Phil and Clint have a routine. Clint gets bored and Phil gets punished for it. It's how they work and much as Phil complains sometimes, he likes it. It's dependable. Since the Avengers came together, Clint hasn't gone a day without dropping by Phil's office at least once for some reason or another. Not that he didn't stop by before, but now it was a sure thing. Every day. That was how Phil knew that something was wrong. He found himself hitting dinner time without a single visit
( ... )
Phil could see Clint coming back to himself more and more. It was a huge relief, even if he was still having to remind himself that Clint was okay now. He kept his grip on Clint tight as he moved around. The last thing Clint needed was to fall and hurt himself even more.
He moved to sit next to Clint against the wall. "Well, I wasn't going to let you leave. You've been entirely off the grid for days. I'm not losing you to some idiot who dresses like a teen-aged vampire again." He leaned forward to look at Clint's face, hand coming up to grip the agent's chin. "Let me see. I tried not to hit you too hard, but that punch wasn't enough. It had to be harder than that."
And then the lights started to go out. He looked up sharply, before turning back to Clint. He wasn't stupid. He could put two and two together here. "Do I need to take care of this or can the rest of them handle it? Because I'd rather not leave you alone like this. The last thing you need is brain damage."
Clint didn't try to hide the smile on his face. He had known the reason why...he had avoided Phil when he was under Loki's control was for the very reason that; Phil would know. "Teenaged vampire? I might save that somehow for later." Not that he would say it in Thor's presence. Tony could get away with insulting the lightening god's brother, but he did it just barely. Clint wasn't so sure about himself as the archer smirked, turning his head to look over at his handler. "At least you know when I act weird. No one else seemed to suspect anything, go figure." He moved his head up when Phil guided it up with his hand. "So the logical choice was a pistol? We need to figure out a better way to deal with this stuff." Not that he was thinking 'for the next time'. But Clint hadn't thought there was going to be another time the first time. The world was uncertain now and things happened every single day that made it so anything could spiral into something uncontrollable
( ... )
Phil leaned it, looking right into Clint's eyes. "It was the only hard thing I could get my hands on. It's not like I can overpower you. I needed to take you by surprise." He turned Clint's head to check the impact point. "Of course I noticed you were acting weird. I never lose track of you for more than a few hours and even that's usually due to me not actually looking." But he was starting to think he might need to implant some kind of GPS tracker inside of Clint's body so that he can never do this to Phil again. Phil didn't care if it was his fault or not. Either way, he'd really been scared that Clint was dead somewhere. He wasn't letting that happen again, not outside of a mission at least.
"They'll be fine without me. Plenty of them can use the experience, anyway." He wasn't leaving Clint for anything short of the building would explode if they didn't stop it. He moved Clint's head back so that he could look into his eyes again. "I'm sorry I didn't find you sooner. I was looking, believe me. I noticed you were gone
( ... )
"You could've..." Slamming him against the wall would require more bodily strength then he knew Phil had. Not doubting his skills. Clint just knew he was stronger then him and Phil was still getting over the wounds he had endured from his encounter with Loki. "It's okay. I would've used it too...if I was in your shoes." He cracked a small grin as he allowed Phil to move his head to the side. It wasn't caved in, so he had that going for him. The skin was broken and bruising already. But Clint was thankful for it. "Guess I'm just lucky to have you around then, huh?" Clint was glad. Glad that the lie to bring the Avengers together was just that...a lie. Having Coulson around made everything bearable as slowly allowed his eyes to shut. Still awake...just, getting to the point where he knew he wouldn't be soon
( ... )
He knew it was the only choice when he'd made it, but that didn't mean he'd enjoyed hurting Clint. Quite the opposite, really. He'd needed to do it and he had.
