Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Another Stark expo, there had been three in the past month and you had been required to go every time. Pepper had asked you to go and be the friendly face of the engineering and computer science department. You were young, but had so much potential and Pepper had seen it straight away, she had even convinced Tony to look at some of your programmes and he had been mildly impressed considering you had done all the work on a laptop from your bedroom. Pepper had assured you that it was his way of giving you a chance to do better and to even match Tony is all his genius, but that was a long way off just yet.

You schmoozed your way through the tables and eventually ended up at the bar, you weren’t much of a drinker, but you always made an exception at Expos to have one to please Tony who for some reason thought you were uptight. You weren’t tee total you just didn’t see the point in drinking to excess the way he did.

You sat thinking about the day you’d have tomorrow building a new security system for a small hydro energy company in Scotland. It was easy enough, set up limited security access, put in place scanning programmes and firewalls and then start hacking into the system to test its defences. In all honesty you didn’t know why you spent so much time on it, it was just for a small company and you hardly thought anyone would try to break in for any reason, but Tony insisted that every product that left Stark Industries was the best it could be.

‘Lost in thought?’ Pepper appeared in front of you, looking just a little tipsy. It was getting late and she usually loosened up the closer to the after party it got.

‘Yeah I guess I was.’ You laughed and sipped your drink.

‘Stop thinking about work and start enjoying yourself.’ She said, sincerely. ‘Seriously, you work too hard and don’t party nearly enough for someone your age. You should be out getting all the hot guys, dancing the night away and rocking up to work at midday.’

‘So as the most senior representative for the company, you’re encouraging me to get very drunk and risk my job for the sake of being young and carefree?’ You challenged her.

‘Yes!’ She exclaimed. ‘Wait, okay, you wouldn’t be risking your job, you’d be having a little fun… I’m only saying this because you shouldn’t be so stressed at your age. You’ve got a lot to learn and more time than you could imagine to learn it all. Relax, loosen up once in a while, take it from me.’ She laughed. You couldn’t help but laugh with her. Pepper was great, she was so smart, beautiful, funny and sexy all the while being super organised and a great friendly person who you had grown to adore.

‘I am relaxing, look I’m about to order another drink. At this rate I will be over the legal limit and have to get a taxi home. Are you proud?’ You gave in and pointed to your glass ordering another drink from the bartender.

‘Very. I give you permission to rock up and eight oh-five tomorrow morning.’ She mocked you, but you didn’t mind in the slightest. ‘Anyway, I’ve been gone for about five minutes so I’d best see what Tony is planning to blow up and put a stop to it…’ You laughed at her. ‘Seriously though, take my advice, relax. Have a good night… and the guy at the other end of the bar has been staring at you all night. He’s kind of cute.’ Pepper winked and sauntered off to find Tony.

You risked a look towards the other end of the bar and saw a guy around your age smiling at you, he was handsome enough and looked friendly, but you really weren’t interested. You finished your drink and said a few goodbyes on your way out. You thought you heard someone call your name and turned to see who it was, but everyone was either too drunk or too absorbed in conversation. You must have been hearing things, when you turned away to leave you walked straight into a suited man collecting his jacket to leave as well.

‘Sorry!’ You apologised and looked up at the man who you recognised as Agent Phil Coulson. You had seen him around the building a few times, shared brief acknowledgements of each other, but never actually spoken to him properly, you knew you liked him a little too much, he was a handsome guy and always looked like he was in constant control. You were certain he didn’t even remember you existed until he saw you.

‘It’s quite alright.’ He said and looked at you with his crystal blue eyes. The smile he had just about reached them and for a moment you forgot yourself, you felt your body lean forwards just a little and a small wrinkle appeared between Agent Coulson’s brows. You quickly snapped out of it and took your coat from the staff member offering it to you.

‘Thank you.’ You took your coat and headed straight for the door, you were mortified, how could you have made such a fool of yourself in front of a man you didn’t even really know? The night air was brisk and you regretted not putting your coat on before you left, instead your bare shoulders felt the sharp whip of icy air skating over the skin.

Before you knew it you were shivering, you asked the valet to call you a taxi and you would pick your car up in the morning. You tried to put your coat over your shoulders, but felt it slip from your hands. Angry at the fact you were freezing in your thin red dress, the last thing you imagined happening was Agent Coulson picking up your coat for you and offering his help in the matter. ‘You looked like you needed a little assistance.’ He smiled that easy smile again. You gave him a tight smile back and allowed him to put your coat on for you. You immediately felt better for the warmth around you.

‘Thank you Agent Coulson.’ You said, grateful for his help.

‘Any time… do you need a ride home?’ You could see him mentally scold himself as soon as the words left his mouth.

‘It’s okay, I’m getting a taxi, I don’t live far anyway. Thank you… again.’ You wanted to stop saying thank you. He was maybe twice your age and kind hearted and handsome and a bad ass from what you’d heard and the only thing you had to say was thank you over and over again. You needed to get home and sleep, desperately.

‘Well, in that case. I might see you around tomorrow morning. I’ll be up to see Miss Potts first thing to talk about the new surveillance programmes you’re working on.’

‘Actually, I’m not working on them.’ You had been asked to instead take on the Scotland security system, but you were a little excited about seeing him the next day, though the excitement dropped when you realised he wouldn’t be anywhere near your lab.

‘Oh, well that’s disappointing. I was hoping I could bring you a coffee on my way in.’ You felt your jaw drop just a little before closing it again. You just stared at Coulson and watched him do a quick analysis of your reaction, he decided it wasn't rejection so just smiled.

‘Erm… I…’ You stammered. You were pretty certain, he had just asked you for a coffee date, but you had no idea what to say to him. You saw you taxi pull up and suddenly felt a hint of relief. ‘I have to go… but I’ll see you tomorrow, hopefully… it would be good.’ You headed towards the taxi door and scrunched up your face, what did you just say to the man? You turned back to see him smiling at you again.

The taxi pulled away when your phone buzzed. A text from Pepper.

‘I hope you didn’t say no to coffee with Agent Sexy. ;)’

You cringed at Pepper’s description of Agent Coulson. She would definitely regret that in the morning so you left it and soon arrived home to sleep the night away.

Chapter Text

You had woken feeling refreshed and ready for the new day ahead of you. That was until you entered your lab and saw Agent Coulson and Pepper walking down the corridor just outside the large glass wall of your lab, he had a seriousness about him that unnerved you slightly. They looked deep in conversation, but not deep enough that Coulson couldn’t give you a quick look and a smile. You smiled back awkwardly and before you could do anything else he was gone.

You eventually put your music on and got on with building the security mainframe. It took you the better part of the day to get it finished, but soon it was ready to be tested and strengthened. It wouldn’t be sent to Scotland for another week, so you had all the time in the world to focus on other projects at the same time. You had begun design plans on a new motorbike you were building. One that had all the speed and muscle you could combine to make the perfect infiltration vehicle. You had most of the designs completed, but still had the final touches to make before you started any work on actually building the bike.

You heard your laptop making various noises to signal the analysis being ready, you sat back on your chair and pushed yourself over to it, only to find Agent Coulson and Pepper talking just outside your door. You could just about hear the conversation they were having and tried your hardest to block it out and begin work on strengthening the security system. That was when a steaming cup of coffee came into view along with Pepper sitting down next to your desk.

‘What’s this for?’ You asked, looking at the coffee.

‘This is from Agent Coulson.’ She had a slight look of disapproval in her eye. ‘He said he hoped he didn’t scare you last night and asked what kind of coffee you liked as an apology for his behaviour. If you ask me he already knew what you liked.’

‘That’s ridiculous, what does he need to apologise for?’

‘That’s my question. What happened? I thought he finally asked you out on a date? Did you say no?’ Pepper overloaded you with information.

‘Wait back up a second. What do you mean ‘finally’?’

‘Every time he’s here I catch him staring at you and when I mention your name he asks a lot of questions. Half of which I don’t know the answer to.’ Pepper explained. ‘That man has it bad for you, it’s not obvious, but I know Phil and he only ever asks about people if he wants to use them as an asset. This is different though, he thinks you’re hot.’

‘Then he needs glasses.’ You laughed. ‘How do you know he’s not just interested in some of my designs?’

‘Because he doesn’t ask about your designs. He asks about you! My god this is painful.’ Pepper shook her head. ‘Surely you can see it?’

‘No Pep, I can’t. He doesn’t like me, he must just be interested in my work and want to talk about it.’ Pepper gave you a look that said she had just reached some sort of conclusion about something.

‘You’ve never done this before, have you?’ She asked, suddenly understanding why you were so awkward all the time and why you never really hung out at parties. You shook your head in defeat. ‘You could do a lot worse than Phil and not much better. You should give him a chance.’

‘I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do.’ You groaned and put your head in your hands and stayed there for a while, just thinking about what coffee with Agent Coulson would be like. To sit opposite him and listen to him tell stories about his life and the things he likes, how nice it would be to just watch him talking and smile that easy smile he had. You came out of your fantasy long enough to find that Pepper had left and the coffee that sat in front of you was nearly cold. How long were you gone for? You soon packed up and shoved your laptop in your bag and left for the evening.

You spent the week avoiding Pepper and hiding out in your lab as often as possible, just working away and trying not to get distracted thinking about what Agent Coulson could be doing that week. You had finished building the security system and went down to the warehouse to get it ready to be packed up and sent to Scotland. You’d emailed the instructions to the Director of the company and told him to contact you if anything was unclear or there were any problems.

It was on your way back to the lab that you decided to woman up and do something about your growing crush on Agent Coulson. You had seen him briefly turning a corner that day and wondered if he was still in the building, you made a phone call to Pepper.

‘What’s up kid?’ She answered on the second ring.

‘Hey Pep, just calling to say that’s the security system off to Scotland and I’ve made a life decision you’d be proud of.’ You said arriving back at your lab and checking your mail for your next assignment, nothing yet. ‘I’ve decided to woman up and… you know, do the date thing with Agent Coulson, because as always you’re right and I’m now ready to admit that I have liked him for a long time, like the last couples of years since he's been coming down here and that maybe I should just loosen up a bit, except I have no idea what to say to someone as hot as him, what to do, where he is and I’m pretty sure even if I knew all those things he’d still say no. So, how about some advice?’ There was slight pause and you wondered briefly if she was even listening to you.

‘Okay, well you’re right I am proud of you. You’re a real woman for admitting your feelings.’ Pepper started and you knew from her tone that she was busy, maybe now wasn’t the best time to call. ‘But I’m afraid I have no advice for you. Just say yes to Phil, he’s a good guy and he’ll understand why your nervous, he probably feels a bit foolish too, it’s not like him to like someone so young. Just say yes.’

‘Just say yes.’ You repeated. ‘Okay I can do that… wait, what happens after I say yes?’

‘You go on the date, usually.’ Pepper said flatly. ‘You talk about stuff you like, stuff you don’t and get to know each other. Let Phil do most of the work, he’s obviously got more experience than you, so just be honest and say you’re nervous.’

‘Okay… okay I can do that. Say yes and be honest. Okay.’ You settled and felt the lump rise in your throat.

‘Good. I gotta run, but let me know how it goes. And also Phil is still in the building, I think he said something about the bio labs, he’ll pass by.’

‘Okay. Thanks Pep.’

‘No problem. See you.’

You hung up the phone and sure enough half an hour later Agent Coulson passed by the lab, you smiled widely at him and felt your whole body lift when he smiled back. But soon the lump was back and you felt very nervous again. You looked back at your work and felt that awkwardness set in. You could feel a pair of eyes on you and glanced over to the door to see Agent Coulson leaning against the frame. You turned your music down and watched him.

‘Sorry, I didn’t want to disturb you.’ He said warmly.

‘No, it’s fine. I’m kind of stuck where I am anyway.’ You chuckled. ‘What brings you to the lab?’

‘I was just passing by and felt bad for not dropping in before now.’ He admitted and wore a slightly bashful look. ‘I wanted to say sorry again for being so forward last week. I maybe shouldn’t have done it at all.’

‘No, it was fine. I was just taken back that’s all… I wasn’t expecting it.’ You said the last part a bit more quietly. ‘It was okay, I promise. I didn’t mind.’

‘Good.’ He nodded and smiled. ‘Well I’d best get going, but it was nice to see you again. I hope it’s not too long before we bump into each other again.’

‘Me too. It’s nice having visitors if I’m honest.’ You smiled and felt yourself go bright red for saying it. No one except Pepper came down to your lab and it was a nice change of pace when Coulson stood there.

‘Well, I will make the effort to visit when I can.’ He smiled again and left you in peace. You felt good and you hoped it was a step in the right direction. He seemed so nice and warm and you loved that smile, it made your whole body lift and it felt good.

It was another few days before you saw Agent Coulson again and it was the day of yet another Stark expo. You were getting fed up of going to them, but Pepper kept asking you to go and be friendly. You had planned on wearing your plum dress, you had yet to find an occasion to wear it on and kept watching it swinging out of the corner of your eye in its black suit cover. You had so much work to get finished for that day, there was no way you'd have time to go home before the expo.

Your bike was coming along nicely, you had the frame done and the engine sitting waiting to be completed and you had been working on the wheels. You wanted to make them bullet proof and fire resistant, but your own personal touch meant the bike would also be resistant to deflation and have a constant supply of air to refill when required. You had been working with different material and chosen one to make the wheels out of, you sent the specs down to a friend of yours in the garage to make them for you and he happily obliged, letting you know they would be done by the end of the day and sent up to you.

You began work on the internal mapping system, you had a few ideas for it, but if it was going to be used as an infiltration system it would have to be easy to use and quick to change. You wanted it show possible hide out spots as you drove up the road and be able to see danger before it became a problem… You were still working on designs for that and the way in which it would be displayed to the rider. You groaned and stretched your neck, closing your eyes and relaxing for a moment.

‘Are you okay?’ A warm soft voice came from just next to you. You jumped and opened your eyes to see Agent Coulson placing a coffee cup just next to your laptop. ‘Sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on your like that. Force of habit.’

‘No, it's okay.’ You sat up properly, taking your glasses off and rubbing your eyes. You mostly wore your glasses to stop yourself getting headaches from staring at your computer screen for so long, you didn't really need them, it helped you think and became habit. ‘Just a little stuck.’

‘Anything I can help with?’ He offered, sipping his coffee and smiling down at you.

‘Well, how much do you know about internal mapping systems on motorbikes?’ You asked, half genuinely. ‘I'm trying to find a good user friendly display and work out how to display it.’

Coulson’s brows knitted together for just a moment. ‘What about the helmet?’

You frowned in question.

‘You've got your display right there, I'm sure Stark has access to some kind of material you can use to see through the map and keep an eye on the road at the same time? Could be voice activated?’ Coulson stopped for a moment, watching your reaction. ‘What?’

‘Why didn't I think of that beforehand?’ You exclaimed and jumped up off of your seat, excited at the progress being made. ‘The helmet is designed to be shock resistant, bullet proof and light weight for easy movement.’ You said, climbing over various pieces of equipment to find the helmet you had thrown at the wall to check how resistant it really was. ‘Adding an internal communication, mapping and analytical programme is the next logical step.’ You finally found it and threw it back towards Coulson who caught it with one hand. ‘Nice reflexes.’ You said and immediately went red, you took half a moment to compose yourself before climbing back towards the bike and Coulson.

‘Thank you for the compliment.’ He said sincerely and you felt yourself burning up again. ‘It's extremely light.’ He felt the helmet from every angle, looking more and more impressed with what he was finding. ‘What's it made from?’

‘Carbon alloy, or Tony's version of carbon alloy, I'm going to reinforce it with a thin layer of lead to stop any kind of intrusion into the computer I'm now putting inside, it'll add a little weight but I've got a limit to work to so it should work out fine.’ You wandered over to the computer platform and threw your lab coat over the chair as you worked. ‘What else would you want during an infiltration mission?’ There was no answer, you turned to see Agent Coulson coming out of his thoughts and coming back to reality.

‘What about the ability to upload mission specs? Read heat signatures? Maybe have some kind of link to the HQ database to do searches?’ He suggested, putting he helmet down and standing next to you. You could suddenly smell his two-day old aftershave, musky and warm and welcoming, it made your body warm up a little.

You turned your attention back to the platform and made notes to work on those ideas when you had the time. You could feel Coulson's eyes still on you and it made an unexpected heat pool in the pit of your stomach. You checked the time and shook your head.

‘I need to get ready for this damn expo.’ You said, closing all your programmes and locked your computers. ‘Are you going?’ You casually asked Coulson.

‘I am. Do you need a ride?’ He offered, smiling again.

‘Actually I'm with Pepper and Tony tonight, but it'll be nice to see you there.’ You said and immediately you both could see how awkward you were and chuckled. Coulson took half a step towards you and was suddenly in your personal space.

‘You don't have to be nervous. I'm not going to force you to say yes to anything. But I'd like to get to know you a little better, if you'd allow me?’ You felt incredibly warm standing next to Agent Coulson, he was looking straight into you, not in an intrusive way, just in a way that said he understood nervousness.

‘I've never really done this before. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do.’ You admitted. You found yourself being incredibly honest.

‘That's okay, I'm not sure I really know what I'm doing either, I'm just going with what feels right.’ He was matching your honesty with his own. ‘I'll see you tonight, maybe we can grab a drink together?’

You paused for a moment, before remembering that you were going to say yes to Coulson, that's what Pepper had said. ‘Okay, yeah, we can do that.’ You nodded and suddenly his whole face lit up. His features softened and his smile widened just a little.

‘See you there.’ He said and you watched a small debate take place behind his eyes. He nodded and turned to walk out of your lab, not before turning back to give you another easy smile.

You felt your chest fill up with a mix of nervousness, relief and joy all at the same time. You sent a text to Pepper.

‘I said yes. I'm going to see him at the expo tonight.’

‘That's great kid! Told you he was a good guy.’

Coulson was a good guy, he was kind and warm and you enjoyed the closeness of him, it felt exhilarating. You began getting ready for the expo, you had your plum strapless dress, it puffed out at the bottom and made you feel like a kid again. You grabbed your coat and soon met Tony and Pepper outside to catch a ride. Tony had wolf whistled and you had gone very red, Pepper looked as glamorous as she always did and just laughed at Tony.

The expo was just about as boring as they always were, you had caught up with a few of the technicians from the garage and a few of the programmers in IT. They were all working on very interesting projects and you had agreed to set up a few meetings to discuss possible uses for the projects and put them to Tony and Pepper.

Soon though, you had grown wary that Coulson had yet to be spotted at the event. ‘I'm sure everything is fine.’ Pepper said, encouraging you to keep your chin up. ‘He's probably just running late, caught up in work.’ You saw her sending a quick text out the corner of your eye and tried to appreciate it, but honestly you felt like you had been stood up. You continued schmoozing and soon found yourself alone on the balcony outside the grand building. It was a gorgeous night, you didn't mind the cold too much, but you much preferred the heat that Coulson out in the pit of your stomach, that was when you heard someone walking onto the balcony.

‘I'm sorry.’ That warm voice came. You turned to see a very worn out Agent standing in front of you. He had a little bruising starting to form around his eye and knuckles. It didn't seem to bother him much though as he still made the effort to put his suit on and get himself to the expo, even if it was a few hours late. ‘I got a call last minute to sort something out.’ He didn't dare take a step closer to you fearing what you might think. ‘It doesn't happen a lot.’ He tried to assure you.

‘My boss is a superhero; I'm used to unexpected calls.’ You watched him physically deflate with relief. He decided it was safe to take a few steps forward. ‘I guess I'm just not used to the worry.’ You admitted and he stopped.

You could see Coulson doing some very quick thinking. ‘I don't think that's something anyone ever gets used to I'm afraid.’ He sighed. ‘Dance with me.’ He said.

‘I can't dance.’ You chuckled.

‘I can and I've heard I'm a pretty good teacher.’ He smiled and you saw your Coulson shine through the bruising.

You chuckled again and took a step towards him. He could see your nervousness again.

‘Take my hand.’ He said offering his hand to you. You took it and felt the warm skin beneath yours, it sent shivers up your arm as your fingers glided over the slightly calloused parts of his palm. You could feel him watching you for a moment and snapped out of your thoughts. He smiled down at you and gently pulled your body closer to his.

You were suddenly aware of how cold you really were, he noticed as well as he pulled your other hand to rest on his strong shoulder. You could feel the tender muscle beneath his suit jacket and again you felt that heat pool in the pit of your stomach. He slipped his other hand to rest ever so lightly on your lower back, he guided you even closer to his body, but giving you enough room to move away if you wanted to.

‘Just relax and let me do the work.’ He said and something flared up in the back of your mind, but as quickly as it flared, it faded away. You watched his crystal eyes staring at you and felt him move ever so slightly, you followed him until you finally got the hang of the steps. You messed up a couple of times and both of you laughed, but for the first time in your life you felt truly happy and filled with youth. You felt relaxed and without tension, you had finally loosened up.

The music had died down a little and the dancing had slowed more to swaying than anything. You watched him decide something behind his eyes and watched them dart to your lips for a split second, he started to lean towards you when a sharp ringing broke the two of you out of your thoughts. Coulson sighed and fished around for his phone in his jacket pocket. ‘I'm sorry, I have to take this.’ He said, hating himself for ruining a perfect moment.

‘It's fine, unexpected calls and all that.’ You said, reassuring him that everything really was okay. He still had an apology in his eyes and answered the phone, making whoever was on the other end very aware of how angry he was just with his tone. Coulson frowned and began to walk away from where you were standing. You decided to go back to looking at the view and try to calm down from what had been another exhilarating experience, you played it back in your mind a few times before you caught Coulson watching you. ‘Everything okay?’ You asked.

‘Fine, it can wait until the morning. Do you want to go back inside?’ Coulson asked, you nodded and walked with him back into the party. You could see Tony being cornered by what looked like a couple of SHIELD agents. Coulson gave a look and began walking over to them, you followed curiously.

‘I told you before, I'm not selling my people.’ Tony said angrily.

‘It's not a purchase Mr Stark, we'd be paying for her services.’ One of the men said, rather impatiently.

‘Is there a problem here?’ Coulson said in a tone that was both a warning and a scolding.

‘No sir.’ The other man said. ‘Sitwell said you were on an operation, so he asked us to come and ask Mr Stark-‘

‘I'll speak with Sitwell tomorrow. In the meantime, I think Mr Stark is enjoying his evening alone and without being hassled. Make yourselves scarce.’ It was definitely an order and it put a small amount of fear in you. The two men reluctantly wandered away. ‘I'm sorry Tony.’ Coulson turned to your boss.

‘Why do they want The Kid?’ Tony asked, not so quietly. You spun your head around to get a better listen into the conversation.

‘It's what I'll be asking Sitwell when I get the chance.’ Coulson assured him. ‘I apologise for the disruption.’ Coulson looked at you, another apology in his eyes and wandered off to scold the two men some more.

‘You good?’ Tony asked you. You glanced at him and nodded.

‘Why do they want me?’ You asked. Tony came to stand beside you, he put his arm around your shoulders and kissed your temple in his brotherly way.

‘I don't know. But they're not getting you. Not if I have any say in it.’ He assured you. You knew what it was to be called upon by SHIELD, it meant you had something they wanted. Knowledge, information, even an idea that interested them in some way and they'd be on you from the start. Coulson didn't seem like that though, he seemed genuinely interested in you. At least that's what you wanted to believe, that's what you thought was being said on the balcony only moments ago.

Chapter Text

A few days later and a very tired and worn out Coulson drifted into the lab. He set a coffee down beside you and smiled his easy smile.

‘Hey.’ You said and smiled back. And turned in your chair to face Coulson.

‘Hey to you too.’ His voice was raspy, like he'd been shouting a lot.

‘What happened to you?’

Coulson shook his head. ‘Just a long and tiring few days. But I did find out why Sitwell wanted to bring you on board. There was a man missing in the middle of Egypt and he had hoped you could get eyes on the area he was last seen.’

‘I know, I got an encrypted email with a mission outline and a few specs.’ You said, remembering what was waiting for you in your inbox the day after the expo. ‘I sent it to a hacker friend of mine-‘

‘The Pharaoh?’ Coulson asked raising his eyebrows.

‘Yeah, seemed more his pace. I asked him to do some digging and find out what happened. He should have sent everything back to Sitwell yesterday.’

‘He did and we are very grateful that our man was rescued in good time. However, I have been asked to come down here today to reiterate the importance of the word classified. You sent intelligence to a man no one knows, someone we can't seem to do a proper search on, because we don't know his real name. Some people have come across him before, but not many.’

‘My network is secure.’ You said bluntly. ‘There are more like The Pharaoh and none of them are traitors, I've done the homework.’

‘You have to be sure.’

‘I am. One hundred percent. Besides none of them can do anything that I can't put a stop to. I'm good at my job Agent Coulson, I don't even think Tony quite realises how good I am.’ You chuckled.

‘That's quite a claim.’ Coulson chuckled back. ‘You trust The Pharaoh?’

‘As much as I trust myself.’ You said honestly.

Coulson nodded after scanning your face. ‘Then that's good enough for me.’ He said and again smiled. ‘Any progress on the bike?’

You laughed and jumped up, you took the cover off of the half built motorbike that was taking shape. ‘It's not finished yet. Still working on the helmet and the controls, but all the basics are there. Most powerful engine I could get my hands on, bullet proof, fire resistant, puncture resistant and lighter than I had intended, which is a good thing.’

‘It's impressive to say the least.’ Coulson approached the bike and started inspecting all of its parts. ‘When do you think it'll be finished?’

‘If I continue at this rate, it'll be another week before its road ready. But I've got other projects to focus on just now, so it might take longer.’ You said. ‘Feel free to be the test driver though.’

‘I think I should leave that to the the designer.’ Coulson charmed. He stood up and stopped just in front of you. He had a curious look in his eye. ‘I actually had another motive for coming down here today... I wanted to ask if you'd have dinner with me tonight?’

You stopped in your thoughts for a moment, you didn't really know what to say, you tried to say yes. But something stopped you. ‘I've never been on a date before.’ Was what came out. You once again scolded yourself for being so stupid.

‘That's okay. I've never been on a date with you before.’ He retorted, still smiling. ‘It'll be a new experience for me too.’

You found yourself laughing. Coulson soon joined in.

‘How about we sit and have coffee just now and if you think you can bear anymore of my company, say yes to dinner?’ It was something you were growing to really like about Coulson, he seemed to get how nervous you were and find the easiest way to deal with it that made you both get what you wanted.

‘Okay. I think I can handle that.’ You agreed. So you sat with Coulson and you talked for well over two hours, you enjoyed his company, he was funny and smart and got you in a way no one else seemed to get you. It was terrifying and exciting all at the same time. But soon your laptop started making noises and the high was broken. You gave a quick look, hoping it was something you could clear and leave until later, but unfortunately it wasn't.

‘It's okay.’ Coulson said standing. ‘I get it. And anyway, I'll see you tonight?’

‘You will.’ You said, feeling yourself go a little red, but smiling uncontrollably at the same time. You watched Coulson make a decision and he leaned down to place a kiss on your cheek. You felt yourself lean up to him, to get just a little more contact. But soon he pulled away and the contact was gone, you missed it sorely and you knew he could tell from the way he looked at you when he stood up straight.

‘I'll pick you up at seven.’ He said, his voice now a different level of raspy. He cleared his throat, looking slightly embarrassed. You nodded and he turned on his heel to leave.

