Peace offerings
:-:-:-:
They spent almost three hours in the kitchen area of the Common room. Darcy cracked eggs, working around Bucky while he was tasked with mixing the dough as she added ingredient after ingredient.
Now and then someone came in, pausing in whatever they were doing as they took in the odd pair.
Natasha stayed the longest, she had seated herself in front of the TV seemingly watching a sitcom. Of course Bucky knew that her attention was completely on them but Darcy didn't seem to notice or just didn't mind so he chose to ignore it as well. Just enjoying his current activity with her.
Sam had walked in and out a couple of times. Giving Bucky a knowing look as he poured himself a glass of orange juice but other than that keeping his mouth shut.
Bucky was glad that neither Steve nor Stark walked in during their baking session.
Steve would probably confront him in their shared apartment afterwards wanting to know everything and if Stark saw him, apron and all he probably wouldn't hear the end of it.
And yes he was wearing an apron. Just like Darcy. She had insisted that it was essential for a good baking session or else “the cake would taste horribly bad" as she had put it.
Bucky suspected she just really wanted to see him in an apron since her reasoning was utter bullshit and she had presented it as such with a wide grin but he didn't mind.
Not when her eyes flashed with amusement and joy when she looked at him.
:-:-:-:
“I like your new haircut.” Darcy said so softly that she wasn't sure he had heard it until she felt Bucky stiffening beside her. She gave him a side glance as she sorted the dirty baking supplies into the dishwasher. “It suits you.”
When she looked up at him she saw his brow furrow slightly and she gave him a warm smile.
“Thank you.” he muttered, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
“Just facts.” she grinned at him. “I'm sorry for the sitch in Brucie’s..I realize it must've come off differently. I hope you didn't think I was scared of you. I was just surprised to see you there and kind of...panicked?”
Darcy tried to make eye-contact but as soon as she did the ex-assassin dropped his gaze and cleared his throat before speaking.
“Why did you panic?”
He looked up at her again and it took everything in Darcy to not hug him in a blanket and never let him go. The clear confusion in his eyes making her heart ache. But she also saw a slight glint of curiosity and...hope ?
“I didn't panic because I was scared that it was you I just- urgh.” she huffed in exasperation and Bucky watched her silently, waiting for her to elaborate.
“I can’t really explain it but it’s not your fault, okay? At least not really. You did nothing wrong, okay?”
Bucky gave her a questioning look but she evaded his eyes.
“Well look at our baby.” She clapped her hands,quickly trying to change the topic and looked at the finished cake.
“We're a good Team, Barnes.” she sighed and gave him a smile. Lifting a fist.
He chuckled and bumped his own fist (flesh hand of course) with hers.
“You can call me Bucky...or James.”, he said with a smile.
Darcy’s eyes brightened at his offer and she smiled at him. “Okay! Then it’s Darcy for you as well. I mean we bonded.”
She took her apron off and Bucky followed her example. Handing it to her when she outstretched her arm to put them away.
They looked at the cake again.
“And now?” Bucky asked, unsure of what came next.
“We have to hide it from Bruce till tomorrow.” During their baking session she had explained to him that it was a celebration cake for one of the scientist’s breakthroughs a few weeks ago.
Of course Darcy wasn’t aware that the ex-assassin had heard that exact conversation while eavesdropping on her.
She turned to him with a bright smile on her face. “Will you be able to give it to him with me tomorrow?” she asked, hoping he’d say yes even though she tried to seem casual about it.
Bucky furrowed his eyebrows while contemplating - a look she had already gotten used to seeing and found kind of adorable- before he spoke softly: “I’m gonna be on a mission with Steve and Nat. I’ve started going out on the field again a few weeks ago.”
“Oh.” Darcy breathed and Bucky’s eyes dropped to her lips before quickly returning to her eyes.
“I’m sorry.” he said softly, his eyes actually looking apologetic.
“Oh no no, it’s fine! Don’t worry. That’s good, that’s great! I’m glad you’re active.” Darcy started as she frantically waved her hands and tried her best not to sound disappointed and she was pretty sure she failed miserably but still hoped Bucky wouldn’t catch on.”Well, I mean I wish you didn’t have to do that because you know fighting and all that but I’m glad that you’re going out with the others. Team-bonding and everything. I’m rambling. What I’m trying to say is, it’s-”
“good.” Bucky finished for her.
