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"I want all the muffins!"
Jemma rolled her eyes. "No, I told you sweetheart, you have to choose one or you won't be hungry for dinner."
"Yes, mum," Leo let out with a sigh and an even bigger roll of his eyes.
She loved her nephew, she really did but he had become really quite sassy lately for a four-year-old. She blamed it all on her brother. Always laughing and high-fiving him when he said something inappropriate and calling her mum every time she was being the responsible, sensible adult he should be. But she was living in his house rent-free, ten minutes away from campus and all she had to do in exchange was spend time with her sassy but adorable nephew, so she couldn't really stay mad at him.
"Hello, how are you doing today?"
Jemma looked up at the Scottish accent, feeling a little bit like a deer in headlights. It was so silly to get so overwhelmed by a pair of blue eyes and a nice smile. She knew she'd see him when she walked in. She had presented her paper on rare toxins in front of very respected scientists in her field, all of them at least twice her age, with absolute confidence but whenever the cute barista talked to her or just smiled at her, it was like her brain was suddenly controlled by a bunch of cats just running around and pressing random buttons.
"Oh yes, I mean uh...last week before the end of term so a bit busy but um...fine. Yeah, just fine...thank you."
"That's good," he replied with a smile she couldn't help but reciprocate. In her defense, it really was a nice smile and such blue eyes would distract most people.
"I'm hungry!" Leo cried out after what had probably been a long moment and only then did she realize the cute barista was just waiting for her to place her order. Or... oh no he was probably waiting for her to ask him how he was doing. That would have been such a perfect opportunity to finally strike up a conversation with him. Now he probably thought she was rude on top of being a ninny. Not that it mattered because she was pretty sure he was dating the other barista, the pretty brunette who had the unfair advantage of being able to talk to cute guys. And what she thought was flirting directed her way whenever she came in was probably him just being friendly.
"Jem!" Leo insisted and she realized she'd just gotten lost in her head again.
"Oh yes...sorry. So we'll have one hot cocoa, one large cup of tea, one gingerbread cookie and--" She turned to Leo. "So which one do you--"
"I want all the muffins!"
"No, I told you, you have to--"
"Actually," the cute barista said. "I'm not allowed to sell you all the muffins. There's a strict one muffin per customer law to make sure there's enough for everyone. I would make an exception for my favorite customers," he added, giving Jemma a quick glance.
"But the police might take me to jail."
Leo gasped as his eyes went wide. "Just the chocolate one, please!"
Jemma bit her lip not to grin. It was maybe a little too much but it was smart. She could maybe use it at home when she was baking cookies. She wished it would work on adults too.
"That's an excellent choice," he replied as he picked the biggest one from the display and put it in a brown paper bag. When his eyes met hers, he gave Jemma a wink that made her cheeks grow hot. Good thing it was so cold outside and her cheeks were always red these days. "We have a new brand of tea, do you want to give it a try? It's a little stronger than your usual Earl Grey but the taste is more subtle. I think you might like it."
And now, he remembered her tastes. Honestly that boy!
"Yeah...sure."
"Great," he said with a beaming smile. "Coming right up."
A minute later, he handed her her drinks and pastries neatly packed in a brown paper bag with his usual smile. "Have a nice day and I hope you like the tea." He turned to Leo. "And I hope you enjoy the muffin."
"Yeah but don't sell muffins to other people. I don't want you to go to jail."
Cute barista grinned, giving Jemma a quick amused glance. "Don't worry, I'll be careful. I wouldn't want to--"
"Cause Jemma's gonna be sad if you're not here anymore. She always--"
"Come on now Leo, we're gonna be late!" Jemma cried out, catching just a hint of surprise and amusement in the cute barista's eyes as she turned around and grabbed her nephew's hand. "Goodbye, have a nice day," she said over her shoulder, hopefully loud enough for the barista to hear so that at least he didn't think she was rude on top of being ridiculous.
"Late for what?" Leo whined as she rushed him through the open door.