You spent the rest of the day working on the helmet for your bike and a lot of it thinking about your date with Coulson. You were incredibly nervous, to the point where you waited until two hours before Coulson was due to pick you up to tell Pepper. She was very excited and even helped you pick out what to wear. You settled on a dark red skater dress and black heels, with your hair let down over your shoulders, Tony gave you a wolf whistle as you left Pepper’s office. Both you and Pepper just laughed and you went back to your lab to do some more work before you went on your date.

You slipped your glasses on and began making some adjustments to the heat recognition programme, your music filled your ears and you found your working pattern easily. The programme was working nicely, but you still had yet to test it properly, you made a few notes and for whatever reason found yourself glancing at the clock that read eight oh-five.

‘Shit!’ You leapt up to rush out of your lab to find Agent Coulson sitting on on one of your stools with his phone at the entrance to your lab, he looked up casually and gave you a warm smile. ‘I'm so sorry-‘

‘It's okay.’ He interrupted.

‘How long have you been sitting there?’

‘About an hour and a half.’ He shrugged putting his phone away, standing up and buttoning up his suit jacket. ‘I'm surprised you didn't hear me come in, I said I enjoyed the singing and dancing.’ Coulson gave a smirk as you felt your cheeks flare red. ‘If you wanted to finish what you were doing; I can wait?’ He offered sincerely.

‘No, it's fine. I was just making notes.’ You said, taking your glasses off and shutting down your equipment. You turned to see Coulson holding your jacket for you, he offered it to you, slipping it up your arms.

‘You look good.’ Coulson said as you turned to face him. You saw him take a sharper intake of breath when you looked up at his crystal eyes and hoped that was a good thing.

He walked you out into the brisk air and opened the car door for you and you drove you just around the corner to a sweet looking Italian restaurant. Ever the gentleman, he offered his arm and led you into the restaurant, nodding to the host who pointed to a table in the far corner. Coulson led you to the table and pulled your chair out for you, he sat down opposite and smiled warmly. He looked very relaxed, at ease, like this was the easiest thing in the world for him to do. He sat back, one arm over the back of the chair and observed you carefully.

‘What?’ You asked feeling a little self-conscious.

‘Nothing.’ He still smiled. ‘Can I ask how in the world you managed to meet a guy who refers to himself as The Pharaoh?’ He was almost mocking you.

You laughed before tapping your nose. ‘Classified.’ You joked.

‘Really? You're pulling the classified card… On me?’ Coulson leaned forward and chuckled with you.

‘Oh yeah, I went there.’

‘Okay fine, but just so you know, in all seriousness, it is dangerous to get involved with people like him. I did a search when I got back and found he's been involved in three high profile cases that have come to our attention.’ Coulson had a serious look in his eye. ‘I would hate for anything to find its way back to you.’

‘I know how to handle him.’

‘I'm just asking you to be careful.’ Coulson raised his hands slightly to show he meant no harm. ‘Not that you can't look after yourself, but I'd like you to know that if you ever need help, you can call me.’

You watched him, he really did care for your wellbeing and it melted you a little.

‘Thank you Agent Coulson. I appreciate it.’

Coulson frowned. ‘We’re on a date. You can call me Phil.’ He chuckled. You laughed with him and slipped into easy conversation, you ate and drank and Phil, as you were now calling him, got you up to dance again and this time you were ready. You knew the steps and he only added an extra couple that you picked up straight away. The whole restaurant was just about empty except for two people who had been there since you arrived. Phil seemed to pick up on something and had a slightly distant and serious look in his eye, you sat back down and Phil slid over a glass of water, you gave him a puzzled look.

‘Can you trust me? For just a moment, trust me with everything you have.’ He said quietly and seriously. You felt panic start to whip at your chest, but you managed to nod anyway. You drank the water and he did the same. Phil leaned forward and took your hand, it was warm and reminded you of dancing, it helped calm you down a little. ‘Don't panic, there's no need to panic. Take the keys and get into the car.’

‘Phil-?’ You tried to question.

‘Stand up.’ He interrupted and slipped the keys into your hands. ‘Kiss my cheek and say you need to get your phone from the car and you'll be back. Take a breath Kid.’ You held his gaze and felt the panic slip away. Phil stroked the back of your hand and you felt the heat pool in your stomach again. After a couple of moments, you took a deep breath and smiled.

‘I just need to grab my phone from the car.’ You said, standing up and pressing a kiss to his cheek. ‘I'll be back in a moment.’ You watched a faint pink flush spread across his cheeks and approval in his eyes. He nodded and gave you a quick smile.

You went to leave the restaurant when the woman who was still sitting in the same place she had been when you arrived, got up and blocked your exit. You tried to walk around her but she blocked you again, you heard Phil stand up and walk up behind you. That was when the larger man stood up and stopped him.

‘What do you want?’ Phil asked.

‘We want the holographic Stark tech you've been using to build Starks new weapons.’ The woman said.

‘Then you'll have to ask Stark for them.’ You said impulsively. You saw a flicker of anger in the woman's eye, before you knew it her hand came up and your sass earned you a punch in the face. You went down with the shock and heard a scuffle behind you, your cheek and around your eye began to burn. You felt someone lift you up by your arm and drag you outside. The pavement was wet and cold and whoever was dragging you was lifting you to a standing position. You remembered little of your classes in martial arts, but you managed to throw your arm down onto her elbow and break her hold, you then pulled your arm back and hit her square across the cheek with your fist. But all it seemed to do was make her even angrier. You felt a pain in your knuckles from hitting her so hard and fear flooded your body once again.

She straightened up and threw you by the shoulders against the car they had arrived in, that's when you saw Phil rush outside and knock her out instantly. He then rushed towards you where you were sitting on the cold floor. He tried to see if you were seriously hurt and you watched him, feeling your knuckles and cheek start to flare up, you let him take your hand gently.

‘Hey, it's okay.’ He said softly. ‘It's fine, it's all okay. I'm going to call for help okay?’ You nodded, feeling the bruising on your back already start to form. Phil made the call, before helping you to stand, throwing his jacket around you and bringing the woman back inside the restaurant where you waited.

One of the waiters brought over a bucket of ice and a cloth. Phil wrapped the cloth around a few ice cubes and gently pressed it to your cheek. You winced slightly at the pressure. ‘Sorry. Are you okay?’

‘Fine. Just a little shock that's all. Are you?’ You watched him thinking very quickly.

‘I'm fine. I'm worried about you. I've sent a message to Pepper letting her know what's happened and that if you're okay with it, I'll be taking you to the hospital just to make sure nothing's broken and then I'll drive you home. I'm sorry, I should've have spotted them right at the start.’

‘It's fine honestly.’ You reassured him. ‘Like I said, I work with Tony Stark, nothing's ever as safe as it seems. I'm okay, I promise.’ It was your turn to hold his hand, you watched him sigh with relief.

‘Okay, we’ll see how you feel once you've been checked out by a doctor.’ Phil took another couple of ice cubes and gestured for you to hold them against your knuckles while he went outside to the two vehicles that had just shown up. You noticed he had a slight limp, but Phil seemed unharmed in the whole process.

You watched the agents take the two kidnappers in for questioning, it was strange to think only half an hour ago you were sitting having a pleasant conversation with Phil and now you were waiting for him to take you to get medical attention. He soon came back though and you could see a little bruising beginning to form on his face and his knuckles were definitely worse than yours.

‘You ready to go?’ He offered a smile. You nodded and stood up, feeling the aches in your body already. You hugged Phil's jacket tighter when you stepped into the cold night air, he helped you where he could and got you into the car safely.

You drove in icy silence to a SHIELD facility to get looked at properly, you kept looking at him and seeing the anger flaring up every so often in his eyes. He really wasn't happy and honestly it scared the hell out of you. You got checked up and you were given a sedative.

‘In case you find you can't sleep later.’ The doctor had said. ‘Agent Coulson is just next door, he's still being examined, his injuries are slightly more extensive. He's fine though.’ She said noting the worry in your eyes.

Once she had left you decided to wander next door to see Phil, though you hadn't expected to see him without a shirt, having his bare ribs seen to. There was heavy bruising on his muscular torso and a few cuts and bruises elsewhere. He suddenly saw you watching him and that pink flush spread over his cheeks, though you were certain you were scarlet, he certainly looked after his body.

‘Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude.’ You said awkwardly at the door.

‘It's quite alright. We were just finished.’ Phil said putting his shirt back on. You had an urge for him to take it off again so that you could inspect every part of his torso, but that was a little weird. ‘You want me to take you home now?’ He asked, smiling sadly at you. You nodded and tried to smile back, but the swelling prevented it reaching your eyes.

You had a feeling Phil wanted to say something to you, but he didn't make it clear until he walked you to your front door. ‘I'm sorry I didn't see it in time.’ He said hanging on the door frame.

‘Honestly it's okay.’ You said again. ‘Our line of work isn't normal by any stretch of the imagination; all sorts can happen. It was just one of those things I'll need to get used to if I have any more bright ideas.’

‘In that case, basic training might be required.’ He joked, making you both laugh awkwardly.

‘You look really tired. Do you want a cup of tea?’ You offered, opening your door just a little wider. ‘I don't fancy being alone just now anyway.’ An honest admission, he appreciated the honesty and wandered into your spacious apartment. Your kitchen was off to one side while the rest of your apartment was filled with laptop parts and pieces of machines you really only half knew the purpose of. All in all it wasn't messy, just very mechanical.

You let him in and began making a cup of tea for the both of you, he watched you intently, before realising you were struggling to move around properly. Your back hurt and your hands weren't much better.

‘Here.’ Phil said, taking the mugs for you and doing all the hard work, while you sat at the island and watched him.

‘Are you okay?’ You asked. It earned you a small chuckle.

‘I'm okay, I'm used to people trying to kill me. I'm just worried about you.’ He sighed and stood in front of you, almost invading your personal space. ‘Either you're still in shock and you'll have a proper reaction to this at some point, which will be hard. Or you really are fine and I'm not giving you enough credit for how tough you really are.’

‘Oh I'm tough, yeah I'm like bad ass. Maybe more than you.’ You winked at him and again he laughed. ‘I guess we’ll find out when I wake up tomorrow.’ You said a little more seriously.

‘I guess. Will you call me if you need anything?’ Phil took your bruised hand and carefully ran his thumb over it. ‘And I mean anything. Even if it's just to talk?’

‘Of course I will.’ You could see that look in his eyes again, the one that told you he was thinking something. You frowned at him and saw the thought pattern stop.

‘Can I say something? You can ask me to leave and I will, you can trust that. But I just want to tell you something.’

‘Okay.’ Phil searched your face for any sign that it wasn't okay, when he couldn't find any he took a breath.

‘I want to ask you a question.’ He thought for a moment. ‘I want to kiss you right now, but I'm scared that when you say you've never done this sort of thing before, you don't just mean you haven't been on a date? You mean you've never done anything before?’

You felt that lump in your throat start to form and panic set in. ‘If I told you I was a virgin would you leave?’ You voice cracked and you saw nothing but sympathy pour from Phil's face.

‘Not unless you asked me to.’ Phil wiped away a tear that had just about escaped your eye. ‘Is that why you keep panicking? Because you think if I find out I'll just walk out the door?’

‘It's what everyone else does.’ You rolled your eyes. ‘Something about not wanting that kind of responsibility.’ You shrugged, trying to laugh a little.

Phil had formed a question in his head and you could see it, but something was making him think twice about asking it. ‘I'm not going to say that, but I think I'm starting to understand the nervousness when you talk to me. I didn't quite know what it was before, but it makes a lot of sense now… Look I'm a few years older than you, while I think you should maybe find someone your own age to explore yourself with, I don't want to take that choice away from you. I'm happy to do whatever you want at your own pace, I have all the time in the world and so do you… So here you go, I'm handing you the reigns as it were.’ You both chuckled. ‘How does that sound?’

‘Honestly, it sounds like the thing I wanted you to say.’ You wiped away your tears, wincing when you put pressure on your bruises. ‘I don't know what I'm doing, but it doesn't feel like there's any pressure here.’

‘Good, because there isn't.’ Phil assured you. He finished making you a cup of tea and sat next to you. ‘I guess Pepper has already told you I've liked you for a while?’

‘Yeah she mentioned it.’ You chuckled. ‘Did she tell you how long I've liked you for?’

‘No, you did though.’ He sipped the steaming mug. ‘The day you called Pepper to tell her you were going to “do the date thing” with me, I was sitting in the office with her and you were on loud speaker.’ You felt your cheeks burn brighter than you had ever felt them go. ‘Don't be embarrassed, I actually thought it was very charming and I'm glad I found out.’

‘That's completely mortifying.’ You groaned, trying to hide in your mug. ‘I don't know how Pepper could let me just ramble on like that.’

‘Maybe because she cares about the both of us?’ Phil offered. ‘The reason I kept making visits was because I wanted to ask you out, but I always chickened out last minute. To be honest I thought you would just laugh at me and think me a fool.’

‘I think you're very interesting… And funny, and you're pretty smart for a ninja.’ You both chuckled. ‘So, now that we've had the first date and as tradition states something has to go wrong, nearly getting kidnapped I think comes under that category, what happens now?’ You asked, Phil smiled at you.

‘Well if we're working on tradition. It usually ends with me giving you a good night kiss and awkwardly asking for a second date… So how about another date?’ He asked.

‘Okay, I think I can handle that.’ You said smiling stupidly.

‘How about I swing by tomorrow and see how you're doing? If you want, I can bring lunch?’

‘Sure.’ You nodded and smiled.

Chapter Text

As promised, Phil came to your lab the next day and brought lunch with him. You laughed and talked for a while before he got a call that took him away. Both Pepper and Tony came to visit you given what happened the night before, they were of course worried, but felt better given the fact that Phil was there, which then led to them both behaving like teenagers and asking how your date went. You just laughed and told them what happened, minus the talk you had with him in your apartment.

The rest of your week was spent working on your bike and having a couple of meetings with IT and the garage about some of the projects they were working on. Cybernetics had been making good progress and you took special interest in them for a while, learning what you could whilst in the labs. You gathered a few specs and started working on designs to incorporate the technology into the suit that came with the bike, though for now it was just the jacket.

The phone soon rang and you answered it, slightly annoyed that you were being disturbed at the late hour.

‘Yes?’ You answered.

‘I have a message from Director Fury.’ The female voice said. ‘You are required to meet with him tomorrow morning at nine o'clock. A car will be sent to pick you up.’ You heard the dial tone of the woman hanging up before you could say anything or ask any questions. You decided to give Phil a call to see if he knew anything about it.

‘Coulson.’ He answered in a stern voice, you could hear the buzz of people around him.

‘Hey, it's me.’ You said, packing away your laptop and shutting down your lab.

‘Hey, are you okay?’

‘Yeah fine, I just wanted to call and ask something.’ You slung your bag over your shoulder and walked out of the lab. ‘I just got a call from a woman who says I have a meeting with Director Fury tomorrow morning. Isn't Fury your boss?’

‘Yes he is.’ Phil said, sternly. ‘When did you receive the call?’

‘Couple of minutes ago, just before I called you. Any idea what it's about?’

‘No idea. Where are you?’

‘Just leaving work.’ You entered the garage and headed for your car.

‘Okay, you want me to come over?’ There was a little more concern in his voice than there had been previously.

‘Only if you want to, I'll only be doing work anyway. I'm on a new side project just now working with the cybernetics lab. Really cool stuff working on functioning body parts.’ You got into your car and started it up.

‘Are you driving just now?’ Phil asked curiously.

You put him on loudspeaker and put your phone into its holder. ‘You're on loudspeaker.’ You laughed.

‘Maybe I should come over, just to check your head is still screwed on.’ Phil chuckled. You drove out of the garage and off down the street.

‘If you do, you'd better bring pizza. Could be a long night.’ You laughed. There was a slight pause on Phil's end.

‘It's a deal.’ Phil said and hung up. You almost couldn't believe he hung up on you but just laughed it off anyway as you drove the rest of the way home.

You finally got in and started work on your side project, you were building your own AI, not one quite as advanced as JARVIS, but one that could potentially rebuild itself the way JARVIS could. You only had the design specs for it, just a few ideas and prototypes you had up your sleeve. Soon though your door bell rang. You had already changed into your shorts and tank top, ready for bed and wore your thick, comfy socks with your hair tied up in a loose bun.

Phil did a quick scan of you as you opened the door, his eyes lingered on your bare legs for just a second longer than anywhere else, before coming to rest on your eyes. You stepped aside and let him in.

‘I brought Hawaiian.’ Phil said stepping inside. ‘As promised.’

‘Sorry about the mess.’ You chuckled, just noticing that you had left pieces of laptops lying around your apartment. You half cleaned up, but soon gave up when Phil didn't seem to care too much. ‘Have a seat. Do you want some wine?’

‘Sure.’ He said taking his jacket off and sitting down. You brought over the bottle and two glasses and settled down, taking your glasses off and tucking your legs underneath your body, the way you always did when you sat down. ‘That looks complicated.’ Phil said pointing towards the screen.

‘Not really. It's only a prototype design of a new intelligence system, I'm thinking about incorporating it into the helmet or the suit I'm making for the bike. Still trying to fix some of the bugs though, but hopefully when I'm done it'll respond to voice commands and DNA recognition.’ You looked at him, pizza half way in your mouth and stopped. ‘What?’

‘Like I said, it sounds complicated.’ Phil smiled and you ate together and talked and laughed about all sorts of things. Your life, his life, both of your work and soon the buzz of the wine kicked in and you started venturing into unknown territory, flirting.

Phil could see your nervousness creeping in again. ‘You don't need to be nervous, we’re just talking here.’ He shrugged.

‘I know; it doesn't stop me being nervous though.’ You shrugged back.

Phil did some quick thinking. ‘How about we dance?’ He suggested. You knew what he was trying, you knew that dancing with him calmed you somewhat and he was using it to get rid of your worries. You nodded and stood up to dance with him, and just like you both suspected, you felt more at ease and more relaxed. You continued to talk and laughed and ventured into some more complex dance movements.

The music and wine carried you to a place where you felt relaxed and warm, you began swaying together and just feeling his closeness. Feeling Phil pressed against you and it felt so good, like nothing you had quite felt before, a new buzz you couldn’t describe.

‘Feel better?’ Phil whispered against your hair, you breathed in his scent which filled you with a deep warmth you found familiar.

‘Kiss me.’ You whispered back, you looked up at him and watched as he went into a tail spin of thoughts, he scanned every part of your face, searching for any hint of hesitation. He wasn’t going to find any.

Soon the swaying came to a stop, you continued to watch Phil’s face as his hand found its way to your face, letting your hand drop to his hip. His lips twitched into a smirk, his eyes drifted to your mouth that was slightly open and soon you could feel his breath against your lips. Your heart pounded harder than you had ever felt it beat before, Phil was taking everything one step at a time and never going faster than he thought you would have liked. His warm, soft lips soon drifted lightly over yours and you thought your legs might give in, he held you against his body and added pressure to your mouth.

You could feel yourself letting out a small moan as Phil glided smoothly over your mouth, sucking gently on your bottom lip and encouraging you to enjoy the new sensations. It was like a physical conversation, he would try something new and you would make some kind of movement or let out a small noise if you liked it, Phil would then repeat with slightly more intensity, finding a comfortable rhythm and soon allowing his hands to find your hips and caress them while his lips worked over yours.

Phil soon slowed his movements and you knew this experience was about to come to an end. You felt him pull away and for just a moment you kept your eyes closed, just replaying the way his warm mouth knew how to work against your own, his hands squeezing gently on your hips. Soon you found the energy to open your eyes and see him watching for your reaction.

You couldn’t quite stop yourself, as soon as Phil gave you a small frown, you broke out into a wide grin. ‘So that’s what all the fuss is about then?’

Phil laughed a little, but didn’t move away.

‘Can we do that again?’ You chuckled.

Phil shook his head. ‘You don’t get a first twice, next time will be better.’ He promised stroking your cheek. You gave him another smirk and trusted his judgement. ‘Are you okay?’ You didn’t see it before, but now it seemed so clear. Phil was worried about you, he was worried about a lot of things most of the time, but in this moment, you were his biggest concern.

‘Good, nervous, but good.’ You said as honestly as you could. You didn’t mean to, but you felt your eyes drifting towards his lips, remembering the warmth and gentle pressure he had used. You took a chance and leaned up just to feel his lips again, you pressed your lips to his and felt him quietly moan against your mouth. The noise on its own was enough to set the pool of heat in your stomach on fire, it took you by surprise and you abruptly stopped to look at Phil, who almost looked ashamed.

‘I’m sorry.’ He said, his brows knitting together. ‘I just really liked it.’ He smiled weakly and it put you at ease somewhat. You let yourself calm down and even gave Phil a reassuring smile.

‘It’s okay, I really liked it too.’ You said. Phil breathed a sigh of relief and you both grinned at each other stupidly. You heard a noise come from your laptop which broke you both out of your trance. Phil let you go to see what had made the noise. ‘It’s nothing, just the programme I was running.’

‘What kind of programme?’ Phil asked, coming to sit next to you. He seemed genuinely interested in what you were working on.

‘It’s the mapping programme for the helmet. It’s taken every road in the entire world and condensed the data down to fit into a tiny chip that will be part of the helmet’s internal AI system.’ You explained briefly.

‘You built an AI?’ Phil sounded surprised.

‘Of course.’ You defended. ‘Not one as powerful as JARVIS or anything, just one than can change on its own to suit the situation at hand. Sort of like when your computer tells you it needs to update, it’ll ask for permission, this one will determine the safety risk and do it all on its own.’

‘That’s incredible.’ Phil sounded very impressed. ‘How long did this take you to build?’

‘Not long, I’ve had the idea stewing for the last few years, I just never found the time to put into actually designing it.’ You shrugged. ‘Cybernetics have also been working closely with JARVIS to see if they can incorporate the technology into mechanical limbs, they want to make them self-repairing. Though the main problem they’ve come up against is administration of any kind of medicine. I’m sure they’ll work it out though.’

‘I have no doubt. I didn’t know Stark was interested in this kind of technology.’

‘He isn’t really; these are just our own projects on the side.’ You clarified.

‘That’s… a little terrifying.’ Phil chuckled. You laughed and shut the programme down, it was just a prototype and you had the entirety of the next day to go over the results. You put your laptop back on the coffee table and turned to Phil who looked tired, but had a smile on his face. ‘I think I should go. It’s getting late.’ Phil said, you could feel your grin disappearing quickly. ‘I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to stay. You’re still nervous and I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.’

‘Okay, but will you meet me after my meeting with Fury?’ You asked as Phil stood up, collecting his jacket.

‘Of course. Give me a call when it’s over.’ Phil smiled. You followed him to the door, a new spring in your step. Phil noticed and laughed. He stopped for a moment watching you and slowly leaned down, pressing a very light kiss to your lips, which you welcomed. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’ He whispered and it sent a shiver down your body that you enjoyed immensely.

‘See you tomorrow.’ You whispered back. Phil smirked and left you alone in the comfort of your now very empty apartment. You replayed the entire night over and over again until you finally drifted off to sleep. Phil Coulson might just have been the man you’d always dreamt of meeting, but it was far too early to be saying that out loud.

Chapter Text

The meeting was upon you. You waited in the spacious reception, your bag slung over your shoulder, it contained your laptop and there was no way you were letting it out of your sight. You knew what SHIELD was like and you knew that as soon as you felt secure, they would attempt to hack into your computer and scan it for whatever they were looking for. You only knew this, because you knew the security system they had was designed to do that whenever it detected a foreign device entering the building. Unfortunately for them, you had already hacked into their own server and prevented that very programme from succeeding in scanning your laptop.

‘Director Fury will see you now.’ The receptionist said, her voice was very different to the one you heard on the phone. You stepped into the office and took note of the equipment in the room, you trusted SHIELD only so much. They were a good at what they did and you recognised that sometimes keeping secrets was necessary, but there was still something about the whole place that put you on edge.

Fury was at his desk, studying you as you walked into the room. He gestured for you to take a seat opposite, you sat cautiously and waited for him to speak.

‘Thank you for coming in at such short notice.’ He said rather pleasantly.

‘Not sure I had much of a choice.’ You commented.

‘No, but I appreciate the cooperation.’ Fury raised his eyebrow and sat forward. ‘I’ve asked you here to discuss an upcoming project that I think will take your interest. It would require a very specific skill set and it just so happens you fit the requirements.’

‘What’s the project?’

‘I can’t give you too many details until you say yes, but the project is researching foreign tissue to be used in medicinal purposes only.’ So much about that sentence had you questioning whether you wanted Fury to continue.

‘Medicine isn’t exactly my field of expertise.’

‘No, yours seems to be broadening by the day.’ Fury’s eyebrow raised even further if it was possible. ‘I also heard about your run in at the restaurant with Agent Coulson, he says you’re dealing with it very well. He’s heading the project, I asked him this morning and he’s very interested in where this research could lead. You two seem very attached.’

‘Seriously? You’re using Phil to get me to say yes?’ You said, outraged. ‘That’s a little sad and you still haven’t told me what my role would be in this project.’

‘You would have several roles; one would be to keep the project a secret. It’s not that I don’t trust my own computing specialists, but I’m very particular about who I want knowing about this project.’ Fury leaned back, getting down to business.

‘You mean it’s easy to get rid of me if I start posting up on the internet the goings on of the project?’

‘It’s not what I said.’

‘You didn’t have to say it.’ You said standing up. ‘You know; this isn’t the first time I’ve been asked by a big company to keep their secrets for them. I’ve said yes and no for lots of different reasons. I’m afraid Phil just isn’t enough for me to say yes.’ You went to leave his office, believing the conversation to be over.

‘How about a favour?’ Fury said, you were half way towards the door, when he caught your attention. You slowly turned back around. ‘I, Director Nick Fury, owe you a favour… I know your taste, you desire knowledge, information and design above anything else. One favour from me, I can give you anything you ask for.’

‘That’s a pretty serious offer.’

‘I’m pretty serious about this project.’ Fury really was serious and you could see the desperation in his features. ‘I’m serious about this. I hold this project very close to my heart and I want it kept as close as possible.’

You thought for a moment, no one in Fury’s position would offer a favour in exchange for keeping a few secrets unless they were big secrets and having Fury in your debt could have come in useful one day if you were ever in a tight spot. ‘What would my other roles be?’ You stepped closer to Fury’s desk.

‘The second would be involved in administration of the medicine, but again I can’t reveal too much until you say yes. I’d also like you to keep surveillance of the base, I want eyes and ears in every room of that place.’

‘You want me to help you spy on your own people?’ You laughed.

‘We’ve named the project TAHITI, it’s not ethical, but it could be necessary one day, I don’t want anyone compromising the progress we make on this.’ Fury looked you straight in the eye and knew he had you. You were curious about TAHITI and why exactly Fury was endorsing a project that wasn’t ethical.

‘Fine. Send me the info and a contract, I’ll get to work.’ You said and turned to walk away.

‘I appreciate that. I have one more question though.’ You stopped annoyed at being kept longer than you’d like. ‘Why do they call you The Kid?’

You smiled and turned to face Fury again. ‘We were all rookies once, right?’ Fury nodded. ‘I’m not an expert at everything, I’m a rookie at something. I’m still a kid in someone’s eyes.’ You explained. Fury gave a small chuckle and you knew he agreed, he maybe even knew the feeling. You left his office and called Phil.

‘How did it go?’ Phil said when he answered.

‘Fine. He asked me to come onto Project TAHITI. I said yes.’ There was a pause on the other end of the phone. ‘Phil, have I made a mistake?’

‘Why don’t you come to my office and I’ll tell you a bit more about the project?’ You could tell by the tone that something was wrong.

