Chapter Text
Chapter One: Be Cool. Stay in School.
Darcy Lewis would be the first person to admit that she did not know very much.
But she definitely knew that a call to the principal's office was never a good thing. On the first day of her senior year in high school, a call to the principal's office seemed like a most inauspicious beginning.
The fact that she could barely squeeze into the room full of a bunch of her peers was more curious than foreboding, but still, being called in on the first day with the most ridiculously cobbled together group of her fellow seniors she had ever seen was definitely never going to amount to anything resembling good.
She cursed her short stature and looked around, trying to assess who else had been summoned to Principal Fury's office, grimacing when she realized she couldn't see over or around the new Swedish (Icelandic?) exchange student who was being hosted by that nice man Selvig that lived next door to where she was currently a foster child of the Fosters (she appreciated the irony of their surname).
She could HEAR Tony Stark. The guy should have been in college by now after skipping an awful lot of grades in elementary school. As a matter of fact, Tony Stark should have been able to have a few degrees under his belt. There was a rumor that he did , but he stuck around high school to increase his sad social skills (Darcy had a feeling it was because he couldn’t do anything without his best friend James Rhodes, including leave high school). But here Tony was, in his super senior year of high school, his feet kicked up on the desk of Principal Fury, chatting amiably with anyone, but mostly just enjoying the sound of his own voice.
She tried to look around Thor again and found it nearly impossible. She knew that Jane, her foster sister and best gal pal, was fathoms deep in infatuation with him, but he really was... bulky . Definitely no fun to have in cramped, close quarters.
"Well Sparky, we could try to form a totem pole like we used to."
Darcy turned to her left and felt her cheeks redden ever so slightly and the pulse in her throat jump just a bit. Because sure enough, there was a self-effacing sarcastic smirk twisting the beautiful pink lips of Steve Rogers. The adorable Steve Rogers. The Steve Rogers who she had been hopelessly and fathoms deep in love with since even before kindergarten when he had (attempted to) pummel Brock Rumlow for trying to make her eat paste.
They had known each other since they were three years old. Before Darcy’s beloved nana had passed when she turned eight, she had been the neighborhood child caregiver, watching over the kids whose parents worked and couldn’t afford real daycare. That had included Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes. They had spent their toddler years together, getting into all sorts of kinds of fun and mischief. Steve had been the first boy she had held hands with...cuddled and napped with...kissed. All before the age of five, of course. Bucky had been the second boy she had done all those things with, but for whatever reason, tiny Bucky had declared her gross a month after they turned five. He had declared her his little sister though, and Steve his little brother. And there had been hell to pay to all the bullies who dared cross any line against them since that time.
Steve had never declared Darcy his little sister. And she had never even thought of him as a brother.
He was
Steven.
Sweet. Brave. Kind to a ridiculous degree. She had declared her undying love for him to her nana when she was a baby still. And truth be told, she still
loved him heaps
. And when she had turned thirteen there were all sorts of hormone addled
things
that crept up on her that made the love she felt for him even more complex. She kept quiet though. She would never want to destroy the lifelong friendship they had built up so well, and it would certainly be destroyed if she put herself out there only to be gently and kindly rebuffed.
"You two still wouldn't be tall enough," Bucky chuckled from Darcy's right side. He looked down at Darcy and said, "Five feet plus five feet is still not Thor sized."
"Your mathematical skills are simply awe inspiring, Barnes."
Bucky's eyes lit up and he turned his head (it was seriously the only range of movement any of them had in the practically closet sized office that held at least two dozen senior students). He grinned down to see another of his favorite tiny people. He frequently joked about having a collection of them, as his closest friends were all under five foot four. His fondest wish was having them fight gladiator style to see who would be the most favoritest of all of his favorite tiny people.
"Helen of Cho! Love of my life!" Bucky winked at her. "You gonna join the totem pole of my collection of adored tiny people?"
"Buck," Steve huffed a sigh, his ears going pink.
Darcy watched those delightfully out turned ears turn pink and she could swear she had little cartoon hearts drifting out of the top of her head in response. She knew he was either embarrassed that Bucky still considered Steve one of his adored tiny people or the addition of the admittedly tiny Helen Cho next to her had caused the color on his fair skin, going slowly from his ears to his cheeks. It had to be because of Helen. Helen was perfect and smart and super thin and funny and was the kind of girl that most boys were eager to take home and introduce to their mothers. Despite the fact that the both of them topped out at five feet three inches, Helen was essentially the Anti-Darcy.
