A night alone
“You know what, handsome?” Darcy picked on her food before looking at Bucky who was silently watching her. Her nicknames still surprised him now and then but he was slowly getting used to it. After all she was like that with everyone. Which didn’t help his wishful brain from interpreting things a little differently.
“I’ve been thinking. Since it’s the last day before Jane returns we could do a small movie night. Just you and I. That way you could catch up on some general knowledge from the 21st century and I’d have a legitimate reason to spend my free time watching movies. Which obviously would be a win-win situation if you asked me.”
A night alone with Darcy? Bucky stopped his brain from going any further. This was just her being nice again. Something a friend would do. As much as he wished it would be different, he'd take what he could get. So he agreed.
Thus he practically counted the seconds till evening.
He didn’t really know what to expect, after all this was the first time he and Darcy would do something other than eating lunch or dinner together. He tried his best not to look too excited. He’d be lying if he’d claim that it didn’t take a lot of willpower for him to not wait in the Common room the whole time. Instead he paced around the apartment with Steve watching him from his position on the couch, a book in his hands.
At first his long time friend didn’t say anything, though he could feel his eyes on him. After a few minutes of Bucky repeatedly walking in and out of his room, Steve finally spoke up.
“Something on your mind, Buck?”
His eyes snapped to Steve in surprise. Bucky shook his head in response and gave his friend a weak smile.
God, he was so obvious.
“Somewhere you wanna go?”,Steve continued to question him. Though his blond friend tried to seem nonchalant, he failed miserably at it - as usual his eyes betrayed him. Bucky figured Steve would be curious but he wasn’t going to admit that the reason for his restlessness lied by a certain brunette lab assistant with plump red lips and eyes that drove him crazy. He especially wouldn’t admit to it since it was no more than a movie night as friends. What reason was there to be nervous?
For Bucky?
Multiple.
“I think I’m gonna head out in a couple of minutes. Maybe catch some fresh air or go to the gym.”
Steve nodded, though his eyes stayed on him for a while. Did he suspect something?
“Want me to come with you?”, he offered after a few seconds, making Bucky sigh internally both in relief and slight annoyance.
“I’m a grown ass man, you punk. I’ll be fine.” he remarked, to which his friend raised his hands in a defensive pose. Bucky chuckled slightly and as expected his friend dropped the conversation, resuming to read his book instead.
Bucky’s eyes wandered to the clock on the fridge and he immediately felt himself becoming more and more nervous.
:-:-:-:
Darcy was tireless. She looked almost too energetic as she skipped through the connecting glass door from one lab to another.
Tony was currently going through some files, watching her through the holograms now and then before he finally spoke: “I’ve noticed you’re in a good mood today, Lewis.”
The woman in question raised a single eyebrow not looking up from the report she was currently typing. “I’m always in a good mood, Stark.”
Tony huffed in exasperation but let out a small “Touché” as he walked around the lab to lean against the table next to her. "Something's different though. Care to share?"
Saying she wasn't particularly eager to tell him - or anyone for that matter - was an understatement.
Her hesitation wasn't left unnoticed by the mechanic.
“I’m having a movie night.”
“In the middle of the week?”
Darcy only shrugged with a grin. “My boss is pretty chill. I'm sure he'd be fine with it if I arrived a little later tomorrow morning."
Wiggling her eyebrows at him she waited for his response expectantly which made Tony form his eyes into small slits.
After a few seconds of staring he turned around with a sigh as he made his way back to his task.
"Do whatever you want, Lewis." he said with a dismissing hand move while taking a seat in front of the desk. Darcy started grinning like a small child who was just promised a giant toy and jumped after him, throwing her arms around his shoulders and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"You're the best, Tony."
"Yeah yeah, I know."
:-:-:-:-:-:-:
Bucky didn’t know what he had expected when he had walked into the Common room to meet Darcy. But whatever it was, he definitely hadn’t expected her to greet him in what seemed to be a pajama and pink slippers in form of two cats.
To his further astonishment her eyes lit up as soon as she saw him and he took in a sharp breath.
However her face formed into a disappointed frown as she analyzed his appearance.
“Where are your PJs?” she asked, pouting her lips while doing so.
The ex-assassin only blinked and before he could so much as utter a word, the petite woman had reached for his right hand, pulling him to the exit.
“First rule of movie night: comfy clothes only. As much as I appreciate your tight outfits. You need some sweatpants and a loose shirt.”
:-:-:-:-:
The loud thud of the door connecting to the wall made Steve jump from his seat on the couch. Immediately on high alert he scanned the room only to find Bucky practically running past him to his room and slamming the door shut behind him.
