I FEEL CHRISTMAS AS FUCK
static quake CHRISTMAS prompt: Daisy's been avoiding the mistletoe all night the base christmas party and Lincoln's getting frustrated
"You could've at least brought cheap beer, then I wouldn't feel so bad," Lincoln grumbled as they made their way down the hall.
Daisy smiled.
"Lincoln, nobody's going to judge you. It's your first Christmas with us, the newbies aren't ever expected to bring anything."
"Well, maybe I should be the exception."
"Nah. Plus, I'm pretty sure we covered all the bases. Mack is baking pretty much everything a person could possibly bake, so I think we'll be good on sweets. Fitz and Simmons always bring some other kinds of munchies, like toffee or chips or peppermints, and Hunter always brings alcohol even when we tell him not to."
"Sounds like you're ready to go – except for one thing."
"And what could that be?"
"Who's decorating?"
Daisy gave Lincoln an apologetic smile.
"Bobbi and May."
"May? Really?"
"As odd as is sounds, she's quite good at it."
Lincoln raised his eyebrows.
"Never really saw her as the festive type."
Daisy shrugged and bumped Lincoln with her hip, indicating with her head that they had reached their destination. Lincoln headed in ahead of her.
Daisy grinned widely as soon as they entered. The team had done pretty well this year.
There were wreaths decorating the walls (real ones, too, they smelled nice). Red, green, and gold paper streamers connected them as well as hung from the ceiling light in the middle of the room. Bobbi and May (as well as Coulson, apparently, practicing with his new hand) had covered the ceiling in Christmas-themed wrapping paper. A table held the record player from Coulson's office, playing the Charlie Brown Christmas album.
A large table with an assortment of baked goods ran along one side of their room. A wide, assortment, as well. There were many different pastries, six different types of pies (apple, cherry, pumpkin, coconut cream, banana cream, and a blueberry one that took up a large portion of the table), what Daisy assumed were eggnog cupcakes? A large punch bowl filled with apple cider (courtesy of Fitzsimmons, who said they thought alcohol just wouldn't satisfy their Christmas-drink cravings this year), a big Tupperware container filled with toffee and peppermint fudge, Christmas-themed lofthouse cookies, among a mountain of gingerbread as well. Hunter had chipped in as usual, with his case of beer. It also seemed that some people had brought along bottles of wine. To top the whole thing off, It appeared this year Mack and Simmons had teamed up to create a massive yule log cake, with beautiful hand-iced decorations.
"Wow," said Lincoln, mouth hanging open.
Daisy smiled even bigger, if that was possible.
It was then, however, that she noticed an extra decoration that hadn't been there last year. In the corner, ominously hanging above the blueberry pie, was a sprig of mistletoe. Daisy scoffed. She placed her case of beer on top of Hunter's, and strode over to Bobbi.
"Seriously? Mistletoe?"
Bobbi smiled mischievously.
"Oh, right."
Daisy raised her eyebrows.
"Explanation?"
"Well," Bobbi set her cider down, "a couple of us felt that since we have a few more couples around base now, or at least –" she glanced at Fitzsimmons, "– potential couples, it'd be fun to spice up the party." She glanced back at Daisy. "Why's it such a big deal?"
Daisy shrugged nonchalantly, then turned her gaze back on Lincoln for a split second. An idea blossomed in her mind.
"Hang on –" Daisy said slowly, then coming to a realization and grinning, "I think there's a chance this could be quite fun."
Bobbi raised an eyebrow.
"And why is that?"
"Well, Lincoln and I might be one of those potential couples – I think – so maybe it's a good idea to see just how far he'll go to make that happen."
"Clever. You think he's a mistletoe kinda person?"
Daisy shrugged again.
"We'll see."
Bobbi winked, and sauntered off with her cider to talk to Hunter.
Daisy smiled, and gave a glance to the plant hanging from the ceiling, before abruptly turning and making a beeline to the peppermint fudge.
So far, she had been successful in her clever plot, staying away from the mistletoe and (unforunately) the blueberry pie underneath it. Daisy dared not even venture near there to get a slice, for fear she would be caught under that plant, losing the little game she'd created in her own head. Lincoln was into it as much as she was, too. In fact, the more she strayed away from the mistletoe, the more Lincoln had been trying to herd her towards it.
She was chatting with Fitz about his new dwarf, which he said still wasn't ready, but had some cool new things he was adding.
"Yeah, I think I've almost gotten the cloaking technology down, except one of the prototypes is missing – and it was the one I was furthest along with on the cloaking thing – so that's not great." Fitz noticed Daisy was smiling with her hand over her mouth. "What?"
"Oh, nothing."
Fitz shrugged.
"And you know, the cloaking isn't easy. Fitting that kind of tech into a small flying device, it's a lot harder than you think. For one thing, you've got to find some way to reduce the size of some of the tech, but still find a way to incorporate everything –"
Daisy tuned Fitz out. She was glancing around the room, and sure enough, Lincoln was standing by the mistletoe. Once they made eye contact, he waggled his eyebrows and motioned to her. Daisy sighed (not without amusement, though) and got up off the couch, abruptly cutting off Fitz.
