Chapter Text
PROLOGUE
GarrettCorp, Tokyo headquarters
Five years ago
Dr. Kazuhira Sasagawa was a man on a mission. He wasn't usually out this late but after receiving a call from one of GarrettCorp's top scientists, he knew he had to meet her or lose his job. After greeting the nightshift security guards, he entered the elevator and, using his top-level clearance ID, he accessed GarrettCorp's lowest level. Very few people had access to the lower levels and for good reason. Many people and groups, especially those in S.H.I.E.L.D., would love to know just what secrets John Garrett kept hidden in his laboratories. Although a lot of good could be done with the projects the company was working on, there was also the potential for dozens of lawsuits that could cripple GarrettCorps.
The doors opened and Dr. Sasagawa stepped out. He already knew where to go, he just hoped he got there in time. After walking through several hallways, he entered a darkly-lit room, shaped like a hexagon. The room was where GarrettCorp left the gear for one of their pet projects. It was for the military and each side of the room had a different tactical gear that was still in development. The gear was closed off by a transparent wall of energy and the only way to access it was by retinal and fingerprint scan. There were other projects that were more valuable than this one but that wasn't saying much. Anything on this level, even if the project wasn't too valuable, was still ten times more valuable than anything the public was aware of.
Unsurprisingly, there she was, standing in the middle of the room. A Chinese woman in her mid-thirties who always seemed to have a frown on her face. Kazuhira was well aware of who this woman was and her dark reputation. Just hearing about the type of work she was involved with made him cringe to the point that even when she smiled, Kazuhira would feel uneasy. She was one of GarrettCorp's head scientists and the person who called him and told him to meet her in the labs. She didn't say what she wanted but knowing the type of work he was in and the secrets he knew about, he knew better than to ask unnecessary questions.
The woman stepped towards Kaz. She looked him right in the eyes, scaring him immensely. Something about her stare had let him know that he had to be on his best behavior and that she could chop his head off right there and then if he answered her wrongly."You know why I called you over, right?", she said sternly. Something was definitely up.
"Not really," Kaz stammered out, which was the truth, "But if I had to make a guess...you needed access to one of the Sinister Six prototypes." Sinister Six was the name that John Garrett came up with when the project came to his desk. Kaz hated the name. Sure, this was a project for the military and the name was appropriate. But he would've suggested something more...innocent. Sinister Six sounded like something from a James Bond movie. It was too cartoonish for the company, and it also had negative connotations, something that Kaz would like to avoid when it came to the public.
The woman shook her head. "Yes, Kaz, I do need access. Look, I know it's late and I know what type of clearance is needed to access these weapons. Obviously, I don't which is why I really need your help, just this once."
"Why, is Project Afterlife not going well?" Kaz bit his tongue. Never mention this woman's works in a negative light, that was an automatic death sentence. Surprisingly, she didn't respond harshly. She just waved her hand, trying to convince him that everything was fine on her end. But that still didn't answer why she needed something from Sinister Six.
"Everything's fine with Project Afterlife. In fact, just between you and me, I finally got the greenlight to build my base of operations in China. It took a bit of persuasion but John Garrett is a reasonable man."
"So why do you need to access the prototypes for Sinister Six? This has nothing to do with any of your works. Look, ma'am, I don't want to anger you or anything but this seems a little-"
"Shady? Look, I get it. It's suspicious that I'm even asking you anything from Sinister Six. I promise you that it's not to inspect any of the tech, nor does it have anything to do with stealing them. Which I won't. I just need to...use them...for the next few hours. After that, I will return them and everything will go back to normal. None of this will fall back on you, I promise. Surely by now, you must know it's better to just trust me."
She smiled again. Kaz still felt uneasy but despite his fear, he wasn't willing to just let her have her way. He just had to choose his next few words carefully.
