So this was supposed to be a relatively short one shot but turns out I'm apparently incapable of doing that! So this story is going to be three chapters long and since it's already fully written, I'll post the two next ones in the next few days just to give me time to proof read it!
I had a lot of fun writing this and I hope you'll like it since it's also my first time writing a whole story from Fitz's POV.
And be warned it's going to be extra fluffy and I mean it literally because there's a cat in it, but really, there's like zero percent angst in this story!
When Leo Fitz got home that night after two whole days and one night spent at the lab with only a few hours of sleep on the lab's very uncomfortable couch, he only wanted one thing: go to sleep on that supposedly magic mattress he got delivered to his new apartment two days ago and still hadn't had the opportunity to test. He was so exhausted that on his way from his car to his building, he had already planned in what order he would eat something, take a shower and brush his teeth to maximize efficiency and go to bed as fast as possible so he could enjoy at least twelve hours of sleep, praying to all the gods he didn't believe in that he wouldn't be needed at the lab the next day.
In his exhausted state, the best solution he could find was to do it all at the same time, but apparently someone had decided otherwise anyway. And that someone took the form of a small calico cat with piercing blue eyes lying on his bed and that definitely wasn't his despite how completely at ease it looked and how totally unperturbed it was when Fitz opened the door and switched the light on in his bedroom. Fitz let out a small gasp of surprise at seing the small feline and in return, the cat just looked at him with a look that seemed to ask: "Well, what are you doing in my room?" For the feline's defense, Fitz had only been living here for two weeks and spent so little time home that the cat might have been there the whole time and he probably wouldn't have noticed.
"Now, who are you and what are doing here? Do you just come with the apartment? Did I miss a line when I signed the lease?"
The cat looked at him with what seemed like polite interest, tilting his head to the side, slowly moving his tail from left to right, probably still wondering what that stranger was doing on his territory and if he would be allowed to stay.
"Also why am I talking to a cat?" Fitz let out with a big sigh. He was really exhausted.
Fitz extended a tentative hand towards the cat and after a good thirty seconds of the cat sniffing it, the feline gave a friendly head-but and Fitz thought it was probably okay to pet him and in the meantime check if the small guy had a collar. Fitz sat down on the edge of the bed and the cat let him scratch his head for a while, closing his eyes and purring even louder until it decided to roll around a bit, suggesting that it was okay for Fitz to scratch under its head as well.
"Well you're a friendly one I'll give you that ..." Fitz said as he kept on absent-mindedly pet the cat's soft fur. He'd just noticed that his bedroom window had been left open and deduced that it was probably where the cat had come from. It didn't wear a collar but now that he was thinking about it, Fitz was pretty sure he saw a little poster in the hallway of his building with a picture of a cat. He didn't bother reading what was on it since he was just really in a hurry to get home but he supposed it was most likely someone looking for it.
For a moment Fitz considered just letting the cat stay for the night, go to sleep and wait till morning to go downstairs and check if he remembered correctly and if someone was actually looking for that cat. But then he thought that if that person put up a poster, it probably meant that the cat had been missing long enough for it to be worrying. And even though it was already late, that person might be grateful to know his or her cat was alright. So he got up with a big sigh, closed the window so the cat wouldn't decide to leave before he could inform its owner, and walked out the door.
-0-0-0-
Fitz's new furry friend was named Leo, which made Fitz chuckle since he always told his mother that his name was definitely more suited to a pet, and its owner, Jemma Simmons, was his new upstairs neighbor. The cat had only been missing since the previous morning but the poster suggested that she was very worried since the cat wasn't supposed to get out of the flat at all.
"Well maybe you shouldn't leave your window open Jemma Simmons ..." Fitz grumbled as he took out his phone to put her phone number in.
Since it was already past midnight, Fitz decided to send her a text rather than call her. That way if she was asleep, at least she'd know her cat was safe first thing in the morning and Leo was friendly enough that Fitz didn't mind letting him spend the night if it was necessary. But even before Fitz had the time to make it back to his flat, Jemma Simmons was already calling him.
