Fitzsimmons

Summer Camp AU

Quick Note: I'd like to make this into a full book, a different book from this one. Would anyone like that?

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Camp Shik'is (pronounced sih-kiss) was the closest thing to a summer camp that you could get in urban Boston. It was also the only place where the rich kids could mix with the lower class without a money boundary separating them, but that's not really why kids showed up every June. (It was mostly because their parents needed a break from the wild beasts.)

Fitz and Jemma were mostly in it for the money. College was expensive, what with the tuition and the supplies and the several times they'd had to scrounge up cash when Fitz broke something in the lab. Not to mention the tea imported from England and all the postage for packages Fitz's mum sent him. The fact was, Fitzsimmons were in debt. They could barely keep the lights on in their shared apartment, and, according to the flyer hanging on a light post outside of the campus creamery (that was another thing, they ate lots of ice cream), registering to be camp counselor for the summer paid 'a rewarding experience', 'treasured lifetime memories', and $750 a week, lodging and food included. It would also keep them out of their apartment all summer, hopefully saving a bit on the utilities bill.

Luckily, the training for the job had been pretty simple. A perky blonde woman clearly going through a middle-aged crisis spent the day explaining the rotation of jobs they would go through. Fitz and Jemma were Team Three, which they had to creatively rename with two other disinterested college students as a 'team bonding exercise'. Fitz was the most enthusiastic of the group, so naturally, Team Three became Dumbledore's Army. Anyways, Dumbledore's Army would serve janitorial duty the first week, and had been thoroughly instructed on the art of cleaning bathrooms.

The counselors would also be rotated about cabins each week, as to 'establish trust and develop meaningful connections' with all of the 'delightful cherubs' they'd be watching over for the summer. Obviously, Jemma was skeptical of this, and she requested multiple times to be housed in the staff member's cabin, but apparently being with the children was a requirement for counseling. Jemma thought that was ridiculous, and Fitz generally agreed with Jemma on everything, so he did, too.

Really, Fitz just wanted to bunk with Jemma, like he did at their apartment. And he liked being close to her. It gave him more opportunities (excuses) to touch her, whether that be brushing his fingers over her hand in dirty dishwater or throwing an arm around her when they were settling in for movie nights. Touching Jemma made him feel things. No, that sounds weird. Fitz didn't quite now how to explain it.

"Now, camp counselors!" shouted the perky blonde director of the camp, maybe Karen (if Jemma was listening better she might've caught a name). "The campers will be arriving soon, and this first hour with them is quite possibly the most important part of the summer. Remember, first impressions are everything here at camp Shik'is. This is the first of many opportunities for connecting with the campers. Today is about building a stable platform for building beautiful mentorships and lifelong friendships with children!" Jemma hardly wanted to be besties with a twelve-year-old, but she was still hoping for relocation to the staff cabin, so she nodded enthusiastically. Out of the corner of her eye, Fitz joined her excited response, with greater zealousness. Then it was a competition. Who could be the biggest suck-up and look like the ultimate idiot?

"After all," Karen finished, clasping her hands together by her chest and taking a deep, dramatic breath. "Shik'is means friendship in Navajo."

"I thought it meant 'this is not an ethnically diverse camp so we made up a Native American name to level out the whiteness," Jemma muttered to Fitz, forgetting about their friendly competition.

Fitz chuckled in reply, and Jemma glanced to the side to find him leaning forward, chin resting on his knuckles, elbows balanced on his knees. "By the way, you win the biggest kiss-ass award. You can stop now."

Fitz immediately sat back on the rough log that somehow passed as a chair. Then, he looked down at his feet, kicking at the wood chips beneath his converse. Jemma smiled. No way would he ever see her like this. She would get stuck in these trances sometimes, where she'd just look at Fitz and resist muttering to herself about his nice symmetrical face and stringy, comfortable arms. Then she would break herself out and give a light scolding for thinking that way, then get back to business. Lately she'd been slacking on the scolding part. So what if she was amazed by what the laser focus he put into his engineering projects did to the spot between his eyes? At least she wasn't having out-of-control dreams about him. She'd done that with a few of her exes. Never wanted those nightmares again.

Speaking of nightmares... "Here comes the first wave of campers!" Karen squealed into the microphone, causing amazingly high-pitched feedback.

"Into the belly of the beast, I guess," Jemma whispered to Fitz as the first minivan pulled into the drive.

"Yep. Good luck with your cabin." The counselors around them stood reluctantly as the registration process commenced. Several people cut between them, as though they didn't understand what a human conversation looks like.

"You, too. See you at dinner?" Now staff members were herding them into their places behind tables, and Fitz was slowly being pulled away from Simmons.

"I sure hope so!" he shouted back before they were separated completely, a crowd of annoyed college students pushing them in their separate ways. Jemma then realized they had never been parted like that before, and it made her kind of sad. However, by the time the first helicopter mom reached the table, worrying at her mad-looking daughter's curls, Jemma had plastered a fake smile across her face as to appear welcoming.

"Welcome to camp!"