"Fitz!" Jemma called through the wall between their bunks. "Can you help me with something, please?"
"Sure, Simmons," he replied, still reading a schematic on his tablet has he entered her room. "What do y-AAAH!" he cried out as he looked up from his tablet and immediately turned around. "I'm sorry!" he shouted, face beet red, as he left the room again and pulled the door closed behind him. "I thought you meant now." He rubbed one hand over his eyes, trying to un-see what he'd just gotten a glimpse of. "I'll let you… you should… I didn't…"
"I did mean now, Fitz," Jemma said, calmly ignoring her friend's overreaction. "Come back in, please."
"But," Fitz stood there for a moment completely nonplussed. "You're naked!"
"Oh Fitz," her eye-roll was completely audible in her tone. "I'm not naked," she continued. "I've just not got a top on."
"Or a…" Fitz gulped and tried once again not to remember what he'd just seen, "…bra."
"I know," Jemma said matter-of-factly. "Now will you come in here and help me like you said you would?"
"Do you need help finding your bra?" Fitz asked desperately. "Because I can go get Skye or…" He was just pointing off down the corridor when the bunk door opened behind him and Jemma's hand grabbed his shoulder. With a swift yank, he was inside her room. "Simmons!" he shouted, squeezing his eyes shut.
"Stop being silly, Fitz," Jemma said with a certain amount of familiar frustration. "They're breasts! Not Medusa's face! It won't turn you to stone to look at them!"
Fitz's face got amazingly even redder than it already was as he realized the unintended double entendre in her reference. "Yes but," he licked his lips trying desperately to think of what he could say in response. "I mean…" This would be easier if they hadn't been so pretty. Not that he'd seen anything, of course! "Why do you need me to look at them?" he asked, his voice getting increasingly higher in pitch as the words came out of his mouth.
"Because I was just doing my monthly self-exam," Simmons explained. "And I think I might have found a lump." She said it quickly, knowing that it was probably nothing but still having that uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. It was the same feeling she got when her period was late, even when she hadn't had sex recently.
"What?" he asked, immediately concerned. He opened his eyes to look at her face. She looked as calm as ever, but that didn't mean that she really was.
"That's why I need your help," she explained, smiling brightly at him. "I need you to do a clinical breast exam for me."
Fitz's brows came together in his usual Simmons-are-you-crazy? look. "What?" he asked again, and this time his voice was filled with incredulity instead of concern.
"Just the visual assessment and the palpations," Jemma reassured him. "And if you don't find anything irregular, then I'll just get checked at my next physical."
"Visual-" Fitz's eyes dropped down momentarily before he closed them tight again. "Palpations?" He ran a hand through his hair and blew out a frustrated breath.
"Yes, that means that you-"
"I know what it means, Simmons!" He turned away from her and stared at the door of her bunk. "And don't you think that's something you should ask someone else to do?" Honestly. Did he really have to explain this to her? "Like maybe May? Or Skye?" Or someone else not him?
"They'll be training for at least another three hours, and I'd like to know as soon as possible whether or not I should book an appointment with a specialist." She already had the name and number of the doctor she would call, and she would of course book time off work for her appointments. She didn't want to have to leave SHIELD, but…. She shook her head and forced herself to calm down. First, get confirmation of a lump. Then worry about what to do next.
"Is three hours really that-"
"Fitz! This is my health we're talking about!"
"Yes, but-"
"And you're a scientist!"
"An engineer!"
"And my best friend!"
"Best male friend!"
"Best any kind of friend!" Touching his shoulder more gently than when she'd pulled him into her room, she turned him around to face her. "Fitz, please?" she asked, cupping his cheek and giving him the puppy dog eyes. "For me?"
His shoulders slumped slightly and his mouth quirked into a resigned smile. She knew just how to get him to come around. "Fine," he sighed, opening his eyes for the express purpose of rolling them at her. "What do you want me to do?"
"Thank you, Fitz!" she grinned jubilantly, pinching the cheek she had formerly cradled. "Now, first I need you to do the visual assessment."
