Work Text:
Look into your eyes (and the sky’s the limit)
He catches her eyes as soon as he enters the room.
At first she thinks it’s because he’s the only person she’s never seen before. She’s met pretty much everyone in SHIELD now, and while the agency’s End of the Year party is not a big gathering of sorts, there’s still at least 50 people here, and he’s the only one she doesn’t know.
After meeting his strikingly blue eyes from across the room though, Daisy admits it’s probably not just that. He’s looking shyly around the room, ducking his head a little, like he’s not quite sure he’s in the right place, but when their eyes meet, a small smile hovers on his lips for a second before he’s the first to look away.
She watches with a barely concealed curiosity as he nods to a few persons and shakes a couple of hands from guys who she thinks work in the medical ward. She’s not sure why she can’t quite look away from him. Sure, he’s quite cute, with his messy hair and the light stubble on his cheeks, and what definitely look like well muscled arms under that gray shirt, but it’s not just that either.
There’s something about him. She’s not sure what.
All she knows is that she wants to talk to him.
And maybe more? If the talking turns out to be interesting.
She’s seriously considering it, but then something in the situation strikes her as familiar, and she audibly gasps as a few lyrics cross her mind and she realizes why.
Then you walked in and my heart went ‘boom’
And this is perfect. She doesn’t need more excuses to go and find Jemma. Looking around, she finds her standing on the side of the ballroom – again, perfect – and Daisy makes a beeline to her. There’s a spring in her steps and she’s not ashamed to admit how excited she is about all this. She figures that’s what Christmas does to her. She grows back down to be the 8 year-old that she was, except this time she’s not spending Christmas alone in her crappy bedroom surrounded by creepy nuns who hate Santa.
No, this time, she’s spending it with her new family. AC’s there, talking May’s ear off about the new updates he’s hoping to get installed on the Zephyr. Mack is trying to keep Fitz from eating the entire buffet. Yo-yo is talking with Joey, stealing glances in Mack's direction every now and then. Hunter and Bobbi are shamelessly sucking faces under the mistletoe. Trip is flirting with Piper and Davis, which doesn’t make any sense but the three of them seem to be having fun anyway. Last but not least, Jemma is looking expectantly at her with her sweet, albeit a little curious smile.
Daisy looks back to where she knows he’s standing, and her heart jumps in her chest when she meets his blue eyes from across the room again. The song is like a constant tune in her mind, and she cannot contain herself anymore.
She nudges Jemma with a smirk, nodding in his direction, and whispers: “Yo, this one’s mine.”
She’s definitely not surprised to see her friend roll her eyes in response. “Quoting Hamilton already, are you?” she asks with an amused smirk. “Is it already your third drink?”
“Second one actually,” Daisy retorts, grinning, “but I mean, this just calls for it, doesn’t it? A winter’s ball and everything.”
“I don’t really think that this–” she gestures around them “–qualifies as a winter’s ball but alright.” Jemma punctuates her sentence with a shake of her head in amusement, then follows Daisy’s gaze to the mysterious man.
“Whatever,” Daisy exclaims, waving her concerns away and winding her arm around Jemma’s, “now you have to go talk to him and introduce me!”
“What, no way! I’m not the Angelica of this scenario, Daisy,” she protests with a frown. “Besides, Angelica was into Hamilton, while I’m definitely not into this person.” She shakes her head a little, then seems to realize how uncharacteristically rude that was of her and awkwardly tries to backtrack. “I mean, not that he doesn’t look cute, and I’m sure he’s a really nice person but–”
“Yeah we both know who you really want,” Daisy interrupts with a cheeky grin, and Jemma glares at her, snatching her arm out of her grip.
“Shut up,” she hisses, wringing her hands together nervously. Her eyes fly to the left, to something behind Daisy, and she knows without even looking that Jemma’s unconsciously staring at Fitz now. Pretty much everyone but these two knows that they’re into each other. It’s a constant battle that Daisy’s been fighting for months to try and make them realize that they’re perfect for each other, and that yes, it is very much requited on both sides.
Very dumb geniuses, if you ask her.
Extremely bad at understanding their own feelings and stuff.
But she admits it, it is very fun to try and push them together all the time.