"If I put a GPS tracker in you, I would only activate it in situations like this. Alternately, I could just not let you out of my sight, but I think that will infringe on your space more." He was mostly joking, even if he wished he could put a GPS in Clint in case this ever happened again. Not that he planned to let it happen again
( ... )
"When I don't show up for breakfast, lunch, dinner and nap time in your office?" His stomach churned a little. The sniper fighting the nauseated feeling that washed over him. Getting sick wasn't something he necessarily wanted to deal with before smiling a little. "I work for SHIELD. My space is already infringed. I don't think you'd be stepping over any boundaries that I have." He paused for a moment. He didn't think he had any boundaries. He did like when he could sneak away undetected sometimes. By anyone who wasn't Phil that was. Apparently if he was gone for twenty-four hours he put out a personal-issued amber alert with himself
( ... )
Phil rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to kill you." His hand slid over Clint's back to rest on his other shoulder. "I've see you beaten harder. Belarus comes to mind. You pulled through that and you'll pull through this just fine." It was more head trauma than anything now, anyway, and while he probably was sporting a concussion, Phil was pretty confident that Clint hadn't suffered any permanent damage at his hands
( ... )
"Would you believe me if I said you were doing me a favor if I do?" He scowled, lifting his head up a bit and looking towards Coulson. He didn't want to think about past missions where he got his ass handed to him. At least he had one thing going for him...it was Phil who had done it to him. Clint used one hand to reach into his pocket, feeling a part of his mind feel like he was doing a disservice to something. He ran his finger along the storage disk before pulling his hand back. Leaving the storage device still in his pocket.
Clint grew silent for a brief moment. "You woulda probably found me when I blew up another SHIELD facility. If history likes repeating itself so much." He tried to crack a smile at that but really couldn't manage. He felt like he had doubly been injured. Both with whatever Phil had done and what Loki he had done. The archer almost wanted to lean into Phil, but if he got sick? He didn't want Coulson's impeccably clean suit to become the hapless victim.
"Then I'm going to be selfish and not do you that favor." Phil was never selfish, especially not when it came to work. He was allowed a few selfish things and if one of them was keeping Clint alive, Clint could just deal with that. Besides, he wasn't entirely sure that he could kill Clint, even if he was in horrible pain and dying. It was Clint. Phil tried not to think about it, but the idea of Clint not being around left a sinking, cold feeling in his stomach. He'd had to face that feeling head-on the last few days. It wasn't as if Clint's life was never in danger, but every scare felt a little worse.
He tightened his arm around Clint's shoulders. He really didn't care if Clint got sick on him. Dry cleaning existed for a reason. "I'm glad I found you before anyone got hurt, including you." Sure, Clint was a little hurt, but he wasn't shot or stabbed or dean. He was just banged up. It was a much better option than any of the others and now Phil had him back.
"Guess I should be glad that you're being selfish for once then, sir." Clint didn't want to die.
He just didn't want to be something used against the only people he knew, maybe even loved. A sentiment he didn't exactly express unless you looked into the undertones of his interactions. The fact that he didn't hide away in his "nest" away from the other Avengers. Or Phil for that matter. Coulson had initially been the first person in the entire world to ever recruit him for anything (that Clint accepted that was). It was the same for Clint in some matter. He'd be selfish in Coulson's shoes, but he had other tools if Coulson were ever the one to become a mind puppet for anyone. He wouldn't be able to shoot to kill, however. Phil...he had been the first person that Clint Barton had called friend and sincerely meant it
( ... )
Phil didn't want Clint to die, either. He cared about all of his agents, but few got under his skin the way Clint did. Really, no one got that far under his skin. Natasha came close, but it was different. Or maybe it was Clint that was different. Clint had always been different to him, even if he tried to ignore it, it always came back to that. Clint was different. He was special. Phil didn't know why. He just was. It was a fact of life, the same as any other
( ... )
They both seemed cut from similar cloth when it came to things. It was honestly no surprise to most people in SHIELD that Clint was loyal to Coulson. When he had first began working there, most of the time Clint ended up following after Phil. Even when he was supposed to be training with other junior agents. Back then, to him, he was above training with the other junior agents. Now it was the same, but now he could harass them all he wanted too. The one person he harassed with a light-hearted thing in his mind was Phil. Even on his worst days. Clint considered Coulson more like a friend then his boss. More like someone that would affected him profoundly. He didn't have many mentors in his life. He didn't have many people in his life. Clint had been one of those children who were tossed into the system and forgotten. Comically, he'd joined the circus
