Archive of Our Own

There was a pounding on her door as Jemma stared haplessly into her closet for the tenth time of the hour. “Jemma!” Skye called from the hallway with a groan. “Will you check my hair? I’m pretty sure I missed an entire section.”

Rolling her eyes, Jemma abandoned her sartorial quest and opened the door for her roommate. “Let me see.”

Before Skye could even turn around to show her the back of her head, she just glared at Jemma, scoffing. “Are you still not dressed?”

“I’m having trouble finding something to wear,” Jemma said, pushing at Skye’s shoulder in an effort to get her to turn around.

“That’s why you should have gotten a new outfit, like me.” Skye used her curling iron to gesture to the white dress she was wearing, one that clung to her in a way that would disabuse anyone of notions that white was a color of purity.

Jemma made a noncommittal noise before finally spinning Skye around so she could see the back of her head. “Yeah, you missed a few spots. Come on, I’ll fix it.” She led Skye into her bathroom and they plugged the curling iron into the wall.

While the wand was heating up, Skye pushed past Jemma back into her room, throwing open the doors to her walk in closet. “I thought you wanted to wear the blue one, the one you wore to that thing a few months ago?”

Shrugging, Jemma sighed. “I don’t know. I put it on and it didn’t feel right. You know I don’t really want to go to this thing.”

“Must I remind you of that time I went to the science conference thing with you? And that was an entire weekend!”

“You stayed in the hotel room and ordered room service! And a massage! That was paid for by work!”

Waving away Jemma’s very legitimate arguments, Skye focused again on the racks of Jemma’s closet. “What about this yellow one?” she said, pulling out a dress Jemma had purchased for a spring cocktail fundraiser. “Yellow is your happy color.”

When Jemma just wrinkled her nose, Skye nodded. “Yeah, yeah, okay, not yellow.” She went back to searching and Jemma was about to remind her about her hair when Skye made a high-pitched noise of discovery. “I forgot you had this!” she cried, pulling out a small red number that Jemma kept in the far back of her closet for a reason. “It still has the tags on it.” She waved the small pieces of cardboard in Jemma’s face, then gasped when she caught sight of the price. “Dear God, I hope you got this on sale.”

“It was an impulse purchase,” Jemma said, tearing the dress out of Skye’s grip. It had caught her eye in the store and some saleswoman (who had been remarkably good at her job and undoubtedly deserved whatever commission she had received) convinced her she had looked fantastic in it when she had tried it on. She hadn’t come to fully regret buying it until after the 30 day return policy had expired.

Nodding as if a decision had somehow been made, Skye said, “You’re wearing it.”

“I am not!”

“You’re wearing it,” Skye said, pushing past her and into the bathroom. “Now come fix my hair.”

Jemma left the dress spread out over her bed, careful not to let it wrinkle. “I’m honestly not sure why I have to go at all. I find the whole idea of a charity date auction to be rather awful.”

“Oh, come on, it’ll be fun. Judging lots of rich people, watching them spend money on hot men, open bar.” She winked at her in the bathroom mirror as Jemma started curling the parts of Skye’s hair that she had missed. “And it’s for charity! Who knows, you might even win yourself a date with a hot piece of ass.”

Groaning, Jemma said, “I do not want to win myself a date with—! You’re going to bid on your boyfriend!”

“Yeah,” Skye said, smirking. “But for charity. Look, I know that not everyone can date a famous, heroic Navy Seal. But that’s because everyone’s not as awesome as me.” When Jemma continued to pout, Skye sighed. “Look, it was really hard for Trip to be able to get us on the list. Apparently biochemist and tech support at S.H.I.E.L.D. does not usually qualify as Tony Stark Charity Gala guest list material. And you’re always saying how you want to be more philanthropic.” When Jemma said nothing, Skye elbowed her lightly and smiled. “Did I mention the open bar?”

Jemma finished Skye’s hair in silence, giving her a kiss on the cheek when she was done. “There. Now you look perfect.

As Jemma unplugged the curling iron from the wall, Skye turned around to look at her, an uncharacteristically serious look on her face. “Trip wants me to move in with him.”

Her jaw dropped and it took her a second before she could think to hug her friend. “Skye, that’s great!”

“I mean, he hasn’t explicitly said anything, but there’s been definite hints. Apparently, he got invited to do this whole charity date auction thing while talking to Tony Stark about a really great private sector job, which means no more not knowing where my boyfriend is all the time thing. Talked about maybe buying a house and if we should start asking around about realtors, emphasis on the ‘we.’”

“That’s amazing, Skye,” Jemma said, squeezing her friend’s shoulder. “I’m so happy for you, Trip really is a great guy.”

Skye’s eyes were starry with love as she said, “I know, he’s really ridiculously awesome. But I don’t want to go anywhere with him unless I know you’ll be okay.”

“Oh, Skye, I’ll be fine. Coulson’s been talking to me about becoming head of my part of the science division and while I know it’ll be a lot of work and responsibility, it’ll also mean a big raise, so I should more than be able to afford this place by myself.”

Shaking her head, Skye said, “That’s not what I meant. I don’t want you to be alone all the time. What will you do without me here to keep you company?”

Jemma chewed her bottom lip in frustration. “You’re not the only person I hang out with. I see Bobbi a lot!”

“Do you even know what country Bobbi’s in right now?”

It was possibly some country in South America. “And then there’s people at work, I talk to them. Like. Like Hunter. Sometimes we chat about football!”

Snorting loudly, Skye said, “If the only other person you can think of is Hunter, we have more problems than I thought.” She hugged Jemma tightly. “Look, I just thought that maybe you could go to this party and meet some people that don’t work for you in a lab and maybe one of those people could even be a cute boy.”

“Skye, you cannot choose not to move in with Trip just because I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“I’m not, I promise.” She picked up a pair of scissors off Jemma’s desk and swiftly cut the tags from the red dress. “I just want to know you’ll still have a life outside of work when I’m not around to make sure you still have a life. Get out there and be willing to meet some people who don’t have to go to the same awkward company holiday party as you do. You don’t have to bid on a date, just talk to some of the tons of people that are going to be there tonight. I mean, c’mon, Jemma, open bar.” Skye smoothed out some invisible wrinkles from the fabric. “You’re wearing the dress.”

------

Jemma wore the dress. Almost immediately, she remembered why she had regretted buying it in the first place. The hemline was several inches above where she usually felt comfortable—knee length and below was classy, not matronly, no matter what Skye liked to say—and the neckline was significantly lower than she tended to wear. Skye had even insisted that she wear one of her necklaces to draw attention to the area, because, in her words, “Your boobs are great, why the hell not show them off?”

As Trip had promised, their names had been on the list at the door and the party was already in full swing when they arrived. People who probably didn’t have to finagle an invitation were standing around, talking and drinking, there was light music playing and even some people dancing on the designated floor in front of the stage where the band would eventually step aside so the date auction would take place. Before Jemma could even take it all in, Skye had secured them each a glass of champagne. “Cheers,” she said, tapping her flute against Jemma’s. “To being the two hottest girls here tonight.”

Smiling despite herself, Jemma shifted in her heels and took a long drink of her champagne. “You do look beautiful, Skye.”

“And whoever you decide to bid on tonight is going to be thrilled they’re getting such a knockout.” She flipped through the program that they had received at the door. “Blah blah charity stuff, blah blah this is where your money is going, ooh, the men!” As Jemma giggled, Skye held up the glossy page for her to see. “Look at Trip’s picture, damn he looks good.”

“Has Trip ever taken a bad picture? Or looked bad in anything in any way?”

Sighing happily, Skye said, “Nope. I live a blessed life.” She gave one last, longing look at Trip before scanning through the rest of the pictures. “Oh, Justin Hammer is in here, you know, of Hammer Industries? He’s kinda cute, in that young, techy, geek way you’re into sometimes. Not to mention I’m pretty sure he could buy you England if you ever get homesick.”

Making a face, Jemma said, “I’m not sure I can afford Justin Hammer. I’m not sure either of us can afford anyone here. What are you going to do if someone outbids you for Trip?”

“First of all, I will fight them. Second, Trip is actually paying for Trip.” At Jemma’s confused expression, Skye said, “He said for me to go all out and he’d repay me, but I can still get the tax credit for the donation.”

“Skye!”

“What?” She shrugged. “Technically this is a bachelor auction and he is only technically a bachelor in that I have not legally locked him down yet. Neither of us want him going out with some random society woman who is just gonna get all handsy. That would just force me to maybe have to hack into some bank accounts and drain some old WASP money and he’s not really supposed to allow me to do that. It’s easier this way.” At Jemma’s unconvinced expression, she said, “We agreed on a top dollar, it’ll be fine. But it’ll be even more fine when I get one of those giant piña coladas so I’ll be right back.”

She shoved the program in Jemma’s hand left open to Justin Hammer’s full page spread. Sighing to herself, she flipped around a bit, actually reading about the various charities that the money was going to go to. One of them was actually a program to encourage girls in STEM, sponsored by Jane Foster and Pepper Potts—at least if she did end up bidding, her money was going to go to something she actually cared about. Looking back at the profiles of the men in the back, she did have to admit it was a very nice picture of Trip. Maybe too nice—she bet that a bunch of these amorous and lonely women were going to bet their money on him and it was going to be much higher than either Skye or Trip had anticipated and she was going to have to deal with an angry roommate all night.

As she drank down the last of her champagne and put the empty glass on a passing tray, she tried to find something of interest. Jemma supposed she wouldn’t find a night talking to Dr. Bruce Banner about science anything other than endlessly fascinating, even though she didn’t think she’d want to date the man. And she had almost no chance to win a date with national hero Steve Rogers, but if she told Coulson she had tried, he’d probably be proud of her. Might win her some points for her promotion, her boss was really ridiculously easy sometimes. While she mused over her options, she turned to the last page and her breath caught in her throat.