"Right," Fitz nodded, swallowing hard, eyes aimed at the ceiling. "The…" He took a deep breath, but didn't remove his gaze from the plaster surface, "Visual…"
"Um, Fitz?" Jemma asked, laughing softly.
"Yes?" he asked in return, voice going all high again.
"They're down here," she instructed him, taking his face between her two hands and tilting it down to her chest.
Fitz finally looked directly at her breasts and immediately felt his brain go numb. They were gorgeous. Soft and round and paler even than her face was, with brownish-pink tips that had puckered and crinkled in the cool air. He stopped breathing for a moment as he stared at them, memorizing every curve and freckle. Then, he shook himself out of his trance and blinked, clearing his throat awkwardly.
"So they are," he observed. He cleared his throat again. "Um, what do I…? I mean, do I…? Do you want me to…?" He rubbed the back of his neck as his blush came back full force. "Tell me what to do?" he asked, desperately. He was completely out of his depth and in definite need of some professional guidance here.
Simmons nodded brusquely and put on her serious face. If there was one thing she was good at, it was telling Fitz what to do. "First, I need you to look at both of my breasts carefully and note any differences in size or shape between them." She turned to her bed and picked up a clipboard and a pen that she passed to him.
Fitz looked from one of her breasts to the other and back before nodding. "They look good to me," he said, lifting the pen to make a note. Before he did, though, his eyes darted up to her face. "I mean-" he started, guilt written all over his expression.
"Not like that," Simmons told him, ignoring his awkwardness completely. "Here," she motioned for him to sit on her bed. "You sit down and I'll stand in front of you."
Fitz sat hesitantly on the very edge of the side of her bed.
"Oh, sit down properly," Jemma said, her patience slipping as she pushed him more firmly onto her mattress. "There." She stood back up and now her nipples were at eye level to him.
Fitz's eyes widened considerably as they took in the naked breasts now mere inches from his face. "Um," he started, unsure of what to say next. He clutched the clipboard in his lap like a shield. It was the only familiar thing in this very strange situation.
"Now I'm going to raise my arms up, and I want you to look at the way my breasts are hanging and note down any differences, alright?" Jemma asked, lifting her hands to reach up to the ceiling.
Fitz's mouth dropped open as her back arched, doing wonderful things to the shape of her breasts. He hadn't realized they did that. He was once again mesmerized by the way they jutted out from her chest, and he couldn't help wondering if it were painful for her nipples to be hard like that.
"Fitz?" Jemma asked, looking down at him as he stared at her. For the first time in a long time, she couldn't read his expression. "Any abnormalities?"
He made himself blink several times. "Um, just checking?" he said uncertainly as he tilted his head this way and that to look at them from every angle. This didn't seem like a very precise… "Oh wait!" he said, his face lighting up with an idea. "I'll be right back!" He got up from her bed and jogged out of the room.
"What are you-?" Jemma asked, but she wasn't even able to finish her question before he'd returned.
He closed the door behind himself again and returned to his seat on the bed before holding up the item he'd just gone to retrieve. "Calliper!" he said with pride.
Jemma couldn't help but laugh, both at the idea and at his face. "I can't say I've ever seen that in a diagnostic manual," she said, "But I don't see why we can't try it out." She raised her arms above her head again. "But," she bit her lip and raised her eyebrows slightly as she requested, "Could you warm it up a bit? It's just rather cold in here is all." She cleared her throat and tried not to blush. "Without a shirt on," she clarified. It was starting to occur to her that they were alone in her room in what would be a very compromising position if someone walked in on them.
"So I see," Fitz agreed, looking at her nipples. His eyes shot back to meet hers again as his face reddened once more. "I mean-"
"You're quite right," Jemma said stoically, swallowing her momentary embarrassment. "It's the body's natural reaction to being cool." And had nothing to do with her best friend staring at her naked breasts the way he stared at new tech in the lab. She shivered slightly.
"I'll try to be quick," Fitz reassured her. "And then we'll warm you back up again," he smiled. His smile froze as he heard what that might sound like to her. "With tea!" he quickly specified. "And jumpers!" He took his cardigan off and held it out to her. "Here!"
