Written for the 2018 Marvelously Magical Bingo

Square: G3 / Prompt: Bed Sharing

Meant to Be

The first thing that Hermione felt as she apparated back to the safe house from her mission, at an hour that was much later than she had anticipated, was disappointment that Phil was not there waiting for her. However, she had sent him a Patronus earlier to check in. That must have reassured him enough to actually allow him to give into his exhaustion and go to bed early, instead of waiting up for her just like he had after every one of her solo assignments since she had first joined his special team over a year ago.

Despite her current exhaustion, she smiled as she remembered the night they met. It happened to be a full moon, and she had impressed the hell out of him when she subdued and contained the rogue werewolf that had him and May pinned down in a London alleyway…consequently saving their lives…and their humanity. After all of the crazy shit that he had seen with SHIELD and the Avengers, the knowledge that she was a witch did not even faze Phil…and he immediately invited her to join his team. Since she felt that she needed a new challenge in life, and looked forward to doing more good on a bigger scale then she could while fighting bureaucratic nonsense out of her small cramped office at the Ministry of Magic, she accepted his offer…and had never looked back since.

The team (which was no longer a part of any official organization since the second fall of SHIELD) became her family and her life…and she spent most of her time with them, except for a couple of visits back to England to see Harry and the Weasleys. She was especially impressed by the fact that it was truly a multicultural group with a variety of backgrounds. (In fact, the friendship of Fitz Simmons kept her from getting hopelessly homesick). Plus, the muggleborn outsider in her also loved the effortless trust and interaction that occurred between both the unenhanced humans and the Inhumans on the team – especially since she was accepted completely by both sides - even though she was not technically a part of either group. The danger in their lives was what brought them together and kept them all close, but they also had a lot of fun, as well. Therefore, for the most part, she was very happy with her new life…with just one exception. Unfortunately, that exception was Phil Coulson, himself.

She knew that Daisy and Fitz Simmons looked upon the man as a father-figure. However, her own feelings for him were far different! Phil was too close to her idea of the perfect man for that to be the case. After all, he was extremely intelligent and charming with a strong sense of justice, responsibility, and loyalty. He was brave and powerful, too. Plus, he could be quite cunning and dangerous if he needed to be – even though he hid it very well underneath his deceptively mild exterior that she considered to be quite attractive in its own right. In fact, she liked so many things about him that she sometimes amused herself with wondering where the Sorting Hat would have placed him if he had been a wizard at Hogwarts. After all, the man seemed to embody all of the best characteristics of each House!

Yes, she was also aware that there was a bit of an age difference, but it was nothing that would raise any eyebrows – not that she would even care it if did, however. She had always been more attracted to older men, and their knowledge and experience, anyway. (In fact, that was one of the many reasons why things had not worked out with Ron.) That was not all, though. She also considered Phil to be damn sexy and she had awakened more than once from steamy dreams that featured him and his biomechanical hand…as well as a few other choice parts of his anatomy!

Unfortunately, those feelings did not seem to be reciprocated…and that was the one exception to her complete happiness with Phil and the team. Even though he really seemed to like her and often sought out her company, things between them never progressed beyond friendship. Originally, she had thought that it was because he and May were a couple. However, she soon realized that the two of them were just close, long-term friends with too much of a history to ever have any chance at romance. She completely understood that, however, because it was exactly like the relationship that she shared with Harry. Hermione also suspected that Phil tried to keep his emotional distance from her, the newest member, due to a well-meaning, but ultimately misguided, sense of duty to the rest of the team – even if most of them were already paired up together. She did not understand it, and was not happy about it, but she decided that she would not make things awkward between them by pushing for more. She valued his friendship too much for that.

That resolution did not keep her from having wistful dreams of more, however – especially on those quiet nights when she had him all to herself because he had waited up for her to return to whatever base, safe house, or mobile transport that they were utilizing at the time. On those nights, he was quite different than normal. He was less stressed, more comfortable with letting his guard down, and more likely to relax enough to joke around and talk about things other than work. In other words, he would actually let go of being Phil: Top Secret Team Leader and let himself become Phil: Normal Everyday Bloke. That's why she liked those nights the best. She loved being one of the few people who got to see that side of him.

