Prompt: Snowed in at the Academy.

For: leopoldfitzsimmons. You asked for angst so I tried to put in as much as I can. The story sort of grew on its own and I had to split in two chapters. The next one will be out before Christmas. I hope you enjoy your gift. :)

So, this is my assignment for the FitzSimmons-SecretSanta challenge. Hope you like it... ;)

An enormous thanks to Starrydreamer01 who's the best beta in the world and has to deal with my writing insanity. I'd be lost without her. :)

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN AGENTS OF SHIELD.

"FitzSimmons!"

The two young cadets turned as one, stopping halfway through their argument in the middle of the hallway. Actually, they were bickering: they always bickered while working on a project and they were about to finish one.

Fitz wondered if this was one of the fundamental ground rules that made them work so well. From the moment they were partnered together, during the first half of their first semester, they had always spent most of their time in the lab bickering about how to do something and the remaining time was them actually building, writing and finishing their works.

And somehow this created some of the most brilliant works Sci-tech had ever seen.

The Scottish cadet looked down the hall and saw a girl walking towards them; he recognised her as one of the biologists living in Simmons' dorm, Caroline Garner. His partner saw her and smiled slightly.

"Hello, Caroline," she greeted. "How are you?"

"Hey, Jemma. Fitz," Garner nodded at both with a smile. "Well, I'm doing great: I just found out that Vaughn cancelled his class tomorrow."

"He did?" Simmons asked, shifting her bag up on her shoulder. "That means that there aren't any classes left now, are there?"

"Honestly... I have no idea," Garner shrugged. "But I'm happy to be free from his lecture."

Fitz had to hide a chuckle when he saw Simmons' aghast look at the other girl's words. His partner thoroughly loved studying and doing her homework.

He looked outside the window: it was almost six and already dark. He saw that it was snowing. Again.

They were approaching Christmas and a big snowstorm had been announced. It was meant to hit the Academy and its surrounding area sometime tomorrow and as a precaution, Director Weaver had asked that all the teachers cancel or postpone their lessons and lectures until after the holidays.

Most of the teachers had agreed -not Professor Vaughn, but he was a stubborn old git- and a good part of the cadets had left Sci-Tech earlier to go home before the semester ended and their two weeks of vacation started.

Fitz couldn't wait to go home and see his Mum; he loved to spend the holidays with her in their little house in Glasgow while it snowed outside and they were inside listening to old Christmas songs and eating a piece of warm pie. It was something they had done every year since he was a child.

He had booked a flight for the day before Christmas Eve and he had tried to re-book for an earlier time once he saw that he didn't have classes but it was too expensive. Thankfully, Simmons was staying until the 23rd as well and they decided to work on one of their end of the year projects which would allow them to graduate in spring.

He shot a glance at his partner who was still idly chatting with the other girl, taking in her smiling face and bright eyes.

Fitz wondered if she was delaying her flight on purpose; he was sure that she could afford to re-book and take an earlier plane to Sheffield. He was sure that her parents would be glad to have her home early and wouldn't mind paying a little more on the ticket to allow that.

There was a part of him that wondered if she was staying back for him so that he wouldn't be alone before leaving for Scotland. And before they parted for two weeks.

The mere thought that she might be doing this for him made something clench in his chest. He knew that Simmons cared for him: she was his best friend (something that still astonished him even after a year). And -he still couldn't believe it.

But every now and then, his mind would wander and he would think of the possibility of being something more. He wondered about the way his heart would twist when she looked at him sometimes or when she smiled.

He wondered if Simmons had ever thought of him as-

"Fitz?"

He looked up and found Simmons staring at him, eyebrows furrowed while Garner looked amused. He blushed slightly, realising that he was caught day-dreaming.

"Yeah?" He asked, stepping closer to Simmons' side. He realised that the two girls were looking at him expectantly.

"Were you even listening?" Simmons queried, eyes still trained on him.

"Er- Well... Not really," he admitted, scratching the back of his head. Simmons rolled her eyes while Garner giggled, making Fitz blush more. "What were you saying?"

"I was telling Jemma-" Garner nodded at his partner. "-that there's a party at the Boiler Room tonight. Some sort of Christmas/End-of-the-year thing for all the cadets that are still here at Sci-Tech." The blonde girl smiled broadly. "Are you coming?"

Fitz had to force himself not to shake his head vehemently and refuse. He never liked parties and very crowded places and the Boiler Room were the epitome of both.

Moreover, he couldn't even get anything to drink because he was still a minor in this country. Stupid laws, he thought, I'm nineteen, for God's sake!

"It will be fun, Fitz!" Garner cajoled him, batting her lashes and smiling again. He blushed, feeling more than a little uncomfortable at her attention.

