scars we cover up with paint
(or: Daisy just needs her mom May)
(Agents of SHIELD, post-canon, MayDaisy mother daughter bonding time)
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The first warning sign she should have picked up on was the clenching, gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Melinda May had been out of field duty for so long, she just attributed it to indigestion.
There was a time, years ago, when every warning bell in her body would have picked up on that noticeable gut feeling. That feeling meant action. Danger. Act fast, or else. She had once been able to quickly sort through the causes of it, just by scanning her eyes around the room or noticing discrepancies in her surroundings that her subconscious had picked up on before she could register them.
She would have been checking in on her team when that happened, going through names on her phone and knocking on doors, one by one, until everyone was alive and accounted for. And then she would find out what her intuition was telling her.
That was her past life. That was always being on the move, never predicting the next tragedy, never being able to keep her family safe.
That was then.
This is now.
There was no reason for it. Unless one of her Academy students was secretly harboring evil intentions, the feelings were simply natural and meant nothing.
But now, even with a stomach full from lunch and a good book in hand, the discomfort persisted.
I’m going crazy .
The warning bells continued. She shifted in the chair, hoping it really was just a rare bout of indigestion. Even stood up, stretched her arms up toward the ceiling, then down, folding herself in half until her arms hugged her knees. Stretched from side to side, twisted her torso.
It didn’t help.
Which meant it was probably time to panic.
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The message came before she could pick up her phone to call Mack.
It really wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Simply an update from Agent Payne, assistant head of the space exploration program, explaining as requested that the Zephyr Three just touched down and that the agents were currently being examined at the SHIELD medical facility in Charleston, South Carolina.
Melinda remembered, with a pang, that this was officially the end of the small team’s last mission. After five years flying missions for the space division and at least that many trips around the galaxy, the Zephyr Three and her crew were finally Earth-bound, permanently.
“I’m ready to leave space travel to the younger kids,” Sousa had joked last year at their annual Framework meetup. “I’m like a hundred and ten – You guys think I deserve to retire yet?”
May had seen the emotion-filled look Daisy sent her husband, probably thinking she was being subtle but failing valiantly as usual.
If anyone deserved a nice life of low-stakes office work and training recruits, it was those two. Daniel and Daisy.
She returned her attention to the phone screen and Payne’s message. Glanced over it one more time.
In getting lost in her memories, she had missed the end of it.
Zephyr 3 just landed, the message read. The crew’s headed to the SCMSC for their workups. All healthy at first glance, just tired and ready to be on solid ground again. Don’t want to worry you.. but your girl is anxious to see you. Might be trip related, maybe not. But she asked for you a few times. Let me know if you want a ride down here.
May paused.
Your girl.
She knew Payne was referring to Daisy. It was widely known in SHIELD that the small team had a special, unique, altogether unbreakable bond that rivaled that of even the tightest-knit family. It was forged in the years of insane trials they’d gone through – Events that would have destroyed any weaker souls. They’d lost the people closest to them. Almost lost themselves hundreds of times over. No one could go through all that and not come out changed.
Coulson had sometimes referred to Daisy as the daughter he never had. And although she rarely said it, May had always felt the same.
Your girl.
The girl she’d trained. Protected. Held up when the universe seemed determined to destroy her.
Daisy had never needed May. But she’d always chosen her.
Chosen her to be the mother figure she’d always dreamed of having.
The next text message followed, with perfect timing. And even before she could see the sender’s name, she knew it was from Daisy.
Hey May. Payne said he’d update you, but I’m thinking he’ll downplay things. Need my S.O. right now. Please tell me you’re free. I’ll tell Payne to send the jet.
No emojis, no exclamation points, perfect punctuation, and she hadn't called May her Supervising Officer in years . Something was very wrong, and the thought sent a hot stone down to the depths of her chest.
It only took her seven minutes to pack a small duffel, all while on the phone with Payne, arranging pickup. He also promised to personally call the Academy for her and arrange for a substitute for a few days. She thanked him profusely for that gesture.
Finally she locked the door behind her, stepped out onto her front porch, let out a deep breath, and set her jaw.
On my way, she texted Daisy. Hang in there. I got you.
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read the rest on ao3
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I've been rewatching episodes from agents of s.h.i.e.l.d. from all over the seasons lately and I just wanted to share some random thoughts:
Simmons used to be. such a good character??? I never fucked with her fandom (every time a woc is higher in the narrative than a white girl the racists come out to play and they are NOT original about it smh), but her actual character? before she became completely subsumed to The FitzSimmons unit?? I'm in mourning here, people.
