(ShieldShock Ficlet- Darcy Lewis/Steve Rogers) for my 'Rapid Imaginings' collection
(Read on Ao3 instead)
It wasn't Darcy's first lab explosion. It might have been the largest. It was her first time that an explosion took down an entire building with it. The science building of the Avengers' Upstate Base was destroyed.
Darcy was still inside.
If you make your own luck? Darcy was a lucky, self-rescuing princess.
For years, she'd dealt with Jane's lab explosions. So, she knew how to read indicators. She knew which lab counter had been constructed to withstand getting stomped by the Hulk. She saw the indicators hit 'red' and she ducked under the right lab counter. So, when the building collapsed, Darcy didn't die. She wasn't even injured much. She had some scratches from fallen debris.
But, she was stuck.
Buried.
It was dark. The only noises she heard clearly were the sounds of shifting rubble and a far-off claxon that elevated her heart rate more. She urged herself to stay calm because she didn't have much oxygen left- easier said than done. No phone signal. She kept the phone in her hand, in case that changed. She fidgeted with the phone and with her engagement ring. She really wanted to live and make it to that wedding.
Hours passed.
The damned claxon blared on. Darcy hated the claxon. She loved the claxon. She began to wonder about the claxon.
She leaned against the counter leg, knees up and arms wrapped around them. The space under the counter was mostly-rubble free. She listened, not sure what she hoped to hear. She stared at the too-black darkness, hoping to see light.
Squeak
Darcy fumbled with her phone and turned on the flashlight, hardly able to see at first.
Squeak
She shrieked and flailed, "Go, away, rat! Nooooo! Don't eat my face."
"Darcy? Is that you? Oh, thank God!"
Darcy stopped screaming and nearly passed out, dizzy. "The rat's talking? I cracked. I'm insane. Steve? I..."
"Darcy. Calm down. You're not insane. Well, not very insane. The rat is trained to find survivors. He won't hurt you, honey. He's there to help me get you out."
Darcy's mouth fell open. "Captain Ratmerica? I mean... What?"
*muffled, relieved chuckle* "There's a two-way radio on the rat, Darcy. This is Steve. We're gonna get you out. What's your situation? There's a lot of interference. The explosive residue is emitting false heat signatures. Where were you when the building fell?"
"My situation is that I'm under a ton of rubble with a talking rat," Darcy groused. "Other than that, I'm fine. Late for our dinner date, but fine."
Squeak
"Are you wearing a backpack, Ratmerica? Oh, my God. That's adorable." Darcy let out a tense breath. "I'm under my lab counter, the Hulk-stomp-proof one? Limited air. Captain Ratmerica should leave and stop breathing my air."
Rubble shifted more. There were scraping and falling-rock noises. Crashing sounds. Darcy put her face down against her knees and hoped the rat wouldn't get squashed. Or touch her.
A hint of air movement blew into her under-table bubble. "Air?"
Then, everything changed. There was light and air and everything was dusty. And, she was in Steve's arms and she was okay. He carried Darcy out, bridal style, whispering, "got you, love. You're gonna be okay."
"What about Captain Ratmerica?" Darcy laugh-cried against her fiancé's shoulder.
Hoping maybe you can help with am old SheildShock story were Nat, Bucky, Tony and Dr. Susan Cho got deaged and Darcy and Steve had to watch over them. I remember Susan was dating Sam as an adult and called him Cookie Butt. And that Darcy and Steve took them all to Disneyland. Can't seem to find it and I fear its been deleted 😢
This? It sounded like an Emma98 story to me, so I'm smiling my way through her stuff on Ao3 now. :)
Darcy, I Shrunk the Avengers
emma98
What happened to @wahwahwaffles while I was off Tumblr/Ao3?
So I saw the @shieldshockfanfic repost about the price for fortune telling being a cute #shieldshock and this happened. I’m sure it’s been done a gazillion times before but what can I say, it was a thorn on my side until I wrote it.
I haven’t done a full edit but did do a pretty so go figure. This is also my first ShieldShock so [insert neurotic, caffeine-addled, feelings of panic].
EDIT: You all are so awesome, feelings of panic subsided enough to put this on
AO3
“Dammit.” Darcy grabbed the bottle of Zoya and removed the polish from her toe for like the twelfth time. Okay, it was only the third, but it felt like a baker’s dozen.
