Simmons had just left the lab, heading back to her room with a tiny little glass tube in her hand as she’d rather not leave it in the lab for anyone to find. Her mind was clearly anywhere but there as she walked a bit hurriedly, not even looking up from her feet. She was thinking about how much of a mess her life had turned into since she had arrived, fought with two of her friends, kissed her best friend, got called a bitch… it all sounded way too different to what she was used to, maybe after all Fitz had been right when he told her not to go into the field. A turn in a corner and bloody hell hold it tight. Jemma practically juggled with the tube for a moment before stepping backwards in order to hold tightly onto it and try not to spill a thing, but it was too late. She slowly looked up to face the girl she had bumped into, a small uncomfortable smirk on her lips as she noticed Skye’s face staring right back at her. “Well, aren’t you lucky? The acid took a liking for the floor instead of your skin!” The biochemist joked to try and lighten the fact she had almost spilled acid on her friend.
The ‘walk with eyes on your phone and hope someone else will be a responsible pedestrian’ tactic was not working. Skye’d realised it as soon as she found herself staring at Jemma, then hesitantly averting her eyes from the girl and to the liquid sizzling on the floor. She found it in herself to reply only moments later, blinking away the momentary confusion. “Oh, good, I don’t think I can survive another hole in me,” she said dryly, though her quirked eyebrow was clearly implying it was meant to be humorous. The ‘joke about getting shot to get over the night horrors’ tactic was, in fact, also not working. “I’m sorry I ran into you like this, Heisenberg. I’m also sorry for the night before. Just, sorry.”
Jemma smiled at her friend’s words as she got ever more excited with the passing second, becoming really interested in how things had turned out for Skye and Trip, knowing he was a really good guy and hoped for the best for her friend. But as the brunette continued speaking, Simmons exhaled and shifted on her spot before smiling again. “He’ll come around, surely! If you like him, just wait. You can’t have ruined things, you know? It’s a friendship, worse thing that can happen is you stay friends.” The girl smiled and moved over to squeeze Skye’s hands gently. “I’m quite excited about this, actually.”
“I don’t care what we are, I just don’t want to lose him,” Skye said simply, looking down at the scientist’s hands on hers as if to mask her unease about expressing any kind of emotion. Moments after, the irony of her words hit her. She interrupted their energy circle to lean over the bed, reaching for her phone on the nightstand, then extended it to Jemma. Of course, this kind of thing could’ve just been said, but she was all for theatrics. “Mind say it again? The whole ‘the worst thing that can happen is you stay friends’ thing? But, to Fitz? In a text, or, if you’re feeling wild, a call?”
Staring at Skye’s body language, suddenly Jemma became concerned about what had really gone down considering how much her friend seemed to want to avoid the topic. Raising her eyebrows and crossing her arms over her chest, she glanced at the floor as she listened carefully to what the brunette was saying. The fact she mentioned Trip though, made Simmons’ attention to her words grow as she looked up and smiled slightly. “You kissed him!” The biochemist exclaimed, the smile on her lips only growing wider. “Oh my god, Skye, do you like him?” She barely let Skye finish her story before jumping at her with the questions, too Jemma like. “I can’t believe it, you’d make such a cute couple. Did he kiss you back? Are you in love? Oh my god.”
The amount of questions coming off Jemma made the corners of her mouth tug upward just a little, but it wasn’t entirely joyous. “I - yeah. I’ve been in relationships before, but it was because of convenience, you know? Because I figured it wouldn’t be the worst thing to do, and so did they, but the feelings weren’t really there on neither part. It was easier. Two fucked up kids playing home without knowing what home really is. I’ve never really -” she cut herself off, vague hand gestures filling the silence instead of words. She gave up on trying to voice it soon thereafter, starting anew. “Yeah, I am. It’s disgusting and really sudden and I wouldn’t want to take it back, given the opportunity, even if he doesn’t - We haven’t really talked about it. It’ll be fine. I knew what I was signing up for when I decided to stay, protocol and all.“
“Oh god, no. Skye you know you can’t talk about that here, what if a student finds out?” It was still a pretty important worry for Simmons to have anyone else know about her incident with the Agent back then, she’d rather it’d be kept a secret. Her lips parted open slightly in surprise at her friend’s reaction, her every move said something quite different from her words, a clear contradiction. And obviously, body language is more reliable than verbal language. Perking her eyebrows, Jemma stood up and moved backwards enough to lay comfortably against the wall, setting her gaze onto Skye. “Oh really? What if you tell what really went down? Apparently I’m not the only terrible liar around here.”
