antoine triplett + jemma simmons
ice skating!
PG (for a couple cuss words?) | complete
When he’d found out there was ice skating, it took hardly any time before Trip was wrangling Jemma into an outing. Now that he knew what the future held for him, he wasn’t planning to waste any time. These few weeks -- and, possibly more -- were a blessing. Every day, he woke up with his gran’s words of wisdom in his head, inspiring him to live every day to the fullest. He wasn’t going to dwell. He was going to live.
“I don’t think I’ve done this since I was about ten,” he commented, wobbling a little as he stepped out onto the ice. “Don’t laugh too hard when I make an ass out of myself, because I guarantee you, that’s gonna happen.”
Jemma, who’d done very English things like this as soon as her back healed, stepped confident onto the ice and took Trip’s hand. They looked a bit comical, he so tall and unsteady, she so close to the ground and consistent.
“Angle your ankles like so,” she said, demonstrating the right angle for him. She pushed off the ice and began to glide backward. “Come now, Trip!”
Trip grimaced as he followed her, noting how she coasted with ease while he still felt shaky. “Some agent I am,” he grumbled, though he wasn’t entirely serious, “shouldn’t I have more coordination than this?” He tagged along as best he could, feeling warm and alive despite the chill in the air. They’d never gotten to do anything like this before, and the knowledge that they’d never get to do anything like it in their world sat heavily on his shoulders, no matter how hard he tried to forget.
Here, a battle raged on -- but there were other people to help, too. It wasn’t them against the world anymore. “I think I’m getting the hang of it.”
Reaching out to him, she coaxed him forward by slowing her momentum and giving him one of her best charming British lady smiles. “Just keep moving forward, Trip. You might not have coordination on the ice right now, but you’ll find the right rhythm and get there.” Of this Jemma had little doubt.
“You can triple lutz in twenty minutes -- I’ll bet you a beer.”
“You’ve got a deal.” Trip grinned at her - wickedly, like he was sure of himself and knew something she didn’t. “I don’t even know what that is, so you’re gonna owe me that one.”
One of the things that had been overwhelming about being in Atlantis was how much time had passed for all of his friends, but being there with Jemma made it easy to forget about all of that distance and time. It’d taken no time at all for it to feel like it always had, with her and with Daisy. “Can I ask you something?”
“Ask me anything,” she told him, angling her skates in a serpentine pattern. A child wobbled close by and she was able to reach a hand out to steady him while she moved. Again, it wasn’t that she was ever so good. It was simply that a lifetime spent staring at the sky and dreaming of a day one could get out of bed meant that one generally did what one wished. Within reason.
“I’ll always answer honestly as I can.”
“Are you -” He wanted to ask if she was happy, but she’d gotten married since he’d been gone, so she had to be, right? At least enough for that? And there was a timeline in which she and Fitz had a kid in Atlantis, so it couldn’t be all bad, right?
But Trip knew there was more to life than that, so he swallowed his pride and asked, “are you happy? Is Skye- Daisy? I know I’ve been gone a while,” he hadn’t referred to it with Jemma before, choosing to instead live in the moment, “so I want to be sure my girls are taking care of themselves.” He knew they didn’t need anyone else to do that for them.
Jemma remembered how safe she felt when Trip was near. She remembered the pure sunshine of his friendship and his presence in the Framework. So, she took a deep breath and schooled her face into a smile.
“We miss you. We are doing the best we can.” By the time she said this, her ice skates had stilled and she stood in front of him with pale and tear-stained eyes.
“We miss you,” she repeated softly.
Trip knew what her answer would be just from her smile alone, a little strained. By the time she stopped to look at him, he wished he hadn’t dredged up all the bad memories and all the pain.
He reached out to pull her in for a hug, even though his balance was as wobbly as her smile had been. “I’m sorry,” he murmured, his brow knitted in a deep frown. He hadn’t meant for it to happen that way. He’d meant to have a long career and to retire and maybe raise a family. “I hope you all know, the time I spent with y’all? It was the best of my life.”
That hug knocked the stuffing out of Jemma. She held tightly to him and attempted to keep her emotions in check. But the truth was, all she wanted to do was convince him that staying was worth it. We can be a family again … Muffled in the crook of Trip’s shoulder came Jemma’s response: “It shouldn’t be past tense!”
