It's that kind of day

Fitz pushed his way through the crowded Boiler Room looking for Simmons. Their last class of the day on Friday happened to be the only class they didn't have together, but they typically met back up after class. However, she wasn't in their usual booth, or their second usual booth, or their third. She wasn't at the bar or in the wash room. She wasn't playing billiards. He even checked the dance floor though he knew she wouldn't be there.

He sent her a stream of text messages, but she didn't respond. Very un-Simmons.

He was actually beginning to get a bit worried when he spotted her roommate, Sheila, dancing with a few of her friends, a beer in her hand.

"Sheila!" he called from outside the gyrating group, hesitant to go up to her but when she didn't hear his repeated yells, he had no choice but to throw himself into the fray. He groaned in irritation as people jostled him. Eventually he made it through and prodded her in the arm.

As she looked down at him and recognized him as her roommate's weird friend, her eyes filled with disdain. "What do you want?"

"Have you seen Simmons?"

In answer, she only rolled her eyes.

"It's just that she's not answering my texts and she usually responds fairly promptly. Also, Simmons is a creature of habit and the fact that she's not here is very odd. Where could she have gotten to and why didn't she let me know…" Fitz rambled, partially because he really was that flustered and partially because the time he'd spent in Simmons' dorm room had taught him that Sheila couldn't stand it.

"Oh my god! Fitz! Shut the hell up!" she exploded, turning on him while he suppressed a smug smile. "She's in our room. I don't know why she decided to stay in, but I'm pretty sure I know why she's not calling you back! You're annoying as hell."

Ignoring her insult, he turned and marched out of the Boiler Room. Crossing the Quad in the direction of Simmons' dorm, his mind was working in overdrive trying to determine what could be going on. He wasn't worried in the slightest that Jemma was avoiding him because he annoyed her. He knew when he was annoying her because she wasn't shy in telling him, so that wasn't it.

Perhaps she had forgotten? It didn't seem likely. Maybe she had canceled and he had forgotten. That was even less likely. There had been that one time when she had had a date on a Friday night. That was always a possibility. She was gorgeous. Which, he told himself, was perfectly fine to think about his best friend. She was objectively very pretty. Not to mention funny, smart, kind, and a whole host of other admirable qualities. Frankly, it was astounding that she didn't have more dates that she did. Not that he was complaining. He didn't like it when she was out with some other guy. Not because he was jealous. He wasn't. Definitely not jealous. But he was lonely without her. He had a few other friends, but she was a cut above the rest of them and the only one he truly looked forward to spending time with.

Then he had a thought that caused him to stop in his tracks. What if it was her time of the month? He cringed as he thought about it. He really didn't want to sit with her while she talked about cramps.

Shaking it off, he continued forward, having reached her building now. If that were the case, he'd just make up some excuse to leave. The most likely scenario was that she had started some homework or research and gotten caught up in it and lost track of time.

He knocked on the door. "Simmons? Simmons are you there?"

There were a few moments of silence before he heard a muffled, "Come in."

He walked in and took in the sight before him. She was in her pajamas curled up into a ball on the couch. Books didn't surround her so it definitely wasn't studying, but her attire also nixed the date idea. The TV was on but it was what she was eating that really alarmed him.

"Twizzlers and Nutella? It's that kind of a day, huh?"

She nodded as a tear tracked down her face. Automatically, his legs moved him closer to her, wanting to bring her comfort in some way.

"What happened?"

"I don't really want to talk about it," she said as he settled into the spot next to her.

"All right."

"It's just a whole lot of little things," she gushed making him grin slightly. "We had a pop quiz in bio that I completely bombed. Then Sheila yelled at me because I left my cereal bowl in the sink. I spoke to my advisor this morning and she says that I might be three hours short of graduating early…well, not early, but not with you. Plus, it's my mum's birthday tomorrow and I'm not going to be there to celebrate it. And to top all of that off, I think I forgot to water my basil plant because it's dead." He tried not to laugh at the last one, knowing that it would get him into all sorts of trouble. Instead he rubbed his hand up and down her back. "So, that's why I'm eating Twizzlers and Nutella."

"It could be worse," Fitz offered. "At least you haven't busted out the Mountain Dew yet."

