Rude awakenings. Jemma Simmons had once thought her early, coffee (or tea, it was really whatever she saw first) fueled mornings that began with loud, blaring alarms would end after high school. She couldn't have been more wrong.
Here she was, waking up even earlier than when she was in school, to go do a job she never thought she would be. Teaching.
Jemma had two Ph.D.'s in fields no one could pronounce, and what did she do with them? She went to teach chemistry at the local high school.
Today was her first day having her own classroom, and not co-teaching with another certified teacher. She'd done everything she possibly could to prepare for today. Well, she'd more so prepared for when she would be teaching a class, with actual kids in it. Today was just the day she met all the other teachers and prepared her classroom. It was like the first day of school all over again.
By the time Jemma got out of bed, she'd snoozed her alarm twice. Of course, she'd known she would do that. She'd set the alarm to go off twenty minutes earlier than she needed to get up.
She was normally a morning person, but the first morning of waking up at five thirty am was always rough. She trudged out of bed, and made her way to the kitchen. She fixed herself a cup of tea and placed a bagel in her toaster, and went to get ready.
First impressions were always important. Her outfit, much to her dismay, was probably the first thing anyone would notice about her. She had laid out an outfit the night before, but when she woke up and looked at it, she realized it just wouldn't do. So she resorted to pulling every possible professional outfit she owned out of her closet, trying to find the perfect one. After nearly fifteen minutes of deliberating, she decided on a grey skirt and a green, patterned blouse.
Jemma laid her pair of black flats on her bed, and returned to her breakfast. She hurriedly ate her bagel, and packed up all of her various and sundry papers into her bag. She grabbed her mug of tea, and rushed out of the house, but not before glancing at her hair and makeup in the mirror before she went out the door. Clearly nothing had changed since high school. She was always rushing somewhere then, and she was always rushing somewhere now.
She pulled into the parking lot of Rogers High School, grabbed her tea and gathered the papers off the passenger seat that she had been looking over at stoplights, and went through the large glass double doors and straight to the secretary's office.
"Hello, I'm looking for room 410?" she asked the secretary, who was going through some paperwork on her desk.
"You must be Miss Simmons! I'm Mrs. Morse!" the secretary answered far too cheerfully for a Monday morning at seven.
Technically that would be Doctor Simmons, she thought before answering with a simple, "Yes, that's me. Which way is room 410?"
"Go down the main hallway, and it's the third door on your right," Mrs. Morse said, smiling.
Jemma followed the secretary's directions, and found herself in what was obviously a science classroom. Boxes of beakers, cylinders, and even various chemicals littered the room. She sought out her desk, and placed all of her papers down on the empty surface. Everything in the room was so empty and lifeless. She'd have to change that. She had a box at her house filled with posters, ranging from six different periodic tables to inspirational cat posters. She'd bring those tomorrow. Today was about meetings and organization.
She'd been informed by an email that there would be a staff meeting at twelve thirty that afternoon, so she set to work going over class rosters, making seating charts, and setting up her grade books. She figured the organization and cataloguing of all her equipment and materials would have to wait until after the meeting.
Twelve thirty came faster than she expected. Before she knew it, she was picking up her planner and notebook and heading to the library. When she arrived, there was already a horde of teachers surrounding the table's that had been set out in neat rows. Nervous to just join the large group of teachers near the entrance to the library, she walked up to a desk, placed her things down, and sat next to a young woman who didn't look much older than she was, who was quickly typing away on her laptop.
"Um, hello, I'm Miss Simmons, er, Jemma. I'm the new chemistry teacher." She bit her lip, waiting for a response.
The young woman saved whatever she was working on, shut her computer, and turned to Jemma.
"Hi! I'm Ms. Johnson, but you can call me Skye. I teach computer sciences here."
They didn't have much of a conversation before the principal, Mr. Phil Coulson got up to the front of the library and started his speech.
It mostly consisted of "let's make this year great," how to deal with difficult students (this part seemed almost scripted), and "any questions?" It was over, thankfully, before Jemma knew it. High school all over again was a recurring theme for her day.
When she returned to her classroom, she began to take stock of and organize all her chemistry equipment.
"Um, hello, Miss Simmons, isn't it?" a quiet, Scottish voice from the doorway said, startling her. She turned to find a handsome man, about her age, leaning against the doorjamb.
"Oh! Ah, yes that's me," she said, placing the two beakers she was holding tenderly onto the nearest desk and going to shake the man's hand. "And you are?"
"I'm Mr. Fitz, call me Leo - well, if we're being specific, it's Doctor, I've got a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, but enough with that - I teach calculus." Jemma could tell she would like him.
