Coulson's getting the strange feeling that with the Avengers, there is no such thing as "regular."
Stark had offered him a place at Stark Tower, after they'd finished rebuilding the tower and Coulson had finished rebuilding his life. It hadn't been easy, but Coulson's as stubborn as he is resilient, and coming from someone even death couldn't triumph over, well - he thinks that's a feat to be proud of.
Somewhere deep in his mind, Coulson's got a bucket list of all the crazy, mind blowing things he's wanted to do when he was young and optimistic about the world but had always kept in the back of his mind. Silently, a 15-year-old him crosses off a box just after he wakes up in the hospital, and Coulson's not sure whether or not he'd want to remember what else was on that list.
When Coulson was 15, he'd wanted to fake his own death. By the time he'd turned 20, he wasn't sure if he'd wanted to fake it anymore.
But now he's back, and professional as ever as he stares down Tony Stark. Stark is in his doorway, offering him some sort of rolled up paper in a tube. Coulson raises an eyebrow.
"I've died once already, will this finish me off, Stark?" he asks sarcastically, and finally that son of a bitch genius cracks a smile. Stark without a half-deranged smile on his face just isn't Stark, and well - where'd the world be without Iron Man?
He notes that his room shares a wall with Rogers' room, and how his nights would be much less productive and much more...sleepy.
"No tech here, Phil. Just a little welcome back gift from all of us. And by us, I mean me," Tony said, arm still extended, offering the cardboard tube.
Coulson took it suspiciously, and nodded at Stark.
"Thank you," he said.
He had a feeling that his statement had sounded more like a question. Stark, however, showed no signs of hearing it, and only smiled (very suspiciously) and walked away with a mock salute.
Coulson popped the cap on the tube carefully, extracting the paper rolled up within and unrolling it.
He raised an eyebrow when he saw the poster, and made a mental list of all the assassins of the world who were capable of killing Tony Stark, slowly and painfully.
He swore he didn't growl a little when he came up empty, and instead just appreciated that if they were going to get him a shirtless poster of Captain America, they took the time to get it autographed.
Wait.
It was autographed.
Coulson did not proceed to affix said autographed poster to the wall and stare at it longingly.
Really.
Sounds good! I do also like your other writings, though. Dark as it may be. c:
But I don't think (in the Avenger's universe, of course) he will ever live the whole Captain America fanboy thing down.
Good job, another wonderful story!
And Tony would totally be the one to give him that.
and yes, fanboy!coulson is the best coulson.
Yes, mostly because he looks to serious to be a fanboy type of guy until he started being a fanboy.