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The first thing Skye noticed about him was his kind eyes. Right before they bagged her head and kidnapped her. She wasn’t scared even though she should have been, she wasn’t because he looked nice. He dressed like a textbook agent but his smile was warm and he was funny and he flirted with her.
He’s a classic Hollywood movie star handsome with a boyish grin that she can’t get enough of but he doesn’t show it to just anyone. Sort of like a smile reserved just for her. She trusted him immediately.
No one believes me except for you.
I’m losing everything except for you.
I’ve failed at everything
I can’t do anything
I fail at everything…even you.
How could you ever love me, with my secrets?
It’s too soon anyway, except for you..you take one look at me and I feel everything.
The world’s exploding around me and I’m losing everything except for you.
“What’s that?”
Skye jumps and quickly clutches her notebook to her chest. She was in the zone writing in the common room. She’s never told anyone she writes, I mean she had a podcast of course but that was nothing like poetry. Poetry is feelings, emotions, things she wants but can’t allow herself to say out loud, can’t dare to dream. It’s darkness and light, it’s what comes before and after the rain. She finds solace in getting it all out on paper. Yes she is a computer geek but there is just something about the feel of actually writing out what is inside on paper, it’s therapeutic, a technique she would never admit actually helped from the last time she was in therapy.
She didn’t expect anyone to be up at this hour but then again it’s Coulson and he never sleeps. Tonight wouldn’t be any different, actually it might be worse for him after the day they had. She really should have known better but in her defense he is quiet, moves like a ninja which she always forgets because looking at the guy you would never know how stealthy he is.
“Uh… It’s nothing” she says because this is one private thing she can’t ever share with him.
“It didn’t look like nothing.” because of course he saw it, how much she isn’t sure.
“Well if you saw, why ask?” she replies defensively, knowing it’s not his fault.
“I didn’t know you write.”
She knows he is just trying to know her, just being friendly and curious but she’s extra jumpy today especially around him and it's a reflex when she answers.
“Yeah well there’s a lot you don’t know about me.”
“Clearly.”
That answer came out more harsh than he wanted but it’s been a rough day and she’s being closed off after he is trying to get back to normal with her.
She sighs. “I.. I didn’t mean it like that. I really am sorry about Miles.”
She looks guilty, feels guilty. She feels like she cheated on Coulson, the ultimate betrayal even though that’s not remotely what this is. So why the hell does it feel like it?
“You don’t owe me anything, I’m not your boyfriend.”
It comes out harsh and wrong and he’s mad at himself but also at her because yeah he’s not her boyfriend but it felt like something and now he’s questioning everything. He feels like a foolish old man for thinking her flirting was anything but fun, a way for her to get them to trust her. He just thought he knew her, he still feels like he does somehow through all the lies and pain, he thinks he still gets her.
Even so it felt just as bad to put that bracelet on her wrist knowing hacking is who she is and now he is just one more thing suppressing her. He doesn’t want this but he has little choice at this point.
It hits her harder than it should. Of course he is not her boyfriend but damn did it have to sound so harsh. So full of rejection, so final. It’s a fact, a statement but it hurts and she can’t figure out why. Yeah they flirted but that’s her personality, he flirted back and she felt special. He listened to her and she felt special. He took a chance on her and she felt special. He was the reason she wanted to stay. She needed to stay for her mission, for information but she wanted to stay for him because he was special and maybe they could be special together. Now it just feels like she made a huge mistake and she is not sure she can fix this. Miles didn’t mean anything, it just happened because that's what they do. It wasn’t planned, she wanted to warn him, that’s all, she didn’t mean to fall back into old habits.
She honestly didn’t expect Coulson to care so much. Like yeah she has a crush on him who wouldn’t, he’s handsome, smooth and charming, he took her in his flying car for God sakes but she never thought he would reciprocate it. Is that what this is? Is he just mad because she was a double agent at first or is it more? It sounds like jealousy but she can’t let herself hope for something like that right now. She barely knows these people, barely knows him but she still feels so connected, that’s what makes this all so hard.