“I didn’t get groped on the dance floor, that’s for sure,” Skye said, dryly at first, but then eased into a half-smile. “I, um. Want the SparkNotes version?” Pause, followed by more fiddling. She ran all of the possible explanations through her head, though ultimately settled for the most genuine one. Her voice was hesitant, still. “Trip’s amazing, you know? He is, and he was there and I was looking at him and, suddenly, I was terrified of losing him. More than the usual, I mean. I was terrified of what would come next, with Hydra running around, of him being gone. I don’t know how you rational people approach it, but my first instinct was to go for it. I did, it was great, then I had an epiphany because what if I had put him in that awkward ‘fuck, my colleague has feelings for me because, look at me, of course she does, and I’ll have to let her down easy’ position, and, yeah. Yeah. Haven’t really seen him since.”
Simmons couldn’t help but laugh nervously at Skye’s words, she still wasn’t completely comfortable with the idea of the acid brewing being a real thing being considered right then. “Your poor arms! I’d die if I had to go through such workout each day. A day at the lab is already tiring enough.” Sighing, the girl shifted in her seat a bit. “Men in black? Really, Skye, I think you’ve watched too many spy movies to know it’s different here.” There wasn’t really much about what happened at The Hub that was worth telling her, she had worked on a project regarding sending some sort of satellite into the atmosphere- not that she knew that much to even tell though. “Really, I’d tell you if I could. You’ll just have to hack into the system to know.” Shaking her head, she let out a small smile. “So, you should tell me what happened with you back here. How was this dance I heard of?”
Skye quirked a questioning eyebrow, the corner of her mouth curling upward. “That a challenge? Will I find footage of you shooting yet another SHIELD agent and dragging their paralysed body somewhere?” The amused expression didn’t last long, however, no trace of it left when along came the topic change. Her gaze dropped onto her lap at Simmons’s question, brows furrowed as if in thought, hands already finicking with the edge of her blouse. Body language. Clear giveaway. “Without you? A travesty. I lasted twenty minutes.”
She was glad to have Skye as a friend, found a way to make her feel quite well even now that she felt so bad about hersef. Simmons simply nodded as a smile begin to form on her lips. “And you’ll always have me, Skye, that’s for sure.” As the acid topic was brought back to light, even if it was just a comment, it made her wonder what it really was for as she perked her eyebrows. “Breaking British? That’s a nice reference, but really, why are we making acid here?” Knowing it was probably better not to know the answer to her question, Jemma shook her head and grinned down at the floor before looking up back to her friend. “Wish I could, but it’s called a secret mission for a reason.”
A grin fleetingly lit up Skye’s features at the affectionate reply she received from the scientist, though it didn’t translate to her voice when she was forced to recall, one of the many unfortunate times that night, what a colossal pain in the ass her colleague was. In many ways, including one completely unsafe for work (much like Jonathan himself). “Because I’d rather not drag a body through the woods at 3 am. Ward has really been working me. It’s a miracle I still have function in my arms.”
She groaned in slight exasperation once she heard the s-word. “Not this again. I’m convinced ‘secret mission’ is just code for ‘I’ve been doing incredibly boring shit, but since SHIELD needs to maintain it’s Men In Black thing we need to make it sound cool’. Tell me I’m wrong. I dare you.”
“It’s not like I want to pace, it’s actually a biological mechanis to release all the adrenaline running through my body in an attempt to calm down my anxiety. Besides my brain is too agitated, not to say overwhelmed, to even think of sitting down.” Simmons simply laid her back against the door, staring at her friend with a confused look on her eyes as she tried to figure the best way to move past this whole conversation. “Skye, really, I’m not in love with Fitz, he’s just….” Taking a deep breath and sighing right after, Jemma shrugged her shoulders ever so slightly. “He’s just always been there and if- if being groped by someone else is what he wants, then maybe I’ve already lost him.” The girl walked over and took the seat besides Skye again, holding out for her hands. “Look, it’s okay. It will be okay, maybe we’re not meant to be best friends forever… but at least I got you, right?” If there was one thing she was good at- which clearly wasn’t lying- it was at changing the topic of conversation.
Skye followed Simmons with her eyes until the other settled down, slipping her hand into hers to give it a reassuring squeeze. “I’ll always be there, Jemma. Not much to go back to. Though, like I said, Fitz throwing away his purity ring doesn’t change anything. You’ll be back to your unintelligible science banter in no time.” Going along with her friend’s blatantly obvious topic change would benefit the both of them, right? She rubbed her temple with her one free hand, continuing, “You’ll have to teach me how to make acid later, Breaking British. But now, tell me about, um, whatever you’ve been doing.”
