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Skye supposes she must present a curious picture, sitting listlessly and staring at a blue sweater on her lap like it holds the answer to the mysteries of the universe. Especially as said sweater is somewhat ratty and also clearly several sizes bigger than she. But of course these facts are hardly evident at a first glance. And now she’s babbling, in her thoughts, which is never good. Still. She must look strange. This is why she is not surprised when someone calls her on it.
„Oh, hey, is something wrong with your jumper?”
That someone is Gemma Simmons, her tone hesitant but kind, and Skye is absurdly thankful for that. Still, the question baffles her.
„Jumper...?”
„Sweater. Sorry.” – Simmons rolls her eyes at herself. „I slip sometimes. Maybe because sweater is such a weird word. Anyway, is something wrong with it?”
Skye is not sure how to explain this without sounding like an idiot.
„Nah, I was just...” – and then she trails off helplessly.
But upon seeing the other’s patient and expectant face, she tries it again.
„It was Miles’. The sweater, I mean.”
I’m upset about a sweater, she thinks to herself. Please don’t think I’m pathetic.
Oh, hell, she’s pathetic.
But Gemma makes an encouraging noise, so Skye continues.
„Yeah. It was so comfortable; I kept stealing it from him. So one day he said I should keep it. So I did. I kept it with me even when we were thousands of miles from each other. It was like...”
„Always having a piece of him with you,” finishes the other for her.
„Something like that. It’s stupid, isn’t it?”
„It’s never stupid, holding onto something that reminds you of... belonging.”
„Except I do not belong to him anymore, do I?”
„I guess not,” says Simmons awkwardly.
Oh, good, Skye silently berates herself, not only did you fuck up royally, now you are making Simmons uncomfortable by telling her stories about you ex. The same ex you betrayed your team for. She realises she’s absent-mindedly rubbing one of the sweater’s sleeves at the hem. She drops it and quickly folds her hands in her lap.
„Anyway. I should probably get rid of it now. Hey,” she makes a weak attempt at joking, lifting her head to look at the other woman. „Too bad you can’t start a fire on board of an airplane.”
Simmons bites her lip, blinks, then says with a sudden, impish grin:
„I have an idea.”
This is how, some ten minutes later, Skye finds herself standing at a lab table with the Science Twins, watching as Fitz lowers the unfortunate sweater into what looks like a glass box with a lid, and tries not to think about how Fitz built a portable incinerator that induces spontaneous combustion, probably from scrap alien materials and whatever the scientific equivalent of duct tape is. Simmons pushes a small remote into her hand.
„Go on. Push the button. Make a new start,” she says.
„Yes, Skye. Make it burn!” chimes in Fitz, clearly excited, although Skye couldn’t say whether it’s for helping her or for the chance to set something on fire. She hopes it’s both.
Skye looks at the others, then turns back to the creepy, creepy box with the sweater lying at its bottom, takes a deep breath and pushes the button.
Afterwards, they storm the minibar for beer. Who would have thought setting a sweater on fire was such a good team bonding exercise?