“How in hell did they do that?” She swiped at the various images of the most amazing, beautiful, marvelous painted toes she’d ever seen in her life. And she couldn’t do any of them.
She’d tried. There were instructions and videos, but it quickly became apparent that her artistic skills were limited to stick figures with crooked lines.
What she really needed was a pedicure, but as much as the thought of one was amazing, the idea of some stranger touching her feet just gave her the willies. Not to mention throwing money she could ill-afford to spend on an indulgent luxury was out of the question.
So she was on some floor of the Stark Tower, there were so many she couldn’t keep track and didn’t bother to, on a couch that was more comfortable than her own bed and undoubtedly cost more than her whole wardrobe combined painting or attempting to paint her toenails.
“Unreal.” She enlarged an image. “Dark sorcery, that’s what it is and mere mortals can just suck it.”
“Problem?”
Darcy looked up and just, Dayummm, that man. Super Soldier. All-American yumminess that made the butterflies in her stomach take flight. Talk about mere mortal faced with sorcery.
“What?” Her brain will eventually reboot from that quick trip to Pervyville.
Steve, leaning against the doorframe ducked his head and looked at tablet clutched at her chest and the nail polish bottles littering the coffee table she’d moved closer to the sofa.
Oh. Yeah.
“Nah. Just,” she waved at the mess, “trying to do the impossible when you’re not a contortionist and have no artistic talent is hilariously quixotic.”
His brow arched and she deflated.
“I want pretty toes and can’t do it.” She wasn’t pouting. She wasn’t! Just looking longingly at the pretty pictures.
“Want some help?”
She looked up. When did he move from the door to the sofa? Was super speed part of his skill set now, too? Her toes shriveled into the sofa, hiding from the source of light that sat down next to her. Not that she was thinking Steve was light because, he was just a man, right? A pretty, pretty man.
“I’ve picked up a pencil a time or two.”
Wait. He was offering to paint her toenails? Did she get sucked into an alternate universe and didn’t know it? Those pretty blues were doing things to her.
“Uh.”
He leaned over a tad, not touching because he’s forever aware of the impropriety, and looked at the tablet on her lap.
“Those are very artistic.”
“Uh.” She blinked. Earth to Darcy! “Yeah. I wasn’t really trying for those, just, you know, the basics like actually painting.”
He nodded. “One color or two?”
“Two.” Came out in a squeak. She didn’t even know her voice could do that.
“Trust me?” He was looking at her so soft and earnestly.
With. My. Life. Yes, a thousand times, yes!
“Uh huh.”
He was staring at her expectantly and Darcy finally realized he was waiting for her to bring her feet out of the cushions of the sofa. God, she hoped they weren’t baskets of fuzz nearing sentience. She lifted a foot near him and to her eternal astonishment, he picked up both of her legs and placed them across his lap.
This was the same man who was also so careful around her. Always making sure not to touch her, even accidentally, never mind in a friendly casual manner, that she actually thought he found her kinda repulsive. I mean, she got it, her mouth had a way of saying things before her brain could filter it and he was an old-fashioned type of guy who was used to proper ladies. But she’d never felt so trollish as when in the presence of Captain America.
“Those your paints?” He was looking at the case with enough polish to paint every toe in the Eastern Seaboard and that included the men, too.
Darcy nodded. “Steve?” God, those blues of his were so…drownable. “You’re touching my feet.” More than her feet actually, her calves here firmly on his thighs and his chest was pressing lightly against them in order to look at the nail polish on the table.
The masculine muscles, and there were so, so many, blanketing her calves tensed. “Is that okay?”
Is it okay? Dude. I want to use you as my own personal, preferably naked, blanket for the rest of my life.
“Uh huh.” Thank God the filter worked for once. Might not be fully coherent but it didn’t spew the things she was thinking. “Is it okay with you?”
His hand brushed the top of one foot, before holding it. It was almost a caress. “They are nice feet, Darcy.” His mouth tightened and eyes closed as his head dipped to his chest and his shoulders kinda folded on to themselves.
“Well, they’re my little piggies so I’m kinda okay with them.” A soft huff escaped his lips as they hitched up. “You’re hands are…” warm, soft, strong, making me melt…“nice.”
“So this is okay?”
