A/N: I've been writing like a crazy person lately, the plot bunnies are just taking over my brain. I'd started this as a maybe 2 or 3 chapter venture, but I'm already piecing together chapter 6. I owe this writing spurt to all of you who have left reviews, so thank you! You all bring a smile to my face and great ideas to my brain! Thank you again, a million times over.
Special thanks and shout out to the Drs. D, who helped with the (fake) science in this.
...
FEARS
Jemma discovers that she's not the only 18 year old on campus by accident in her Academy orientation interview. Agent Weaver is explaining the campus' policy on underage drinking and says, "You and Mr. Fitz must be extremely careful. As the youngest, you could be expelled. We'd hate to lose two talented students like yourselves."
She leans forward in her seat. "I'm sorry, did you say that I'm not the youngest here?"
"Why yes, I'm surprised you didn't know. I'd thought you'd have met already." Agent Weaver taps a stack of paper into order, oblivious to the young student's sudden interest. "I really shouldn't be telling you this, but you are technically a Level 1. Leopold Fitz- rather, Leo Fitz- is the other. Also 18 and from M.I.T. He has an I.Q a hair lower than your own. We're very lucky to have him here; there were rumours that A.I.M was trying to secure him for their facility. You can't imagine how dangerous it is to allow great scientists to get recruited by them."
Jemma nods, but remains silent. If Agent Weaver says anything further, she hears none of it. It's as though her brain goes into overdrive, all sound becomes a distant hum.
Leo Fitz? L.F.? Could they be the same person?
She's about to ask Agent Weaver if this Leo Fitz is originally from Scotland, but loses her chance when the agent launches into the school's policy on biohazard waste disposal.
Jemma's barely paying attention to any of it; she's decidedly making it her mission to find and meet this Leo Fitz.
…
It's Leo who sees Jemma first, a few days after the start of school. She's leaving the library, laughing with a few other students. The sight of her stops Leo in his tracks; the drone he's testing nose dives from the sky into a nearby bush. It'd been 5 years since he'd seen her in person and he thinks she's become more beautiful than any news clipping had ever represented her.
It's in that moment that he realizes what a fool he is. He'd started the video letters as a thank you and continued them to push himself to do better in school- a way to impress a pretty girl he'd met at a science fair. He suspects there's a possibility he's long developed feelings for Jemma Simmons and in that moment, as he watches her walk down the library stairs and into the quad, he understands with new clarity that those video letters had meant something more to him all along. They were a way for him to share his deepest fears aloud, a way for him to challenge and ultimately improve his engineering skills. He thinks that without sending those letters to Jemma and wanting on some level to impress her, he'd probably still be in Bishopbriggs tinkering away in a garage, repairing lawn mowers with no real promising future.
Having her practically in front of him sends him back into the skin of that troublesome 13 year old who was shamed by his grades and his family history. The successful aeronautical engineer who'd been published in twelve academic journals before graduating university seems to disappear. Leo Fitz thinks in that moment, with Jemma Simmons mere yards away, that he's been monstrously and incredibly stupid all those years in sending her video letters. He thinks that she must see him as a joke with a screwdriver. Or worse, a maniacal stalker.
It's that same shame that causes Leo to pull up the hood of his sweater and hide behind a tree.
…
Jemma realizes too quickly that the tech students have different classes than the science ones. She hears murmurings about the elusive Leo Fitz but has not, as of yet, managed to see him. The other girls on her dorm floor talk of the genius aeronautics engineer who sits in the back row of their classes and questions practically all of the professors' conclusions (apparently he thinks that the Holocom module could be interactive, that 3D modeling is a near reality and that it's not necessary for sci-tech agents to scour forensic remains). The descriptions of his thick Scottish accent and pleasant looks send Jemma's heart irrationally aflutter. Her friends' interactions with him, however, make Jemma think that perhaps her suspicions about L.F. were wrong and that L.F. and Leo Fitz are two different people altogether.
Olivia, a first year technologies student who is in Leo's Space Geodesy class, laughs when mentioning him. "Really, Jem, you should see this kid. He's all brooding and quiet except when he wants to stir something up with the profs. The guys say that he's constantly tinkering on something, won't let anyone into his room. Who does that? It's weird as weird can get."
Kae from Level 2 Logistics, confirms Olivia's story. "I once saw him testing out some strange flying machine. And when I asked him what he was doing, he snapped at me. Told me it was none of my business and not to think about stealing his ideas. As if I even knew what he was doing! The guy's a complete jerk."
Jemma is flabbergasted by their descriptions and thinks that it's impossible the friendly, open and lovely L.F. of her videos is the same person.
The next morning over breakfast, she hears similar descriptions from Charlie, Katherine and Robert. When Olivia suggests that she just look up his photo in the school directory and be certain once and for all, Jemma gives a half-hearted reply in the affirmative, but makes no attempt to fulfil her promise. She's afraid of what she'll find, afraid that she'll discover that the tiresome person of her friends' description is in fact her L.F.
