Sorry if this one seems OOC to anyone else but me...

"You think she talked him out of trying to kill Steve?" Darcy asked while she and Bruce awkwardly tried to maneuver their way around the dance floor while simultaneously keep their eyes on their respective significant others.

Bruce glanced at Tony before answering, "Yeah."

"Are you going to kill Tony?" Darcy asked, eyeing the doctor warily when she saw the way he was looking at Betty's pretty expression being aimed towards Tony.

Bruce pointedly tore his gaze away from his girlfriend dancing with his best friend. "Of course not; this is just a dance, an acting exercise."

"Stupid SHIELD's stupid version of a stupid training exercise," Darcy agreed, not quite buying into the idea that "the other guy" wasn't about to try and lunge at Tony Stark.

Silence reigned between them, as tense as the two of them were while they danced, until Coulson called out to them, "You two aren't in love; you're not even planning on hooking up tonight! I am not convinced."

Darcy sent a glare over her shoulder in the agent's direction, but took a half-step towards Bruce and brought her hands up to play in his dark curls while he held her around the waist and kept them moving in step with the music. "You know, if you're that worried about Betty, I think it's worth mentioning that Loki is protective of Jane."

"What?" Bruce asked in confusion.

Darcy rolled her eyes and moved closer to whisper in his ear – if Agent Coulson wanted a hook-up scene then she'd do her best to give it to him – "Even Loki, for all of the faults that you Avengers hold against him, will protect Jane – his brother's girl – when a situation arises that requires it."

"Yeah, but Tony isn't my brother."

"Thor adopted Loki as his brother, just like Tony's adopted you as his – more or less. It's the same idea either way. My point is that Betty's safe, and you're really pointlessly worked up right now."

"And you're really not subtle about what you're afraid of," Bruce smirked.

"I'm cautious, not afraid," Darcy corrected. "Loki's my boyfriend; I'm used to dealing with people who are perceived as monsters. It's no big deal. None of this is. Just relax and have fun with me; it's just a training exercise."

Bruce nodded, starting to trace patterns on her back as a stab at looking comfortable with having Darcy in his arms like this. "You're right; it's just a training exercise, and I happen to think that we're all being pretty convincing."

Thus we come to the end of this story, but I wonder... how do you feel about Fury telling them to do a week-or-longer method acting exercise with their dance partners, as in "Steve, pretend you're dating Pepper this week instead of Maria?"