She wants to have a snarky reply or defend herself but she’s sad and resigned and feels like she lost him before she had him so all she can manage is a terse reply.
“Right.”
She wants to add that regardless she cares about him and regrets keeping secrets, regrets what happened with Miles for a list of reasons but when she looks up he is gone.
Coulson locks himself in his bunk, lays down and stares at the ceiling. With a sigh he tries to relax but he keeps thinking of the poem. He saw enough to know Skye feels like she failed someone, he's not sure who, him or Miles. She didn't fail him though, he's just disappointed and sad. He knows she wants to make a difference, he knows she can, he just wishes he knew how to get her to see what he sees in her.
She works hard to get the team's trust back and mostly succeeds except for Ward and she’s not sure about May but no one ever knows what she’s thinking.
She has lunch with Coulson a few times in his office, they talk, try to get back on track but it's a bit tense.
“I do write…poems, sometimes songs.” she looks at him nervously. He only nods.
He treats her like a baby deer these days, slowly and calmly letting her come to him.
“It’s nothing big, no one knows though.”
“You can trust me. I won’t tell.” he replies.
She smiles. “I know.”
Before she can truly patch things up with Coulson or at least feel normal around him (they are sort of back to flirty banter but it still feels so different, like neither is quite sure if they can trust the other yet) he is captured. HQ is on the bus but not making any moves to find him, not making him a priority. She’s pissed, how dare they be so dismissive of a man who has worked his whole life for them. Dedicated himself, sacrificed college, love and a normal life and almost died for them, well actually died for them.
He may not be their priority but he’s hers and she is gonna do whatever it takes to find him regardless of the handicap the bracelet has given her. What she doesn’t know is exactly how alone she will be in this.
She uses S.H.I.E.L.D resources to help find him and gets kicked off the bus. Like seriously, what kind of monsters are these people? Coulson is kind, funny, genuine, smart, brave and these people barely react to the fact that he could be tortured or even dead somewhere. She gets it, they have a mission, him being kidnapped was not part of the plan but she’s always heard no man left behind in the movies. Clearly S.H.I.E.L.D didn’t get the memo.
She breaks a million laws to find him. She sneaks off the bus and avoids custody (at least FitzSimmons and Ward helped with that and gave her a sat phone for one time use) , she charges a new outfit to a credit card, steals a car, wrecks it, impersonates Agent May, holds people hostage to help her hack systems to find Coulson. The guy she stole from and held at gunpoint isn’t exactly innocent so she feels justified but still it’s dangerous and risky and she can’t even care as long as she finds him. She’s desperate and going to extremes she normally wouldn't but this damn bracelet gives her no choice but to think outside the box.
She uses her one call to let her team know where she is headed, she thinks she found him. She hears Agent May and is shocked, it was her idea to kick her off the bus but it turns out May knew all along Skye would have a better chance finding him outside of S.H.I.E.L.D.
She finds him in a creepy abandoned fake town. It looks like a place that was built for a western movie set and just left after filming or before even getting started. The buildings seem like bare bones, the outsides look legit, like storefronts or homes but the inside is empty. There are mannequins placed throughout, some look like children with peeling faces, this place has definitely been here a while with no one keeping up with it.
She finds him strapped to a machine, screaming “let me die” and her heart breaks. She punches Raina, knocks her out, tries to turn the machine off but can’t so she clutches his hands, cries, kisses his hands and begs him to come back to her. The team arrives, takes custody of Raina and is scrambling to turn off the machine but all she can do is cry, dripping tears on him and begging him to wake up as hard as he is begging to die.
He wakes up saying her name like a prayer and it’s the most beautiful sound she’s ever heard.
They save him thanks to her.
