Fitz and Simmons sat together on her sofa, watching the news which, that day, only seemed to include what had happened in New York.

"A menace?" Fitz gasped, outraged at the accusation from the couple who were being interviewed. "They just saved the whole bloody world you bunch of idiots," he raged, throwing his hands up in frustration.

"And almost died trying," Simmons put in, crossing her arms, offended. "Did that woman just call Bruce Banner a giant green freak? He's a genius and he just saved all of us, how dare she."

"Held accountable for the damage? Is he joking?" Fitz exclaimed as an elected official was interviewed. "They prevented the entire world from being damaged beyond repair you brainless, nitwits. Didn't anyone see the hoard of terrifying grey aliens shooting lasers beams everywhere? Surely someone noticed the metal monster floating around, it was only about the size of an airplane carrier!"

A woman was being interviewed. She had blond hair and wore a beige jacket and she was covered in soot, she'd obviously been through an ordeal, but she was thanking them, the team of superheroes who'd fought in New York, and Fitz found himself nodding along with what she was saying.

"There's someone with a brain in their head," he commented approvingly. "That kid too, the one who was copying Bruce Banner, he was smart. He'll go far, that one, though his impression was a little off. He did this," Fitz punched the air a few times and then brought his fists to his sides and roared. "He was too organized in his strikes, I think it actually went something closer to this," he roared first and then smashed the air recklessly.

Simmons laughed at him, a wonderful blend of birdsong and wind chimes, which filled him up with affection the way the rain filled a river, swelling it until the water was too great to be contained by its banks and it overflowed. It was pouring out of him too, his love for her, and he was afraid she would see it in his eyes so he forced himself to look away, pretending to be interested in the commercial about a restaurant by the ocean which served pancakes shaped like whales. They looked delicious, blueberries for eyes and shredded apple along the bottom to make the stomach ridges, but he suddenly wasn't hungry.

It was stupid, to feel bad about something so small when the world had just been saved from war and destruction, but a fresh wave of regret had soured his appetite.

He had almost kissed Simmons. He'd set his course, prepared a plan of action for arrival, something quick, benign, barely a kiss at all, but he'd backed out at the last second like a gutless sponge.

In that moment, he almost wished he was a sponge. The simple animals had no digestive tracts, no gut (Simmons had told him about them on a trip the aquarium once) but they didn't have brains either, or any kind of nervous system, so, unlike him, they felt no shame in their gutlessness.

He should have been braver, he should have kissed her.

There was a whisper in the back of his mind, egging him on, and if he were asked to describe it using using the angel/ devil metaphor, he wasn't entirely sure which it would be.

'Yes, you should have kissed her,' it scolded. 'Back when you had an excuse, a way to explain it without making things awkward, but it's not too late.'

'Yes it is,' he argued despairingly, cursing his own cowardice.

'Kiss her now,' it suggested.

'If I kiss her now, she'll know I meant it,' he reasoned miserably.

'So? What if she wants to kiss you too?' it objected. 'Don't you want to find out? Aren't you curious what will happen?'

'Simmons isn't a lab rat,' he protested. 'She's my best friend, my home, if I lost her it really would be the end of the world. It isn't worth the risk.'

'Coward,' it taunted and he decided on devil.

"Can you stay?" Simmons asked. Her question came out soft, barely more than a whisper, but it was enough to scare away the devil in his head.

He turned away from the news, to her. She seemed anxious, embarrassed almost and he smiled, understanding.

"Yeah, of course," he answered. "Your sofa is softer than my bed."

"The mattress we chose is better for your back," Simmons reminded him, rolling her eyes.

"The mattress you chose is about as stiff as a board," he teased, raising his hands up to defend himself and chuckling as she playfully launched a cushion at him.

"Thank you," she said warmly, nudging him with her elbow and smiling. "I just... I'd sleep better if I wasn't alone... and I know you have a roommate but I don't really like the idea of you walking alone outside either, it's getting dark."

"It is and if one of those Chitauri-things does come back, I'm better off with you than my roommate, he's nice enough but he isn't my partner," Fitz admitted. He spoke as if he were joking however his fear was, at least in part, legitimate. "FitzSimmons rules," he cheered raising a hand for her to high-five.

She complied, giggling at him, before her face fell and she swallowed nervously. "They won't though, they won't come back," she mumbled and Fitz wasn't sure if she was asking or stating it as a fact, but he could tell she was in need of reassurance.

"They won't come back," he assured her firmly, placing his hand over hers.

She nodded, staring down at it and her smile returned.

"I think we should put one of those frozen pizzas we picked out into the oven," Fitz suggested, getting to his feet and stretching. "And then we can play that game you keep nagging me to try."

