How to avoid your arranged marriage while falling in love.
Summary: Daisy just didn't want an arranged marriage. Phil was all too wiling to help her out. AU
Notes: Prompt 'arranged marriage' from the Ersatz Genremixer. Oddly enough the original idea was Daisy and Phil were in an arranged marriage (what is wrong with me?), but neither wanted that - and frankly they know better, I am so glad I followed their lead. Also, blame SpanishDict for my most probably butchered attempt to write Spanish. (Elena was supposed to say 'He already looks lovestruck anyway.' and 'Both of them.') (CORRECT ME!)
The Johnson household was in uproar. Daisy Johnson had run away. Again.
A month ago she had found out that her parents planned to marry her off to another noble's son, a man she knew to be easy to anger and act on it.
Everyone, but her parents, knew about it – the family had made a great effort to cover up the fact.
(Daisy had learnt from the staff that his previous engagement was called off abroptly after he almost killed his fiancee. No one knew spessifics, though.)
They didn't seem to listen to her when she told them what she had found out.
Daisy hated the concept of arranged marriage and had repeatedly made that known.
Her parents' marriage wasn't arranged – her father was a doctor, well-respected, but not of a background, while her mother was almost the equvalent of a princess. After a few meetings, her dad talked to her grandfather and while the elder was reluctant to agree at first, Calvin Johnson had a good job, a good reputation and it looked like Jiaying seemed to like him better than other courtiers.
Daisy couldn't understand why they still held on to that 'tradition' when next to no one was following it.
(Unless you counted the rich and violent, of course.)
"You are new around here." a voice called her out of her thoughts.
"Hmm?" she looked up to see a man with soft blue eyes. "Yeah, you could say that." she replied.
"Can I ask what you are running from?" he asked, looking self-conscious and embarrassed with himself.
"A possible husband." Daisy replied. "Please, sit." she montioned for the seat across from her.
"Oh, no, I couldn't..." he seemed to panic.
"I invited you, didn't I?"
"Well, yes..."
"Then, it is alright."
"I...Alright." he repleid, sitting down gingerly across from her. "I am sorry. I didn't mean to intrude. You just seemed like you needed a distraction." he said.
"Thank you." she smiled.
He nodded.
"I'm Daisy, by the way." she gave him her hand.
"Phil." he shook it, smiling bak at her.
"Are you a regular here?" she asked, looking around them at the diner.
"Sort of?" he replied, scratching the back of his neck. "I don't have enough free time to actually feel like I am a regular."
"You always drop by whenver you have time, so you are." a new voice said from their side and Daisy turned to see another man. "The name's Mack. Me and Elena run this diner." he introduced himself.
"We're married, Turtleman! You can call me wife, husband!" Elena shouted from the back.
Mack flushed.
"YoYo..."
Daisy smiled, amused.
"Nice to meet you both." she said. "Daisy."
"Nice to meet you, too. What will you order?"
"Uh..." Daisy looked at the menu. "A latte."
"Black coffe and pancakes." Phil said.
"YoYo is already preparing them." Mack smiled.
"Oh."
"You are a regular, Coulson!" Elena called out. "And you always order the same thing. Predictible."
Daisy chuckled.
"Wow, thanks for that, Elena." he said, mock-hurt, smiling too brightly.
Mack clasped him on the shoulder.
"Don't worry man. She only embarrasses you in front of someone she approves."
"Well, this is a first." Phil mumbled, before freezing. "Wait, what?" he looked at Mack then back at Daisy, who seemed to have tensed too.
"Oh. You mean you two aren't...?" Mack asked, pointing to the two of them.
"Just met." Daisy said.
"Oh, sorry." Elena said, bringing their orders.
"You never liked anyone I brought here before?" Phil looked at his two friends.
"Um...It's not that we didn't like them..." Mack started, uncomfortable.
"The musician was ok. The Dragon Lady was not."
Phil opened his mouth and closed it.
"A latte for our new friend." Elena said, bringing her order over.
"Thank you."
"Now, why is Daisy Johnson running away again?" Elena asked, leveling a look at Daisy.
Phil choked from across from her.
"You would too, if your parents wanted you to marry a not so good guy." she shrugged.
"Ah." she nodded.
"How come and there are not any customers today?" Phil changed subjects.
"I had Mack turn the sign to closed. There were a couple of...decepcionado looks, but I wanted to make sure someone wasn't getting in trouble. Again." Elena said.
