Prompt: Fitzsimmons have been dating for three years, and no one knows except for May, until they find out.


How To Keep a Secret

They're not really sure how they've managed to keep it up for so long, to be quite honest.

It's kind of amazing, really.

It started after a particularly emotionally-exhausting mission. It wasn't the first time Simmons' life had been in danger, and it certainly wasn't the last, but it was the first time she had been injured, the closest she'd come to death since that horrid Chitauri virus. And in those moments after all the commotion, when they were finally left alone, something inside Fitz just snapped. Suddenly lips were on lips and they spent the next hour trying to sort their feelings out in-between kisses.

They'd been together ever since.

That was three years ago.

At first they had purposely kept it a secret; the team had just begun to really gain their footing not just in missions, but in personal dealings as well. There was no S.H.I.E.L.D. regulation, as far as they knew, that prohibited inter-office (if the Bus even counted as an office) romances. They just didn't want their relationship to disrupt the growing progress. It wasn't like much had to change. They eventually realized that only thing different about their dynamic was that now it involved more touching, more physical affection, and much, much more kisses… in private, of course.

After the first seven months or so, it had somehow managed to evolve into a game, into little experiments. How many kisses could they steal in a mission? How close was too close for everyone's comfort? How many glances could they sneak during team meetings? And Fitz's personal favorite: How much noise could they make at night without waking anyone up?

There had been slip-ups, of course, and many close calls. On more than one occasion had Fitz nearly gotten caught sneaking out of Jemma's bunk—damn Ward and his early morning workouts. Skye was both the easiest and most difficult person to fool, since she was the only member of the team who openly expressed how much she "shipped" them, whatever that meant. But the hacker also had the tendency to be ridiculously (and thankfully) naïve, which they were using to their advantage. As for Coulson, they knew their boss was particularly intuitive, but if he did know anything, he'd never said as much.

They're seventy-five percent sure May knows. She does fly the damn plane after all; it only makes sense that she's also aware of everything that happens in it.

They know that three years is an awfully long time to keep a secret like this, and that at this point, there's no need to keep mum about it. It's just that somewhere along the way, they just found it useless to tell them upfront. Generally, they've stopped trying to hide it; they just weren't big on public displays of affection. So as far as the team could see, Fitzsimmons was just a pair of platonic scientists with a lot of underlying sexual tension… Which isn't really that far off the bat, though they've long resolved the tension.

Tonight though, Fitz was hoping to change that.

The team had just arrived back on base after a daunting mission involving an underground mafia getting a hold of alien technology. Everyone had gone their separate ways to rest up before meeting back on the Bus in the morning for their next assignment. It was also the night of Fitzsimmons' third anniversary.

The next morning after take-off, everyone gathered in the lab after receiving a cryptic summoning from the couple.

Coulson was the first to enter, followed by Ward and Skye who appeared to be geared up for a training session, with May appearing a few minutes later.

"Alright then," Simmons started off, looking like a giddy schoolgirl, "now that everyone's here, Fitz and I would like to share some news with you."

Skye and Ward quirked an eyebrow, May looked as smug as May could look, and Coulson maintained his default "polite face". There's a beat of silence before Fitz blurts out, "Jemma and I are together!"

"What do you mean by 'together'?" Skye asks, her whole body perking up in interest.

"We mean we've been officially a couple for three years now." Simmons answers.

"What?" Ward sputters out, at the exact same time Skye exclaims "You're kidding!" and drops her jaw to the floor.

Even Coulson looks taken aback, but May just looks openly smug now, as if this was exactly what she'd been expecting. They suppose that answers that question.

Ward looks floored, and speechless, so Skye takes it upon herself to ask the obvious question. "Why the hell are you only telling us now?!"

"It never seemed like the right time?" Fitz says lamely, accompanying the excuse with an equally pathetic shrug.

It's to this that Coulson finally speaks up. "Three years seems to be plenty of time to find 'the right one'."

"I actually think it's kinda cute," Skye pipes up, to which Ward rolls his eyes. "I mean, it's definitely uncool to keep the rest of the team out of the loop for that long, but the whole sneaking-around-secret-relationship thing," she smirks, "does sound pretty hot."

Before Fitz has a chance to choke on thin air, Ward interjects, "What matters is that we know now. And if you two have no more surprises for us, maybe we should all get back on track."

"Actually…" Fitz says, looking a bit more enthusiastic now. "The reason we wanted to announce this rather than just letting you guys pick it up by yourselves is because—"

"—we're getting married!"


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