"Ah," Coulson says after they step off the boat somewhere in Brazil. "I do love the smell of petrichor."
Daisy gives him a funny look, wrinkles her nose up. "Petri-what now?"
"Petrichor," Coulson says and before he can finish explaining Mac and Fitz jump in.
"The smell of dust after rain," they says together, turning to give each other a sly grin.
"Weirdos," Daisy mutters and walks ahead of them.
: : :
It was after Gemma was taken from him again, after the monolith swallowed her up like nothing he'd ever seen before.
Mac had come to his room, turned on the lights, and popped a flash drive into the side of Fitz's tv, shoved Fitz over on the bed so he could have room and started playing Doctor Who without a word.
It shouldn't have worked -- and for the most part it didn't, it was still always there in the back of his mind, but for that hour that he was following the Doctor around through time and space, Mac a strong, solid presence at his side, he could almost pretend like everything was going to be okay.
: : :
The other thing didn't happen until weeks later, after their little Doctor Who therapy session turned into waiting impatiently each week for the new episode, crowding together on Fitz's bed, Mac pointing out mechanical mishaps in the story, Fitz pointing out the scientific errors.
The other thing didn't happen until the night after they got Gemma back, Fitz pacing the floor of the lab, chewing on his bottom lip until Mac grabbed him by the arms to anchor him and Fitz just -- he kissed him.
He kissed Mac because Gemma was back and he thought, he thought that'd be the most wonderful thing he could imagine, but now his brain was going in eleven different directions and he felt unsteady again, felt like everything was jumbled up and slipping away from him again, just like before. He felt like that until he kissed Mac and then --
filled
Daisy gives him a funny look, wrinkles her nose up. "Petri-what now?"
"Petrichor," Coulson says and before he can finish explaining Mac and Fitz jump in.
"The smell of dust after rain," they says together, turning to give each other a sly grin.
"Weirdos," Daisy mutters and walks ahead of them.
: : :
It was after Gemma was taken from him again, after the monolith swallowed her up like nothing he'd ever seen before.
Mac had come to his room, turned on the lights, and popped a flash drive into the side of Fitz's tv, shoved Fitz over on the bed so he could have room and started playing Doctor Who without a word.
It shouldn't have worked -- and for the most part it didn't, it was still always there in the back of his mind, but for that hour that he was following the Doctor around through time and space, Mac a strong, solid presence at his side, he could almost pretend like everything was going to be okay.
: : :
The other thing didn't happen until weeks later, after their little Doctor Who therapy session turned into waiting impatiently each week for the new episode, crowding together on Fitz's bed, Mac pointing out mechanical mishaps in the story, Fitz pointing out the scientific errors.
The other thing didn't happen until the night after they got Gemma back, Fitz pacing the floor of the lab, chewing on his bottom lip until Mac grabbed him by the arms to anchor him and Fitz just -- he kissed him.
He kissed Mac because Gemma was back and he thought, he thought that'd be the most wonderful thing he could imagine, but now his brain was going in eleven different directions and he felt unsteady again, felt like everything was jumbled up and slipping away from him again, just like before. He felt like that until he kissed Mac and then --
Then everything just sort of fell into place.