Daisy "Skye" Johnson wasn't sure what to expect when she entered her dorm room for the first time. She had heard so many horror stories. She really hoped that her roommate wasn't a huge weirdo. She was not expecting a very pretty girl greeting her with an even cuter accent.
Skye opened her mouth as if to say something but all that came out was, "Uh, ah, um."
Her roommate's smile vanished slowly and all Skye could think was, oh no, I'm the weirdo. "Skye, my name is Skye. What did you say your name was, again?"
"Jemma. It's a pleasure to meet you." Her smile reappeared, bright and white.
Skye looked away before she could start staring. "Um I guess I get the left side."
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't even ask you which you wanted! I can move if you want; I have no preference. It would be an odd fixation, a side of the room—"
Skye couldn't help it. She started to laugh. Jemma was just so cute. "It's fine. I'll take the left side."
And they smiled at each other, because this was their first day of college and they were so insanely excited and this felt like a good beginning of the year.
Skye has learned that Jemma is smart. Like, super smart. Genius smart. She's a bio-chemistry major who has already graduated from college once. Now she's only eighteen, working on her second degree. She's pretty sure Jemma is uncomfortable with telling people. Skye's pretty sure that most people are intimidated by how smart she is.
Which is why when Jemma tells her all this one day when they're sitting in their room, a Buffy marathon on the TV, Skye just smiles at her and tells her she thinks that Jemma is really cool.
The look on Jemma's face is far better than anything at that moment and they just stare at each other for a few moments, smiling as they ignore Buffy as she taunts a vampire before staking him. She thinks that maybe they're on their way to something more.
She walks into their room and immediately frowns, because there is a boy in her room. A boy with a Scottish accent making Jemma laugh. A laugh that normally only Skye can illicit. She squints, in confusion, in annoyance.
Skye generally isn't the jealous type. Especially when she has no claim to the person she's feeling jealous over. But the boy is touching Jemma, tickling her. And Jemma is letting him. She shuts the door behind her, well slams it. She doesn't mean to, but she's glad that the sound startles Jemma enough to push the boy away.
"Oh, Skye, you're out of class early."
"Um, yeah. Professor Coulson let us out early." She felt awkward now. The boy was looking between her and Jemma and Skye kind of just wanted to disappear.
"Hello, I'm, um, Skye." She waves because she doesn't really know what to do with her hands.
"Oh, I'm Leo, er, Fitz. Erm, everybody calls me Fitz."
He's holding out his hand, a smile on his face. Skye really doesn't want to shake his hand, but Jemma is looking at her with this hopeful expression, so Skye smiles and takes his hand and mutters that it's nice to meet him.
When she looks up at Jemma, she's smiling widely at her. There's something akin to pride in her eyes.
"Um, I better be going. I'll see you later, Simmons?" It's phrased as a question and Skye doesn't like the way he looks at her. It's the same way Skye looks at Jemma when no one is watching.
Skye feels bile rising when Simmons smiles sweetly at him and nods. She drops her bag, muttering about meeting Bobbi in the quad and leaving quickly.
She's sitting on her bed, Bobbi and Mack next to her, when Jemma comes in. She smiles upon seeing Skye, the wide one that Skye loves so much. And then everything comes crashing down. Fitz comes in behind her, a hand touching her shoulder.
Skye deflates and sinks further on her bed.
She's suddenly in a very bad mood.
"Why don't we hang out anymore?" Skye turns, startled. She didn't expect Jemma home so early.
"Um, well, you have that boyfriend now, and I just kind of thought that you'd want to spend all your time with him."
"Boyfriend?" If Skye wasn't so annoyed at the situation, she would find the look of confusion on Jemma's face utterly adorable. "Fitz? You think Fitz is my… boyfriend?"
"Well, yeah. You guys are always together, touching and laughing."
"Fitz isn't my boyfriend!" Jemma is laughing.
"Well you might want to tell him that."
Jemma stops laughing. "What do you mean?"
This time Skye laughs because how can Jemma not see it?
"What?" Jemma asks, frustration clear in her voice.
"He obviously likes you!" Skye throws her hands up.
"Wh—"
"He's always touching you, your shoulder, and your hair. He smiles at you like you're the only one in the room. And laughs at all your corny jokes, especially the ones that aren't funny. I'm sorry Jemma, but some of your jokes just aren't funny."
Jemma looks confused only for a moment more, before her features light up with understanding. Wide brown eyes stare at her with understanding.
"Skye." Jemma's voice is quiet, shaking and Skye's heart drops, because she just described herself to Jemma. She pretty much just outed herself to the girl she loved.
"Jemma…" Skye doesn't know what to say.
And apparently neither does Jemma, because she's backing up, turning, reaching for the door knob, leaving. And Skye's heart hurts. She's heard about heart break. And she's not sure which description is more accurate. Her chest hurts, but there is no hole where her heart should be. Just hurt.
When she tells Mack about it, he just looks at her before opening his arms.
"Well, at least you don't have to hide it anymore." Mack says. "You were pretty crappy at hiding it."
Skye laughs then the tears come.