You eventually made your way to Phil’s office and found it just as cosy as you imagined it would be. The man himself looked tired and like something was weighing heavily on his mind, he sat eyeing you curiously as you entered his office. He looked very relaxed and in his element, he rolled his sleeves up and stepped around his desk picking up a tablet and offering you a seat on his sofa facing a large screen.

You both sat and stared up at the screen, Phil went through the process of logging into the project’s file.

‘That’s some heavy security.’ You commented, taking note of each password and defence programme the one file had.

‘And now you’ll find out why.’ Phil said gravely, he paused for a moment and you gave him a look. ‘Are you okay?’ He asked. It took you by surprise and you frowned.

‘I’m fine. Are you okay?’ You challenged him back.

‘I’ve been thinking about last night.’ He admitted. ‘I want to know how you feel about it.’

You honestly hadn’t thought that hard on it, you knew you enjoyed it. As far as first kisses went, you were pretty sure it was a good one. However, Phil’s question seemed to be asking something else and you weren’t sure what it was.

‘I enjoyed myself.’ You said slowly, examining him for his reaction. ‘I feel good about it. How do you feel about it?’

‘Good.’ Phil chuckled. ‘I want you to feel good, but you’ll tell me if you’re uncomfortable right? Relationships of any kind are hard without honesty as it is and I’m not exactly sure how to approach this other than letting you set the pace.’

‘Phil, you’re like a mind reader or something. You always know when I’m nervous, I’m pretty sure I couldn’t lie about this if I tried.’ You smiled. There was a flicker of something in his eye and you felt a moment of fear whip at your chest. It was gone before Phil noticed it though.

‘Okay.’ He seemed satisfied. ‘Project TAHITI.’ He said, changing the focus of the conversation. You talked for most of the day about TAHITI and you were beginning to understand why Fury had brought you on board. He said it wasn’t ethical and that was a big understatement. He was talking about taking alien tissue and blending it with human tissue, you had already thought of a few ways to administer the medicine and alter the electrical impulses in the human brain tissue in order to help ease the process.

The project itself would be doing a significant amount of its research in Madrid, and both you and Phil would be required to go there for a few weeks at a time until the project was fit for bringing back home.

‘I can see why some people might be against the project.’ You said leaning back after listening to Phil explain the parts of the project you didn’t understand. ‘The human subjects had better be resilient. It’s hard getting an organ transplant, psychologically some people never get over having something foreign inside their bodies. We’re talking about putting something that is by every definition ‘alien’ inside people for what purpose?’

‘To see if we can?’ Phil sighed and sat back down next to you. ‘I don’t want anyone to get hurt during the course of this project. That’s my job here.’

‘That’s a pretty high target. People always get hurt in the early stages of research, maybe just keeping it to a minimum is a more realistic goal?’ You said, painfully honestly.

‘Yeah, I’ve always been one for setting high targets.’ Phil chuckled.

‘Well, I’d best be off. I haven’t gone into work yet and I think Pepper will want to ask me why.’ You smiled and stood up. Phil followed you to the door as you picked up your bag and your laptop.

‘By the way,’ Phil started. ‘Any reason why I keep getting messages telling me the sweep of your computer devices keeps failing?’ He raised his eyebrows and gave you a knowing smile.

‘I have no idea, maybe a glitch in your security system. You’d best have it looked at.’ You winked and made Phil smile.

‘Fine.’ He chuckled and gave you a look you recognised from your kiss. He wanted to kiss you again, but stopped before he did anything. ‘The flight to Madrid leaves in two weeks, you’ll get an email about it, but we’ll be required to have a few meetings before then. It’s a boring process, but it’s just so we can keep everyone updated on what’s going to happen and what will be required of us when we get there.’

‘I’ll be there, don’t worry.’ You assured him. ‘Let me know if you’re free at the weekend, Pepper has a fundraiser she wants me to go to, but I’ll be bored senseless. Too much talk about things that don’t interest me.’

Phil just laughed and nodded. ‘I’m sure I could swing by to keep you from getting too bored. I’ll see you soon.’

Chapter Text

She wandered away from Phil’s office and he watched her go, this young woman who seemed to capture his attention in the way no other woman had done before. Sure, Phil had found women that he thought were interesting enough to spend some time with, even strike up some kind of relationship with, but none of them seemed to have the patience for his work life the way she had. She understood the unexpected calls and never asked too many questions that he wouldn’t have been able to answer properly.

The thing that really bothered Phil when he finally sat down at his desk, was the way she kept her secrets, usually Phil would just run a background check and find out what he needed to know. But her Network, that was the thing he nor anyone else in SHIELD could quite get a grasp on. A group of people with exceptional skills spread throughout the world doing seemingly good deeds for the sake of it. SHIELD had never had much to go on to investigate these people who referred to themselves by all sorts of names, The Kid, The Pharaoh, Red Dragon, The Saint, Volvo, all without real backgrounds, all appearing within the last eight years.

Phil didn’t dwell too much on the others, but the Kid was now his secret, his only real life concern and so he let The Network go for a while. Project TAHITI would be his main concern as far as work went, it was a project he hoped he wouldn’t be called for, but Fury always had a way of making him say yes.

He did however, look forward to going to the fundraiser with her, he thought she looked wonderful in her red dress the last time and exercised an incredible amount of control not to kiss her and let her know how beautiful she was there and then. But she was still so scared to let him do anything, he wasn’t the most sexual human being, but Phil found himself wanting her in every way he could have her. Patience was his strength, but he was sure it would be tested somewhat with this particular woman.

Phil looked at his computer screen to see that SHIELD’s detection system had failed a total of thirty-six times to scan her computer. She was very good at her job and he was beginning to understand how valuable she was, he made a mental note to inform Fury of the importance of keeping her on their side. From the looks of things, she could cause more trouble than she was worth and that was dangerous for everyone.

Chapter Text

The fundraiser was upon you and as Phil promised, he swung by when you were being questioned by a particularly sweaty investor about your new work in cybernetics. You answered the same questions you had been getting all night and plastered a smile to your face. Phil had come up behind you and ever so lightly touched your exposed back, you were only half sure he had done it the touch was so light. But he handed you a drink and smiled down at you.

‘Agent Coulson,’ you nodded in a very professional tone. ‘I didn’t think you’d make it. This is Mr. Jones; he works in engineering in the south of France.’

‘Very pleased to meet you,’ Phil nodded and shook the man’s hand. You could see a look in his eye that you enjoyed, something dark and something you had only seen flickers of when you had kissed him. ‘I hope you don’t mind, I’m afraid I have to take your host away to talk about work matters that can’t wait.’

‘Absolutely not, I know how busy you are these days Kid.’ Mr Jones laughed and gestured for you both to take your conversation elsewhere. Phil led you to a corridor off the main hall where no one was around, he turned to face you and you could see the look he had darken slightly. ‘Let me kiss you.’ He said almost breathlessly.

You laughed and nodded, but you really didn’t expect what was coming. Before you could do anything, his lips were crashing against yours, an intensity you hadn’t felt before. Phil’s hands found the skin on your back and dragged his fingers across it, moaning slightly into your mouth. He found a good rhythm to work with, sliding his tongue lightly over your lips and forcing a small moan from the back of your throat. You felt him push you back slightly, before stopping and staying very still against you.

‘I’m sorry.’ He said, his head resting against yours, soon his breathing became somewhat normal.

‘Don’t be.’ You said just as breathlessly. You liked the intensity, it wasn’t too much and he had explored unknown territory, stopping when it could have become too much for you.

‘It’s been a long, tiring few days and I was worried you thought I was ignoring you when I didn’t return your calls right away.’ He admitted, he pulled back a little and looked into your eyes, making you see that his apology was genuine.

‘I’ve told you before I get it.’ You reasoned. ‘I understand how busy and hectic your life can be, you don’t need to worry. Although if you’re going to apologise like that all the time, I might start complaining for the fun of it.’ That forced a laugh from him and he smiled.

‘I just don’t want you to think I’ve abandoned you. I expect that’s what you’re used to, but I don’t want to be that guy.’ Phil said honestly. He kissed you again much more lightly this time and let you kiss him back with a little more pressure, pulling him by his suit jacket closer to your body. You felt him smile against your mouth, before you stopped. ‘You’re getting braver.’ He noted.

‘I like the no pressure approach you have. It gives me confidence.’

‘Good.’ Phil watched you and smiled just a little wider. ‘We’d best get you back before someone notices we’re both missing.’ You laughed and tucked your arm around his, walking with him back to the main hall.

You spent the night with Phil’s hand resting on your exposed skin on your back. His thumb stroking ever so gently while you spoke with several people about your work in the lab. Phil had an unexpected call, he gave you an apologetic look before going to answer it. You just shook you head and laughed and continued your conversation with whoever it was you had ended up speaking to.

‘TAHITI has made unexpected progress.’ Phil whispered as he came back into the room. ‘We need to get to Madrid as soon as possible. I told them we’d leave tomorrow morning.’ He looked a little shaken. You excused yourself and took Phil somewhere a little quieter to talk.

‘Are you okay?’ You frowned.

‘Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just nervous.’ He chuckled. ‘The project wasn’t supposed to be ready for human testing for another couple of months. It’s not often progress like this is made and when it is, it’s not always a good thing.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘Means we should get some rest. Tomorrow could be a very long day. Have you told Pepper you’re leaving?’

‘Yeah, as soon as we go, it’ll be reported as field research for a project she’s commissioned. The file’s empty for now, but no one can access it except her. I built the defences myself, not even Tony knows the real reason I’m leaving.’

Phil just smiled and nodded. ‘Okay, let’s get you home, get your things and we’ll head to the airbase.’

So that’s what you did, you went home, shut your apartment down and took three or four laptops and other bits and pieces with you as well as anything else you thought might be useful. Phil drove you to the base and by then you were already asleep, you thought you felt him pick you up out of the car and put you in a warm cosy bed to get the rest you needed for the day ahead.

Phil knocked on your door just as you had gotten out of the shower. You quickly threw on a tank top and your shorts, opening the door to Phil’s black agent suit. He had a thin frown on his face that evened out into a smile when he saw you, again his eyes drifted over your legs longer than made you feel comfortable.

‘Why do you do that?’ You asked, letting him in and closing the door behind him. Your bunk was small and it left you both in a confined space that was a lot more comfortable than you cared to admit.

‘Do what?’ Phil frowned and sit down to access his emails on your assigned laptop.

‘Stare at my legs.’ You said and began drying your hair properly. ‘You do it when I’m wearing my dresses as well.’

‘You haven’t used this yet.’ He referred to your laptop.

‘I like my laptop, it tells me what I want to know, not what other people want me to know.’ You retorted and winked at Phil. ‘And you avoided the question.’

‘It’s policy that you use a device that we can monitor your incoming and outgoing communication.’ Phil chuckled.

‘Are you even listening to yourself?’ You laughed back and combed through your hair. You saw Phil watching you in the mirror and smiled.

‘I stare because I enjoy what I see.’ He said softly, you could feel the sincerity in his voice. ‘I’m afraid if we continue down this route, you’ll have to get used to it.’ He was suddenly behind you, watching your movements. It made you nervous and he saw it; Phil had that apologetic look in his eye again. It suddenly disappeared and he looked away from you. ‘I’m sorry. Too soon?’

‘No, I just…’ you didn’t quite know how to say how much you enjoyed his looks, why you enjoyed his drifting eyes that made your skin warm beneath the surface. You wondered if this was a normal way to react to someone you liked. ‘You make me feel good about myself… I want to get used to it.’ Phil took a step towards you, he gently took the comb from your hand and slowly ran it through your hair. It made you feel very good, his warm hands grazing your skin on your shoulders, his small smile when you felt yourself leaning towards his touch.

‘For reasons I can’t quite explain,’ It was almost a whisper from Phil and sent a shiver down your spine. ‘I like helping you find out what you like. I enjoy making you feel good and if you’ll give me the chance, one day, I’d like to make you feel better than you ever thought you could feel… you stare at me as well you know?’ You felt your eyes widen, he chuckled a little as he continued to comb through your hair with his fingers. ‘Pepper notices more than I do, but I’ve never been very perceptive when it comes to women. Having said that, I did notice when I was being examined after the restaurant that something about me caught your interest, my ribs were bruised and to see that the doctor asked me to take my shirt off. You went bright red and I found it very charming.’ He smiled at you again and you could feel your face burning. Phil kissed your cheek softly and the burning sensation cooled. ‘Please don’t be nervous, I like what we’re doing, it’s different and just as exciting and terrifying for me as it is for you.’

You felt his breath against your cheek and it made you feel that heat again. ‘Will you kiss me again?’

Phil chuckled. ‘You don’t have to ask every time, just look at me and think about it and it will happen.’ You turned to face him and smiled. You imagined what it was like to kiss him, feeling his lips and seeing that darker look in his eyes. As if on cue, Phil leaned down and placed a chaste kiss on your lips, he held it for a moment, before sliding his hands around your hips and applying more pressure. You knew this as a normal kiss, the kind of kiss he’d always give you anywhere and it felt private, like it was a secret the two of your shared. Phil began to pull away and you simply let him, feeling that nervousness stop you from pushing back just a little.

‘You should get dressed, we’ll be leaving in half an hour.’ Phil said and placed one more small kiss against your lips.

Chapter Text

The flight to Madrid was boring, you had a few briefings and Phil had managed to convince you to use your assigned laptop to carry out any project related business. You met him half way and agreed to using it to send and receive information on the project, but the main bulk of the work would be conducted on your own laptop and sent to your assigned one.

You landed and felt the beating sun on your face, Phil had kept close by and made sure you were comfortable the entire way to your quarters. They were bigger than you anticipated, spacious and not unlike your own apartment; you had a balcony that looked out onto the beautiful city and two rooms to live within while you were there. One was your workroom with enough room to add additional equipment if need be and the other was your bedroom with a small bathroom attached.

The rest of the base was much the same, most of it clean and sanitised; it looked much like the researches bases back home. Phil’s quarters were just next to your own and there was a communal kitchen for the senior staff members on sight. You would be sharing the floor with a handful of other people. One was a Dr Goodman who was the lead medical researcher and surgeon on sight, he seemed nice enough and easy to get along with.

The rest of the staff you wouldn’t have much to do with, like Fury said, you job would mostly be secret keeping and maintenance of the base’s security system. You figured most of your work would be done alone in the comfort of your work room, occasionally you’d venture out and talk to Dr Goodman about the administration process, but apart from that you figured it’d be an easy ride.

The first couple of days you spent adjusting to the new surroundings and kept on top of a few side projects you had going from the lab. Phil had been in meetings most of the time so you barely saw him, but when you did his frown turned into a smile.

‘Do you want to go out for dinner?’ He asked one evening that week, when you had been making coffee to get you through the night. You had been working all day on the new upgrades in security and you were very close to finishing the programme that would redirect all incoming hacks.

‘Sorry?’ You said, stirring your coffee and not quite hearing him over the conversation of a few people around you.

‘Dinner? Tonight? With me?’ Phil made it plain and simple and wore his warm smile to go with his charm.

‘Erm… I’m actually very close to finishing the programme, another few hours and the base will be completely secure. Tomorrow?’ You suggested, meeting him half way. Phil closed the distance between you and you felt the heat pool in the pit of your stomach.

‘How about I swing by around eight?’ Phil had a very dark look in his eyes as he checked his watch. ‘That’s in three hours, will that be enough time for you to finish the programme?’ His voice was slightly husky and a little worn and it was putting more heat in your stomach that began spreading.

‘Okay.’ You choked out. You cleared your throat and the nervousness began fighting to take over. Phil caught it immediately and placed his hand over yours.

‘Don’t be nervous. It’s just dinner.’ He whispered. He placed a quick kiss on your forehead, smiled and walked back out the door nodding to a few people on his way out. You checked your watch and realised you didn’t have much time to complete the programme before your date with Phil.

You typed away furiously on your laptop and finally finished the programme; you ran the simulator programme and left to get ready. You only brought one dress with you to Madrid, a dark blue dress that felt light and airy when you wore it. You had your black heels on and loved the way you felt in them.

Your music played through your quarters and you flowed through each room, checked the simulator on occasion and getting ready to go out. You heard a knock at the door, but the simulator hadn’t finished yet.

‘Damn it!’ You exclaimed. You went over to the door and opened it, a little out of breath, to find Phil smiling in his black suit and crisp white shirt unbuttoned to show off a little chest hair, you felt a small rush that ebbed out from your chest. You could feel the heat creep up your neck slowly and it only got worse when he noticed it. ‘Erm… the simulator hasn’t finished yet, just a couple more minutes.’

‘I can give you a couple of minutes.’ Phil said stepping through the doorway into your work room. You quickly went over to your laptop and slipped your glasses on, leaning over the chair to get a look at the screen. You thought you heard Phil clearing his throat, but the programme was seconds away from finishing. ‘Is it nearly done?’ Phil was a lot closer than you realised and you jumped a little, his face was slightly pink and you weren’t exactly sure why.

‘Yes, it is actually.’ Your voice cracked and you mentally scolded yourself for it. ‘I’ll just set it to upload and we can go.’ You explained. Phil had begun smiling at you. ‘What?’ You asked as you started typing away, uploading the programme to start running over the whole base.

‘Nothing.’ He said quietly. ‘I was just watching you.’ You felt the heat creep over your chest and up your neck again. You quickly finished up and turned to face Phil.

‘You look good.’ You offered awkwardly, Phil just chuckled. You pulled your glasses off and smiled.

‘Are you ready?’ Phil offered his arm and you took it gladly.

Madrid was beautiful at night and walking through the warmer streets was even more so. Phil had taken you to a small restaurant on the corner of two streets that were lit up to accommodate romantic walks between couples. You ordered a sangria, thinking Pepper and Tony might have been slightly disappointed if you didn’t have at least one while you were away. You slipped into easy conversation, some of it about work, some of it just casual, but Phil hadn’t stopped staring at you since you left the base, it was somewhat unnerving as his usually pale blue eyes were much darker than you’d ever seen them.

‘Why do you keep staring at me?’ You questioned him.

Phil gave a small chuckle. ‘I told you before we came to Spain, I enjoy what I see… you’ve been very motivated and haven’t backed down to anyone here. I like seeing you confident in yourself, doesn’t happen often.’ You felt like there was a little more weight to his comment than you think he intended. ‘It wasn’t intended as anything negative.’ He assured you, leaning forward a little and lightly touching your hand.

‘I know; I just wish I knew how to be confident around you.’ You admitted sheepishly. ‘Sometimes I’m still a little intimidated by you.’

Phil frowned and took your whole hand in his, he began stroking the back of your hand with his thumb. You knew he was about to say something very serious indeed. ‘Please don’t ever be scared of me, don’t ever let me intimidate you. I’m never trying to do that, I promise. Talk to me, when did I intimidate you?’

You felt suddenly very uncomfortable under your skin, you were warm and you weren’t sure if you should have told him about how you felt when he asked you to dinner, but maybe the risk would lead to something.

‘You were very close to me and you had this look that made me feel like I had to say yes.’ You explained honestly. ‘I like having dinner with you and spending time with you, but I don’t think I’ve ever felt like this before. It’s weird.’

Phil smiled at you, like he knew some secret you didn’t. ‘I am very attracted to you.’ It was a plain and simple statement that made your skin flush with warmth, you felt you own sharp intake of breath and Phil certainly felt your hand squeeze a little tighter. ‘The fact that I am so attracted to you means that when it comes to your pleasure, your safety and your ability to feel confident and comfortable with yourself, I want to be responsible… tell me how that makes you feel.’

Your whole exterior felt scarlet, what did someone say to something like that? ‘Warm.’ Was the only word that came to mind, Phil just smiled and let you continue talking. ‘I want to tell you how I feel, but I don’t know the words.’

‘Choose new ones then. I want to know how you feel.’ Phil encouraged. ‘Do I at least make you feel good sometimes?’ It was almost a beg.

‘All the time.’ You said quickly. You still felt the hot flush over your face and chest. ‘I like talking to you, it makes me feel smart and you make me laugh, I like kissing you… I don’t know why, but I really like the way it makes me feel. Like there’s something hot sitting in the pit of my stomach.’ You watched Phil’s eyes go very dark indeed and though no one else would have noticed, he fidgeted momentarily. ‘I’m not sure why.’

‘I think I might know.’ Phil cleared his throat and gestured for the bill. ‘Let’s go for a walk.’

The air was cool on your skin, but Phil was still putting that warmth inside of you. You both walked through Madrid, pointing things out to each other and chatting all the way to one of the parks. There was a bridge that ran over the river, it was brightly lit and you rushed towards the middle of the bridge, feeling a sense of freedom run through you. Phil just laughed and walked behind you, you breathed in the cool air and looked at the water flowing under the bridge.

‘It’s gorgeous.’ You said as Phil joined you, but you had the distinct impression that he wasn’t watching the river.

‘Yeah it is.’ He said quietly. You turned to see him giving you a look, you imagined kissing him on the bridge, how it would feel with the cool air surrounding you and his warmth pressed against you. Sure enough, you thought it and it happened. Phil gently slid his hand around your hip, taking another step towards you so that he was entirely in your space, you watched his eyes almost go black, except for the thin blue ring that surrounded the darkened centre. You could feel his breath against your skin, his body pressing against your own, his other hand came to cup your face, stroking your cheek lightly as his lips drifted over your own.

The touch was so light, you barely realised it happened. You could feel the intensity growing the longer he avoided pressing against your lips, it was incredible, a new experience that you couldn’t explain. Finally, you couldn’t resist the urge to kiss him any longer and you pulled on his jacket a little. Phil’s lips were warm against your own, exploring them the way he had done the first time you kissed, tugging on your bottom lip and drawing a moan from your throat. You felt him push against you a little more, before stopping everything entirely. He rested his forehead against your own and got his breathing under control.

‘I’m sorry.’ He said. ‘I just didn’t want to stop.’ He chuckled at himself and you laughed a little with him.

‘It certainly felt good.’ You admitted yourself. Phil let his hands rest on your hips and you both recovered a little. ‘Can you tell me now?’

Phil frowned. ‘Tell you what?’

‘Why I always feel like this after I talk to you? And why do you always stop and apologise after we kiss?’ You watched him for his answer, his eyes were still a little darker than normal, but more of the blue could be seen.

‘I have to stop myself because you haven’t done this before and it would be unfair of me to make you do something you’re not comfortable with.’ Phil smiled down at you and you suddenly realised what it was he was trying to say. He was aroused by you. You felt yourself flush scarlet again. ‘Don’t, don’t be embarrassed by that.’ He begged. ‘No, don’t feel like this is anything to be ashamed of. I promise you, it’s the most natural thing in the world to feel like this, you just need to get used to it.’ He watched you carefully, trying to see if you believed him and you almost did, but you couldn’t ever see yourself getting used the weak feeling in your legs that came whenever he was around.

‘Do I make you feel like that?’ You whispered.

‘All the time.’ He smiled at you and again pressed his lips to yours. It was much gentler this time, it was tender and soft. Phil pulled away and again looked at you. ‘I think it’s time we went back.’ You were a little disappointed, after such a wonderful evening, you had hoped it wouldn’t end so soon, but Phil was right, it was late into the night and time to go back. You walked hand in hand back to the base and continued to talk about how beautiful Madrid was.

The base was almost silent when you got back, only the hum of the equipment could be heard, it must have been very late. Phil didn’t seem too concerned and walked you back to your quarters. There was a burning question in the forefront of your mind, but you weren’t sure how to ask it.

‘Just ask me the question.’ Phil said, quietly. You looked at him and frowned. ‘You need to get a better poker face.’ He smiled and you chuckled slightly.

‘Come in. I don’t want to ask this where anyone can hear.’ You said, pulling him into your quarters. You dragged Phil into the middle of your bedroom and switched the light on.

‘Weren’t you supposed to put surveillance in every room?’ Phil raised his eyebrows at you.

‘Yeah, but Fury doesn’t need to know what happens in the privacy of our quarters.’ You reasoned. Phil just shook his head and gave you a look that said he’d pretend like he didn’t hear what you said.

‘What’s your question?’ He asked, changing the subject.

You shifted on the spot a little, feeling very uncomfortable, before taking a breath and saying what you wanted to say. ‘You’re attracted to me right?’ You were getting your facts straight and he could see it.

‘Very much so.’ Phil took half a step forward.

‘And you like… kissing me right?’

‘It’s become one of my favourite past times, yes.’ You could see he was trying to ease the tension you were holding.

‘But you keep stopping.’ You watched a thin frown form on Phil’s face. ‘I know you said it was because you don’t want to make me feel uncomfortable… well, I am comfortable. I’m actually very comfortable around you and… my question is, what would happen if you didn’t stop?’

You could see Phil thinking at a million miles an hour, he was processing what it was you were asking and trying to figure out what the best way of approaching the situation was.

‘You’re asking me, what would happen if I kissed you and didn’t stop?’ He confirmed. You nodded. ‘Well, if you were comfortable, I’d probably want to take it further.’ He stopped there and tried to judge how much more you wanted him to say. ‘Let me ask you something here, if I tell you the things I want to do with you, what will happen?’

‘I don’t know.’ You admitted. ‘I don’t want you to leave just yet, I know that much. I just… I’m not sure… I mean I know the basic principal; I know how it works… I just want to know…’ You kept getting stuck for words.

‘You want to know what it feels like to have sex with somebody.’ Phil finished the rest of your sentence for you. It was like the tension suddenly eased and disappeared, a huge sense of relief washed over you. ‘I can tell you all night about what it would feel like, about the things I want to do with you and the way I want you to feel, but until you’ve actually done it, it won’t mean anything. Do you still want me to tell you?’

You could understand what he was saying, Phil was in no way pressuring you to do anything, but he was taking extra care to make you feel comfortable with the subject.

‘You make me feel like I want to do it with you.’ You watched as Phil’s face went from curious to surprise. ‘You make me trust you and I want you to be my first… it’s just hard to say that without sounding weird.’

Phil just watched you, lost for words momentarily. ‘You’re sure you want that?’ His voice was hoarse and his eyes had darkened again. You nodded and saw his shoulders drop in relief. ‘Okay.’ He smiled. ‘I’ll tell you how it works and if you’re not comfortable or it hurts, or you just want to stop, for any reason at all, you only have to say it. Promise me, you’ll say.’

‘I promise.’ You said and nodded. You felt a rush of fear and excitement all rolling into one. ‘Just, go easy on me okay?’

‘Of course.’ He smiled. Phil took a step forward and gently placed his hands on your hips, gently caressing them, he didn’t kiss you quite yet, but you could see he wanted to badly. ‘Having sex, I’ve always found, makes you feel very vulnerable. It can sometimes feel like you’re on show to someone else. You can do it; I promise it’s not as scary as it sounds. I imagine I’ll want you even more.’ Phil’s voice was worn and husky. You were reminded of the first time you’d heard it like that and smiled.

‘Have you thought about this before? What it would be like to be with me?’ You asked curiously. Phil squeezed your hips tighter and sucked in a harsh breath.

‘Yes.’ He whispered. ‘More than I'd like to admit.’

Finally, his lips pressed against your own, it was gentle to start with, soft like you were used to. But soon his hands wandered further up your body to your waist and it made you lean further up into him. He dragged your bottom lip between his teeth and drew a ragged moan from the back of your throat, you felt Phil slowing and going back to his tender kissing as his hands began to explore your body a little further, running up and down your sides and sliding around your waist to your back to pull you closer.

