I've been on a bit of an uploading spree recently, which hasn't happened in too long! This is my first ever 5/1 type fic and is just my attempt at an idea I've had floating around for a while. Please do let me know what you think!
I don't own anything you recognise, no matter how much I want a Leo Fitz or a Jemma Simmons of my own.
1. Fitz's roommate,
"Did you say you had someone coming over, Fitz?" his roommate asked innocently and from his spot at the desk Leo narrowed his eyes slightly. Alex had asked him that at least six times now, and Fitz was getting suspicious.
"Uh, yeah, just to plan a presentation," he replied, not looking up from his book.
"Is it Jemma?" he asked, again just a little too innocently.
"Yeah, who else?"
"True. You need me to clear off?" he asked, and that was when Fitz knew for certain that something was up. He mentally sighed. Not this again.
"No, why would I?" Fitz questioned, finally turning around to find Alex watching him knowingly, his textbook lying forgotten in his lap.
"I dunno dude, just thought you two might like some alone time," he said, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.
It had taken Fitz's dorm-mates a while to get used to the idea that he and Simmons were just friends. And apparently it was taking Alex even longer. He liked his roommate a lot, but didn't see why it was so hard to understand that two people could be friends without getting into any kind of other relationship. He and Simmons had spoken about getting an apartment together quite a few times, thought perhaps they would sign a lease before they both started their doctorates, and he figured that even if it would only fuel the rumour mill, it'd stop him having to actually deal with it. That and he really wanted to move in with Simmons, she was his best friend and, he knew, would make a fantastic flatmate.
"Mate, if you asked her out, she'd totally say yes," Alex insisted.
Just as he was about to retort that he did not want to ask Simmons out (a lie) and if he did, she most certainly wouldn't totally say yes (the truth, probably), Alex's phone rang and so Fitz went back to his work, only half-listening to his roommate's one-sided conversation. He could tell from the way Alex spoke that it was Katie, his girlfriend, who had called. No not really, just reading and chatting with Fitz. What? Because he prefers being called Fitz, I told you. No I already finished most of it. Yeah sure, you in your room? Well I don't know, at Sarah's or something. Cool, yeah I'll come round now.
As Alex hung up, there was a knock at their door and just as Fitz made to rise, Alex interrupted him.
"I got it, I'm heading over to Katie's room, in case you didn't get that," he said good-naturedly (probably the most apt description of Alex in general) as he put on his shoes and opened the door to greet Simmons.
"Hey, Jemma! How's it going?"
"Hello Alex, I'm well thanks. You going out?"
"Yeah, going to see Katie," he replied as the two effectively swapped places.
"Oh, okay, well say 'hello' from me." Jemma was a regular enough visitor to Fitz's room that she had even established something of a friendship with the older girl.
"Will do. You kids behave yourself," he joked, waggling his eyebrows at Fitz again when Jemma couldn't see.
"Is he really just going to see Katie?" she asked awkwardly, once she'd greeted him and sat down on his bed, more than used to making herself at home in his room.
"Well, she did call him just now. I'm not convinced though," he told her shyly and the two pretended that they there wasn't an unspoken statement hanging in the air as they began working.
*/*/*
"You were pretty convincing!" came the greeting, as soon as Alex had walked into Katie's room.
"Is this Project FitzSimmons?" her roommate asked absently, focussing on something on her laptop screen.
"Yes, we're going to get them together before they graduate again if it kills us," the two replied together.
2. Skye
Skye would be the first to acknowledge that she didn't have the greatest amount of first-hand experience of love. She'd never experienced a traditional family unit, had never had parents or siblings to love. But as she'd grown up she'd loved friends like siblings, had fallen in love with boys who broke her heart. And if there was one thing she did know, it was that Fitz was in love with Simmons. And not just platonically. She could tell he thought he'd scare Simmons off if he admitted it and asked her on a date, but she was also pretty sure Simmons would say yes, she was just better at hiding her emotions than her partner (although a worse liar in every other way).
So, when Jemma had been sent off on a mission with Ward and Coulson, she had leapt at the opportunity that sharing an otherwise deserted lab with Fitz had presented.
In fairness, she probably shouldn't have started her assault as Fitz took a gulp of coffee from his mug.
"So, how long have you been in love with Simmons?"
She probably should have gone with a better opening gambit too.