She doesn't see Jemma for four days after what she's dubbed "The Incident." When she does see her again, Jemma informs her that she's staying with a friend and she just needs clothes. Skye doesn't try to talk to her, because what's the point?
So, she just watches Jemma collect her things, tears pooling in her eyes. She doesn't let them fall, not when Jemma reaches for the door knob, looking back at her with a sad expression. No, she doesn't let them fall until Jemma has shut the door behind her. Until she can't hear Jemma's footsteps anymore. Only then, does she cry.
She sees her a week later. She's with Fitz, but it's a far cry from how they were before. Fitz does not touch her. She does not smile at him. There are no jokes exchanged. Jemma sits across the table from him, she's talking to him and he looks crushed for a moment. Skye imagines that Jemma just let him down. Jemma looks up, as if she felt Skye's eyes on her, and looks straight at her. There is something sad in Jemma's expression, but Skye doesn't really care, because she's hurting, too.
She walks in to her room two days later to Jemma sitting on her bed.
"I miss you." Jemma says, standing, staring.
Skye almost wants to laugh, because this isn't her fault. "You wouldn't have to miss me if you hadn't left. I was never going to make a move, you know. I wasn't going to do anything. I just liked having you around. That was enough for me."
"Well, I'm here now, can we be friends again?"
Skye smiled, her first real smile in two weeks. "You're my best friend, Simmons. Nothing's going to change that."
Jemma smiles at her and they're hugging and Skye feels like they're on the right track again.
They finally have a day free, no class, no obligations to other friends, just them. They have a Doctor Who marathon on the TV, because Skye has never seen it and Jemma is obsessed with it. They start out on their respective beds, Skye is trying to respect boundaries. Apparently Jemma, was not.
Skye is enraptured in the episode. The planet is talking to him.
"Fear me, for I have killed a hundred Time Lords."
"Fear me, for I've killed them all."
Skye is so enraptured that she jumps when Jemma crawls into bed with her. This is the closest they've been since they decided to be friends again. Skye's skin is on fire where it's touching Jemma's. Jemma snuggles into her, head on Skye's shoulder and Skye has no choice but to wrap her arm around Jemma's waist if she wants to be comfortable. They lay like that for the rest of the night. Only parting for bathroom breaks and food. Skye fell asleep at some point and when she woke up, Jemma was still curled around her.
It happened several times over the next few weeks. It was getting harder for Skye to keep from touching Jemma, kissing her. Bobbi told her to start distancing herself, but Skye couldn't bring herself to do it. Ever touch of Jemma's hand or anytime she cuddles up to her, Skye is on a high. A high she's not willing to give up, at least not yet.
She's really wishing that she had taken Bobbi's advice right now. Jemma is pressed into her on her bed after yet another cuddlefest/ marathon. But that's not the bad part. She's used to cuddling with Jemma by now. No, the part that's driving her insane, is the fact that Jemma is having a dream.
Not just any dream. The breathy moans and shifting of hips clues Skye in really fast about what kind of dream Jemma's enjoying. It leaves Skye breathless and hot. She grips Jemma tighter then lurches forward, startling Jemma awake.
"I-I'm sorry. B-Bathroom." And she runs. She runs because she only just got her best friend back and Jemma sitting there, hair tousled and eyes a sultry color of brown is not helping the desire coursing through her veins.
She came back thirty minutes later, hoping Jemma would be asleep by then. Jemma is not in her bed when she enters the room. Skye lets out a sigh of relief and sits on her bed, hand rubbing her forehead.
"What's wrong?"
Skye startles and looks up. Jemma is awake, sitting in her own bed, staring at her.
"Um, nothing."
"Skye, what's wrong?"
Skye's never heard this tone. Jemma, normally so sweet and polite, demanding an answer. So Skye answers her. "I can't take it anymore. I get to touch you but not the way I want to. And all this sharing beds. It just makes me want to be with you."
"So let's be together." She says it so simply. Like Jemma didn't run when she found out Skye had feelings for her. And Skye laughs, because it has to be a joke. But Jemma isn't laughing. She's standing and crossing the room, taking Skye's face between her hands, kissing her.
Skye doesn't respond. She lets Jemma's mouth meld with hers, but she doesn't kiss back. Instead, she sits perfectly still, waiting for the moment she's going to wake up. Jemma pulls back a centimeter, their lips still brushing.
"Skye, please, kiss me back." Her voice is lower than Skye's ever heard it and husky and it breaks something inside of Skye.
Skye leans forward, connecting their lips, kissing Jemma for all she has, because damn it, she's wanted this for so long, and it's finally hers for the taking. Their lips move frantically, Skye knows it's her fault, she's so afraid that Jemma will pull back at any moment and run from her again. But as time goes by and Jemma only deepens the kiss, pushing her back on the bed and climbing on top of her, Skye forgets her worries.
Sometime in the night their kisses turn to small little pecks; they lay on the bed holding one another. And they sleep.
Skye wakes to butterfly kisses on her cheek and neck. She hums, because this is a really nice dream. And then the night before comes back to her and her eyes fly open. She turns her head and meets Jemma's lips, offering a sweet kiss. She opens her eyes to see Jemma smiling down at her. She's never seen something as beautiful as this, and she hopes she never does again.