Phil soon stopped kissing you, but still caressed your hips and waist. ‘Come here.’ He said quietly and brought you to the full length mirror in the corner of the room. You faced the mirror and watched as Phil moved your hair from your neck, his hand glided over the skin gently and you felt yourself lean back into his touch. ‘Some women like this and I’d like to find out if you do.’ Phil said carefully. ‘Keep watching.’

You watched Phil in the mirror and saw his hands come around to touch the inside of your hips, pulling you back into him. He kissed your cheek, your jaw as you leaned up against him, exposing yourself to him. You had a sudden whip of fear and Phil felt it.

‘Wait.’ You said, he stopped where he was immediately and looked at you.

‘Are you okay?’ He asked gently.

‘I’m fine. I don’t know, I felt a bit… overwhelmed.’ You got your breathing back and Phil smiled.

‘It’s a good thing sometimes. But I’m glad you said something.’ He began nuzzling your neck again, his lips drifting over the sensitive skin as you let out another moan. It only seemed to encourage Phil as he continued his relentless attack on your neck. It felt like nothing you’d ever experienced before. One of his hands came up to move the material of the dress out of the way, so that his lips and teeth could graze over your shoulder. You had another moment of fear as the material dropped over your shoulder and Phil eased up a little.

He watched you again and saw that his eyes were just about black. He frowned momentarily, before a bright idea came into his head. ‘Are you sure about this?’ He asked grazing up your neck again.

‘Yes.’ You breathed. Phil stepped away from you and you suddenly missed the contact, you watched him remove his suit jacket and throw it onto the chair at the side of the room, he then untucked his shirt so that it hung over his trousers. Phil came back and turned you around to face him.

‘I want you to unbutton my shirt.’ He whispered. ‘I want you to take it off me. I want you to see that I feel just as exposed as you do.’ He placed a kiss on your lips and you felt that nervousness creep back into you. ‘Don’t be nervous, just take a breath and go for it. You’ve already seen me anyway.’ You felt him smile and it made you chuckle slightly. You thought back to when you had seen his strong chest and how it made you feel, that heat.

Phil kissed your cheek and down to your jaw, when you shakily began unbuttoning his shirt from the top. You slowly began revealing more and more chest hair, you badly wanted to run your hands through it and found the courage to touch his chest with your fingers. Phil gasped and you took your hand away.

‘Sorry.’ You said quickly.

‘Don’t be.’ Phil smiled. ‘It felt good.’ You watched Phil encourage you to touch his chest again and soon ran your fingers through his chest hair. You heard him moan a little and it made your knees go weak, you suddenly wanted his shirt off entirely. You continued to unbutton his shirt until it was done all the way. You brought your hands up to his chest again and pushed his shirt over his strong shoulders. Phil was bare in front of you and you took the time to look over his body and appreciate it, you felt his chest, his strong stomach and eventually his hips. He felt so good under your fingers, you just wanted to touch him all day every day.

Soon though, you realised that you desperately wanted to see further down his hips. Your whole face, neck and chest flooded scarlet.

‘No,’ Phil whispered. ‘Go back to what you were thinking before that. You enjoyed that, whatever’s going on now is making you embarrassed. You don’t need to be. You’re beautiful.’

You tried your hardest to go back to his chest, his stomach, but as soon as you started thinking about his hips, embarrassment crawled in.

‘What are you thinking?’ Phil asked. He kissed your cheek, your jaw, down to your neck and shoulder, trying to take away any embarrassment.

‘I was thinking about your hips.’ You felt yourself admit, very plainly. ‘I want to see more of them.’ You heard Phil moaning slightly.

‘You definitely don’t need to be embarrassed about that.’ Phil chuckled and gave you one more kiss on your jaw, before taking his belt off. His trousers hung lower and you could see a trail of hair that ran down the middle of his stomach and disappeared below the line of his underwear that was poking out just above his trousers. You felt warm again and Phil watched you turn scarlet. ‘This isn’t just about me. In fact, if anything, it’s about you.’ He pressed a searing kiss to your lips and soon spun you around again to face the mirror. He began his attack on your neck again and you moaned out, feeling how good it felt to have him bare against your back. ‘Will you let me take your dress off?’ He whispered close to your ear. You felt yourself nod in desperation.

Phil groaned into your neck, kissing and dragging his teeth over you. His hands came up to the back of your dress and slowly dragged the zip down, you once again felt exposed and Phil noticed your fear. He slowed down, almost to a stop.

‘I want to see you.’ He whispered seductively in your ear. It was just enough to make you have rush of confidence, Phil slowly guided your dress down and let it drop to the floor. He suddenly stopped everything he was doing and just looked at you, you felt incredibly self-conscious, just standing there in your black lace underwear and nothing else. You hadn’t bothered wearing a bra as the dress was too thin a strap and it seemed like it might have been a shock for Phil who was still just staring at you.

‘You’re making me uncomfortable.’ You admitted, remembering that you would say it if you felt it.

‘I’m sorry.’ Phil kiss your shoulder softly. ‘I just wasn’t expecting you to be so perfect.’ Phil nuzzled into your neck and you felt weak. ‘Are you okay?’ He asked, making sure you were fine to continue. You didn’t answer immediately and Phil could hear the hesitation. ‘We can stop if you want? Nothing else has to happen, you’re in charge here.’ He reminded you.

‘No, please don’t stop.’ You begged him through your ragged breathing. Phil’s hands drifted up your waist and you knew where they were going, you tried to anticipate what it might have felt like, but nothing could prepare you for the reality of Phil’s hands wandering over your breasts lightly. Your knees really were about to give in and you wondered how much longer you could stand upright.

Phil held you tight and guided you towards the bed, carefully he let you lie back. You watched as he unbuttoned his zipper and slid his trousers down his legs, you still felt very exposed and he could see it. Phil leaned down and placed a kiss on your lips. ‘Just let me do the work. Stop me if it’s too much.’ He once again reminded you. You nodded and let him continue.

You felt his lips drift down your neck again, but they didn’t stop. Phil placed hot kisses over your chest, small moans coming from both of you as he found what you liked and you enjoyed the new sensations your body was feeling. Phil glanced up at you and smiled as his lips drifted further down towards your nipples that were incredibly hard for him. His tongue darted out and you arched your back as Phil dragged his tongue slowly over your skin. Once you got a little used to it, Phil brought his hand up to caress your waist, moving up your ribs towards your other nipple. He began tweaking and lightly pinching at it, dragging more and more moans from your chest. His whole hand covered your breast, just feeling the shape of it and caressing it as gently as he could.

You felt him move his mouth to the other side and begin his attack on your other breast with his teeth while his hand got to work on the other side. Your whole body felt like it was on fire, all the new sensations, the new heat that was being placed in your stomach, all of it was welcomed and you enjoyed how good Phil seemed to be. He seemed to just know what it was you wanted and gave it to you without a second thought.

He glanced up at you again, his hand dropping to your hip and playing with your underwear. ‘Did you enjoy that?’ He whispered as he began pulling his lips back up to your throat and kissing you softly.

‘Yes.’ You moaned out.

‘Do you want me to keep going?’ It was a slightly more serious tone he took and you wondered what was next. He could sense you didn’t know and sighed into you. ‘I want to cause you as little pain as possible. I want to go down on you. Will you let me?’ Fear wrapped you in a cocoon and you lay very still, unsure what to say. ‘You’ll feel good, I promise.’ Phil looked you in the eye, to let you know that you were still in charge and if you said no, it would be fine. But something told you, he wanted to do it, so you nodded and took a deep breath.

Phil began kissing just below your ear again, his hand running lightly over the hem of your underwear, you felt his finger hook onto your underwear and you suddenly put your hand on his. He stopped. His hands stilled, but his mouth continued to kiss gently, until you loosened your grip and Phil began running his fingers lower and lower.

The further down your body his mouth went, the further down his hands went, caressing your thighs and slowly you began opening up to him. His fingers grazing over your inner thighs, making your back arch and you crave more of his touch. Phil kissed your stomach lightly, descending until he reached your hips. You watched his tongue dart out and run a line from the upper part to as low down as he could go. He continued this process for a while until you felt yourself gently nudging his shoulder to go lower.

Even Phil was surprised. He quickly came back up to give you another searing kiss, before kneeling between your legs and sliding his hands down your sides, as he came to your underwear and with absolute ease slid them off, discarding them somewhere on the floor behind him. That’s when you suddenly felt very bare, you were completely naked in front of this man, this wonderfully patient and considerate man and you still felt self-conscious. But lucky for you, he was okay with that.

Phil bent down and kissed over your hips again, he settled between your legs and placed a kiss against your centre, moaning as he did. Your back arched up and you let out a deep moan, feeling your nerve endings come alive, you thought it couldn’t get any better than this, until Phil ran his tongue deep into your wet folds. He kissed around all of your sensitive nerves afterwards, building up the intensity and caressing your sides, hips and breasts all at the same time.

One of his hands came to squeeze against your thigh that was propped up over his shoulder. He then brought it round to lazily stroke against your sensitive nerves. Phil just watched as pleasure took you over. ‘I want to make you come.’ He whispered against your leg. You watched him plead with you to make you feel that good but something was holding you back. ‘You’ve never come before?’ He looked at you quizzically. You shook your head and he stopped. ‘Do you want me to stop? Would you prefer you did it yourself first is what I mean?’

‘Phil! I have no idea what I’m doing here.’ You exclaimed and he chuckled as his fingers began working over your wet folds again.

‘Okay.’ He agreed and had a dark glint in his eye, that told you something amazing was about to happen. He slid one of his finger inside you and again you arched you back, pleasure over taking you and being unable to so anything about it. Soon his finger began pumping in and out of you, his tongue came back and worked your clit and eventually you could feel something happening, a sort of rush of adrenaline. Your body feeling high and it was building, but for the life of you, you didn’t want Phil to stop anything. ‘Come for me.’ Phil begged and those words were your undoing. You cried out and the intensity felt like it had exploded, like you were falling slowly, but it wasn’t enough. You wanted to fall again, to have the intensity back and fall down again.

Phil climbed on top of you and kissed his way back up your body. He licked and sucked and bit down on your sensitive skin, building the intensity again.

‘Are you okay?’ He asked again. You couldn’t speak just yet and he laughed. ‘Good.’ He got the picture and kissed up your neck tenderly again. ‘Do you want to keep going? The next bit is difficult.’ He warned.

‘I want you Phil.’ You moaned and Phil swallowed the moan with a kiss. He bit down on your bottom lip and dragged his teeth across it. You felt him shimmy out of his briefs and looked down at you.

‘Tell me to stop, if it’s too much for you sweetheart, just tell me to stop and I will.’ He promised. You felt something hard and hot nudging at your centre, you were suddenly very scared. You didn’t quite know what to expect. Phil was doing his best to keep you calm, but you were still scared of the pain you might feel.

It was slow at first, Phil dipping inside you and giving you a taste of what it might be like to have all of his inside you. It was then you realised the amount of restraint he must have been exercising just to go as slow as he was going. You felt like you had been there for hours, just Phil whispering small encouragements, making you know that it was okay to ask him to stop if need be.

‘I’m sorry, but I can’t resist for much longer. I have to be inside you.’ Phil pleaded and you nodded for him to ease himself ever so slowly inside you. You felt yourself stretch and it hurt to an extent, it was more uncomfortable than anything. Where there was pleasure previously, now there was pain and discomfort. Phil stayed still and let you get used to having something foreign inside you. He watched you and you both suddenly felt very vulnerable. Everything was on show to each other and you were in this together, you were each other’s responsibility and it was exhilarating.

‘I want you to move.’ You whispered, you wanted him to see you appreciated his restraint, but you both needed something more than what was happening. He smiled and kissed you again, before moving his hips in and out of you ever so slowly at first, you felt just a little more stretched and a little more satisfied with each thrust and Phil’s breathing was becoming more and more ragged by the second. He slowed down just a little, but that wasn’t what you needed.

‘Don’t slow down.’ You begged him. He smiled again and kissed you hard as he pumped in and out of you until that release came, you felt like you were falling and Phil was falling after you. He kissed the crook of your neck and for a while you both just got your breath back and held each other close.

Chapter Text

Your eyes were closed and soon Phil began kissing your neck again, it was soft and tender and reassuring. Phil continued to breathe you in, you felt him look down your body, bringing himself out, there was something a little off about his movements though. ‘Sweetheart.’ He whispered. ‘I want to know how you feel. But for now, keep your eyes closed for me. Can you do that?’ You nodded, feeling a little panicked. ‘Don’t panic, it’s nothing to panic about, I promise.’

You trusted Phil up to this point, you could trust him a little more. You felt him move off of you and you resisted every urge to open your eyes. You heard the running water from the shower and Phil soon came back, he leaned over you and kissed your neck again. ‘Keep them closed. I’m going to help you into the shower.’ He whispered against you.

‘Phil.’ Your voice cracked.

‘It’s okay. I promise, everything is fine.’ He assured you, you could feel him fighting an urge to say something. ‘Most people bleed a little on their first time. It’s entirely normal.’ You started to panic even more. You wondered what state you were in and your eyes flew open to stare at Phil who looked slightly concerned. ‘It’s okay. The shower is on for you. It’s completely fine.’ You could see the sincerity in his eyes, he was telling the truth, but you couldn’t help the slight panic. ‘Can you stand up for me?’ Phil asked gently. You nodded and took his hand, you didn’t stop looking directly into his eyes until you reached the shower.

‘Stay with me.’ You begged. Phil just smiled softly and kissed you.

‘Okay.’ He whispered against your lips. You stepped into the shower and suddenly realised how gloriously sore you felt, like he was still there, making you feel such wonderful things. Phil stepped into the shower with you and watched you for a moment as the hot water coated your body in a warm blanket. ‘Are you alright?’ He asked.

You smiled. You were alright, you were fine. You’d just had sex for the first time with this amazingly kind and considerate man who took all the time in the world to make you feel comfortable and confident in yourself. ‘I’m good.’ You said biting your lips slightly. You momentarily forgot about the fact you were bleeding and looked down to see a dark red pool at your feet. ‘Oh my god!’ You exclaimed. Phil steadied you as you watched the red beginning to run clearer.

‘It’s okay.’ Phil said quietly. ‘It’s really fine, this is entirely normal and it’s not likely to happen again.’

‘But there’s a chance?’ You croaked.

Phil gave you a very serious look. ‘If it does, you’ll be ready for it. If you want a next time, I promise it won’t be like this. It’ll be better, because you’ll know what to expect.’

You spent a couple of minutes, just regaining your breath and feeling the water run down your body. You thought on all the things Phil did to you, the way his mouth moved against your skin, his hands caressing every part of your body. You felt yourself flush red, but you didn’t care, because when you thought about Phil, you felt good.

You opened your eyes to see him smiling and watching you. ‘What?’ You asked, still with a stupid grin on your face.

‘I’m glad to see you enjoyed yourself at least.’ You suddenly realised that his hands had been on your hips, keeping you steady the entire time. ‘Can I be a little bold here?’ Phil asked.

You laughed a little. ‘How much bolder is there?’ You joked.

‘Will you let me wash you?’ He said quietly. You could see him flushing slightly pink, it was his turn to be embarrassed and you didn’t quite know how to deal with it.

You nodded and felt a rush of excitement and the prospect of his hands covering your body again. Phil picked up the body wash and squeezed a little on his hands, he gestured for you to turn around, you did as you were asked and leaned into him a little. Phil’s hands started on your aching hips, rubbing circles around the bone as he softly kissed just below your ear. He moved his circles over your stomach and around your waist, caressing the muscles in your back and shoulders, before returning to your breasts. You let out a breathy moan as he repeated some of his movements from the bedroom.

‘You really are very beautiful.’ Phil whispered against your ear. ‘Thank you.’ You didn’t quite understand what it was he was thanking you for. But before you could ask him, his hands drifted down to your hips again, he soon found a rhythm as he slid further and further down. Just grazing you centre once more, making you hold onto him a little tighter. You felt him laugh slightly as the movements began slowing and he started placing soft kisses over your skin.

You let the water wash off the soap and Phil helped you back out of the shower and into fresh clothes. You suddenly felt very tired and Phil laughed a little, you climbed into bed and got underneath the cool sheets, you wanted Phil to stay and from the looks of things he had no intentions of leaving you alone that night.

Phil wrapped his arms around you and you rested your body on his chest. ‘Are you okay?’ He asked once more.

‘I’m good.’ You said, feeling a sense of warmth rush over you. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Of course. I’m just worried you’re still hurting.’ He admitted, kissing your hair softly as his fingers raked through it.

‘Why did you thank me?’ You looked up at him and frowned a little. ‘In the shower, you said thank you.’

Phil just smiled and adjusted himself so that he could face you better. ‘Maybe I’m a little old fashioned, but I believe that to give someone what you gave me tonight, I think it takes an extraordinary amount of trust in that person and a lot of courage to allow them to see you like that. That’s what I was saying thank you for. Thank you for trusting me.’

You couldn’t help yourself, you leaned up and pressed a kiss to Phil’s lips, they were still warm and soft against yours and made the heat creep back into your stomach. ‘Thank you for going through that with me.’ You said sincerely. Phil understood it, he understood that you both had a new experience that night, that you both put an enormous amount of trust in each other and you never broke your promises to each other.

‘Does it still hurt?’ Phil frowned.

‘A little. But I think I’m getting used to it.’ You shrugged. ‘Will it feel like that every time?’

‘Only the good bits.’ He assured you. ‘I’m not sure what the technical parts are, but as I understand it, the first time is always the most painful… you’re not lying when you say you’re okay, but I can see that it’s bothering you a little. Talk to me, sweetheart.’ Phil kissed you again and you felt more relaxed when he did.

‘I was scared.’ You admitted, you saw his face drop and a small lump formed in the back of your throat. ‘I was scared you were going to hurt me, but I wanted it so badly and I wanted it to be you so much.’

Phil gave you another searing kiss. ‘Sweetheart,’ he breathed, ‘don’t ever be scared. I never want to hurt you… I hope I’ve proved that I would stop if I ever did hurt you?’

‘I trust you Phil.’ You confirmed. He kissed you again and you felt that heat rising again.

‘You must be tired.’ Phil chuckled. You nodded and laughed a little as well. ‘Let’s sleep, we can talk more in the morning if you want.’ You adjusted yourself so that you were facing away from Phil who curled around you and began softly placing kisses on your shoulder, it relaxed you so much that you found yourself drifting off into a very deep sleep.

Chapter Text

You woke feeling deliciously sore, your legs felt weak, like you’d had a long work out and just a for a single moment, remembered nothing of the night before. Soon the memories had come flooding back, Phil’s heat pressing against your own, his lips and hands grazing over your skin. The care he took in making sure you enjoyed yourself, with no pressure to do anything you weren’t comfortable with. You turned over to find Phil still there, sleeping peacefully, but something was still off. It was still dark outside, so why had you woken up?

You realised that a sharp ringing was echoing from your work room. Your laptop? Someone was trying to hack into the base. You leapt out of bed, scooped up your jeans and struggled into them as you shakily made your way towards the sound. You could hear a faint shuffling behind you and figured the noise had woken Phil as well.

Your legs were so shaky that between trying to put your jeans on and the speed at which you were trying to move, you fell down and grazed your side. ‘Ouch.’ You mumbled, getting up and stopping to adjust yourself before continuing.

The screen looked as if it was working all by itself, you slipped your glasses on and watched as the programme began fighting back against the intruder. You needed to find out who it was that was trying to hack in, so you quickly pulled out another laptop and began tracing the hack back to the source. It wasn’t easy and it took you a while, but you finally found two locations, one was the redirected location and the other was the actual location of the hacker, but trying to differentiate which one was which was another matter.

‘What’s going on?’ Phil said behind you. You turned to see him standing in just his briefs, watching you type away on the two computers. Your face flushed red again and you stumbled over your words for a moment.

‘Erm… there was an intrusion.’ Your voice cracked and it made Phil smile a little as he wandered over to you and leaned over your shoulder. ‘Someone was trying to hack into the project’s database.’

‘You stopped them?’ Phil asked, though it was slightly insulting, you let it blow over.

‘No the programme I built did. I just hacked them back and got a couple of locations for you.’ Phil could hear the slight defensive tone and raised his eyebrows at you.

‘I was just checking that the base was secure.’ He cooled your defensiveness and you smiled up apologetically. ‘Why two locations?’

‘Because I’m pretty sleepy and my hack time isn’t on top form. One is the redirected location and the other is the actual location of the hacker, I can find out what’s I those locations using satellite surveillance but I can’t tell you which one you should be breaking into to get this guy.’

Phil looked down at the paper you jotted the coordinates onto. ‘SHIELD doesn’t go after every person that tries to hack secret projects you know? Sometimes just leaving it be can be just as effective.’

‘Normally I’d agree.’ You reasoned and stood up to face Phil. ‘Except my laptop can usually handle a simple hacker on its own, when it recalculates to anything less than a sixty percent success rate it alerts me to help out. When I checked, it looked as if the calculation was down to thirty percent. It’s never been that low before, which means this guy just tore through every defence I’ve put up in this place and through all the defences that were there to start with, that takes days to plan and put into action. I’d kind of like to find out why he’s so eager to get his hands on a piece of information.’

Phil looked at you and you could see him working through all the possibilities in his head. ‘Okay, I’ll look into it in a few hours… I know how good you are, but the longer we can keep the project safe and secret, the better off everyone will be. We might need to deal with this quietly.’ Phil sighed. He checked the paper again and frowned, you took the opportunity while he wasn’t watching you to look over his chest again, you watched him breathing deeply and bit down on your lip as you remembered the feeling of running your hands over his skin.

You took your glasses off and threw them on the desk behind you, you felt your face burning again. When you turned back, Phil was smiling at you. ‘See something you like?’ He teased and your whole face flamed up. Phil leaned down and kissed you gently, you felt your face cool down a little. ‘Come on, let’s go back to sleep, we can deal with this in a few hours.’ He whispered. You nodded and followed him back to bed, slipping out of your jeans and resting on his chest once again, you drifted off into a deeper sleep than before.

Chapter Text

She was incredible, he didn’t know why he doubted it for a second. Phil was terrified when she had asked him to be her first, he was only partly sure she wanted it. But that look in her eyes, that dark look she had said it all, she was just as attracted to him and he was to her. Phil hadn’t expected her to be so confident, she just laid back and allowed him to explore her body in every way he’d imagined.

Phil smiled as she began breathing a little heavier against his chest, he ran his fingers over her soft skin, she was so beautiful and so strong. He could barely believe she had chosen him, but she had and he was grateful. Phil replayed the night over in his head and hoped he had given her enough guidance for her to want to try it again with him. But he felt satisfied that even if he only had this one night with her, it was worth it.

He thought about the piece of paper that sat on top of his phone, the co-ordinates of the hacker, his worry increased when she said that he had broken through all the defences and that it took a significant amount of planning. However, having her up worrying about that wasn’t useful. She had just given a huge piece of herself to him and that, to him, was more important. Eventually Phil had managed to get to sleep, but it was hardly worth it by the time he needed to get up.

Chapter Text

You didn’t have time to talk about what had happened between the two of you, instead you spent the next couple of weeks setting up two laptops to deal with intrusion like the hacker you’d had two weeks previously. Dr Goodman and yourself had also come up with a way to administer the drugs to the human testers, you built the machine that would alter the brain activity and hopefully make the process easier for the patients to handle; you barely had any time to process how you really felt about what you and Phil had done that night, but you caught yourself thinking about it on occasion.

Phil had been conducting interviews with the test subjects and looking into the hacker, he’d yet to come back with anything substantial.

‘These things take time.’ He had reasoned in the middle of the conference room when on a video call with Fury. It had gotten frustrating to the point where Phil had taken his jacket off and loosened his tie, you barely ever dressed appropriately for work and instead opted for jeans and a vest. ‘We can’t just send two teams in and expect one to come back with a result, we have to scout the two locations and then make a decision from there.’

‘You want the area scouted?’ You shot back. ‘Fine, I’ll get you that information. I can get onto the security cameras in the two areas and get you seventy-two hours’ worth of footage. That should give you enough to go on right?’

‘That’s not the point.’ He argued back. ‘We still don’t have the man power, no eyes inside the two buildings and no way of knowing if the hacker is even still there. We don’t have anything to go on.’

‘I’m inclined to agree with Agent Coulson.’ Fury interrupted. ‘While I agree we should neutralise threats like these, he’s right in that we have no real way of knowing if the information is up to date.’

‘Which is why I said we should have done something about it when we first found out.’ You were getting very frustrated. You slumped down in one of the seats surrounding the table and let the conversation play out.

‘Look,’ Phil continued. ‘I’m not saying we shouldn’t keep an eye on the situation, but we should definitely focus on the administration process and look into moving the base back home. Madrid just isn’t safe enough for the project anymore.’

‘How is administration coming along?’ Fury asked Dr Goodman, who had been very quiet up to this point.

‘A few bumps in the road, but nothing Kid and I haven’t been able to fix.’ He gave a tight smile. ‘The surgery needs a few adjustments, but we’re looking at slightly safer ways of producing the same results.’

‘So the results are good?’ Fury clarified.

‘The route isn’t.’ You snapped. ‘The patients are put through an unnecessary amount of pain and we need to fix that.’

‘This project is a break glass in case one of our top agents are injured in combat.’ Fury reminded everyone.

‘Yeah, but not every agent is superhuman.’ You mumbled. You know Phil heard you from the look he gave you, Fury had simply decided to ignore whatever snide remark you had made.

‘Is this going to be an issue?’ Fury asked, referring to the dynamic between the three of you.

‘No.’ You all said at the same time. It was clear that the dynamic had changed dramatically. You had begun to see that the project should be shut down entirely, Goodman just wanted to keep people alive and Phil was conflicted between the two opinions, he also believed that there was a way to make things work.

‘Good, I expect better results on your next visit.’ He said and logged off.

You slammed your laptop down and tucked it under your arm, leaving the room angry. Goodman had looked tired and worn down, so he always moved at his own pace to conserve his energy and Phil just kept going until he burnt out. You weren’t sure what was happening to the three of you, but it was clear TAHITI was taking a toll on everyone.

Phil followed you back to your room and you didn’t bother closing the door after you entered, you knew he’d only lecture you later on when he got the chance, you figured you would just get it over with.

‘What’s wrong with you?’ Phil closed the door and put his hands on his hips. You leaned on your desk and sighed. ‘Talk to me.’ He demanded.

‘Don’t do that. Don’t pretend like you don’t know you’re intimidating me, just to get me to say what you already know.’ You snapped. Phil’s eyebrows shot up.

‘I’m not trying to intimidate you.’ He said quietly. ‘I’m trying to make you see I care. I want you to tell me what’s going on.’

‘What’s going on?’ You felt your head just about reach its limit. ‘This project should be shut down! The results aren’t good!’

‘Goodman says they are.’

‘Goodman has an objective.’ You exclaimed. ‘Goodman is working towards the expected results, not the right results. The project is supposed to be a last resort to save a mortally wounded avenger, we both know what that really means.’

‘That information is classified, want to tell me how you got hold of it?’ Phil folded his arms.

‘I told you before we got here that I use my laptop to find out what I want to know, not what other people want me to know. I don’t know why this is a surprise.’ You opened the doors to the balcony and sighed, feeling the night air hit your face.

‘I understand why you might feel paranoid.’ Phil was pulling at a very thin thread. ‘I understand that keeping secrets from you is not the best course of action. I’m trying to give you as much information as I can even bending the rules for you, but I have a job to do and your safety is my top priority. SHIELD has secrets for a reason.’

