athosing | iv.

[ He looks at her for a long moment before he smiles. ]

Yeah, okay. I can be a babe man.

[She lets out a little choke of a laugh, and squirms where she's sitting. Squirming is actually her holding back, because she could be bouncing.]

Seriously, Phil, [Serious face, Phil.] Are we a couple now? [Instead of the odd arrangement where he ties her up and fucks her into his mattress, or the one where she tells him she loves him when they're spend from marathon-like screwing, she means.]

[ Oh. Well, he thought it was obvious in the fact that he brought her here. But sometimes Skye needs more than just action. She can get herself convinced in his insincerity. And so he closes the fridge and leans against it and looks at her properly. ]

Do you want to be?

[Well, he did bring her here, and she came, so... Yes, she wants that. But everytime she wants him more than for half an hour a day, she thinks again that 'people like them don't have good things'. This is the first time they've actually been away from the base without there being a war separating them again, and it's not running away like she'd told him they could, but...

She looks down, shifting to sit on the edge of the counter, her fingers curling around the edge.]

Yeah. [And looks up at him again, serious but also hesitant. She wants that, but she can also settle for whatever he's comfortable with.]

I do, but only if that's something you're comfortable with us being.

Skye, you're the only person I've ever brought here. This - [ Gesturing to the kitchen around them. ] - this is the last stop for me if things get bad. It's not just a safe house, it's what I'd have without SHIELD.

I wouldn't have bought you here if I didn't already consider us something of a couple. But you need me to say it, so yes, I want us to be legitimate. I want to be your partner.

[Well, couples kiss. Except no, it's not fair of her to open with that. She doesn't want to either, because he wants them to be legitimate, and he calls her his partner, and it makes her soul soar. She grins like he just handed her the lottery.]

Well that answers my question about what to call you. Boyfriend would've felt weird. [Partner makes her want to make finger-gun movements, but it also makes her want to jump off the counter and walk over to the fridge. If there's anything else in his hand, she takes care to get it out and leave his hand free so she can stand on her toes and kiss his cheek. Near his mouth. The thirst is real, but so is the patience.]

I would've loved to show you Afterlife. It was all I could think about while I was there, that I wanted you there with me...so...I know it's not my safehouse, but.

[ They haven't kissed since she was taken away from him. He feels the longing for it now when he knows just how easy it would be to shift a little and press his lips to hers.

But he settles for lifting a hand and tucking her hair behind her ear. ] I would have loved to see it.

Mm. [See, it's so easy to reach up and cup his hand ever so gently, to touch his palm to her cheek and nuzzle it before brushing her lips across his pulse.

It's a shame he never saw Afterlife, but she thinks about him being there sometimes. She thinks about him being left alone in the office with her mother, and that is not a loss she would've recovered from easily.

(Her mother having turned out to be such a complicated mess isn't something she's recovered from yet, and she only knew her for a few days; Cal, she'd only liked for a few days too, and the loss of him is just as hard. But Coulson? Coulson might've wrecked her.)]

The alternative being that you're, you know...I can take that.

Yeah.

[ He'd lost both of his parents quite young. But the trauma that she suffered is unknown to him. He's surprised she's still standing sometimes. He might not have. ]

I'm here, I'm fine. And so are you. And there's nothing that's going to stop us from sorting things out while we're here.

[Maybe she would tell him that he underestimates his own fortitude. Skye wouldn't. There's no doubt in her mind that he happens to be one of the strongest people she's met, with fortitude and courage to spare and spread around.

If she weren't already in love with him, she'd be guilty of hero worship. (He's her Captain America, see?)]

Yeah. [Okay, that's good, they should talk. She looks up at him, and grilled cheese can wait because there are things she needs to know first. Quietly,] Phil... [And then,] Why haven't you -- ugh, there's no way to put this without sounding like a dick about it, but -- I guess I'm curious. Is it just the hectic aftermath of...everything? Or is it more?

[And smaller,] You haven't kissed me in a month. [Okay, it's ridiculous; she's called him babe and he's tried it with her and they're partners, and it's official that they're a couple -- as opposed to two people having a fantastic sexual arrangement that never seemed to cross over into the professional lives despite the similar hierarchy ther -- but she's just connected the timeline, and it's been that long.

Before San Juan. One month, and it feels like ages ago.]

Oh.

[ He sounds surprised that she even noticed it. But of course she did. And for a moment he's worried that he's hurt her in his urge to protect her. ] I didn't want to rush you. I thought with everything that's been going on and everything that's happened you might need some space.

[ And there's also the fact that he's physically changed. He sighs a little and then speaks again. ] Also there's ... this. [ Moving his sling a little. ] I don't think you'd be the kind of person to not want me because of it. But there will be things we'll come across and have to deal with the logistics of it all.