"Cartoons," she replied with a sigh. Cartoons, tea and a gingerbread biscuit were just what she needed to recover from another humiliation.
"Fitz, we need you up front!"
Fitz groaned as he cracked an eye open and looked at his watch. "I still have three more minutes."
"Your girlfriend's here."
"I don't have a-- Ugh Daisy!"
She grinned and bumped his legs off the couch Fitz used to nap every occasion he got. Between his PhD, this job and the tutoring he was doing on weekends, he was so exhausted all the time he could practically fall asleep standing up and being robbed of three minutes of rest felt like a capital crime. But on the other hand, seeing Jemma was always the highlight of his day. He just wished he'd learned her name --or anything else about her-- by asking her for it.
"Come on or Milton will be the one to take care of her order and you'll both be disappointed."
Fitz yawned as he stood up and put his apron back on. "I told you she's not interested or she would have flirted back by now."
"She blushes every time you look at her. What more do you need?"
"Something that cannot be explained by the difference between the cold air outside and how hot it is here?"
"Oh but it is explained but how hot it is in here, Dr. McFlirty," Daisy replied with a ridiculous eyebrow waggle and Fitz couldn't help smiling. He wished he had half the confidence in his own attractiveness that Daisy had in him. "I'm telling you she's just as awkward as you are, you're made for each other."
"Plus she has a son."
"Might be her nephew or something. She looks a little young to have a son and we've seen her on campus."
"He called her mum."
"So what?" Daisy crossed her arms over her chest and squinted at him accusingly. "You wouldn't date her just because she has a son?"
"No!" Fitz cried out. "Just saying that if she has a son, there's probably a boyfriend or a husband in the picture."
Daisy shrugged. "Well, you won't know until you ask her."
Oh yeah, great way to ask someone out. Hey, is your son's father still around? Cause if not, would you like to go out for dinner with me sometime?
Fitz walked up to the counter just as Jemma was approaching it from the other side. She had on a big red wool hat that made the warm tones of her hair and her hazel eyes stand out and Fitz couldn't help smiling at the sight.
"Good morning, how are you doing today?" he said cheerfully then winced as he remembered it was actually past five in the afternoon and already dark outside. That made her smile and raise her eyebrows in amusement.
"I'm fine. How are you?" she replied with a tilt of her head.
Fitz chuckled. "Oh alright. Just the end of term and all that."
"Oh right, I get that, believe me."
"Oh right, you're going to MIT, yeah? I've seen you on--"
"Leo!" the little boy suddenly cried out as he pointed at Fitz's chest.
Jemma frowned as she looked down at the little boy. "Why are you--"
"He's Leo too!" he cried out excitedly and Fitz winced as he remembered the stupid badge he was hoping was hidden by his apron.
Jemma looked up at Fitz with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, he gets very excited about those things. He went crazy when he realized we were wearing the same colors the other day."
"That's alright and really cute," Fitz said, smiling. He was indeed a very cute little boy with the same bright eyes as his mum even if he'd just interrupted what might have been their first proper conversation.
Fitz leaned over the counter to look at Leo. "Tell you what Leo. Technically, I was Leo first but you can keep the name and just call me Number One."
Leo giggled as he nodded eagerly.
"Glad that we've got this settled then. What is it gonna be today? Your usual?"
"Yes please," Jemma said, then leaning a little closer over the counter, she smiled and added. "The tea was delicious by the way, thanks for the advice."
Up close she was even prettier, all the freckles on her cheeks standing out and Fitz felt his cheeks grow a little hot.
"You're very welcome," he said, his throat bobbing as her smile turned wider. Did she do something different to her makeup today? Her lips looked darker and very distracting.
Giving a quick glance to Leo who got himself distracted by the muffins display, she looked back at him and whispered. "That's really sweet of you but you can keep your name, you know."
Fitz chuckled nervously.
"That's alright, really. I don't really use that name, my friends usually call me Fitz. Mister Mace had these made but didn't bother remembering that's not the name I use," Fitz said with a roll of his eyes that made her smile even wider.
