Chapter Text
It was a rainy november sunday afternoon. Fitz was bored out of his mind. He had read every science book in his bedroom, and his mother was using the only computer available in the house. Fitz sat on the ledge under the window, observing the drops falling on the glass and listening to the sound it made. He was so captivated that it took him a few minutes to notice, in the garden across from his bedroom, a girl, about his age, watching him from a treehouse. Fitz was flustered and quickly closed the blinds.
Fitz had only moved into this house a week ago. After his father left, his mother wanted to move, being in their house was too painful, for her and for Fitz. They moved to a small town in England. Fitz wasn’t adjusted yet, but he wasn’t adjusted in his previous town before.
Fitz discreetly peaked between the blind to see if the girl was still there. She seemed to be gone.
Fitz didn’t leave his bedroom until it was dinner time. When his mom called him, he went down the stairs to the kitchen.
“Hey sweetie,” his mom said, gently stroking his hair.
Fitz flinched at the touch and his mom quickly removed her hands.
“Sorry. I forgot,” she told him sincerely.
Fitz started filling his plate, preparing to go back to his bedroom.
“How was your day?” She asked, trying to get Fitz to stay a little bit longer.
“I watched the rain,” he told her. “And, uh, there was a girl. Next door.”
“You’ve talked to her?” His mom asked, hoping Fitz was finally making a friend.
Fitz shook his head and went back to his bedroom.
His mother sighed and ate dinner alone as usual. She wanted to connect with her son, but she didn’t know how to.
Fitz didn’t think about the girl until later that week on a wednesday evening. FItz was trying to sleep, but there was a light coming from outside. He looked through the window and found the source of the light. In the treehouse, there was the girl again. She had a telescope pointing outside the window, and she pointed a light on a book about astronomy. Fitz watched her for a while, unsure what to do to get her to turn off her light. The girl finally peaked up from her book and noticed Fitz watching. Immediately, she turned off her light.
This happened a few times more, they could occasionally see each other through the window, usually a science book in hand. Eventually, they stopped hiding when they noticed each other.
Even though Fitz had never talked to the girl, he started appreciating her company. When he went to the library, he tried to find the books the girl had been reading, and he would sometimes read them. They were often about biology, which wasn't his favourite topic, but when they had parts about monkeys, then Fitz would read those parts.
This lasted for a couple of months, until one saturday afternoon when the doorbell rang, and Fitz’s mother called him. They never had visitors, and even less visitors his mother would want Fitz to see. Fitz was nervous, he thought something was wrong, or he did something wrong. He flapped his hands in front of his chest and walked in circles for a minute before coming downstairs.
He froze in place in the hallway when he saw who it was. His neighbor was standing there, holding hands with people who were probably her parents.
Fitz nervously walked to the front door.
“Hey sweetie,” Fitz’s mom told him. “I invited our neighbors over for tea, why don’t you show Jemma your room?” She asked him.
Fitz nodded and walked to Jemma.
“I’m Fitz,” he told her, awkwardly holding out his hand to shake hers.
“I’m Jemma,” she answered, shaking his hand.
“My bedroom is, uuuh, it’s upstairs. You can follow me.” He told her.
The kids walked upstairs together. Fitz sat on his bed, and Jemma sat on his desk’s chair. The two kids sat in silence, having no idea what to say. It was weird to see Jemma up close, Fitz had only seen her from metres away; Fitz stared at his hands, twisting his fingers together, while Jemma had her hands folded on her lap, staring at the floor. They both sat in an awkward silence for half an hour until Fitz found the courage to speak up.
“You like astronomy,” Fitz stated.
Jemma nodded.
“I know the names of all the constellations,” she told him.
“Did you now that at the center of the milky way there’s a black hole with a mass estimated at around 4.1 million solar masses?”
“Of course. Did you know the main theory of the formation of the moon is that it used to be a part of earth that got separated when the earth collided with a protoplanet called Theia?”
“I didn’t know the protoplanet was called Theia,” Fitz admitted, feeling slightly shameful.
The kids fell back into silence until Jemma’s parents called her to leave. Fitz felt sad that Jemma had to go. They hadn’t talked much because Fitz had been too shy, but Jemma was really smart and it impressed him. Plus, he rarely met people who would listen to him infodump.
“Do you think, uh, maybe you can come over again?” He asked her shyly as she was on her way to leave the bedroom.
“I’d love to, Fitz,” she told him, grinning.
Fitz smiled back at her, and as soon as she left the room he started jumping and flapping.
As agreed, Fitz and Simmons saw each other again. The second time, it was in Fitz’s bedroom again, and they exchanged facts about chemistry. The second time, it was in Jemma’s bedroom, Fitz talked about monkeys and Jemma about snakes. This went on for weeks, at first they only saw each other every saturday, but soon they started seeing each other after school, almost every day. Fitz still felt extremely nervous in Jemma’s presence, but the more they saw each other, the easier it got to talk to her.
Fitz and Jemma’s parents were glad the kids made friends, but they were confused by their friendship. When they saw each other, they didn’t play or talked about themselves, they would only talk about science. It very much didn’t look like the kind of friendship they expected from 10 years old.
