So I had this idea for a while and finally gotten to write the first chapter. Like the title suggests, there will be four chapters but I really can't say when I'll have the time to post the second one, hopefully sometime during the next two weeks and then the others should follow much quicker. Anyway, hope you'll enjoy :)

The first time, it was all Milton's fault and they both agreed that it was the only useful thing he ever did.

-0-0-0-

"That's weird" Fitz mumbled under his breath as he opened the door to the small dorm room that would be his at SHIELD Academy for the next three years or so. Not because it was open -he forgot to lock it half the time anyway- but because even before it was fully open, he could see that that the lamp on his bedside table was on and he could have sworn it was off when he left, especially since it had been 3 PM at the time and really quite bright out.

"Hey! How was your-OH MY GOD!"

"OH MY GOD OH MY GOD I'm so sorry!" Fitz cried out as he turned around and towards the door immediately. Well almost immediately. The girl on his bed, in her underwear (or maybe it was lingerie, he'd never been quite sure when something stopped being underwear and became naughty enough to deserve a french name for it) probably explained why the light was on and him being sixteen, his first instinctive reaction was to widen his eyes and gasp helplessly before his brain reminded him of her reaction that clearly wasn't one that meant "please look at me and take the time to get a very detailed and accurate mental image of me". Of course it was a bit too late for that because he'd already noticed the police box pattern on it and he'd never see the TARDIS the same way ever again.

The whole thing also probably meant that he wasn't the only one leaving his door open because it really didn't make any sense to have an almost naked girl in his bedroom. Hopefully when that happens, he'll know about it beforehand and have time to be prepared for it or at least she wouldn't react that way when he comes in.

"What are you doing here?" The girl shrieked and he thought her voice and pretty English accent was vaguely familiar.

"I'm really sorry! I was lost in thought and all these hallways and doors look the same and the door was open and I was positive I saw the right number on the door but I guess I …" He trailed off.

Wait. Now that he thought about it, he did see the right number on the door. And that was also his picture of space on the wall and his miniature TARDIS on his desk where he could also see the schematics he'd been working on that morning which meant that …

"Hey wait! What are you doing here? That's my room!" He cried out, feeling a little silly shouting at the door like that.

"What? No that's Milton's room! I know it is because he told me he loved Doctor Who and there's a TARDIS on his desk." She replied sounding properly scandalized that he would suggest he was in his own room and Fitz rolled his eyes. His first time having a girl in his room and she was waiting for someone else. Milton of all people.

"No that's my desk, that's my TARDIS that my mum gave to me when I left Scotland and that's my room. This is 406 and Milton's across the hall in 405."

"Oh … " She simply let out.

"I bet Milton doesn't even know what a TARDIS is. Probably thinks it's a blue phone box or something …" Fitz mumbled under his breath.

"But he hum … he wrote his room number down for me and it says 406 … see!" She said.

Obviously, she meant for him to look at what she was handing him but with his back to her he could only try to reach blindly, his arm at an awkward angle, and he thought he heard her muffle a slight giggle.

"It's alright, you can turn around" She said, her voice a bit more relaxed than it'd been a moment ago.

"Okay but are you-hum … are you … decent?" He asked, cringing at how old school that sounded.

He heard the rustling of fabric for a few seconds before she cleared her throat. "Yeah, yeah I'm under the covers now." She said and he wasn't quite sure it would help much with the blushing but, well, at least there wouldn't be so much (pretty, pale and freckled) skin on display.

Fitz slowly turned around, waiting for the last moment to look up at her face.

"Oh" He simply let out. That was why her voice and accent were familiar. It was actually Jemma Simmons looking rather cosy, although a bit flushed, under the covers in his bed. They shared quite a lot of classes and it hadn't taken him long to remember her name. On top of being the only other cadet as young as he was, she was rather brilliant and kept raising her hand to answer the professor's question, which made them repeat her name quite often, their tone varying from friendly to impressed to slightly annoyed. For their defense, she had a bit of a Hermione-know-it-all side to her but she was actually right 99 percents of the time. Also, always seeing her from afar and never lingering in the classrooms a lot, he'd never had a chance to give a good look at her and realize how young she really looked, even with that outrageous shade of red lipstick she was wearing, and how pretty she was.

"See!" She insisted as she gave him the piece of paper, apparently not recognizing him the same way he did her or at least, apparently not caring about it.

He took it and saw that there were just a few words scribbled there along with what in fact looked like "room 406". Shrugging, he looked bah up at her.

