposed or something,” Bucky muttered, and Darcy sent him a glare that had as much of an effect as an angry kitten.
Steve laughed a little. “Not yet, anyways,” he said with a wink, and Darcy turned bright red as Bucky started snickering again.