When Fitz Meets Cap; Fitz & Steve; Grant & Steve (part 1)
Fitz is busy at work in between telling Grant about the latest weapon he's actually in the middle of creating, hands swishing manically in his work, when Ward's phone starts going off.
"Gotta take this." He says, seeing the familiar number flashing on the screen. "Hey, man." He greets warmly while walking away a few steps from the engineer's work station.
The conversation with Steve is short and brief. He's got a meeting with Coulson nearby and wants to stop by in a few to say hi and seeing as it's been a while since they last saw each other, Ward isn't gonna argue with him.
He hasn't seen his friend in almost a month. He's not gonna argue. Nor is he gonna pretend this doesn't put him in a better mood.
"Alright, I'll see you then. Bye." He says before hanging up and walking back over to Fitz.
"What is it? Who was that?" The other man immediately asks because he knows no boundaries and in addition to being mildly suspicious to most things, he's also just a tad nosy.
(He sometimes wonders if it's his friend's brilliant mind not being able to take things as they are the way others can.
Though it's not for the same reason, he can certainly relate.)
Of course, he's gotten so used to it that he rarely even bothers anymore to be annoyed with him. "Nothing. Just a friend, gonna stop by in a bit." He answers easily, pocketing his phone as he goes.
"Who-?"
"It's nothing. Just... come on." He gestures towards the pulled apart weapon on the work table. "Tell me more about the pistol."
After his friend gives him the as expected narrow eyes to his vague answers but, also as expected, he gets back to working and explaining and Grant just sits back and listens.
He likes Fitz. He wouldn't be friends with just anybody. Aside from a few fellow specialists - Bobbi and Trip, being at the top of the list - Fitz is the closest person he has to a real friend and considering how damn different they are from each other, he oft times puts some thought into how the hell they even get along for most of the occasions they interact.
And he's seen him interact with other people.
Fitz is a good guy. Though it's actually hard to peg most of the time because the engineer rarely gives time in acting like a human being and not the scientist. He's not necessarily arrogant, just... he more has a kind of inflated sense of his own genius. Which, okay, is entirely earned though others (namely others who aren't Grant and/or Jemma) have a difficult time understanding him.
And it's mostly through his specialist training and a little bit of digging, that Ward had been able to understand on his own.
He doesn't really like digging for personal purposes. Unless for a mission, he wouldn't normally go rooting through someone else's business. And he almost regrets it with what he does find in Fitz's file. The medical files. The school counselor notes...
It's not something he enjoys thinking about even now.
Regardless, he pushes these contemplative thoughts away and focuses on Fitz's science babble - really, he's smart enough to be one of SHIELD's best specialist and it's finest spy since Romanov but, he's never gonna fully get all this - only catching the occasional phrase he's already heard before and technical wording that he's been made to know through weapon's training.
In fact, he gets so involved in the scientist's speech about the gun's specs, that it's made to respond only to his palm and finger prints as well having a prolonged cartridge to potentially hold several of Fitz's smart bullets in the chamber, that he forgets about his earlier phone call until he receives an incoming text message.
He easily responds and then turns to Fitz. "My buddy's on his way."
"Wha-?" The previously focused engineer nearly breaks his own neck in spinning it 'round as though Steve is gonna suddenly materialize out of thin air. "Here?"
"Yes, here." He answers, grabbing a smart bullet and tossing it in his palm, testing the weight of it. "Be nice. This is his first time down here."
Fitz frowns (he's told him that it's likely to get stuck that way). "Be ni- oh well, that's mighty rich." He says, his voice already getting to that loud tenor he gets when he's tuned up. "Coming from you?! You're asking me to be nice? Says the man who glares at everyone who gets within six feet of him or that tine when you shot-"
"Okay, that's enough." He interrupts, patting the shorter man on the shoulder as he spins him around to face the clear lab doors where the blond shape of another man stands. "He's here. Now behave."
"Oh." He can instantly pick up on the note of recognition in Fitz's voice at the very second he turns to see their visitor. "Oh, fine. If that's your new friend, then you must go attend to-"
"Don't be jealous." He smirks over his shoulder as he reaches the door.
He doesn't even need to turn back when he punches in the code to open the doors in order to see the scowl Fitz is directing at his back.
He greets Steve at the door and after a few minutes of a little small talk, ushers him further into the lab,. "This is where the science happens." He mutters as his friend's eyes run all over the space, no doubt imprinting the imagery into that enhanced photographic memory of his. "And this is Fi- Fitz?" The only other man in the room is facing away from them as though he hadn't just seen that they have a guest earlier. "Fitz!" He shouts, grabbing his attention and startling him into dropping the tool he'd been holding. "Look alive. There's another human in the vicinity."
After a few long seconds of fidgeting, the engineer finally does his own version of standing and turns to face them fully.
And then his eyes land on Steve.
"Eh." He utters, giving the supersoldier a peculiar look, and Grant sighs to himself.
Oh shit, here we go. He knows that eh. Has seen it directed at certain people Fitz has met once and have ended up... absolutely nowhere with the scientist. Just nothing. One eh and if Fitz ever sees that person ever again, he doesn't exactly make it subtle of how much he doesn't like that person. Leaving them in a puddle of befuddlement and if it's really bad, hurt feelings.
No real reason, just eh and they're in the dog house right outta the gate.
The only other person to have gotten past that eh had been Grant himself. After they'd first met. When Ward had been assigned as glorified bodyguard due to an injury that had taken him out of specialist rotation and the job mostly involved standing guard outside and/or lounging inside the lab while keeping an eye on things. Only taking breaks when Fitz did.
Not a lot of danger happened down in SciOps but, a certain incident had made the higher-ups nervous so, they'd just assigned their best specialist as bodyguard. Reasoning that even with his limp, Ward's presence would hold enough menace to avoid any unwanted company within the labs.
And yeah, Grant had also been trained to fight in a number of ways when one limb was weaker than the others if anything ugly should go down.
And Fitz hadn't really taken a shine to him initially. Which had been fine by him because all he'd been told to do was protect the floor. The secret weapons down here and the man who'd made them. Not to make friends.
Then, a stray bullet from a maniac had almost killed Fitz.
Before Ward had pulled him out of the way. Getting one in the shoulder for his troubles.
After he'd gotten patched up and come back for duty, Fitz's attitude towards him - namely, a mix of being more than a little intimidated, unnerved, and generally annoyed at his very existence - had changed some.
He wants to say that they'd been friends ever since but, that wouldn't be true. It had taken a few more months of interaction for that to occur.
Now, it's happening again. Only Grant's not stupid enough to think that even someone like Steve Rogers could thaw out Fitz a second time.
He's just gonna have to work with it though.
"Fitz, this Steve Rogers." He pats the man next to him on the shoulder. "Steve, this is-"
"Leo Fitz." The engineer inserts, his arms crossed over his chest, not even attempting to go for a handshake when the taller man attempts to do so. "Engineer. Weapons maker. Ward's best friend-"
"Fitz." He growls impatiently.
"But, enough of all that." The scientist waves a hand in a show of so very false nonchalance in the face of his threatening tone. "Very nice to make your acquaintance, Captain Rogers." He adds in a voice that suggests anything but.
Though, either Steve doesn't care about his attitude or doesn't notice it. Either way, the friendly look on his face doesn't falter. "Please, call me Steve."
"Eh."
Oh god, Fitz.