‘I know that!’ You were suddenly so exhausted. ‘Believe me I know that! If anyone knows it, it’s me. TAHITI shouldn’t be brought to any kind of light Phil; you’ve got to shut it down as soon as possible. These people are being put through hell for the sake of research that will be out of date by the time it’s used, their sacrifices will have been for nothing. I can bury this thing so deep that not even I can get at it, but while it’s active, I can only do so much to stop an intruder.’

Phil sighed and leaned over the balcony. It seemed like hours before he spoke again. ‘I never thought that my judgment would be impaired by anything.’ He said quietly. ‘But my feelings for you seem to be clouding my better judgement. The patients are in pain, a lot of pain, some are beginning to show signs of psychosis, some are hallucinating. This is torture for a healthy mind, when we asked these people to take part in the project they had all been through some kind of trauma and we told them we could make it better. Said that it would take time and a little patience, but we could make them better… I haven’t made anyone better.’

You thought on what Phil had said, you knew he felt some amount of guilt for what he was doing, but this seemed to be him approaching his breaking point. He just wanted to help.

‘You made me better.’ You told him, you took a step towards Phil and put your hand on his. ‘You made me feel better anyway, you made me feel things that I never thought anyone could make me feel. You made me trust you and I have yet to go back on that trust, even if you are infuriating at times.’ That pulled a small chuckled from him.

Phil looked at you and you could see that dark glint in his eye. You took a breath and leaned up to kiss him, he let out a small moan and you began repeating some of the movements he’d use on you, tugging gently on his bottom lip and sliding your lips lightly against his. You stopped for a moment, a little worried that you might not be able to stop if you went any further.

‘That was…’ Phil started as he looked down at you. ‘Really very good.’ He smiled and held you close to his chest. You liked being against his chest, it was your safe place. ‘I’m glad I made you feel good.’

‘Me too.’ You both looked out at the night in Madrid and for a while took solace in the fact that you had nothing to fear at that moment, no worries, nothing. Just holding each other, making each other see that everything was going to be fine. That all came to an end when you heard the sharp ringing of your laptop once again struggling to deal with intrusion. You both looked at each other, before rushing inside and checking both laptops.

‘What’s going on?’ Phil demanded.

‘The hacker has taken the success rate down to fifty percent and its dropping.’ You slipped your glasses on and began typing away, hacking him back and fighting your way through lines and line of code to get a location. ‘If I get you a location can we go and get him?’ You asked as you tore through his own defences and got closer to a location.

Phil didn’t say anything, he just took his phone out and made a call to get a team on standby. ‘How accurate is the location?’ He asked.

‘I can take you right to his door step.’ You said, still desperately fighting against new firewalls and distraction programmes. The success rate was holding at fifty-six percent, now was the time to push back with everything you had. You pulled out yet another laptop and began a new hack.

‘Three laptops?’ Phil questioned.

‘I’m trying to get you as much information as possible before you go in there.’ You said, not really having the time to explain what it was you were doing. You kept going from one laptop to the other, covering up your tracks as you went, making it more complicated for him to find his way back to you. You suddenly spotted something very interesting on your main laptop; a webcam programme. You smiled to yourself and hacked it, getting a small feed from his laptop before he shut it down.

‘What was that?’ Phil asked.

‘It was a small video feed from his webcam that I just hacked.’ You said rather proudly. ‘I’ll send it to you and your team so you know what to look for. It actually looks like he’s pretty close, just around the corner from here. The feed showed people in the background and the location is a restaurant. Looks like we’ve got it.’

‘I’ll call you when it’s done.’ Phil said and went to leave.

‘Wait, let me come with you.’ You said just as he was about to leave. He gave you a surprised look. ‘I can check his laptop for any incoming communication, he might be taking orders from someone.’

‘I can’t just take a computer scientist into the field.’ Phil opened the door and left, you weren’t going to let him go though. You set your laptops up again and tucked the third one under your arm, grabbing your jacket as you rushed after Phil.

‘What if there’s another hack?’ You caught up to him. ‘What if I can stop it from his laptop? There could be something of value there.’ Phil wasn’t ignoring you, instead he was simply dismissing the fact that you were still talking because he slipped into agent mode, it was this side of Phil that scared you the most. ‘Don’t you want to find out why he was trying so hard to get into our database?’

‘Yes, I do.’ Phil snapped, once you’d gotten down to where the team were waiting for you. ‘Regardless, I can’t take an untrained civilian into the field, when we don’t know the first thing about this man. He could be a murderer, or a psychopath or even a terrorist. And you want to get up close and personal with him. It’s not going to happen.’ Phil wen to put his body armour on and loaded his gun.

‘Charles Garcia.’ You said, you had opened up your laptop and began reading the screen. ‘Age thirty-six, graduated from eight different schools for computer science and has two masters in related areas. Divorced with one child, a daughter who is currently being treated for cancer at a local hospital. He’s been having trouble keeping up with the payments, however it seems like an anonymous donor has been helping him, a couple of deposits around three days before each intrusion.’ You turned your laptop to face Phil and he just looked at you a little angry. ‘I got a small feed and ran a background check. Let me go with you, I can trace where the deposits have come from and find out who this donor is.’

You watched Phil go over every scenario in his head, before one of the agents behind you spoke.

‘Sir, she’s got a point.’ He said, his voice a little shaky. Phil gave him a glare. ‘I could have Jackson stay with her and make sure she’s safe in the car while we go in and get Garcia.’

Phil’s frown deepened before it eased. ‘Jackson.’ He shot.

‘Yes sir.’ A slightly burly looking agent said, stepping forward.

‘If she is harmed in anyway, if there is even a scratch on her. You will be held entirely responsible.’ He didn’t take his eyes off of you. ‘Do not let me down, or there will be hell to pay… move out!’ Phil jumped into the front of one of the cars and you followed Jackson into the back seat of the same car. You opened up your laptop and began typing, trying to get into the surrounding security cameras to find out where Garcia was. Phil and the other agents could have been speaking Russian for all you understood of their agent talk.

‘Garcia has moved.’ You announced. ‘He’s heading down the street… west.’ You followed a very scared man down the streets and gave the agents instructions on his whereabouts. Finally, you managed to corner him in the same park you and Phil had gone to.

‘Stay in the car.’ Phil said before exiting. Jackson just watched you and loaded his gun.

‘You going to use that?’ You asked a little on edge.

‘Sorry, force of habit.’ Jackson said and put his gun somewhere out of sight. ‘So Agent Coulson is pretty serious about your safety? I don’t think I’ve ever seen him like that.’ Jackson gave you a sly look and it made you laugh. Overall you thought he was a nice guy, you hadn’t had a lot of time to speak to him, but what you had heard was all good things.

‘Yeah, he’s pretty serious about it.’ You chuckled, as the scene outside came to an end. Garcia was crying and begging them not to shoot. ‘What’s going on now?’

‘They’re taking Garcia into custody, there’s Coulson getting the laptop.’ He pointed out and you watched Phil tucking the laptop under his arm. ‘Garcia will be taken to the interrogation room and we’ll interview him. Easy as that.’ Jackson smiled. He was quite handsome when he smiled and you liked his easy going demeanour.

‘I’ll need to get a look at the laptop.’ You cleared your throat checking your own and finding that Garcia’s laptop was getting closer and closer as Phil jumped into the car again and handed you the laptop. Garcia was taken into the other car. You handed Jackson your laptop to look after and you pulled a cable from your pocket to link up the two computers. You began searching the laptop for incoming messages, one was a broken connection that seemed to be location orientated like you suspected.

‘We need to go back to the restaurant.’ You said to Phil who still wasn’t out of agent mode. It was much harder to talk to him when he was like that. ‘The connection was broken as soon as he left, but if we go back there I might be able to get it back and trace where it came from.’

Phil didn’t respond right away. ‘Your call Jackson.’ He said, much to Jackson’s surprise.

‘Well sir, going back to the restaurant might give us some idea of the threat level.’ Jackson looked forward not giving anything away, like he’d been taught. ‘If we go back to base we can start interrogation… sir if it was up to me-‘

‘It is.’ Phil interrupted.

‘Sir, I’d go back to the restaurant. I’d let the Kid have thirty minutes to get as much info as she can before heading back to base.’ Jackson, you could see was uneasy, Phil scared him maybe more than he scared you.

‘You heard Jackson.’ Phil said the agent driving. ‘Back to the restaurant. Tell them to take Garcia back to base. We’ll be there soon.’

You gave Jackson an appreciative look and watched a sigh of relief escape him. He’d done good, you thought so anyway. Phil still had yet to look at you since getting back in the car. The restaurant was nearly empty, Phil and Jackson took their body armour off and spoke to the host who reluctantly agreed to let them sit there for a while.

‘Let’s go.’ Jackson opened the door and helped you carry the two computers out and to a table close to where Garcia had been. Phil sat down opposite you and Jackson went to sit at a table not far away. You began your work, trying desperately to trace the connection back to wherever it came from.

‘Why did you let Jackson decide?’ You asked as you worked. Phil just gave you a look, he was still in agent mode.

‘Jackson wants to lead a team one day; he wants to go down a similar route to myself.’ Phil said flatly. ‘If this pays off, I’ll be making sure the right people are informed; he’s still young, just a couple of years older than you, but he’s got good potential, he’s a very smart individual, doesn’t make too many mistakes.’

‘He seems like a good guy.’ You commented, finding an off shore account and tracking it somewhere else. You could feel Phil’s eyes on you. ‘What?’

‘Nothing. Just keep working.’ You saw Phil make a gesture to Jackson. ‘Trust me, sweetheart.’ His voice was much softer and you looked up to see the Phil you knew, not the agent from moments ago, but the one that would never pressure or push you to do anything you didn’t want to do. Panic and fear whipped at you, but you trusted Phil, so you kept working, you gathered the intel and saved it to an external device you always kept on you. Phil stood up and moved away from your table, you could feel him close by, but you still felt your breathing speed up. Phil sat back down, he began to panic as well. ‘As soon as you’re done, call the base, tell them your location and do not hang up.’ Phil slid a phone towards you. You took the phone and continued working, finding comfort in the lines of code.

Phil stood up, he squeezed your shoulder to ease your tension and you dumped as much info as you could onto the external device. You heard arguing behind you, but you didn’t dare look, you just kept dumping data. Soon though your thirty minutes were up. You shut down both laptops, stood up and walked out of the restaurant. You called the base and told them your location, you kept them on the line and desperately tried not to look back, but it was lucky you did. Two burly men came running towards you at full speed, you felt all your energy flood towards your legs and you sprinted harder and harder down the street, struggling to keep hold of both laptops.

You looked back for just a second and realised that for all your desperation the two men were just that much faster. You fell hard and skidded across the road, grazing your skin over your face, neck and arms. You stood up and picked up the computers, but one of the men pushed you hard into a car and you knew immediately your ribs were broken, he picked you up and slammed your seemingly weightless body back down onto the car hood. That was when someone else tackled him to the ground, you could feel yourself about to throw up, but all that came out was blood.

You watched Jackson knock the man unconscious, just as the black SHIELD vehicle showed up to help. ‘Are you okay?’ He said, you could see he’d been badly hurt, but he didn’t give up, he just helped you off the hood of the car as you wailed out in pain. ‘You’re alright Kid, Coulson is coming for you, he’ll get you somewhere safe. You’re okay.’

‘What happened?’ Phil roared and it stung your ears. You coughed and it sent a huge bolt of pain through your insides.

‘It looks like a few broken ribs and some heavy bruising on her back sir,’ You heard Jackson explain. ‘She’ll be okay, she’s just in shock.’

‘Not a scratch I said, not a single scratch otherwise there would be hell to pay!’ He screamed at Jackson.

You felt Phil touch your skin with his warm hands and you immediately reached out to hold him, the pain was too much, you couldn’t stay conscious for much longer. ‘The data.’ You choked out, not recognising your own voice.

‘It’s safe, we have it.’ He said and that softness was back. ‘You did good sweetheart.’ He whispered and picked you up. You felt sleep take you and it felt peaceful for a while.

Chapter Text

You woke up feeling irritable and groggy, you were confused for a while, not sure where you were or why you were there. Your breathing hurt and suddenly the memories came flooding back, your ribs cracking inside your body, flying through the air and slamming into the hard metal of the car hood. You began panicking, hoping that Phil wasn’t too hard on Jackson, praying that someone picked up your laptop and desperate to find out if Phil was okay.

You could feel someone rushing into the room and adjusting your pain meds, your ribs suddenly felt better and you felt like you could breathe properly.

‘She’s awake.’ A voice said, you couldn’t place it and you didn’t recognise the man’s face, but when Phil came into view you felt yourself light up.

‘Phil.’ Your voice was raspy and it hurt to talk, you coughed again and you felt the ache in your ribs.

‘Shh, it’s okay. It’s okay sweetheart.’ He said quietly. ‘Here.’ Phil and the doctor helped you to sit up and sip some water. You loved the feel of the cool liquid running down your throat. ‘That’s it.’ Phil said and smiled through his bruised features.

‘Are you okay?’ You immediately asked, seeing the bruises, you imagined something was broken as well.

‘I’m fine. Nothing I haven’t been through before.’ Phil smiled warmly at you and placed his bruised hand on top of yours. You looked down at his knuckles that had already begun healing over. ‘Sweetheart, I’m fine.’ He reassured you upon seeing your frown.

‘Are you sure?’ You asked again.

‘Yes, stop worrying about me and tell me how you feel.’ Phil almost chuckled, but you could the lines of worry etching his face.

‘Sore.’ You said honestly. ‘I feel sore… and irritable, groggy.’

‘All to be expected. Dr Goodman said only one broken bone, the rest are either cracked or bruised, so recovery shouldn’t be that long. You’ve got a lot of bruising on your back but that’s it.’ Again Phil smiled at you.

‘You won’t leave will you?’ You felt the lump form in the back of your throat. You couldn’t be alone just now, you needed Phil to be his charming self and make you feel better.

‘No.’ He leaned forward and wiped away a tear that had escaped your eye. ‘I won’t leave don’t worry about that. You’re okay, you’re fine, I promise.’ You believed him, you believed that he wouldn’t lie to you, if you were fine then that was that, you were fine. ‘You just need to stay calm and breathe.’

‘Okay.’ You took a slightly sore breath and recomposed yourself. ‘What happened?’

‘You don’t remember?’ Phil frowned.

‘No, I remember… getting hurt. I mean what happened after? With Garcia? And is Jackson okay? He pretty much rugby tackled that guy to the ground.’ You felt your fun side creeping through and tried to roll with it, but something told you it was going to be short lived.

‘Jackson is fine, he’s going back to HQ and has been reassigned.’ Phil started, he sat back in his chair and thought about the events that had just taken place.

‘Wait, what? He’s gone?’ You exclaimed. ‘Why? You should have gone easy on him Phil, he was only trying to help and we got the data we needed. As far as I can see his mission was a success.’

Phil just smiled. ‘He’s being reassigned to lead his own team on another mission. He needs to prepare for it and learn the necessary skills in which to lead a team into the field. Jackson did a very good job, I let my personal feelings for you get in the way and made his job harder. People will always get hurt, no one comes out of anything unscathed and we both learnt that lesson yesterday.’

You let out a sigh of relief and relaxed a little. ‘He’s scared of you, know?’ Phil gave a small frown. ‘Jackson’s terrified of you. So are half the people here.’

‘I think you’re exaggerating.’

‘Honestly! Jackson said he’d never seen you like that before, said you must take my safety pretty seriously.’

‘I do.’ He said a little quickly. ‘I take it very seriously, which is why I’m hating myself for letting this happen to you.’

‘You shouldn’t. Like you said, people always get hurt.’ You tried to reassure Phil, but you couldn’t comfort him the same way he comforted you.

‘Are you still scared of me?’ Phil asked sincerely.

You thought about it and the truth was you didn’t really know. ‘Sometimes. When you’re in agent mode, you scare me. When we’re talking about work, sometimes you intimidate me, but when it’s us and no one else. I trust you.’ You tried to make it as clear as possible how you felt about him. He thought for a moment and seemed to be satisfied with your answer. ‘What happened with Garcia?’

‘Well, you were right.’ Phil rolled his eyes, more in a playful manner than anything malicious and you laughed a little. ‘His daughter is very sick and he was a very desperate man. Goodman went to the hospital and doesn’t think anything can be done for her, the deposits he was receiving came from an anonymous source that you’ve managed to trace and we’ve sent a team in to check it out. Hopefully they’ll come back with good news. For now, Garcia doesn’t pose a threat, we’ve taken his laptop and told him about his daughter, he seems to have come to terms with it, or at least he’s coming to terms with it.’ Phil looked down for a moment. ‘He’s a very scared and desperate individual, all he wants is for his daughter to live. He didn’t even really know what TAHITI was, his objective was to hack in as far as he could to test the defences only… his employer wants to see the lengths we would go to in order to keep this project a secret.’

‘Is he okay?’ You asked, hoping the answer wouldn’t be that they killed him and left him in a ditch somewhere.

‘He’s fine. He’ll probably be with his daughter just now.’

‘Can I see him?’ You knew what the answer would be before you even asked the question, but Garcia was a curious man, probably one of the best hackers around and given the chance you’d bet he would have broken through your defences no problem.

‘Why would you want to?’ You could see Phil’s agent mask slipping on.

‘I just want to see if he’s okay. He’s been through a lot by the sounds of things.’ You tried to offer, the pain in your ribs was coming back though.

‘We’ll see. For now, I’d like you to rest.’

‘Can I at least have my laptop?’ You pleaded. Phil just laughed and nodded, letting you know he’d collect it once you’d taken a nap.

You spent the next couple of days working away on your laptop from your workroom, or out on the balcony and every day Phil would spend the morning with you and then would come back in the evening to check you were okay. You appreciated it and your ribs felt better already, but something was nagging away at you in the back of your mind. Phil could tell immediately.

‘You want to talk about it?’ He offered one evening when you both sat on the balcony doing work. You gave him a look. ‘I can see something has been bothering you, what’s going on in your head?’

You didn’t even put up any resistance, you just sat back and thought about where to begin. ‘We had sex.’ You said, plain and simple. It caught Phil’s attention, so much so that he stopped everything he was doing, took his glasses off and gave you his full attention. ‘How do you feel about that?’

Phil gave you a strange look, one that said he was thinking very hard about the question. He observed the view before attempting to answer.

‘If anything, I’m more attracted to you than I think I’ve ever been.’ Phil sighed. ‘You were very brave. But I’m still not pressuring you to do anything. I want to know how you feel.’

You watched the view as well, knowing that this was a subject to tread lightly with, Phil really cared for you and you couldn’t deny you cared a lot for him, but you still couldn’t quite process how you felt about the whole thing. All you really knew is that if the opportunity arose to be with him like that again, you wouldn’t dare turn it down.

‘I’ll take that as a compliment.’ Phil smiled at you. You were beginning to hate that you were so easy to read. ‘What were you thinking there? It made you very happy.’

‘I was thinking…’ you felt your face burn up again, regardless of the fact you tried so hard not to be embarrassed by any of it. ‘I wouldn’t say no, if the opportunity arose again.’ You felt yourself burn hotter, you were very unsure of if you’d even spoken loudly enough for Phil to hear you.

Phil put his hand on top of yours and smiled widely, he had a dark glint in his eye and it put you at ease slightly. ‘I don’t imagine you’ve been told this before, but you are a very sexy individual.’ You spun your head to look at Phil who was still smiling. You broke into a fit of laughter, trying to calm down as it was causing you a lot of pain in your ribs. Phil had joined in and a faint pink flush spread across his cheeks.

‘Well, you’re right.’ You finally calmed down, taking slow breaths to ease the pain. ‘No one has ever said that to me before. I’m glad you said it first.’ You were almost shocked at the fact that you weren’t embarrassed by what he had said and it made you feel good. ‘I think you’re pretty sexy too, but you probably get it all the time. From all the fan girls that are lining up around the block.’

Phil glanced at you sideways and said: ‘Oh yeah, different girl every night.’ You both started laughing again at the ridiculousness of the conversation. ‘I’m glad you think that about me though.’ There was something a little heavy about his admission, like he had been hurt by someone who had said that once. Phil came out of his thoughts and cleared his throat. ‘Come on, it’s getting late. You should get some sleep; we’re heading home in a few days.’

Chapter Text

Home. You missed your lab and your friends in the garage and you missed working on your bike. You missed Pepper and Tony and even JARVIS. You were back in your comfort zone and you couldn’t have been more comfortable in yourself. You got back to what you knew, computers and engineering and music, you didn’t realise it until you got back, but you missed getting lost in your music and losing yourself to your work.

Phil continued to visit you over the two weeks after you’d come back from Madrid and you began feeling a lot more confident in yourself. He would enter your lab, kiss you and ask what you were working on, that was the routine and you found comfort in it. But soon you began to feel it might not have been enough for him, he enjoyed your company and you were pretty sure he enjoyed talking to you, but you had the distinct impression he might have missed being physical with you.

‘You okay?’ Phil asked, you had woken up with a headache that radiated down your back that day, lying on your back and keeping the lights and noise to a minimum seemed to help somewhat.

You stared up at him. ‘Fine, just thinking.’ You said.

‘Something I can help with?’ He said, pulling a chair over and leaning forward over you.

‘No, it’s not a problem as such.’ You tried to explain.

‘Oh?’

You really didn’t want to talk about how you thought you were boring Phil and just wasting his time, but by the look on his face, he guessed it was something to do with the situation you found yourself in.

‘I want you to come over tonight.’ Phil said, he really wasn’t pressuring you, but he really did want you to spend some more time with him that day. ‘I want to make you dinner and talk. No pressure.’ He gave you his warm smile and you were hooked.

‘Okay. I finish at seven.’ You checked your watch, that was in around two hours.

‘I’ll come back down around seven then. I have a meeting with Pepper but it shouldn’t be a long one.’ He said helping you up. You rubbed your shoulders and stretched your neck, feeling the pain subsiding slightly. One of your laptops made a noise that said you had an incoming message, but you paid it no attention, instead you leaned up to kiss Phil quickly and flushed pink.

‘I’ll see you at seven.’ You said smiling back. Phil brushed his thumb over your knuckles and you felt that warmth seep into your stomach.

‘See you then.’

Once Phil had left your lab, you read the message on your laptop.

El Hijo: I accept.

The Kid: Welcome to the Network.

El Hijo: How many others are there?

The Kid: Enough to handle anything now.

El Hijo: What do you need from me?

The Kid: Tell me who your employer was? Who asked you to break into Project TAHITI? And Why?

Chapter Text

El Hijo: Why me?

The Kid: I would have thought that obvious.

El Hijo: Not to me.

The Kid: You’re the first challenge I’ve encountered in a long time. If I struggled to keep you out, imagine how many others would fail. Imagine the good we could do.

El Hijo: What do you need me to do?

The Kid: Contact my friends in the east. Red Dragon and Black Orchid, the twins will help you in your first assignment. It seems a shipment of medical supplies is finding it difficult to enter the country and get to the children’s hospital on the edge of Hong Kong. Do what you need to, that shipment has to make it into the capital before the end of the week.

El Hijo: I won’t let you down.

The Kid: This isn’t a hierarchy. You work for yourself and whatever motivates you. Good luck El Hijo.

You saw Phil giving you a small nod from outside your lab as he strode towards the door. You began shutting down the programmes on your laptop and closing down your lab. Your bike was just about finished, you just had to fix the coverings on and you would be done.

‘You ready to go?’ Phil said wandering in to see you. You closed your laptop and began putting it into your bag.

‘Yeah, just need to lock up.’ You said, smiling up at him. Phil kissed your cheek and you felt yourself burn red again.

‘What can I do to help?’ Phil asked, softly. You handed him the keys to your bike and grinned.

‘I need to put it in the cage.’ You said. Phil smiled and took the keys from you, he wandered over to the bike that sat with its wires and mechanical pieces bare, he unbuttoned his suit jacket and swung his leg over the bike. The engine roared to life and before settling to a quiet hum, Phil looked impressed and drove the bike up the ramp towards the central platform in the middle of your lab, the engine roared once more before quietening down.

Phil swung his leg back off the bike and walked back down the ramp; you placed the helmet just next to the front wheel, lowering the bike below into the cage where you kept most of your projects.

‘It’s impressive.’ Phil said as you finished closing off the cage. ‘What’s the top speed?’

‘Not sure yet, somewhere between two-twenty and two fifty.’ You shrugged. ‘Still need to put it through testing, I’ll get the coverings on before I do that though.’ You took the keys and put them in your drawer, turning back to see Phil still smiling at you. ‘What?’

‘Nothing. Come on, let’s get out of here.’ Phil held out his hand and you took it, picking up your bag on the way and swinging it over your shoulder.

The drive to Phil’s apartment was nice, it was late on a Sunday evening and wasn’t as busy as it could have been. Phil was carefree and you laughed at the stories he told from the previous two weeks. You loved watching him talk and enjoy listening to you, you found it comfortable.

Finally, you arrived and you vaguely recognised the area. It wasn’t that far from your own apartment, maybe five or six blocks over. His home was warm and cosy, if not a little bare, the whole place was open plan, with two rooms off to the right hand side, one presumably his bedroom and the other the bathroom. Phil, ever the gentleman took your coat and bag, hanging them both up as he switched on the lights to give you a better look at the place.

‘Wow, sparse.’ You joked, looking around at the living room that had two pieces of furniture, a black leather sofa and a glass coffee table, there was a television just behind it, but that was all. The kitchen wasn’t much better, with the clean and tidy countertops and bare cupboards above them. The island was the only thing that made it look homey, a single wooden bowl sat in the middle along with a group of coffee cups hanging from a small wooden frame.

‘Yeah, I don’t spend much time here.’ There was a hint of sadness to his voice. Phil took his jacket off and his tie, throwing them both over the back of the sofa as he began rolling up his sleeves; you could see the small patch of hair peeking out just above his shirt and it made you blush a little. Phil saw it and took a few steps towards you, he was in your space and it felt good; his hand sliding over your cheek as his lips pressed against yours, you loved the pressure, the easy warmth he had that made him Phil. He pulled away slowly and smiled down at you.

‘Would you like a drink?’ He asked, still smiling. You nodded and allowed yourself to burn red, loving the feeling that he put in you.

Phil ventured into the kitchen, opened the fridge and brought out a bottle of wine and two glasses from the lower cupboards. You sat on the stool next the island and watched him pour you a glass, sliding it over. You thanked him and watched as he began making you dinner, there was a heaviness to his posture that told you he was immensely tired.

‘Long day?’ You asked, as he boiled a pan of water. Phil gave you a small frown. ‘You look tired.’

‘Yeah.’ Phil chuckled. ‘It was… long.’ Phil began chopping onions. ‘It wasn’t particularly interesting though, just lots of people wanting lots of things they can’t have.’

‘Another day at the office then?’ You sipped your wine, knowing exactly what he meant.

‘Pretty much.’ He chuckled. ‘Your name came up though. Or rather The Kid… anything you want to admit to?’

You watched Phil for a moment. You knew SHIELD had nothing on your Network and they never would. That’s what El Hijo was there for, security and protection. You had nothing to admit.

‘No. What is it you think I’ve done?’ You raised your eyebrows.

‘Your friends in the east have been making noise concerning a shipment of medical supplies.’ Phil poured in the pasta and began mixing the tomatoes into the sauce. It was beginning to smell delicious already. ‘It seems that shipment will be making its way into Hong Kong without any trouble at all thanks to El Hijo. The Son… Care to tell me who El Hijo is?’

‘Is this what you wanted to talk about?’ You retorted.

