"Okay!"

Skye's loud entrance into the common room startled Fitz and Simmons, who had been in the middle of a rather heated debate about their latest collaboration.

The hacker slammed a cell phone onto the table in front of Simmons.

"Here," she said.

"What's this?" Simmons asked, as she and Fitz stared at the phone.

"Your phone. From your room."

"Really?" Fitz asked, sarcasm dripping.

Skye ignored him and barrelled on, "You are going to talk through it. To me."

Simmons picked up her phone, eyes wide as she clearly was just doing it to appease her friend, "Okaaaay..."

"And lie."

"Wha?" Simmons asked, sounding almost offended. Fitz burst into laughter, finally catching on.

"A little birdy told me that your lying abilities were absolutely awful today when you were covering for me. Which I didn't need confirmed, since I could tell from my end of the line, even though I couldn't even see your face," Skye said, crossing her arms and arching an eyebrow, challenging Simmons to disagree.

Simmons' face flushed bright red.

"So you are going to take this phone, and I'm going to take mine, and leave the room, and you are going to sit there and talk to me while not giving away to Fitzy here that you're lying."

Fitz scoffed, "That'll never work."

"It's true, he'll be able to tell," Simmons agreed.

"Which is exactly why we're using him for this exercise," Skye said. "You need to get good at lying, not just okay." She glanced between the two scientists, "I know I didn't go to your SHIELD Hogwarts, but surely you took a course on this? It seems like Secret Agent 101."

Fitz nodded slowly, "Well, technically, yes we did-"

"But it was just stealth basics," Simmons interjected.

"-and really, our scores in other departments allowed us to be somewhat lower than average in our stealth class-"

"-not to imply that we didn't get excellent grades, of course, it just wasn't a priority. Plus-"

"-we technically aren't supposed to go into the field without a Field Agent anyway," Fitz concluded, finishing their shared thought.

Skye just stared at the pair, eyes wide. "Anywaaaaay," she dragged, "I'll be in the other room."

She walked out, yelling over her shoulder, "It's freaky when you two do that, you know!"

Simmons looked at Fitz, her eyes pleading. Her partner just laughed. "I'm going to enjoy this," he said, matter of factly.

Moments later, Simmons' phone rang. She stared at the offending object as it continued to trill, looking like she was trying to decide to decide how quickly she could throw it across the room.

"Pick up the phone!" They heard Skye's voice shout from down the hall.

Sighing, Fitz picked up the phone, pressed the green answer button, and thrust the phone in Simmons' face.

Shooting him an evil glare, Simmons took the phone out of his hand and put it up to her ear. "Hello? Who is this?" She asked primly

"Ha ha, very funny, Simmons," came Skye. "So what's the deal with your phone? The case is like... heavier than normal cases."

"Oh," Simmons said, smiling a bit at Fitz and relaxing into her chair. "That added weight isn't the case, it's actually the phone itself - Fitz added extra battery life so it's able to last weeks without needing a charge, although I don't know what possible reason one would need need to have a battery that lasts that long, but I'm not complaining! It's quite ingenious, really."

Fitz smiled, but his joy turned sour quickly, "Actually, Skye, it's only 2 ounces added weight, and I'm working on a way to get it down to less than half of that, so quite acting like it's such a strain to lift her phone," her said loudly, angling his face towards Simmons' so he could speak into the mouthpiece.

Simmons rolled her eyes and waved him off, causing Fitz to sit back in his chair and cross his arms, frustrated with what he perceived as criticism of his work.

"No! Simmons! Ugh!" Skye's tinny voice yelled at her through the phone. "You're supposed to lie remember?"

Simmons nodded, catching herself as she realized Skye couldn't see her. "Of course."

"Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and focus. I really want you to get better at this," Skye's voice said.

Simmons did as she said, closing her eyes and breathing slowly. When she opened her eyes she saw Fitz looking at her with a peculiar look on his face. Realizing she had opened her eyes, he quickly masked the look with a smile, "You got this, Agent Carter," he whispered.
"Okay, here we go Simmons. I'm going to tell you a story, and you have to relay it to Fitz, but change a few of the facts," Skye's voice said.

"Okay," Simmons agreed. "She's going to tell me a story and I have to tell it to you, but change part of it," she said to Fitz.

He just nodded, waiting.