“Go talk to him,” she retorts with a wink, and Jemma’s cheeks redden a little.
“I’m confused, who are we talking about now?” she pretends to sigh, but the nervous energy surrounding her is evident. Daisy smiles to herself, wondering if tonight might finally be the night these two stop being idiots and start being idiots together instead. That would be nice.
“You know who I’m talking about, Simmons,” she retorts sternly, and Jemma rolls her eyes again. “Come on babe, you’re gorgeous, he can’t resist you!”
“I’m still not convinced he’s into me anyway so–”
“Do you want to watch me make my way across the room to him? And get nervous thinking what I’m gonna dooo?” Daisy cuts her in a singsong tone, and laughs out loud when Jemma actually groans at her words.
“You’re the worst.”
“The absolute worrrrst, you mean?” she chuckles, expertly dodging her friend’s weak attempt to shove her. “Come on Jem, I’ll stop quoting Hamilton if you go talk to him–” she raises a finger in an inquisitive gesture when Jemma’s frown turns into a mischievous grin, and adds before she can find any loopholes, “– about anything non-work related!”
Jemma sighs impatiently, and it makes Daisy laugh again. Her friend’s pretending to be annoyed, but she knows she’s actually anxious and probably scared as well, which is stupid. Daisy’s pretty sure Leopold Fitz would give anything to actually be with Jemma Simmons. He never told her in so many words during their weekly appointed fast food lunch together, but it’s still pretty obvious, in her opinion.
It’s funny how two people seemingly so smart and confident can be so awkward and shy when it comes to anything non-science related. Although they are both huge nerds, she reasons, so that’s probably why.
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” Jemma says in a quiet voice, and she still sounds a little annoyed but her eyes are thoughtful, like maybe she’s considering it, and Daisy has a hard time not clapping her hands like an excited toddler. “He’s looking at you.”
“Huh?” Daisy turns to follow her gaze, and ends up meeting the hottie’s blue eyes from across the room again. A small smile tugs at her lips when he instantly looks away like he’s just been caught red handed.
“Lincoln Campbell,” Jemma supplies, and Daisy turns to her enthusiastically.
“Oh, so you know him then?”
“He’s a new addition to the medical staff,” she explains with a shrug, before giving her a mischievous side-eye. “And he’s also an Inhuman, too.”
“Is he now?” she retorts with a smirk. She shares a very conspicuous look with Jemma, then they both burst into a fit of giggles a second later. Jemma affectionately grabs her forearm and Daisy’s cheeks hurt a little from smiling too much. She chances a glance at him after a couple of minutes, and finds him looking at her again. It makes her heart do a little flip in her chest, and her cheeks warm up a bit. “Wow, he really is looking at me.”
“Are you blushing?” Jemma asks curiously, Daisy giving her a blank stare in response.
“Talk to Fitz for more than a minute,” she retorts mischievously, “and then come back to me about blushing.”
Jemma rolls her eyes at that, but Daisy can almost feel the cogs in her best friend’s brain start to work as her hazel eyes move from Lincoln Campbell to Fitz. “I’ll tell you what,” she starts, and Daisy instantly knows what she’s about to say.
“You talk to Fitz and I talk to him?” she finishes with a grin, earning herself a raised eyebrow from Jemma.
“Something like that, yeah?” She’s giving her a kind of unsure look that almost makes Daisy lunge forward and hug her, because she really wishes her friend would be more confident in this particular department. She settles for extending her hand to her with a very serious expression instead, because now she’s talking.
“I like this,” she tells her, “first one to make out with their target wins!”
The way Jemma’s eyes bug out at that is extremely entertaining to say the least. “Oh my God, Daisy!” she exclaims in a very affronted voice, and Daisy cannot help her snicker.
“Like that’s not exactly the one thing you’ve been wanting to do ever since you saw him in this fancy new cardigan of his,” she retorts with a teasing wink, delighted by the way Jemma’s cheeks redden instantly at that.
“Daisy…” she whines, but unlucky for her, Daisy’s not done yet.
“And I mean, those jeans are definitely making his butt look real–”
“Hey, what are you girls talking about?”
