Chapter Text
Darcy strode into Steve’s apartment in the Avenger’s Tower, hair a riot of curls made from constantly taking on and off the scrunchies she used to secure her hair away from her face. She was barefoot, her most comfortable 3 inch heels clutched in her fist. Her royal blue blouse was beyond saving, splashed with lab gunk, and her slacks were not far behind. The young woman didn’t want to contemplate what her makeup situation looked like.
The last time Darcy remembered checking the time, she had few minutes to spare before she needed to depart to be on time for her planned date with Steve and Matt. She knew that window had long since closed, and was only hoping things had gone well enough for the boys that a raincheck was possible in the near future.
Making her way through Steve’s living room, throwing her shoes near the entrance wall and divesting herself of the blouse, she desperately avoided looking at any clocks. Darcy didn't want to face the reality of how little sleep she had available to her before work began again. Mornings where she could sleep in were rare enough when she first started at Stark Industries. Unfortunately, they had long become a relic of the past.
Darcy’s eyes were starting to throb, the beginnings of a headache building along her forehead and the base of her skull. Partially because of her date-night contacts she had put in that morning, and partially for staring at the myriad of screens that made up Tony’s personal laboratory.
Darcy threw her blouse near the couch absentmindedly, on her path to Steve’s bedroom in her best matching bra and panties. At that point in the evening (or was it morning already?), the young woman wanted one thing and one thing only: to sleep. Perhaps to also wrap around Steve like a cold octopus seeking warmth, but mostly to sleep.
Like, 75% of the reason just to sleep .
So determined to see that happen, Darcy didn’t notice the extra set of discarded men’s clothes scattered about Steve’s living room. It was only when she entered Steve’s bedroom, that she finally pieced it all together. Darcy was almost surprised to see Steve and Matt naked in bed together, but she felt she shouldn’t have been. They were illuminated softly by the warm, faint light coming from the in-suite bathroom opposite the bedroom’s entrance. Steve was a fantastic cuddler. One of his large arms was supporting Matt’s head, while the other arm held Matt so close, it was like Steve was afraid the other would flee in the night. It was difficult to tell where one body started and the other ended.
The way they were wrapped around each other, the swelling curve of muscle and gentle breaths, was effortlessly masculine and beautiful. For a moment, she wondered if this was what Aphrodite felt when she spied upon Cupid and Psyche. The dark thought didn't linger though, replaced with a soft pleasure in watching a man she was beginning to love seek comfort with a man she could, perhaps, love someday.
Darcy almost wished her brain was working and that she had read the signs quicker. Sleep was a rare luxury in their respective lines of work, and she wouldn’t have wanted to disturb their sleep if she could help it. Steve’s was only ever untidy when he was in a rush. A rush to get laid, in particular. Darcy knew that small detail about him very, very intimately.
Painfully slow, Darcy backed out of the room. Both sleeping figures had enhanced senses sharpened through battle, and she would do her best not to trigger them into wakefulness. In fact, she was more surprised that she hadn’t woken either men thus far.
They must have only just fallen asleep, she thought drowsily to herself. When the door to the room closed with the softest click, she let out the breath she had been holding. She turned to make her way to Steve’s kitchen. The sound proofing in the personal quarters were very good, so she was less worried about disturbing the sleeping figures.
When Darcy reached Steve’s kitchen, she turned on the small oven overhead light, and shuffled about to make herself some tea. Darcy reached into what was becoming her tea section of Steve’s cabinets, before pulling out her favorite sleep-tea made for her by Bruce. She measured out careful teaspoons of the valerian and chamomile mix into a mug, welcoming the smell, as she set an electric kettle to boil.
The light from the kitchen painted the space in warm sepia tones. Time escaped her grasp as she waited for the water to boil. Darcy fought against encroaching sleep. She lost the battle there somewhere, since the soft beep of the kettle jolted her out of semi-consciousness. She moved efficiently to pour herself a cup.
Darcy held the tea between her two palms, staring blankly at the swirl of tiny galaxies that Natasha had painted on her fingernails. She waited for the concoction to seep, but appreciated the warmth. She took the first sip, bitter-sweet tea washed over her tongue, and the stress of her day began to slowly melt away.