"Hi! I'm Jemma, Jemma Simmons, you just texted me about my cat?" The woman said, her voice sounding a bit rough from sleep. She was apparently a much lighter sleeper than he was because there was no way he could be woken up by a text alert. Her pretty British accent didn't really surprise her considering she wrote flat and not apartment but it was still nice to hear. It's been a while since he'd spoken to someone from home.
"Hi ... yeah figured it was you!" Fitz chuckled. "So hmmm you sound like I've woken you up ... do you want to me to bring him to you?"
"Oh no-no that's nice of you really, just give me five minutes to change and I'll come get him. I'm already so embarrassed that Leo came to your flat, I'm not gonna make you go out at this hour ..."
"No it's alright I just got home from work anyway and I'm just downstairs from you, I can bring him and you can go back to sleep ..." Fitz surprised himself by being so courteous but the woman's voice was so soft and agreeable and apologetic that he just didn't feel like being his usual grumpy self. He would have to wait a bit longer to go to bed anyway so it didn't make a difference if he was the one to come to her flat and at least he would save her the trouble of having to change clothes and then change it back five minutes later.
"That'd be really nice of you but I'm not sure Leo will let you grab him, he doesn't like strangers very much and I don't want you to get scratches all over your hands on top of everything else ..."
Fitz was now back into his flat and in his bedroom where Leo had apparently gone back to sleep. Lucky bastard.
"Well he was friendly enough earlier ... hold on let me try ..." Fitz said and put his phone on his nightstand before Jemma had the time to protest.
Fitz gave Leo a few head scratches to wake him up delicately -if he was anything like him he liked taking his time to wake up- then tentatively grabbed him under his front paws to position him against his left shoulder. The feline let out a small meow of protest at being taken away from his warm comfy bed but didn't bite or scratch him and after a moment, it looked like he was okay with being on Fitz's shoulder.
"It's alright. Looks like he doesn't mind being in my arms so I'll bring him to you now if that's alright ..." Fitz said once he'd taken his phone back.
"Oh ... alright. Thank you so much. I'll see you in a minute then ..."
-0-0-0-
When Jemma Simmons opened the door for him wearing a flannel pyjama bottoms, a tank top and half her hair sticking out of the messy bun on top of her head, Fitz thought she was probably the cutest thing he's seen in a long time. Even though it was probably a tie with the furry creature who managed to fall back asleep on his shoulder during the short walk between his flat and hers.
Until she gave him the biggest sleepy smile he's ever seen upon seing her beloved Leo and then, he was absolutely certain. She was definitely the cutest. "Sorry Leo" He thought. "But you're a close second!"
"Hi! You must be Jemma Simmons ..." Fitz said with a small smile of his own.
"You have Scottish eyes!" She cried out, sounding positively surprised and his smile turned into a small grin.
"Yeah. yeah I guess I have ..." He answered and she chuckled nervously, a slight blush tinting her cheeks, thus making her ten times cuter.
"Sorry I hum ... I tend to say everything that crosses my mind when I'm sleepy and it all kind of got mixed up ... I just I couldn't help noticing your eyes and hum ... you're Scottish ... obviously! And it's hum ... nice to hear someone from home ... well close to home. I'm gonna stop talking now!" She finished with a sheepish smile.
God she was so sweet and awkwardly charming. Could she be some kind of reward from the cosmos after spending two extremely long and tiring weeks working on devices that would make people's lives better?
"That's alright really ... and I agree it's nice to hear someone from home ..." He said with a soft smile as he started detaching Leo from his shoulder and transferred it to Jemma. The small feline gave a small meow of satisfaction and started purring even louder as he settled on Jemma's shoulder.
"I still can't believe you could hold him like that, he usually hates strangers ... well pretty much anyone that's not me to be honest ..." She said with a chuckle. "Do you have a secret?" She asked with an amused glint in her eyes.
"I don't know ... maybe it's the name!" He answered and she raised her eyebrows in confusion.
"Oh yeah sorry I don't think I introduced myself, my name's Leo Fitz!" He added, extending his hand for her to shake, which she did with a big smile.
