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It had been a long day when Maria finally made it back to Stark Tower. Actually, scratch that it had been a long week. From helping Talbot to helping Phil to dealing with the fallout of the whole situation she just wanted to crawl into her bed and sleep for a few days.
But she should have expected that Tony was waiting for her when she came back. That was what she got for living in Stark Tower.
“Agent Hill, how was your trip back to the frozen Canadian wastes?”
Interacting with Tony Stark on a nearly daily basis had done nothing to her urge to punch him in the face but considering he was her boss now she needed to put up more restraint.
“It was fine”, she said and then because she was running on more than 48 hours without sleep or coffee, she added, “Phil says hi.” Her words caught up with her the moment Tony went still as a statue.
“Repeat that”, he said, his voice no longer teasing but tight like a coil.
Maria gritted her teeth. Why had she said that? Why had Phil told her to say that? Fuck him and fuck Fury. It wasn’t as if Shield existed anymore anyway. “Phil says hi.”
“Phil”, Tony repeated. “As in Phil Coulson. Agent Phil Coulson.”
“Yes.”
“The Phil Coulson who died two years ago in the prison bay of the helicarrier?”
Phil should’ve told them the truth a year ago, not just Natasha and Clint. “That Phil Coulson.”
“Where is he?”
/
Phil had his weapon trained on the intruder the moment his door was burst open.
He did not expect to find Tony Stark on the other side.
He also didn’t expect Tony to kiss him.
“Stark?”
“You fucking idiot”, Tony said, kissing him again. “I should fucking kill you. You or Fury. I’m feeling generous so you can pick.”
“How did you – “Then he realized what he had said earlier. “Maria said hi, didn’t she?”
“She did. In her defence she looked really exhausted.”
By now the commotion had brought Phil’s team out of their rooms. Trip and Skye had their weapons trained on Tony with Fitz and Simmons shuffling behind them. They were all in their sleep clothes, wide t-shirts and loose pants, with bed hair making them look like a bunch of ruffled ducklings.
“Sir?” Trip asked, keeping his calm as always.
“Is that Tony Stark?” Skye’s voice definitely veered into squeaky for a moment.
Tony, still gripping the front of Phil’s shirt, let go and turned around to look at them. “Is that your new team?”
“It’s fine”, Phil told them so that Skye and Trip lowered their weapons.
“They’re adorable but it’s late and maybe they should go back to bed, unless they’re robots like you in which case they should go and recharge their batteries”, Tony said and closed the door in their faces. “Right, where were we?”
It maybe a late reaction but in his defence he had one hell of a week so Phil’s answer was a bewildered, “Did you just kiss me?”
“Did you mind?” Tony asked right back.
Phil hesitated. Now that he had a moment to think about it, he found that the answer was no. It wasn’t that surprising if he was honest. Tony was, well he was Tony Stark. “Why?” Phil asked finally.
Tony shrugged. “It seemed like a good idea.”
“What about Pepper?”
“What about your cellist?” Tony shot back. Something in his tone told Phil that Tony knew and he could take a good guess what had happened to Pepper’s and Tony’s relationship.
“Maybe Fury should’ve sent me instead of Natasha to seduce two years ago”, Phil quipped.
Tony rolled his eyes. “Funny”, he deadpanned but he didn’t seem to mind too much because he pulled Phil close by his belt. “Now you’re gonna spend the whole night making it up to me that you didn’t tell me you survived and in the morning we can look at his mess with Hydra.”
“What makes you think I’m going to apologise?” Phil asked.
“Please, if you didn’t want me, you’d have thrown me out of the room already.”
Phil had to concede that Tony had a point even if he wasn’t going to tell him so. Although judging by the way Tony was kissing him, he already knew.