Darcy was the orphaned wild child who had been shipped from foster home to foster home since she turned eight and was classified by the older ladies in the neighborhood as bad news. Darcy was the girl who had eaten a worm because Bucky had dared her to one spring afternoon when they were seven. Darcy was the girl who was practically sex-less in the eyes of adorable, pink eared Steven Grant Rogers.
Darcy bit at the inside of her cheek and turned to stare at the girl she considered her close friend, staving off jealousy pretty easily. If anyone deserved Steve Rogers and all his stalwart and true perfection, it was Helen Cho.
"Now, where's Bananas Foster and the Russian Red Tide? My collection will be complete," Bucky turned his head slightly to look around the room. He already was well over six feet tall at the age of 18, and his height allowed him to look over nearly everyone else, save for the ridiculously tall and broad Thor.
"I heard that!" Jane called out from further into the miniscule office.
"Janie, are you in the ceiling?" Darcy furrowed her brow in genuine confusion, causing Steve to snort with laughter.
"I'm up here!" Jane called back.
"In the ceiling?" Darcy confirmed. "That's Barton's schtick. Not yours, Janie. Get down here before you hurt yourself."
"She's in front of Thor."
The announcement came from behind Bucky and his assortment of tiny, cherished people. And he turned his head to give a slow smirk Natasha's way. The red-head had been deadly silent in her arrival, just as she always was. They always joked that Natasha had moved into the school district at the age of twelve when she had graduated espionage school early. In reality, she had moved from New York City to the small town of Martinville in upstate New York.
She had quickly fallen in with Darcy and her assorted band of misfit toys. All of whom were scattered throughout the room at that very moment. Aside from Steve, Bucky, Jane and Helen, there was Thor, who was new, but definitely an oddity. And he followed Darcy and Jane around like a happy super intelligent puppy most days, booming voice and tinkling laughter at all the oddities of their American life. Barton was surely in the ceiling, or perched on the top of the bookcase in the back of the room. Even Dr. Banner, their favorite science teacher was standing next to Principal Fury’s unoccupied desk that she couldn't even begin to see around all the other people. Her whole crew was there, which only worried her more.
"So what do you reckon this is about, Sparky?" Steve wondered thoughtfully as he stood shoulder to shoulder with her, barely an inch taller than her and taking up far less room with his stick thin frame.
"We are seniors, Steven. Stop calling me Sparky," Darcy muttered miserably. "It was cute when we were three years old, but I'm going to be eighteen soon."
"In six days," Steve nodded.
Natasha gave a small sound behind her, something between a pleased hum and a chortle of laughter. And the thing with Natasha was, that if she didn't want you to hear her, you never heard her. Darcy wrinkled her nose and did her best to turn and glare at her friend. Always sticking her nose where it definitely didn't belong.
"It's fitting. I mean, you electrocuted Thor three days ago," Steve reminded her. "That means you've accidentally electrocuted someone every year for the last fifteen years."
"If Jane hadn't of made me carry around that darned laptop, it would have never dropped in Selvig's hot tub---" Darcy huffed out petulantly.
"I think it's quite adorable that you have pet names for each other!" Thor boomed, using his intimidating presence to part the rest of the students and turn to grin at Steve and Darcy. "My mother said it would be rare to find your heart match so early in life, but when you do, it is surely a wondrous and beautiful thing."
"uhhhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmm," Darcy's blue eyes turned into the size of saucers and she could FEEL the blush coming off of ALL of Steve's skin.
"Heart match," Rumlow laughed obnoxiously from the other side of the room. "Two mercy flushes are meant to be. Seems legit."
"HEY!" Steve barked out. And he may be just an itty bitty slip of a guy, but he had been the first guy in their sixth grade class to have his voice drop two octaves overnight. He really had that whole bark being worse than your bite thing down as his gravelly word bounced off the walls of the room. "Call her that again, and you're gonna---"
"I think I've heard enough," Principal Fury announced from the front door to his office, followed by a very pretty woman with a very severe hairstyle and plain, boring black pantsuit.
Darcy was pushed into Steve's chest and they both stumbled against the wall as the students made room for Fury and his guest to walk up to join Banner at the desk. Steve’s arms, surprisingly strong for being so thin and reedy went around her waist to steady her, less she bring them both down with her usual clumsiness. Natasha made the noise again and Darcy flat-out glared at the girl who usually inspired fear in all the other students in Martinville High.