"Blokus?" Simmons asked, raising her eyebrows. "Fitz you were the one who picked it out. You picked out the pizza too actually," she added, amused.

"You want both of them though," he told her. He knew Simmons, he knew almost everything about her and she knew almost everything about him. Almost.

'You can both find out the rest,' the devil reminded him, creeping back. 'All you need to do is kiss her.'

It was beginning to remind him of a song sung to a prince and mermaid by a cartoon crab and he blocked it out. Simmons wasn't a mermaid and she wasn't going to be turned into a shriveled grey sea slug if he didn't kiss her. Nothing was going to happen if he didn't do it, but if he did he might lose her and that would turn him into a shriveled grey sea slug.

"I do," she replied cheerily, oblivious to his internal struggle as she rose to stand beside him. "I'll read the rules if you put the pizza in the oven."

Pizza and board games with Simmons, that sounded like an amazing evening. Simmons made everything better, board games, pizza, building gadgets, him. How could he possibly gamble with that?

"Deal," he agreed, shooing the devil away along with any plans of kissing his friend.

/-/-/

Simmons couldn't sleep. Every crick was a Chitauri, the sound of the wind through the trees outside was one of those enormous monsters, come back to life and flying along the street, grazing the branches as it searched for people to eat and dropped off more soldiers with laser shooting staffs. They should have brought a scrambler with them.

There was a noise outside her room and she resisted the urge to check on Fitz, to make sure he was still sleeping safely on her sofa. He was probably up, sneaking into the kitchen for an extra slice of pizza, that was it, everything was fine.

Turning over onto her side, she pulled the blanket up over her head like a hood, more for comfort than for any real belief it would hide her.

Her eyes were closing when she heard Fitz cry out, everything was not fine, and she swiftly threw her covers off and grabbed the fire extinguisher she'd stored next to her bed before exploding out her door, wielding it like a weapon.

In the sitting room, something was attacking Fitz, a tall, thin shadow pushing him over, and she launched herself at it, consumed by a fiery protectiveness, only thinking that she needed to get whatever it was away from him.

"Simmons, what are you- no stop," he warned too late as she smashed her standing lamp with the fire extinguisher, the blow cracking the stand in two.

She stood over it, surprised at what she'd done, breathing in quick, shallow gasps before Fitz gently took away the fire extinguisher. There was a soft thud as he placed it on the floor and she watched his shadowy outline rise again and glide forward so he was standing, facing her.

"I ran into it," he explained apologetically. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"It's OK," she assured him quietly. "I think we're both a little... jumpy."

"Yeah," he agreed. "I'll get you a new lamp-"

"I'm the one who broke it," she objected fairly, cheeks hot. She must have looked ridiculous, picking a fight with a piece of furniture.

"Saving my life," he teased and she smiled even though he couldn't see her through the darkness.

"We'll split it," she decided. He spent half his time there anyway, they could share the new lamp, the same way they'd agreed to share any goldfish either of them ever obtained.

"OK," he agreed.

She was glad he was safe, happy there hadn't really been a Chitauri in her house, trying to hurt them, but she was still scared, still didn't want to go back to her room.

"I can't sleep," she admitted.

"Me neither," Fitz whispered as he moved towards her, placing a hand on her shoulder, and slowly leaning forward.

Simmons tensed, he was doing it again, he was going to kiss her, and she wasn't sure if it was because she was tired or because she'd just had a scare, but her judgment was off, she wasn't thinking clearly and she wanted to see what would happen if he did. His aim was too high though, he probably couldn't see her properly in the darkness, the window was behind her, illuminating him and leaving the front of her a shadow, so she lifted herself onto her tiptoes and met him in the middle.

It was short and he smelled like pizza but it was nice too, leaving a lingering tingle on her lips when they left his.

"Oh... um... sorry," he fumbled, stepping back, hands raised defensively . "I didn't mean to... I was trying to get your forehead... but... it's really dark, I'm sorry Simmons... I wasn't trying to-"

"It's fine," she interrupted, a little hurt.

'Of course he wanted to kiss your forehead,' she scolded herself. 'What were you thinking?'

She'd liked it though, the kiss, and that scared her almost as much as the Chitauri (almost, they were still winning, being deadly, bloodthirsty killers and all). What the hell had she been thinking? This was Fitz, her Fitz, he was her best friend, not some stranger she could kiss just to see what would happen (if she were the sort of person who did kiss strangers), not if he might think it meant something.

She wasn't even sure if it did and that could have been catastrophic for so many reasons. He might not feel the same way about the kiss as she did, maybe he hadn't liked it, and, if he'd know she'd done it on purpose, it could have made things between them impossibly awkward. Even if, on the off chance he did enjoy it, there were rules, so many rules, forbidding any sort of relationship between them which involved kissing. They could wind up in trouble with their supervisors, they could have the violation put on their permanent records or, worst of all, they could be separated. That was unacceptable, it couldn't happen. They needed each other, today had proven that more than anything.

