Chapter Text
Darcy readjusts the sunglasses on the crook of her nose as she steps outside, squinting through the crappy quality nonetheless. Her hair is a mess of curls atop her head, her headphones dangle loosely around her neck, and she feels like a pack-mule with her over-stuffed duffel bags draped across her shoulders. Above her, the roar of a jet engine deafens out any other sounds as it takes off from the LAX tarmac behind her.
Home sweet home.
She can hear the frantic beeping of Jane’s car long before it comes into view. Darcy smiles as she teeters on the edge of the curb, watching as Jane weaves in and out of the airport traffic. When she pulls up beside Darcy, the car behind her is flipping her off.
“Oh, suck it!” Darcy yells out to the driver, giving him her own one-finger salute as he pulls out and away.
Jane rushes around the car, slamming her door closed, and almost tackles Darcy to the ground in a fierce hug, “Darce!”
Darcy stumbles back a bit, the luggage she’s carrying threatening to topple her over to either side. She laughs at Jane’s embrace, hugging her best friend back with equal excitement, “Guess who’s back, baby!”
“You have no idea how good it is to see you,” Jane says, pulling apart and offering to take some of Darcy’s bags. She pops the trunk and starts stuffing the luggage away. “How was graduation?”
“Eh, it was good,” Darcy says nonchalantly, finishing loading the car with Jane and then sliding into the passenger seat, “I mean, I’m almost twenty-four. So finally finishing college just felt like more of a massive relief than anything. No doubt mom and pops feel the same.”
Jane revs up her old and trusty green Honda again, pulling back out into traffic and away from the airport, “Hey, it’s different for everyone.”
Darcy shoots Jane a look that she misses, as she’s too focused on the road, “Easy for you to say, Miss ‘I got my degree in under four years and an instant job offer from NASA upon graduation’.”
Jane blushes modestly, “Oh come on, I haven’t seen you in over a year and you’re already pulling this card again? I just…it’s something I’d always known I wanted. I worked hard for it. And got lucky. Not to say that you…I mean…”
Jane starts to backtrack in a panic, but Darcy only laughs, putting her hand on Jane’s shoulder, “Dude, chill. I’m just giving you a hard time. Yeah, yeah, I know, I bounced around a lot with my major and wasted time: poli-sci, education, journalism." She counts them out on her fingers. "Even though I finally got a degree in marketing, I still have no frickin’ clue what I want to do with my life.”
Jane looks over to Darcy with a sympathetic smile, “You’ll figure it out. At least your mom and dad are letting you stay with them until you find a job, right?”
Darcy groans, stretching back into her seat and kicking her black converse up on the dashboard, “That’s just the cherry on top - get out of the house for college and then head right back in. I talked to my mom on the phone the other week, and the room and board comes with a catch. She’s making me get a summer job until I find my ‘career’.” Darcy puts as much disgusted, mocking emphasis into the last word as she can.
“Oh, come on, that’s not so bad,” Jane says, trying to soften the situation, “Actually, it’s a pretty good idea. You can save up some money while you job hunt, at least. Know where you want to work yet?”
Darcy groans again, this time a little softer, “Nah. Somewhere exciting. I don’t want to be stuck in some stuffy office all day, you know?”
Jane taps her fingers on the steering wheel, “What about your uncle?”
Darcy laughs, a barking sound that fills the car, “Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love my uncle. But working for him would be the epitome of office-type work, especially at an entry-level job, trust me. And even he wouldn’t be stupid enough to trust a recent college grad with anything higher than that in his company.”
“But I bet the pay is amazing,” Jane counters, weighing one hand in the air, “And it’s a guaranteed job with him being family and all. He’s going to be at your grad party tomorrow night, right? You should ask him.”
Darcy just shrugs, wanting to change the subject. The prospect of the future scares her, for sure. But the longer she dwells on it, the more anxious she becomes. She leans over, pressing the stereo on. She flips casually through a few of Jane’s preset stations, not really paying attention to the music.
“Wait, keep it here!” Jane says, throwing out her hand to keep Darcy from changing the song. The first notes of a bass guitar waft out of the speakers, and Jane hums along in unison, “I love this song!”