Other than Hammer—who she was sure had paid for his full page—and Captain Rogers—who clearly got his full page by virtue of being Captain Rogers—the only other person to have a full page was him: Leo Fitz. It probably shouldn’t have been all that surprising. He was the rising star of Stark Industries, often rumored poised to take over for the man himself. Jemma felt her mouth go dry as she looked at his picture, the way the camera had captured the blueness of his eyes.

Perhaps Jemma should have realized that he was going to be there. It wasn’t that she thought about him a lot or anything, it just should have been obvious. And she had been reading about him just the other day. But really there was no need for her heart to be racing so much as she looked over his profile yet again.

“Hey, find something?” Skye said, suddenly appearing at her elbow with her drink in a margarita glass that looked to be about the size of a large measuring cup. She peered over Jemma’s shoulder. “Oh, he’s kinda cute! Hey, that’s that guy, right? The guy you’re always looking at.”

“I’m not always—” Jemma spluttered, feeling her face turning approximately the same color as her dress. “He is a scientist!”

“Don’t you have two copies of that magazine he’s on the cover of?”

Only because the Popular Science she had received for her subscription had had such shoddy binding, falling apart after only…only a few readings and rereadings. She had been forced to buy a replacement issue because the article had been so well-written and deserved to be kept with all of the other interviews of his she’d collected over the years—she was just a completionist. “He’s the same age as I am,” she said, ignoring the question. “He was a child prodigy in the UK as well. I’ve kept up with his work.”

“Boy Simmons!” Skye said, cheeks practically splitting in amusement. “Bid on him! You two can be super dorks together.”

“I’m sure he’ll be very popular,” Jemma said, shaking her head. “I mean, he’s young and absolutely brilliant and has an extremely respected position at Stark Industries and he’s really quite well put together, physically, his eyes are so…” She trailed off, realizing she had gone a bit too far in her rambling.

Skye raised an eyebrow at her. “Uh huh. You brought your checkbook?”

She nodded meekly. “Yes.”

“Good.” Skye handed her the drink and Jemma took a large gulp. This was the kind of night the needed at least a little bit of rum.

It was another forty-five minutes before the auction started and with the encouragement of Skye and her good friend alcohol, Jemma did manage to mingle a little bit. She had a rather fascinating conversation with a couple of techs from Hammer and Stark, as well as a geologist that had just returned from a stint in Iceland, a country she had always meant to visit in between getting two PhDs and getting locked into her career.

She was almost disappointed when Tony Stark came out to a round of cheers, except, well, it was Tony Stark and it was rather exciting to see him. She hadn’t expected him to emcee his own event, but seeing him in action, it actually was the perfect fit and he was clearly a hit with the crowd. Justin Hammer was one of the first contenders of the night, and, as Jemma had suspected, was a crowd favorite, eventually going for a number that she suspected could be used for a hefty down payment on an apartment on the Upper East Side. “Don’t worry,” Skye whispered in her ear, chewing on the pineapple that had come with her drink. “Your geek is a lot cuter.”

Jemma just looked at the program again, trying to figure out if the men on the stage were being presented in the same order as they were in the book: they were. She let out a long breath and forced a smile at Skye, hoping that someone would come around again with some champagne. She could really use another drink.

When Trip came out, looking dashing in his traditional black tux, Skye let out a piercing whistle. Jemma couldn’t help but clap along with her and the rest of the crowd. She was awfully happy for her friend. “Now, here,” Stark said, looking appreciatively at Trip. “Here we’ve got a man, ladies.”

“Damn right,” Skye murmured, wagging her eyebrows at Jemma.

Unfortunately, as Jemma suspected, the bidding took off and took off fast. Before it seemed like Skye could even understand what was happening, the number began climbing higher and higher and she stared on in absolute horror. “Who has this kind of money?” she said, voice strangled with loathing. “When I lived in a van?!” Jemma rubbed her back soothingly and on stage, Trip searched the crowd for Skye, sending her an apologetic smile.

Eventually, the bidding settled at a number that was still closer to a GDP than something either Skye or Jemma could afford and Stark slapped Trip on the back to congratulate him. As Stark invited the winner up to the stage, Skye made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat. “I’m getting another drink!” she said, storming away.

Jemma tapped her foot anxiously against the floor as more and more dates were auctioned off, hardly paying any attention to who was up there for what reason. It was only when Tony Stark put the microphone up close to his lips and said, “Okay, this is your last chance and, oh, is it a good chance” did her attention snap back to the stage.

Leo Fitz tugged nervously on the dark blue bowtie of his tuxedo as he walked on to the stage, wincing at the brightness of the houselights. She’d never seen him in formalwear before—she’d never seen him in person before—and the entire situation was making her a bit breathless. “If you read the company newsletters or ever ask who keeps making the fire alarms go off, you know who this guy is!” Tony said, clapping Fitz on the back.

Fitz glared at him, then shook his head with a sigh. Jemma couldn’t help but grin, finding herself unable to listen to the rest of Stark’s intro as she took in everything about Fitz. Even from her distance in the audience, she could see how blue his eye were. His hands were in his pocket and he was subtly rocking back on his heels, lips pressed together in embarrassment. He seemed to want to be there just as much as Jemma had originally wanted to come and she couldn’t help but feel bad for him. Really, it would just be cruel of her to leave him to the masses, to someone who wanted to do anything more than just talk…about science…

The bidding luckily didn’t skyrocket like it had for Trip and after the fourth bid, Jemma got enough courage to bid herself. She tried not to pay too terribly much attention to how much money she was promising, telling herself over and over that it was for charity, and a good cause that she believed in, and she would have an excellent tax write off. When she took the lead, his eyes sought her out from the stage and she could see the dread in the stiff lines of his shoulders. As he looked at her, he blinked a few times, a look of bemusement on his face. Then almost too quickly for her to follow, his jaw dropped and his face turned into a mask of surprise and something else that she couldn’t decipher.

Twisting her hand nervously in her necklace, she wondered if she should stop. This was silly, wasn’t it? Bidding on someone she didn’t even know, trying to win time to talk to a man she only knew from secondhand information, someone who was surely far different than she’d always imagined him in her head. But then a woman across the room outbid her and he didn’t look away, his penetratingly blue eyes locked on her and she raised her hand immediately to pledge her money.

Somehow, before she knew it, the other women had bowed out and Tony Stark was pointing at her and announcing her the winner. “Holy shit, Jemma,” Skye said from where she was standing at her elbow. Trip was there too, giving her a brilliant smile. She hadn’t even noticed them approach. “Do you know how much you just—?”

“Don’t even say it,” she begged, closing her eyes and feeling rather foolish about her impulsiveness. She blamed the dress. It seemed to have that effect on her. “I have to…to go.” Squeezing her clutch tightly, she approached the stage just as Fitz was coming down the side, hoping her embarrassment wasn’t as obvious to him as it was to her. Taking a deep breath, she offered him her hand. “Hi, I’m—”

“Jemma Simmons,” he said immediately, shaking her hand. His palm was large and warm, his fingers long. Not that she noticed. “It’s nice to meet you.”

It took her a second to get over the shock of not having to introduce herself. “You know who I am?”

“Yeah, of course,” he said, giving her a shy smile. He ducked his head a bit in what was obviously nerves, but his gaze never left her face, staring at her as intensely as he had on stage. “I mean, I almost didn’t recognize you, but…” He finally let go of her hand and it tingled from the absence of his touch. “You published that paper on the effects of neurotoxins a few months ago that was just brilliant, completely changed the way I was approaching one of the projects I was working on. Tony got pissed because it ended up taking an extra couple of weeks, but it ended up being much better in the long run. So, uh, thanks for that.”

Jemma opened and closed her mouth several times, probably looking absolutely ridiculous. “Thank you,” she said finally, trying to shake herself out of her stupor. “For reading my paper. And for saying that. I didn’t know that biochem was required reading for Stark Industries R&D department.”

He shrugged, adjusting his necktie again and up close she could see that it made his eyes look even more vivid. “Uh, I mean, it’s not, but I’ve always liked reading your work and clearly it was a good idea since it helped.”

Warmth erupted in her chest and she beamed at him. “I’ve been following your work for a long time too and it’s always been extraordinarily impressive.”

“Yeah?” His eyebrows shot up in surprise, but he looked pleased. “I mean, haven’t really been publishing much since I started working for Tony.”

“You did this presentation, I only got to hear about it secondhand because I couldn’t go, but I read the paper, from a conference in Sacramento—”

His jaw dropped and he stuttered as he said, “That, uh, that was when I was at MIT.”

She could feel her face grow warm as she nodded. “Right, well, like I said, following your work for a long time.”

Jemma couldn’t quite puzzle out the way he was looking at her, but she suddenly felt a bit lightheaded and she knew it wasn’t from the two glasses of champagne she had. “I guess it’s about time we got to meet then,” he said and smiled at her. Jemma nodded and smiled back, unconsciously licking her lips.

A loud, boisterous voice was calling his name from across the room and he rolled his eyes. “That’ll be Tony,” he said with a groan. “Duty calls, I’m sure.” He bit his bottom lip and she sucked in a sharp breath. “I’ll come find you though, after he finally lets me go?”

“Please,” she said, then blushed. “I mean, we should probably…exchange contact information at least.”

“Yeah, definitely.” Fitz looked like he wanted to say something or do something as he searched her face, but eventually just took a step back and said, “I’m glad I finally got to meet you, Dr. Simmons.”

She shook her head quickly. “Oh, please, just…just, Jemma.”

“Jemma.” He said her name softly, almost a whisper. “I’ll find you later, Jemma.”

After giving him a small wave, she watched him until he was out of sight. Her heart was beating at an abnormally fast rate and she couldn’t quite catch her breath. Eventually, she realized she was just standing in one spot, staring at nothing, and she got ahold of herself to wander until she found Skye and Trip who were sitting at one of the high bar tables, eating from the buffet.

