“Uh…huh.” Fitz raised an eyebrow and then opened the file, to see a video start up of–oookay. “Wh…” He leaned in a little to watch it, his expression baffled. Was that Jonathan… what? “Wh-why is this…? When…??”
“Before you two got involved in your,” vague hand gesture, “thing. You can tell by the fact I’m clearly not trying to murder him here. Why? It’s better without context.” Skye seized Fitz in amusement, alert to every change in his reaction to get the most out of the experience, and the experience was turning out to be great. “Like I said, bathroom to your right.”
After several minutes of quietness, Fitz decides that Skye must have run out of things to say or just wanted to watch the show now; not something that Fitz himself would disagree with. The episode was one of the weirder ones, with Cassandra–but it was the one that played as a sequel of sorts to an episode from the previous season, when the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) was still around. Fitz was vaguely worried that Skye wouldn’t get it, or think it was weird, considering that this was not the best to watch completely detached from the rest of the series. However, she stayed quiet, so that was a good sign, and Fitz smiled when she leaned against his arm.
Of course, not everything could go the way Fitz wanted it to, and Skye finally interrupted the episode just as it was getting to the better parts, and he looked at her with a face full of exasperation. “What?” He grumbled as he paused the episode and minimized the screen, double-clicking the folder as she instructed. He opened the file. “What’s this, Skye.”
“Blackmail. Kinda. It had potential to be some really epic blackmail, but he’s actually proud of it, because of course he is,” Skye said, pursing her lips to keep herself from laughing ahead of time. She looked up at Fitz expectantly, head cocked to the side as encouragement for him to click on the file. “Do it. I have a personal bathroom, so you can hose yourself down after.”
Fitz blushed a little. “Yeah, I guess he does.” When it was pretty clear Skye wasn’t going to say anything else, Fitz focused his attention back on the show. He didn’t notice when Skye looked over at him, his eyes never left the screen and sometimes he’d catch himself mumbling the quotes along with the actors. He and Simmons had really watched this show a lot. He smiled a little bit, thinking about that, his attention drifting from the show a little.
Skye remained silent for a long time, miraculously, to the point of beginning to understand the finer details of the plot, even making out what the very eccentric Scottish version of Coulson was saying. She shifted every once in awhile, adjusting her position so that all the strain wouldn’t be on her still-aching shoulder, Fitz’s upper arm serving as a rest for her cheek. It wasn’t until the giant sentient patch of skin possessed the Doctor her concentration finally snapped.
“Leopold,” she began, laughter shining through her voice and over the dialogue of the episode. She was too comfortable to move, so she’d just guide him to the greatest thirty seconds of his life. “Do me - no, actually, yourself - a favour and open the folder labelled ‘blackmail’. Yeah, on the desktop. In all capital letters. That one. See the first thing in there? Open it.”
Fitz turned his attention back to Doctor Who while she thought over… whatever, leaning forward a little more with interest at the episode. It was one with Tennant, which was great considering that was probably his favorite Doctor. However, it was still bothering him a little how he couldn’t remember what had happened, no matter what Jonathan might have reassured him in the morning or anything; he looked over when Skye started talking–more specifically, asking questions–again. “Yeah, he was fine. He’s actually… he’s really nice.”
“Good. Hard to believe, but okay. I guess he has a soft spot for you,” she replied, adding a quick “in the safe for work sense of the phrase” at the end to make it explicitly clear. There wasn’t much left to say on the topic of them; Skye didn’t want to keep pressing, either. She settled in more comfortably, attention on the show for the first time since the credits even though there were still moments in which she’d look over at him immersed in the plot, the carefree, content him, and hope it’d last for a long time. At least, as much as Hydra would allow him to.
Fitz just let out a small, annoyed grunt, leaning his cheek against his hand as he continued to watch the screen. Of course Skye wasn’t going to drop it, why would she? He sighed, loudly. “Yes, I was wearing my clothes, and it–it wasn’t really action, I dunno. I guess we went outside at some point, though, because my cardigan was covered with grass stains.” He scowled. That was his favorite cardigan, too.
Skye let out a quiet “hm” to indicate he was granted a few minutes of silence while she was mulling over his words. Those few minutes turned into five, then six, and then she picked up the topic again. There was no way of telling if she was interrupting an important plot point, but he wasn’t leaning toward the screen like he wanted to dive into it for once, so she figured it’d be relatively safe. “I know you have gaps where your grass adventures are supposed to be, but was he decent, at least? In the morning?”
