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The first thing he notices about Fitz is that the other man is attractive, smaller than him, with blonde curls, just a bit of scruff on his face and wrapped in a cardigan with a tie around his neck.
He’s exactly Mack’s type if he isn’t lying to himself and he tends not to be. That just doesn’t work for his lifestyle he’s built up of letting things roll off him without much of a care.
Fitz gets under his skin even as the other man turns away to mutter to thin air leaving Mack to explain the device to Skye and Trip. He’s heard that Fitz isn’t the same, that something changed on the mission they’d gone on prior to storming Hyrda, but nothing seems wrong with Fitz. He’s just…different than how they knew him, Mack kinda likes this one.
That’s why he walks up to talk to him while everyone’s out trying to track down Creel and Talbot. That’s why he babbles on and let’s things slip about him and showers and singing. (He might have been hoping that Fitz took an interest in that but it’s still cool, he just wants to know the guy.)
“I’m with you turbo, I’m with you.”
He completely is it’s almost sad how much he’s picked up a wavelength with Fitz because he’s trying so much to read between the lines with this guy; it all works out in their favour though since they get to save the day and Fitz ends up sticking in the lab with him rather than leaving it.
Mack can tell Fitz is still hung up on whatever partner he had before, Simmons, and he’s heard about her and Fitz and the things they used to make together; Mack’s certainly never that smart but at least he can understand Fitz and that’s enough to bury any kind of jealousy for now.
“Hey,” Mack had said when he’d walked into the lab one day, having just been toying in the garage on Skye’s new moped, “Everyone else is gone right now, you want to play some Xbox?”
He doesn’t actually expect Fitz to say yes but when he nods his head and trails after Mack to the recreation room Mack’s grinning brighter than anything.
It almost becomes a thing until the next time everyone leaves and Fitz curls in on himself again, making Mack sigh and take his frustrations out on the game.
Then Fitz yells his name and comes running around the corner and sure he’s pretty pissed that his game was just shut off but Fitz also came looking for him. Knowing that he’d understand the man and there’s something warm in Mack’s chest from that alone.
~~
That night after everything’s done he gets the whole story about Ward from Trip and it tears something in him to imagine Fitz stuck in the bottom of the ocean while dealing with such a betrayal from a friend. He hunts him down just in time to hear Coulson scolding him and Fitz sulking in a chair.
To anyone else it might seem like Fitz was just sulking and angry but there’s a shift in his eyes that Mack can read as bone aching depression over whatever’s going on.
He waits until Coulson’s been gone for a minute before he slips in. “Want to talk about it.”
Fitz bolts up when he sees him, all traces of sadness gone to be replaced completely by anger. “No. Nothing. I’m fine.”
He goes to walk past Mack but Mack drops a hand to his shoulder and squeezes.
“Here if you need to.” He offers quietly, Fitz’s gaze flicks over to him quickly and he gives a jerky nod before he leaves.
Mack runs a hand over his face and pinches the bridge of his nose; he’s far too into this genius scientist and if Lance could see him he’d start teasing Mack mercilessly. Maybe the others can’t tell, and Fitz sure can’t, that he’s been quietly flirting in his own way but Lance has known him long enough.
He’s spoken too soon because there’s a cough by the door with Lance standing there smirking.
“Don’t say it.”
“When should we be expecting wedding bells?”
“Shut up man.” He starts to walk out and Lance falls in step next to him.
“I can help!”
“Oh I don’t need it.”
“I’m the perfect wingman.” Lance argues back.
“You’re mixing up perfect with worst.” Mack’s not lying. Lance is terrible at it.
Somewhere between the hallway and the garage he manages to duck Lance by calling Trip over to talk to him and fleeing.
He’s in the middle of trying to figure out what’s going on with one of the engines in a car that was just brought back from a field team when Fitz walks in.
“Hey.” Mack greets him, pulling away from the hood of the car and grabbing the rag on the table to wipe his hands. “What’s up, Fitz?”
“Can we, um. You offered. I mean before…”
“Talk?” Mack replies.
Fitz gratefully nods.
“Sure. I’m good now.” Mack drops to the ground next to car and leans up against it, long legs lying before him.
He pats the ground next to him and Fitz takes a seat, cross-legged and almost, almost pressed right against him.
As it stands it gives him a better view of Fitz’s curls that look soft to the touch and would probably slip around his fingers if he ran them through.
Mack shakes his head to dislodge those thoughts though they keep creeping back in along with the errant thought or two about heat he can feel emanating from Fitz and the curious idea of what would happen if he slipped off the cardigan Fitz was wearing, just to give him more breathing room and if it ended up being more than the cardigan…
Mack’s so in too deep.