Jemma lets out a loud squeak, and Daisy jumps up in surprise, both of them turning to find Trip staring at them with a very wide and deeply amused smile. Daisy’s about to answer but Jemma slaps her hand over her mouth faster than she can say ‘Fitz’s butt’.
“Nothing,” she squeaks again with a very fake smile, reminding both Trip and Daisy of how much of a bad liar she is.
Trip frowns in amusement, his eternal smile still plastered on his face. “Okay,” he nods slowly, dragging the last syllable. “Anyway, Jemma! Have you seen Fitz tonight?”
“Ugh, not you too…” Jemma rolls her eyes deeply with a loud groan as both Trip and Daisy snicker like idiots. Seeing as they don’t stop after a minute, she waves dismissively and walks away with a very heart-felt sigh, and their laughter picks up even more.
“Don’t forget our deal Simmons,” Daisy shouts at her, giggling when Jemma waves her off – and thinking with a smirk she definitely would have flipped her off if they hadn’t been surrounded by colleagues in their workplace. That’s honestly so Jemma, she thinks happily. Ever so professional.
“What’s the deal?” Trip asks her curiously, nudging her lightly.
Daisy turns back to him, giving him a mischievous look. “She has to get something going with a certain scientist, if you know what I mean.”
“Nice! And what’s your part of the deal?”
For some reason she hesitates for a second, her eyes flying to the other side of the room, but Lincoln is nowhere to be seen. She shrugs noncommittally. “I have to stop quoting Hamilton.”
“Oof, like that’s ever gonna happen,” Trip teases and she scrunches her nose at him in amusement. “She’s never gonna talk to him for that, she knows how much you love quoting Hamilton.”
“Yeah yeah, I’m not so sure about that,” Daisy retorts with a shrug, tilting her head towards where Jemma seems to be heading: the buffet, where Mack is still apparently trying to convince Fitz that he shouldn’t try every canapes there is. She’s hesitating, wringing her hands in a nervous gesture that actually reminds Daisy of Fitz, which is a very fun observation and yet more proof that these two are made for each other.
“Ooh, interesting,” Trip whispers with yet another smile, eyes strained on Jemma as well, “should we grab ourselves some popcorn or something?”
“We should bet on it!”
Daisy turns to Hunter with a frown, placing her hands on her hips with a stern look. “Were you eavesdropping on us?”
“Bobbi went to get some drinks,” Hunter shrugs like it explains everything, and Daisy rolls her eyes while Trip lets out a laugh. “So, how much d’you wanna bet? 50 bucks that they end up boinking in the bathroom.”
“Oh you’re on! No way these two get this far in one night,” Trip exclaims with a laugh, and Daisy just walks away without them even noticing, shaking her head with a small grin at these two’s shenanigans.
She’s not entirely sure why she didn’t tell Trip the truth about her side of the deal. But then she spots Lincoln again, so she decides to leave that question for later and makes a bee-line for him, ignoring the slight pick up of her heart and the warmth spreading in her chest.
She thinks she shouldn’t be this nervous, because yes, he might be really cute, and an Inhuman just like her – which is very exciting –, but he’s also just a guy. She knows how to talk to guys. Heck, she’s pretty good at it, if she does say so herself. Everything is fine. Plus she needs to talk to him, because she knows that if she does it’ll trigger Jemma’s insanely developed competitive spirit, which should led her to finally go talk to the guy she’s been pining over for ages and who’s been pining over her for just as long, if not more.
It’s a solid plan really.
Lincoln spots her before she reaches him, and his eyebrows are raised in surprise when she comes to a stop in front of him with a small smile. She knows what she’s doing, because she’s done it before – numerous times, really. This is fine.
“Hi,” she tells him with a light smile, “Lincoln Campbell.”
“You know my name?” he questions with half a curious smile, tilting his head to the side.
“I have my sources,” she retorts with a shrug, and maybe her smile is turning more flirtatious than not, but she doesn’t care. Her heart is beating fast in her chest, and she can’t quite remember the last time she was this excited about meeting someone and talking to them for the first time.
She likes it.
“And you’re Quake.”
Ouch. She doesn’t even have time to try and hide her grimace at that. It’s like an unconscious reaction to that stupid name, as is the half-a-step back she takes without even wanting to.
