A Coulson/Fury Fan Fiction
If there is one thing Phil could say about his relationship with Nick was that it has always been an open one. No matter who they were with, they always asked what the other thought of the partner they were currently with. This may sound strange, but they don't care, they have each other in the end. Nick and him had been together more years than Phil cared to count, but they still had that spark that never seemed to dim.
Most people think that Phil Coulson got to where he is through pure personal accomplishment, that is only mostly true. Phil's first promotion had been Nick anniversary gift to Phil, after that Phil felt that he needed to prove that he was worthy of his new position. Now, only a handful or so of people had higher clearance than him. In fact, his current position made people overlook how Nick and Phil talked to each other, like equals instead of as director and high level agent. Maria knew, but she had been told, so that didn't count.
After the the Avenger's were all aboard the helicarrier and Loki was safely locked away, Coulson thought he would try to get together with the one person he had adored since he was a kid, Steve Rodgers, Captain America, The First Avenger, The Soldier Out of Time. This would mean he would be breaking it off with his cellist, but Capt would be worth it. He and Nick had discussed this subject at lengths after Capt was up and about, and Nick had money riding on Capt turning Phil down, gently but firmly. Nick was not expecting what happened next.
Nick knew that Thor had been jettisoned from the helicarrier in Loki's cell and that Phil was currently alone in the room with the god of mischief himself. Nick was expecting to find his lover under the power of Loki's scepter like Barton or Loki some how contained. Nick's heart was in his mouth when he saw Phil leaning against the wall like that, with blood pouring from a wound in his chest. Nick knew that Phil was dead or soon would be as he rushed to his lover. Phil was awake! This was more than Nick has hoped for when he saw the blood, but phil's face instantly dashed all hope from Nick's mind.
Phil knew he was dying, heck, Loki thought he was dead and then Phil had shot him with Nick's secret gun-like thing. Nick was coming, he knew the moment Thor dropped from the ship that Nick would come running, hoping to stop Loki from mind controlling Phil. Nick was here, good,he needed to say something to him, to make his death mean something.
Phil: I'm sorry, boss. They got rabbited. (Boss was one of the many code word Phil and Nick had come with over years that basically means "my love")
Nick: Just stay awake. Eyes on me.
Phil: No, I'm clockin' out here.
Nick: Not an option.
Phil: It's okay, boss. This was never gonna work if they didn't have something to…
Nick didn't even have time process what Phil had said or mourn before the medics arrived and tried to revive Phil. It wouldn't work, Phil had known that and so did Nick. There was no time to grieve now, he needed to do something, anything to keep from losing it and crying right there in front of the medics. Suddenly what Phil was saying lept to his mind, "This was never gonna work if they didn't have something to…" something to unite and bring them together, that was what he was trying to say.
Nick's mind was everywhere at once, he had to announce that the man he loves is dead to the whole ship, set Phil's final plan in motion, and getting the body placed in stasis so to set his own plan in motion. Nick rushed to gather some of Phil's blood off the wall before the cleaning crew removed it all. He then rushed (okay, maybe it could have been call running, but when the Director of SHIELD does it it's rushing) to Phil's locker.
Nick has to play this just right, he cannot let on that he is currently dead inside. Earlier he called all the Avenger's left on the ship to the conference table, Natasha was keeping an eye on Clint so only Stark and Rogers showed up. "These were in Phil Coulson's jacket. Guess he never did get you to sign them." Nick said as he throws Coulson's Captain America trading cards that now have Phil's on them onto the table towards Capt. If Phil could have seen those cards defaced like that he would have taken a swing at Nick coupled with harsh words that Nick only wishes Phil was here to say.
"We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, location of the cube, Banner, Thor. I got nothing for you. Lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming." NIck paused for a moment for emphasis as well as to calm his own thoughts down. "Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number though, because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea, Stark knows this, called The Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea, in heroes." Nick wasn't sure if he had come on too strong or if message had struck home when Stark got up and walked off. "Well, it's an old fashioned notion." Nick finished, mainly for Capt, because Phil had told Nick what he had said to Capt in the plane.
Maria knew everything, their relationship, the cards, even what went on between Capt and Phil on the plane. Now she was concerned for Nick and curious about why he gave that speech. Maria was the only person he can tell anything to because she knows him and she has high enough clearance for him to tell her his plan.
Nick knew that Phil had been married to Natasha for a short time and that he had been with Clint, Stark, as well as several SHIELD agents including Maria, and a few civilians, like the cellist. So it came as no surprise to Nick that it hit them hard. Clint was more upset than most because he blamed himself for leading Loki to the Hulk on the helicarrier. What he wasn't expecting was Srark to take on Loki in Phil's name. That act lifted Nick's soul out of complete despair, high enough for Nick to tell off his superiors on the Avenger's behalf.
Meanwhile, Nick had set the wheel in motion to revive the man he loves. Phil had been working on project TAHITI before the trouble with the tesseract and Loki. Project TAHITI was where a serum made from the body of an unknown alien was used to revive a body, due to side effects the person revived had to have all memories of what had happened removed from their minds and replaced with those of happier events. Phil himself said that this should only be used on a fallen Avenger. Well, in Nick's mind, Phil was every bit an Avenger as any of the rest of them. So he planned to use TAHITI on Phil, but he knew there would be a price for cheating death, but he didn't know what it was going to be.
When Phil woke up they told him he had only died for a few minutes before they had revived him and that they had sent him to Tahiti to recover. Phil thought all of this was true, he also knew that Nick had understood what he had been trying to say about the Avengers, so all of them thought he was dead. He could live with his ex-wife and ex-boyfriends thinking he was dead, but he almost wanted to tell Thor before Heimdal saw him and told the Norse God. He also wanted to tell Capt and Banner, but they were better off not knowing.
Nick knew that he had lost the man he loved when Phil seemed to hesitate throughout his mandatory field testing when he got back from "Tahiti" and he seemed less sure of himself in other aspects too. Nick decided to keep Phil's return a secret and give him a team to keep him busy. Nick also knows that there may be some unknown side effects, so he needs someone who knew Phil before all of this who could deal with issues as they arise.
Malinda May and Phil had been a thing off and on for years, but for the past few years the two of them had just been friends. Nick knew all of this, he also knew that until recently she had been one of those legendary field agents that junior agent strive to become. Most of SHIELD knew her better as The Cavalry. Lately she worked behind a desk, but if Nick had his way she would soon be watching over Phil. She must have really cared about Phil or she wanted back in the field but couldn't find a way to do it until now, or a mix of the two, hell if Nick knew. With her help Nick had worked out how to make Phil think he had picked his own team while in truth Nick and Malinda had picked the team for the sole task of fixing problems that might arise from Project TAHITI.
May knew Phil would come and ask her to fly the plane Fury had given him, she had made the parameters for the team in such a way that there was no choices but the agents she had already picked. Phil didn't know this so she had to play this cool and with some hesitation. Phil knew why she had left the field, so he would tell her she would only be the pilot, Malinda knew better, but she was certainly not going to tell Phil that.
Malinda had also talked with Maria Hill about the whole ordeal. Maria was going to make sure that none of the agents refused to join the team, that part was way out of Malinda's hands. Maria wished she could tell her ex-boyfriend what had actually happened to him, but she knew no good would come of it, so she kept her mouth shut. Even after Dr. Streiten asked why Phil hadn't been told, Maria could only reply "He can never know."