Categories > Movies > Marvel Cinematic Universe > The Irresistible Force Paradox
Ward is already there when Skye arrives. He stands up from the bed and Skye closes the door behind her. They're both frozen in place for a moment, Skye with her hands braced behind her on the door, Ward leaning forward slightly like he's only just holding himself back.
Skye takes one step toward him and then Ward has cut through the distance between them in an instant. He takes her face in both hands, gently, and then he's kissing her. There's no grace to it – and a lot of teeth – and Skye pulls him closer by his belt loops.
"I was worried," Ward manages to get out between kisses. "You might be mad at me."
"No." She shakes her head. "I should be, but I'm not."
He pulls back for a moment, to see her face, and she takes that opportunity to step back because she asked him here so they could talk about this, not just to fuck.
"I knew you wouldn't actually do it," she says. "That's why I'm not mad at you."
"But you should be?" he asks.
Skye runs a hand through her hair. "Look, this is 1000% a bad idea, and it could – and probably will – end very badly for both of us. And I'm not even sure what this is yet. But I can't stop thinking about it, about you, about what you said." She takes a breath. "That we have a shot."
He nods, slowly. "Yeah?"
"Yeah," she says. "And I think we should take it."
Ward's smile is cautious at first but blooms into something that maybe does make Skye feel something. He's still smiling when she kisses him and something about that has Skye smiling too. They've never kissed like this. It's always been at a vulnerable moment or a we're-about-to-die moment or an I'm-playing-you-because-I-know-you're-Hydra moment. But now they can kiss the way regular people who like each other kiss – happily.
Skye jumps up and wraps her legs around his waist. He holds her tight, one hand under her ass, and he's kissing her and he's smiling and for once it really is like the world outside doesn't exist. It's just them.
He walks over to the bed, and she drops onto it on her back. She bounces twice on the mattress and lets out an honest-to-god giggle. And Ward laughs and pulls off his shirt and climbs on top of her and it's the lightest Skye has felt in ages.
They let themselves be goofy and embarrassing – a whole different type of vulnerability.
Ward fumbles with Skye's bra clasp and she looks at him with a straight face, undoes it herself, and says, "You seem nervous, Agent Ward."
He watches her toss it aside and says, "I'm just calling to mind my training," before latching his lips to the newly-exposed skin.
"Training?" She grins. "Damn, I missed some fun times at the SHIELD Academy, huh?"
And when Skye lets out a small fart about halfway through and Ward just about dies laughing and she threatens to kill him if he doesn't shut up right now, she doesn't mean it. Not even a little bit.
Because Ward has a small freckle on his left collar bone and he smiles like the wholesome boy-next-door football player from every teen rom-com, and he knows more about her and her past than any guy she's even been with and he still looks at her like she's everything he's ever wanted. Even though he knows she's not quite there yet.
Yet.
Because if she thinks about it, really digs down and is honest with herself, she's been falling for him for months. Basically, since she met him. And sure, he fell faster and harder, but she really isn't that far behind. She's just better at hiding. Or, needs to hide it more.
So when the doubts come, after they're done, the disapproving faces in her mind, she curls up against Ward and pushes everything else away. He wraps his arm around her pulls her closer and she focuses on his breathing. The steady sound and feeling as his chest moves, up and down. His heartbeat, too, slows to a steady rhythm.
And he doesn't say anything. He just holds her and waits for her to break the silence.
But she doesn't really want to. This silence between them is so comfortable, she can't imagine interrupting it.
So, for the second time, Skye falls asleep in bed with Ward.
In the days and weeks that follow, Skye learns to balance things. The giddiness of sneaking out like a teenager to meet up with Ward. The inevitable guilt that comes unexpectedly when she interacts with anyone on the team, but especially Fitzsimmons.