"Okay...this is getting a little uncomfortable. You do know these are weapon prototypes that we're planning on selling to the military, right? Look, I hate to say this but whatever you have in mind, it doesn't sound good. Honestly." Kazuhira had to hold his hands in order to stop from shaking. He was so nervous due to this woman's reputation. As he waited for the inevitable lashing out, surprisingly, she smirked and walked away, approaching one of the prototypes. The one she was looking at was Kaz's personal favorite and the one that was near-complete; four, long tentacles that had claw-like arms. Designed to withstand tremendous heat and cold and were strong enough to not only support the user's weight but also to lift large objects, like cars and freight trains. The arms were connected to a harness, which would attach to the user's spine so that the user can control the arms as if they were his own. It was a painful process since the harness had to actually connect to the spinal cord but the result was worth it.
The woman played around the scanners. Apparently, she had been trying to access the gear even before Kaz arrived.
"Oh come on, don't be such a boy scout Kaz." She wasn't even trying to convince him at this point. Kaz, despite his fear, stood his ground. He was going to regret this later but he had to stand up for himself. This was a clear breach of the rules set in place by the company. "Fine, I'll sweeten the deal. You help me by giving me access to the Sinister Six gear and you get my help in anything you want. If you need me to sweet talk to Garrett about something you want to work on, you got it-
"No!" Kaz shouted, surprising even Jiaying. He took a deep breath, knowing that this was the end of the conversation. " I'm sorry...Jiaying...but I can't let you access the equipment. I respect you but you have no good reason for me to break company policy. Nothing you say will convince me otherwise-"
There was a sudden sharp pain in his stomach. Jiaying frowned as Kaz looked down and saw the tip of what looked to be a katana. He groaned loudly as the katana was pulled out and he fell to his knees, holding his chest to try to stop the bleeding. His vision was slowly fading as he began to lose blood, fast. Before he passed out, he could faintly hear the voice of a man he did not recognize. He looked up. The man was white, in his mid-fifties, his hair unruly, and judging by how he was talking to Jiaying, it seemed he knew her. Jiaying rolled her eyes at the man, unhappy but not too torn up over Kaz being stabbed.
"I was working on him, Cal. If you gave me a few more minutes, he would've accessed-"
"No he wouldn't have and you know it. Honey, you are extremely charming but tonight was just not your night."
Jiaying just rolled her eyes again. "You don't have to kill everyone who gives me problems."
"We were getting nowhere, Jiaying," the man said playfully, "And besides, he was moving a little too close to you. I guess my protective instincts kicked in." His name was Cal apparently and he walked over to her, giving her a short kiss on the lips. Kaz didn't know whether to feel disgusted or surprised that Jiaying was in a relationship. Cal looked over at Kaz, who was dangerously close to passing out. "The guy was about to give you a speech about the importance of following the rules in the workspace. Hiding around the corner was boring enough but I think I would've died from boredom if he kept going. So I...overreacted."
"You overreact all the time. Now, I'll forgive you if you give me his hand and eye so we can get the gear."
"As you wish, m'lady." Cal paused. He smiled at her, staring right at her eyes. Jiaying gave him a small smile back.
"What?" she asked.
"One step closer...I can feel it. This is one step closer to finding our little daisy. This is probably jumping the gun just a little bit but I think today was-"
"The best day ever." Jiaying finished. Kaz heard enough. Whatever these two had in mind for the claw-arm prototype, it was nothing good. He began to crawl, trying to reach the exit. He could hear Cal laughing as he forced his way to the exit, trying to reach the emergency shutdown button. One flick of the switch and all the equipment in the room would be inaccessible. He'd probably die afterwards but it was worth it if he could stop the two-
Kaz never reached the switch. The last thing he saw was the image of the red switch, still five feet away from him. As he reached out, Cal drove the katana down into the back of Kaz's head, the tip of the sword hitting the ground.
LEO FITZ
Bus on the way to GarrettCorp
Present day, 8:30 AM
"She hates me."
Fitz stared out the window of the bus, his face still red from embarrassment. While no one was laughing at him, in his mind, they might as well be. There was no way he was going to live down what had happened before he gotten on the bus. His best friend sitting next to him, Grant Ward, had tried telling him that he had nothing to feel embarrassed about but deep down, he knew that Ward was laughing at him. Though he has no right to be laughing at me since he was the one who ruined everything to begin with.
