#torimel

3. Are they open about their relationship? How do they feel about public displays of affection?

Neither of them is a PDA kind of person. They're both very private so they don't really talk about their relationship or do anything that really announces it in public. Sometimes they do something just to surprise people who don't know, though, especially ones they know will have hilarious reactions. One time a newbie passed out when Victoria kissed Melinda in the hallway after Melinda had been giving a martial arts demonstration with Coulson.

4. First impression of each other? Was it love at first sight?

For Victoria yes, she decided Melinda was it as soon as she saw her at the academy, but Melinda wasn't so sure. She thought Victoria was hot, but that she slept around too much to settle for anything long term and Melinda wasn't interested in a one night stand. She gave in in the end, though, and was super surprised when Victoria didn't just leave in the morning.

5. Nicknames? Pet names? Any in-jokes?

They usually call each other Mel and Tori, but their close friends do too. When they're fighting they call each other Linda and Vicky, but the one time anyone else (John) called them that, he got a swift kick in the groin and he didn't do that again. Victoria tends to call Melinda love in private. Sometimes she calls her biche or bichette because it's cute but also because it kind of sounds like bitch and she things that's hilarious even if it makes Melinda roll her eyes.

12. Is there a wedding? What was the proposal like? Any kind of honeymoon?

Victoria proposed after they'd been together for a few years. They were both out of the academy and pretty steady in their positions at SHIELD, so it seemed like the best time to have a wedding and honeymoon. The wedding was fairly small, just Melinda's mom and a few friends from SHIELD. They got married at the courthouse and then had the reception at Victoria's favorite French restaurant. Victoria wanted to have the honeymoon in Paris, but Melinda convinced her to take it in New Zealand instead, since neither of them had been there.

13. What do they do for fun? Do they have a favorite activity or do they like to switch things up?

Victoria goes to flea markets and reads Harry Potter. Melinda does wheel throwing at a local studio (they end up with a lot of bowls and vases) and jogs. They don't get a lot of time off together, but they like to take dance classes or just cuddle on the couch while they watch movies.

22. Does their work ever interfere with the relationship?

Ahaha ha ha. Yes. They both knew what they were getting into, but having a relationship while being a SHIELD agent definitely takes a toll. They sometimes have to spend weeks or months apart when one of them is on a mission, and that's hard, even when they come home because the things they see and do sometimes really effect them. They both make sure to see a SHIELD psychologist regularly just to try to keep themselves stable individually and as a couple.

27. Do they have kids? Grow old together? Split up?

A few years after they get married, they have a daughter. They love her and all their friends spoil her rotten. A few months after Melinda's mission to Bahrain, she files for divorce and gives Victoria full custody of Bella because she thinks she's too broken to be a wife or mother anymore. Victoria rakes the position at the Hub so she'll be in one place to raise Bella. Melinda's mom visits sometimes and Melinda gets updates through her and their mutual friends, though several of them are under the impression that Victoria was the one who broke it off and "took" Bella.

41. Are they party-goers? What are they like when they’re drunk? Does it happen often?

Victoria was definitely a partier in their early days at the academy, but she holds her liquor really well. Melinda didn't like parties as much, but she went with Victoria sometimes after they got together. No one could ever tell she was drunk until she just fell asleep in the middle of talking, which Victoria thought was adorable. Once they had Bella the partying pretty much stopped because they were way too busy, but they drink wine at home whenever they're both there.

45. Any special dreams or goals they have as a couple? Any heartbreaks? Regrets?

Well, technically it was John complaining originally, but the all had been drinking, bemoaning the fact that they had elected to remain at the academy for the holidays.

One thing had led to another, and soon enough Victoria took up the helm, going on and on about how it wasn't properly going to be Christmas since it didn't snow in California (among many other problems).

"We don't even have a chimney," she had said in this lofty and betrayed tone, as though that was one the thing that would ruin their Christmas, the fact that the SHIELD Academy was not equipped with a proper chimney. 

Which was why Christmas Eve, Melinda was scaling the walls of the SHEILD Academy dorms, dressed in a 'slightly slutty' (Maria's word's not hers) Santa costume that had been, expertly decorated (Jasper's words and handiwork) with chimney soot. 

Really it was the principal of not being able to back down from a challenge, unspoken or not, that led her to this, but she was going to blame Victoria.

She opened the dorm window from the outside, before slipping into her girlfriend's dorm room, and Victoria who had been lounging on her bed pretending to be studying, didn't even both to get up into some semblance of those defensive positions that their training had taught them, instead just look up at the window and says, "what the fuck are you wearing?"

"You're supposed to be surprised."

"Somebody might have ruined the surprise accidentally, though they didn't meant that you'd be dressed as a dirty Ms. Claus," she says, somehow making the word dirty sound like an insult and the biggest innuendo in the world.

Victoria Hand really was something special. 

"It's soot," Melinda says, "from the chimney."

It takes her a second before it all clicks, and suddenly she's laughing, "you mean the chimney that we don't have?"

"That would be it."