Prompt from superirishbreakfasttea: "It's my highschool reunion and I need a hot date so I can rub it in the faces of the people who hated me"

~FitzSimmons Roommate AU~

"Jemma, can you come here and help me tie this?" Fitz called out from his room.

"Coming!"

She emerged from the other side of the hall wearing a nice yellow dress and brand new earrings shaped like daisies that she had bought especially for tonight's event. "Still don't know how to put on your tie?" she asked, smirking from the entrance of his bedroom.

"I may have engineering fingers, but for whatever reason ties just don't like me," Fitz protested, staring hopelessly into the mirror.

"Well, that's just unfortunate," Jemma laughed. She took the black and gold-striped tie from his hands and proceeded to tie it like she used to for her younger cousin many years ago. "And look, we match!"

Smiling, she gestured to her dress, and Fitz couldn't help but freeze at the coincidence. "Wait, is that a good thing? Do you want me to change it?"

"No no, it's fine!" Jemma said quickly. "It's a really good thing this time. Couples usually like to match when they go to parties."

She couldn't blame him for looking so confused. Fitz knew next to nothing when it came to dressing himself. "But we're not together…"

His eyebrows furrowed when he saw Jemma look away sheepishly. "Or are we?" she squeaked.

"Jemma, what aren't you telling me?"

"This isn't just a party, Fitz…it's my high school reunion."

"Okay…" Fitz fidgeted with his tie as he stared at his dolled-up roommate. "And what does that have to do with me?"

"I may have told my old friends that I had a boyfriend and that his name was Leo Fitz," she blurted.

"What?!"

"I'm sorry, I panicked! I really wanted to impress them with a hot date and your name was the first one that came to my mind and the words tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them!"

They both blushed when she finished talking. "Really? You think I'm attractive?" Fitz asked, raising his eyebrows in surprise.

"Well, your body shape is symmetrical and you appear to have a low body fat percentage, so biologically speaking you are," Jemma reasoned as her blush deepened.

Sighing, Fitz readjusted his tie and looked at his appearance in the mirror, grimacing as his eyes fell on his lanky arms and pasty skin. Biologically attractive. Good enough for me. It's not that he necessarily minded being her (fake) date to a party…this had just completely caught him off-guard and he wasn't a huge fan of surprises.

"I'm sorry I lied," Jemma apologized. "I just didn't think you'd go it if I told you the truth."

"You know I'd do anything for you, Jemma. And you know I don't like lying." He didn't like being mad at Jemma either and it only took seeing the guilt stewing so clearly on her face for him to forgive her. "But I'll still go with you."

"Thanks so much!"

She went to hug him, but he stopped her before she could get the chance. "On one condition: we're using the car ride to make up our story."

Jemma smiled, holding out her hand for him to shake. "Done."

"Seriously, mate? She tricked you into going as her fake date? And you still agreed to go with her?"

Fitz hummed in response as he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. They were already running ten minutes late and just as they were about to leave, Jemma chose to check her room one last time to see if she had forgotten anything. He'd never seen her so nervous since she had to present her dissertation for her second Ph.D.

He could just picture Hunter rolling his eyes as he groaned into the receiver. "That's just cruel and unusual punishment, if you ask me."

Fitz shook his head. Of course Hunter wouldn't understand– he wouldn't know a best friend if it had hit him in the face. It wasn't easy to keep friends if you forged those friendships with the intent of swindling money from them and then gamble it all away for profit. The only reason Fitz even talked to Hunter in the first place was because he lived next door and he constantly showed up at his front door to ask for beer and swap stories. "She sounded desperate and she wants to look good in front of her friends. I had no choice!"

His friend made a whipping sound. " Of course you had a choice, you lovesick sap. She's just using you as arm candy, you know. Nothing is going to change after that. Just ask my demonic hell-beast of an ex."

"You've told me a million times." For god's sake, could he ever get through one conversation without mentioning his ex? "She left you after you lost your job and she caused you to become an immoral, raging alcoholic."

"Exactly."

"You don't even know her, Hunter. She'd never do something like that."

"For your sake, I'll take your word for it, mate. But if she's anything like Bobbi, you're in for a world of pain."

Fitz leaned his head against the seat as he heard a clicking sound on the other end, signaling that Hunter had hung up on him. This was going to be a long night.

"That's them over there." Jemma tugged on Fitz's sleeve as they nursed their drinks in the corner of the banquet hall, gesturing to a tall blonde and a striking brunette attached to a man with a chiseled jaw and a three o'clock shadow. "Skye and Barbara. Skye and Grant have been married for three years and Barbara is still single, I think. I'm going to go say hi and I'll wave to you when I think you should come over."

"Are you sure? Wouldn't it be better if I just went with you?"

She shrugged. "I'm sort of banking on the element of surprise here. Don't ask. Just let me take care of it."