"Oh nice to meet you Leo!" She chirped and he winced.
"Oh please, you can call me Fitz ..."
"Oh no I don't want to rob you of your first name for my cat's benefit ..."
"No really I insist!" He cut her off. "Everybody calls me Fitz, I'll go by Leopold when I'm eighty and I always thought Leo was more fitted for a pet anyway so ..." He finished with a lopsided grin.
"Oh alright then! So I hope Leo didn't do any damage in your apartment?" She asked, with a little embarrassed smile.
"Oh no, he probably just stayed on the bed. I'm just a bit jealous really, didn't even get to test that new mattress myself yet but Leo seemed to like it ..."
"Well cats don't have very high standards when it comes to beds so don't necessarily take his word for it!" She said and they both laughed.
"He probably spent last night here as well, I would have called you sooner but I didn't get to go home since I left for work yesterday morning so ..."
"Oh no it's fine, I'm the one who should be apologizing and as long as he was safe ..."
"Yeah ..."
The silence lingered there for a moment and Fitz could see that she had trouble keeping her eyes open and to be honest, his own lack of sleep was catching up to him so as surprisingly agreeable as it was, he decided to end the conversation before it got awkward. Better leave on a nice impression.
"So I should probably go to sleep now"
"Oh yeah me too! Thank you again for bringing me Leo ... Oh and you're new to the building right?" She asked with a genuine interest.
"Yeah moved in a couple weeks ago ..."
"Well if you need anything, infos about the neighborhood, anything ... just ask me!"
"Okay thank you, same goes for you ... well not infos about the neighborhood obviously but you know ... sugar or flour, your cat ... things like that ..." He answered and she grinned at him.
"Thank you ... Goodnight Fitz" She answered, her smile turning softer.
"Goodnight Jemma, goodnight Leo!" He said before she closed the door and he stayed there a second before walking back to his apartment.
She really did have a nice smile and she seemed just as sweet as her cat. Fitz wasn't usually this friendly with his neighbors, the ones he had in his previous building probably didn't even notice he was gone, but there was something about her that made it easy to talk, a general softness in her voice and appearance and some kind of awkwardness in spite of how beautiful she was, that made her feel like a kindred spirit. And even if he knew it was the kind of things you said to your neighbors to be polite, it felt more sincere when it was her saying it. And he knew he definitely wouldn't mind having to see her again.
-0-0-0-
Apparently Leo didn't mind either because it took him only a few days to find his way back to Fitz's bed. After a few nights spent on that fantastic new bed himself, he couldn't really blame the cat for wanting to take another nap on it!
After petting the small feline's fur and scratching his head for a few minutes -it was strangely relaxing after a long day's work- Fitz took out his phone to call Jemma and check if she was home.
"Hello?" She said after a few rings.
"Hi, this is Fitz, your downstairs neighbor ..."
"Oh hi Fitz! How are you doing?" She answered, her voice much more enthusiastic when she recognized his voice and he couldn't help smiling at that.
"Oh fine I guess. Just got home from work and guess who I found on my bed?" He asked, grinning.
"Oh no! Did Leo manage to get out again?"
"Looks like it ..."
"I've been so busy since I came home, I didn't even notice he was gone, must have slipped out the bedroom window again!" She said, sounding a little embarrassed and he couldn't resist teasing her a bit.
"Shame on you ... no wonder the poor thing is coming to me for attention!"
"Hey! I got him a whole new bed this week! It looks so comfy I'd sleep on it myself if it was a little bigger ..."
"Classic! Trying to compensate with gifts ..." He said, keeping the teasing tone in his voice.
"Wow ... and I thought you seemed so nice the other night!" She answered in fake annoyance but he thought he could still hear the amusement in her voice.
"Oh but I am or I wouldn't propose to bring Leo to you, would I?"
"Oh would you really do that? That'd be lovely!"
Fitz didn't recall the last time he'd been called lovely but coming from her, he could get used to it.
"Yeah I'll be there in a minute!"
