cause I only saw you, once in December, I'm still confused

[pre season 6 ish]
*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*

"Mack!" Rose shouted, following him down the hallway of the Lighthouse. "MACK!" she said even louder, but the man still didn't turn around. Rose groaned as she continued to follow him. "Oh come on Mack, I know you can hear me right now, and I have a few complaints that I'd like to file with you, okay?" Rose's words were once again met with a bout of silence. Rose bit the corner of her cheek, she should've known he was going to ignore her. Again. "Jesus christ, Mack, just turn around," she mumbled.

        Mack sighed, stopping in the middle of the hallway. He slowly turned around to look at the young woman. "It's director now, Rose, you know that," he told her.

        Rose scowled, "Oh so you turn around just to tell me off?" she asked, placing her hand on her hip. Mack looked her up and down, a stern look on his face. The woman gulped, "Sorry, director, I uh, I just had a few um, questions about this mission you want to put me on," she finished quietly.

        Mack raised his eyebrow at her, "You have questions?" he repeated.

        "Uhhhh," Rose sounded quietly, losing all her confidence that she had thirty seconds ago. "Yes, yes, just a few question. A few, few questions," she shuttered. "Um, why me?"

        Rose swore she heard Mack let out a small laugh. "Why you?" he asked once more.

        Rose nodded, "Yes, yes. Why me? Because you," she said, feeling her heartbeat increase as she continued rambling. "You could've chose anyone for this mission. But you chose me. Why? I would've been perfectly happy going with Daisy and Jemma to go find Fitz, but no. You had to put me here, for no reason."

        "Rose you know why your on the mission," Mack told her.

        Rose huffed, "It's too personal, Mack," she stated. "I can't. I can't. I just can't. So choose someone else, okay. Why can't Piper do it?" she asked, trying to pass her responsibilities onto another agent.

        "She went with Daisy," Mack replied.

        "Davis?" Rose countered.

        "So did he," Mack responded. "I could do this all day, Rose."

        Rose blinked, "Elena?"

        Mack sighed, "Rose," he said slowly. "You know it's not your fault that he left, right?" he asked her.

        Rose frowned. "It's not that Mack, it's just-" the woman paused for a second, gulping before her continued. "I don't wanna see him. If you put me on this mission, my head will not be in the game. I'm not suited for it. I'm not cut out for this. I can't do it. Send someone else," she said finally, exhaling as she stared up at him.

        "I disagree," Mack countered. "Rose, I handpicked you for this mission, and that's gotta mean something to you."

        "Well did you do that for me? Or did you do that because it's about Deke?" Rose asked, huffing slightly as she brushed a piece of hair out of her face. "Find someone else to keep an eye on him because I'm not doing that," she stated. "That's where I draw the line."

        Mack frowned, taking a few minutes to think before he continued his thoughts. "Rose, if these past few months as director have taught me anything it's that you are a good agent," he told her, placing a large hand on her shoulder. "And I know you can do this. This isn't about Deke, this is about you and your skills. Don't doubt yourself. We just need you to help Trevor out for a bit, okay? That's all." Rose frowned as Mack continued. "If something goes sideways, you are there to fix it. You don't even have to work in his new company. We just need you as backup."

        Rose clicked her tongue, "Yeah, well, being backup is different than being shipped off to a different city and going undercover," she said under her breath.

        "Rose," Mack said carefully. "I've made up my mind. You're going on this mission," he said definitively. "If all goes well, you'll be in and out in a month. One month undercover, can you do that?" he asked.

        "One month?" Rose repeated, raising her eyebrow.

        "One month."

*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*

        "One month my fucking ass," Rose grumbled standing in the courtyard between her office building and the one that held Deke's tech startup. Three months had passed since her initial conversation with Mack, which meant Rose's little mission had lasted more than double the amount of time Mack said it would. Rose was, less than pleased, to say the least. She had overstayed her welcome and she was pissed. She hated her uncover job as a secretary, she had to do coffee runs every single day, practically sprinting up and down five levels of stairs just to make sure everyone could have their coffee on time. And if it wasn't right? she had to do that shit all over again, and again, until it was perfect. Rose had gotten so many blisters during her first week she considered just giving it all up and considering a career outside of S.H.I.E.L.D.

        "I think you're just overracting," Trevor Khan said, snapping Rose out of her thoughts.

        Rose flared her nostrils, "Trev, if you had to do what I was doing, trust me, you would be singing the same tune I am right now," she retorted.

        "Come on, you don't have to work under the guy okay?" Trevor replied, swinging his leg over the bench as he sat down across from Rose. "I'm pretending to be his best friend here, and I'm the one who has to uplift every knock-off S.H.I.E.L.D. idea that he green lights. It's exhausting."

        "Yeah, well, I was his best friend for over 27 years, beat that," Rose responded, letting her hands fall onto the picnic table dramatically.

        Trevor raised his brow at her, "Then why aren't you doing my job?" he asked.

        "Because we haven't been on speaking terms since he left S.H.I.E.L.D. six months ago," Rose stated, she leaned in carefully to make sure no passerby's would hear them. "Do you know how suspicious it would be if I just waltzed into his company like everything was fine? Like the past six months of silence didn't mean anything? This whole thing would be flagged in a second. Our whole operation would be fucking done for. Which is why I was only supposed to be here for a month," she finished.

