Darcy ran her fingers through Johnny’s hair and scratched across his scalp.

Steve’s hands tightened on her waist and pulled her back so she was sitting on his lap while Johnny took his time kissing down Darcy’s jaw, following it down to her neck and over her collarbone.

She shivered when he sucked softly on her skin.

Steve’s hand started moving down her belly, tucking under the waistband of her panties, and she felt her breath catch in her throat as his fingers moved down, sliding over her sex and slowly working her open for him.

Johnny laved his tongue over her nipple, still inside her lacy camisole. The action made her ache and she moaned softly.

She couldn’t hold onto a single thought beyond what Johnny’s tongue was doing to her tits, and Steve’s fingers to her pussy.

“God,” she hissed, her head lolling to the side and catching Johnny’s eyes.

“You’re perfect, Darcy...”

She swallowed thickly and rocked up to meet Steve’s hand. She could feel his cock pressing against her ass with every rock of her hips.

Johnny was straining against the front of his jockeys, his erection bulging out in front of him as he moved. “I want you, Darce...”

“Shh, not yet,” Steve murmured softly, hooking his fingers so they would press up into her when she moved. He shifted her forward on his lap, hooking his arm around her hips as she moved, so she was still on his lap, but with her thighs spread wide by his knees hooked under hers. He let his fingers glide slickly against her flesh, back to her clit again to roll it softly.

She cried out, her arms flailing for a minute until she realized she wasn’t going to fall.

Not literally, anyway.

Steve circled her clit and Johnny moved back into position, sucking her nipple through the lace again.

“God,” she moved as Steve slowly circled her clit. She couldn’t really buck from this position, so he was at the mercy of Steve’s fingers.

It was good that he was feeling especially generous, though.

The burn felt like it began down at her toes as she started to shake and shudder through her first orgasm.

She moaned. Johnny hummed against her as he drew softly on her nipple, switching to the other side when the one was stiff enough to feel good simply because she was rubbing against the lace.

Steve’s fingers kept at the same slow pace. One not matched by Johnny, who was fluttering his tongue very suggestively over her nipple and making her choke out sounds as Steve held her still.

“You’ll get his mouth in a second, honey,” Steve murmured. “Cum for me right now.”

She couldn’t help but comply, and she shook as she came apart, with Steve’s fingers sliding out of her panties so he could suck them loudly in her ear.

“Stand,” Johnny instructed, coaxing her up so he could peel her soaked panties off her and sit her back down where she had been.

Steve had his cock out now, one arm holding her in place, with her legs spread achingly far apart as Johnny knelt in front of her.

“Try not to get it on me this time,” Johnny snarked up at Steve, who simply chuckled, his hand moving steadily up and down his cock.

“Not close yet. Make her cum again, and then worry about it.”

Johnny grinned devilishly up at her as he lowered his head between her legs. She wasn’t really one to come multiple times from clitoral stimulation, but this was next level.

Because Steve had refused to go fast before, she wasn’t too sensitive for Johnny’s mouth, which was probably by design, because he ate pussy like a demon and he felt so so good on her skin.

He fluttered his tongue, made all kinds of wet sounds, and had her close before she knew what hit her.

“God,” she groaned, toes curling as she shook violently through another orgasm.

“Fuck,” she groaned and felt the hot sticky release of cum on her back as Steve grunted through his own release.

Johnny stood up, wiping his mouth and pulling his cock out, running his hand up and down the shaft as he shuffled closer to Darcy, pressing his cock against her breasts as she quickly leaned back against  Steve and lined him up, pressing her tits together to make a channel for him to move in.

It didn’t take him long, he was cumming up onto her chin a few minutes later, gasping her name as he did.

He got her a cloth to clean up with afterward, and Steve helped as well.

“Fuck...” she whimpered as Steve slowly eased her legs back together.

“Wanna fuck you next time,” Johnny whispered. “You’re perfect, Darce.”

“You said that already,” she teased.

“Because it’s the truth,” he said, nuzzling her nose with his own.

“He’s right,” Steve agreed. “You’re perfect.”

She practically glowed as she lay back on him.

“Say more nice things.”

“Your pussy is delicious,” Johnny said, kissing her jaw.

“Stop bragging,” Steve said. “She’s mine next time.”

“No,” Steve replied gruffly, reaching up to mess with his hair. He had dye in it. Plus a cabana hat. He really hoped the dye wasn’t dripping down his neck or anything. His other hand slid in the sweat beading on Darcy’s back as she stood from her stool, her drink all but untouched.

“Let’s blow,” she said softly, making his breath huff out as she linked her arm in his and tugged him towards the exit. She was shaking a little, so Steve knew he had to stop being gross and actually protect her.