Though he had been expecting an enemy, this scenario didn’t really calm his nerves.
“Buck?”, he called as he slowly walked towards the door. “Everything okay, pal?”
Instead of an answer he heard the loud noise of furniture being shoved making him barge into the room in concern.His friend was going through his wardrobe seemingly looking for a specific item.
“What is going on?”
“I’m just trying to get changed, no need to worry," Bucky answered, taking out a pair of sweatpants with an almost triumphant smile and promptly changing into them.
As soon as he was ready Bucky ran past him again and was out of the door, only yelling a quick “See you later.” while Steve quickly followed him back into the living room, where he finally saw the reason for his friend’s strange behaviour.
“Hi, Steve.” Darcy’s head greeted him as she looked into the apartment, her body hidden by the wall and one hand waving at him.
“Hey, Darce.” the captain managed to say, completely dumbfounded.
“I’m stealing James for a few hours.” she said with a grin as Bucky walked into the hallway, without as much as glancing at Steve, ears clearly red. “We’re having a movie night. See you later!”
“Okay have…” the door was shut. “fun.”
The blond man blinked a few times before shaking his head with a chuckle. Making his way back towards the couch, he couldn’t help but smile.
Oh, if Sam only knew of this.
Bucky wouldn’t hear the end of it.
:-:-:-:-:
This was a really bad idea. This was a terrible idea.
The man sitting on the couch of his desired dame's apartment was surely regretting his decision on a seemingly simple movie night.
Bucky Barnes was trapped.
Surely his past self would've taken this kind of punishment any day.
But this was the present. And as much as he liked to be in this situation, he felt way too guilty to enjoy it.
Darcy was currently leaning against his shoulder. Her body slumped into his, an arm around his stomach. She had been drifting in and out of sleep for the past hour. Only the third Star Wars movie had finally knocked her unconscious.
It wasn't a surprise to him since she had been working restlessly in the labs and planning Steve's birthday party in her freetime.
The first movie had been the worst kind of torture any devil could've come up with for him.
To have her so close next to him, her knees constantly grazing his thighs as she was sitting cross-legged on the small couch of her apartment.
The soldier still wasn't sure how he had ended up there.
Surely she would have movie night in the Common room with him.
At least that's what he had expected.
How would his damaged mind have ever imagined that such an intriguing woman like Darcy would allow him into her private dorms.
As soon as she had asked the AI to drop them off at her apartment floor his heart had begun racing. The thought alone more stressful than any mission he had been on.
The petite woman next to him had seemed unaware of his inner struggle as she talked about the different movies and tv shows they could watch.
The first five minutes in her colourful apartment had been spent with him staring around the living room, taking in way too many details to be considered appropriate. He blamed his assassin mind but deep down he knew that wasn't the only reason. If it was a reason at all.
Darcy's apartment was...Darcy.
Though he felt like he shouldn't he couldn't help but instantly feel a sort of comfort and warmth just by standing there.
Her walls had multiple framed pictures covering them. A lot of them involved Thor and Jane, but there were also some with Bruce and even Tony's annoyed face was there.
Darcy told him to make himself comfortable and didn't seem to mind his analyzing of the room. She had already prepared everything for the night.
While he had been taking in her living room, she had thrown some blankets onto the couch.
The small table in front of it was filled with all kinds of snacks and sweets. Most of which he didn't even know.
He couldn't help the small smile forming on his lips. Had she really prepared all of this for one simple movie night?
It had taken him another five minutes to finally sit down next to her. After her constant reassurance that he could even lay down and she wouldn't accept him sitting uncomfortably, he had finally managed to do so. (Second rule of movie night: Comfort is of most importance.)
Darcy was eager to help him out with any questions he had regarding the movie. Her eyes lighting up whenever he showed interest.
It was wonderful.
And awful.
She constantly came closer to him. Moving so comfortably around him. As if he wasn't the assassin he was trained to be. How she could treat him so friendly was beyond him.
And it only made him fall even harder.
:-:-:-:-:-:-:
Hailey Grant stepped into the Compound tiredly. She had barely closed her eyes when the ringing of her alarm clock elephant her out of bed.
“Good Morning, Shivali.” she greeted her colleague as she walked around the reception.
“Morning, someone dropped off a box for you.”
“Who was it?”
“Bucky Barnes.” Shivali bend down towards the wardrobe.
Hailey watched her curiously as the other woman searched for it.
As soon as she turned around, Hailey saw the familiar box in her hands.
Handing it over to her, Shivali watched her with interest.