"Well I don't know what to say but this is MY room, there should be a copy of "The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy" somewhere around you like under my pillow or something, if you need proof!"

"Oh. Oh yeah it's right here" She said, her face brightening up for some reason as she pulled the book out from under the covers with one hand while making sure the sheets wouldn't slip down with the other. "I've been reading it earlier, I got … bored waiting for Milton …" She finished sheepishly. Honestly he was surprised she didn't get bored when he was actually there. "But then what does it mean? Why would he give me your room number?" She pleaded, more to herself than to him it seemed but he still felt obligated to answer. Like he somehow wronged her by having that room number.

"I don't know!" He shrieked. "Maybe it's some kind of prank he's playing on us, wouldn't put it past him. Did he know you were supposed to come tonight and hu … you know …" Fitz trailed off, starting to blush and hoping she would understand his meaning and wouldn't make him say it.

"What? No! No he didn't" She cried out. "It's just ... he was supposed to be working late at the library and we've been dating for a few weeks now and he keeps saying I don't know how to be spontaneous so I wanted to show him up and I thought that tonight we could … hum … we could have hu … for the first time … Oh my god, this is so embarrassing, I can't believe he would do something like that …"

Her lower lip was wobbling slightly and he could see that she was holding back tears as she looked away from him taking her head in her hands and the sight tugged at his heartstrings. She always sounded so confident in everything she said or did when she was in class that it broke his heart seeing her like that. So distraught and vulnerable, looking much more like a little girl, all buried under the covers, and a lot less like the sexy, bold and confident young woman she seemed to be only a moment ago. And that's how he found himself tentatively seating at the end of the bed, lightly rubbing her leg through the covers to get her attention.

"Hey hey hey I'm sorry I just say things like that sometimes, I tend to think the worst of people. Maybe he just wrote it wrong, look …" He said after giving the piece of paper another look and handing it back to her. "He's got a pretty shitty handwriting, that six could easily be a five."

"You think?" She asked, her voice small and hopeful.

"Sure! Honest mistake ... most likely …" He replied and she gave him a small smile he had no choice but to reciprocate. It was a nice smile, pretty and soft, that easily reached her eyes. He'd always found her so impressive from afar that he never thought he'd be able to talk to her properly without looking or sounding like an idiot and then here she was, trusting a total stranger when she had all the reasons to feel vulnerable and be a little defensive.

"Well I hum … I should go … Won't bother you any longer." She said with another sheepish smile.

"Oh no you didn't hum … you didn't bother me … I mean you surprised me obviously but it wasn't so bad …" He stuttered but then saw the way her eyebrows raised and realized how she might have interpreted what he just said. "Wait I don't mean it like that, I'm not saying that because I saw your … hum you know …" He corrected himself vaguely gesturing towards her bra clad breasts hidden under the covers and she was obviously biting her lower lip not to laugh but he was too far gone anyway. "That wasn't the good part, it's just nice to speak to hum … wait no, not that I mean that they're not nice your … hum you know. I didn't mean to look but I did see and … oh god kill me please!"

If he closed his eyes long enough, was there a chance that she could just get dressed and leave and she'd be embarrassed enough herself to not ever talk about it to anyone ever?

"I will do no such thing!" She declared with no small dose of mirth in her voice. "Come on Fitz it's alright!" She added, nudging his thigh with her foot through the covers to make him look up. "You're a young man, still in his teens if I'm not mistaking, and you find a girl half naked on your bed, I would actually be a little offended if you didn't even take a quick look before turning around like the gentleman that you obviously are."

"Oh okay …" He let out sheepishly. "But that's still not what I …"

"Yeah I know Fitz really, don't worry …" She cut him off with another one of those soft smiles.

"Okay … alright then …" He replied and only then realized how she'd called him. "Wait … you know who I am?" He asked, incredulous.

"Of course I know! Well I didn't recognize you at first because you're always way in the back in class but I definitely recognized your voice and your accent … you should speak up more often you know, you're brilliant …"

"Ah no I'm not … you're-you don't … ah …" He stuttered, blushing furiously under the praise of who was probably the smartest person he's ever had the chance to talk to and she smiled again. That situation clearly wasn't the way he thought he'd get to talk to her and he didn't feel so brilliant at the moment but he was making her smile so that was something, he supposed.

"And I'm Jem …"

"Dr Jemma Simmons, yeah I know … hard to forget that one the way professor Vaughn insists on it …" He grinned.

"Yeah I don't think he likes me much, I guess i've acted a little first-years-Hermione …" She grinned back and Fitz chuckled at her admission.