Uh, yeah. “More than okay.”
He gave her calf a gentle squeeze before turning back to the polish. “What colors would you like?”
“Do anything you want.” So much for the filter working. Did his ears just turn a little pink? Totally worth her own embarrassment.
“Anything?” His voice was low and a little husky.
It gave her ideas. Pervyville meet your new mayor, Darcy Lewis. She swallowed. “Sure.” Her voice did not squeak. It didn’t!
“Don’t look,” he said. “I want it to be a surprise.”
The man could ask her to go piss off Banner and she’d do it in a heartbeat. “Okay.” She picked up the tablet and started scrolling. “Can we still talk?”
Not if he continued kneading her arch with the hand that was not painting, they couldn’t. God, it felt so good, she bit off a moan. Because that would have been inappropriate.
“What do you want to talk about?”
You. Naked in my bed? Thank God the filter was semi-functional. “Do you know what happened in Budapest?”
Steve laughed. “I think they are just messing with everyone.”
“Yeah,” she smiled, “that would totally be something they’d do.” Silence settled between them and it was surprisingly comfortable. She was still trying to think of something to say, what could she have in common with a gorgeous superhero.
Turns out they had a lot in common. Love for coffee. Movies. Books. And he kept massaging her foot with strong, nimble fingers so it’s not her fault her eyes drifted close and she enjoyed the fucking moment. And then he did that thing.
He lifted her foot near his mouth and blew. It couldn't be helped. The jolt of electrical - okay, fine, sexual - energy surged through her and her leg jerked. Would have probably kicked him in the face if he hadn’t been holding on so securely.
“Darcy?” His eyes looked pained with worry and the grip on her foot tightened. “You okay?”
What was her name again? Right. “Uh. Huh.” Yes. Her voice was actually squeaking. She dropped her eyes before something embarrassing happened. Like her having an orgasm because he was blowing that warm, intimate breath on her damn toes. Which led her to thinking what it would feel like against other parts of her body.
“Want me to stop.”
“God, no.” Hard to clear your throat when it's rough and tight. “I mean, not unless you want to.”
He stroked her foot and if that wasn’t caress, she’d eat Tony’s stupid suit. The small one, not the Hulkbuster.
“I’m only halfway done.”
Yeah. If she made it out of this room without jumping him, it will be a flipping miracle.
“Okay.”
She knew he was nice. Of course, Captain America would be nice, but Steve Rogers is so goddamn adorably sweet and funny and smart. He makes her laugh and she’s thrilled that she could return the favor to the point he had to stop painting, eyes crinkling shut and hand on his chest. She fell a little in love with him right there and then.
Okay. More than a little but who’s counting.
The thing was after this, she wouldn’t be able to go back to the way they were before. It would crush her to know this Steve and have to go back to the formal, perfect gentleman and rather cold Avenger.
“Can we stay like this?” It comes out of her mouth before she can think about it.
“Like what?”
“Friends.”
He looked up. “I thought we were friends, Darcy.”
Her head moves slowly side to side. “No. You were polite. Nice. But there were times I thought you could barely stay in the same room I was in, much less stand near me.”
The hand massaging her foot stilled. “I’m sorry, Darcy. It wasn’t about you, it was about me.”
What was that supposed to mean? Should she ask? Did she want to know or would it be something she’d be better off not knowing like that inter-dimensional portal to a zombie world that opened up in Jersey of all places? It got handled quickly but…ew, gross.
“Oh.”
“I like this,” he said. “I,” the corded muscles of his throat stood out when he swallowed thickly. “like you.”
He did? “You do?”
His lips curved up into a soft smile. “Yeah. I do.”
Her heart skipped a beat. Or twelve. Who needs a regular rhythm anyway?
“I like you, too, Steve.”
They just stayed like that smiling at each other until she felt the heat blossom from her cheeks down her neck to her chest and…Oh.My.God. Her brain short-circuited. It just did.
She didn’t know how long it took for her to remember to breathe, but she finally managed, and her face finally felt like it wasn’t doing its best impersonation of a tomato. She was finally back to normal. Or as normal as she could be with Steve Rogers touching her and massaging her foot.
And then he did that thing he did. Again. Bringing the other foot near his mouth and blew.
Jesus on a pogo stick!
