Mate
She hears a lot about the super soldier duo, but when Darcy moves into the Tower with Jane, Steve and Bucky are apparently at Tony’s place in Malibu with a whole slew of doctors and therapists. When Tony mentions they’re coming back, Darcy almost panics. She has her people, she has her hoard, and she’s worried what kind of disruption they’ll be. Then they walk through the door to the common room and Darcy’s world tilts, every instinct in her screaming Hoard, Mine, Mate so loudly that she panics.
She flees and uses a sat link she shouldn’t have to video call her brother.
He answers within seconds. “D?”
She bites her lip, too-sharp teeth drawing blood.
Jake looks worried. “Darcy, seriously, what’s wrong?”
“If it felt anything like this for you… I am so sorry for any shit I ever gave you about your Shifter.”
Her brother’s expression softens. “You found your Mate.”
Darcy nods.
Jake’s head tilts. “Who?”
Darcy grimaces. “I don’t know.”
An eyebrow raises over the rims of his glasses.
“Two guys walked into the room at the exact same time.”
Jake waggles his eyebrows with a lecherous grin. “Maybe it’s both.”
“I fucking hate you.”
She can’t bring herself to talk to either of them, but she immediately includes them in her hoard, which basically equates to a constant awareness of where they are and feeding them. When she realizes that Steve dresses like a grandpa and Bucky dresses like a hobo, she goes on a shopping spree, then breaks into their apartment. Tony is only too happy to help her burn all their old clothes. Both men shuffle around the Tower awkwardly for days after, but they’re much better dressed. Natasha eyes Darcy shrewdly, but never says anything.
Darcy nearly leaps out of her skin when Bucky manages to sneak up on her. “Why’d you do it?”
“How the hell are you so quie-” Darcy stops and blinks, actually looking at him, past the pretty surface, for the first time. “Holy shit! You’re a Wraith!”
Bucky goes very still, and briefly blurs around the edges.
Darcy forgets her wariness and moves right up into his space, poking and prodding. “Your control is incredible!”
He blurs a bit more and grabs her hands, trapping them against his chest. “Doll, if you have any self regard, you might wanna stop that.”
Darcy snorts. “You don’t scare me.”
“I should.”
She tilts her head, slowly becoming aware of their proximity, the instinct in her gut screaming Mate returning with a vengeance.
“Why don’t I?”
“You would never hurt me,” she says with sudden confidence. “How bad did they scramble your brains?”
He stiffens, then flees.
Darcy finds him in one of the gyms almost two hours later. “I didn’t mean it like that, tesoro.”
Bucky startles.
Darcy steps toward him, but not into his space. “I just meant that you should be able to recognize what I am. If you could, you would know that you couldn’t hurt me even if you wanted to… and I don't think you want to.”
After the confrontation with Bucky, Darcy decides to get the other half of it over with. She bustles Bucky up to her apartment and bundles him onto her couch with a plate of brownies, a giant mug of hot cocoa, and Recess reruns, then hunts Steve down. She finds him on the roof, sketching the eastern skyline. She just watches him momentarily, taking in his relaxed posture and his intense focus on the page.
“I don’t bite if you want to come closer,” Steve tells her, voice warm and happy.
Darcy chuckles. “What if I do?”
Steve shrugs. “Could be fun.”
Darcy throws her head back and laughs. “Alright, golden boy, has Tony heard you talk like that?”
He smirks. “Not yet.”
“I wanna be there when he does.”
Steve nods agreeably.
Darcy perches on the arm of his chair. “You’re good at that.”
He glances down at his sketch and shrugs. “Just helps me relax.”
Comfortable silence reigns between them.
Eventually, without looking up from his sketch pad, Steve speaks again, quietly. “Not that I mind the company, but is there something I can help you with?”
Darcy leans a little more heavily against his shoulder. “Can’t figure you out.”
“Maybe there’s nothing to figure out.”
Darcy rolls her eyes. “No.”
He laughs and shakes his head. “No…”
She nods. “Didn’t think so. What are you?”
Steve tilts his head back, looking up at her curiously.
She shrugs. “It’s rare, almost unheard of, for me to come across something I can’t recognize. Wraiths usually tend to run in packs, so with as close as you are to Bucky, that would be my first guess, but you’re too warm to be a Wraith.”
Steve goes very still, and he sets his sketch pad aside, turning in his chair enough to actually look at her. His eyes glow - practically liquid gold. “Oh. You’re-”
“Yeah.”
“Your kind are rare these days.”
Her throat catches, eyes dimming with memory, mind flashing back to the days, so long ago, when her kind were hunted to near extinction, but eventually she manages a nod.
"My kind are even harder to find than yours," he tells her quietly.
She cocks her head. “There are not many creatures I don’t know, and I can’t peg you at all.”
He’s quiet for a long moment, just looking out over the city. “Do you know the mythology of Talos?”
“Hephaestus’ automaton. Gifted to Zues, then to Europa to defend Crete. Eventually defeated by Medea.”
Steve nods slowly. “Talos was not one creation. The Talos were Hephaestus’ own race.”
Darcy blinks. “I’ve been around a long time. A very long time. I saw Crete in the days of Talos. And I never heard even a whisper of more than the guardian of Crete.”
“They were a very closely guarded secret. The blood of the gods was, and still is, very valuable. A whole race of not-quite-living creatures walking the earth filled with it?”
Darcy shrugs. “I see your point.”
Steve’s lips twist wryly. “But?”
Darcy full on pouts. “But I consider that crazy bastard a friend. Why wouldn’t he tell me about his kids?!”
Steve’s jaw drops. “You’re friends with Hephaestus?”
“We were until he tried to kill Tony.” Darcy scrunches her nose. “Though to be fair, I guess he did apologize for that.”
Steve shakes his head and chuckles. “You’re a wonder, Darcy.”
He reaches up and grasps her hand and the same instinct of Mate rears its possessive head again. Darcy huffs, actually exhaling a bit of smoke.
Steve’s brow wrinkles in concern. “Are you okay?”
Darcy nods tightly. “Just fighting centuries of biological instinct.”
He cocks his head.
She shakes hers. “Please don’t ask.”
“Okay.”
“Just like that?”
He shrugs. “Have you met Bucky? I’ve kinda learned how and when not to push.”
Darcy smiles. “Yeah, actually, Bucky is sitting on my couch with brownies and hot cocoa watching cartoons.” She stands and holds a hand out. “Wanna join us?”
Steve grins back. “How could I say no to that?”