Less than a year ago, he wouldn't have minded attempting to try (and probably fail… but whatever…) to flirt with a girl but now…

Fitz threw a glance at his side and saw Simmons staring at him curiously. He shot her a small, wry smile, trying to ignore the little twist in his chest as she smiled back.

He hadn't really paid attention to any girl since he'd known Simmons. It was all vague looks and inner comments...but nothing more.

Simmons had taken his full and total focus. It wasn't surprising, really. She was easily the brightest person and, also, one of the prettiest girls he had ever met. Though he really shouldn't be noticing the last part...

He often wondered if he was heading down a road that could destroy him and their friendship at some point but he promptly ignored his fears.

So much for being named after the brave lion...

"It could be fun, Fitz," Simmons remarked, making him look up and forget his self-imprecations. "It wouldn't be bad to relax..."

"And what happened to 'Fitz, we have to finish Professor Miller's report immediately!'"

Simmons rolled her eyes at his attempt to mimic her voice.

"We just have the bibliography and the last editing to do," she remarked, straightening her bag's strap on her shoulder. "I'm sure we'll have it done by tomorrow since neither have class now."

"Yeah..." he agreed. "We could finish it in the afternoon and-"

"-send it to Professor Miller by the evening? Yes and-"

"-we'd also have time to give the final touches to the DWARFs. That would allow us to work on our other projects during the holidays."

"Exactly! And we could try working on-"

"Er-Hello? Earth to FitzSimmons?"

They turned again to look at Garner who had a bemused look. Fitz realised that they'd literally forgotten about the other girl and had got lost in their own world, filled with science and lab work and projects; he wondered when all of his academic interests had started to include and revolve around Simmons so much.

"Sorry," they mumbled together and Garner chuckled.

"I've been around you two enough to get used to that," She vaguely waved a hand at them. "So, are you coming tonight to celebrate?"

Fitz let out a deep breath and glanced at Simmons who nodded with a smile and then looked at him. She arched a brow, lips still quirked upward and seemed to be clearly asking him to come.

He grimaced slightly and she rolled her eyes before leaning closer to him.

"It will be fun, Fitz," she whispered.

"You know that I don't-" he protested softly.

"-like crowded and raucous places, yeah, but it's a party and..." She smiled softly. "I swear I won't leave your side the entire time."

Something fluttered in Fitz's chest. He'd be perfectly happy if she never left his side. He nodded slowly and her smile widened.

"So, you'll come?"

"Yeah," he replied, smiling slightly at her enthusiasm. "Since you asked so nicely..." His teasing earned him a small nose scrunch from her and he grinned.

Checking his watch, Fitz realised that he had to go and meet his Robotics lab professor for his end of semester project.

"I've got to see Professor Kido," he said, looking at his partner. "Text you later?"

Simmons nodded.

"Dinner at 8?" She asked and he nodded.

"You choose where," he said and smiled at her. "See you later. Bye Garner."

He walked away, feeling surprisingly elated to spend the rest of the evening and night with his best friend and not only for studying.

Now, if he could only force his heart to stop fluttering around his chest...

-:-

Jemma's stare followed her partner as he walked down the corridor and disappeared from sight. The smile lingered on her face as she thought about the places near campus where they could eat something together before going to the Boiler Room.

"And you keep saying that you two are not together? Seriously?"

Jemma turned around abruptly and found Caroline staring at her with a smirk.

"I've told you a thousand times," she said. "Fitz and I are friends."

"Sure... I have breakfast, lunch and dinner with a friend every day."

"We have classes and labs together. It's perfectly norma-"

"And you spend every free moment together."

"We're best friends."

"What about right now? I asked Fitz to come to tonight and he looked disgusted at the mere thought. You ask him and he's accepted immediately."

"That's because we-" Jemma faltered as Caroline shot her a look that made her blush. The blonde girl's smirk widened.

"How long will it take the two of you to realise that you're basically dating while acting as friends?" She queried, tossing her long strands behind her back with a casual flick of her hand as they walked down the hallway towards the main entrance and then to their dorm. It was a routine that they had in the rare occasions when she and Fitz didn't share a class. Caroline's room was next to Jemma's and the older girl had decided to take the young biochemist under her wing from the moment they'd first met.

It also seemed that her sisterly attitude extended to teasing and gossiping as well...

"Let's hurry," Caroline stated, closing her coat around her body and putting on some gloves. "It's only a flutter now: we've got to rush to our dorm before it starts snowing hard again."

Jemma nodded, buttoning her coat and slipping on a pair of blue gloves. A gift, she suddenly remembered as her boots scrunched through the thick layer of snow on the ground, that Fitz had given her for Christmas last year.

She still remembered the little warm feeling in her chest when he bashfully gave her the gift, carefully wrapped in silver paper.