His blue eyes go round when he notices her discomfort. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean–” his voice trails off, and she looks away to hide how embarrassed she feels at her own reaction – because it’s stupid, it’s just a name, she doesn’t have to feel that way about it. “Please I–”
He must have taken her movement as meaning something else, because he reaches for her hand then, and Daisy can’t help her gasp as his fingers brush her palm, their contact sending a shock of static electricity along her skin. Lincoln instantly retreats his hand, his face turning somehow bashful and embarrassed. Daisy runs a thumb on the skin of her palm, surprised by the intensity of the feeling, not entirely sure she understands what just happened.
“Sorry,” he says again, apparently avoiding her eyes now, and she can’t help her frown.
“Um, not your fault?” she retorts, staring at him intently.
He makes a face at that, and something clicks before he even says his next few words. “Ha, well, maybe it is.”
He’s staring down at his shoes, and she bites her lip for a few seconds, not entirely sure where to start. Then she just goes for it. “Inhuman huh?” Lincoln looks up to her in surprise, and she grins with a shrug at his questioning look. He’s still not saying anything, so she chooses to grin at him with another shrug. “So, wanna grab something to drink?”
His eyebrows shoot up in surprise, before the corner of his lips turn up in a hopeful smile. “Yeah?”
“Great,” she exclaims, tugging at his sleeve and turning towards the buffet on the other side of the room. “Come on then, Sparky!”
His self-deprecating groan definitely makes her chuckle. When she looks back at him it’s with a very amused smirk, to which he replies with a roll of his eyes that doesn’t quite conceal his own amused grin, and she thinks this is going very well.
xxx
“Well, if it isn’t Jemma Simmons, ma’am!”
Daisy knows Jemma is rolling her eyes before she’s even fully turned towards her.
She’s been talking with Lincoln for the last hour, and it’s been a lot of fun so far. They’ve had a couple of drinks already, as well as a very passionate debate about pizza, and she’s definitely seeing this going somewhere from the way they’ve been shamelessly flirting back and forth all that time. Lincoln’s funny in a kind of dorkish way, witty as well, and definitely interesting. They’ve brushed past the Inhuman subject a couple of times already, but somehow he doesn’t seem very intent on talking about it yet, although he did confirm her suspicions that he inherited electric powers through Terrigenisis. She figures it’s okay, because she definitely intends to spend more time with him after tonight, so they’ve got time for this later.
Also she’s definitely making him try to warm up food with his powers because come on, how hasn’t he tried that yet?
She’s put their conversation on pause though, when she’s spotted Jemma still not talking to Fitz. Time to rub her own achievements of the night in Simmons’ face, to maybe, hopefully, trigger her insane competitive spirit. Daisy’s pretty hopeful that it’ll work, especially if she starts with yet another Hamilton reference.
Paired with a very self-satisfied grin as she grabs Lincoln’s arm to bring him closer, yes, this should definitely do the trick.
“This is Lincoln, by the way,” she announces happily before Jemma can say a thing, “Lincoln, this is Jemma Simmons, head of the biochem lab and my best-friend.”
“Hi, it’s nice to meet you,” Lincoln says with a soft smile, extending his hand to Jemma.
She obviously isn’t forgetting her good manners because she shakes his hand with a polite smile and a ‘nice to meet you as well’, before not so subtly glaring at Daisy again. “So, you guys are having fun?” she asks with a sigh, and Daisy has a hard time not giggling at her definitely disgruntled face.
If Lincoln hadn’t been there, she would have suggested to go be grumpy with another well known cranky Scot, but she’s pretty sure Jemma wouldn’t appreciate that suggestion at the moment. “Oh yes,” she nods enthusiastically instead, “you should try the onion rings, they’re delicious.”
“Hmpf.”
Daisy chuckles at Jemma’s reaction – because, obviously, they both know without looking who’s standing next to the onion rings. Before she can add anything though, Lincoln is lightly touching her forearm and she turns to him with a questioning grin.
“I’m gonna run to the bathroom real quick,” he tells her quietly, “see you in a minute?”
“I’ll be waiting here,” she nods, “see you, Sparky!”
