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Daisy sat on her chair as she watched her boyfriend spin in a circle, nervously smoothing down his blazer.
“Are you sure I needed a new suit for this?” Sousa asked. “My old one would’ve worked just fine—“
“Relax, Sousa,” Daisy said, grinning. “I know you want this suit. And it’s an investment, since you dudes wear the same suit until it falls apart.”
“Not true. I’ll fix it.” Sousa turned to face her fully. “Are you sure? All that money… on this?”
“Yeah, Danny, I’m sure.” Daisy laughed as she got up, straightening his lapels as they looked at themselves in the tailor’s mirror. “Lookin’ sharp, sweetheart.”
Sousa smiled down at her. “Thank you, Dais,” he said softly. “For… everything.”
She rolled her eyes and pressed a quick kiss on his cheek before going over to the saleslady hovering at the doorway to get the bill. Sousa watched her with careful eyes, tugging on his sleeves and the hem of his pants.
His suit was tailored to perfection. Everything fit just right, down to the last detail. And by god, he loved those cufflinks.
Daisy walked back towards him and Sousa momentarily lost his breath at the way her hair shined in the lamplight. It gave her this sort of ethereal glow, and paired with the reflections in her eye, it almost gave him a heart attack.
“You okay, Sousa?” she asked amusedly, taking his new blazer from him. “You look a little out of it.”
He unstuck his throat. “Just admiring my beautiful partner,” Sousa managed.
Daisy stifled a smile and helped him with his accessories. She paused at his shirt buttons. “I’d ask you to strip, but that might seem a little inappropriate given our current setting,” she said dryly.
“Just a little,” he agreed. “I’ll go behind the curtain.” As Sousa changed, he continued the conversation. “You still going out with Simmons for the dress today?”
“Yep,” Daisy called back, throwing him his pants over the curtain rod. “It’s gonna be fun. And I’ll get you a matching tie, just like for prom.”
Sousa chuckled. “You know, I never got to have a prom.”
“I would say I didn’t either, but I snuck into it by getting a boyfriend who was a senior in my freshman year. In hindsight, he was kinda creepy, but whatever.” Daisy poked her head through the curtain to hand him his shirt and give him a funny look. “You’ve seriously never been to prom?”
He shrugged. “Depression.”
“Oh, yeah.” Daisy walked back out. “Anyways, I’ll be headed out for the Wardrobe in a few hours. Do you want me to get groceries back?”
Sousa hummed. “Depends. Are you going to be carrying a big garment bag?” He came out and tugged Daisy closer to him by the waist. “Because that matters.”
“Well, that depends on whether I find a dress I like or not.” Daisy wrapped her arms around his neck. “And you don’t get to see until the event. Also, we aren’t arriving together.”
Sousa frowned and his heart fluttered with Daisy laughed at him.
“Don’t worry,” she assured him. “Jem and I just want our Cinderella moment. You get to ride with Mack, Coulson, May, and Fitz and Alya. Cutest girl around.” She chuckled. “Um, good luck with Mack, Coulson, and May, though. They’ve been grilling me about settling down with you somewhere deep in the countryside.”
“Would you like to settle down with me somewhere deep in the countryside?” Sousa asked amusedly.
“I’m more of a city girl, to be honest,” Daisy replied, grinning. “But I could be convinced with a lake house with great wifi.”
“Kids?”
Daisy snorted. “Maybe one day. But I don’t think I’m in any sort of mental state capable of making and raising a child. We could get a dog though,” she offered.
“I’ll take it.” Sousa pulled away and extended his arm to hers, letting her link with him. “You said you had a few hours before Simmons came?”
“Is this your way of asking me out on a date, Agent Sousa?” Daisy teased.
He smiled softly. “If I am?”
“You’ve got to try harder than that. You’ve raised my standards.” She leaned on his shoulder. “Good job on that, by the way.”
Sousa adjusted his tie. It was a shade of black that he knew was the SHIELD standard issue for uniforms, and he was slightly nervous to see Daisy in it. She looked stunning in everything, and, well, he was apprehensive at whether he’d be able to stop staring at her throughout the entire night. It wouldn’t look too professional of an agent to stare at his superior with starry eyes. He’d already gotten a laughter-filled warning from Mack the last time they went to another one of these such events.
