A Part of Something Bigger

Chapter 6 - Homeless

Fitz mellowed out after a week and was close with Simmons again. They were on opposite sides of the family war that was going on, but they couldn't really stand being against each other for long. They did however gain a whole new reason for arguing. Simmons often tried convincing Fitz that he shouldn't be mad at their parents and Fitz defended his, Daisy, and Yo-Yo's side. This was always painful for Coulson and May to listen to. It was their lies that tore the entire family apart. Fitzsimmons even had arguments in school which got the attention of their mutual friend, Flint. The boy had been their friend from the beginning. As for the family drama, he mostly stayed out of it. Fitz and Simmons gradually stopped the arguments on that front. There was no reason to continue. Neither one would change their mind. They just made passive-aggressive comments to each other.

One afternoon, Fitzsimmons were out with Flint. The three of them decided to go to some kind of fast-food restaurant after school. They ended up in burger king, just talking. As time went by, Flint glanced outside.

"Hey, guys!" he called to the science twins while turning back. "Those clouds are gathering real quick. I think we should go home before we get caught in the rain."

Jemma and Fitz looked outside and saw that dark clouds were indeed rather quickly covering the sky.

"Yup, good idea!" Fitz declared. The three of them finished up, gathered their things, and left the building. Outside, the wind was blowing rather hard and the last bits of Sun were disappearing. The three classmates had to go in the same direction for a time and only separate later. Before that happened, the rain started. Simmons, always prepared, pulled out a collapsable umbrella from her bag. Flint did the same while Fitz just cursed lightly. Simmons smiled and held her umbrella over the both of them. Fitz hooked his arm around hers and they were ready to go on.

"Did you guys hear that?" Flint asked out of nowhere.

"Hear what?" Fitz asked. Flint started moving towards a nearby alley. Fitz and Simmons just shared a look before following. Nearing the more and more wet alley, the twins heard it too. Something was definitely meowing. Likely a cat, as Simmons pointed out. In the alley, they did indeed find a cat. It was hiding from the rain in a turned-over cardboard box that already seemed damp. The cat's gray fur was blackened by dirt and stuck together at multiple spots. It scooted further into the corner of the box when the students walked there. Simmons immediately brought herself and Fitz to a halt and pulled him down until they were both crouching.

"What was that for?!" Fitz asked angrily as he almost fell from Jemma's efforts. He got shushed by both Jemma and Flint. Flint too was crouching. He looked back at the frightened animal. It was staring back at him with big yellow eyes. Flint carefully got closer to the box while whispering comfortingly. He extended his umbrella over the box and its surrounding area. The cat was dumbfounded. Flint slowly reached out with his free hand, making sure to keep it low, trying not to scare the poor creature any further. When his hand was close enough to the cat, he stopped and let the cat smell it.

"It's okay. We won't hurt you," he whispered to the animal. Flint then carefully but swiftly wrapped his hand around the animal's body and lifted it up. The cat got scared and tried to free herself. Flint quickly extended his umbrella toward Fitz who took it into his own hand, holding it over his friend and the dirty animal. Flint quickly adjusted his hold on the cat, using both hands now while whispering to it, trying to get it to calm down.

"It has no collar," Simmons observed.

"And it seems skinny. It definitely has been on the streets for a while." Fitz added.

"We gotta get her out of the cold," Flint said with certainty as the three of them stood.

"Our place is closer," Fitz said.