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It was Halloween and Jemma was stuck in her dorm doing homework. It was understandable that The Academy wouldn’t see the holiday as a necessary reason to avoid giving out homework, but it still felt rather cruel of Professor Vaughn to assign a project this large on the holiday. Okay, yes, Jemma had a week to do it but she wanted to get a jump on it.
Part of the reason she wasn’t out on Halloween was also that she had thought Fitz would at least have shown up to provide her some company like he normally did, sitting on her bed as he pretended to work on his own assignments but ended up just talking science with her. So it was almost crushing that he hadn’t come knocking at her door, Halloween candy in hand and a grin on his face.
Just as Jemma had nearly begun to give up hope that he would show up, her head forced even further into her work than normal, his signature knock came rapping through the door. She quickly placed down her pink-coded highlighter and jumped towards the door, smoothing out her hair and black dress (a Halloween touch) before allowing him entrance.
The picture she had had in her mind during her study session was nothing compared to the real thing. There was Fitz, bright blue eyes and a bag of candy just as she had imagined but with the incredible addition of a pair of vampire fangs.
“Trick-or-Treat,” he said, his words muffled by the cheap plastic teeth in his mouth.
Jemma burst into a fit of giggles, covering her mouth with her hand as she took him in.
“What the hell are you wearing?”
“I’m a vampire.”
“I can see that.” Jemma moved from the door to let him in and he quickly found his spot on her bed. “Can I ask why you’re dressed as a vampire?”
“Easy,” he said, spitting out the teeth so as to talk uninhibited, “To cheer you up. I knew you’d be stuck doing homework and, even though it is a strange passion of yours, I knew you’d still be upset about it being on Halloween.”
Jemma stopped giggling as her chest tightened with affection. She had the strangest urge to run up and wrap her arms around him.
“Oh, Fitz.”
He shot her a fangless smile, remembering only after there was no plastic cutting into his lips that he had taken out the teeth. He quickly shoved the spit covered fangs back into his mouth before giving her another grin that made her roll her eyes.
“Hey, I may be a pain in the neck but you could at least admit it was a bite idea.”
“Ugh, Fitz. Those were terrible,” Jemma said, groaning and laughing all at once. The sound made Fitz crack another smile.
“Really?” he asked, taking out the teeth once more, “I thought they were fang-tastic.”
“Did you just--” Scoffing playfully, Jemma lunged at him, knocking him back into the mattress as he started laughing, the sound becoming breathless when Jemma fell on top of him, her hair falling to form a cocoon around his face and her hands lightly placed on his chest. As he stared up at her, she couldn’t help but admire the way his eyes roamed her face and down… he inhaled sharply and trained his eyes back upward to meet hers. Only then did she really take in the fact that she was in her black rather low-cut dress with her body pressed against his. Even as the realization hit her, she couldn’t bring herself to get up off of him, and she could have sworn he was getting closer to her.
“Jemma,” he whispered, his breath hot against her cheek.
“Kiss me, Fitz.”
Apparently, he didn’t need telling twice.
The next morning Jemma made her way down to the dining hall, wrapped in Fitz’s comfiest and warmest cardigan with a smile stuck to her face. They had parted with a kiss and a cup of tea, Fitz having to rush out of the room to make it to his class. His first class of the day started an hour before hers but she still had to nearly shove him out of the bed in order to assure he wasn’t late. The task had been difficult enough for her as she very much wanted to spend the entirety of the day wrapped up in Fitz’s warm embrace. But, sadly, duty called.
“Hey!” Sally shouted from across the quad, waving her hand in the air to get her friend’s attention. Jemma often met up with Sally in the mornings before class, but this particular morning she was going to have to explain her tardiness.
“What kept you?” Sally asked once Jemma had made her way over, sitting down on the concrete-plinth next to the older cadet.
“Was slow to get up. I had a lot of--”
Jemma was cut off by her friend's sharp intake of air. “What?”
“Is that a hickey on your neck?” Sally cried, pointing to Jemma’s pulse point. It had been a well-loved location of Fitz’s lips the previous night and Jemma instinctively moved her hand to cover it.
“No!” Jemma cleared her throat and tried again, calmer the second time. “I mean, no.”
Sally stared into her friend's face, scrutinizing every muscle movement like the agent in training she was. “Oh my God! It totally is! Wait, who gave it to you?”
Seeing no point in lying, Jemma muttered her response, the corners of her lips ticking upwards as a pink blush crept onto her cheeks. “Fitz.”
Sally squealed, raising her hands in the air. “Hallelujah, the dorks figured it out!”
Jemma rolled her eyes and rubbed at the love bite on her neck. Even though she was somewhat embarrassed by her friend’s rather loud bit of squealing, the sound turning many a passing person’s head, she couldn’t help but feel the same bit of excitement. She finally got to be with Fitz in all the ways they could be. Who knew a pair of vampire teeth could bring two people so close together.