[Well. Yes, maybe. Her mouth is hurt without yours, Phil, that's the biggest problem here.

She listens, though, and bites her bottom lip even before he approaches the matter of his arm. The bite is just for a moment, until he finishes saying his piece. Then, she lets one hand move from cupping his hand to her face, and places it under the elbow of his sling.] Look, I get it. And I thought maybe you needed to keep us slow, and I'm okay with us going slow. But you're right - I'm not that sort of person. Phil, I loved you before and I love you now, and the truth is we both changed, since San Juan. Me and my powers? Yeah...

[And the heritage, the burden, the small traumas coming and going like waves. It's hard for both of them.]

I'd rather we talk these things. Ask me if I need space. Tell me if you do.

I don't need space. Not for kissing, at least. [ He gives her a soft smile, his palm on her cheek and his thumb tracing her cheekbone. ] Maybe the other thing though.

[ He's not sure he's ready. There's some things he'll have to figure out before they can. ]

We'll figure the other part out as we go. [So if there's time he needs for that, that's cool. But maybe, okay, maybe she's not fair entirely. Because she turns her head just a little, and kisses his thumb before scraping her teeth against the fingertip of it, her tongue afterwards.]

Don't need you to tie me up to want you, AC. Want you either way. [Another kiss, more tender; the contradiction being the coy way she looks at him from under her eyelashes,] Who knows, maybe I'll tie you down this time.

[ He laughs and it's like the moment shifts. He uses the palm on her face to drag it into her hair and tug her to him, their mouths meeting with a soft exhale. Kissing Skye is something he might have thought he would never get to do again and yet here they are.

They're safe, they're alive, they can make it. ]

I'm pretty sure I can think of something.

[She melts into that grip. It's solid, it pulls her to him, but she feels like liquid heat from it alone; maybe because she knows what the man can do with just a solid hold on her hair. So by the reunion, their mouths finally coming together, she's so ready.

Her hands move to his chest, one skirting over the sling to his shoulder and the other staying near his collarbone. She rises to her toes and chases his mouth with another kiss, a murmured,] Yeah, [because she basically agrees with whatever he just said, just as long as he kisses her again.]

[ His exhale has a laugh in it as he moves to kiss her again, the kind of gentle but longing kiss that leaves them both feeling dazed from it. His hand stays in her hair but his forehead presses to hers, his eyes on her eyes. ]

I've missed you. Every minute. Even when you were right beside me.

[Dazed and breathless and a little light on her feet. Like that time Lincoln had shown her what his powers had done, only this time around there's no static electricity involved and she's not actually floating. But she might as well be.

Her turn to laugh just as lightly comes when he presses his forehead to hers, when she can cup his face in both her hands and run her thumbs ligtly under his eyes.]

Me too. So much -- all I could think was we had to get through it all, we had to, so I could get to do that again.

Skye.

[ He says her name like she's the only thing on this Earth that matters to him. And she is, of course she is. ]

Oh, Skye. We'll be okay.

Yeah -- yeah we will. [She runs her thumb over the corner of his lips, her gaze falling down there to trace the way he says her name. Always, always he says it like it means more than just that to him. Like a revelation and the holy ghost has just appeared in front of him.]

We can take it slow. [She steps a little closer, maybe crowding him against the fridge again.] Honesty hour? It's your kisses I'm more hungry for than anything else.

I've got to admit I definitely miss the kissing. [ He lets her crowd him, happy enough to have his back pressed to the cool of the fridge. ]

But slow would be a good idea. Slow with kissing and showing off my kitchen skills. And also margaritas making. [ He glances to the side where the clock ticks resolutely on the wall. ] It's after lunch at least. [ Phillip it is 12.30. ] But I need my suitcase because the good tequila is in that.

[She so very much agrees that it's good to start with kissing, humming into it with delight, then peppering his face with more short little kisses while he reveals his plans.]

Yeah - okay - do I get to sit on the counter while you cook so you can kiss me? Is that a thing we get to do?

Yes.

[ He laughs, his fingers sliding against her cheekbone. ] I mean, I might need a hand. [ A crooked little smile in response. ] You can be my official taste-tester.

[She feel so playful now, with good reason. All they've got left to talk about doesn't scare her as much now, when they've shared a few kisses and they're basically going to have a date night in his house. The domesticity makes her toes curl in the best ways, as it falls on the list of things Skye would've never asked for. Or dreamed about.]

Anything you want me to taste, I will taste. [She waggles her eyebrows at him, and climbs her fingers up his chest just to reach up and trace the outside of his ear with her thumb and middle finger.]

I'd offer to help you cook, but maybe that falls under the take-it-slow category for not yet.

I want to be able to figure my way around what I'm missing.

[ It's open, honest. That has to be a part of them here within these walls. ] Just for the beginning. There's a lot of things I might have to re-learn. But I'm willing to.

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