[Avengers: Drabble] "Where the Heart Is" [Clint/Coulson, G]
Title: Where the Heart Is
Prompt: writerverse challenge 28 December table of doom, prompt 6 ‘neat as a pin’
Word Count: 591
Original/Fandom: Avengers (MCU/movie ‘verse)
Pairings: Clint Barton/Phil Coulson
Setting: part of my Happy Verse
Summary: Pepper joins Phil for morning coffee.
Note(s): originally posted to the writerverse wv_library
Where the Heart Is
“Good morning, Pepper,” said Phil, when he answered the door, stepping back to let her into the apartment. “I didn’t realize you were coming.”
“Did I wake you?” she asked. “I know you got in late.”
“Only a little,” he assured her, “and I was already awake. I just meant that I’d have tidied up a bit… maybe put some real pants on.”
Pepper smiled. “I think your Captain America pajamas are adorable. Does Steve know you wear those?”
“He does, actually,” said Phil, in a tone that made her certain it had been entirely Tony’s fault. “Coffee?”
“I’d love some.”
Phil cleared a few dirty dishes scattered across the counter into a pile next to the sink, then pulled two clean mugs from the cabinet. “I’ll start a fresh pot,” he said. “I imagine we’ll each need more than one.”
“Thanks,” said Pepper - he used the same brand of grounds she did, but it always tasted better somehow when Phil made it.
While he started the new pot brewing, Pepper looked around the apartment. She wasn’t trying to be nosy, but after helping to design the Tower, she liked to see how her friends had taken the space and made it their own. Phil and Clint’s floor was mostly decorated in grays and deep purples. A few of Phil’s more subtle vintage Captain America posters were framed on the walls and a beautiful antique longbow had pride-of-place above the mantle.
But now that Phil had mentioned not tidying, she could see the places their apartment wasn’t quite as neat as it usually was. There were no outright messes, but scattered bits of debris - the jumbled shoes by the door, the collection of purple mugs now next to the sink, the arrows littering the coffee table and stuck into the potted plants - all seemed to be Clint’s.
“I’m probably the last person who should say this,” said Pepper, when Phil turned back to hand her a cup of coffee. “Because it’s none of my business, for one. And for another, I used to date Tony, but… I’m sure Clint doesn’t mean to leave things lying around like this when you’re gone, and I know if you even mentioned it, he’d clean everything up.”
“Not a chance,” said Phil, smiling. “I earned this mess.”
Pepper blinked. “I don’t understand.”
“You’ve read Clint’s file,” he said. “The way he grew up… he learned to know where all his things were, to never leave anything out, because it might be taken. When we were first friends, and he’d come to my apartment, he was always cleaning up after himself - putting his bag somewhere out of the way, washing any dishes he used, folding up his sheets before I’d gotten up when he spent the night on my couch.”
Phil paused, smile softening. “The first time I came home to find dirty dishes in the sink, wet clothes all over the bathroom and Clint sprawled on the couch in my pajamas… that was the first time I knew he really felt at home with me.”
“That is ridiculously sweet,” said Pepper. “But you must be the only person in history who likes their husband leaving wet things on the floor.”
“Maybe I am,” he laughed.
She smiled back. “You just always seemed like a bit of a neat-freak,” she said, apologetically.
“Oh, that’s true,” Phil assured her. “But there are some things that should be messy. And home is one of them.”
“Amen,” said Pepper, and raised her mug of coffee to clink against his.
THE END
Current Mood:
clean
Prompt: writerverse challenge 28 December table of doom, prompt 6 ‘neat as a pin’
Word Count: 591
Original/Fandom: Avengers (MCU/movie ‘verse)
Pairings: Clint Barton/Phil Coulson
Setting: part of my Happy Verse
Summary: Pepper joins Phil for morning coffee.
Note(s): originally posted to the writerverse wv_library
Where the Heart Is
“Good morning, Pepper,” said Phil, when he answered the door, stepping back to let her into the apartment. “I didn’t realize you were coming.”
“Did I wake you?” she asked. “I know you got in late.”
“Only a little,” he assured her, “and I was already awake. I just meant that I’d have tidied up a bit… maybe put some real pants on.”
Pepper smiled. “I think your Captain America pajamas are adorable. Does Steve know you wear those?”
“He does, actually,” said Phil, in a tone that made her certain it had been entirely Tony’s fault. “Coffee?”
“I’d love some.”
Phil cleared a few dirty dishes scattered across the counter into a pile next to the sink, then pulled two clean mugs from the cabinet. “I’ll start a fresh pot,” he said. “I imagine we’ll each need more than one.”
“Thanks,” said Pepper - he used the same brand of grounds she did, but it always tasted better somehow when Phil made it.
While he started the new pot brewing, Pepper looked around the apartment. She wasn’t trying to be nosy, but after helping to design the Tower, she liked to see how her friends had taken the space and made it their own. Phil and Clint’s floor was mostly decorated in grays and deep purples. A few of Phil’s more subtle vintage Captain America posters were framed on the walls and a beautiful antique longbow had pride-of-place above the mantle.
But now that Phil had mentioned not tidying, she could see the places their apartment wasn’t quite as neat as it usually was. There were no outright messes, but scattered bits of debris - the jumbled shoes by the door, the collection of purple mugs now next to the sink, the arrows littering the coffee table and stuck into the potted plants - all seemed to be Clint’s.
“I’m probably the last person who should say this,” said Pepper, when Phil turned back to hand her a cup of coffee. “Because it’s none of my business, for one. And for another, I used to date Tony, but… I’m sure Clint doesn’t mean to leave things lying around like this when you’re gone, and I know if you even mentioned it, he’d clean everything up.”
“Not a chance,” said Phil, smiling. “I earned this mess.”
Pepper blinked. “I don’t understand.”
“You’ve read Clint’s file,” he said. “The way he grew up… he learned to know where all his things were, to never leave anything out, because it might be taken. When we were first friends, and he’d come to my apartment, he was always cleaning up after himself - putting his bag somewhere out of the way, washing any dishes he used, folding up his sheets before I’d gotten up when he spent the night on my couch.”
Phil paused, smile softening. “The first time I came home to find dirty dishes in the sink, wet clothes all over the bathroom and Clint sprawled on the couch in my pajamas… that was the first time I knew he really felt at home with me.”
“That is ridiculously sweet,” said Pepper. “But you must be the only person in history who likes their husband leaving wet things on the floor.”
“Maybe I am,” he laughed.
She smiled back. “You just always seemed like a bit of a neat-freak,” she said, apologetically.
“Oh, that’s true,” Phil assured her. “But there are some things that should be messy. And home is one of them.”
“Amen,” said Pepper, and raised her mug of coffee to clink against his.
THE END
Current Mood:
clean