Fitz sighed heavily, the frustration clear from how heavy the sigh was. This was his one chance to ask out the top of their class/class president Jemma Simmons and he blew it completely. He didn't know where things went wrong. All he had to do was pull her to somewhere private and say the six words he had practiced saying in front of the mirror multiple times; "Will you go out with me". There was a chance she would've said yes. I mean, he thought they were close friends. True, they competed against each other and at the beginning of their freshman year, they couldn't even talk to each other because they were so focused on besting the other. But things changed when they were assigned to the same group project by one of their professors, Anne Weaver. They became friends and at some point, feelings emerged. Well, at least on his end. He wasn't entirely sure she felt the same way and it was killing him because he was usually good at reading her thoughts. When it came to romance, he always drew a blank.
However, any chance he had at asking the girl of his dreams out on a date went out the window a few minutes ago and it was all his and Ward's fault. Well, mostly Ward's but Fitz couldn't help but take the full blame of the incident.
Ward laughed. "She hates you?" he asked innocently, "Look, Fitz-"
"And it's all your bloody fault, Ward! I told you to back down!" There was no venom in his response but it was enough for Ward. He shook his head and held out a fist, as if to say he was sorry. Fitz took it and brofisted Ward.
"Alright, I admit. What happened a few minutes ago was my bad. I shouldn't have clocked that guy but he was ruining your moment! I thought I was just being a good friend."
"Well, thanks, I guess."
"Still, I'm sorry and I owe you later. Now, moving back to Jemma, don't get me wrong, Fitz, I've seen Jemma angry and she did have a hate-on for you in our first year. But things are different. I guarantee you that girl loves you and I doubt she'll go back to hating you over this stupid crap. Speaking as a guy who has fucked up many times in the past, this is just one, small, teeny tiny little mess-up that we'll both laugh about next week. Also, I'm going to fill you in on a little secret; even the best mess up when it comes to romance. Hell, remember Kara Palamas?"
"The psych major who lives next door to you? What about her?"
"You remember I tried asking her out in my first year. It didn't go too hot. Apparently, serenading her outside her window was not a good idea, something I should've instantly picked up on since she lived on the third floor."
"Yeah." It had been a cold night since it was sometime in December. Ward was trying to woo Kara Palamas with a bluesy rendition of "Can't Buy Me Love" since he heard that Kara loved the Beatles and blues music. Although he was able to get to the end of the song, a slight shift in weight sent him hurdling to the ground, which in turn ruined a makeout session between fellow classmates Lance Hunter and Bobbi Morse who were at the base of the tree. Reminiscing on that night managed to get a chuckle out of Fitz.
"There he is, there's the happy face I was looking for," Grant said, clasping Fitz's shoulder, "Look, you and I messed up but this was the first time you even tried asking Simmons out on a date. Like I was saying, I made a fool out of myself when I first tried asking Kara out but look where we are now. You just gotta give it time and wait for the right moment."
"Yeah...no. See, your story is at least funny. Mine...I don't even know, Ward." Fitz grabbed his head in frustration. The plan was perfect. He was going to take her to her favorite spot on campus (a fountain in the plaza which had a great view of the stars at night) and ask her to see a movie that night. It was going fine until Daisy Johnson showed up. With her was a new guy. He was black, tall, and was ripped. So much so that Fitz wondered if the guy intentionally picked out a shirt that was two sizes too small to specifically outline his muscles. He was usually fine with Jemma hanging out with their other male friends but for some reason, Jemma's instant fascination with this stranger gave him a strong dose of jealousy.
The guy introduced himself as Mike Peterson and that he was a friend of Daisy in the community college theater group she was a part of. Daisy loved performing and had even chosen a stage name since she thought 'Daisy' was too much of a plain name to remember. Fitz didn't care much about the name "Skye", but he thought the name suited her. In turn, Mike said he hated the name he was known for. Apparently, he was in a comedy play where he played the role of a Grim Reaper-styled villain and the villain's main weapon was his "Death Lock". The cast would make fun of the way he said "Death Lock" to the point that it became his nickname.
