-HEAD CANON SERIES-

This was requested by bravejem on Tumblr after seeing a post of a tie with miniature rockets on it and realising that Fitz wore it during episode 2.

So...I found a way to write some FitzSimmons fluff...yet again. XD

This is set during their first year at Sci-Ops: somewhere after the whole 20-years verse. And there are a few references to Concealed Realisations.

Thanks to my Beta StarryDreamer01 who helped me edit this.

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN AGENTS OF SHIELD.

Dress Code

Fitz sighed loudly.

What was he even doing here again?

"Honestly, Fitz, we're here for you. The least you could do is cooperate; so stop sulking."

Fitz turned to his side and looked at his best friend and frowned slightly.

"I didn't really want to spend our day off going shopping,Simmons," he protested walking through an aisle of polished male shoes.

He looked at a pair that was his size and grimaced: the thought of wearing them everyday made his feet hurt instantly.

"No," he said, backing away. "There surely has to be something more-"

"-comfortable to wear?" Simmons finished, approaching him and giving him an amused look.

Fitz nodded, feeling a bit dejected as his eyes wandered around taking in the size of the mall and the number of stores.

It was Sunday and they were currently strolling through the mall to buy him some clothes. Actually, he didn't need clothes: he had a fair amount and he liked them but it seemed that his style wasn't 'professional' enough for their S.O.

They had started working at the Sci-Ops facility in Boston less than a month ago, fresh out of the Academy. Both he and Simmons had been given a lab where they could work under the supervision of a senior agent. It wasn't standard protocol but given their young age (they were both going to turn twenty-two this year) and their capabilities (they were the youngest graduates in SHIELD Academy's history), they were given a special treatment.

Said treatment, however, didn't apply to the dress code protocol.

Unlike the rest of the agents who wore crisp suits or formal wear, he and Simmons had gone on wearing a more casual attire.

Simmons' usual blouse/blazer/cardigan/jeans and Converse/boots style had been deemed alright by Professor Vaughn, but Fitz' jeans/shirt/jumper and trainers look didn't.

Their S.O had kindly suggested him to do something about it before receiving any further official admonishment.

Fitz scoffed.

Honestly, what did SHIELD care if he worked with untucked shirts and trainers as long as he got his job done?

Mulling on that thought, he walked down the aisle towards a display of suits.

-:-

Simmons walked along Fitz' side, smiling slightly at his grumpiness.

He had been complaining about their S.O's words for hours in their apartment and when she had suggested they go out and look for some clothes to wear to work, he had looked so aghast at the thought that she'd taken pity on him.

And that led to them walking in the busy mall, strolling in and out of men's clothing stores, attempting to find something that Fitz would find suitable.

After an hour, she felt that their search would be very long...

"This is ridiculous," he said, scowling at a black suit in front of him as though it had done him some great personal wrong. "How the bloody hell can someone work with that on?"

Simmons looked at the suit and then at Fitz, imagining him dressed with it while tinkering in the lab and couldn't help but snort.

"It's not funny, Simmons," he retorted and stared at the suit in distaste. "I'll look like a bloody idiot dressed like that."

"You might be taken for someone from Operations," she said, trying to amend for her moment of earlier laughter. And the mental image of Fitz in the suit made its way into her brain and she had to shove it away rather quickly…

Right...

"Yeah, then I'll just have to go find myself a weapon before being thrown into some field mission without knowing what's going on."

She rolled her eyes.

"Come on, Fitz, suits are-"

"-uncomfortable and not practical," He looked at her. "I'm an engineer: not a administration agent or an Ops agent waiting for a mission."

He ran a hand through his hair in distress,sending his curls flying in every direction before looking at her pleadingly.

"Any suggestion?" He asked softly and she felt something flutter in her chest.

"That's why I'm here, right?" She asked, moving forward and trying to ignore the way he made her feel.

Friends, friends, best friends, she thought systematically in her head. Partners, best friends...

