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[shieldmonkey]

He's been working on more and more lately.

It started with the arrows for Clint. He knows that there was someone else doing it back home. For the other Agent Barton, that is, but in Darrow, even though they're facing different threats, he figured it was the sort of thing that might be appreciated.

From there, it had spiraled. Over time, his hand has started getting better, and though it still shakes, it's not nearly as severely as before. Words have started coming easier most of the time. And as such, Fitz has started a project.

The people who say they were taken from their homes and brought to whatever dimension Darrow is in have said that they've been around for over three years now. And though he's sure that in that time, people have tried researching the nature of the city, he's decided to give it a shot himself. And as such he's started working on a prototype.

Sitting on a couch in his flat, Fitz is surrounded by various components, some repurposed from appliances on-hand, others purchased from stores in Darrow with the meager money that's deposited into his bank account every month, and he's working on a device that will measure various electromagnetic fields in the city.

Maybe back home he hadn't had much of a purpose, but he's trying to find one here, at least. Even if it means looking for a way out.

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[whenindoubt]

It's been a bit of a struggle, really. Jemma's been sort of adrift, muddled between doing nothing and doing everything, and she's not sure which way she wants to go. There are definite problems here; Demelza had been the prime indicator of that, but it's only a symptom and not the cause in and of itself. She's been trying to figure out how to fix it, and overriding a lot more than that was how to fix everything else.

How to fix whatever in the world was going on with her and Fitz, for one. So she's been pacing, introducing odd wear patterns into her rug, she's sure, and she pities whomever is her downstairs neighbor, but ultimately she comes to one solution.

She's going to need to talk through this - both of the things, both of the problems, and then the additional issue of what she needs to do with herself -- with Fitz. She does, because she's always better with a sounding board.

That, and she misses him terribly.

So it's a short walk, and she does hesitate in front of his door before she carefully knocks, taking a deep breath as she smiles. The smile isn't because she's happy, but because she's acutely aware that things between them are hardly typical and she wants to start off on the right foot.

[shieldmonkey]

He doesn't think anything of it when there'a a knock at the door, tugging at one ear as he tries to figure out what he hasn't disconnected properly, because he's not getting the readouts he should quite yet. He's a bit rusty in more ways that one, but this should be simple, even if he is cobbling together something that's more crude that he'd like.

Still trying to work the problem through in his head, he opens the door without thinking, expecting Clint or Director Coulson.

He's not expecting Simmons.

"Simmons, what..." Fitz starts, and has to pause to find his words all over again. They haven't spoken too often since she's been in Darrow, perhaps less often than he should, considering she's been in the hospital twice already for various reasons, but each time, he ends up like this.

"I didn't know you were going to come by."

[whenindoubt]

"I... realise that it's not exactly typical, Fitz, but... well." She smiles, and holds up a paper-wrapped package, even as she nervously tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. "I was wondering if you'd had lunch, actually? Or- I suppose, if you'd eaten. It doesn't have to be lunch." They'd barely seen each other, much less anything else.

Simmons finally just held out the wrapped sandwich, as a sort of peace offering. She had another one for herself tucked under her arm, and honestly she was sort of praying that he'd not make his excuses and just say he wasn't hungry. Or that he'd push her away. Or- Or anything. Or just tell her that she shouldn't be there, to be honest. He could - it wouldn't be unexpected, especially given how they'd been interacting for the past two months - but this is what she has, two sandwiches and a good deal of hope.

[shieldmonkey]

He's been working in his flat for the better part of the day, dealing with circuits nearly too delicate for his hands to manage just yet. It's taken a great deal more concentration than he's used to, even now, after he's been working to develop tech for Agent Barton in the meantime. It's frustrating, because he remembers when this sort of thing would come easier to him, when his hands would do what they're meant to without much thought at all.

And perhaps because of his frustrating day, Fitz has felt a bit peckish for a little while now, but hasn't wanted to take a break to see if he's got any food about.

It'd be a lie to say he's not the least bit hungry, but still, there's a moment where he hesitates before answering Simmons, looking down at the wrapped sandwiches in her hands before he looks up at her again.

"Is that the um... the..." he starts, shutting his eyes in frustration when he can't manage to land on the right word.

But he's fairly certain that he knows that sandwich.

[whenindoubt]

Simmons' brows furrow together and she looks down at the sandwich in her hand like it's the thing that's concerning, not the conversation itself. "Prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella," she says helpfully, finally looking up at him, and it's clear that she's worried about this actually working out. Actually being right, that he's still going to say that it's fine, or even express his frustration. She holds it out to him, nodding once. "If you don't want company... you should still eat."

Because he should. Because she knows how both of them are actually spectacularly bad at taking a break to eat unless they're reminded, or at times actually forced to do the same.

"Or, if you have eaten, I suppose you could save it for later?"

