Drabble 41: Thick

A/N: This drabble was requested by FitzyMonkey. I hope you like it, and please review!

Jemma walked to meet Fitz at the end of the day. Now that they were close to graduating they worked in their specific fields; which meant her in the lab, him with the other engineers in their office. At least that was only for half the day, though. They were still able to take final classes and workshops together in the morning.

But she missed him by the end of the day; they had been together for a few years now, and she loved his company. So one of them usually walked to find the other, whichever one finished first. Today she had finished early, so she made the trip to the office the engineers worked in.

This was their base of operations. They did all of the problem-solving they could here, and then took whatever they needed to actually fix the problem. Fitz was a wonderful engineer, she knew, and was capable of building great things. But he mostly stayed in the office, inspecting designs and making up his own. He preferred that to physical building most of the time. He was the leader in this room, the one the others turned to for approval and guidance.

She felt a flush of pride whenever she came and saw him still hard at work. He really was great at what he did, even if she did think he could have done well in bio-chem with her.

Today was one of those days where he didn't even notice her entering the large room. He was standing by a whiteboard, writing on it with a blue dry erase marker.

A girl was standing at his elbow, watching intently. It took Jemma a minute to realize she wasn't staring at the work though; she was staring at Fitz.

He wrote one final figure on the board and then capped the marker. "That should do it." He said with a smile.

The girl stole his glance and blushed. "You're so smart, Fitz." She said. "Can you explain it to me one more time?" she asked. "I really get it when you show it to me." Jemma choked back a laugh. The girl was using a low and breathy tone, and batting her eyelashes at Fitz every now and then.

"Sure." Fitz said good-naturedly. Then he walked her through the problem he had just solved. Jemma watched the girl as Fitz spoke. She could tell she wasn't really listening to his explanation. And it annoyed her.

Then she took a step back mentally. Why should she be annoyed? Fitz loved explaining his work, so the girl's antics weren't hurting him. And so what if she was hitting on him? Fitz was allowed to date. Even if it was a thick, arrogant girl.

Fitz finished his explanation, and the girl laughed, laying a hand on Fitz's arm. "Oh, I get it now." She said. "Thank you Fitz."

Jemma mentally gagged. She was certainly laying it on a bit thick. Then Fitz noticed her standing in the doorway. "Oh, hi Jemma!" he called to her.

The girl quickly slid her hand off his arm as Jemma walked over to them, smiling. "Hello, Fitz." She said.

"Jemma, this is Olivia." Fitz said. "We were just going over the designs for a new shooting weapon, designed to use less energy."

"I'm sure Jemma doesn't want to hear about our work." Olivia said.

Jemma blinked. Their work? There was a little too much emphasis on the word our for that comment to roll of Jemma's shoulders. If Fitz noticed any emphasis, the only way he betrayed it was by blinking. "Of course I'd like to hear about it." Jemma said. "But it doesn't have to be right now."

Olivia smiled, and Jemma realized she'd just helped Olivia prove her point. She really was interested in what they had been doing, but right now she just wanted to relax with Fitz and grab some dinner.

"Do you want to work together again tomorrow?" Olivia asked Fitz.

Fitz hesitated for a moment, and Jemma smiled the slightest bit. He needs to know the person he works with really well to be comfortable with them, she thought. He obviously wasn't very comfortable with Olivia yet.

"I don't mean to bother you, but everything's so much clearer when I work with you." She said, looking at him with an innocent expression.

There was nothing innocent about her intentions, that much Jemma was sure about. And she didn't like it.

Fitz smiled. "Yeah, alright. See you tomorrow."

She gave him a little wave, and then Fitz walked out of the room with Jemma. She didn't speak to him until they reached the café, and then made sure they were alone before leaning towards him from across the table.

"Was she like that all day?" she asked.

"Like what?" Fitz asked, looking at the line of customers.

"Come on Fitz, you must have noticed how much she was hitting on you." Jemma said.

Fitz scrunched his eyebrows. "She was?"

"How could you not tell?" she said incredulously. She realized she was getting louder and took a breath. "She wasn't listening to your explanations at all, Fitz. She only wanted you to think she was interested."

"Is that all?" he asked.

"No, it's not." She continued. "She acted so completely helpless, just to get your attention. She kept placing her hands on your arm and laughing, too, and batting her eyelashes at you."

"Is that all?" he asked again.

"How can you be so thick?" Jemma said.

Fitz smiled the smallest bit. "It sounds like you really searched for those hints, Jem. Laughing means flirting now?"

"When you laugh like she did it does!" Jemma insisted.

"Mm-hmm." Fitz said through pursed lips.

She studied him for a moment, unsure of how to convince him. She couldn't believe he was being so thick. It was actually starting to be annoying. "What do you classify as flirting?" she asked.

Fitz looked at her with a thoughtful expression. "I don't know much about flirting." He said. "I think you show your interest in someone by showing how much you care about them. Through action."

Jemma nodded, and they were quiet for a second. "So you admit you don't recognize flirting." She said.

Fitz threw up his hands.

"What?" she asked.

"That was a pretty powerful moment, and you ruined it."

"But Fitz, I was only trying to prove my point."

"It's okay. The moment's gone."

Jemma opened her mouth to protest but decided against it. She had shown Fitz that he was being flirted with. She could see now that he knew it. So she let it go, and with it the little bit of jealousy that had started forming in her chest.

On the other side of the table, Fitz shook his head and then laughed, moving the conversation on to another topic. Maybe he hadn't picked up on Olivia's flirtations, but so what? He didn't want to pursue anything romantic at the moment. And besides. He'd just told Jemma how he showed interest in a person. And in a very smooth way, he had to admit. But had she noticed?

Of course not.

Who was the thick one, him or her?