Work Text:
Waking up in his newly decorated room was odd but also comforting in a way. His coworkers cared about him enough to try to make his living space a bit better. He might even dare to start calling them his friends after this.
Despite how cared for he felt by the decoration project and subsequent party, he was still kind of stung by the method they used to hide it from him. It had felt like he was in high school again, always the last one chosen, but he also felt bad for letting his insecurities get the better of him. It wasn't very nice of him to think Arch would do that to him. The rest of them? He'd kind of deserve it.
He hadn't exactly put a lot of effort into forming friendships outside of his partner. His uncle had always told him he'd have more friends if he was more open to it. Thirty years later and he still hadn't really figured out how to follow that advice. Every time he tried, he got burned, and he was really tired of getting burned.
It wasn't fair of him to hold what his fellow officers in. St. Johns had done to him against the people he worked with on Saint Pierre though. Allowing the past to affect the present was how he'd ended up divorced. He needed to stop doing that.
Arch leaving so soon after he got there had left him worried his lack of faith in her had upset her. He'd made the effort to put it out of his mind and not let it ruin the party the night before, but now the doubts were sneaking back in. He needed to talk to Arch. Let her remind him that not everything was about him.
-
When Arch picked Fitz up for work the morning after the party the air in the car immediately changed when he got in. The car became tense in a way that said they needed to talk.
"You left early last night."
"Yes, Patty wanted to talk, after everything that happened yesterday. I, ah, let her in on some things.”
"Okay, I did wonder if my jumping to conclusions had upset you. Sorry about thinking the worst of you. I don't know why I did that, but it was dumb of me. I should have known better."
"Thank you for the apology but it's unnecessary. I'm the one that's sorry. I was trying to do something nice, but in the execution, I hurt you. It was not my intention, but that does not change that it happened, and I'm sorry."
"Apology accepted. Are we good now?"
"Yes, we're good. Did you have fun after I left?"
"Veda made sure of it.
You told Patty about Gallagher? How'd that go?"
"She understands now what she saw and she's on our side."
“Good."
The car was silent for the rest of the ride, but it was no longer tense. Arch was relieved they'd worked things out so easily. That there was even a problem at all had confused her at first. They'd done something nice for him, it had made him happy, simple, except it wasn't simple. She'd accidentally stepped on a landmine, of her own creation, and they'd both ended up hurt. Everything had worked out in the end at least.
Fitz thinking so lowly of her had hurt more than she'd expected it to, she’d admit that, but when she stopped and thought about everything that had happened that day it made sense. It also made sense given some choices she'd made recently about who she spent her time with.
Her partner being jealous of her new boyfriend both flattered and irritated her, and it took until now for her to see what the problem actually was. For some ridiculous reason Fitz seemed to think she was going to forget about him because she had a new boyfriend. She did regret her actions that had allowed those thoughts to take root, but he also should have just talked to her about it. She had thought they were past keeping things to themselves.
It was all forgiven now. Although she was still slightly annoyed with him for letting his issues bleed onto her. He had accepted fault though, so she forgave him. She would also be more careful with his feelings from now on. It was a slip-up on her part but she was still new to the whole being aware of others feelings thing.