Marvel Oneshots

Heartbeat (Grant Ward)

Requested by Mehblahblahmah

Summary: Grant and reader are best friends, and reader is in one of the medical pods on the bus, recovering from being shot by Ian Quinn after receiving the Tahiti stuff. Grant's been by reader's side constantly while they've been recovering, and although he and reader have always been close, some members of Coulson's team are starting to think they might have more than friendly feelings for each other since they spend every moment of the day together.

A/N: Like an earlier request, this is based off part of my story Saving Grant Ward. This one comes from chapter forty-seven, when Samantha is recovering and Grant is with her all the time. Also like the earlier request, I made it x reader so everyone could read it without having read SGW, but you can read it as x reader or as a oneshot with Samantha 😄

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I woke up slowly, not sure what had stirred me from my sleep. I was still a little loopy and half asleep, but I realized after a second that it was Grant, shifting around next to me on the small hospital bed.

"Shoot, did I wake you up? Sorry, Y/L/N," he grimaced, wrapping one arm around me. I smiled sleepily and closed my eyes as I leaned into his chest.

"It's fine. I'm just glad you're back to be my pillow."

I could hear Grant's heartbeat through the fabric of his shirt, and it made me feel safer and more relaxed than I had since I'd been shot. Grant rubbed small circles on my back as he pulled me close, and I tried to stay awake a little longer despite the wave of sleep crashing over me.

"What did Coulson want?" I mumbled.

"Nothing important. Mostly he just wanted to hear how you were doing, since he can't be down here with you himself."

"Hmm. And what did you tell him?"

"I told him you were doing alright."

"And did he say when I could get back out in the field again? As nice as it is to lay here with you all day, I want to get back out there as soon as possible."

"Sorry, Y/N. You heard doctor Simmons yesterday. You're down and out for at least the next two weeks."

I groaned, and I was prepared to start whining and protesting, but I was a little too close to sleep to come up with a coherent argument. Instead, I let myself drift back off to the sound of Grant's heartbeat, and the rhythm of his breathing.

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"...think you're doing? She's supposed to be recovering, not cuddling!"

"I'm helping her recover! And if you're not careful you're going to wake her up!"

I came back around to the hushed hisses of two voices I recognized. My eyes fluttered open as Simmons and Grant continued their argument, neither of them realizing I was awake yet.

"That bed is designed for one person," said Simmons. I could practically see her throwing her hands up in the air. "Y/N is recovering, and is hooked up to different machines and IVs! Having you in the bed and in the way isn't helping anything!"

"It's helping me," I said, stretching a little as I rolled over to look at Simmons. Grant kept his arm around me, and if he hadn't I might've accidentally rolled out of bed. The irritated look immediately dropped off of Simmons' face, and instead she looked worried.

"Did we wake you? Oh, Y/N, I'm sorry..."

"See? I told you," said Grant. I tiredly moved my arm to whack him on the chest. It was a weak hit, since I was still recovering, but he was nice enough to say "ow" anyway.

"It's fine," I said, trying to hold back a yawn. "You can make it up to me by letting Grant stay."

"He can stay, he just has to sit in the chair like a normal person," said Simmons as she walked towards the bed. The worried look was off her face, and strict doctor Simmons was back.

"Awww, come on Simmons! Please let him stay? I'm less likely to try and escape to the rest of the bus if he's here with me."

"He'll still be with you if he sits in the chair!" she cried, sounding truly exasperated. I could feel Grant chuckling from the rise and fall of his chest, but when I glanced up at him his face was pretty much neutral.

Simmons came over to take my vitals, and Grant didn't move an inch. When she finished she stayed at the edge of the bed instead of leaving like usual. She just stared and me and Grant, her arms crossed and a stern expression on her face as she looked between the two of us.

Neither of us moved an inch.

"I can do this all day," she finally said.

"So can I," I replied with a smile. "I literally have nothing else to do, so... you know."

"Agent Ward has things to do," she said, shooting him an especially irritated glare.

"Yes, like staying right where I am to help Agent Y/L/N recover faster."

Simmons started to say something else, but I beat her to the chase.

"Simmons, you're not going to win this. We're two incredibly stubborn people, and even if you find a way to make Grant move, I'll just focus all my energy into escaping this room to go visit Skye in the next pod over. Please just let us stay like this."

Simmons stared us both down for a few more beats, not saying a word. Finally, when we didn't break, she let out an exasperated sigh and threw her hands up in the air.

"Fine! Do what you want! He's not throwing off your vitals, but if that changes I'll be back here to kick him out for real."

"Deal," I said. "Thank you!"

She just waved me off. "It's no problem, I suppose. But if you two are going to insist on behaving like this, do us all a favor and stop pretending you're just friends."

She said the last part on her way out the door, and my mouth dropped open as she disappeared into the bus. My heart was beating much faster than it had been before, and either I was going crazy or Grant's heart had sped up too.

"Wow. What a thing for her to say, huh?" I said, not sure what else to do.

"Yeah."

Neither of us said anything after that, just letting the silence hang for a few minutes. Finally, I spoke up again.

"Well, at least we get to stay together, right?" I said as I rolled back over to lay on Grant's chest. I thought I felt his heart flutter, but I wasn't completely sure, so I didn't say anything.

"Yeah. Thank goodness for that," he said softly. He wrapped his arm back around me and started rubbing slow circles on my back again. "Are you going to try to get some more sleep?"

"Yeah. I probably should, unless we want Simmons coming back down here to yell at us."

Grant nodded, and I closed my eyes, but I didn't feel tired at all anymore. My mind was racing from Simmons' words, and I was suddenly much more aware of how close I was to Grant than I'd been before.

We didn't say anything, but I think he knew I wasn't asleep. He knew me too well to be fooled. We both pretended, though, and just enjoyed being close to each other.

Maybe some day I'd confront Simmons' comment, and really think about it. Maybe Grant already had. Either way, I was glad we had this moment together.

Whether we ended up as best friends or more, I just wanted as many moments like this as possible.