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“Hey, Darce.” Tony turned from the whatsit-thing he was working on to gesture at her with his screwdriver.
She could see him out of her periphery, so she didn’t need to look up from the laptop screen she sat in front of. Besides, he had that too-mild tone that usually meant he was up to something. “What?” She had her own office, but she’d gone into the lab with what was almost a guarantee that Tony would interrupt her at some point. That was kind of the idea. It broke up the monotony of data entry, and Tony was pretty good company most of the time. Also Bruce was there. That was a pretty good draw all on its own.
“I need you…” Tony put down the screwdriver and picked up a candy cane from the jar at the edge of the table. “To take this to Bruce.” Tony always went a little overboard with the Christmas decorations. Darcy was pretty sure he could open up a candy shop just with the amount of candy canes in his lab alone.
She did look up then, her eyes narrowed as she focused on him. “That’s super specific and he’s literally fifteen feet away, so I’m going to have to ask why.” A glance at Bruce showed he was starting to get that long-suffering look that being around Tony sometimes gave people, but judging by his expression, she was fairly sure he didn’t know what Tony was after either.
“It’s more subtle than mistletoe.” His tone indicated that should have answered the question, and he continued to hold out the candy cane.
Bruce took off his glasses with a resigned air and held them loosely in front of him. “I have a feeling I’m going to regret asking, but how is it more subtle than mistletoe?”
“Because then Darcy can give it to you and ask you if she can suck on your candy cane.” The level of smugness in Tony’s words was almost unbearable.
Darcy could only stare at him for a moment. “What?” was the only thing she could come up with to say. He was actually suggesting that she… With Bruce...
“That’s more subtle?” Bruce shook his head and put his glasses on, his attention going back to his screen. The tips of his ears looked a little pink, but maybe he had the right idea. Tony was obviously looking for some kind of reaction. Maybe just ignoring him was the way to go.
“I mean…” Tony folded his arms, candy cane still held in his grip. “It is compared to the way I use mistletoe.”
Darcy tried, she really did, but she couldn’t let it go. “Why?” she finally demanded, her own cheeks feeling a little warm. “Why would I do that?” She couldn’t not know what Tony was up to.
“To put me out of my misery.” Tony looked between them, faintly accusatory. “I’m dying over here. I’m drowning in the sexual tension you two are throwing at each other, and I’m not even involved.” He held out the candy cane. “Candy cane?”
Bruce tapped at his screen for a second before coming out from behind his own desk. “I think I need a fresh cup of coffee.” His eyes were fixed on Darcy, completely ignoring Tony.
“That’s a great idea. I also need coffee.” She made sure everything was saved, then closed the laptop and got up. Bruce motioned to the door at the side of the lab, and she preceded him out to the hall.
Neither said anything as they headed for the kitchen area at the end of the hall. It felt a little awkward. It wasn’t like Tony was wrong, at least on Darcy’s part. Bruce was… Well, he was Bruce. He was funny, and smart, and sweet, and sensitive, and that was before talking about how good-looking he was.
She pulled a cup down from the cabinet that hung above where the coffee machine lived and got herself a fresh cup. She doctored it just the way she liked before moving out of the way. “Okay.” She watched as Bruce got his own cup down. “So what are the chances this was actually what he was trying to accomplish?” Because they were definitely alone together.
“Yeah.” He added cream to the dark, swirling liquid and stirred in some sugar. “This is probably exactly what he was going for. Even for Tony, that whole thing was a bit…” He trailed off.
“Much?” Darcy finished. She contemplated Bruce for a moment, but honestly, why not? “Yeah. So on the one hand I don’t want to give Tony the satisfaction of being right. But on the other, I’m really kind of into you.”
“Are you?” He looked up at her in some surprise like the thought had never even occurred to him before. A smile slowly turned up his lips.
“Yeah. Yeah, definitely am.” She nodded before taking a sip of coffee. That wasn’t exactly encouraging, but it wasn’t discouraging either.
“What about,” he started. He took a drink of his coffee, then tilted his head slightly to the side as he looked at her. “What about if we got to address both of those things?”
Her eyebrows went up, and she couldn’t help a smile of her own. “What do you mean?”
“I take you out.” His shy smile made her smile too.
“I’m one hundred percent on board with that plan, but again with the not wanting to give Tony the satisfaction.” Although if Bruce was actually asking her out, she was ready to throw that part out the window. Gone. She’d live without the spite.
“If neither of us tells him…” He took a drink of his coffee and leaned back against the counter, crossing one ankle over the other. “And I don’t just mean not telling him, I mean not mentioning this ever again.”
“Huh.” She contemplated him, her finger tapping against the side of her mug. “I see where you’re going with that, but he’s going to find out. That’s what he does.” Nosy was a good way to describe Tony. Involved was a little more diplomatic. The only reason she was willing to talk about this so openly was that although there was a video feed where they were, there was no audio. Just in case Tony happened to coincidentally be looking through the security feeds.
“Sure, at some point. But until then it’s going to absolutely eat at him. If he thought he was drowning before…”
Darcy grinned. “I like the way your brain works, Dr. Banner.” If they were involved and couldn't wait to get alone together...
He paused, a flash of something moving through his eyes. Okay, if they were actually doing this, she was going to have to come back to that. “I suppose this is where I should ask you to dinner or something.”
“You could. Or…” She set her mug down long enough to hoist herself up to sit on the counter. “We could order in and skip the whole being out in public with people thing.”
“We could. There’d be a higher chance Tony would notice, though.”
She grinned. “Leave that to me.”