Fitzsimmons

Twelve Days - Day 5

"Joy to the world..." Simmons paused, and Fitz, who was carrying a huge box of ornaments behind her, nearly ran into her back. "I'm not sure I know the words. I only remember the terribly gruesome lyrics describing the murder of purple dinosaur Barney."

"Something about Christ," Fitz mumbled, then heaved the box back up from slipping. Simmons considered this for a moment, then nodded and continued forward.

Once they made it into their shared dorm, Fitz nearly dropped the decorations. Simmons shot him a glare, and he scrunched up his eyebrows at her and opened the box. Simmons swiped up the first oranment she saw and unwrapped it.

"Aw! Fitz, look!" she dangled the ornament in front of his face. It spun several times before Fitz could actually see it. It was a picture of him when he was a baby, chubby cheeks and drool and all.

"Mom," he groaned quietly. Fitz's mother had sent the ornaments box with him and Simmons after they had visited over Thanksgiving, and Fitz hadn't bothered to double check all of them.

"It's adorable, and it's going right in the center of the tree," Simmons scolded, tapping his nose before turning and placing the ornament on their bare tree.

"Okay, but you have to hang your baby picture, too," Fitz said before unwrapping the next one and smiling. It was their first picture together, at the academy's lab after a late night of working on their chemistry project. Simmons was wearing goggles and brandishing a pH stick with a gloved hand, while Fitz had a textbook balanced on his head and held a bottle of iodine.

"Our first picture together!" Simmons reminisced, interrupting Fitz's thoughts. "By the end of the night, we got over ourselves and became friends."

"And now we're living together," Fitz laughed, not quite pronouncing the 'r' because of his accent. Simmons smiled fondly, then grabbed the ornament from him and slid her other hand across his shoulders to hang it next to the baby picture.

After an hour and an entire rendition of "The Twelve Days of Christmas", the tree was covered in pictures of their childhoods and their adventures together.

"Perfect," Simmons said in awe when she stepped back to view the whole thing. Fitz gave into the impulse to grab her hand, and she looked down at their intertwined hands and smiled at him.

"Do you want to go to the Boiler Room?" she suggested. "I heard they're having a Christmas party down there."

"I'd rather just stay here and watch Christmas movies with you," Fitz replied with a small embarrassed grin.

"Okay," Simmons whispered acceptingly. "I'd rather be with you than a bunch of drunk strangers, anyways."