Work Text:
Stark Tower...Advanced Research Laboratories...
Tony Stark fired a few more repulsor shots at Captain America's shield before looking triumphantly at Bruce.
"See? Almost no lag time at all for recharge. A few more tweaks, and I'll get rid the overheating issue and be able to go with sustained fire when we need it. Tired of this intermittent bullshit."
Steve lowered his shield, glancing at the surface quickly to check for damage, out of habit more than anything.
Bruce nodded. "Adding a redundant loop to the sensors should fix that. Should be a quick fix."
"For a rocket scientist," Steve muttered. "If you're done shooting at me..." he said to Tony, hoping that his services – such as they were – were no longer needed.
"Where's the fire, Cap? Hang out for a while." Tony replied, pulling the unfinished mechanical gauntlets and gloves off his hands. Since he was only testing new replusors, he was wearing his everyday "uniform" of a faded heavy metal band t-shirt and grease-stained jeans, not the full Iron Man suit.
"I want you to see how I apply my special paint to these puppies. You're going to want a couple of coats for your bike. It's top notch stuff. Bugatti's been trying to get me to share the formula with them. Dum-E!" He called to the robot. "Bring me some of the latest batch of the high-impact Repulsor Red."
Steve sighed. Tony was in a mood to show off his toys. He really did not like just standing around the lab being shot at. But, since Tony had been kind enough to make room in the Tower for him after Steve had basically destroyed SHIELD and a good portion of D.C., he figured he should be cordial.
DUM-E circled Steve and wheeled to a halt in front of Tony. He presented an empty paint can in one of his clamps.
"Where's the rest of my paint!!?? JARVIS??!!"
"Sir, if you recall, you agreed to let Ms. Lewis add all your paint materials to her inventory of laboratory supplies." JARVIS supplied, in his crisp and slightly long-suffering tone.
"Why the Hell did I do that?" Not waiting for an answer, he added "JARVIS, get Lewis in here."
Bruce rolled his eyes and reached out for one of Tony's gauntlets.
A few seconds later, Darcy appeared in the lab doorway, tablet in hand. If she was bothered by the disarray of mechanical parts all over the floor and lab tables, or the acrid smell of repulsor blasts still lingering in the air, she didn't show it.
She nodded at Steve and Bruce, "Doc, Cap," before turning to Tony. "You rang? Or rather you directed your customized artificial intelligence program to summon me instead of just waving at me through the glass since I'm right next door."
"What can I say? Less is not more, more is more. Where is my paint?"
"In my inventory."
"Why is it not in my lab?"
"Because you're not allowed to have it, except under adult supervision."
"It’s my paint!! I designed it!"
"And, last month, when hyped up on Red Bull and Diet Coke during a Science! bender, you painted Pepper's favorite pair of Louboutins Repulsor Red with gold accents. After she stopped yelling, you put me in charge of the paint inventory so you, I quote: 'have any hope of having sex again.' Unquote. P.S. I'm not happy about having to deal with that visual again."
Tony blinked at her. "Oh. Right. I remember that now." He waved at Darcy. "I need my paint."
Darcy crossed her arms over her lab coat and stared at Tony.
Tony sighed. "Can I have some of my paint?" He ground out.
"I don’t know. Can you?"
"I have adult supervision. Cap is here. He is the adult-iest person alive. And Bruce is here."
Darcy mulled it over for a few seconds. "Fine, you can have some paint and some clear coat...but if Bruce leaves, it goes back into the vault."
"You are exceedingly generous with my own property, Lewis."
"I'm protecting you from yourself, you madman. Give me a raise," Darcy called over her shoulder as she turned on her heel.
"Ms. Lewis, would you like some help with the paint?" Steve said, seeing his chance for escape. He jogged a little to catch up with Darcy in the doorway.
She eyed him suspiciously. "Are you being a gentleman or do you just not want to get shot at anymore?"
"Bit of both?"
"Fair enough. Follow me," she directed, her long, wavy brown ponytail bobbing as they walked.
Steve followed Darcy through the adjacent lab to a locked supply room. Darcy entered a code, then placed her hand on the palm scanner and waited a few seconds until the lights on the door flashed green and allowed them inside.
"Lot of security for paint," Steve observed.
"The paint's not the only thing in here that requires adult supervision, believe me."
Steve pulled the door closed behind them and followed Darcy down an aisle lined by shelves until she stopped and gestured to a row of boxes.
"He can have a box of each," she said turning to look up at him.
"JARVIS, can you let us know if anyone approaches the supply room?" Steve said, calmly, looking down at her.
"Yes, Captain."
He slid his arms around her waist, underneath her lab coat. He planned to say something flirty to her but she was up on her toes, pressing her mouth to his before he could get a single word out. He opened his mouth eagerly to hers, pulling her flush against his body. As she teased his mouth with hers, just the way she knew he liked, he let one of his hands slip down to caress her bottom through her cotton dress.
