Upon seeing Spectre I could not resist a darling little crossover. Also... In the show Fitz is older than Simmons but IRL Elizabeth Henstridge is older... I'm a googling maniac! And Chloe Bennet is actually acting three years older than she is IRL
Not the kind of old friends you call up and say, "Hey whats up how's your weekend we should get together in March."
They hadn't actually seen each other since... Oh when was it?
About the time when the world collapsed, well it did mostly in America (funny how that works) because of Hydra.
Of course Q wouldn't care.
That's what they were to call him now. Q. The Quarter Master. The genius with a different path in mind for his life. Shield too mainstream. British Intelligence instead.
The kind of friends who gossiped about their respective secret agencies during every get together.
Of course the sleepovers had been more frequent as children. Even though Q was older, arguably smarter, though that argument was still going strong after all those years.
They'd been close friends.
He'd gotten along well with Simmons too. When he'd visited the Academy to see Fitz graduate.
"You call me Q. I'll call you Fitz. Deal?"
"Deal." Who in their right mind picked the name Leopold? It had been a subject of much teasing. Calling Q Q was a good negotiation. No one had to know his name was actually Leopold. Who in their right mind...
"Hey. What's up. How's your weekend? We should get together in March." That just never happened. Old photographs, foggy memories. They weren't really friends anymore. Last Fitz saw of him was before his world went down in flames.
They'd gone out for... What was it?
Ice cream.
Simmons.
Fitz.
And Q.
"Oh you'd like our friend Skye. She's a hacker, like you."
"I'm more than a hacker." He'd said, agitated.
"Quartermaster, sorry. That's a made up title, right? To keep you happy while you hack the systems?" Fitz had been a little cocky. Well why not? Life was good. There was ice cream.
"I'm just as brilliant as you, Leopold." Q snapped. IQ tests made the line pretty hard to tell.
"But are you smarter than the both of us?" His accent came out strong. Gifted kids. They'd gone to a school for gifted kids, that's how they became friends. It seemed that's how Leopold Fitz met most of his close friends. He smirked at Simmons, who was smiling, wisely avoiding the argument. It was all the two ever talked about. Who was smarter. Who had a better Agency. Who had cooler friends.
Present company aside it was:
James Bond
VS.
The Avengers.
"You've never met any!" Q would argue.
"I'm this close!"
"I've met James Bond. Personally aided him in missions."
"Personally hacked the servers from your mum's basement somewhere."
"You live on a bus."
"I live on an airplane."
"That is so much better."
"Basement dweller." Fitz teased.
"I moved out! I have a house now." He was pouting a little.
"Oh a house that's nice. Where is it."
"You can't move in."
"Just when I visit."
"No."
"You have a room. You have a room and somewhere in the back of your mind you think, an air mattress would look really good there, that's the room Fitz'll stay in when he comes to visit."
"You're never coming to visit. You try to mess my country up with your Shield mess I will get James to blow you up."
"You don't know James Bond."
"I do too!" They'd left arguing, goodnaturedly. They had an almost sibling rivalry like connection. Simmons would always look at them, roll her eyes and laugh.
"My boys." She might mutter under her breath, as they'd go their separate ways. It was always like this. Quick meet ups at an Ice cream shop somewhere. Long distance friendships. The occasional thought of each other in hindsight. Oh, Q mentioned he had cats? Well I'll send him 102 different cat toys with the paycheck I just got.
Oh my goodness Leopold just sent me 102 cat toys what is wrong with that child. I am throwing out the air matress.
Thoughts like that.
After the war, that's what it felt like, the things with Hydra, the things with Ward and with Daisy's parents, the war Q had no idea had happened, he was messing around with files on his computer and found a photo of them hanging out together. The one after Fitz' graduation. Simmons was straightening his cap. All his attention was on her, of course, when would the two besties start dating? Maybe they had. "he would have told me..." "No he wouldn't have." He did some research, found his friend, and decided to give the playground a visit. Who names a secret base the playground?
He was stopped by an angry, silent, agent who immediately tossed him around like he was a featherweight.
"STOP I'M WITH THE BRITISH INTELLIGENCE!" She didn't stop.
"I KNOW FITZ!" She hesitated, a moment, spoke into a wire, or something.
"Get Fitz out here to vouch for our intruder."
"Q what in the world? Call next time." Fitz said, punching him.
"What was that for?" Q grumbled.
"You are a horrible friend. One does not just barge into one's friend's secret base uninvited."
"I wanted to know what you're up to." Q said with a shrug.
"Ever heard of Email?" Fitz rolled his eyes.
"Must've lost yours." Q said with a, oops sorry shrug.
"So who was the terrorist who took me out?"
"May and don't call her that."
"Do I get to meet your precious wittle team? That hacker chick and the Ward you're always gushing about?"
"If you mention Ward again I'll punch you."
"What, did you guys have a fight?" Q couldn't help be a little sarcastic around Fitz, it was fun to mess with his head.
"He dropped Simmons and I in the ocean and left me with brain damage." Fitz snapped. Q stopped in his tracks.
"You don't tell me these things... I didn't know... I um..." He took his glasses off and fiddled with them. Fitz nodded.
"Yeah. I'll make tea and fill you in on everything. And yeah, you can make the hacker chick, but she's basically an avenger now so I wouldn't mess with her."
"Wait so you've met avengers?" Q looked slightly impressed.
"No but I've met, befriended, and killed, a ton of inhumans and also visited an alien planet where the human form of Hydra lived. Meeting James Bond doesn't seem so impressive now does it, Quarter Master?"
"Um..."
"Oh Simmons is in there go say hi." Fitz waved him away, brewing the tea. And then they sat down for a good long talk, old friend to old friend.
Stupidest thing I've ever written? Quite possibly? Still madly in love with it? Yep.
