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When asked, Darcy always named the plummeting price tag—a result of plummeting admissions—as the reason she decided to attend Culver University. And that was certainly appealing, but the truth was that she put CU at the top of her list for the same reason sane individuals everywhere were striking it from their own: the giant green rage monster known as the Hulk.
Of course, by the time she got there, it—he—was long gone. But hey, great school and less debt than expected!
Darcy was… well, honestly, ‘excited’ might be a bit of an understatement. She’d been excited since Tony Stark—Tony Stark—called with an invitation for them to live and work in Avengers Tower. Jane hadn’t hesitated, and Darcy had been glad to avoid threatening the Poptarts. Jane pouted for weeks when she did that, but she really, really wanted to live in Avengers Tower.
She suspected that Stark really, really wanted them to live (and, more importantly, Science!) there. He sent a private plane to pick them up, and was waiting to greet them the moment they stepped into the Tower. He had, apparently, decided to lead them on their tour of his building himself, rather than foist them off on a low-ranking employee. He even did a pretty good job of it, and had been smart (or cruel) enough to leave the labs for last. (Darcy appreciated this, as it would have been difficult to drag Jane away from the Science!, but she suspected he was just doing it to make Jane’s eye twitch.)
The tour was winding up and they had nearly reached the labs when Stark (“Call me Tony!”) casually mentioned that they would be meeting “Bruce” while they were there.
Darcy skidded to a halt. “Bruce? Bruce Banner? As in, the guy who turns into the Hulk? That Bruce Banner?”
Tony frowned at her, Thor looked disappointed, and Jane looked confused.
“Is that a problem?”
“No, of course not, I’m just surprised. Uh, what do we do if he Hulks out?”
Tony’s frown deepened. “He won’t.”
“Banner has very good control over himself, Darcy. I promise, you and Jane are in no danger from him.”
“No, I know, but, like, what if there’s an explosion or something?”
“JARVIS, is Bruce working on anything explosive today?”
“No, Sir.”
“There you go, Lewis. Nothing to worry about.”
Darcy refrained from saying that a lack of explosive projects almost guaranteed an unexpected explosion; instead, she shrugged and said, “Okay.”
She followed the group, feeling decidedly nervous about the upcoming meeting. When she caught herself trying to check her hair in a reflection, she rolled her eyes and tried to relax. Either something would happen that would mess up her hair, or nothing would happen and it wouldn’t really matter what her hair looked like.
They entered the lab; all was quiet. A man in a lab coat—one she knew from pictures—turned from a microscope to greet them.
Nothing exploded.
She tried to psych herself up; something was going to happen, and before the introductions got to her, because…
“Lewis, this is Dr. Banner. Bruce, this is Darcy Lewis.”
He smiled, almost shyly, and held out a hand. She held her breath, waiting for an explosion or an attack or…
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Lewis.”
The air rushed from her lungs and she gaped at him for a moment.
Jane elbowed her.
Darcy shook her head. “Sorry, sorry, it’s nice to meet you, too,” she said in a rush, belatedly reaching for his hand as the smile fell from his face. “It’s just, that wasn’t what I was expecting you to say.”
He looked bemused. “What were you expecting me to say?”
“Hulk smash?” an acerbic voice suggested from the doorway.
Darcy spun around and stared at the newcomer, wide-eyed and gaping. After a moment, her mouth clicked shut and a smile spread itself across her face.
This whole situation was ridiculous, and she probably looked like a huge doofus, standing there grinning at a confused Captain America. She laughed and shook her head. “Yes, you moron, thanks to you, that’s exactly what I thought he was going to say! Seriously, who uses someone else’s catchphrase like that?” She laughed again at the abrupt turn her life had taken, but also at the shocked look on his face. “At least this means there won’t be any explosions.”
“I feel like I’m missing something very important,” Tony complained.
Captain America—and she should probably start calling him ‘Steve’—continued to silently stare at her, his jaw hanging open and his eyes wide.
She tilted her head at him. “We do match, don’t we? Because otherwise that means some other idiot is going to use Hulk’s catchphrase the first time he meets me.” She heard choking noises as the scientists in the room figured out what was going on. She ignored them.
Captain… Steve shook himself out of it. “No, I mean, yes, those were my words.”
“Well, that’s a relief,” she said, and heard a small, sad sigh behind her. She turned and saw that Dr. Banner’s face had gone blank. Her eyes narrowed and she turned to face him fully, hands on her hips. “Hey! I was perfectly fine with having you for a Soulmate, so don’t you go thinking like that. At this point, I know more about you than I do about him, but I don’t actually know either of you. Right now, the only thing he’s really got on you is that he isn’t a mad scientist genius person.”
He blinked, taken aback by her scolding. “Um. What?”
“I heard that sigh. You thought I was saying I was relieved it wasn’t you, and that’s just not true. I was ready to be yours. The universe or whatever says I’ll be happy with him, but my life just got flip-turned upside-down.”
Tony snorted and chimed in, “Lewis, your new name is Fresh Princess. JARVIS, make a note.”
“Yes, sir,” the AI said, a note of long-suffering in his voice.
“Uh… Miss Lewis?” Steve said from behind her, reminding her that she did have a shiny new Soulmate she’d been ignoring in favor of the man she’d thought would be her Soulmate.
She hoped he didn’t get the wrong impression. She spun to face him and smiled. “Call me Darcy. Please.”
He smiled back, but looked unsure. “It… we don’t have to. If you’d rather be with him.”
She raised her eyebrows, then turned so she could look between him and Bruce. “I don’t really know either of you well enough to have a preference. But,” she shrugged and looked at Bruce, “I’m getting more of a BFF vibe. What about you?”
He smiled at her. “You’re a little young for me. Romantically, at least. But I would like to be your friend.”
She snorted. “That’s BS, but if you think I’m too young, it’s a problem. Well, it would be. But since we’re not going there, it doesn’t really matter. Besties it is.” She approached him and solemnly offered her pinky. He, looking entirely bemused, accepted. “There, no takesy-backsies. Besties for life.”
“Pinkie promise,” he said, sounding every bit as solemn as she.
“Great! Now,” she said, turning slightly to include Jane and Tony, “can I trust you three to behave yourselves for a while? I need to take my Soulmate out for coffee.”
Jane rolled her eyes. “We’ll be fine. Go, have fun.”
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” was Tony’s contribution.
“Thor, I’m trusting you not to let them blow anything up.”
He bowed, amused. “I will keep them from harm, Lady Darcy.”
“Yeah, you’d better,” she said, and finally turned to her Soulmate. “C’mon, soldier. Let’s go get some caffeine.”
He smiled. “As you wish.”
“Was that a Princess Bride reference?”
“Uh… no? Is that a movie?”
“Oh, you poor, unfortunate soul. We are getting coffee and then we are watching The Princess Bride.”
“Have fun storming the castle,” Bruce called as they left the room.