Much to Fitz's dismay, Jemma immediately ignored Fitz and began asking Mike all sorts of questions. He really tried not to feel jealous but Jemma didn't do anything to stop him from feeling this way, especially when she called Mike "well-formed and symmetrical", whatever the hell that meant. Fitz was just about to walk away when Grant stepped up and clocked Mike right on the chin. Jemma and Daisy had both shouted at him for his seemingly unprovoked punch but that just led to Mike striking back. Fitz, despite how he was feeling at the time, stepped in to help Ward, which resulted in him getting punched in the stomach by Mike. At that point, Daisy stepped in to break the fight and Mike stormed off. Fitz couldn't even look at Jemma and Daisy, even though they helped him up. He just knew they hated him because he had stepped in to back Ward up, the guy who started the fight in the first place. But he also hated himself because he had gone down so easily. Ward was able to take quite a few hits while it took only one punch for him to be down for the count. If she wasn't into me now, she's definitely not going to be into someone who gets knocked down so easily.
Ward patted Fitz on his shoulder.
"Something else is bothering you. Spill."
"I don't want to say it, Ward. I really don't."
"Oh come on, Fitz, you already know how this is going to go. You'll avoid saying what's truly bothering you, it eats at you for the next few days, then someone in our friend group will convince you to talk since your feelings are affecting you and your friends negatively, thus leading you to confess whatever the hell it is you're feeling. This happens all the damn time so you might as well save yourself the heartbreak by just telling me."
"Argh...fine. I guess I'm just...I hated how it went down. I mean, there you are, defending my honor or whatever and the moment I step in to help, I get knocked out by one punch."
"So you get punched once and you think she hates you? Yeah, I don't see the logic there."
"Well...I mean, I don't know what I'm getting at. Between you, me, and Mike, I probably looked like a little kid who tried to get in-between two bulls."
"Odd parallel but I see your point. And I counter your point by saying that you at least stepped in when you could've ran or did nothing. You got involved in a fight to help your friend, I don't think Simmons will think bad of you on that, even if you lasted five seconds into the fight."
"It's not just that. I just know that she and Daisy hate me because I helped the guy who just punched a perfectly nice stranger who she was talking to. A stranger she was clearly more interested in than me-"
"Okay, stop it," Ward snapped, more serious than he was before, "You do this all the goddamn time, Fitz. Whenever we talk about Simmons, you always compare yourself to other guys. It's either you aren't as strong as her other guy friends or you aren't as handsome. Look, I hate to not be on your side but you know what's really unattractive? Lack of confidence. I want you to know that if there's anything Simmons might reject you over, it's not going to be your looks, intellect, or muscles. It's going to be the fact you always put yourself down! She already finds you interesting, you just need to accept the fact that you're interesting TO her."
Fitz sighed. Damn it, that was harsh but he has a good point. He always has a good point.
"...fair enough," Fitz stammered out. He sighed again and look back. There she was, the class president herself. He didn't know when the crush started but he knew that just a few months ago, he stopped viewing her as the geeky pain in the ass he thought she was when he first met her. He began noticing stuff about her he hadn't noticed before, like her hazel eyes, her soft, brown hair, and her smile that could light up a room. He thought it was just sexual frustration at first but there were plenty of other girls he was attracted to. Daisy Johnson was definitely more "sexy" while Bobbi Morse could easily have been a supermodel. He had wondered why it was that Jemma soared above the two of them. As he thought it over, he found himself liking aspects about her besides her looks. He loved that she was brilliant, that she was kind, that she had the same interests as him, and that she was one of the few people he could talk to about his troubles at home. Very few people knew about his struggling Uncle Ben and Aunt May so the fact that he even let her in on this part of his life had to mean something. It had to mean something more than just him having sex with her.
Fitz had agonized about his thoughts for weeks. After talking it over with Grant and their mutual friends Lance, and Alphonso MacKenzie, Fitz came to one conclusion; it was a full-blown crush. Maybe it was something more, he wasn't quite sure, but he was certain that he liked her in a romantic sense. As he looked at her, talking to her friend Daisy, he secretly wished he was there with her, telling her about his day, apologizing about the scuffle with Mike, and hearing her laugh at his bad jokes. As he looked, Jemma looked up and saw him. She smiled and waved but Fitz turned back immediately, red at the ears. Ward snorted and turned around as well, barely catching Simmons frowning, clearly disappointed at Fitz not returning her wave. Ward turned back to Fitz, smiling.