The song in question was one that Darcy loved and recognized, too. Hell, the entire world would recognize it. That iconic bass guitar, followed by the steady rhythm of a drum march. Like Coldplay circa-early 2000s and the Black Keys married and had a musical baby. This song in particular had been popular back when both Jane and Darcy were in high school (Jane had been a senior, Darcy a sophomore).
Darcy speaks up above the music, “I still can’t believe The Odinsons broke up, sometimes. Their music is like, a religious experience.”
“All the best bands do,” Jane sighs sadly, turning off the interstate and onto a neighborhood street, “What ever happened to them?”
Darcy makes an indifferent sound, trying to recall what she’d read about it in online blogs and in magazines over six years ago, “I’m not really sure. They had a fallout. Thor’s still making music, you know. I’m not really sure whatever happened to Loki…”
Darcy lets her sentence hang unfinished as the girls drive in silence, listening to the song. Jane rolls down the windows, and both girls stick their hands out, catching the air on their fingertips and moving their wrists to the melody of the song. And they both look over and giggle when they catch the other one doing it.
Soon enough, Jane pulls up to the front of Darcy’s relatively modest, two-story home in Santa Monica. Darcy’s house was definitely modest in comparison to others nearby - with a white stucco finish, a brown brick trim, plenty of palm trees surrounding the garden, and even a small backyard pool. It wasn’t much, but with only her mom, her father, and herself living at home, they hadn’t needed extravagance.
“So I’ll see you tomorrow night for your graduation party?” Jane asks once she’s helped Darcy take all of her luggage out of the trunk.
“You better,” Darcy says in a mock-threatening voice, “I can’t deal with all my parents’ crazy friends and relatives alone.” She heaves all of her bags onto her shoulders and grabs the handles of her suitcases, blowing out an exaggerated breath under all the weight. “Will I get to see you a lot this summer?” Darcy asks hopefully.
Jane smiles back, a warm and hopeful look on her face, “I’m counting on it. I’m taking time away from the office to work on a new nuclear-related cosmos theory from home.”
“Not really sure what that means, but somewhere in there I heard that I’ll be seeing your face more often, and that’s all that matters to me,” Darcy says, and Jane laughs, leaning in to hug her friend goodbye. Darcy can’t help but think how good it feels to finally be with her best friend again, especially after so much time apart. Skype and Facebook can only do so much.
“See you tomorrow night!” Jane says, climbing back into the driver’s seat of her car.
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By this point, Darcy has the whole spiel memorized: I graduated with a degree in marketing, actually. No, I’m not really sure where I want to work yet. I’m sure something will open up, too. No, no boyfriend either. Yes, I’m sure I’ll meet someone soon, too.
She wants to bang her head against the wall.
Darcy checks her phone, noticing a text from Jane telling her she’s going to be later than she thought. Some kind of breakthrough in her research. Darcy sighs, but she can’t help herself from smiling a little. Same old Jane.
“Darcy, put your phone away!” Her mom nags from over her shoulder, tugging on her sleeve gently, “You’re being rude to your guests.”
Darcy rolls her eyes, feeling like a teenager, “You mean your guests?”
“They’re still here for you,” Darcy’s mom tries to make a point, but Darcy is distracted by the man with the stylish facial hair, expensive suit, and sunglasses walking through the front door.
“The party….has arrived,” The man announces with flair, just loud enough so that the people around all stop and smile at him. Some whispers float through the crowd (“Is that Tony Stark?” “No way, it can’t be.” “Did you know they were related to Tony Stark?”), but Darcy is too excited to pay any attention.
“Uncle Tony!” She screeches, running over to where he stands in the foyer. She runs up to him, throwing her arms around his neck, and he responds in kind by wrapping her up in a large hug that almost lifts her feet off the ground.
“What’s shakin’, kiddo?” Tony asks, ever-exuding coolness. Darcy hasn’t seen him since she graduated high school, but he’s exactly the same as she remembers. As the CEO of a top Fortune-500 company run out of Malibu, he was reasonably busy, and she can’t hold it against him.
“I’m so glad you made it,” Darcy says, and she means it. Tony Stark, her mother’s brother in-law, is by far her favorite relative. It’s safe to say he’s nothing at all like her parent’s other stiff friends, and his presence at the party has instantly lifted her spirits.