She knows now, she’s totally in love with him, which is absurd. She has been lying to them, has been a double agent for the Rising Tide, granted she didn’t actually send them any information but still she was there under false pretenses. These are good people, he is good, not at all what she expected. He was not part of the plan, none of them were. She thought she would enter in and find all these evil agents and expose the government when it turns out everything she knew was wrong or at least more complicated. He’s older, more experienced, he’s her Boss now but he is kind, strong,moral, stubborn, charming, complicated and adorable when he does that smirk thing. Ugh it hasn’t been long enough to feel this way but Coulson is her home and if she’s being honest she felt it in his eyes day 1.
It’s been a long day, a long emotionally and physically draining day. She’s tired, sore and dirty. She really needs a shower. She’s not meant for this, she’s a hacker, she’s no agent but she found him, she saved him and that has to count for something. She can’t help but think she almost lost her home today.
Most of the team is in the common room decompressing so she feels now is a good time to shower alone without any interruptions.
She’s singing when Coulson passes by on his way to relax alone. Her voice is angelic and he gravitates towards it. He listened to her podcasts multiple times, he knows her voice intimately but this, this is ten times better and he can’t help but get closer. Her pitch is perfect, she smoothly transitions through the melody, but it's distinctly her voice. He’s basically lurking in a corner in between the hallway and the inside of the shower area, not visible from the showers or the hallway. He just wants to listen not catch a peek, he’s not even thinking about how bad this would look if someone sees him, he is just too captivated by the song.
He listens to the lyrics, he’s a word guy, that’s why her poem had struck him. It sounds like the song has an upbeat tune if he had to guess the music to it but the words sound very pointed. He came in part way through the song but what he hears strikes him as much as her poem did.
“Don’t give up on what we’ve got
Even though fate never goes our way
I’m gonna, gonna get to you anyway
And when the signs say that we’re insane
I’m gonna, gonna love you anyway
I’m gonna love, I’m gonna love, I’m gonna love you anyway”
He is so moved he wants to clap or announce his presents somehow and tell her how great she sounds but as soon as she finishes the last note she starts sobbing. It’s like she felt the full weight of the day, like the song broke the dam that was holding her together. God he wants to comfort her but this is definitely not the place . He’s infringing on a private moment now so he leaves as quietly as he appeared.
Later he thanks her for saving him. Words aren’t good enough so he offers to remove the bracelet. He looks at her with kind eyes and a soft smile.
“I heard what you did for me, I think it's time we removed this.”
He gently lifts her wrist and lowers his head towards it to speak.
“Disengage bracelet.”
The bracelet pops open.
She scoffs.
“Thought you would like that.” The smirk is back so she smiles, that smile is enough to warm his heart.
She wants to leave it here but she can’t, his voice plays on repeat in her head. She looks at him with a worried expression, reaches for him but retracts.
“I.. I heard what you said, when you were in the machine.”
“It wasn’t real, it’s ok.”
She pushes. “It sounded real to me.”
“I heard what you said too.” He tilts his head with a small smile.
“And I listened…I came back.” to you he wants to say but he is still unsure if that's appropriate, if it's what she even wants.
All she can do is smile and squeeze his arm before turning to leave. It was real, she knows it. They don’t lie to each other, not anymore but she will let this one slide because it's a lie he needs to tell himself, not her and she gets that.
Coulson is a deeply thoughtful man. So much of him guarded that people don’t know, with a job like S.H.I.E.L.D. it’s been a necessity and after so long it became a habit. It’s hard to let people in but Skye is impossible to hide from most of the time. He has to make an extra effort. It just feels like she can see through him and his walls. Then again most people never care enough to pry. She’s a curious girl but especially about him. It’s almost like they imprinted on each other that first day and he can’t shake the feeling that this is bigger than the both of them.
The biggest thing no one knows about Coulson is that he keeps a journal. Sometimes he writes letters before big missions, just in case. I mean he has already died once and left many things unsaid. The people he wishes could hear them, can’t know he’s alive so now he writes to his team just in case.
