Five Times Kissed - holotableon
send me five times kissed for a drabble about five times our muses kissed
i.
The first time she kisses him, she is twenty one, celebrating some achievement in the bar frequented by most agents stationed at the base. The music pulses through the air in waves, agents letting loose at the bar and on the dance floor. She has two goals tonight- one is to enjoy herself.
The second, in line with the first, is to get laid.
The man she sets her sights in is tall, brooding. Obviously a specialist.
(She likes Operations for the pure fact that most of her sexual encounters have taken place with agents from their ranks. There are no strings, no silly promises of tomorrow.)
She slips through the crowd until she’s standing in front of him. She has to yell for him to hear her over the crowd, but she understands enough. His name is Grant, he’s a specialist, and he’s in town until tomorrow. Perfect.
She hops onto the bar stool beside him and grabs his shirt, pulling hard to tug him close, lips pressed together in a fervent, drunken kiss. And oh, it’s a good kiss, it is.
It leads to several more kisses.
(And some really good sex.)
ii.
The next time she kisses him, she is twenty three, bored in the lab at two am when a man stumbles in. She’s ready to shoo him away when she recognizes him. His face catches her first- then the blood.
She all but forces him into a chair, making him remove the mangled remnants of his shirt to examine the wounds. He gets out that most of the doctors in med bay are asleep- that the nurses are unfriendly- that she is the only one he can trust at this late hour to patch him up well.
Her hands are gentle as she stitches him up, covers him with a bandage. Then, just for the hell of it, she brushes his lips over his lightly. She doesn’t expect him to pull her into his lap, to deepen the kiss the way he does.
For a fleeting moment she considers pushing him away- he’s injured, after all.
(After he bends her over three of the lab tables, she stops worrying. He can definitely handle himself. And her, for that matter.)
iii.
The next time she kisses him, she is twenty seven.
She is a mother to a beautiful four year old girl with raven black curls and deep chocolate eyes. Ada is the light of her life. The little one may take after her father in looks, but she is her mother’s daughter.
She knows it isn’t safe to bring a child into the field, but she knows that Ada will be happier with her on the Bus. The little girl is chattering away as her mother and Uncle Fitz unpack when the sound of a duffle bag dropping catches their attention, all three turning.
Her mouth falls open in shock before she darts forward to kiss him hard before slapping him. The crack echoes in the hollow of the plane, and before he can even react she has Ada in her arms and is up the stairs.
(She doesn’t know why she kissed him. She knows why she slapped him.)
iv.
The next time she kisses him, she is crying.
She couldn’t save Seth. He had died, even as she tried to save him. Grief is an overwhelming thing, but it is also something she wants to spare Ada from.
When he finds her, it’s two am. She is curled up on the floor of the lab, sobbing her heart out. She doesn’t notice him sliding down to sit beside her until his arm wraps around her protectively, pulling her into his side.
He lets her cry. He whispers condolences, words of comfort, lips pressed against her hair in an attempt to soothe the agony of loss. She’s almost shocked. She didn’t suspect that he was capable of this level of gentleness. She’s seen him sweet and soft before- when he comforted her after she’d jumped, whenever he speaks to Ada. But this is different.
She tilts her head to kiss him softly. His lips hold comfort and warmth, moving gently against hers. She thinks she could get lost in those lips.
(It isn’t just sex this time. It’s too hard to be called making love, but much too gentle to be a simple fuck. It’s enough to chase away her demons for one night.)
v.
The last time she kisses him, her eyes are full of tears once more.
He is a traitor. He is HYDRA.
But he is also the father of her beloved Ada. He is the man who chases away her demons, holds her close when her nightmares wake her.
Ada is in her arms that day, the day Coulson parades him through the Playground on the way to Vault D. The little girl reaches for her father, squirms out of her mother’s arms to cling to his leg. He stops in his tracks to touch the girl’s cheek with gentle hands, pressing his lips to her hair, whispering hoarse words of love and devotion to his daughter.
She moves to stand close, eyes focused on Ada. She knows he would never hurt her or Ada. She wants to cry again- all their late night conversations about running from SHIELD, living a normal life... They’ve all gone up in smoke.
The tears fall without her noticing.
He stands and moves to her next. His guards tense, but she waves them off. Ada holds onto his leg tightly as he looks her in the eye.
She presses up to kiss him lightly, but he manages to deepen it and steal her breath.
“I love you and Ada. And when I get out of here, I’m going to make it up to you.”
(When he manages to break out, she only smiles and requests leave, Ada in her arms. She has a promise to collect on, after all.)