She took the woollen sweater from him and hugged it for a moment, enjoying the warmth against her skin. "Thank you," she said smiling down at him. "But can you put it back on for now?" When his brows wrinkled in confusion, she explained. "You'll keep it warmer that way… body heat."
"Oh right," Fitz agreed, shrugging it back on. It felt sort of odd, though, to be wearing so many layers when Simmons was standing in front of him half-naked and shivering. Distinctly un-gentlemanly. "Um, so… should I?" He lifted the digital ruler and gestured towards her chest.
"I suppose so?" Jemma shrugged.
Fitz gurgled slightly as her breasts jiggled on her chest. Did they usually do that when she shrugged? He'd have to pay attention in future.
"Are you alright?" she asked him as she raised her arms above her head one more time. She arched her back further this time as it protested being returned to this unaccustomed position. She twisted slightly to the left and right to relieve some of the pressure on her spine.
"Mmhmm," he replied weakly. He swallowed as he watched her breasts sway back and forth in front of him. Coughing slightly, he tried to adjust the calliper, but his fingers wouldn't cooperate. He had to try three times to get it set, and by that time Simmons was bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet in impatience. The way her breasts moved up and down on her chest with each bounce was a whole new education in fluid dynamics. "Can you, um…" He cleared his throat, desperately trying to get his voice back under control as it visited the higher registers again. "Can you stop bouncing for a minute?" He gestured with the calliper once more. "I won't be able to get an accurate reading," he said apologetically.
"Oh! Of course!" Jemma apologized, grabbing the back of her neck in embarrassment before realizing that that would also make measurement impossible. "Sorry! Sorry!" she apologized again, waving her hands anxiously for a moment. "Let me just," she lifted her arms once more, stretching towards the ceiling like a cat. "There!"
"Thanks," Fitz whispered hoarsely as he slid forward towards the edge of her bed again. He brought the calliper up to her left breast and was about to adjust it closer for the measurement when he paused. "Um, Simmons?" he asked.
"Yes, Fitz?" she asked in return. Noticing that he still wasn't measuring her, she started twisting and bouncing again. The movement was warming her up, almost as much as his stares had been, but she was definitely feeling her lack of clothing.
He pried his eyes away from her breasts to look at her face. "I'm going to… I mean, I have to…" he paused, trying to find the best way to say it.
She lowered her arms to shake some feeling back into them. "Spit it out, Fitz," she laughed.
Fitz blushed and stared at the digital readout on his calliper instead of looking at what the shaking was doing to her chest. "I'm going to have to touch you in order to take the measurement," he mumbled.
"And?" she asked, frowning at him in confusion.
Fitz's eyes popped back up to meet hers. "You don't mind?" he asked, surprised.
Now it was Jemma's turn to give him her Fitz-are-you-an-idiot? look. "Why would I mind?" she asked. "You're going to be palpating them in a few minutes, anyway." She shrugged again.
His eyes immediately dropped down to watch the effects of her shrug again. How had he not noticed that before, in all these years? "Right," he said, determination on his face. "Palpating. Of course." He stuck his tongue between his lips in concentration and gestured for her to put her arms up again. "Right after I get these measurements."
"Exactly," Jemma confirmed, staring above his head as the cool metal touched her skin. She couldn't help shivering as he adjusted it around her breast, and she felt her nipple get harder as a result.
Fitz swallowed quickly as he watched between his fingers as her nipple tightened. He was immediately glad that his calliper was digital because there was no way he'd be able to read the measurement otherwise. He quickly made a note on the clipboard in his lap. "And now the other one," he warned her, moving to her right breast.
Jemma gasped this time as she felt the tool against her skin. It really was quite cold, especially compared to how warm Fitz's hands were as they carefully adjusted it around the softness of her breast. Her shiver this time was more of a shudder, and she hoped that didn't throw his measurements off. "How does it look?" she asked, wondering if there was a significant difference in size.
"Fantastic," Fitz whispered, leaning in towards her chest before catching himself and pulling back sharply. He blinked a few times and cleared his throat before showing her the readout on the calliper. "Hardly any difference in size at all," he said, adding to his notes.