“Yeah.” she said softly. Darcy realized she kept staring at him and mentally slapped herself before slightly turning away from him to look at the cake again. “Uh, let’s just put this in the fridge and I’ll give it to Brucie tomorrow. Don’t worry I won’t take all the fame I’ll tell him you were my partner in crime.” she winked at him.
:-:-:-:
“God, Darcy! It’s been hours, didn’t you say you just wanted to get some snacks from the Common Room?” Jane whined when Darcy stepped back into the lab at four pm, then looked down at the empty hands of her friend. “You didn’t even bring snacks.”
Darcy laughed at Jane’s disappointed expression. The scientist usually snacked on something while doing her work, so much that Darcy had even started preparing vegetables now and then to keep Jane from excessively eating all those sugary goods. She had told Jane it was for her own good but of course both of them knew that Darcy only wanted to keep the sweets for herself.
(“You keep eating my favorite ones!” “Darcy, I’m just randomly eating all of them, I’m not that picky.” “That’s even worse!”)
“I’m sorry, Janey. You can cut it off my salary. Or let me work over-time. Which we always do by the way.”
Jane huffed in annoyance. “You’re avoiding the subject at hand, Darcy. Where were you?”
Darcy walked towards her friend with a slight bounce in her step before throwing an arm around her shoulder. “Let’s just say that ‘Mission: Hot Soft Soldier-Boy’ is finally going well.”
The astrophysicist raised her eyebrows in surprise before lowering one of them to send her friend a teasing look. “So you did change the name now, huh?”
Darcy rolled her eyes at her friend and removed her arm from the other woman. “You’re such a bitch.”
Jane only chuckled as she went to the coffee machine to pour herself another cup of the black liquid.
“Okay, so what happened? Did you two stare at each other naked for the past three hours?”
This time Darcy didn’t roll her eyes but instead started laughing. “I wish! No, that’s for Phase 6. Well Phase 6 involves less staring and more touching, but staring will definitely be a part of it.”
“Eww.”
“You asked for it. Anyways, we bonded.” Darcy stated, putting imaginary sunglasses on while leaning back on the table opposite from Jane.
“How?”
“We made a cake.”
“That sounds way too sexual in my head right now.” Jane commented while raising her cup to her lips.
“Because your mind is dirty. I’m slowly starting to think you absorbed a part of myself. I think we should hangout less.”
“You work for me.” the astrophysicist deadpanned after taking a few sips.
“I can change that. I’m pretty sure Brucie would take me full time without a second thought.” Darcy shot Jane a daring look. “Don’t say anything.”
Her friend raised her hands in defense. “This time it was your mind, not mine.”
The younger woman huffed before smiling slightly. “Anyways. It’s going well and that’s all you need to know for now.”
:-:-:-:
“God, they’re so slow.” Clint huffed in annoyance.
“You were just stupid to place your bet so short.” Natasha commented as she sat down on the couch and layed her legs on Clints lap.
They were currently sitting in the Common Room of the building, every member of the team except for Steve and Bucky was present.
“I just really want to drag Cap into this. Really wanna know what he’d think about all this.” Tony said with a smirk on his face.
“Pretty sure he’d jump right in. He’s more excited about this than all of us combined.” Sam replied from his seat on the Ottoman.
Rhodey chuckled slightly as he took a sip from his glass. “Gotta ask him to join after the mission.”
“Anyways, what I’m really interested in is: Why the hell was Barnes in you lab?” Tony inquired as he turned to Bruce who was comfortably slurping on the smoothie Darcy had given him. She had practically shoved it in his face when he had peeked into Jane Foster’s lab to say his goodbyes before coming to the Common Room.
The man in question only shrugged his shoulders to which Tony squinted his eyes in suspicion but said no more. He knew Banner wouldn’t crush under his requests, even if he annoyed the hell out of him for it.
“Okay, okay. Whatever. Any news on Barnes’ secret admirer?” he asked into the round instead.
Sam and Natasha shared a knowing look before putting on their best poker-faces.
