Chapter Text
Warm arms surrounded Clint, he curled up closer and rested his head in the crook of Phil's neck, breathing in the warm safe scent of the older man. He wanted to stay like this forever, if only the world didn't need agent Coulson. Nights like this were rare, stolen by Clint when he could get away with it. This had been first time in over a year, someone else took up Phil's time now, a woman who played the cello and fit into his life better than Clint. Light started to stream in through the bedroom's blinds, a little while later he felt Phil gently wake up and start to move. Clint pressed himself closer and tried to fake sleep. The voice above him murmured in his ear, the words indistinct and formless. The whispering slowly became louder and louder until it turned into screams of pain. Cooling blood pooled around the entwined figures, the coppery smell making Clint gag. Holding on to the body in front of him Clint finally realized the source of the blood, he went to feel Phil's heartbeat and found a hole instead.
Clint jolted awake, cold sweat covered him in buckets. Staring at the ceiling and reminding himself that it had only been a nightmare, one from a distant memory mixed up with the horror of Loki's torture. Pushing himself up Clint surveyed the room, scattered about the floor were different types of rubbish. Bottles and old take out food cluttered the surfaces, it probably smelt awful but Clint didn't notice any more. Digging his phone out from down the side of the couch he checked the time and date, crap now he understood why that nightmare resurfaced. Today should've been Phil's 51
birthday, something Clint wished he could forget about. Spacing out the urgent need to pee brought him back to the here and now, he carefully picked a path through the piles of refuse and went into the bathroom.
Things were a little cleaner in here, after emptying his bladder Clint examined himself in the mirror hanging above the sink. The bags under his eyes looked like bruises in the florescent light, his hair stuck up in odd angles and his eyes looked beyond tired. Clint knew he should take care of himself better but Nat had left on some trip with Steve and he only really listened to her. Pepper badgered him about it every time he went upstairs for something, she gave him various vitamins and other health crap that just ended up making his medicine cabinet a jumbled mess. Clint now tried to avoid upstairs at all costs, including Jarvis and his offers of cleaning. Someone entered the filthy apartment and announced themselves.
“I'm home from my trip, thought you would need me today,” the welcoming voice of Natasha made it's way through the open bathroom door.
Clint opened the medicine cabinet hidden behind the mirror and grabbed what felt like a bottle of aspirin. Taking one he only noticed his mistake when his legs started to be bound by something, looking down a brown husk slowly began to consume his body. Dropping the bottle in his hand Clint tried to fight the chrysalis now up to his waist. The effort was futile, it continued to grow and pin him in place, eventually covering his face. For what seemed like an eternity images flashed through Clint's mind, it felt like looking out of someone else's eyes. Different faces came and went but he only recognized one, May Phil's old partner popped up a couple of times. Suddenly the husk cracked into pieces, releasing Clint from both his prison and torture.
Nat found the chrysalis remains a few minutes after he'd emerged, picking up the dropped bottle she read the back and started to look around the other rooms in the apartment. Clint had sat hidden in a corner near the toilet, when Natasha came back to search again he suddenly understood why, she couldn't see him. Getting up Clint slowly followed her out into the living room, once he was close enough he chose to boop her nose to see what would happen. Natasha's reflexes kicked in and she punched him in the gut, she only saw him properly after he had curled up in a ball on the dirty floor.
“Well that seems to be the limit of whatever the fuck just happened to me,” he said muffled by the floor.
Natasha looked down at huddle on the floor, “that's your own fault now get up, there's a team meeting soon and you are expected to be there, we can discuss this further with them” she barked out as she helped Clint off the floor. Before he could get his bearings Nat had grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the squalid apartment then into the elevator.