Darcy moaned against his lips before pulling back. "Miss me?"
"Always," he replied.
"I just saw you a few hours ago, you were the one who talked me out of calling in sick today."
That was true. They had been wrapped around each other in his bed and his ringing alarm clock had been an unwelcome reminder that their alone time was up for the moment. Although Darcy had almost been successful in persuading him otherwise.
Steve pinched her bottom. "Not for lack of trying on your part. If I'd had known that Tony was just going to shoot at me all day, I'd have let you call in sick and then stuck around to nurse you back to health properly."
Darcy hummed, then lightly sucked on his lower lip. "Save that thought for tonight. I'm feeling a little feverish."
By mutual agreement, their months-old romantic relationship was still a secret from both the world at large and their inner circle of friends. At first they simply hadn’t wanted the pressure (or the constant scrutiny) of starting a relationship in full view of the public or Earth's Nosiest Heroes (Darcy’s term). Later, though, both the privacy and the thrill of having something that belonged just to the two of them had proved addicting and neither of them seemed in a hurry to give it up just yet.
JARVIS was surprisingly helpful in keeping their secrets. For some reason the AI valued Darcy's commands on almost the same level as Tony's and had not yet revealed anything to the others about the inordinate amount of time Steve and Darcy spent in each other's apartments...and the occasional storage room.
Steve gave her another lingering kiss in her lips before letting his mouth trail down her neck.
"We don't have a lot of time -- " Darcy sighed, then jumped slightly when he bit lightly on her jaw. " -- hon, don't leave a mark, I don't have any makeup here with me – They're bound to come looking for this paint at some point."
Steve shifted his hands to her hips and effortlessly lifted her off her feet. Automatically, she wrapped her legs around his waist and tightened her grip on his shoulders. As if he would ever let her fall. "Just a little longer," he told her before diving in for another kiss.
The one drawback of the whole secrecy thing was that any touching and kissing could only happen when they were completely alone. And Darcy was addictingly touchable and kissable. That made Steve value their time alone even more.
So if he lost track of time when they were kissing, with her soft body pressed up against his, her fingers were slipping through his hair....well, could anyone really blame him?
JARVIS' voice brought him back to reality. "Captain, Ms. Lewis, Sir and Dr. Banner are approaching the storage room."
With a sigh, Steve set her back on her feet, while letting her smooth down his hair.
"Tonight," he mouthed to her as he straightened Darcy's lab coat. She nodded and reached up to wipe a bit of her lip gloss from his lips with her thumb. Steve nipped at her thumb just as they heard the storage room door beeping as it opened.
"Where the hell are you two?" Tony bellowed. "'How long does it take to find paint?!!"
"Over here," Darcy shouted, winking at Steve one final time and injecting what he knew was only slightly feigned exasperation in her voice. "The Captain is arguing with me about how much paint you get to have. He's forgetting who's in charge in here."
Steve raised an eyebrow at her. As if he could ever forget that. But he played along. Drawing Tony into an argument was the easiest way to distract him. They both knew that.
"One box of each is a reasonable request, Ms. Lewis," he said loudly in his most authoritative Captain voice.
Tony arrived in their aisle, with Bruce trailing behind. As planned, he joined the paint dispute immediately, instead of looking too closely at their slightly mussed clothes and swollen lips.
"C'mon, one box, kiddo. I may need to apply a couple of coats," he pleaded.
Darcy shook her head. "Again, I quote 'One coat, bitches. Because I fucking know my polymers.' Unquote."
"Do you memorize everything I say?" Tony asked with narrowed eyes.
"You repeat yourself. A lot," Darcy replied flatly, eliciting a snicker from Bruce. "Half a box of each."
"One box and I'll tell Pepper you put up a good fight."
"Half a box. Pepper hired me to actually supervise you, not pretend to." Darcy opened the case of clear coat and handed Bruce two of the four cans it contained. She then opened the case of red paint and pushed two cans into Steve's hands. "Use those and you can have more, but not before. You'll thank me when you're not lonely and horny, sleeping on your office coach. Wait, scratch that. Don’t ever think of me in relation whatsoever to being horny."
Tony scowled and retreated back to his office, muttering expletives mixed in with directives to Bruce about surface preparation. Bruce rolled his eyes, smiled at Darcy and followed him.
Steve tilted his head at Darcy. "You were going to give him a full box of each before."
"That was before he interrupted us. Now I'm feeling petty."
Steve laughed and looked down at the paint cans, each which had the words "REPULSOR" printed on them in the Iron Man style of lettering.
"Well, that was quick thinking on the fake argument," he held up one can. "Otherwise we might have been caught 'red-handed.'"
Darcy rolled her eyes and pushed him towards the door, letting her hand trail down to his ass as they walked.
End.