heaven from hell - t - darcy/bucky - 1/4
title: so you think you can tell (heaven from hell)
category: thor/captain america
genre: romance/tragedy
ship: darcy/bucky
rating: nc-17/explicit
word count: 1,752
summary: As far as happy stories go, this was that. The beginning, the middle, they were the happiest times either of them ever knew. It's the endings that are sad, and every story has one. Some are just sadder than others.
so you think you can tell (heaven from hell)
-1/4-
"No, I'm serious..." Darcy laughed, tilting her head back to see him from where she laid at his side, her leg hooked around his beneath the bed sheet and her hair pulled up and over the pillow after she complained she was too warm. The soft blue glow of light coming through the curtains was all that lit her up, making shadows play over her skin. She smiled at him, his fingers tracing hers as she held her hand up for that exact purpose. Sweat was still cooling on their skin, the sheet pulled up to their waists. "What would you do?"
"If it was my last day..." Bucky shook his head. "How would I even know?"
"Just say you did." She shook her head dismissively. "Say you figured it out somehow. What would you do?"
He frowned faintly, staring down at her. "This is what you wanna talk about? That's depressing as shit."
"It's only depressing if you do sad things," she argued. "You could do anything. You could go to Coney Island, take Steve with you, ride the roller coasters all day long. You could get dressed up, take your favorite gal dancing…" She wiggled her eyebrows at him meaningfully.
His mouth twitched. "My favourite gal, huh?"
"Mmhmm." She nodded, folding their fingers together and bringing his hand down so she could press a kiss to his thumb. "You could... see your favorite movies or read your favorite books or listen to your favourite songs. Anything. Even if it's totally off the wall and you'd never be able to afford it. Like, take a random trip to anywhere in the world, spend the whole day touring around, like you had all the time in the world. You could just get in your car and drive, try to see everything you possibly could." She lit up, turning to face him. "You could go surfing! You said you wanted to do that. Or swim with dolphins or visit Disneyland or swim in a sea of chocolate."
"Chocolate?" he laughed.
"It's late and I have the munchies," she explained, shrugging.
Bucky stared at her, watching her face light up and her eyebrows wiggle around as she continued listing off things he could do on his last day on earth. She was so beautiful… Flushed and excited and smiling.
He leaned over and kissed her temple and her cheek and her chin. Hell, he didn't need it to be his last day to want to spend as much time as he could just kissing her, every part of her he could reach, until his lips were chapped and every inch of her skin was loved.
She looked up at him, her eyes soft, and she reached across, brushing her fingers through his hair, tucking it behind his ear. "Do you know what I'd do?"
"Swim in a sea of chocolate?"
"Maybe for a little while," she admitted, biting her lip.
He chuckled lowly. "What would you do?"
"I'd tell everybody I care about that I love them…" she murmured. "But I'd do it in that totally normal way, right? So nobody would know anything big was going on. Like I'd just call up my mom on one of our scheduled talk times, because let's face it, I love the woman, but she drives me nuts. Anyway, I'd let her ramble about her day and how much work sucked and how Aunt Lisa is such a gossip for like an hour and then I'd just tell her, 'hey, mom, I really love you.' And she'd just think it was one of those regular 'I love you's,' right, but I would know… And I'd bug Jane to eat and she'd complain that she had 'real work to do, Darcy; food can wait,' but I wouldn't let her talk me out of it and finally she'd do that exasperated sigh thing she does…" Darcy mimicked it for him, smiling when he laughed. "And then I'd just be like 'you know I only do it 'cause I love you' and she'd be like 'yeah, I know, love you too,' and then she'd get distracted with science again and totally wouldn't think anything of it. I'd just do that all morning, the whole team, and I'd get Sif to visit so I could tell her, too. I'd have to be sneaky about it with Natasha though, or she'd catch on, but I'd find a way…" She nodded, her eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "Maybe I'd let her train me and when I was all beat up, I'd throw out a 'why do you hate me when I love you so much,' and she'd just shake her head and tell me to stop complaining and bleeding all over the training mats."
"Sounds like a solid plan," he agreed, resting his head on his hand and looking down at her.