"That right there would've been a good time to wave back. She's clearly not angry at you and judging by how she looks, you're going to make her angry if you keep avoiding her."
Fitz sighed again. "I'll figure it out, Ward. Just...let me mope, okay? I just want to get through this day in one piece."
"Well mope later because Garrett's going to be at the lab today." At that, Fitz turned to Ward. John Garrett, the CEO of GarrettCorp, was Ward's adoptive father. Fitz had seen John Garrett once in a while, usually around Thanksgiving when he, his uncle, and aunt joined the Garretts in their manor for dinner. John was a...strange man. He always talked about how sick he was and that the company was working on a way to cure him. Something about how his organs were failing. Fitz felt bad for Garrett but felt worse for Ward, knowing that Ward was losing his father figure. He chose to avoid the topic of John's failing organs for Ward.
"Coming to greet the interns?" Fitz smirked.
"Well one, we're not interns of GarrettCorp. Two, you'll never catch me working for GarrettCorp because I already get the accusations of nepotism. And three, he's actually here for you. Well, you and Miss Class President."
"Really?" I'm surprised John even remembers me, much less Jemma.
"I may not want to work for GarrettCorp but he definitely wants you to work for him. He wants both you and Simmons to work for him since you two are the brightest minds in the Academy. I gotta admit, I'm a little jealous of you since you and Simmons are all he talks about nowadays."
"Well, not to brag-" Fitz smirked.
"No, no!" Ward laughed, "Go right ahead, you deserve to brag, bro. In fact, that's the Fitz that you need to be from now on. No more insecure, always-downplays-his-abilities-for-no-damn-reason Fitz. I want cocky, knows-he's-a-genius Fitz. That's the Fitz that will definitely get you into Queen of England's pants." Ward smirked at that while Fitz rolled his eyes. It was gross but Fitz couldn't help but chuckle. That was Ward for you; gross but meant well.
"If you talk that way about Jemma again, I swear, I'll punch you right here," Fitz joked.
"Damn, calm down Braveheart," Ward retorted, "Just because you got bit by the love bug doesn't mean you have lost control of your more primal instincts. All I'm saying is that if you would just be a bit more confident, Simmons would happily let you have a taste of her English muffin-"
Ward got cut off by a surprisingly strong punch from Fitz on his arm.
The group got off the bus, into the plaza of GarrettCorp. Fitz was awestruck by the plaza itself as it was covered in bushes and trees, which they somehow managed in downtown NYC. Since there was downtime before the group could head inside, Fitz and Ward decided to hang around and relax. Ward was spending his time chatting up a pretty classmate who Fitz did not recognize. Jessica something? She didn't seem impressed by Ward, which did not seem to faze him in anyway since he wasn't flirting with her. That would be awkward, especially considering that his current girlfriend, Kara, was on the next bus, which has yet to arrive.
Although Fitz wanted to engage his fellow classmates in conversation, he couldn't work up the nerve to do so. He had been in the Academy for at least three years and yet, he still felt he didn't belong. He hated the hulking members of Operations (besides Ward of course), he had nothing in common with anyone from Communications (besides Daisy but she probably hated him after what happened with Mike, Fitz thought), and the only one who he got along with in Science/Technology was...Jemma.
And there she was again, sitting on a bench reading through the newspaper. It was a copy of the Daily Bugle and judging by the cover, they were bashing a superhero who had been gaining media attention. The ANT-MAN. It was a silly name, Fitz thought. True, Ant-Man could control ants but he felt that the name should've reflected on the more impressive shrinking ability. Then again, maybe the news editor at the Daily Bugle came up with the name just to spite the hero since every single one of their articles was against the Ant-Man. Jemma hated that about Phil Coulson but she believed that Coulson only did it because he wanted to run articles on Captain America, 24/7.
