Chapter Text
Candy might be sweet, but it’s a travelling carnival blowing through town. Pie is home. People always come home.” ~ Pushing Daisies
The next morning Darcy woke to the sound of her alarm blaring at 5am. Which wasn’t unusual but when the memory of the previous day’s encounter with mutated caterpillar dogs, Cherry Pie over run with Avengers, and to top it all off, the cute guy she liked turning out to be Captain America. She wasn’t sure she wanted to get out of bed; it seemed like today might be a good day to hide out in her pyjamas and watch old movies till her eyes shrivel up and drop out of her head or maybe not.
Darcy snarled and kicked back the quilt; she was not going to spend the day moping about eating ice cream like the jilted love interest in a bad romantic comedy. For Thor’s sake she didn’t even have a romance to begin with. She had a geeky flirtation with a guy that just so happened to be a star spangled superhero. Life was not fair. She was not going to think about Steve today, nope, not one bit. She was not going to think about that bashful smile or the goofy boyish grin when they talked about old movies and traded quips and quotes. No. She was not going to think about the little doodles he drew on all his napkins, or the sketches she sometimes glimpsed him working on but he always closed the sketchbook before she could get a proper look.
She showered got dressed and laced up her boots, shuffled through playlists until she found one suitable for kicking ass and taking names. Or at least baking pies and making coffee. It was still early and the shop didn’t open for a few hours, usually about the time Charlie would roll in for his morning coffee or Kelly decided to actually arrive at the time the shop was meant to open, that never happened though. Darcy went through her mental to do list for the day, deciding what pies she wanted to bake as she walked the few blocks to Cherry Pie. She let herself in the shop and turned on the lights and the behemoth of an espresso machine. The replacement window they installed last night, after the Avengers shuffled out, would need a new sign painted on the glass and really good wash, but that was not her job, she had pies to make.
Darcy made herself a peppermint mocha and sipped it slowly as her mind ticked over to the day before and the last thing she overheard from Tony Stark as he walked out the door behind a sheepish looking Captain America, and an utterly unperturbed Phil Coulson. “Pepper I want to buy a pie shop.... I want this one.... But she made me pie. I’m gonna buy the pie shop. Anthony’s Pies has a nice ring to it don’t you think? Iron Man Pies? Pepper? Pepper? It’s pie Pepper. I like pie. Pepper?” she snorted at the memory, she was pretty sure he wasn’t serious and was just winding up Ms. Potts.
She shuffled around the kitchen, turning on the oven, dropping her ipod in the little dock, and dragging ingredients out of the big refrigerator. She was covered in flour and happily singing along to Heart when she heard the buzz of the front doorbell. A quick glance at the clock on the wall proved it was far too early for Charlie to stumble in and it wasn’t delivery day until tomorrow. With a sigh Darcy dusted her hands on a cloth and pushed through the door, “Yeah yeah I’m coming,” she shouted as she ducked under the counter and dug her keys out of her pocket.
She opened the door to find a rather sheepish looking Steve Rogers, shoulders hunched in his leather jacket, hands shoved into the pockets of his dark slacks. “What are you doing here this morning... Captain?” Darcy said, and Steve winced. It was enough to make Darcy feel a little guilty for the sharpness of her tone. She looked down at the toe of her left boot, biting her lip to keep from blurting out an apology as she toyed with the keys in her hands, blocking the doorway.
“Um can I come in?”
“The shop isn’t open for another few hours.” Darcy snapped and was immediately filled with remorse at being such a harpy. “Look I’m sorry it’s none of my-”
“Please,” Steve said, and Darcy couldn’t help but melt at the sincerity in his blue eyes. Damn.
“Fine but I have pies to bake, if you're here, you’re helping," Darcy said, eyebrows raised in challenge as she stood aside to let Steve into the shop.
"Yes ma'am," Steve replied the corners of his mouth twitching up. “Do I get paid in coffee for services rendered?”
“Shut it,” Darcy snarked, but her lips curved up into a smile as she locked the door and lead the way, ducking under the counter, but Steve just leaned a hand on the countertop and hopped over. “Show off,” she muttered under her breath as she pushed the door open. “Coat,” Darcy said as she pointed to the little closet and Steve shrugged off his jacket and hung it on the peg beside hers. He rolled up his sleeves, while Darcy tried and utterly failed at pretending she wasn’t watching his every move.