-0-0-0-
Of course Fitz expected her to be slightly more put together than the last time, but he didn't expect this. When Jemma opened the door for him, she was wearing a black very form fitting dress stopping just above the knee and with a relatively low cut neckline that bared her shoulders and collarbone. For a moment, he wondered if that was really what she used to wear for work and if he could apply there, wherever that place was, until he saw the nicely set table in the living room and the delicious smell of food.
"Wow you should have warned me there was a dress code, I feel a bit underdressed now!" He said, grinning and she chuckled. Liking the sound of that, he continued. "Really I'm embarrassed, I'm just bringing your cat back, there was no need to throw me a party ..." He added and she burst out laughing for good this time. Fitz wasn't used to having people react so well to his silly jokes and he was delighted that it was her of all people who reacted that way.
"Thanks again for bringing Leo back. I'll really try to be careful with the window so he doesn't bother you anymore." She said with a soft smile as she took the cat from Fitz and put it immediately on the floor so he wouldn't put cat hair all over her fancy dress.
"Oh I don't mind really. It's actually kind of nice having someone waiting for me at home ..." He chuckled.
"I still can't believe how friendly he is to you ... there must be something special about you ..." She said with a glint in her eyes and he felt himself blush a little. The comment on his eyes and now that. Could she actually be flirting?
"I should probably go now, I'm gonna leave you to your party preparations." Fitz said with a smile. He could definitely have stayed much longer chatting with her but she looked busy and he didn't want to impose.
"Well not really a party, just cooking for my boyfriend but yeah ... I should get back to that ..." She said with a slightly embarrassed smile he didn't really understand. Of course she had a boyfriend -so much for the flirting- she was too sweet and beautiful not to and even if Fitz couldn't deny being quite disappointed about it, there was no reason for her to be embarrassed.
"Well lucky him 'cause I don't know what you're cooking but it smells amazing!" He said, deciding not to mention how pretty she was in that dress. After all she did have a boyfriend and they barely knew each other, it would have been a bit inappropriate.
She just gave a big bashful smile and he took it as his cue to go.
"Well good evening Jemma ..." He started but she cut him off.
"Oh wait!" She said and ran back inside her flat, letting the door open. From what he could see, her place was the exact replica of his, minus the mess he'd managed to put in it in the short time he'd lived there. The front door opened directly into the living room, the small open kitchen was on the right and the hallway on the left logically led to the bedroom and bathroom.
Leo had taken position on the armrest of the sofa and looking at him his head tilted to the side in a way that seemed to mean: "I've invited you, why aren't you coming in?" or maybe that's just what Fitz wanted to think.
After a minute, Jemma came back with two slices of cake on a plate. "Here, anyone thinking my cooking smells good deserves to taste it!" She said, handing the plate to him.
"Oh thank you but I don't want to ..."
"No please, I made a whole cake, there'll be plenty of it for everyone!" She cut him off and he accepted the plate with a big smile. He could never resist cake.
"Well it does look as good as it smells"
"Then you'll have to come back and tell me if it tastes good as well" She said with a small grin and what he could swear was a blink.
-0-0-0-
Fitz managed to wait a whole ten minutes before succumbing to the cake. And even if it was still too hot, just as Jemma warned him it would be if he didn't wait at least an hour to eat it, it tasted amazing and just as perfect as the woman who made it.
-0-0-0-
As a kid, Fitz developed some kind of an obsession with monkeys and always thought that getting one as a pet would be the ultimate accomplishment of his life. But as he grew up and learned more about them, he realized that a monkey's place was in the wild and not as a pet so he settled for getting a dog someday. He'd never really given a thought about having a cat until he found himself lying on his bed and realized that he's been petting Leo's fur and listening to his loud purring for the past hour. Having a cat would definitely not help improve his productivity but it was doing wonders as a stress relief.
Also, thanks to his new furry friend, he'd get to see his favorite neighbor once more. Well saying she was his favorite neighbor was a bit of a stretch since she was the only one he'd met since moving in to the building but he didn't think it would be possible to find better.
