A/N: anonymous said: "one getting home from work later than the other and stretching out on top of them like a big lazy cat while they sit on the couch in front of the tv" biospecialist please


It's been a long day.

Grant doesn't feel the least bit guilty about stretching out on the couch in the lounge, even though Skye—who's sitting in the recliner next to him—keeps giving him pathetic looks. As the only person on the Bus who was thrown out of a third story window today, he thinks he's earned the right to have the couch to himself.

Skye must agree, because aside from the pathetic looks, she doesn't protest at all. She also lets him pick what to watch, which has literally never happened before. He chooses one of the old Captain America movies, mostly because it's fun and engaging without actually requiring much thought. The only thing he's really capable of thinking at the moment is how much he hurts. Earlier, he tried to distract himself by thinking of all the times he's been hurt worse, but that got depressing pretty quick. Watching the Howling Commandos take down a ring of child-killing communists (60s propaganda at its finest) is a much better way to keep his mind occupied.

Cap is just using his shield to knock out the ringleader when Simmons walks into the lounge. That's not unusual; she spends just as much time up here as the rest of them. What is unusual is what she does next. Namely, plopping down right on top of him and stretching out like a contented cat. That's pretty far out of the ordinary.

For a minute he just lies there, frozen by his shock.

He and Simmons get along pretty well. In fact, she's probably the person on the team he's closest to. However, there's a really big difference between being friendly and having the kind of relationship where it's acceptable for one of them to treat the other like a teddy bear.

He's surprised (and confused) enough that it takes him a moment to find his voice.

"Uh, Simmons? What are you doing?"

"Snuggling," she says easily. "You know, for a man of such solid, muscular physique, you're surprisingly comfortable." She snuggles a little closer, one hand clenching in his shirt. "And so warm, too."

At a complete loss, he looks to Skye, who's staring with an expression somewhere between amused and freaked.

"Simmons," she says. "Why are you…" She makes a face. "Snuggling Ward?"

"Skye!" Simmons exclaims. "I didn't see you there!"

That's…weird, since she walked right past Skye to reach him, but he doesn't have time to dwell on it. Simmons shifts and stretches to reach Skye, shimmying—for lack of a better word—on top of him in order to grab Skye's knee.

"I love you, Skye," she says solemnly. "You're an excellent friend."

"Thanks, Simmons," Skye says slowly, and pats her hand. "Love you, too."

Grant's a lot of things—killer, spy, master tactician—but he also happens to be a red-blooded male, and the wiggling is starting to get to him. In other circumstances, he might enjoy it—oh, who's he kidding, he definitely would—but Simmons is clearly impaired in some way. Something's happened, and he needs to figure out what.

"Okay," he says, and sits up. He carefully shifts her off of his lap as he swings his legs off the couch, then deposits her next to him. "Simmons, how are you feeling right now?"

She makes a dissatisfied sound. "Not as nice as I was feeling when I was on top of you."

He closes his eyes and counts slowly to ten, trying not thinking of any other ways in which Simmons could feel nice on top of him. He completely fails.

Shit.

He takes a deep breath and opens his eyes, then winces. Simmons is pouting at him, and it's kind of pathetic just how much of an effect it has. No one would ever guess that he's one of SHIELD's best specialists.

"Skye," he says, tearing his eyes away from Simmons to look at her. "Go get Coulson."

"Yeah," she agrees, and scrambles to her feet. She's looking more freaked than amused, at this point, and he's weirdly grateful for it. If she weren't so disturbed by Simmons' behavior, she'd definitely be mocking him for his reaction to it. "I'll find May, too."

"Good idea," he acknowledges. As she leaves, he looks back at Simmons, who freezes in the act of scooting closer to him. "Let's try this again. Where were you before you came to the lounge?"

"In the lab," she says promptly.

Yeah, he was afraid of that. If this is the result of some experiment she and Fitz have going—shit. Fitz.

"Was Fitz there?" he asks.

She nods happily.

"And where is Fitz now?" he asks. He's having visions of Fitz climbing on top of May the way Simmons just climbed on top of him, and he's not sure whether to laugh or prepare a body bag.

"Still in the lab," Simmons answers, so at least there's that. She inches closer to him, and he pretends not to notice. (Not an easy task when they're pressed thigh to thigh.) "He didn't want to come."

"Oh, yeah?" he asks, as Skye returns with Coulson and May. "Why not?"

"Why are you asking so many questions?" she counters. "You never talk this much. And there are so many more interesting things we could be doing."

And then, either not noticing or not caring about the presence of their commanding officer, she slides into his lap. He fists his hands at his sides in order to avoid grabbing her—as far as he's concerned, don't touch the impaired scientist has just become his new mantra—and tries to ignore the play of her fingers along the back of his neck.

"I see what you mean," Coulson mutters to Skye. Then, louder, "Simmons? You feeling okay?"

"Yes, sir," she says cheerfully, and presses a kiss to Grant's jaw. With great effort, he manages not to react. "I'm feeling simply splendid, thank you."

"Right," Coulson says. He looks at Grant. "Ward? Doing okay?"

Grant gives him a flat stare. Coulson grins.

"We'll take that as a yes," he says. Then he sobers. "All right. Let's figure this out."

Whatever this is, Grant hopes they can get it solved quickly. Even his self-control has limits, and Simmons sitting in his lap and trying to kiss him is testing them like very few things ever have.

But he makes himself a definite promise to investigate the possibility of revisiting this position when she's back in her right mind.