Love Thy Neighbor: AU where two apartment neighbours think the other hates them - until they get trapped in an elevator together. Enjoy an excerpt below!
Fitz opened one eye sleepily and glanced over to the threshold of his room, and both eyes snapped open when he realized who was standing at the door—
“Wha—umf!” He’d sat up too quickly and his legs were still tangled with his sheets, so he all but toppled forward and out of the bed, smacking into the ground and various other goodies lying around—namely, screws and pencils and wrappers. And his pride.
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Jemma Simmons said. Yes, he’s blinked a few times and it was actually her, and she was still there in his doorway, brown eyes and curly hair and jaw slacked open, obviously as surprised to see him as he was of her. His stomach sunk in on itself, and the hair on the back of his neck stuck up when they made eye contact.
“Jesus, don’t you knock first?” he snapped after a moment, red faced, rubbing his elbow from where it hit the ground. All the flailing was making his headache come back with a vengeance. “I could have been—“
“I apologize, I thought it was the bathroom and I—“
“—sleeping, or changing, or—“
“—didn’t mean to interrupt, really—“
“—or working, or something—“
“—and I told Skye that I—“
“Did someone say my name? Oh, no, Jemma, that’s Fitz’ room!” Skye called from what Fitz can only assume to be the living room. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes, as he pulled himself up by the sheets to sit on the edge of the bed. A little too late for that, Skye.
“Yes, I can see that,” Jemma replied, and he watched her take in the room. Her nose scrunched up as she did, and he could almost see her physically judging him.
“Bathroom’s that way,” he said as he pointed, the words coming out as harsh as he’d hoped. Simmons visibly jumped up at that, and caught his eyes for a split second.
“Right, sorry,” she added, and then quickly swung the door shut.
Read on AO3. A big thank you to lavendergaia for being our patient and dedicated beta.
Dear pleaseletmeshowyou and felicity-smoaking! Happy Better Together Reveal to you from me and ruthedotcom! We both love you lots, and it’s been a lot of fun writing this fic. We hope that you enjoy our gift to you. We have the first 2 chapters of our fic up out of 5, and we have one chapter a day coming the next three days, with a fanart on the final day! I’m sorry we couldn’t get everything out to you immediately, but we’re hoping that this is fun for you! <3