A/N: It's past Valentine's Day now. So what better time to continue a story of Valentine's past? Sorry for the feeble joke. I planned out several one-shots of Valentine's some of the team could have experienced, but I only had the idea on Valentine's Day - far too late to write them all in time for the holiday. I'll still write them, though, and update as I do. Coming up we have Skye, but for now, let's go back to the Academy with our favorite scientists: Fitz-Simmons!

Jemma turned off the silly romantic comedy in disgust. Did everything in the world revolve around Valentine's Day? A rom-com on the Discovery Channel, for Pete's sake!

She wasn't having any of it. Everyone at the Academy was so lovey-dovey and full of PDA. Jemma had really expected students here to be different than the ones in her old school. So far, the only difference was a slight increase in I Q here. And even that didn't stop many of the students from acting like idiots. All the romantic gestures she'd seen today, each more high-tech than the last, had almost made her long for the low-tech peers she'd had before. At least their romantic gestures had been easily ignored. Trying to focus on chemistry when the loudspeaker kept playing love songs parodied by a boy to a girl in the class had been extremely difficult. Jemma usually didn't have a problem with Valentine's Day, but she'd been annoyed too much this year. She needed to escape. She thought of what students did on campus on the weekends. They all loved going to the boiler room to drink and blow off steam. Jemma had gone a few times in the months she'd been at the Academy, but she'd always been too anxious to enjoy herself.

That changed now. She wanted a distraction from Valentine's Day that didn't consist of academia. To the boiler room she went.

It was packed, as Jemma expected. It was great. The crowd of people dancing beneath party lights obscured the few on the outskirts of the room, locked against each other, from view. Jemma grabbed a soda and listened to the music, letting the atmosphere build the energy inside her. She danced for several songs, immensely glad she'd left her room, before she saw a familiar pale, pink-tinged face looking her way. Leo Fitz.

She walked over to him, still dancing slightly. "Hi," she greeted. "Aren't you going to dance?"

He clutched his soda tightly. "Not much of a dancer. Just wanted some excitement."

Jemma smiled. "I'm not much of a dancer either. I actually came for the same reason. I think I'm warming up to the place."

"It's definitely warming me up," Fitz stammered. "I think I'll head out in a few minutes."

She didn't know why that thought put a dampener on her mood, until she looked around and realized this was the first personal interaction she'd had since coming to the boiler room.

Another song finished, and Fitz said goodnight and disappeared in the crowd. Jemma halfheartedly began to dance to the next song, but abandoned the effort midway through. Her distraction was no longer working, her thoughts turned to companionship. She wouldn't find meaningful social interaction in the boiler room tonight. So she slipped out before the song finished, and breathed a sigh of relief once the door closed and the loud music was muted.

She had to confront why she was so annoyed this Valentine's Day. It wasn't the abundance of romantic gestures and PDA that got to her. It was the reminder that she was alone. She didn't even think it in a romantic way. She didn't have any friends here. She had rivals. She had lots of those. But friends? She wasn't sure anyone she knew would list her as their friend. Not yet, at any rate. It was an incredibly lonely realization, which took any trace of fun out of Valentine's Day.

Except she wasn't alone right now, she noticed. Fitz hadn't kept walking once he'd left the boiler room. He stood at the base of the steps, hands shoved in his overcoat pockets, staring into the distance. Looking like he was thinking the same things she was. She knew he was the same age as her, and probably the same intelligence, though he was going for engineering. He was definitely her biggest rival. Did he have any friends? She didn't know him well enough. He'd barely spoken a word to her.

She took an intuitive leap and decided he really was thinking the same things she was. If two people were in the same space, thinking the same thing, what could be more logical than starting a conversation? They didn't have to be rivals. Maybe saying hello tonight would lead to a friendship.

In the time it took her to decide to talk to him Fitz started walking away. Jemma's stomach twisted and she reacted instinctively. "Fitz, wait!" she shouted, and ran down the steps to catch up to him.

"Simmons, hi," he stammered.

"You were right," she said. "It was too warm in there. And a bit too crowded."

"'spose it would be, being Valentine's Day."

There was a palpable tension in the air. Jemma inspected Fitz and thought he looked quite nervous. And, honestly, a bit down in the dumps. "Why don't we do something fun?" she asked. "What do you like to do?"

Some of his nervousness seemed to lessen as he thought. "I have been working on my own laser tag. Do you want to see it?"

"Have you got it all figured out? I could help if you'd like."

He smiled. "Yeah, you can help me finish it. Maybe we can try it out. Though I have to warn you, I'm an awful shot."

Jemma scoffed. "You can't be worse than I am."

Fitz raised an eyebrow. "Is that a challenge?"

Jemma grinned. Maybe they weren't done being rivals after all. But maybe now they could be friends as well. As they walked to Fitz's dorm, Jemma found all of her frustration with Valentine's Day had faded away.

She wasn't alone anymore.