A/N: The rating is, for now, T, but will probably increase after a while and will be changed as such. This fic can also be found on Archive of Our Own (/works/1069762).

June

It was early when Ward's knuckles rapped against the door of Skye's cubby, five AM according to the clock on the shelf. She was used to being woken up early by Ward, so she'd taken to getting up even earlier, so she'd be dressed and ready to go as soon as he called.

"Meeting!" Ward informed her and she clambered out of her cubby and eyed him.

"What's going on?" she asked, trailing after him all the way to the meeting room.

He ignored her as he moved inside and she sighed because she was used to it, leaning against the table.

"What's the situation?" Ward asked Coulson as soon as they were all settled.

"Undercover mission," said Coulson. "S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ wants two of us-"

"Ooohh, undercover?" Skye said excitedly as Ward pulled his I'm-too-dignified-to-facepalm-but-if-I-wasn't-there'd-be-a-handprint-on-my-forehead face. "I want to do undercover!"

"-to pose as a married couple," Coulson finished, looking directly at Skye.

She got a little smaller. "Nyeh, you know what? I'm good right here. I'm much better uncovered."

Ward side-eyed her.

"I meant like... not under..." she whimpered. "Shut up."

"I didn't say anything," Ward said.

"Fitz and I could do it," Jemma piped up. "We even have our own little language we share, don't we Fitz?!"

Leo squinted one eye closed and looked around at her. "Ix-nay on the telling them about our anguage-lay."

"Yeah, that's not yours," Ward pointed out, "it's Pig Latin."

"Silly, that's not our language!" Jemma exclaimed. "Ours is far more complex, with seventy-eight letters and pictographs and a system of sounds and vowels that sound a bit like-"

"Simmons," Coulson said and she shut up. "They're looking for two who can pose as a normal newlywed couple. Preferably including a specialist, but unfortunately most of the specialists are trained to work alone with leaves-"

"Me," said Ward, narrowing his eyes a little.

"Do you want me to go undercover with him?" Jemma said in abject horror. "Fitz is one thing but-"

"You're not who I was going to suggest," said Coulson.

Ward looked at May, who looked back at him, her face a silent and resolute no. When he looked back, Coulson was looking at Skye, who was mouthing wordlessly.

"No," Ward said instantly. "No way, no."

"For the first time, I have to say I agree with him on this one, AC," said Skye.

"You two," said Coulson. "It's a big opportunity to earn your stripes with S.H.I.E.L.D., Skye, and a good learning environment for training her, Ward."

Ward kept his eyes as narrow slits and didn't say a word.

"...I do want my stripes," Skye said.

Ward looked at her in utter disbelief, then looked back at Coulson. "Do I have to live with her?"

"Yes," said Coulson.

"Do we have to share a show-I mean bed?" Skye whimpered.

Ward eyed her.

"I meant bed," she repeated.

"That's not better!" Ward exclaimed.

"Do you wear pyjamas? You don't seem like a flannel pyjama-y type guy," Skye said. "We'll have to buy you a pair."

"You're assuming I'm going to say yes to this mission," Ward said.

"Of course you are!" Skye exclaimed. "You're being told to by your superior and you're all Mr-I-Do-As-I'm-Told."

"You'd be surprised," Ward said flatly.

May slunk over to Coulson's side. "...are you still sure this is a good idea?"

"Was I ever?" he replied, watching Ward and Skye bitching at each other.

"Before you two commit justifiable homicide," Coulson said, cutting them off.

"You think it'd be justifiable?" Skye said.

"Oh yeah, it'd be justifiable right now," said Ward flatly.

Coulson pinched the bridge of his nose. "Well, before you do it... You two should know the ins and outs of the operation. You'll be going undercover as a married couple in a suburban environment." He pulled up an image of a town on the holographic screen and Skye watched it curiously. "There are several houses for sale, so your first undercover assignment will be to check out the houses, pick and buy one. We'll be giving you a modest stipend, setting you up with jobs and providing you with a selection of objects to bring with you from your last apartment, as well as fake identities, marriage certificates and documentation."

"Okay, but what's the mission?" Ward said as Skye started looking at the houses with interest.

"Couples have been going missing," said Coulson. "S.H.I.E.L.D. have enough reason to believe there's something fishy going on that they want to send two agents and that's enough for us."

Ward nodded, ignoring Skye's excitement over the houses. "Anything else?"

"It's a long-term op," said Coulson. Ward's spine straightened out as he tensed up and Skye looked around at Coulson.

"Long-term?" she said.

"It means it could be anything from six months to years," said Ward, the tension in his body also evident in his voice.

"Years?" said Skye.

"The missing couples have all lived there from between six months to five years," said Coulson, watching the two of them. "If you take the mission, you'll be going deep undercover. You'll be expected to live your covers to the full, so your covers will be tweaked versions of your real histories. We'll arrange dead drops and communication zones, and you'll have a bug-sweeper built into your phones which you'll need to run daily and every time you return home, but other than that you'll not be able to communicate with S.H.I.E.L.D. or us, at all. The houses we've tapped have basements, into which we'll build a gym for the two of you. Ward's cover will be as a fitness instructor at the nearby gym, and Skye will work technical support at a company a few miles away. You'll be expected to integrate into the community, make friends, throw dinner parties, attend barbeques and birthday parties, anything that comes up. You're to live the cover."

"I understand," said Ward, swallowing.

"I don't," Skye said. "How... much do we live it? If we're a married couple, am I signing on for prostitution here or-"

"Skye!" Ward yelped in abject horror.

"I felt I should ask! If there's a bug sweeper then there's going to be bugs and if there's bugs won't they be expecting to overhear certain..." She made an unfortunately explicit hand gesture. "...things between a married couple?"