Summoning the last remnants of his strengths, he got up from the bed and grabbed Leo who, after a small mewl of protest from being taken away from his bed, reluctantly settled on Fitz's shoulder. Fitz heard Jemma come home from work ten minutes ago so he didn't bother calling her first and just grabbed his keys before climbing up the stairs with a spring in his step that was totally unlike him.
When Jemma opened the door though, she gave him a soft smile but it didn't quite reach her eyes and she didn't look as perky as she was the last times, and Fitz found his own smile faltering a bit. Maybe he was catching her at a bad time and chastised himself for not calling first, but it was too late now anyway.
"Hi" He said a little bashfully. "Look who I found!"
"Oh hi Fitz" She answered, her voice strangely small. "I'm sorry I just got home from work, I didn't have the time to notice he was gone yet ..." She said as she gestured for Fitz to put Leo in her arms. But instead of putting him back on the ground, she hugged him to her chest and buried her face in his fur for a moment. Fitz couldn't help smiling at the sweet scene even it felt like something was definitely wrong with her.
"Oh no it's alright really, I kinda like him now!" He said with a genuine smile. "But I feel like Leo's starting to love me more than you now though!" He said with a grin, as a mean to tease her since she seemed to appreciate his humor and he wouldn't have minded hearing her charming laugh once more. But it didn't really create the same reaction this time. Quite the opposite in fact.
He saw a flicker of hurt in her eyes and then suddenly she was crying and he felt all the colors drain from his face. How did he go from friendly chat and teasing with his pretty neighbor, who he might have a small (massive?) crush on, to making her cry in just a few seconds?
"Oh no no no I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it Jemma. Don't listen to me I never know when to stop with the teasing, I'm so stupid. I should just go now ... next time I'll-I'll just bring you back Leo and I'll keep my bloody mouth shut and ..." He rambled, his eyes going wide and scratching his neck in a nervous gesture, not knowing what to do with his hands. Should he pat her back? Put a comforting hand on her shoulder? Bring her a hot beverage? Hug her? No that one would be nicer for him than her most likely! And now he remembered why he didn't have so many friends in the first place. Social interactions had never been his forte. But Jemma cut him off before he had the time to apologize some more.
"Oh no Fitz it's alright, I know you were just teasing. I would have probably said something in the lines of "he only loves you for your bed" if I didn't feel so awful ..." She said, giving him a weak smile through her tears.
"Oh what's wrong?" He asked, feeling somehow a little relieved but still terribly embarrassed for making her cry. "Can I do something to help?"
"Oh no you're really sweet but I-I-it's just my boyfriend and I, we broke up last night and hmm it wasn't pretty and then I got home really late and I didn't get much sleep so hmmm yeah ... I'm a little emotional. Really I feel ridiculous now ..." She said with a small chuckle.
"Oh no I'm so sorry, things didn't look so bad last week when ... but it's none of my business really! Are you sure there's nothing I can do to help?" He asked and even though he sincerely felt bad for her, there was a very small part of him that kinda fist pumped internally when he heard she didn't have a boyfriend anymore and he felt terrible about it. Because it wasn't like he was going to try anything while she was sad and vulnerable. And especially not now that his stupid jokes made her cry.
"No really I should go grocery shopping but I'll probably end up watching TV and falling asleep on the couch with Leo." She said as the cat started purring even louder when she scratched his head.
"Sounds like a solid plan! Goodnight to you both then ..." He said as he started walking away with a bit of a sheepish look on his face but she grabbed his arm before he could make another step.
"Thank you Fitz. And please don't feel bad, I really didn't cry because of what you said ..." She said with a small smile but this time it seemed to reach her eyes. He gave her a nod and a smile of his own and gently detached his arm from her hand and made his way back to his place.
-0-0-0-
But an hour later, after he'd taken a shower and changed into more comfortable clothes, he still couldn't stop thinking back on how sad Jemma had looked like and somehow even though he only knew her for a few weeks and talked to her a grand total of four times, he wanted nothing more at this moment than to make her feel better.
