An upbeat synthetic pop song exploded into the air as the game got underway. Alma was a whirlwind, tapping out each command like a hummingbird's wing, barely touching the pad with her raindrop moves, whereas Fitz… well, Fitz was doing much better than Simmons had anticipated, stomping a bit, and sliding around some, but for the most part, hitting the correct spaces on the mat. And looking up at him from this angle only served to remind her of what she was missing - the slight heel on those boots was making his buttocks stand at attention like a drill sergeant during morning review. It was unfair, she mused, for him to be this attractive. When they'd first met, he hadn't looked half this good, and she wondered now if she'd been an idiot all along. If they'd gotten together early on, when the stakes were low, it might all have been fine, but now… Now Jemma was fairly sure it was too late, too complicated to start something up with her best friend and professional partner, and uncertain whether Fitz even saw her that way.

Maybe it was her own fault for not developing a crush on Fitz until after he'd started seeing other girls. Or, when the subject had first come up all those years ago, perhaps she oughtn't have been so adamant in explaining exactly why workplace romances were a terrible idea. In hindsight, given that she spent nearly all her time at work, that attitude seemed a bit unrealistic. Fitz's glorious rear view was calling into question every responsible choice she'd ever made, and she wished for what seemed like the hundredth time that their lives could be different, that they worked somewhere without such strict regulations, or didn't have quite so much to lose.

Jeers and boos erupted around her as she tore her eyes away from Fitz's assets to see him stumbling down from the stage, headed towards her with his face turned down in shame. Or he could just be watching where he steps in those boots. Simmons had a brief twinge of remorse for making him wear them, but if she was being honest, she didn't feel that bad about it. They completed the Jareth ensemble perfectly. Not to mention the miracles they're performing on his bum.

"Fitz… it's all right," she clucked, petting his arm in an attempt to soothe whatever misplaced negativity was running through his head. "You did brilliantly, considering."

"Y'know, I could've beaten her score."

"I'm sure you could have."

"I've got that game at home, I'm actually not bad-"

"Of course not."

Fitz was getting increasingly agitated "- and I would've won, but you had to go and put me in these bloody stilettos, Simmons, what the Hell? Are these even men's shoes?"

"Don't be absurd, Fitz, that's barely a heel. Spanish dancers have to cope with much worse."

"Do I look like a ruddy flamenco dancer, woman?"

"Oh, shush." He did, a bit. It was the the boots giving him that maddeningly provocative posture, like a matador, the effect even more sultry now when he was a bit angry. Which might be a tad disturbing in its own right, if she'd paused to think it through.

"Don't tell me to shush - you need to shush." He grumbled more softly now, trying to hold on to his bad mood. "Expectin' me to win in heels, like I can do bloody dance magic or something."

"Dance magic?" Simmons couldn't stop the rosy smile that flowered across her cheeks. "Aww, Fitz. You really were watching." She dropped a quick kiss in front of his ear before her brain could intercede. A second later, she was struck by the panicked notion that while they'd been arguing over footwear…

"Criminy! Where did they go?"

-o-

Thankfully, they spotted them quickly this time, just on their way out the front doors, waving around the power source like a sparkler. It was glowing blue-green, sending up a few hazy, floating motes into the air around it.

"Fitz?"

"Mm-hmm?"

She pointed at the power source, tugging Fitz along behind her. "Look how it's glowing. Was it-" she tried to think of the best description, "spluttering like that before?"

"... Nope." Neither of them said what they were thinking - but they needed to get the core back before it destabilized even further.

Simmons swept into pursuit, Fitz at her back, and together they followed the kids out onto the sidewalk before getting caught up in a maze of alleys, turning onto random city streets until she had no idea how they were going to get back to their car.

"Why aren't these kids in bed already?" wheezed Fitz, as they paused briefly to catch their breath and get their bearings. "There should be a law."

Simmons' phone buzzed again and she pulled it out, only to find two missed texts from Didi.

[Didi 23:22] if newborn babies could speak they would be the most intelligent beings on planet earth

[Didi 23:40] most trees are blue

She turned to Fitz, chuckling, "Look at…" and trailed off, immediately noticing a difference. "You took your wig off." As much as she adored Fitz's natural curls, she couldn't help the tiny note of disappointment that ran through her now that he'd killed the illusion a bit.

Fitz looked slightly incredulous. "It's hot as blazes, Simmons, runnin' around all night chasin' after these hooligans, and it was itchy too. Did you expect me to keep it on?"

"No, no, of course not, it's just… you had the whole… look…" she gestured vaguely at his entire costume, trying not to blush. In the end, it was her pout that must have given her away.

"Simmons," he cast a wry, discerning look her way, "have y' got a thing for the Goblin King?"

She started to protest that she'd never be silly enough to fall for a fictional character, when a thought crossed her brain like a police siren - Better than Fitz figuring out I fancy him. She shrugged unapologetically. "So? You've a giant crush on Natalie Portman."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." He waved his hands in front of him before placing them in their standard cradles at the back of his waist. "Not the same thing. Jareth is a psychopath! And a kidnapper! Good grief, Simmons, what's goin' on in that head of yours?"