When he was first brought back he wrote to Audrey as therapy, now it’s a mix. Sometimes he writes thoughts, sometimes letters, sometimes stories or memories just so there is a record, something to remember him by. He never had kids so he has no other way to leave a legacy. Lately though, he is trying to work out his feelings for Skye. Stress is high, emotions are high so he writes thoughts of her, sometimes daily and thinks at some point he can sort it out.
His entry tonight is a bit more poetic.
I feel like I’m free falling, wind in my hair and my heart is calling for you.
There’s been an emptiness I couldn’t explain, a cold hole in a once sort of full life.
I heard your voice pull me out of a fog, I saw a light and I needed more.
You surrounded me with warmth I couldn’t explain and then I heard you say my name and it felt like home.
I knew then I couldn’t let you go, my heart is calling for you and it sounds like home.
And then she gets shot.
Skye gets shot twice in the stomach by Ian Quinn and Coulson breaks. He moves heaven and earth and almost dies again to save her. He risks S.H.I.E.L.D facilities and medical supplies, he risks his team but all that matters is that he saves her. Turns out that’s exactly what The Clairvoyant wanted but he can’t bring himself to care as long as she lives.
Then the unthinkable happens, he discovers the source of the GH-325 serum and tries to stop them from injecting her but it's too late, they already did it. If anything bad happens to her now it's his fault and he doesn’t know how to live with himself.
That’s when he realizes he’s in love with her.
It’s ludicrous and inappropriate but inevitable if he’s honest. He sits by her bedside until she wakes up. She slowly stirs, alerting him to her new condition. He smiles as her face scrunches, coming to life.
“I’ve been waiting for you.”
He still has her hand in his, she smiles when she sees it and lightly squeezes his hand in hers.
“Thank you. What happened?”
He makes sure she heals and then breaks the news of what he had to do to save her. He feels terrible, he didn’t know it was alien blood until it was too late but she’s alive and she thanks him.
“At least we’re in the dark together.”
So he sits down that night and writes her a poem he intends to give her this time.
They say it’s once in a lifetime, but does it really count if you’ve come back to life?
I know I’m being too nice, dropping it all just to see you smile.
Sometimes I act like I’m too busy because everything brings back a memory.
I’m sorry you had to hear me screaming out for them to kill me.
By now I should be ok, that’s easy for you to say.
What if I loved you?
What if I loved you way too much?
They say I’m compromised.
But to meet you, I'd do it again a hundred times.
Nobody knows me in the city.
Maybe I should have run into you “accidentally”.
But I still don’t think I could have kept you out of danger.
By now I should be ok, that’s easy for you to say.
What if I loved you?
What if I loved you way too much?
What if I love you, what if I love you way too much?
Ok so he’s no professional poet or anything, he can admit that but it's how he feels. As a kid he grew up with tales of one true love, once in a lifetime soulmates but how does that work if you’ve been brought back to life? Is this his second chance or still a first considering he didn’t have much of a life before Skye where love is concerned. He has had his fair share of women, he’s not nicknamed charm school for nothing but as for being in love, well he’s never felt anything like this. He still feels guilty for bringing her into S.H.I.E.L.D, if not for him she would have never been shot but then again it may have been worse, Hydra may have found her if he didn’t. There’s really no way to know, all he does know is he can’t imagine a life without her now that she is here.
Simmons has Skye on bed rest in the med bay even though she seems to have fully healed already. It looks like the drug accelerated her body's healing which is scary and a relief at the same time.
He has the poem on a random scrap of paper from his office folded up in his jacket pocket for days. He can’t give it to her while she is “grounded” to the med bay, it’s not fair for her. This will definitely be something they need to talk about in private. If he can even bring himself to give it to her.
He stops in regularly to talk to her, bring her real food while Simmons isn’t looking and sometimes they play a game or two. Skye is bored as hell, she has her tablet but she’s young and active and likes to do her work while pacing or sitting cross legged on tables, she barely is able to move in this bed. He keeps her company as much as he can in between working, she helps as much as she can in her restricted state and once the Lady Sif/ Lorelai emergency is over she is back in her own bunk. He chickens out and slips the poem under her door.
