Part 1: Cool

AN: My ability to ship things is really getting out of hand! Apparently I was only ever one adorably awkward fistbump away from shipping these two.

Fitz and Triplett stayed by the hotel pool discussing (read: geeking out over) retro tech long after the rest of the team had turned in for the night. The evening air was verging on unpleasantly cool, and Fitz's toes were prunier than any actual prune that ever existed, but the water was heated and Trip's body next to him on the side of the pool was blocking most of the breeze, so Fitz wasn't in a hurry to move.

Tough as he liked to think his British constitution was, he may have shuffled a bit closer to Trip's warmth over the course of their chat, but Trip didn't seem to mind. This was by far the longest conversation he'd had with the guy he was beginning to think of as their new team member and he had no desire to end it, chilly night air be damned.

Fitz watched the reflection of the almost-full moon shimmering on the surface of the water as they fell into a comfortable silence.

It was verging on uncomfortable when Trip spoke again.

"So…" he swirled his beer in its bottle. "What's the deal with you and Simmons?"

"Deal?" Fitz asked. "As in, are we together? Like, together together?"

Trip's mouth quirked with a hint of a smile as he nodded.

"Nah," Fitz said, swirling his own beer. "We dated for a few weeks at the Academy, but it turns out we're better off as friends." It occurred to him then why Trip must be asking. He took a deep breath. "So if you were thinking of asking her out, you have my blessing," he assured Trip.

Trip's mouth quirked again as he looked at Fitz. "She's not the one I'm thinking of asking out."

"Oh," said Fitz mildly. Trip watched Fitz and waited, seeming highly amused by something.

"Oh," said Fitz, the penny dropping. "Do you mean…?" He tipped the neck of the beer bottle towards himself.

"What do you say, Fitz? Have a drink with me sometime?"

"We're already having a drink," Fitz said faintly. As soon as the words were out of his mouth he felt like an idiot, but Trip only smiled. Had he always been that handsome when he smiled?

"A proper drink, somewhere with," he glanced around them, "less deck chairs."

Fitz took a steadying breath. "Yeah, that would be… really cool."