“No, it shouldn’t be,” he agreed, chuckling lightly. “It doesn’t have to be. I’m still here.” Trip knew everyone wanted him to stay. If he stayed through Christmas and beyond, maybe what he had with the team would get to continue. Even through there were years in between them all, the team still felt the same at its core. They were still family.
Trip’s balance wobbled again, and he pulled back from the hug a little, trying to use her to steady himself. He overcorrected, however, and mumbled, “oh shit --” before hitting the ice with a thump.
As Trip lost his balance and fell on the ice, Jemma managed to remain upright by bending her knees and angling her skates out. She took one look at them and then burst out laughing, as if the joy and the gut punch to her emotions of having him here needed that quick release of tension. “Oh I’m so sorry I’m laughing!” she wheezed, offering her hand to him to help him back up. She rocked back on her heels, intending to haul him to his feet.
“You could stay with us!”
It was admirable, really, that Jemma wanted to help him up, but Trip was laughing too hard at himself to make it to his feet right away. He just sat there instead, letting the cold seep through his pants.
He could only stand it for half a minute before reaching out to take her hand and pull himself up. “You’re planning on telling everyone that I’m not perfect, aren’t you?” he asked, grinning brightly up at her. He was pointedly avoiding her comment; he knew what they wanted, and didn’t want to dwell on it. He knew there were more pros than cons on that list. He still couldn’t shake the what ifs, however. What if that wasn’t the only timeline? What if there really was more out there, and they just didn’t know it yet?
She shook her head vigorously, deciding in a moment that she would sit with him on the ice. As soon as her backside hit the cold surface, she grimaced … but maintained her stoic resolve.
“I keep secrets, Trip.”
“You’re gonna regret that in about… five… four…” he counted down, challenging her to stay put. He knew she’d do it. She wouldn’t back down. “Gotta say, though, kinda nice having company down here, even if we’re about to be in the way of everyone else trying to skate.”
And as of on cue, a skater showered them with ice shards from their quick stop and she leapt up with her fist raised, prepared to defend them.
“Oi! This isn’t the damn Olympics, you twat! Skate on!”
“Whoa, whoa.” Mid-laugh, Trip struggled to his feet again and reached out to lower her fist. “Let’s not get arrested for getting into a fight. Now that would really be embarrassing.” He had no idea how someone could pack such a punch in such a small form. Jemma and Daisy were both like that, both of them spitfires. “C’mon. Show me some fancy moves instead. I know you’ve got it in you.”
Jemma appreciated Trip’s ability to distract her -- because the truth was, she wanted to skate after the offender and throttle them within an inch of their sorry lives. But she grinned at him sheepishly instead.
“ … okay, okay. I used to be able to do a toe loop. How about a flying camel instead? All this has been years, you know.” Because she expected that Trip had read her file (had known about the scoliosis, about the time in bed, about making up for things with every lesson under the sun), she spoke confidingly. “You’ll catch me if I flub it?”
Trip laughed. He hadn’t been expecting anything as elaborate as a toe loop or a flying camel (whatever that was), but if she wanted to show off to that extent…
“Sure, just be careful,” he warned. “And don’t go so far that I can’t catch up.”
Jemma turned and pushed off from the ice, building slight momentum as she skated a small circle around Trip. Leaning forward, she extended one arm and one leg so that she was balancing on her inside skate. She held this for a good ten seconds before a wobble sent her back to having both feet on the ground. She used her pick to stop close to Trip and with an exhilarated and rosy smile, she nodded.
“ … I need you to know that whatever happens, whatever you decide, we love you. We’re always going to love you.”
Quick with his hands, Trip pulled his phone out of his pocket so he could capture the moment on video -- so that no matter what happened, there was always a reminder of that perfect moment.
He caught just a hint of her smile, too. Just because.
“Hey.” He reached out to grab her hand, and he squeezed it gently. “I know. Feeling’s mutual, right? Always was, always will be. Nothing’s ever gonna change that.” It was important to him that she knew that -- that the entire team knew that. The few regrets he had weren’t really important in the end. The way they’d met might have been a mess, but Trip wouldn’t have changed that at all. It had made them family, for better or worse. “Now come on. Teach me some of your moves.”