When he had finished coughing, and had mopped up the spilt coffee, he turned to her, looking incredulous.
"What?" he exclaimed, wearing an expression of shock, and she had to give him credit, he was better at lying under pressure than Simmons although it wasn't much of a compliment. Anyone was better at lying under pressure than Simmons. It didn't matter though, she wasn't having any of it.
"Don't give me that. Anyone can see you're mad for her. I watch you look at her when you think she's can't see, I know what's really going down. For the record, your secret's safe with me lab monkey."
"Skye, me and Simmons are just friends."
She gave him a disbelieving look.
"Seriously, we've known each other for almost ten years and we've helped each other through some pretty tough times. Yes, we're really close but not like that. And we don't want to be. We're happy as we are, so can we please leave it at that?"
"Fine, cool, deny it all you want," she said holding her hands up. "I'm just saying you should totally ask her out."
He had a sudden memory of being sat in his college dorm room, of a roommate whose choice of words wasn't a million miles away from Skye's. Did other people really think he had a shot with Jemma?
"I don't want to ask her out, Skye! She doesn't want me to ask her out. Hell, SHIELD even has an anti-frat policy, would we have joined SHIELD if something like that was on either of our minds? We're friends, why can no-one accept that?!" he exclaimed, far more forcefully than he had intended and Skye flinched a little. "Sorry. It's just that, I get this a lot, and no one ever just takes my word for it."
"Sorry, I guess I should have realised that. And it is totally your business, I get that, but please can I just ask you something?"
Silently, he nodded and turned back to the device he'd been working on.
"There's seriously nothing? You've never wanted to hold her hand, or kiss her or anything? I guess I just can't imagine ever being as close to someone as you are to Jemma and not feeling anything more, you know?" she tried, changing tack. Maybe she could coax it out of him this way instead, because she wasn't buying that whole 'no one ever listens to me' act one bit.
"There's seriously nothing, Skye," he told her calmly, trying to keep his voice level and she cursed silently. There was more than one, well two in this case, way to skin a cat. She opened her mouth to speak again when a voice called out from behind them, startling them both.
"Hey guys! Well, that was a bit of a waste of time," Jemma sighed, setting down the kit she'd taken with her. "Did I miss anything exciting here?"
3. The Simmons family
It was a long-standing tradition that he and Jemma alternated Christmas and New Year celebrations with their families. This year, as it had worked out, he was spending the holidays with the Simmons' until Boxing Day, and then he and Jemma would take a train up to Glasgow to celebrate New Year with his family and friends.
By this time, Fitz had visited the Simmons house so many times that he felt as much at home amongst Jemma's extended family as he did with his own, and they themselves had all accepted him as an honorary Simmons. Therefore it was with more than a little excitement that the two scientists entered the Sheffield home one evening during the week before Christmas, dusting snow off their shoes and shedding their coats in the familiar little entrance hall.
Out of nowhere, the two were instantly assaulted by Jemma's younger sisters, Ellie and Hannah, who pulled them both into hugs and chattered excitedly about all the things they had to tell and show them. Jemma's older brother James shook Fitz's hand warmly and, along with Jemma's father, offered to take their suitcases, all while Jemma's mother tried to herd them further into the hallway so that she could shut the door and keep the cold out.
As he unlaced his shoes and left them on the rack by the door, he couldn't help but notice that Ellie and Hannah were sticking unusually close, inadvertently keeping them confined to the corridor and making the modestly-sized space a little too crowded even as Jemma's brother and father, now divested of all luggage, tried to squeeze past them. He couldn't help but feel that something was amiss as he was jostled around slightly.
"Oops, sorry Leo! Breathe in my boy," Mr. Simmons said cheerily as he passed behind Fitz. With that, he and Jemma shunted themselves forward what little more they could and were met with a sudden commotion of happy shouts and laughs from the extended Simmons family members who were crowded into the adjoining sitting room, all enjoying a few holiday drinks in their traditional family gathering.
Puzzled, they exchanged a glance before one of Jemma's aunts, squeezed unceremoniously between the arm of the sofa on one side and that of her girlfriend on the other, shouted that they should look up.
The pieces fell into place and, both groaning quietly, they glanced above them in a single motion and, sure enough, found a little sprig of green leaves and white berries hanging smugly above them. Beside them, Ellie and Hannah were still giggling, their part in the whole operation expertly carried out.