"I have a Ph.D. in Biochemistry! And one more, but I can barely pronounce it," she said with a nervous giggle.
"If you have two PhD's in such advanced fields, what are you doing at a public high school?"
"Once I got them I realized there really is no practical use for those types of degrees, so I went and got a teaching certificate."
"On the plus side, you have a lot of interesting facts about chemistry that none of the other teachers have," he said, with what Jemma could tell was badly disguised sympathy.
After a few awkward seconds of standing around, Leo finally excused himself to go set up his classroom, but not before putting his classroom number and phone number on a nearby sheet of paper and handing it to her.
"Call or text me if you need anything," he said with a wide smile, and left her room.
The next few days were filled with paperwork, meetings, and talking to what felt like every teacher that taught at the school. Jemma had managed to avoid awkward lunches by either finishing everything that had to be done before lunch or just going out and working at a nearby coffee shop.
It wasn't that she didn't want to eat lunch with her co-workers; it was just that she wanted to put it off until the last second. She was worried it would be like her high school lunch periods, sitting all alone, poring over books and papers.
Today, she had no excuse to get out of eating lunch in the staff room. She still had more work to do, since tomorrow was the first day of school for her students, and she had packed her lunch, figuring that her wallet just couldn't handle eating out so much.
She picked up her planner and some papers, hoping to be able to work some while eating, and headed off to the staffroom to get her lunch.
When she arrived, Skye and Leo were already at a table together, along with two other teachers. Skye waved emphatically, and Leo gently smiled at her. She grabbed the salad she had packed from the fridge, and sat down in between Skye and Leo.
"Grant, Mack, this is Miss Simmons. She's the new chem teacher," Skye said, taking care of what Jemma had dreaded doing.
"Hello, Miss Simmons, I'm Grant Ward, I'm the P.E teacher here," the smaller, brown-haired man said.
"I'm Alphonso Mackenzie. Please, call me Mack," the larger man said, shooting a glare at Skye.
"Nice to meet both of you! Call me Jemma," she said, picking at her salad. Skye, Grant and Mack had launched into a conversation about two other teachers, while Jemma and Leo sat awkwardly eating their lunches.
After a few failed attempts at small talk and awkward looks, Jemma eventually just gave up, and turned her attention to correlating her grade book and class rosters. That, unfortunately, did not take away from the awkwardness of the situation. Leo had also began some paperwork, but she could see him sneaking glances at her.
Oh god, she thought to herself, inwardly wincing a little. Great first impression Jemma. Just great.
"Well, I'd better get going," Jemma said, starting to make up excuses in her head. "I've got a lot of paperwork to do and my classroom's still a mess." Not total lies.
"I'll come with you," Leo said, surprising her. No no no no no! This cannot be happening, I just made up that excuse to escape this and now he's coming with me? Oh god, what am I going to do? She thought.
"Sounds great!" Jemma said, smiling, and trying to cover up her worried face.
"You know I made up the whole messy classroom thing as an excuse to get out of there, right?" Jemma said on the way back to her classroom.
"And I don't have anything left to do in my classroom, so I guess that makes us even," Leo said.
"Yeah, I guess it does," she said, smiling and leaning back against the door to her classroom to open it.
Leo followed after her and let the door shut behind him.
"Oh, I was actually going to prop that open, could you get the-"
"I wanted to talk to you…a-alone, if that's alright," Fitz interrupted.
Jemma was a bit taken aback by his forwardness, but nodded for him to continue.
"I was wondering if you wanted to go out sometime. Like on a date," he said, fiddling with the folders in his hands.
"Uh, sure, I'd love to," Jemma said, grinning a little and staring at her shoes.
"Okay then, it's a date," Leo said, and made his way out the door.
"Wait, Fitz, er, Leo! You didn't say what day," Jemma said grabbing his hand.
"How about Friday night? Dinner and a movie?" Fitz said.
"That sounds lovely," she said, dropping his hand as soon as she realized she hadn't let go. "Well, I've got to go take inventory," she excused herself, and walked back into her room. She could tell that Leo hadn't bought her small lie, but she didn't really care. She was a horribly liar anyway. It's funny how little you know you like someone until they make a move, she thought, not even bothering to hide her wide grin.
The day of the date came much faster than Jemma had expected. The fleeting looks in the hallways and quiet lunches in the staff lounge made time pass faster than she could ever imagine. She loved spending time with Leo. Somehow, she suspected her felt the same. He often came into her classroom to "ask her a question" or go to the printer. He went way out of his way to see her just once a day, considering there was a printer in his wing.
Unfortunately, she was also guilty of this. She would make up this complicated story that she often never needed just to go by his room. Those moments were just gone too quickly.
