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Forty-six hours earlier, Phil Coulson went down in a haze of green smoke. Coincidentally, Clint Barton had a slight mental breakdown just a few seconds later.
***
It starts with another fight against Loki, though he at least seems to be more mischievous than malicious this time around. Clint's a block away, shooting an ineffectual arrow between the eyes of a large, rampaging teddy bear, when shit hits the fan. He runs the second he sees the bomb land in front of Coulson, sees the green smoke seep into the other man's pores, and gets there just in time to keep Coulson's head from smacking against the ground.
By the time he looks up, Loki's gone and so is his army of giant, vengeful stuffed animals. Clint swears, checks for Coulson's pulse, and then calls the medical team over. He tries to remain calm. He is not entirely successful. He yells at the med team to hurry up, he yells at the doctors who won't let him into Coulson's room. He yells at Tony and Steve and Fury until they fly in the best doctors and get Thor back to Asgard to seek help from Odin and Frigga and send Natasha and Bruce Loki-hunting. He yells and fights and throws things until they sedate him, but he wakes up in the bed next to Coulson's, so he's not going to complain too much.
Clint stretches out, trying to shake off the lingering effects of the sedative. He sits up, swings his legs over the side of the bed and takes the opportunity to study Coulson. The doctors say he's just sleeping, like being drugged into prolonged sleep by a trickster god isn't that bad, but even Clint has to admit that he looks almost peaceful. And it's not like Avenging is a nine-to-five job, so this has probably been the most sleep Coulson's gotten in months.
And Clint doesn't care, because Coulson's supposed to be ordering him around and arguing with him over unacceptable risks, and limiting his caffeine intake. He's not supposed to be anywhere Clint can't get to him.
"Does Coulson know you have a Big Gay Crush on him?"
Clint turns to see Tony leaning against the door frame and crosses over to him.
"Shut up and tell me what's going on. Did Thor's mom say anything?"
"Yeah, she was real helpful. Said he was in a magic love coma."
"That's not funny."
"Not joking. I mean, I paraphrased a bit, but it all boils down to magic love coma."
"Putting aside the ridiculousness of that sentence, is there anything she can do to help?"
"No, um...sleeping beauty over there can only be awakened by true love's kiss."
"Fuck off."
Tony shrugs, "What do you want me to say? Apparently the dude's pretty fond of fairy tales."
Clint runs a hand through his hair and takes a deep breath. "There is no way this is actually happening."
"Pepper thinks we should start calling some of Coulson's exes and get them to, well, you know, try and break the curse. And if that doesn't work we're just gonna have to start trying everyone."
"But that could take weeks!"
"Yes, and it's too bad we don't have a easier, more convenient option close by." Tony talks slowly, like he's talking to a young child, but Clint just rolls his eyes.
"Yeah, too bad."
"That's it; I'm going to leave you two alone and go make some really awkward phone calls." Clint's already turning away and making his way towards Coulson's bed before Tony stops speaking. He stands over Coulson quietly until he hears the click of the door closing behind Tony.
"I'm not stupid or anything," he tells Coulson. "I know Tony thinks if I kiss you- and I can't believe I'm about to say this- the curse will be lifted. I just...we have a thing, right? With the flirting and the innuendo and the coffee dates; I know I never really said anything, but I guess I always thought that you were...it. I thought that one day I'd get my act together and everything would work out fine. And if you don't wake up, I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't know if I can stay around and watch you with anyone else. I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm kind of selfish when it comes to you.
"Even if you do wake up, who’s to say that will change anything? Being in love with someone doesn't automatically equal wanting to be in a relationship with them. And you probably can't even hear me right now, so all I'm really doing is stalling for time. Okay. Man up, Barton."
Clint starts to lean over Coulson, then pauses, a frown on his face.
"I hope this is more Disney than Anne Rice. I don't know if I'm up for that."
He leans down and presses his dry lips lightly against Coulson's and then pulls back. He waits for a second, but nothing happens. He rubs a hand over his face, then cups Coulson's cheek and leans down again, trying to put everything he feels into the kiss. If he's going to go down, he's at least going to go fighting. He pulls back again, waiting for a sign of life.
The seconds afterward begin to feel like hours and Clint's about to go crazy (again) when Coulson's fingers begin to twitch and the smoke starts to leech out of his body and dissipate. Clint smiles so wide it hurts.