He leaned on his cane, waiting with Fitz for their respective partners.
“Jemma’s been going on and on about her secret dress,” Fitz told Sousa amusedly. “How beautiful it was, how much I’d like it. But I think I’d like her in anything, you know? Because I love her.”
Sousa nodded. “Daisy too. They seem really excited for their moment, though.”
“We’ve all been through so much,” Fitz sighed, glancing back at his daughter, who was being watched by the rest of the family. “They deserve to have their happiness. Especially the us, um, younger ones.” He chuckled. “Can’t really say that anymore. But the three of us never got prom or anything. So this was an experience. Still, what we missed out on was a lifetime ago.”
“I was talking to Dais about it, and she was a little shocked that I didn’t get the whole prom thing either.” Sousa scratched his ear. “Though it’d be fun, I think, to have a whole party with our friends, dress up, not have to perform for other people. Stare at anyone we want.”
Fitz grinned, nudging him with a knowing glint in his eye. “Mack got you with the professionalism speech, eh?” He leaned in with a conspiring air about him. “When he and Yo-yo first started out, they couldn’t keep their eyes off each other. Nor their hands.”
Sousa stifled a smile.
“It took a while before Jemma and I were all sappy and stuff, but we were a different story.” Fitz beamed down at Alya, who’d come running into the hallway. She didn’t stop at him, though. She ran up the stairs.
Her father followed her with his eyes and his jaw dropped.
“Jemma,” Fitz breathed. “Wow.”
Sousa stepped aside, hiding a wide grin as his friend kissed his wife on the cheek.
“You look amazing, my dearest,” the engineer said quietly.
“And you clean up well, don’t you?” Simmons chuckled as she linked arms with her husband and held her daughter by the hand. She glanced at Sousa with a smile. “Daisy’s coming down in a second. I’ve been told to get a camera ready.”
Sousa nodded and swallowed, leaning heavily on his cane. Please, dear god, let him not drop dead of a heart attack before Daisy walked down the stairs.
Simmons whispered, “Ready.”
Sousa was acutely aware that she was behind him, to the left. He stepped slightly to the side so she could have a better view of Daisy.
He watched the floor as the clock ticked by, and soon enough, they were replaced by the click of high heels walked in by a familiar tread.
Sousa’s head snapped up and—
Wow.
The first thing that went through his mind was how happy she looked, a little flushed and a glad smile on her face as she came down the stairs. The second was the way her hair flowed loosely over her shoulders in dark curls. Her skin seemed to glow in the light of the chandelier. She resembled a goddess.
The third was her dress.
Oh my god, the dress.
He couldn’t breathe.
Fashion was never his thing in the fifties— by god, if a man was interested in fashion back then, he’d be called a homosexual and thrown out on the street— but Sousa still recognized the telltale cut of a dress in that style. The way the skirt would move as Daisy went down each step, the way the silk shone in the light, it was all reminiscent of a dress styled from the years before he was taken out of his timeline.
Time stopped as Daisy stepped in front of Sousa, a rare shy smile on her face as a pink tinge crept up her cheeks.
“So,” she said, “do you like it?”
Sousa didn’t reply, but Daisy got what he meant.
She beamed at him, hands taking his free one. “You shouldn’t stare too much,” Daisy chided humorously. “Mack’s going to give you the talk again.”
“I’m sorry, Dais, I can’t help it,” Sousa said softly. His eyes roved over every detail of her, now that she was closer. “You’re gorgeous.”
“And I got your heart rate up.” Daisy raised a delicate eyebrow at him. “Don’t think I can’t feel it. It’s the loudest heartbeat out of everyone in this building.” She squinted. “Other than the couple fucking in the closet downstairs. But you get what I mean.”
“I do,” Sousa said breathlessly.
Daisy tilted her head, a smile curving the corners of her lips. “So, you like it?”
“I love it,” he replied, gazing into her eyes. “I love you.”
“Aww, you dork.” Daisy looped her arm into his. She let out a satisfied breath. “Shall we?”
Sousa smiled softly at her. “We shall.”