Welcome to the first entry of The Fitzsimmons Archives! Send in your prompts via review or DM and I'll do them all! It can be anything from first kiss to established relationship fluff or simple friendship; it really is up to you. Enjoy!

This prompt is 'Fitzsimmons visit Fitz's old room at the Academy, entering as friends and coming out as possibly something more'.

Leo Fitz sat on what was once his bed. He looked around the room and was filled with nostalgic memories of the days he'd spent all those years ago working on designs and doing homework when he was a student at the Academy. While he wasn't the most sociable of people, and quite frankly still wasn't, over time he had gotten better thanks to his best friend Jemma Simmons. From the moment their very brief feud ended and they were paired up for a project, the two had been inseparable.

And now they were back for a reunion of the Academy's most successful students, and hoped that it wouldn't end up as badly as it had last time where one student, Donnie Gill, caused all sorts of problems.

Fitz was ecstatic to have received permission from the student that now lived in his old room to have some time alone in there, and he was also pleased that hardly anything had changed. The wallpaper, positions of the furniture, all of it was the same. The only differences were minor, like the new posters on the wall and the lack of dirty laundry on the floor.

"Want to be alone?"

Fitz followed the voice and turned to face the open doorway, where Jemma stood there with a delicate smiling, clearly having taken a few moments to decide whether or not to speak up and interrupt him.

"No, come on in." Fitz smiled, which Jemma reflected on her face as she sat down next to him and looked around.

"Wow. It's been a while since I've been in here. We didn't really get time for a trip down memory lane last time" Jemma noted, making Fitz chuckle.

"I know. Not much has changed, really. I like the familiarity. Like part of me is still here." Fitz said.

"Oh, the hours we spent in here; days on end, staying up all night watching DVDs or working on some project or another. Why did we always spend time in your room and not mine? The mess that used to be in here made my room look like hospital-standard cleaning." Jemma asked. Fitz smiled.

"I don't know, really. I guess I was just too reluctant to leave so you just stayed here." Fitz said and Jemma laughed.

"You know what, that's certainly it!"

The two laughed together for a moment.

"Would you ever go back to those days, if you could?" Fitz asked. Jemma took a second to think.

"If I'm honest, I'm not sure. I'm not sure if I'd do anything differently anyway, and I love how things are right now. Though either way I'd be stuck with you, so is there another option?" Jemma teased. Fitz playfully leant against her for a moment with a small smile as she chuckled.

"Oh, shush."

"You know I don't mean it, Fitz! Honestly, you were the best thing about being here. I mean, we became best friends here and we're still as close as ever. Despite our initial feud and when I-"

Jemma stopped suddenly. Fitz looked at her and saw her cheeks had gone a pale red.

"When you what?" He asked. Jemma looked at him and all he could see in her face was nerves.

"Simmons?"

"…Okay, if I tell you then you CAN'T, I repeat, CAN'T tease me about it and it never leaves this room. It was a very long time ago. VERY LONG." Jemma said apprehensively.

"Fine, I swear."

"Swear on something that matters."

"…I swear on Snow, Doc, Happy, Grumpy, Dopey, Sneezy, Sleepy and Bashful." Fitz smiled, making Jemma smile herself.

"Okay, well…I…after we became friends when we got paired up I…"

"…What?"

"I had a tiny, minute, miniscule…crush on you." Jemma admitted, cringing as she said the words and Fitz looked at her, overwhelmed with shock.

"WHAT?!"

"God, I shouldn't have said anything."

"That's…that's brilliant." Fitz chuckled, leading Jemma to hit him.

"You swore you wouldn't make fun of me!" Jemma protested.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. It's just…I never would have thought that! I mean…how long did it last?"

"Fitz, do we have to do this?"

"Oh come on, Jemma, humour me. This NEVER happens."

"…Fine. It was only about two months, okay? It was nothing really. Please drop it." Jemma blushed, her face growing redder by the second. Fitz hated seeing Jemma looked uncomfortable so nodded.

"I shouldn't have told you." Jemma stated, looking away from Fitz with her arms folded.

"Jemma, come on." Fitz said, but Jemma stayed silent. He became desperate to cheer her up, and knew what he had to do.

Now it was his turn to tell her.

"…I still win for being the biggest loser of us two, you know."

"How come?" Jemma asked, still having not moved.

"…Because my crush on you lasted five months and I didn't tell you." Fitz admitted. This time it was his turn to blush and Jemma's turn to look at him in shock.