"Well, that's one bit of relief then," Jemma sighed, finally allowing her arms to drop down again. "Actually, make that two," she grinned, windmilling her arms for a moment to get some feeling back in them. "Who knew lifting your arms up could be that hard?" she joked.
Fitz laughed awkwardly, shifting the clipboard slightly in his lap. "Who knew?" he repeated lamely, rubbing the back of his neck again. "So, um, palpation?" he asked, and his voice crackled slightly on the second syllable.
"Just a bit more on the visual assessment first," Simmons corrected him. "I need you to check for some other abnormalities."
"Okay?" Fitz asked, not sure what that could mean.
"But you won't need the calliper anymore," she smiled. Honestly, he hadn't needed it in the first place, but she knew that tools made him feel more comfortable and it hadn't hurt at all, so…
"Right," he leaned over and placed the calliper firmly on the carpet. Sitting back upright, he clapped his hands together and looked at her expectantly. "What do I do?" he asked,and this time he felt more curious than awkward.
"I need you to look at the skin of both breasts and check for rashes, dimples, or any other inconsistencies." She ticked the criteria off on her fingers as she listed them, just like she always did. Taking a half-step forward, she placed her hands on Fitz's shoulders and waited for him to start.
Fitz gulped as she stepped between his knees, moving even closer than she had already been so that he had to move the clipboard to the bed beside him to make room for her. He swallowed once more and tried to control his breathing as he placed his hands lightly on her hips to turn her 15 degrees. Starting at her right shoulder and trying to focus solely on the task assigned to him, he moved his eyes slowly down the skin of her breast to her nipple, tilting his head this way and that to make sure he didn't miss a millimeter.
Jemma breathed quickly and deeply as she felt the warmth of Fitz's breath on her skin. It felt strange to have him look at her the way he looked at one of his inventions: carefully, thoroughly, minutely. Not a single detail was escaping his notice. No one had ever spent so much time just looking at her before. She shivered again and her nipples, recently relaxed, tightened up once more.
Fitz continued to steer her with his hands on her hips, his gaze taking in everything about her breasts from their colour to their shape to the barely visible veins beneath the surface. He tried not to get distracted by counting her freckles. He tried to ignore the way she shivered every time he breathed. Once he finished scanning all the way to her left shoulder, he slid his hands tentatively up her ribs and lifted her arms up again.
Jemma bit her lip to keep herself from moaning. This was a medical exam. She had to remain professional, even if Fitz was making her feel anything but. "Do you," she cleared her throat when her voice came out hoarse and breathy. "Do you want me to lift them up again?" she asked.
Fitz nodded, a look of concentration on his face. "Please," he requested shortly, clearly preoccupied with doing a thorough job. He bit the inside of his cheek and reminded himself that breasts were just bits of skin and fat like anything else on the human body. Of course, the problem was they were particularly nice bits of skin and fat, and this wasn't just any human's body.
She arched her back again as she lifted her arms, this time holding each elbow with the opposite hand and resting them on her head. She closed her eyes as Fitz reached out to lift her breasts so that he could inspect them underneath, enjoying the way his hands felt supporting them. Too soon, he released them, and she brought her arms back down.
Fitz bit his lip as he forced himself to pull his hands away, picking up the clipboard again and twisting to the side around Simmons in order to write on it. "No rashes, no dimples, no inconsistencies," he said as he wrote. He looked up at her and smiled. "Smooth as a baby's bottom," he winked.
"I'm glad to hear it," Jemma said. She swallowed hard and concentrated on breathing more slowly.
"What's next?" Fitz asked, his hands returning to her hips after he put the clipboard back down.
Jemma's hands were resting on his shoulders again, although she kind of wanted to run them through his hair. "Next," she explained, "We see if there's any fluid expressed when my nipples are squeezed." She paused for a second. "Squeezed lightly," she specified, remembering instances of radio-tuning when she was younger.