It wouldn't do her any good thinking of them otherwise... They had slowly fallen back to some normalcy after all the awkwardness of their first months at the Academy.

She didn't want to fall back into that uneasiness...

Simmons looked at the display of shirts in front of her and frowned slightly.

"These are all dress shirts," she remarked, pulling one out. "Elegant, professional but...too white."

"White?" Fitz stared at her and she arched a brow at him.

"Fitz, this shirt would last a day at most with you," She shot him a deadpanned look. "You'd probably singe the cuffs-"

"That happened once!" He protested. "That metal-yielding laser wasn't correctly calibrated."

"-or get solder streaks all over your sleeves within the end of the day," she concluded, ignoring him.

She then looked at him and rolled her eyes at his face. "Don't give me that look: it's the truth. We do the laundry together and I've seen the state of your shirts and jumpers. How you do that while your lab coat is pristine is beyond me..."

Fitz huffed and she put away the shirt with a sigh.

This wasn't getting them anywhere...

Simmons looked at him carefully, analysing his attire.

He was wearing some old jeans, his favourite pair of black trainers (he had those shoes since MIT), a blue shirt and a large hooded jumper.

His choice of clothing didn't vary much when he went to the lab; she realised that he probably changed his jeans, putting on a newer pair and he wore more form-fitting jumpers.

All in all, his attire was casual but not too much. He just needed some minor adjustment that would satisfy their S.O.

"What?"

She looked up and saw Fitz looking at her with uncertain eyes and slight blush on his face. Simmons realised that she'd been staring for a while and blushed herself.

"Er...no-nothing," she said, stumbling on her words a bit. "I was just wondering..."

"About?"

"I think we should find a way to make your usual style a bit more professional rather than getting you to change it completely."

-:-

Fitz blinked.

"What?" He asked again in disbelief. "Professor Vaughn was quite clear: I dress too casual for Sci-Ops."

"I wear casual clothes too," she remarked. "It's the arrangement and the way you dress that counts, Fitz."

Completely lost by her reasoning, Fitz stared at her. Simmons rolled her eyes.

"Come on," she said, grabbing his wrist and dragging him through a few aisles of the store.

Fitz was too bewildered to question her but he felt another warm wave on his face when she tightened her hold around his wrist, soft fingers caressing his skin.

He was glad that she was able to be close to him and touch him without feeling nervous or awkward. He was extremely glad that the tension and unease that had lingered between them for the whole first semester at the Academy had vanished.

But he couldn't stop his own reactions: he couldn't do anything about the tingles in his chest. Swallowing dryly, Fitz allowed her to pull him until they stopped in front of section of the store where he saw clothing that matched his tastes.

"What are we doing here?" He asked, taking in the line of shirts next to him. He was reaching for a dark flannel one that caught his eye when Simmons smacked his hand down. Yelping slightly in pain, he turned to her. "What the hell-?!"

"We're here for work, Fitz," she said sternly. "Not for personal shopping."

"Technically, I am," he retorted and she rolled her eyes again.

"Do you still want my help or not?"

"Yeah, yeah... Sorry..." He scratched the back of his head with his free hand. Simmons blinked and dropped his wrist, realising that she was still holding him.

He saw a blush colour her face again as she walked forward and skimmed through the shirts.

"Er-well..." She cleared her throat before looking at him. "I was thinking that you could get another few shirts; not the flannel ones because those aren't suitable for work."

"I've got shirts."

"You tend to wear the same shirt twice during the week," She arched a brow at him

"Ah..." Fitz blushed. Of course, she'd notice that. He was just being repetitive or plain lazy sometimes...

She picked a dark blue striped shirt and gave it a contemplative look before putting it in front of him.

"This looks nice on you," she commented and Fitz nodded slowly, not trusting his voice as she said that.

Why did this feel so oddly...intimate?

-:-

Simmons looked up after realising that the shirt did look nice on him and complimented his eyes and saw the blush on his face as he looked at her.

She arched a brow in query and he shrugged, smiling slightly before slipping past her to look at the shirts.