Darcy stood there for quite a while, warm drink in hand. In the moments she was lucid enough to know where she was, Darcy took careful sips of the tea.
The young woman couldn’t say how long she stood there, nor could she say which of her senses tuned her into the presence standing in the bedroom doorway. Darcy was in a cocoon of dim light and mostly darkness, and couldn’t quite make out the figure from her vantage point. Neither the light coming from the bedroom nor from the kitchen was sufficient to make the figure clear.
She stood there, without fear, and continued to take careful sips.
It wasn’t until the figure moved out of the doorway, closing the bedroom door softly behind them, that she recognized it was Steve. The shoulders were too wide, the stride too much like a dancer, for it to be anyone else.
Steve approached her on silent feet, all casual grace even in the darkness of the almost-morning. He didn’t stop walking until he was only a step away from her. He filled her space, despite not touching her. Darcy, focused on her tea, missed how his eyes catalogued every inch of her in honest concern.
Darcy brought her drink up to her lips to take another gulp, and was surprised to find the tea had cooled practically to room temperature. She didn’t know when it had done that.
Steve reached out, one careful paw, to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear. His fingers caressed her brow along the journey. Darcy nuzzled her cheek into the warm palm.
“Heya Stevie,” she whispered into the night. The fading twilight felt too sacred to carry any louder sounds. “I hope I didn’t disturb you.”
“Not at all, Darce,” Steve responded whisper for whisper. He moved his hand to cup the back of her neck in a reassuring grip. He palm settled across the span of her neck, fingers aimed upwards to scratch gently into her hair.
Darcy eyes drooped closed, relaxing into the sensation. Darcy only remembered the tea in her hands when Steve pried it from her half-loose fingers. He set it down on the counter beside her.
“You seem dead on your feet, dollface,” Steve spoke gently. Steve worried about Darcy. He knew how much she had been burning midnight candles from both ends. Not that Steve was much better, but he needed significantly less sleep than her.
Coming to a silent decision to himself, Steve closed the remaining distance between them. He enveloped Darcy gently in both arms.
“Hmmmm,” she moaned out around the warmth and sweetness of skin against skin. Darcy nuzzled her head into his sternum, like she was trying to burrow inside him for warmth. “Warm Steve.”
Steve chuckled, and closed his own eyes to just be in the moment with his favorite person. Steve had to hunch somewhat to rest his head against hers, but it was always worth the slight awkwardness. The smell of Darcy’s shampoo was avocadoy and sweet. Sometimes, the smell lit him up with hunger and need. Other times, like that moment, it smelled like comfort.
“Don’t you think we should get you to bed, doll?” He inquired into the baby hairs near her ear, ghosting the words..
“No,” she replied almost petulantly, burrowing her face more aggressively into his chest. “Steve cuddles.”
Darcy pulled her face away briefly, to deliver Steve her patented Stink Eye of Sleepy Death™. It was adorable and effective every time. It was a force of will to contain the laughter that bubbled up inside him every time she did this.
Somehow, Darcy always knew when Steve was laughing on the inside. So, she turned up her death glare up to 11. She wrapped her arms aggressively against Steve’s sides for warmth. Her hands roamed over miles of skin, caressing the velvet firmness of Steve’s backside, before clasping her hands at his lower back. Darcy only just realized her partner was stark naked.
“Steve naked cuddles,” she reiterated, decisively, before burying her face back into the swell of the supersoldier’s chest. “Naked Steve cuddles. Are the best cuddles.”
Steve was glad how short Darcy was in moments like these. Decades ago, he would catch glimpses of himself in the mirror after making love with Bucky, or listening to Peggy rant against the world. It always disarmed him, how soft his brow became, how much the emotion transformed the shape of him.
Steve knew, in these quiet moments staring down at Darcy in his arms, that he had that same look on his face. His, face blazed with the first blush of love for Darcy. Even though his mouth had not yet given life to those words.