"Oh, right. I thought these were new. Surely I would have noticed that before. Would have made it easier to...um...well I would have noticed."
Fitz wasn't sure what she stopped herself from saying but he thought Daisy was right for once and she was actually blushing, not because of the cold or the heat, but because of him and it warmed him up from the inside better than any tea could do.
"Well, I'll um...I'll get to work on that tea and hot cocoa then," he said, reluctantly stepping away from the counter.
"Thank you, Fitz," she said with a shy smile and Fitz only managed to hold back his grin until he was facing away from her.
If Jemma didn't notice how happy it made him, Daisy didn't miss it at all.
"Just ask her out," she mouthed at him as he took extra care with her tea and little Leo's hot cocoa.
"I don't even know if she's single," he mouthed back at her.
She frowned and Fitz rolled his eyes as he nodded his head towards little Leo. Daisy came closer, grabbing clean mugs to start washing them again.
"She's using your name and making prolonged eye contact, Fitz. She wants you."
"With that logic, I would think you want me too."
"Maybe I do," she whispered, batting her eyelashes at him and he just rolled his eyes. "Just do it or I'll do it myself," she said, reaching for Jemma's cup.
"No!" he said, taking it and securing the lid on it before she could.
"Here you go," he said, hesitating for just a second before adding "Jemma."
She seemed surprised for a moment and Fitz worried that she might think he was a creep using her name when she never explicitly told him but then she smiled and actually seemed pleased about it. Her hand brushed his as she reached for the bag and her smile got a little wider. And Fitz was about 95 percent sure that she had done it on purpose.
"Have a good evening and see you soon," he said, reluctantly letting go of the bag and putting his hand back in his pocket instead.
"Yes. See you soon, Fitz. And a good evening to you too."
Fitz's dopey grin held on to his face up until Daisy sneaked up behind him.
"You're going to die alone."
"Oh come on!" He turned around, crossing his arms over his chest. "I used her name and held eye contact and even touched her hand when I gave her the bag!"
"Wow, miss Austen. I hope you were using protection."
"You're the worst!" Fitz let out petulantly as he walked past her. He knew she was right of course. Nothing was going to happen if he didn't ask her out or at least tried to learn if she was single and potentially interested. He just had to be more prepared. Find something to keep Leo busy long enough to have an actual conversation with her. He worked at the place that won the best muffins in Massachusetts award, surely he could find something to distract a little boy with a sweet tooth. Fitz yawned. But that would have to wait until next Monday. Jemma seemed to have a very strict schedule when it came to her coffee shops habits.
"Where are you going?"
"Finishing my nap, I still have three minutes to catch up on."
Jemma squealed as the snowball hit her right in the face and exploded, making snow fall under her scarf and down neck. She shivered and whimpered as she tried to shake it all off, resulting in her being even more frozen than she'd been a moment ago.
Leo burst out laughing from his hideout behind a mound of snow some other kids had probably already built earlier today.
"Oh, you're not going to get away with it!" Jemma said as she crouched to start gathering snow. Her hands were freezing even through her gloves but she had a reputation to uphold. She'd won every snowball fight she'd had with Hunter and she wasn't going to let his son beat her.
Leo just kept giggling though as he started forming another ball, not very impressed by Jemma's threats.
Just as she was getting ready to launch her deadliest weapon yet, her snowball having reached an impressive size, Leo stood up to throw his. Not wanting to let him hit her twice in a row, she threw hers before he could. But in her haste, she overestimated the distance between them and the height of her tiny nephew and hit an innocent passerby right in the face. He squealed and groaned and to Jemma's horror, lost balance, slipped and fell down on his back.
Leo gasped and, sweet boy that he was, ran to help the poor stranger... and slipped and fell flat on his face next to him.
"Leo!" Jemma cried out as she ran towards both of them.
"Careful there, it's very--"
Jemma just had the time to wonder where she knew that voice from before her left foot slipped on ice and she fell face first half on top of the poor stranger.