All of that explained why her disappointment was especially strong on this night. It had been too long since they had experienced any of that quiet alone time together. However, it was too late…and she was too exhausted…to dwell on that negative feeling for long. In reality, she just needed to find a bed…any bed…and soon. However, since this was only one of their safe houses (and not their main base), people just came and went as needed, and nobody had an assigned room. Therefore, she tiredly cast a Muffliato on herself so she would not wake anyone else up as she stumbled through the house in search of an empty bed.

Unfortunately, every one she checked already seemed to have someone (or a couple of someones) in it and even the sofa in the lounge was occupied. Since the telly screen was still flickering, apparently Mack had fallen asleep while watching it instead of going to bed when YoYo did. Despite her fatigue, Hermione smiled at the sight of the big man on the small couch and muttered a spell to enlarge it a bit for him. She even transfigured him a blanket from one of the nearby throw pillows. Just as she was about to do the same for herself and transfigure a kitchen chair into something that would serve as a bed, albeit a hard and uncomfortable one, she finally remembered the small bedroom tucked away down in the basement area of this particular house. She believed that it had originally been a servant's room and a small amount of tired optimism surged within her as she hoped that everybody else would have forgotten about that out-of-the-way place, also.

Due to the silencing spell that was still in effect, Hermione was able to descend the old creaky stairs quietly and slip into the little bedroom. She then cast a faint Lumos that was just bright enough to see that even though the sheets and blankets were disarranged and a bit rumpled, the bed was indeed empty. Hermione heaved a sigh of relief at that discovery. She then had just enough energy left to place her wand on the small side table, remove some of her most restrictive clothing, toss it haphazardly in the corner somewhere for retrieval in the morning, and fall into bed wearing just her shirt and knickers. Consequently, she was fast asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow and before she even had time to realize that the other side of the bed was already warm.

Phil descended the rickety stairs again after a quick bathroom break and a surreptitious check to see if Hermione had returned, yet. When he saw no sign of the witch, however, he continued to worry. He checked his phone but there were no new texts or voice mails and it was obvious that she had not sent another one of her cool ghostly patronus messages, either. Therefore, everything was probably alright with her. After all, unlike the other agents, she could magically transport herself away from any situation at the first sign of danger. Maybe she had used that ability to pop somewhere else after she had made her last check-in call. Perhaps she had even gone back to that redheaded ex-boyfriend of hers for the night…or maybe she had met someone else to be with. Phil frowned at the thought of her spending the night with another man, even though he… He mentally hit the pause button on that train of thought for many reasons…the least of which was that he knew that she would not just head off, especially back to England, without letting him know. He would not put it past impulsive Daisy to do that, but Hermione was just too responsible of a person to act in such a way. In fact, it was one of the many qualities that he liked about the woman. Therefore, maybe…just maybe…she had already slipped back into the house without him noticing.

That last scenario really did seem to be the most reasonable one – especially since he could not wait up for her to return like he normally did. Mack had claimed the living room to watch a movie on the only TV in the house to help him decompress after his hard day of undercover work at the garage that they suspected was really just a front for an Inhuman trafficking ring. At any rate, everyone knew that Phil did not like those sort of action flicks, so he really had no excuse to hang around unless he wanted to invite a lot of questions for which he was not willing to share the answers. After all, he had always tried to be discreet when it came to Hermione.

At first, he had waited up for her just because he felt responsible for bringing the young woman into the fold of their dangerous lifestyle. In truth, even though she was a powerful and talented witch, she was also very inexperienced in physical, non-magical fighting situations. However, Daisy had offered to become her unofficial SO and had helped to train her. Since then, she had proven, time and time again, that she was quite capable of taking care of herself…both with and without magic. Therefore, it was not long before he waited up for her just because he liked to spend that little bit of extra quiet quality-time alone with her. His feelings had just progressed naturally from there. He did not know about the rest of the team, but he suspected that May knew the truth – that he cared more for the brilliant and lively-haired witch than he wanted to admit – even to himself. However, she never asked and he never explained. It was just their way. They had been friends long enough that it just worked for them like that.