"No you don't you just …" He started and she raised her eyebrows. "Okay maybe. A bit. But you're always right anyway so …"

They remained silent for a moment, sharing a slightly shy but sincere smile as Fitz racked her brains to find something to say, anything to keep the conversation going but she beat him to it.

"Hu Fitz … this is a really comfy bed and all but I'd like to get dressed now"

"Oh sure of course go ahead …" He replied but she only looked increasingly uncomfortable for some reason.

"Hu Fitz?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you mind turning around?" She asked with a tentative smile.

"Oh god no! I mean no of course I don't mind!" He cried out, standing up and walking towards the door. "So sorry … do you hum … do you want me to wait outside?" He asked, his hand already on the door handled and she giggled again.

"No Fitz don't be ridiculous, I'm not going to kick you out of your own room, just turn around I'll only be a minute."

"Oh okay …"

After that, he heard the rustle of fabric again as she got out of bed and then light steps on the ground as she went to retrieve her clothes. As he heard more noises from the rustle of fabric and zippers, he tried to stop his treacherous adolescent brain and almost photographic memory from conjuring images of her nice hips slipping into her jeans or blue doctor who bra clad breasts getting covered by whatever she'd be wearing on top. Fortunately, she was true to her words and got dressed rather quickly and when she told him he could turn back around, she was sitting on the bed, doing the laces of her red converse and he was hit by a wave of affection. Here she was, a girl who came in to what she thought was her boyfriend's room, well decided to have sex and wearing red lipstick and (at least in his opinion) sexy underwear but also wearing red converse and most importantly the biggest, fluffiest, least sexy looking sweater he's ever seen.

That's when he knew with a confusing certainty that he wanted to keep her in his life for as long as she'd be willing to stay. And that's also when he knew he had to tell her everything. She might tell him to fuck off or that it wasn't any of his business but from the way she'd said it earlier and the fact that, like him, she was only sixteen, he suspected that she didn't only mean her first time with Milton but her first time, period. And even though he wasn't naive enough to think her first time would be magical anyway, he thought it should be with someone who deserved and truly cared about her. And at the very least she needed to have all the informations before taking her decision.

"Hu Jemma?" He asked.

"Yeah?"

"Listen hum … feel free to tell me to mind my own business but I … whatever you were planning to do with Milton, I think you should hum maybe … reconsider … he's not I-I think ... he doesn't deserve you …"

"What?" She replied, her voice small as she looked up at him, confusion evident on her face. "But you don't even know me and …"

"I know you're brilliant and that you seem like a nice decent person at least but mostly I know Milton … well I don't know him that much but I live across the hall from him and I know he's not always alone and I hu … I'm pretty sure he was at The Boiler Room earlier, not at the library so …"

Her face was falling again and he felt terrible for being responsible for it but he knew it was better to break her heart now than to let her get more serious with Milton and have her heart broken in a million more pieces later.

"But … but he said he liked me a lot and wanted things to get to … to ... " She started, her voice shaky as she tried once more to control her emotions.

"Hey wait …" Fitz said, sitting next to her and placing a tentative hand on her shoulder and rubbing it in what he hoped was a soothing way. "I'm not saying he's cheating on you, I don't know what's happening in his room and I think he was only with his mates at The Boiler Room. I just thought you needed to have all the facts to take your decision."

"Oh …" She simply said, sniffling and looking down at her lap and he felt a wave of guilt as well as one of anger towards Milton. That was no way to treat someone, especially someone as exceptional as she was.

"I'm sorry Jemma, maybe I shouldn't have said anything, I just thought …"

"No Fitz you're right!" She cut him off, finally turning around to look at him. "I should talk to him before well … I should just talk to him and huh yeah …"

"Alright …" He said, giving her shoulder one last squeeze before taking his hand off.

"Do you mind if I use your bathroom to wash up a bit before leaving?" She asked shyly as she stood up. "My mascara must have run down and I probably look like a trollop now, I can't go out like … WHAT?" She squeaked indignantly when she noticed the growing smirk on his face.

"Nothing just … I've never heard anyone use that word except my grandma." He grinned and she rolled her eyes but he could see she was fighting a smile. "And I don't think like you look like a trollop at all but of course you can use the bathroom."

"Thank you!" She said, smiling and playfully bumped her shoulder against his as she passed by.

"So … you're a Doctor Who fan as well?" He asked with a small grin through the door to his small bathroom.