"Oh god, I'm so sorry I..." She trailed off as her eyes met with a pair of widened blue ones, looking just as surprised as she was. She had to admit that she'd thought, on occasion, about situations where they would be on top of each other, but it was usually a lot warmer.
"Hi," he said with a shy smile, his expression turning suddenly much softer.
"Hi," Jemma simply replied with a matching smile. She knew she was supposed to say something else or do something but his eyes were truly ridiculously blue up close and she was only now noticing the blond and almost red highlights in the curls escaping his grey beanie and with his hands holding on to her shoulders and the warmth of his body permeating through his clothes, it was rather nice.
"Jemma?"
"Yes?" she practically whispered. Her name in his low voice and accent in this context didn't help her brain power.
He let his hands slide down her arms and off. "Could you...my back's getting kind of cold."
"Oh my god! Of course, I'm so sorry!"
Jemma rolled away as gracefully as she could, which wasn't at all really, and found a patch of fresh snow to set her feet on so as to not slip again before standing up. Fitz seemed to struggle even more though and Jemma offered her hand to help him to his feet.
She would have worried about Leo but he was just giggling and making a snow angel and it was a welcome distraction from the embarrassment of getting comfy on top of a man she knew practically nothing of besides his name and the various shades of blue in his eyes.
They laughed for a moment as they watched him until Jemma felt ready to face his gaze again and turned to him.
"I'm so sorry, Fitz. Obviously I didn't mean to hit you. I just overestimated how far Leo was."
Fitz shook his head with an amused smile. "Ah that's alright. No harm done. After such a snowfall the whole town should be considered a battleground anyway."
Jemma laughed. it was so sweet of him to brush it off like that when lots of people would have been angry.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm just a little--" he started as he bent over to brush snow off his trousers and coat and winced. "A lot wet and frozen. But I'll be fine."
Jemma bit her lip as she looked between him and her brother's house just across the street. Hunter didn't have a lot of rules about house guests. The only one was "Don't invite in someone I wouldn't" which didn't leave out many people. With Hunter's former career in the army and Bobbi's hazy past that had led her to become a martial arts and self defense teacher, there weren't a lot of people these two would be scared of. And sure, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover but Fitz really didn't seem like the dangerous kind. After all he'd been knocked out by a snowball. And he was all wet and frozen because of her, it was only polite to at least offer to help out if she could. And if it happened to give her an opportunity to have a proper conversation, maybe get to know if he was single and interested in her without being interrupted by Leo, well that would only be a bonus.
"I live right across the street."
"Okay?" he replied with a tentative smile.
Ugh words, Jemma, words! And complete, intelligible sentences. What was wrong with her?
"I mean, if you want to come over to get you all warmed up. It's the least I can do really after I..." She trailed off as she noticed how wide his eyes had gone and she replayed her words in her head. "With tea!" she added quickly.
"Right."
"And cookies. And a radiator to hang your coat above and- N-nothing weird or--"
"Yeah, of course," he cut her off, his cheeks definitely redder than they were a moment ago. "That's lovely but I don't want to impose and you seemed rather occupied before I interrupted."
Jemma grinned as she shook her head. "We were about to head home and this one will need to get dry as well anyway."
"Are you sure?" Fitz insisted. She studied his face for a second, wondering if he was just not interested and looking for a way out or if he was just being very polite. But his smile seemed hopeful and his eyes weren't leaving hers so Jemma decided to to be confident for once.
"Yes. You've been serving me tea and cookies for months, it's my turn now."
Once his coat had been hung over the radiator and his shoes placed in front of it to dry, Jemma left Fitz in the living room for a moment to go and prepare tea. Little Leo had been sent to his room to change into his pyjamas so that left him alone to look around a bit.
It was a very nice house with a large living room, a very comfortable couch and a big dining table by the window. Which made Fitz a little confused because how could someone who looked to be about his age still going to university afford a house like that? Maybe he'd been right after all and Jemma had a rich husband and wasn't flirting, just being friendly.
