Pound of Flesh

DJ sits cross-legged on the couch, silent and resolutely not looking at anyone. In the expanse of two days she had been assaulted by a psychopathic ex-boyfriend, rejected by Captain America, arrested, handcuffed, manhandled, interrogated, and locked in a tower like a fucking princess. And her new acquaintances were glaring at her.

She feels someone sit down next to her, and by the warmth of hard muscles she can tell that it’s Steve. “Daisy…”

Her head snaps up at that, mouth gaping for a while as she fumbles for words. And feelings. She settles for the safest one. “If I wanted you to call me that I would have introduced myself that way. But I guess it doesn’t mention any of my preferences in all those files you dug up on me.”

“Those files didn’t mention very much at all,” Natasha corrected. Her gaze was sharp and unrelenting, but to DJ’s credit she didn’t even flinch. “Someone who can manage to disappear completely seems to be like the same sort of person who’s smart enough to hack into a system.”

“Christ, are we really back to this? I told the scary ice dragon lady that I didn’t have anything to do with that.” She huffs and tucks a wayward lock of hair behind her ear. “As for disappearing, I just have some very good friends who are very good at what they do.”

Natasha slowly sat down in a chair across from her, eyes softening almost instantly. “They sound like some dangerous friends.”

“Anyone can be dangerous when they need to be.”

“Even you?”

A lazy smile stretched across DJ’s lips. “I’ve spent over a year playing a very intense game of hide and seek. I don’t care how good you are, do you really think I’m going to slip up now?”

“You wouldn’t need to be afraid of slipping up if there wasn’t something you were hiding,” Natasha reasoned levelly, not at all deterred by DJ’s will.

“Everyone’s hiding something,” she counters just as vaguely as she has been. “But that’s not what makes them dangerous.”

“So what does?”

Every trace of emotion on DJ’s face slowly melts away in, what Steve feels, a very disturbing way. Her voice loses the playful quality it always seems to maintain when she responds. “What they can’t hide.”

Bruce makes an almost painful sound in the back of his throat, crossing his arms loosely over his ribs. Her words hit close to home, seeping into his wounds like salt. Natasha sends him a wary look out of the corner of her eye, and Clint shifts a couple steps away.

“I guess I shouldn’t be offended then,” DJ remarks dryly, breaking a tense, crackling silence. Steve jerks slightly in surprise. “I can’t really ask you to trust me when you clearly don’t even trust each other. “

“We trust each other just fine,” Steve insists, mouth tugging down into a frown.

DJ shrugs and settles deep into the cushions of the couch. “Okay. It’s not my place to rock the boat with my opinions. I’m just the friendly neighborhood hostage.”

“I don’t like your attitude,” Tony breezes in from the kitchen with an already half-eaten pastry in hand. “You’re acting like you’re being forced to stay at the McDonald’s Playground. Anyone else would kill to live in my den of iniquity.”

“Yeah, well, they wouldn’t have to kill to get in, just take their clothes off.”

Tony mulls this over as he perches on the arm of the couch next to DJ. “You might be right. It worked for you, didn’t it?”

“Oh, I like you.” Her cheerful disposition comes back full force, and Steve tries not to resent Tony for being the cause of it. “I like you a lot.”

“Was this supposed to be surprising?” Tony maneuvered so that his legs were draped over her lap, and Steve wanted to throw him across the room.

DJ leaned into Tony and almost immediately moaned, and Steve just really wanted to fall over dead. “What are you eating? It smells amazing.”

“Cinnamon roll.” He switches hands and holds it close to his body as DJ eyes it hungrily. “No no. Get your own. Whole box of them in the kitchen.”

“Then get off of me before I chew through your legs. Those assholes didn’t think it was necessary to feed me.”

Tony rolls his eyes as he curls his legs back in. “Cannibalism is not an attractive trait in a woman.”

She wordlessly flips him off as she pushes up off the couch and saunters into the other room. She’s barely out of earshot before Steve turns that disapproving stare on Tony on full force.

“Stark.”

“Rogers.”

“Do you really think this is the appropriate time to try and get her into bed?”

Tony leered unabashedly. “I wouldn’t have to try. But I’m just being friendly, Cap. I’m not trying to cock block America’s greatest hero.”

“I’m not- I mean, she’s just… I don’t have any feelings for her, Tony.”

“Bullshit,” Clint declared lifting a brow. “You might as well have pissed on her, Captain, the way you were guarding your territory.”

Natasha picked up a small pot of African violets off the side table and hurled it at Clint’s head, just narrowly missing as he ducked. “Fortunately for us we’re not on the Bachelorette, so it’s a moot point.”

“I liked that plant,” Bruce lamented quietly, ignored in favor of Tony striking up another argument.

“Be fair, Natasha. Steve’s probably got the worst case of blue balls known to man. I’m sure we can compromise the integrity of our operation just once in order to get a friend laid. It might make him easier to work with.”
____________________________________________________________

DJ glanced over her shoulder at the people huddled in the living room. No one was paying attention to her, too caught up in a squabble over something that was most likely Tony’s fault. She did like him, though. Not a lot of people appreciated the art of verbal sparring like he did.