So that's how he found himself softly knocking on her door, with his foot, twenty minutes later with his arms full of food. It took her some time to answer the door and for a moment, he was scared that he might have woken her up even if it was barely past 9 PM. After all it was her plan to fall asleep on the couch. But when she opened the door, she looked quite awake and he could see the TV in the background as well as an impressive pile of blankets on the couch.
"Hi again ..." he said bashfully.
"Hiii ..." She answered with a slightly amused smile and a raised eyebrow.
"So hum ... I felt bad leaving you looking so sad after making you cry, and I know it wasn't really my fault" He added before she had the time to protest. "But still I felt bad so I-hmmm-I conjured all the memories I had from every TV show and rom-com I ever saw and hum ... what I mostly got from it was that when you're heartbroken you need to eat a lot of ice-cream so ..." He let out as he lifted the huge pint of vanilla cookie dough Ben&Jerry's ice-cream with a small tentative smile and her own smile grew wider. She also raised an inquisitive eyebrow at everything in his arms that obviously wasn't ice-cream and he blushed a bit.
"And then I remembered that you said you needed to go grocery shopping so I thought maybe you didn't have any real food to eat either so I went and picked up chinese food ... and then I thought that maybe you didn't consider chinese take away as real food so I-hmm-I got you soup ..." He finished and her smile was now almost splitting her face in two. "I-hum-tend to be a little excessive when I'm not really sure of what I'm doing ..." He added sheepishly when she still didn't talk.
He thought he'd done a good job of making her feel better until she suddenly burst into tears once more.
"Oh no no, I'm sorry I made things worse again, I really don't know what I'm do-mmmmph ..." He started but she cut him off by placing a finger over his mouth and the familiarity of the gesture was enough to stop him and leave him a little gobsmacked anyway. She was still smiling widely through her tears.
"No Fitz, you didn't do anything wrong! I told you I'm ridiculously emotional, it's just you-this-I think this might be the sweetest, most adorable thing anyone's ever done for me and you barely even know me and ..." She said as new tears were starting to fall on her cheeks. "And now I must look like a lunatic" She said chuckling. "Crying and smiling and laughing at the same time!"
As she talked Fitz felt the knot in his chest untie as he realized he really did nothing wrong then as she continued, he started to feel another kind of pressure on his heart. One that didn't feel quite as bad.
"No no no it's fine I get it ... and who am I to judge really? I bought you enough food for ten people and I don't even know if you like any of it ..." He said with a little eye roll and they both burst out laughing.
"Of course if you put it like that ..." She answered, making a move to take some of what he was carrying off his arms.
"Here ..." He said as he gave her the last bag of chinese food. "I'll leave you to eat now, feel free to throw all of this away if you're not hungry ..." He said as he started to reluctantly move away from the door.
"Hey hey hey wait!" She said to stop him. "I guess you didn't really pay attention to these movies because if you did, you'd know that ice-cream is useless if you don't have someone to share it with ..." She added with a small grin as she moved to the side and opened the door wider as an invitation to let him in.
"Oh no you don't have to invite me in just 'cause I ..."
"Fitz!" She cut him off. "Will you stop doubting everything I say and come inside to gorge on chinese food and ice-cream with me so I don't feel guilty doing it on my own?" She let out and her voice was tinged with a bit of annoyance but mostly fondness and a bit of mischievousness.
"Oh alright ..." He said as he walked in and she closed the door behind him. "bossy ..." He mumbled and she grinned even wider. "No wonder you keep coming to my place!" He said, turning towards Leo who'd been looking at their exchange like you would a tennis match, from his perch on the couch's armrest.
A second later, he managed to stop the cushion Jemma threw at him just before it hit his face. He tried to look offended by the gesture but her smile was just too contagious and he couldn't resist reciprocating it.
-0-0-0-
Two hours later, they found themselves half sitting, half lying down on either sides of Jemma's couch and mostly buried under what Fitz called Jemma's blanket fort. Leo seemed to appreciate his new human pillow since he spent almost as much time on Fitz's lap as he did on Jemma's. An impressive quantity of mostly empty cardboard boxes lay on the coffee table, the soup lay untouched and Fitz could see that Jemma was arguing with herself about getting up to get that pint of Ben&Jerry's from the freezer.