“Please don’t call me that,” he groans, running a hand over his face – to hide his amused smile, she’s pretty sure.
“Can’t make any promises,” she retorts happily, and he shakes his head, his fond smile making her heart leap in her chest. She watches him walk away with a satisfied smirk, until Jemma sighs beside her and she turns back to her best friend.
“You’re definitely better at this than I am,” Jemma says with a smirk, but Daisy is pretty sure she’s also a little disappointed.
“It helps to actually talk to the guy,” she teases, then laughs at Jemma’s disgruntled pout in response. “Come on, I’m repeating myself but you’re definitely better at this than you think you are. Fitz is crazy about you!”
“He can barely look at me,” she retorts, her shoulders slumping.
“That’s because he’s shy,” Daisy sighs for the thousandth time. They’ve been having the same conversation for months it seems, and Jemma still doesn’t seem convinced, which is crazy. “And so desperately into you I’m pretty sure you make his genius brain melt every time you look at him.”
“Right.”
They stay quiet for a few minutes, both of them watching the others talk and have fun around them. When Lincoln makes his reappearance in the room, Daisy smiles to herself, then catches sight of Coulson walking purposefully in his direction and raises an intrigued eyebrow. Before she can say anything though, Jemma nudges her with an amused smile.
“Look,” she tells her, discreetly pointing to Coulson and Lincoln, “your father makes his way across the room to him.”
Daisy’s snort at that is inhumanly loud, making a few heads turn, but she couldn’t care less. “Oh wow, nice one,” she snickers, shaking her head, “not my father though.”
“Kind of is though,” Jemma retorts, her eyes twinkling in amusement, before letting out a small chuckle. Daisy shakes her head again, and as she does, she lets her eyes wander… and meets those of Fitz, who’s standing not too far from Jemma and her, wringing his hands and looking indecisive.
Alright, she really needs to take matters in her own hands or these two will probably wait another ten years before getting together.
She takes a step to the side and waves at Fitz, who’s currently poorly trying to pretend like he wasn’t just staring at them – or, more specifically, at Jemma. “Yo Fitzy, come here!”
“W-what?”
If looks could kill, Daisy is pretty sure she would instantly drop dead from the way Jemma is glaring murderously at her, but since looks can’t kill, she doesn’t care. “Fitz, you know Jemma Simmons right?” she asks happily, reaching for his arm to drag him closer. From the way his cheeks tint with red and he steals a very shy glance at her, he definitely does. “Well she was telling me all about what she thought of the thirteenth doctor being a woman, and I thought you’d like to hear her take on all of this!”
The look those two nerds exchange at that is almost vibrating with nervousness and awkwardness, but there’s also this undeniable sexual tension there too, that Daisy would comment on if she wasn’t afraid both of their faces would burst into flames if she did. So she drags Fitz by his sleeve to force him to stand next to Jemma, then waves her hand between them with a very enthusiastic grin.
“You two nerds go ahead and talk, I’m gonna go find Lincoln now,” she tells them with what probably passes as a stern frown, before discretely winking at Jemma. “And don’t forget our deal, Simmons!”
With that she skips away, smiling to herself. When she meets Trip’s eyes and he gives her two thumbs up, her smile turns into a giggle and she looks back to the two smartest idiots she’s ever met. Fitz is scratching behind his ear, and Jemma is looking mortified, but they’re standing next to each other, and talking – well, if you can call the very strenuous strings of words they’re currently exchanging talking. But Daisy knows it won’t last. She knows they’re gonna start getting into their nerd stuff, and then nothing will stop them.
She would even bet on it with Hunter, which is saying.
But now to fly to Lincoln’s rescue, who’s talking with AC and looking a little uncomfortable. It’s quite amusing to witness from the other side of the room, she has to admit it, but she’s also pretty sure she has to get things going with Lincoln now that Fitz-Simmons are talking because honestly, who knows with these two, they could probably very well end up married in a couple of hours or something.
Maybe she’s exaggerating a little, but whatever. Tonight is fun, that’s all that matters.
She bounces to a stop next to the two men, offering them a bright smile as they turn to her. “Whaddup?” she asks with a raised eyebrow, meeting Lincoln’s eyes then Coulson’s. They smile back, but there’s a lingering something in the air that she cannot quite explain. “You guys having fun?”