“Will I do?” Steve said after washing his hands and holding them up for Darcy’s inspection.
“I suppose,” Darcy said head tilted to the side as she looked him over. “I’m going to finish putting the pasty in these tins. Do you think you can handle mixing the dry ingredients in that blue bowl, then mix in the pitted cherries in the white bowl?”
“Yes ma’am,” Steve replied with a lopsided grin.
They worked in companionable silence, Darcy found herself smiling as Steve occasionally whistling along when her ipod shuffled to an older jazz track. “So... Captain America then?” Darcy said as Steve helped pour the cherry mixture into a pie crust.
“Yeah, I’m.... yeah. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you,” Steve said and rubbed along the edge of his jaw with a knuckle, eyes anywhere but on hers.
“It’s ok. I mean you’re a freaking superhero, you can’t go telling your secret identity to every girl in a pie shop with a terrible Mae West impersonation crushing on the guy with the perfect hair and the sad eyes doodling on napkins that you meet,” Darcy said flippantly as she covered the cherry filling with the top crust and began fluting the edges.
“A girl in a pie shop with a crush?” Steve said, with a small smirk and Darcy’s eyes widened, her cheeks turning pink.
“No, no crushes here. For a superhero Captain America is rather hard of hearing,” Darcy huffed and busied herself transferring pies into the oven and setting the timer.
“So it’s like that?” Steve said, left eyebrow twitching up.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Darcy said and rolled her eyes and tossed a floury cloth at Steve’s head, he caught it of course and Darcy began to turn around to get the apples out of cold storage when Steve’s hand wrapped around her wrist, and tugged gently.
“I’ve been carrying a bit of a torch for this girl I know. She has this wild dark hair that’s always escaping from its pins and always has flour dusted in it. She has these gorgeous blue eyes and beautiful warm smile that stays with me all day. She sings badly to songs and muddles the lyrics but knows more movie quotes than anyone I’ve ever met. Sound like anyone you know?” Steve said. He was grinning now as he tugged Darcy closer, his fingers warm on her wrist, thumb brushing back and forth against her skin, as he raised his other hand to cradle her cheek.
Steve bent down and kissed her, it started out sweet and gentle, Steve nibbled at her bottom lip and teased his tongue against the seam of her mouth. His left hand tangled in her hair and his right arm was wrapped around her waist pulling them flush as the kiss deepened. Darcy’s arms wrapped around his neck, her toes barely touched the floor. Steve pulled his mouth away from hers and kissed a trail along her jaw to her ear, “Gosh I wanted to do that for the longest time.”
“Gosh? Really Steve? Who says that?” Darcy said with a slightly dazed grin.
“Smartass. I kiss you and that’s all you have to say?” Steve said, and grinned that adorably boyish grin that made Darcy’s heart melt.
“Maybe you should kiss me again or I could just quote Mae West,” Darcy said with a sly smirk “Is that a gun-“
“Darcy!” Steve laughed, then he kissed her till they were both breathless and the timer buzzed on the oven.
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She’s My Cherry Pie
ingredients:
4 cups cherries, pitted
1 cup sugar (plus one tablespoon for sprinkling)*
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter (cut into small pieces)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (or the seeds from one vanilla pod)
pastry for a double-crust 9-inch pie
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375F
In a medium sized bowl mix the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon) add in the cherries and the vanilla and toss until mixed. Pour the cherry filling into the pastry-lined pie pan and dot with the butter. Cover the pie with the top crust, you can lattice the pastry or simple cut vent slits in the top and flute edges. Brush the pie crust with milk or an egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for an hour or until the crust is golden brown and the filling bubbles up (it will take longer to bake if using frozen cherries and you may need to cover the pie with tinfoil to prevent the crust burning)
Cook’s notes: frozen cherries work just as well but you need to partially thaw them out or the pie will take forever to bake.
*if you use sour cherries you will need to add an extra ¼ cup sugar.
I like pie – Mae West