And with that, she was gone. Missing the heat of her presence already, he shivered and took a long sip of bourbon as he watched the three ladies (plus one clearly uninterested man) talk. What did she expect him to do, stay in the corner like a fire extinguisher until she needed him?

Absentmindedly running a hand through his thick curls, Fitz sighed. If that's what his purpose at this party really was, then he might as well act the part.

He moved a couple of steps forward until he could make out their conversation, which wasn't too incredibly hard in the first place, given that the two other girls seemed tipsy enough to shout their way through the whole conversation. "Did you hear that Raina got a nose job?" he heard Skye say with a laugh. "It looks horrendous!"

"And I heard that she had a reaction to the anesthesia and got a permanent rash that spread across her entire body," Barbara added.

"Oh no! That's awful!" Jemma exclaimed, putting a hand to her mouth.

Skye shook her head. "Honestly, she had it coming. She was always a deceitful little bitch in high school, always putting on way too much makeup and parading her boyfriends around like a slut."

What the hell? Did these girls ever leave high school? He found himself gaping at the immaturity of it all. How did Jemma ever befriend these people in the first place?

"Agreed. So how have you been, Simmsy? Did all of those extra curriculars and A pluses ever get you a decent boyfriend?" Barbara questioned, her eyes twinkling with something that definitely wasn't friendly. Even Fitz could see from afar that her whole demeanor was fake, but Jemma was evidently oblivious to it.

"It did, in fact!" Jemma chirped. "He's over there, actually."

Fitz grimaced and did his best to look inconspicuous as their intention shifted to him. "That's hilarious! You put him in the corner like a toddler who's in time-out!" Skye chortled. "Are you embarrassed of him or something?"

"No, of course not! He's just shy, that's all!"

"You know, I bet that's not even her actual boyfriend," Barbara whispered to Skye. "She probably just brought the poor guy along to mask her social awkwardness."

Jemma's back may have been facing him, but he could still tell she was upset. She was hunched over slightly and Fitz could just imagine the redness of her cheeks as unshed tears welled up in her eyes, as what often happened when she was on verge of crying. Although they were throwing shade at him too, there was no way he'd let them get away with talking to Jemma like this.

He was about to go over when he saw Hunter, of all people, approach Barbara and hand her a martini. "Just the way you like it, Bob," he drawled, placing a sloppy kiss on her cheek.

That's Bobbi? Oh hell no.

When all of this was said and done, he and Hunter were going to have words, that's for sure.

"Those weren't your friends, were they, Jem?" Fitz asked Jemma softly, handing her a tissue from his pants pocket.

"Not exactly." She sniffed. "I mean, they would act nice to me and ask me for homework help, but they mostly just used me to get ahead in their classes. They always promised that they would invite me to parties, but it never happened. And they still call me that horrendous nickname, for god's sake!"

They walked over to a courtyard just across the street from the club and sat down on one of the benches. "I just…" Her voice wobbled. "I thought if I showed them how much I had changed, they would respect me for once. But obviously they don't. Skye runs her own software company and Bobbi is a really successful bounty hunter and what am I? A lousy lab tech that has spent countless hours applying for grants to do my own research but keeps getting rejected every time."

"I don't know, I think you made quite an impression on them near the end," Fitz commented, which caused her to giggle softly.

"That was all you, Fitz. I just stood there like a floundering idiot."

"But what I said was true! You're a brilliant scientist that's going to cure cancer someday and you're going to become famous for it." He bumped her shoulder playfully. "I've seen your work, Simmons. The fact that you haven't been sponsored yet says nothing about how amazing you are."

"And you said that I was famous for my work already and that I had a million-dollar mansion on the Amalfi Coast! That's lying," she emphasized. However, she was unable to keep herself from throwing her head back and laughing. "But it was a brilliant lie nonetheless."

Fitz laughed along with her and was about to get up when he felt a pair of lips brush his cheek lightly. "Thank you," Jemma whispered. "For doing that for me."

He suddenly found that he couldn't tear himself away from her beautiful brown eyes. "Honestly, it was my pleasure. Those girls needed to be put into their place."

Jemma let out one last giggle before grabbing his hand and pulling him off the bench. "Now, let's go someplace where we'll actually have some fun, just the two of us!"

Suddenly not able to get Hunter's words out of his head, Fitz took a risk that he hoped would pay off. "You mean… like a date?"

Jemma stopped in her tracks and her face immediately brightened. "Sure, why not?" Fitz's doubts were diffused by the devious grin she threw his way. "You are my pretend boyfriend, after all."

It only took a second of them staring at each other for them to decide what to do next. "To the planetarium?" Fitz asked, entwining his fingers with hers.

"To the planetarium!"

I'm not entirely happy about the "reunion scene" at the club and I may rewrite it someday if it nags me long enough, but that's the first FS AU I've ever written so it's a start! I've got one more finished drabble that I'll post soon and I just got four more requests on Tumblr so I'll write and post those when I can :). Thanks for reading and please review! I appreciate the feedback, even when it's constructive criticism.