Jemma ducked her head, hoping that her hair and the dim lights around the campus would hide her furious blush. She had been hearing the words implicating a relationship between them for almost a year, ever since she and Fitz had become friends and started spending time together. And every single time, she had denied that there was something more than a very strong friendship.

It irked her that nobody truly believed them whenever they said 'No, we're friends' in identical tones of disbelief, at first, and then of annoyance. But now, she noticed, embarrassment coloured their voices.

And, in her case, the smallest hint of hesitance.

Jemma busied herself with her scarf, tightening it around her neck when a cold gust of wind hit her face along with a few snowflakes.

She was also unsure whether her feelings were the same as before.

It was true that they were always together. It had come to a point that Jemma definitely felt the difference if Fitz wasn't by her side. She was used to having his Scottish voice finishing her sentences, complaining about something or just talking to her.

It was the first time that she was so deeply connected to someone, let alone a boy.

Jemma had had a few boyfriends in the past before coming to the Academy and she never shared this connection with them; there had been physical interest and she liked their minds but no one had ever challenged her.

Fitz was easily the most interesting person she had ever met.

And the fact that he was her age, from the UK and had a boyish charm that stealthily sneaked up on her was a rather lovely bonus.

Jemma blushed again and shook her head. She shouldn't be thinking of him like that: he was her best friend and lab partner. He was the only person that understood her thoroughly.

But some part of her heart was telling her that he was also a lot more than that and suggestive thoughts appeared in her head.

It happened so often lately that Jemma was finding it difficult to focus.

It's just a crush, she told herself, trying to gather her wits. A small crush over my male best friend.

But she knew that there was something else even when she deluded herself. She and Fitz shared something that went deeper and if she wasn't so scared to attempt to change their relationship, she would try to explore that road with him.

Fitz wasn't some odd boy she found appealing for his body and that she could go out with and then stop seeing without any other thought.

Fitz was... Fitz.

The thought of doing anything that could ruin their relationship just terrified her.

Jemma wondered if he shared her own doubts. She knew he cared for her; he didn't show it openly as she might have but there were the little things he did that just showed how much he cared.

The gloves that he'd given her last Christmas were an example. They'd known each other for a couple of months but it seemed as though they been friends for years.

She really didn't have time to go and buy another pair of gloves with the hectic schedule at the Academy; she had been meaning to wear her old pair even though the wool had thinned out and wait until she was back home to buy a new pair.

Fitz had noticed and had given her a brand new and really nice looking blue set of gloves. It was something that she might have bought if she had seen it first.

And he surprised her because she hadn't thought of giving him anything; she had hugged him impulsively and stammered an apology that he waved away.

She had spent a good part of her holidays looking for a good gift for him and finally settled on a stuffed monkey that wore a tie.

Fitz had been incredibly happy by the gift... Jemma still smiled as she recalled his face.

"What's got you all smiley now?" Caroline's voice broke her reverie and abruptly forced Jemma to realise that she was almost at their dorm and that she had been lost in her thoughts for more than ten minutes.

"N-Nothing," she said, trying not to show that she'd been thinking about her best friend the whole time.

"Sure," the older girl drawled with a teasing smile. Jemma cursed her inability to lie and her blushing face as they walked inside the dorm and were greeted by a burst of warm air and a small crowd gathered in the common hallway.

"Hey!"

Both girls looked up and Jemma failed to hide a frown at the sight of Jordan Walkers.

He was a Biology cadet a a few years older than her just like Caroline. He was quite good looking with broad shoulders, a squared jaw and a rather symmetrical body. She had accepted to go out with him last year and they had shared a few kisses and a few brushed touches.

Jemma had soon decided not to go out with him again when she realised that he wasn't very pleasant to talk to and that he was a bit obnoxious.

Unfortunately, Jordan didn't seem to take the hint. He'd been pestering Jemma whenever he caught her alone in the dorm.

Thankfully, they didn't share classes together (Jemma had long passed the classes he was taking) and she never saw him when she was with Fitz. She hadn't told Fitz anything about their very brief affair. It had occurred before they'd known each other and Jemma would likely never want to tell him about her lack of judgement in dating the older boy: she was still embarrassed by it.

Moreover, she and Fitz talked about everything but they had never openly spoke about their previous dating experiences.

Jemma found herself immensely reluctant to learn about the girls that might have kissed or done more with her partner. The mere thought made something acidic coil in her stomach.

She didn't linger on that. It was only protectiveness, right?

"Hey, Jordan," Caroline greeted him with a nod and steering Jemma towards the stairs to their rooms as they shook snowflakes off their hair and clothes. She knew that they two of them had gone out and that the boy still bothered her. "What's with all the people out here?"

"Didn't you hear? Weaver wants to put all the cadets that are still in campus in the same dorms rather than scattered around for the next couple of days. You know, for the storm: it's a safety measure."

"All? Where the hell...?" Caroline looked around in disbelief. "Here?!"