"Sorry. Didn't mean to be a bother." Daisy said, guiltily.
"It is that Campbell?" Elena asked instead.
"Wait, the one who almost killed his fiancee?" Phil asks, woth a frown. "You're Dr. Johnson's daughter?" he asked incredulous.
"Yes and yes." Daisy sighed. "And before you say anything, I did tell my parents, but unfortunatelly they are in good terms with the family – their son is practicing medicine with my dad."
"How can I help?" Phil asked immediatelly.
"What? No. I am not getting you in trouble. I might already have put you in too much trouble."
Mack and Elena looked at each other.
"Yeah, good luck with that." Mack said.
"I am not about to let you deal with this alone." Phil huffed. "Not if there is even the possibility I could help."
"You can always say you were already dating Coulson and that was why you don't want the other guy." Elena said, helpfully. "Él ya se ve enamorado de todos modos." she mumbled.
Phil's eyes grew wide at that, while Daisy looked at Elena.
"He does?" she asked, sounding surprised.
Elena smirked.
"Would that solve your problem?" Phil asked.
"I wonder if it'll create more. Dad isn't going to like you..." she replied. "Mum...she is't going to be bothred." she shrugged. "It's my future husband that will throw the big hissy fit, though."
"Well, he's the one we want to piss off anyway." Mack interjected.
"He gets angry, he'll do something stupid in front of your parents. You get out of an unhappy life." Elena said, sagely.
"How did we meet?" Daisy asked Phil. "Wait, what do you do for work?"
"Law enforcement." he said. "Eh, we met here?" he shrugged.
"Well, I've been on my own to the city a lot of times, coincided with one of your day offs?"
"Ok. How long?"
"Maybe a little longer than two months? I only learnt I was to get married last month, so a new relative new relationship that I wouldn't have told my parents about, but invested in that I wouldn want to run away from home after the big announcement?"
"You're good at this." Phil smiled, amazed.
"Thanks." she smiled back, self-consciously.
"Los dos." Elena chuckled, getting up and pulling Mack away.
Daisy and Phil stared after the married couple for a moment longer before turning back to each other to work on the details of their plan.
"If you need testigos for your dates, Mack and I can always say you came here." Elena said with a big smile. "We can tell them how many times Coulson blushed at something you said, or how long he ended up staring like he was on the moon."
"Elena!" Phil groaned, hidding his face.
"If it comes to this..." Daisy smirked.
"Oh God..."
"It's alright, Phil." she patted his hand across the table.
"So. When will the reveal happen?"
"I can come pick you up tomorrow?" Daisy asked shyly.
"Tomorrow?"
"The sooner the better, right?" she wondered.
It clearly was making her uneasy, so Phil relaxed. He offered to help her after all. He shouldn't come across as reluctant.
"OK." he nodded, a soft smile on his lips.
"I'll owe you big time after this is over." she sighed in relief.
"Buy me coffee next time and we'll be even." he smiled.
"Phil, you are offering to act like my boyfriend, when you only met a couple of hours ago. A coffee isn't enough."
"It is for me." he said. "I offered to help you out, didn't I? It isn't any trouble for me."
"But -"
"Hey." he said softly, taking her hand in his, cutting off her protest. "The best that can come out of this is that we'll become good friends. So, you don't have to worry about anything, but buying me a cup of coffee."
"Alright, Mr. Smoothtalker." she grinned.
He smiled amused.
Neither noticed they were still holding hands.
The reveal the next evening went as bad as Daisy expected. Her dad was beside himself. Her mom gave her a disaproving/disappointing look, but didn't tell her to end things with Phil. Things became worse when he came for a surprise visit.
In the shouting match that followed, while Phil was trying to calm everyone down, a fist went flying towards Daisy, only for Phil to casually walk in the way of the hit.
Everyone froze.
"Phil." Daisy breathed out.
She reached and turned him around, to check him over, as he raised his hand to his face, to stop the bleeding from his nose.
"That hurts." he said in a pained voice.
"On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?" Daisy asked, shooting for levity, as she pulled him to the bathroom, while her dad was shoving the other guy out, shouting how the engagement was called off.
"Uh...a dull four?" he replied with a frown.
"Keep your head tilted back." she said, passing him a wet towel. "Here. Hold this."
"Fanks."
