Drabble 9: Game Night
Requested by Spitfire303. Enjoy!
"Is everyone here?"
Simmons looked around the room. She and Fitz had moved a table into the common area, and her teammates were seated around it. Coulson was looking at her, waiting for her to explain why she had called them here. May sat across from him, and was carefully studying her and Fitz. Skye and Ward were sitting between them, Skye closer to Coulson. They were talking quietly amongst themselves, and Skye had a brilliant smile on her face. Simmons hated to stop their conversation, but they were ready to get started. She looked at Fitz and nodded.
"Alright." He said. "It's game night!"
May raised an eyebrow, Skye smiled, and Ward froze. "What?" he asked.
"It's game night." Fitz said again. "You know, when a group of people get together and interact with each other?"
He looked at Fitz. "Thank you so much for that." He said sarcastically. "I meant why are we doing this?"
Simmons stepped towards him. "Everyone on this team is like a member of a family, and this is something all families do."
Ward shook his head. "Not mine."
May met her eyes. "I've played some, but not many."
Skye looked down at her lap, not saying anything.
Simmons realized this was going downhill very fast, and tried to fix what she'd said. "So maybe not all families play games, but we will. We need a night without stress."
Coulson continued for her. "Fitz-Simmons told me they wanted to do something with the whole team tonight, and I gave them permission to run whatever it was they wanted to do. Besides," he added, smiling, "I used to love playing board and card games, and it's been so long for all of us, I think it'll be fun."
May nodded. "In that case, let's get this started."
Simmons felt relieved that they were actually staying. She looked to Fitz again and they had a silent conversation. A second later she walked over to the door and retrieved a cloth bag. Fitz started listing their options as she displayed the games on the table in front of her teammates.
"We have Scrabble, Parcheesi, Chutes and Ladders, Monopoly, Phase 10, and Progressive Rummy."
Skye laughed. "Why do you have Chutes and Ladders?"
Fitz bristled. "It's a fine game! And it was buried in my closet at home. I asked my mother to send us some games, and she sent this one too."
Simmons placed a comforting hand on his arm. "I'd like to play Progressive Rummy." She said. "But I'll play whichever you guys want. They're all fun."
"I'm all in for Chutes and Ladders." Skye said.
Ward looked at her. "Why?"
She rolled her eyes. "It's the fastest one, Sherlock."
Coulson smirked. "In that case, I'm taking Chutes and Ladders out of the running."
Skye opened her mouth in protest and then closed her eyes, smiling despite herself. "You are so going down, A.C."
Ward looked at Fitz-Simmons. "Let's play Progressive Rummy."
A few minutes later they had explained the rules of the game, and everyone was dealt their cards. Fitz dealt, so the player to his left got to go first. Simmons.
She picked up a card from the center stack and compared it to those in her hand, then chose one to discard, which she placed face up in the discard pile. "You're next, sir." She said to Coulson.
He chose a card and discarded another. It was Skye's turn.
"What do we need again?" she asked.
"Two sets of three. For example, three cards with a five listed on them, and three kings would work."
Skye bit her lip as she looked at her cards.
"Pick one from the middle." Simmons prompted.
Skye took one and inspected it. "No, I don't need that."
Ward chuckled and she glared at him. "You might want to work on your poker face, Skye. Not saying things like that would help."
She kept glaring at him for a moment and then put one card on the discard pile. Ward took it and inspected his hand.
"You can't do that!" she protested. She looked at Fitz and Simmons. "He can't do that, right?"
Simmons smiled at her. "He actually can, Skye. You can either take a card from the middle, or the one on top of the discard pile, and you always get rid of one."
Ward laid down two sets of three and smiled. He had four cards left, and then he discarded one. "Looks like I'm winning." He said.
Fitz met Simmons's eyes and they smiled. "You're in for quite a match, Ward. I've never lost a game of Progressive Rummy."
Ward raised an eyebrow and looked to Fitz for confirmation. "She's not lying." Fitz said. "You've awoken the monster by claiming to be winning."
Simmons playfully pushed him aside, but caught Ward's glance with a mischievous gleam in her eyes. "This is only round one."
Fitz looked at Ward and mouthed 'be careful' to him, and tried to act nonchalant when Simmons looked at him. Everyone laughed and the game progressed.
By the end of the second to last round Skye had somewhat gotten the rules. She wasn't really a fan of the game. Ward, on the other hand, was loving it more than he would admit, and vocally challenging Simmons at every turn.
As they tallied up the points before starting the final round, Ward smirked. "I'm ahead by five points, Simmons. Want to make this interesting?"
"How so?" she asked.
"If I beat you by more than twenty points, you have to impersonate me again. In front of Coulson."
Skye oo-ed. Fitz looked at Jemma.
"Fine." Simmons said. "But if I win by more than twenty points, you have to play Scrabble with Fitz and me."
Fitz smiled and looked at Ward. "How about that, Ward?"
Ward considered, and then nodded. "Fine. Now let's play."
Tensions were high as the last round went on, with Simmons and Ward joking at every turn, trying to make the other give in.
They both had two cards left in their hand when it was May's turn, and she laid down her last card in the middle. "I win." She said.
They were startled by it and started counting up points. It was true, too. May had been silent for most of the game, but she had only been behind by five points.
The usually stoic-faced senior agent now smiled at everyone around the table. "I said I didn't play that many games when I was younger." She said. "I never said I wasn't good at the ones I played."
A/N: Hey guys. I really hope you're enjoying this drabble series so far. All of the suggestions I've gotten, I promise I'm working on them. But I have a question for you guys. I want to do a future drabble soon. What do you think the name of Fitz and Simmons's son should be? I was thinking Andrew...