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Karaoke nights were a rare occurrence around the base. They happened only if the team wasn't on an "end of the world" kind of mission, so they all cherished them wholeheartedly.
Tonight was one of those infrequent nights. While Coulson set up his precious karaoke machine, everyone settled down in the common area. Daisy and Y/N were together, as they always were, sitting next to one another on the big couch. The two were inseparable, the best of friends, two pieces of one single being, like Fitz and Simmons.
Hunter arrived, bringing a cooler full of beer, followed by Bobbi, who carried the eight boxes of pizza as if they were filled with feathers. The group cheered when they saw them enter the room, and Fitz ran to Bobbi to take three of the boxes and then started passing the food around.
Y/N grabbed a slice of pizza just as Coulson finished. He rubbed his hands together in satisfaction. "Who's going first?" he asked as he fished a beer from the cooler.
"Y/N!" said everyone in the room with one voice. It wasn't a mystery that Y/N was the best singer of the bunch; after all, singing was what kept her from sleeping on the streets when she was younger, so she loved to do it anytime she had the chance.
She gave her pizza a quick bite and stood up. "Alright," she said, handing her slice to Daisy for safekeeping. Daisy bit into it playfully, and though Y/N protested, the fact that she was laughing just encouraged the brunette to take another bite.
"Do you have anything in mind?" asked Mack. "Because I'd love to suggest a song."
"I do, actually. I think Coulson's going to like this one." Y/N grinned as she took the microphone, looking at him.
Daisy frowned, curious about what her best friend had chosen. She picked at her brain to recall the music Coulson liked, but nothing of the sort was something Y/N would sing on a normal day, let alone Karaoke Night.
"I am?" asked the man.
"I think so. I've heard you play it a few times in your office. It's really different from my usual picks, but I like it," Y/N replied as she searched for the song on the list. "Ah! Got it. Ready?" she asked, clearing her throat before starting.
"Please!" exclaimed Simmons.
Y/N hit play, and the Frank Sinatra song started playing. Sounds of amusement came from around the room. Even Daisy, who knew Y/N so well, was surprised by the song choice.
Coulson's face lit up the moment he heard the first note playing. "You're right, I love it!" he said, smiling widely.
"Told you," Y/N replied.
"This is definitely not your style. Are you turning all old-timey on me?" asked Daisy teasingly.
The song's intro wasn't too long, so it was almost time for her to sing. "Shut up, flower," Y/N managed to reply with a laugh before starting.
Flower. That was the nickname Y/N had given Daisy when she changed her name. Y/N was the only one allowed to call her that, so she used it to her advantage anytime she could.
Y/N closed her eyes and started singing, not needing to read the lyrics on the screen: "I know I stand in line until you think you have the time to spend an evening with me." She let her melodic, beautiful voice fill the common area. It traveled through the air and extended to every corner of the room.
As the sound reached her, Daisy allowed herself to close her eyes as well, taking advantage of the fact that Y/N couldn't see her. She had always liked her friend's voice, but ever since she got her powers, Y/N's singing pierced through her heart like one of Cupid's arrows. Her ability to feel vibrations made it so she could sense it on every bone, every muscle, and every nerve, and she was addicted to how good it felt.
"And if we go someplace to dance, I know that there's a chance you won't be leaving with me." Her tone adjusted to the tune perfectly, making it sound as if it belonged to her. "And afterwards, we drop into a quiet little place and have a drink or two". She opened her eyes and looked at Daisy, knowing that the next part belonged to her and her only. "And then I go and spoil it all by saying something stupid like 'I love you'".
She had lied, of course, when she said that she picked the song because of Coulson. This song said precisely what she felt for Daisy, and if she couldn't say it, she was determined to sing it. It told the story of the dilemma she was going through—how she thought that by expressing her feelings, she would lose Daisy forever and ruin their friendship for good.
Bobbi, who was sitting on the armrest of the smaller couch, elbowed Hunter, having noticed what had just happened. "Did you see that?" she asked him in a loud whisper.
"See what?" he asked with his mouth full of pizza.
"How Y/N looked at Daisy. I think she likes her!"
"That's old news, love," he replied. Y/N had confessed her feelings for her best friend to Hunter not long ago, and despite how out of character it may seem, he had kept her secret until now.
"Wait, you knew about this?" Mack chimed in; he was sitting next to Bobbi on a simple chair. "I always suspected it, but I'm glad I was right. Do we know if the feeling's...you know...mutual?" he asked.
"No idea," Hunter replied.
"I practice every day to find some clever lines to say to make the meaning come through, but then I think I'll wait until the evening gets late and I'm alone with you." Y/N continued, unaware of the conversation going on around her. "The time is right; your perfume fills my head; the stars get red; and, oh, the night's so blue. And then I go and spoil it all by saying somethin' stupid like, 'I love you'"
Daisy couldn't help but look at Y/N as her friend sang the words she so desperately wanted to hear directed at her. They had said "I love you" to each other a million times, but never in the way Daisy so deeply wanted.
The short instrumental interlude interrupted Y/N's singing, which Hunter saw as an opportunity to sneak a little dance with her. He jumped from his seat and chivalrously offered his hand to her. She took it with a giggle, and they both started dancing in circles while the rest of the team cheered.
As her feet moved along with Hunter's, who was the closest she had ever had to a big brother, all she could imagine was what would happen if she had the courage to do this with Daisy.
When it was time for her to sing again, Y/N pushed the man aside to have the imaginary stage for herself. Hunter went back to his seat just in time to hear Simmons, who had caught up to their previous conversation, say to Mack:
"I don't know. I've never seen anything out of the ordinary. Though I do hope she does, they'd be perfect together!"
"I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you." Y/N sang the last stanza, her eyes closing again to focus. Daisy looked at her, lost in how beautiful she looked, and sang the words with her in a whisper, dumbly smiling.
"Look!" exclaimed Jemma.
"Oh, she definitely does," added Bobbi.
"We have to do something about this. We can't let them just silently like each other forever," said Mack.
Everyone in the room clapped after Y/N's performance ended. People asked for another song, but she declined, wanting to give her friends a chance. Coulson stood up from beside Daisy, which is where he was sitting, and took the microphone from Y/N's hands. As she went back to her seat, she found only the crust of her pizza was left—the only part Daisy didn't like.
"Pizza thief," she whispered to the brunette, taking another slice from the pizza box on the coffee table before them.
"Yes," Daisy said proudly, "and you love me for it."
"Oh, I so do," said Y/N sarcastically. But oh, how she actually did.
"Alright," Coulson interrupted their moment, speaking into the mic. "Now that we heard the only person in this whole base who can actually sing, who wants to go next?"
"Daisy!" Mack, Bobbi, Hunter, and Simmons yelled together.
"Me? Why me?" asked Daisy.
"Oh, you'll see," Mack replied. "And please, choose a love song."