Fitz looked up at her from under his raised brows. "So you want me to squeeze your nipples?" he asked, unable to believe this was a conversation they were actually having. This whole afternoon was feeling like some sort of strange dream he'd wake up from, and he really hoped he'd stay asleep a while longer. "Lightly," he emphasized to reassure her he was listening.
"Yes," Jemma confirmed, nodding with more certainty than she felt. This had all seemed perfectly reasonable when they'd started, but breast exams weren't something she'd ever have described as sexy. At least, not before today.
"Right," Fitz said, staring once more at the breasts right in front of him. He licked his lips and glanced from one nipple to the other and back, wondering how to proceed. Finally, he looked back up at her again. "Do I do them one at a time?" he asked, "Or both together?"
A quick debate occurred in Jemma's mind as she weighed the personal and professional pros and cons. "One at a time," she said after a moment's hesitation, forcing herself to stop staring at his mouth. "So that you can check for fluid."
"Of course," Fitz said, looking at her breasts again. "Forgot that part," he whispered, licking his lips in concentration. He reached out his right hand and took her left nipple between his thumb and forefinger, looking up at her face to make sure he was doing it right.
Jemma closed her eyes as his hand neared her breast. She was breathing deeply again and trying to focus on not moaning when he touched her. That would be simply too embarrassing to even consider.
Noticing that her eyes were closed, Fitz decided to get it over with and save her the embarrassment of stretching the process out forever. He squeezed his thumb and forefinger together lightly and pulled gently on her nipple. No fluid came out, but her nipple did get remarkably hard. Harder even than when he'd been using the cold calliper. He frowned, worried that his fingers were too cold, and he blew on them to warm them up.
Jemma breathed in quick and sharp when she felt the warm breath of air across her breasts. What on earth was Fitz doing? She looked down and met his eyes as he looked back up at her.
"Sorry," he apologized with a grin. "Cold hands." He pointed at her nipple in explanation.
Jemma laughed quickly in return. "Thanks for warming them up," she smiled. "I appreciate it." Now she just had to not have the same reaction again.
"For you, Simmons," he said expansively, "Anything!" Then he reached out and gently squeezed her other nipple, watching carefully for any reaction. Again, her nipples hardened but there was no sign for concern.
Jemma gasped at the sudden stimulation and hoped he would dismiss her reaction again. She blushed and asked, "Did you notice anything?"
"No fluid," Fitz said efficiently as he marked that down on the clipboard. He didn't think her pink flush was medically related, so he didn't mention that. "Did I squeeze lightly enough?" he asked. She hadn't shouted at him, but then Simmons didn't tend to show how she was feeling.
"Mmhmm," she said, smiling and raising her eyebrows in approval. To be honest, it had felt rather brilliant, and that was all kinds of problematic. "I think we're ready for palpation now," she said and then mentally cringed at how eager it sounded.
Fitz took a deep, steadying breath and shifted slightly on the bed. Things had been distinctly uncomfortable in the zipper region pretty much since he'd first walked in on her, but he'd managed to keep it together so far. He tried to think of a convenient excuse to get him out of the room quickly in case of… emergency… but he was coming up blank. "And how does that go, then?" he asked, trying to swallow his nerves. Honestly, he'd been staring at and touching her boobs for at least half an hour now. Why was he feeling so jittery?
Simmons took his hands in hers and placed them on the outside of her collar bone. "Work your way from the outside in, pressing gently along the supraclavicular area," she said, concentrating on her terminology instead of the feeling of Fitz's hands on her. "Pay close attention to any abnormalities you feel."
"How will I know if something's abnormal?" Fitz asked, moving his hands across her chest slowly. It wasn't like he'd done this before.
"That's why you're using both hands," Jemma explained. Both strong, supple hands. She closed her eyes momentarily to bring herself back on task. "So that you can compare the two sides and notice any differences."
He nodded and repeated the procedure, just to be sure that he'd done it right. "Feels the same to me," he said. "Just felt like skin and bone. No lumps there." He smiled at her, happy not to have found anything yet.
Jemma smiled back. That wasn't where she'd felt it, but it was nice to get a negative result right at the start. It felt like good luck.