"Mum!" Jemma chided, half-laughing even as she quickly pecked Fitz on the lips knowing, as he did, that none of the rambunctious Simmons family would have been satisfied if she had merely brushed her lips against his cheek. Knowing this didn't change the way either of their hearts jumped at the contact, however.
"Just a bit of fun dear," her mother smiled, secretly wishing that something more had happened as she ushered Jemma's siblings into the sitting room.
Easy for you to say, Fitz couldn't help but think, but couldn't really bring himself to feel angry or resentful as Mrs. Simmons bustled in between them, placing a light kiss on either of their cheeks and a steaming mug of hot chocolate each in their hands.
4. Skye (again)
She wasn't giving up, hell be damned. Those two were in love and if neither of them would admit it to her then they should at least admit it to each other. Therefore, she had roped Ward in and, between them, they had come up with a passable plan. Ward was under no illusions as to why Skye had included him in this master scheme only a week after the incident with the Asgardian staff. He knew that she was trying to keep his mind off of the memories the staff had brought up and give him something positive to focus on instead, and he really did appreciate it, even if he didn't quite know how to tell her so.
Soon enough, they had laid the foundations of their plan. They would only be parked up outside the city as long as it took SHIELD to reassess May and Ward after the psychological trauma the staff had inflicted. They didn't have all that long.
Therefore, Skye gotten straight to the point upon entering the lab one morning a week or so after the incident with the Berserker staff.
"What up, FitzSimmons," she greeted, stifling a yawn. They gave their customary replies and asked their usual questions about how her training was going, which she answered as normal. Silence for fell for only the briefest of moments.
"So, I was thinking," she began as she turned her laptop on. "That new movie Ward mentioned is coming out, and since we're gonna be parked up for a little while, I wondered if maybe I should suggest we go see it?"
"Oh that's a lovely idea, Skye," Simmons replied with a smile.
"You think so? Because I really thought he could use the distraction."
"You're right, he could," Fitz chipped in. "And I'm sure it'll be good for you as well, it's a good idea for Agents to spend time with their SOs outside of work."
"No no, I mean all four of us should go," she corrected. "I'm pretty sure May and AC won't want to come, but I don't want Ward to think I'm suggesting it out of pity or because I'm worried about him or whatever. Which I totally am, but I think it'd be cool if it just seems like a casual thing, you know?" she explained and the two nodded. "So, you two game?"
"Yes, of course," Simmons replied at the same time as Fitz said,
"Absolutely."
*/*/*
"Some geniuses, Skye joked the next morning as she trained with Ward. "They totally fell for it. They think we're going this afternoon, so play along okay?"
Ward just nodded. He'd bet money on this failing terribly.
*/*/*
As FitzSimmons met them on the cargo ramp later that day, he pretended to end a particularly unpleasant phone call and watched as Skye intercepted them before they reached him.
"Is everything alright?" Simmons asked, concerned at the look on Skye's face. He had to give it to her, Rookie was a good actress.
"Not so great, no," Skye replied, her voice hushed as though she were trying to stop Ward from hearing the conversation. "That was Ward's SO. Apparently they weren't satisfied with his psych evaluation. They want him to clock in ASAP. I'm going to go with him for moral support," she told them seriously.
"Do you think they'll tell you anything though?" Fitz whispered back.
"I guess not, but I'd rather be there to keep an eye on him."
"Sure, that makes sense," Simmons replied reasonably. "We can always make the trip another time."
"Well I booked the tickets already and Ward said we can drop you in on the way. And they told us they'd be doing some more evaluations, so we'll probably be stuck there until this evening or something, so there's totally time to get dinner, then I guess we can give you a ride back too?"
"I don't know," Fitz began hesitantly.
"Listen, don't let on but I think Ward wants you to go. He doesn't want to ruin the afternoon completely, or for all our money to go to waste."
They exchanged doubtful looks and for a second Skye thought they wouldn't agree but eventually, after seemingly having had some silent conversation with their eyes or their psychic link or whatever, Simmons tentatively agreed.
"If that's what Ward thinks would be best?"
"Definitely."
*/*/*
The drive into the city was a little awkward and hushed, but eventually they reached the theatre and FitzSimmons hopped out of the car, solemnly wishing Ward luck, and Skye almost felt bad for lying to them.
