Darcy/Stephen Strange - The Big Kiss that gets interrupted - Speedrun Prompts
for @artemisgarden
1,217 words
Rated T
~~~~~~~~~~
“Are you insane?” Stephen sounded sort of upset, if Darcy was going to call it anything at all. She pressed her lips together because while she could definitely understand his query, she sensed he had more to get out than just that one question.
“Do you actually have problems with decision making, Lewis? Your doctorate tells me that no, you don’t, but then again, the fact that you ended up here, in the very place I asked you -- very politely I might add, as per your request for all future communication -- not to visit. Not to come within a mile of. But you took that as invitation to come here? To ground zero of the very… event that you, yourself predicted?” He exhaled.
“Are you finished?” she asked, glancing over to where Ian was standing, arms full of her equipment, wind whipping all around them.
“Well… I…” He flailed his arms for a moment before crossing them in front of his chest. “Yes, I’m finished.”
“Okay, well, as you know, I’m a scientist first, and a heeder of warnings second, I didn’t want to miss any readings that might help with my research. I understand that my being here is some sort of sore spot for you, but there is a storm shelter right over there, Ian and I just needed to put out some of my equipment to measure different levels in the storm, and then we’d be down in that shelter, safe. Now that you’re here, you’ve cost us valuable minutes where we could already be finished.”
“The fact that the general populace has been evacuated didn’t register at all as dangerous? My own warning notwithstanding?” Stephen asked, gesturing to the empty farm behind him.
Darcy sniffed and looked around, noticing for the first time that there were no other cars around other than the one she and Ian had come in. No animals on what was clearly a dairy farm either. “Now that you mention it, that is sort of weird, but--”
“But nothing, we’re leaving.” He drew one of his portals in the air and gestured towards it, the wind picking up considerably.
“Just let me set out my equipment. This is the biggest one of these storms to hit since the blip unblipped. I want to get the readings. It’ll take like… thirty seconds since we don’t have to take time to run for shelter now.” She held her hands out to Ian, who quickly handed off two of her interstellar barometric gauge readers. He had the other two.
She handed one to Stephen, who took it because she left him no choice but to take it or risk breaking the state-of-the-art patent-pending equipment she was utilizing for the first time. She set each of the readers up, synced up with satellites in the upper atmosphere. They’d relay the information to her computer back home.
After they got each one set up and turned on, She allowed Stephen to pull both her and Ian into the portal, dropping them off in his living room. An interesting choice for landing points, but whatever.
She coughed and closed her eyes for a moment to stop her head from spinning.
“You both could have died,” Stephen hissed.
“Excuse me, Dr. Strange, sir…” Ian began. “I know full well the risks involved with Dr. Lewis’s research and I know that the research is paramount to understanding these superstorm cells…”
“So you were aware of the risks involved and still allowed your mentor to walk into certain death?”
Ian swallowed and set his jaw. “No offense meant to Dr. Lewis, but have you met her? What do you think would have happened to me if I’d tried that?”
Darcy snickered, and Stephen rolled his eyes, turning back to her.
“Do you know how worried I was?” he asked.
Her eyebrows went straight up. “I’m sorry, how worried you were? I wasn’t aware I was supposed to take your feelings into consideration when I made life or death decisions. You certainly don’t take mine into consideration.”
He narrowed his eyes, focusing directly on her. “I never made any life or death gambles either.”
She shrugged. “I didn’t think our ‘acquaintanceship necessitates’ that I check in with you for every little thing.” She raised her eyebrows questioningly. Because for someone who very clearly didn’t want to be in a relationship with her, he certainly cared a lot about her knowing how worried he was.
Stephen’s look hardened, his voice lowering to a volume that might not be as noticeable to Ian. “I specifically warned you… would you excuse us, please?” he asked, directing his attention to Ian. “If you’ll walk down that hall there, the kitchen is fully stocked. Help yourself.” Ian lingered, glancing over at Darcy as if he weren’t sure whether to leave her or not.
She waved him on, and he went, her gaze not breaking from where it was currently boring into Stephen’s. “You specifically warned me…” She gestured for him to go on.
“I warned you it was dangerous,” he continued. “I did that out of worry for your safety... “
“And that’s it?”
“Yes, that’s why I warned you. Believe it or not, I think the world’s better with you in it.”
“Oh,” she chuckled, breaking his gaze to wander over to fiddle with something on an end table. It looked expensive. But everything in Stephen’s place did. “The world’s better with me in it? Why is that, pray-tell? My exceptional brain? My research? My connections with Thor and New Asgard?”