She’s huddled in her own bed (finally) with her notebook and some much needed privacy. She’s had a lot of feelings to process and not much opportunity in the fish bowl of a med bay. Her notebook is basically full of either poems or partial songs. She hasn’t been able to finish the songs since she doesn’t have a soundproof room and she’s not interested in giving the team a karaoke show. She has a talent for it she knows but it's never something she wanted to do professionally and most people don’t understand that. She’s finally on good terms with everyone and she would rather not argue about it.
She is still processing the bomb Coulson dropped about the alien DNA. She was calm with him and she still believes what she said to him, she is thankful to him for saving her, she could never repay that but there are still a lot of unknowns. She’s distracted so she doesn’t hear the footsteps but she does see the paper slip under the door.
“Cuz that’s not weird.” she mutters to herself.
There’s a whole 5 other people on the bus, it’s not like the Hub, they are all close and talk to each other so what the hell? She gets up slowly and grabs the paper off the floor. She looks out her door but no one is there. She opens the folded paper and starts to read as she slowly sits down on the bed.
It’s beautiful and expressive, there’s no signature, no name of who it’s from but it’s obviously Coulson. It’s clearly his handwriting and the details of their experiences are obvious to her. It’s a freakin love confession, no wonder he didn’t stick around.
“What the hell?” Seriously what the hell, he can tell her about alien DNA and promise no secrets but he confesses he loves her by passing a note under her door? She’s gotta address this.
She runs down to his bunk but the door is closed, lights out in both his office and bunk. She snooped around his office in case he was hiding out but nope. Not a sign. She wanders around the bus and he is nowhere, just disappeared. Looks like it has to wait until morning but she will get this out in the open. He’s got to know she feels the same way.
He avoids her because of course he does, he drops a bomb or two and then runs, hides in himself. It seems like that's his M.O these days. Days turn into weeks and she gets it, he’s busy, they all are but this is getting ridiculous, even May seems shady these days. He has her looking into the symbols and she’s doing all she can until he abruptly tells her to stop. She’s not dumb she knows there’s more to it.
She finally tracks him down, follows him as stealthily as she can and she sees why all the secrets.
He had started carving like Garret. That’s why he asked her to stop digging, why May has been so shady, why he is hiding. He thinks he’s gonna die so now he is back tracking his confession
“You should have told me, I could have been helping you and actually getting somewhere instead of blindly looking for random symbols and not knowing what I’m looking for.”
“I couldn’t risk you being exposed to it.”
“I've been exposed this whole time, and I’m fine. Now I can help for real.”
“It’s too dangerous, I gave you the serum you’re at risk here.”
“You don’t know that! I’m helping with or without your approval period!”
“Skye-” her hand flies up stopping him.
“Coulson, I know you care about me, believe me I know. I care about you too, that’s why I’m helping you, end of story.”
He gives up, he is exhausted and he knows once she puts her mind to something there is no stopping her. He has been acting strong this whole time arguing but his energy is drained now. He spent too much time carving and not enough sleeping.
She notices his drooping posture, she helps him despite his reluctance, to his room. She takes his jacket off for him before sitting him on his bed.
“You don’t have to-”
“I know I don’t but you are weak and tired and in no condition to be alone. Let me help.”
He fights a bit and tries to wave her off.
“Ok, I can just go get May real quick.”
“Wait.” he grabs her wrist and stops her from leaving. “You win.” he sighs.
He really has no energy for this tonight. He is just thankful he is wearing an undershirt as she strips off his dress shirt. He hadn’t noticed until now that his breathing has gotten heavier. It feels more intimate than it should. She is just helping him, it’s not sexual but the way she looks at him, how careful she is when she touches him, he has to close his eyes to stay calm. His belt goes next, his breath hitches and she smirks. She has her hands on his waistband but before she unbuttons his pants she has to be clear.
“Relax Coulson, I’m not going to take advantage of you…tonight.” She smiles at her joke and he rolls his eyes but relaxes at her light tone.
