Chapter Text
“Hey, Fitz.”
Fitz looked up from his desk at Bobbi. His immediate supervisor stood with her arms crossed in front of her chest. A mysterious half-smile played on her lips that put Fitz on high-alert.
“Hey, Bobbi. What do you need?”
Bobbi raised her eyebrows as if she couldn’t believe Fitz had seriously just asked that question. “I’m still waiting for you to confirm that you’re bringing a plus-one to the fundraiser on Friday.”
Fitz swallowed, staring at Bobbi with a deer-in-the-headlights expression. “Umm.”
Bobbi slumped her shoulders. “Fitz, you know this fundraiser is the biggest company event of the year. You know it’s mandatory. You know it’s mandatory to bring a plus-one. You know Price is up my ass trying to make sure that everyone complies with her little policy.”
Fitz’s hand flew to the back of his neck, rubbing it nervously. He felt the sudden onset of sweat gathering on his skin. “Umm, yeah,” he stammered.
Bobbi sighed, pursing her lips and shrugging slightly. “Guess, I’ll have to ask Aida again. She didn’t seem to mind last year.”
Fitz’s eyes widened in panic. “Umm. Umm. Umm. No. No, no, no. You don’t have to—”
Bobbi grinned mischievously at Fitz’s reaction, before lifting her shoulders and fanning her arms out in an apologetic gesture. “Fitz, invitations were sent out two months ago and you’ve made no effort to ask someone, just like you didn’t make any effort to ask someone last year. So, I’m sorry, I realize that Aida can be a bit much sometimes, but you need a—”
“Yeah, no,” Fitz interrupted Bobbi, gesturing at her palm-up. “I… I got a plus-one,” he blurted out.
Bobbi squinted skeptically. “Really?”
Fitz nodded vigorously. “Yeah, yes, absolutely. I… I asked her yesterday… That’s why I hadn’t told you yet, because I only just asked her yesterday and now is the first time I’ve seen you today, so… so that’s why I didn’t tell you until just now, but I have a plus-one, definitely, definitely a plus-one. You don’t have to ask Aida.”
Fitz balled his hands into fists, pressing his lips together and looking pleadingly at Bobbi, whose expression looked anything but convinced. She stared at him in silence as if she were trying to read his thoughts, before her finger darted up, pointing straight at Fitz’s chest like a knife.
“I swear to God, Fitz, if your plus-one conveniently comes down with the flu or gets run over by a bus, I will—”
Fitz waved his hands horizontally across each other. “No, no, no, she won’t. I swear. She… she’s not made up. She’ll be there. She’ll be 100% healthy. She’s looking forward to it.”
Bobbi exhaled sharply, her facial muscles finally relaxing. She scoffed briefly in amusement, shaking her head. “Well then I’m looking forward to meeting this mystery woman.”
Fitz swallowed before clearing his throat, which suddenly felt incredibly tight. He forced a smile, nodding as he watched his supervisor leave.
Once Bobbi was out of sight, Fitz hid his face in his palms, letting out a deep groan.
“Come on, please!” Fitz pleaded with his best friend and roommate as they walked down the street towards their building.
“No can do,” Daisy replied dryly before taking a sip of her coffee. She stopped in front of their entrance door and pulled out her keys.
“Daisy, I’m begging you,” Fitz tried again, pressing his palms together and staring at his friend.
Daisy looked back at him wide-eyed, holding the door open and waiting for him to enter the building. “Fitz, Piper and I bought tickets for this concert months ago. There’s no fucking way I’m going to your work thing instead.”
Fitz grimaced, slumping his shoulders and stepping inside. He turned around to face Daisy again, raising his hands in a pleading gesture in one final desperate attempt. “Please, help me, Daisy! You can name my firstborn! Please.”
Daisy unsuccessfully tried to suppress a snort. “You’d need to procreate for that offer to work.” She placed her hand on Fitz’s shoulder. “I’m currently not very hopeful in that regard.”
Fitz was too tired to come up with a comeback. “She’s going to make me go with Aida again, Daisy,” he remarked, defeat lacing his tone. “Aida!”
One corner of Daisy’s mouth quirked up in pity. “Sorry, dude, but—”
“Well, hello there, neighbors!”
Fitz’s and Daisy’s heads shot around in the direction of the chipper voice. Fitz’s lips pulled into a shy smile reflexively as he watched their neighbor, Jemma Simmons, walk down the stairs, her face beaming with joy as usual.
She'd moved into their building about a month ago, introducing herself to all other tenants with freshly-baked muffins that tasted like heaven. He’d overheard her chatting with Daisy in the hallway a few times and it was clear as day that she was one of the most fascinating and smartest people he'd ever met. But whereas his roommate had the ability to strike up a casual conversation with just about anyone, Fitz lost the ability to speak the Queen’s English each time he saw her, becoming fluent in Moron instead. In fact, he'd decided it would be best to keep any verbal communication with her to a minimum, ever since she'd knocked at their door asking if she could borrow an egg and Fitz had handed it to her saying, “Are you sure one’s enough? I'm feeling egg-ceptionally generous today.”