"The biology wing is the largest and the closest to the main campus buildings," Jordan joined them at the stairs. "Besides, there aren't really a lot of cadets around: most of the classes have been cancelled and they're all back home. I mean... Our wing is half empty already." He pointed to the group of cadets downstairs. "The guys over there are from Physics: they have a lab tomorrow morning and Professor Hayton wouldn't cancel it."

"Oh, so there's someone worse than Professor Vaughn," Caroline remarked with a wince. Jemma shared her sentiments.

"Since you're so informed, who else is coming over?"

"I think some from the Engineering wing: Mech cadets, I think. I've heard that they're the only ones left: all the other cadets have gone back home."

Jemma looked up at that, giving the boy a bit of attention after having ignored him until now. Fitz was still in his dorm although he didn't have classes.

"Are they going to close the dorm?" She asked. Jordan looked at her and grinned, making her cringe internally.

"Well, it won't be locked down but I think they'll cut the heating and reduce the power supply. It should all be conveyed here." He stepped closer. "You don't have to worry: it not dangerous or anything." Jemma wanted to scoff at him and roll her eyes at his condescending tone.

"It happens every year and all the cadets usually merge into a dorm: this year Weaver is doing it for us. It's going to be a blast: movies, drinks, food… A party night and day."

"Er... right," she remarked , stepping back as Jordan approached her. "I-I think I'll..."

"Yeah, let's go upstairs," Caroline agreed, pushing her up the stairs.

"Will you be at the Boiler Room tonight?" Jordan asked. "I'll be there, you know: last shift of the year."

"Yeah..." Caroline absently waved a hand at him. "See you later, Jordan." Once they were in their hallway, she huffed. "God, he talks so much. He's been like this since our first year: that why he knows half the campus. That and the fact that he works in the Boiler Room."

Jemma hummed, pulling out her phone and door card-key.

"Seriously... how did you even hook up with him?" Caroline queried.

"We didn't-"

"I know... I was just saying..." The blonde rolled her eyes. "Sometimes, I forget that you're still a kid."

"I'm not a-"

"You are. That's why you should hook up with Fitz: you'd make an adorable couple of genius kids."

Jemma blushed.

"I'm not going to reply to that statement," she mumbled. "It's just ridiculous."

"Are you going to ask him to come over?" Jemma looked up at her friend.

"What?"

"Fitz. Are you going to ask him to come over here?" Caroline asked. "If he comes with the other cadets, he'll probably end up in one of the empty rooms with someone. You could have him in your room. I know you've shared already."

Jemma nodded slowly, failing to hear the teasing tone in the other girl's words.

There had been times when Fitz had stayed in her room after late study nights where they'd all but collapsed on bed, too tired to move. She had fallen asleep in his room a few times too; the wake up and following walk out of his room under the stares of the other engineering cadets still made her blush.

Fitz had always been incredibly awkward in those moments. He kept to his side of the bed, careful not to touch her but in the morning, somehow, they were closer and slightly entangled.

Jemma had always been an early riser and she always spent a few minutes to observe him.

She tried not to linger on the image of a fast-asleep Fitz with messy curls and a relaxed face or the slightly sleepy Fitz with dark, hooded eyes and a gentle smile.

She didn't want to linger on the thought that she liked waking up to find him there with her...

Shaking her head slightly to dispel her sudden thoughts, Jemma unlocked her phone and sent Fitz a text.

[Fitz – 17:47]: All cadets are being sent to the Bio-dorm because of the storm. Do you want to come over and stay with me? Unless you want to share a room with a stranger?

She smiled slightly, knowing that he'd be horrified to share a room with someone he didn't know...

"You know, if you don't want Fitz with you, he can stay with me."

Jemma looked up abruptly, eyes wide, and saw Caroline staring at her with a small smile.

"What?" She asked, the blonde's green eyes took an innocent look.

"He's always nice and..he does have that nerdy, boyish look that's sort of cute." She shrugged slightly. "You wouldn't care, would you? Since you're only friends."

"Er- No-no."

"Good," She swiped her key and entered her room. "See you later, Jemma."

The biochemist stared, an odd, hot feeling bubbling inside her and just nodded with a weak smile.

Caroline was just teasing her, right?

She never showed any sort of interest towards Fitz...besides the teasing. Could she have been flirting with him? Jemma might be confident of her looks and knowledge but she was horrible in understanding these sort of interactions.

The thought of Fitz and Caroline made her feel... She couldn't describe it but she didn't like it.

Sighing slightly, Jemma opened her door and walked inside her room.

-:-

A few hours later, Jemma opened the door and smiled broadly at her best friend.

He'd answered her text with a string of alarmed emoticons and promptly said that he'd accept her hospitality as long as he wasn't burdening her.