But now she was going on a date with Leo Fitz, her coworker. Was that even allowed? For him, she didn't really care whether it was or not. She hadn't felt this way about anyone before, especially not after such a short period of time. Maybe it was just a little crush. But maybe it wasn't.
It was 5:30 pm. Jemma had just gotten home from work an hour ago, and had been rummaging through her closet for the past half an hour. She had a whole closet full of clothes, and somehow for this occasion, none of them were appropriate. She went through all of her dresses before deciding on a navy blue a-line dress. She left her hair down, running a curling iron through it to create loose curls in her shoulder-length hair.
She slipped on a pair of heels from her closet, grabbed her wallet, and walked out the door.
The drive to the restaurant consisted of music, the genre of which switched at least ten times, and finally silence as she tried to calm herself before the date. She knew it would be fine, at the worst, but her nerves always kicked in before a date.
Jemma pulled up to the restaurant, a quiet little place on one of the less crowded streets in town. She saw Leo standing outside the gold-rimmed doors clad in a suit, with a bouquet of flowers in his hand. He really is quite attractive and thoughtful, she thought, getting out of her car.
She waved timidly and smiled as she approached him, rolling her eyes in her head as she realized how much of a textbook romance movie move those two actions were.
"You look beautiful," Leo said, suddenly realizing that he was holding flowers. He awkwardly pushed them forward, waiting for Jemma to take them.
"Thanks, you look, erm, handsome, as well," she said, taking the flowers.
He offered her his arm, and they walked into the restaurant arm in arm.
The hostess seated them at a small table in a corner, set with a fake vase of flowers and little candles. Leo went to Jemma's chair first, pulling it out and letting her sit down. She quickly lifted her menu, in an attempt to hide her blush.
They sat in an awkward silence until the waiter came, and even after their orders were taken, until they finally got used to their first time alone together. Leo fiddled with his silverware, putting his napkin over the candle, and explaining why it would go out. Of course, she already knew why, but she thought it was adorable to see how excited he got about little things.
"-You see, and the flame uses oxygen, and when you cover it, it loses oxygen and-" he said, with the eyes of a little kid on Christmas.
Jemma smiled, his Scottish accent and the way he said certain words just making her smile even more.
"You know that we learn that stuff in the seventh grade right?" Jemma said, half joking, half completely serious.
"I really have nothing else to say, I thought of all these topics before I left, and now they're just gone, and I thought of writing them down on notecards in case we hit a lull but I thought it would be-"
As Leo kept rambling about his conversation notecards, Jemma reached into her purse, and pulled out her own set of notecards, smiling an embarrassed smile.
"Oh, good," Leo said, relief rushing into his face. "I thought I may have weirded you out or something."
She smiled, looking at his face. His eyes, they were warm, and blue. His mouth was turned up in a smile, and his whole body shook as he laughed. Little did she know that Leo was examining her with the same amount of love in his eyes that she had.
They ate, and drank, and talked, mostly about school, and their previous education. They laughed, and got to know each other better. The more they talked, the more they felt like they'd known each other forever, and not just a few months.
When the check finally came, Jemma made a move for it, not because she felt obligated, but because she actually felt like he'd done enough. But Leo wouldn't budge. He insisted on paying the check, and even the parking toll she'd accidentally gotten.
"I had a great time tonight," Jemma said, taking his hand.
"I did too," Leo said, turning to face her.
No one said anything for a good thirty seconds or so, and Leo finally made a move. Next thing Jemma knew, he was coming towards her, leaning in for a kiss. As soon as she felt his lips on hers, she was very conflicted. She stood, paralyzed by her dilemma, her hands flailing and eyes wide open. She really liked Leo, but she'd gone too fast with a boyfriend before, and she didn't want to lose this one too. It was too hard the first time, and they didn't even kiss on the first date.
Leo must have realized that she was uncomfortable, and pulled away. Jemma just looked him in the eyes. She must have been making a scared face, judging by the look on his.
"Jemma, I am so sorry, I-" he started.
"I, uh, I need to go, tonight was great, but I'm very busy tomorrow and I need to get some good sleep," she said, interrupting him, and rushing off to her car.
Jemma closed herself in her car, and regretting everything that had just happened in the past five minutes. She put her hands on the wheel, and lightly beat her head on the wheel.
What have I done? That was the worst sentence that has ever came out of my mouth and I could have just ruined my chances of another date, she thought, finally getting herself to put her foot on the gas and drive away.
"It was going so well," she said out-loud, berating herself. "Why did I have to go and be awkward about everything?"
School was going to be very awkward on Monday.