She finds it surprisingly easy to lie to everyone and isn't sure how she feels about that. She and Hunter are shooting at the range, and he tells her he's glad she has more self-control than he does because he can – apparently – never resist doing something so scandalous. She asks him if he considers getting back together with an ex-wife scandalous and he shuts up immediately.
Ward smiles more than Skye has ever seen. He tells her stories from his SHIELD training and past missions. She learns that he can be sweet – romantic, even. That doesn't mean that it's always perfect and wonderful. They both have issues and while Skye knows he would never hurt her, she doesn't exactly trust him either.
Skye is careful when she goes out. If she takes a car, she'll usually park it somewhere and take a bus, and then cut through a crowded area and then take another bus or a taxi, both on the way there and back – a looping and disconcerting route to make sure she isn't followed. She tells herself it's mostly so no one from the team finds her, or to make sure anyone who might be watching Ward doesn't follow her back to the base, but it's really for Ward.
As much as he claims not to want to hurt anyone in SHIELD, or take SHIELD down anymore, knowledge of the new base might be too good to pass up. And Coulson was the one who had Ward put into the custody of his brother, which Skye doesn't think he has quite forgiven him for.
So they don't talk about the present, for obvious reasons, or the recent past. Skye doesn't ask what Ward is up to and he doesn't ask her either. It's easier this way; they don't have to lie to each other.
One morning, Skye is humming to herself in the kitchen of the base, and she turns around to find Simons standing in the doorway with a slight smile on her face.
"What?" Skye asks.
Simmons shrugged. "You've been in a very good mood lately."
"Is that a crime?" Skye asks with a grin. "Coffee?"
"Yes, please." She comes in and sits at the table. "It's nice to see you happy."
Skye pours them both a coffee and sits across from Simmons. "It's weird, with everything going on, but I am happy."
"It is nice to live within four walls that just stay securely on the ground."
"Yeah." Skye suddenly sees that containment pod fall from the Bus again while Ward just stands there – she's seen the footage often enough – and then Fitz's reaction to Ward in the vault. She almost drops her mug.
"Skye?" Simmons asks. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, sorry," she says, pulling herself back to the present. "Didn't get a lot of sleep last night."
Simmons smiles again. "Does your good mood have anything to do with the reason you sneak out all the time?"
"What? No." She had thought she was being subtle. "And I don't sneak out, I just go out sometimes. Stable foundations are great and all but they're a bit constricting."
Simmons raises her eyebrows but says nothing more about it.
"How's Fitz doing?" Skye asks.
"Better every day," Simmons says. "I'm so glad he and Mack became friends. Mack is so much better with him than I am."
"I'm sure you guys will sync up again."
Yet another casualty of Ward: Fitzsimmons's relationship.
They rarely go anywhere public. Skye has her reasons – not wanting to get caught by the team, which Ward knows – and Ward has his – which she does not ask about. But today, he says he has a surprise and tells her to meet him at the local park.
Ward is waiting for her near the entrance of the park when she steps off the bus.
"You look nice," he says.
"Thanks," she says. She's wearing a summery blue dress; she decided that if they're going out – as much as going to a park is going out – she might as well dress up a bit. "You don't look bad yourself."
They're a regular-looking couple, walking through the park, hand in hand. Ward guides them through some trees into a clearing. In the center, there's a picnic blanket and a basket.
Skye smiles at him, surprised. "Did you–?"
He grins. "Mm-hm."
She kisses his cheek and pulls him toward the picnic. He's packed tiny sandwiches and strawberries and a bottle of sangria. They sprawl out on the blanket, tossing strawberries at each other and laughing through full mouths. Skye starts to get tipsy by her third glass, and they both get a bit handsy with each other. They make out lazily until they knock over the bottle, leaving a big wet spot on the blanket that they try to avoid, laughing at their clumsiness.
"Do you enjoy riding buses?" Ward asks.
"Mm?" Skye hums, feeling warm and sleepy in the sun. She's laying with her head on his lap, his fingers absentmindedly playing with her hair. She opens her eyes slightly; his tense jaw belies his relaxed demeanour.