"I'll take that," he said, nodding to the shirt in her hand. "And... a couple more."

"Alright..." She agreed. "No-"

"-flannel. Got it."

She smiled and helped him choose.

At some point, Fitz found a hideous looking, bright coloured shirt and showed it to her, grinning.

"I might take this one, you know? It might shock Professor Vaughn to silence and he wouldn't care about my clothes as long as I don't wear this... thing."

Simmons couldn't keep a straight face and chuckled.

"Oh Fitz..." He grinned at her.

After getting a handful of new shirts and getting a few new jeans and trousers, Simmons walked around the store looking for the last piece of clothing to complete Fitz's look with him trailing behind her, carrying a bag full of his clothes.

"What are you looking for exactly?" He asked after they walked through the socks' section for the third time.

"Ties," she replied and he blinked at her.

"What?"

"Ties, Fitz."

"Why?"

"Because wearing a tie with your shirts will give you a more professional appearance," She stopped in the middle of a corridor and huffed. Why wasn't there a bloody sign?

Fitz skidded to a halt right behind her, avoiding a collision.

"But-"

"Yes?" She eyed him carefully and he sighed.

"I have no bloody clue on how to put a tie on," he huffed. "You know that." He looked away, blushing again.

Simmons blinked.

She did?

She vaguely recalled that he wore a tie for their graduation at the Academy: she had knotted it for him quickly while they were both buzzing with nerves.

Her memory suddenly took her back a few years and she thought about his sister's wedding and how she had knotted his tie outside of his room.

Alison's wedding brought back other memories too: of them being close -even too close-, of him looking quite dashing in his suit and...of her kissing him.

Blushing furiously, Simmons turned around.

This really wasn't the moment to think about that.

"Well, I-I can teach you," she remarked, looking around and at anything but him. "It's not hard really: just a couple of twists and turns."

"Hmm," he murmured behind her and she bit her lip trying to bring her mind back to the task and not to buried memories of her hands on his face, his blue eyes boring into hers, their lips touching and her confused feelings.

No. Fitz was her best friend.

Simmons walked around a corner and blinked for a moment before smiling slightly.

"Over there," she said, looking over shoulder and approaching a large stand with neatly lined ties. She heard Fitz walking behind her and sighing. She turned and had to stifle a laugh at his weary expression.

"It's not hard, really," she assured him. "Honestly, you're an engineer: I saw you build a computer's motherboard from scratch without blinking an eye. How can you be so terrified by knotting a tie?"

"I'm not terrified," he scoffed, dropping the clothes' bag on the floor and skimming through a line of dark ties. "I just don't want to look like an idiot."

"You won't."

"I hope so..." He looked at her. "You've noticed how the older agents look at us, yeah? Like we're kids who have been granted access to something too big for them?" He frowned slightly, discarding a ridiculous tie with bright polka dots. "Professor Vaughn has that look every now and then..."

She nodded as her fingers threaded through the line of soft ties.

"If we don't count the occasional analysis for some Level 3 mission, we've been doing basic lab work until now," she remarked. "I suppose we'll have to wait to show our abilities... or hope that something occurs so that we can show them."

The first weeks at Sci-Ops had been all but thrilling so far. Fitz had been barely hiding his frustration over the tedious work and she had had a hard time keeping her focus and attention.

"We could start working on our own," he suggested, looking contemplatively at a dark tie with light stripes. "We've got great equipment here and the DWARFs need some work."

"Yes, we could..." Simmons admitted. It would be better than working on boring samples or analysis. "And we could ask Professor-"

She stopped mid-sentence and stared at the tie caught between her fingers. A giggle bubbled out of her mouth.

"Fitz, I've found the perfect tie for you," she announced, smiling up at him.

"That tone doesn't bode well for me," he said, looking at her warily. "What did you find?"

She held out a dark blue with miniature prints on it.

Fitz stared at it. And then blinked. Twice.

"Simmons."