"Easy there, Sparky," Steve mumbled in her ear, his cheeks heated up so hot he was sure they might start on fire at any moment. He swallowed nervously and let one surprisingly large hand splay out over her stomach, fingers pressing into soft, warm flesh. He looked up and saw Bucky smirking at him knowingly and Steve felt a contented sigh rocket through his body, from the tips of his toes all the way up his whole body. Bucky was the only one who knew, really, just how much Steve really liked Darcy. REALLY liked her. He liked her so much, that it would probably be more accurate to say that he loved her, really.
Darcy squirmed away and Steve straightened up, staring straight ahead at the principal, hoping that it would be done and over with soon enough. If he had to stand so close to Darcy, be so close to her that they were essentially breathing each other's air, he would surely give himself away. She smelled so good. Like sugar and vanilla and apricots. He wanted to keep on holding her to him. She was warmth and curves and happiness and he really needed to know if her lips tasted as good as they looked.
"I'm sure you're all wondering why I've summoned this meeting of the greatest Martinville High has to offer," Fury said with such a large amount of boredom and disinterest that it was clear that he didn't give one small ounce of crap about what they were wondering or who they even were. "First things first, I'd like to introduce you to your new vice principal, Maria Hill."
"What happened to Vice Principal Carter?" Clint asked from the vents.
"GET THE HELL OUTTA THERE BARTON!" Fury bellowed.
The vents immediately slid open and Barton dangled from the ceiling before dropping gracefully right in front of Steve and Darcy, forcing them even closer together. He turned his head and winked at Darcy before stage whispering,
"Excellent bra choice, Lewis. I like the red white and blue motif. Very patriotic."
"Keep looking down girls' shirts, and I'm telling Bobbi," Natasha muttered from behind Darcy and a suddenly incensed Steve.
"Shit," Barton sighed before turning and standing at attention, only to realize he was staring right at Thor's broad back. He shrugged and took two seconds to climb Thor, sitting on one broad shoulder. "Whaddup Odinson? Good first day of American school?"
"It has been most entertaining," Thor admitted.
"Vice Principal Carter retired. She is currently enjoying the lovely beaches of the Caribbean with her husband," Fury revealed once the room quieted again. "Vice Principal Hill has come to us at a very exciting time. This year, Martinville High School has been chosen to participate in a very prestigious event. The Yingley Games."
There was no flutter of recognition among any one of the students. Fury huffed out a sigh.
"No one?" he wondered.
"Is it like the Tri-wizard tournament?" Darcy offered helpfully.
"Very good, Darcy," Dr. Banner smiled at her. "It is very similar."
"I'm surprised that none of your parents or grandparents have ever told you about the games," Fury admitted. "It is a tournament of sorts. The games are legendary, and have only been played a handful of times in the modern world. Everyone in this room has been selected, because you will play a part in these games. Whether it be support, strategy or the actual physical trials, you will be an integral part in our success or failure. Let's hope for you all, it is a success."
"Who are we competing against?" Tony wondered, leaning back in his chair and putting his hands behind his head. Vice Principal Hill rolled her eyes and pushed Tony's feet off the desk, nearly making him lose balance. "Hey, watch it lady. Don't make me bring my butler in to have a talk with you."
"Your butler is a voice in the ceiling," Pepper Potts remarked dryly before reaching out and smacking the back of Tony's head for good measure.
"We will not know the identities of the other schools until the unveiling at the Winter Solstice," Hill answered. “There will be a celebration to begin the games on that evening.”
"Freaky," Bucky wrinkled his nose. He had been the school's star athlete for years. But it hadn't come naturally, he had prepared and worked for every ounce of his success. "Doesn't seem like we can plan and practice if we don't know what we're going up against here."
"Then we will prepare for anything. For everything," Hill shrugged, as if that were the easiest thing in the world.
"Gross," Clint sighed, sagging his shoulders.
"I'm sorry, but how much time and effort is this going to take?" James Rhodes demanded of the adults in the room. "This is our senior year."
"Yeah, we have parties to throw," Tony nodded eagerly.
"I was thinking more along the lines of colleges to apply to," Rhodey rolled his eyes at his friend.
"And also parties to throw," Tony nodded.
"Some of us have jobs," Happy Hogan mumbled, hoping not to be heard.
