(Your Name) Across My Heart
Summary: They always had each other's name across their hearts. They just weren't exactly aware of the fact for a time.
A/n: Soulmate au where you get the name of your soulmate on your body.
His soulmate's name was Daisy Johnson. He hadn't thought about finding her in a while. She certainly didn't live in Manitowoc. He had looked when he was a kid, still living there. Neither was she from Boston, when his monther and him moved, though he couldn't be sure about that.
After some time, he forgot about the name. Or rather life demanded his attention and 'Daisy Johnson' became a dream for his quiet nights.
Her presence returned to the foreground of his mind when he joined SHIELD.
Surely, among all these people, from all over the world, she could be among them. One face in the crowd, but someone dear to him, even if hadn't met her.
He asks and searches, but the name doesn't ring any bells and doesn't appear on any searches.
(There's a relief that she isn't among the dead or missing agents.)
He's meeting new people with each mission, always expecting to hear her name, often times getting scolded by his S.O. for his divided attention.
"You have her name on your body. When it's time to meet, you'll meet. Now get your ass in gear, agent! We have work to do!"
So he does as Fury orders, because he really wants to be a good agent and he doesn't want to look bad in his eyes. The man picked him for this job for a reason. He saw something in young Phillip, with his conspiracy theories and the penchant for history. He wasn't going to fail him.
As time goes by, he manages to master how to look for her without looking for her. Beraly anyone can tell when his mind wonders off – he's pretty sure only the Director could really tell, but the man is too busy to scold him for this, these days.
There are partners, of course, he is only human and he hopes Daisy has a partner, that she isn't alone somewhere wondering why he hasn't found her yet, but there's always this emptiness.
His longest partner was Audrey, both of them yet to find their soulmates, an unexpected similarity that kept them together for so long.
And then came New York.
And then he died and came back.
He stares at himself in the mirror, Daisy's name greeting him over his heart, slightly deformed due to the scar.
(He's not sure if he wants to find her anymore, not like this. Not now that he almost died, that he has this scar on his body. How could she ever love this?)
Skye is a slap to the face. She's everything. And he often finds himself rubbing the name over his heart, because he'd give up Daisy for Skye and somehow that makes him feel guilty, because Daisy has been with him throughout all his life.
(He had accepted the possibility of never finding her, of course. It's a big world and he's but a small man. It didn't mean it didn't hurt, that he didn't hate the possibility.)
DJ~PC~DJ~PC
Skye was facing a huge problem. Althought she wasn't sure if 'problem' covered the situation she was in.
And it had a name; Agent Phillip Coulson. Well, just Phillip Coulson, the 'agent' wasn't part of the name – it was the problem.
After years of wondering and semi-dissmissing the idea of finding him, he opened the door to her van and kidnapped her.
Finding her soulmate was definitely removing one person of the search equation that was her life.
Finding out he worked for the scary men in the dark suits, was complicating practically everything.
For one, she wasn't sure she was his soulmate – she had heard cases where one's soulmate had another soulmate, albeit that was extremely rare. And even if she was, he probably wouldn't want her, considering their age difference and the fact they were on opposing sides.
If you had told her that her soulmate was a government official that worked to keep the truth from the world, she'd've headbutted you and kicked you in the crotch.
The universe apparently thought it would be funny to do just that.
She caught him staring at her a few times, with that look that made her want to hold him tight and kiss him senseless.
(She did wonder if Miles made the connection between Agent Coulson and Phillip Coulson, though she wouldn't be surprised if he didn't.)
They grow close anyway, despite what they planned, sharing in the pain and the secrets and the blood, despite everything.
He makes the scary men in dark suits less scary, she makes the world brighter. They make each other believe and hope again, something they all need in the year that follows with HYDRA revealing itself, with Coulson carving alien maps, with her father and her powers.
And then, a moment of peace.
And a name.
Daisy Johnson.
DJ~PC~DJ~PC
Phil had long since desided the universe was punishing him for all his mistakes. And he had accepted his fate; being brought to life by the project he had asked to be shut down, falling in love with a woman he would likely never meet, while being in love with another and never telling her, because she could do so much better than him.
And now here he is, Daisy driving Lola back to the Playground, and him rubbing his hand over his heart.
"You ok?" Skye, no, Daisy asked.
They never breached the topic before. He wonders if he should ask.
"I've seen you do that before." she continued. "It's your soulmark, isn't it?"
"Yes."
"You found them?"
"I had given up on ever doing so. I was in SHIELD, I met so many people and yet no one was her. And then unexpectedly, I found someone I'd give this second life for them to be my soulmate. It was such a crappy thing to think, too. And then I'd be glad they never met me, because of that scar."