Fitz doesn’t really talk though, makes several aborted attempts to and gives a low annoyed growl in his throat.
“Just take all the time you need.” Mack’s hand slips under the cardigan without much things to stoke Fitz’s back, still sadly blocked from touching skin by the shirt he’s wearing underneath. “We don’t have to today.”
Fitz peeks over at him from under his eyelashes, he looks curious on what Mack’s doing but also doesn’t stop him which Mack takes as encouragement to keep going.
They don’t talk that day, instead Fitz starts going on about his new project, looking over every now and then for the right word or input from Mack who nods and tries to figure out what he’s looking for as needed.
They don’t mean to fall asleep but they do, with Fitz partially on top of Mack and Mack’s arm securely resting around him.
Lance is the one that wakes them up because they’ve already got a new mission briefing and he smirks at Mack again.
Mack’s too busy focusing on the way that Fitz’s hair has flattened by where he was sleeping pressed against Mack and how his eyes look even bluer as he’s rubbing the sleep out of them with a yawn.
~~
Admittedly he’d been hoping that wearing a suit would work somehow in his favour because he knows he pulls it off, but Fitz hardly glances in his direction all night.
Not even when he brings up his exes casually as possible, making sure not to mention genders.
He doesn’t get anything out of the day (except adrenaline from the plane almost blowing up) until they’re both back at the lab; Fitz looks like there’s something lighter in him and load’s almost been taken off, or at least less tense.
Lance strolls in with beers and that’s when they learn about Fitz’s old love.
“Yeah, hey, so, um, I don't have an ex.”
Mack nearly chokes at that part alone wondering if that means Fitz just never dated anyone.
“But there was this girl that I like, and I told her how I felt, but she doesn't feel the same way as I do, so she left.”
He and Lance exchange glances as Fitz fiddles with the beer; Mack honestly just wants to give him a hug or distract him with something but Lance beats him to the punch, saying it’s her loss (Mack agrees) and something about moving on.
Mack lifts his beer in Fitz’s direction at that with a smile that he gets returned, brighter than Fitz’s normal one and he wants to see it again.
Later that night after they’ve all been plied with beers Fitz stumbles around him, trying to take the seat next to him but ends up in Mack’s lap. Rather than leave though he just curls into Mack and sighs into his neck.
“Is he asleep?” Lance blinks down at them.
“Think so.” Mack glances over as best he can without jostling Fitz.
“Unfortunate about the girl, wonder who it was.”
Mack already knows, he’s put the pieces together in his mind about Fitz and Simmons and the way he talks about her.
One of his hands lifts to slide through Fitz’s curls which are just as soft as he thought they would be.
Lance lets out a low whistle. “When’d you fall in love?”
Mack rolls his eyes at him but doesn’t actually deny it.
“I thought you might just want to get laid but this is bigger isn’t it.”
Mack shrugs the shoulder that Fitz isn’t resting on.
“I just like him. He’s…a bit weird sure, but he’s clever still. Just stuck on words here and there, ain’t nothing wrong with it. Plus the way that his hands go everywhere when he’s got an idea-”
“Please stop talking. I don’t need to hear about it.” Lance makes a face at him.
“Well.” Lance straightens. “We’ll think of something. For now, that’s my wingman gift.”
He gestures at Fitz sleeping in Mack’s lap.
“You didn’t plan this, doesn’t count.”
“Think it does.” Lance darts out of the room before Mack can argue with him, leaving him alone with the tinier Scottish man whose warm breath tickles his skin.
Mack sighs, his back is going to hurt like it did when they fell asleep last time but he also can’t bring himself to care with Fitz warm against him.
He lets himself doze off pretending this could be a common thing.
~~
Fitz avoids looking at him for a few days after that incident but Mack passes it off like it’s no big deal with a grin and they fall back into a rhythm again.
He notices though that once they do Fitz has started staring, even coming down to the garage, standing at the edge of the ramp and watching Mack with his head tilted.
He’s also noticed that Fitz is talking to himself again whenever it happens but there’s a wishful thinking part of him that wonders if Fitz is maybe checking him out. He drops his usual over shirt at that, sticking to his tank top only.
Mack can admit that this could be a bad idea but maybe he’s not just imagining the darkening in Fitz’s eyes when he walks in or the way his gaze drops downwards before he meets Mack’s eyes.