Ward winced.

"Probably," said Coulson, "but that doesn't require actually doing it. You can fake the sounds. It can be quite a bonding exercise, actually."

May's lips quirked a tiny bit and Ward squinted at her as Coulson coughed into his hand. "Well that was too much information right there," said Skye.

"The fact is," said Coulson, "the op doesn't need to start for a week or two. I want you two to take some time, both alone and together, and consider the options. Consider if you really want to do this and if you're comfortable enough with each other to pull it off. Discuss it between yourselves. If you take the mission, we'll be your handlers and take care of all the other missions while you're gone. We'll take dead-drops to S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ ourselves, and we'll have you monitored at all times. You'll never be alone. We'll have your backs."

Ward nodded curtly and Skye looked at Coulson without a word.

"If you have any questions, you can come and ask me," he said, directly to her. "Any time."

"Thanks," she murmured.

"Let's leave them to talk," Coulson said and stepped away from the table, May moving with him. "Fitz. Simmons."

Jemma and Leo snapped their gaze up, blinked a few times and hurried out after the two.

Skye turned her gaze back to the houses. "I've never had a house," she said. "Well, that's not true. I had one for a month." She reached out and expanded one of the houses so she could take a closer look. "Where is this anyway... looks nice..."

"I don't think you have an accurate idea of what this is going to be like," Ward said. "You're not an agent and we're not even friends, and you want to go into a high-pressure undercover assignment where we pretend to be married?"

She looked around at him, meeting his eyes. "I'm your friend."

He swallowed but other than that his face didn't change. "We don't get along."

"We get along fine." She turned her gaze back to the hologram. "Do you wanna do this mission or what?"

"I do what I'm told," he said. "I think it needs doing and I'm the best man for the job. So, yes, I want to do this mission."

"Can you cope with being in close proximity of me for five years?" she asked, looking back at him.

"I can do my job," he replied.

She made a noise of amusement and closed the hologram. "I'm going to get Coulson to give me a run-down of the mission to read over and make a decision. I'll come talk to you if I need to ask any questions."

Ward nodded and looked at her. "Come to my bunk tonight."

She made a squeaky noise and eyed him. "Exsqueeze me?"

He rolled his eyes. "We need to be able to share a bed. I'm not getting into this op if the first thing we find out is we're incompatible sleepers. Share with me tonight. I'll even wear pyjamas." He raised an eyebrow at her.

She laughed just a little and nodded. "All right," she agreed. "What time do you turn in?"

"Ten," he said. "On the dot. Don't be late!" He pointed at her as he turned, then he walked away.

Skye looked at where the hologram of the house had once been, swallowed and walked away too.

She stepped over to Ward's bunk five minutes before ten and opened it up, peering inside. Hers was messy, her meagre possessions strewn all around, clothing too, but his was immaculate, with his stuff in the drawers under the bed and on the shelves at the end of it. His screen was turned off and the blind was pulled down, and she found herself realising just how small the bed was, not a full king like they'd be sharing in the house, but more of a twin.

"Problem?" Ward said as he stepped up behind her.

"No," she retorted. "You want the side by the window or the side by the door?"

"Door," he said. She nodded and crawled onto the bed, ass in the air in her pink pyjamas, and sat down by the window, feet bare and pants riding halfway up her shapely calves. Ward squinted at her then sat down on the bed and pulled the cubby door closed.

And then he pulled his shirt off.

"Whoa! Hey! Dude! What're you doing?!" Skye yelped, turning her gaze away.

"We're going to be sharing a house," he said. "If you can't deal with a locker room situation..." He started unbuckling his pants.

"You promised pyjamas!" she all but wailed at him, eyes screwed closed.

"I change in my bunk," he said. "You arrived early. I didn't expect you to be early."

"I didn't want to let you down," she said, opening her eyes and focussing her gaze on the pillow. She could see him stripping down to his underwear in the corner of her eye.

"That makes a change," he replied, pulling on a t-shirt. "This okay by you?"

She faltered and looked around. He'd put on a fresh, black t-shirt, and he had some boxers on. "That's fine," she said. "Are these okay?" She gestured at her soft pink pyjama pants and vest.

"You're fine," he promised. He scooted up the bed and lay down on his back and she watched him for a moment before turning and lying down beside him. They both watched the ceiling without speaking, Skye counting the lines, lips mouthing the numbers without making a sound.

"What're you doing?" She turned her head and Ward had been watching her.

"I was just..." She gestured at the ceiling. "Counting."

"Counting... the ceiling?"

She shook her head. "There're grooves, lines, I dunno what they are, but... I count, to sleep, I... count."

He didn't take his eyes off her. "Most people count sheep."

"I can't count imaginary animals," she said. "Doesn't work for me. I have to have something physical to count or I can't sleep."

"How high do you count?" he asked.

"Not high," she said. "Twenty or thirty. There're fifty-five grooves up there, it's enough."

"Are you obsessive-compulsive?" he asked.

She laughed out loud. "Oh, god no!" she exclaimed. "Have you seen my bunk? Nooo. I'm not OCD at all, I just... it's just a habit to me, from St. Agnes."

He nodded understandingly and reached down, pulling the covers over them both. "If tonight isn't a bust," he said. "I'm okay with doing the mission if you are."

She looked back at the ceiling. "I am," she said. "I want to. I really do. I want to earn my stripes and I want to do a good thing and you need someone on your team for this and I want to be that person."

Ward nodded and glanced at the clock. "I'm going to sleep now," he said and rolled over, his back to her.

She didn't take her eyes off the ceiling, starting over her counting.