"They're your soulmate, they'd love you no matter what." Daisy sighed.
"The thing is, I know who my soulmate is now. I just don't know how to tell her. I'm not...whole."
Daisy made a sound that he was not going to categorize it as a growl, if only for his sanity.
"Coulson! You're a really great guy. You're caring, supportive and cool. Any girl'd be lucky to be your soulmate."
"Yeah?" he looked at her, hopeful. "Even with the ugly scar and the half hand?" he looked away.
"Hey, I haven't seen the scar to say it's not ugly – which I'm pretty sure it isn't, but I might be biased, so – but that hand proves you survived a worse fate, and boy am I lucky to still have you in my life."
Phil smiled and hummed.
"So? Will you tell your soulmate?" Daisy pressed.
"Truth is I had found her, or she let me find her, a year ago. I just didn't know it was her."
"That sounds secretive, but fine."
"No, not secretive at all. She was using another name. How could I know?"
"Well, by asking?" he could practically hear her roll her eyes.
"She herself didn't know for a while either."
There was a pause, Daisy drewing a deep breath.
"Coulson...?"
"Sorry. I..."
"You're my soulmate." she said, softly, pulling to the side of the road. "I've got your name."
"Oh." he breathed out.
"And it's a good thing you didn't tell me before today. I would have believed that whoever this Daisy chick was, wherever she was, she was one very lucky girl to have you." she said.
"I wanted that name to have changed to Skye, when I met you. Because how could I want to be with anyone but you?" he shook his head. "And look at us now. It has always been you."
Daisy chuckled and pressed her hand against her heart.
Then she leaned towards him and pressed her lips to his.
Coulson sighed.
"I need a hand." he mumbled against her lips.
"What do you need?"
"I can't use my right hand because the angle is wrong and I don't have a left hand to run through your hair as I want to do right now." he said.
Daisy smiled and run her hand through his hair, elicting a silent chuckle from him.
"Yeah, that's good, too." he said, leaning for a kiss.
"Wait." she pulls back a little. "All this time, you knew my name." she realises. "All I had to do was to take your clothes off and find out."
"I didn't know it was you." he replies appologetically, like it's his fault he didn't know.
"And what were all those stupid things about you being glad I hadn't seen your scar or about your hand?"
"In my defence, you're the closest to perfection I've ever been. Average guy like me, I was shocked someone like you would want to be with me." he said, "Much less soul-bonded with."
"You're not... Coulson, you're pretty amazing, you know that right?"
"I must be. I am your soulmate, after all." he smirked playfully at her.
"Oh you dork." she slapped his arm playfully. "At least we agree."
"Well, you always know better." he smiled. "I should listen to you more." he sighed, relaxing back on the seat, closing his eyes. "But my timing isn't so great, is it?"
"What do you mean?"
Coulson raised his sling a little, a sad smile on his lips.
Daisy placed a hand on it, lightly.
"Your timing is perfect." she told him, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek. "And besides, it wasn't your timing, it was just the right time."
Coulson smiled up at her.
"We need a vacation. All of us, yeah, but I mean the two of us, we should go someplace."
"We'd go crazy without work for more than two days, Coulson." she laughed.
"Hey! We can keep each other in check. Make a bet out of it, see who can hold out longer."
"And where would we go?"
"You know, I wouldn't mind going back to the Retreat, roast those marshmallows." he smiled softly.
Daisy hummed.
She turned forward.
"You really wanted that, huh?" she turned back to smile at Coulson.
"You and me in the Retreat, roasting marshmallows? It is such an appealing idea." he smiled back at her.
Daisy hummed.
"Settled then. We need to do some repairs, though. Heard what other-SHIELD did to my little cabin in the woods."
"It's only a door, really."
"We need to change the lumpy couch, too."
"Mm-hm." he nodded. "That thing isn't good for sitting. Much less for anything else."
"How did Dr. Banner not hulk-out and tear it apart?"
"There wasn't a couch when Dr. Banner lived in it." he said. "And Captain Rogers said it helped him ease into the new everyday."
"I can see that. Stiff couch, for someone whose last memories were of a war... Well, it probably felt familiar."
"Yeah." he nodded. "So, new door and new couch. We should stock up the cabinets with food, too." he made a list. "We'll manage."
Daisy laughed, turning on the ignition and getting back on the road.
"Say it again, but like you believe it this time."
"You know I am a workaholic." he grumbled.
"So am I." she grinned. "So. We'll manage without work for a while. I'll keep you busy."
"I don't think I'm allowed strenuous excersises just yet." he smirked.
"Don't worry. I'll be gentle."
"Oh, I know." he smirked at her.
Daisy smiled, keeping her eyes on the road.
They couldn't wait.