Work Text:
“Jemma, I need you!”
Jemma glanced up from her work to find Daisy draped across her desk with that sad, puppy-eyes expression that said, ‘I’m about to ask you for a huge favor.’
“How romantic,” she replied dryly. “What did you break?”
“I didn’t—Well, that’s not why I’m here right now. Do you know what tonight is?” Daisy asked.
Jemma quirked an eyebrow. She would have to ask later what Daisy did break, but for now she was intrigued. “The fourteenth of February?”
“Yes! Which is…?” Daisy prodded.
“A Wednesday?”
“No! Well, yes. But, no, it’s Valentine’s Day,” Daisy announced.
Jemma just blinked. “And? We’re both single. Wasn’t the day for single women to go out yesterday?”
“Yes, and while I’m heartbroken you forgot Galentine’s Day, I came up with a better alternative,” Daisy replied with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. She dug into her pocket and pulled something out with a flourish and held it in front of Jemma’s face.
It was a giant diamond ring.
“We’re getting engaged!” Daisy announced to Jemma’s confused expression.
“What?”
“I’ve been doing some research,” Daisy said. She dragged a chair in front of Jemma and plopped down to whisper conspiratorially to her. “And there’s about a dozen restaurants and bars in the area that have been reported to give out free stuff to people who get engaged there.”
Daisy whipped out her phone and showed Jemma a map of the surrounding area with a handful of locations tagged.
“I’ve mapped each place and made an algorithm to determine which courses are given out the most often and plotted our exact path to get the most out of one night. So, you in?” Daisy stared at her hopefully.
The amount of work Daisy had put into this plot was impressive.
“Why me, though? You know my track record for undercover work is rather shoddy,” Jemma reminded her.
Daisy shrugged. “Initially, I did have someone from Tinder lined up to help me, but he was boring. Plus, I figured it would be easier to pull off with someone I knew, and who better than my best friend?”
Jemma smirked. Sure, this wasn’t likely to work, but it was one of Daisy’s schemes that reminded her of old times. It would also be a nice excuse to get off the base for a night (while not having to pay for anything).
Jemma sighed. “What should I wear?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They pulled up in front of the first stop of the night, which was a fancy Italian restaurant. As soon as Daisy parked, she hopped out and ran around Jemma’s side to open the door for her. Jemma rolled her eyes, but accepted Daisy’s hand to help her out of the car.
Daisy had told her to ‘dress nice,’ which was frustratingly vague, but Jemma managed to put together a decently fancy outfit. Daisy had pulled out all the stops and wore a stunning cocktail dress that was sure to attract attention (which was probably the point, since people would have to see them to give them free food).
“Are the glasses necessary?” Daisy asked, looping her arm in Jemma’s as the walked towards the door.
“It’s part of my persona. Emily Stanford, soon-to-be Johnson, who works in the archive for the Museum of Natural History, happens to be far-sighted. And allergic to peanuts,” Jemma explained.
“Well…I wrote all my speeches using ‘Jemma’ so can’t you just be you?”
Jemma sighed. “I suppose.”
“I don’t believe you’d take my name.” Daisy snorted.
“Emily would,” Jemma explained. “I wouldn’t. If we got married, we would both either keep our last names or you would have to hyphenate.”
Daisy gasped. “Why would I have to hyphenate?”
“Do you have any published academic work under your name?”
“…No.”
“That’s why,” Jemma said.
Daisy sighed dramatically. “You’re lucky I love you,” she said loudly. “Reservation for two, please. Under Johnson.”
Jemma hadn’t even realized they had reached the hostess stand. The hostess grabbed two menus and led them to a small table, right in the middle of the restaurant.
“Did you pick the table location, too?” Jemma asked.
Daisy smirked. “Yep. Maximum visibility.”
They fake-perused the menu for a few moments while Daisy ordered a bottle of wine.
“So when do we do this?” Jemma asked. She was suddenly nervous. She had (obviously) never been proposed to before, so she didn’t know how to react. In the movies, there always seemed to be a lot of crying and hugging.
The wine came out and they quickly agreed on an appetizer. Daisy kept casually slipping pet-names into conversation when the waiter was standing nearby and flustered Jemma enough that she forgot what she was going to say.
“This place tends to only give out free appetizers, so we should probably do it right before it comes out,” Daisy whispered. “Keep an eye on the kitchen and let me know when you see our waiter.”
“This seems overly complicated,” Jemma said.
“Trust me, I have a plan.”
“Okay, well our food is coming out already.” Jemma nodded towards the kitchen.
Daisy blanched. “Shoot, that was fast!”
She fumbled with her purse and practically fell out of her chair to get on one knee before the waiter reached their table. Jemma slapped a hand over her mouth to keep herself from laughing, but it also served as a good impression of a cinematic engagement pose.