Immediately, Skye grinned at her and offered her a cocktail shrimp, which Jemma declined. “So? How’d it go with you and mini-Stark?”

“He was nice,” Jemma said; she winced at how breathy her voice sounded, knowing instantly that Skye would catch on to it.

“’Nice?’ You look like Ryan Gosling just proposed to you!”

Deciding that ignoring her roommate was the best way to go about this, she gave Trip a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry someone else won the date with you.”

“No, no, no,” Skye said, grabbing Jemma’s arm so she would look back over at her. “We are not done here! What happened? What did you talk about?”

“We didn’t get much of a chance to talk,” Jemma said, stealing one of Skye’s stuffed mushroom caps. “He just said that he liked my work and I complimented his work, it was very professional.”

Skye’s jaw dropped. “Hold up. He knew you? Like, who you are as a scientist? Isn’t that like your number one turn on?” When Jemma glared at her, Skye said, “Seriously, that’s huge that he knows you. Who was the last guy you dated who could do more than pretend to understand what you were even talking about? And those were guys you dated from work.”

Shrugging, Jemma said, “Well, Dr. Fitz is brilliant, I have no trouble imagining he could understand my papers, they’re hardly written at the highest level possible, you have to dumb it down a bit for publication. Even if I hadn’t, a mind as great as his would have no problem understanding a field even so entirely outside his own and…” She trailed off as Skye grinned widely as her. “What?”

Skye just shook her head, then reached across the table for Trip’s beer, taking a long gulp. “Your kids are going to be so smart.”

-----

The next Friday, Jemma came home with a shopping bag draped over her arm, relieved to see Skye sprawled out on the couch. “So,” Skye called before Jemma had even fully stepped over the threshold of the apartment. “Apparently, Trip’s date was not a huge disaster! The woman who bid on him was like, a friend of his grandpa’s and was trying to save him from all the women in the crowd who she thought were up to no good. Obviously, I am up to no good most of the time, but Trip explained that I was bidding because I’m his girlfriend and they had a good laugh and then they had lunch and talked about his grandpa and all their old friends and it’s all good.” At this point, she took a breath and sat up, watching Jemma closely. “Whatcha got there?”

Blushing despite herself, Jemma muttered, “A dress.”

“A dress for your date with the hot doctor tonight?”

“He’s an engineer, not a medical doctor.”

“But if you called him ‘doctor’ in bed, you would not technically be wrong, right?”

Deciding not to dignify that with a response, Jemma set her purse down at the kitchen table, and then unzipped the garment bag, holding up the small black dress for Skye to see. “Well?”

“Holy crap,” Skye said, jumping off the couch and running over. She took the fabric in her hands, holding it out for a better look. “You’re going to have sex with him.”

Jemma gasped and tugged the dress out of her hands. “Skye!”

“This is the dress equivalent of bedroom eyes. It should come with a warning label.” She shook her head slowly. “You are going to seduce that poor doctor and he is not going to see it coming.”

“Stop saying that!”

“Uh uh, no, you are not denying this. That is a sex dress, Jemma.”

Huffing in indignation, Jemma pushed past her and down the hall to her bedroom, though Skye was close behind her. “I was just trying to look nice.”

“And you will,” Skye insisted, not letting Jemma slam the door behind her. “What makes me curious is why you went out and bought a whole new dress for this guy when you would barely get dressed to go to the charity auction in the first place.”

After carefully hanging the dress up in her closet so it wouldn’t get wrinkled, Jemma turned to face Skye with her hands on her hips. “I want to make a nice impression is all. He’s a nice man, a well-respected scientist, a peer within the community that I work.”

Rolling her eyes, Skye said, “Yeah, I’m sure you would have bought that exact same dress for a date with Bruce Banner.”

Jemma opened her jewelry box and searched through the contents for something to go with the dress for the night; the fact that it was something to do where she would not have to look at her roommate was a distinct bonus. “Perhaps, when I was younger, I did have a slight crush on Dr. Fitz.”

“Ha!”

“He was the only boy my age who was even close to my aptitude!” Jemma said over her shoulder. “We never got a chance to meet because he was in Scotland and then America and our conferences never lined up, but I was always fascinated that there was another person out there who was like me because even among other geniuses, I was…I was always different. And there was no one else around for me to have an appropriate school-aged crush on.” She placed a delicate gold necklace out on her dresser. “Now I’m just interested in getting to know him as a person, rather than someone I always used to imagine knowing.”

Nodding understandingly, Skye spun Jemma around to hug her, resting her head against hers. “I’ve always thought of sex as a great way of getting to know someone.”

Scoffing loudly, Jemma couldn’t help but laugh as she pushed Skye away. “I’m going to take a shower!”

Her hair was wet when she came out, but she felt refreshed and clean and ready to ignore the nervous butterflies in her stomach. As she perched on the corner of her bed to better towel dry her hair, she heard a knock on the door. “Yes?”

“Soooo…I cut the tags out of your new dress so you can’t return it and you have to wear it tonight,” Skye said quickly. Jemma’s jaw dropped and she looked over at her dress which, yes, was now tag free. “And Trip has an important meeting tomorrow, but I already called him and let him know I was staying over there tonight so you can have the apartment to yourself! Let me know if you need any help with your hair and makeup, and I want to see you in your dress as soon as you put it on. Okay, love you, bye!”

Shaking her head in disbelief, Jemma got up and checked the dress. Really, she did like it quite a bit, even if it was slightly more risqué than her usual choices. But he had seen her in the red number—her usual attire might not make as good of an impression, even if she wasn’t trying to make an impression. Dr. Fitz hadn’t given her any indication of where they were going tonight and with the proper jacket, it would be good almost anywhere except perhaps a sporting event, but he didn’t seem the type to drag her to a football match. Skye really had been just trying to help.

She blew out her hair and put on her makeup and slipped into the dress. Looking at herself in the full length mirror in her bedroom, she was even more pleased than she had been in the changing room. As a peace offering, she lifted up the necklace she had set on the dresser and walked out into the living room with it. “Would you help me put this on?”

Skye gasped when she saw her. “Oh, you look so pretty.” She helped clasp the necklace behind Jemma’s neck and said, “You should leave your hair down, I like it down. He’s already seen you with your hair up.” Then Skye disappeared to her bedroom for a moment, reappearing only to toss Jemma a full box of condoms. Jemma was both dismayed and properly shocked because she would never have believed her roommate even owned an unopened box of condoms. “You’re going to need those more than I will.”

After Skye left for Trip’s place, there was an uncomfortable half hour where all Jemma could do was wait and second guess her shoe choice for the tenth time. She was about to maybe try the green pumps again when there was a knock at the door. Squeaking in surprise, Jemma slipped into the gold heels Skye had picked out for her, picked up her purse, and hurried to the front door.

She double checked her hair in the mirror next to the entryway, then peeked through the peephole before she opened the door. “Hello,” she said lightly. Her heart was beating quickly as she stared at him—he was wearing a simple pair of trousers with a jumper over a button down and a tie, nothing nearly as fancy as the charity gala, but it seemed to suit him far better. The material of the jumper looked incredibly soft and she couldn’t help but want to run her hands over it.

It took Fitz a moment to respond; his jaw had dropped as soon as he saw her and he stared at her with large eyes. “Um, yeah, hi,” he said, clearing his throat. “You look…wow.”

Tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, she smiled shyly. “Thank you. You look great too, Dr. Fitz.”

“Oh, god, don’t.” He made a face, shaking his head. “Please, just Fitz.” He looked her over again, licking his lips absentmindedly, before he said, “Uh, so, did you have anything planned for where you wanted to go, what you wanted to do? Technically, I think you’re in charge here.”

Jemma hadn’t actually even considered that and she blushed, not used to being caught so unprepared. “Oh, well, I didn’t have anything in mind. Is there anything you’d particularly like to do?”

Settling his hands on his hips, he said, “There’s this one place I go to a lot, it’s one of my favorite places in the city. I think you’d really like it too. It’s over in midtown. We’ll be a bit overdressed, but if you don’t mind that…”

“Sounds great,” Jemma assured him. She grabbed a white cardigan that was hanging on a hook next to the door, hoping to dress down her outfit a bit, then stepped out into the hallway next to him to lock the door. He put his hand on her back as they walked towards the elevator and she couldn’t suppress a shiver; she hoped he hadn’t noticed.

The place he had been talking about was actually a small hole in the wall restaurant called The Fox and the Hound which proudly waved the British flag outside. Jemma raised an amused eyebrow at him as he went to open the door for her. “It’s worth it, I promise,” he said.

Inside, the place reminded her of any old pub back home. There was a large bar and she could see some European ales on tap; several TVs were showing a variety of football matches; all around people were wearing Manchester colors. Jemma laughed in amazement. “Oh, I love it.”

Next to her, Fitz sighed in relief. “Come on.” He took her hand and led her over to a booth, waiting until she slipped into one side before he did the same on the other.

“Wouldn’t have taken you for a big footie fan,” she said casually, picking up one of the menus stacked at the edge of the table, smirking at him from over the top.

“Not at all, actually,” he said, drumming his fingers on the tabletop. “Rugby was actually more popular in the neighborhood I grew up in. You like football?”

“Couldn’t tell you a thing about it.” She laughed and he leaned back in his seat, clearly at ease. “I skipped all those years of compulsory athleticism. There’s a guy at work from London and I try to chat with him about it sometimes, he’s the only one who’s somewhat from home. He always gets upset when I mix up Manchester and Chelsea. Sometimes I do it just to annoy him.”

He chuckled. “Sounds dangerous. I’ve known some Chelsea guys, not sure I’d want to actively piss them off.”