Nevertheless, he hoped that the others – especially Hermione! – did not realize that he had…feelings…for the younger woman. He felt that it just would not be professional of him and that he would somehow be taking advantage of the situation if he took the course of action that he really wanted to take. Even if most of the other team members were already paired up in one way or the other and they were no longer officially a part of SHIELD (and therefore would not be breaking any fraternization regulations), he still felt guilty and uncomfortable having those kinds of thoughts and feelings about someone whom he had recruited himself. Consequently, he would allow himself to be good friends with the intriguing woman…but that was as far as it could go.

Phil shook those thoughts out of his head and decided that there was nothing else to be done until the morning…when he could see for sure that Hermione had made it home safely…without waking up everyone in the house in the process. Therefore, he reluctantly made his way back down to the little bedroom that he had found the last time they had used this house. It was hidden downstairs at the rear of the basement…and he had subsequently claimed it as his own since nobody else even seemed to remember that it was there – much less care about it using it. There he had some quiet privacy and could be alone with his thoughts – especially the ones that often centered around one particularly magical woman.

Therefore, his surprise was great when he slipped back into bed without turning on a light, only to realize that there was a soft warm body already there! His mouth went dry and his heart started to pound because he knew instantly that it was Hermione. After all, he had been hyperaware of her presence for quite a while now, so much so that he knew without looking when she entered a room. Therefore, the fact that she was now in his bed, of all places, caused all of his carefully erected barriers to fall, and such a strong physical need overtook him that he was glad of the darkened room in order to hide his embarrassing state. As he laid there, only inches away from her, his thoughts were alarmed. His normal hard-won confidence had completely failed him in this situation, only to be replaced with a type of teenage-like insecurity that he had not felt in a very long time. What if she wakes up? Will she think I am some kind of pervert for crawling into bed with her? What if she notices my…um…reaction to her presence? After all, it wasn't like he could hide the huge damn thing behind just the thin knit boxers that he wore.

Just as he had convinced himself to try and slip away before Hermione noticed that she not alone, the subject of his rampant thoughts shifted in her sleep. Then, he could do nothing but hold his breath in suspense as she rolled over. Suddenly, she was facing him…instead of away from him. Without any warning, she moved again and he could swear that his heart was about to explode with both excitement…and a touch of fear…when, still sleeping, she lifted one long and obviously bare leg to drape it over his thigh. Then her hand slid its way up his body until it came to rest on his tshirt-clad chest while she sighed in comfortable pleasure with her new position. That sound, combined with their relative physical position and their current location caused yet another monumental reaction down below. If he had thought that his problem was huge before, it was nothing compared to the beast that was present now! He was also completely trapped, though, and there was no way in hell that he (or it) could move away without waking her. Therefore, he set all of his willpower towards taming the monster, before she woke up and found them in such a compromising position. However, this turned out to be an impossible feat because all he could think about was their physical proximity. In fact, knowing that only a couple of inches of space and a few scraps of cloth separated the most intimate parts of their bodies did nothing to help with his situation at all…and he actually moaned with frustration at his predicament before he realized what he had done.

Hermione was awake, alert, and upright in bed like a flash immediately after the sound. Her quick reflexes were a habit leftover from her days on the run during the war, but they also served her well with her current type of work. At any rate, she was now wide awake and her wand was also in her hand. She murmured a spell and the tip of it glowed brightly as she sought the source of the noise which had awakened her from what had been shaping up to be a very pleasant dream in which she was pressed intimately up against…

"Phil?" she gasped in disbelief as she saw his face, surprisingly close to her own. That was when she understood that she was actually in bed with him! "What is going on?" she whispered as her initial automatic fight response faded first into confusion, and then melted into complete mortification, as she realized that she must have mistakenly taken his bed. After all, Phil would never… and then there was that dream she was having…Did that mean that she had really…? "Oh dear Merlin!" she exclaimed in dismay and hid her face in her hands. At the same time, her wand dropped downwards into the bedclothes – where the partially-shielded light provided just enough candle-like luminescence to see by.