"I noticed you always come to the motel on foot, which I thought was weird, since I'm sure SHIELD has at least one vehicle they can spare, so I followed you –"
"What?" Skye is suddenly wide awake, sitting up to look at Ward.
"You were doing the classic manoeuvres to lose anyone following you, switching buses, cutting through stores and malls. You even managed to lose me once you were driving. Why?"
Skye stares at him.
"What? Don't you trust me?" His mouth is trying to quirk up into a smile like he's hoping this will turn out to be a misunderstanding or a joke.
Skye blinks. "I –"
His face falls. "You don't fucking trust me," he says, quiet and disbelieving.
"I do," Skye says quickly, moving forward to grab his hands. "I do trust you, with me."
"But not with them, with the knowledge of where the new SHIELD base is."
"And I'm clearly right since you tried to follow me there. That doesn't breed a lot of trust."
Ward just looks at her.
"Can you blame me? You've tried to kill almost all of them," Skye says. "Yes, I trust you with me, but I know you, you always have something cooking and I don't want to be used as a tool against SHIELD."
"When have I ever–"
Skye pulls away. "The drive?" She says it more harshly than she means, and she takes a deep breath. "I know we never talk about what happened between us before, and we don't have to," she continues more gently. "But I need you to understand that my trust only goes so far."
He sighs. "Look, I get it, I do," he says finally. "I just wish things were different."
Skye puts a hand on his knee. "Me too. And maybe we can get there, someday."
He smiles softly and squeezes her hand. The look in his eyes is almost overwhelmingly tender and Skye knows what he's about to say before he says it.
"I love you," he says. "You don't have to say it back," he adds quickly, at the way her lips tighten and her eyes flit away. "I know you're not there yet; I just need you to know that I'm in this for the long run."
When he leans in and kisses her, sweetly and gently, she feels something she doesn't usually with Ward – gratefulness. His patience and understanding would make him, under different circumstances, pretty much the perfect guy. Under different circumstances, they could live a happy, wonderful life.
Under different circumstances.
Skye takes one step toward him and then Ward has cut through the distance between them in an instant. He takes her face in both hands, gently, and then he's kissing her. There's no grace to it – and a lot of teeth – and Skye pulls him closer by his belt loops.
"I was worried," Ward manages to get out between kisses. "You might be mad at me."
"No." She shakes her head. "I should be, but I'm not."
He pulls back for a moment, to see her face, and she takes that opportunity to step back because she asked him here so they could talk about this, not just to fuck.
"I knew you wouldn't actually do it," she says. "That's why I'm not mad at you."
"But you should be?" he asks.
Skye runs a hand through her hair. "Look, this is 1000% a bad idea, and it could – and probably will – end very badly for both of us. And I'm not even sure what this is yet. But I can't stop thinking about it, about you, about what you said." She takes a breath. "That we have a shot."
He nods, slowly. "Yeah?"
"Yeah," she says. "And I think we should take it."
Ward's smile is cautious at first but blooms into something that maybe does make Skye feel something. He's still smiling when she kisses him and something about that has Skye smiling too. They've never kissed like this. It's always been at a vulnerable moment or a we're-about-to-die moment or an I'm-playing-you-because-I-know-you're-Hydra moment. But now they can kiss the way regular people who like each other kiss – happily.
Skye jumps up and wraps her legs around his waist. He holds her tight, one hand under her ass, and he's kissing her and he's smiling and for once it really is like the world outside doesn't exist. It's just them.
He walks over to the bed, and she drops onto it on her back. She bounces twice on the mattress and lets out an honest-to-god giggle. And Ward laughs and pulls off his shirt and climbs on top of her and it's the lightest Skye has felt in ages.
They let themselves be goofy and embarrassing – a whole different type of vulnerability.
