This story takes place shortly after they graduate from the Academy. Agents of Shield Belongs to its bestest creators and ABC and Marvel.
"Simmons!" Fitz called, knocking on her door, "Simmons are you home?"
Maybe she was sick, he thought. So sick she hadn't gotten out of bed yet. Sick enough to have forgotten that today was his birthday.
They never forgot each other's birthdays though. Last year he'd had the flu and still managed to power through holding her a party. He had fallen asleep halfway through the second episode of Life (a documentary) and Simmons had caught whatever he had (likely from the cookies he'd baked her) and been out for about a week but he had still made sure he did something special for her. He even let her put a bowtie on him to go to the boiler room with; a blue one with white spots that matched her white one with blue spots. It was in his room somewhere now, buried under his stash of snacks.
And Simmons always did something for him. Always. It didn't matter if she was sick or tired or had five tests to study for, she would make sure his birthday was special.
Why had she ignored it today?
Maybe she was really really sick. Maybe she had caught some rare, awful disease from whatever she was working on in her lab. Or maybe someone had hurt her, come in and wanted information about S.H.I.E.L.D. that his brave friend had been too loyal to divulge. Poor Simmons! He had to help her.
"Simmons!" he called again, an edge of panic to his voice as he pounded on the door, "Simmons are you ok?"
"Fitz?" she answered. She must have heard the panic in his voice because hers was raised in alarm. The door flew open and they stared wide eyed at each other for a moment.
"Are you ok?" they asked simultaneously. "Yes." "I'm fine" they answered.
He saw her body relax and she let out a breath, "You scared me. Why were you yelling?"
"You weren't answering!" he shot back. His friend sounded perfectly fine to him. No deadly disease or ruthless assassin was threatening her so why had she forgotten his birthday?
"Where have you been all day?" he demanded, looking her up and down just to be extra sure it was actually Simmons he was talking to, "You seem to have forgotten that-What are you covered in?" he interrupted himself as he noticed the white powder that clung to her hair, clothes and face. A bit of it was smudged just under her eye.
Her eyes widened. "I...I was...Covered in what? I'm not covered in anything."
He brushed a bit of the smudge from her cheek onto his finger to show her. "Yes you are."
He rubbed it between his fingers and realized it was flour.
Of course you idiot, he scolded himself, she's baking you a cake. She always does something.
It must have been meant as a surprise.
"That fell from my ceiling," she lied, smiling nervously, "I have no idea what it is... maybe you should stay outside for a few minutes while I clean it up... it...I..."
"I'll wait out here," he told her, smiling back. "I'll let you finish with your 'mess'."
"I'm not baking a cake," she blurted, "I mean why would I be?" her eyes widened.
"Of course, you're cleaning the mess from your ceiling." he said but at this point he could tell she knew he was only going along with her lie.
Her face fell. "I really wanted it to be a surprise," she sighed.
"Well I don't know what kind of cake it is," he pointed out.
This brightened her, "You don't."
It was normal to think your best friend was adorable wasn't it? Especially when she was covered from head to toe in flour and excited about surprising you with cake with a grin on her face that would melt anyone.
"Can I come in?" he inquired. His feet hurt from all the places he'd gone to search for her.
"Of course," she chirped, stepping aside.
She led him to the living room and placed a birthday hat on his head after he sat down on the sofa. The room was decorated with balloons and streamers and she had written 'surprise!' in large colourful letters on a piece of bristol board. A brightly coloured package with a silver bow around it lay on the table in front of him. It had his name on it next to a smiley face.
"Happy Birthday!" she exclaimed throwing her hands into the air.
He felt a warm glow in his chest.
"Thanks Jemma," he said, standing to hug her.
She squeezed him tightly and kissed his cheek. "I have to go check on the cake," she informed him, "don't open your present until I get back though alright?"
"Of course I'm not going to open it," he chuckled, and she darted off into her kitchen.
He played with one of the balloons while he waited for her, trying to keep it from hitting the ground while he heard her clanking and chopping in the kitchen.
"Close your eyes!" Simmons shouted from the other room.
He did and saw the lights go out through his eyelids.
"It's your birthday, It's your day, Time for presents, Time for cake!" she sang.
Fitz heard a large plate clank down on the table in front of him and felt the heat of many candles on his face.
"You can open them now!" she let him know.
He did and saw that she had made him a vanilla birthday cake which she had covered in strawberries so that it was more red than white. The candles were red, matching the fruit, and each had a bright orange flame dancing atop it.
He blew them out in two breaths and Simmons clapped.
"Did you make a wish?" she wondered.
He had forgotten about that. He didn't really want anything anyway though, except perhaps a monkey.
"I wished for someone to come fix your ceiling," he teased.
"That was very thoughtful of you," she laughed.
She told him to choose what he wanted to do that evening and he told her all he wanted was to play games and eat cake and open his presents with her. His mother had sent him a stack of comic books in the mail. It was going to be late, however, because she had mistakenly asked for the Red Lantern instead of the Green one.
He and Simmons laughed together as she explained it to them over the phone. The way she told it it sounded as if she had to go on a grand detective adventure to figure out what was wrong with the order. His mum told the best stories.
The mail mishap left him with only Simmons' present to open and he shook it, wondering what it was.
"Stop that," she scolded, "you could break it."
"Is it fragile?" he asked, surprised.
She shook her head. "That's a secret."
He grinned at her and tore off the paper. It was just a cardboard box.
He raised an eyebrow questioningly at her.
"Open the box," she said, rolling her eyes.
Doing as instructed, he opened the box, and pulled out a small silver pocket watch. The back was inscribed with, 'For Fitz, the best friend anyone could have and the best engineer on the railroad,' above a picture of a train.
He chuckled, "Thank you Simmons."
"Do you get it?" she asked, "because a locomotive engineer is-"
"-the person who operates the trains," he finished. He kissed her warm, soft cheek, "It's wonderful."
She beamed at him and he melted again. Why was he so soft today? He decided that it was because it was his birthday and she was being extra nice to him today. However, if he was honest with himself, he would have considered that it may also have something to do with the smudge of flour which was still present just under her eye.
Fun Background
Thank you so much for everyone who read, liked or reviewed my other stories. You guys are super engineers for the fanfiction locomotive.
The Fringe reference in this story is the comic book mix up. In the alternate universe the Green Lantern is red (which confuses child Peter when he comes to our universe).
This story is inspired by the cuteness debate in Audio Commentary.
I made the cake Strawberry in reference to Kaylee Frye from Firefly, another adorable engineer. I think her and Fitz would get along (as long as he doesn't say anything bad about Serenity haha)