Simmons looked at her friend as she held back the tears. “I don’t know Skye, I just don’t know.” The last thing she wanted to do was cry, she had done the right thing for Fitz, hadn’t she? At least she thought that was what’s best and she didn’t regret her choice that much. Actually, she did, that was the reason for which she was in Skye’s room ready to cry. After she finished talking, she focused her gaze on the brunette besides her trying to understand what was going on in her head. The girl’s lips parted open as the other began speaking, shock suddenly taking over her. No, she was not in love with Fitz, she couldn’t be. They hadn’t even, ever… No. Simmons shook her head almost immediately and stood up, beginning to pace around the room as she mumbled out in denial. “No, it’s clearly not that. Fitz and I, we’re best friend, we’re never- He doesn’t like me like that, I don’t- Shite.”
“Jemma. I could hook you up to an electric generator and this place would run off you for a month. Stop pacing.” Nodding to the spot the scientist previously used to occupy as to gently suggest she should return to it, Skye continued, “I don’t know half of the shit you know, but I know people. Feelings. Just call me the most annoying one-hit wonder of the 90s because I’m really no stranger to love. And,” she bit back a smile, “a person told me our life isn’t without it’s risks. You could’ve lost him when Jonathan groped him in front of a lot of minors, or yesterday, or you could lose him tomorrow. All the reason to go for it, to make what undetermined amount of time you have worth it. Tell him everything you’re currently in denial about. Judging by your state right now, it’s not like you could make it worse.”
She could feel the teardrops threatening to fall down her cheeks with every word Skye spoke. It was her best friend they were talking about, her best friend and she couldn’t help but feel nostalgia and mixed emotions as she stared down at her feet. “We don’t like…” She began to complain about being called nerds, but talking about them when there wasn’t a them anymore was too damn hard. “I think this time, I might’ve accidentally changed the password, Skye.” Simmons turned her head to look at her friend, knowing her eyes were too tearful by now. “It just… It didn’t feel right when he, um, when he talked about this guy he kissed and how he liked him and-” The girl sighed, shaking her head a tad slightly disappointed in herself, “and I don’t know anymore.”
“You can’t accidentally change a password. Not unless you remember the old one. I mean, I can, very easily so, but my skills are beside the point.” Skye pulled her closer at the sight of the tears pooling in her eyes, and continued, “Didn’t feel right how?” she began, completely unaware of the fact she would answer her own question immediately after voicing it. She took a moment to process, then another to process, and, to top it off, a moment to let the reaction show on her face. “Oh my god. You’re in love with him.” Skye retracted her arm, eyes widening “You’re in love with him and I’m completely ignoring the fact it feels like incest and you’re - Wow.”
To be completely honest, she wasn’t paying enough attention to what Skye was saying. Her mind was elsewhere and in between trying to show herself as completely happy to be back and what had just happened, it was really hard for her to focus. But she did, because this was Skye who she was talking to, she knew that it’d be okay whatever she told her, it’d be okay. When she actually heard what her friend was saying, Simmons turned to look at her, jaw dropped slightly as she processed her own thoughts. “Acid to dissolve bodies?” Jemma was a bit scared to ask, concern clearly showing in her face as she perked her eyebrows at Skye. “Acids don’t dissolve bodies too quickly, take two days the least but do dissolve teeth too.” She shook her head as she continued to speak. “Sodium or potassium hydroxides could work. As long as it’s heated to 300 degrees, it can turn a body into a liquid with mineral oil consistency in only three hours!” She clearly shouldn’t be so excited about what she was saying and she coughed to hide her enthusiasm. “um, what is it for, Skye?” Truth was she was a bit suspicious due to the tone of her voice. When the brunette moved to sit besides her, the touch of her hand, it all made Simmons sigh. “I don’t know what happened Skye, we’re not okay.” She said, her voice breaking, looking up at her friend with teary eyes all over again.
Skye’s arm snaked around the girl’s shoulder to pull her closer. Biting back a comment about the person the acid was meant for, she decided to go for the empathetic, and, above all, reasonable approach instead, voice soft but firm. “It’s been a confusing few weeks for him, Jemma. But, his disgusting sexual awakening aside, no one can go through a complete change of personality in that amount of time. You’re still the same nerd, Fitz’s still the same nerd. The wifi always connects automatically as long as the password’s the same, no matter how long you’ve been away, and I happen to know he still uses monkeyz. With a z,” she remarked, a smile playing on her lips. “Now, what exactly is up with you two? Did you fight over a beaker or something?”