She and Ward watched them walk off together and Ward raised the stakes on their bet about the outcome of the day. Skye confidently matched them.
Nonetheless, when the four met up again a few hours later, she was forced to accept that it was obvious that nothing whatsoever had changed between the two scientists, because neither of them was really that good of a liar.
"I told you," Ward grinned smugly as she handed over her cash at the bar later that night.
"I know," she replied with a sigh. "But promise me if you get a moment alone with one of them you'll see if you can try again?"
"Skye, I really don't think – "
"God Ward I know you agree with me here, so just promise will you?"
"Alright I promise!"
5. Ward
"Hey," Ward greeted her casually as he entered the communal area of the Bus. Simmons looked up from whatever she was scribbling into her notebook – some equations, by the looks of it – and smiled at him by way of a greeting.
He grabbed a water bottle from behind the bar and paused for a moment, remembering his promise to Skye a week earlier.
"So I thought you did really well today, by the way."
"Oh, thanks Ward," she replied, genuinely flattered. They'd just returned from a mission which had seen her and Fitz frantically working away on some tech, goodness knows how many feet up on the roof of a building as May, Ward and Coulson engaged with hostiles on the ground below. The height had fazed her at first, but Fitz had given her a comforting smile, and Skye had been in her ear encouraging her, and it soon felt as though she'd never leapt to certain death from a plane a few months earlier. Well, almost.
"Fitz not around?" Ward asked as casually as possible, able to think of only one direction from which to approach this.
"No, he's catching up with some reading."
"Science stuff?"
"How did you know?" she joked and he laughed. "Why, did you want him?"
"No, it was just, he's the only one I haven't spoken to about what I said, you know…a few weeks ago."
"Oh it's okay," she told him sincerely, "he knows as much as the rest of us that you didn't mean what you said. There's no bad blood there."
"I know that." This was entirely true, and he couldn't be more grateful that his team had been so willing to move on from what had happened. "But I've apologised to you and Skye, so it's only fair." He felt guilty using this as a way into conversation, but it wasn't entirely a lie, bridging the subject with the Scot had somehow felt more difficult and more awkward than with Skye and Simmons.
"Well, I'm sure he'll appreciate it."
"Yeah?"
"Of course."
"Because I think out of all of you, I was the biggest jerk to him."
"Well, I'd be lying if I said you didn't touch a nerve," she admitted grudgingly. "But deep down he knew you didn't mean it."
"Good," he paused and took a breath. God Skye owed him for this. "Because we all know he would have jumped out of the plane after you. You know that too, right?"
"Yes, I do. Very much so," she smiled, sensing that he wasn't very comfortable talking about all of this and hoping to put him at ease.
"He obviously really cares about you, you know?" he said, feeling completely out of his depth.
"And I him," she replied either completely oblivious or, more likely since she was a certified genius, not taking the bait. "He's a great friend."
This wasn't working, and he felt like a complete idiot. It was time to bolt, pathetic as this attempt had been, he was going to count it when he spoke to Skye later.
"Okay, well, let him know I want to talk to him will you?" he asked moving from his perch on the arm of one of the couches in order to make a quick escape.
"I will, thanks Ward," she too rose and made her way in the direction of the bunks.
+1
"So I think Ward just tried to have some kind of personal talk with me," Simmons said as she slid the door to her bunk shut behind her, locking it out of habit.
"What about?" Fitz murmured absently from where he was sprawled out on her bed. He had her laptop open and she could tell that he was scrolling on some web-page or another and was far more involved in what he was reading (likely that journal paper he'd had bookmarked for a few days) than what she was saying. She was willing to bet money that he wasn't really listening to her at all. She surveyed him for a moment from where she'd settled cross-legged at the foot of her bed, curled into the space he wasn't occupying.
"About how he thought I was beautiful from the moment he set eyes on me and he'll absolutely die if I won't agree to marry him. I said yes, by the way."
"Mmm?" he hummed, confirming her suspicion. She watched, satisfied as he slowly processed her words and, eventually looked up, startled. "What?!"
"Ah, you're with me now are you?" she joked, dodging the playful, light kick he threw at her.
