"Good morning!" Skye chirped happily around a spoonful of cereal as the rest of the team shuffled into the kitchen for breakfast. She seemed awfully chipper for a dreadfully early morning. Everyone else was busy nursing steaming cups of caffeine. They all raised their eyebrows (or remained indifferent) at Skye's announcement. However, she didn't seem perturbed by the lack of emotion, and continued munching on her cereal a bit too happily for everyone else's taste.
After a few minutes, Skye leaned over and whispered something to FitzSimmons. Ward and Coulson observed that the two scientists immediately perked up, grinned, and nodded excitedly. (May was seemingly ignoring everyone in favor of her tea.)
Skye then turned to Coulson. "Yo, AC, if we don't have anything going on today, can FitzSimmons and I go out shopping?"
"Pretty please?" Simmons chimed in.
"Yeah, we promise it won't take a long time—" Fitz began.
"And we won't get into trouble," finished Simmons and Skye.
Coulson thought for a minute, then smiled. "Sure, you guys can go. Today we're only going to land at headquarters and get The Bus checked over, so you guys can go after we higher-level agents finish our meetings, which will be around lunch time." The three younger agents cheered, excused themselves, and ran off go do whatever they pleased until they landed.
Coulson grinned. "It seems like they have something planned. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to contact headquarters." He walked off and...was he whistling Jingle Bells Rah? Wasn't Christmas still a long way off?
Ward turned to look at May, who also stood. She nodded at him and left to pilot The Bus.
When they got to SHIELD, FitzSimmons and Skye took turns dragging each other in the direction of the labs. Ward shrugged at their behavior and followed his fellow agents to the meeting room.
At noon, the three agents walked out, only to see the three other members of their team waiting outside the glass door like a bunch of overexcited puppies. Once the door opened, Skye yelled, "We'll be going now!" They all rushed off to who-knows-where. Ward glanced at Coulson and May. Coulson was waving and smiling at them like a mother would to her children. May just shook her head, but there was a glitter of amusement in her eyes. Ward shrugged again, and they headed off towards the cafeteria.
Meanwhile, the overexcited-puppy trio was sitting in a cafe, eating a quick lunch and discussing what they were going to buy.
"Okay everyone, we need to decide what decorations we need," said Simmons.
"You can't forget the hot chocolate and apple cider! And eggnog! You can't forget the eggnog," replied Fitz around his sandwich.
Skye rolled her eyes. "Guys, you're forgetting the most important thing: ugly Christmas sweaters."
They all squealed (of course Fitz didn't) and chattered happily. "Okay, so Simmons will get the decorations, Fitz will get the holiday drinks, and I'll get the ugly Christmas sweaters. We'll meet up back at this cafe in two hours," Skye announced.
"Make mine oversized," added Simmons. They all agreed, paid for their food, and went their separate ways.
In two hours, the trio came together again. Fitz had two bags full of hot chocolate powder mixes and cartons of apple cider and eggnog. Skye had her bags with a sweater for everyone on the team. Simmons was carrying the most; she had bag upon bag filled up to the brim with decorations. ("I even got a limited-edition mini collapsible Christmas tree that can be shaped into a dalek if we want!") They divided the load more evenly amongst themselves and made their way back to SHIELD and directly onto The Bus. Giggling, they hid their bags in their sleeping spaces, then went to rejoin the senior agents.
At night, when they were in the air again and everyone was in their bunks, Skye and FitzSimmons crept out of their beds to start transforming The Bus into a Christmas wonderland. To prevent Ward, May, or Coulson from hearing anything, Leo placed devices on their bunk doors that prevented the people inside from hearing anything. In two hours, the three younger agents made the plane interior look like Santa and his elves had thrown up all over it.
When Coulson, May, and Ward emerged from their sleeping spaces in the morning, they all did a double take. It looked like they were in the middle of a department store Christmas display case. FitzSimmons and Skye were sitting on the couches in horrendous sweaters, each cupping a mug of hot chocolate and wearing a shit-eating grin.
"Happy Holidays!" they hollered in perfect unison. They watched as Ward stepped back into his bunk, slid the door shut, then opened it again. May and Coulson just raised their eyebrows, but Coulson looked somewhat giddy.
"It looks like Santa and his elves vomited all over the place," Ward managed to say after taking it all in.
FitzSimmons pouted as Skye retorted, "That's the point, stupid!"
"But it's only December first—"
"Yeah, don't you get it? It's December, man. Wake up and smell the apple cider."
"I smell hot chocolate."
"Oh, don't be a smart-aleck. Anyways," Skye turned back to all three senior agents, "I got you these." She held up three sweaters and waggled her eyebrows. "Why don't y'all put these on and join the fun?"
Coulson immediately stepped forward happily and chose the sweater with the giant reindeer head. He put it on and accepted the mug of hot chocolate Fitz handed to him. That left May and Ward still standing.
Ward thought, May definitely won't join them right? She isn't the kind to condone such childish behavior...
May asked, "Where's the apple cider?" FitzSimmons answered immediately, and as she made her way to the kitchen, she grabbed a sweater. When she came back with her mug of warm cider, she was wearing said (ugly) garment. Now that she was sitting down, all eyes landed on Ward expectantly.
"No. Nuh-uh. No way am I putting that horrible sweater on." Ward started to back away when something smacked the back of his head. It turned out to be one of Fitz's small drones.
"Oh, hey, it's the camera! Time for a group photo, everyone!" Fitz exclaimed. Everyone was herded up into a somewhat linear formation. Skye managed to throw the last sweater over Ward's head, but he wouldn't budge his arms as she tried to tug it down.
"C'mon, Ward, don't be a poopy-head! Just. Put. It—"
"Fifteen seconds till the camera goes off—" FitzSimmons yelled.
"On. Properly!"
"Ten, nine, eight—"
May turned her head and gave Ward a look that would send anyone else screaming and crying for their mothers. She murmured, "Put it on." Everyone else shivered (even Coulson, but no one had to know that). She watched as Ward reluctantly pulled on the sweater. When he was done, she turned back to the camera, smirked ever so slightly, and said, "Smile."
Ward thought grimly to himself, I'm gonna need some eggnogg. Spiked…liberally.
A/N: Thank you for reading! Ratings and reviews are always welcome. ;)
Happy Holidays!