Drabble 9: Scary Movies

"It's that time of year."

Ward looked up at Skye's (attempting to be) ominous voice. "For what?"

She had her hands behind her back, and she brought them forward with a flourish to reveal – her laptop.

"You get new software or something?"

She huffed. "It's time for scary movies!"

He raised an eyebrow. "Then why are you showing me your laptop?"

"Because you stream the movies through it? You know, finding them online?"

He pretended he didn't get it, pursing his lips. She groaned in aggravation – a familiar sound to hear from the rookie – and he stopped pretending. "You like Halloween?"

She held the laptop in one hand, letting it rest against her side. "I don't know. But I do like scary movies, and this is the time of year people don't think that's weird."

"Or they're too scared to say anything," Ward said under his breath.

"So how 'bout it? Wanna watch one?"

Ward shook his head, even throwing in an eye roll for dramatic effect. "As if I don't have other things to do."

"You're playing Solitaire," Skye said, full of judgement.

"Keeping my mind sharp," Ward said evenly.

"May's out, but Coulson said he'd watch. I'm trying to get everyone else in on it. Come on," she pleaded.

He thought for a minute. "You asked Fitz-Simmons?"

She bit her lip. "That's my next stop."

Ward jumped on it. "If they'll watch, I will too." There was no way they would be able to watch a scary movie, which meant he wouldn't have to go through it.

Except they were unexpectedly eager to watch one.

"Oh, this is so exciting!" Simmons declared, practically bouncing as she stood from her desk. "We haven't seen a good scary movie in ages, isn't that right Fitz?"

"Yeah, it's been a while," he said. "Before our field assessment, I think." He turned to Skye. "What type of movie are we talking about? Silent? Gory? Comedic?"

"It's a scary movie," Ward said. He knew he was frowning, but he couldn't help it. He'd been counting on Fitz and Simmons getting him out of this, but the nerds weren't scared.

"There are still lots of things to consider," Simmons said to him. "Some are about suspense, and jump scares."

"I have a love-hate relationship with those," Fitz interjected.

"Others have visual and auditory effects designed to create a biological reaction, mimicking fear," Simmons continued. "Thrillers, and the like."

"The comedies are great because you can laugh at how stupid the people are," Skye said. She was almost chuckling as she apparently thought of one. "They always split up. And lose their cell phones."

"Yeah, that sounds hilarious," Ward said dryly.

"We should ask Coulson which kind he wants to watch," Skye said. "He should be in the lounge by now."

He was, and when they asked him what kind of movie he preferred, Ward almost wanted to shake his hand. He picked a horror comedy. That couldn't be too scary.

Ward thought Simmons' earlier explanation was incorrect, about halfway through the movie: this 'comedy' had plenty of jump scares. And he didn't appreciate any of them. Fitz jumped the highest every time the murderer popped out of the woods or from behind a dresser, and then grinned as if he enjoyed the adrenaline rush. Ward clenched his fist to his side, forcing all the reactions he felt to be focused to that hand instead of his whole body. If he hadn't been trained as a specialist, he wouldn't have been able to control himself nearly as effectively, and he was thankful that no one seemed to notice the little twitching his hand kept doing. The twitches got worse as the movie progressed, because of the build-up of adrenaline. Ward could handle surprises, but unnecessary jump scares didn't make sense to him. They made him want to jump into action, maybe throw a good punch. Paired with the creepy mask the murderer in the movie wore, they made him want to launch himself at the screen – either to punch it or shut it off, he wasn't sure which.

He made it through the movie without betraying a flicker of unease on his face, and nodded at Skye as she and Fitz-Simmons walked out. It seemed to make her happy. When they were gone, Ward turned to find Coulson staring at him.

"Something I can do for you, sir?" he asked.

"Was that your first scary movie?"

Ward didn't let his nerves show as he looked back at the man. "No sir. I don't usually watch them, but I've seen them before."

"It's good to be scared sometimes," Coulson said. His eyes darted to Ward's hand, and Ward looked at him more closely. Did he know? "Movies are a good way to be afraid, but stay completely safe, you know? They're all fake, but you can get lost in the ride for a little while."

"I guess."

Coulson walked by, patting him on the arm as he did.

Ward looked after him, finally leaving his expression unguarded, partially willing Coulson to turn back and see that Ward didn't agree. He didn't want to be scared by movies, when he'd been trained so hard to not express his emotions. Of course he couldn't tell anyone the scary movies (even the so-called comedic ones) kind of scared him.

He shook his head and walked out of the lounge, intent on going to bed and forgetting the slightly scary movie. Skye jumped out at him in the dark hallway, yelling "BOO!"

Ward may have yelled. But whatever Skye said later, he didn't scream. It was just a high pitched yell of surprise. He didn't scream.

He hated jump scares.

A/N: Hey guys! I know it's been a while since I posted a drabble. Sorry. I've been having a lot of trouble coming up with fun little drabbles, mostly because I've done a lot in my Fitz-Simmons drabble series "Partners for Life." But I just remembered this week: I didn't do Halloween-y drabbles in that story. And here we are! I thought it would be fun to have Ward not like scary movies. Next time I think we're gonna do costumes. Any suggestions for what the team should dress as? Leave me a review!