“He knows I work with the highly toxic chemicals.” She clucked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. “And I’m friends with his ex-wife.”

Fitz looked suitably impressed. “Well, I come here because this is the only place in the entire city where the food actually tastes like home. Especially the fish and chips. Just as good as anything I had back in Glasgow.”

She bit her lip to hide her excitement. “Yeah? I can’t tell you how long I’ve been wanting some good fish and chips, it’s been ages since I’ve been home. I’m not going to be disappointed, am I?”

Leaning on the table, he looked her dead in the eye. “I have been wrong about a lot of things in my life, but I would never steer someone wrong about fish and chips. There are some promises you just don’t go back on.”

Jemma wondered if her cheeks were going to start hurting because she wasn’t sure she had stopped smiling since he’d shown up at her door. Closing the menu, she set it down on the table and folded her hands on top of it. “Then I guess I’ll just have to trust you.”

When the waitress came to their table, they both ordered the fish and chips as well as a couple of pints. Jemma crossed her legs under the able, then leaned back against the cushioning of the booth, regarding Fitz carefully. “Do you ever get homesick?” Instantly, she regretted the question, wondering if it was too intimate for someone she technically barely knew. “I mean, for Glasgow, considering you come here a lot. Or is it just the food?”

“No, I do sometimes,” he said with a shake of his head. “Not as much as when I was in school. It was so expensive to fly back and forth from Boston to Glasgow for every holiday or even summer terms when I was expected to still take classes or do research or work on papers that paying all that money to go home for a week seemed fairly exorbitant. It’s better now. Tony doesn’t give me a whole lot of time off, claims that the whole department would fall apart because it’s not like he’s going to keep an eye on it. Pepper’s great though, gave me almost a whole month off last year after we finished a big project. And my mum’s supposed to come over next month and visit for a bit.” His ears turned red and he rubbed the back of his head. “Sorry, that was probably more information than you were looking for.”

She had been so enraptured by what he had been saying that she hadn’t even noticed how much he was talking. “No, it’s…I understand. I’m constantly swamped at work, had to miss two Christmases in a row. And my mum’s a doctor, so it’s not easy for my parents to pick up and come over here. I know what it’s like to miss my family. But at least I got to do my studies over there.”

“Cambridge must have been amazing,” Fitz said, then nodded an acknowledgment at the waitress as she placed their drinks in front of them.

Jemma nodded eagerly. “Oh, it really was. You know, as a young girl, I always thought I’d go to Oxford, I think everyone thinks they’ll go to Oxford, but Cambridge is actually better ranked for the natural sciences and obviously that’s where my passions lie. And both schools are only two and a half hours away from home by car. I’m not sure I would have been nearly quite so brave as you to go all the way to America.”

Fitz shrugged, taking a long pull of his beer. “MIT was always the dream. I never thought I’d be able to get in, let alone get a scholarship, but there it was and…you know, how could I say no? Mum pretty much said if I didn’t go, she’d drag me to America herself and leave me there.”

She could imagine a motherly version of Fitz, all curly hair and blue eyes, tugging a much younger version of the man in front of her by his ear through Logan International Airport; the idea made her beam. “Well, she was right to do so. Gosh, she must be so proud of you. Your doctorate at MIT, your job at Stark Industries. Not that she shouldn’t have been proud before that, I read all of the papers that you did at MIT, they were fantastic.”

The blush that crept up the back of his neck was fairly visible, but she chose to ignore it, watching instead the way his fingers outlined the rim of his pint. “When I got my first Christmas bonus, which was really more money than any one person should reasonably have as a bonus, I sent it to her to help her buy a house,” he whispered, avoiding her gaze. “We’d never had one before, just some crappy tenements. Wanted to thank her for giving me up to live alone all those years to let me pursue my dreams.”

A lump rose in Jemma’s throat as she stared at him and without thinking about whether or not it would be too forward, she reached over and took his free hand, squeezing it gently. “I’m sure she’s beyond grateful, but most of all thankful that you’ve been able to do something that makes you happy.”

Fitz stared at her, brow furrowed and mouth hanging open a bit, as he seemed to search for words. Before he could say anything, their waitress brought over their food, placing a large basket of fish and chips in front of both of them. “I, uh, really want to know what you think of these,” Fitz said as he sprinkled salt and vinegar over the top of his.

After squeezing a lemon on top of her fish, Jemma took a large bite; she couldn’t hold back a groan. “Oh god, this is amazing. It’s just like the chip shop back home in Sheffield.” Patting her mouth with a napkin, she said, “Oh, thank you so much.”

“Told you I wouldn’t let you down,” he said before digging in.

They ate in silence for a few minutes, both far too engrossed in the food in front of them. When she finally took a second from inhaling the food, she said, “So, I was curious as to how you ended up at Stark. I mean, I’ve heard the rumors, but I wasn’t sure if they were true or not.”

He smirked a bit, raising an eyebrow at her. “Oh, yeah? What’s the rumor?”

“That you wrote a paper breaking down all the components of one of Stark’s favorite toys and then wrote about all the ways that it could be done better. He found out about it and hired you instead of letting you release such a complete dressing down upon the world.”

Grinning, Fitz popped a chip in his mouth. “Well, there was an interview.”

Jemma gaped at him. “So it’s true then?”

Fitz drank down the last of his beer, then caught the waitress’ eye as he signaled for another. “I mean, essentially. Luckily, it hadn’t been something Tony had worked on himself, but something he had approved from the R&D department from when Obadiah had been in charge. From my point of view, thing was a piece of crap. There were so many ways to make it more efficient, use less energy, better materials, just all around a better product to put the Stark name on. I was gonna publish it, honestly, despite the fact that would have been a complete embarrassment to the company, it was good work on my part, but Tony had a lot of friends at MIT still and he received a draft of the paper—not even sure who sent it to him, he’s never told me—and he invited me to lunch and offered me a job by the time our entrees arrived. ‘Course, the job includes a confidentiality clause, which meant not publishing that paper or anything else about what I do there.”

“Do you ever feel like he hired you for your silence?”

Taking a bite of his fish, Fitz said, “I wondered at first. They stuck me in a pretty back office, had me working on revamping that product line I had written about. Was wondering if they had me on payroll just to keep me quiet. But within a few months, I got a promotion and they put me right in the middle of R&D, so if they did have me on for that reason, they changed their minds pretty quick.”

She grinned as she wiped her hands on her napkin. “That’s great, Fitz. I mean, I can’t say I wasn’t a bit disappointed when I heard you had gone into private sector. I always looked forward to reading your work and I had been looking forward to maybe meeting you at that tech event in Charlotte.”

Wincing, he said, “Yeah, had to drop out of that, apparently Charlotte is not that important to our marketing team.”

“Pity,” she murmured under her breath, then chugged the last bit of her beer.

When they had finished eating and the waitress had dropped off the check, Fitz instantly shooed her away as she went to pull out her wallet. “I just told you about how Tony Stark recruited me to work at his Fortune 500 Company, I’m not lettin’ you pay,” Fitz said, scoffing. “I think you’ve paid far too much for this night already.”

Jemma could feel her cheeks turning beet red. “You shouldn’t have to pay for something you were forced to go on.”

His credit card fell out of his hand as he stared at her, and he quickly fished it out of his empty chips basket. “What are you talking about?”

“I mean, I know it was for charity, but it was sort of obvious that Mr. Stark was quite influential in your decision to participate in the auction.” Twisting a lock of hair around her finger, she attempted to smile at him. “You’ve been very indulgent of all of my questions tonight, I appreciate it.”

Slowly, he set his credit card on top of the check and slid it to the end of the table. “Jemma, I…Yeah, Tony didn’t give me a choice about being in the auction, he has weird demands sometimes. But you bidding on me was easily the best thing that could have happened. There have been a lot of people I have been forced to spend time with for work, but this is not one of those situations.” Leaning back against the booth, he shook his head. “You know I have every article you’ve ever written, right?”

She cringed with a laugh. “Oh, god, some of those early ones must be just awful.”

“They’re not,” he insisted. “Everything you’ve ever done has been brilliant. You’re amazing. And I was really so pleased at how that auction turned out, Tony was telling me about all of the wives of the shareholders who thought I was all adorable and trying to psych me out and how he had told all of Pepper’s friends who I try to avoid all the time and—whatever. But then I saw that it was you and…” He stared at a point over her head before looking back down and meeting her eyes. “I would have come out with you tonight even if you hadn’t won.”

The admission hit her hard in the chest and for a moment she could only stare at him, breathless. “Oh.” He crossed his arms over the table, but before he could fully retreat from her she grabbed his hand, trying to ignore the way her pulse pounded in her ears at the feeling of his warm palm. “It’s still rather early. Do you have any other secret spots in the city or do I have to pay another exorbitant amount of money to find out?”

Smiling slowly, he shrugged. “Depends. Do you like frozen yogurt?”

The frozen yogurt shop was only a block away; apparently it was Pepper Potts’ favorite and crucial to go into any meeting with the Stark CEO armed with a pint of the cheesecake flavor. It was self-serve and they grabbed a few spoons, trying out the different flavors. “Sweet potato?” he whispered to her, nodding to one of the machines.

Giggling to him as he swirled some on to his spoon, she said, “That sounds absolutely terrible.”

“Yeah, no, it is,” he said, gagging a bit as he swallowed down the bite.

Though she felt a bit dull, Jemma decided to go with a classic chocolate/vanilla mix before adding her toppings on, a couple of gummy bears, some strawberries, white chocolate chips, a bit of fudge because she was feeling indulgent. When she looked at Fitz’s cup, it was full of cookie dough, Oreo pieces, and she was vaguely sure every piece of candy that was offered before he loaded it up with marshmallow fluff. “Do you even have ice cream under there?”

Licking his spoon and winking at her, he said, “I’m sure I’ll find it eventually.”