"You've been avoiding this particular corner all night," he said as soon as she was within hearing range.
"Well, can you blame me if I'm a bit wary of the possibility of being caught off guard by any of these folks? Especially Hunter, he'd milk it for all its worth," she answered, stopping a safe distance away from him. She was calculating everything she said, careful not to give anything away about her game, as that might ruin it.
"I see your point," he agreed, "I also see that you're still keeping your distance, regardless of the fact that it's me, and not Hunter, standing here."
Daisy gave a coy smile.
"It seems you're catching on."
"Catching on to what?" Lincoln furrowed his eyebrows, confused.
"A little game."
"Any specifics?"
"Nah," she quipped.
"Well, you can bet I'm going to win it anyways," he said satisfactorily.
"Good luck," she added before swiveling and turning away. She went over near Hunter and Joey, who were test-tasting all the pies one by one.
"Blueberry's definitely the best," Hunter was saying, his mouth still full of pie.
"No way! It's the banana cream!"
"Are you kidding? The banana cream didn't even taste that much like bananas!"
"It tasted like bananas, just not as overwhelmingly as some of the other banana cream pies I've tried. It was a very nice balance for a change."
"Okay, so it's the best banana cream pie you've ever had. It still doesn't compare to the blueberry!"
Hunter caught sight of Daisy and motioned with his hand.
"Daisy, go try the blueberry pie so we can prove this jackass wrong."
"Not right now," she said. "I'm trying to avoid that particular one."
Hunter shrugged and went back to arguing with Joey. Daisy was about to leave before turning back and adding an afterthought to their conversation.
"Plus, I'm pretty sure that it couldn't beat the banana cream if it tried."
Joey let out a loud "HA!" which surprised Hunter, who jumped back into the table, landing directly on the edge of the coconut cream pie and some of the pastries. Daisy started laughing, among a couple other spectators including Fitz, Mack, and against her very nature and probably her own will, May.
When the spell had ended and people were wiping tears from their eyes, Bobbi came up to Daisy and asked;
"Any luck with your game yet?" Daisy gave a cautious glance to the mistletoe corner, now unoccupied.
"Yeah, but – where'd Lincoln go?"
"Well, if I were him, I would probably not be in the place you most expect him to. I'd be hiding out, waiting for the right time."
"And when exactly is the right time?" Daisy asked, giving an uneasy glance around the room.
"Oh, I dunno, maybe when someone else is talking to you so you're distracted, and you don't know it's coming."
Daisy narrowed her eyes. Bobbi smiled and then looked up, above Daisy's left shoulder. She gave a thumbs up.
Suddenly, she heard a loud zapping noise, and the lights went out.
"What the hell?!" she yelled, turning around blindly in the dark, trying to latch on to anything within arms reach. Bobbi had disappeared, and she had been guided to the middle of the room, so there weren't any walls to steady her.
Then, she felt arms being wrapped around her. She immediately tried to turn and fight and get some kind of visual on whoever it was, but whoever was holding her wasn't giving any wiggle room, and it was pretty much pitch black in the room. There weren't even windows (although it was a secret underground base, so she didn't blame Fury for that).
Daisy felt her attacker, after securing her within their arms, begin to move. She was pretty disoriented, so she wasn't quite sure where they were moving. She continued to struggle, but not being able to see anything didn't exactly give her any advantage. Maybe her attacker had night vision goggles or something. She twisted around and tried to free one of her arms from the entanglement, but she was stuck fast.
Suddenly, she felt an abrupt stop of whoever it was. They plopped her down (while still keeping a firm grip on her arm), and moved slightly.
Daisy heard another loud zap sound, similar to the one she'd heard when the lights went off at first. The lights flooded back on, and she blinked furiously to try and get her eyes to adjust. The pain from the brightness faded, and she could make out her surroundings again.
Daisy was standing in the corner, under the mistletoe.
Lincoln had a firm grip on her arm, and was standing in front of her with a proud grin on his face.
"I win," he said, and then before she could utter anything in protest, he kissed her.
She heard catcalls and applause coming from all around the room, and pulled away to look. Everyone was standing around and looking directly at the two of them with grins on their faces.
"You can all go to hell," she told them, and them turned back to Lincoln. "Also, I reluctantly admit it."
"Admit what?" Lincoln asked, a teasing edge to his voice.
"You win," she grumbled, trying not to smile. He laughed triumphantly and threw a fist in the air, John-Bender-style.
Daisy gave a laugh and shook her head, then looked up and smiled.
"What?" Lincoln asked.
She pointed a finger. They were still directly under the mistletoe.
"Is there a rule against a second kiss, do you know?" he asked, smiling
"I have no idea," she said, then leaned in to kiss him again.