She would’ve liked to have been like everybody else. Once upon a time, she certainly would’ve been. Although maybe that would’ve been back when she’d been Skye, Rising Tide hacktivist, and superheroes had been something she obsessed over, not anything she’d ever dreamed of being herself.
Instead, she was hiding here, telling herself that this was ridiculous. She had no reason to be embarrassed, not really. This was nothing that didn’t happen to everyone who was famous, she knew that. Most of them just never thought about it. Daisy would’ve been perfectly happy to have never had to think about it as applying to herself.
Unfortunately, Coulson had to decide to give his old friend a full tour of the place. Maybe he figured she’d map out all the corners anyway and so wanted to present them on his own terms. She heard his voice outside, nonstop stream of talk, and then, “And here’s the lab,” and Daisy turned around just in time to see Natasha Romanov step in.
She had thought, before, that she would be unable to look at her and think anything other than, There are people on the internet who write and draw pictures of us having sex.
Except that she was standing there, in a jumpsuit much like the ones she would’ve worn on missions during her own days in S.H.I.E.L.D. which happened to look really flattering on her, and her flame-red hair was just the right length to float down her head and rest on her shoulders, drawn up to her full height with graceful strength, and eyes piercing, and Daisy’s first thought was instead, Wow.
Then she realized what she was thinking, and found herself desperately hoping she wasn’t turning as red as that gorgeous hair as she cursed Sam Koenig to Hell for putting these damn thoughts in her head. They wouldn’t have happened otherwise, she was sure. If Daisy had never exactly been a 0 on the Kinsey Scale, she didn’t have this reaction to women the first time she laid eyes on them.
Well, not usually. She thought.
“You’re Quake, I believe,” said Romanov, way too calm, and really, Daisy hated being famous.
“She really prefers to be known as Daisy Johnson,” said Coulson, looking at her with considerable concern, which just made the whole situation even worse. She couldn’t tell him what she was stuck thinking about. He would probably be traumatized.
“Well, Agent Johnson,” Natasha came forward, and Daisy tried to pull herself together. “I’ve heard plenty about you from multiple sources.” She sounded far too amused. Surely, Daisy thought, those sources didn’t include that. Even if this women possibly surveyed the fanfiction written about her for strategic purposes, surely there was more written about her and her teammates. Hell, she was probably written with everybody. She wouldn’t think a bit of Daisy/her too significant, would she?
She offered her hand, so of course Daisy had to take it. She felt warmth run up her arm from it.
Sam Koenig had better make sure she never found him again. She was going to drop a pair of buildings on him. And possibly also the Zephyr.