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As a kid, Skye got in a lot of fights. She didn’t start them, but she sure as hell wasn’t going to curl up in a ball and do nothing. She was always the shortest person in her class so the bullies saw her as an easy target. They were wrong. Her mother and father were both S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and they taught her self-defense moves as soon as she was old enough. Those moves came in handy when she started school and began getting teased because of her height.
It didn’t take long for the message that ‘short, little Skye’ was not to be messed with and although her parents told her fighting was wrong, she could hear the pride in her mother’s voice and see the joy in her father’s eyes. She was definitely their little agent.
Being short never fazed her because she knew she could handle it. That was, however, until the Academy and Grant Ward. She was at Communications and he was at Operations. She was a freshman and he was a senior. In reality, their paths should have never crossed and yet, they did.
When Skye was a freshman, her mother taught a class at operations. A class she occasionally sat in. She liked to watch her mother fight. She wanted to be in operations, she wanted to be just like her mother, but it made more sense for her to go to Communications since she was a genius in Computer Science. Grant Ward just so happened to be in that class. She remembered the first time they met. It was impossible to forget. He was an arrogant asshole and he made an impression. Of course, so did she.
“Class dismissed,” May said. As the students began to gather their things, Skye made her way toward her mother. May smiled softly at her daughter. “Are you hungry?”
“Yeah,” Skye replied. “I’m feeling pizza.” May squeezed her arm gently.
“Pizza sounds great. Let me just change.” Skye nodded and watched her mother grab her bag and head to the changing room. She pulled out her phone and began playing a game while she waited.
“So you’re mini May,” a gruff voice said. Skye looked from her game to the source of the voice.
“I have a name,” she snapped.
“Skye,” he acknowledged. “I’m Grant Ward.” He looked her up and down and chuckled.
“Something funny,” she bit out.
“No, it’s just May is so cold and hard. You’re not. You are definitely not what I pictured when I thought of the Calvary’s daughter.”
“Don’t call her that,” she bit out. She brushed past him and headed to the door her mother disappeared through.
“Wait, I’m sorry.” He said quickly. Skye turned and narrowed her eyes at him.
“No you aren’t,” she argued. “You just don’t want to be the idiot that pissed of Melinda May’s daughter.”
He held up his hands in surrender, smiled and shrugged sheepishly. “You got me. Your mother is definitely my hardest teacher. I’d hate to be on her bad side.”
“You think being on my bad side is any better? No wonder you’re at operations. You’re not too smart. Lacking some common sense obviously. Now if you’ll excuse me.”
“You may be short, but you are definitely a force of nature.” He commented. Skye slipped her cell phone back in her pocket and marched over to him.
“Don’t. Call. Me. Short.” She gritted out. She poked him in the chest with every word. Honestly, she wasn’t sure why she was so annoyed that Grant Ward called her short. Normally she was unfazed, but with him her reaction was so different. He got under her skin so easily and she had just met him.
He lifted his hand and rubbed the top of her head playfully. “What? You don’t like being called short. I think your-” Before he could finish his sentence, her fist connected with his jaw. He stumbled backwards a few feet. She wasn’t sure if it was from the force of the punch or from shock. What she was sure of was that he was looking at her like she’d grown a second head and that there was someone standing behind her.
She turned to see her mother smirking at them. “You ready?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Skye replied. She left without another glance toward Grant Ward. She thought that was the end of it. She thought that was the end of them. She was wrong.
Skye stood on her tippy toes trying to reach the bowel on the top shelf. A hand landed on her hip, easing her off of her toes. The other hand grabbed the bowl and set it on the counter in front of her. She turned around to see Grant Ward smiling at her.
“My hero,” she teased.
He wrapped his arms securely around her. “Happy to help. Shorty.” He whispered. She laughed and wrapped her arms around his body. She buried her face in his chest. She felt him kiss the top of her head and she couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her face.