Fitzsimmons

Airport

Quick Note: I saw this headcanon on Tumblr, and I really liked it.

Why does my mom keep telling people I write fanfiction?

---------------------------------------------

Jemma was nearly falling asleep in her uncomfortable chair next to the gate. She and Fitz had spent all day waiting in various airports around the country and cramming themselves into stuffed airplanes. They were in the Detroit International Airport now, waiting for their plane to Heathrow; Jemma wanted to introduce Fitz to her parents.

Fitz had gone to the small café they had passed earlier to grab whatever cheap coffee they were selling and some day-old sandwiches. This left an exhausted Jemma alone with two seats and two carry-on bags to guard from some shifty-looking teenagers across the way. Jemma decided to shut her eyes, just for a little bit. All common sense told her that she wouldn't be able to stay awake, but now, at ten in the evening, she desperately wanted sleep.

"Jemma," repeated the whispering voice. Another nudge to her arm. Jemma, after a brief moment of confusion, realized she had fallen asleep, and now Fitz was waking her up. "Sorry, Jemma, but you can't sleep now. It'll ruin your internal clock. We have to be on England time now."

"Yeah," she groaned sleepily. He handed her her coffee and sandwich, and the two sat side by side and tiredly ate their dinner. Afterwords they felt slightly more energized, but also more bored.

"I picked this up from the newsstand." Fitz pulled out a sudoku book. "I figured we can do a few puzzles while we wait?" Jemma nodded in agreement.

This was a rather poor idea, for the two were so smart and experienced that they finished four puzzles in ten minutes. Boredom returned to the nearly empty waiting area.

"Want to walk around? Ride the people conveyor belts back and forth?" Fitz said as he stood from his chair. "No one will steal our seats in an hour." he picked up his backpack and swung it over his shoulder.

"Sure."

They ended up in the long light tunnel connecting the baggage claim and other normal airport stuff to the terminals. Only a few other people were there, speed walking to the terminals, and neglecting the conveyor belts.

Fitz jogged over to the nearest belt and hopped on. "Fun!" he announced sarcastically, making Jemma grin. She ran over to the same belt and hopped on behind him.

"Fun!" she yelled back. Fitz laughed, then hopped off the end and waited for Jemma to reach him. When she got there, he held out his hand, which she took, and helped her delicately jump off.

Maybe it was the tiredness, but Jemma began giggling like this was the most exciting thing in the world. The scientists walked hand in hand for a distance, then hopped onto the next belt. Fitz took a step ahead of Jemma and turned sideways, then held out his arms. When he saw Jemma's confused face, he explained, "Surfing."

"That looks nothing like surfing." she said in between laughs.

"Fine, then it's coasting on a hover board. Jemma laughed again, then joined him in the same position.

"Ooh!" she shouted, then flipped so her back was facing Fitz. "Moonwalk," she announced, then brought her arms up and started to wave them in front of her chest. Fitz suggested an air guitar slide, then dropped to his knees and air-guitared madly, exaggerating his facial expressions of concentration.

After trying out a few more 'conveyor belt moves', Fitzsimmons were bored again. Per Fitz's suggestion, the two made their way to the middle of the nearly empty light tunnel and sat down to look at the color-changing lights pulsing around them.

"Be absolutely silent, and you can hear the nature sounds they play down here." Fitz whispered. Jemma leant back onto the floor, her knees up, to quiet herself as much as possible. Fitz followed her lead, facing the opposite direction as her, but making sure their heads lined up so they could hear each other.

Sure enough, birds' songs and a slight breeze echoed softly through the tunnel, followed by the chittering of squirrels and chipmunks and toads croaking.

"It's so ironic," Jemma spoke quietly and cautiously. "These are the recordings of animals this airport most likely killed when they cleared the forest to build it. It's like the creatures' ghosts haunting their murderers, and travelers only think of it as pretty."

"You're so deep about little things like this." Fitz pointed out with a smile. Jemma let out a chuckle.

"I have no filter at this time of night." she sleepily defended herself.

"No reasonable human could maintain their filter this late. I've lost it, too." Fitz assured her.

Jemma rolled her head to the side to see her boyfriend staring at the ceiling in tiredness-induced wonder.

"Fitz," she whispered. Fitz recognized the sudden vulnerability in her voice and immediately snapped his head to the side.

"I love you." Jemma breathed out, terrified that he wouldn't reciprocate it. This was her first time telling anyone outside of her family this. Their eyes met.

"I love you, too, Jemma." he promised as sincerely as he could. Relief flooded her expression. She closed her eyes and let out a breath she had held in.

Fitz, wanting to make sure he was proving his statement, leaned his head in closer, and placed his lips onto hers, meeting them upside down. Jemma kissed back slowly and gently, not bothering to open her eyes.

When Jemma pulled away to breath, Fitz peppered light kisses up her cheek and to her ear. Jemma sat herself up and pulled him up close to her as he placed more feather-light kisses to the shell of her ear.

"I love you so, so, much, Jemma Simmons." he spoke into her ear before she pulled him back down to her lips, her arms winding themselves around his neck, fingers playing lazily with his hair. Fitz wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in close enough that she could feel his thumping heart against her chest.

They could've stayed there for hours, but then Fitz glanced at his watch in a moment of breathless. Their flight was boarding.

"Jemma, we need to go." he said urgently, pulling the both of them up. Soon they were running. When they got to the gate they had to stand hunched over in the boarding line, already out of breath when they had started, and now nearly dying struggling to breathe.

Once they had given their tickets and found seats next to each other (the armrest separating the seats pushed up, of course), Jemma waisted no time falling asleep on Fitz's shoulder before Fitz was even situated. Fitz, not wanting to wake Jemma, remained in the uncomfortable position until Jemma sleepily moved enough for Fitz to be comfortable enough to sleep.

Jemma leant into the space between Fitz's arm and chest, and Fitz tilted his head to rest on the top of hers. The two were gone before the plane even took off.