"Yeah?" She was barely stifling a laugh.

"Are those rockets?" He pointed at the prints.

"Well, isn't this a perfect tie for a rocket scientist?"

"That was terrible," She swatted his arm and he grinned. "And... I'm not buying it: I'll look ridiculous."

"It's adorable really..." It was dark blue, soft and with miniature flying rockets. It was a really nice tie.

"It's... dorkish."

"And aren't you a dork?"

"I resent that..." She stuck her tongue at him and he rolled his eyes.

"Why don't you buy it, then?"

"Hmm... if it had some chemical structure or something like that, yes...but this... This is you, Fitz."

She grinned when she saw the smile tugging his lips.

"Dork," he whispered and she swatted his arm again.

They spent the next minutes choosing some ties for him and Simmons picked a few for herself too, choosing among the thinner ones. She realised that giving herself a more professional and adult-like look might help gain some credit from their co-workers.

Fitz spent a good ten minutes searching for some outlandish and hideous tie that could represent her but nothing was as good as the rocket-tie. Sulking slightly, he gave up and she laughed.

They left the store a little while later after paying for their purchases and decided to go home: they had managed to spend most of their free afternoon at the mall.

Their only setback and embarrassing moment was when one the older saleswomen smiled at them, commenting that she'd been watching them bustle around the store and said that they were an adorable couple.

"Your girlfriend has very good taste," she said, throwing a friendly smile to Fitz. "You should listen to her: she's a keeper."

Fitz had blushed a deep shade of red and clutched the shopping bag, murmuring something intelligible. Simmons was at loss for words, blushing furiously too and managed a flustered smile before leaving the store with him.

-:-

Simmons decided that she'd teach him how to knot a tie before dinner.

So that was the reason he was currently wearing an old shirt, collar up around his neck and standing in front of the sofa with her as she slowly showed him how to twist and turn the thin scrap of material.

It didn't help that she was standing close to him or that her fingertips grazed his neck occasionally. She would look at him, arching a brow when she caught his gaze but he shook his head.

He couldn't really tell her what was distracting him...

"Alright, now you do it," she said, stepping back after perfectly knotting the dark tie.

His first attempt had been disastrous.

In an attempt to help him, she stepped behind him, body pressed close to his back while her hands moved beneath his chin, showing him the exact movements that he had to do. Fitz realised that she was doing this for him but his brain was not following; not when he felt her breath ghost his cheek as she talked and her arms practically hugging him from behind.

"Er...come to the front," he said, swallowing dryly and hoping she didn't notice. "I'll see you better."

"Alright…" Simmons replied, moving in front of him. She demonstrated all the little twists in slow motion to him again.

A part of his brain told him that he should grasp the concept easily but the other part was focused on the girl in front of him, taking in features and details that a friend really shouldn't notice.

Fitz undid the tie and then re-knotted it. Somehow, he managed to get it all almost done and then messed up at the end.

Simmons looked at him and sighed.

"Fiitzz..." She scolded him, reaching up to untangle the double knot that would likely choke his neck. "Honestly! You're not paying attention!"

Fitz scoffed.

"I am!" He protested, swiftly lying through his teeth. He might have missed a few steps at the end...

There was something about Simmons looking up at him, amber eyes peering through her lashes, that had him thoroughly unfocused at some point...

Right...

The words 'Best friend' and 'Don't mess up' started swirling in his brain.

Simmons frowned at him and stepped back.

"You're distracted," she stated, huffing slightly. "You know what? I know a way to make you focus."

"Wha-?" His eyes widened as she walked to her room without saying a word. Fearing that he might have offended her, Fitz almost followed her inside. "Simmons, I'm sorry... I just-"

He blinked when she walked back out carrying a small bag. She was also sporting a look that didn't really bode well for him.

"What?" He asked her, stopping in his tracks.

"I'm challenging you, Leo Fitz," she said, stopping in front of him with a smug smile. No, that smile wasn't going to do any good to him...

"How exactly?"