“Of course your brain and research are important,” Stephen insisted. “But that isn’t why… I can also visit New Asgard whenever I please, with or without your connections...”
She snorted derisively.
“Are you going to make me say it?” he asked.
Darcy smirked. “Absolutely I am.”
“I... “ he began, trailing off.
Darcy laughed and started to walk down the hall in the same direction Ian had gone. He was probably lost. She’d show him the way to the kitchen.
“May I show you instead?” Stephen ventured, and she stopped walking, turning back.
“I’m intrigued by how you’d do that… considering you could never engage in an intimate sort of relationship with--”
He moved closer to her, cutting her off and reaching for her hand. “May I show you?” he repeated, his voice low and his eyes impossibly dark as he peered into hers.
Her belly swooped and she nodded, hoping like hell she wasn’t just wishful thinking again.
Stephen leaned down to press his lips to hers, and they did, for a tantalizing second before someone cleared their throat.
They both turned towards the sound to see Ian again. “Sorry, but I got lost… which way is the kitchen?”
“Here,” Stephen drew another portal, this one to the kitchen. “Just through there.”
“Right, thanks…” Ian ducked back inside, the portal closing after him.
“Sorry, he’s kind of…”
“Gone,” Stephen finished for her, leaning down once more, his hands cupping her face.
Darcy rose up on her toes and moved into the kiss, her hands gripping his forearms to keep herself steady. Tilting her head to deepen the kiss she let her eyes flutter closed when his tongue swept briefly into her mouth.
I just saw an article linked on Twitter about how Deborah hasn't gotten an acting job since the Punisher and Daredevil were cancelled and 😭😭😭😭😭
She’s so good, too, which is the crappy part. So many terrible actors get jobs all the time, so let my girl have a part, she’ll knock it out of the park. I only just noticed she went directly from True Blood into Daredevil -- True Blood ended in 2014 and Daredevil premiered in 2015 -- with five movies shot during Daredevil/Defenders/Punisher years.
At this point I've been following you on both my blogs for so long idk why I came to begin with. But I stayed for the awesome and the conversations and friendship!
I’m always glad to see you on my dash, darlin. You’ve been here a long time and you’re always a delight. 😊
My husband and I were talking about vegans who can be assholes by suggesting that all issues can be fixed with veganism. So, I was telling him about your chronic issues and that you've gotten those kinds of asks plenty of times. He said to tell you, "That sounds terrible for her, but I firmly believe she's going to develop superpowers at some point and if she doesn't I'm going to be disappointed with the universe." So here's hoping for SUPER-POWERED TUMBLR MOM
Pretty certain my super power is staying alive against the odds at his point but hahah, thank you, that’s great.
Ahh I love when you post snippets ❤❤ I can't wait to see the reactions to Bucky at the wedding. I bet it will be awesome
OMG! I have another snippet related to this comment I can share! From the Marcia’s Wedding fic, Paul meets Bucky:
Paul laughed and kissed Darcy on the side of her head. Then he held his hand out to Bucky. “James.”
“We’re calling him Jacob now.”
“Why?”
“He likes it.”
“Um, okay. Jacob.”
Bucky took his hand and gave it a brief shake. “Mr. Lewis, it’s a pleasure, sir.”
Bucky Barnes calling him sir. That was somehow weirder than when Captain America called him sir. “Please, call me Paul.”
He nodded and glanced to Darcy, then cast his gaze around the lobby, before letting it land back on Paul. “Darcy calls me by my last name a lot. Jacob Barnes is different enough from my real name.”
“I think it’s because Clint keeps trying to call him Vasily,” Darcy put in, “so he’s doubling down on Jacob-Yakov.”
“Sure.” Paul nodded, pretending that made some sort of sense. “Well, your call. Jacob’s just fine by me.”
“Where does the last name thing come from?” Rebecca mused. “She’s always done that.”
“Rhodey,” Darcy said decisively. “You know, Air Force thing, call everybody by their last names.” She glanced at Bucky and smirked. “Uncle Rhodey was kind of my favorite growing up.”
“Not surprised,” he murmured. “It’s like being partnered with Colonel Philips sometimes. Only prettier.”
Darcy laughed lightly and stepped away from Paul. “Flatterer. Okay, let’s get checked in. What are the plans here?”
Rebecca trailed after them to the counter. “Family dinner at six-thirty.”
