The Original Initiative
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Coulson sat on the porch, smiling to himself as the pair in the garden meandered slowly towards the house, unaware that they were being observed. Or at least they acted as if they did not know he was there, which was just as touching.
"Sickening," Stark's drawl broke Phil's reverie as he barged out onto the porch. "They can't even keep it in the rose bushes. Not very super spy discreet." They weren't, that was true, but the time for secrecy and hiding in the bushes was over. If the worse the couple had to fear were Tony's jabs at them, their job had been well done.
"Leave them be," chided Bruce, handing Phil a pile of plates to lay the table. A table for fourteen, it was a good thing Juliette's porch was large, more of an outside room than just a porch, spanning the whole side of the house. Pepper brought out cutlery and salad, followed by Thor who, under Jane's watchful eye carried the tray of bowls and dishes containing the main meal.
"Dinner, lovebirds!" Tony yelled across the garden, pausing to pull out Pepper's chair after seeing Steve pull out one for Ollie. It was only then that Fury made an appearance, standing to survey the table and crowded porch.
"I didn't know my kitchen could actually make food that smelt good," complimented Juliette as she took her seat. Finally, they were all sitting down, Fury at one head of the table and Phil at the other. Between them, the Avengers and company, all talking at once like the impossibly family they were. Phil watched for a moment as Clint and Tony exchanged friendly insults, Steve offered Ollie anything she could possibly want and Natasha was trying to explain the advantages of actually having stiletto knives in her stilettos to a rather confused Pepper. Thor and Juliette were discussing the peculiarities of humanity, Jane and Hill attempting to weasel some gossip out of Adam, all under the watchful eye of their director at the far end.
Phil met Nick's eye briefly and smiled. It was a far cry from the group of wary misfits on the helicarrier bridge five years before. Even further from the day the director had handed Phil the classified file detailing the Avengers Initiative.
"Well, I'd say we can file the Avengers under the list of successes," said Phil cheerily much later. He and Fury were outside again, the others had dispersed around the house and most didn't want interrupting.
"Success?" came Nick's dry response. "We lost a lot of good agents to get them where they are, and a picture of strength the world believed in." Phil sighed; there were gaps that wouldn't be filled. Hemlock, Bella, Betty and Happy, not to mention the endless lists of casualties, agent, soldier and civilian alike that resulted directly or not from the Avengers' actions.
"I'm not saying it went smoothly, but that overall, it went well." Overall being that the world was in one piece, more or less and that it was in far safer hands than if the baddies had won.
"It wasn't as easy as you expected," Fury asked, or rather stated.
"No," Phil admitted slowly. "It wasn't. I never imagined that they would, object to being a team quite as much. I suppose I never realised they were people, I saw the pictures and saw heroes, not, well, them." To the world they had a Super Soldier, a demigod, a green giant, a couple of super assassins, a werewolf type, a knight in shining armour and robin hood. In reality, they had pulled together nine of the least stable, most depressed, unhinged people in the world and thrown them at hell, hoping they would come back. A few of them hadn't.
"Everyone has heroes," the director conceded, almost gently. There was a long pause, filled with soft music drifting from the house. Phil looked up at the stars, finding Jupiter easily, and smiled.
"I think they deserve to be put in the success pile," Fury agreed. "When you get around to finishing the paperwork, that is."
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Hi, so the explanation for this sort of teaser thing. This is the ending, the bit where they start at the end and then flash back to the start. This is the happy ever after, so I shall start writing the hell in the middle. Please bare (bear? I'd appreciate knowing) in mind that I haven't seen Thor, or Ironman 2 or 3 and this will have very limited canon in regards to comics or anything else. Warnings: depression, suicide, same gender couple, oh and cricket jokes. I don't own Avengers or else this would be a movie instead of a fanfiction and if anyone hates my grammar, go ahead and tell me. :)