Drabble 43: Wingin' It
A/N: Drabble requested by Spitfire303. Hope you like it!
"Hello."
Jemma turned around to see a boy standing next to her, giving her a friendly smile. He was quite cute, actually, with thick brown hair and lovely brown eyes. "Hello." She said quietly.
Fitz nudged her slightly, and she blinked, remembering her manners. "I'm Jemma." She said.
"Peter." He said, offering his hand out to her. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
She reached out her hand and gently shook it, feeling sort of fluttery. "Yes." She said.
Fitz cleared his throat softly. "I don't mean to be rude, but we'll be late for class if we don't get going."
Peter looked at Fitz and stepped back, nodding. "Right. Hopefully I'll see you around." He said to Jemma.
She smiled and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "Hopefully."
Then he walked away, and Fitz started slowly leading her towards their next class. After about a minute he looked at her. "Are you normal again?"
"What?"
He smirked. "Your IQ seemed to drop while you were talking to him. I've never seen you flirt so much."
She felt the need to defend herself. "I did not! I was being polite."
She could tell he didn't believe her excuse. "Jemma, you were staring at him before I nudged you. That's not so polite."
She opened her mouth to retort and then narrowed her eyes at Fitz, saying nothing.
He let it drop, and they entered their class and worked just like they always did.
But at the end of the class, when they were walking back to the dorms, Fitz looked over at her carefully.
"You like him, don't you." He said softly.
She looked over and nodded, knowing immediately whom he was talking about. "I think so." She said, as softly as he had been speaking.
He seemed to brace himself before smiling lightly. "Then I'll be your wingman."
Jemma couldn't help it. She laughed.
"What?" Fitz asked.
"My wingman? Are we in some old movie?"
"Well that's what they're called, isn't it?" he said defensively. "I'll help you get a date with him, if you want me to."
She became serious for a moment, looking at him in a different way than usual. "Thank you Fitz." She said. "I'd appreciate that."
She really did appreciate it. She had been quite taken with Peter, something very unusual for her. She didn't even know him, but she knew she wanted to see more of him. He had impressed her in their two minute encounter outside the Biology room.
Fitz had told her he would find Peter and casually bring her up in conversation. Then he would drop hints that she wanted to see Peter, and say good things about her. She had warned him not to be too over the top; she wanted his help in attracting Peter's attention, but she didn't want Fitz to do everything for her. She wanted to be able to meet with him and let things progress naturally. She just needed Fitz's help to get things started.
Fitz walked to the dining hall with slow steps, mentally preparing himself for what he was about to do. He'd been told Peter always went to the dining hall after afternoon classes, to get a specific drink he loved. Sure enough, he saw Peter walking away from the counter as he reached the dining hall, holding a large bottle of soda.
"Peter!" he called.
The boy looked up and saw Fitz, and made his way over to him. "Hey. You were next to Jemma earlier, right?"
"Yeah." He said. "What are you up to?" he asked, trying to sound nonchalant.
"Nothing right now." Peter said. "What's up?"
"I just realized I never introduced myself earlier. I'm Fitz. Leo Fitz."
"Nice to meet you." Peter said.
"So you like Jemma?" Fitz blurted out. He couldn't act 'cool' anymore. The question was burning in his mind, had been since they'd met him a few hours before.
Peter tightened his lips for a second. "Yeah." He said. He raised an eyebrow at Fitz. "That cool with you?"
Fitz mentally sighed. It was hard to hate Peter when he was being so… perfect. And he really wanted to hate him. "Why would I have a problem with it?" he said, trying to sound as honest as possible. "Jemma's my best friend, and I think she might like you too."
"Really?" Peter asked. He grinned. "Great."
"Just don't hurt her." Fitz said.
"Believe me, dude, that's the last thing I wanna do."
Fitz nodded and then walked out of the dining hall.
"Wait, Fitz!" he heard. He stopped walking and turned around, and found Peter running up to him. "Hey." He said. "Just wondering, but can you tell me where Jemma's dorm is? I need to go see her."
"Yeah, sure." Fitz said. He gave Peter the directions and watched as he jogged in the direction of Jemma's room. The same direction Fitz had been walking.
It was many hours later when Fitz again started walking in the direction of Jemma's dorm. After telling Peter how to get there he couldn't go himself. It would be too awkward to see him ask Jemma on a date. And then he didn't know if they would go out right away or later that night, or possibly not even at all that day. Finally, around ten o'clock, he decided he needed to see her. So he walked to her dorm, deciding to ask if she wanted to watch an episode of Doctor Who with him; to calm him down.
But as he approached it, he heard voices. One of them belonged to Jemma.
"Thank you for tonight." She said. "I had a wonderful time."
"My pleasure." Said a deeper voice.
Then he heard her giggle, and stepped forward to see what was going on.
And his heart shrunk. Jemma was kissing Peter in front of her door. He started to step backwards, but Jemma opened her eyes and saw him, and separated from Peter. "Fitz!" she said.
Peter looked to Fitz and nodded, his lips tight in what Fitz could tell was annoyance. That helped improve Fitz's mood a bit.
"I just wanted to check in." Fitz said. "See you tomorrow, Jem."
"Fitz, wait!" she said. "Peter was just leaving, right?" she asked, looking back at Peter.
"Yeah." He said. He smiled at her. "I've kept you out late enough. Talk to you tomorrow." Then he leaned in and gave her a kiss on the lips, quick but assertive.
Jemma blinked and cleared her throat softly. "Sorry about that. Peter is a bit of a physical being, I'm afraid."
"Don't worry about it."
Fitz looked down at his feet and took a deep breath. "So you had a good time then?"
Jemma smiled that sweet little smile that he loved so much. "Yes, I really did." She stepped up to Fitz and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "Thank you so much for talking to him!"
Fitz swallowed and rubbed one hand in circles along her back. "Whatever makes you happy."
They did go and watch Doctor Who after that, two episodes. Then Fitz went back to his dorm room, and Jemma stayed in hers.
Maybe he wasn't as good a wing man as he'd thought he would be (he definitely wasn't as smooth as Jemma might have thought), but Jemma was happy with Peter. And as much as it pained him to see her with someone else, seeing her happy was what he wanted most. So he went to bed disappointed that night, and a bit hurt; but satisfied as well.