Prompt - Camping!
"You want to what?"
"Go camping."
Jemma looked at Fitz like he had completely lost his mind. "Have you ever even been camping?" Jemma had never been camping. Both of her parents had been doctors, they hadn't had time to go camping. Jemma was perfectly fine with that and she just assumed Fitz was the same way. Fitz didn't seem like the type to enjoy time in the great outdoors. He was a scientist and he hated messy organic objects. The idea of him sleeping in a sleeping bag under the stars was almost laughable.
"Well, not since I was a kid… But…" Fitz looked at Jemma as he stammered.
"You do know it means we will be sleeping on the floor-"
"I've slept on your floor plenty of times."
"-outside. We will be sleeping outside."
"I know. But, Jemma…" His eyes silently begged her, a look that Jemma knew she couldn't say no to.
"Okay, fine. We'll go camping," Jemma said, unable to keep from smiling at the excited look on Fitz's face.
And that was how they ended up in the middle of a campsite, fighting with a tent. They had borrowed the tent from the Academy (Operations of course - no one in SciTech had tents). Everytime they would get one side of the tent to stay down in the ground, the other side would pop right back out.
"Oh come on, I'm a bloody engineer, I should be able to set up a tent." Jemma just shot Fitz a look. He pointed his finger back at her, "Don't say it. I will get it up."
"I thought you had been camping."
"Well, yeah," Fitz said, looking at Jemma. "But my older brothers set up the tent. I just sat and waited with my ma."
It took another fifteen minutes, but soon they had a perfect standing tent, just big enough for two people. Fitz grabbed their gear and disappeared inside.
"So what is next on our big camping adventure?" Jemma asked, looking around at the large trees flanking their campsite. The air was already beginning to turn chilly as the sun began to set behind the trees.
Fitz stuck his head outside of the zippered hole in the tent with a goofy smile on his face. "S'mores"
"What?"
He stepped out of the tent with a bag full of marshmallows, chocolate and a box of graham crackers. "American camping treat. I read about them." He put the food down near the fire pit. "Help me get a fire started."
They gathered kindling and wood and made a fire in the small pit. Soon the fire was blazing strong, immediately cutting the chilled air. The fire seemed to dance in the wind, lighting up the darkening sky.
"Okay," Jemma said, taking a seat on a log that was set by the fire. "What goes into your 's'mores'?"
Fitz grabbed a twig and stuck the end into the fire, turning it slowly before pulling it out. "Here, take this," he said, handing her the stick, "And this." He grabbed a marshmallow out of the bag and gave it to her. "And put it on the end of the stick."
"You want me to put the marshmallow on a dirty stick?" Jemma said, looking at him like he had lost his mind.
"Just try it."
Jemma pushed the marshmallow on the end of the stick as Fitz grabbed his own stick and marshmallow. Fitz stuck the stick into the fire and began turning the marshmallow around, slowly browning it. Jemma followed suit, sticking her own stick in the fire.
"It's on fire!" She exclaimed, suddenly realizing her marshmallow had gone ablaze.
"Blow it out." Fitz replied, quickly grabbing the chocolate and graham crackers. "Here, hold this," he said handing her his marshmallow stick as he smashed her melted marshmallow between the chocolate and graham crackers. He handed the treat to her with a smile. "S'more."
She accepted the treat, looking it over. The heat from the marshmallow had started to melt the chocolate, creating a gooey treat. She bit into it, surprised at how good it tasted. "This is good!" she exclaimed as Fitz set to making his own S'more.
As the dusk turned to night, they sat roasting marshmallows and making S'mores. They talked and laughed about the Academy, their jobs at SHIELD, family, home, television shows - anything they wanted to. It was the perfect evening. It wasn't until the fire began to die down that Jemma even realized how long they had been there. Looking up she saw thousands of stars in the sky. She had been in large cities and secret compounds so long she had almost forgotten what stars even looked like.
Without thinking, Jemma moved closer to Fitz, wrapping them both up in a blanket to cut the wind. She felt so comfortable, so safe, sitting next to him.
The last few flames were flickering out when Fitz turned to look at her. "Do you want me to keep the fire going?"
"No," she said, her eyes turning to watch the last bit of glow. It was dark and late, time for them to retire for the night. "I guess we should test to see if you set up that tent correctly."
Fitz nodded, pushing some dirt over the fire to kill the remaining flame. With a lantern, they went into the small tent and began to set up their separate sleeping bags. Jemma crawled into her sleeping bag, but even with the protection of the tent and the extra blanket she was shivering in the cold night air.
"You know Jem…" Fitz said, his eyes shining in the soft glow from the lantern. "I'm warm, you could…"
His voice faltered, but Jemma knew exactly what he was thinking. They could zip the sleeping bags together, share their body heat. It was nothing, just a way to keep warm, but Jemma knew that wasn't actually true. It was so much more. The question was, was she ready to admit it.
"Okay," she said, her voice quiet as she moved to rearrange the sleeping bags. They zipped the bags together, throwing the blanket over both of them.
Immediately, with Fitz's body heat, Jemma stopped shivering. She shifted, looking away from him, but feeling her body lean against his. His arm went around her, lightly resting on her arm. He clicked off the lantern, sending them into darkness.
"Good night, Jemma," he said, his breath in her hair.
"Good night, Fitz," she replied, smiling to herself in the darkness of the tent. The quiet sounds of of the night around them. "Thank you for taking me camping."
Leave me a review and let me know what you think!