WitW: I swear to god AoS is kicking me in the feels ALL THE TIME. Was a MayWard shipper, turns out he might love Skye. Want May to be honest with her feelings, she ices her heart even further. Want the Avengers to find Coulson, still not happening BECAUSE SIF RESPECTED HIS WISHES!

AND LET'S NOT FORGET THAT MAY TURNED OUT TO BE A DOUBLE AGENT FOR FURY.

My...my favourite character(after Coulson). And she just...stabs him in the back...

So I composed this in a fit of bitter anger after watching Yes Men.

The Director stood against the backdrop of the darkened parking lot as if he'd always been there, S.H.I.E.L.D's latest anti-spyware in his hand. Phil was drawn forward silently to stand in front of the man he'd once called friend.

"Now? After all the chasing after you and the favours I've called in you pick the day the Avengers find out I'm alive to show yourself!"

One good eye stared back at him silently.

Phil punched the patch.

Director Fury let him. And that really screamed how FUBAR all of this was; his best friend had let him get in a dirty shot.

"How DARE YOU? After everything you did to me! T.A.H.I.T.I, the underground bunker, that—that—that THING you injected me with to resurrect me! You shoved false memories and torturous experimental procedures into my brain and body to cover up the fact that YOU VIOLATED MY CORPSE." He trailed off into agonised whispers; "You made one of my oldest friends; a woman I have fought back-to-back with on multiple occasions... lie to me, spy on me and then report to you behind my back..."

"Agent May asked for the position."

"That makes it worse!" Phil held up a finger for silence and then stuck it in the other man's face. "You went to all that trouble to have other people lie to me for you. Because YOU ordered the procedures and YOU sanctioned the methods and my resurrection was YOUR IDEA." Drained Phil put his face in his hands. "I begged to die Marcus. I begged them to let me die. Why couldn't you sanction that...?"

.

"..."

.

He sensed the movement before he saw it and the Agent's Agent had the outstretched fingers of a comforting hand grasped and pulled as far away from him as possible.

"Don't touch me."

.

At least some of his reflexes were still in place after...Tahiti...

.

Fury barely acknowledged his released fingers or the defensive distance suddenly between them. "You had questions for me."

"Yes. I did. A whole tonne of them. For you and the friend I once had. I see now that he's dead so I have nothing further to say to you in private. This little tête-a-tête can take place at 0900 tomorrow between you, me and my subourdinate seeing as how you also put her at risk by neglecting to inform me of the origins of my new lease on life. And Nick? We will get to the bottom of every dirty secret you've been keeping from me."

"That is Level Ten restricted information. I can make allowances for you—"

"Don't push me right now Director; I am a Level Eight S.H.I.E.L.D Agent and I currently have all the knowledge and incentive to burn you if it is the last thing I do."

Nick growled. "You better be careful with your threats Coulson. An agent like you out and about in the world is a security risk. And we have solutions for that."

Phil took a stride directly in his personal space. "Then kill me."

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He left in the wake of the chilly air of shock.

WitW: So there it is dearies. I really tried to make it seem like these two had a lot of history and the differing levels of intimacy they revert to in the wake of that history as a solid thing in the dialogue and mental referencing. I also tried to really capture the unique 'Coulson' rant I see on the show with the Caps and italics. Not sure I really managed the righteous quality I get from them...

Let it be stated that I am not behind one-dimensional bad-guy Fury because my head cannon even now is that these two are fast-friend to the point of being blood brothers and soul comrades. Failing that the image I get from Fury in the movies is a front-line soldier/commander, capable of seeing the big picture but still going to hell and back to save his people and Coulson is wired the same way – they just have different ways of handling it; Coulson will sense and be respectful of boundaries whereas when Fury goes to hell and back there's just the almost childishly selfish sense of pushing the limits, like chanting "He will be okayHe will be okay" sort of magical thinking.

There is a tentative chapter two on my mind and partially written down of a fix-it of relations between Coulson and the other Avengers that I've stated have 'found out' in this chapter. Because I am a Phlint/BowTie shipper and I need to write these two a fix-it. ALL the fix-its. No promises though...