Fitz snorted and rolled his eyes at her, watching as she pulled up Netflix for them. He didn’t say anything, but he was frowning as he waited for her to click Braveheart–at least it seemed like that’s what she was going for, even though he was about ready to complain as soon as she hit the button, but instead she switched it to Doctor Who. “Oh!” He grinned and leaned forward, concentrated on the opening credits even though they were basically the same every time. “What?” He responded absentmindedly, already absorbed in the show, “Oh, yeah, I woke up in his beuuuuuuuuuh–his room, yeah, I was, yeah, in his dorm.” He tried to catch himself so he wouldn’t reveal enough for her to keep pressing, but the damage was already done.
Unsurprising. “So, basically what I said. Nice save, Fitz,” Skye said, voice emotionless at best. She was past the point of minding it, but not yet ready to drop the topic, and the credits seemed to be endless. Despite his eyes being glued to the screen, she knew the sudden interest in the names flashing on the screen was just a cover to keep her from asking questions. A horrible one. He knew her better than that. “Firstly, did you have clothes on? Secondly, how dare you get more action than me in a place like this?”
“Okay, I guess you’re right,” Fitz admitted reluctantly; he would have been severely pissed if Skye had told Simmons about his crush on her. As always, Skye was basically right. “….And I guess you’re right there, too. I just wish there was an easier way.” He sighed loudly before giving Skye a grateful look. “Thanks, Skye. That actually did make me feel a little better.” He settled back more comfortably on the bed when Skye made room for him. “Yeah, that sounds great.”
“I do get off on people telling me I’m right,” Skye said, pride imminent in her voice. She picked up the laptop again, Netflix already open on the screen from the viewing session Fitz’d decided to show up during, and lingered on Braveheart for the longest time (to annoy him, mostly) before settling on Doctor Who. While it wasn’t her thing, the little nerd would get a kick out of it. Though, as expected, the opening credits were talked over when her mind went back to something Fitz’d said. “Wait. You woke up in…? His torture dungeon?”
“Then why didn’t anyone tell me?” Fitz grumbled, also mostly to himself. He chewed his lip as he listened to her, shrugging a little. “I–If I don’t figure it out soon, though, it’ll… I’m just worried more feelings will get hurt.” He couldn’t help but feel like he lead Simmons on–even though she actually didn’t remember what happened that night, but he felt like he was messing around too much without even meaning to. “It… It should be simple, though, because Jonathan and I already talked over… everything, some weeks ago, we agreed to just be friends, but I wake up in–” He decided to cut himself off there. He really didn’t want Skye to assume things, or pry about the night he spent drunk off his ass with Jonathan, especially because he couldn’t remember jack shit. “I don’t know.” He grabbed one of Skye’s pillows and hugged it to himself.
“Do you know how much it sucks to be outed to someone before you get the chance to do it yourself, implying you’d want to in the first place? We were waiting for either one of you geniuses to take the initiative,” Skye shrugged. “It should, but it isn’t. Just because you agreed to something doesn’t mean your feelings did, Fitz. They aren’t magically on board with your sound judgement. The best you can do right now is hang around both of themin moderation, wait, observe, pray to the entire pantheon it’ll get resolved.” She perked up, scooting over to give him more room on the bed. “Come on, stressing about it won’t help you. Want to do something fun that doesn’t involve moving or alcohol?”
“Ah, yeah, that sure does the trick in the fun department,” Fitz snorted dryly, rubbing at his face with the palm of his hand. “I don’t know. I–It’s just… it’s confusing.” He wrinkled his nose, looking down and wringing his hands together. “I wish I’d known sooner about Simmons… yeah.”
“To be fair, everyone knew before you two did. Which reminds me, Trip still owes me ten bucks for the bet. Should’ve doubled it,” Skye said, mostly to herself. Sympathetic in her intentions, but lacking in execution, she decided to go with what she knew best, what she wished she’d told herself when she was younger. She snapped out of her thoughts suddenly, continuing, “Don’t expect it to make sense all of a sudden, okay? The more pressure you put on yourself to figure it out right now, the more tangled this will get. Don’t feel awful about it, either. Your feelings are valid and intricate, not a puzzle to be solved overnight so that someone else could feel good. If Jonathan really makes you question things, and saying this will kill what’s left of my soul, maybe there’s something there.”
Fitz walked in as soon as he heard Skye respond, shutting the door behind him. He gave Skye a small smile and a nod, walking over to where Skye said the alka-seltzer was, getting himself a glass of water to go with it. “Thanks, Skye,” he responded gratefully, sitting down on the edge of her bed after. He didn’t really get headaches or drink that often, so he never stocked up on that stuff. “Ehhm… you been having a good day?”
“Yeah, great. Strenuous exercise while Ward stares you down with his cold, lifeless, ever-judging eyes is always a highlight.” She set the laptop aside with a slight grunt, turning her attention to Fitz. “I’d ask about yours, but we already know what went down there. So, I guess, my question is - help, do you require, young grasshopper?” Yoda impression. Smooth.