As he paid for the frozen yogurt, she shook her head. “So I guess this is the part where you tell me you’re not diabetic.”

“This is the part where you tell me about you,” Fitz said as he held the door open for her. It was a nice night out as they started walking back to her apartment and she was grateful for the distance to be with him even though she knew her feet would be protesting tomorrow.

 “I’m not sure how much there is to tell,” Jemma admitted.

“C’mon,” he said, nudging her gently with his elbow. “You know basically my life story.”

Biting her bottom lip softly, she said, “Grew up in Sheffield, but I think you knew that. No siblings, just my mum and dad. Mum’s a doctor, Dad teaches science so I’ve always come by my attraction to the field honestly. Went to Cambridge, got my PhDs, which you also knew. Was recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D. not long after.” She shrugged enigmatically. “Everything after that is classified, I’m afraid.”

Fitz laughed and nodded. “Oh, alright, is that how we’re gonna play it?”

She grinned and stole a bite of his ice cream. “Alright, alright. I live with my best friend, Skye. She works at S.H.I.E.L.D. too, different department, she has absolutely no idea what I’m saying almost all of the time when I talk about work. Sometimes it drives me crazy, but then she talks about what she does and I know she’s giving me the laymen’s, and then I know it’s probably frustrating for her too.”

Reaching into her cup with his spoon, Fitz scooped up a bit of her ice cream, then dipped it into his marshmallow fluff before holding it out to her as an offering. Her heart hammered in her chest as she opened her mouth to accept the bite. “How’d you end up at the charity auction?” he said, tapping his spoon against his mouth. “Doesn’t really seem like your type of deal, no offense. Unless you were spying on us for S.H.I.E.L.D.?”

Shaking her head with a laugh, she said, “No, no, I’d be the worst spy. Actually, Skye’s boyfriend is Antoine Triplett.” Fitz raised his eyebrows, clearly impressed. “Yeah, I know. He put us on the list so she could bid on him, though clearly she lost. Neither of us have that kind of money.”

“And you went along to just bid on some lucky guy?”

She tucked her hair behind her ears, then tossed her empty yogurt cup in the nearest trash bin. “Skye made me. Didn’t want to go alone. Apparently, staying home and watching Doctor Who on BBC America was not a solid alternative to a charity gala with an open bar.”

Fitz snorted and grinned at her. “Normally, I’d say your roommate was wrong, but…well, this charity event actually turned out good for once.” Clearing his throat, he said, “Um, would you mind…” Fitz took a deep breath, his hand suddenly swinging close enough to hers for their fingers to brush together. “Would you mind if…if I asked you a few questions about your last paper? It was really interesting, but it’s not my discipline and I’m not sure I got everything out of it that I could.”

“Not at all!” she said, beaming. “Ask away.”

When they reached her building, he insisted on walking her up to her door. As she put her key in the lock, Jemma was hyperaware of his presence, of the warmth of his body as he stood behind her. “Would you like to come in?” she found herself saying and she would have been mad at herself for not thinking that through except she really, really didn’t want him to leave.

Fitz seemed surprised but his smile was bright as he crossed the threshold into her space. She had been too nervous to notice it before, but apparently Skye had, for once in her adult life, actually straightened up a bit. The throw blanket on the couch was actually folded, the mail was in the box that was actually meant for mail, there were no dirty dishes in the sink. There was, however, a bottle of wine that Jemma was pretty sure one of them had bought months ago for a work function they had never ended up attending and it was now sitting out on the counter with two wine glasses. She blushed furiously, wondering what Fitz must think of her.

If he noticed, he didn’t indicate so as he smiled at her. “Nice place,” he mused as he wandered in to the living room, looking at the extensive DVD collection (mostly Skye’s—those that she deemed worthy of purchase after acquiring them other ways), then their bookshelf (mostly hers—the ones that she didn’t feel the need to keep in her already cramped office at work, though Skye had a few paperbacks and miscellaneous other novels she had picked up over the years). Jemma’s blood ran cold as Fitz’s eyes flicked over to the coffee table. “Hey, you have my magazine,” he said as he picked up the issue of Popular Science. “You have two of my magazines?”

“My subscription issue shipped with a shoddy binding,” she said quickly. “And I was really interested in some of the articles.” Swallowing hard, she said, “I…I really wanted to read your article.” For the eighth time.

“I hate those things,” he said, putting it back down and rolling his eyes towards her. “Pepper keeps making me do them now because she says Obadiah rubs people wrong and when people interview Tony they expect him to say stupid things and they goad him on and it always ends badly. Apparently, I come off better, even though I think I sound like a right arsehole. My friend Mack says I come off like a total tool.”

“You don’t.” Jemma had read enough of them to know. “Really, I think you always sound very intelligent and self-aware.”

Rubbing the back of his head self-consciously, Fitz sighed. “I’m glad you think so. Don’t tell Pepper that though, okay? She might start getting really serious about this whole ‘new face of the company’ thing.”

“You’ve got a good face for it,” she said, then instantly snapped her mouth shut and closed her eyes, embarrassment washing over her like a wave. Clearly, living with Skye for so long was having a negative effect on her.

When she got the courage to look at him again, he was staring at the floor and she could just tell that she had made him horribly uncomfortable. Before she could open her mouth to apologize, he said, “I feel like I should tell you something. Do you remember when you were in Dallas? It was a while ago, you had just finished your initial research on dendrotoxin and were one of the key presenters at the biomedical conference that year.”

Frowning, she nodded. “That was right after I got my second PhD and came to the U.S.”

“I was there,” he said, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

Jemma was completely certain she would have remembered such a thing. “Biomedical isn’t your specialty. You should have already been with Stark by then—”

“Yeah, that’s all true. But one of my mentors at M.I.T. when I first started was Dr. Franklin Hall—”

“I know Dr. Hall, he was a guest lecturer when I was at Cambridge!”

Fitz nodded. “I know. Well, I hadn’t officially started working for Tony yet so Dr. Hall asked me if I would come see him in Dallas, he was the keynote speaker and he was also doing a presentation and I had helped on it. And he, uh, he wanted to introduce me to you, said he knew a lovely young British lady who had just moved to the States and could use someone to show her around. Obviously, he didn’t know that I was well aware of who you were by then, that I had been following your career since I even had an idea that there was someone like me from back home.”

Rubbing his neck anxiously, he said, “So I saw your presentation and you were…god, you were amazing as always. And Dr. Hall couldn’t be there because he was…I don’t even remember, keynote speaking or whatever, but he had told me to go on ahead and for me to give you his best wishes and introduce myself and I…I couldn’t.”

“You couldn’t?” she said, mouth drier than she could ever remember it being before.

“Jemma, you were so magnificent up there, and so smart, and…and beautiful,” he said, stumbling over the last word. “I had no idea what to even say to you. I already knew that you were just as smart as me, but seeing you in person was so much more than I could even handle. I didn’t want you to think I was dumb, I wanted to make a good first impression on you. But when I couldn’t think of anything smart enough to say, I didn’t say anything.” Rubbing his hands over his face, he groaned. “And you know Hall, he’s so scatterbrained half the time, I told him that I had introduced myself, but you were too busy to pay attention to me and he just accepted it—and well, that’s basically what I thought was going to happen anyway.”

“I saw him a few years ago,” Jemma said, voice barely more than a squeak. “He didn’t even mention it.”

His hands fell to his sides, face a picture of defeat. “I’m sorry, Jemma. I wish I had talked to you back then.”

“I wish you had too.” She shifted awkwardly in her heels, adjusting her weight from foot to foot. “What would you have said?” she couldn’t help but ask. “If you had talked to me?”

“Dunno. I’ve wondered that a lot.” Chuckling humorlessly, he said, “Might have at least gotten to ask you out for frozen yogurt ten years earlier.”

Jemma ducked her head as she smiled, then glanced over to the clock on the stove: 12:10. “I think our date now is actually supposed to be over,” she said lightly, clasping her hands behind her back. Technically, they had only agreed on Friday night for the charity auction, and it was now officially Saturday.

Fitz let out the breath he had been holding. “Yeah. Alright.” He smiled grimly at her. “I had a really nice time tonight, though, Jemma. I mean, if you’re ever interested in hanging out again or anything, you’ve got my number.” He came over to place a polite kiss on her cheek.

“Fitz,” she whispered, and before he could move too far away, she grabbed hold of his tie and pulled him in to kiss her. After an initial second of hesitation, Fitz kissed her back, hands gripping her hips through what she was realizing was the very thin material of her dress, warmth from his palms causing her to tremble. His lips moved over hers hungrily and she could tell he had been waiting to do this just as long as she had as she leaned up in her heels, arching her back as she twisted his tie in her grasp to bring him closer.

When he pulled away, leaning his cheek against hers and panting, she gasped for breath before saying, “I didn’t…didn’t want to kiss you while we were on the date for the auction.” She leaned back to stare into his eyes, her own gaze begging him to understand. “It just seemed wrong, I thought—”

“No, I get it,” he said. He moved his hands from her hips up to cup her face, then kissed her softly, reverently. “Jemma, I should have…I should have told you that you were beautiful and the most brilliant woman alive, far smarter than me, and that I would do anything to get to know you better.” His thumbs stroked over her cheekbones. “That’s what I should have said. God, I should have said anything.”

Well, goddammit. Surging up against him, Jemma wrapped her arm around his neck as she slotted her mouth against his, moaning softly as one of his hands buried itself in her hair. Without realizing it, she was walking backwards until her back was pressed up against the fridge, pinned by Fitz’s frame as her mouth sought to learn all of the secrets of his. The magnets holding up takeaway menus and reminders for Skye to pay the cable bill pressed into her spine, but Jemma couldn’t care less as his fingers played up and down the curve of her hip.