        Trevor rolled his eyes, "Not this shit again, Rose. It's fine. We'll deal with it," he said slowly. "We will be done when Mack says we're done. Plus, it's better that we're here now so Deke doesn't blow himself up."

        Rose scoffed, "You know, he's smarter that you think he is," she pointed out, swirling the straw that she had in her iced coffee. "He wouldn't unwillingly blow himself up, he knows what he's doing, even though it doesn't seem like it."

        Trevor chuckled, "Wow," he sounded as he shook his head.

        "What?" Rose asked with a small sigh.

        "Nothing it's just, this whole thing is very amusing," Trevor stated. "You say you hate the guy and then you compliment him. It's very strange, Rose," he pointed out.

        Rose pursed her lips. "Hate is a strong word," she said simply. "A very strong word. Have you had friends?" she asked him.

        Trevor blinked, "Are you seriously asking If I've had friends before?" he retorted shaking his head once more. "Rose, I haven't been cooped up in S.H.I.E.L.D. my whole life. Okay, and I know you're from the future, or whatever but we do have friends down here in the real world," he told her.

        "Okay, um, the future is real, Trev," Rose said sassily. "Maybe not my future anymore since it all hinged on Daisy blowing becoming the destroyed of worlds, but she didn't that was..." she paused for a second. "Whatever that guys name was," she said timidly.

        "Talbot," Trevor stated.

        "Thank you," Rose said with a nod. "So since he was the destroyer of world but didn't actually destroy the world, my future, with the lighthouse up in space, and the Kree, and Kasius, technically doesn't exist anymore. So the future exists, but we're just not in it yet," she finished, clicking her tongue as if she just said something so profound that Trevor was lucky to even be standing in the same courtyard as her.

        Trevor sighed as he made eye contact with the young woman in front of him. "Rose, what the fuck are you talking about?"

        "I don't know, dude, I'm fucking stressed," Rose exclaimed. "I'm in this weird town where I don't know anyone but you and Deke, who I haven't seen or spoken to in months. I have a terrible job, and the one thing that I wanted to do, which was become a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, seems to be slipping away every minutes I stay here." Rose frowned before she continued speaking. "I know I'm technically an agent, but this," she said, gesturing around to the courtyard. "This really doesn't feel like it.."

        Trevor clicked his tongue, leaning forward, his intertwined his fingers as he placed his hands on the table. "Rose, I'm going to tell you something that somebody very important once said to me," he started, an air of mystery in his voice. The woman raised her eyebrow, giving him a small nod to continue his thoughts. "Just because you feel like you don't belong somewhere, doesn't mean it's true. And being a S.H.I.E.L.D agent means you have to live in the limbo of something that is comfortable to you and something that is not," he finished.

        This piqued Rose's interest, "Really?" she asked carefully.

        "No, I just made that up," Trevor deadpanned. "But you believed me, right?" he asked, sending her a wink.

        Rose groaned, "God, I hate you so much, Trev. I hope you know that," she said, pursing her lips.

        "No, you don't," he told her.

        "You're right, I don't but I wish I did," Rose replied.

        "Rose?" Trevor asked carefully.

        The woman sighed, "Yes?" she responded

        "I know this isn't what you wanted when you signed on to be a part of S.H.I.E.L.D. I mean, I don't even know that you wanted to be pulled out of your timeline anyway, but you belong here. Anyone who has a pair of eyes can see that." Trevor continued, shrugging slightly as he leaned back on the picnic bench.

        Rose raised her brow at him, "You're being nice to me?" she asked, a speck of sarcasm sprinkled across her words.

        Trevor rolled his eyes, "I've been nice to you! For three months! Three months, Rose!"

        "Right, okay," Rose responded, shaking her head slightly.

        Trevor grimaced, "Okay, nice sarcasm, asshole," he said sourly. "I'm being serious, you can do this. It might not be a cakewalk, but you can do it. We can do it. We'll make Mack proud, got it?" Trevor asked her.

        Rose nodded, "Got it," she responded. "Besides how hard can it be? Deke hasn't fucked anything up in three months. The next few months should be a breeze."

        Right?

loving you's the anecdote,
golden ☼

grace talks ig: This is the shortest thing I've ever written but if I had added it to the next chapter then that would've been WAYYYYYY too long so I just split them up. I honestly really don't have a lot to say about this chapter because it's essentially just a set-up chapter to explain how Rose kind fits into the season 6 story. BUTTT I will say Trevor Khan is one of the most underrated aos characters so that's why he's here. Also I love him soooooo he's gonna be in this story more than he is in the show. Also his and Rose's dynamic is GOLDEN so I'm gonna try and highlight that more as season 6 progresses. Anyways, sorry this is so short, I promise the next one will be way longer, just for you guys because I love you. HEHEHHEH BYEEEE!

p.s. this is very unedited right now but i don't have time to fix it, i'll do it later <3

p.s.s. THANKS FOR 10k READS MY LOVES. IM
ACTUALLY SO FLOORED THAT YALL LIKE THIS STORY THAT MUCH. I CANT THANK YOU ENOUGH. ILY <3