“Hey, Jemma,” Daisy replied to Jemma’s chipper greeting, pulling Fitz out of his thoughts.
Somehow he managed to mumble a quiet greeting of his own.
“Isn’t it just gorgeous outside?” Jemma asked, smiling widely and scrunching her nose in that rather adorable way that always made Fitz’s stomach flutter.
“Yeah, it’s beautiful today,” he replied, relieved that his voice didn't crack.
Jemma’s grin grew even wider at his response. “Work was rather tedious today and part of me just wants to lie down on the sofa and curl up under a blanket with a book, but it would be a shame to waste this lovely weather, so I decided I should go for a walk instead.”
“Yeah, we just went on a coffee run.” Fitz lifted his cup a bit higher. “Or, well, tea in my case.”
Jemma chuckled quietly.
“Dude, why don’t you ask her?”
Fitz’s head spun around to look at Daisy in confusion. “Wha—?”
Daisy gestured at Jemma. “You should ask her!”
“Ask me what?” Jemma attempted to ask quietly, but Fitz’s ears barely picked up her words.
“Have you gone mad?” Fitz stared at Daisy wide-eyed.
“What?” Daisy shrugged, her hand again extended in Jemma’s direction. “She’s nice. She’s smart. She’s drop-dead gorgeous.”
“Well, thank you, Daisy,” Jemma tried to chime in. “You’re not really my type but—”
“Yeah, that doesn’t mean I can just ask her—” Fitz countered Daisy’s argument.
“Alright,” Jemma called out loudly, raising both hands.
Both Fitz and Daisy looked at their British neighbor, who began smiling once she noticed that she had their attention.
“Maybe we could stop talking about me in the third person like I’m not actually here and one of you can tell me what Fitz should ask me about,” she said, her curious gaze wandering back and forth between Fitz and Daisy.
“Umm,” Fitz muttered, feeling a blush creep up his cheeks.
Daisy didn’t seem nearly as shy. She gestured at Fitz whilst looking at Jemma, a mischievous half-grin playing on her lips. “Fitzy here has a mandatory work function on Friday. Huge fundraiser. You have to bring a plus-one. But Mr. Hermit here never asked anyone even though he’s known about it for two months. So now his supervisor is threatening to set him up with the same obnoxious fake-date as last year, because she’s an evil genius who knows how to torture him for his attempted non-compliance with company policy.”
Fitz grimaced, covering his eyes with his hand and pressing his fingers against his skull to counteract the sudden onset of a throbbing headache. At least that way he wouldn’t have to watch the embarrassment Daisy was putting him through.
“He asked me,” Daisy continued, “but Piper and I have concert tickets and no amount of pleading will make me cancel that, so, when you came down the stairs I thought—”
“Oh, well of course.”
Fitz looked up in surprise, unsure whether he’d heard correctly. “Wha—?”
Jemma beamed back at him. “I’d be more than happy to accompany you.”
“Really?” Fitz stared at her in utter disbelief.
Her smile grew even wider. “Of course. I have no plans. It sounds like a lovely charity event, and I wouldn’t want you to suffer through it in unpleasant company.” She furrowed her brow, her eyes nonetheless sparkling with mischief. “Unless you consider my company unpleasant.”
Fitz shook his head vigorously. “No. No, no, no. Not unpleasant. Definitely not unpleasant.”
“Well, then it’s settled.” Jemma scrunched her nose, grinning happily. She raised her index finger, as if asking for a moment to herself, before opening her purse and reaching inside. She pulled out a business card, extending it in Fitz’s direction. “Here’s my mobile number. Just text me the details?”
Fitz took the card in slow-motion, stammering a quiet “Uh-huh” as confirmation.
“Excellent. Now if you’ll excuse me—” Jemma smiled brightly at Fitz and Daisy, “—I’ll head on my walk now.”
“Enjoy the sun,” Daisy said, while Fitz barely managed to nod in silence.
Jemma walked past them towards the exit.
It took Fitz a moment to regain his voice. “Thanks, Jemma,” he called after her.
She turned around, her lips pulled ear to ear. “Of course. I look forward to it.”
Fitz stared after her open-mouthed, watching as the door fell shut behind her.
He felt like in a trance or dream, still not comprehending what had just happened.
It wasn’t until his head snapped back when Daisy gave his chin a nudge to close his mouth that he was somewhat brought back to reality.
He looked at Daisy, who was grinning widely and triumphantly.
“Daisy, if it’s a girl. I’ll get back to you with a boy’s name,” she said, deadpan, before turning on her heels to head up the stairs.
“I thought you weren’t very hopeful about the prospect of me procreating?” Fitz called after her.
Daisy looked over her shoulder, wiggling her eyebrows. “I suddenly feel a lot more optimistic.”