“Jemma Simmons, you are the smartest, kindest, most beautiful woman I know and I would be honored if you would be with me the rest of my life. Will you marry me?” Daisy was talking quickly, but she managed to play it off as nerves. Still, the genuine feeling she put into the short speech was astounding.
Jemma heard soft gasps from behind her and even a small ‘aw.’ She felt a bit guilty that this was all a lie.
But Daisy was on one knee in front of her with such a hopeful look in her eyes (even though she was acting) that Jemma couldn’t help think, ‘don’t blow this for her!’
“Yes. Of course I’ll marry you,” Jemma gushed.
The restaurant erupted in applause and cheers. Daisy beamed as she slipped the ring on Jemma’s finger and swept her into a hug.
When they broke apart, the waiter was standing behind them with actual tears in his eyes and their plate in his hands.
“I’m so ha-happy for you two. You make a beautiful couple,” he sobbed. “Everything’s on the house!”
“What? Oh, we couldn’t,” Daisy lightly protested.
“I insist. The world needs more love!”
With no further protest, Daisy and Jemma sat back down and tucked into their free food. Once they were done with the appetizer, they requested their bill (because they both had to call their families and tell them the news, of course), left a generous tip, and slipped back into the car.
“The waiter was right, you know,” Daisy said as they drove to the next stop.
“About the world needing more love?”
“About us being a cute couple,” Daisy replied with a wink.
Jemma chuckled and ignored the slight flutter in her chest.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next stop was much the same. It was a nice cocktail bar, so Daisy and Jemma found a spot in the middle of the room and chatted for a bit, before Daisy dropped to one knee and gushed about Jemma. The bartender gave them a free bottle of champagne and called for a toast to them, to which the whole bar raised their glasses.
“To the future Mrs. Simmons-Johnson,” Daisy teased, clinking her glass against Jemma’s.
Jemma hummed and considered the name. “I could live with it.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next few places they went were similar. They stopped at a movie theater, a bakery, and few more restaurants that were way out of their normal price range. The stages of each deception were similar, but Jemma noticed that the length and content of the proposal speech Daisy made changed each time.
“Jemma Anne Simmons. I can’t picture my life without you. Every day I come to work and you’re there, I know it’s going to be a good day. Which is great, because you’re never not at work—”
“—I love the way you roll your eyes at me when I imitate your accent. I love the way your face scrunches up when I try to say something science-y and get it complete wrong—”
“—you’ve been with me through some of the worst times and I hope you’ll be with me through the best. Honestly, anytime I’m with you is the best—”
“—so, Doctor Jemma Simmons, will you marry me?”
As the complexity of the fake-proposals increased, Jemma found herself getting actually choked up. Her fake-acceptance started to sound less fake to her ears and her heart jumped each time she saw Daisy get down on one knee.
She wondered if her brain was registering that this was all fake. Daisy was an amazing actor. Jemma swore she saw Daisy tearing up a few times as well.
Their last stop of the evening was an ice cream shop. Daisy made sure to loudly proclaim that this was their favorite ice cream place ever and where they had their first date when they walked in the door, so it wasn’t questioned when she dropped to one knee in front of the counter.
She then proceeded to give the longest speech of all. She held Jemma’s hands tightly in her own while she listed all the trials and tribulations they had been through (with some of the more classified details edited out, since the general public was listening). For each situation, she described how Jemma’s presence and positivity carried Daisy through it and how she couldn’t have done it without her. When she finally finished, there wasn’t a dry eye in the shop, including Jemma and Daisy.
Jemma choked out a yes and dragged Daisy off her feet.
Daisy started to move in for the usual hug, but Jemma grabbed her face and pulled her into a searing kiss. The usual applause and cheering around them turned to wolf-whistles.
Then, Jemma’s rational brain caught up to her emotional one and she pulled away.
Daisy looked just as stunned as Jemma felt.
“That was enthusiastic,” Daisy muttered.
Jemma felt her face flush. “I’m sorry, I-I got caught up in the moment—”
“Don’t be.”
Daisy closed the distance between them again. The kiss started gentle, but deepened as Daisy pulled Jemma closer. Her tongue slipped along the seam of Jemma’s lips, which parted readily as Jemma tangled her hands in Daisy’s hair.
It was only when the cashier cleared their throat loudly that they broke apart.
They quickly straightened themselves out and shuffled up to the counter.
“So, we’re going to talk about this later, right?” Daisy whispered to Jemma.
“Of course.”
“Good.” She threaded her fingers through Jemma’s and pulled out her wallet (mostly for show, like she had been doing all night). “What do we owe you?”
“$8.75,” the cashier recited.
“Wait, what?”
The cashier shrugged. “We didn’t charge you for the extra toppings. Congrats.”