Coulson’s smile turns a little mischievous and he vaguely shrugs, his eyes going from her to Lincoln then back to her. “I was just making sure Mr Campbell here fits in well with the team,” he explains, and Daisy senses something in his voice, something maybe a little too protective, and she wonders curiously what their conversation really was about.
She doesn’t ask though. But something tells her that maybe Jemma wasn’t that off with her earlier teasing. Which is cute. Could probably prove itself to be a little embarrassing with time, but she thinks she’s mostly okay with it.
“That’s sweet,” she tells Coulson with a small grin, before turning back to Lincoln. “Wanna dance?”
From the surprised look he gives her, and his fleeting glance towards Coulson, Daisy figures her suspicions are spot on after all, and she smiles to herself because of it. She’s obviously never had a father figure behaving embarrassingly around potential boyfriends before, and somehow she’s quite thankful to actually get to go through that special kind of thing after all. Better late than never, right?
Lincoln bites his lip, apparently hesitant, and she gives him an encouraging smile that seems to do the trick. “Um, sure.”
“Cool,” she nods, satisfied, and doesn’t hesitate before grabbing his hand and tugging on his arm a little. “See you around, AC,” she adds with a wink to Coulson’s attention, and he responds with a roll of eyes that barely hides his fond smile.
She leads Lincoln to the middle of the room, where a few people are already dancing to an upbeat song. From the corner of her eyes, she spots Fitz and Simmons still talking together, and she almost gasps happily at that sight. The game is on. She moves her attention back to Lincoln, who’s staring at her like he’s trying to guess what she’s thinking, and she gives him a smirk. The music is fairly loud, and when Lincoln moves closer to talk to her, Daisy finds herself to be glad about that particular fact.
“AC huh?” he asks, close to her ear, and she wonders if he can spot the goosebumps on the side of her neck. Probably not, with the blinking Christmas/disco lights and whatnot. She wonders, smiling to herself, what would happen if he did notice.
But she’s getting ahead of herself.
“Yeah, don’t try to call him that though,” she retorts, leaning on his arm a little, “pretty sure I’m the only one who can do that.”
He’s opening his mouth to answer, but then the song is ending, replaced by something a lot slower, and they gravitate closer unconsciously. He raises a questioning eyebrow, his hands hovering over her waist, then takes her smirk as what it is and just goes for it. She can’t help her big grin as she winds up her arm around his neck, and then they’re close, really close, and her heart is beating hard in her chest. She’s feeling positively giddy, and she loves it.
She pretends not to notice how his gaze drifts to her lips for a second then back up, but it definitely doesn’t help her stop smiling in the slightest.
“He cares about you.”
It takes her a second to realize he’s still talking about Coulson, but when she does, her smile turns fond and she nods. “He does. He kind of was the first person to ever… believe in me. Before I even believed in myself.” She shrugs a little, letting her gaze drift for a few seconds before meeting his blue eyes again. “What about you?”
He hesitates for a moment, not exactly meeting her eyes, and she wonders if this is a sensitive subject. “My sister lives in Cincinnati,” he says after a while, his hands shifting a little on her waist.
“Does she know what you do here?”
He shakes his head a little, then runs a hand through his hair with a small shrug before settling his palm back on her waist. “Nope, but to be fair even I don’t exactly know what I’m doing here.” He meets her eyes again, and there’s a whirlwind of emotions in his gaze, a lot of things left unsaid that she wishes she could help him with. It doesn’t seem like it’s her place though, and she definitely doesn’t want to rush him. So all she does is nod, telling him with her eyes that she understands.
Because she does. She knows what if feels like not to know if you belong to a place or not. She’s felt like this pretty much all her life. Until she found SHIELD, or rather, until SHIELD found her.
The song is fading to another more upbeat one, but they stay close, staring at each other. Daisy isn’t entirely sure what he’s reading in her gaze, but she likes the calm and peacefulness that slowly settle in his blue eyes as time passes. A small grin tugs at his lips eventually, and it sends a small shiver down her spine. “Before tonight I–” his voice trails off, maybe a little hesitant, and he clears his throat. “Before tonight I wasn’t sure I really belonged here at all.”