“Come on, sweetheart.” Steve squeezed her once before releasing her from his embrace, dropping his hands to her hips. “Let’s get you a coupla hours of shut eye.”
Steve moved to step back, determined to drag Darcy to her much deserved rest. Darcy, though, had other ideas.
“Nooooooo,” she moaned out, as she wrapped around him boa constrictor tight. “Cuddle naked Steve.”
Steve rolled his eyes, “You really must be tired. You’re not making any sense.”
“Naked cuddles, Steve,” Darcy added, face serious though body still lax against him.
Steve chuckled softly, going to pry her surprisingly strong arms from around his torso. Darcy allowed him to remove his arms from around him, but Steve should have realized it was a feint.
Even punch-drunk on no sleep, Darcy was a tricky one. The brunette took the opportunity of freed limbs to instead hop up, wrapping arms around the tall man’s neck. Her strong legs snared around his hips like pincers.
Steve instinctively moved his hands underneath Darcy to secure her against him. Steve’s hands were firm and strong against Darcy’s bottom, as they adjusted to hold her weight.
“Steve cuddles naked,” Darcy hissed out menacingly, inches now from Steve’s stubbly face. Perhaps she was attempting menacing, but Steve found her scrunched up face nothing short of adorable.
Steve bridged the gap between their lips, and covered her mouth with his own. He smoothed out her faux-angry expression with soft kisses, nipping at pouted lips until they opened up for his tongue.
Steve pulled Darcy’s body closer to his own. Partially, to make sure she was secure against him as he teased her with light kisses. Partially, just because she felt so damn good in his arms.
Steve hunted for the taste of chamomile along her tongue, sipping pleasure from her lips the way Darcy drank from her mug only minutes ago. A gentle exploration for a gentle night. He didn’t relent until the woman he held went boneless in his arms. Only then, did he pull back from gentle exploration to stare at the treasure in his arms.
Darcy’s eyes were closed in honest pleasure, face lax and sweet in the astronomical twilight beginning to fill the air around them. The nearly gone lipstick darkened her supple lips to the color of ripe strawberries. The eyeliner was a messy smear around her eyes, but Steve could find her nothing but achingly beautiful.
Steve used his fingers to tease at the edge of her lace panties, focused on the sensation of her soft chest rising and falling against his own. He luxuriated in the feel of her groin pressed to his own, the warmth between them syrupy.
Steve bent his face down once more, to dabbed small kisses to her lips, along her neck, to the tip of her nose. Steve stopped peppering kisses to her face when Darcy opened her eyes once more.
“Cuddle Steve naked,” Darcy bargained, her voice had gone breathy. “Then bed?”
Steve smiled at her, heart in his throat, and nodded. He rearranged them, so Darcy’s weight was supported by his left arm under her. Her legs tightened around him, thighs firm against his hips.
“Let me take care of you tonight, doll,” Steve said, free hand supporting the back of her neck, fingers teasing the base of her skull once more. He used that hand to bring her face to his, and consumed her delicately.
Steve carried Darcy back to the living room, walking slowly but confidently around the obstacles his brain had already mapped out subconsciously. Perks of being a supersoldier.
As he walked them through the space, Steve started to use the arm under Darcy to rub her up and down his hard length. The motion wasn't about teasing himself, though the feeling was very much appreciated. Rather, Steve delighted in the small moans Darcy pressed into his mouth every time his length drove the lace of her panties over her most sensitive parts.
Darcy’s brain was mush from the lack of sleep, but the gentle bank and wave of pleasure turned it into warm, hazy mush. She reveled in Steve’s attention.
Steve set Darcy down on the center of the couch, careful to move them both slowly so as not to lose any of the delicious contact between them. Steve pressed their bodies together, trying to get as much skin-to-skin as possible.
Hands free now to explore, Steve traced the curve of her shoulders, trailed fingers across stiff nipples covered by lace, tracing skin everywhere he went.
“God, you’re so amazing,” Steve whispered into the shell of her throat. Voice deep and honest. Darcy doesn’t get bashful exactly, but did bury her face against his throat.