It had taken Jemma a couple more texts (with more than an eye roll for his attitude) to convince him that he wasn't burdening her, she was glad to help him and 'No, Fitz, you don't need to bring a sleeping bag'.

He thanked her and suggested he buy dinner on his way to her room. When he arrived, carrying his backpack and a few bags filled with cartons of food, Jemma was content to have him there.

When he took off his coat, she blinked and stared a few minutes: he'd changed for their night out. She was used to see him in jeans and jumpers or plaid shirts, not in dark trousers, a blue shirt and striped tie. She wasn't used to seeing his eyes stand out more, incredibly blue and lighting up when he smiled at her, looking slightly confused.

Right...Best friends, remember?

"Let's eat, yeah?" She said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and trying not to stare (again).

"Sure," he replied and started pulling out the cartons.

Jemma sighed softly through her teeth.

Her confused feelings were messing with her mind. She just had to relax and put them back in order and everything will be alright...

Right?

-:-

The Biology wing was the closest to the Boiler Room and yet the short walk was incredibly harsh under the snow and freezing wind.

Simmons had curled up against his side, arm wrapped tightly against his arm as she shivered slightly.

"You're unnaturally warm," she stated, face half buried in her scarf.

"You're unnaturally frigid," he retorted, shifting slightly so that her hand was tucked in the crook of his elbow. She always suffered the cold and even the many layers provided by her scarf, coat, gloves and hat didn't seem to help her.

Once they entered the Boiler Room, he stomped his feet on the ground to get rid of the snow caked unders his heavy winter shoes; he noticed that the beginning of the hallway leading to the Boiler Room was covered by a layer of film, held down by metallic clasps, that gave off a dull red light. Fitz recognized a prototype that he had seen in the labs and that had been developed by a group of Physics cadets: a film that was structured with polymers and thermal agents that allowed it to stabilize at a given temperature. It was quite ingenious to use it now: they could test the effects of continuous pressure on the material along with its resistance while allowing the hallway not to be flooded by melted snow and turn into a slippery nightmare.

Once he shook off the snow from his jacket, Fitz felt warm air on his body and felt the dampness on his hair and face start to dry.

He heard Simmons sigh in relief by his side as warmth enveloped them.

He turned to look at her, ready to tease her but the words died in his mouth (again) as she shrugged off her coat, exposing the simple charcoal wool dress she was wearing over a pair of thick stockings (Leggings, Fitz, she had explained him before). It was so simple and yet so much.. her.

He'd never seen her wearing a dress before and it was doing terrible things to his mind and heart. He had always thought that Simmons was pretty: he had to be blind not to notice actually. But right now, wearing that simple dress that hugged the curves that she rarely exposed and with her hair tumbling in soft curls down her shoulders, she looked stunning.

A few boys nearby looked at her appreciatively and Fitz had to forcibly ignore the coiling in his stomach followed by the urge to bash the blokes' heads in.

He was just protective. Simmons was his best friend and was a girl: he was just protective.

He was desperately hoping that he was just protective and not falling for his partner.

Simmons folded her coat in her arms and smiled at him, making his heart jump in his chest. She reached for his wrist and pulled him towards the entrance.

"Come on, Fitz," she said softly. He nodded at her with a smile and followed her inside.

-:-

The Boiler Room was crowded, there was music blasting from the speakers, people dancing and bumping against each other and pretty much everything else that he hated all in one place.

But Simmons was right beside him, sitting at an empty table they had managed to find and where they had placed their coats and he forgot about the reasons he didn't want to be there. They'd been idly talking about one of their projects, their end of semester Holographic Engineering assignment, when a waiter approached them and jovially slapped a hand on Fitz's shoulder, startling him.

"Hey, man," the boy greeted him with a grin and Fitz looked up and blinked. He quickly recognised a fellow engineering cadet, Edward Blight. He was probably one of the few cadets in his dorm with whom he talked and that he actually liked.

"Blight, hey..." He said, straightening up and smiling slightly. "Haven't seen you in a while."

"Of course you haven't seen me. I've been holed in the lab working on the Aerodynamic Robotics project for weeks!" He grinned again. "If I don't mess it up, I'll be able to graduate and get into Sci-Ops in summer."

"That's great!" Fitz remarked enthusiastically. Blight was a rather brilliant electronic engineer with a fascination for aircraft and they had met in their Aerodynamics class. If anyone had deserved to get into Sci-Ops for his hard work, it was Blight.

"You helped me loads, Fitz," the older boy said. "You found that glitch in my bot and helped me correct it on my blueprint... It was insane!" He turned to look at Jemma with a grin. "This guy saved me from probably flunking a class by finding an error that no one else would have found in a miniature robot."

