A/N - Obviously, I do not own the Avengers. I wish, but sadly that's not the case. The characters and many of the scenarios are not mine. I'd really like your opinion on these, if you read them. Good, bad, ugly - any comments or criticisms at all are lovely. I'm aware that Coulson's not actually in this one, but this is what the prompt inspired me to write for those characters.
Clint still can't believe Coulson's gone. Of course, he's not a child. He knows that people die in the line of duty all the time, and he's seen it happen before. Coulson has been a constant in Clint's professional life for years, though, and it's hard to believe he's not around anymore.
After the battle is won and Loki is shipped off back to Asgard, he and Natasha find a seedly little dive bar where nobody will realize - or care - who they are. Their faces have been all over the news for days, but disappearing is no difficult task for two people like them.
"He's gone, Tasha." Clint's stare into his glass of whiskey is blank. Natasha was close with Coulson as well, though he'd never been her mentor the way he'd been Clint's.
"He wouldn't want us to cry over him." Natasha's voice is calm and composed. She downs her shot of vodka before continuing. "He'd just tell us we'd saved the world and this was no time for tears." Not that the Black Widow truly remembered how to cry.
"Tell us to 'seize the day', or something sentimental like that." Clint wishes things were different - that he'd been there to back Coulson up, but done is done and this time he knows the blood's never going to wash away. It could have been worse - he'd come close to killing Natasha and that might just have been what it took to break him. Tonight, they'd drink to Coulson's memory and they'd grieve, and tomorrow life would go on.