I was in a bad mood because of a French test so I decided to come here for joy. And now my town is currently like The Purge so that means I can frequently update for a bit.

Year One: The Perfect Day

Wakanda's Palace - 13:20 PM

Imanu wakes up confused in his own bed. Iqadi isn't beside him, he's completely naked, he's lying horizontally, and there are cue cards everywhere. He picks one up, glances at the writing (which his eyes needed a few moments to adjust to), and remembers everything that happened last night or even a few hours ago. He never kept track of the time last night, did he? Did Iqadi? His mind flashes through every moment of mutual vulnerability. The questions, the answers, the touching, the exposure, the kissing, the - what time is it?

"I see you're finally awake."

Imanu turns and sees Iqadi waking out of the bathroom in a robe. By the looks of it, she didn't wake up that long ago and just showered. She pulls out a set of fresh pyjamas from his dresser and tosses it on him. He looks at them funny because they're not day clothes and he can see the sun outside. It had to be the middle of the morning or early afternoon.

"I woke up about thirty minutes ago," Iqadi says with a smile he can hear in her voice.

"Don't we have stuff to do?" Imanu asks.

"No." Iqadi smiles wildly as she sits on the edge of the bed. "Well, yes."

"You're contradicting yourself."

"I know." She puts a hand on his chest. "Tell me a book you want to read and I'll have an attendant get it."

"What?"

"It's your perfect day."

Imanu is speechless because that was one of the questions from last night. An early one, if he's not mistaken. His perfect day consists of relaxing and reading and hers is to have no agenda. And that's what she has planned for today. Her no agenda is his agenda and that makes his heart flutter.

"Oh, Iqadi…" Imanu mutters. "Don't you have things to do or -?"

"Nope." She puts her hands on her hips. "I cancelled everything. I'm taking a personal day with you and for you. It hurts a bit to walk but last night was phenomenal."

Imanu sits up a little. "Did you say it hurt?"

"It's not a big deal."

"Iqadi, is it a big deal."

"Imanu, the study was beyond successful and it will get better with time. When I told you that I wanted to rule Wakanda with you, it was for different reasons but you're absolutely amazing."

Imanu kisses her again and she holds him by the shoulders. This is the perfect day.

-o-

Camp SHIELD - 15:21 PM

"We have to finish this quickly," Angela tells him. "They moved up our training sessions."

"Oh, good!" James exclaims sarcastically. "Get the almost-dying done earlier."

"I have to go mountain scaling."

"I have to jump out of a plane."

Angela smirks down at him, pausing. "Wanna trade?"

"No. I'd rather go down than up."

"Why's that?"

"Because you'd already be heading down. If you go up, you'd still have to get down."

"Speaking of, I'm good to dismount."

Before James could interject, Angela climbs off of him and picks up her clothes from the floor. She rushes to put on her training uniform because she has a mountain to run to. But she knows she'll still make it early. Angela quickly twists her hair into a bun. Some strands fall out but she could fix it at the bottom of the mountain.

James looks up from her bunk. "You could've at least told me to prep a parachute."

"Next time, babe." She winks at him.

James grins and starts getting dressed as well. He puts on his hands and helps her hook her bra which he enjoyed taking off.

-o-

James stands in the middle of an airplane, soaring high above the sky. He's wearing a standardized SHIELD jumpsuit equipped with a helmet, goggles, empty gun holsters, and most important, a parachute. The shell of a real agent. He stands in the middle of a lineup on the shaky aircraft and jumps out with the others on command. At least the plane's turbulences hide his shivers. But he's done this once before with his friends and, although he blocked out the memory - he doesn't know where he's going with that thought.

He only knows he's going down.

The sky is dark and rain has started to pour. It was just sunny. What the hell? He's going to be sick. Fog appears and he rolls his eyes, not even knowing if he'll be landing on the flat ground or an ocean (although, knowing SHIELD, he wouldn't be surprised if it was the latter). His money is on the ground because they're in Ohio. Or maybe a corn field.

"Open!" Their professor orders.

The landing door closes once they're out and the next set of orders goes over James's head. He goes through the motions and follows his classmates. Next thing he knows, he's in the air with an open parachute. The memories come back and they seem pleasant.

His friends all took the jump and they were soaring. Actually, maybe Merida pushed him out. But they were all in it together.

The rain starts to pour harder and thunder rumbles the sky. In a commercial setting, skydiving would've been cancelled. But this is Camp SHIELD. They live by a motto of: you'll one day be in way worse situations if you even make it to graduation. Kind of inspiring, the more he thinks about it.

When lightning cracks the sky, some recruits gasp because lightning was right there and one screams from pure fear because lightning was right there!

"Who screamed?!" Their professor demands.

James bites down on his lips and is prepared to deny the fact that he screamed up to his deathbed, especially since there would be a punishment he never wants: damage to his ego. He makes a mental reminder to himself to confront Apollo and/or Iqadi about the lightning the next time he sees either of them. Mostly Apollo. Iqadi would never do such a thing.

At least nobody ratted him out.

Note to self: he should've traded.

Or: he should've stopped her from dismounting and gone another round.

-o-

Daniel's walking over to the lab when he feels something vibrate in his pocket. First guess is his phone. His only doubt lies in the fact that they haven't had service for weeks. Maybe it's a phantom vibration due to insanity. But when he takes out his phone, there's a text message and a single bar of service in the corner.

Yes! He never knew he needed service so badly until the jet that brought them here landed.

He opens the message without even reading it and quickly texts back a get me out of here message. And he hits send. Was it his parents? Possibly. Was it Emily? Hopefully. (He only anticipates his fiancée more because she would actually save him from this dreaded nature trip with a helicopter and designer heels. His parents would say to have fun). Worst-case scenario, it's an old message from his Academy group chat with his friends and he sent an SOS to people who can't do anything.

And he loses service.

Cursing to himself, Daniel takes the time to finally read the message he responded to. It ends up being his provider reminding him to pay his cell phone bill. For a second, he thinks that they'll save him only so he pays his bill.

That middle part with James jumping out of the plane came from PNG. It was edited to better fit this chapter.