“I was actually quite curious why Bucky Barnes would leave something like that here. Most of the time the guy practically runs through the hall if I'm lucky enough to even see him. Pretty sure he just flies here and drops off at the roof most of the time.”
Hailey chuckled at the idea and shook her head. “As far as I know flying isn’t one of his skills.”
“Yeah as far as you know.”
:-:-:-:-:
Bucky’s mind had been occupied with a lot of things the past few days. So the next time he received a gift box, he surely hadn’t expected it at all. After his encounter with Darcy’s friend he had made sure to walk around the compound without being seen by his not so secret admirer. He was still unsure why someone he had never really talked to would even come up with such an idea.
The lunch breaks with Darcy had kept his mind occupied enough to be surprised when he was greeted with a green box in front of his apartment.
The soldier looked at the box in suspicion. FRIDAY had already reminded him that it was safe to open once again but he still wasn’t eager to do so. Especially with his growing attachment to Darcy he started to detest receiving those little gifts.
Sure at first he had acted like he didn’t care about the boxes anyway, but -even though he would never admit it to Sam or any of the team members - he had hoped that somehow those gifts would be from the petite brunette he was slowly getting to know better. And therefore fell deeper and deeper into the wonder that was Darcy Lewis.
One time she had even smelled just like the cupcakes he had received in a box. But his brain had surely just played tricks on him. Wishing for something so desperately that he was sure he couldn’t have.
Bucky sighed as he -almost reluctantly- opened the box. To his surprise there weren’t any baked goods inside this time. Just a small note that was folded neatly.
I think I really like you.
The soldier furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
:-:-:-:-:-:-:
Darcy groaned into the table. Though she had enjoyed movie night and had literally drooled on Bucky in her sleep, she felt terrible. Darcy had slept four hours max and even though she was used to it, she’d complain about it anyway.
“I leave for two weeks and you show up at work completely hungover.”
Her head snapped up to see none other than Jane who was grinning at her as she stepped into the lab. Her assistant practically jumped at her and threw her arms around the small woman to embrace her in a tight hug.
“Oh wow, was ist that awful without me?” Jane asked with a chuckle.
Darcy shook her head, still holding onto her friend. “Anything but, but I’m still glad you’re back.”
As Darcy slowly released the older woman they smiled at each other warmly. Jane was Darcy’s closest friend. Even if they seemed to be complete opposites at first glance, they complimented each other pretty well. If someone had told Darcy a few years ago that she’d find a best friend in her boss and would end up working for Tony Stark with her, she would’ve sent them to the next brain surgeon.
“Did anything interesting happen while I was gone?”
“Oh, yeah! Mission: Hot-Soft Soldierboy, take me now-”
“I’ll never get used to those titles.”
“Shush! The Mission is doing great I guess, thanks for asking. And I might be falling harder than I ever have and be ready to risk it all for that wonderful exception of a man.”
Jane shook her head in amusement as she made her way towards her desk to drop off her bag.
“I’m glad to hear you enjoyed yourself in my absence. Any more details you’d like to spare?”
“I’m glad you asked,” Darcy said, gesturing Jane to take a seat while she did so herself. Jane followed her command with a chuckle.
As soon as the scientist sat down her assistant practically collapsed into the chair like pudding.
“His eyes, Jane. His eyes. Whenever I look at them I just want to greet death with open arms cause that’s how I wanna go. Drowning in that deep ocean.”
“That’s oddly poetic,” Jane quipped. “and slightly concerning.”
Darcy Lewis however was too far gone to retort anything back. Her mind clearly elsewhere.
“His smile could outshine the sun, I’ve been so blessed to see it. So blessed.”
“Okay, calm down, Romeo. What have you been up to? When I left you were still in agony, crushing from afar,” Jane said and turned on her computer to slowly get ready for work.
“We were lunch-buddies.”
“You replaced me real quick, huh? Typical.” Jane’s face was stone cold as she typed in her password before she turned back to Darcy with a teasing grin. “Want some tea?”
The younger woman nodded and followed Jane who was already searching for her favorite flavor.
“So how was it?” Jane asked her to continue. Darcy sighed dramatically as she leaned on the table, slightly facing Jane.
“I kinda feel like I’m stuck in a cheesy chick-flick or fanfiction where the two leads pine over each other, only that I’m just supporting cast and playing a girl that’s crushing on the male lead just to show how desirable he is while he’s gonna go off and get married and have two kids called Aubrey and Harry.” she turned her head to the other side and stared into the air.
“That’s oddly specific.” Jane said, amusement clear in her voice.
After a while she poured the boiling water into the mugs, only then realizing that her friend still hadn’t said anything. Turning around she saw Darcy still staring at the wall. “What are you looking at?"