The billionaire huffed in annoyance. “You’re no fun, guys.”
Wanda who had been silent for the entire time of the ongoing conversation spoke softly. “Secret Admirer?”
“Someone has been sending Mr. Barnes boxes filled with baked goods for quite a while now. Usually under the initials H.G.” Vision explained to her.
“I see.” the brunette said before glancing at the only other woman in the room, who gave her a knowing smirk in return.
:-:-:-:
Darcy was feeling...well.
The day had started nicely, she’d woken up without a problem (which really meant something since she’s never been a morning person) and had even been able to prepare coffee and tidy the lab before Jane had even set foot in it. Her friend had actually examined her to make sure she was the real Darcy.
Even FRIDAY had been involved and asked to confirm that Darcy was in fact Darcy.
It had been pretty early so Darcy had excused her friend’s confusion to the lack of caffeine in her body.
The day had been quite normal. Taylor had peeked in around noon with a box of donuts that now was half empty and sitting on the table next to the coffee machine.
Jane had suggested to bring it up to the Common Room for the others to enjoy but Darcy refused to give any of her sugary goods and sins to Clint Barton.
(“Fight me, Jane!” “Darcy, calm down it was only a suggestion.” “We will not have it!”)
It was around four pm when Darcy decided to finally bring the celebration cake to Banner’s lab.
She had checked up on him - just peeking her head in shouting a few words and leaving quickly “Bruce, you good?” “I’m good.”) - but hadn’t really set foot into the lab, not wanting to annoy the scientist. There was plenty of time for that after bringing the cake.
Darcy was currently balancing the cake on both of her hands, mentally thanking Tony for inventing FRIDAY as the AI opened every single door for her without even having to speak.
“Hey Hourglass!” Darcy smiled at Sam’s nickname for her but quickly put on her poker-face when he was close enough to see her expression.
“What did I tell you about the nickname, Sam?” she asked fake taunting him.
“That you love it?” he gave her a giant grin as she rolled her eyes. They were standing at the hallway in front of the elevator and Darcy once again thanked FRIDAY for being the friend that she was as the AI opened the door.
“Can I help with that?”
“Nah, we good. I think handing it over is a bigger risk than me holding it. Besides it’s not that big and I’m almost there.” Darcy replied with a soft smile at him. Sam had always been very helpful and kind towards her and the occasional teasing had just been the cherry on top for their friendship to bloom.
“Is it for Banner?” Sam asked as they stepped into the elevator.
Darcy nodded. “How did you know?”
“I figured.” Sam studied her for a few seconds before smirking at her in his usual manner. “Besides someone told me as well.”
“Huh.” was all that came out of Darcy’s mouth. She figured that Bucky talked to Sam but she hadn’t been sure to which extent since she hadn’t really seen the depth of their friendship. Granted she hadn’t seen much of Barnes, since it had seemed like he had avoided her for quite some time. But maybe it hadn’t just been her, but people in general.
Darcy put her thoughts to the side when Sam spoke again.
“Will we get anything from that cake as well?”
She grinned at him.
“That’s Bruce’s decision.”
:-:-:-:
“I come with a peace offering!” Darcy practically shouted as she entered the room. It even made Bruce jump slightly in surprise.
“We’re not at war, Darcy?” the scientist commented in confusion.
“Let me live, Brucie. I just wanted to say something dramatic.” the young woman said as she placed her “peace offering” on the table in front of him. “Happy Science-ing, Bruce!”
The scientist chuckled as he took in the cake before he looked up at the woman presenting it.
“You really mean what you say, huh?”
Darcy nodded at him and they smiled at each other before she walked back to the counter to get the plates as well as two forks and a knife.
“You should know me by now.” she replied with a grin, offering him the knife.
He held right hand up as he searched for his phone in his jacket.
“Let me just take a picture real quick.” he said and saw how her eyes lit up in excitement.
When they finally digged into the cake, they were seated comfortable at the table in the middle of the room. Darcy was softly turning in her chair as she took her first bite.
Bruce complimented her on her baking skills as he swallowed his first bite.
“Bucky helped.” she said melodically. “It wasn’t me alone.”