Simmons grinned at him and looked at Fitz

"He does that often, yes..." she remarked with a look that made Fitz blush. She then held out her hand. "Oh, I'm-"

"-Jemma Simmons, I know. Pleasure to meet you, I'm Edward Blight." he said, shaking her hand and smiling at her surprised look. "Of course, I know you. Hell, the whole Academy knows about FitzSimmons: if he's here, you're here and vice versa."

Fitz blinked. Really? Everyone thought this?

He glanced at Simmons and she looked just as surprised as he was.

"Besides..." Blight continued. "Even if I lived under a rock and didn't know about the genius Brit kids, he talks about you constantly when we're working together on my bot." He pointed at Fitz who blushed again.

"Wh-what?" He stammered. "That's not-"

"Really?" Simmons asked in return and that made him blush again.

"I might have mentioned you..." He confessed, scratching the back of his head. "We were busy working on Snow at the time." And he didn't talk about her constantly. He might have said her name a few times while he and Blight were in the lab, working out the mechanics of his device.

Alright, maybe he had mentioned her more when he started recalling their own experiments while creating their little drone, the first of eight identical bots.

It wasn't his fault really if they worked on everything together and their ideas were brilliant.

Or if she was always in his thoughts...

He looked at her and found her staring at him, amber eyes bright and a soft smile playing on her face. Fitz had to remind himself that he shouldn't be staring or thinking of his best friend in that way.

He was slowly coming to realise that he was single handedly dooming his heart to a miserable existence.

"Right..." Blight drawled but thankfully didn't elaborate further. "So, what are you ordering?"

Fitz frowned and gestured to the glasses of water before them.

"We can't order anything else," he said with an eye roll. "Being underage and all..."

"It's rather ridiculous, really..." Simmons added in an equally annoyed tone.

Blight stared at them.

"No wait... You guys drink?" He asked in disbelief and they both nodded.

"Yeah, I've had a beer back home."

"Me too."

The older cadet looked at them thoughtfully and then scribbled down something on his notepad. "Alright... I'll get you two beers. I still owe you, Fitz. Let's say that this is a minimal repayment."

Before either could say more, Blight winked and walked away to another table.

"Did he just-?" Simmons asked, looking at Fitz and he nodded, a small grin coming to his face.

"-get us free drinks? He did," he said. "I never thought that I'd say it but there are some perks in helping a senior cadet."

"Of course you'd say that," Simmons teased him, laughing slightly. He laughed along with her.

They looked around, chatting idly as they waited their drinks and Fitz started feeling more at ease. He had to admit that she was right: they did need to relax a bit. They'd been studying relentlessly in the last moments so that they could acquire all the credits to graduate early.

Fitz felt a wave of pride when he thought about it. They were the youngest cadets to be enrolled at Sci-Tech and they were going to be the youngest to graduate.

No one had done that before them.

The names Fitz and Simmons (or FitzSimmons as people called them now) were going to linger at the Academy even after they were gone. Together as a sole unit.

"Penny for your thoughts?" He turned and saw Simmons looking at him, head tilted to the side. He smiled.

"Just thinking about..." Us. "FitzSimmons."

"I never realised that we'd be so well known," she admitted, clasping her hands together and resting her chin on them. "It's a bit startling really..."

"Startling?"

"Well, there are people that know who we are and we don't know them," she explained.

"Does it bother you?" He wondered if she didn't like it after all, to be constantly associated with him. Something must have shown on his face because she blinked and smiled kindly.

"I'm not bothered by that, Fitz," she remarked. "I'm more than happy to be a part of FitzSimmons." He failed to hide the smile on his face and ignored the way his heart fluttered around his chest as she said that. "It just surprises me when random strangers know who I am. Although…" She grinned. "How many people have mistook us for one person and were really surprised when they saw that we were two?"

He laughed.

"Too many," he agreed and she laughed with him.

Fitz caught a glimpse of Blight walking over with a tray and two beer bottles. He arched a brow when another waiter approached him, seemingly asking to bring them their drinks instead but the engineer cadet shook his head with a smile. The other boy turned to leave, frowning slightly and casting a look at their table. He looked vaguely familiar...

"Isn't that a cadet from your dorm?" Fitz asked, jutting his chin towards Blight. Simmons looked up and he saw a shadow cross her face for a second. He blinked. What-?

"Yes… He's in Biology," she replied absently, tucking her hair behind her ear. "He's in Caroline's year."

"Oh… That's why he looked familiar," he remarked with a shrug. "I must have seen him when I come over to your room."

Simmons hummed in agreement but he could clearly see that something was bothering her. He wondered if he had said or done something wrong…

Blight brought them their beers with a grin and quickly left to serve other tables. Fitz handed a bottle to Simmons and smiled slightly.

"Cheers?" He said, holding up his own bottle. She smiled at him.

"Cheers," she said, gently knocking their beers together.

He relaxed again when she took a sip, smile still on her face. Fitz wondered when his mood and happiness depended on Simmons' well being.