…
Leo knows what the other students think of him and he doesn't particularly care either. There's only one person's opinion he truly values. When a letter arrives in early November from Advanced Idea Mechanics, inviting him for the third time to join their program and promising him riches beyond his wildest imagination, he considers the offer. It's a chance to start afresh, away from the burden of ducking behind trees, shelves and walls to avoid what he's certain he'll eventually have to face.
It's a brief moment of consideration. In reality, he knows he can never accept it. If asked, he's likely to explain his refusal as being because of his father's death at their hands. But in fact, there's a part of Leo that is drawn to S.H.I.E.L.D and a particular BioChem scientist that he's been avoiding.
Leo Fitz is the first to admit that he does prefer the company of his machines. When he was at M.I.T, he was too young to hang around his classmates, and was quickly (and specifically) ostracized by them when his near perfect scores eliminated the bell curve on one too many of an occasion. Without a friend to ease the loneliness, he turned to bettering his machines, seeking his professors for advice and confirmation of his skills. They'd always asked why he created so many that needed biomolecules to function effectively. He'd usually just shrug and remain silent, allowing the professors to incorrectly assume a side passion for chemical biology. In reality, the projects were ways to ease, protect and improve the scientific world of Jemma Simmons.
One day, while working in the dark corner of the Tech lab, he hears Professors Vaughan and Yeats talking. When his name is mentioned, he's quick to bring a stethoscopic freq-meter to his ears and enhances the volume. What he learns disappoints him. Preparations are being made to move Leo to the Sandbox. His interest in bio-matter has convinced the Level 8's that that's the best place for him. There's too much danger, Yeats notes, in having a singularly genius, yet isolated student who's being courted by A.I.M. Vaughan agrees: the Sandbox provides greater protection and after all, Agent Blake is in need of a new assistant.
A few weeks after the Christmas break, he's called to Agent Weaver's office. He expects to hear that they've made the arrangements to move him. He's already bracing himself for the reveal that they'll be confiscating his work as it's too dangerous for his new classified location. He's gone over the potential conversation in his head. He desperately wants to decline the request, but as a Level 1, he has no authority over Weaver's Level 6 decision-making abilities.
When he's led into her office, it's not Agent Weaver he finds sitting behind the desk, but an unfamiliar man wearing a charcoal grey suit. The man motions for Leo to sit.
"Important people are very interested in your work, Mr. Fitz," he says.
Leo nods, hands clasping in his lap. "I didn't mean to keep the offer from A.I.M a secret, sir. I just- I just-" he stammers. "I wasn't going to accept," Leo admits at last.
The man raises one eyebrow and folds his hands before him, leaning toward the young technician. "I wasn't talking about A.I.M., Mr. Fitz."
"Oh?"
"We've been watching you for a long time." Leo furrows his brows in confusion but remains silent. "I understand you've created something you call a spectrographic analyzer?"
"Yeah. I'm mean, yes. But it barely works properly, it needs to be chemically calibrated. I haven't been able to perfect the measurement of the variance in the spectral emissions. Once the nano-" The man puts his hands into the form of a T, stopping Leo mid-sentence.
"Time-out, Mr. Fitz," he says, his voice raising. "I don't need details. I need to know what you need to fix it."
Leo shakes his head, nervously. "I dunno. Probably a bio-chemical engineer of some sort. But I'm fairly certain that there's no bio-chemical engineer that would be able to fix it here at S.H.I.E.L.D."
"Why?" The question is pointed, demanding of attention.
Leo's words come out quickly. His heart races anxiously. "It requires someone who's understanding of alpha waves and nitrogen containing amino groups… well, their knowledge would have to be unparalleled. I've asked Professor Kierney about it and she said that what I was proposing was at least 15 years too early to be developed. That there's no one in the world with that kind of knowledge."
The man nods as if understanding his dilemma, but says nothing further on the issue. "We'd like to move you."
Leo's eyes fall to his lap. "I know. To the Sandbox."
"The Sandbox?" The man's eyebrows raise in surprise. "No," he says with a chuckle, shaking his head. "SciOps. We're interested in promoting you, Mr. Fitz. Level 5."
"I'm sorry?"
"We'd like to begin your transition immediately. We've cleared out a lab for you on the other side of campus; there you'll have all the equipment you'll need to perfect the spectrographic analyzer. As well, we have someone that will help you bring it- and quite frankly, many of your other creations- to life."
"I usually work alone, sir," Leo says. He's not sure he can manage with a partner. He remembers all too vividly the disastrous encounters at M.I.T.
"At SciOps all Technology Engineers must be paired with a Science expert. It's part of the package. Besides, you want to figure out the spectrograph don't you?"
Leo nods.
"Good. Because we want you to as well." The man purses his lips. "Will you take the assignment, Mr. Fitz? We'd hate to lose you."
Leo considers his options, the offer sounds too good to be true; he knows he'd be a fool to turn it down. "I'll do it," he says at last, holding out his hand to shake on the deal. The man nods and accepts.
"I'm sorry sir, but who is my partner anyway?"
The man smiles. "You might've met her. Her name is Jemma Simmons."
...
To be continued...
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