The scientist nodded at this. He had already concluded that when he had thought about the little meeting with the avengers last evening. “I see.” he said with a smile. “I’ll make sure to thank him when he’s back. Speaking of Barnes; how is your mission going?”
Darcy’s eyes lit up when he opened the subject for her, it was his way of showing that he was genuinely interested in the things she told him. And Bruce really was. He enjoyed his time with her.
She had treated him normally from the first day on. At first her close proximity to him had shocked him but he had soon gotten used to it and had actually been thankful for the way she had treated him.
Though she was a very good talker, she had turned out to be just as good at listening to whatever he had to say. And even though his field of work wasn’t really what she was into she always showed genuine interest and tried to understand what he was talking about. Of course she cracked a joke here and then but that was exactly what he liked about her.
“Oh, Brucie! I haven’t been able to update you in awhile. Do you have time?”
The scientist nodded at her as he took another bite.
“Okay I’ll try to keep it short but the mission has been renamed. It is now ‘Mission: Take me now! Soft hot Soldier-boy’”
Bruce choked as he tried to hold back his laughter and Darcy gently hit him on the back.
“Remember when I peeked in and he was inside? By the way you still need to tell me why exactly he was here but that’s for another time. Anyways, I was so surprised to see him with that haircut. I actually still haven’t recovered completely but yeah. I am a changed woman."
:-:-:-:
Bucky was glad that he was on a mission. Even though he was slightly regretting not being able to present the cake to the kind scientist.
He had to admit. He was pretty proud of the result. Sure Darcy had done most of it but she insisted that she couldn't have done it without him.
(“Besides cleaning is also essential for our creative minds to function properly and you did a wonderful job.”)
But mainly because he would've been able to spend a little more time with the bright assistant who was occupying his mind more than he'd like to admit. Especially since their baking session two days ago.
Steve and him were currently waiting for Natasha to return to them at their planned rendezvous. So far the mission had been a success but the last steps were always the riskiest and most nerve-wrecking. Bucky was just glad he hadn't been forced to kill anyone, he usually just incapacitated them, scared he might lose control otherwise. Steve assured him that he was more in control than Bucky thought and that the “Asset" wasn't part of him anymore. But of course Steve wouldn't argue with his no-kill policy.
Natasha might've been a little different about thar but that was why he didn't really talk to her about it. At least not that often. He was sure there'd come a moment where he eventually would be forced to take someone down in a different way.
But he didn't like thinking about it.
“You okay, Buck?” he heard Steve checking on him quietly.
Bucky’s eyes snapped up at him and he nodded at his friend with a small smile.
“I heard you got a little closer to a certain assistant the other day.”
Bucky huffed and rolled his eyes before checking the perimeter again. They were currently seated at a cafe with their backs to each other, it was quite a popular place so it wasn't hard for them to blend in.
“I don't think it's the time for that, Steve.” he almost hissed at his friend.
“Well for you it's never the time for that so I thought my chances were best here.”
Bucky heard the slight amusement in the other man's voice.
“Cause I can't run away, punk?”
Steve didn't reply but he saw the blond man shrugging his shoulders from the corner of his eye.
“So?” Steve asked when Bucky didn't answer.
“I spent a little bit of time with her.”
“A little bit? I heard it was more like a couple of hours.”
“Why are you even asking me if you know it so much better?” Bucky snapped jokingly.
“Yeah okay sorry. So what did you do ?”
“We baked.” Bucky shifted in his seat as he casually let his eyes wander around the little store while taking a sip from his cup.
“You baked ?” Steve definitely sounded surprised and Bucky couldn't blame him. Cooking might've been something he could see Bucky do, as he had occasionally prepared something for them back in the day. But baking ? Had never really been an option.
“Yeah. It kinda happened. I dropped her cake in the Common Room.”
Bucky heard his friend chuckle behind him and couldn't help but smile.
“So she forced you to help make up for it ? Sounds like her. Was she mad?”
Bucky was aware that his growing smile might be a little suspicious and faked a cough to cover his mouth.
“Less forced and more suggested. And no she was not. Luckily.”
“If you teenagers are done talking about your love lives I'd suggest we leave.” came Natasha’s voice in the com-link.
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