She let out a keening whine as his mouth moved to her neck, to the hollow of her throat, to her bare shoulders as her cardigan was pushed further and further down her arms. Each kiss sent shocks down her entire body. As her knees shook, she kicked off one heel, then the other, suddenly realizing just how tall he was compared to her short frame as her bare feet touched the hardwood. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she tried to ease the distance by pushing up onto her toes, but Fitz clearly had another idea.

He wrapped one arm low around her waist, picking her up and leaning her higher against the refrigerator. Not even caring how high it made her dress ride up, Jemma wrapped her legs around his hips, hissing as they pressed together through their layers of clothing. At that point, they were not kissing so much as staring at each other and panting, lips brushing only on occasion as Fitz tried desperately to hold her up. Every point of her body that touched him was tingling with pleasure and yearning to go further.

Knowing this could not last and wanting so much more of him, Jemma slowly extracted herself from his grip and took hold of his tie again, dragging him over to the kitchen table. It was hardly the sturdiest of tables—Skye had found it on the side of the road in Brooklyn and brought it home as a piece to DIY—but Fitz was an engineer; surely he could keep them from falling in ways that they had not intended. She hopped onto the edge, pulling him between her legs and he came willingly, hand cupping the side of her jaw so he could tilt her head into the kiss while she shrugged out of the sleeves of her cardigan.

When he realized her arms were bare, he stared into her eyes as he ran his fingers up and down her skin. Jemma was unable to suppress a shudder as she rolled her hips into his; she wanted those hands everywhere. As Fitz returned his mouth to her neck, mapping out her freckles with his tongue, she focused on his tie. While it was an extremely handy tool, it needed to come off now.

His jumper was just as soft as she had imagined it and she wondered what it would feel like against her bare skin. A larger part of her wondered what his bare skin would feel like against her bare skin and that part won out as she tugged on the material. Fitz laughed against her skin, pulling back just enough to get the jumper over his head. She rewarded him with a light nip of his Adam’s apple, then slotted her lips over his as his hands returned down to rest on her legs.

It was hard to concentrate on the way he sucked on her bottom lip—quite masterfully, actually—when his fingers were tracing the line of her calf, dipping under her knee to an erogenous zone that she had barely known existed until his touch. Frankly, there was nothing left to do at this point than to shakily undo the buttons of his shirt as she kissed him feverishly, stopping for breath after every couple or so. She had known that it would be hard to ever consider any man muscular ever again after having Trip walk around her house in a tank top for the better part of two years, but as she ran her hands over the planes and dips of Fitz’s chest and shoulders, she didn’t know how she could possibly think of anyone as more attractive than the man in front of her.

Suddenly, Fitz grabbed her hips and pulled her flush against him, grinding himself against her so she could feel how hard he was. Jemma gave a pitiful whimper that practically echoed in the silent apartment. She had waited ten years for this man; she honestly wasn’t sure how much longer she could hold out. Taking his jaw in her hand, she dragged his mouth down to hers, kissing him almost savagely as she bucked her hips against his. The skirt of her dress had ridden up so far at this point that it was practically a nonentity, but Fitz’s hands remained on the tops of her thighs, almost teasing with their stillness. Groaning, she licked from his throat up to his earlobe, pulling with her teeth before whispering, “It unzips in the back.”

Fitz was a genius; he didn’t need telling twice. His hands made quick work of the zipper of her dress and the bodice pooled around her hips. While his mouth discovered previously unexplored territory, lingering on the tops of her breasts bared by her bra, she reached for his trousers, unbuttoning and unzipping them as quickly as her shaking hands would allow. He was visibly hard through his boxer briefs and she ran her fingers over his bulge, causing him to hiss and curse against her skin.

When he looked up at her, his eyes were dark and his lips were kissed swollen and she was leaning in to kiss him again when he said, “Bedroom? Please, Jem.” He stared at her pleadingly, as if she would deny him the request at this point, as if she could physically deny herself something that she wanted so much: him.

Digging her fingers into his hair, she gently eased him down so she could kiss him slowly, deeply, before sliding off the edge of the table. He pushed the dress down off her hips before settling his hands at her back as she walked them towards the hallway; he stepped out of his pants and shoes as they went, leaving them long forgotten. His fingers found the back of her bra, unhooking it quicker than she had ever been able to do herself. She couldn’t wait to find out what those fingers could do to the rest of her.

When her bed was in sight, Fitz picked her up for the last few feet, closing the door behind them with his foot and laying her down as if she were a precious, breakable thing. The smile he gave her was almost heartbreakingly sincere, blinding her with his joy as he pushed her hair back from her face. “Jemma…I…”

“It’s okay,” she said, pressing her lips to the top of his shoulder. “I know. Me too.” Her blanket was cool beneath her, providing a stark contrast to her overheated skin as he ran his hands over her stomach, tracing the faint lines of her abdominals, the dip of her bellybutton, the curve of her hip. Her chest heaved as she panted, following his trail with her eyes.

As Fitz looked up at her, he licked his lips, then moved his mouth over her breasts. His tongue found the small mole on her left breast, licking in a circle from there around her areola before biting lightly on her nipple. Jemma sighed, tossing her head back onto her pillow as his tongue rasped against her delicate skin. She wasn’t expecting his hair to be so soft as she twisted her fingers through it, encouraging him with gentle tugs. He was alternating between tugging and licking at her hard nipple until he wrapped his mouth around her breast, sucking hard and causing her to arch up against his mouth. Squeezing her legs together against the sudden rush of arousal, she moaned out his name.

When he switched breasts, gently scraping his teeth over the skin of the second one, then sucking on the skin hard enough to mark her, she managed to open her eyes enough to look over at her bedside table. In a moment of amazing foresight and clarity, she had left the box of condoms there, within arm’s reach. Holding on to the back of Fitz’s neck with one hand, she snagged the box with the other, quickly ripping it open and grabbing one of the small foil packets.

Fitz looked up at the sound, her breast falling out of his mouth as he gaped at her. Jemma used this as an opportunity to lean down and kiss him, licking at the roof of his mouth as his arms came around her to hold her close, bare chests pressed together. Condom tucked into her palm, she rolled them over until he was on his back and she could lean over him, lips forging a new trail down his body. She wanted to explore every part of him. She wanted to learn what parts were ticklish and what parts would make him moan her name for hours. She wanted to sit aside and identify every bone and muscle with her hands and her mouth, revel in how perfect they were in him.

But there was too much need overwhelming her to cast it aside for indulgence. Still, she took some time in kissing his mouth and his chin and jaw and neck and collarbone, working her way down his chest and ribs and abdomen, only hesitating past there to use her tongue on the lines of his hips and pelvis, marking an X where her trail was to come to an end.

His chest was heaving as she reached for the elastic of his boxer briefs, but she only had to raise an eyebrow at him before he got the message. As he lifted his hips up from the bed, she pulled off his last article of clothing, leaving him completely bare before her. She stared at him breathlessly, overwhelmed by how turned on by him she was. His cock was red and hard against his stomach and she really, really couldn’t wait to get it in her mouth.

As Jemma wrapped her hand around his erection, Fitz whimpered, then cringed at his reaction. Unsure of how to make him feel less anxious about it, Jemma just said the first thing that came to mind. “Based on my visual and tactile estimation, you’re actually in the perfect range of both length and girth for female pleasure.”

“What?” he choked out, licking his lips.

She cleared her throat, staring at him closely. “While certainly knowledge and experience in bed is more important than size overall in estimation of whether one will have an enjoyable sexual experience, not to mention partner chemistry, there are actual documented reports that there are preferred lengths and girth for the average woman to best achieve pleasure during penetrative sexual intercourse without either lack of fulfillment or discomfort and it seems like you fall squarely within that range.” As Fitz stared at her, she tucked her hair behind her ears. “That said, I’m going to give you a blowjob now.”

He sucked in a large amount of air as she ripped open the condom and slid it over him. Deciding to just go for it, Jemma leaned down and wrapped her lips around the tip of his penis. His curse was loud and sudden and she held back a smile as she moved her mouth down over him slowly, taking him in inch by inch. Shooting her eyes up to him quickly, she could see the very image of a shattered man: his eyes were squeezed shut, head thrown back, hands twisted in her pillows. And she was just getting started.

Before she pulled her mouth back up, she ran her tongue along the underside of his shaft, trying to hit all of the most sensitive nerves. Fitz let out something between a gasp and a groan, as if he couldn’t take in enough air. Breathing in through her nose, Jemma moved back just as slowly, sucking hard as she went, hoping Fitz could feel it in every part of him. Once she had moved almost all of the way off of him, she used her tongue to tickle his slit. “Fuck, Jemma,” he said, and she could feel him holding back from bucking his hips into her mouth.

Placing her hands on his stomach, she began to bob her head up and down, taking him as far in as she could without risking choking. He filled her mouth in the most perfect way and she knew that she was only going to enjoy him that much more once she got him elsewhere. When his hand come to rest upon the back of her head, fingers digging into the waves of her hair, it only made her want to go faster, to wrench more groans from deep within his chest. “I’m not gonna last,” he said, sounding almost discouraged.

She eased her mouth off quickly, fixing him with a determined stare. “You’re not supposed to.” Instead of affixing her mouth to him again, she leaned down further to drag her tongue across his perineum. Even mixed with the latex, his taste was overwhelmingly erotic to her and she wondered if she could even blame it all on pheromones. Jemma sucked on him harder this time as she drew him into her mouth, bobbing her head faster, goading him towards his orgasm. She could practically feel his toes curling next to her and she rested one hand on his leg as to encourage him on. If she could bear to take him out, she would have told him that it was okay to lose control, that he could fuck her mouth if he wanted to, and she tried to convey that message with a gentle tap on his hip.

