NIGHTTIME LOVERS

Skye was trying to make a dent in her paperwork; putting it off for two weeks meant she had a lot. Now when she was sitting at her desk with no excuse to put it off any longer, she wished she could put it off for longer - she was realistic, she wouldn't vow that she'd do it when it came in, in the future.

She was typing out a mission report when her phone started buzzing. Probably Simmons wanting to watch a movie. She wanted to go - she really did - but Coulson had threatened to take her off field duty if she didn't do her paperwork. Her phone kept buzzing and it was making it even harder to focus, maybe it was Fitz wanting her expertise on programming a new device? Buzz, buzz, buzz; it could be important, Skye reasoned, finally reaching for her phone.

Bobbi.

Skye bit her lip, hesitating for a moment before answering. It was Bobbi, of course she was going to answer.

"Hi." Skye leaned back in her desk chair, spinning herself and looking up at the ceiling as she spun.

"Hey." Bobbi's voice was soft, dejected, it made Skye stop her chair from spinning and sit up straight.

"What's up?" Why was she calling her when she was literally in the same building, probably only three or four rooms away.

"Hunter said he's held up on his mission." The tone of her voice clearly said she didn't believe that. Skye didn't really believe it either. Hunter was held up because he wanted to be, he wanted to spend more time off base, he was choosing to be off-base for so long, away from Bobbi for so long every time. He was spending more time off-base than on it, always in a hurry to leave as soon as he got back. "Skye?" She'd been silent for too long, glaring into space and cursing Hunter's stupidity. Because he had to be stupid to leave someone like Bobbi waiting.

"I'm here."

"Could you be here?" The request is simple; stop being at her desk, start being three-maybe-four rooms away, where Bobbi was.

The truth is more complicated.

"Yeah." Skye doesn't even both to shut her computer down, already halfway out the door before she'd answered. The answer was always yes. Always.

Three-maybe-four-actually-seven rooms away, in Bobbi's bunk, the woman is waiting. Skye tosses her phone on the dresser and approaches the bed where the blonde is sitting. Bobbi looks lost and rejected and sad. Until Skye reaches her and it all disappears.

"Hey." Bobbi half-smiled up at her, long fingers reaching out to her.

"Hi." Skye snorted a little, rolling her eyes. How very loquacious of them. Fingers hooked through the belt loops of her pants, pulling her close and sliding her hands around to her ass. Bobbi nuzzled her face against Skye's stomach, inhaling the scent of the fabric softener on her shirt.

Bobbi is sitting on the bed, Skye is standing between her legs, they both just stay there for a moment before Bobbi's hands move up from her ass, up her back, dragging her shirt up along the way. Soft lips touched her stomach and Skye let her fingers fall to Bobbi's blonde hair. Lips trace the bullet scars on Skye's skin and she knows Bobbi is frowning like she always does when she sees the scars. Even with the new Inhuman crisis and Simmons missing and Ward running HYDRA, Bobbi insists they need to be tracking down Ian Quinn and killing - slowly and painfully in her opinion.

Skye tugged at Bobbi's hair lightly, the blonde looked up, quirking an eyebrow up questioningly. Skye rolls her eyes, reaching for the hem of Bobbi's shirt and lifting. They're both topless and Bobbi's not wearing a bra. Yay! Bobbi scoots back on the bed, undoing her pants as she moves and Skye is quick to follow, disposing of her own pants and climbing onto the bed too, crawling after the blonde until Bobbi is laying with her head on the pillow, and she's over her, dark hair falling around them and cocooning them in darkness.

Neither of them say anything; they don't need to, they've done this enough that they know each other. Skye kisses Bobbi, soft and tender and intimate. Bobbi arches into Skye's touch, seeking comfort and love and heat. So much heat. So much heat and wetness.

When Bobbi calls her because Hunter doesn't come back from his mission - held up, or delayed, or chasing another lead are always his excuses - she just wants to be warm and loved and have someone take care of her like Hunter never does - like she deserves to be looked after, Skye insists.

Skye's lips nip at her skin, teeth scrape, vibrations roll across her skin. "Skye." Bobbi arches slightly when lips close around a hardened nipple, her voice a quiet, desperate moan.

Vibrations tumble from Skye's fingertips as she spreads Bobbi's legs, feeling the heat and wetness. Skye cradles Bobbi, worships her body, kisses every inch of buttermilk skin, holds her through her orgasms, murmurs words of love and devotion as the blonde falls asleep hours later - long after the sex has finished and they're laying together in bed.