This article of the Daily Bugle covered the Ant-Man thwarting a high-speed chase, where four armed men hijacked an armored vehicle carrying rare jewels. Of course, the article blamed Ant-Man for the robbery, which pissed Jemma off. At first, Fitz approached her to try to tell her to not get so worked up over a stupid article but deep down, he knew he was approaching her to apologize for earlier. But as he got near, he began to have second thoughts. She's probably going to yell at me. This is a bad idea, Fitz, you just had to ruin things by even trying to ask her out in the first place. Obviously, she doesn't view you that way. She just likes you as a friend. Not only was she going to say no, now she won't want to be friends with you after making a mess with a complete stranger. It's okay, we can salvage this. I just have to not talk to her for the rest of the day and hope she doesn't find me. Just turn around and find Ward before she-
"Fitz!" Fitz closed his eyes. She definitely saw him. He tried to walk away but as he turned around, he felt her grab his hand. It was soft and smooth and Fitz hated that just her touch gave him butterflies. She turned him around, forcing him to face her. Surprisingly, she was smiling at him, no trace of possible anger at him over the Mike incident.
"Hey, you've been avoiding me," she said, her tone not matching her words, "What gives?"
"Jemma," Fitz started. He wasn't sure how this conversation was going to go. He scratched the back of his neck, trying to find the right words to say to her. "Look...I...you...I mean...back then, with Mike-"
"Oh, hush, is that why you've been so glum?"
"You're not mad at me and Ward? We really made a mess of things back there with Mike, I thought you'd be mad at me. Especially since you seemed to be interested in Mike."
"Oh, Fitz, I'm not angry at you. Ward...yes, I'm still angry at him but I know you stepped in to help him and to break the fight. You did what any friend would do so you have nothing to worry about from me." Fitz smiled slightly at that. There was still the lingering feeling that she would reject him for being beaten so easily but he was willing to let that slide.
"Thanks Jemma...I was beginning to worry you hated me for getting involved in that scrap."
"Hate you!?" Jemma said, surprised, "Why would I hate you? You're my best friend in the world." And you're more than that. "Well, I know you have Ward and I have Daisy but still...no other person gets me more than you. That'll never change. Well, at least I don't think it will change. There isn't really anyone I can think of who can replace you as my best friend."
Fitz blushed, which he swore Jemma noticed. He smirked. "I don't know about that, Jemma. You certainly hated me when we first met." He expected an "Ugh, Fitz" from her, followed up by a playful punch but he instead got a short laugh. She then asked him to sit with her while they waited to go inside GarrettCorp ,which Fitz accepted. The two took a seat on the bench. Fitz noticed that Jemma was still holding the Daily Bugle article and to avoid an uncomfortable silence, he decided to point it out.
"So...I see you're reading up on the latest Ant-Man story," Fitz said. Jemma shrugged.
"He's such a cool figure to follow. i don't know if this is weird but I just love reading about his exploits. I mean, obviously, there's the science involved. What type of tech does he use to shrink, how does it affect his body, what are the dangers to ones insides since you're shrinking the whole body down, I could go on for hours. But the man himself is fascinating. It must be strange...to be in constant view of the city, saving people and stopping criminals, all for no reward. I guess superheroes just fascinate me. But the Daily Bugle's article is just an incoherent mess. I swear, Coulson just loves to ramble on and on about how he hates Ant-Man. Last week, he even said that Ant-Man was the one who caused the subway disaster because he wanted media attention."
"That's a load of shite." Fitz said.
"I know. It's gotten to the point where I just wish he would go back to printing articles on Captain America. He always has something good to say about the war hero."
"You could always just find another newspaper to read from. You know, something that focuses on the good that Ant-Man does for the city." Fitz didn't really care much for Ant-Man but seeing Simmons genuinely interested in the hero compelled him to feign interest. Simmons sighed. She went through her backpack and pulled out another article. The headline was much friendlier than the Daily Bugle's.
"Well, the positive articles are still as bad as the negative ones, in my humble opinion," Jemma said, "Both are just too biased. One won't admit that Ant-Man does a lot of good for the city while the other won't discuss the issue of vigilantism. It wouldn't hurt to have one article where both the good and bad can be discussed."
"Wow Simmons, you're starting to sound less of a biochemistry major and more of a journalism major." Fitz joked. Simmons chuckled along with him.
"Well, that's not too far off from the truth. I haven't told anyone this, not even Daisy, but I'm planning on minoring in journalism." She was beaming when she said that. Fitz wasn't entirely too shocked. He knew Jemma was taking journalism classes but Daisy and their other friends always assumed she was doing it as just a fun elective. He figured that she was either double majoring or minoring in journalism. Journalism really fit her, Fitz thought. She was obsessed with finding the truth in the world and applying logic to everything so it wasn't too much of a stretch to believe she would be interested in a field focused on finding the facts in current events.
