Movie Nights, Robots, Lions and Cuddling

Living on a Bus, in general, was exciting – sometimes nerve-wrecking, even –, with the missions, the adventure, the near-death experiences. But then there were days, sometimes even a week or so, when they had absolutely nothing to do, other than wait for a new directive from HQ. And during those times, Skye had to find a way to amuse herself. Thankfully, she was a very inventive person.

Her favorite game these days was "let's see how much Ward missed from pop culture" – she'd list books, movies, series to her S.O., asking him which ones he was acquainted with. The results were devastating: it turned out that superspy was way behind everything that interested normal human beings. But one of his nos hit her harder than the others for some reason.

"You haven't seen The Lion King?" she asked, bewildered, to which he only shook his head. "But you must have been, what, ten years old when it came out?"

"And?" he asked, shrugging. "What's the big deal about it?"

"What's the big –?" Skye gasped. "This is unacceptable!" She grabbed his arm and started dragging him towards the couch. "We are going to watch it, now," she stated simply.

Ward didn't resist – for one thing, he didn't see why he should have (it wasn't like he had anything else to do), and for another, she was cute like this, and if him watching some cartoon made her happy, well, then it was the least he could do for her.

And so ten minutes later they were on the couch in the Bus's lounge, sitting respectable distance from each other, watching Rafiki lift Simba up to air, letting all the animals gathered around Pride Rock see him. Grant had to admit, the animation was, well, cute. The whole film had a happy vibe, and it really amused him to see Simba and Nala ruffle Zazu's feathers.

But then the stampede came – he really did not expect such an emotional scene in a kids' movie – and he found himself rubbing his eyes, trying not to shed any tears.

"Aw, look at that," Skye cooed (because of course she watching him; just like he was watching her), sliding closer to him. "The Tin Man getting teared up." She settled down right beside him, embracing his arm. "You know, it's okay to cry."

This made him chuckle, but other than that, he didn't react – he didn't even try to extract himself from her arms. No; he relished in her warm weight against him. Her head eventually pillowed on his shoulder, he felt his body completely relax, all the tension leaving him. He felt like having found his happy place, so moving her felt like the furthest thought from his mind. True, the romantic scene, Simba and Nala's duet, was a tempting moment, almost too tempting, when he barely found enough willpower in him not to kiss her, but he restrained himself somehow.

Although he did reach for her hand, wrapping their fingers together.

She didn't pull it away, not even when his thumb started drawing circles on her skin.

The movie ended way too soon; he was not yet ready to let her go. So he cleared his throat and turned to her.

"Does this thing have a sequel? Or something else we could watch?"

Skye flashed him a brilliant smile, knowing exactly where his mind was at.

"I take you liked it?" He nodded timidly – the movie, that he liked; cuddle up to her? He was ecstatic about that. "Well, then in that case…" She pulled herself up, away from him (he might have whined a little), and grabbed the remote. "You are lucky Disney renaissance exists." And with that she settled back against him, nuzzling against his side happily.

He was lucky indeed.

(He kissed her before the night's end.)

A/N: Now I wanna watch The Lion King