Sorry for this bad summary that sounds a bit like a click bait article but I'm really bad at it and I didn't want to spoil too much of the story ^^
I loved writing an Halloween and a Christmas story so I thought I'd try my hand on a Valentine's day story. This story should have three more chapters (probably quite a bit longer than this one). Hope you'll enjoy it and I'd love a review if you did. I'm also open for any suggestions for my next "themed" story since those are always a lot of fun! (Keeping in mind that I only write about Fitzsimmons, not that I don't like the other characters but FS really are my main inspiration!)
***update*** this is just a repost of the first chapter with a few corrections, thanks a lot to DaLiza for pointing them out to me! Next chapter should be up tomorrow, it just needs to be re-read ;-)
"Why am I putting myself through this again?" Jemma thought. She was really smart and pretty with an above average fashion sense. Surely she didn't anyone to fix her up with a man. She was perfectly able of getting a date on her own. Of course, if she was completely honest, the problem wasn't attracting men -she did get a lot of attention from the opposite sex- it was finding one who could hold her interest long enough for him to be a potential boyfriend. Of course Skye had repeated over and over that the man was a fellow scientist, like it made him automatically interesting. Most of Jemma's dates for the last ten years had been fellow scientists -it's not like she had the time to meet people outside of work anyway- and still, even if a few of them had been interesting enough to become boyfriends, it never lasted very long. Somehow she would either get bored or they would feel threatened by her intelligence.
Yet here she was getting ready for a blind date, on Valentine's day of all days. Even when she did have a boyfriend around this time of year, she never really celebrated it. She never liked the pressure of having to be romantic at all costs on a specific day. She much preferred the idea of surprising or being surprised by small romantic gestures all year long when it didn't feel forced. She blamed Skye for taking advantage of a small moment of weakness that lead her to accept tonight's date. Even a modern independent young woman such as herself will end up giving her chance to a perfect stranger after spending a whole evening watching British romantic comedies with her best friend. At first she thought it was a genuinely nice gesture from Skye after she told her she'd been feeling homesick lately, but now that she thought back on it, it was probably a plot to finally make her agree to a date with this colleague of her.
As she walked towards the door to her apartment, she gave one last look at herself in the mirror. She didn't even know why she put so much effort into her clothes, hair and make-up and wore such ridiculously high heels. Whoever that man was, he very probably didn't deserve it. She realized it was probably a little bitter and pessimistic to think that but she'd broken up with her last boyfriend almost two years ago and every date she's had ever since had been one disappointment after the other so really what were the chances of tonight's date being any different. Actually, given all the necessary datas, she could probably do the maths on that, which would likely make for a much more interesting evening. It would probably also lead her to the conclusion that even New York wasn't a big enough city for her to find someone compatible.
After checking her phone, she went back to get her scarf and gloves. It was supposed to get really cold tonight. She put the gloves in her handbag, her coat and scarf on herself and with a big sigh, she opened the door to her apartment and got out.
-0-0-0-
"How could I be so weak?" Fitz told himself as he checked the time for the hundredth since he arrived. Agreeing on a blind date was already bad, especially after swearing -well drunkenly declare really- less than two months ago that he would stop searching for the woman of his dreams and wait for fate to put her in his way. But agreeing to go shopping with Bobbi and actually buying a ridiculously overpriced suit only because her and that lady from the shop kept telling how good he looked in it, made him feel like he hit a new low in his life.
He hadn't been really lucky in his love life but he still felt like he should be able to find someone on his own, without the help of his friends. The blue eyes and blond curly hair that used to make him look so much younger than his actual age now gave a kind of boyish charm, at least that's what his friends told him. He wasn't quite as shy as he used to be when he was sixteen and he felt like, most of the time, his way above average intelligence was now an advantage to get the interest from members of the opposite sex. Although, it sometimes felt like a bit of a curse because it was incredibly hard to find someone who could hold his interest, even when his date was a fellow scientist like the woman he was meeting tonight.
The woman in question, who was supposed to be his soulmate if he believed Hunter and Bobbi, was already ten minutes late. As he looked up from his phone once more to check if he couldn't see someone fitting her description, he wondered if ten minutes was enough for him to consider that he'd been stood up, thus making it alright to go home and watch that documentary about the Amazon he had planned on watching tonight before agreeing on this date. He knew it was Valentine's day and he was supposed to be hopeful about love and in a romantic mood but really the only thing that stopped him from canceling that date at the last minute was his education. His mother raised him to be a decent young man and ditching someone at the last minute would have really felt like a dick move. Also, Bobbi would have been mad at him and she was a scary woman. Which was pretty unfair when he thought about it because she was the one who almost forced him to go on this date when he was definitely less than enthusiastic about it, insisting that the chances of just stumbling on the woman of his dreams were really low and he should be proactive about it. He had actually done the maths about those chances but she didn't seem to be impressed so somehow he gave her his go-ahead to arrange this date.
As he was actually considering sending Hunter a text to ask him how long he should wait before leaving, he looked up towards the door and saw a woman enter and walk in his direction. She perfectly fit the description that Bobbi and Hunter gave him. At least they didn't lie about her being pretty, if the rest was also true maybe this date wouldn't turn out as bad as he thought.
"Let's do this" He told himself before pocketing his phone and started walking to meet her halfway, hoping the smile he had placated on his face didn't feel too forced.
-0-0-0-
"Okay last chance of turning back" Jemma told herself as she stopped in front of the restaurant. She had thought of canceling this date a few times already. She had to wake up extra early this morning and it would be the same the next day so she really wasn't extra enthusiastic about staying up late tonight. To be honest she was much more enthusiastic about the idea of going home and catch this documentary about the Amazon she heard a lot of good about. But she knew that if she cancelled now, she would never hear the end of it. Skye would make her life a living hell for days and even though, she didn't know the man, she would have felt bad doing something like this at the last minute anyway. So instead, she decided to go in and if it went bad, at least it would prevent Skye from trying to fix her up with anyone, hopefully for good this time.
As she got to the bar area where they were supposed to meet, she saw a man fitting Skye's description, looking down at his phone. He did look good, at least from this angle, Jemma thought. She started walking towards him and after a few seconds, he looked up and smiled at her. When they met halfway, she extended her hand with a small smile.
"Hello, I'm Jemma Simmons and you must be ..."
"Hi, I'm Milton, nice to meet you Jemma"
"Nice to meet you too"
-0-0-0-
When he finally made his way to her through the crowded bar, he extended his hand to shake hers.
"Hi, I'm Fitz and you must be ..."
"I'm Emily. Hi. It's nice to finally meet you" She said with a warm smile.
"And you ..." He answered smiling back.