Ward fumbles with Skye's bra clasp and she looks at him with a straight face, undoes it herself, and says, "You seem nervous, Agent Ward."
He watches her toss it aside and says, "I'm just calling to mind my training," before latching his lips to the newly-exposed skin.
"Training?" She grins. "Damn, I missed some fun times at the SHIELD Academy, huh?"
And when Skye lets out a small fart about halfway through and Ward just about dies laughing and she threatens to kill him if he doesn't shut up right now, she doesn't mean it. Not even a little bit.
Because Ward has a small freckle on his left collar bone and he smiles like the wholesome boy-next-door football player from every teen rom-com, and he knows more about her and her past than any guy she's even been with and he still looks at her like she's everything he's ever wanted. Even though he knows she's not quite there yet.
Yet.
Because if she thinks about it, really digs down and is honest with herself, she's been falling for him for months. Basically, since she met him. And sure, he fell faster and harder, but she really isn't that far behind. She's just better at hiding. Or, needs to hide it more.
So when the doubts come, after they're done, the disapproving faces in her mind, she curls up against Ward and pushes everything else away. He wraps his arm around her pulls her closer and she focuses on his breathing. The steady sound and feeling as his chest moves, up and down. His heartbeat, too, slows to a steady rhythm.
And he doesn't say anything. He just holds her and waits for her to break the silence.
But she doesn't really want to. This silence between them is so comfortable, she can't imagine interrupting it.
So, for the second time, Skye falls asleep in bed with Ward.
In the days and weeks that follow, Skye learns to balance things. The giddiness of sneaking out like a teenager to meet up with Ward. The inevitable guilt that comes unexpectedly when she interacts with anyone on the team, but especially Fitzsimmons.
She finds it surprisingly easy to lie to everyone and isn't sure how she feels about that. She and Hunter are shooting at the range, and he tells her he's glad she has more self-control than he does because he can – apparently – never resist doing something so scandalous. She asks him if he considers getting back together with an ex-wife scandalous and he shuts up immediately.
Ward smiles more than Skye has ever seen. He tells her stories from his SHIELD training and past missions. She learns that he can be sweet – romantic, even. That doesn't mean that it's always perfect and wonderful. They both have issues and while Skye knows he would never hurt her, she doesn't exactly trust him either.
Skye is careful when she goes out. If she takes a car, she'll usually park it somewhere and take a bus, and then cut through a crowded area and then take another bus or a taxi, both on the way there and back – a looping and disconcerting route to make sure she isn't followed. She tells herself it's mostly so no one from the team finds her, or to make sure anyone who might be watching Ward doesn't follow her back to the base, but it's really for Ward.
As much as he claims not to want to hurt anyone in SHIELD, or take SHIELD down anymore, knowledge of the new base might be too good to pass up. And Coulson was the one who had Ward put into the custody of his brother, which Skye doesn't think he has quite forgiven him for.
So they don't talk about the present, for obvious reasons, or the recent past. Skye doesn't ask what Ward is up to and he doesn't ask her either. It's easier this way; they don't have to lie to each other.
One morning, Skye is humming to herself in the kitchen of the base, and she turns around to find Simons standing in the doorway with a slight smile on her face.
"What?" Skye asks.
Simmons shrugged. "You've been in a very good mood lately."
"Is that a crime?" Skye asks with a grin. "Coffee?"
"Yes, please." She comes in and sits at the table. "It's nice to see you happy."
Skye pours them both a coffee and sits across from Simmons. "It's weird, with everything going on, but I am happy."
"It is nice to live within four walls that just stay securely on the ground."
"Yeah." Skye suddenly sees that containment pod fall from the Bus again while Ward just stands there – she's seen the footage often enough – and then Fitz's reaction to Ward in the vault. She almost drops her mug.
"Skye?" Simmons asks. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, sorry," she says, pulling herself back to the present. "Didn't get a lot of sleep last night."