"This is a very simple version of how I wound up living in that van. So I had a roommate named Becky that I found on Craigslist. When she found out I was Rising Tide, she kicked me out because she said she 'didn't want to have any run ins with the cops.' I did a little hacking and found out she had a warrant out for her arrest for Grand Theft Auto. I showed her that info and said either I live with her in peace or I turn her in. We comprised and she gave me the van. I suspect it's stolen, but honestly, I never looked it up because I really needed a place to live and I liked it - I didn't want to feel guilty."

"I'm sorry, Skye," Simmons said. "You deserved a much better roommate than that."

Simmons could practically hear Skye roll her eyes through the phone, "Simmons! Not the point! Tell Fitz!"

"Oh! Right! Um..." Simmons looked at Fitz, then slowly began. "Skye... had a roommate named... Rebecca," she smiled at the name, proud of herself, "Who kicked her out of the apartment for... uh... Stealing the van. That she lived in. Skye, that is. She stole the van. So her roommate kicked her out."

Fitz just stared at her, his expression unimpressed. He didn't say anything.

"Oh, come on, Simmons! That was so easy! How did you mess that up?!" Skye complained.

Fitz leaned forward, his arms still crossed, to talk into the phone again. "I'm assuming your roommate was named either Becca or Becky and she is likely the one who actually stole the van."

"Ugh, Fitz!" Simmons complained, shooting him a look.

He just shrugged. "I actually agree with Skye - she may not be as intelligent as we are, but she's right about this."

"Hey!" He heard Skye shout from the other room. "You're going to pay for that!"

"Okay, let's try this again, but this time, I'm going to make you lie to Fitz," Skye's mischievous voice came through the phone.

"How are you possibly going to make me lie to Fitz?" Simmons asked, unconvinced.

Fitz raised his eyebrows, shaking his head from side to side. "Never gonna work," he commented.

"By talking about him while he's sitting right there," Skye's voice came.

Simmons instantly turned bright red. "Skye!"

"Now, the other night we were drinking the 'Solution' or whatever you called it and we started to talk about Fitz. Please tell me what we talked about," she commanded.

"I can't!" Simmons insisted, causing Fitz to look on in curiosity.

"Tell me. What we talked about. So, either you talk about the fact that you won't let yourself think about a relationship with Fitz because you like things the way they are, or you tell me a total lie. I'm fine with either, honestly."

"This is not funny," Simmons grumbled into the phone.

"What's going on?" Fitz asked, leaning forward, straining to get close enough to the phone to hear was Skye was saying.

"Nothing!" Simmons said, leaning back and yanking the phone away. "Skye just wanted to finish our conversation from a few nights ago," she said.

Fitz's eyes grew wide and he paled. "Oh?"

"Yes - why are you looking like that? - we were just talking about her ex-boyfriend," Simmons said quickly. "How they met in high school and never lost touch. They reconnected a few years ago and started dating," she continued.

Fitz nodded, studying her face.

"And... she's... not sure about her feelings for him now."

"Okay..." Fitz drew out, suspicious.

"Because it could be great, or it could ruin everything," Simmons said, her voice starting to rise. "Skye, I mean. If she got back with her ex. Boyfriend. Skye's ex-boyfriend."

Fitz just hummed in agreement, still looking at her with narrowed eyes.

"Okay! So theres the story of what we talked about the other night! Oh, and also, we drank a beverage called... The Problem."

"Oh, come on!" Fitz complained at the same time they heard Skye's voice yell, "You've got to be kidding me!" from down the hall.

They heard sharp footsteps and then Skye arrived in the room, making a show of hitting the "End Call" button on her phone.

"Well, that was terrible," she said bluntly. Simmons frowned.

"I wouldn't say that," Fitz spoke up, looking at Simmons. "If you have to change a particular word or two in a story, you're very obvious. But if you make up an entire new one, you're not as bad. Still bad, but not as bad. I knew you were lying that second time, but I don't know what you were covering up. So that's progress," he smiled encouragingly.

Simmons' spirits lifted a bit, "Thank you, Fitz." She handed him the phone, "Your turn."

"Oh, I don't think Fitz needs to do this," Skye said dismissively, slipping her phone into her pocket and turning to leave.

"He doesn't?" "I don't?" The pair asked at the same time.

"Nope!" Skye said, pausing at the door. "He's a much better liar than you."

"What are you talking about?" Fitz asked, completely confused.

"You lie about something pretty big every day," she said, shrugging, looking pointedly at Simmons, and then leaving the room.

Fitz looked after her bewildered, then turned beet red. Standing quickly, he avoided Simmons' gaze.

"What was that about?" Simmons asked, clueless.

"Who knows, with that one," he said, walking away. "I have to finish up some work, so I'll just see you at dinner later, yeah?"