He shuffled into a sitting position so that she had a more equitable share of the space and she took the opportunity to stick her legs out, resting her feet lightly in his lap. He was silent for a moment before asking, somewhat nervously,
"Did he really hit on you then, Ward?"
She held him under a thoughtful gaze for as long as she could keep a straight face, before dissolving into laughter.
"Oh, Fitz don't be ridiculous! What would someone like Ward ever see in me?" she asked once she'd stopped laughing, more at the ridiculously shocked and panicked look on Fitz's face than anything else.
"Hey! Don't put yourself down! You are beautiful, and Ward would be an idiot not to see a million reasons to fancy you," he defended quickly before falling silent, the tops of his ears slightly red.
She shifted her position so she could kiss him on the cheek, smiling for an entirely different reason now.
"I just meant that, as lovely as he is and as well as we get on, I don't think I'm his type. But thank you anyway," she whispered, kissing him again for good measure.
He nodded thoughtfully. "So, what did he talk to you about?"
"Us, actually. I think anyway. He was none too clear about it, and looked as uncomfortable as I felt. I think a certain dark-haired, rebellious hacker put him up to it. Who, for the record, I think maybe is his type. I certainly can't think of another reason why he'd try to assure me just how much you cared about me. You know, really cared about me."
"Wait, are you saying he thinks I fancy you?" Fitz asked quickly.
"That's sort of how it felt to me."
"And you reckon Skye told him to say that?" he asked and she nodded. "She only cornered me in the lab about it recently!" he exclaimed, "not to mention that the last time my mum called she asked whether or not I'd asked you out yet! Why everyone seems to think it's their business I'll never know," he grumbled irritably. No one enjoyed being the centre of anyone's gossip, but Fitz felt particularly uncomfortable about it.
"They all mean well, Fitz," she soothed and, after pausing for effect, added teasingly, "perhaps someone needs to have a better poker face." She bit her lip playfully.
At this, he finally flipped the laptop shut and placed it on the bedside table.
"Oh. Oh, I need a better poker face? Who was it that completely gave the whole thing away to Coulson the other day?" he retorted playfully.
"Fitz!" she admonished, feeling her face heat up at the mere memory. "Please don't remind me." She'd be happy if they never spoke about it ever again.
"Because I think if we're discussing subtlety," he punctuated his sentence every so often by moving slightly closer to her. "I think we need to discuss how the other night someone thought they could risk running back to her room in just my shirt."
"Look, it wasn't my fault you left the cond – " he cut off her indignant protestations with a kiss, his arms snaking round her and pulling her closer, until she settled naturally in his lap, arms looped around his neck.
"You were saying?" he laughed.
"Don't, it was horrendous, you weren't there," she mumbled, words muffled as she pressed her face to his neck, peppering kisses wherever she could reach. Until the day she died she'd rue the decision she'd made to try to sneak from Fitz's bunk to her own to pick up a few things. Fitz had laughed himself silly when, upon reappearing in his room, red-faced and shocked, she had been forced to admit that she'd been caught sneaking around at two in morning, wearing only his shirt which she'd only half-buttoned at that, with her hair suitably mussed and her face suitably flushed. She hadn't even bothered trying to lie to Coulson when she'd seen him standing shocked and awkward, holding a glass of water and trying to look anywhere but at her.
To his credit, he'd said nothing on the matter since that night, had added nothing to the two short sentences he'd muttered before walking off, shaking his head and (unbeknownst to Jemma) suppressing a smile; "just keep it quiet, alright? Figuratively and, you know, literally."
"At least Coulson hasn't told anyone, he could have got us into serious trouble," she spoke her thoughts out loud.
"Yeah but it would have meant less interfering I suppose," he replied, fiddling gently with her hair. "Do you remember the cinema thing?"
"God, the cinema," she groaned. "I know, it's almost as if they think we need setting up or something," she said, "I mean we're adults, we're perfectly capable of figuring it all out for ourselves, don't you think?" she joked as she slipped her hands under his shirt, knowing her cold fingers would make him squirm.
"Right," he agreed, smiling as he pressed his lips to hers once more.
"Are we ever going to tell the rest of them?" he asked between kisses, as his fingers found their way to her shirt, slowly undoing the buttons.
"We can tell them now if you want," she laughed, pulling away from him and ignoring his indignant cries as he eventually captured her lips to kiss her again.
"Okay then, maybe later."