Daisy raises an eyebrow at this, because there’s a certainty in his voice that wasn’t there before, and she’s not gonna lie, she likes it. “Something changed you mind then?” she asks, grinning, and amusement settles on his face for a second.
“Maybe,” he pretends to shrug, but he’s still holding her close, his hands secure on her waist. “I guess we’ll see.”
They keep dancing for a long time after that, and Daisy can’t even say who makes a move first. They probably both did at the same time, she figures, and maybe that’s why when their lips meet it feels so natural. So right. His lips are warm and soft against hers, his hands holding her close, and she lets herself get lost into the kiss, running her fingers through his hair. And it doesn’t feel rushed or unexpected. It’s not him, trying to find a reason to stay, or her, trying to beat Jemma to it. It’s them, finding each other when they were least expecting it.
And it feels right.
xxx
“Simmons, I did it! I w–”
Daisy stops in her tracks, and Lincoln bumps hard into her, his hand grabbing her hip to prevent them both from tumbling to the ground. She would have found it delightfully distracting – a small part of her definitely does –, if it weren’t for the unexpected scene unfolding in front of her eyes.
Because Simmons is here, and Fitz is as well, and yup, this is definitely what it looks like, they’re apparently snogging the daylight out of each other, as they would say. His hands are gripping her waist, keeping her flush against him, her left hand is clenching the fabric of his shirt, while her right hand is slipped in the back pocket of his pants.
Oh God. This is almost as thrilling as it is disturbing. Yikes.
They both jump in surprise as she barrels in, and turn their faces to Lincoln and her in a perfectly synchronized movement. Fitz blushes hard when he meets Daisy’s eyes, but he doesn’t move away from Jemma. Simmons’s cheeks are definitely red as well, but she’s mostly looking very satisfied with herself, raising an eyebrow at Daisy with a hint of a smirk on her lips.
It takes Daisy a few seconds to recover from her surprise, but then she slowly smirks as well. “I’d offer you a high five Simmons,” she tells her mischievously, “but it looks like your hands are a little busy at the moment.”
Jemma blushes prettily, looking away and meeting Fitz’s gaze for a second, her lips stretching in a very sweet smile, before looking back at Daisy. “Yeah, they are,” she says with a shrug, but the delight in her eyes is very obvious.
Fitz is staring at her with the fondest look in his blue eyes, and when Jemma looks back at him, she matches his expression instantly, and ugh these two really are the cutest idiots ever.
“I should have know you two would be disgustingly cute together,” Daisy pretends to sigh, and they both chuckle, looking away but still holding on tight to each other, and if that’s not confirmation that they are made for each other, Daisy doesn’t know what is. “Alright, I’ll leave you to it,” she sing-songs, channeling her sassy inner Angelica, and Jemma chuckles again, rolling her eyes fondly at her.
Daisy grabs Lincoln’s hand in hers and leads him out, but right before crossing the doorstep she looks back at Fitz and Simmons with a mischievous grin. “Have fun, but use protection!”
“Ugh, Daisy!”
She drags Lincoln out with a bursting laugh, her cheeks hurting from smiling too much. “Ah, they really are made for each other,” she tells Lincoln with a delighted sigh, “they both ‘ugh Daisy’d me the same way!”
Lincoln shakes his head at her, his blue eyes tinkling in the low lights of the dancing room. “You’re weird,” he says with a fond grin, and her heart soars in her chest for some reason.
“You like it though?” she retorts with a raised eyebrow, taking a step closer.
He reaches to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, his touch feather like, and she pretends to ignore the way it sends delicious shivers down her spine. “I think I do,” he says quietly, his blue eyes searching. Then he’s leaning in, very slowly, and Daisy finds herself almost anxious for their lips to meet again.
And when they do, it feels right, and it feels exciting, and it sends another wave of those sweet shivers up and down her spine. Then she finds herself looking deep into his eyes, those deep blue eyes that caught her attention so easily earlier, and she smiles to herself as a few words cross her mind.
Look into your eyes, and the sky’s the limit
Somehow, it definitely feels like it at the moment.