Phil had sat up in bed as well when he mistook her embarrassment for disgust at his actions. "Hermione, I am so sorry!" he whispered and would have jumped out of the bed immediately if it were not for his still persistent problem. He did not want her to see that and think the worst of him, so he tried to explain himself. "I didn't know you were here…and then you cuddled with me…and I liked it a little too much…but I couldn't move without disturbing you, so…" he stopped babbling when a tentative finger was suddenly laid against his lips and he found that Hermione was looking up from her hands and at him intently, instead.

"You liked it?" she asked…and Phil was surprised to hear what sounded like quiet amazement in her voice instead of the anger that he had expected.

"Of course I did," he answered truthfully. He knew that he had to make her understand that he was not lying and/or trying to take advantage of her or their situation...not if he wanted to salvage any of their friendship after this incident. "How could I not? You're a beautiful and amazing woman, but I don't want you to think that I was trying to…especially if you didn't want…not that I wouldn't love to, but I would never presume…" When he saw the dumbfounded look in her eyes, he realized that his inner insecure teenager was back and that the man who could keep his cool even under torture was giving away entirely too much information as he babbled nervously to a woman in bed. Therefore, he took a deep breath before he calmly told her the sincere truth. "It was an accident…at first. I did not mean to climb into bed with you. However, once I was here I realized that I did not really want to leave." Then he waited for her reaction. When it came, however, it was not what he expected.

"Oh, thank goodness!" she exclaimed. It was then his turn to gaze at her in disbelief since she was the one who started to babble from the sheer relief that was also reflected in her eyes. "It was late…and dark…and I was so very tired, so I thought that I was the one who...well…and then there was the dream…but I guess that it was all just a misunderstanding…a real-life comedy of errors…"

"What dream?" he asked curiously, so relieved by her easy acceptance of their crazy Shakespearean comedy-like bed sharing situation that he grasped at any straw he could to continue to make it less awkward between them.

He knew immediately that it was not the right question to ask in order to accomplish that particular goal when she blushed and just regarded him for several long moments before she answered. In the end, however, she also decided that absolute honestly was the best policy in this case. After all, they were both mature adults who had come too far to turn back now. Therefore, she took a deep breath and gathered up all of her Gryffindor courage in order to boldly tell him, "The one in which we were making love."

At those words, Phil felt his jaw drop as he suddenly realized that he was not alone in his feelings for her…Hermione actually wanted him, too! He was so surprised that he could not even speak, at first. In fact, he could barely breathe as the meaning of her words truly hit him and the monster roared into life again.

However, this time she noticed. "I'm so glad that you didn't leave," she whispered as she took charge and reached down to take the situation firmly in hand…so to speak...at the same time that her lips met his. After that, things escalated rather quickly since they had both waited much too long for it to be otherwise! Even though he found it increasingly difficult to think clearly, Phil's confident abilities returned once again when their remaining clothing was frantically removed and he realized that everything that he had denied himself was finally within reach…quite literally, in fact. All he had to do was stop fighting it and reach out to take what he wanted. Therefore, he did just that…much to both his, and Hermione's, mutual satisfaction!

Afterwards, as he lay there with a contented smile on his face and a sleepy witch in his arms, he could only hope that the rest of the team would understand and accept this new development…because there was no way in hell that he was going to be able to give her up, or to deny either of them any of this magic…not ever again!

He did not need to worry, though. In the morning, the happy…but tired…couple walked hand-in-hand up the basement stairs and straight into the kitchen together. They suddenly realized that it was later than they thought as they unexpectedly found themselves face-to-face with the rest of the team already gathered around the table with their coffee and tea. A variety of grins and smug looks, but absolutely no surprise whatsoever, decorated the faces of all their friends as they looked at the two latecomers with amusement. May summed up the feelings of everyone, though, with just one simple statement.

"It's about damn time!" she said bluntly…and with that remark, after just one good-natured cat call from Mack, the case was closed. Life went on and the standard morning routine then prevailed despite the one difference now in their midst. More beverages were poured, the duty roster was discussed, and the snarky banter reigned supreme – just like it always did. However, if Phil and Hermione smiled a little more than normal, sat a little closer together than usual, or held hands under the table…then nobody mentioned it…simply because they had all known for quite some time that such a situation was inevitable. In fact, it was obviously meant to be.