Coulson tried to massage his temples to ease the ache but of course it didn't help. His head felt as if someone had decided to split it in the middle and now only his skin held the skull together.

The words swam on the page before him. The Air Force complained again that Fury had confiscated Colonel Rhodes' version of Stark's suit, the State New York wanted to sue for damages to historic buildings and the BPRD had send a request to question Loki since anything related to magic technically fell into their area.

Another spike of pain shot through his head and Coulson's hand tightened around his pen, fighting the nausea that came with the pain and the fact that he hadn't eaten in...a very long time. The light from his desk lamp seemed to be unnaturally bright and painful and the noise when his pen clattered to the ground made him wince.

He bent down to retrieve it and the new bout of nausea had him shivering, feeling hot and cold at the same time. The door was opened and closed again and Coulson hoped that whoever had been there hadn't seen him and left again.

But there were steps so he wasn't that lucky. Taking a deep breath to regain his composure, he found Clint standing on the other side of his desk.

"Agent Barton, what can I do for you?"

"Did you know that Bruce sometimes drugs Tony's coffee to get him to sleep?" Clint told him causally, crossing the room. He closed the file Phil was working on. "Bed, Phil, now."

Before Coulson could protest Clint laid a hand over his eyes, blocking out the hurtful light. He groaned in relief.

"That's better, isn't it?" Clint leaned in, his lips brushing Coulson's skin. "Let's go home, okay? I really don't want to drug you."

Coulson gave in. Clint's strong grip on his arm kept him upright for as long as it took to the reach the car and -

/

He woke up in their bed, stripped down to his underwear and alone. The curtains blocked out most of the light but even so it was obvious that it was the next morning, late morning.

"Hey", Clint smiled when he came into the kitchen. "I made you toast."

"Thanks", he sat down and only now noticed the unusual quiet. "Where is everyone?"

"Tony and Bruce are in Malibu, Natasha didn't come home last night so I assume she's with Darcy, and Steve and Thor are sightseeing."

They ate in silence for a few moments until Phil said, "Thank you for last night."

"Hey, that's what I'm here for", Clint said, waving his toast around. "And you can actually call in sick, you know that right? I asked Fury."

"I might need a reminder every now and then."

"I'm always happy to drag you into bed. Speaking of which, how do you feel about going back to the bedroom?"

"I'm not tired anymore."

Clint's face was split by a smug grin. "Didn't say a word about sleeping, did I?"

And Phil let himself be led back into the bedroom without a single word of protest.