Just a little drabble from a prompt on Tumblr. I'll probably be posting the rest of my already-on-Tumblr drabbles soon.

The Boiler Room

"Is this really necessary?"

He catches Jemma roll her eyes as she continues to pull on his arm down the staircase. Fitz had made the terrible mistake of telling her how he'd never been to the Boiler Room before. He didn't think it was a big deal, and was honestly surprised when she'd reacted so violently. Five months at the Academy and you're telling me you've never even set foot in the place?!

Of course friendly Jemma finds it shocking that he'd rather stay away from non-compulsory social interaction. She's invited him casually a few times now, but he'd always found a way around it; studying, working up new blueprints or on the DWARF bot he was trying to develop. Now, however, exams had just ended and she'd invited him to celebrate. He tried telling her no, but she wasn't having it, and had pushed until he told her his not-so-secret.

"You'll like it," she tells him, "I promise."

He's trying his best not to groan, or to grumble his complaints. Jemma opens the door and practically pushes him through the threshold. The moment he feels the pulsing beat of loud techno music, Fitz immediately misses the quiet solitude of his room. He notices a few of his classmates eyeing him skeptically as Jemma leads him to the bar, probably wondering how she'd managed to convince him of all people to appear in public outside of class.

He's wondering the same thing. He's known this girl for what, a month? And somehow he's already letting her drag him miles out of his comfort zone. Maybe it's because she's his only friend so far. Although, if this is the kind of thing friendship entails, he's seriously considering whether the endeavor is worth it.

"Order whatever drink you want," Jemma says. "It's on me."

He shrugs and goes for a beer. The bartender is an upperclassman who also takes engineering, and he unfortunately recognizes Fitz from one of his freshman pranks. He hands Jemma their drinks, but not without first having another laugh at Fitz's expense. He's bright red when the bartender leaves, and though Jemma isn't laughing, he's still thoroughly embarrassed. She is, after all, one of the most well-liked students in their batch, and someone like her shouldn't be hanging out with a loner like him in the first place.

"Here," she says, handing him his beer, "maybe you'll have more fun once you've had some alcohol in your system."

He doubts that, but he accepts the bottle anyways, downing half of it in seconds, in the attempt to maybe, maybe loosen up. When he's done, he finds Jemma looking at him with wide eyes, her mouth slightly open, lips and hand having stopped mid-sip. It's cute, he thinks, but he immediately pushes back the thought (it'll come easier to him as the years pass) and demands, "What?"

She raises an eyebrow, not moving anything else. "I'm Scottish," he shrugs, catching on. "And you said you wanted me to have fun, right?"

Jemma rolls her eyes at him and he can't help but smile. He hasn't known her long, but he's been enjoying her company.

Fitz finishes his drink easily, and once he's on his second, he finally feels himself fall at ease. He and Jemma talk and talk and talk, almost never stopping for breath. She's giggling at his terrible impression of Professor Galloway when she suddenly challenges him to a game of pool. She's terrible at it, he finds, or maybe he just has the upper-hand because measurement and calculations are second nature to him. (It could also be because she's already a bit tipsy, and she's only on her second beer. A lightweight, he thinks to himself, and mentally takes note to remedy that problem.) Either way, he's beating her mercilessly.

Soon enough one of their classmates comes over and challenges Fitz to a game. He'd prefer spending time with just Jemma, but she accepts for him, and when their game is over (Fitz wins) a few more competitors line up against him. He beats each and every one of them, with Jemma grinning by his side, cheering him on. A few of the guys shake his hand or clap his back in good humor, and Fitz can actually feel the respect he's starting to gain from his peers.

It's strange to realize the fact that all he had to do was play a simple game to gain friends. It's even stranger to know that all this happened because he'd let a starry-eyed BioChem student drag him away from his solitude. (He will eventually learn that this is not the last time she will do this for him.)

He glances over at Jemma and finds that she's beaming at him with a sort of pride. He feels like she's giving him a gift with this friendship, and later on he'll vow to repay her for all of this, for volunteering to be partners with a shy, scrawny boy in their Holographic Engineering class. One day he'll volunteer to do something to help her.

(Six years later, when she's pale and shaking from the other side of their lab door, struggling to save her own life, he thinks of this promise as he sprints up the stairs to the Bus' interrogation room.)

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