"Oh yeah I've been a fan since I was six and … wait how do you know … FITZ!" She cried out in outrage, finally realizing how he'd come to that conclusion.

"Sorry …" He said, his tone and smirk contradicting his words. "Couldn't help noticing, I've always been very observing on top of being … you know … a sixteen years old male."

"A pretty nerdy one though …" She said as she opened the door looking as fresh as a daisy and glaring rather unconvincingly at him.

"Exactly! So really you cannot blame me for noticing …"

"Yeah I guess I can't ..." She replied shaking her head and letting go of the glaring to smile at him once more. "How do I look?"

"Perfect!" He answered without thinking and blushed when he realized maybe she just wanted him to tell her if she still had traces of make-up or anything. But it was true though. She had this perfect kind of dewey freckled skin, which was really unfair on someone who was sixteen and should have had at least a bit of acne, and her smile and eyes were so bright that it was hard to find another word to describe her. Fortunately, she didn't seem to mind because she seemed to hesitate for a moment but then she pushed up on her toes and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek.

"Thank you Fitz! For telling me and for being so sweet and hu … you know ... not throwing out the door like the crazy woman I must have looked to you" She said with a roll of her eyes.

"You're welcome, feel free to come by anytime, just knock the next time and maybe ... have pity on me and put a shirt on!" He grinned and she lightly swatted him the arm before walking to the door with one last wave of her hand.

As he closed the door behind her, he made the silent wish that this wouldn't be the last time she walked out his door and the last conversation he would have with her. There were so many things he'd wanted to say to her since their first class together, Milton of all topics couldn't be the only thing they ever talked about.

At least, he knew he'd done the right thing in telling her about her stupid hopefully soon to be ex-boyfriend. He'd gained her trust and that felt like a nice start for friendship.

-0-0-0-

The next evening, as Fitz was sitting in front of his desk with no other prospect than trying to make sense of the notes he'd taken in professor Vaughn's class three days ago and study for the test, he heard voices in the hallway. Which wasn't really surprising, it was around dinner time so most students were meeting someone else to go to the cafeteria. What caught Fitz's attention was the very distinguishable English accent that could only be Jemma's. Knowing it was bad to eavesdrop but still too curious to care, he tried to hear what she was saying but couldn't really understand much except that she sounded surprisingly calm. Then there was another deeper and extremely dull voice who he supposed was Milton's and then the door closed and he couldn't hear a thing anymore. Well, hopefully he'd see her in class in the next few days and she would hopefully be alone and then he could ask her about how things went with Milton.

But ten minutes later, as Fitz had just barely managed to start focusing on his latest SHIELD history lesson, there was a knock on his door. It was so soft that he wondered if it wasn't just someone passing by and bumping against it but it was followed almost immediately by another, less tentative knock. So he stood up and went to open the door, actually quite pleased with the distraction.

"Hi Fitz!" Jemma said with a beaming grin that he just had to reciprocate.

"Hey! Long time no see …" He said and she chuckled. It was strange how he'd spent three months watching her from afar, racking his brains to find a way to strike up a conversation with the only cadet who might be smarter than he was and now, after (probably) a simple case of bad handwriting, it felt like talking to her was the easiest thing in the world. Because she was just as impressive as he thought she was but she was also sweet and funny and apparently quite as awkward as he could be and he loved that about her.

"So hum …" She started. "I still felt bad about kind of breaking into your room last night …"

"Oh no, 's my fault I shouldn't leave the door open …"

"… and you've been so nice that I wanted to do something nice too" She continued, pretty much ignoring his protestation. "So hu ... I got this care package from my mum in the mail this morning and I thought you might be interested in sharing some of those nice traditional British junk food with me …"

"Oh!" Fitz simply let out, his eyes lighting up at the prospect. He'd been craving Maltesers for weeks now and his next care package wasn't due to arrive for at least another two weeks. He knew he should ration them to make them last until the next one. And that was what he'd planned on doing until he got caught up in a Doctor Who marathon and it all just ... disappeared.

"Can I come in?" Jemma asked, rightfully taking his reaction for a positive answer to her proposition of food sharing.

"Oh yeah yeah of course …" He said, opening the door wider and moving to the side to let her in, glad that his room still hadn't had the time to turn back into the chaos it usually was, since the last time he'd had the courage to tidy up and clean it.

She stepped in and sat on the edge of his bed without much of an hesitation, which had him grinning slightly. His life at the Academy was going to get even more interesting than he thought it would be if Jemma Simmons made it a habit of being on his bed or even just in his room really.