It seemed that she was going to be another few minutes and since she refused to let him help, as if having her on top of him had been such a hardship, Fitz let his curiosity get the best of him and he stood up to come closer to the fireplace. Above it, among a bunch of rather tasteful Christmas decorations, there were a lot of pictures. There was a cute one of Jemma with Leo at Disneyland and another one with an, admittedly attractive, slightly older man but most pictures were of that man with a gorgeous blond woman. And in several of them, she was holding a baby who looked to be Leo. In fact, with his blond hair and big blue eyes, Leo looked a lot more like that woman. Or himself when he was a toddler but that wasn't the point.
"Bobbi's gorgeous, isn't she?"
Fitz startled at Jemma's voice and turned around to find her carrying a tray with a very English pink tea set along with a plastic mug in the shape of a monkey. "What?"
"Leo's mum, the blond woman in the pictures."
"Oh um... Is she? I guess...I don't know, I-I like a classical beauty myself."
Jemma laughed as she shook her head in amusement, obviously not fooled by his mumbling. Of course she was gorgeous but he was too smitten with the very real girl in front of him to care about the woman in the photograph.
"So if Bobbi is Leo's mother that makes you his...aunt?"
"Aunt, yeah of course."
"Oh..."
Jemma's eyes widened. "Did you think I was his mother?"
"Nooooo... I mean... he did call you mum the other day."
Jemma sighed as she shook her head. "Ugh, I really need to have a word with Hunter." Fitz frowned. "His father and my brother. He keeps calling me mum to tease me and now Leo's doing the same."
Fitz laughed. He might have found the courage to ask her out sooner if he hadn't thought she was his mother but he had to admit it was funny. He didn't have much family besides his mother but what he had with Daisy felt a lot like this.
"So I'm guessing this is his house, right?"
Jemma smiled. "Yes. He can be a bit of a pain the arse sometimes but it's still much nicer to live here with him rather than in a tiny dorm room."
"Amen to that."
There was ding coming from the kitchen and Jemma startled. "Help yourself with tea, I'll be back with cookies in a minute."
"Do you need help?"
"No you stay here. After what I did, it's the least I can do," she said once more, already walking away.
"Jemma, you know it was just snow and not an actual bullet you hit me with?"
She looked back and stuck her tongue at him with a grin. "I'll just be a minute."
"Are you going to sleep here tonight?"
Fitz jumped as he turned around. What was it with this family and always sneaking up on him?
"What?" he replied, not able to stop himself from smiling at the sight of Leo in his cute red Christmas pyjamas.
"You can stay in Jemma's room , she won't mind."
Fitz practically choked on his own saliva. "What?"
"She likes you and we're having a sleepover tonight and dad says she should have more grownups sleepovers so if you're coming, it'd be a more--"
"Leo!" Jemma cried out, sounding absolutely horrified as her cheeks turned a deep shade of red. "I already told you to stop repeating everything your dad says."
"But you said you also wanted to--"
"Here, have a cookie," she said, practically shoving the cookie in his mouth and Fitz had to bite his lip not to smile. He was feeling somewhere between embarrassed and positively giddy. The girl he'd been crushing on for months wanted to have grownup sleepovers with him. "Stupid Hunter," she mumbled under her breath but Leo still heard and gasped.
"Oh! I'll tell dad!"
"Please do," Jemma said as she flopped onto the couch after having deposited her plate of star shaped sugar cookies on the table.
"Can I take one more cookie to share with Enoch?"
"Yeah...sure."
The little boy took just one more cookie then ran to his room and Fitz waited for Jemma to look at him to give her an amused smile.
"He's taken on the habit of saying he's sharing with his toy robot so he doesn't go to jail for having two cookies and we're pretending not to know the robot doesn't eat cookies. When they're so small, just one is a little harsh."
Fitz laughed and after a moment's hesitation, she joined him. "I'm sorry."