"…Wait…really?"

"…Yeah. I…I couldn't find the courage to tell you. But still, I got over it…like, like you did." Fitz said.

Silence.

"…Well, uh…when was this?"

"I don't know, I guess it started in our first January here."

"…Oh."

Silence again.

"…So, I guess…for about a month and a half we had crushes on each other at the same time." Jemma said. Fitz sat up straight at the realisation.

"Oh…yeah. I, um, I never thought about that." Fitz replied.

"What um…what if…what do you think would have happened if we-"

"-Got together? I, uh, I don't know."

"Well…we spent all out time together anyway, so it wouldn't be that different. Probably just with kissing or…you know…that." Jemma said awkwardly, suddenly become VERY aware the two were sat on what was once Fitz's bed.

As the many what ifs entered the pair's heads, the tension in the room was almost unbearable.

"Well, luckily it didn't happen, eh? We got over it." Fitz said.

"Yes! Absolutely. Thank goodness." Jemma agreed. Fitz stood up and walked up to the window, looking out into the campus.

"Well, anyway…we should probably get back to the meeting room." Fitz coughed casually. Jemma stood up and brushed herself down.

"Yeah. Good point."

Fitz looked at her and smiled slightly, which she returned as he went to walk out.

"Leo?"

He turned to face her.

"You know, if we had…you know…it could've been nice." Jemma said.

"…Maybe." Fitz said, staring into Jemma's eyes for a moment too long before the two walked out together. The two remained deep in thought for the rest of the evening and the journey back home, hardly saying a word to one another.

…

The next day, Fitzsimmons returned to work in the lab on The Bus after an enjoyable evening the night before (the worst they had to endure were some cheesy, drawn out speeches). Fitz was already working when Jemma arrived; the exchange of a small smile was the only interaction between them. They continued to work silently for almost an hour by the time Fitz plucked up the courage to speak.

"I, um…I was thinking about what you said yesterday."

"Fitz, things don't have to be awkward between us, it was all in the past and-"

"-Yeah, no, I know. I just…what you said about, you know, if we'd gotten together and how it could've been nice?" Fitz said nervously.

"…Oh, yeah."

"Well, I was up all night wondering and…I was thinking that maybe…it could be nice…now."

Fitz didn't even look at Jemma's face yet he could picture what her expression was.

"…Oh."

"I just, um…I was thinking that…I wanted to propose an experiment." Fitz said. Jemma looked directly at him at that moment, curious.

"I mean, we are scientists, and it is our job to carry out experiments as often as we can." Fitz continued.

"…I, um…I can't argue with that." Jemma nodded.

"So, um…I would propose that we have dinner…somewhere nice…and, uh…just the two of us, I mean…and the independent variable would be the context behind the dinner, meaning changing it from a platonic social event to…non-platonic." Fitz explained, shaking as he did so and picking up a nearby tool to keep his hands busy.

"…and the dependent variable that we would measure would be if the changed context of our social event, being the dinner, helped with the realisation of any possible…feelings?" Jemma asked. Fitz nodded sheepishly, having developed red cheeks.

"…Yeah." He said and Jemma nodded. She took off her goggles and took a few steps closer to Fitz, leaving them closer but still a metre or so apart.

"…I mean, if you want." Fitz added, scratching the side of his head and putting his hands on his hips in the unusual way Jemma always had found interesting. As he looked around the room awkwardly, Jemma took the opportunity to inspect Fitz, noting his body fat ratio, symmetrical face and endearing blue eyes. She smiled to herself briefly.

"…Well, as I scientist it would be, um…illogical…to not carry out the experiment now it has been standardised. As scientists we're obligated to take any opportunity to learn something new." Jemma said, masking her own nerves and now trying to do anything but check Fitz out.

"…Right. Good. So I'll think of some options to run by you…for that." Fitz nodded.

"…Okay. And make sure to book a table in advance to-"

"-Guarantee a good place, yeah…okay."

The two looked at each other for a brief moment.

"…Well, I should inspect these samples." Jemma eventually said.

"Yeah, I need to add another layer to this design, so…good."

"Good."

With that, they returned to their ends of the lab and continued working, keeping themselves to themselves for a while. Jemma stopped for a moment to turn around and look at Fitz, and was shocked to see he was looking at her too. They shared a very wide smile before returning to their work.

Upon reflection, Jemma was very, very glad she told him now.