Changes | Marvel

TWENTY TWO. The Struggles of Life

The group of us waited patiently for updates on Coulson and May. Skye was doing some studying on the mission, Tripp was both grazing around the plane and checking in with everyone, Fitz loitering behind Skye and Hunter was kicking a soccer ball around while Mack watched. I was sitting in the chair outside the tech room, swinging my feet back and forth whilst eating a cheese and tomato sauce sandwich. Hey, don't judge me.

"Don't remember Coulson asking you to do extra research on this thing." Tripp comes in, realising that Skye was reading case notes.

"I'm being industrious." She shrugs, tapping away at the tablet.

"Or are you digging into a top-secret mission to find out about the parts they're not telling us?" He questions smartly.

"I'm a good, helpful soldier."

"Well, I happen to appreciate your instinct to be thorough." Hunter stops kicking the ball around, sitting on the small bench that separated the tech room to the outside room. "I myself prefer a pint and a good nap but I'm the lazy type."

"Lazy is not the first word that comes to mind." Skye smirks.

"Dangerous? I understand. But truly, it should be lazy. I just hide it well." He assures her cheekily.

"Think that's what drove away the ex-wife?" Skye asks, making Hunter give her a look.

"See, now you're bringing it back up." Mack sighs, looking tired.

"Ha-Ha, and no. It didn't work out because interspecies relationships are hard. I was a human, whereas she was a demonic hell-beast." I giggle a little, thinking of all the women I've seen come and go from our Malibu house. Some of them were very nasty.

"He doesn't like her." Mack comments, getting the ball chucked at his face, although he catches it in time.

"You don't say." Tripp laughs.

"She's pure evil."

"Hey, at least you got away from your ex. The guy I had a crush on is now the psycho living in our basement." Skye shrugs, her voice growing tight.

"You know, I wish I could relate, but all my exes are awesome." Mack smirks.

"Is that right? I seem to remember an entire year where you had to pretend you liked quinoa." Tripp laughs at his friend.

"Yeah. That was a dark time." He looks off into nothing, wincing as he most likely thought of some memories.

"What's wrong with Quinoa?" I ask, confused. "Have you tried meat covered Quinoa? It's really nice."

"Ever mention it in front of me again, and I won't be afraid to hurt you, girl." Mack warns, giving me a side-eye.

"Sorry." I trail off. Mack throws the ball back at Hunter and they all go back to discussing random things. As I finish up my drink, I see Fitz beginning to mumble to himself, looking over his shoulder. Soon enough, Fitz slowly walks off unnoticed by everyone except for me, alone.

I had never heard of someone imagining their best friend with them, even when they weren't. It was quite odd in a way, because he could obviously see someone that we could. Sometimes, I did kind of wonder if Tony saw me. It wasn't private to the public that a shrink sometimes entered and exited the tower, always leaving with either a sad face or a fed-up one.

About 20 minutes later, red lights and alarms began to go off. The visual on the screen showing that some of the operations on the ship were beginning to shut down on their own.