Chapter Text
Fitzsimmons were dressed nicely to blend in with their classmates from the Academy. Neither of them had anticipated coming back for this reunion – thirteen years wasn’t really a nice, round number, and it wasn’t as though they hadn’t each gotten other degrees since this one. However, the team was looking into a particular man, Neil Cooperfield, who was also in attendance. Cooperfield was suspected of selling confidential information to Hydra agents, but so far the team had not been able to prove anything.
All that to say, Fitzsimmons were not thrilled to be stuck in the small, crowded pub in which the reunion was being held. Most of the group who came back every year were the ones who wanted an excuse to drink excessively and posture about their IQs – many having failed to land a job in their preferred field, and forced to work far below their qualifications. Cooperfield was an exception here: his work was good, doing classified engineering for the US military’s bio warfare defence squad. He returned every year to gloat about his work, his paycheck, and his playboy relationship status. This year, his arm candy for the night was a stunningly handsome Chilean supermodel who understood none of the conversation around him, but was so devastatingly good-looking that nobody cared.
When Fitzsimmons walked in together, the crowd turned to them energetically. They were obviously several rounds in already, and were excited to pounce on fresh meat. Simmons braced herself for the uncomfortable flirting the mostly-male group of scientists would throw her way. It was really the biggest downside to this line of work.
“¡Dios mio! Is that Leo Fitz? Damn, boy! It’s been too long!” A striking man leapt up from one of the tables. Dark skin, dark hair, dark eyes, with obvious Hispanic heritage. He was only an inch or two taller than Fitz, but had a broad build and a wild energy that made him seem much larger. Most noticeable, however, was his bright smile which showed off his perfectly straight, pearly white teeth. He looked genuinely delighted when he wrapped his arms around the smaller man.
“Mateo! How are you? You look amazing!” Fitz quickly responded, squeezing his old friend tightly before pulling away.
Mateo smiled even bigger, “You always know what to say, Leo. I am well. Come, drink with us! I hear you have been working with the aliens. The boys and I want to know what Thor is like up-close.”
Fitz laughed as Skye’s voice came over the comms, “If that guy is sitting anywhere near the target, you should take him up on it. We need to get you close to Cooperfield if we want to plant the listening device on him.”
“Yeah, of course, Mateo! But first you have to tell us, who is that guy?” Fitz pointed unsubtly towards the supermodel hanging off their target’s arm.
“Fitz!” Jemma hissed, having had a fair bit of time undercover which told her instinctively not to be so freaking obvious. Fitz, however, seemed unconcerned, and so did his friend, who simply laughed and answered.
“That’s Emiliano, Neil Cooperfield’s new beau. I tried to chat him up earlier, but Cooperfield’s super jealous. Maybe shouldn’t have tried it all in Spanish…”
Fitz laughed again, bumping his shoulder against his friend’s arm. “Oh, Mateo! You knew that would piss him off.”
Jemma followed the boys back to Mateo’s table, frowning a little at being ignored. Still, they were sitting only a couple of tables over from their target, and the boyfriend, Emiliano, kept glancing over at them, obviously considering coming over to the table.
The table was loud. Three other men sat around it, with beers and empties in front of them. Fitz quickly did the introductions for Jemma. There was Dave, the skinny man with a skinnier tie and even skinnier pants. He had thin, short brown hair, and a tightly trimmed beard, and he quickly shook Jemma’s hand when they were introduced, holding eye contact until the next man was introduced. Farshid was next, a dark-skinned man with a soccer-player’s build and a thick Persian accent that got stronger the more he drank. He wore a stylish black button up shirt, undone just enough to show a tuft of dark chest hair, and a thin gold chain around his neck with a ring on it – maybe an old wedding band? His smile was even and open, and he nodded his greeting to Jemma with a quick wink. Finally, the large man to her left, a blond-haired, blue-eyed man named Dominik, whose arms were almost as thick as Thor’s, and whose eyes were twice as sparkly as any Jemma had ever seen. He embraced her in a warm hug as a greeting, and then did the same to Fitz, whose cheeks had warmed slightly. His blue shirt matched his eyes, and he casually rolled his sleeves up to the elbow, showing off a large tattoo on his left forearm of a tiger’s face.
Quickly, the boys got swept up in conversation about work, throwing around ideas for how to improve each other’s projects when one would mention a flaw in their system. Fitz was game to help out, and even Jemma found some time to throw in some advice, though she tried to mostly keep an eye on their target. It didn’t take long for Emiliano to make his way over, giving them the perfect opportunity to make contact.
“Hola, Mateo. ¿Quienes son tus amigos?” the supermodel began, drawing big grins from all of boys.
Mateo responded in a quick, bubbly tone, gesturing to each person as he went, “Son Fitz, Farshid, Dave, Domi y Jemma. Son científicos como yo.”
“¡Ah! ¿Entonces ellos son más inteligentes que yo?”
Mateo laughed while the supermodel batted his thick lashes, “¡Pero no casi tan bonito!”
Jemma cursed herself for not taking an interest in Spanish when she was in school, but it did not seem to matter too much, as Cooperfield seemed equally put out at missing the conversation and was speed-walking over to their table to intervene. Jemma made eye contact with Fitz, who gestured to her pocket and quickly nodded, agreeing that she should try and place the small listening device on their target while Fitz and his friends kept him distracted.
Cooperfield wrapped his arm around Emiliano’s in a show of possessiveness, glaring angrily at Mateo, who just smirked back.
“What’re you boys laughing about over here? Did my boyfriend say something funny?” The word boyfriend had never held so much contempt as it did in that sentence, and Jemma almost laughed at the over-the-top display.
