Chapter Text
Saturday, Jan 6, 1990 Danny: 4, Jazz: 6
When Vlad and Darcy met, there was no 'love at first sight'. No, Vlad's heart was tied halfway between trying to recover from decades of abuse and trauma, and the rest with a growing love for his friends and children.
Neither was Darcy; she was too busy with her own problems, too worried that someone would connect Darcy Lewis to the late Dr. Deborah Bryant.
That's not to say it was unpleasant, but the only fireworks were on TV.
"Hey, Darcy! Come on in!" James shouted to be heard over the TV. "I've got a guy from work over, and Rosa's already here."
That was nothing strange. Football at Darcy's was invitation only because she lived in a 1-bed 1-bath affair with a living room the approximate size of a postage stamp. Rosa was also limited, but in a different way. If her ex husband had the kids, she and her girlfriend would treat that weekend as date nights. If she had the kids, her girlfriend, who wasn't a football fan, would take the kids and play upstairs.
James, however, lived in a 4-bed, 3-bath 2-story home with a massive open-concept living room. He frequently had new people over for football; guys from work were pretty common, but he once pulled in a missionary who knocked on his door and, memorably, 12 people from the hardware store.
So she mentally shrugged, and yelled over the noise, "who's winning?!"
The man from work grinned, and shouted "Buffalo's winning, but wait 'till Bahr gets on the field!"
All in all, there wasn't much time to get to know one another over a football game. But he liked the amount of passion she clearly held for it, screaming loudest of all when Cleveland broke the tie in the second quarter and kept gaining.
And Darcy liked the fact he never- not once- tried to mansplain anything to her. When the next game came on right after- Vikings versus the 49'ers, in fact, he asked if she had any thoughts on the new running back.
While there were no sparks, no love at first sight, they had a pleasant time, and neither were averse to watching the last game of the season, Broncos against the Steelers, the next day together.