"Also I hum ... I hum ..." She hesitated, hugging a small pillow to her chest. He never saw the use of having more than the one pillow he slept on (it wasn't like he was going to have company during the night anytime soon) but his mum insisted that it made the place more welcoming. And up until now, that hadn't been a compelling argument to him because he didn't want most people to feel welcome. But if it made HER feel more at ease, then he could definitely live with it.

"I also wanted to thank you for warning me about Milton ..." She said with a sad smile. "... saved me from doing something I might have regretted ..." She added, letting out an awkward little laugh.

She was trying to keep a straight face, to look strong and like it wasn't really important but he could read through her easily. Being so much younger than anyone else here, she couldn't show her weaknesses or she'd be called out for being immature. He knew what it was like, it was the same for him. And he knew it was mostly jealousy but it didn't make things easier.

"Oh" He let out, sitting down on his desk chair as he realized he was still awkwardly standing up in the middle of the room. "I'm sorry he wasn't who you expected him to be though ... " He added and she smiled more softly. "So did you ..."

"Yeah I broke up with him. Not that we were ever really a couple apparently. Since we didn't talk about being exclusive." She said, rolling her eyes and air quoting the last word. "... and that we weren't that serious anyway ..."

"Asshole!" Fitz let out, the words escaping him before he could think them through and Jemma chuckled.

"Yeah ... Well at least, last night's incident was only caused by his terrible handwriting and he did say that we could be exclusive now if I was ready to commit ... if you know what I mean ..." She said air quoting the words commit again and Fitz felt his cheeks heat up. He never had many occasions in his life to talk about sex, even using euphemisms, and of all the things he ever thought he could talk about with Jemma Simmons, this was not one of them.

"So I told him he should be exclusive with himself ..." She continued seemingly unaware of Fitz's slight discomfort. "... which was meant as a way to say that no one else would be able to tolerate him anyway but now that I think of it, it sounds more masturbatory than anything else but I suppose it's quite fitting since ... oh ..." She finally interrupted herself, seeing the interesting shade of red Fitz must have taken. "I'm sorry Fitz I've made you uncomfortable ..."

"No no it's alright it's just ..."

"I always say whatever crosses my mind and then I make people uncomfortable. I should probably stop that, Milton said that made me a little weird but ..."

"No! You don't have to change the way you are. Whatever you say is probably more interesting than 99 percents of what other people say all the time anyway, especially Milton who probably never had a single original idea in his life and whose huge cabbage head is filled with sawdust."

Jemma was looking at him with a chocked expression and he realized that it might have been too big a compliment and much too early ex bashing for someone he actually knew so little.

"What I meant is that hum ... I don't hum ... It's been nice talking to you and hu you shouldn't. .."

"Fitz!" She cut him off, letting the cushion fall as she stood up, then picking it up and neatly putting it back on the bed. "That's the nicest thing anyone who barely knows me ever said to me!" She said, almost cooing and Fitz chuckled, feeling relieved and a little embarrassed at the same time. "And it's more of a brussels sprout really but yeah ..." She added, rolling her eyes in ascertion of what Fitz just said.

"Well I do know you a bit" He protested "I know you're really smart and kind of bold. Obviously very generous too. It's not every cadet who would share their care package like that ..."

She grinned at that, eyeing the precious treasure she'd deposited on his desk and that looked heavy with plenty of sugary goodness. Fitz grinned as well as he said the next words.

"Not to mention you have excellent taste in underwear ... uh I mean TV shows ..."

"Fitz!" She cried out, swatting his arm. "If we should become friends, you're going to have to stop mentionning this! Don't forget I'm a biochem genius and I know of at least ten deadly toxines that would be indetectable at your autopsy ..." She added, obviously going for menacing but the fact that she was hugging his pillow again and slightly pouting kind of ruined it.

"Alright I promise I'll never mention this again ... friend ..." He replied with a tentative smile and she squinted her eyes at him for a moment before smiling brightly when his innocent expression had convinced her.

Turned out he never really stopped teasing her about it but she didn't mind because that night, as they stuffed their faces with chocolate and spent hours talking about everything from their lonely childhood as young prodigies to their favorite doctor or all the other people in their class Fitz thought didn't deserve his or Jemma's attention (most of them apparently), was when their friendship started. And with time Jemma found plenty of topics on which to tease him endlessly, like his own terrible first girlfriend. But whatever the amount of teasing they put each other through, their friendship was bon out of trust, admiration and fondness and that was what would always shine through every one of their interactions.