#@usedkarma

[paranoidwino]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

And so I did the thing.

Thank you so much to @bloomsoftly and @usedkarma for the Beta and the pep talk, I needed it.

From Wino, much paranoid, I present you: The thing.

[allaboutraye]

Grilled Cheese at Midnight

I wrote this for @usedkarma for the Galentine’s Day Challenge.   You asked for a few things so I picked (by accident) Bucky/Darcy, cooking and a few friends.  I hope that you like it.

Darcy had been having a perfectly lovely dream, lying on the long couch in the common room when she was woken by the sound of someone searching through the kitchen cupboards, and they weren’t being at all quiet about it!  She sat up, pushing the throw from her legs, and peered over the back of the couch; surprised when she realised that the late night sleep interrupter was Steve’s best friend, and the centre of many of her darkest fantasies; Bucky Barnes.   Bucky had been craving a decent grilled cheese for the last few hours; ever since Steve had decided to start talking about the days before the war, and how a good grilled cheese had always been something he craved when his chest was bad.  The more he’d thought about it the worse the cravings had grown; until he’d been forced to abandon all ideas of sleeping through the night, and sneak out of the apartment on the 75th floor with nothing but grilled cheese sandwiches on his mind. She’d been watching him for a while, quite happy that he hadn’t noticed her as it gave her time to study him as he bustled around the kitchen area grating two different types of cheese and expertly wielding a knife to thinly slice some back bacon. “That smells amazing,” she finally said grinning when he dropped the knife.  “Do you have enough to share?” He had been so absorbed in what he was doing that he hadn’t even realised he wasn’t alone, and the feeling of surprise that flowed through him was so unfamiliar that it took him a moment to process it.  “How long’ve you been spying on me?” He finally asked defensively.  He narrowed his eyes at her as she stood up and walked towards him, closing the gap between them.   “I wasn’t spying,” she told him, “I fell asleep watching last week’s Elementary, now I’m going to have to watch it alone.” her tone was mournful as she stated the last.  “So, is there going to be enough to share?” “Cheese gives you nightmares,” he told her even as he piled a generous handful of strong English Cheddar and Gruyère on two large slices of bread, placed a couple of thin slices of bacon on top, and then covered with more thickly cut buttered bread. “I’m perfectly willing to take that risk,” she informed him, taking some cheese from the chopping board and putting it in her mouth, “see.” Watching her, he found that he had to fight the urge to roll his eyes at her antics; it was clear she wasn’t going to simply leave him alone.  He’d been lectured by Steve so many times about how he should hold back on being rude to the other inhabitants of the tower, no matter how much they might wind him up; apparently tolerance was important!  “You’re not going to give up, are you?” he finally asked, his expression resigned. “Of course not!” she grinned.  “I never give up where grilled cheese is concerned.  And you’ve added bacon too!”  She stood and watched as he put two sandwiches in a frying pan on the stove before moving back across to the counter and putting together a third one with the leftovers. “D’you want anything else with it?” he asked while buttering a second slice of bread. Darcy pondered the question for a moment, but she was unable to ignore the expression of impatience on Bucky’s face, and despite much popular opinion she wasn’t stupid enough to poke a sleeping bear!  “Nope, grilled cheese should never be complicated.” Sandwich assembled, Darcy stood back and watched as Bucky efficiently flipped the two in the pan; the bottom of each a beautiful golden colour from the butter melted cheese oozing out of the sides.  She grimaced when her stomach rumbled and she remembered that she had been ‘sciencing’ with Jane instead of eating supper!  The grilled cheese couldn’t come soon enough.