***
With an air of sadness Coulson looked around his well used office, his eyes kept being drawn to a shelf of objects in particular. They were kept around some of his rarer Captain America collectables, birthday gifts from what felt like a lifetime ago. A small flock of different of hawk figures from Clint took up some of the small space while Natasha's best find, a Howling Commandos Matryoshka stood pride of place. Taking his eyes from the items he tried to get on with paperwork, fighting a losing battle he let his thoughts run there course. The last year Phil had gained a lot of things, Hydra near extinction, much needed assets and some of the reputation Shield had lost after its fall. The losses endured countered some of the good they'd done, Jemma absorbed by that weird rock, the death of loyal agents and sacrificing his left hand for the greater good. The puzzle of Phil's life should have been complete, he'd always made Shield his first priority. As time went on he found a large piece missing, a bright smile accompanied by quick wit and a intoxicating laugh. Several times over the years he'd almost picked up the phone and contact them instead Phil had taken to watching from afar. The door to his office opened breaking him out of his thoughts.
“I know that look Phil, call him he'd be happy to hear from you,” May's face remained stoic as she spoke, by now she knew him too well.
“I doubt it Mel, it's been to many years and Clint's better off not knowing the truth. He's got his own team now and moved on, contacting him will only negate the healing.”
“keep telling yourself that and one day you'll actually believe the lie. By the way happy birthday I may have accidentally let it slip to the others, they need the morale boost.”
“Was that necessary, I didn't want a fuss today,” Phil shouted at the quickly vanishing back of agent May, sighing he resigned himself to his fate. Taking out a folder he chose to get on with one of the more annoying reports, as he finished it Phil got his first well wisher. By the time the fifth person interrupted him, Coulson went and locked the door, the small pile of hurriedly gathered gifts cluttered his desk. This is why he hadn't told anyone, they weren't to know that today made him nostalgic for celebrations spent with Clint and Natasha. Phil just wanted to be left in peace to mourn a family lost to him and a lover he could've taken a chance on. Finally silence reigned in the office before he could go back to work the private phone started to beep, picking it up Hill's face flashed onto the large screen.
“I hope I'm not catching you in the middle of something important. A situation has developed here and it needs Shield's attention,” briskly Hill got straight to the point.
“what's happened this time, please say it doesn't involve Stark,” if this was going to be another fiasco like Ultron he'd make good on his promise and taze Tony. Tapping quickly on her keyboard Hill brought up a security video dated only an hour ago, sleeping in the middle of dirty living room lay Clint. Phil watched as the archer thrashed about in his slumber before waking up and walking into the bathroom. The camera switched over to a view of only the sink, Clint stood for a moment then grabbed something out the medicine cabinet. Taking a pill out the bottle he grabbed and swallowed it, that's when Phil realized why Shield would be needed. A husk started to form around Clint's legs, Coulson watched in awe as the other man tried to fight the losing battle. The chrysalis finished forming, encasing Clint for one of the longest moments of Phil's life. As it broke away into pieces the footage stopped and Hill's face came back on the screen.
“That's why Coulson, I know Shield are running containment on this,” she gave a meek smile as Phil went into shock. Soon the words filtered into his mind and he broke out of his daze.
“I'll send a team as soon as possible, any idea what his gift is? We need to make sure he's not dangerous,” he tried to hide the concern in his voice but it crept in regardless. In all the ways Clint could've come back into his life and it had to do with a mistake Shield made. Phil geared up for chaos this new inhuman would bring once contained.
“No clue, Romanoff found him first. She's taken him to meet with the rest of the team. I'll monitor the situation and keep you informed on updates. I think it's for the best if you send agents unknown to the Avengers to try and stop some of the fallout this will bring. Goodbye Phil and happy birthday, expect my gift later today.” Hill's disconnected and the screen went blank.
Phil notified the team, choosing to send Daisy and Mack to act as the welcome wagon with May and Bobbi nearby if needed. He didn't know if this was the best birthday ever or the worse, walking over to the shelves Phil removed one of the more worn bird figures moulded to look like a red-tailed hawk. It always had been one of his favourites, given to him after a silly day trip with Clint to a birds of prey centre. The archer even carved his name into the base of it on the way home. Phil placed the figure gently onto his desk and went to deal with the rest of his duties.