Three days later, Simmons woke to the insistent buzzing of her phone. Fumbling in the dark, she blinked sleepily and pressed the green button. "Fitz? What's wrong?"

"Nothin'. Why aren't you awake yet? I thought you'd be curing Huntington's or something. Besides, it's Black Friday."

"What?" He wanted to go shopping? "It's too early, Fitz." He'd kept her up far too late playing racing games following the heavy American meal - I'm certain he gave me the wonky controller - and that was after forcing her to sit through a Top Gear marathon the day before. "Just… go back to sleep. I'll see you later, yeah?"

"Now, Simmons," and he had donned that infuriatingly superior voice, "is that any way to speak to the King of the Lab?"

She groaned and flopped her head back on the pillow. Apparently, Fitz was invoking his royal prerogative. Again. "Yes, my liege?" She allowed her vexation to broadcast itself in her tone.

"Citizen Simmons, I hereby command you…"

-o-

Three hours later she was standing at a railway station, stamping her feet against the cold and rubbing gloved hands together under her Gryffindor scarf until Fitz pressed a travel mug of peppermint hot cocoa into her grasp.

"But why are we here so early? I know you love trains-"

"Just watch," Fitz's eyes were glued to a nearby bend in the track that wound through the trees. He slurped his tea. "You were sayin' how y' couldn't wait for Christmas, and… today's the first official day of the Christmas season, so I thought…"

The most gorgeous, old-fashioned steam engine she'd ever seen puffed slowly into view. It was berry red and forest green and decorated with curling gold designs, ribbons and wreaths in the windows, holly and pine boughs decorating the doorways, a large brass bell bringing up the front.

"Oh, Fitz…" she breathed. "Look."

"It's a six-hour round trip, with a stop at Santa's Village for lunch. Since we won't get to see each other during the actual holiday…?" They would both be returning to their homes for winter break and would be busy with family obligations throughout the hiatus.

She couldn't help the smile that ziplined across her face. Trust Fitz to find the perfect activity to make up for clobbering her at Burnout Revenge. And he'd woken up early for the surprise. Bless his cotton socks.

"Don't think you're gettin' any homework done on the train, though." He pulled a pair of battered old Pokémon decks from his messenger bag, and she pushed down a wry grin.

"Happy Christmas, Fitz." Her fingers brushed soft against his sleeve.

"Merry Christmas, Simmons."

He dug through his bag once more and held out a formless roll of lavender tissue paper, almost shy as his bottom lip went between his teeth. Unfurling it gently, Simmons discovered a flimsy paper crown, the sort that normally came in the festive Yuletide party favors back home. Fitz shrugged in apology. "I couldn't find us any proper Christmas crackers," he perched his own yellow hat carefully atop his curls, careful not to rip it, "but didn't you ask me to make y' a crown?"

-o-

-o-

That December, all through the winter hols, whenever she was feeling out of place and missing Fitz at her side, Simmons would take a pause to recall the way he'd breathed against her, or the penetrating blue of his eyes, dark and insistent when she'd opened hers.

As for Fitz, he didn't need to stop and remember - he never forgot for a second.

A/N:

That's it! And it was only twice the originally intended length. So that's not too bad, right? (Y'all know how I like to ramble on.)

We have a Christmas Train like this, near where I live. It's beautiful. And I think Fitz loves trains (haha, engineer) and Simmons loves Christmas, so I thought it would be a nice compromise for them.

Thanks again to the delightful starbrightnights (who writes incredibly rad stories) for her wealth of information on all things British, and particularly the super-cute Christmas traditions.

I've always had the head canon that Fitz plays collectible-card games. But I have to give credit to my gal TheLateNightStoryteller for them playing Pokemon together. If you want more of that, check out her fic Pokemon Cards.

Thanks to amandajbruce for having the patience of a saint and letting me chatter and fuss at her until this hot mess of a fic came together. Sort of came together. I hope.
(She's a badass writer and this story was greatly improved by her intervention, is what I'm saying. Thanks doll!)