“I can’t believe I’m so lucky to land a gal like you,” he breathed the words over her ear, teasing but not quite touching. His hips teased along the skin of her hips. Steve listened to the hitch of Darcy’s breath, subconsciously matching his own breathing to hers.
“I can’t wait to taste you,” Steve promised her in breathy pants. He moved his hands behind Darcy, to unclasp her bra. His fingers lingering at every touch of skin along the way.
“Gunna make you feel good,” he kept up the low murmur, as he pulled the garment hiding his partner from him.
“Stunning,” he promised her, trying to consume the whole of her with his eyes alone. She was alabaster and cream in the darkness of the almost-morning.
“Stevie,” Darcy keened. The word ended in a soft moan, as Steve moved his mouth to lick at her collarbones. Darcy’s moan started low, then went high, when Steve brought his hands up to cup her breasts. Steve poised a thumb over each of her stiff nipples, and teased them in feather-light circles.
Darcy reached out with her small hands to join the action. Steve, reluctantly, removed his hands from her breasts to grip her wrists. Steve brought each of them to his mouth, placing kisses against each pulse point, before settling them against his shoulders.
“Let me take care of you, Darce,” Steve whispered out.
Darcy’s eyes were wide and blue in the fading-night as she stared at him. Long moments of eye contact lingered between them, before Darcy nodded in understanding. A low-fever built in Steve’s body. Something about pleasuring his partner, without any expectation of return but making them watch Steve work … That did more for Steve than any touch could.
Steve continued his thorough investigation of Darcy, mouth trailing downward. Steve shimmied off the couch, knocking the detritus of discarded clothes out of the way, before coming to his knees before his gal. He brought his mouth up to graze the sides of her breasts, fingers dancing in other places.
Steve’s mouth bypassed her nipples completely. Darcy let out an indignant squeak that had Steve smirking into the skin of her belly. He nipped at the soft skin he found there.
“Patience, doll,” he spoke to her hip bone. Steve brought his hands up cover the expanse of her back, before moving them down to rest just above the swell of her ass. He works some of the skin over her hip bones into his mouth, and sucks.
Darcy bit back her moan as Steve gave her a hickey. Steve felt her moan rumble through her body. He loved used his mouth to leave these marks where nobody else could see them. Silent but sensitive, reminding her the next day where he had pleasured her. He moved to the opposite hip, repeating the process there, smirking around the flesh in his mouth.
Steve moved his fingers under the lace of her panties, as Darcy continued to hold back her moans.
“You overwhelm me, doll,” Steve confessed to her, as he moved to divest her of her panties. When she was finally bare before him, his gaze caressed Darcy from head to toe. Taking his time, taking in every detail.
Steve cupped the outside of her thighs in his large hands and buried his face in her warm belly. The blond needed a moment. He fought to ignore the pressure between his legs in favor of the pleasure of the brunette before him.
“Can’t wait to taste you,” Steve said, voice muffled. He pulled Darcy forward on the couch until she was reclined and presented to him in full.
Before Steve leaned in to make good on his promise, he looked up to stare into the eyes staring down at him. Only the smallest sliver of blue could be made out around pupils blown wide by desire.
Steve maintained that eye contact when he lowered his mouth to Darcy’s folds. Darcy could no longer contain her moans, though they weren't loud, they filled the quiet room. The sound of them was a symphony to Steve as the darkness lost a bit of its depth, and the outside world shifted from twilight to the beginnings of dawn.
Steve’s began licking up and down her folds, hands caressing along from thigh to pelvis bone.
Steve used his tongue to trace against her in steady patterns. He delighted in spelling their names against her vulva. Darcy was a particular fan of ‘S’ that evening, so he stuck to it for several long minutes. Every few cycles, he would press his tongue softly against her clit hood, stimulating the delicate nerves underneath. He would use teeth and the edge of his stubbled jaw to scratch against the delicate skin on the inside of her thighs, to add variety to their pleasure.
Steve used his hands to trail random patterns along her breasts, running the backs of his palms along her nipples. Steve listened to the hitch of her breathing, watched as her eyes dropped heavy, and was delighted. His hands settled on her breasts, fingers slowly moving from feather soft to more serious teasing of the areolas.