Once he is in his boxers and undershirt she motions for him to lay down and then lightly pushes him enough to scoot her way in next to him. She strips off her jeans and throws them on the floor next to the bed. He looks at her questioningly but she confidently snuggles up to him. She wraps her left arm across his chest as she lays her head in the crook of his neck and positions her legs one on each side of his left leg, his arms wrap around her and his breathing evens out.
“Goodnight A.C.” he feels her smile against his skin and a light kiss on his neck.
“Goodnight Skye.” he whispers as he drifts off.
Just as they both think things can finally be good they find her Dad. Coulson meets her dad and she is sure he will never want to be with her after this. Her father…Cal, beats the shit out of Coulson, who would stick around after that?
She has to throw herself on top of him.
“Dad!” she looks at him with pleading eyes.
“HE’S NOT YOUR FATHER!” Cal yells, he is seeing red.
“I LOVE HIM!” Coulson’s eyes go almost as wide as Cal’s, neither of them expecting that.
Skye can see the rage in Cal’s eyes, the moment he snaps and all she can do is push Coulson aside and tell him to run.
“Don’t hurt him! Please.”
He normally wouldn’t leave Skye but all Cal wants is his daughter and he won’t hurt her. He knows he is close to the edge and can’t withstand another punch from Cal so he runs. As he runs he hears Skye say she will make it right. Something inside him knows, it just knows she means to go to the alien city and he can’t let her do that.
In the midst of all the crazies trying to tell her she is special she finds Ward there undercover for Hydra. She gives Ward of all people a note to give to Coulson and somehow he manages not to fuck it up. He owes her that much.
Coulson opens the note that reads:
I’m sorry I fell in love with you
I’m sorry my Dad came after you
I’m sorry I keep failing you. I will fix this.
Everything clicks and now he knows that the first poem she was writing was for him, the song she was singing was for him. She doesn’t love him like a father, she is in love with him as much as he is with her. He can’t let her go down there alone. He follows her down to the temple but he can’t get to her in time, she gets her powers, Raina gets away and Trip dies but he finds her alive, untouched and he can’t help but be thankful.
Everything changes when her powers emerge, she has no control and the team is scared. Coulson is the only one who comes near her. He can touch her now that the compulsion from the symbols is gone but she can’t touch him anymore, she can’t hurt her team so she leaves.
Before she goes she leaves him another note with the original poem he had caught a glimpse of.
The note goes like this:
I finished it.
You taught me saying less is saying more. The voice in my head is already yours.
I waited 25 years for you. You fit me better than my shoes.
No one believes in me except for you.
I’m losing everything except for you.
I’ve failed at everything
I can’t do anything
I fail at everything…even you.
How could you ever love me, with my secrets?
It’s too soon anyway, except for you..you take one look at me and I feel everything.
The world’s exploding around me and I’m losing everything except for you.
The world shakes and I am scared to death. I’m not done loving you just yet.
I can get paranoid, you said some things, the last one really did a number on me.
But when I need shelter you lift up your wings, you are always here for me.
You are my home, I love you to death, don’t worry we aren’t finished just yet.
I lost everything except for you and I will come back for you.
Skye meets Lincoln and it’s a whole new world. He understands their powers, he shows her how to embrace being Inhuman instead of thinking of it as a burden. He knows the history, the culture of the Inhumans and she thinks she might be able to belong here but she still really misses Coulson.
Lincoln smiles at her easily, he’s handsome and young and a bit more carefree than she’s used to and it feels easy. Coulson is complicated, S.H.I.E.L.D is complicated and this is the family she should have had. Her mother is here, and her father for the time being and it seems like maybe she should try to make things work.
Her journal now reads:
He’s not you but you’re not here.
I feel alone and scared
I’m cryin to somebody who don’t know me like you did
But you’re not here.