"Since you're not taking me seriously-"

"I am!" He exclaimed indignantly but she ignored him.

"-I've decided that we'll turn this into a little challenge," She walked to the sofa again, opening the little bag and he followed her. He blinked when she drew out a tie from the bag and laid it on the sofa.

It was that hideous rocket-tie.

"When did you buy that?" He demanded. She shrugged, smirking slightly and he knew that he was in trouble. Jemma Simmons never smirked.

"So..." Her tone took a business-like tone. "We've got an hour before dinner and I'm planning to make you learn to knot a tie by then."

Fitz gulped slightly. She had the tone that she used in the lab when they had a deadline: that and the tie really didn't mean anything good for him.

"Right... So?" He dared to ask. She looked at him.

"So, I'm speeding things up," Simmons picked the rocket tie. "I'll show you how to do it again and then you'll try on your own. If the final result isn't good, you'll have to wear this tie on a day I choose."

"What?!" He spluttered. "I'm not wearin-"

"And if you do learn to do it correctly, I'll clean the lab for a week," She smiled, knowing that he hated cleaning the lab.

Fitz looked at her, pursing his lips. He eyed the rocket-tie and then her.

He was a bloody engineer. How hard could it be to learn to knot a damn tie?

"Alright..." He agreed and she grinned.

Simmons took the ends of the tie that was dangling around his neck and knotted it neatly again. His eyes were trained on her hands and observed all her movements; he attempted to keep his focus on the task and not on her presence but his mind would wander, every now and then, distracted by a loose tendril of hair or by a waft of her perfume and he had to forcibly refocus again.

"Well, show me now," she said, stepping after quickly undoing the tie she had just knotted (and his mind went to places where she did the same thing but during other... circumstances. Focus, Fitz, focus, he told himself.).

He nodded and turned towards the picture framed on the wall (a painting of London that some street artist had done and that Simmons had bought since she liked it) and used the glass to see himself.

He slowly twisted and turned the material between his fingers and turned around when he finished. Simmons stepped closer and examined his work and shook her head.

"You've somehow managed to get the knot backwards," she said, arching a brow. "Really Fitz?"

He blushed at her tone.

"I'll do it again," he said.

"You're wearing the rocket-tie on Christmas."

"What?" He looked at her in horror. "No,no,no... no. Simmons, you can't ask me that."

He could imagine the scene at her house. He could clearly hear Alec and Alison taking the mickey out of him as soon as they saw the tie.

They'd never stop teasing him...

But Simmons shook her head.

"A deal is a deal," she said. "And you're not paying attention. Come on, again. And remember: you get it wrong, I'll get you to wear this some other day." She dangled the wretched tie in front of him.

"You can't force me," he retorted, unknotting the tie around his neck with some difficulty. He really did manage to do a tight knot.

"Of course, I can," she replied and helped him out, swiftly undoing the knot with quick fingers.

Fitz had to stop his thoughts from drifting again and look at her with a frown.

He really couldn't deny her anything...So, yes, he'd be wearing that damn tie on Christmas.

"Alright..." He mumbled and set on his task again.

-:-

He finally seemed to focus now and his second attempt wasn't a complete disaster. However, the tie was still crooked and she shook her head.

"Almost there," she said. "Alright, you're wearing this tie to work tomorrow."

"Simmons..." His eyes widened but she just looked at him innocently, trying not to be moved by his wounded expression.

"Get it right, then..."

He shook his head, muttering something intelligible as he went to unwound the tie again. Her hands moved on their own accord and helped him do that; she was deliberately ignoring the fact that she was too eager to touch him softly now that she was seemingly authorized to do so.

And she also ignored the little twist in her chest when she caught the way he looked at her, eyes darkening ever so slightly.

His third attempt was perfect and she smiled genuinely at his proud and accomplished expression. He looked adorable...

"I'm cleaning the lab for a week," she announced and he grinned at her. Said grin turned into a scowl when she handed him the rocket-tie and she laughed.