Her whole body shuddered. God, she wanted to do dirty, inappropriate things to this man when he does that thing he does.
Her eyes met his and there was merriment and something dark and promising. Hell. He knew, had known the whole time what he’d been doing to her. Or maybe he was just making sure that he was actually doing that thing that made her throw caution to the wind.
“If you don’t like it, I can do something else.”
Huh? He pointed to her toes. Her beautiful, marvelous, amazing toes in blue with stars, one toe in each foot was red with stars. He’d used that damn glittery silver polish that she’d loved but couldn't put on her nails without making them look stubby.
Red, silver, and blue, huh? Either that was a hint, shut up, she’s not thinking all that clearly, or she’s going to have to move to a cave on the other side of the world.
Darcy gently tugged her foot his grasp and scooted closer until her butt was flush to his thigh and she was practically sitting on his lap.
“Darcy.” That voice again, low and husky and full of promise. “Want to get coffee with me sometime?”
She’s almost on top of him and he wants coffee? Hell no.
“No.”
He stiffened and his eyes turned into that soft, lost puppy dog look. “No?”
“Dinner,” she said. She should have left it that, but that damn filter. “And breakfast.”
He swallowed. “Most important meal of the day.”
“Uh. Huh.” Her hand traced his jawline before settling against his cheek. This man was carved from granite. She always wanted to be a geologist.
Darcy leaned forward until they were sharing breathing space, their mouths a whisper apart.
“Do you want me to stop?” She really, really hoped he didn’t.
“Hell no.” He closed the distance, lips covering hers and did that thing he does.
Hear me out: Cards Against Humanity with Captain America.
So we all know that Nat LOVES to make Steve squirm. One day, Darcy notices this and her first words to the infamous Black Widow are "I noticed you like fucking with 'Merica Man, and I know a great way to make him squirm."
So naturally Nat listens to her idea, and a week later the team is called for a meeting by Tony for "Group Cooperation through proven exercises."
Darcy has every extended pack, special edition card that has ever been produced, and has gone through every single one to make sure that there weren't any triggers. The first few rounds made Steve turn as red as a tomato, but he got the swing of it eventually. Clint was surprisingly the best, with Tony offering sarcastic commentary on every round. Darcy was a bit awkward, seeing as how she only knew Thor well, having spoken to the others only a handful of times. No one noticed Nat shuffling in a new deck of cards, or questioned when Tony called for a new game to start, making them aquire new hands. As engineered by the Widow, it was Darcys turn to judge first.
"This is the prime of my life! I'm young, hot, and full of _____." She couldn't help but giggle at her card, thinking about how the responses would either be extremely good or hellaciously bad. Nat collected and shuffled all of the teams cards, handing them over to the voluptuous brunette who in turn read them all out loud with pride, only stuttering slightly on the last one.
"I'm young, hot, and full of Ca-Ca- OKAY I KNOW I DIDN'T PUT THIS CARD IN HERE, SO ONE OF YOU CHEEKY SHITS SNUCK IT IN." Red flushed her cheeks, only turning darker when she was prodded by Clint to continue. "I'm young, hot, and full of Captain America's super cock."
The room erupted with laughter, and Steve flushed a red that matched Darcy.
"I don't know who put the card in there, but the mention of Captains flag pole has to be the funniest. Kudos to you." Darcy was proud of her wicked sense of humor, besides she was more than certain that worse things had been said by her at a toga party the last time she was at Culver, and she was willing to bet $20 that it was Tony who had won that round.
The room fell silent as Steve leaned forward and grabbed his winning card.
Should I make this an actual fic? You guys tell me.
“While Darcy's living with Jane in Portland, Maine, she meets Captain America. Only she has no idea he's Captain America. He's Steve Rogers, running and hiding from tragic circumstances that he just cannot deal with.
Darcy never intended to fall in love with him. She also never intended on having him disappear on her.
I posted something. I actually posted something finished! So chuffed, and great thanks to @palmetto-blue for taking the time to read through it and make sure the errors weren’t too bad.
Circular
A Steve/Darcy fic (of course) though sort of not really...
Yeah, I made myself a photoset for Take Your Aim because I miss it already and because I need some motivation to get this sequel off the ground. Send me pictures please!
Oh, and yes. Eddie is officially being played by Aldis Hodge in my brain because...why not?
