Hi FYDL & Darcylanders, need help w/ a fic search! It's driving me crazy; I've tried AO3 fic tags, pairing tags, keywords, etc. I know ALMOST THE WHOLE PLOT but not title or author (argh!) Google-fu has failed me & I'm desperately afraid it may have been deleted! Darcy is still Jane's assistant. “Everyone lives in the Tower” AU. Bucky was there; Clint didn't have a secret farm family. Pairing was either Darcy/Clint/Bucky OR Darcy/Bucky & Clint/Bucky and strong Darcy & Clint friendship (1/4)
(2/4) Title was a science-y or astronomy term about star systems, possibly? What I remember: Darcy goes to a bar in NYC near Avengers/Stark Tower, it's her birthday and everyone's forgotten. She sits at the bar to work on some paperwork for Jane (article? grant proposal maybe?) & orders several shots to drink for every page. Dude-Bro at bar keeps hitting on her. She says she's busy with “insert science-y title of fic here.” Dude keeps harassing, Clint is like “Is this guy bothering you?"
(3 of 4) Darcy ends up sitting with Bucky & Clint; they find out it's her b-day and buy all her drinks. The next day one of them sends her (flowers or cupcakes, idk?) as belated b-day gift. Darcy then gets kidnapped by dumb aliens/goons who are wanting to interrogate secrets of “insert science-y title of fic here.” It's the night of a Stark party/Avengers fundraising gala. Dumb goons duct-tape her to a desk chair and shoot a beam that makes her legs go numb.
(4 of 4) Bucky, Clint & other Avengers bust in to save the day; Darcy gets pushed down the stairs still in the desk chair. She wakes up in Stark medical with Clint & Bucky watching over her. It ends w/ epilogue a year in the future on Darcy's next b-day, Bucky & Clint serve her breakfast in bed! Please tell me someone knows this! Even if it's been deleted, I'd just like to know that I didn't imagine it or mash a couple fics together in my mind, LOL. Thank you!