Phil sighed. ‘No, but it is a concern. Do you even know who these people really are? They could be very dangerous.’

‘They are. But not to me. I can handle my Network.’ You defended. ‘I realise it’s a concern, but tell me honestly, is there no one who you work with that you think could be capable of something dangerous?’

Phil stirred both pans and watched you. ‘I see your point… please be careful.’

‘I’m being careful.’

‘Good.’ Phil gave you a small smile. ‘What other projects are you working on? I heard you were experimenting with cybernetics.’

You were glad for the change in subject, you both slipped easily into talk about your work in cybernetics and soon Phil had decided to put on some music and once again you found yourself confident enough to dance with him and let loose. You slowed down to a smooth, soft, movement that you found comfort in.

‘I like this.’ Phil said softly against your ear. ‘I like you being happy with me.’

You pulled away to look up at Phil and saw his blue eyes half black, half crystal. ‘I like being happy with you. It makes me feel good.’ You watched a smile spread over his face and his eyes go just a little darker. Phil leaned down and kissed you gently. ‘Don’t stop.’ You whispered as he pulled back.

‘Are you sure?’ Phil asked, searching your face for any sign you weren’t sure, honesty was the best policy.

‘No… but I’m scared I’ll lose you if I don’t try to be sure.’ You admitted.

‘Let’s sit down.’ He sighed, and half smiled at you. Phil took your hand and led you to sit on the cool leather sofa, you watched as he began thinking very quickly. ‘Sweetheart, I’m struggling to understand why you would think that you’d lose me for any reason. Have I not proved I’ll stick around for nothing more than your company?’

‘I’m just worried… I feel like I’m boring you, by not… you know.’ You shrugged, suddenly feeling very awkward and warm.

‘By not sleeping with me?’ You nodded. ‘That’s ridiculous, I… I couldn’t possibly get bored of you. You’re fascinating to me; all I want is for you to be comfortable around me.’ Phil scooted closer to you. ‘Please tell me you’re not still scared of me?’

‘No, not... maybe a little, but… I don’t know what I’m doing here Phil!’ You said exasperated. ‘I know what I want, but I don’t know how to find out if you want the same thing, I know how I feel, but I can’t figure out if you feel the same. It’s frustrating and I don’t know who to turn to.’

Phil just looked at you. ‘Me.’ He said softly. ‘Turn to me. Talk to me, ask me how I feel. Tell me what you want. Plain and simple, just say it. You don’t need to be embarrassed, I know what you want, I know how you feel, but it doesn’t count unless you say it to me… tell me what you want.’

‘I want you.’ You flushed scarlet, you weren’t good at this sort of thing, it was out of your comfort zone by a long shot. ‘I want to feel you close to you again. I want to tell you how I feel about it.’

‘Tell me sweetheart. Chances are I feel the same way, so just say it.’ Phil almost begged you. His arm was around the back of the sofa and his other hand rested on your thigh, it was making you warm and part of you enjoyed it, but the other part was still scared.

‘Being… naked with you…’ This felt entirely humiliating. ‘It’s… I’m not used to doing that with anyone, generally that kind of thing, it doesn’t make me comfortable… I find with you, I feel especially uncomfortable and intimidated, but… I want to get used to it. I want to feel like I can do it all the time.’

You watched as Phil thought very quickly on the words you had given him. ‘I make you uncomfortable?’ He asked. You nodded slightly. ‘So, when we were dancing just there, that made you uncomfortable? Kissing you and pretty much telling you… I’m falling in love with you, that makes you uncomfortable?’

Your jaw dropped slightly. You knew you felt the same way, but to hear him say so plainly the way he did was unexpected. You watched him try to dissect what was going on inside your head, but he was struggling. ‘I feel the same.’ You said as almost a whisper. You saw Phil visibly deflate and lean over to kiss you passionately, the pressure was intense and you felt it, the love he had for you.

‘I have to tell you something.’ He whispered against your lips. ‘I was holding back, that night, I was holding back, because I was scared you’d leave.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘With respect sweetheart, I’m not surprised.’ He smiled at you, though he didn’t stray far from your lips. ‘Like you said, you’ve never done this before. I didn’t want to scare you by being too much. The first time for anyone is usually never great.’

‘Wait a second.’ You had to clear up what exactly it was he was trying to say. ‘You mean sex can be better?’

‘So much better.’ Phil smiled and kissed you again. ‘But first I want to make sure you feel comfortable being with me. I can’t make you feel good until you’re confident with the way you look. You’re so beautiful and I think that every time I see you.’

‘I want to be confident Phil.’ You moved forward to kiss him and you caught him slightly off guard, his hand snaked into your hair and the other pulled you closer to his body. ‘Phil, I want you to be naked with me. Make me feel good again.’ You begged against his lips. Phil moaned into another kiss and you hoped that meant yes.

You felt his hand move through your hair and you’d never felt intensity quite like it. It was like he wanted to taste every part of your mouth over and over again; but soon you felt him slowing down, his hands dropping to your thigh and his movements calming somewhat.

‘I’m sorry.’ Phil whispered, he didn’t move away. ‘I just need to slow down a little.’ He chuckled.

You looked down to find that you had unbuttoned his shirt half way down his chest and the hair that covered his skin was showing. You were momentarily mesmerised by his strong body, the skin was soft and running your hands through it felt good. You heard him sigh into your touch, feeling your fingers gliding over him, you felt your cheeks flaming up and you tried not to care, but it was no good you pulled your hand away and looked up at Phil. You could see faint disappointment evaporating from his face and turning into encouragement.

‘Keep going.’ He said, quietly. ‘It felt good.’ Phil gently took your hand and placed it back on his chest. You watched his eyes almost beg you to keep going and for the life of you, you tried, but it was no use. You found your hands just lay still on his chest and your cheeks remained scarlet. Phil rubbed his thumb over the back of your hand and smiled at you, he leaned over and kissed you gently. ‘Please?’ He begged. ‘Please don’t stop.’ His husky voice melted you somewhat and you felt yourself continue to run your hand over his chest. You felt a rush of confidence and soon you were pushing his shirt over his shoulders.

Phil let it fall behind him and you suddenly felt like you could do anything with him. You got the sense that he felt it too and he began building the intensity again, his hands ran circles over your thighs and started to push your t shirt up until it was gone and you could feel his chest pressing against yours. You let Phil push you back gently and moan into your mouth as he continued his attack on your body.

His mouth drifted lower down your neck and you moaned out in pleasure. You felt his hands caressing your hips and pulling you into him, but suddenly he stopped, you were momentarily confused until you heard it as well. It sounded like someone falling hard in the apartment next to Phil’s.

‘No.’ He said quietly. ‘It’s not my concern right now, where were we?’ He smiled and began kissing your neck again, drifting lower to your chest. Another loud bang and he stopped again.

‘You’re allowed a night off Phil.’ You said against his temple and soon his attention went to the top of your bra, he gave a low moan of approval and you threw your head back against the sofa when he pulled your bra down and ran his tongue over your nipple lightly.

A gunshot went off and Phil jumped into action, he pulled a gun from under the sofa and pointed it straight at the door. You lay still, a mixture of warm from being underneath Phil and scared because he had a gun that didn’t appear to have the safety on.

Phil slowly began putting his shirt back on and handed you your t shirt. ‘Stay here.’ He said and you could see his eyes taking a while to refocus on the task at hand. Phil made his way over to the wall next to the adjoining apartment and listened closely, he took his phone from his pocket and dialled someone. He began quietly reciting what had happened, minus the making out on the sofa. ‘I’m handing you over to The Kid… it doesn’t matter, just keep her up to date on your movements Barton.’ Phil came back over to you and put his hand on your cheek. ‘Agent Barton is coming with a small team, I need you to tell me what his movements are, can you do that for me?’

‘What are you going to do?’ You asked, feeling your voice shake a little and taking the phone.

‘I’m going to find out as much as I can about who fired the shot. I need you to stay next to the front door and wait for me to come back. I’ll be two minutes, I promise.’ He said and kissed your forehead. ‘Two minutes.’ You nodded and went to sit next to the front door in the hallway. Phil made his way into the apartment, and you heard him moving around the rooms. Agent Barton was talking to a group of people and was already on the move heading to Phil’s building.

‘What did you guys hear before Coulson decided to check it out?’ He asked.

‘I don’t know, it sounded like a struggle… like someone being attacked…’ you heard a loud thud and someone falling down, your heart was in your throat. ‘Wait, something just happened…’

‘Where is Agent Coulson now?’

‘In the apartment… I think someone fell, it sounded like someone fell.’

‘Do not go into that apartment.’ Barton ordered. ‘Kid, Agent Coulson said he would come back, stay where you are, we’re four minutes out. Do not engage under any circumstance.’

‘Phil?’ You said a little louder.

‘Tell him we’re one minute away.’

‘Phil, Barton says he’s one minute away.’ You told him, but there was no reply. You didn’t want to think the worst had happened, but Phil might have needed your help. You stood up but didn’t move. ‘Phil?... you promised, you said two minutes.’ You felt yourself panicking. You took a step towards the apartment.

‘Do not go into that apartment Kid!’ Barton shouted down the phone. You stood still and waited. You listened carefully and there was only silence, you suddenly heard footsteps coming towards the front door and you backed away as they got louder and louder, you fell over your feet and pushed yourself as far back as you could, before Phil emerged with blood spattered over his white shirt that he was still buttoning up. It didn’t look like a broken nose, but he was definitely hurt. You lay back in relief and took a few breaths. Phil wandered over and took the phone from you, he barely gave you a look before he began talking to Barton about what happened.

He left you in the middle of the hallway, catching your breath and wondering just how close to getting hurt you had come. You could hear the roar of engines outside and assumed it was Barton and his team arriving.

You stood up and looked over the banister to watch for the team coming up the stairs, that was when you heard Phil yell something and a huge muscular man running out of the apartment with his hands cable tied together, he pushed past you and sent you hurtling over the wooden frame. You didn’t have time to react you just felt the hard steps hitting the back of your head and darkness taking over your vision.

Chapter Text

Your vision was blurry and you could hear people rushing around you, your neck was killing you and your back felt stiff. You could hear Phil shouting orders at people, he was close to you and you felt his hand touching your arm gently.

‘Sweetheart.’ He said very quietly next to you. ‘Are you alright?’ You could feel him trying to get you to sit up. You were pretty sure you mumbled something, but you suddenly felt very dizzy and like you were about to throw up. ‘Easy, easy, just relax.’ Phil said and you stopped where you were at the bottom of the stairs. ‘Looks like it could be a concussion.’

‘Feels like worse.’ You grumbled.

‘Yeah, it always does.’ Phil tried to cheer you up. ‘If it makes you feel better, you stopped him getting away. He’s being taken to a SHIELD facility now.’

‘I guess.’ You tried to sit up properly again, with a little more success. ‘Who was he?’

‘A mercenary we’ve been keeping an eye on for a while now. It was a fortunate coincidence that he moved into the apartment next to mine.’

‘Is it really?’ You joked, finding a little energy to sit up straight. Phil’s shirt still had a blood spatter on it and he had a small cut on the bridge of his nose. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Yeah I’m good.’ Phil gave you a warm smile and tried to focus on the rest of his face. ‘Your concussion is worse than anything wrong with me. So, let’s get you checked out.’ Phil wandered over to where Agent Barton was standing and he came to sit next to you while Phil went to find a doctor.

‘So, you’re The Kid?’ He said with a coy smile.

‘And you’re Hawkeye.’ You shot back, feeling sleep start to pull at you.

‘I doubt anyone at SHIELD would approve of me saying this, least of all Coulson, but the work your Network is doing is helping a lot of people where we can’t. I know I’m grateful.’ He added.

‘Well, someone has to clean up.’ You didn’t mean to sound so snide and Barton knew it, you could feel yourself going again and sat up taking a deep breath.

‘So, you and Coulson are… getting along?’ Barton chuckled and you shot him a look. ‘Hey, don’t glare. It’s great seeing him like this, doesn’t happen often. He’s more focussed and energetic than he’s been for a long time now. I guess that’s down to you.’ You watched Phil talking to another SHIELD agent who handed him a phone with someone on the other end. ‘I only have one request.’ You frowned at Barton. ‘Be gentle with him, he’s been through hell I don’t know how many times, he’s more fragile than he lets on, especially where his… affection, is concerned.’

‘A woman?’ You had to ask.

‘No and that’s the point. He doesn’t let himself get into relationships, says it puts people at too much risk. You must be something special Kid.’ Barton gave you a warm smile as a SHIELD Doctor approached and began giving you a quick scan of your injuries.

You didn’t have any serious injuries and you didn’t need to go back to SHIELD, Coulson would take care of the small cut on the back of your shoulder that you got on impact and the only other thing you needed to do was stay awake for a few more hours just to be sure it wasn’t anything more serious. Beyond that you were feeling better, Phil had changed into a t shirt and finished on the various phones he had been given throughout the ordeal.

‘Feeling any better?’ He asked and pulled a small box from his kitchen cupboard that you soon found was a medical kit.

‘Yeah, I just ache that’s all. Muscles hurt.’ You moved your neck gently to ease the tension that had built there and watched as Phil began preparing a small covering for your cut. You sat on one of his kitchen stools and absorbed yourself in the music that was still playing.

‘It might be easier if you take your shirt off for now.’ Phil said quietly and without opening your eyes, you stripped your t shirt off and threw it in the general direction of the sofa. You heard a small intake of breath coming from Phil and felt your face burn again. Your eyes snapped open when Phil touched around the cut, he was gentle, but the sting was almost unbearable.

‘How are you feeling?’ You asked, trying to distract yourself.

‘I’m fine… I’m sorry I put you in that position.’ He admitted quietly. ‘I should have handled it on my own. Kept you safe.’

‘And then the man you arrested would have gotten away.’ You pointed out. ‘Phil, I’m not that badly hurt and whoever that guy was, he’s not going to hurt anyone else thanks to you. I understand.’ You felt Phil’s hand still for just a moment before he continued. ‘I spoke to Barton earlier.’ You commented.

‘And what did he say?’ Phil chuckled a little.

‘He said you don’t let yourself get into relationships, says you think people are put at too much risk.’ You felt the small covering being placed over the top of your cut. ‘He also said that I must be something special for you to take a chance with me.’

Phil slid his hands around your waist and held you against him as he kissed beneath your ear. ‘You are special.’ He whispered and breathed you in. For whatever reason you didn’t feel that same twinge of embarrassment you usually felt around him, something about his affection made you want him all the more. You placed your hands over the top of his and you both just listened to the music playing for a while. Phil took a deep breath and loosened his grip on you slightly as he came to stand in front of you. ‘So, what would you like to do in the hours you need to stay awake for?’

You thought briefly about continuing your activities from the sofa and felt a grin pull at your mouth. Phil saw it and smiled back at you. But soon your attention turned to the sharp ringing coming from your bag. You gave a frown wondering what exactly it could have been at that of night. Phil stood aside and you grabbed your computer from your bag, it was an incoming message from El Hijo.

El Hijo: SHIELD intercepted the shipment. Made some arrangements and the shipment made it to the hospital around twelve hours ago.

You looked up at Phil and gave him a look. He frowned at you, but didn't ask any questions as you settled onto the sofa facing the laptop away from him.

The Kid: Any casualties?

El Hijo: None.

The Kid: What about SHIELD?

El Hijo: None that I could see.

The Kid: I want certainty. Write me a report and I'll read through it in the morning. This was a little too messy for my liking.

El Hijo: My apologies. I'll do better next time.

You closed your laptop and looked up at Phil who was observing you very closely.

‘You don't look pleased.’ He commented. ‘Something you want to talk about?’ You smiled and slid your laptop onto the coffee table.

‘I suppose it's no good my asking, but I'd really like SHIELD to stop investigating the Network.’ You said and Phil chuckled. ‘It's a waste of both our time and resources and to be honest it's a little more than annoying.’

‘You know that won't happen.’ Phil shook his head. ‘Look, as far as we can see the Network doesn't pose a threat to international security, if anything, you've been helping to clean up after us. But the problem SHIELD has is its identity, or rather the multiple identities that are operating within, we have the best facial recognition technology in the world and top of the line computer scientists, but for whatever reason we can't use any of that to find these people.’

‘I'll take that as a compliment.’ You grinned and Phil rolled his eyes at you. ‘You won't ever find them Phil. You can be sure of that.’

Phil sighed and handed you your t shirt again. You slipped it on and watched him think very quickly. ‘I care about you.’ He said softly. ‘I want you to be safe and something about these people seems off. You’re the only one we have managed to identify and we can’t understand why… tell me why.’ Phil begged. You wanted to tell him the truth, but there was a reason for every step you took and that reason was often to keep your Network secure. It needed a face to throw people off the scent, so you gave it yours, it needed more security, so you brought in El Hijo. There was a reason for every step you took.

‘I’m sorry Phil.’ You said, you voice beginning to crack. ‘But I can’t give you what you’re asking for. I have to keep them safe.’

Phil sighed and nodded. ‘Okay.’

That was the end of the conversation for the longest time, a couple of weeks went by and you finally began to feel more comfortable around Phil. He often came to the lab and even took your bike out for a test drive. You stood in the middle of the huge warehouse-like garage that had so many other projects going on around you and we're going back and forth from one of the Stark control desks. Each project had its own control desk that had maybe three large screens and several tablets that all connected to the upper labs.

‘Now, just remember that when you start moving-‘

‘There’s a kick, I know.’ Phil finished off your sentence. He zipped up the lightweight armour and you handed him the prototype helmet.

‘I’m only reminding you, a lot of the time it takes me by surprise.’ You said, cooling his defences. You tapped away on the tablet and watched the bike descending through the ceiling to the exit ramp. It was one of your proudest achievements, it was perfectly streamlined, balanced to accommodate the rider, the helmet responded to voice recognition and was connected to the bike’s internal systems. The bike was faster than you expected it to be, the engine was top of the line and its automated braking system and autopilot made sure it adjusted to the road ahead. The wheels could glide over anything, grip increased on icy or smooth surfaces and decreased to increase speed where needed. It had a small weapons system that could clear pathways where required and enough power to pull three tons. In your opinion it was the perfect machine.

The bike itself appeared in front of you, you checked a few of the programmes were running correctly, and when you were satisfied you turned to see Phil waiting patiently with the helmet underneath his arm. ‘You look nervous.’ He said, you couldn't help but smile weakly.

‘I'm the only one that's taken it out. Even I don't know how to handle everything.’ You admitted. You stepped down the ramp so you were eye level with him. ‘Don't break it.’ You said.

‘I'll be careful, I promise.’ He smiled and gave you the helmet back to check it was all ready to go. You tweaked one of the circuits and kept the front shield open.

You handed it back to Phil who was still smiling. ‘I'll be on comms.’ You said, pulling an ear piece from your pocket. ‘I'll be monitoring both you and the bike, if I ask you to come back to the garage, I expect that bike to be in front of me ten minutes after.’

‘Yes ma’am.’ Phil said with a huskiness that made your face flush. You smiled and Phil managed to settle your nerves with a light kiss. You let him get ready and put the helmet on, you sat down at the control station and threw him the keys which he caught easily with one hand.

You listened to the roar of the engine as the bike came to life and the screens lit up with the stats, you could see Phil's heart rate, blood pressure and a variety of other vitals that told you he was a little excited about the test drive. ‘Okay, pull the shield down and Rev the engine when you're ready.’ You said over the ear piece. You watched one of the screens change as you began to see what Phil could see, you working at the control station. You smiled and shook your head. ‘Eyes on the road.’ You reminded him. You watched the screen go towards what was ahead of him and the helmet began making adjustments. ‘Okay, you look good. When you’re ready to go-‘ before you could finish the sentence, Phil sped out of the garage without reacting the sharp kick like you always did.

You kept a watch on the bike’s stats and on the screen to watch where he was going. ‘How does it feel?’ You asked.

‘You were right about that kick.’ He chuckled. ‘Steering’s good, internal mapping is a little slower than I'm comfortable with. Brakes are responding well though, so is speed.'

‘The helmet is a prototype; I'll upload a faster programme when I've finished the analysis. There's a sharp left turn coming up ahead, I want you to take it.’ You watched the turn approach and without hesitation Phil sped around the corner and carried on down the road. ‘How was that?’

‘Harder than expected.’ You watched his heart rate coming back down from the sudden spike it had. ‘What's next?’ He said and you sent him a route that would test every aspect of the steering, power consumption and reaction time. You watched Phil glide his way around the city when something caught your eye. The engine had begun to overheat with the amount of pressure it was being put under.

‘Phil, I'm going to need you to come back, keep the speed below sixty and try not to put any pressure on the engine. It's overheating slightly.’ You watched the speed stay steady at fifty-five and Phil was back in the garage less than ten minutes after you asked him to. He turned off the engine and you immediately began pouring coolant into the bike.

‘How's the engine?’ Phil asked, he had taken the helmet off and plugged in into your laptop for the analysis to begin. You looked at the tablet and watched the temperature fall to a safer level.

‘It's fine.’ You let out a sigh of relief. ‘Just needs a few minutes to cool down. How was the ride?’

You watched a huge grin break out on Phil's face. ‘Very exhilarating.’ He said as he slipped the jacket off. You admired his tight white t shirt underneath and didn't hide your approval, he enjoyed you watching him and it gave you a rush of confidence. You stood up and gave Phil a kiss, it didn't take much for him to respond and you could taste a thin layer of sweat that had formed while he was driving. ‘What was that for?’ He asked when you pulled away.

‘For coming back in one piece. And taking care of my bike.’ You chuckled.

You spent the rest of the day with Phil working on your bike and working towards improvements. You loved the days you had with Phil, they were few and far between and you had a better chance of seeing him if you were a person of interest.

Your Network had been quiet for a while and you made sure it stayed that way, El Hijo had been busy putting up more security surrounding the identities of each member of the Network and you had made the decision to send him meet a few of them. It was time he was told your secrets.

Chapter Text

El Hijo: it’s genius.

The Kid: Thanks.

El Hijo: No, I mean it, absolutely genius.

The Kid: Thank you, but we have more pressing matters at hand. I need someone.

El Hijo: Who?

The Kid: The Caretaker… find me The Caretaker.

El Hijo: I’ll be in touch.

You closed the laptop lid and turned to where Phil was standing at the door to your lab, giving you a strange look. ‘What?’ You asked, feeling the familiar blush creep up your neck. It was late and you were supposed to finish early that day, but then so was Phil.

Phil just smiled and took a few steps towards you. He placed his hands on your hips and took a breath. ‘You’re so beautiful, I hope you know that.’ He said and gave you that familiar dark look, before he pressed his warm, soft lips against yours. You could feel something else though, like he was keeping something to himself.

‘Are you okay?’ You asked, frowning slightly.

‘I want to say something,’ he said, not quite making eye contact. ‘And either, you’ll really like it, or… or I run the risk of you running away and all this progress will have been for nothing, we’ll be back at the beginning again.’

‘Well, what is it?’ You ran your hands up his arms and hoped it was as comforting as you thought it would be. Phil had a faint pink blush that you thought was charming, but it seemed to be bothering him a little.

‘I want to ask you to come back home with me, so that I can make love to you all night.’ It was so husky and almost like a growl, it sent heat flooding towards the pit of your stomach and you felt so warm under your skin, but you enjoyed it, you liked that he said it and you liked that it was to you. Before you knew it, Phil was waiting for your reaction.

‘Will it be better than last time?’ You said with a small nervous laugh. Phil just smiled and you saw him physically deflate with relief.

‘I’ll do my best.’ He said and you quickly packed your things away and left holding Phil’s hand all the way to his car.

You both talked about your days and what was happening with SHIELD, Phil had also asked why the Network had been so quiet recently. Neither of these questions had answers either of you wanted to give, so you just moved onto other things. It was easy though, Phil made you feel good about yourself and confident.

You finally got back to Phil’s apartment and he immediately put his music on and offered his hand to dance. You gave him a strange look, but took his hand anyway.

‘I want you to feel good and feel confident with yourself and this seems to do the trick.’ He whispered against your ear and you began to dance with each other. You just laughed and let Phil take you through all the steps over again, it felt good and Phil looked so carefree and young. You came to a familiar stop in the music and began to sway, Phil smiled and you could see his eyes were so dark when they stared into yours.

Phil’s eyes flickered to your lips as he leaned down to press against yours. The pressure was slightly more intense than you were used to, but it was no less enjoyable. His hands began making their way up your bare back, caressing the skin gently and it sent warm shivers up your spine and made you lean up to deepen the kiss slightly. Phil was fairly surprised at this but didn’t stop, in fact he moaned into your mouth and his tongue began mapping out the inside of your mouth.

‘Sweetheart.’ He whispered, but never stopped touching your skin with his bare hands.

‘Take me to bed Phil.’ It was almost a beg. Phil watched you for a moment, before sliding his hands down to lift your legs around him. You held on and pressed kisses to his cheek and neck the same way he had done with you, hoping you were doing it right.

Phil gently placed you on the bed and attacked your mouth once again. His hips pushed up against you and you could feel how hard he was already. You began untucking his shirt from his trousers and he lifted himself to let you. You could feel a wave of confidence hit you and you slipped your hand up underneath his shirt to feel his hard stomach and strong chest. He slowed down, just feeling your hands on him and you loved watching him enjoy your touch.

Phil opened his eyes and looked down at you smiling for a moment. ‘You’re getting brave.’ He noted and placed a small kiss on your lips, before standing up straight and starting to take his tie off.

‘Wait.’ You said and stood up with him. Phil stopped what he was doing and gave you a curious frown. ‘I can do it.’ You said, scolding yourself slightly for not sounding as sexy as you could have done. Phil let his hands fall back to your hips and you took a small breath as you began to loosen his tie. You bit down on your lips slightly as you started on his shirt buttons, you just concentrated on how his chest felt under your fingers and felt yourself wanting to place a soft kiss on the exposed skin.

You gave Phil a look and you could tell he knew what you were thinking, because he just looked at you like he desperately wanted you to do it, you took a chance and pressed your lips to his chest and felt the vibrations of his moan against your mouth. Phil’s hands ventured underneath your vest and you could feel him pushing it up.

You chuckled and stepped back to take it off and as soon as it was gone, Phil kissed you deeply, exploring every part of your mouth he might have missed and soon his belt was gone. You loved the way his trousers hung on his hips, he just looked incredibly sexy and you could just watch him wander around like that all day long. Phil didn’t let you stare for long though, he guided you back onto the bed and began kissing over your jaw, neck and chest. His hands roaming anywhere he could reach, soon though he was getting desperate for you to be entirely naked in front of him and you could feel it.

‘It’s okay.’ You told him. ‘I want to be with you.’ You whispered and his fingers worked the button on your jeans. He placed one more hot kiss against you and even managed to take your bra off in the time it took him to stand up and take your jeans with him. Phil just looked down at you in just your underwear. It was like he was assessing every part of your body and it made you feel anything but discomfort.

‘God, you’re beautiful.’ He said and placed open mouthed kisses on your hips making you run your hand through his hair. Phil made his way up your stomach, squeezing gently at the flesh and kissing every part of you he could find until he reached your mouth again. ‘You’ll tell me if you want to stop?’ He asked.

‘Of course.’ You breathed back.

‘Good, because I want to take my time doing this.’ There was a playful smile on his lips that you loved and you had no idea what it meant. Phil soon began working back down your body, making sure you moaned deeply when he worked over your nipples with his tongue. It was a little overwhelming, but you didn’t want him to stop anything.