Christmas quickly came around the corner, but neither Fitz or his mom felt the holiday spirit. Most of their christmas had been spent with Fitz’s mom side of the family, and while they got along well, the last ten christmas had been spent pretending they were a happy family, terrified of Fitz’s father. Fitz and his mother didn’t talk about it, but they both knew they wouldn’t be celebrating christmas this year. Maybe someday they would, but Alistair Fitz had only left their lives a few months ago, it just felt too early.
Fitz spent Christmas night in his bedroom, tinkering with some electronics he got out of the cellar, trying not to think about his father too much. He stayed awake until late, unwilling to let his mind wander as he fell asleep.
Around midnight, he heard a voice coming from his window. He walked from his workspace to his window and opened it. He looked down, and he was Jemma standing there, in a big coat.
“Fitz, come down,” she whispered loudly.
Fitz frowned.
“why?” He asked.
“The sky is clear. Mom and dad said I could invite you over to watch the sky! I’m allowed to stay up late tonight” She said enthusiastically.
Fitz swallowed nervously. This was new, he hadn’t done that with Jemma before. Or with anyone, actually.
“Okay,” He told her.
Quickly but quietly as to not wake his mother, he put on his shoes, his coat, his gloves, his hat and his scarf.
Jemma was waiting for him in front of the door.
“Let’s go,” she told him, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards her garden.
Fitz blushed when Jemma grabbed his hand, and he used his scarf to cover his cheeks so she wouldn’t notice.
She brought him in front of his treehouse, and started climbing the hanging ladder. Once she was up, Fitz followed her. Fitz was a bit scared, he lacked gross motor skills. He started climbing, but he was struggling to get his feet in the right places. Jemma noticed, so she held out her hand so she could help Fitz up. Together they finally managed to get him in the treehouse.
“Sorry,” Fitz said shyly.
“What are you sorry for?” Jemma asked him.
“You saw, I- uh, I needed help to get up,” he told her.
“It’s okay Fitz, everyone needs help sometimes,” she told him, putting a hand on his shoulder.
Fitz nodded and sat down. Jemma reached to the roop to open a large trapdoor, so that they could see the sky.
“We could make this an electronic trapdoor. We could even make the whole roof open itself,” Fitz suggested.
“That’s a great idea Fitz,” Jemma told him, smiling at him.
Fitz smiled back. Neither of the kids knew at the time, but this was only the first of a long series of projects they would carry out together.
Jemma sat down next to Fitz and looked up at the sky.
“Look there,” Jemma said, pointing in the sky. “There’s aries,” she told him.
Jemma grabbed a book from a pile of books about astronomy.
“Here,” she said, opening the book at the page that showed what aries looked like.
Fitz looked at the picture then at the sky for a few seconds.
“I can see it,’ he told Jemma.
“There, the bright red dot, it’s Mars.”
This went on for a while, Jemma would show Fitz all the stars and the planets they could see. When Jemma listed everything she could, the kids sat in silence. It wasn’t like the awkward silences they used to have. This was a warm, comfortable silence.
Then Fitz sneezed.
“Oh no, you’re cold,” Jemma said, slightly panicked. “Wait here,” she said.
Before Fitz could say anything, the girl had left the treehouse and was running toward her house. She came back five minutes later, holding a large blanket.
“Here,” she said, sitting next to Fitz, wrapping the blanket around the two of them, huddling close to him.
“We produce more heat together than alone,” Jemma explained.
Fitz heard her, but he didn’t process what she said, his brain froze the second she sat against him.
“Th-Thank you,” Fitz said shyly.
“It’s nothing,” Jemma said, smiling at him.
Jemma adjusted her position, and accidentally brushed her hand against Fitz. Fitz shivered
“Jemma, your hands are freezing,” Fitz told her.
Jemma frowned and touched her face with her hands.
“You’re right,” Jemma told him.
Fitz grabbed Jemma’s hands and wrapped them with his to warm them, then Jemma smiled and kissed Fitz’s cheek. Fitz smiled and rested his head on Jemma’s shoulder.
They cuddled in silence for a while until Jemma spoke up.
“What happened with your dad?” Jemma asked.
At the question, Fitz let go of Jemma’s hands and wrapped his arms around his legs.
“How do you know something happened?” He asked.
“I heard my parents mention him,” Jemma explained.
Fitz thought for a minute about how much he wanted to say.
“He left,” Fitz said.
Jemma quickly went to wrap her arms around him.
‘I’m sorry Fitz,” she whispered.
Fitz didn’t react for a few seconds, he was processing what was happening. When he finally did, it hit him like a brick wall. It was the first time he told someone about this, he had barely even talked about it with his mom. Someone else knowing what happened somehow made it feel more real.
Fitz broke into tears and hid his face in Jemma’s shoulder, curling up against her.
Jemma adjusted the blanket around them and gently stroked his back.
Before they knew it, the two kids were asleep, cuddled up together in the treehouse.
This was the night when Fitz stopped being uncomfortable around Jemma and became perfectly at ease. After this, the two kids became inseparable.