“So what triggered the sudden desire to play Iron Chef?” The moment the words were out of her mouth she winced; trigger was a word they all tried to avoid like the plague where Bucky was concerned.  She watched as his body stiffened for a moment before he continued to pay attention to the pan on the heat. “No trigger,” he finally replied, his tone gruff.  “Just hungry,” he flipped the sandwiches onto two plates and then expertly sliced them in half.  “Here, eat!” “Yum,” Darcy smiled as she accepted the food, picking up half the sandwich and taking a large bite.  She was so hungry that it took her only a few moments to finish the half in her hand and take the other from the plate. “Easy,” he told her, watching with a small amused grin on his lips, “You’ll get indigestion.”  He took a large mouthful of his own grilled cheese and chewed it thoughtfully as he continued to study her. “Don’t care,” she mumbled.  “I’m so hungry.”  A strong of melted cheese was caught in the scruff at the corner of Bucky’s mouth and she found herself mesmerised by it.  Without any conscious thought, she reached across the counter and wiped it away, her fingers lingering on his warm skin for a second.  He reached up and curled his metal hand around hers, his expression quizzical.  “Uh,” she hesitated, her voice quiet for once, “You had some cheese…” she forced the words out, her cheeks colouring. “Oh...thanks,” Bucky released her hand and took a step back before wiping the back of his flesh hand across his mouth. Realising that she had somehow made this whole thing awkward, she picked up her plate and headed over to the couch.  “Want to watch Elementary with me?  I can’t spoil it for you.”  Bucky absolutely hated it when people spoiled tv shows for him.  He had missed so much so the boxsets that Darcy kept in a drawer under her bed were hours of entertainment for him, so long as no one gave away the ending! “Okay,” he responded, opening the cupboard above the stove and pulling a family-sized bag of Cheetos from it. He carried a tall glass of milk, the remains of his grilled cheese and the chips over to the TV area, placing the plate on the low coffee table before slumping down on the couch.  Darcy did her best not to look disappointed when she realised that he’d left a space between them that was almost big enough for the Hulk to sit in.  “So, do I have leprosy or something?” she finally asked, staring at the screen as she scrolled through the DVR’d shows on autopilot. “What?” he looked startled at the unexpected question, and stared at her, a handful of Cheetos halfway to his mouth. “The space,” she looked at it pointedly.  “Do I have something you don’t want to catch?”  She shuffled along the cushions until the space between was only just large enough for a small child to squeeze into.  Finally settled, and with a smug smirk on her face, she tucked her feet in close and leaned back.  Reaching up, she wasted no time in tugging the elastic from her hair, and massaged her scalp for a few moments, “That’s much better,” she sighed. Bucky hated the fact that he was so aware of her; the moment they’d met he’d felt so drawn to her that he’d been forced to leave the room within moments of their introduction, and he’d been doing his utmost to avoid her ever since. He couldn’t help but savour these few quiet moments when no one else was there to see them, the way that she shifted a little against him to get comfortable, her head resting against his shoulder.  He bit back a quiet moan when she nuzzled against him, and he couldn’t help but wonder if she had any idea at all of the effect she was having on him. It didn’t take long for him to get involved with the action on the screen and it was only when Joan and Sherlock were in their kitchen going over the minutiae of the case they’d just solved that he realised she’d been quiet for a while.  He turned his head and noticed that she’d fallen asleep, her glasses skewed on her face and a trail of drool dribbled onto his jersey hoodie.  Grimacing a little he placed his hand on her shoulder and jostled her, trying to move her without waking her up - she worked really long hours and he didn’t want to disturb her if she was finally getting some much-needed rest.  He stopped and inhaled sharply when she turned a little and grumbled, it was clear that he was stuck for a while.  Resting his chin on the top of her head he took a few deep breaths and the sound of the TV became background noise to sleep. Darcy jolted awake when the automatic blinds in the common room started to open, the dusky rose dawn sunshine casting a soothing glow over the room.  She turned and was unable to bite back a smile when she saw how peaceful Bucky looked when asleep; gone were the stress lines that gathered on his forehead, and the frustrated narrowing of his eyes showing he was struggling hard to remember something he believed he should know.  She reached out and brushed her fingers lightly across his brow and bit back a startled gasp of pain when his metal hand closed around her wrist and his eyes opened.  Realising where he was, and who was touching him, he dropped her hand as though it’d burned him.  “Sorry,” he muttered, refusing to meet her eyes. “Hey, it’s okay,” she told him.  “I shouldn’t have touched you like that.”  She shrugged it off as though there weren’t already bruising forming on her wrist.  “So...you made me food last night, how ‘bout I make us breakfast this morning?”  She jumped up from the couch, reaching for him and pulling him up at the same time.  “C’mon.  I make killer pancakes.”  This time, he managed to barely flinch at the mention of the word ‘killer’ even though his time as a bloodthirsty one still haunted his nightmares. Bucky was standing at the breakfast bar expertly slicing fresh grapes, strawberries and chunks of mango when the rest of the team wandered into the kitchen.  If they were surprised at his presence then they did a fantastic job at hiding it.  He watched, amused, when Darcy slapped Jane’s hand away from the pile of golden pancakes on the counter that she was still adding to.  “Nope,” she told her friend, waving the spatula at her.  “Don’t even think about it.” “Can I have some before everyone else then?” Jane asked, turning puppy-dog eyes on her friend and trying her best to use a wheedling tone which never really worked.  “I’m really hungry!” With a put upon sigh that most of them were familiar with, Darcy pulled the griddle off the burner, and quickly made a plate for Jane, piling the fruit higher than the stack of pancakes and then topping it expertly with a dollop of whipped cream and a splash of maple syrup.  “Here you go,” she put a plate down in front of the science-obsessed woman and then went back to frying the rest of the batter.   “You know, if I could, I would marry these,” Jane mumbled around a mouthful of strawberry and pancake. “I thought that you wanted to marry those chocolate caramel pop tarts.  At least, that’s what you told me last week when you made me go and buy another five boxes of them.” Darcy parried, flipping another four pancakes onto the pile and carrying the full plate over to the breakfast bar.  “Okay, I’m doing more, but this is enough to start with.” As she walked around the counter to take Jane a mug of coffee - the only one for the morning she was quick to stress - she stroked a hand across Bucky’s shoulders. Steve noticed the way that his friend leaned into Darcy’s gentle touch and exchanged a smile with Natasha, who was already busy digging into a plate of mango and pancakes with yogurt (he tried not to wince at the combination), tilting his head in inquiry, wondering if she’d noticed anything.  Natasha simply shrugged and had a sip of her coffee before continuing to eat.  “So, Buck…” he started as he made up his own plate of breakfast; taking half the pancakes and a large amount of the fruit from the board Bucky was still working at. “Punk…” Bucky acknowledged, not looking up from his task. “You okay?”  Steve was still treading on eggshells where Bucky was concerned, and though he was unable to see it - despite having been told so many times - it wasn’t really helping anyone. “‘m fine,” he mumbled, picking up a slice of strawberry and stuffing it in his mouth before continuing with the chopping.  “Why? You okay?” Steve wasn’t quite sure what to say, normally Bucky was more monosyllabic, and to actually ask about how he was, was a definite improvement, albeit an unnerving one.  “Great,” he said, instead.  “So, Darcy?” Instead of a response, his query got him a raised eyebrow and a half smirk. Jane was watching Darcy closely, she might be mostly science-obsessed, but she never missed a trick where her BFF was concerned; she’d seen the way that Darcy continually watched Bucky whenever he was in the vicinity and had noticed the stroke of her hand across his back when she’d brought coffee...that said, coffee!  Taking a sip of the steaming brew, Jane met Darcy’s eyes and smiled, “You like him don’t you?” Darcy resisted the urge to roll her eyes; she had given up on being discreet when it came to her feelings for Sergeant Barnes the day she realised that he would never notice her if she continued to stare at him from across the room.  Okay, so now she was being obvious about it - but it was clear he still didn’t quite get it - or maybe he wasn’t ready to.  “What’s not to like?” she replied, looking over, surprised when she saw that he was watching her. Jane couldn’t stop the giggle from escaping when she noticed the way that Darcy started to blush, a deep rose from her cleavage to her cheeks.  “I think he likes you too,” she blurted out, before digging back into her breakfast at her friend’s narrowed eyes. “You hush,” she was told before Darcy headed back over to the kitchen area to finish cooking and make her own plate. ~*~ Breakfast finished, dishes stacked in the dishwasher, Darcy did her best to usher Jane towards her bedroom rather than the labs, sure that another marathon session was not what the doctor ordered.  “Come on Janey, a bit of a nap and you can go back to the sciencing for hours, you know what happened the last time you worked without a break for three days...and it wasn’t pretty!”  She wrapped an arm around her friend’s shoulders and guided her to the lifts, pressing the buttons for their floor, “And don’t listen if she asks for the basement levels, Friday!” she ordered as she waved at Jane through the quickly closing doors. Bucky stood with Steve, watching with a fondly amused expression on his face.  “I think I might well marry that dame, Stevie-boy.  She’s a pistol!”  Without waiting for a response, he headed over to Darcy and slung an arm around her shoulders - which clearly surprised, then pleased her if the way that she moved to lean against him was anything to go by.  Steve, however, was stuck rooted to the spot as he watched his friend acting more like the man he had once been than he had seen in years.  

[agentbarrett-blog]

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