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“We are not naming them!”
Jemma rolled her eyes for what felt like the hundredth time in the span of this ten-minute argument. She was going around in circles with Fitz and she was losing it.
“But-”
“But nothing, Fitz. They’re rats. We’re scientists. We can’t name them. If we name them we get attached. We get attached, we can’t experiment on them with-with things that can save our friend's lives!”
Fitz’s bottom lip stuck out in a pout, rubbing his hand over the stubble growing in over the last few weeks of them being cooped up in their lab. He glanced between her and the five white rats in the cage. He was particularly fond of the one in his hands, the only one with a little black dot on the tip of his nose.
Jemma’s shoulders sagged and Fitz tried to hide his smile as he ran his thumb over the rat’s body. He knew that look, she was giving in.
“Alright,” she finally sighed, pinching her nose. “You can name them. But tell no one. Not even Daisy. Just remember, Fitz, they’re for experiments, not pets.”
“You said the same about Gerald!” Fitz countered, rolling his eyes as he placed the rat back in the cage.
“Gerald was a drone! He stood for-”
“I know what he stood for, Jemma. I helped name him. I’m just saying, you can get attached to our first drone but I can’t get attached to rats?”
Jemma couldn’t help herself, patting Fitz’s cheek and leaning in to barely brush her lips over the corner of his lips. The deed made him still and his face flushed.
“Exactly. Now, I already know you named them,” she sighed, giving him a small smile as she resolved herself to his fate. “Tell me them.”
She adored Fitz’s face lighting up, pulling each rat out of the cage to explain their names and how you can tell them apart. There was Abu, who had a black spot on his nose. Marcel had two brown ears. Snowflake was pure white, save for the very tip of her tail was black. Tangerine had almost orange color eyes. Clever had only three paws but was smarter than the rest of them. Lastly, there was Princess, the one with a black spot on the top of her head that looked like a crown.
While listening to Fitz explaining their name and how the rats needed names, not numbers, and how were part of their family, Jemma realized something. She loved this man with all of her heart and it was hard to tell him no, not when he got this excited over simply naming the rats that Hunter had dropped off two days ago.
“We won’t tell anyone,” Fitz promised, kissing Princess on the nose. “I know they’re just rats but when you’re by yourself down here, you need someone to talk to.”
“Alright,” Jemma laughed, shaking her head. Fitz had won her over, he knew it too. “Alright, just don’t let anyone find out that we named them. We can’t have this experiment taken away. I’m going to bed. You clean up. Marcel just tore up your paper.”
She laughed at Fitz’s groan, kissing her cheek before handling the mess Marcel was making.
“Was it...Princess?” Daisy asked, tapping her beer bottle against her knee. “It was Princess, wasn’t it?”
“Nope, Drink,” Hunter drunkenly laughed. “It’s Clever. That’s the one missing the paw. She bit me right on the nose earlier today.”
“Well you did pick her up wrong,” Daisy countered, swallowing the last of what was in the bottle.
“How do you pick up a rat wrong? I didn’t pick her up by the tail!” Hunter grumbled, “Let’s move on. Which one has the tipped-”
“What are you two doing?”
Daisy’s neck craned to look over her shoulder, waving the empty bottle in Mack’s direction. “Nothing.”
“It doesn’t sound like nothing,” came Jemma’s response from behind him, frowning at their caged rats sitting on the table between the two agents. “What’s this about?”
“Fitz asked us to babysit Snowflake, uh Tangerine, uh…” Hunter frowned, rubbing his head. “I can’t remember the rest.”
“What are you going on about? They’re not named, they’re Rat 1, 2-” Jemma stopped at Mack’s amused look, his hand patting her backside.
“Jemma, stop. We know you two named them. Turbo was talking to them the other day when you were asleep. Plus, he keeps a list on him so he always knows their name. It’s adorable,” Mack explained, shaking his head.
Jemma groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. “No one was supposed to find out.”