“You’re a hazard to society.” “It’s just a bruise!” + Fitzdaisy 💜
one day I’ll be able to fill a prompt without world building for a thousand words. that day is not today.
1. You’re a hazard to society.
11. It’s just a bruise.
The plan for the day had just been to work, to sit in the lab and get things done while he had a little bit of peace and quiet. The base was busy, it almost always was now that they were recruiting again and trying to strengthen their ranks, but the lab was quiet. Jemma had been assigned to one of the recruitment teams, out on a mission to give motivational speeches and talk to people about how much they could do for the world, which left Fitz alone with his thoughts and his projects.
After the Framework and everything that had happened, they’d taken a step back. There was too much to navigate - their hurt, the new trauma, the old trauma, the truth - and trying to keep up with going through the motions of a relationship was only exhausting them further. For months, they'd been together but apart, falling back into friendship as easily as breathing. They would finish each other's sentences in the lab, make tea for each other the way they always had, sit next to each other at meals or on movie nights, and then they would go back to their own bunks for bed.
Truthfully, it was the only thing that had made things feel right in years, and Fitz had no idea how he was supposed to tell her that. They'd spent so long dancing around each other, and then diving in head first, only for him to realize that the best thing they'd had was before they'd made any changes at all.
[ read below or on ao3 ]
And maybe he was focusing on his anxiety around that instead of actually working, which seemed like a waste of quiet lab time. At some point, he would have to tell Jemma that he didn't want to try again for something romantic, that what they had in their first attempt was good but not great. There had been nothing wrong, not really, they had just... not quite fit, that way. He'd been happy, but not as happy as he used to be, and he'd brushed it off as another symptom of his then undiagnosed depression, but things had changed. They'd done their experiment, and he'd been talking to the therapist that SHIELD hired on, and he'd learned a lot about himself over the course of a few sessions.
He was happier just being friends, and that was okay. He just didn't know how she would feel about it.
( "it's normal to worry about how other people feel, Leo, it's a sign of compassion and empathy."
"I'm sensing a but coming..."
"but it's not wrong to consider your own feelings. decisions you make affect you before they affect anyone else, and it's okay to put your own wants and feelings first, sometimes."
talking to Robin once a month since she arrived was helping more than he liked to acknowledge. reflecting on how much she helped meant he couldn't ignore how much had happened anymore, he had to face the fact that he'd needed help, and a part of him still hated that. the part of him that still sounded suspiciously like the doctor hated that he couldn't handle this on his own, that something as silly as emotions was so hard to manage. then again, that sentiment hadn't only come to mind after the framework. it was something that Alistair had put there, years ago, when he was still so impressionable and his mind was still trying to understand right and wrong. )
Fitz shook his head and made himself try to focus again, sorting through files and blueprints and scattered pencils over his workspace. He didn't have to worry about whatever conversations would happen in days or a week, at the very least not until Jemma was actually back on base. Until then, he could settle in, work on what still needed to be reviewed and finalized, go to his session, and appreciate the routine his life had settled into. While the rest of the team had continued field work and missions, he'd been able to step back from that, too, and spend all of his time creating, again.
Something about the weight of a gun in his hand still showed up in his nightmares, and in his memories. It was better to avoid his triggers than to try to push through his discomfort. That was something he learned from Robin.
When the door slid open, he lifted his head to look toward the sound. It had become a habit, reacting quickly to environmental changes, being always aware of what was going on around him. Maybe that was why he liked working in the quiet, so much - fewer things to make him anxious, fewer changes to keep track of, just his work and his thoughts. But, in this instance, the person who had activated the sliding door was someone who didn't make him anxious, and quite possibly the only person he considered to be as close of a friend as Jemma was.
"There he is!"
Fitz smiled when Daisy walked across the tile and hopped up to sit on the lab bench in front of him. If he'd actually been doing anything, he would have scolded her or told her to get down, but it just wasn't the day for productivity. Days off were okay, sometimes, too, and he had to remind himself of that. So, he gave up on trying to work entirely, stepping around the table to stand directly in front of her while he shook his head. "When did your team get back? How did the mission go?"
She all but grinned down at him, perfectly at ease with the dwindling space between them. That hadn't been the case, before, right after the incident with the Framework, when everyone had seen what he was capable of doing, but the entire team had forgiven him, and he was on his way to being able to forgive himself, too.
"It was fine. Almost boring, actually. I get it, we're making the world safer, but I almost miss having something interesting to do. At least things didn't feel so repetitive when we were saving the world every year, you know?"
With a softer smile, Fitz shook his head and reached for her hand, his fingers gentle as soon as they found skin. Maybe, if he was especially careful, he could make up for all of the times his hands weren't gentle, when they took lives and caused hurt, and the people he trusted the most were where he started. Slowly, he lifted their hands so that they could both see the color on her knuckles, a familiar sight with their line of work, but still not something he particularly enjoyed seeing. "This doesn't look boring."
Daisy rolled her eyes but didn't pull her hand away, letting his thumb brush over the bruised knuckles without complaint. "Oh, please, Fitz, I get those daily, at this point. I've survived a lot worse than a fist fight."
He sighed and gave her fingers a squeeze where she wasn't injured, his eyes still fixed on the mark he'd found. "You're a hazard to society..."
"It's just a bruise!"
Quiet fell between them and Fitz shook his head again, slower, before gently pulling her hand closer. He pressed a featherlight kiss to her bruised skin, and when he pulled his lips back, she left her hand where it was. They'd been close plenty of times, even closer and more in each other's space than they were just then, but it had never felt like that. It never felt like electricity, like any contact had left him feeling buzzed, like some ghost of her powers had taken root inside him and left him tingling.