Lincoln’s a doctor so he takes care of her while she’s there, he’s gentle and funny. They bond over rough pasts and he helps her get to safety when shit hits the fan and they realize her mother was the villain after all. He had a relationship with her mother she will never have, she can’t help but be jealous and curious. She wants to know more about her, about how she was before all this. She wants to know what he knows, she cares for him already. It’s dangerous but that’s her, she has a big heart and can’t help but care.
When she comes back to S.H.I.E.L.D she brings Lincoln. It's not safe for him anymore so she brings him home with her and Coulson is jealous and snippy.
He has all the poems and letters from her in a journal titled Skye. It’s all about her anyway, might as well be a book after her namesake.
He sees her and Lincoln training and loses it. She can see it on his face, she’s seen crazy enough. He doesn’t make a scene because he is too dignified for that but she can feel the anger from him in her bones vibrating through her. It's highly distracting. She cuts training short and storms after Coulson, pulling him aside into his office, shutting the door behind them.
“We’re just friends, Coulson.”
“Right. Yeah, that looked really friendly to me.”
She sighs. “Look he likes me..” she throws her hands up and raises her eyebrows at his angry face as she continues “Not my fault, but he gets my powers and I can spar with him in ways I can’t with the rest of the team without hurting them.”
“Of course he likes you Skye! I mean look at you, you’re perfect and he’s mister electric Ken Barbie. That’s fine. I guess it’s not my business, not really.”
He sounds so defeated and she feels that too, feels his hurt emanating from him. That’s the last thing she wants him to feel but to be honest she has been a bit conflicted. They are both really great guys and she loves Coulson, she always has but she can’t help but be curious about the what if’s with Lincoln.
Coulson grabs his Book of Skye and shoves it towards her.
“You might as well keep this.” He says his voice low, without lifting his head. He won’t even look at her now.
He leaves.
She takes the book back to her room and she reads it. As she is reading she can overhear Lincoln and Simmons excitedly chatting about science stuff when something about a vaccine catches her ear.
Lincoln runs to her room yelling excitedly about a cure for being Inhuman and how they should take it. He gushes over how smart Simmons is and it would be cute if he wasn’t trying to change her. She tries to explain she could never do that, it’s part of her and he showed her that and now he looks at her like she’s a monster. He’s basically calling her a monster even though she has never intentionally hurt anyone and she knows, she just knows it would never work. If he ever knew her at all he wouldn’t even ask her to do this.
He storms off and angrily shouts that he will take the cure anyway.
She can’t be too mad. It's not like she was in love with him, it’s not like they were together but it feels like being betrayed and she remembers all the men she has had to change for. All the men she vowed she would never allow to do it again and she remembers how Coulson has never asked her to change. He has rolled with the punches, he embraced her at every turn even her powers. He was never scared of her, he took care of her and she knows, has always known it’s him. It’s always been him. She doesn’t have to read the book to know but she still is curious, it’s her nature. She reads the book and it’s beautiful. Pages and pages of his thoughts and feelings for her. It’s deep, sensual, cute and perfectly, perfectly Coulson. It’s a memoir of them, their life together from start to finish in diary/poem form. She had no idea he felt this deep so soon like she did. It makes her cry and feel stupid for waiting so long.
She rushes out her room and down the hall. She looks crazy going through all the places he may be. She finds him in the common room and she kisses him in front of the entire team while he was mid sentence talking to May, about what, she has no idea.
“You love me?” she asks
He can only nod in shock. “ You still love me, after all this time? After everything I put you through?”
“How could I not?” he replies simply as if it is the most obvious thing.
She kisses him again, when they pull away slowly he rests his forehead on hers.
He whispers “I’ve been waiting for you.”
She smiles. “Yeah, that tracks.”
They share a small laugh before kissing again. They kiss through the claps and jeers from the team, giggling here and there in between kisses before finally she gives him one look and he knows. He pulls her with him to his room, as they explore eachothers mouths. He briefly thinks maybe he should wait for sex with her, maybe they are rushing but he shakes it off because he knows they both have waited long enough. After all, they have been waiting on each other since they first met, maybe even before that.