"Come on, Fitz," she said. "The tie is nice and it will fit quite well with your new clothes."

"It's ridiculous," he stated, eyeing it wearily.

"It's not," She looked at him. "I think you'd look nice in it."

The moment the words rolled out of her mouth, she wanted to take them back and a blush attacked her face. She didn't dare to look at him and started rearranging and straightening the cushions on the sofa in an attempt to calm herself.

Fitz didn't say anything and when she dared to look back at him, she saw that he was studying the tie. He looked pensive.

A smile made its way to her face.

"Take it as a gift for the start of your career here at Sci-Ops," she added, making him look at her. "Come on, you wouldn't refuse or throw away a gift?" She bit back the words 'from me' but she had the feeling that he'd know they were meant to be there.

He looked at her and shrugged, smiling slightly.

"Of course not," he said softly and her something fluttered slightly in her chest.

"I'll go make dinner," She smiled and turned towards the kitchen when she felt his fingers around her wrist.

Simmons turned around and found Fitz staring at her; one hand clutching his new rocket-tie, the other gently wrapped around her wrist. He was smiling softly and she felt her heart stutter in her chest.

"Thank you," he whispered, untangling his fingers from her and scratching the back on his head. "For everything you did today: coming with me to the stores, helping me out, teaching me...and this," He lifted the tie in his hand and quirked his lips.

Simmons smiled softly.

"Anytime, Fitz," she replied. "Anytime."

-:-

Fitz kept his word and wore the tie to work the next day; surprisingly, no one commented on it (though he did get some odd looks from his co-workers). Professor Vaughn had eyed his attire and nodded before assigning them some work to do.

All in all, everything had gone well.

Simmons had a little smug smile on her face and he spent the day rolling his eyes at her and begrudgingly admitting that she had been right.

However, he'd never admit that the rocket-tie looked quite... cool. She'd never let him live with it. He did search for some odd garment with biology or chemistry elements to give her though.

And finally he found it.

So that Christmas, he was at the Simmons' house with his family and wearing the rocket-tie, he handed her gift bag that contained a couple of books she'd wanted and a belt.

A dark blue belt with chemical structures printed on it.

He grinned when she stared at it and expected her to frown or wrinkle her nose.

"That's as dorkish as the tie: I'll find a way to make you wear it something," he said. "And you can't chuck it away: it's a gift."

Simmons looked at him with bright eyes and a wide smile.

"It's wonderful," she exclaimed and hugged him, thanking him for the gifts.

Fitz was flabbergasted: her sense of fashion was beyond him...

Throughout the years, he'd taken the habit of wearing the rocket-tie when he needed a boost of self-assurance; when they had an important meeting or conference or when they had their level promotions.

Simmons did the same with her belt.

So, it didn't surprise that she was wearing the belt during their first mission with the Team. He was wearing his rocket-tie.

"Fitz?" Skye guffawed at him as they were all on the cargo ramp after the mission (and their first close-calls with death). "Your tie... Are those rockets?"

Fitz blushed: Skye was beautiful and made him nervous. He'd been attempting to catch her attention and flirt -dreadfully, he had to admit it- so he tried to say something smart.

"Well, I...I..." He stammered. "I'm a rocket scientist, no?"

Clearly, Skye didn't think that was smart because she laughed loudly and walked away towards Coulson.

Feeling slightly dejected, Fitz turned towards the lab to grab his backpack when he saw Simmons approach him with it.

"Thanks," he said with a smile, taking it and slinging it over his shoulder.

"You're welcome," she replied and looked at him teasingly. "And you said that that was a terrible idea?"

Fitz blushed and looked at her. Her amber eyes were shining with mirth and her smile made his stomach twist with nerves in a completely different way from how Skye did.

He quickly ignored it, repeating the well known mantra of 'Best friend, best friend' in his head.

"Well, the tie's grown on me," he stated.

Simmons beamed at him and he grinned.

Perhaps, she'd always been right.

He truly was a dork.

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