"Oh no, it's usually a good rule. We just have to adapt it depending on the size of the cookie."
"That sounds very reasonable."
Jemma smiled again as Fitz sat back on the couch and, feeling bold, slid a little closer to her.
"So...I heard there was a sleepover party tonight."
"Fitz!" Jemma cried out, hiding her face in her hands. "A gentleman would have pretended not to hear anything about that conversation," she mumbled.
"I would," he said, reaching for her hand to pull it off her face. "But I also heard the girl I've been too chicken to even ask for her name or number for months might like me back and I don't want to forget that."
She let her other hand slide down her face and bit her lip as she looked at him through her lashes.
"What are you doing at MIT?"
"PhD in engineering, why?"
"Because if I'm going to invite you to spend the night, I feel like I should know more than the fact that you're cute and Scottish."
Fitz beamed at her. "How did you know I was Scottish?"
She burst out laughing and let her head fall onto his shoulder and Fitz felt his heart flutter. He loved that sound, he loved that he was the one who had provoked it and he loved the feeling of her forehead on his shoulder even more.
"And what about you? What are you doing when you're not using your nephew to flirt with unsuspecting baristas?"
She swat his arm but there was no bite to it. He couldn't quite believe that after months of trying to find the courage to even just ask for her name, they'd managed to go from awkward rambling to teasing each other and possibly spending the evening together.
"I'm working on my biochemistry and biology PhDs."
"Wow!" He'd been right about her being out of his league. But for some reason, she was looking at him with tenderness and she hadn't taken her hand away from his. Whatever the reason for her interest was, he wasn't going to question it. "So are you really inviting me to a sleepover?"
"Well I'm inviting you to tea first but...yeah, if you want to." Fitz beamed.
"Of course I do."
"It's actually not going to be very romantic, you know. It’s not even a real sleepover, just this silly family tradition. We put on our pyjamas and watch silly Christmas movies until we can’t keep our eyes open. There'll be a four-year-old as well as a very embarrassing older brother."
There was a daring smile in the corners of her lips but if she thought there was anything that could keep him from spending the evening with the biggest crush he's ever had, she still had a lot to learn about him. Any evening spent outside his cold, damp dorm room was already a good one. But an evening spent with her?
"But you'll be there too."
"I will."
“And I’ll have a chance to get to know you better?”
“I guess so.”
He squeezed her hand. "Then it sounds perfect."
Later that evening, once Leo had fallen asleep on his snoring father's lap and Bobbi had retreated to her office, the movies were quickly forgotten as they got swept up into their conversations. Whispering about Jemma's deadly toxins and Fitz's set of drones as not to wake up Hunter and Leo, talking animatedly about why Jemma had Daleks on her pyjamas and which one was better between hers and the Tardis one Hunter had let him borrow. And with every passing minute and every topic of conversation, Fitz felt his crush turn more and more into a little more.
In between their conversation about which one was the better Doctor and if The Nightmare Before Christmas was a Christmas movie or a Halloween movie (it was both, obviously), Bobbi had come to collect her son and grumpy husband and had left the room with a discreet wink towards them that Fitz still didn't miss.
They fell into a comfortable silence, smiling as they watched the Grinch's shenanigans for a moment until Jemma shivered.
"Are you cold?"
"A little. We should probably revive the fire," she replied, looking towards the fireplace then to him with a soft smile.
"Yeah, we should," he replied but none of them moved to do it.
Instead, Fitz grabbed the big blanket Hunter had been using a moment ago and Jemma snuggled against his side as he draped it around them both. Fitz's heart soared when, after a moment's hesitation, she put her hand on his under the covers. Fitz linked his fingers through her icy ones and she sighed in contentment.
Jemma was right, it wasn't the most romantic first date Fitz had ever had with The Grinch playing in the background. But when their gaze met, her eyes reflecting the warm light of the fireplace and their lips met in a messy kiss because they couldn't stop themselves from smiling, to Fitz it felt absolutely perfect.