As soon as Daisy and Sousa walked through the doorway, the team, who were all variously perched on other furniture, cheered.

"What?" Sousa asked.

Daisy glanced up and rolled her eyes. "Mistletoe," she pointed out. "Which isn't funny and incredibly immature," she said pointedly towards her team.

Sousa's glance flicked between them and Daisy, who saw this and sighed.

"Whatever," Daisy looked back to him. "How comfortable are you with this?"

"I'm... not used to kissing people I just met," he said slowly.

"But can you do it?"

"Sure?"

Daisy grinned and with a sudden rush of self-confidence, she pulled him down by the neck and kissed him lightly. She heard the team cheer again and sighed. She let go of Sousa, who stumbled a bit, to look at them with her hands on your hip. "This is me honouring the dibs pact. You guys are so immature. Simmons, go kiss Fitz under the stupid leaf. God knows you need it." She grabbed the star and went up the stairs to put it up.

With more cheers, Mack and Yo-Yo shoved the 21-year-old scientists over to the doorway.

"Why us?" Simmons whined.

"Those two are already dating," Daisy gestured to Mack and Yo-Yo. "They made out in one of the storage closets a couple of hours ago. Now kiss."

Fitz brought his hand up to lift Simmons' chin up a little and kissed her gently, without further prompting. He murmured something that made Simmons bring her arms up to wrap around his neck, getting them closer. "Mistletoe," the engineer said dazedly, as if stating the reason he kissed his best friend with such gentle passion was as simple as a hanging plant.

Simmons had a hazy grin on her face. She kissed him again, talking quietly against his lips.

Sousa had stumbled over to where Yo-Yo had provided him with a chair. "Should we still be here?" he asked, whispering.

"Yes, of course," the asset replied. "Free entertainment, Sousa. You've got a lot to learn."

Fitzsimmons broke their kiss and held up their entwined hands. "I think we're dating now," Simmons said over the cheers of Mack, Yo-Yo, and Daisy, which then got louder.

After a few more minutes of delighted pestering, the team all went down to the second floor and picked out their rooms. There were only six rooms on that floor, simply because, as a projection of Rick Stoner explained, this was the level that the people running the various departments would sleep, and for that reason they would be bigger than the smaller bunks that residents have.

Sousa ended up with the room next to Daisy on her right. It was fun, especially since the middle of the floor was occupied by a conversation pit. They had hot chocolate and Christmas cookies, courtesy of Mack and Sousa, the only two people who knew how to cook well.

They had an uneventful Christmas, but Fitzsimmons gave Sousa a new leg prosthetic.

"We were doing diagnostics for everyone earlier, if you don't recall," Simmons explained, "and we saw your old prosthetic was getting old and had a few kinks. As good as regular SHIELD tech is, it'll never be up to par with ours, and it sounds like a brag-"

"- it isn't, by the way." Fitz added-

"But our tech is very good. We equipped it with our newest nanotechnology and while we can program it to give you sensation, we can modify it later due to your specifications." Simmons smiled. "We hope you like it."

Sousa had been staring at the leg. "Wow," he said simply. "That... that looks really cool. Thank you so much."

"We can fit you after we're done," Simmons assured him. "If you want."

Everything went well, and on the 28th, everyone flew back in preparation for New Years at the Coulson-May household.

Sousa shook Coulson and May's hands before seeing Daisy's skills in the kitchen, ie. making coffee and putting it in her cereal.

"What?" she asked at his amused gaze. "It's faster to have my caffeine and sugar this way."

Sousa shook his head. "Doesn't seem healthy to me." He smiled to show that he was teasing her. "Besides, I have weirder eating habits than you do."

Daisy swallowed her coffee cereal. "Try me."

"I put milk before the cereal," Sousa retorted. "I only eat olives if it's in a peanut butter sandwich. I ate a piece of paper once because I was hungry."

Daisy had her mouth open. "You put milk before the cereal?" she asked, outraged. "What is wrong with you?"

"I had my leg cut off," he replied, deadpan.

Daisy, who had no response, tried to stab him with a spoon.

"Are you trying to rid me of another limb?" Sousa asked her seriously.

Daisy glared at him and resorted to eating her coffee cereal while making direct, aggressive eye contact.

Sousa, Fitz, and Mack were staying in the guest room while Simmons and Yo-Yo bunked with Daisy. It's made some... interesting conversations, to say the least.

On the day of New Year's Eve, Mack and Sousa were out shovelling snow on the driveway. They stopped once when Daisy brought them hot chocolate, and when she left, Mack stared at Sousa.

"What's up, Mack?" the cadet asked the bigger cadet. "What's with the death stare?"

"What are your intentions?" Mack asked gravely.

"Sir?" Sousa blinked.

"With Daisy."

"I don't have any intentions." Sousa wondered if his was blushing or if it was the cold that was burning his cheeks red.

Mack chuckled. "Well you better get some," he said, "and quick. Because this thing is coming for you."

Sousa tilted his head. "This... thing?"

Mack sighed. "She's into you. And I'm not even sure if she knows it yet, but pretty soon, she'll figure it out. And when she does..." he chuckled again. "Watch out. Cause when she gets something into her head..."

"She won't stop," Sousa finished, a smile turning up the corners of his mouth. "I've noticed."

"But listen," Mack said. "Daisy's been hurt. Bad. So I'm happy she's ready to dive back in, and I'm happy it's you. I like you. You seem like a good man."

Sousa's smile grew a little. "Thanks, I..."

"Even if you're a little, you know, straight ahead."

"Wait, is that bad?"

"But I'm not about to let her get hurt again. You hear what I'm saying?"

"I think so. I think you're... threatening me." Sousa struggled to keep a straight face. "Sir."

"No." Mack had a look on his face that Sousa was not sure if he liked. "Not just me. Every member of this team."

"I hear you," Sousa replied. "Loud and clear. I would never hurt her."

"Hmm." Mack suddenly clapped the other man on the back. "We'll see. I'm glad we got that settled." He chuckled. "Imagine that. The founder of SHIELD's grandson and Quake."

Sousa's ears perked up. "What did you just call her?"

Mack laughed again. "Quake. It's her, uh, codename. She got it when she was little," he said.

"Really?"

"Yeah," Mack said. "Yeah, really."

"Quake?"

"Mhm."

Sousa chuckled lightly. "Quake," he said with a wondrous tone. He laughed. "Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds? 'Quake'."

Mack laughed. "Now I do." He sighed, wiping away a tear of laughter before it froze on his face. "Don't let her hear that."