Neighbors • Darcy Lewis

A Night to Remember

Prompt: All of our other neighbors are crazy so we bond over that fact that we're the only normal people on the whole street AU

Characters: Darcy Lewis & Bruce Banner

Tags: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Friendship, Humor

Darcy lounges in the front yard of her home, sipping on a glass of wine as she watches some of her neighbors gather the blockades to block off both entrances of their street in order to have their monthly block party. The blockades used to cause problems once upon a time with certain neighbors, but after seeing the shenanigans and enjoying the benefits of having a billionaire practically pay for everything to have these parties.. well let's just say that people were pretty quick to shut up and enjoy themselves.

There's an empty chair next to Darcy, as well as an empty wine glass waiting to be filled sitting next to a bucket of ice that the wine bottle sits in. And not even ten minutes later, the chair is being pulled out and a rather exhausted looking Professor Banner drops into the seat.

"Long day, Bruce?"

"Try long week," he mumbles. He grabs up the wine bottle and takes a long gulp, he then pouring himself more than half a glass before settling down. "Sometimes I wonder why I decided to teach young adults. They're worse than first graders."

She snorts. "Only when the weekend is near."

To the outside eye, one would wonder what the recent college grad was doing with the older gentleman sitting next to her, but everyone on the block knew for a fact nothing was going on with Miss Lewis and Professor Banner. They were merely friends who happened to bond over the fact that they were the only two normal ones on their street while everyone else was a bit of a loon. At times.

"So who do you think is being reprimanded tonight?" Bruce asks. "Last month was both Jane and Thor for being caught nearly having sex against the side of Tony's house."

Darcy giggles as she recalls Tony's not so masculine squeak of outrage. "My money's on Clint or Bucky. Clint's actually set up moon bounce in his yard," she says, gesturing towards Clint's home where the giant moon bounce is being aired up, "and Bucky was watching on with a too smug smirk. I'm kind of terrified to see how all this plays out tonight."

Bruce chuckles as he picks up his glass and proposes a toast. "To an interesting night."

"To an interesting night!" Darcy agrees, clinking her glass with Bruce's.

.xXx.

Bruce and Darcy sat out in her front yard, trading stories about their respective jobs that they have yet to share with one another, and wave at the last of their neighbors passing by as they come home from work.

Then as day finally gives away to night, the street is blocked off as picnic tables and chairs are placed in the middle of the street. Tiki torches are lined up and down the sidewalk, their flames adding more light to the already lit up street lamps. A few barbeque pits are already flaming, the cooks just waiting for the fire to die down so they can start adding the meat. Portable wireless speakers are linked together and placed up and down the street, and Natasha scrolls through the neighborhood iPod for the playlist of the month that everyone had added songs to.

Once the music starts and everyone starts to unwind, Bruce and Darcy move out to the street. There's a table off to the side where a blender sits along with other necessary items to make pitchers of margaritas, as well as an ice chest full of ice just beneath it, and Darcy sets to work as Bruce takes off to briefly mingle with everyone else.

Darcy whips up pitcher after pitcher of margaritas, handing out glass after glass to her eager neighbors. The last pitcher is for herself and Bruce, she taking a glass of the slushy drink to her friend before starting her own rounds of greeting everyone.

After numerous Hello's, What Up's and Sup's, Darcy finds herself back at her usual spot where Bruce is already waiting for her. He already has another margarita waiting for her and Darcy grabs it up with a grateful groan.

"Jesus," she moans. "You're perfect." She takes a healthy gulp of her new frosty drink and grins at him. "If you weren't in a committed, long distance relationship I'd flirt like hell with you, Professor."

Bruce snorts. "Oh how I appreciate your honesty, Lewis, and your restraint. I'm sure Betty would adore you."

"Mhm. Betty sounds like a lovely lady. I would never do anything to hurt her."

"And that's why you're my favorite person on this street." Darcy preens at Bruce's words, he chuckling for a moment. He takes a drink of his margarita and then, "So did you find out any good gossip while making your rounds? I'm pretty sure I saw Helen Cho being a little too chummy with Sam Wilson."

Darcy gasps. "No! I thought he had a thing going on with Wanda?"

"Apparently Wilson and Wanda explored the romantic part of their relationship, and realized they were better off as friends. I think I heard her brother mention something about a new guy named Lance. Or Hunter. Or was it Lance Hunter?"

Bruce ponders over it for a little while and Darcy ends up giggling at him. "You're worse than Bucky with the gossip. Oh my God."

He snaps out of it and rolls his eyes in good humor. "Says the woman who started the very false rumor about Nick and Phil."

"That was almost a year ago! Let it go already," she groans.

.xXx.

Time passes with good drinks and good music, the food being served up a little while later. There's more mingling before Bruce and Darcy finds themselves back at their table, the two of them watching the late night shenanigans pick up.

It took little to no persuasion for a hammered Steve to get Thor to agree that spitting fire was the most amazing thing ever, and less than two minutes for something to catch fire. Cameron Klein was already passed out under one of the picnic tables and Maria Hill was drunkenly snapping pictures of her co-worker to most likely blackmail him later with.

The moon bounce was a hit with the drunken adults, but it didn't take long for shouting to come from within the bouncy castle and for the drunken fools to scramble out as fast as they could from the teeny-tiny hole in the net.

"What's going on?"

"I don't know. We need a closer look."

Bruce follows after Darcy as she hops up, she keeping a sedate pace as she makes her way towards Clint who's bent at the waist and laughing his ass off.

"Oh, gross!" Tony hollers from within the castle.

Bucky stumbles into Clint, both the men then hanging onto each other as they continue to laugh at the two remaining people in the moon bounce- one of them being Tony himself.

"What's going on?" Darcy asks, squinting to see that it's Tony and Pepper still inside.

"Pep- she.. she barfed," Clint laughs, trying to catch his breath.

"We found her.. in the castle. Passed out." Bucky continues to laugh, wiping the corner of his eyes to rid himself of the tears gathering there. "We were sitting inside, relaxing, when Stark crawled in and decided to wake her up via bouncing."

"Only it upset her stomach too much and she just spewed all over the place."

"Pep! It's not funny! Stop laughing at me!"

"And Stark slipped in it!"

As Clint and Bucky fall into each other once more, laughing their heads off, Darcy gapes and turns to a chuckling Bruce. "Interesting night, indeed," the Professor says. "And to think we thought it was going to be Clint or Bucky responsible for the night's most interesting tale. I have a feeling tonight's a night that some people won't let Miss Potts forget."

End.

Thanks to all those who stuck around :)