Fitz seemed to get the point and groaned, hips not finding a rhythm but not causing her to lose hers as he pushed up off the mattress. Within a minute he was cursing, eyes screwed shut, and she could feel him coming undone in her mouth. She hummed in contentment at his orgasm, hoping the gentle vibration would only heighten it.

Finally, he pushed her head away tenderly, standing shakily to dispose of the condom. Jemma lay across the bed, feeling mighty pleased with herself until he suddenly joined her again, jumping on the mattress next to her and pinning her down and kissing her hard. She smiled against his lips, knowing she probably tasted of latex and lubricant but pleased at how enthusiastic he was despite the fact.

Nuzzling her neck and placing kisses against all the sensitive spots he’d been able to locate so far, Fitz ran his hands down her sides slowly. They settled on her hips, fingers toying with the sides of her panties. “I want to touch you,” he said softly, his accent stronger than she’d heard it before. Jemma gave a full body shudder at the idea of his hands all over her and he grinned. “Seems like you might want that too?”

She nodded quickly and pressed her mouth to his. Taking the hint, Fitz eased her underwear down her legs; they were damp and clung to her and she wanted to tuck her head away in embarrassment. His eyes were bright as he kissed her cheek before tossing them aside, letting his long fingers explore the contours of her legs. She trembled at his touch as it eased closer and closer to her core. Sitting up on his knees, Fitz used his hands to spread her legs before finally letting his fingers dip into her folds. “You’re so wet,” he said, shutting his eyes, voice soft and harsh at the same time. He licked his lips before looking at her. “I’ve never…” He leaned in as if he had to kiss her and she met him halfway, mouth seeking out his desperately.

His fingertips were sticky from her as he found her hand, guiding it between your legs. “I want you to feel,” he said, panting. Linking his finger through hers, their fingers stroked up and down her arousal. Jemma pressed her face into his neck, only becoming more turned on by how erotic it was. She had never felt like this with someone before—needy and desperate, but safe and protected. So wanted.

Fitz gave her a determined kiss before removing his hand from between her legs. Gently, he encouraged her to lay flat against her mattress, his hands moving up her arms until they were stretched out over her head and he held them in place with one of his hands pinning her wrists down. She was one long line across her bed when his free hand went back between her legs, instantly rubbing at her clit with two fingers. She made a high keening noise in the back of her throat, squeezing tightly to his hand as he held himself over her.

Jemma was unsure if she was more sensitive than usual because of how generally attractive and arousing she found Fitz or if he really was just that good, but within minutes she was writhing beneath him. He pressed gentle kisses to her forehead and her cheeks and her lips as he played with her clit, circling it and manipulating it like a champion. Then, as she could feel herself growing close, he suddenly moved his hand away and laid it gently on her hip, sucking her breast into his mouth instead. She whined both in need and in pleasure.

As she rocked her hips up to beg for his attention again, he smiled and kissed her mouth. Then his fingers were inside of her, two of them, long and just perfect and she couldn’t stop moaning. “How many times?” he said, mouth pressed against her ear.

“Huh?” As if this was a time for questions.

“How many times has someone gotten you to come in one night?” This time he licked along the soft spot underneath her ear as he pushed his fingers deeper into her and she shuddered.

“Two…” She bit the inside of her cheek. “Three times. Yeah, three.”

His eyes stared at her with an intensity that would have taken her breath away if she were capable of breathing. As if she were a challenge he was insistent on conquering. “Okay. I can beat that.”

Then he was thumbing her clit as he fucked her with his fingers and she moaned deep in the back of her throat. The pleasure was rising in her quickly, quicker than she had even been able to anticipate. As the pressure built in her core, her eyes squeezed shut automatically. It was only when she forced them open to see him staring down at her hungrily, swollen bottom lip caught between his teeth that she was pushed over the edge into orgasmic bliss. His fingers wrapped around hers comfortingly as the hand inside her eased her through the peaked and valleys of torturous pleasure.

When his hands released her, she sought out his face, bringing him in to kiss him slowly, her tongue teasing against the bottom lip that he had worried with his teeth, soothing away the bite marks. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered against her lips. “I can’t even stand it.”

This man had just brought her to some of the greatest pleasure she had ever known, but she still found herself blushing at the praise. Jemma wrapped a leg around his hip, happy to find the hardness of his dick pressing against her skin. As she continued to catch her breath, she reached down and wrapped her hand around him, pumping slowly. Fitz groaned against her skin. “I can’t even tell you how much I want you,” she said, kissing his neck, letting her tongue trace the veins and the muscles.

His erection twitched in her hand and she took that as a good sign. Pushing him on his back, she straddled his hips before reaching back over to the condoms, snagging one. She chewed on her lips before wriggling down so she could see Fitz’s dick, ripping open the package. “Do you want me too, Fitz?”

“I have never wanted anything else more in the world,” he said, voice hoarse, and she had a feeling that he really meant it.

Smiling to herself, she rolled the condom over him, making sure it was well wrapped as his hands settled on her, one on her hip and the other cupping her arse. After steadying herself on his abdomen, she raised up and guided down so he was inside of her. It was slow and perfect as he filled her even better than she had anticipated. Beneath her, Fitz groaned and ran a hand up her back, fingers tracing the curve of her spine. The look of delight on his face was all she needed.

After balancing back on her legs, she started moving up and down, sighing at every rock of her hips. She felt perfectly complete with him inside of her, his hands bracing her above him. Keening in pleasure, she reached out for his arms, feeling the muscles straining as his fingers dug into the skin of her waist, sure to leave bruises that she would wear proudly for days to come.

With his head on her pillow, pupils blown wide with lust, Fitz thrust up into her, the two of them falling into an easy pattern, ebb and flow of their bodies together. Unlike before, where she had barely been able to contain herself before her orgasm had overwhelmed her, this was a steady existence of warmth, a slow burn of bliss filling her body. It was less frantic, less frenzy, but there was still a deep yearning for him as he stared at her with fire in his eyes

Her breasts bounced as she increased the speed of her swaying, hips smacking against his. One of his hands came up to cup her breast, thumb swiping across the nipple, pinching it and sending shocks of desire through her body. Jemma could feel herself purring deep within her chest at the touch, at everything about him.

Digging her feet into the bed, she leaned forward onto him, grinding her clit into his pelvic bone as she grunted in pleasure. She could tell that he was trying to hold back as he bit the inside of his cheek, moving his hand up to cup her face, thumb resting over her bottom lip. She whimpered at the touch, sucking his finger into her mouth just to hear him groan. It still tasted of her.

Jemma was starting to feel desperate and needy as she tried to take him deeper into him, eager for what seemed to be a steadily approaching climb to her orgasm. Underneath her, Fitz was starting to thrust harder, his hand going round to cup her neck firmly as he stared at her with dark eyes. “God, you’re gorgeous,” he said, voice broken, long fingers wrapping around to either side of her jaw as she panted. “All I want is to watch you.”

She struggled to find words, but all that came out was a weak whine as she ground her hips against his, seeking her release. Fitz licked his lips slowly as he drew his gaze from her eyes, down her body to where they were joined, watching carefully as she rocked her clit against his pelvis. He thrust hard in her twice and she groaned. The cracks of her self-control were starting to break through and she couldn’t even try to keep it together anymore. When he ran his hand through her hair, easing her head back and exposing her neck while pushing deep within her, she came hard. Her eyes rolled back into her head and her mouth fell open into a deep moan so that she could barely hear the sweet words of endearment falling rapidly out in his thick brogue, telling her she was beautiful and amazing and all he wanted. Fitz’s strong hands supported her as she shook through the pleasure and she dug her hands and nails into the skin of his abs, undoubtedly leaving the mark of her presence for him to remember her by.

When she came back to herself, he was still hard inside of her, rolling his hips gently while she tried desperately to catch her breath. “Hi,” he said softly as he rubbed her cheek tenderly.

She nuzzled her face into his hand. “Hi.” She couldn’t stop smiling and there was a long minute where all they did was smile at each other and she thought it might be the most perfect moment the world had ever experienced.

Before she realized what was happening, Fitz’s hands were back on her hips, holding her steady as he sat up and kissed her hard. She made a noise of surprise against his lips before kissing him back, wrapping her arms around his neck to keep him close. The kiss was eager and enthusiastic, teeth and tongue, and she tangled her hands in his hair.

Shifting on to his knees so that she was still straddling him, Fitz dragged her down on him and she let out a sharp gasp at the new angle, at the part of her he knew he was hitting on each thrust. Jemma pressed her face to his shoulder as she rolled her hips to meet him, suddenly overwhelmed by the sensations. In a moment of weakness, she sucked on the sensitive skin of his neck, biting at him, wanting to leave evidence that she had been here and he had been hers for this moment.

This only seemed to spurn him on as he pushed into her quicker and harder. Every time she felt him inside of her, it was like fireworks shooting off in her head. Jemma pressed herself closer to him, rocking faster as she gasped. “Jemma, Jemma, Jemma,” he murmured against her hair, her neck, her cheeks, her chest. She grabbed his face and drew him back to her to kiss him again. He tasted like the answer to an endless search.

She knew he had been holding back for her before, but she hadn’t been expecting this. Every time he pushed into her it was deep and powerful and she clung to him as she tried to comprehend the sensations he was creating within her. It was almost like her orgasm had never stopped and he was only building on the feeling, prolonging the ripples of pleasure that coursed up her spine and down her limbs and made her stomach clench with joy.

“Fitz,” she whispered, voice sounding far away. “I’m so close.” She hadn’t realized it until the words were out of her mouth, but every part of her was trembling, her mind and body at a disconnect as sensation and desire overruled all rationality.

He pressed the sweetest of kisses to her cheek, nuzzling her jaw. “I’ve got you, baby girl. Come for me, Jemma.”