"Alright," she continued. "Next we move onto the axillary lymph nodes."
"And what're they?" Fitz asked, feeling like this could be a spot of anatomy he might not find that gross.
Jemma smiled in spite of her nerves. Fitz being interested in anatomy was nothing short of a miracle. "Well, if you want to know the full range of functions, I can lend you one of my texts," she offered, chuckling at the sour look that brought to his face. "But basically, they're up under my arms and they could have lumps in them, so you need to check them out."
Fitz smirked in response. "Dumbing it down for me, are you?" he asked, not feeling the least bit insulted since they both knew that detailed medical information tended to make him want to vomit. "I appreciate that, Simmons. I really do," he continued. "I'll be sure to do the same for you the next time I'm walking you through a design schematic." Simmons, on the other hand, always wanted to know everything about everything and would go completely mental if he simplified something that much for her. His smirk morphed into a wide grin as he saw her face draw into a pout.
Jemma reached out to give him a light smack on the head for his troubles, but ended up collapsing on him in a fit of giggles instead. "Not fair!" she shouted, trying to wiggle away from him while still being caught in his arms and only succeeding in sliding further onto the bed. "We have a tickle truce!"
Fitz's fingers continued their movements under her arm as Simmons' fingers started attacking his ribs. "You told me to touch you under your arms!" he protested in his own defense as he crouched and leaned to get away from her reach.
"Not like that, and you know it!" she argued, poking him with extra force to prove her point.
Fitz rolled over to get on his knees and suddenly realized that he was staring down at a half-naked Simmons lying on a bed with him, her hair fanned out around her head and her cheeks flushed with laughter. He stared down at her golden brown eyes and panted hard as he tried to catch his breath. His own laughter quieted down as his eyes moved to her lips.
Jemma gulped down a laugh that was bubbling up. She was lying in bed, staring up at Fitz and she couldn't quite remember how they'd gotten like this but she didn't mind at all. Her gaze wandered over his face, pausing at his eyes and his lips before moving up and looking at his hair. Biting her lip, she stopped resisting the urge and reached one hand up to touch it.
"Jemma?" Fitz asked, not really sure what was happening here but noticing that Simmons' face had gotten softer somehow and she was playing with his hair in a way that was different from when they were sat on the couch watching a film and she just wanted something to do with her hands.
"Fitz?" she asked in return, sliding her fingers through his hair and then pulling him in closer to her. She stopped with their faces a few inches apart. She desperately wanted to kiss him in that moment, but if he didn't want to…
Fitz closed his eyes and leaned down that last little bit to press his lips to hers. He'd been thinking about it for so long that he'd assumed actually doing it would be anticlimactic. He'd been wrong.
Jemma moved her mouth against his, surprised that it had happened but enjoying how it felt. His lips were soft and sweet against hers, and she smiled at the taste of chocolate on his tongue. No doubt he'd been snacking in his room before she'd called him into hers.
Fitz leaned onto his side and placed one hand on her hip, bringing her with him. As much as he wanted to push himself against her, he didn't think she'd really appreciate that. This way, though, he could keep on kissing her without having to support his full weight on his arms.
Jemma followed him eagerly when he pulled her onto her side, but then she shivered at the cold against her bare back. She broke their kiss to push Fitz's cardigan off of his shoulders.
Fitz's eyebrows rose nearly into his hairline. He couldn't believe she was undressing him already! He couldn't help feeling suspicious of this sudden change in her. First, she was calling him into her room while she was half-naked and now she was trying to take his clothes off?
"I'm cold," Simmons explained, taking in Fitz's expression and attempting to extrapolate his thoughts. "And you promised me your jumper an hour ago." She successfully maneuvered it off of his wrists and then wrapped it around herself, warming up immediately.
"Ah," Fitz said sheepishly. "So you're not trying to take my clothes off then." This was still a bit odd, but now back within reasonable parameters for weird.
"Just the sweater," Jemma confirmed. "Although, if you play your cards right…" she grinned.
"Oh yeah?" he asked, grinning right back.
"I could be convinced to give you a full physical," she winked.