Walking up behind him is a tall, strawberry-blonde woman with light freckles. She’s wearing a smart, stylish white pantsuit and holding a matching clutch. She smiles warmly when she sees Darcy as she says, “Congrats on graduating!”
“Hey, Aunt Pepper! Thanks,” Darcy says with a smile, turning to embrace Tony’s wife (and her mother’s sister) in a hug. She’s thrilled that the both of them are there. Now she can finally escape the dull hum-drum of boring party chatter. She grabs Tony by the wrist and leads him out back to where the cooler full of alcohol is, “Come on, I’ll get you guys a drink.”
“I knew you were my favorite niece for a reason.”
“I’m your only niece, Tony.”
“Touché.”
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Darcy sits with her legs tucked underneath her in a chair, nursing a wine glass as she listens to Tony’s stories. She’s in stitches laughing at some of his escapades, while Pepper only smiles knowingly and rolls her eyes beside him. Not only are Tony and Pepper the heads of Stark Industries, they’re also socialites. Tony more so than Pepper, but all the same, his stories involving his celebrity friends are wild.
“I’ve missed you guys, seriously,” Darcy says at one point, honesty in her voice.
“We’ve missed you too, kiddo,” Tony says, patting her knee with one hand. With any other relative, the gesture might come across as insincere, but Darcy knows her uncle really is genuine.
“You know you’re more than welcome to come up to Malibu and visit us this summer,” Pepper throws out into the conversation, and Tony nods his head in agreement.
“Thanks guys, I wish I could,” Darcy says, biting on her bottom lip, “But I’ve got to stay here and find a way to make some cash for the summer while I look for my ‘career’.” There’s that word again. Darcy pulls a face as she says it.
“Come work for Stark Industries,” Tony says like it’s obvious, “We can get you a desk job like that.” He snaps his fingers for emphasis.
Darcy winces, knowing this would come up at some point, and hating that she’s letting him down, “I appreciate the offer, but…I just don’t know if it’s right for me, you know?”
Tony shakes his head, letting her know it’s no big deal, “I understand, kiddo. Forge your own path and all. But if you need to make money, you know who to talk to.”
Darcy laughs, “I know, I know. You make earning money look easier than taking candy from a baby.”
Tony waves her off in mock humbleness, but he’s grinning despite the fact. He takes a sip of wine from his glass and sets it down, looking like an idea has struck him, “Darcy, you used to babysit, right?”
“I did,” Darcy says, remembering how she made her gas money all throughout high school by babysitting the Roberts twins next door, “I can’t guarantee I didn’t steal their candy though.”
Tony chuckles, “Yeah, right. The only reason I ask is because I just remembered something. You said you need to make some money this summer until you find a real job, right?”
“I do…” Darcy says curiously, wondering where he might be going with this.
“I have this…friend. Acquaintance, really,” Tony says, swirling the rim of his wine glass with his index finger, “He mentioned to me recently that he’s looking for a nanny for his six-year old girl this summer. They live in the Hills, just the two of them.”
Darcy raises an eyebrow, her curiosity peaked, “Who?”
Tony looks over to Pepper with a wicked grin, placing one finger to his lips before turning back to Darcy, “It’s a secret. For security and privacy reasons, I'm not at liberty to tell you just yet. I think you’re smart enough to figure out by this point that the person I’m talking about is considerably famous. I’ll give him a call tomorrow, tell him you’ll stop by for an interview next Friday.”
“You can’t be serious,” Darcy says, her mouth hanging open.
“Serious as a heart attack,” Tony smirks, grabbing his cell from out of his pocket, “I’m texting you the address now. Just dress to kill, and you’ve got the job.”
Pepper rolls her eyes and jabs Tony’s side, “And be prepared to answer any childcare questions and concerns he has. Bring your certifications with you, too.”
“You guys…this is…oh my god,” Darcy stares at them with shock. She hadn't expected to find a summer job this fast. And working for someone famous? She was hitting a jackpot. “This is probably one of the raddest things ever. Thank you so much.”
“Hey, don’t thank me until you’ve landed the job,” Tony says with a smile, “Which you obviously will. Because you’re my niece. And you rock harder than any of my other nieces combined.”
“I’m your only niece, Tony.”
“And don’t you forget it.”