Mistaken Identity - G - Darcy/Bucky Barnes
It was probably the glasses. People expected the scientists to look as smart as they were reported to be, and society had been weirdly conditioned to believe that corrective eyewear meant intelligence. That had to be why nearly everyone that wandered into the labs assumed that Darcy was one of the scientists and not the babysitter that made everybody stop to eat and then put them down for nap-nap.
Honestly, it had become a pretty fun game. It was usually interns or lower-level administrative assistants that made the error. They’d never been around bona fide geniuses who could make miraculous leaps but couldn’t remember to brush their teeth. So, they came to Darcy with their wild questions and the assumption that she had the answers. Darcy, being herself, led them on a merry round of back and forth quips until they were thoroughly confused before pointing them in the direction of the brain they were actually seeking. Some days she even randomized a bingo card online and marked off squares as she achieved things. All in all, great pastime.
But, of course, it couldn’t always turn out as hilariously as she’d hoped.
It was ten thirty on a Tuesday morning. So far, she’d misdirected a starstruck receptionist who wanted Jane to autograph a copy of a book that mostly got sales because it mentioned how she met Thor, answered medical questions that a school nurse would have been able to answer in their sleep in place of Helen Cho, and actually gotten someone to answer two of her three riddles before they realized that she wasn’t actually Betty Ross who, coincidentally, didn’t even work at the Tower. Combined with her Science! Bingo free space she was well on her way to a winning diagonal.
“Excuse me, miss?”
Darcy didn’t even look up from the game of Candy Crush she was playing on her phone. “How might I help you, oh scientifically curious one?” She swiped and tapped furiously. The next level was so close.
“Ah… I was told to come here to see about the Rainbow Bridge project.”
Score . ‘Fan Trying to Nose into Asgard Business’ was the corner spot she needed. It happened all the time. There hadn’t been an active project on the Einstein-Rosen Bridge in a while--largely because Jane now had full access to Heimdall to study the phenomenon from a more complete perspective. Didn’t stop hangers on from appearing.
“Oh, yes, the Bridge,” she said sagely, finishing her level as she nodded. “A beautiful path to travel between the realms.” She finally looked up to see who was questioning her and immediately burst into loud, raucous laughter. Across the lab, Bruce jumped a bit in surprise, the objects on his table rattling a bit.
Standing in front of the desk Darcy was currently relaxing behind was Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes. Avengers and their closest buddies were the only people who were actually allowed to have any access to Jane and the Bifrost stuff, but unless they needed to give Thor a call when he was off world they really wouldn’t have any need to make use of that access. Since Darcy knew for a fact that Thor was currently downstairs plowing through a ton of pop tarts and enjoying recordings of pro-wrestling, there was no way the Winter Soldier needed Jane.
“Oh, honey,” she cooed, reaching out to pat his hand. “Did Tony send you down here?”
Barnes bristled. “So what if he did?”
She sympathized. She really did. Stark was an asshole. “Because there’s not really a Rainbow Bridge project to be checked in on. He’s hazing you.”
“That figures,” he growled, leaning forward to plant his metal hand against the desk. After a long moment he looked up. His eyes grew calculating as he gave her the once over. Darcy had the sudden feeling that she was getting to see exactly what all those history books meant when they called Bucky Barnes ‘painfully charming.’ The smirk he gave her was positively sinful. “My time coming down here doesn’t have to be wasted at least. Care to let me take you to lunch?”
To hell with Bingo. She had a better offer.