Second fan fiction for me and again on Fitzsimmons! (I don't think I will ever write about any other character anyway, not that I don't like them, but I'm way too obsessed with those two!) Other characters might make an apparition but it will mostly be only the two of them. The story is almost complete, it should contain twelve chapters. I'll be posting updates really soon and quite often in the next few weeks! Hope you'll enjoy it!
And of course, the characters don't belong to me!
There is no use denying it, Fitz won't be sleeping tonight. He's been tossing and turning in his bed for two hours and sleep still evades him, like it did almost every night for the last two weeks. He thought that by now, his body would have adjusted to the heat of the desert and time difference, but apparently not. Maybe some fresh air (as fresh as air can get in the desert) would do the trick. So he gets up, puts on a t-shirt and a pair of jeans, takes his key card and leaves his hotel room to get to the stairs that will lead him to the lobby.
It's Fitz's first time in America, in the desert and working on a movie set. When movie director Phil Coulson had called him a few months ago to talk to him about Fitz's engineering work he had read about in a magazine, at first Fitz thought it was a joke. The man wanted him to work on his movie and make him build most of the machines that would be used on set, some of them directly by the actors on screen, to replace what would have usually been done in post production. Fitz thought the man was crazy, but when he looked him up on the internet, he learned that he had a reputation for crazy ideas like that, but he was also considered a genius director. After some pretty quick thinking, Fitz decided he was up for it. He always liked a challenge and this would give him the opportunity and budget to work on some ideas he's had for a while. So, a few days later, he gave his resignation to the London based scientific engineering company he was working for, and who was wasting his talent and ideas anyway, and started working on Phil Coulson's movie. And that's how the young man from Glasgow, who had barely ever left his country, found himself living in a hotel in the middle of the desert for several months.
As he gets to the lobby, Fitz goes straight for the door leading outside since the middle of the night is the only moment where the outside temperature is bearable. But as he was expecting to find the place deserted, Fitz is interrupted in his musings but the sound of the lobby's TV. It sounds like someone is watching the news, and not just any news, BBC news. The familiar British accent makes him think of home so he has to get closer to see who is watching the BBC channel in the middle of the night. Jemma Simmons, the young actress who is the star of this movie is sitting on the couch facing TV and so has her back to Fitz. From what he knows, she is the only other British person on set and since the hotel is mostly filled with people working on the movie, it makes sense that it's her. Social skills are not Fitz's strong suit, so even though they've been working on the same set and crossed paths a few times, he actually never talked to her. She seems like a nice person but it would feel weird to sit next to her without talking and it would feel even weirder to start talking when they hadn't even been properly introduced yet. And he wouldn't even know what to say anyway. So he stays a few meters behind her, his back against the wall.
But Jemma's social skills are much better so after five minutes of feeling Fitz's presence behind her, she decides to break the silence. She has seen him on set a few times and even though he probably thinks she cannot see him behind her, she can perfectly see his reflection on the TV. Like on set, he looks really shy and the way he looks like he is having an argument with himself on the matter of joining her or not on the couch and nervously scratching the back of his neck, makes her smile. She supposes he is new in this business and she tells herself it would be nice of her to make the first step and introduce herself.
"You know there's enough room on this couch for two people." She says, not turning her head to look at him, which startles him and makes her smile even wider.
"I'm sorry, what?" He answers after looking around to make sure she was actually talking to him.
His Scottish accent surprises her as she realizes it is actually the first time she is hearing his voice. So she turns to him before saying with a gentle smile:
"There's plenty of space on the couch if you want to watch TV."
"Oh yeah ... thank you. Didn't want to intrude." He says as he gets to the couch and sits as far away from her as possible.
"You're not, I've been watching the same loop of news for the the tenth time. But somehow listening to it feels like home a bit." She says, smiling.
"I know, right?" He says smiling back at her.
"So, I didn't know there was a Scotsman on set! You should talk more, I miss hearing proper english being spoken!" She says, grinning and he chuckles.
"Well, like you may have noticed from the way I stayed hidden behind you, which now that I think of it probably made me look like some sort of creep, talking isn't really my thing. But I'll try my best. I'm Fitz by the way." He says, extending his hand to her as she is still laughing at his first remark.
"Don't worry, it's actually quite refreshing meeting someone who's not overly confident in this business. Nice to meet you Fitz, I'm Jemma." She says shaking his hand.
"Yeah, I know." He says grinning.
"Oh, of course. I think I'll never get used to that." She answers and they remain in silence for a few minutes, watching TV.
"So you're having trouble sleeping too?" He asks after a few minutes.
"Yes! And it's so annoying!" She says, turning to face him. "You'd think after two weeks, I would have gotten used to the heat and time difference. I mean I've tried reading, doing some exercise, drinking every herbal tea available and I just can't find sleep most nights." She adds, letting out a sigh at the end of her sentence.
Fitz smiles as he realizes how it mirrors his own previous thought.
"Yes I know, humans are not supposed to live in such a place!" He says with a sympathetic smile. "If only I had my magical tea..." He adds and she grins widely.
"Magical tea?" She says with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, there's this tea that my mom used to give me when I couldn't sleep. She said it was magical and it always worked like a charm." He says with a boyish smile and she can't help smiling back.
"Ah, you Scots and your magical teas and your unicorns ..." She says with a teasing grin.
"Hey, you're just jealous because your national animal isn't as cool as ours." He says in mock offense.
"At least it's real."
"Maybe unicorns were real at some point and just went extinct ..." He answers with a smug grin.
"Yeah, eaten by lions probably ..." She answers with a grin of her own and he lets out a shocked gasp.
"And people say you're such a nice person." He says, shaking his head in disappointment which makes her smile even more.
As they remain silent for a few minutes, watching the news, Fitz smiles at how he managed to speak several sentences without stuttering and making a fool of himself. He even made her smile. It usually takes him days or even weeks to get this comfortable talking to someone but there's something about her friendly smile and soft hazel eyes that makes it easy to talk to her. When he had decided to leave home to work on this film, he had promised himself he would try to be less shy and meet new people. He hadn't really succeeded in the first two weeks of shooting so he considers this short but amusing conversation a personal victory.
"So Fitz, you're on the technical crew right?"
"Yes, something like that." He answers, not wanting to sound pretentious by explaining he's a lot more than that.
"So should I be worried that you might want to use magic to fixe things on set?" She asks with an innocent smile.
"Oh I will be using magic, but I guess that's the type of magic most people would call science." He says with a big smile.
"Oh" She says, her smile growing wider. "Now, that's my kind of magic!"
Little explanation for those who didn't know (I didn't :D). The unicorn really is the national animal of Scotland, which speaks of how cool this country is, and the national animal of England is a lion, hence her phrase about lions eating all the unicorns!