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Jemma twisted Skye’s hair into two long braids along each side of her head. listening carefully as the hacker went on to describe the plot of some vivid recurring dream.
The television was on a scheduled Star Wars marathon, but practically served as just background noise, as both of them had seen the films a dozen times, and were simply beyond grateful to have a night off.
“...Anyway, without fail, it ends with me in a blonde wig, speaking fluent Russian, and I almost always wake up craving vodka. First thing in the morning. What do you think it means?”
Jemma paused and thought for a moment. She’d never really been one for dream analysis herself; it was silly, a waste of time where the mind could be better spent concentrated on more pressing matters. But it was something Skye obviously had thought of, and despite the silliness of her dream, the scientist felt as though she at least owed it to her friend to humor the idea.
“Maybe you’re destined to be a female James Bond or something,” Jemma teased, shrugging her shoulder. She tied a thin elastic around the end of the last braid. “Or maybe your subconscious is an alcoholic.”
Skye laughed, running her fingers down the length of one of the braids. “Oh, God,” she said, rising to her feet to get to the mirror by her bed. “Did you make me look twelve?”
“Noooo,” insisted Jemma. “I made you look adorable.”
“Adorable sounds like twelve,” the hacker corrected and glanced at her reflection in the mirror.
Before she could comment on in it, there was a soft rapping at the door, followed shortly by Bobbi’s voice announcing her presence. Both girls welcomed her inside.
“I’m not going to stay, I was just turning in... Heard you guys talking. Thought I’d say goodnight.” As she spoke, her eyes became fixed on the television. “Star Wars, huh?” she smiled in approval.
“Yes! We were planning on marathoning until we fall asleep,” Skye replied enthusiastically.
“Would you like to join us?” Jemma smiled politely. The more, the merrier. Besides, neither of them had had the chance to properly get to know Bobbi before, and she was legendary.
Bobbi nodded, closing the door behind her and crossing the room to take a seat next to Jemma.
“Nice hair,” she said to Skye, who growled at Jemma in response.
“You know, you’re lucky your hair is too short for me to do anything to, but you just wait until you grow it out.”
The three women soon fell into a comfortable silence, the only sounds filling the room coming straight from the film. The thing about the Star Wars films that were so rare, Jemma found, was that there was no appropriate number of times you could watch the series. And while the older films were better by a long shot, the storytelling was always such a unique experience.
Bobbi spoke up after a while, glancing over at both Jemma and Skye. “What do you ladies say we make this more interesting?”
“I’m listening,” Skye responded, hitting pause on the DVD.
Bobbi pulled out her phone and tapped in her passcode, pulling open an empty Notes page.
She began to type as she spoke. “Okay, take a drink… every time ‘hope’ is mentioned.”
“Ah, a Star Wars drinking game!” Jemma exclaimed. She hadn’t properly played a drinking game since… Well, when she and Fitz were in at the academy, celebrating the end of finals, probably. That seemed like an entirely different lifetime now.
“A drink every time Yoda sounds… well, Yoda-like,” Skye added.
The three of them went on to compile a list of different opportunities to drink, most of them vague enough to apply to any of the films.
“So are we starting the first film over, then?” Jemma asked.
“No. We’ll start where we left off. Continue on to the next movie and keep going until they’re over or until we’re out of booze,” Bobbi explained.
Skye pulled a bottle of scotch from under her bed, earning confused - and concerned - looks from the older agents. She ignored them and procured a stack of plastic cups to be used in lieu of shot glasses.
Bobbi hit play as Skye poured them all drinks.
Needless to say, both Skye and Bobbi were nearly wasted by the end of the first film.
Jemma managed to make it until the middle of the next one before really feeling any of the effects.
By the time Episode V rolled to an end, the three of them were absolutely hammered, giggling about almost everything. They were barely paying attention to the screen anymore, and instead wound up sprawled across the floor of Skye’s room, exchanging stories and embarrassing memories.
Jemma had just finished telling the other women about one of her last experiences out on the dating scene. The guy had been a complete bore; handsome and intelligent enough, but completely lacking of an imagination. She ended up at home in a pair of sweatpants by ten pm, which she wasn’t sure disappointed or relieved her.
“Oh, that’s nothing! On one of my first dates with Lance, we accidentally ended up almost getting killing each other!” Bobbi recounted, her speech slurred. “He took me to a French restaurant, which was stupid, because he was obviously only trying to impress me. He complained the whole time. I wasn't happy. By the end of the night, he was walking me to my car, complaining about something else, and I almost pushed him into on-coming traffic."
"Bobbi!" both girls shouted in unison, eyes wide.
"I said almost," the blonde repeated in defense of herself. "But yeah, that really should have been more telling about our future at the time than it was," she added as an afterthought, furrowing her brow.
"Everything is completely different when you look back. But you make the choices you make for a reason," Skye said, almost shockingly coherent, and to that Jemma took one final swig of her drink.
Morning seemed to arrive earlier than usual, and the sun was less than forgiving. Skye had forgotten to turn off her alarm, and so the three of them were up long before they were ready to be.
Thanks to Jemma’s braids, Skye's hair still looked alright, but collectively the three of them had seen better days. Even Bobbi, who miraculously never seemed to have even a hair out of place, no matter the circumstances, appeared to not have slept in days.
Their night of fun had been quite the success, but they would certainly be paying for it all day.
A delicious platter of breakfast was spread across the table in the kitchen, but the sight of eggs and bacon alone when their heads were pounding the way they were made them more nauseous than hungry.
May stood before them, sipping from a mug of tea. She looked well-rested and poised, as usual. Jemma wondered briefly if there was ever a time where May at least didn't seem put together.
“Long night last night?” May asked, glancing up at them briefly. Her tone suggested she knew more than she was letting on.
Skye groaned and took a seat on a stool, folding her arms on top of the counter and lowering her head in defeat. Bobbi followed suit and joined her, but kept her head up and posture straight. Jemma opted to stand, fearing she would never want to get back up if she sat down.
May turned to grab the tea kettle from its place on top of the stove and pulled three more mugs out of the cupboard. The smell of the tea was strong - definitely green.
“Drink up,” she said, and turned to leave without saying another word. She was almost smiling when she left the kitchen.