"I think so." She nodded. "And when I was done with all the 'I love you's,' I'd take the day off from work, leave Tony in DUM-E's robotic hands and ask Pepper to bring Bruce tea, and set Thor on Jane. And then I'd take you and Steve and we'd hit up Coney Island, and I'd just spend the whole afternoon laughing and having fun. And I'd make Steve dance with me, because he has two left feet even with the super-serum and it's probably just nerves, but it's the most adorable thing ever. And then I'd take you home."
"Just me?" he teased.
She hummed. "Yup. Just you. And we'd spend the rest of the night right here… Just us."
"Yeah?" He raised an eyebrow. "What would we do?"
"I'm sure we could find something to do…" She skimmed her fingers down his neck and over his shoulder, sliding her palm down the metal bicep of his arm. "It'd be a good last day, full of everybody I care about and all the fun I could pack into it."
"It's good, in theory…" He frowned then. "But you know it's not like that… We don't get a head's up on when it's over. It just happens. No warning."
Darcy blew out a sigh. "Yeah. What a gyp. You'd think by now technology would find a way to tell us."
"You don't think that would take the fun out of it?" He raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Some people wouldn't wanna know they were going. They'd just wanna have their fun, live their lives, and never see the end comin'."
"Maybe. But if I had a choice, I'd want to know. I'd totally plan for it."
He looked her face over and traced a finger around her cheek. "So you could say your 'I love you's'?"
"Mmhmm." She leaned up and nuzzled his nose with hers. "Do you know how I'd tell you?"
"Darcy, you tell me you love me all the time," he reminded, grinning. "I walked by the lab yesterday and you yelled it so loudly, you freaked one of the new guys out. He pulled his gun and everything."
Rolling her eyes, she scoffed, "Well, now you know he scares easy, so… You're welcome."
Bucky snorted. "Thanks." Sliding his hand down her side, he squeezed her hip. "So? How would you tell me?"
"I wouldn't."
He raised an eyebrow. "No?"
She shook her head, biting her lip as she smiled. "Nope. I wouldn't say it all day. I'd just wake you up in the morning, give you your coffee the way you like it, totally black, heathen, and then I'd go to work and do my thing. Later, I'd show up while you and Steve were beating up some defenseless punching bag and tell you we were going somewhere. We'd get lunch at that vendor you like, hotdogs piled high with everything, and I'd make fun of you for being such a messy eater, because seriously, you always get mustard on your shirt. And then you and Steve would have an eating contest, and you'd lose, because you always do, and then I'd drag you guys off to Coney Island. And you'd be so distracted with Steve trying to ride all the roller coasters, you wouldn't even notice. Then I'd take you back here and we'd dance in the living room to that awesome playlist I made, you know that one, it always makes you smile that funny, dreamy smile of yours-" She mimicked it for him, but he was sure he didn't look half as dopey or as pretty as she did. "-and we'd spend hours doing just that. Just order in take-out, probably pizza, and I'd even let you get peppers even though I hate them. And then I'd take you to bed and make you see stars…"
The smile he gave her was soft. "Stars, huh?"
"Thousands of them. And we'd lay here, all sweaty and satisfied and I'd make you stay up and talk to me until the sun came up. And I wouldn't say it, not once." She reached up, her thumb on his chin, and she brushed the tip under the curve of his mouth. "But you'd say it. 'Cause you always say it more when I don't. Like you think I might forget, which is stupid, because how would I even forget that…?" She shook her head. "But you wouldn't mind that I didn't say it."
"No?"
"No."
"'Cause you showed me?"
She smiled, nodding. "Yup."
"And you spent your last night with me."
"'Til the sun came up."
"And that'd be enough, huh?"
"Well, that's the catch isn't it…?" She stared up at him. "It's never really enough, but it's all you get."
He hummed thoughtfully, and then he shifted, sliding on top of her, smoothing a hand down to hitch her leg up and around him. "It's a good thing it's not all we get then, right?" He bent down, pressing his forehead to hers and searching her eyes. "We got all the time we want, right here…" His hand cupped her cheek, thumb skimming under her eye. "So you tell me you love me until I'm deaf with it, all right?"
Darcy grinned, wrapping her arms around his neck. "For how long?"
He kissed her, teeth tugging on her bottom lip lightly. "How's forever?"
"Mmm…" She turned her eyes up. "That's a lot of 'I love you's."
He nodded. "You love me a lot."
She laughed under her breath and threaded her fingers through his hair. "Yeah, I do."
"Yeah?"
She grinned. "Yeah."
"I love you, too."
"I know."
[continue]