It was one of those great missions. Without all the extra Avengers, just Clint and one of his two favorite people (Tasha and Phil). This time it was him and Phil.
Of course, calling it a great mission was a bit misleading.
Clint winced, crawling sideways to avoid the falling debris. He coughed as he moved closer to the fire, smoke entering his mouth.
"Barton! Head north! Now!" Phil barked at him from somewhere in the general forward area.
"Trying Sir." He coughed out, ignoring the splinters he was getting in his hands and shuffling forward.
It was supposed to be a simple mission, with them going in, extracting information from the leader in whatever means possible, and going out. The leader, however, had heard they were coming from some traitor in SHIELD. Therefore, he wasn't there, but a bomb that brought the entire building down around them was.
Now, they had to get out. Phil had second-degree burns on his arms and chest, while Clint had splinters and extreme smoke inhalation. They were also still in the middle of the building.
Clint caught up to Phil, coughing strongly. They headed forward, just as the roof collapsed around them. Clint reached out, grabbing Phil's hand. His consciousness was flickering. He could feel the weight of the building around him, compressing his chest, but he had to get this out.
"Coulson…" he coughed, blood spurting out of his lips a bit. Coulson blinked blearily at him for a moment.
"Barton…" he replied, voice managing to sound bland even in this situation.
"Since we're probably now officially fucked, I just wanna tell you that I've kind of been in love with you for like…eleven years. Ever since you first started handling me." Clint shared, pausing for coughing and spitting out blood. Coulson chuckled wetly.
"Feeling is mutual, Barton. I never wanted anything to get in the way of our handler-agent relationship since you seem to only respond to me." Coulson smirked, "But I think I know why that is now." Clint chuckled, squeezing the fingers he held in his hands. "I love you too Clint." He finished sincerely.
"Love you too…Phil…."
Clint blacked out.
Clint blinked wearily, eyes adjusting to the bright light…of the hospital room. He groaned in annoyance. How did he get here again? He hated SHIELD medical rooms.
Then it hit him.
"Oh shit." He said aloud.
If he was alive, that meant Coulson was alive as well. While that was wonderful and he was relieved, that also meant that Coulson remembered what he had said. But he knew Coulson enough to know that even if the man reciprocated his feelings, he would never let Clint close enough to start a relationship. It might ruin their handler-agent relationship if things went wrong.
Well shit.
He would rather be dead than face Coulson again.
After two months of bed rest and healing, Clint was back on active duty. He hadn't seen head or tail of Coulson in that time, but the Avengers had stopped in. And given him amused looks. And knowing looks. And it was driving him insane, but he refused to question them on it, afraid of what they would say.
Turns out he didn't have to.
"So, when are you and Coulson going to get your acts together and actually be together after that fluffy little confession you two shared?"
Of course Stark decided to say this while he was in the midst of drinking water.
Clint coughed, painfully swallowing what was in his mouth and continuing to cough.
"What?" he managed to screech after a moment. Stark glanced at him over his StarkPad, raising an amused eyebrow.
"Oh come on Barton. You and Agent were on an open comm. Didn't you know that?" he questioned cheekily. Clint's eyes widened, and he sunk into the couch.
"Open…comm…" he repeated, "Fury, Hill, Sitwell, the Avengers…all and any who decided to watch over the mission." He checked. Tony gave him the shit eating grin.
"Yup!" he chirped happily. "Now I repeat, Agent has been doing basically everything he could to avoid doing anything Avengers related and you have not opened your mouth to ask any questions about him. I don't get it Barton. You both lurve each other."
Clint glared at him, feeling the back of his neck heat up, but luckily enough, not his face. "It's not that simple Stark. SHIELD has strict no dating rules for-"
"Oh, is that why Fury said, and I quote 'fucking finally' when you two confessed." Tony blinked innocently at him, and that made Clint pause.
"But…the rule is-" Tony ruled his eyes.
"Jesus Legolas. You got the a-okay from your leader to date Agent, so why don't you go make a move?" Stark smirked, "I'm not letting you back on your floor of the tower until it belongs to you and Agent. Now, go!" Tony commanded with a point towards the door. Clint stared at him for a moment, before grinning and hopping off the couch.
Clint knocked on Phil's office door, rocking on his toes.
"Come in."
Clint entered, still grinning, grin even widening when Phil glanced up and he saw the barest hint of surprise on his face. He closed the door behind him, stalking closer to him.
"Agent Barton." Phil greeted cordially. "To what do I owe-"
Clint hopped neatly over his desk, grabbing the lapels of his suit and pulling him to his feet.
"Barton." Phil snapped, but Clint didn't stop grinning.
"You love me. And we're going to date." Clint decided. Phil sighed.
"Listen Barton…Clint…SHIELD has strict-"
"Policies on inter-job dating, blah blah blah." Clint tugged him closer until they were chest to chest and couldn't help but notice that Phil automatically put his hands on his hips. "We got Fury's go head. And I want to date you. That's all that matters."
"But Clint-"
Clint pressed even closer, connecting their lips and stopping his objections. After a few seconds they broke, Clint gazing at the other man in wonder, while Phil just blinked.
"Okay. I agree. If Fury's fine and we both want this, than that is all that matters." Phil finally spoke and Clint's grin grew.
"See, I knew it wouldn't be that hard to convince-"
Phil tugged him into another kiss, silencing him this time.
Cute huh? Hope the prompter likes it! R & R.