"He is lonely!" she retorted defensively, her voice beginning to rise in pitch and velocity, "And she asked him to kidnap her brother, it's not like he just woke up one day and said, 'I'm going to take babies away from their families because I'm such a horrible person' and did you even see how upset he was when…" she cut off at the sight of Fitz openly laughing at her. "Oh, hush, you. I'm not going to make apologies for liking what I like."

Fitz was gazing at her, amusement crinkling the corners of his eyes. Shaking his head fondly, he heaved an exaggerated sigh and tugged the wig back up over his hair, patting it into place. "If it's that important to you…" He pointed a finger at her as if he could read her mind. "Just- try to keep your hands off me?"

She rolled her eyes, and turned her head away, throwing a crumpled receipt at his face without looking, when a flicker of movement and a flash of aquamarine light caught her eye.

"Damn! How did they get that far ahead? Come on!" she tugged him up by his sleeve and all but dragged him along behind her.

Cody and Trey had taken a hard left into a 24-hour fitness center, with Fitz and Simmons half a block behind them. They couldn't see where the kids had gone once they pushed open the large glass doors, but the minute they stepped in, a pleasant-but-rehearsed greeting floated through the air at them. "Hi, welcome to AlwaysFit! I'm Tim. Would you folks be interested in a 30-day risk-free trial membership?"

Fitz was the first to look twice at the man behind the front desk.

"Tim?"

The beefcake in question looked up from his brochure. No wonder Trey and Cody snuck past him, he's not even watching the door. "Whoa… Fitz? Curvewrecker? What are you wearing?" He let out a sharp bark of laughter. "I mean, long time no see! What's up, man?"

Fitz tinged pink at the use of his old nickname, which he'd earned easily enough once Simmons had encouraged him to focus on schoolwork instead of coasting on his natural intelligence and ability. She knew it had rubbed some of the other students the wrong way when he'd unseated them for the top spot, but at the time she was so intent on nurturing her own competitive streak that she hadn't found it in her to care. I'd let Fitz wreck my curves, at any rate. Good grief. She needed to stop thinking this way about her (almost certainly) platonic best friend.

Simmons was also hit with a memory of where she'd seen this dark-haired Adonis before, and instantly flushed at the recollection of his sweaty, bare pectorals, his defined abdominals, his exceptional biceps… really, the whole upper-body situation was superb. This was Tim from the gym at the Academy, who'd been a classmate of Fitz's their first year. They'd seen him a few times at the Boiler Room, as well, though Simmons' powerful embarrassment had prompted her to avoid speaking to him on those occasions.

"And Fitz's cute friend! How you doin' - still selling deodorant?" Tim's lunar-white smile was evidence enough that he was taking the mickey. "We stock the lockers here - could probably set you up with a buyer…"

Oh, god. She didn't think she could be much redder. "No thank you, but you can help us. Did you see a pair of teenagers come in here just now?"

"Oh, uh… sorry… I was talking to some of the members and only just got back to reception. You're welcome to look around though." From the way Tim's eyes were straying even now to a redhead in tight Lycra on the Stairmaster, Jemma wondered if "talking" to the clients hadn't involved a few chat-up lines.

"Thanks, mate… you still workin' for SHIELD?" Fitz's brow was quirked a bit in perplexity.

"Sure, I'm at Sci-Ops, I just moonlight here for extra cash… you know how it is… government salary." Tim looked a bit sheepish, piquing Simmons' interest.

"We're at Sci-Ops as well!"

"Oh, uhhh… you won't tell anyone about me working here, will you?" She knew there were various clauses in their SHIELD contract limiting outside employment, though she hadn't realized that they were so strict as to prevent taking another job as different as this was.

Fitz and Jemma scouted the room, peering past late-night joggers on the treadmills, new moms on the ellipticals and what might have been street people headed towards the shower, until their eyes found their target. The boys were up against a back door, shoving at each other a bit, grappling with the handle but getting nowhere. FitzSimmons moved slowly, attempting stealth. We've got them now.

Unfortunately, they weren't quite surreptitious enough. Startling into action, the two youths ran in opposite directions, taking advantage of their mad scramble and the general confusion of the room's layout, ducking behind weight machines and taller equipment. Dodging around obstacles, FitzSimmons dashed after Trey and Cody until the latter kicked over a rack of yoga balls, sending them rolling towards the scientists. The boys hurriedly retreated behind the wall of bouncing hurdles, allowing the commotion to cover their return to the main doors.

So... y'all starting to see a pattern to Didi's texts? Yup.

Thanks to my awesome beta Amanda for letting me use the conversation about having feelings for fictional characters from one of her stories.

Thanks to StarryDreamer01, MadameMare, and TheLateNightStoryteller for their feedback about teenage boys. Ugh. Teenage boys, amirite?

For anyone who was confused, Tim first showed up in Oh To Be Young, in a "Jemma tries to lie" scene. His full name is Tim Lee Higginbotham and he's actually very sweet. Did you need the extra info? Probably not. :-) But I love thinking up extra background on my characters that I never use, so there you go.

(Incidentally, we're about 3/5 of the way through this story at this point.) Next chapter will be up on Tuesday! Lots more midnight shenanigans still to come!