Soon he was removing your underwear, taking his time and making you want him all the more. Again he looked down at you and you could see what you had seen when he said you were beautiful, a dark glint that gave you confidence.

Phil kissed your hips again and you arched up into his touch, you could feel him moving with a little more familiarity than last time and a little more confidence, he was right you were both in this together and experiencing each other together.

He soon pressed kisses against your centre, occasionally moving to the inside of your thighs and scraping his teeth along the sensitive skin you let slip a moan that you hadn’t intended on and it only made Phil repeat the movement and make you moan again. Before you knew what was happening, Phil ran his tongue up your centre. You had no idea how someone could take such time over something, but still surprise you, making sudden movements that you loved.

Phil got to work straight away, making sure every nerve ending had been properly explored and always slowing down before you came undone. It was almost frustrating, until he began using his hand as well, first sliding one finger inside and then picking up the pace with two. It was no time at all before you came hard and threw your head back against the pillow, allowing yourself to fall gracefully.

Phil didn’t give you much time to recover before he was on top of you. He had managed to take his trousers and underwear off without you noticing, but you didn’t mind because he was now asking permission to enter you. You let him kiss you hard and without saying anything to let him know you were ready, he thrust his entire length inside you.

You watched as Phil stilled for a moment, his eyes closed, just feeling you around him. It felt so much better than last time, you felt full and instead of pain, it was only pleasure.

‘Phil.’ You breathed, running your hands up his strong arms. His eyes snapped open and you could see a small amount of panic sit behind his eyes.

‘Are you okay?’ He asked. ‘I’m sorry, I should have waited for you to say you were ready-‘

‘Phil.’ You interrupted. He just looked at you, still worrying. ‘I’m fine, it felt good. Please don’t stop now.’

Phil let slip a smile and kissed you again, there was more intensity behind the kiss, like he was drinking all of you in and soon he began to move his hips. You took a long breath and just felt him filling you with himself entirely over and over again. You could feel the intensity in his thrusts building again, you begged him to go just a little faster and he happily obliged.

Finally, Phil collapsed against you, both of you just feeling each other in the warm afterglow. It took a few moments, but Phil made a move to lift himself off of you and roll onto his back, but not before giving you a quick kiss and a smile. You followed him and leaned into his chest, raking your fingers through the soft hair on his chest and feeling like you could sleep forever.
‘Was that better?’ Phil asked, you could feel him smiling against your hair and it made you chuckle slightly.

‘It was so good.’ You stretched your back and legs, just feeling the warm ache settling in your body. ‘But, the night has only just begun and you promised me an entire night of love making.’ You teased and placed a chaste kiss on his lips.

Phil laughed. ‘Yeah, that’s true. Well, give me a minute to catch my breath and I promise I’ll be living up to that promise as best I can.’ You both chuckled and settled against each other again. You felt so good and so confident in yourself, it was a wonder that one person could make you feel this way about yourself.

You both suddenly heard Phil’s phone ringing and Phil groaned, apologising as he went to answer it.

‘Coulson.’ He answered and stood at the end of the bed watching you, you took the opportunity to look over his whole body and he caught you watching, rolling his eyes. You could see he was only half paying attention to what was being said on the phone when he got a bright idea. ‘You hungry?’ He mouthed and you nodded, laughing a little. He gestured for you to follow him and began putting his briefs back on. You just grabbed his shirt and threw it around your shoulders, following him to the kitchen.

You watched him point to the drawer just next to the oven and opened it.

‘Send me the report and I’ll read over it tonight.’ He said and you turned, not really knowing what it was you were supposed to be getting from the drawer, but when you saw him taking a tub of ice cream out of the freezer you caught on. ‘No I’m afraid I can’t come in tonight.’ He said and you gave a playful thumbs up, to which once again he rolled his eyes. ‘Because Agent Sitwell, unlike you I enjoy my personal time off and taking full advantage of it… I’ll read the reports and talk to you tomorrow morning.’ Phil hung up the phone and leaned down to kiss you.

‘You have to work?’ You asked, following Phil back to the bedroom.

‘Only for an hour.’ He promised. ‘I’ll try and be quick, it’s probably nothing to worry about anyway. Sitwell’s an ass.’ Phil laid back down on the bed and you joined him, catching sight of his phone and the image on it.

‘Wait, is that me?’ You said and Phil’s cheeks began flushing pink. He sighed and picked up his phone, finding the picture. It was you on the bridge in Madrid facing away from Phil. ‘You took this in Madrid?’

‘Sorry, I didn’t want to forget how beautiful you were that night. I hope you don’t mind?’ Phil suddenly looked embarrassed and you wondered if that was how you looked when you were uncomfortable with something.

‘No, of course not. I just… I don’t know, I guess I just didn’t expect you to be quite as sentimental.’ You chuckled a little and Phil got what you meant. His phone made a noise to signal the reports coming through and he let out a sigh again as you shoved in another mouthful of ice cream.

‘I’ll be as quick as I can, I promise.’ He said and quickly kissed you. As soon as he stood up to grab his laptop, yours began making a noise. Phil just gave you a look. ‘One hour of work?’ He said and you just laughed.

‘One hour and no more.’ You agreed and grabbed your laptop still laughing at Phil. You sat back down on the bed and opened up your laptop seeing that you had an incoming message from The Saint.

The Saint: Compound intrusion. Venice. Ten minutes ago. Nothing taken, nothing seen. Security is conducting a sweep.

You felt a moment of panic. Phil came back and kissed your neck, he suddenly felt your tension and sat down in front of you.

‘Everything okay?’ He asked.

‘Not sure.’ You admitted. ‘Just waiting to see.’ Phil nodded and began reading through his reports. You could still hear the music playing in the other room and it calmed you both somewhat.

The Kid: Send security feed.

You watched the feed of the previous ten minutes before the intrusion and it just looked like some drunk party goers finding the front door and trying to open it before moving away. You checked every every camera that covered the compound, inside and out and nothing else seemed to be wrong, but you would need El Hijo to make sure.

The Kid: I need you to go to Venice. There was a minor incident and I need to make sure The Saint is safe. He can only do so much to prevent someone getting through the door.

El Hijo: Of course. I’ll be there by the morning.

The Kid: This is what the Caretaker is for. We need her.

You looked up to see Phil mixing up the melted ice cream, with a small frown on his face. You looked at the time and realised it had been just over an hour since you began work.

‘Are you waiting for me?’ You asked, shutting down a few programmes and sending the relevant information to El Hijo.

‘It actually only took a little over half an hour to read over Sitwell’s reports.’ He admitted and you suddenly felt bad.

‘I’m sorry. It was a minor incident that needed taking care of.’ You said and closed your laptop, lying back on the bed. Phil gave a small laugh. ‘What?’

‘Nothing, it’s just that I’m normally the one saying that.’ He chuckled and you brought your hand up to touch his face.

‘I’m sorry I kept you waiting.’ You apologised quietly.

‘It’s fine.’ Phil kissed the palm of your hand. ‘I’ve kept myself occupied.’ He winked at you and you laughed.

‘Oh yeah?’

‘I’ve been making plans for when you got done.’ Phil sat up and gently pushed your legs apart for him to settle between them. He began unbuttoning his shirt, revealing a small amount of skin down the centre of your body.

‘What kind of plans?’ You asked, feeling your breathing beginning to stagger the more he let his fingers graze over your skin. You let your eyes close, just feeling him work.

‘Well, seeing as you’ve become so confident with yourself like this,’ he said and you could feel him moving slightly. ‘I was thinking, if you felt up for it, we could try something else.’ Before you had any time to respond, Phil had let the melted ice cream drip onto your bare skin. You squealed, but again before you could say anything, Phil ran his hot tongue over you, licking up the ice cream and kissing you deeply. ‘Say yes.’ He said softly.

‘Yes.’ You breathed and Phil kissed you again, but this time he stood up and took the ice cream back into the kitchen while you caught your breath again.

When he came, he stopped and looked at you for a while. ‘Did I tell you today how beautiful you are?’ He asked and you just laughed at him. Phil climbed back on top of you and rested on his forearms, while he placed gentle kisses on your mouth, cheeks, jaw, neck and collarbone. You just ran your hands up his back, frowning slightly when you felt the occasional scar, but not stopping. You felt your hips push up slightly and could feel him hardening against you again. Phil took a steady breath and watched you. ‘So, do you feel up for trying something new?’ He brushed the hair from your face and you could tell that there was still no pressure for you to do anything, if you told him there and then that you wanted to stop and go home, you were certain that he would offer you a ride. But you felt confident, like with Phil you were capable of being adventurous and that with him you were safe.

‘Okay.’ You said, hoping you sounded confident. ‘What are you thinking?’

Phil let out a small sigh of relief and kissed you softly. ‘So, on occasion I find myself in my office alone,’ he began and kissed along your jaw line. ‘In these rare moments when I lean back in my chair, taking my time to think about my next task,’ his lips moved to just below your ear and sent shivers down your entire body. ‘I find my mind drifting towards something that I’d much rather be doing.’ Phil dragged his teeth over your earlobe and brought himself back up to look at you. ‘I think about what it would be like if you were there, sitting top of me and making love to me right there.’ You felt a small whip of panic, but suddenly remembered that Phil was your safe place, with him anything was possible. ‘I promise, I’m not going to hurt you, if you say no, it's fine, it’s really okay.’ He assured you.

You bit your lip, before answering. ‘Okay.’ You said and watched Phil’s face light up. ‘I’d like to try.’ You said, your voice definitely not reflecting any kind of confidence, Phil noticed, but kissed you anyway and suddenly that confidence you needed came flooding back. ‘Just one thing.’ You said, awkwardly.

‘What’s that?’ Phil frowned.

‘I have no idea what I’m doing.’ You both chuckled.

‘That’s okay.’ Phil kissed you. ‘I’ll help you.’ He promised and began placing kisses back down your body. He stood up at the edge of the bed and held out his hand for you follow him. You took it and found yourself looking up into his crystal blue eyes. Phil slid his hands up your body and pushed his shirt off of your shoulders. You were left naked in front of him and felt that nervousness creeping in again. ‘Don’t be nervous.’ Phil whispered. ‘I promise, you’ll enjoy it and if you don’t, we never have to do it again.’ He kissed your forehead and you took a breath. You could do this. You looked down at his hips and slid your finger inside the waistband of his briefs, he was already hard for you and his underwear looked tight around him.

You had an idea and looked up to Phil, giving him a smirk and you could see him wondering what exactly it was you were about to do. You ran your hand up his length and felt his grip on your hips tighten as he moaned against your forehead. You wondered if you could make him do that again and ran your hand up him again, once again he let a moan go. Phil gave you a bruising kiss and moved so that he could take his briefs off.

He sat on the edge of the bed and guided you over with him. Slowly and without pressure, he guided your legs so that you were straddling him and you felt his hands move up your thighs, around the curve of your arse, gently squeezing it, before settling on your hips. Phil kissed you and you just felt him against you for a moment.

‘You ready?’ He asked and you honestly weren’t sure if you were. Phil could tell and smiled, he began kissing along your jaw, neck and chest, sending warmth downwards. He wrapped his tongue around your nipple and gently sucked, making you moan and run your hands through his hair.

Phil adjusted himself so that he was guiding you upwards slightly. You had another moment of panic as you realised what was coming. Phil stopped and watched as that panic began to subside. He waited until it was gone entirely, before lining himself up and letting you guide yourself back down onto him. You felt even more full than you had done before, like he was reaching places he hadn’t gone before. Phil moaned loudly against your chest and you both took a moment to relax into the new position.

‘Are you okay?’ Phil breathed heavily and ran his hand through your hair, making you look at him. You half laughed, not quite being able to talk just yet. ‘Me too.’ He laughed and wrapped his arms around your back, holding you close, before just sitting with him inside you wasn’t enough. Phil could feel it as well, the need for something more to happen.

‘Can I move?’ You asked and Phil looked almost relieved as he nodded and let you move slowly up and down his length. ‘Show me how to do it.’ You whispered and Phil responded with a hot kiss as his hands came to your hips, moving them to grind up and down, occasionally moving in circles. You felt the intensity increase as you continued to move with him.

‘Wait, wait.’ He said and you slowed your movements. ‘Sorry, I need to slow down a little.’ He chuckled and you smiled in understanding, but you were so close, you tried moving just enough to keep you at the same intensity that you were at before, but Phil was being a little resistant. ‘Let me help with that.’ He smirked and brought his hand around to run circles around your already sensitive nerves. You picked up the pace only slightly, grinding against his hand and suddenly feeling like you were about to explode around him. ‘Come for me sweetheart.’ Phil whispered and you cried out his name, feeling yourself clench tightly around him.

Soon Phil was following you over the edge and you both just held each other, trying to catch your breath and calm down. You felt yourself lean in to kiss Phil and he was momentarily taken by surprise, before he settled into the movement of your lips against his.

You both calmed down enough for Phil to flip you onto you back and slowly remove himself from you. You lay together for a little while longer, just taking in what had happened.

‘Are you alright?’ Phil asked and you couldn’t help yourself, you just started laughing at him. He propped himself up on his elbow and frowned at you. ‘What’s funny?’ He said, smiling at how happy you were.

‘You.’ You said. ‘Me, we’re hilarious.’ You managed to get out. ‘You’re so considerate and every time I feel like I’m being an awkward teenager, you make me feel like I’m worth something and you make me feel so good… Are you really asking me if I’m alright? Are you alright?’ You finished and it was Phil’s turn to let out a laugh.

‘I’m good.’ He nodded. ‘I’m in bed with a wonderful woman who I just revealed a very personal fantasy to and she said yes to it, do you have any idea how many men don’t get to say that? Admittedly some people are more adventurous than I am, but still.’ He said and leaned down kissing you softly again. ‘Thank you.’

‘You’re welcome and for the record, any time you want to do that again, I’m completely okay with it.’ You said and leaned into Phil who had a slightly darker look about him, but nothing compared to what it had been when he was inside you.

Phil looked as if he was about to say something, but he stopped himself before he said anything. Instead he just watched your face, looking over every part of you with completed adoration in his eyes.

‘Can I tell you something?’ You said, Phil nodded and placed his hand on your stomach, making you shiver under his touch. ‘I think you might already know this and I know you’re the same, because you said it… I’m in love with you.’ You felt your entire face flush red, Phil just stared at you and you had no idea what was going through his mind. Maybe you were wrong about everything, maybe he didn’t love you back, maybe you just misread everything. You felt yourself panic and not be able to stop.

Phil pressed quite possibly the most intense kiss to your lips that you had ever felt. He was pouring himself into in a way your weren’t sure you’d felt before. It was love, it had to be.

Chapter Text

The rest of that night you spent with Phil, talking and laughing and even dancing until the sun began to rise and you both needed to get a few hours sleep before heading into work. The weeks after, you spent making sure Venice was secure and getting in contact with everyone else, upgrading the security protocols and ensuring that the rest of your compounds were secure.

Phil had been noticeably worried about you and the amount of nights you were spending at your laptop working, you were hardly sleeping, but the security of your Network was top priority. Phil had also been giving you a little basic training, you did okay and he was impressed at how fast you were learning.

You had finished your bike and began driving it to and from work, giving it a few runs and seeing how it drove. Tony had been impressed, but never asked you to build anymore.

‘This is your project, Kid.’ He said. ‘But if I need something like it, at least I’ll have an expert party to refer to.’ He winked and left you in the garage to put your bike back together. You had taken the coverings off to show Tony the inside and how it all worked, something he figured out mostly on his own and you were glad he liked it.

El Hijo: The Caretaker is proving difficult. I may have something though.

The Kid: Good. As soon as she’s ready, I’ll give you a location. Ensure she makes it in one piece.

Phil wandered into your lab and you looked up only to be captured in a pretty hot kiss. ‘Hey, to you too.’ You said, quickly shutting your laptop and returning to what you were previously doing which was building an arm.

‘Is that an arm?’ Phil asked, almost shocked at what he was seeing.

‘Yeah, Tony said he didn’t want me on any official assignments anymore, said my best work was done when I can think freely, so now I’m an independent designer.’ You said proudly and bowing a little.

‘Well, congratulations.’ He smiled and followed you to get a closer look at the arm, you noticed that he was limping a little. ‘When did that happen?’

‘Just this morning actually.’ You picked up the small tools and began polishing off some rough edges. ‘He came down to see my bike and was disappointed at how long it took me to finish, I guess he figured I was being distracted with the assignments I was being given. So he told Pepper to put me on the independent list, means I get more access to materials and I get an extension on my lab. They’ll be knocking down the wall between here and the one next door to give me more space. Tony said he was going to install privacy mode in the glass as well.’

‘Oh really?’ Phil’s eyebrows twitched a little and you knew he could only have been thinking terribly obscene things. You just laughed and rolled your eyes. ‘Sounds perfect for you. I’m very proud.’ Phil kissed your cheek and made you blush a little.

‘So, what brings you down here this time?’ You asked, knowing that Phil had a busy day, he didn’t have time for casual visits. He gave you a look that reflected an apology.

‘El Hijo.’ He sighed, you knew El Hijo was safe, you spoke to him only moments ago and he had been very quiet recently. ‘I’ve been asked to gather information on him. I know you’re not going to give me anything, but… You asked why I was here.’

You nodded and thought for a moment. ‘Why just El Hijo? You’ve never asked me for a specific contact before.’ You said.

‘Because he’s looking more dangerous by the day and we’re worried about his threat level.’ Phil admitted, you could see this was hard for him, but you couldn’t understand what he was talking about.

‘El Hijo’s been quiet recently.’ You said simply. ‘You’ve got no reason to be looking for him.’

‘That’s why we’re worried. He made a lot of noise and then went dark. We’re concerned about what he’s doing.’

You nodded. ‘I know what he’s doing. You don’t need to worry.’ You said simply.

Phil sighed and leaned against the platform. You carried on working, knowing exactly what was coming. ‘Okay.’ You stopped, you weren’t expecting that. Phil just looked exasperated. ‘You know what he’s doing and you can guarantee me that he’s not preparing to do anything that might be considered a threat?’

‘Phil-‘

‘Promise me, he’s not a threat, be absolutely sure.’ Phil insisted.

You put down your tools and looked up at him. ‘Phil I can't guarantee that. You know I can’t. I know what he’s doing and for the Network, it's the best possible thing he could be doing. But the Network itself is still considered a threat by SHIELD, so tell me how I’m supposed to guarantee anything.’

Phil began wandering around the lab, he held the bridge of his nose and it looked as if the pain in his leg had become worse.

‘I need you safe. Always.’ Phil said quietly. He stopped and looked at you pleadingly. ‘I can’t protect you from these people.’

‘You don’t need to.’ You shook your head. ‘Phil, I need you to trust me. I’ve been working with this for six years now and not once have I had a problem that I couldn’t fix. I know them inside and out and if any of them had any inkling to do anything that seems out of place, I have every power to stop them.’ You took a few steps forward until you were right in front of him. ‘Please, can you just trust me?’ You begged. Phil took a breath and it took him a long time to nod his head.

‘Okay, I’ll trust you for now.’ He agreed and you knew it was the best you were going to get. ‘But the second they step over the line and you do nothing to stop them, that trust stops.’

‘Understood, sir.’ You said with a cheeky smile. It eased Phil's tension and he rolled his eyes, but you knew he secretly enjoyed it just a little. He gave you a small kiss and a smile. ‘Now, what else can I do for you?’

For the next few months you and Phil remained together, you fought over SHIELD, over the Network, over each other's safety. You danced, you laughed, you cried together. Phil taught you to have confidence in yourself, to ask for something if you wanted it, to be brave with your body around him. He reminded you as often as he could that he thought you were beautiful and you told him everyday that you loved him. He gave you basic self defence training on free nights you had together that almost always ended up with the two of you making love to each other.

You found out about what happened in New Mexico and had this strange feeling that something much bigger was coming. You couldn't shake the feeling that Thor was just the beginning of something huge. You kept up your work in cybernetics, keeping your official work simple and raising little suspicion over what you were creating. Mostly just making cybernetic limbs for people who had lost them in some form or another. El Hijo had been responsible for finding anyone in third world countries who was in dire need of such equipment and in partnership with The Caretaker, had ensured the limbs made it to the correct locations. You had made certain adjustments to ensure that they all had the technology to blend skin tone, so that they didn't look out of place and SHIELD couldn't tell on sight who had one and who didn't. Something Phil was especially angry about.

‘What if they malfunction?’ He yelled whilst getting changed into a t shirt. He'd gotten into the habit of leaving clothes in your apartment for when he stayed over, but then you left clothes at his as well. You never spoke about it, it was just one of those things you both just did and you were happy with the arrangement. ‘What if it doesn't work the way you say it does? What if they break and repairs are needed? Do you know how many things could go wrong?’ He stripped his shirt off entirely and stood in the doorway. He looked bruised around one of his hips and up his side.

‘They won't.’ You said exasperated and grabbed some ice, wrapping it in a towel and wandering over to press against his bruises. ‘The limbs don't have any advanced technology in them, the repairs would be simple enough to make. I've done enough work on them to know that they will work the way they're supposed to work. To allow these people to walk or perform simple functions like picking up a cup of water… What happened to you trusting my intelligence?’ The truth was, Phil had only hurt you once in the entire time you had been together and he had said it plain and simple that people who had an extraordinary amount of intelligence could be dangerous, he told you his trust only went so far.

You tried to be gentle and spread the ice all around the bruised areas, Phil barely flinched and you had done this enough times to know that just about nothing made him flinch, pain least of all. You always took your time to examine his body, his chest mostly and every time it made you blush.

Phil brought his hand up to your cheek and sighed. ‘I'm sorry.’ He whispered. ‘I trust you with my life, I hope you know that.’ You looked up at Phil and gave him a tight smile.

‘It doesn't look that bad.’ You said referring to his bruising. ‘You'll be fine.’ Both you and Phil knew full well that he had already been checked out by doctors, but you both also knew that it comforted you to do something for him that might've helped, like putting ice on his wounds. You walked back to the kitchen and got rid of the ice, throwing the towel on the counter. You leaned over the sink, just watching the ice melt and feeling how mentally exhausted you were.

‘Sweetheart.’ Phil said and came to stand just next to you. ‘Tell me what's wrong. This isn't about my trusting your intelligence, somethings bothering you.’

You sighed and let your head hang low. ‘I just… I feel like something is about to happen. Something huge and something bad. Don't you feel it?’

Phil sighed and brought you close to his chest. You loved the warm feeling he sent through you when you stood like this. ‘I feel like that everyday.’ He admitted. ‘More so now that I have something… Someone, to fight for.’ You pulled away to look up at Phil and his crystal blue eyes bore into yours before he pressed a kiss to your lips. ‘I love you so much.’ He said and then looked as if he was about to say something else.

‘What?’ You asked, curious as to what he was about to say. ‘What were you going to say there?’

Phil just smiled, raking his hand through your hair. ‘Nothing. It doesn't matter.’

‘Are you sure? It looked like it mattered for a moment there.’ You smiled back up at him. Phil just shook his head and went to put his t shirt on. You followed him into the bedroom and saw him give you a look out of the corner of his eye. ‘I'm banning you from putting any more clothes on until you tell me what you were thinking about there.’ You said defiantly. Phil just turned and half laughed at you.

‘You're banning me from putting clothes on?’ He frowned, still smiling at you though. He held his grey t shirt in his hand and you confidently strode up to him.

‘Yes.’ You said. ‘And you'll be forced to watch me blush over how hot you are.’

‘Well I can't imagine the torture.’ He said sarcastically.

You couldn't help your laugh. Phil captured you in another kiss, but this one was full of something else, something more desperate.

‘Promise you won't run away when I tell you this?’ Phil begged softly against your lips.

‘I'll never run from you.’ You began to panic slightly over what Phil was about to say. You didn't dare let go, he needed you close and you wanted to be his safe place.

Phil took a moment to think before speaking. He placed one small kiss on your lips and looked at you, but never letting go of your waist. ‘I've been thinking for a long time now… And I can't imagine being with anyone else for the rest of my life. I want you. I always want you and if I could I'd…’ Phil took a breath. You brought your hands up to his face and gave him a kiss, trying to give him a little confidence to continue.

‘Tell me.’ You whispered.

‘If I could I'd leave SHIELD for you.’ He said it almost on command. ‘I'd run away with you, go somewhere quiet, with space to breath… I'd marry you and spend the rest of my life making you as happy as you have made me over these past few months… And I'm terrified to tell you that because I know you're not ready for that just yet, but one day I hope you will be.’ Phil watched for your reaction and you truthfully didn't know what to say, so you just watched him back and soon Phil began panicking.

‘Don't panic.’ You said and pressed a kiss to his lips, feeling his relief pour into you. ‘I love you Phil Coulson and no matter what, I will spend the rest of my life loving you in every way I can.’

Phil physically deflated and kissed you again, wrapping his arms around you and holding you against him. His tongue reached everywhere he thought he'd missed before and you could feel him hardening beneath his trousers. Finally, he pulled back and took a calming breath, you smiled up at him and thought on what he said.

‘I don't feel scared.’ You said, Phil frowned slightly. ‘I thought I would. I thought I'd be scared of commitment.’ You both gave a small laugh. ‘But I'm not, I'm excited… I'm excited to be with you. That's a good thing right?’

‘Absolutely.’ He breathed and you spent the rest of the evening making love to this extraordinary man. You worshipped each other's bodies, you told each other over and over again how much you loved each other and soon you were falling asleep against your safe place. His warm strong chest pressed to your cheek and you felt that calm wash over you.

Chapter Text

El Hijo: we have a problem, someone is trying to find the location of The Caretaker. Not SHIELD this time, it looks a lot like them, but it isn’t.

The Kid: Are you sure?

El Hijo: yes, the encryption isn’t standard SHIELD, but it is coming from their HQ.

The Kid: Can you pinpoint the exact location? I’m on my way there just now. If it’s not SHIELD, but coming from that location, then we have a much bigger problem on our hands.

El Hijo: give me six minutes and I'll send it to you.

You quickly put up the normal security measures you installed for when you entered SHIELD HQ and shut your laptop down. Phil just looked at you from the driver’s seat.

‘Everything okay?’ He asked. You looked at him and smiled.

‘No… I need you to do something for me.’ You told him as he parked the car in the underground garage. ‘I need you to trust me.’

‘Of course I trust you.’ Phil said, taking your hand and stroking the back of it gently.

‘This is work related.’ You told him.

Phil took a breath and looked out of the front window of the car. He knew exactly what you were asking and it was a lot.

‘Phil, I just got a message telling me that someone is looking for something of mine.’ You began to explain. ‘Something that I can usually handle on my own, but this time it’s coming from SHIELD… El Hijo is convinced that while it’s coming from this building, it’s not a SHIELD operative that’s trying to find-‘ You stopped mid sentence, knowing that Phil couldn’t know about The Caretaker. ‘Phil, El Hijo is someone I trust, if he says it’s not a SHIELD operative, then it isn’t, which means someone in that building doesn’t belong there.’

Phil looked at you and you couldn’t quite tell what it was he was thinking. He watched you for the longest time, before he began to settle on a thought. Phil gently moved his hand to turn on privacy mode in the car, the windshield went dark and the doors locked around you and for a moment it was almost terrifying, until Phil gave you a small smile. ‘Marry me.’ He said and your mouth dropped open. ‘After we go and find out who this guy is, after we stop him from hurting both of us and after it’s over… Marry me.’ Phil leaned back and took a small box out of his pocket. ‘I’ve been carrying this around with me since I told you I’d leave SHIELD for you… I can’t keep hearing about people trying to hurt you and you can’t keep putting up with the thought that I might die any day now without feeling like we could be something more. So, marry me… Please?’ Phil opened the box to reveal a beautiful clear engagement ring and you could barely breathe.