It's almost five minutes between the first finger twitch and when Coulson's eyes start to open and Clint doesn't move a muscle the entire time. It's only when Coulson starts to grumble and sit up in the bed that Clint dares to take a step towards him.
"I was drugged, wasn't I?" Coulson says after taking a deep breath and composing himself.
"You remember?"
"I remember Loki and smoke. Since I'm not currently dead, that leaves very few other options. So, what happened?"
"You know, I should probably get the doctor in here real quick. Get you checked out first."
"Barton." Coulson says in the tone of voice that Clint accidentally trained himself to respond to.
"You were- and I'm sure we're going to look back on this one day and laugh- in a magical love coma."
Coulson's eyes narrow, "Have you been drugged?"
"No! Well, I mean, technically I was sedated but the magical love coma thing is actually true."
"And how was I awakened from this magical love coma?"
"I bestowed upon you true love's kiss?"
"Right. I...maybe you could go get the doctor now?"
"Yeah," Clint replies, stepping away from the bed quickly, "I need to stop Tony from making some calls anyway. So I'll just...maybe I'll see you later."
Clint leaves the room before Coulson can answer and stops only to tell the doctor before he books it out of the med-bay all together. He goes looking for Tony instead, but after it's established that he's not in the lab (bothering Bruce) or in the gym (bothering Steve), it takes Clint almost twenty minutes (a new personal low) to track him down to the usually abandoned third floor break room.
"You know," Clint says over Tony's shoulder, "the junior agents say this break room is haunted."
Tony jumps, coffee sloshing over the edge of his mug, and turns with a glare. "I started that rumor. Fury wouldn't give me an office, so I figured I'd just take over this room instead. What are you doing here anyway? Don't you have a fairy tale to re-enact?"
"Actually he's awake, so you don't have to call anybody or anything."
Tony gives Clint a look, "I think we both know I was never going to call. But what are you doing here? I thought by now you'd be celebrating all over the place."
"I don't think he was really up for celebrating."
"Oh? Oh!"
"It was probably a lot to take in, so..."
"I'm sure he'll come around." Clint can see Tony weighing something in his mind, and then his hand comes down on Clint's shoulder. He can practically hear the "there, there" in his head and Tony looks as uncomfortable as Clint feels. Clint slides his shoulder out from under Tony's hand and gives Tony a half-hearted smile.
"I think I'm going to head out to the range for a while. Um, thanks for, you know."
"Yeah, sure, of course."
***
Clint spends hours at the range, loses time with every arrow, every bullseye. He doesn't think about Coulson or Loki or fairy tales or true love. He thinks about the target and nothing but the target and when he looks up again, Saturday has turned into Sunday. He packs up his bow, grabs a quick shower, and curls up in his SHIELD-issue cot, in his SHIELD-issue room (read: box) and tries to pretend he isn't holding onto a little bit of hope.
***
Clint wakes up to Coulson sitting in the chair opposite him, in a sort of sick role-reversal of the day before. Clint contemplates pulling the covers over his head and turning to face the wall, but remembers at the last second, that he's an adult and he's expected to do adult-like things.
"You're looking very...awake." Clint says lamely.
"It's amazing what happens when someone kisses you out of a magical love coma."
"You talked to Tony?"
"I talked to Frigga."
"That must have been terrifying."
"Not as terrifying as not knowing whether or not you'd forgive me."
Clint sits up abruptly, "Forgive you?"
"I was confused yesterday. I may have not said some things I should have."
"Like what?"
"I'm glad it was you." And Coulson actually looks nervous now, or as close to nervous as Coulson can possibly get. "That's what I should have said yesterday."
"Really?"
"I don't know if I'm ready for Happily Ever After, but we could probably start with dinner."
Clint's smile is starting to hurt again. "Okay."
"Tonight? Barring any supervillans or alien invasions."
"It's a date."
Clint can see a smile tugging at the corner of Coulson's mouth, but soon he's standing up and transforming into Agent Coulson right in front of Clint's eyes. It's kind of hot.
"There's a briefing at nine, don't be late."
"Sir, yes, sir." Clint salutes lazily as Coulson lets himself out of the room. The moment the door closes, he flops back down onto bed and stretches gleefully.
Loki might be a dick with a weird sense of humor, but maybe fairy tales aren't so bad after all.