The sun rises as 5:47 the next morning.

Skye is gone by 5:46.

They never talk about it during the day. They never let it affect them; no secret kisses or stolen moments when the sun is up. Because when they sun is up she's Agent Skye - Inhuman, hacker, field Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D - and Bobbi is Agent Morse - Mockingbird, biochemist, Hunter's girlfriend (whatever they're calling themselves).

Skye finishes her paperwork and hands it into Coulson with a pained smile and a promise to get it done on time next time - they both know she won't - and she goes to Tai Chi with May, and she spars Bobbi and it's not awkward or intimate or anything else. Because the sun is up.

Skye smiles and laughs and makes jokes with the rest of the team, and when they have some down time and decide to play board games there aren't any shared looks or secret smiles or inside jokes with Bobbi. Because the sun is up.

When the sun is up, they're colleagues, friends. Just friends, nothing more. Because the sun is up.

Skye is the one to make the call this time, and just like every other time, Bobbi comes. She turns up in her room, still in her lab coat and she drinks in the sight like she's the tallest glass of water in the world and Skye's been stuck in the desert.

Bobbi takes her time to kiss Skye, making sure she's left with absolutely no breath, before stripping them both.

Bobbi uses her tongue and Skye sees stars, crying out her name as she orgasms.

After, when they're both sated and laying together there are murmurs of love and promises to leave their boyfriends - Hunter is coming back to base in a couple of days and Lincoln will start wondering why she hasn't been going to him. They both know they won't, because as soon as the sun comes up, they're back to being friends and nothing more. Just friends.

The promises and murmurs of love are comforting untruths - that's what Bobbi calls them - but when the rises they'll be forgotten and she'll be Agent Skye and Bobbi will be Agent Morse.

Skye doesn't know when the lines start blurring; when does she start staying past sunrise? When does Bobbi start seeking her out before the sun sets? They've never actually talked about the terms of their trysts - because if Skye starts calling it a relationship she knows she'll never be able to come back from that - but they've always been clearly defined; only at night, never talk about it, when the sun is up nothing is happening, when the sun is up they're friends. Just friends.

Except now Skye is staying past sunrise - she wakes up at the same time, but she stays to watch Bobbi's eyes blink open and kiss her in the morning. Now Bobbi is waiting for everyone to leave and will kiss her in the lab or an empty hallway. Now they sit together during board games and movie nights, and they drape over each other and ignore the looks from the others - if they're giving them looks, they don't notice.

The clearly defined lines are blurring and disappearing and Skye is getting so close to calling it a relationship.

So close.

Hunter comes back to base when the sun is up and the lines snap to crystal clarity.

Bobbi smiles at her in the hall, Skye smiles back, they share casual conversation. Bobbi goes to bed with Hunter and Skye goes to bed with Lincoln. Because the sun has set and they're not in a relationship. The sun has set and they're friends. Just friends.

"Skye?" Bobbi's voice is on the other end of the phone.

"Hey." The tiny - not tiny by any stretch of the imagination - fissure in her heart mends a little when she gets the call.

"I miss you." That's all it takes for Skye to be on her way.

Hunter is on a mission, Lincoln is at a training facility with a new Inhuman, the sun has set.

The sun has set.

They smile and laugh and and friends when the sun is up, but the sun has set and they're more than friends now.

"I love you." Bobbi whispers that night when they're tangled together.

"I love you." Skye parrots back with a kiss to her soft lips. Soft kisses, tender touches, promises of forever, sweaty bodies... The sun has set, it's night time.

It's night time and they can admit it; they can admit to love and devotion and promises because it's night time and the darkness swallows everything they say. The night time keeps their secrets, locked in the darkness with the moon and the stars.

The sun rises at 5:58 the next morning. Bobbi wakes before that, enjoying the last of the night, kissing Skye awake, tasting her skin one last time, tumbling them both into orgasm one last time, declaring her undying and unending love one last time.

The sun rises at 5:58, Bobbi slips out of Skye's room at 5:57.

The sun rises and she's Agent Skye and Bobbi is Agent Morse and they're friends again.

Just Friends.

So, someone really needs to restrict my access to country music because I haven't written anything for my other stories in the last two days.

On a completely unrelated note; someone send me a country song request...