“Sólo estábamos diciendo que tu novio es demasiado sexy para ti.” Jemma actually choked on her drink when she heard Fitz respond in Spanish. The accent wasn’t great, but he clearly had a grasp of the language, and whatever he said made both Emiliano and Mateo laugh heartily. Cooperfield, however, went an angry shade of red.
“Well, Fitz, if you want to know just how sexy my man really is, I could tell you in great detail.”
Cooperfield was obviously grasping for familiar words, but the boys were not cowed by his attitude. They hooted and hollered; Dominik even called out, “Please do!” with a filthy wink. Mateo nudged Fitz and said, “You’ve been practicing, mi hombre guapo.”
Fitz just chuckled and changed the subject, “I’d rather hear about this new processor of yours, Cooperfield. I hear you’ve found a way to link it up to a microchip implanted into living tissue. Don’t you have difficulty keeping the signal clear if it is relying on radio waves for transmission? Or did the government give you military channels to work with?”
Ever eager to gloat, Cooperfield started in on his spiel about how clever he was to figure out fixes to this and that problem, and how invaluable he was to the United States government. Fitz nodded and smiled at all the right places, despite seeing several obvious improvements that could be made to the system in under an hour. Still, while Cooperfield was distracted by his own brilliance, Jemma managed to wave over a waiter and, under the guise of ordering a new drink, slipped close enough to the target to drop the device in his coat pocket. She then typed a few commands on her phone, and the device quickly came to life, attaching itself to the phone in that same pocket, and linking to its network.
Skye’s voice came over their comms again, “Mission accomplished. We are in. Way to go, Fitzsimmons!”
Jemma smiled as she sipped her new drink, internally doing a little happy dance. Fitz’ old friends quickly grew bored with Cooperfield’s shop-talk, and pounced on her, asking questions about her work with Fitz, and especially her relationship with him. She blushed a little when she told them they were just good friends, and was surprised by Farshid’s immediate call of “dibs!” At first, she was certain he meant on her, but before she could get offended, Dave set her straight by pulling Farshid into a quick kiss, saying, “I’m not sharing, no matter how cute our Fitz is.”
“But what a great butt, right?” Dominik weighed in, eyes twinkling with mischief. He did not even try to keep it down, making Fitz glance over with rosy cheeks.
Mateo got in on the fun with a stage-whisper, “Careful, boys. His butt is great, but we should not objectify him for his looks. His brain is muy sexi too.”
Farshid laughed and added, “But he’s an engineer, Mateo! All that fine detail work… he must have great hands.”
“Downright dexterous, I’d say,” chimed Dave with a laugh.
Finally, Fitz broke off from Cooperfield, saying, “Sorry, I’d love to chat more, but I have to get these big nerds to shut up.”
Cooperfield rolled his eyes, but left with his pretty arm candy to go dazzle some other crowd, completely unaware of the new hardware his phone was sporting.
Fitz bumped Mateo again with his shoulder, and said, “What are you doing talking about me, when Emiliano is so obviously trying to get your attention?”
“I’m not going to steal another man’s boyfriend. No matter how hot he is.”
Fitz rolled his eyes, gesturing for another drink. “If you don’t, I will.”
Mateo laughed. “Your Spanish isn’t that good, my friend.”
“They don’t need to talk!” Dominik roared, reaching past Jemma to slap Fitz on the back.
Skye’s voice came on the comms, “Guys, as much fun as this sounds, we’re ready for extraction. Ready to go?”
Fitz coughed and made a show of checking his phone before looking up at Jemma, “Oh, Jemma, we have to go. Coulson’s calling us in. Explosion in the lab.”
The men erupted in boos and insisted they stay and catch up a bit longer, but the two of them insisted that it was a work emergency that could not be handled without them and their giant brains.
“Hey, look, next time I’m in town, I’ll look you guys up, okay? You know I miss you all. Dorm life wasn’t the same without you, Mateo. We need to do this again soon.” Fitz hugged all the men goodbye, and in turn they each wrapped Jemma up in a tight squeeze.
Mateo kept his hand on Fitz’ shoulder after they hugged, and said, “You better not wait five years again, Fitz. Te extrañamos mucho.”
“And bring your girlfriend back again, Fitz. I like her!” Farshid chimed in.
“Me too!” shouted Dominik, showing all his teeth.
Dave smiled, still hanging on Farshid’s arm, and nodded his support to the statement.
Fitz grinned, grabbing Simmons by the arms, and promised to see them all again soon. “But, Mateo, you’d better go save Emiliano from a boring night with Cooperfield. He likes you.”
Mateo grinned a wide grin, “We’ll see, muchacho, we’ll see.”
Fitz used the hand he had on Jemma’s arm to steer her towards the door, calling out goodbyes over his shoulder.
On their way to the extraction vehicle, Jemma glanced over at him, and voiced her surprise, “I didn’t know all your friends were gay. Not that… I mean… It doesn’t matter or anything…”
Fitz rescued her with a quick explanation, “Mateo was my roommate at school, and we hit it off. He was always way friendlier than me, so my friends were really just his friends who came over a lot. We all got on well, though. And, you should know, Domi’s bisexual, not gay. It’s an important distinction.”
Jemma nodded, taking in the new pieces of information, and wondering how she’d never known any of that. She realized that Fitz didn’t really talk about his friends much, and she’d always assumed that meant he hadn’t had very many; he was a nerdy kid, small, bad at sports, and always the youngest in his school – it made sense. She couldn’t help but wonder what else she didn’t know about her partner.