“Oh, just the 2 people left still reading this fanfic.”
:-:-:-:
“You read fanfiction?”
“Not the point.”
“Just asking.”
:-:-:-:
Darcy huffed as she tried to catch another piece of broccoli with her fork. The man in front of her only chuckled in amusement, waiting for her to look up at him again.
“What’s wrong?”
She huffed again and Bucky couldn’t keep his gaze from wandering to her plump lips.
He caught himself more than often staring at them. It wasn’t like it was all he could think about when he was with her. No, Bucky was in too deep for that and he was slowly starting to admit it - at least to himself. But there was no denying that the alluring woman who was sitting in front of him didn’t make his thoughts go astray. Practically making him go crazy with every move she made.
She was one of the reasons he actually started feeling like himself again, like a man again. A man with feelings and desires like everyone else.
Of course Darcy seemed to be oblivious to that. and oh, was he thankful for that. He wouldn’t know how to react if she did.
"I should've chosen a different movie last wednesday" She stated, shoving the piece of broccoli in her mouth and eating with pouty lips.
Bucky furrowed his eyebrows. "But I liked it."
She gave him a weak smile and continued to play around with her food. The man in front of her only eyed her with interest, knowing she would soon speak up again.
Which she did.
Her eyes lit up as she searched his gaze. "We should do it again."
Bucky blinked. What?
"We should do another movie night. Or even extend it to a weekend. I've got big plans with you, handsome."
Her hands opened dramatically next to her face as she leaned closer to him and whispered: "Harry Potter."
Bucky blinked again. His mind working slightly harder now. Trying to shove a thought away.
"But you need to read the books first.", she leaned back into her chair, giving him a once-over. "Have you read any of them ?"
He was actually taken aback by the question.
Had Hailey Grant talked to Darcy about the boxes?
Was she trying to help her friend out? Did Darcy know about his so called secret admirer?
The man in question shook his head no. Of course he hadn't. Sure it was in his apartment somewhere. Probably in the deepest corner there was.
However Darcy seemed to be disappointed by his answer, making him blurt out something he'd soon regret: "But I have the first book in my apartment."
:-:-:-:-:-:
When Steve arrived at the compound after another short but tiring mission, he really hadn’t expected to be greeted with a huge mess in his apartment.
He would’ve been alarmed by the disarray if it wasn’t for Bucky looking up from his position on the floor, an apologetic smile forming on his lips.
“Welcome back,” the brunet slowly stood up, dusting his black pants before looking back at Steve, “how was the mission?”
“A success.” the other man answered as he made his way into the apartment, putting his shield in the usual corner whilst eyeing his best friend in suspicion. “What’s this about?” he whirled his hand around to bring attention to the chaos inside.
Bucky let out a soft chuckle and scratched his neck in slight embarrassment. Well now Steve was definitely curious.
“I was looking for a book.” he stated with a sigh, clearly annoyed by the fact he hadn’t found it by himself.
“A book?” Steve raised his eyebrows in surprise. That was new.
“Yeah,” Bucky huffed as he threw himself on the couch with a loud thud. “Remember the children’s book I brought with me once?”
“You mean the one you practically tossed into the corner?”
Steve was still in uniform and though he wanted nothing more than to change into his favorite sweatpants, he wanted to help his friend a little -or tease in this case. After all, Bucky usually hadn’t been the one to show interest in any books. Especially to the newer ones.
As he walked to the small kitchen isle to pour himself a glass of water, he felt his friend’s eyes on him. He was definitely giving him the infamous stink eye.
“Yeah that one.”
Steve nodded, taking a few sips from his glass.
“Do you know where it is or not?” Bucky was growing impatient, that much was clear.
“I thought you didn’t want to read it?”
“That was before Darcy mentioned it.”
Steve almost choked on his last gulp. The other man only watched him until he stopped coughing, face unreadable. Sure, Steve knew that Bucky felt more than just slight attraction towards the bubbly assistant, he had teased him about it several times now. But never had Bucky so openly admitted anything regarding his feelings towards the young woman. Granted, this couldn’t be considered a big confession of profound emotions. But the mere fact that his friend admitted to being fascinated by Darcy and set great value on her opinion was surprising.
“I put it in the first drawer of your nightstand, figured you might change your mind and read it someday.” he practically coughed out.
“Thanks, Steve.” Bucky quickly got up from the couch, moving around the mess on the floor.
“You gonna clean that up?” Steve almost shouted after him as Bucky made his way to his bedroom.
“Just gimme a minute.” came back the reply, before his door shut.
Steve didn’t see him for the rest of the day.