For some reason, he realised drinking his beer, he didn't mind it.

-:-

They sat at their table for another while, sipping their beers and chatting mindlessly. Jemma chuckled at something Fitz had said and drank her American beer (she liked the British kind more but it wasn't too terrible) and allowed the light buzz of alcohol to tingle her nerves. It wasn't strong but the feeling was good and it made her relax.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Jordan serving a nearby table and she newly felt the rush of annoyance in seeing him and the little bit of nervousness that he would approach her while she was with Fitz.

Jemma didn't want her partner to know about her and the obnoxious biologist. She didn't want him to look at her oddly (or worse with disappointment) and consider her shallow like so many other girls that just went with boys for their good looks.

She wasn't like that...

Jemma could appreciate a well-formed and symmetrical body but it wasn't everything for her. When she came to the Academy, she was elated to be there, eager to learn more.

But she'd also been lonely.

She had made a couple of friends and even more acquaintances but she couldn't help but feel estranged. She knew people who liked her and accepted her (like Caroline) but not one of them understood her. No one knew what she could be feeling, to be barely eighteen in a campus where everyone else was over twenty years old.

When she heard about the Scottish cadet that was her age, she had felt a sliver of hope and had been adamant to meet him. She had expected them to bond immediately.

Jemma put her beer down and stole a glance at Fitz who was looking around the Boiler Room. He looked more at ease now and seemed to be enjoying himself: she couldn't help the smile that crept on her face.

Fitz had completely ignored her at the beginning: she was pretty sure that he'd considered her a rival or, worse, hated her. She would never admit it loudly but there had been a part of her that expected him to notice her and come over to introduce himself.

The less rational and pretty-girl-used-to-attention-side (a very hidden side) of her character expected the boy to notice her and talk to her. She really didn't think that he'd ignore her.

His indifference coupled with her lingering loneliness had made her vulnerable; that's why she surrendered to Jordan's constant attentions and agreed to go out a few times.

But after she and Fitz had been partnered together and they became friends, Jemma barely noticed the other boys. No one was as interesting as Fitz.

She silently wondered if she should ready herself for a definite heartache...

Fitz turned and caught her stare. He arched a brow, quirking his lips.

"What?" He asked and she shrugged slightly.

"Nothing, just wondering," she replied with a smile. He didn't look convinced but he didn't ask her anything else.

"Where's Garner?" He asked a few moments later. "I thought she'd meet us after she'd harassed us to come tonight."

"She left before you came over with some friends," Jemma replied, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach as he mentioned the older biologist. Caroline's words still echoed in her brain making her heart twist.

If Fitz was interested in the blonde, Jemma couldn't really do anything about it, could she? They were partners and friends and... that was that.

He never showed any explicit interest towards her more than friendship. And she might have been mistaking his care and gentleness for something more because she was confused about her own feelings. She could be mistaking his soft looks for something that wasn't really there...

Although.. she had seen him look bothered when other boys looked at her. She still had to understand why she was annoyed when he was on the receiving end of some other girl's glance.

She'd deemed it as protectiveness... but was it just that?

Could it be that she-?

"Simmons?"

Jemma looked up and found a pair of concerned blue eyes staring at her. She swallowed dryly and blinked.

"Y-yes?"

"Are you alright?" Fitz leaned forward, mouth twisting slightly in a small frown. "You've gone silent on me. What's wrong?"

She wanted to reassure him that nothing was wrong and that she was perfectly fine with him; she wanted to say that everything would be fine as long as he was there.

What she didn't know how to explain was that she never wanted him to leave and that she wanted to understand what her confused feelings meant.

With him.

Letting out a shaky breath, Jemma smiled in what she hoped was a convincing way and shook her head.

"It's nothing, Fitz," she said softly. "I was just lost in my thoughts." About you. "Don't worry."

He didn't look convinced and she had to fight the sudden desire to lean forward and ease the little worry lines from his face with her fingers.

He was never prone to physical contact and she was probably the only one he allowed to touch him but a shared hug during birthdays or before leaving for the holidays, the occasional brushed touches in the lab and when they hung out together didn't allow her to caress his face.

It was something intimate... Not friendly.

She had to get a grip on herself.

"I'll go to the loo," she said, standing up. "Wait for me here, yeah?"

He looked at her oddly and she smiled uncertainly. He nodded slowly and shrugged.

"Of course, I'm not going anywhere without you," he replied. Jemma smiled again and walked through the crowd, trying to stop her fluttering heart which had heard the words in a different way than her head had.

-:-

Fitz watched Simmons disappear in the crowd and wondered about her sudden change of mood. He went through their conversation, dissecting their dialogues and looking for something that he might have said to upset her but came up empty.

He finished his beer and noticed that the Boiler Room was suddenly bustling with activity. People were huddling together and talking animatedly.