You just kept looking from the ring to Phil, half thinking this was the most insane thing you’d ever heard and half thinking that he was the most perfect person on the planet.

‘Yes.’ You breathed and Phil broke out into the widest smile you’d ever seen on him. ‘I’ll marry you… Yes.’ You leaned over and held Phil tight against you. You could feel him breathing and trying to regain himself, before looking at you with all the love in the world and kissing you passionately. His tongue falling in love with your tongue, his mouth worshipping yours and his hands keeping you safely against him.

Phil pulled away and you watched him shakily slide the ring on your finger, he brought his lips to your hand and sighed into the kiss. He looked up and kissed you again and took a breath. ‘I love you.’ He said quietly, a realisation of how much you both meant to each other. ‘The second this is over, we’ll go anywhere you want, just name the place and we’ll get married.’

You pressed your lips against him again, drinking all of him in and knowing that you were safe, that he was what safety felt like.

‘Phil.’ You breathed and he watched you. ‘I’m going to marry you.’ You said, just tasting the way it felt when you said it.

‘Yes you are.’ He laughed and you just sat staring at each other for a few minutes longer before your phone made a noise that brought you both back. ‘Is that El Hijo?’

‘Yeah, he says the attack is coming from an office on the twenty-third floor. What’s on that floor?’ You asked and Phil just shook his head.

‘Mostly just offices for handlers, mine’s on that floor.’ He said, but you could still see the whisper of a smile on his face. You smiled at him again and kissed him once more before you both needed to deal with the outside world.

Phil turned off privacy mode and you both jumped out of the car, Phil began dialling Fury’s office while you waited for a more specific location.

‘Yes sir… I’m with her now.’ Phil gave a secret smile to you as you entered the lift. ‘Twenty-third floor, looks like a high ranking agent could be what we’re looking for… No, I don’t think there’s reason to panic anyone until we find out who it is… Yes sir, I’ll call down to have an interrogation room ready.’ Phil hung up and just looked at you. ‘Fury is concerned that it’s a SHIELD agent gone bad, but he’s even more concerned that it isn’t a SHIELD agent at all and we’ve let someone into the building that shouldn’t be here. Means there’s a problem in security.’ Phil sighed.

‘Well, El Hijo has traced the computer to a single location. I’ll know when we’re close to it.’ You said and Phil nodded. You both stepped out and Phil kept you close by, you didn’t dare move away from him. You directed Phil towards the office and found yourself close to his, but maybe only a few doors down from him.

‘This is Agent Sitwell’s office.’ Phil said with a frown. ‘Are you sure we’re in the right place?’

You double checked even though you knew you didn’t need to and nodded. Phil knocked on the door and you could see on his face that he half hoped Sitwell wasn’t there. Sitwell answered, he was on the phone and gestured for you both to come in and take a seat while he finished his phone call. Phil gave you a strange look. ‘I need to get a look at his computer.’ You whispered. Phil nodded and finally, Sitwell finished on the phone. Neither one of you had sat down and you could see Phil’s agent mask slipping into place.

‘Coulson.’ He smiled and shook Phil’s hand. ‘What can I do for you and the Kid?’

‘Actually, she needs to take a look at your computer.’ Phil said and you had a strange feeling that it was the wrong approach to take. ‘There’s been a security breach and we’re currently going through a small list of computers that might be at risk, yours is one of them.’

Sitwell looked genuinely surprised and confused. ‘A security breach? Standard protocol is that I hand over the computer to SHIELD operatives-‘

‘This is different, feel free to call Director Fury about it, but he’s given us permission to monitor the breach and use a more tactical approach to find out where it's coming from.’ Phil said coolly. He was good, you just hoped you were backing him up the way you should have done.

‘Well, I hardly think bringing her in to help was the right call to make here, but if that’s what Fury says, then fine.’ Sitwell was being about as resistant as he should have been, but something was a little off. Phil nodded for you to go to his computer and begin searching through it for what you needed. You could see Sitwell out of the corner of your eye, looking calm and collected, before you noticed something off about what you were seeing.

‘The history’s been cleared.’ You said and looked up at both Phil and Sitwell who looked just as confused as each other. Phil looked to Sitwell.

‘What do you mean it’s been cleared?’ Sitwell asked.

‘The data I’m looking for, it outlines actions taken either in the background or something you’ve actively done. But all of it’s gone.’ You explained and Phil gave you a small scowl. You quickly began typing away trying to find out where the data had been dumped to.

‘I don’t understand, what does that mean?’ Sitwell asked, genuine concern in his voice.

‘Means I need silence for the next ten minutes while I trace the data dump.’ You said coolly and Phil’s scowl eased. The next ten minutes, you typed, worked and analysed quickly. You were tempted to do your own data dump and send it to your own laptop, but you’d once promised Phil that you would never hack SHIELD, that there were secrets that even he didn’t know about and that it wasn’t worth whatever you were trying to achieve. You soon found something that had your blood running cold, you felt yourself panic and glance up to find that Phil was keeping his eyes firmly fixed on Sitwell who just flicked through a file.

You worked your way through the back door and found what you were looking for, but it could have meant too many things to count and your ten minutes were up.

‘The history’s gone, I can’t trace it.’ You said and looked at Phil who looked slightly annoyed, but also a little grateful.

‘Okay, we’ll try the next computer on the list.’ Phil nodded. ‘Thanks for your time.’ He said, nodding to Sitwell who just smiled politely. ‘Come on.’ Phil said and you quickly stood up and walked straight for the door. Phil guided you towards his office. And locked the door behind him. ‘What did you find?’ He asked as you paced around.

‘Nothing of note, no encryption data, no hidden passwords and nothing to suggest someone hacked in.’ You said.

‘Well that’s a good thing right?’ Phil took a step towards you.

‘No… No it’s really not, the obscure thing I found was the data dump, but when I looked into the coding around that time, it wasn’t an active request. Sitwell didn’t clear the data someone else did… This is hard to explain.’ You said and paced a little more. ‘Think of it like a rippling effect. Someone hacked in only to clear the data, but there in lies the problem. I can’t tell you if the hack that came from Sitwell’s computer was done by him or an outside party.’

Phil sighed and wandered towards the window. ‘So we have nothing?’

‘Not exactly.’ You said, sitting down at Phil’s desk and typing away on his computer.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Checking your history to see if it matches up with what I did see.’ You told him. ‘SHIELD uses a very specific set of hacking codes to back up it’s secure files, the last time one was accessed from this computer was around nine o'clock yesterday evening, that was around the time you told me you had one last thing to do before you came home, right?’

‘Yeah, I needed to check out something in one of the reports.’ Phil leaned down and you felt his tie slide over your shoulder, he was so close.

‘You see how the security system took the commands?’ You said pointing to a line of coding on the computer. ‘That means it was an active command, means you did it yourself. If you go a little further down we can see a background sweep, that’s SHIELD’s sweeper system checking the computer for any viruses or for anyone hacking into the computer and it’s a little more complicated. However, if I were to hack in and starting doing things from an outside device…’ You began hacking Phil’s computer with your phone, not all the way, but just enough to show him what it would look like. ‘There, I haven’t gotten into the computer and already the coding has changed, it’s building up defences and blocking my attempts.’

‘And that’s what Sitwell’s computer looked like?’

‘Not quite.’ You sighed. ‘This is where it gets complicated, the coding looked like a hack, but the defences were being intercepted by an active command. Sitwell’s computer was being used by someone outside of SHIELD and either Sitwell or someone else was letting it happen. That’s when they did the data dump, to cover their tracks, the only problem with that is you can’t get rid of a data dump, not as easily anyway.’

Phil just watched the screen for a while, before standing up straight and going back to the window.

‘Phil-‘

‘Just give me a minute.’ He interrupted and you suddenly realised what was going on. He had worked with Sitwell for a long time and you couldn’t imagine what it felt like to be told someone you trusted might have been a traitor. ‘Are you sure about this? You’re sure it’s Sitwell?’

You stood up behind Phil and decided to be as honest as you could. ‘No and that’s the problem. I don’t have enough evidence to suggest Sitwell was the one behind the hack, but it doesn’t look good.’ You admitted.

‘I need to speak with Fury.’ Phil sighed. ‘If you can’t prove who did it then all we can do is keep an eye on the situation and work from there.’ Phil turned around to face you and gave you a small smile, stroking your cheek with his thumb. ‘Can you give me half an hour? After that I’ll come back and make good on my promise.’ That made him smile even wider as he pressed a kiss to your lips. ‘I’m taking the next few days off, think about where you want to go.’ He said quietly against your lips. ‘I love you.’

‘I love you too Phil.’ You whispered back and slipped your hands around his strong waist and pressed a more intense kiss to his lips, making him respond in kind. Phil moaned into your mouth and stopped, taking a breath.

‘I’ll be back soon.’ Phil said and reluctantly pulled away from you once and for all.

‘Phil.’ You called just as he got to the door. You had something you wanted to ask, a piece of information that SHIELD had that you wanted. Maybe now wasn't the time. ‘Never mind, we’ll talk when you get back.’

He gave you a small frown, but just smiled and left the office. You needed to check in with El Hijo and so set Phil's office to privacy mode.

The Kid: I can't send you any data for analysis. I'll take care of any repercussions myself. How long until The Caretaker is ready to move?

El Hijo: it wouldn't be wise to move again her so soon. She needs time to settle.

The Kid: time is something we no longer have an abundance of. I'll pick her up myself in one week from the current location, ensure she is ready and ensure you are as far away from there as you can be. One week.

El Hijo: I'll do what I can.

You looked at Phil's computer again, wondering if you should have looked further into the intrusion. You debated with yourself back and forth for a few minutes before your phone began ringing.

Chapter Text

Phil arrived at Fury’s office a little nervous but determined all the same. He nodded to the receptionist and entered without saying a word.

‘You look nervous.’ Fury pointed out the second he saw Phil.

Phil rolled his eyes a little and undid his jacket button as he took a seat opposite Fury.

‘Sitwell's computer will need to be monitored more closely.’ Phil said simply. ‘She found some inconsistencies with some of the coding that she says could mean one of a few things. I think we may have a leak, whether it's Sitwell is unclear just now, but it's worth keeping an eye on.’

‘Agreed.’ Fury nodded and stared at his old friend. ‘Are you going to tell me, or are we going to sit here all day stare at each other?’

‘I want to call in that favour.’ Phil finally said and it made Fury’s eye widen.

‘You want to call in a twenty year old favour?’ Fury clarified. Phil nodded. ‘Tell me what you need and it's done.’

Phil took a breath knowing exactly how the Director was going to react. ‘I'm going to marry her… I want you to ensure that happens without interruption and get me a plane ride to anywhere she wants to go.’

Fury just stared at Phil and he couldn't quite tell what was going on behind the stare. Fury sat forward for a moment and took a breath.

‘You saved my life.’ Fury said, simply. ‘You covered up a big mistake of mine and saved my life; no one asked you to do that and no one asked you to risk your life, not back then anyway. And yet you still saved my life and did what a good friend would do for another friend and at that moment, I decided to give you the most valuable thing I had and still have in my arsenal. One favour, anything you want… You've never asked for anything in twenty years and now this is what you ask me for. A plane ride and a few days off?’

‘Yes.’ Phil said it without hesitation. He knew what he'd done for Fury, he knew what he'd done when he was just a level one agent and he was grateful that Fury had looked after him for twenty years, but this was worth it.

‘Okay.’ Fury said simply. ‘I'll erase the tape of this meeting and your personal life stays off your record. Consider the call to the hanger made and not a single person will call you for exactly five days. Make them count and congratulations Phil. Wish I could be there.’ Fury stood and shook Phil's hand.

‘Thank you. Any advice?’ Phil chuckled.

‘Just one thing. My father always used to tell me the secret to a long and successful marriage was honesty… He was married six times.’ Fury and Phil laughed. ‘I don't need to recite protocol to you, but I will warn you against what you're doing, I can't see this ending well. Prove me wrong.’

Phil knew Fury wouldn't exactly be happy with the decision and knew that was the best he could have hoped for. He was going to marry her and that was the end of it, Fury was never going to stop that. Never.

Chapter Text

‘Phil.’ You said, a little grateful that he interrupted your dangerous thinking.

‘I'm leaving right now.’ He said and you could hear him doing just that. ‘I've asked Fury to put us on a plane to wherever you want to go. So where do you want to go?’

You quickly took Phil's office off of privacy mode and leaned back in his chair. ‘I want to go somewhere warm, with beautiful views and no one around that could possibly need us for anything.’

Phil chuckled a little. ‘Okay, I think I know somewhere we can go. Meet me in the garage, we’re not sticking around.’ You enjoyed the determination Phil had to leave work and you were excited about where he could be taking you to spend a few days to get married and simply be in his company.

‘I'm on my way.’ You smiled and looked down at your hand where the beautiful clear engagement ring sat. It would take you a little time to get used to wearing it, but you didn't mind in the slightest.

You made in down to the garage and Phil took you home to pack for a few days away. He wouldn't tell you where you were going, but you just wanted to go. You could see him occasionally checking his phone and reading a couple of things on it. You didn't mind that he was working, not really, you had a feeling you'd be the same for a while.

‘Madrid.’ Phil whispered. You had been asleep in one of the bunks on the SHIELD plane, after leaving later than you would have liked and Phil finishing up some work, you just decided to get some sleep while you could. Phil had gently woken you up, kissing your shoulder and neck and gently turning you to lay on your back. You made a grunting noise and Phil just chuckled. ‘We've landed in Madrid.’ He said again.

‘Madrid.’ You sighed, smiling and wrapping your arms around his waist. Phil chuckled and stroked your cheek with his thumb. You leaned up and kissed him softly, just loving his lips against you after waking up.

Phil pulled away and stared down at you. He didn't look that tired, his eyes were crystal blue and love poured from them. ‘Are you ready to go?’ He asked.

You took a breath and woke up properly, still with your arms around his waist. ‘Where are we going?’

‘For a drive.’ He said rather vaguely. You half laughed at him. ‘All you need to know is I love you and for the next five days, I'm all yours.’ Phil pressed a hot kiss to you and heat flooded down to the pit of your stomach.

‘Fine.’ You said, giving in and stretching your limbs a little. ‘Lets go.’

Phil took your case and handed you a coffee for the road. You walked down the ramp to find Lola just outside the hanger, you felt a rush of excitement in the pit of your stomach. Phil was pulling out all the stops for you.

The drive was gorgeous, the views were spectacular and you felt free, driving through Madrid, off road and up a winding path towards a secluded area of the city. You stopped off at a sweet looking café for lunch before continuing the drive up the long road to the top of a hill that looked out at the city below. It was beautiful and Phil had let you rush over to the edge to see the sun shining and feel the breeze circling your body, while he took your case from the car, checking into a small hotel nearby.

You didn’t know how long it had been, but soon Phil was coming up behind you and wrapping his hands around your waist, softly kissing just below your ear.

‘It's beautiful.’ You sighed into him. Phil just breathed you in and mumbled an agreement into your neck. ‘Well, I think it is anyway.’ You chuckled.

‘I'm sorry, I think it is as well,’ Phil chuckled and looked up at the city as well. ‘I've just got other things on my mind right now.’ He said and you knew what he was talking about. ‘I keep going to check my phone, every time I do, there's nothing there. No one trying to call or email or anything, it's a strange feeling.’ He chuckled and kissed your cheek, you turned into him.

‘Can I do one thing before we really are alone with each other?’ You said, knowing you couldn't leave El Hijo for five days without letting him know you weren't going to be around.

‘Of course.’ Phil kissed you gently. ‘I need to confirm a couple of things anyway.’ He smiled and led you inside the hotel, it was small and had a few rooms, but it looked high class and you immediately knew it was on Fury’s dollar. You didn't mind in the slightest, you just enjoyed the fact that Phil wanted everything to be perfect for the both of you.

You went up to the room and looked out at the view on the balcony, it was the other side of the city from where you had been standing previously, but just as beautiful. Phil had gone back down to the reception to see about something and you took out your phone to contact El Hijo.

The Kid: I will be unavailable for the next five days, I trust you can handle the Network.

El Hijo: five days?! You asked for the The Caretaker to be moved in a week and you're disappearing for five days?

The Kid: The matter is unavoidable. I don't want to be disturbed and I cannot be interrupted. You can handle the Network, just ensure The Caretaker is ready for when I get back and everything will be fine. Don't let me down.

El Hijo: Fine. I'll get her ready to be moved.

You sighed, wondering if El Hijo would be okay while you were gone, but he didn't have a choice, you were entitled to a personal life and you were taking advantage of that fact. You typed out a quick email to Pepper telling her you were going to be away for a few days, but you'd explain everything when you got back.

It was at that point you decided you needed to look into a project you had been trying to get up and running for six years.

You researched as much as you could and made as much progress as you could make before Phil came back smiling at you.

‘Hi.’ He said, wandering over to the balcony and sliding his arms around your waist.

‘Hi.’ You smiled up at him. Phil kissed you intensely, cupping your cheek with one hand and pulling you close with his other hand at the bottom of your spine. His tongue came out and slid across yours smoothly. You felt yourself push further into him, when he suddenly stopped and slowly pulled away. ‘Why are we stopping?’ You said, opening your eyes and desperately wanting to continue.

‘Well,’ Phil chuckled, moving a strand of hair from your face. ‘We can continue if you want. We can kiss into the night, we can make love to each other and I can make you scream out my name again and again, because you know I love hearing you scream my name.’ Phil kissed you again, making you go weak against him.

‘Phil!’ You chuckled, going bright scarlet, but he didn't care.

‘Or we can get married and hold off on said screaming until a couple of hours time? What do you want to do?’

You smiled, knowing that this was Phil at his sexiest, when he was direct about what he wanted and caught you off guard. You loved it. ‘I want to marry you. I want to make love to my husband in Madrid and make him scream my name for a change.’ Your face was still scarlet, but you were trying to be brave with Phil, you were about to spend the rest of your life with this man and the one thing you wanted was to be as honest as you could with him. He kissed you hard and made you feel his love all over again.

‘Okay. Let's go.’ He whispered against your lips.

Phil pulled away and began taking his clothes off, getting ready for a shower and you just watched him strip down, biting on your lip gently. Phil just laughed at you and wandered into the bathroom, taking a shower.

You decided to take one more look at the dress you'd picked out to get married in. You hung it on the side of the mirror and opened the zip to feel the soft material under your fingers. It was a cream strapless dress that came down to just above your knees, it was beautiful and you hoped Phil would like it as well. You could hear him finishing up in the shower and quickly zipped the protective bag back over your dress.

Phil came out in just a towel around his waist and chuckled when he saw the look you were giving him. You wandered over to him and pressed a kiss to his lips, you could feel him going weak for a moment and it satisfied you somewhat.

‘You realise this is the last time I'll see you as an unmarried woman.’ Phil said quietly against your lips.

‘Oh really?’ You teased. ‘I'd best make it worth your while then.’ You saw Phil's eyes darken entirely before you took a step back and stripped off everything you were wearing.

‘We really are going to miss the wedding at this rate.’ Phil laughed and you could see him loving the way you were looking at him.

‘In that case I'd best get ready.’ You swung your hips intentionally and heard Phil sigh as he caught you by your hips, pulling you back into his chest.

‘You know I love you, but you're already becoming a pain in my ass.’ You both chuckled as Phil gently ran his tongue up your neck, making you groan deeply. You decided to be even more of a pain in his ass, by pulling away – albeit reluctantly – and walking into the bathroom. You took one last look at Phil who had his eyebrow raised with his hands on his hips, the towel hung around him just right, enough to show off his muscular torso and his defined hip bones, something you'd grown increasingly attached to.

You eventually closed the door and took a shower. You were a little distracted in the shower, thinking about your life with Phil, about how one day you might be living in a gorgeous house, possibly with a child and never be happier. It was a far off thought, an unlikely scenario, but you felt with Phil, nothing was impossible.

You kept thinking about your project as well. About how your future and the future of the Network was at risk, something needed to be done. But not tonight, tonight you had more important things to be concerned with. You were getting married and you were so happy.

Phil was gone by the time you had gotten out of the shower and there was a note left on the bed.

I'll be waiting downstairs. Come down when you're ready. Phil x

You smiled and wandered over to your dress, slowly taking it out of the covering and starting to get ready for your wedding.

Chapter Text

Phil waited for an hour. He was glad he had the time to make sure everything was ready for her. He kept checking his phone, thinking he may have missed a call, but still there was nothing. Fury was taking his request pretty seriously and he was glad for it.

Phil knew that she wouldn't want anything too over the top and so he kept it to a minimum, a simple ceremony that overlooked this beautiful city. He just hoped she didn't suddenly decide against marrying him.

‘Mr Coulson.’ A voice came from behind him. ‘She is waiting in the lobby for you. She is very beautiful.’ Sergio, the manager of the hotel said.

Phil took a breath and smiled as he went in the collect her. He couldn't help but stop on sight, she was more than beautiful, she was everything Phil felt he never deserved. Her dress swung gracefully over her smooth slender legs, it clung to her perfectly curved body and stopped just above her breasts. He almost couldn't wait to get the ceremony over with so that he could just stare at her in wonder.

She turned to face him and he let his breath go, finding words had escaped him.

‘Is this okay?’ She asked, indicating the dress. ‘I kept looking at myself, thinking maybe it wasn't the right shape or I didn't look right, or that you would think it was too short or that I didn't wear the right shoes… I panicked.’

Phil smiled and took her hand. ‘Beautiful, seems like too small a word to describe how you look right now. You're perfect.’ He said and watched as her cheeks flushed pink as they often did when she was being complimented.

Phil held out his arm and she took it as he led outside to where the minister was waiting to marry them.

Chapter Text

This was it. You were getting married, you were being a proper adult who did adult things, like getting married to someone they love. You were a little terrified, but the thought of Phil next to you, thinking you were perfect was all you needed to settle your fears.

The ceremony was short, the way you knew you both wanted it to be and finally, Phil was sliding that ring on your finger that said you were his entirely. You felt a rush of desire for him and it didn't go unnoticed by Phil who gave you a knowing look. Your face flooded scarlet, thinking just how inappropriate it was to be thinking something like that at a time like this.

‘I now pronounce you husband and wife.’ The minister said and stepped aside for Phil to slowly approach you and place a wonderful warm and loving kiss to your lips.

‘I want to know exactly what you were thinking just then.’ He whispered and gave you no time to respond, before kissing you again. Phil had taken you back to the room, holding your hand the whole way.

‘Phil.’ You said, feeling a small rush of panic, he saw it immediately and held the door open for you to enter the now darkened room. Phil put the lamp on and came back to stand a couple of feet away from you.

‘Are you okay? Do you need some time?’ That was all it took for the panic to cower away in fear. You smiled at him.

‘No. I'm okay.’ You said. ‘I was thinking how much I like being yours… In every way. That's why I went red.’ You watched Phil for a moment and realised he was waiting for you to give him permission to approach you. ‘Promise me you won't hold back, I want to be yours Phil. I want you to have me like I'm yours.’

He didn't hesitate or even think about what you had said, instead pressing a searing kiss to your lips, gliding over them, tasting your tongue, teeth, cheeks, everything. Phil stripped off his jacket and threw it behind him on a chair. His hands came up to cup your face and he groaned into your mouth, needing more of you. Phil spun you around and attacked your neck with his mouth. You almost couldn't breathe it was so overwhelming.

‘You're mine.’ He growled just below your ear as his hands came up to unzip your dress.

‘I'm yours.’ You repeated back.

‘Be brave for me?’ He asked and soon the dress was gone, but his fingertips were barely touching you. You nodded against him. ‘I want to watch you making yourself come for me.’

You stilled for a second, before feeling more turned on than you'd ever felt before. ‘Yes.’ You breathed and Phil moaned into your neck again.

He turned you around to face him once more and kissed you passionately. He scooped you up and wrapped your legs around his waist, guiding you over to the bed. You were vaguely aware that you still had your heels on. Phil laid you down on the bed carefully, still kissing you and running his hands up and down your thighs. You could feel him pushing his hardened cock against you and moaned into his mouth when he caught you just right.

Phil soon stood up and looked down at you, unsure of what he should have done first. You smiled and played with the waistband of your lacy white underwear that barely covered anything. He began unbuttoning his crisp white shirt to reveal his strong torso that he knew you loved. He let you stare up at him for a moment before leaning down to kiss your hips and run his tongue over the skin the way you loved. His slipped your underwear off and came to lie next to you.

He ran his hand over your forehead and placed a gentle kiss against your lips. ‘I want to see you come for me. Touch yourself for me.’ You felt a moment of panic before Phil brought your hand up to his mouth and sucked gently on your fingers, making them wet. You felt your hips lift slightly as he then moved your hand to slide over your wet folds. ‘God your wet.’ Phil breathed and you could feel his fingers sliding over your nerves as well. He kissed you hard and brought his hand to rest on your hip.

You let yourself get caught up in thoughts of Phil being inside you and soon you began touching yourself the way you knew how. ‘Talk to me Phil.’ You said and it took him by surprise as much as you, but he smiled that dark cheeky smile he had and let his hands run over your smooth skin.

‘Well, I could talk about how much I want to make you come with my mouth,’ he began and already you felt that tingling sensation running through your stomach and hips. ‘How I want to run my tongue over your clit, before gently sucking it and making you breathe my name. I want to slide my fingers inside you and feel you squeeze yourself around me.’ You felt yourself sliding your own fingers inside, matching up with what he was saying to you. ‘I could use my other hand to slowly drift over your breasts,’ you felt his hand do exactly that. ‘I could lick over all of you and gently squeeze your nipple, encouraging you to say my name again.’

‘Phil.’ You breathed.

His hand gently squeezed your nipple again. ‘Say it again sweetheart.’ And you did exactly that. ‘I want you to go faster.’ He whispered against your ear. ‘Spread your legs wider and go faster for me.’ It was almost a beg, one you were happy to comply with. ‘That's it.’ Phil encouraged and you enjoyed the power he had over you, it was nothing you'd ever experienced before and nothing felt safer.

Phil slid his hand down and just felt what you were doing to yourself.

‘Phil.’ You moaned, feeling the pressure building. ‘I'm going come for you.’

‘That's it. Just let it go, sweetheart. Come for me.’ Phil begged and suddenly your back arched and you were moaning out his name. You felt him kissing over your chest and making small noises of appreciation. ‘God, you're beautiful.’ He said and came up to kiss you. ‘Thank you.’ He whispered and you just chuckled.

Phil didn't quite let you recover though, he stood up to take his trousers and briefs off before lining up with your centre and gently pushing himself inside.

‘Phil.’ You groaned, feeling yourself fill up with all of him. He interlaced your hand with his and you could feel his wedding ring as he began thrusting himself in and out of you, it was exhilarating.

You had a bright idea and moved to indicate to Phil that you wanted to go on top. He made no move to resist and rolled onto his back, taking you with him as you began rocking back onto him. You loved the way he looked underneath you, his muscles rippling with each thrust as you took him deeper inside you.

Phil's hands came up to touch anything he could reach as you continued to grind against him, feeling your own release building as well. You could tell Phil could feel it as well, because he began helping you rock your hips a little harder onto him. You both came crashing down together, moaning each other's name and settling into the warm afterglow.

‘I love you.’ Phil whispered against your hair and you knew, you knew that you would be okay. Everything would be fine. You had just married the greatest man in the world and he would make sure everything was perfect.