"Actually, you don't," Fury shook his head. "You also will not be participating in any other extra-curricular activities. All of your focus and time will be spent preparing for the Games."
"Everyone is going to be getting a stipend," Dr. Banner revealed, "there is a foundation of sorts, SHIELD, who is bankrolling this whole year. This is so you don't have to worry about anything else but preparing for these games."
Steve and Bucky shared a look. It'd be nice not to have to worry about hustling for money at odd jobs, actually. Steve lived with the Barnes family, as they had officially adopted him two years ago when his mother had passed away from cancer. They weren't destitute, but money was definitely tight. The boys were always trying to bring an extra buck or two home to help out. Especially Steve, who felt like he was a burden to Mrs. Barnes and her other children.
"But what about college?" Pepper echoed Rhodey's concern. "There are SAT's, applications, interviews---"
"It'll be handled," Fury said evenly.
"I hardly think---"
"It'll be handled," Fury said decisively.
"I would appreciate it, if we were told HOW it would be handled," Pepper came right back, cold steel in her voice as she stood up to her intimidating principal with no fear.
Darcy shivered next to Steve and he reached out and squeezed her hand reflexively. Darcy hated confrontation and Steve knew it. He definitely knew it. He had tried to stop himself from starting confrontations when she was present, even though it had definitely been difficult. Steven Grant Rogers tripped over air and fell into vats full of confrontations.
"Essentially, you will give the guidance counselor your short list of where you want to go, you will be accepted into those schools," Fury said shortly.
"What?" Jane piped up. "That's...WHAT?"
"These are very presitigous games. Your lives are about to change," Fury rolled his eyes, as if the kids should have already known that. "This is a very important eight months coming up."
"Ominous much?" Sam elbowed Bucky in the ribs.
"Where'd you come from?" Bucky whispered.
"Army crawled from the front of the room. Did a little prank on Rumlow and Rollins," Sam grinned, waving at Darcy and throwing a sideways peace sign Steve's way. "No one messes with my people."
"We will be splitting the group up into two sections. One of these classrooms will be primarily working with Vice Principal Hill, and the other will be working with Dr. Banner and myself," Fury revealed. "Do not stress or think too heavily on how you are split up. This is merely to make the training more efficient. You will be in the same classroom space for the rest of the year, so get used to the faces around you."
Darcy squeezed Steve's hand, alerting him to the fact that he was still holding her hand. He dropped it immediately and gave her a sheepish smile. Natasha made that damned noise again.
"Lists have been posted outside of the office," Hill announced. "We will meet in Classroom 3 in the annex building tomorrow morning at the start of school. Thank you for your time."
Everyone turned to exit the room quickly, but stopped when they heard the crash. Turning around, they saw that Rollins and Rumlow had their shoelaces tied together and were now a heap of overly muscled limbs on the ground.
“Wilson, you fucker!”
Darcy stared at the lists.
Or she TRIED to stare at the lists. The lists that were out of sight five students ahead of her and Steve. How they had gotten in the back of the line when they had been the first out of the principal's office had been a mystery.
"Steven, where you serious about the human totem pole?" Darcy wondered. "Because I have very strong thighs, and I think we could definitely pull it off."
Steve turned red again and Darcy furrowed her brow. She turned and saw that Helen had popped up alongside Sam.
"Crawling was a good idea," Helen nodded. She held out her phone while Sam held out his, each of the phones held a picture of one of the lists. "We're together, Darcyloo!"
"YES!" Darcy grinned. There, under Banner's name was her entire crew of people. Steve, Bucky, Helen, Jane, Thor, Clint, Sam and Natasha. Also Tony. Weird. There were also a few other people on the list, but she wasn't close with any of them. "Weird, Rhodey, Pepper and Happy are on Ms. Hill's list."
"They said not to read too much into it," Sam shrugged. "I mean...we are the SUPERIOR group, but yeah, don't read too much into it."
Helen gave Sam a thoughtful look and wondered, "Do you have to buy specially made hats or do you just squeeze that fat head into normal sized ones?"
Sam gave her a grin and a wink, "Specially made hats, babe. For my enormously genius brain."
“Team winners over here!” Rollins grinned as he pushed past Darcy with an unforgiving shoulder check that had her knocked off her balance into Steve.
“Watch it!” Steve grumbled, steadying Darcy carefully before making to advance on the idiotic bully who had been Brock Rumlow’s partner in crime since they were in elementary school.
