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“Nat, you are making me late,” Darcy called impatiently, pushing aside a stack of magazines to look for the Abyssinian and succeeding only in knocking a few behind the bookshelf where they landed on Hawkeye. The slim tomcat meowed in annoyance, leaping from his hiding place to glare at her, but he forgave her quick enough, rubbing his head against her as she scratched behind one ragged blond ear.
He was one of the first that she had found, and he had always been a bit skittish. Darcy was rarely certain that he was even in the apartment, he was so apt to hide, but when she left food out it had always disappeared.
He was a bit more sociable, now that Natasha was in residence-- sometimes she woke up to the pair of them curled up on her back these days. She had the impression, from his mottling scars, that whomever his previous owner had been, they had not been kind.
Natasha had moved in with the attitude that she had always lived there. That she had always slept on top of Darcy’s chair, and left dead mice at the foot of her bed for her to step on in her bare feet.
She’d had Cap since he was the runt of the litter and she’d had to force medicine down his throat in a bottle every morning. Falcon had been next. She'd found him curled up around a bird’s nest outside while the sparrow in charge of it maintained an oddly cavalier attitude about the kitten’s presence. Then there had been Hawkeye, and Natasha. They'd gotten along with each other so well that Darcy was unprepared for how they'd reacted to Tony.
She’d found a black tuxedo cat with intelligent grey eyes doing a remarkable job breaking into her bird feeder and brought him inside. He’d had a collar with his name on it, one that looked expensive-- he couldn't be a stray.
Cap had taken a dislike to him immediately, but Natasha had seemed almost amused by his antics-- though she occasionally felt the need to put him in his place. Darcy’d put up posters until the owner had called, but by the time Pepper had come for him, Tony had been strangely reluctant to go.
He’d seemed happy enough to see the woman, meowing at her incessantly and rubbing his face against her legs, but he’d kept returning to Cap, nudging the larger cat as if he wanted him to come as well. When it had become obvious that wasn’t happening, he’d gone quiet, and let Pepper take him without a fuss.
She had called a few weeks later, sounding embarrassed. “I’m afraid I have to ask you for something of a strange favor. Tony’s been… well, depressed. He has Rhodey for company, but I think perhaps he got accustomed to a bit more… I was wondering if you would watch him for me, during the day. I’d pay you, of course.”
Darcy’d looked down at Cap, who was letting Natasha lick his head with a morose look on his face. “Of course. We’d love to have him.”
Tony was bright enough to hit the call button downstairs, so Darcy just buzzed him in in the morning, and that was that. Pepper collected him at the end of the day, in her suit and her high heels-- it always made Darcy feel unbearably shabby, as if she were covered in cat hair.
Probably because I am, she thought wryly, clapping at her sweater and watching Steve’s thick white hair drift through the air. He was a purebred Turkish Angora, the only one that Darcy had to groom, and it showed in her clothing. When he was a kitten it hadn’t been so much work, but she couldn’t begrudge him his size-- not when she’d been so worried about his health when he’d been tiny.
“Natasha, Pepper’s going to be here soon.” Darcy called again, exasperated. When she saw the smallest crack in the window, she sighed. In her experience there was no space too small for Natasha.
When Darcy opened the front door to her apartment Cap jumped down from the back of the couch to follow. Tony looked up at his desertion and let out a yowl of complaint, but didn’t stir. Cap always seemed to feel that he should escort her whenever she left the apartment, ever since she’d gotten slashed by the big alley cat the neighborhood had nicknamed the Hulk. Darcy was still convinced that if she could just lure him inside, he’d be friendly.
Natasha was pacing the line of trash cans, more agitated than Darcy had ever seen her. When she looked up and mewed softly, Darcy knew that something was very wrong.
All of the hair on Cap’s back stood up, and when Darcy tried to look behind the garbage both cats blocked her way.
“Oh my god, I do not have time for this.” She told them crossly, pushing the cats aside with her legs. It became obvious that whatever they were reacting to was hiding inside of the dumpster.
“Perfect,” Darcy muttered, climbing inside the dumpster while Cap complained at her. “So now, I get to see Pepper without changing, and while covered in garbage.”
Darcy almost missed the cat, he was so dirty and ragged, missing one of his front legs-- but when she reached out to touch him, he savaged her all the same. At her curse Cap let out a yowl and the stray froze.
Darcy pulled off her sweater to assess the damage and was impressed at the depth of the scratches. When she threw it over the cat it let her pick him up. Darcy wondered if the smell of the other cats would be calming or agitating, but he seemed to take it well. He gave her another few stripes on her arm when she picked him up, but once she had him cradled securely against her heart he stilled and let her carry him.
Cap and Natasha stared at the cat’s dirty head poking through the wrap of Darcy’s sweater and made the same small noise, inquisitive.
It wasn’t until she had him inside and cleaned up that she recognized him. “Bucky?” She said, disbelieving. The kitten had been rambunctious and meticulously groomed, but this cat was something else-- scarred worse than Hawkeye had been, and filthy.
Darcy’d intended to take him as well, when she’d adopted Cap-- the two had been thick as thieves, and it seemed a shame to separate them-- but he’d fallen out of the car window when Peggy had driven them to the vet for their last set of booster shots. Cap had mourned for months, until it had seemed that he would never get over it.
Once Darcy set Bucky on the kitchen floor and began to dry him, Cap approached cautiously, his tail low. Bucky watched him warily, but didn’t lash out when Cap started to groom him.
By the time Pepper rang the bell, Cap had the black cat pinned to the floor with one paw and was licking him clean with an enthusiasm that the other animal seemed to find alarming.
When she opened the door, Pepper stared at the blood on Darcy’s arm. “What happened?” She asked in concern, pulling a handkerchief from her pocket to press it against the scratches.
Because she was the sort of person who carried clean handkerchiefs, just as Darcy was the sort of person who climbed into dumpsters.
“Oh, I just… found an old friend.” Darcy said, gesturing behind herself where Natasha, Falcon, and Tony were all lurking in doorway to the kitchen to regard the newcomer with suspicion.
“Is it injured?” Pepper asked, peering behind her to take in the spectacle of the ragged three-legged cat where it endured Cap’s attention with ill grace.
Darcy shrugged. “I don’t know. I found him in the dumpster-- I’ll take him to the vet in the morning.”
Pepper picked Tony up and kissed his head. “That’s horrible. When I imagine what could have happened to Tony… I don’t know if I’ve ever thanked you properly, for finding him.”
Darcy reached over to scratch under Tony’s chin. “He’s a good cat, once you get used to him. Kind of a loudmouth.”
“Yes.” Pepper agreed, smiling as he started to purr. “You should see him at home, he has his own room… if you let him he’ll stay holed up in there all day. It’s good for him to socialize.”
She seemed to hesitate before continuing. “I was wondering if you might like to come over some evening, and have dinner with me.”
Darcy looked down at herself, bleeding and dirty in contrast to Pepper’s pristine beauty. “Seriously? I mean… Yeah, I’d like that.”
“Good.” Pepper said, her smile relieved. “Friday night?”
“Sounds good.” Darcy said, smiling wide enough that she thought she ought to be embarrassed.
In the kitchen Bucky meowed piteously. When Darcy turned to look, Falcon was sitting on him while Natasha licked the back of his neck clean.
“Get used to it, buddy.” Darcy told him, watching Cap work on Bucky’s tail. “I think this is your life now.”