She smiled guiltily at him. "I actually already drank one." She gestured at an empty green bottle lying on its side a few feet away.

"Oh dear." He reached his arm out a little farther and pulled her closer. She didn't resist but allowed herself the small comfort of snuggling closer and resting her head in the crook of his neck. He didn't say anything but just held her and didn't mention the tear drops he felt on his shirt.

"You know, Simmons, we can fix a lot of those things."

She sniffled and sat up so that she could look at him. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, you're quite smart and we both know how smart I am," he began, reveling in her small smile and eye roll. "I think with the two of us we can fix it."

"And what exactly do you suggest?"

"Well, for starters, we can buy you a new basil plant." She let out a watery laugh and rubbed at her tear stained cheeks. "Also, Sheila is the devil. So don't worry about her. I say you should purposely leave your cereal bowl in the sink every day for the rest of the year."

"Fitz…"

"Or you could just make sure you don't leave any dishes out. Though she's still going to be a jealous, horrible person so, she'll surely find something else to yell about." Simmons sighed and nodded. "Just remember, Jemma, the reason she's so horrible has nothing to do with you. She's jealous because you started two years after her, are ten years younger that her, and are going to graduate a year ahead of her."

"Unless…"

"No, not unless," he interrupted. "Three hours? You can do three hours easily. We'll take Spring Break and hunker down somewhere and knock out all of the coursework you need to get those hours."

"I thought you were going to New York for Spring Break. Wasn't there some electronics convention?"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "There will be other conventions. I'd rather miss that and help you. Besides, if you don't graduate with me, what am I supposed to do anyway? I'm not going to SciOps without you."

She sighed deeply and looked away. "Fitz, I can't ask you to do that."

"You're not. I'm offering. Actually, I'm not even offering. I'm just telling you what I'm doing."

She looked at him for a long moment, her brown eyes watery and shining at him. Quite suddenly, she propelled herself forward and wrapped her arms around his neck. Shocked, he didn't quite know what to do before wrapping his arms around her waist and hugging her back. She held onto him for a long time, but he wasn't complaining. He breathed her in, the smell of her shampoo mingled with her fabric softener and subtle hints of the lab they spent so much time in. Mostly though, he just noticed how warm she was. It radiated from her and completely enveloped him.

After what could have been a moment or an eternity, she moved away, fresh tear tracks on her face. "Thank you, Fitz."

He grinned sheepishly and then cleared his throat. "Yeah, sure…it's not a big deal." She looked at him like she wanted to argue that fact, but kept her mouth shut. "As for your mum, we'll stay up late that way you can Skype her in the morning. We might even be able to convince Agent Weaver to use the Holo-Box. She has a soft spot for you, you know."

"I don't think that will be necessary. Skype will be fine."

He nodded. "Yeah. And I know it's not the same as actually being there, but it's also better than nothing."

She sighed, already feeling the burden of thirty minutes ago lessening its grip on her chest. "Anything else to fix, Dr. Fitz?"

"One more thing, though I need some clarification first," he said smiling. "When you say that you 'bombed' your quiz, do you mean bombed like the rest of the world? Or do you mean that you got an A- instead of an A+?"

She laughed and sheepishly looked down at her hands. "A-…"

"That's what I thought," he said with an eye roll. "My fix for that then is to tell you to get over it."

Laughing softly, she nudged him with her foot, a silent thank you. "Do you want me to get dressed?" she asked. "I know how much you like hanging out at the Boiler Room on Friday."

"Nah," he answered with a shake of the head. "I like hanging out in the Boiler Room because I like hanging out with you. Might as well stay in since we're already here. Besides, I think there's a Doctor Who marathon on BBC tonight."

She looked at him for another long moment after that, her eyes searching him for something while he determinedly avoided her gaze. He didn't think he'd said anything that shocking as he'd always assumed she knew that was the reason he was always suggesting the Boiler Room. Apparently he'd been wrong.

It was while he was changing the channel that he noticed her swallowing hard and looking away.

"Thanks for coming over, Fitz," she murmured, cozying down into her corner of the couch and shooting a grateful smile at him. He smiled back. "Want a Twizzler dipped in Nutella?"

"Absolutely not. That's bloody disgusting."