After they'd settled on the couch to eat, they remained silent for a moment as Jemma was switching channels in the hope of finding something that was, if not interesting, at least entertaining to watch. After almost giving up, they stumbled onto a channel Jemma didn't even know she had and that was broadcasting Doctor Who reruns. They got so excited both about the fact that it was their favorite season and that they'd found a fellow Whovian, that it took them a good five minutes to realize it was actually a dutch channel and that the show was in Dutch. After a good laugh, they kept watching it for a moment to have fun hearing how strange the characters sounded in another language, but after a time the conversation drifted to more personal topics like what each other did for a living, which opened up a whole new array of conversation topics since they were delighted to discover that they were both scientists, and they forgot about the TV altogether.
But the late hour, insane amount of food eaten and the warmth of the blankets helping, they drifted into a sleepy but surprisingly not uncomfortable silence as they kept watching this strange Dutch version of Doctor Who.
"Considering how well I know this episode in english, do you think I could teach myself Dutch if I compare both versions?" Fitz asked and Jemma burst out laughing, startling Leo who was peacefully sleeping on her lap at the moment.
"Hey!" He cried out with a affronted look on his face. "That was a serious question. And I'll have you know that's pretty much how they managed to decrypt the hieroglyphs actually ..." He added, not completely able to keep the grin off his face as he said it.
"Of course Fitz. And I'm sure it'll be extra useful for you to know how to say Dalek in Dutch for your next trip to Amsterdam!" She answered with a triumphant grin.
"You're so mean ... and that's a terrible exemple really because Dalek is still Dalek in Dutch anyway!"
"Awww ... will you forgive me if I give you ice-cream?" She asked with a slightly mischievous smile.
"You mean the ice-cream I brought?" He answered with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah ... but I can top that with liquid chocolate ..."
"Yeah okay!" He cried out enthusiastically and she grinned.
With that, she let out a big exaggerated sigh and got up the couch before tenderly ruffling his hair.
"Hey!" He cried out, swatting her hand away but he couldn't stop the huge smile that crept up his face once she turned her back.
A minute later, she came back from the kitchen with the box of ice-cream and two spoons. This time, she sat much closer to him on the couch and Fitz felt his heart beat ridiculously faster for a second until he realized it was just out of practicality since she didn't bring bowls and they would both have to dig directly into the box to eat.
"Oh my ... this is really good!" She let out with a contented sigh after the first spoonful. "I think you might be the nicest person I've ever met!"
"Oh please you're just being emotional again! It's just ice-cream and you barely know me ..." He answered with a chuckle to hide his slight embarrassment.
"Exactly!" She said, turning around a bit to face him. "I mean yeah I might still be a bit emotional but still ... you don't know me and yet you buy me an insane amount of food and spend the night cheering me up when I'm sure you have better things to do ..."
"Oh no tonight's been really nice for me. It was actually the first time I got to spend the night out since I moved to New York ... I don't make friends easily ..." He said with a self deprecative laugh.
"Oh so your girlfriend doesn't live in the city?" She asked with a sympathetic smile.
"What girlfriend?" He answered , frowning in confusion.
"Oh ... or boyfriend I'm sorry, I shouldn't make assumptions-I-it just felt like ..." She stuttered while furiously blushing and Fitz was even more confused.
"No no no I don't have either of those!" He cut her off.
"Oh ... it's just the other day, when you said you didn't come home for a night, I assumed that ..."
"Aaaah ..." Fitz let out, finally understanding where this whole idea came from. "No I spent the night in the lab, I had an important deadline for a presentation and didn't have time to come home"
"Oh ... I see. I guess we have that in common ... married to our work, right?" She let out with a chuckle.
"Yeah ..." He answered rolling his eyes. "But hum-for the record, If I did have someone in my life it would definitely be a woman." He mumbled, not quite meeting her eyes and blushing a bit.
"Right" She said and he could swear he saw the beginning of a grin tugging at her lips.