It was a bad, stupid (very pleasant) mistake. She needed to go to sleep, clear her head of these dangerous thoughts, but she was still too afraid. She couldn't go back to her room all alone but maybe, maybe if Fitz were with her, she could be braver.

"Can you sleep in my room?" She asked, speaking her thoughts out loud before taking the time to review them, only realizing after how it must sound.

Maybe asking him to sleep in her room wasn't the right direction to be going in after what had just happened, and she was beginning to regret the question when Fitz, once again, leaned forward, this time connecting with her forehead. This second kiss was nice too, in a different way. It wasn't passionate or insightful, it didn't cross the line between friendship and romantic love, but it was loving all the same and it made her feel safe. He also still smelled like pizza, she'd been right about him sneaking away for a midnight snack, and she was starting to like the oregano-tomatoey aroma.

"If you want me to," he replied softly before he chuckled. "It might save the rest of your furniture. Congratulations warrior Simmons, you managed to defeat the worlds deadliest lamp," he kidded and she scrunched her nose as she nudged him.

"You're welcome," she laughed. "Let's get some sleep," she invited, walking back to her room

He followed her, hesitantly, and lingered, unsure, beside the bed before she patted the space beside her.

"C'mon, I'm not going to kiss you or anything," she joked, hoping she sounded amused.

"Sorry again," he mumbled, awkwardly getting in beside her, not touching the covers as he lay his head on her extra pillow and stared at her, eyes catching the light from her window.

"Don't be," she insisted, pulling the blanket over his shoulders and adjusting it around him so that he was securely beneath it. "What do you think is going to happen?" She asked, changing the subject, wondering why she'd brought it up in the first place.

"Well first of all, we're going to have to clean up the mess," Fitz predicted. "Which actually could be fun," he added optimistically.

"We'll probably receive loads more artifacts to study," she chirped.

"They'll also need to fix the damage to the city," Fitz put in, tone darkening. "And locate the missing and..."

"And bury the dead," Simmons finished sadly. "There's a memorial tomorrow. We should go."

"Yeah," Fitz agreed softly.

Eyes hot, Simmons reached out and took his hand. Their friends, Jack and Sam, had made it home safely with only a few bruises, but so many hadn't.

"My mum says our whole town is talking about aliens now," Fitz whispered shuffling closer. "Now the whole world knows they're real, that there are other worlds."

"Do you think they're afraid," Simmons wondered, inching towards him. "The universe must seem so big now."

"It's always been big," he reminded her. "It's been filled with other people, other beings, all this time. Nothing has changed."

"The world hasn't always known about them though Fitz," she objected. "Everything's changed."

"Not everything," he answered, pulling her hand to his chest and Simmons felt the warmth of the skin above his heart through his pajama shirt. "Not you and me."

"That's because we're perfect the way we are," she told him warmly, only partially lying. There was truth in what she was telling him, they did fit perfectly together, whatever name the love they had for each other took, it was wonderful. Maybe that was why she hadn't sounded off. "We're perfect as FitzSimmons."

"And we can deal with the rest as it comes," he decided, yawning.

They released each other's hands and turned around. Simmons squirmed towards him until their backs were touching, wanting to be able to feel that he was there, and he didn't protest. Instead he pressed closer to her so his steady breaths came in waves against her ribs and lulled her to sleep like the rocking of a hammock.

They wished each other a good night and soon he was sleeping soundly.

Everything was going to be different in the morning, they would wake to a different world, with new challenges, but Simmons knew that, together, they would sail through them. FitzSimmons was a strong, sturdy ship and no storm, however monstrous, was going to sink it.

Their sails had been opened, caught in the winds of change, but with Fitz beside her, Simmons found she could allow herself to sleep calmly, no longer afraid, as they were blown across the water into the new world.

/-/-/

It's over! This is the end of the story, I hope it was fun. Thanks for reading. :)

The singing crab and the grey sea slug (and everything with it) is a reference to the Disney movie The Little Mermaid. In the movie Sebastian the crab sings to the Prince to kiss Ariel because if he doesn't she'll be turned into grey sea slug by an evil octopus-witch and put in her garden of sad souls. (Who comes up with this stuff?)

The Fringe reference is the pancakes shaped like whales. Walter used to make those for Peter when he was a kid.

Also there is really no shame in a sponge not having a gut. It's just the way they are.

Blokus is a really fun strategy game in which you try to get all your pieces (which are different shapes) to fit on the board. It seems like a tricky game and I think it can get trickier if you play with someone strategic so I figured it'd be a game they enjoyed.