She's trying so incredibly hard, and now all she can do is wait for him to actually tell her what he wants to do.

[shieldmonkey]

"With a hint of... um..." Fitz starts, and trails off once he realizes he can't put his finger on the word for the essential ingredient in the sandwich Simmons makes. He's frustrated about it, and shut his eyes for a moment, banging one fist against the door frame.

"No, I know this one," he says to himself, before it's almost as if a light bulb goes off in his head.

"Pesto! Pesto aioli. Sorry, sometimes they words don't..."

[whenindoubt]

Jemma nodded - she didn't say the words for him; not because she was making an effort not to correct for him, but because she was currently wrapped up in her own worry about if Fitz would actually eat it.

"Right. Although the pesto's a little... different, because I wasn't able to find the right-" she pauses, and shakes her head once. "Sorry, it tastes very nearly the same, I don't think you'll be able to tell the difference, to be honest." She hates just how awkward everything is, but she doesn't know what else to say. "The words - it's okay. It's understandable, given what's happened.

[shieldmonkey]

It's not okay. It hasn't felt okay ever since Simmons arrived in Darrow, even though it should. Mostly because Fitz knows he's not the person she remembers, and the more he tries to correct that, the less it works.

He realizes then that he hasn't answered her question, her offer to come in and be his company for lunch. Offhand, Fitz can thin of a dozen reasons why he might say no; his apparently is currently a tip, he doesn't know what he might say to her, and things have been a bit weird between them since she turned up.

But in the moment, none of them matters much.

"If you're sure, then you could... I wouldn't mind company for lunch," he says.

[whenindoubt]

The relief on her face when he says he wouldn't mind company is palpable. She's been so worried that he'd turn her out on her ear, that he'd take the sandwich and then just leave her standing there awkwardly since she's had no idea about how exactly they were anymore.

Fitz was her best friend.

Given what he'd said just before he'd saved her life, it was even more than that, but she didn't even know how to bring that up, much less the rest of it. Instead, she flashed a smile at him, and nodded, moving into his flat when he'd made space for her. "Brilliant! I know you're likely busy, I'd just thought that it could be a good... new thing. A new good... thing." Inhaling, she tried not to outwardly chew on her lip, although she worried it with her teeth where it was less visible. "So! are you working on anything? I mean, if you want to... talk about it. And if not, it's fine, I do understand." Even though she mostly didn't, and she just hated how she didn't even know where to put herself. The awkwardness was.... well. It was a trial, but that didn't mean it was unsurmountable.

[shieldmonkey]

Simmons walks into his flat and he shuts the door behind her, and his stomach seems to flip in a way that he's not certain should be attributed to hunger or nerves. Maybe it's a bit of both. Either way, it's the first time she's been inside, and his makeshift workspace is a great deal less tidy than they'd kept the lab on the Bus.

"It's a, um," he starts, and though he knows what he's been tinkering with, can't find the word again. It's frustrating, because so much of the time, it feels as if he's worse around Jemma.

"I thought I should get a real read on Darrow. Take... readings."

He shuts his eyes for a moment, already disappointed with how this seems to be going.

[whenindoubt]

"Oh," she says with a nod, because even though that's not particularly descriptive, she'll take whatever she can get. He's going to talk about readings? Honestly, she is curious-- she's more than a little concerned about this place, and readings for any anomalies is likely the first course of action. Taking a deep breath, she follows him in and she's looking around largely because she can't help herself.

"What are you looking for?" Her fingers itch to flip through the stack of paper that's on the edge of his table, but she refrains right now because she really is truly hungry, and instead perches herself on his sofa, opening her own sandwich. "I've been curious myself - especially with the temporal and locational teleportations, or... whatever they are, exactly."

[shieldmonkey]

"A... um... anomalies," Fitz says, pleased that he's able to come up with the word straight away, "Markers, evidence of dimensional instabilities."

Simmons takes a seat on the edge of his sofa, though Fitz is a bit more hesitant to do so himself, pausing for a moment before he sits on the opposite side. The wrapped sandwich in his hands, he lifts it up to his nose for a moment and breathes it in, as if he doesn't quite believe it's what she's said it is.

It absolutely is.

[whenindoubt]

Noticing the hestiation, Jemma tucks the information away as her eyes flick over to him once then back to her sandwich, her head still bent. She's seemingly preoccupied with unwrapping it as she tries to figure out the best thing to say that wouldn't be far too awkward. The good thing was that he'd given her exactly what she was looking for.

"Have you found them? Is there any indication-" Pausing, her brow furrowed. "Is there any indication that when people just... appear here.... do you know if it's just them? I mean - I would assume that it's also teleporting the air in their lungs and the bacteria on their skin," she mused to herself, but then shook her head just a bit. They were having a discussion, not just what Jemma pondering on the plague problem.

"What have you found?"