Darcy’s moans were being pulled from her consistently then. Punctuated with little gasps when he did something particularly good with his tongue. Each time, Steve’s dick would pulse and add a spurt of precum against the edge of the couch.
When Darcy’s thighs shook, a clear sign of her building pleasure, Steve knew she was ready for more.
Steve used his tongue more firmly against her core. He moved his hands away from her breasts despite Darcy’s protesting squeaks, and settled them against her thighs. He applied pressure there until she was held down gently, but still open completely before him. He continued to devour her.
When he hit a motion that caused her to start rocking her pelvis against his mouth, Steve kept at it until Darcy’s thighs started shaking in his palms and around his head. Steve stared up at her heaving chest, ears focused on her open mouthed moans.
When Darcy’s peak hit, her hands plunged into his hair, and she rode his face to completion. Steve held her thighs as she quaked around him, riding her through the end. He had to focus his will not to orgasm just from the sight, sound, and taste of her.
When her hands relaxed their death grip from his head, Steve panted heavily against her entrance. Steve watched Darcy as she came down from the high.
Before she was truly recovered, Steve gave an experimental lick to her. It sent a shock through Darcy’s body that looked almost painful. He waited several more seconds as the jolt passed, before repeating the motion. Darcy’s eyes snapped open, meeting Steve’s gaze, as her body convulsed again in stimulation. Their eyes locked together.
Steve repeated the motion a third time, and the reaction was less sharp but no less good. So, he did it once more. And then again. And again.
“I want you to come on my mouth again,” Steve whispered to her, as licked her sensitive pussy in long strokes like he was savoring some rare treat. The licks lit Darcy up from inside out, like the first rays of dawn that were coming into the living room from outside.
Darcy stared at Steve kneeling before her. Steve’s face was worshipful, cheeks and lips damp with spit and her own fluids. She didn’t have the will to deny him anything in that moment, not even her own pleasure. Darcy simply nodded.
Steve was gentle with her, but his hunger was obvious. He moved faster this round than he had at the start of the previous. Steve was hungry, desperate to see her peak again.
The pleasure this time was more acute in Darcy’s belly. Each pass of tongue sizzling. The climb thankfully faster, as sensitive nerves were already poised to fire.
Several long minutes of action, and Darcy was climbing steadily towards another orgasm. She grabbed Steve by the hair again, and held on. Not impeding his motion, just needing something to ground her through the swell of pleasure. His grip on her thighs felt oh-so-good to Darcy, baring her open and keeping her secure.
The sensation built and built and built. Darcy hovered along the precipice for a few short minutes.
Some spasm passed through Darcy, causing her to pull on Steve’s hair clenched in her fists. Shivers racked through Steve's body. He began moaning, low and insistently, directly into her pussy. It was exactly what Darcy needed.
Darcy came, clenching and clutching. She lost her sense of everything but the pleasure. Darcy wasn’t entirely sure, but she thought she might have chanted Steve’s name at the end there too.
It took several deep breaths before Darcy regained her sense of self. She released Steve’s hair from her white-knuckled grip, but moved her hands into petting the man’s hair gently. He was panting, body supported by the couch, face mashed into her thigh. His breaths were hot and deep against the juncture where her thigh and groin met.
“If you give me a minute,” Darcy’s voice was croaky from moaning. Her wrecked voice sent shivers down Steve's spine. Steve licked his lips, savoring the smell and taste of her. “I can return the favor, Stevie.”
“Doll, I came all over the couch already,” Steve admitted, chuckling against her.
Darcy hmm-ed at the declaration, and continued petting his hair languidly as she caught her breath. Her blinks grew longer and longer between each breath, until her eyes closed down for business.
Darcy felt Steve scoop her up into his big arms, though her eyes refused to open again. She wiggled into his warmth.
“Cuddles?” She thought she might have inquired into his neck.
“Of course, doll,” she thought she heard Steve say, as he pressed soft kisses against her face and carried her off into the morning.