This happens right before Hydra comes into the storyline. Enjoy!

Fitz was sulking. According to Ward, at least. In Fitz's own opinion, he was doing nothing of the sort. He was simply puzzling over the latest data that had come in that he couldn't quite make sense of. And just because most of his papers were still tucked away in a drawer and he wasn't anywhere near his laptop did not lessen his concentration on the matter at hand. And maybe he had positioned himself at the corner of the lab so he could see into the little sitting area where Simmons and Trip just happened to be talking together. Not talking, conspiring. Their heads were bent close together and Simmons was pointing at the paper in front of them. Fitz shook his head in disgust.

"This is just ridiculous," he muttered to himself.

"What is?" Skye asked, magically appearing next to him. Fitz jumped and shot her a half-hearted glare.

"Nothing that concerns you. Very important engineering tasks," he explained, waving his hands around in a broad fashion, hoping to distract her.

"Oh, I hadn't realized Jemma was an engineering task," she countered, smirking. Fitz's mouth opened but no words came out for a moment.

"Well, you just don't know what you're talking about. Why don't you go find some database to hack into or something," he said, looking down at his hands.

"I already did that today. You're much more interesting, sitting over here sulking," Skye said with a bright smile, her eyes dancing with mischief.

"Talked to Ward, I see," Fitz said.

"He said you're in a dreadful sulk because Trip has stolen Simmons' attention away," she said quickly, pushing the conversation to where she wanted it to go.

"Simmons can put her attention wherever she would like. I haven't got any control over that." Fitz stood up and started rummaging around in drawers, looking for something he could tinker with that could distract from the conversation. He had no hopes of getting rid of Skye now, so he could at least have some kind of barrier between them. He settled for a little prototype for a robot he had designed, that would hopefully be able to detect if there were any kind of gases in the air before they entered a building.

Skye followed him. Who had even invited her to the team anyway? Fitz wondered idly as he became more uncomfortable. He should have a talk with Coulson about letting hackers who got much too invested in other people's personal lives for comfort onto the team.

"But you want her attention to be on you," Skye said.

"I want my best friend back. She's been drooling over him since he's gotten here," he admitted gloomily, looking quickly over at Jemma and Trip to see Jemma squeeze his arm, in what looked like a quick thank you. He thought he heard Skye snort in laughter, but when he looked at her sharply, she looked completely serious.

"I don't think you have anything to worry about," Skye said assuredly. Now Fitz snorted.

"He's everything I'm not, I have everything to worry about," he admitted quietly before realizing what he said and flushing. "Now, don't go saying anything about this to anyone!"

"Your secret is safe with me," Skye promised, miming locking her lips and tossing the key away. "Now, what do you want for your birthday?" Sufficiently happy with the subject change, Fitz started rambling about all of the new gadgetry he wanted to have. None of it was anything Skye could buy, but since Simmons had been otherwise occupied recently, he hadn't had anyone to talk to. Skye did her best to keep up, much better than anyone other than Simmons would have. After about fifteen minutes, Skye interrupted him.

"I can't actually get you any of this, can I?"

"No, none of it," he admitted, grinning.

"What am I supposed to get you then?" she asked, exasperated.

"I dunno, surprise me?" he guessed. Skye rolled her eyes and hopped off the counter she had sat on a quarter way into his little rant. When Fitz looked up to glance at Jemma and Trip, they were gone.

…

Fitz still wasn't sulking. And yes, he did know the definition of the word, thank you very much, Skye. Simmons and Fitz always ate lunch together, always. Usually in the lab, in between research or experiments. However, today when Fitz walked into the lab bearing his own lunch and Simmons' favorite sandwich with some chips, he stopped dead in his tracks. Trip was sitting on Fitz's chair, drinking a bottle of water as Simmons ate something. Probably not her favorite sandwich, Fitz thought to himself as he turned around before they could see him. He was not avoiding them, he thought firmly to himself. He just… wanted to eat with Skye today. If Simmons could expand her social circle, so could Fitz.

"Want a sandwich?" Fitz asked as he entered the kitchen to see Skye.

"Sure…" she said hesitantly. "Why aren't you eating with Simmons?"

"She had other plans."

Skye wisely didn't say anything, simply ate the sandwich quietly. Ward walked in a few minutes later and did a double take when he saw Fitz.

"Why aren't you eating in the lab?"

"Do you people realize I'm capable of eating a sandwich other places than the lab?" he asked. Ward raised an eyebrow at Skye and she shrugged.

"He's having some issues with sharing Simmons," she explained after a moment.

"I see," Ward replied, looking at Fitz.

"Simmons would never leave you," Skye said.

"That's what I'm afraid of," he said miserably. And he knew that. Simmons would never leave him just as he would never leave her. But she had never dated much at the academy and he hadn't thought it would hurt this much, seeing her with someone else. He used to be the only one who could make her grin like that but now Trip could too. He never wanted to lose Jemma, but he was afraid he would. Not on purpose on either of their parts, but friendships always withered away when a new relationship was added to the mix. He would almost rather she cut ties with him immediately than wait it out and let it die slowly and painfully.

…

Despite everything going on in his head, Fitz was very excited for his birthday. Jemma always, since they first became friends at the academy, made him his favorite cake, chocolate with chocolate icing, with his name written in gumballs on top. Yes, he was perfectly aware the cake was more fit for a seven year old, but it was his birthday. He could have what he wanted. She always made it early in the morning, much earlier than he ever woke up because she swore the recipe was an old family secret that no one else could know. So, when Fitz woke up on his birthday and raced out to the kitchen after getting dressed, he was shocked to see no Jemma and no cake. He stood there with his mouth hung open in shock. He knew things had been different lately, but he hadn't really thought she would forget his birthday. Or worse, remember but not do it anyway. He walked out to the living area to find Skye and Ward sitting on the couch.

"Morning," Skye said happily when she saw him.

"Morning," he muttered as he sunk into the chair and frowned.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," she said after watching him for a minute. He stared at her.

"Do you really not know?" he asked.

"Know what?" she said, tilting her head to the side curiously. Fitz sighed but didn't say anything.

"Fitz, come help me with something," Ward said suddenly, standing. Fitz didn't even argue, just followed behind Ward quietly. Ward led them to a large room that Fitz wasn't exactly sure what it was for. He had been expecting some boxes that needed moving, or something along those lines. But instead he got Simmons and the rest of the team jumping out at him from behind various objects. Well, Trip and Simmons did. Coulson and May just stood there, but they were both smiling.

"Surprise!" Jemma cried, looking very pleased with herself. Fitz's mouth dropped open and he stared at everyone. Ward and Skye shuffled him further into the room and he noticed a table set up with his cake, plates, utensils, and napkins. There was another table that had a small stack of presents on it. Fitz smiled.

"I can't believe you did this," he said to everyone.

"It was all Simmons," Skye said and Simmons flushed a little.

"I just wanted to make your first birthday as a field agent special," she said softly.

"You did. Thank you so much," he said, still grinning. The room was all decorated too, streamers across the walls and balloons floating here and there.

"I'm sorry I've been distant lately. I've been trying to plan this for a while," she apologized as everyone else meandered over to the cake table.

"No, it's okay," he said.

"That's the only reason I was talking to Trip so much, you know that right? He helped get the balloons and other decorations," she explained further, looking a bit anxious.

"Jemma, it's fine. Let's go eat some cake," he said, smiling. They lit the candles and sang happy birthday. Fitz glanced at Jemma right before he shut his eyes and blew out the candle. He was pretty sure everyone knew what he had wished for, but he didn't care. All he wanted was for it to come true.

I hope you enjoyed that! Please leave a review!