It could be leading up to something until Bobbi returns with Jemma Simmons. Bobbi he’s glad to see and it is actually nice to meet the other scientist that he’s heard all about, but it means he spends less time in the lab and doesn’t miss how Fitz stumbles over words more when she’s there.
It’s nothing against her, but it makes his heart hurt to see it, see Fitz struggling again.
He walks into the lab during one of their fights, where Fitz is upset that Jemma left and saying how he needed somebody. If Mack weren’t the kind of guy he was he might be insulted by that fact because he was here, but he knows that Fitz is just letting his frustrations out and lets it slide, choosing instead to offer to help Fitz build whatever design he’s come up with.
It’s brief but for a second he thinks that when he starts teasing Fitz over being right that Fitz is actually flirting back as Mack rests on his hand and stares up at the other man. That’s all broken when Jemma walks into the room.
Mack still flirts as much he can, joking that what Fitz is saying is nonsense which gets an indignant noise from Fitz and ‘no it’s not’ and it makes him grin.
He can see that Fitz is looking back and forth between him and Jemma as they look at something, just doesn’t get to think much about it when Coulson calls them into the briefing room.
Fitz doesn’t take his normal seat next to Jemma like Mack expects him to, instead he leans against the desk right next to Mack, offering a small smile when Mack raises an eyebrow at him. Mack tries not to feel too pleased over that but ends up smiling brightly at the other man anyway.
Grins even more after everyone’s stopped looking at them when they talk and Fitz has leaned hard against him as they look over something.
He’s insanely glad Lance isn’t here, the other man would probably be making kissing faces until Mack threw things at him.
He’s still enjoying the thought of that moment when Jemma finds him at the garage for a talk.
As much as he’d love to beat around the bush here Mack is a little tired of it; he told Fitz he calls it like he sees it all those weeks ago back when they first started working together and isn’t going to stop now but he tries to break as gently as he can.
He still likes Jemma, he just doesn’t think that it’s helping Fitz none with her being around since they can all see the toll it’s taking on him.
“I know.” Her eyes are wet. “Why do you think I left?”
Mack drops a hand to her shoulder and the next thing he knows Jemma’s barrelling into his chest and sobbing.
He lets it go for as long as she needs to and when she pulls back with a watery smile he returns it with a wide encouraging one.
“I’m glad he has you now.” Jemma wipes at her eyes. “To um, ‘like’ him as he is.”
The way she emphasizes the word ‘like’ Mack can tell that she’s seen right through him. He opens his mouth to deny it but Jemma squeezes his arm to cut him off.
“No one is that amused when Fitz is right.” She teases. “Or leans in quite that way. Don’t worry. I’m certain he’ll catch on, or I could try to talk to him for you…”
“Nope. I got it.” Mack’s quick to refuse, he suspects that that would go just as well as Lance trying to help would.
“Just let me know if you need it. And thank you.” Jemma tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, smiles, and walks off.
If even she can notice and has only been back for a week then Mack might be even worse than he thought.
~~
It actually all comes to head the next day when he and Fitz are alone in the lab again. Earlier that day Lance had started joking about him mooning over Fitz having walked into the room to see him laughing at something Fitz had said again so Mack was now being careful not to lean in too close.
“Did I do something?” Fitz asks out of the blue, he fiddling with the part in front of him and not looking at Mack except in quick glances over.
“No.” Mack frowns, his elbows resting on the desk and he’s leaning over as he skims through some designs.
“Why aren’t you, um, why aren’t you…” Fitz seems lost on the last word but this time Mack has no idea what he’s talking about, Fitz is just gesturing in the space between them.
“You aren’t close.” He finally blurts out and frowns. “I don’t like it.”
“Uh…” Mack’s mouth drops open a bit.
To prove his point Fitz closes a fist into Mack’s shirt and pulls him towards him and Mack goes willingly.
“There. Better.” Fitz says, nodding to himself when their shoulders are touching, he lets out a breath of air and goes back to fiddling with the piece he’s holding.
Mack stares at him.
Fitz finally looks over, sighs, and then leans in until he’s kissing Mack who got with the program right away.
“You uh…figured it out hunh?” Mack runs hand over his head and laughs to himself.
“Wasn’t that hard. I’m a genius.” Fitz retorts.
“Who told you?”
“Skye.” He admits, “Was worried she was lying.”
“She obviously wasn’t. So you’re good with this?”
Fitz nods, “I like you here. It’s less…everything.”
Mack grins, catching on to the meaning and pulls Fitz back to kiss him again since he can now, sighs into Fitz’s mouth and enjoys the warm pressure against his own.
At least now Lance and Jemma won’t have to offer to help him anymore.