The Play.
Steve Rogers was jealous. He was sprawled out on Darcy's bed watching her flit about the room, putting finishing touches on her outfit for the evening, and he was fucking jealous. Loki had asked her out the previous day in the most ostentatious way possible, and Steve was worried he had missed his shot. Not that he knew he really wanted a shot in the first place, he thought she would be better off without him. But he also hated this nauseous, sickly feeling he got in the pit of his stomach whenever he thought about another man being with her. And for once in his life Steve decided to do the selfish thing, “Darce, don’t go, I mean c’mon who will cook dinner for me? I don’t think Tony would appreciate me setting off the fire alarm again”.
Darcy paused for a minute, he could see her reflection in the mirror close its eyes in a grimace, “Stevie, you’ll be fine. Just order in like the rest of us. I’m actually really excited for this date. I mean, do you know how long it’s been since the lady cave has been in business? Do you? Too long, Steve-O. It has been way too long”.
Steve sighed. He knew she wouldn’t stay in. After all she had been complaining of feeling lonely for quite some time. He had initially thought she had been trying to hint that she wanted him to ask her out, but he quickly talked himself out of that delusion. It’s not like she acted interested in any other way, and if he had been wrong in that initial assumption then their entire friendship could have been ruined.
Darcy Lewis was nervous. She had spent the better part of the last two hours getting ready for a date she didn’t really want to go on, while the guy she actually wanted to make time with sat on her bed looking glum. She tried to ignore the feelings of guilt that bit at her whenever she thought about leaving him behind, he was not her boyfriend and she needed to get that through her head. Risking a brief glance over at him as she put her earrings in, she saw him pause, then screw his face up in determination and finally heard his plea, “Darce, don’t go, I mean c’mon who will cook dinner for me? I don’t think Tony would appreciate me setting off the fire alarm again”. She closed her eyes. God how she wished he actually meant those words. But Darcy just wasn’t the sort of girl the great Captain America would go out with. Steve belonged with someone like Natasha, who was beautiful and deadly, not her.
Opening her eyes she breathed out once, then said in a tone that brokered no argument, “Stevie, you’ll be fine. Just order in like the rest of us. I’m actually really excited for this date. I mean, do you know how long it’s been since the lady cave has been in business? Do you? Too long, Steve-O. It has been way too long”. Darcy saw a brief flash of something like disappointment, but knew it was likely only for him missing out on a night of her legendary meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Turning to him with a hand on her hip she struck (what she hoped) was a pose straight out of those pin ups Steve always pretended he hadn't owned in the forties, “Now come on, tell me how beautiful I look”. Steve looked her up and down, stopping at her face, “You look beautiful Darcy” he said in a way that spoke of utter heartbreak. She even thought she could see the shimmer of tears in his eyes, her dinners weren’t that good were they? Just then her phone buzzed, she picked it up and read the message, laughing upon its completion, “Well man, how do you feel about coming with me? Loki had to ditch, the little shit”.
Loki didn’t really have to cancel. That had never been part of his plan. Initially he had intended to take Darcy out and give her a wonderful evening all while making The Good Captain realise exactly what he was letting slip through his patriotic fingers. However upon seeing the increasingly dejected way The Captain had been acting over the course of the day Loki had changed track. No, Loki did not care for The Captain, that would be ridiculous. He didn’t admire his courage, or unwavering loyalty, or the way he was one of the only Avengers to give him a second chance. He just didn’t want the leader of this inane team that he was forced into joining to do anything reckless in the field, which he might do if his personal life was not going well. So Loki cancelled, close enough to 7 that he knew Darcy would be ready, and force The Captain himself into going with her. Hopefully a romantic dinner at Jean-Georges would be enough to push those two idiots together.