"Alright guys listen up!" Skye's voice echoed through the cabin of the Bus. Ward looked up from cleaning his sidearm and Fitzsimmons paused their card game for a moment. Coulson turned in Skye's general direction, nursing a drink.
"I've decided that we need a little team bonding" Skye's statement was met with a you-gotta-be-kidding look from Ward.
"Hey, we might have all figured out which one is Fitz and which one is Simmons but we still hardly know each other!"
"What are you suggesting?" Asked Coulson
"I was thinking we should go roller skating" Skye grinned "the wheels should out us all on equal footing." There was a collective groan at her terrible pun.
"So?" Skye looked around "everybody good?" Nods and some skeptical mutterings filled the cabin.
"I'll tell May to switch our flight course" said Ward, holstering his sidearm
"Excellent." Skye quickly returned to fiddling with her phone. She had some plans to make.
The Bus touched down on a S.H.I.E.L.D. airstrip in a classified location. The team piled into their black SUV and started off while Skye plugged the coordinates of the roller rink into the GPS.
"I've never been roller skating before" Simmons sounded a bit apprehensive.
"Me either" unsurprisingly Fitz echoed his partner's sentiment.
"I suppose you can't help it" Ward said "after all you weren't at Operations."
"That's right, Ward." The sarcasm was heavy in Fitz's voice, "We were too busy designing equipment to keep you alive."
Ward spluttered, and then opened his mouth to make an angry retort when Skye interrupted.
"Guys! Cool it! This isn't about your SciOps vs. Operations rivalry; it's about us, as a team. Now Fitzsimmons, don't worry. You'll pick up skating pretty quickly. It's fun!"
"And we're here." May sounded about as excited as she would have if you handed her a box of kittens. Skye was the first out of the car, dragging Ward with her, followed by a nervous Fitzsimmons and an amused Coulson, who stopped and waited for May, giving her the evil eye when she appeared to be staying in the car.
"May, get out of the car."
"I don't do team bonding." May was stoic.
"You do now," Coulson walked over and opened the door, "let's go."
"Coulson I am not going roller skating like this is some third grade field trip."
"Melinda, please. Just one afternoon. You can just watch if you want, but at least come inside."
"Fine. I'll watch." She locked the car and she and Coulson headed for the doors.
In no time everyone except May and Coulson, who had elected to watch with May, was outfitted with skates. Skye and Ward had chosen inlines while Fitzsimmons was starting out on quads. Skye was the first one out on the floor, which was a shock to no one. She was followed closely by Ward, who was surprised to find himself feeling a bit excited about this team-bonding. The two of them had already raced around the rink a couple times when Fitzsimmons finally made their way over.
"Whoa...whoa!" Jemma grabbed Fitz's arm to steady herself.
"Are you sure this is a good idea Jemma?" Fitz bit his lip
"I'm sure it will be perfectly thrilling once we get the hang of things." With a cautious step Simmons entered the rink, pulling Fitz in behind her.
"I'm not sure that it's safe to let Fitzsimmons go out there" Coulson remarked. His gaze slid sideways to May. "After all it would be difficult for them to do lab work with a broken limb." May graced him with a rare smile. The couple in question had inched about halfway around the rink when Skye caught up to them.
"You two need to get off the wall!" She took Jemma's free hand off the wall and pulled her a little ways away.
"Whoa, Skye, whoa!" Fitz was thrown way off balance by Skye's action.
"Ahhh! Wait-no-" Fitz fell onto the floor, pulling Jemma with him. Skye let go of Jemma's hand as the two first-timers landed in a heap.
"Oh, Fitz!" Jemma couldn't help but laugh, especially when she saw Fitz's grumpy expression. Jemma's giggles quickly dissolved Fitz into laughter as well, leaving an odd sight to greet Ward when he skated up.
"Well clearly someone needs to work on their balance." He gave Fitz a good-old-boy smile and offered him a hand. Skye pulled Jemma up onto her feet and Fitz used his free hand to hold onto Jemma. The four of them skated off, each of them supporting the others. Coulson and May looked on at the group like proud parents.
"I'll hand it to Skye," said Coulson, "this was a pretty good idea. Look at them all working together."
May nodded absentmindedly. Just then the DJ said,
"Alright folks! The next few songs are couples dances only! No more than two in a group and you MUST be holding hands!"
He gave them all a wink, then put the music on and filled the rink with the sound of Glorianna's (Kissed You) Good Night. Skye's face lit up with the first few notes.
"We are so skating to this!" She dragged Ward back to his feet. "Come on, I need someone to go with me, and I don't think Fitzsimmons is up to it." Ward scrambled to keep his balance, spluttering as he was pulled out onto the floor. Skye turned around and held both of Ward's hands so they were facing each other while skating.
"You're not blushing, are you Ward?" Skye gave him a devilish grin as they rounded the first curve.
"Of course not!" Ward told a very obvious lie as a crimson color crept up around his neck. "You just...took me by surprise."
"There's a first time for everything."
"Believe me, this isn't the first time you surprised me." A look of mild shock flitted across Skye's face and even Ward seemed a bit stunned by his admission. Skye looked away and hummed along with the second verse of the song.
You couldn't see me
Watchin through the window
Wonderin what went wrong
Prayin that you wouldn't go
You shoulda kissed me
You shoulda pushed me up against the wall
You shoulda kissed me
I was right on the edge and ready to fall
Ward took advantage of the fact that Skye was looking away to stare, then found himself being the one to look away as Skye turned her gaze back to him. As he looked away he didn't see her giving him a look much like the one he had just given her.
"Look at the two of them" Jemma nudged Fitz. "Aren't they just the cutest?"
"I suppose so." Fitz replied uncertainly, thinking something different, his eyes on Jemma as she watched Skye and Ward. The last few bars of the song were echoing when Skye and Ward skated up to the rail and beckoned to Fitzsimmons.
"Come on you two, get out here!" Skye's whole face was alight.
"Don't make us drag you over!" Called Ward.
"I suppose we should go." Jemma tried to stand and found herself slipping back down.
"Yeah alright...here" Fitz offered Jemma his arm and together they pulled themselves up off the bench. As they worked their way out onto the floor they heard the first words of the second song:
We were sittin up there in your mama's room
Talkin bout everything under the moon
Simmons gave Fitz a tentative smile and they pushed off, followed closely by Skye and Ward.
Are you gonna kiss me or not?
Are we gonna do this all why?
I think you know I like you a lot
But you're bout to miss you're shot
Are you gonna kiss me or not?
Simmons gave Fitz a sideways glance, and then when she looked away, Fitz leaned over and gave her a peck on the cheek.
Are you gonna kiss me or not?