Her stomach clenched painfully as she bypassed the box of cinnamon rolls to look out through the window. There had to be a balcony or fire escape somewhere, it just didn’t appear to be on this side of the building. But maybe she could create a distraction big enough to get her to the elevators. In here the smoke alarm seemed like the best bet, but then again, none of those bets seemed like ones she could win. There were five of them- enough so that they could handle a small kitchen fire and a girl on the run.

“What do you know about flowers?”

DJ whirled around so fast that she nearly stumbled right over into Dr. Banner. Her heart was pounding in her ears, despite the fact that all she was faced with was a harmless, ruffled scientist with a mess of dirt and violets in his hands. “What?”

“Flowers. Do you know anything about them? This little guy was caught in the crossfire of Russian rage.”

“Sorry, knowledge doesn’t come with the namesake.”

Bruce grabs a mug from the cabinet and gingerly deposits the flower and soil. “It’s all right. I don’t exactly have the right kind of green thumb, either.”

“Who knew Earth’s mightiest heroes were so funny?” She hopped up onto the counter next to where Bruce was standing and gave him a little nudge with her foot. “I thought scientists were supposed to be boring?”

“Oh, we’re terribly boring. My sense of humor is just another side effect of the gamma radiation.”
____________________________________________________________

“Seriously Cap, the only person who has less game than you is Bruce. And I do mean just Bruce, because I’m pretty sure the Hulk even gets more- Captain, you’re not even listening. How rude. What are you staring at?” Tony follows Steve’s line of sight to watch as DJ grins brightly down at Bruce. “Oh. Right. Well maybe I was wrong. You’re legitimately the least alluring person I know.”

Steve can’t even muster up the strength to be offended, because yeah, that’s nothing new. He may be twice the size he used to be, but on the inside he’s still that puny kid from Brooklyn who couldn’t interact with a dame to save his life. For all he knows, he’s probably even worse at it now. Erskine did say that bad became worse.

“He’s just baiting you, Steve.” Natasha tossed Tony a glare that came very close to eviscerating him. “He wouldn’t be Tony Stark if he wasn’t causing trouble.”

“It’s nothing I haven’t heard before. I have no interest in getting involved with someone under investigation, anyway.”

“You say that now, but when she’s back in the room you’ll be making puppy dog eyes at her again.” Clint snorted and instinctively flinched when Natasha’s hand warningly flew to a small decorative sculpture.
____________________________________________________________

“So have you changed your mind?”

DJ looked up, startled, from the purple flower Bruce was tending to. “About…?”

“Jumping out the window and hoping for the best.” Bruce gave a small smile at her surprise. “I’ve been there before.”

“Yes. I gave up on the window idea a while back. I was actually planning ways to make a break for the elevators.” She looks at him skeptically through the curls falling into her face. “Is this the part where you handcuff me to a chair again?”

Bruce huffed out what was supposed to be a laugh. “This is the part where I tell you running won’t help. They’ll find you. They always do.”

DJ groaned and slipped down off the counter. “I just want to be left alone. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. Apparently that makes me a criminal now.”

“I don’t think that’s what makes you a criminal.”

“Wow Dr. Banner, put that sassiness away.” DJ finally gets around to procuring her cinnamon roll, taking a deep inhale at the warm gooey pastry. “I didn’t get the vibe that you were team DJ-is-an-evil-mastermind.”

Bruce watches in amusement as she takes a monstrous bite out of the roll. “I don’t think you hacked the system, no. But nobody fades off the radar without breaking a few laws.”

“Yeah? Well maybe next time I decide to pull a Where’s Waldo you can give me some felony-free pointers.”

“Step one: don’t turn into a monster.”

DJ throws her head back in a hearty laugh as she prances back towards the living room. “I think that’s the best advice I’ve ever gotten.”

Clint notes with satisfaction that Steve’s eyes immediately take on the puppy dog quality as DJ hops into the room. He’s just smart enough not to send Natasha a smug look.

Throwing herself down across the couch, DJ sprawls with her head resting on Steve’s lap. Steve is immediately overwhelmed by that soothing smell of lavender and that big, disarming smile. “Hey Captain Hottiepants, why the face?”

She mentally berates herself for the comment, because she had wanted to stop acting so, well, herself around Steve. She was all too aware that she was a lot to handle. “Um, you want some?” She waves the cinnamon roll in front of Steve’s face. “I’m not above sharing, unlike a certain billionaire I know.”

Steve opens his mouth to respond, but before he can get the words out DJ has ripped off a piece of her pastry and popped it into his mouth. God, how stupid are you, Daisy? You can’t just go around shoving things in hot peoples’ mouths. “Yummy?”

“Mhm,” Steve laughs around a full mouth, eyes lighting up as he looks down at her. “Thanks.”

DJ nods as she finishes off her snack and licks the frosting off her fingers, while Steve sits there and privately has a heart attack. “I hope you don’t plan on moving for a while, because you’re exceptionally comfortable and I have plans for a nap.”

“Uh, yeah, okay. Be my guest.” But all Steve was really thinking was that this girl was going to be the death of him. But a very, very good death.