I actually caved and watched the episodes I had left from season 6. this means that I finally found out how Flint (darling <3) came to be in the present. otoh, I love it! I love that Mackelena ~made him up with their minds + the monolith of creation, that this means there's a Flint in the alternate timeline still being a hero and helping rebuild earth. on the other, this makes me wish he'd been in season 7 even more. those themes of identity, "am i even real?" are my catnip. we did get that with lmd!Coulson, of course, but why not both *-*
this rewatch reminded me that I used to ship May and Daisy-then-Skye A LOT back in season 1 lmao. *sighs* my lesbian age gap ships keep getting mother-zoned smh. I'll compensate for this by sexualising (even) more surrogate mother-daughter pairings from now on (I'm doing my part on my original stories. trust me).
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Chapters: 20/?
Fandom: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Phil Coulson/Melinda May, Phil Coulson & Melinda May, Phil Coulson & Melinda May & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Melinda May & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Phil Coulson & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Leo Fitz & Jemma Simmons & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Melinda May & Natasha Romanov, Natasha Romanov & Skye | Daisy Johnson
Characters: Phil Coulson, Melinda May, Skye | Daisy Johnson, Leo Fitz, Jemma Simmons, Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Clint Barton, Maria Hill, Bobbi Morse, Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie, Antoine Triplett, Steve Rogers, Nick Fury, Other Avengers, Grant Ward, Jiaying (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Lian May (Marvel), William May
Additional Tags: Phil Coulson & Melinda May are Skye's Parents, Skye | Daisy Johnson Needs a Hug, Jemma Simmons & Skye | Daisy Johnson Friendship, Leo Fitz & Skye | Daisy Johnson Friendship, Saint Agnes Orphange, What Happened in Bahrain (Marvel), Parent Phil Coulson, Parent Melinda May, Father-Daughter Relationship, Mother-Daughter Relationship, mama may
Summary:
The nuns had called her Mary Sue Poots. She had hated that name. Who in their right mind gives a kid such a horrible name?
She had been called trouble-maker, rebellious, problem child and so much more.
When she ran away, she chose a new name for herself – a name that didn’t make her feel insignificant. So, she became Skye.
But it was a lie, she knew that. She was not Mary Sue; she was not Skye; looking at her reflection in the mirror, she wondered – Who Am I?
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May's potential betrayal from Daisy's perspective isn't talked about nearly enough.
When you think of the character that would take the hardest hit, obviously Coulson is the first to come to mind. They have the history, the established and complicated relationship, and we see the anger and the fallout of that single moment where he doesn't know whether he can trust her or not.
What’s not really dwelled on, however, is Daisy's reaction.
She and May might not have the same kind of history or well-defined relationship, but there is something there. Something you'd imagine to be pretty important to a girl who's never had a stable "home", let alone a positive female/mother-like role model. If May had ended up being the Hydra mole, this image she'd constructed of her, this almost unwavering belief in her would've crumbled.
During the confrontation scene, you can even see the fear on Daisy's face. She's not mad like Coulson is or even scared in the same way Fitz is, she looks genuinely heartbroken and betrayed because not only did she look up to May, but in order to get closer to her she had to open herself up in a different way than she did with the rest of the team (essentially compensating for how two people might open up to each other seeing as May wasn't doing any of it) and for someone who grew up the way Daisy did, opening herself up that way left her incredible vulnerable, and for that to be wasted like it might've when she was younger and naive is terrifying to her.
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do you think you could maybe, possibly, hopefully, come up with a maydaisy ‘angsty short oneshot’? 👀
Hey anon!! Sorry this took me about a million years to get to! I actually have never written a strictly maydaisy fic before, so that was a learning curve...... and I've been on SUCH an OUAT/Rookie kick lately that it took me a hot second to shift into AOS gear again :)
HOWEVER. Here it is!! Somewhat less angsty than I would have liked, but the muse does what the muse will do. And hopefully I'll find the motivation to write something much angstier someday.
Have a wonderful day, and I hope you enjoy it! <3
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🌸 your lie in april 🎹
~ teenage!skye ~ street kid!skye ~ pianist skye ~ pianist melinda may ~ jemma & skye & fitz & trip friendship ~ bad girl shenanigans™ ~ matt murdock & skye siblingship ~ tumblr tag(s): agents of shield; ylia au ~
Summary:
We all have a war inside us. Sometimes it keeps us alive. Sometimes it threatens to destroy us.
The woman who aimed for the 'top' and the girl who looked for 'infinity'.
They were one of the few to find it. How they were going to survive their wars — it was where the other went.
But 'happy ever after' doesn't always mean 'forever'. Sometimes it just means time. Or in their case: a little time.
OR:
One day in April, Melinda May met a really weird pianist. Her name was Skye.
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