Simmons is straddling Ward’s hips when he asks about her and Fitz.
“Is now really the time?” she asks breezily, brushing her lips against the skin beneath his collarbone. Ward smirks, runs his fingers lazily down her sides.
“What can I say? I’m curious.”
Simmons sighs and lifts herself off of his lap. She rolls her eyes as he pouts. “You asked.”
Ward sits up, buttons his pants, and leans against the headboard. “It’s friends with benefits, isn’t it? That’s your arrangement, right?”
Pulling her shirt over her head, Simmons laughs. “Take away the friends bit and you’re getting there,” she tells him, patting his leg. “Fitz and I are lovers.”
“Lovers? What’re you doing with me then?”
“We’re lovers, Grant, not husband and wife.”
Ward sits a little straighter. “You know, your mouth moves and words come out, but it’s like you’re speaking a different language.”
“You’re a simple one, aren’t you?” Simmons taunts, grinning widely. “Will it make sense if I tell you that Fitz and I love each other, but we aren’t in love?”
“No,” Ward deadpans. “You can’t be close to someone, be intimate with them, but not be in love with them.”
“Sex is just an act,” Simmons tells him. “Just chemistry.”
“So is love,” Ward reminds her. “Love is just a chemical reaction. You can’t separate them.”
Simmons shrugs slightly. “If you don’t understand it already, then you never will. Fitz and I love each other; we’re best friends and partners, and occasionally – well, frequently, actually – we have sex. But he’s not my ‘One’, and I’m not his.”
Ward frowns, mulling it over. “Well that seems…complicated.”
Simmons giggles. “Grant, you are quite possibly the simplest person I’ve met.” She slots herself between his legs and kisses him affectionately. “I bet you see the world in black and white; no shades of grey.”
“That’s how the world is, Jemma, not my choice to see it that way.”
“Aliens invaded New York, and there are billionaires flying around in metal suits and you still think the world is black and white?”
“My world is,” Ward says quietly, and kisses her. Simmons enjoys kissing him; Ward might be a hard son of a bitch in the field but here, in bed like this, he’s soft. He kisses like he’s dying, like every touch is his last. Simmons likes that.
She pulls away, props herself up. “There’s no easy way to tell you this, but there are so many shades of grey in this world that your head might explode. A man affected by gamma radiation turns into a volatile green monster whenever he’s angry and he spends his weekends rescuing stray animals. Tony Stark creates a multi-billion dollar weapons industry and gives it up because of a morality kick. Nothing is simply one thing or another; and Fitz and I are not in love.”
“But you sleep together and you work together and you–”
“Love each other, in the same way you love your best friend or you love an animal. We have a bond, simple as that.”
Ward still looks confused. “And you have sex?”
“Yes, hon. This is the 21st century, people do that now. You don’t need love to have sex; I sleep with you, don’t I? And you sleep with Fitz. Do you love him?”
Ward scoffs. “God, no. I just… like having sex with him. And you.”
“Exactly,” Simmons says, kissing his nose. “There’s chemistry, you act on it, that’s all it is. That’s all it is with me and Fitz.”
“So you’re friends with benefits?” Ward asks, quirking an eyebrow.
“Yeah, basically, I just wanted to confuse you,” Simmons laughs, shrieking playfully as Ward drags her back down into a deep kiss. Simmons just knows she’s not going to get her work done today.