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With a barely-muffled groan, Fitz shuffled into the school library and dropped his satchel behind the reference desk, looking every inch the disaffected miscreant the headmaster accused him of being. He’d been harangued all day, but his shirt remained untucked, his tie was pulled loose to hang limply around his neck, and his sleeves were rolled to the elbow.
Seeing the book-laden carts lined up along one side of the reference desk, Fitz pulled one at random, checked the call numbers, and pushed it toward the stacks near the back of the cavernous room. Leaving it a jaunty angle against the wall, he gathered a few of the books and ducked among the stacks, intent on finishing his task as quickly as possible. If luck were with him, Fitz would be home by 7 at least.
He spotted her in the 540s, long fingers trailing over the spines of the books as she looked for the right tome. Jemma hadn’t noticed him - the carpeted floors silenced his footfalls and she likely wouldn’t be expecting anyone else to be in the library on a Friday afternoon - and Fitz took advantage of the moment to observe her. With her hair tucked behind her ear, Fitz could see the way Jemma nibbled on her lower lip as she moved down the shelf, and he felt the familiar tightening in his gut.
He was considering a quick retreat to the cart to find books for another section far from the 500s when Jemma caught sight of him. Amber eyes caught on blue and Fitz’ stomach did a neat job of knotting itself while his heart jumped into his throat. No going back now , he thought as he did his level best to look unaffected and stepped toward her.
“Hey,” he grunted, trying to keep himself from meeting her eyes. If Jemma got a good look at him at a close distance, Fitz worried she’d see right through him. She’d always had that knack.
“Hi, Fitz,” she murmured, voice refreshingly light in the afternoon stillness. He was likely imagining it, but he could have sworn he saw her cheeks flush a rosy pink as she quickly diverted her gaze back to the shelves in front of her.
He may have been imagining it, but Fitz could have sworn he saw something in her eye - a mix of curiosity and eagerness, perhaps - that made his pulse race and his skin go tight over his bones. Even knowing he had what was at best an ill-fated crush, Fitz felt a familiar recklessness fill him, along with the certainty that while his actions may bring about some unintended consequences, he was going to enjoy earning them.
Finishing with the books he’d had heaped in his arms, he returned to his cart and quickly weeded out all of the call numbers for the section of shelves Jemma was busy perusing. Fitz shuffled back to her, purposefully keeping his eyes trained anywhere but on her. Not like he needed to look at Jemma to see where she was; anytime he passed through her orbit, Fitz’ entire body practically buzzed with awareness. Using that to his advantage now, he methodically worked his way nearer, placing books in their correct place one by one, coming near enough to brush against Jemma. He thought he felt a tremor run through her, but quickly wrote the idea off as nothing more than wishful thinking.
Down to his last two books, Fitz sucked in a quick breath and steeled himself for what he was about to do. It was crazy, and at best would end with him being slapped. At worst… well, having to find a new school for him likely wouldn’t be too awful a shock for his mother.
Slotting the penultimate book in his appropriate spot just to the right of Jemma’s waist, Fitz leaned across her back to set down the last book and free his hands. He was near enough to feel her body go taught and her head cock to the side in question.
“Fitz?”
The quiet query, loaded with an emotion Fitz couldn’t quite name, made his heart pound crazily in his chest. He hadn’t had a plan when he’d decided to effectively pen her in against the shelves, but damned if he were going to back away.
“Jemma.”
Any relief Fitz felt at being able to say her name without his voice shaking was short lived. She turned to face him, moving carefully so as not to disrupt his hold on the shelves, and leaning back against them, actually had the gall to smirk up at him.
“Back in detention?”
“Not like y’ needed t’ be top of the class t’ guess tha’.” Fitz gave her his best rakish grin, hoping against hope that Jemma wouldn’t see the way his Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat.
“That’s certainly true,” Jemma murmured, carefully perusing his face as she spoke. “But I thought you could use some company.”
Fitz didn’t miss the way her hazel eyes lingered on his lips and his grin grew as he involuntarily inched closer. They’d been doing this for months, ever since they’d been paired together in chemistry - circling each other, feeling each other out as they tried to relearn the friendship her father had stamped out ages ago. The only difference was that this time, instead of wanting to climb through her window so they could watch Doctor Who and trade science articles until dawn, Fitz had some rather indecent ideas of how to fill those hours.
Given the look Jemma was giving him, he was beginning to think she’d had them, too.
“Jus’ company?”
Jemma gave Fitz a bashful smile, although the innocence of the gesture was shredded by the way her lower lip caught between her teeth as she looked up at him through her lashes. He had a moment to realize what a spectacularly bad idea kissing her was, but that didn’t stop him in the least. Giving into the impulse firing through every nerve of his being, Fitz surged forward and captured Jemma’s lips with his own.
She stiffened for a moment and Fitz braced in anticipation of a swift knee to his groin; however, he felt Jemma’s teeth sink into his lower lip, tugging gently as her hands came up to cup the back of his head. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Fitz followed her lead, crowding Jemma against the shelves as he deepened the kiss and allowed himself to sink into the reality of kissing a girl he most certainly was not meant to be kissing.
The illicit nature was apparently lost on Jemma. Instead of pushing him away as Fitz expected, she pulled him close, one hand remaining firmly on his neck as the other drifted lower, divesting him of his tie and quickly working on the buttons of his shirt. Even limited to one hand Jemma was surprisingly dexterous, and Fitz found he had to scramble to keep up. Forgoing anything that might resemble finesse, he went straight for the hem of her uniform shirt and roughly tugged it out of her skirt.
With the bottom of her button down free, Fitz began his own frantic work, his fingers plucking at the round plastic pieces as quickly as he could manage without actually separating their mouths. When the lack of oxygen began to impede his progress, Fitz settled for kissing Jemma’s neck, nipping at her in his excitement.
He’d gotten the last button undone and pulled back just enough so he could see Jemma’s face. Her hazel eyes, usually so sharp and clear were clouded over, her lips were swollen, and her breath was coming in shallow pants. But what really drew Fitz’ eye was the pale peach bra he could see between the now-open ends of Jemma’s shirt. He glanced at her, blue eyes asking silent permission.
Her sly grin was back, and with an arched brow dared Fitz to go ahead. He reached for her, fingers a hairsbreadth from actually touching the impossibly smooth skin of Jemma’s stomach when the main doors to the library banged open.
“Oi! Fitzy! You here, mate?”
Startled, the pair jumped apart. Unfortunately for them, Jemma’s movement sent her careening into the shelf behind her, causing books to clatter to the floor. Fitz’ eyes went wide and he glanced back toward the main desk where he could hear Hunter banging around.
With a regretful last glance at Jemma’s chest, Fitz pulled the halves of the shirt together and jerked his head in the direction of the side door.
“Go on. I know y’ dinnae wan’ Hunter to find y’ here.”
“But-”
“Jemma, go. Unless y’ want Will to find out. Because y’ know that as soon as Hunter sees us, the whole school will know.”
That gave her pause, and for a crazy moment, Fitz found himself hoping that she’d stay. That she’d let them be caught and damn the consequences. Instead Jemma surged forward once more, kissing him fiercely before ducking out the side door, her fingers already working on her buttons.
Fitz felt his heart sink into his stomach as he watched her go, and he took a moment to feel sorry for himself before turning around and hurriedly doing up the buttons of his shirt, calling his location to Hunter before stooping to gather the discarded books.