"Well...today was...eventfull." she said quietly, not looking directly at Phil.
The man just shrugged, not bothered by the fact he was punched in the face.
Suddenly, her father entered the bathroom.
"Let me see that nose." he said, seriously.
Phil lowered his hand and let the doctor have a look at his face.
"I don't like you. You're too old for Daisy." he said, putting the towel back on Phil's nose with maybe a little more force than needed, earning a groan from the other man. "At least it didn't break."
"Dad!" Daisy took her father's hands away from Phil's face. "Sorry."
"'S okay." he put his hand on the towel.
"But you seem like you care for her." Cal continued. "Be warned, though; if you hurt her, I will hurt you."
"Yes, sir. I won't hurt her, sir." Phil replied immediately.
Daisy groaned.
"I am too old for this." she said.
Both her father and her 'boyfriend' looked at her.
"Did the two of them come to terms with each other?" Jiaying asked from the door.
"It wasn't Phil who had a problem." Daisy shrugged, giving her dad a look.
"I still have a problem." he shrugged. "But if you're happy..."
"Yes, I am. Thank you, dad."
"We will wait for you at the table for dinner." Jiaying said, pulling her husband out from the bathroom.
"Let me see." Daisy said, reaching for his face.
He let her take the towel, the blood having stopped at last. With a finger she delicately traced his nose and then pressed a kiss on it.
"There. All better." she smiled, playfully.
Phil's breathless stare turned to a surprised chuckle.
"Thank you, Doctor Johnson." he grinned.
"Come on. Let's go have dinner with my pa...rents..." she froze. "Oh, shit."
"What is it? Daisy?" he asked conscerned.
"You are eating with me and my parents, Phil."
"OK..." he said slowly.
"Did things change that much from your time?" she asked him, looking at him as if he was slow.
It took him a few moments to realize the implication, before he paled and sat back down.
"Oh, God. We hadn't expected that, had we?" he mumbled.
"Nope." she leaned against the door.
He took a deep breath.
"You ok?" Daisy asked, reaching out for him.
Phil smiled.
"Yeah. We can do this, right?"
"It's been a while, huh?" she smiled, her hand on his cheek.
"Understatement." he chuckled.
"Well. If it makes you feel better, this is a first for me." she said, taking her hand from his face, and pulling him to his feet. "So, us being nervous won't raise any suspicions."
"Then, lead the way, my Lady."
"Dork." she shook her head.
The dinner went well, surprisingly.
Daisy was sure they'd make a blunder and blow themselves up, but they managed. Her father even seemed to relax around Phil a little and Daisy found herself feeling relieved. They didn't not aprove of Phil and that made the evening feel lighter.
(Which made her frown a little, because she knew him for only two days and yet, it felt like she knew him all her life.)
When it was time to go, Daisy walked him to his car.
"I really want to drive her one day." she said, running a finger along the red corvette's side.
Phil hummed, leaning against the door.
"I think I would enjoy seeing you behind Lola's wheel." he admitted.
"I know I will enjoy driving her." she raised an eyebrow in challenge.
He chuckled.
"You will love it." he said. "And that will be dangerous."
"Why?"
"Because you feel so painfully familiar and you not being in my life hurts." he said.
"You got my number. You know where I live. We can go out for coffee, or movies, or walks. I owe you a coffee, too." Daisy said quietly.
"You do realise I was teasing, right?" he leaned closer to her.
"I would like to buy you coffee, either way."
"Then...it's a date?" he smiled shyly.
"It's a date." she smiled. "When can you pick me up?"
"Saturday, if nothing comes up, sounds good?"
"Lovely."
"Daisy? Can I kiss you?" he asked in a small voice.
"Yeah. After all, you are my boyfriend, Phil." she smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck.
Phil smiled and let himself be pulled in, their lips to meet.
"I'll see you in a couple of days, then." he said in between kisses.
"Yeah. Definitelly." Daisy replied.
"Okay." Phil pulled a little away.
"Okay." she echoed.
He got in Lola and rested his hands on the wheel for a moment.
"You know, I think Elena was right."
"About what?"
"Me being lovestruck from the moment we met."
"Sappy, sappy man." she shook her head, before leaning down to kiss him one last time.
"Goodnight, Daisy." he smiled softly up at her.
"Goodnight, Phil." she smiled back.
She watched him drive off before going back inside, a soft smile on her lips.