“I’ve got you, Darce,” he murmured. “Slow down, keep your eyes on the exit, okay sweetheart?”

“Yeah, yeah, okay.”

Once she calmed down, they were able to get out of the beach cabana before the agents descended upon the entire place.

And when they rendezvoused with Loki and Phil, Darcy hugged Loki in a way that made Steve’s throat ache a little. And it wasn’t just because of Darcy either.

“Thank you for taking care of her,” Loki said with a knowing smirk that had Steve panicking because what if he knew? Was he able to read minds? Did he even have to be able to read minds to see what was on Steve’s mind?

Darcy went to go unstrap all her secret weapons and hand them over to Phil and Loki came up to clap his hand on Steve’s back. It was a distinctly ‘Thor’ move and not characteristic of Loki whatsoever.

“I say, Captain. Did you ever think to speak to her of your little infatuation?” Loki asked.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” he replied, fighting not to look Loki in the eyes. Because if he did, Steve wasn’t sure what he’d say. Or do.

“Are you certain? Look me in the eye and tell me there’s nothing.” Steve swallowed and turned to look into Loki’s eyes. And what he saw there shook him. In a good way.

“So I should just talk to her.”

“If it’s what you want,” Loki said. “I’ll have you know I don’t share.”

“What if it’s not just Darcy who I need to talk to?” Steve replied.

Loki’s mouth twitched upward. “That’s more like it.”

“Does this count as the talk, then?” Steve asked.

“Not in the slightest, I would like details, Steve.”

“Might need to go somewhere quieter for that.”

“You might also need to talk to Darcy as well. I’m not going to do it for you.”

“Talk to me about what? Oh god, did you finally come around?” Darcy asked, reaching over to squeeze Steve’s bicep. “God, that’s... that’s...”

“Dinner?” Steve offered. “At my place? It’s nice and uh.... Quiet.”

Loki smirked and Darcy was the one who spoke. “Sounds great. Can’t wait.”

“I thought perhaps he hadn’t taken my advice and was merely coming to check. Now that I have, I’ll be going.”

“You sure you don’t wanna have lunch?” she asked as he drew a portal in front of him once more. “It’s like half-past feed me and I’m about to head down to that diner at the end of the block.”

“Are you in need of a lunch companion?” Stephen asked.

“Dude, I’m in need of nothing except a double bacon cheeseburger and fries, so if you want to come along, then hop to.”

For some reason, that annoyed him more than anything else she said to him. Her complete and utter indifference to his presence. He was always aware of her, why wasn’t it the same for Darcy? She used to chase him. But she’d stopped.

It was likely she knew exactly what she was doing, but Stephen was in too deep to care.

“If you’re not in the market for company, I’ll leave you to your own devices.”

She grinned. It was crooked. “You want me to ask you, Stephen?”

“I want you to do whatever it is you need to do to continue with your day.” He had one foot in the portal when she spoke again.

“Stephen Strange, you’d better not leave me standing here again.”

He pulled his foot back and the portal disappeared.  He turned to face her. “Yes?”

“Put on normal-people clothes and we’ll talk about lunch.”

“I don’t think that would be possible for the mere promise of a talk.”

She shot him a look that made him want to grin from ear-to-ear. “Regular human clothes, Sorcerer Supreme. Or no magical bacon cheeseburgers for you.”

Tears began to drip down her cheeks and Loki knew he might as well strap in, because he was in this for the long haul.

Despite the aura of mystery surrounding the act, necromancy wasn’t really time consuming. It was a matter of reagents and other things that needed to line up.

Loki pushed all else from his mind and worked to reanimate Steve’s body. Once he did, he could harness Steve’s soul and force it back in.  If all went perfectly, it’d be as if Steve was never gone.

If it didn’t?  Well, there was a reason this wasn’t a branch of magic most witches worked with.

He’d only ever seen the spell completed correctly one time. And that had been by a team of witches. An entire coven.

This was just him. And Darcy.

And their love for the man laying prone on Loki’s table.

He handed a jar to Darcy. “Apply this to all his airways.”

“Airways?” she asked.

“Up his nose, down his throat,’ he replied. She didn’t shirk from doing it, and usually she balked at tasks Loki gave her. It was a true testament to how badly they wanted this to work.

The spell work was intense, and he couldn’t be bothered with the state of Steve’s body once he’d reanimated it.

He closed his eyes and channeled an electric pulse from the earth to surge through the rod in the center of the room and then into Steve’s body.  He saw him alight for a moment, and then, he began to breathe.