When he let himself pull back enough to actually look up at her, he couldn't read the look in her eyes, and he had to push his nerves down. It wasn't abnormal for him to be physically affectionate, not anymore, and it wasn't like he was the same kid who had joined the team in the first place who didn't know what he was doing, who didn't know what a big family could feel like. It wasn't even the first time the two of them had done something so physically affectionate.
This was far from the first time lips had touched skin, they regularly hugged, they settled in close during scary movies, she'd even let him fall asleep in her bunk the night they stayed up late and he told her the truth he'd been in denial about.
( she was the only one he told besides Robin, the only person who could possibly understand the intricate complications of having a mad scientist enemy of SHIELD as an estranged parent. when he thought about it, they were a lot alike, and maybe that extended to their families, too, or it had been the other way around.
if Cal Johnson and Holden Radcliffe were so similar, it was some twist of fate that their children became best friends, something that could have led to the end of the known universe. luckily, they didn't inherit their fathers' affinity for chaos, or at least they only inherited a diluted version, the kind that didn't manifest into the usage of magic books or superhuman serums. but they would never have known that if it weren't for the men's similarities, and the most important thing they had in common:
the desperate, impossible lengths they went to in the name of protecting their children )
When he felt the gentle squeeze to his fingers meant to get his attention, Fitz took a slow breath and stepped back to give her the space to get down from the table. Boots hit title with a familiar sound, something that he knew well enough that it actually helped him relax, and it took everything he had to not let his shoulders visibly sag. It was a silly worry, overthinking about a simple action, anxious that it could possibly change the bond they'd formed that night in her bunk.
"I have to go debrief, but you normally meet us in the hangar when we land, and you didn't, today." Daisy was still in his space, their fingers slowly intertwining as if she didn't have anywhere in the world to be but right there by his side. "I was worried something happened. How are you doing? We're coming up on the Framework-iversary, aren't we?"
Fitz had to stop, then, and think about the date, do the math. If it really had been a whole year since he'd been pushed out of a nightmare, that was too much to think about. At the same time, he was certain that more than a year had passed. Too many things had changed for anything less, surely. He'd changed too much, and everyone else had changed alongside him, and if all of that could happen in just a year...
"I, uh... I forgot about that, actually. Yeah, this week."
She pulled her hand away only to close more of the space between them, tugging him into a tight hug that he didn't know he needed. It felt even better than the tingling that was starting to fade from his lips, filling him with warmth from the inside out. Because he'd made the right choice, telling her first, letting her in on the secret that had now been a part of his life for a year that didn't feel entirely real. When she spoke, it was just as gentle and careful as his fingers resting on her back, keeping the space between them at a minimum so he could savor the feeling, her words even more soothing than the physical contact. "If the anniversary comes up and you need anything at all, you know where to find me. I'm going to be taking a trip next week, anyway, so unless the world really does start ending again, I won't be doing any field work."
Hesitating for a moment, he made himself pull back enough to look down at her, confusion plain in his expression. "A trip? Where are you going? You're not going alone, are you?"
Her laughter at his concern did ease it, somewhat, and she shook her head while staying settled in his arms. "Well, while your mad scientist is, unfortunately, deceased, mine is a veterinarian. I like to check in, sometimes, even if I can't talk to him. If you're really worried about it, you haven't had any real time off in the last year. I'm sure Coulson won't mind if you take a weekend to come with me."
Fitz bit the inside of his lip, giving a small shake of his head while he thought it over. Really, it wasn't a difficult decision, and some time off did sound really nice. He supposed he deserved a little bit of a vacation as much as anyone else did. "Yeah, I'll come. You make sure I'm not alone in all of my dad stuff, and I'll make sure you're not alone in yours."
Standing up on her toes, Daisy kissed his cheek, stirring up that buzz all over again even when she properly pulled back. "Perfect. I'll let Coulson know after the debrief. But, on my way to find you, I did run into Robin, and she was looking for you, too. Did you have something scheduled for today?"
"I do, but not until..." He trailed off, glancing down at his watch to check the time with a small frown. When he actually saw the numbers there, he sighed and moved to follow her toward the doors. "Half an hour ago. Fuck."
When they got out to the hallway, they had to go in opposite directions, her to the left, where the training rooms and the Director's office was located, and him to the right, toward the bunks and Robin's makeshift office. But her laughter was so bright and teasing, and when he echoed off the brick walls, it made him feel warm.
my brain, upon seeing the word “crumbs” while i’m actively planning a baking day for me and my sister tomorrow: baking au! i’m sorry i recently realized how much i adore fitzdaisy i swear i’ll calm down in like a week
When Leo isn’t allowed to go to the lab with his father for take your child to work day do to the confidentiality of his current work, he’s more than a little upset. He’s only soothed when his mother takes him to Afterlife Bakery to get an afternoon treat. There, he meets the owners’ daughter, who invites him to play a game with her after he’s done with his brownie.
Twenty years later, after weekly study sessions over croissants and cocoa, and various movie nights and weekend hangouts in the back office, Daisy is forced to juggle the grief of losing both of her parents and inheriting their business. Leo doesn’t hesitate to leave in the middle of a work conference and jump on a plane to be by her side through all of it, quitting his lab job to help behind the counter. Together, maybe they can save Afterlife Bakery from bankruptcy and keep their special place standing.
[ send me a fic title and i’ll tell you what i’d write ]