( ... )
From the moment Clint was recruited, Phil had regarded him as trouble. He had problems with authority and discipline and generally just seemed to do whatever he wanted. That was far from what Phil expected from a field agent. Then there was the fact that Clint skipped training and seemed to revel in following Phil around and annoying him. Slowly, but surely, the annoying started to become endearing. Clint had grown on him in a way he didn't want to admit. Still, he was dubious about how all of it would translate out in the field
( ... )
It was all a level respect when it came to Clint. He respected Phil...he just showed it through all the crap he put him through. At the beginning, at the middle, and presently. The archer didn't respect (or like) a lot of people. When he was younger he had always felt as though the world had given up on him, so he had just given up on the world. It was mostly Phil who had instilled that there was still a little hope out there in the world. It was just his job to make sure that it didn't fade into the darkness. Their jobs to make sure it didn't do that. Clint had felt though his hope in the world had been sucked out the moment someone mentioned that Phil Coulson had been killed in action during the Loki fight
( ... )
Phil couldn't remember ever not being an optimist, even if he was an overly-cautious one. He saw the best in things, even when there wasn't much to see. He had to. With all the horrible things they saw in their line of work, it was what kept him sane. It was why he'd always loved the idea of Captain America so much. He was a testament to the idea that everyone could make a difference if they wanted to. Yes, he saw the best in everyone, but especially Clint, who was impossible to completely control but so good at what he did and so ready to take risks for others. Clint was an enigma from the start, but Phil had seen something in him. He'd known there was something about Clint that was special and it wasn't just his ability to shoot
( ... )
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He moved to sit next to Clint against the wall. "Well, I wasn't going to let you leave. You've been entirely off the grid for days. I'm not losing you to some idiot who dresses like a teen-aged vampire again." He leaned forward to look at Clint's face, hand coming up to grip the agent's chin. "Let me see. I tried not to hit you too hard, but that punch wasn't enough. It had to be harder than that."
And then the lights started to go out. He looked up sharply, before turning back to Clint. He wasn't stupid. He could put two and two together here. "Do I need to take care of this or can the rest of them handle it? Because I'd rather not leave you alone like this. The last thing you need is brain damage."
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"They'll be fine without me. Plenty of them can use the experience, anyway." He wasn't leaving Clint for anything short of the building would explode if they didn't stop it. He moved Clint's head back so that he could look into his eyes again. "I'm sorry I didn't find you sooner. I was looking, believe me. I noticed you were gone ( ... )
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"If I put a GPS tracker in you, I would only activate it in situations like this. Alternately, I could just not let you out of my sight, but I think that will infringe on your space more." He was mostly joking, even if he wished he could put a GPS in Clint in case this ever happened again. Not that he planned to let it happen again ( ... )
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Clint grew silent for a brief moment. "You woulda probably found me when I blew up another SHIELD facility. If history likes repeating itself so much." He tried to crack a smile at that but really couldn't manage. He felt like he had doubly been injured. Both with whatever Phil had done and what Loki he had done. The archer almost wanted to lean into Phil, but if he got sick? He didn't want Coulson's impeccably clean suit to become the hapless victim.
"Lucky for me you're paranoid, huh?"
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He tightened his arm around Clint's shoulders. He really didn't care if Clint got sick on him. Dry cleaning existed for a reason. "I'm glad I found you before anyone got hurt, including you." Sure, Clint was a little hurt, but he wasn't shot or stabbed or dean. He was just banged up. It was a much better option than any of the others and now Phil had him back.
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He just didn't want to be something used against the only people he knew, maybe even loved. A sentiment he didn't exactly express unless you looked into the undertones of his interactions. The fact that he didn't hide away in his "nest" away from the other Avengers. Or Phil for that matter. Coulson had initially been the first person in the entire world to ever recruit him for anything (that Clint accepted that was). It was the same for Clint in some matter. He'd be selfish in Coulson's shoes, but he had other tools if Coulson were ever the one to become a mind puppet for anyone. He wouldn't be able to shoot to kill, however. Phil...he had been the first person that Clint Barton had called friend and sincerely meant it ( ... )
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