"Why haven't you told anyone yet?"
"I...I don't know to be honest. I was planning to but for some reason I thought it'd be a cool surprise."
"Well, I hate to say this Jemma but if that's what you think is cool, you need to get out more." That was the response that got him the "Ugh, Fitz" followed up by playful punch that he was so used to getting.
"Hey, it's cool to me! And last time I checked, my pasty friend, you're the one who needs to get out."
"Says the one who has to put on layers of sunscreen because she burns easily." Fitz laughed as Simmons playfully punched him again, laughing as she did. Fitz pretended that each punch actually hurt, somewhat amusing Simmons. When she was done, she looked at Fitz right in his eyes.
"But seriously, don't tell anyone else for now. Please?" Those bloody puppy dog eyes. I was already going to say yes but if she had to bust those out, she must really want to keep this secret. Fitz muttered out "Mum's the word" as he mimicked him zipping his mouth shut. Jemma said thanks, leading to another uncomfortable silence. Fitz turned to Jemma as her playful smile turned to something unreadable. She didn't seem upset but concerned. But he couldn't figure out what type of concern. Was she anxious? Was she going to ask him about homework? Was she-
"What were you going to say to me? Back there, before Daisy showed up with Mike." Crap. Crap. Crappity crap.
"You took me to my favorite spot on the campus," she continued, "And then you rambled for a bit. I'm still not quite sure what you were going to ask me."
"Oh...I...uh...you see...I just wanted to ask you...about...something to do...with...stuff."
"Okay...what kind of stuff?" Goddamnit! How am I supposed to answer this?
"Uh...stuff. About...things. And I need help...with-"
"Homework?" Damn it, just take the out.
"Yes!" To his surprise, Simmons shook her head with a disappointed look on her face.
"No, it's not the homework. I just said that to give you an easy out and you took it. I know you don't need help with your homework, I've known you too long and you've never asked me for academic help. The fact you took such a poor out means this is a deep issue for you." Wow, that was evil. Clever, but evil.
"Fine, Sherlock," he said, sighing as he did "You win."
"So you finally admit I'm the Sherlock between us!"
"I'm fine with being Watson. You'd make a better Sherlock than me anyways, you're the smarter one." Fitz didn't even notice what he had said. What sounded like a simple compliment instantly made him red when he replayed what he just said in his head. He turned to Jemma, who was smiling and blushing.
"Thanks for that. So...what is it? What were you going to ask me?"
Wanna go steady? Would you like to watch Star Wars 7 again, but this time as a couple and not best friends? Will you go out with me? Just say it! Any one of those will work! The worst she can do is reject you! At least you'll know. Oh god, did she move closer to me? She really wants to know. Just say you fancy her, you bloody idiot! Damn it, just say those six words you practiced saying in front of a mirror. Will. You. Go. Out. With. Me-
"Alright, John Garrett has arrived, let's go in!" Fitz and Simmons turned around to see Professor Robert Gonzales gathering the class around to go inside. Simmons turned to Fitz, still waiting for an answer. Fitz just shook his head, defeated.
"Well...it couldn't have been that important?" Simmons said, trying to reassure Fitz, "I don't mean to pry but you looked serious when we were last talking."
"Yeah, yeah, it wasn't that serious. I don't even remember what I was going to ask."
"That's fine. Do you at least know what the topic might've been about?"
Just make something up, it's done, the moment's passed. "Oh...uh...something about Daisy. I'm sure I'll remember later on today." There, nothing to do with asking her out. Hopefully, she won't ask me any other questions.
"Oh...okay. Yeah. Just let me know when you remember" Jemma stood up and joined the group, her face visibly disappointed. At this point, he had no idea what was wrong, if he had said something to offend her, or if he misjudged just how close they truly were. He took a deep breath as he got up and joined Ward, who was already heading inside.
If he had only looked at the ground as he got up to join the group, he would've noticed the line of ants that were following the students, each of them with a sensor attached on their heads.