Jemma dreaded Monday morning, even more than usual. Mondays were no picnic, and now, she had to deal with seeing Mr. Fitz for the first time since their lovely date ended in a train wreck. She'd gone through all the options in her head: evasion, full on confronting, or just the awkwardness of small talk in the hallways. She liked her first option best.
Her drive to work consisted of compiling all her ideas on how to best avoid him. Grading papers (not a lie, she hadn't done any all weekend just for this purpose), lunch in her classroom with a student (this probably was going to turn out to be a lie, but if she got lucky, she might end up with the perfect excuse), and busy afternoons after school (also a slight stretch of the truth).
When she arrived at school, she piled her exams, tests, and homework papers into her arms, slung her briefcase over her shoulder and walked into school, burying her head in her papers and hoping Mr. Fitz wouldn't come near her. She began thinking of all possible excuses to get her out of that situation and into her classroom as fast as she could.
She was just about to walk into her classroom when she saw him, walking through the halls on his way to his own classroom. They clearly made eye contact, but as soon as they did, she rushed into her room, and quickly planned a lab. Since she was horrible at lying, she figured, might as well tell the truth to get out of dealing with what she knew would eventually come.
"Please hand your lab worksheets to the person at the front of your row, and then deliver them to me. You should have your grades by Thursday," Jemma said, just as the bell rang. Her students, grabbed their backpacks, and the five that brought their papers to her rushed and scampered to leave. She couldn't blame them. A lab was just the teacher's form of putting them all to work so they could deal with everything else.
Her next period was planning, and she knew that Fitz had the same planning period. She busied herself, in the hope that if he saw that she was busy, he might just pass on by. But she knew Fitz. And she knew that he wouldn't do that. Half of her body wanted him to come into her room, and kiss her again, and the other half wanted him to just stay away until she figured out everything she was feeling.
She heard a quiet knock on her door, the creaking of it opening, and a quiet, "Miss Simmons?"
She briefly looked up from the tests she was grading to see that it was just one of her students.
"Yes, Eva?"
"I just came to get the work I missed."
"Ah, of course!" she said, and just as she finished her sentence, she heard the door creak open once again. She fiddled with the papers in her AP Chemistry file, fishing out three papers, and handing them to Eva, pointedly ignoring whoever was at the door. Eva thanked her, and walked towards the door.
"Hey, Mr. Fitz!" Jemma heard her say, and she winced, dreading the conversation that was going to happen. She pretended to fiddle with papers and calculators, until she finally looked up at him.
Leo had taken a seat in one of the student desks, and was absentmindedly drawing on the desk with his fingertip.
"I wanted to talk to you about Friday night," he said.
"There isn't really anything to talk about," she replied, picking up a pen and starting to write the next period's lesson on the whiteboard.
"You're lying. I can see it in your face."
"I'm not, there really isn't anything we need to talk about." This was a lie.
"So you didn't enjoy the date, and you don't even want the possibility of another one? Because that's what I'm getting from this," he said, with a slight tinge of frustration in his voice.
"No! That's not what I mean at all! Of course I enjoyed the date, and I-I do want another one, it's just you moved so fast, and I've done that before and it didn't end well. I didn't want to make that mistake with you."
Leo was silent. Jemma could see that he was meaning to say something, but as soon as she finished, that look vanished.
"You left so fast, I didn't have time to explain anything,"
"Sorry about that, I panicked. I should have stayed."
There were a few moments of silence, each person taking in what the other had said.
"So does that mean I can kiss you now?" Leo asked, but Jemma was one step ahead of him. She laced her arms around his neck, and brought her lips to his. Just like she remembered, but better. He placed his right hand on the small of her back, and brought his left up to cup her cheek. Jemma smiled against his lips, and pulled away, grinning.
"You should go," Jemma said, noting that the clock read five minutes until the end of lunch.
"Coffee after school?" he asked on his way out. She nodded and sat down at her desk.
"Ready?" Leo said, not five minutes after the bell had rang.
"You're quick," she said, smirking.
"But really, are you ready?"
"Almost, let me file these-"
Instead of letting her finish, he grabbed her hand, and pulled her out. "Those can wait," he said, smiling a mischievous smile.
Walking through the halls holding Leo's hand just felt so right. Almost like they were high school sweethearts.
One hand held her coffee, and the other held Leo's hand. Sitting next to him on that bench in the park, surrounded by autumn leaves and green-(ish) grass felt like the ideal way to end their school day. Coffee after work would soon become a regular tradition, as would driving to school in the mornings, and sharing dinner at night. It was Jemma Simmons' and Leo Fitz's perfect little happy ending.