Between the sound of his voice, the gentle way he held her, and the way he thrust inside of her with so much strength, Jemma was done for. She came with a loud cry, burying his head into his shoulder and shuddering with the power of her orgasm. All thoughts were lost to the world until she felt him tense beneath her and knew he was coming too and she blindly sought for his hand, intertwining their fingers so she could hold him through it. They rocked together through the aftershocks of their combined orgasms, panting and moaning.

When Fitz collapsed back against her pillows, he carried Jemma down with him. For a moment, they lingered in each other’s arms before Fitz gave Jemma a firm kiss and rolled her aside to toss the condom. She watched him fondly as she tried to catch her breath, smiling at his butt as he took the few steps into her attached bath and came back.

He slipped on to the bed next to her and she instantly curled up next to him, resting her head against his chest and listening to how rapidly his heart was still beating. Clearing his throat, he said, “You know, if it helps, I was really not good at this at seventeen.”

Jemma laughed loudly. “Oh yeah? Lots of practice since then, hm?”

“What? I mean, no!” He cringed and ran a hand through his already messy hair, which she was proud to say was courtesy of her. “I just…I’ve always been a quick study, is all.”

“Apparently.” She raised her eyebrows at him, then kissed his chest. “For what it’s worth, seventeen-year-old me wouldn’t have minded.”

He brushed some hair back from her face. “Yeah?”

“I had too big of a crush on you back then,” she said and couldn’t hide her blush. And then she was embarrassed even more for blushing; she’d just had sex with this man, surely a girlhood crush shouldn’t make her turn red.

Stroking her neck gently, he leaned down and kissed her. “I don’t remember if I mentioned it, but I’m really glad that we did this.” At her surprised stare, he fumbled over his words to correct himself. “I mean, going out tonight! I mean, also…also this.” He grinned, ducking his head. “But dinner and frozen yogurt…and this.”

Giggling, Jemma slotted her mouth against his to kiss him deeply. “Me too. I was just hoping we would have a nice time, maybe talk about whatever work we were allowed to discuss and science, but…really, this was much better than I had expected.”

He wrapped his arm around her back, smoothing his hand over her still sweaty skin as he kissed her neck. Wandering digits tickled her side and she tittered in laughter. Jemma tilted her head to the side to give him access to her pulse point as he sucked a deep mark there, sending butterflies through her stomach. “Hm,” he said, kissing the hollow of her throat. “I think I still owe you something.”

She squeaked as he rolled her on top of him, easing her up so she was straddling his chest. He put his hands on her butt and guided her so she was kneeling over him. He squeezed her butt, then pressed his lips to the inside of her thighs as her breath caught in her throat. Her legs were still sticky from their lovemaking, but he licked his way up to her folds, getting his first real taste of her.

“Oh, fuck, Fitz,” Jemma said, bracing herself against her headboard. Turnabout was clearly fair play here and she could see him watching her with a competitive gaze in his blue eyes. He nipped playfully at her thighs before pressing his tongue against her clit to hear her cry out. Every nerve ending in her body was somehow connected to the places he could reach with his mouth and he was apparently just as good with his mouth as he was with his hands.

As his tongue explored her further, she closed her eyes and groaned. His hands on her butt were moving her exactly where he wanted her, back and forth on his tongue as it pressed against her clit and she rolled her hips urgently with need. Putting his hands more firmly underneath her bottom, he picked her up higher so he could push his tongue inside of her and her toes curled in longing.

He thrust his tongue up inside of her, licking at the juices she was creating. Grunting with need, she reached one hand down to grab his head, holding him steady as she rocked against his mouth. She was torn between the feelings of not wanting him to stop and wanting to come and the conflict waged within her as she whined in the back of her throat.

As if sensing her indecision and need, Fitz took matters into his own hands. He swiped his tongue over her several times, slowly dragging out the sensation before attaching his mouth to her clit, sucking on the nub and flicking it with his tongue. It sent her into an absolute frenzy and she lost all control, one hand holding strong to his head and the other clinging to the headboard as she shook with the lust of her orgasm. “Fitz, Fitz, Fitz, Fitz Fitz!”

She was still trembling when Fitz put his hands on her sides and eased her back to sit on his chest; her stomach and legs burned from exertion and the rest of her was numb from pleasure. “Too soon?” he said, almost hesitantly as he ran his hands soothingly through her hair.

Jemma shook her head. “Too good.”

He let out a small laugh in relief, thumb rubbing her cheek; Jemma turned her head to kiss his palm. When she could, she fell back on to the bed at his side and pulled him towards her. His mouth still tasted of her and while she had known her taste from the mouths of other lovers, she had never been as sweet as she was from his tongue.

Drawing her nails lightly up and down his back, she looked at him closely and sighed. “I’m so glad that I got over being afraid to bid on you.”

“Why were you?” The way he looked at her was so sweet and tender, she thought she would melt through the bed. “I mean, I’m just…me.”

“Well, I’m going to have significantly less savings in my 401(k),” she said jokingly, biting playfully at his jaw. “But Fitz, you’re so amazing. A lot of women there wanted to bid on you.”

He snorted. “I was the last option of the night!”

“You’re one of the smartest men in the world, you’ve got a great job, a steady job, you’re a good conversationalist, you love your mother, you’re amazingly attractive, you’re challenging in the best ways.” She pulled him close to hug him. “And that’s what I knew about you before you got me out of my dress.”

Blushing, he kissed her temple fondly. “I don’t date all that much. I mean, I did a lot more when I first got promoted and Tony wanted to make me his protégé. Kinda went to my head that I was young and successful and women wanted me. But it lost its shine soon after, no one was what I was looking for. That’s why Tony makes me do things like this and Pepper tries to set me up with her friends. They mean well—well, Pepper means well—but I just want something more.” He rested his forehead against her collarbone, kissing the space between her breasts and avoiding her gaze. “Might’ve always hated myself a bit for never talking to you when I had the chance.”

“That wasn’t all your fault,” she said, fingers gently brushing over his face. “I technically knew how to contact you. It’s not like Stark Industries isn’t a giant building I can’t find or that doesn’t get mail. Just…timing, I guess.”

When he looked up at her, he was smiling a bit and his eyes were bright. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” she said, voice barely above a whisper. They leaned in at the same time, lips pressing in a passionate kiss and she sucked on his tongue eagerly. When they broke apart, he stared at her with so much affection it almost hurt. She cleared her throat. “Stay?”

“As long as you want me to,” he said. She pulled him down for a long, slow kiss, savoring him all around her. When they finally broke apart, she pulled back the covers and invited him to join her. They instantly gravitated towards each other under her comforter, her head pillowed on his shoulder and his arms around her, holding her close. He rubbed her back gently and they lay there for several long minutes without talking, just listening to each other breathe.

 “I don’t think I thanked you for dinner,” Jemma said suddenly and Fitz barked out a laugh.

“You’re welcome for dinner.” He kissed the crown of her head. “I don’t think I thanked you for bidding on me.”

“No need,” Jemma whispered, snuggling closer. “It was more than worth it.”

-----

Jemma awoke not too long after she had finally fallen asleep when she heard the sound of a key in the front lock. Her eyes sprung open and she wriggled out of Fitz’s admittedly adorably tight grip on her hip, quickly throwing her robe on and slipping out into the hall, making sure to shut her door silently behind her.

Skye stood in the middle of the kitchen with her hands on her hips, looking around with what could only be called a shit-eating grin on her face. She raised her eyebrows at Jemma as she padded into the room. “Mornin’, Jem. Have a good date last night?”

She was feeling far too happy to even be slightly embarrassed. “I did, actually. What are you doing home?”

“I told you Trip had that meeting today and I left the hard drive I was supposed to work on for Coulson here so I came back to get some work done.” Fitz’s tie was hanging from the top of one of the kitchen chairs and Skye picked it up, twirling it around her finger. “So, what’d you do last night?”

“Nothing much,” Jemma said, picking her dress off the floor and leaving it to drape over a chair. It had been far too expensive for the treatment it had received, though she didn’t regret a second of it. “Went to dinner.”

Skye tickled Jemma’s nose with the end of the tie. “Ate out, huh?”

Rolling her eyes, Jemma shoved Skye’s shoulder. Skye snorted with laughter, then nudged Jemma gently and nodded at something over her shoulder. When Jemma turned around, she saw Fitz standing in her doorway wearing just his boxer briefs, rubbing sleep out of his eyes, curls all askew, probably mostly from her doing. He eyed Skye warily as Jemma said, “Morning, Fitz.”

“Uh, yeah, morning.” He smiled shyly at her.

Coughing in a far too obvious manner, Skye said, “I was just gonna go get some bagels and coffee. Do you like coffee, Dr. Fitz?”

He nodded slowly. “Coffee sounds pretty good.”

“Fantastic.” After dropping his tie on the table, Skye patted Jemma’s shoulder. “I’m gonna go to the good place. You know, the place that’s pretty far? Might take me a bit, but it’ll be worth it.” Leaning in, she whispered, “So, your kids are gonna be kinda fine too.” She took a few steps back and grabbed her messenger bag from the table hook by the door. “See ya soon, Dr. Fitz! By the way, if you know of any good Realtors, you should hook me up.”

Smirking to herself as the door closed behind her friend, Jemma approached Fitz with small bounce to her step. “That was Skye.”

“Yeah, I figured.”

“The good bagel place really is quite far,” she said, resting her hands on his chest. “And usually very busy on Saturday mornings. She could be gone for a while.”

One of his arms wrapped around her waist while the other hand toyed with the tie of her robe. “Oh, really?”

“Mmmhmm. If you have any idea of what we could do in the meantime, I’m all ears.”

Fitz barely let her finish the sentence before he guided his mouth over hers, tugging open her robe. She laughed into the kiss, pushing him gently back into her room and towards her bed. As her robe fluttered to the ground and he held her tightly, Jemma was extremely certain that she wasn’t meant to be anywhere else in the world but in his arms.

And there would most certainly be a second date.