The staple of every Christmas related fic - the kiss under the mistletoe.
Now up until now, I suppose it was sort of possible to see FitzSimmons in a friends/siblings relationship in this story - ha, not anymore, it's taking a definite shippy turn.
Now to Natalie - the reviewer who mentioned how this seemed to jump around a lot - yeah, that's just how my brain works, never in chronological order, but the title of the chapter tells you the date (if set in the current year) and the year (if set in the past or future), so just check that. I hope that makes sense.
I was working desperately hard to get this out before the mid-season finale airs in, oh, just over an hour.
Any mistakes, please review, any tips, please review, like it, please review, hate it ... actually don't review if you hate it.
K, love you, bye.
"Why are we here again?" Fitz's voice was barely more than a murmur in her ear, the comment only the latest in a seemingly never ending string of complaints.
"Because we're supposed to have fun occasionally." She had mastered the art of answering him, without looking at him, or moving her lips out of the large smile they appeared to be stuck in, as she carried on
"This is fun?" His voice was droll, and she could barely contain a snort of laughter while she tried in vain to converse with a couple of friends from her chemistry class.
"You're right," she replied a few moments later, when the others had left to find something to drink.
"Two of my favourite words." Came his quick retort. "But you're gonna have to be more specific as to what about."
She smiled, the feature spreading quickly across her face before she forced her facial muscles into something resembling normality. "This really isn't fun."
"Told yo..." His voice was cut off as she stepped sharply on his toes, the usual pressure only increased with the fact that she was wearing heels (a fact he only noticed because they were now the same height ... sure).
"Finish that sentence and I will abandon you here for the rest of the night." He didn't need to be told again, shutting up as Jemma led him through a series of corridors away from the party and towards the main living halls.
"I can't believe you talked me into..."
"... I never talked you into anything." She countered, cutting easily over the top of his voice in the abandoned corridor, pretty much the entire Academy still back at the party.
"You talk me into everything."
"Well, otherwise you'd never do anything."
"I happen to like not doing anything." He wasn't sure what had drawn his attention upwards, a flicker in the lights, a glint of green in the corner of his eye, but he looked up as they passed through the narrow doorway, maybe twenty metres away from their rooms.
It was clear as day - the green leaves and the red berries, recognisable as mistletoe, even if they hadn't been helping to rig it at random points throughout the halls only that very morning.
"Oh." And everything changed so quickly. His voice had dropped to almost nothing, and he took a step forward almost subconsciously - this wasn't a new thought for him, it had been playing on his mind for weeks at least, months certainly, and this was just the last push in a direction he was already walking.
"Well, it is tradition," she whispered, stepping closer, unsure and not at the same time.
"And who are we to argue with tradition?" He voice was nearly silent, and he closed the gap with one final movement, pressing their lips together, soft and warm and familiar and new at the same time.
Closing her eyes and melting into the sensation, every thought in her head disappeared - the kiss being both everything she ever imagined it, and yet at the same, so different to her wildest dreamings.
It didn't feel new so much, not like the few other kisses she had ever had (because it wasn't like she spent every waking hour with Fitz ... just most of them), it felt natural - it felt like it was (and later she may just bury herself for being so sentimental, because that wasn't her, except it was) meant to be.
Her fingers tangling in his hair, one of his on the back of her neck, the other round her waist, they were close - closer than they'd ever been before.
And she liked it, she liked being close enough to smell his scent of chemicals and solder and her perfume and something so undeniably Leo that it just drew her in further.
And then it was over, just as suddenly as it started, but neither of them stepped back, their gaze catching each other, and just holding it there, the comfortable silence permeating everything as they attempted to come to terms with the new evolution of their partnership.
Still smiling (was she ever going to stop smiling) from their first kiss, she leaned in for their second.
"Kiss!" Skye's excited shout drew the two scientists out of their own little world as they entered the main living area.
Simmons turned to her friend with a confused (and slightly incredulous) glance, wondering what could have led to that little outburst.
In response, Skye pointed at the doorway above their head - both of them even further baffled until they saw it, well, Fitz saw it first, the little bundle of green leaves with small red berries stark against the pale beige of the surrounding décor, impossible not to see now they had spotted it.
Judging by the grin on her face at the scenario, there was really no mistake about who had planted the plant.
Refusing to give in entirely to her friend's ... shenanigans, Simmons rolled her eyes and pressed a kiss to her lab partner's cheek, short and chaste and about as far from romantic as it was possible to get.
Frowning, and obviously displeased with the way they had skirted the rules, Skye groaned - her words overly drawn out. "Oh, come on, guys," the statement accentuated with her leaning (almost violently) back into the sofa once more, forcing Ward to the opposite end, lest he risk being sat on (or worse - squashed) by the overzealous hacker.
Simmons looked over with an air of feigned innocence that - while fooling Skye - didn't fool the specialist, and certainly didn't fool Fitz, close enough to see the smirk of mischief hidden in her eyes as she caught his, replying with a surprising lack of her usual emotion. "We kissed."
"That wasn't a kiss. Ward, tell them that wasn't a kiss." She shoved her SO against the arm, not intended to cause harm, but not quite gently either.
He didn't bother answer her, as he returned to the book she attempted (futilely, oh so futilely) to knock out of his hands.
Figuring it was safe to return to their earlier conversation, the pair left Skye to her own devices once more, trusting Ward to keep a close enough eye on her to stop her from from placing too many sprigs of mistletoe, especially in a place where Coulson, or heaven forbid May, could get 'caught' underneath.
Silently and mutually deciding she was no longer their problem when the (only very slightly) younger girl began pestering Ward for one of his sandwiches, they continued on towards the bunks, where they had been headed for in the first place.
The door shut behind them with a slight thud, blocking them off from the rest of the world - and the rest of the team.
It wasn't a ... secret, per say - their relationship that is - but neither Fitz nor Simmons were very public when it came to private relationships, families and significant others falling easily within that category.
Plus they were almost entirely sure that May and Coulson knew already, and if it was fun to watch Skye try and 'set them up' - well who was anyone else to judge them.
Wrapping an arm around Fitz's neck, Jemma pulled him down until their faces were level, eyes mere millimetres apart, close enough that they could feel each other's breath on their face.
His arms loose around her waist, it was Fitz who leant in, a soft press that spoke of familiarity, lips moulding to each other automatically, breaking apart only when they needed to breathe again, their foreheads remaining touching the entire time - two heartbeats loud in the silence of the sound proofed room.
"Now that," she whispered, pulling him backwards towards the bed that was technically hers but was really theirs, her voice barely more than a breath, "is a kiss."
Thank you for reading, and please review,
Mia