Wondering what was happening, Fitz was almost on his feet to ask what was going on when the biology cadet that he'd seen talking to, Blight, appeared in front of him.

"Hey, you're Fitz, right?" He asked out of the blue. "Engineering cadet, Leopold Fitz?"

"Yeah and... just Fitz is fine," A frown made it's way on Fitz' face. "And... you are...?"

"Jordan Walkers, Environmental Biology," he grinned, showing off white teeth that would be perfect for a toothpaste advertisement. He thrust out his hand and Fitz shook it, wondering what was going on.

"Good," he stated. "Er-How can I help you?"

"Look man, I'm going to be really blunt," the boy said, looking at him. "You're Jemma's lab partner, right?"

"Yes.."

"Okay and...are you and Jemma dating?"

Fitz' brows reached his hairline. Walkers grinned again.

"I know, man, but there are a lot of rumours about you two..."

"Er... no, no.. We're not," Fitz replied, ignoring the voice in his head that whispered that they could be if he ever worked out the courage to sort out his feelings.

"No? Good!" Walkers literally beamed at him and Fitz felt something coil in his stomach. Here was another bloke who had his eyes on Simmons.

Fitz blinked when he realised that the other boy had referred to her by her first name. Fitz rarely called her by her given name even though she never said anything against it. He started calling her Simmons when he realised that calling her Jemma felt too much at times.

He didn't want to tempt himself by being too close and intimate with her.

Ignoring the sinking feeling in his chest, Fitz stared at the boy in front of him. He was different from him: sturdier, taller and with the looks that would make girls swoon.

He had never seen Simmons being obvious about her tastes in men but he had noticed the random looks she'd give; this bloke looked like her type.

"Do you- You know her well?" Fitz asked, clenching his hands.

"Oh, well, yeah. You know, we went out together and sort of clicked," Walkers leaned forward in a conspiratorial way. "She's cute and kisses pretty well and I wouldn't mind going a bit further than second base... I wanted to ask her out again but I think she's shy. She never lets me talk to her."

Fitz felt as though he'd been doused by an icy shower.

He stopped listening to the other boy's rambling and just focused on the few lines that had made his heart plummet to the floor.

Had Simmons been seeing Walkers without telling him anything? For how long?

He tried not to think about the implications of Walkers' words but his mind started to create scenarios that he didn't want to imagine.

Walker didn't seem to notice his sudden silence and continued to talk.

"Where's Jemma by the way? I hope not outside: it looked like it was going to stop snowing when I got here but now there are at least a couple of inches of snow on the ground!" He looked around the room. "People are going back to the Bio-dorm and trying to leave campus ASAP. They've heard rumours that some flights have been canceled and if it gets worse, that might really happen to all flights."

Fitz barely realised that an eventual delay of cancel of his flight would mean that he'd be here in America and not home with his mother but his mind was focused on other things.

He was vaguely aware of the fact that people were leaving the Boiler Room; not all but a good amount and he heard murmurs of packing up quickly or sharing a cab to the airport.

"Gotta tidy up and see what we can do later at the dorm. Last year, we managed to set up a gigantic TV-screen in the common room and some of the engineers made this really cool octopus-like grill in the kitchen where you could roast lines of marshmallows together." Walkers clapped a hand on his shoulder as though they'd been friends for ages and hadn't just met. "Well, I gotta go. Maybe you could come and help us and build a device to spike hot chocolate in one go." He grinned and walked away, leaving Fitz alone.

He stood there, shell-shocked and feeling hollow.

The realisation that Simmons had been hiding the fact that she'd been dating someone hurt him. It wasn't only for his confused feelings and the little shocks of pain that coursed through his chest.

He thought that they were friends: she could have been honest with him.

Did she think that he wouldn't care? Or... didn't she care that he knew about it?

Either way, Fitz felt as though someone had literally reached for his heart in his chest and squeezed. Tightly.

They were friends... but he also knew that there was something unsaid between them. He thought that at some point, when he'd be brave enough to confront his doubts and fears, he'd understand and maybe, she'd be there to listen to him.

They figured out impossible things in the lab: how difficult would it be to work out their relationship? Maybe, they could give each other a chance...

Fitz now knew that it was all in his head. It had always been one-sided...

He snapped out of his daze when a hand touched his shoulder. He turned around and stared at Simmons' bright amber eyes.

He felt as though someone had punched him in the stomach and he suddenly realised that he was bound to go to the Biology dorm now.

He was going to spend the night in Simmons' room and probably the next day with her.

He couldn't do that.

It would be an unnecessary torture for him. He didn't want to talk to her now; he didn't want to listen to her explaining or admitting anything.

He didn't want to see them together.

He had to leave.

I'll post chapter two before Christmas, I promise.

Please, leave a review. :)