“What makes you think you’re the winning team?” Bucky wondered, putting a strong hand on Steve’s shoulder to hold him still. The last thing they needed was to get kicked out of this sweet, paying gig before it even began.
“It’s not a competition between the two teams,” Helen rolled her eyes. “We’re just split up between our two advisors.”
“Uh, you guys have Banner, we have the new badass vice principal,” Rumlow rolled his eyes back at Helen. “And your team is full of nerds.”
“Really? Nerd is the best you can come up with?” Darcy muttered, looking away from the men.
“What’s that Homeless?” Rumlow held a hand up to his ear. “I couldn’t hear you over all of the poor and sadness coming off of you.”
“Fuck off, Rumlow,” Steve shrugged Bucky’s hand off and took a step to the man who towered over him by at least half a foot. Bucky grabbed the smaller man again, exerting some force to keep a seriously pissed off Steve in check. He looked to Darcy, who was already shrinking backwards away from the fight.
“And if you needed more proof we’re the good team, there it is,” Rollins laughed. “You losers have Rogers and Lewis on your team. Mighty Mouse and Bazooka Jugs. Obviously you’re the losers.”
“You know what?” Bucky huffed out a long, suffering sigh. He gave Sam a nod before making sure that Thor was close by. He then dramatically lifted his hand off of Steve’s shoulder and nudged Darcy further away with his shoulder. “Have at ‘em, punk.”
Steve didn’t need to be told twice, rushing towards Rumlow with tightly clenched fists. Bucky and Sam weren’t far behind, thankfully. Because while Steve definitely didn’t lack nerve or guts, he did lack strength and power. He got one good right cross against Rumlow’s jaw before Rollins tackled the smaller Steve to the ground, fists pummelling against his stomach.
“Stop!” Darcy squeaked out, as Helen put an arm around her and pulled her away from the growing fray as Bucky went for Rumlow and Sam went to pull Rollins off of Steve.
“It’s alright, they have this,” Helen assured her, petting Darcy’s long brown, curling locks, smiling softly when Darcy hid her face in Helen’s shoulder. Helen winced when she saw the rest of the senior members of the hockey team coming into the fray to aid Rollins and Rumlow. She cracked her neck. “We may have to help out here, Darcyloo. You going to be okay?”
“What fine fun is this and why was I not invited?” Thor demanded jovially. He rolled up the sleeves on his crisp linen button down and stepped towards the fray, jostling his shoulder so that Clint would hop off.
“Huh, maybe we won’t have to step in,” Helen shrugged.
“Why are they fighting now?” Jane wondered nonchalantly as she watched Thor manhandle three meatheads easily and with a lot of happy laughter.
“They called Darcy and Steve losers. And were hideously rude,” Natasha answered, appearing from out of nowhere. She gave Darcy a small smile, “You girls okay?”
“Fine,” Helen promised.
“Good, I’m going in,” Natasha nodded, pulling long red hair back into a ponytail before stalking into the messy brawling boys. She reached out a hand and grabbed Rumlow’s ear with shocking force, causing the man to fall to his knees with a whimper.
“You are not a loser,” Jane promised Darcy, smashing her between she and Helen in threeway hug. “You are awesome.”
“I don’t like it when they fight,” Darcy whispered, big, tear-filled blue eyes looking up to check on Steve, who seemed to be holding his own against one of the smaller members of the hockey team.
“I know, honey,” Jane nodded sympathetically. “If it makes you feel any better, Pepper went to go and get the new vice principal, it should be over in no time.”
“Pepper’s a no good snitch,” Clint grumbled from across the hall where he had pulled the shirt up and over the head of his victim, hockey fight style, and was punching him for all he was worth.
“You’re not supposed to have your hearing aid turned up that loud,” Natasha scolded him from the other side of the hallway, where she had Rumlow in a headlock. “Pepper’s not so bad.”
“You’re not supposed to be reading my lips at school,” Clint sneered back at her.
“ AND NONE OF YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE FIGHTING !”
All of the students stopped what they were doing and turned to Principal Fury, who was standing at the door to his office, a frighteningly blank expression on his face. He was flanked on either side by Dr. Banner and Vice Principal Hill, each looking disappointed in their own way. Fury’s shoulders sagged.
“We are in for a lot of work if we’re ever going to get ready for these games. I will see you all on Saturday morning, at eight am sharp. Dress in your gym uniforms. And be ready to sweat.”