Darcy choked out a sob and Loki squeezed his eyes shut, reciting the incantations from start to finish three times. So long as he didn’t make a single mistake, so long as he did it perfectly, when he opened his eyes, Steve would be laying on that table. As alive as he’d been that morning.

A brilliant flash of light set the room alight when he finished speaking. Darcy exclaimed loudly. “Steve!”

And when Loki opened his eyes, he saw the most welcome sight before him.

It had worked. Steve hadn’t even realized he was dead, and Darcy was still crying.

But this time, they were happy tears. Loki nearly fell out of his chair, but he managed to stand and walk over to Steve, patting him on the shoulder.

“I’m glad you’re back.”

“Get down here,” Steve said, throwing an arm around Loki and hugging him tightly. “Heard you saved my life.”

“Saved it? More like plucked it from oblivion,” Loki scoffed.

“Some things never change,” Steve laughed. “You’re as full of yourself as ever, aren’t you? I’ll bet you’re going to be impossible now.”

“Oh, there will be no living with me,” he replied.

~~~~~~~~~~

“I still think this is a huge fucking mistake,” Johnny said under his breath.

“So why are you here, then?” Steve asked.

“Because even if it is, she needs us,” Johnny replied, sighing heavily as they climbed up the short porch steps to ring the doorbell of the split level ranch house.

They stood back from the door and waited for someone to come to open it. Let them in or send them away.

It wasn’t Darcy, but someone who looked a lot like her. Younger. Likely a sister or a cousin.

“Who are you?” she asked, sniffing harshly.  Her eyes were red-rimmed and watery and Steve wanted to hug her too, but he figured that wouldn’t be received very well at all.

“Steve Rogers. Johnny Storm,” he said, nodding over to Johnny. “We’re here to see Darcy?”

Realization dawned on her face. “Oh. Yeah. She’s in here with mom. I’ll go get her.”

Mom. It was her sister, then. Charlie. Darcy had spoken of her often.

When Darcy finally came to the door, Steve wasn’t sure if she was going to slam it or burst into tears.

She didn’t do either. She stepped out and practically fell into his arms. “Oh god, thank you for being here,” she said, hugging him tightly.  She pulled back from him and then did the same with Johnny, this time sobbing dryly against his chest. No tears. Almost as if she didn’t have any.

Her eyes were so red, it wouldn’t surprise him.

Johnny’s hand came up to cup the back of her head and she started shaking. “It’s okay, babe. We’re here.”

He shot a look over her head. A confused look. A question. Am I doing this right?

Steve’s mouth quirked up in the corners and he nodded. Yes, you are. This is all we can do.

“You wanna go inside?” Steve asked.

“No, I can’t... I need to...”

“Walk?” Johnny asked.

“Yes,” she breathed in relief. “I can take Bingley out for a walk, hold on.”

She ducked back inside and grabbed something, calling into the house. “I’m taking Bing out for a walk.”

“Thanks, dear,” another voice called.

There was the clicking of tiny claws on the hardwood as a pomeranian came trotting up and allowed Darcy to put on its harness and then it began to prance out in front of them.

“Bingley, this is Johnny and Steve. Johnny and Steve, Bingley.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Steve said abruptly, not really caring that he was talking to a dog. But in return, the dog seemed pleased, hopping up on its hind legs and begging to be pet, which he gave automatically. He was better with dogs than people.

Even Johnny reached down to scratch his ears.  And Johnny wasn’t great with animals.

Darcy gave them both very pleased looks and began to walk. They fell into step behind her, leaving their bags on the porch.

“We are planning on getting a room in town,” Steve said softly. “So don’t worry about---“

“I’m just... I can’t believe you’re here,” she said with a sniff. “When I saw you in the coffee shop, Steve, I wanted to beg you to come with me, and now you’re both here, I just...”

“I don’t know how to act in situations like this,” Johnny interrupted. “But I want you to know I’ll do my best, okay?”

She smiled for the first time when he said that. “Thank you.”

It was a damn shame it took her dad dying to get them to start acting right. But Steve resolved that whatever Darcy needed, he and Johnny were going to give it. Even if it meant she wasn’t getting back together with them.

So they fell into quiet steps behind her as she started talking about the plans. About her mom. About how her older brother hadn’t even shown up yet but was trying to take over from across the country. About how Charlie wouldn’t speak to her beyond the necessary. How everything was so ridiculous that she couldn’t even grieve.

Steve reached up and squeezed her shoulder then. Johnny took the dog leash, holding it far out in front of him so Darcy could hug Steve.

It was the most in sync they’d ever been. Again, it was a shame it came from this.