Work Text:
Marissa had left his office more than five minutes ago, but Nick Fury (Jr) still sat at his desk deep in thought. The psychological analysis she had done of the Avengers had surprised him and had given him much to consider. He turned his attention to the monitor again, watching the potluck lunch in the conference room that was still going on.
The scene was surprisingly like any office potluck, the kind you might see in one of the corporate offices in the buildings a block away from SHIELD's New York City headquarters. Despite the unusual nature of the people in the room, it felt relaxed and friendly. Fury turned up the sound a bit, and listened to the conversations, the everyday chatter, of a team of superheroes.
Steve and Natasha had gathered around the small pizza oven that Tony had set up in one corner of the room. Tony's chauffeur and friend Happy, and April, the diminutive SHIELD operative Happy was clearly smitten with (and the feeling, if glances between the two were to be trusted, was mutual) were demonstrating their dough-flinging technique. A few feet away, Clint had fashioned some paper airplanes and was trying to hit a flying dough disk in the bullseye position. He was unsurprisingly successful.
Seated at the table, Tony and Bruce ate while Thor drew a diagram of what looked like a solar system. The two scientists would periodically interrupt him with questions that had become esoteric enough to leave Fury feeling ignorant. Thor, for his part, would nod thoughtfully and return to examine his drawing, sometimes adjusting it.
The pizza box April and Happy had brought in was open in the middle of the table. It contained what looked like a dessert pizza. At least, it looked like a pizza crust covered in cinnamon streusel and white frosting. Fury smiled, realizing that it was probably a treat that the couple had enjoyed in the earlier days when they were first dating. Youth was a long way behind all of them, Fury included, but pleasant memories, when invoked, were always welcome.
He turned to one of the keyboards on his desk and typed a few characters. A different monitor flickered on, showing a single occupancy hospital room. The computer readout behind the bed, the IV stand beside it, and the charts hanging off the foot would have given away the room's purpose even if he hadn't already known what he was looking at. In the bed, surrounded by pillows and under a blanket, Phil Coulson was sleeping. Fury considered himself lucky that Coulson was still alive. The man was his best operative, and even more importantly, his closest friend.
Pleasant memories of days long past filled Fury's mind. They'd been young once, he and Coulson. They'd been Army Rangers, tough and dedicated. Now they were...almost civilized.
Fury rose and turned away from all the monitors. He strode from his office, the room powering down and locking itself behind him. He took the elevator down to the lowest floor in the SHIELD complex, the floor where he kept his own quarters. Once there, he turned on the kitchen light and began purposefully pulling things from the cupboards.
An hour later, and carrying a foil covered plate, Fury took the elevator again, this time up five floors to the hospital level. It was early evening and the dinner trays were being delivered to the patients. He swung into a specific room and pulled a chair from the corner up beside the bed. He sat down and said, "How are you feeling, Agent?"
Coulson was in a relaxed seated position. He nodded carefully at Fury. "Care to share some of my lovely dinner?" he asked. He swept his hand over the tray, which held a cup of what appeared to be broth, a mound of some kind of meat salad, some saltine crackers, a bowl of applesauce, and a square of colorful gelatin.
Fury grimaced. "That's not food, Agent. That's torture. You were trained to resist."
"Sorry, boss, it's all I have to offer."
Fury grinned. "Fortunately for you, I can improve upon the still life with applesauce there." He removed the foil and held out a plate of what looked like small rolls. "Cheese bread?"
Coulson laughed. It was a weak sound, but it did Fury's heart good to hear it. "I made it just for you, Cheese," he told Coulson.
"Is this the famous cheese bread?" Coulson asked. "The one from Nicaragua?"
"Brazil. But, yeah, I think we had it in Nicaragua. Man, I thought you were going to give up gluten for this bread."
"Thought about it." Coulson took one of the rolls. "Mmmmm, still warm. This brings back memories, doesn't it?"
"That it does," Fury said, taking one of the rolls for himself.
A medical aide came into the room and stopped short. "Director! I didn't know you were here, sir. Agent Coulson, what are you eating? Is that on your diet? I think it is not. I think you should give those back to the Director..."
"The Director kindly asks you to shut the hell up," Fury snapped. "You're feeding this man baby food. If he can have saltines and chicken salad he can eat this. Go get his doctor if someone needs to argue with me about this."
The aide stammered something that might have been "I'm sorry," but could equally have been "You'll be sorry" and raced from the room.
"You need to stop terrorizing the hired help," Coulson said mildly, helping himself to another roll.
"But it's my greatest superpower," Fury declared with a grin.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
Colonel Fury's Brazilian Cheese Bread
which might be why Army Ranger Phil Coulson's nickname was Cheese
or might not be...
Makes a dozen rolls
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup each rice flour and tapioca flour
1 teaspoon minced garlic (or less according to taste)
1/3 cup freshly grated cheese, preferably Parmesan although sharp cheddar works, too
1 beaten egg
3 tablespoons of butter, melted
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Pour oil, water, milk, and salt into a large saucepan and place over high heat. When themixture comes to a boil, remove from heat immediately and stir in flours and garlic until smooth. Set aside to read for 10 to 15 minutes or until cool enough to handle.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray paper with nonstick cooking spray.
Stir in cheese and egg, and mix until well combined. The mixture will be a little lumpy. Moisten hands and make balls of the dough about the size of a small apricot. Drop onto parchment lined baking sheet. When done, brush tops with melted butter. (If you want you can sprinkle some kind of seed or flavoring or even more cheese over the top. Sesame seeds are good, as are garlic salt, chili powder, fennel seeds, the possibilities are endless. Colonel Fury just uses the butter, though.)
Bake until the tops are lightly browned, 10 to 15 minutes. Serve warm.