Simmons smiles again. "Does your good mood have anything to do with the reason you sneak out all the time?"
"What? No." She had thought she was being subtle. "And I don't sneak out, I just go out sometimes. Stable foundations are great and all but they're a bit constricting."
Simmons raises her eyebrows but says nothing more about it.
"How's Fitz doing?" Skye asks.
"Better every day," Simmons says. "I'm so glad he and Mack became friends. Mack is so much better with him than I am."
"I'm sure you guys will sync up again."
Yet another casualty of Ward: Fitzsimmons's relationship.
They rarely go anywhere public. Skye has her reasons – not wanting to get caught by the team, which Ward knows – and Ward has his – which she does not ask about. But today, he says he has a surprise and tells her to meet him at the local park.
Ward is waiting for her near the entrance of the park when she steps off the bus.
"You look nice," he says.
"Thanks," she says. She's wearing a summery blue dress; she decided that if they're going out – as much as going to a park is going out – she might as well dress up a bit. "You don't look bad yourself."
They're a regular-looking couple, walking through the park, hand in hand. Ward guides them through some trees into a clearing. In the center, there's a picnic blanket and a basket.
Skye smiles at him, surprised. "Did you–?"
He grins. "Mm-hm."
She kisses his cheek and pulls him toward the picnic. He's packed tiny sandwiches and strawberries and a bottle of sangria. They sprawl out on the blanket, tossing strawberries at each other and laughing through full mouths. Skye starts to get tipsy by her third glass, and they both get a bit handsy with each other. They make out lazily until they knock over the bottle, leaving a big wet spot on the blanket that they try to avoid, laughing at their clumsiness.
"Do you enjoy riding buses?" Ward asks.
"Mm?" Skye hums, feeling warm and sleepy in the sun. She's laying with her head on his lap, his fingers absentmindedly playing with her hair. She opens her eyes slightly; his tense jaw belies his relaxed demeanour.
"I noticed you always come to the motel on foot, which I thought was weird, since I'm sure SHIELD has at least one vehicle they can spare, so I followed you –"
"What?" Skye is suddenly wide awake, sitting up to look at Ward.
"You were doing the classic manoeuvres to lose anyone following you, switching buses, cutting through stores and malls. You even managed to lose me once you were driving. Why?"
Skye stares at him.
"What? Don't you trust me?" His mouth is trying to quirk up into a smile like he's hoping this will turn out to be a misunderstanding or a joke.
Skye blinks. "I –"
His face falls. "You don't fucking trust me," he says, quiet and disbelieving.
"I do," Skye says quickly, moving forward to grab his hands. "I do trust you, with me."
"But not with them, with the knowledge of where the new SHIELD base is."
"And I'm clearly right since you tried to follow me there. That doesn't breed a lot of trust."
Ward just looks at her.
"Can you blame me? You've tried to kill almost all of them," Skye says. "Yes, I trust you with me, but I know you, you always have something cooking and I don't want to be used as a tool against SHIELD."
"When have I ever–"
Skye pulls away. "The drive?" She says it more harshly than she means, and she takes a deep breath. "I know we never talk about what happened between us before, and we don't have to," she continues more gently. "But I need you to understand that my trust only goes so far."
He sighs. "Look, I get it, I do," he says finally. "I just wish things were different."
Skye puts a hand on his knee. "Me too. And maybe we can get there, someday."
He smiles softly and squeezes her hand. The look in his eyes is almost overwhelmingly tender and Skye knows what he's about to say before he says it.
"I love you," he says. "You don't have to say it back," he adds quickly, at the way her lips tighten and her eyes flit away. "I know you're not there yet; I just need you to know that I'm in this for the long run."
When he leans in and kisses her, sweetly and gently, she feels something she doesn't usually with Ward – gratefulness. His patience and understanding would make him, under different circumstances, pretty much the perfect guy. Under different circumstances, they could live a happy, wonderful life.
Under different circumstances.
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