Darcy made a face. “Yay.”
“Try to have fun. And …” she shot Paul a look, eyebrow raised, then smiled, “be yourself.”
Darcy watched her mother for a long minute and then smiled back. “I can do that.”
“Don’t set anything on fire.”
“Okay, I can be myself or I can not set things on fire. You don’t get both.”
“Darcy,” Rebecca laughed and nudged her daughter’s shoulder.
As Darcy checked them in, Paul and Bucky hung back, standing next to each other in awkward silence.
“We’re glad you could come,” Paul said, trying to break the awkward.
“Thanks,” Bucky muttered back and let the conversation die a horrible, abrupt death.
“It’s nice to meet Darcy’s friends, and of course, you’re her partner and that’s important and—”
And then he heard the words ‘suite’ and the woman at the front desk handed Darcy the little hotel folder with the keys and parking pass. But only one, and … then she was picking up her bags and Bucky was doing the same and —
“Only one room?” Paul asked, forcing a smile on his face and trying to sound light while wondering why he was talking at all.
Darcy shot him a look, and Rebecca scowled a little, and made a shushing face at him. “It’s a suite, dad. Two bedrooms. The rest of the place was booked. Don’t worry, Bucky’s a perfect gentleman.”
“I, uh, … ” Paul laughed fakely. His daughter was twenty-five. But, she was still his daughter and … how did Tony deal with this? Or did he not? Did he ignore it? Maybe it explained the army of robots. Again, too bad they went evil. What were the odds a second army would go evil? Slim, probably. Worth the risk to keep away the men, right? The terrifying assassin men, anyway. “Just teasing.”
“Right,” Darcy said slowly, then her eyes narrowed a little and her lips pulled up. “Of course, I’m not a perfect lady.”
“Darce,” Bucky hissed and rolled his eyes heavenward.
Rebecca and Darcy both laughed, and his wife threw her arm over their daughter’s shoulders and led her off. Bucky paused for a second, glancing at Paul, but he waved the soldier off. “I should go … do … things. Uh, get ready for dinner. In three hours.”
Bucky looked like he wasn’t any more sure about what to say; he nodded and continued towards the elevator.
“I smell brimstone,” Darcy said loudly. “Ericka’s here, I guess.”
“You saw Tim by the door,” her mother said with a sigh. “Don’t be so melodramatic.”
Ohhh for a prompt, I lost our baby! Clint/Darcy except Clint is the one who lost the baby!! Because that sounds like a legit thug that would happen to him.
(I had the same idea! poor clint…)
“I lost our baby,” was the solemn statement that came from the doorway.
Darcy didn’t even look up from her laptop as she replied, “No, you didn’t.”
“Um, yeah, I did. How…how are you not more upset by this?” Clint was getting increasingly frantic as he walked towards her, hands flying around as if that could help explain the seriousness of the situation.
Darcy sighed and closed the laptop. “Clint, you did not lose the baby, I prom-”
“She was there and then she was gone!”
Okay, now she was trying not to laugh. “We live in the most secure building in the world. Even if you somehow lost track of her, do you really think JARVIS wouldn’t say something?” She glanced towards the ceiling, “You’d say something, right, buddy?”
“Of course, Miss Lewis,” was the AI’s dutiful response.
Clint looked like he was about to pass out, so she took pity on him. “Natasha is babysitting for us. And she apparently cannot pick up our child like a normal person. She uses those ninja skills like the pro she is.”
He less-than-gracefully sat in the chair next to her. “Oh god, am I having a heart attack? Is this was that feels like? Why didn’t you say something?”
Scooting her chair over, she wrapped her arms around his chest and snuggled in as much as she could. “I left you a note next to your coffee cup. The one place I knew you’d see it.”
“Uh…” she could feel his chest rumble with the sound and she may have tried to smush her face closer. “I spilled the coffee all over the counter this morning. I thought it was a napkin.”
She hugged him tighter as she let him know about their date night plans.
artemisgarden replied to your post “Seven Shades of Shit: the Blow by Blow Review, Chapter Six”
*Sighs forever* I love reading your review but at the same time....I'm so sorry
It really is an amazing lesson in What Not To Do When Writing Romance or Erotica. I’m viewing it as education at this point.
At the same time... clearly the author is doing SOMETHING right. It may be a shitshow but at the present time it’s still #141 in the entire Amazon store and the author is #71 out of ALL authors.
It may be utter shit, but somehow she’s found a readership and is raking in the cash.
