Notes: vague spoilers for 1x21 "Ragtag". Hints of Coulson/May because they're cute. I love the idea of May teaching Skye what she knows.
It's really more like five-twenty when Skye drags herself out of bed. Simmons lies fast asleep beside her, and the house is quiet even though the sun's up outside. Former Agent Hill found them an safehouse, pretty far out of the way with a view over the ocean. It's expensive and seems like the kind of place Tony Stark would buy and forget about.
There are only four bedrooms, so she shares with Simmons, Fitz and Trip each have their own and no one said anything when May and Coulson ended up in the master bedroom, together. If they're together in a having a thing sort of way, they're quiet about it. AC's not the type to kiss and tell and May is always quiet. Simmons suspects, Fitz likes to speculate and Tripp grins about it but doesn't really say anything because he's new and his last team was evil, so this is hard for him.
Skye likes to think they're happy. Someone should be happy. She's not sure if she even wants to imagine that they disappear behind the door at night and fall into each other's arms. It sounds nice, but is that what happens when you're running from the bad guys? May and Ward had a thing but it wasn't like the kind of thing May and AC would have, not the way they look at each other. She wants to ask, kind of desperately because- Because she's nosy? Because she hasn't had other people she cared enough to speculate about what they did in their relationships.
She's yawning when she finds May in the garden. She's really rocking the zen warrior thing. Hair back, arms moving slowly as if she's tracing some mysterious pattern in the air.
"Morning."
Skye nods and tries to finish nodding. "Hey."
May finishes the motion and comes to a stop, steady in a way Skye will probably never be. "Stand across from me."
"What are we doing?"
"Rooting you."
"Like a tree?"
"Yes."
Skye smirks. "Do I want to be like a tree?"
"What do trees do?"
"Stand there?"
May lifts her arms, slowly, letting Skye mirror her. "And?"
"Have leaves?" Twenty questions before dawn is not what Skye thought would lead to zen-ness, but she's too tired. "Get some squirrels?"
"Feet apart."
Skye shuffles until her feet are sort of in the right position.
"Bend your knees. Relax."
"How do you relax?" Skye puts her hands on her hips. "Hydra's out there. Ward's out there. We're squatting in Tony Stark's frat house and even Former Agent Hill thinks you and Coulson should quit and work for Stark industries."
"We can't really quit if we're vigilantes."
"You know. Go legit. Live in your own apartment."
May chuckles. "I let my lease go when I agreed to drive the bus."
"My van's in a S.H.I.E.L.D. - I guess it's gone now, isn't it?" Sighing, she shakes her head. "Damn."
"Where's your stuff?" Skye asks, mimicking May's arms and trying to figure out what she's doing with her feet. "Do you have stuff?"
"It's at my mom's."
"Your mom's?"
"She says it ensures I visit every year or so." May's accent grows more pronounced and Skye realises she's making fun of her mother. What's her mother like? Some strict Tiger Mom who made sure May did four hours of martial arts a night and always got As on her homework?
"Where's your mom?"
"Classified, most of the time. She keeps a house in Finland."
"Finland?"
"Out of the way, far from everything, and she likes reindeer."
"Reindeer?"
May pauses and reaches over to correct Skye's arms. "Like this." Her hands are warm, which shouldn't be weird, the sun's out, and May's not really a reptile, but Skye's not sure what she expected. She still doesn't think she's doing it right, but May's hands stay with her. "She likes being near the top of the world, watching the sun stay up all night. It's stark, but beautiful. It suits her."
"Do you see her much?"
The next move sways, shifting weight back and forth. May repeats it until Skye actually sort of does it right. May smiles at her and nods in approval. Somehow that goes right through her, the same way she almost jumps when AC pats her shoulder.
"She picked me up in Canada, when I left Providence."
"Your mom picked you up."
May lifts Skye's arms and guides her through another motion, smoothing the way she moves. "Yes."
"In the middle of nowhere in Canada."
"She wasn't happy about it."
"I wouldn't even know who to call."
May breaks her form, her arms falling to her sides. She studies Skye and Skye can't help thinking she's fucked up. She's doing it all totally wrong and she was so happy May invited her-
"You call me."
"We don't have the Bus-" Skye tries to make it a joke before she cries, but May is just standing there, watching her with a soft little smile.
"If you're in trouble, I'll find you. I don't need the Bus."
May touches her shoulders and for a moment, Skye sees through her. There's no tranquility, no zen silence in May's soul. Her emotions rage beneath the surface the way Skye's stumble.
"Okay," Skye says. "Thanks."
May lets go of her and returns to the next form. "You don't have to thank me." Skye must have tipped some kind of inside joke because May's smile lights up her face. That alone is worth the amount of yawning Skye does through breakfast.
When her alarm goes off the next day, Skye's out of bed by five-ten, ready to go.