I'm back! Granted, I never technically left (I started a couple of fully Hamilton stories in the meantime, if anyone is interested), but this chapter refused to be written for a while. I blame Phil. I obviously haven't written him enough.

Anyways, the outtake dealing with the relationship of Alex, John, and Eliza (or Tony, Rhodey, and Pepper if you prefer) has been posted for a while. It's called if you had to choose and I have been told it is in fact as adorable as I intended it to be.

I repeat my question for childhood prompts. If there is something you'd like to see from anyone's childhood, please do tell. I'm urging to write something like this, but I can't come up with anything.

Word Count: 1,122

keep on fighting in the meantime

Phil Coulson was born and raised in Virginia. He lived in a big city that he knew his parents had chosen so that his mother could blend in effortlessly.

His father, while doubtlessly loving him very much was not around all that often. It was understandable, really, and Phil didn't blame him for it. He knew that his father loved him very much and that he was simply very busy with his very awesome job—Phil's Dad worked with aliens! Actual aliens from space! How cool was that? But Phil wasn't supposed to tell.

His dad came around whenever it was possible for him and he told the best stories! It made Phil want to be just like his father one day.

And he did. Just like his father, he became a government agent. A different agency, sure, but in all honestly, why would he go to the MIB when SHIELD wanted him? After all, SHIELD dealt with so much more than just aliens and that was just so much more interesting.

Plus, given his position as the son of the Agent K and the (retired) Agent O, it wasn't like there was anyone in a better position to become the liaison between these two agencies.

He worked his way through the ranks and it didn't take long until any newbies that were deemed problematic were sent in his direction. A rebellious circus kid with a bow and arrow? Sure, Phil will get him to follow orders. A Russian spy turned to their side? After Phil was done, the only real question of loyalty was if they were more loyal to the agency or himself.

This fact certainly helped him fly through the ranks. He was in the upper half of the agency by the time he turned thirty and was in a leading position before turned thirty-six.

And leading people, giving orders, things like that always gave him the weirdest sense of déjà vu.

(It took him a few years until he figured out why that was the case.)

Phil didn't think that questioning Mr. Stark and his associates would be quite as eventful as it eventually turned out. Sure, Stark's escape was miraculous, but that didn't mean that it actually was. Kind of.

Both Stark and Potts dismissed him once or twice each, but eventually-after Stane had already died in his fight with Stark-he did get his interview.

And that was when he remembered.

He remembered leading people—not agents, but soldiers—into numerous battles that ended in both victory and defeat.

He remembered leading an entire country and building it from the ground up with one of the men that was as good as his son.

And he recognized that that man was standing in front of him right now, his wife in one arm and another former (and current) soldier in the other.

"Laurens?" he questioned. "Eliza? Alexander? Is that you?"

Laurens/Rhodes looked at him incredulously. "General Washington?"

"Mr. President?" Eliza/Potts quipped with a smile.

"Your Excellency?" Alexander/Stark seemed almost too relieved to see him.

That, however, was an issue for later. They had other things to sort out right now.

For example, what exactly he was supposed to call them. When he voices that issue, all three of them frowned.

"That is a good question," Alexander/Tony nodded, almost as if the question never occurred to him. Similar looks can be seen on John/Rhodes's and Eliza/Pepper's faces.

"A really good one," Laurens/Rhodes agreed.

"Are you telling me you haven't thought about this in extensive detail?" Phil/George looked at Alexander/Tony as if he had grown a second head. Because really, how come he hadn't thought about that? It seemed so unlikely, but, apparently, it was the case.

"We were a bit preoccupied," Alexander/Tony defended himself, crossing his arms defensively in front of his chest.

"With what?"

"Oh, this and that," Eliza said dismissively. "Figuring out our relationship, killing Stane—who, by the way, was the reincarnation of King George III—rebuilding our home, recalibrating JARVIS and the bots,-"

"Wait, say that again," Phil/George ordered.

"Recalibrating JARVIS and the bots?" Eliza/Pepper repeated innocently, causing Laurens/Rhodes and Alexander/Tony to laugh.

Phil/George sighed. He could see where this was going, but he needed to make sure he had heard that correctly. "No, the one before that."

"Rebuilding our home?" Alexander/Tony added with a grin.

"No, the one before that one." Phil/George barely held back a groan, but at the same time he was kind of relieved to see them acting this way.

"Figuring out our relationship?" Laurens/Rhodes laughed loudly as he said this.

"After that one," Phil/George corrected.

"Oh, you mean killing Stane or George III." Alexander/Tony acted like it hadn't been completely obvious which one Phil/George meant from the start. "Yeah, well, he was trying to kill me for the third time that I know of and so it was self-defense, really."

"Don't act like you didn't enjoy it at all," Laurens/Rhodes inserted.

"Maybe a little bit," Alexander/Tony admitted. "But the asshole deserved it."

Judging by the fact that Eliza/Pepper didn't immediately protest, there was some point to that statement, so Phil/George focused on a different part of that issue.

"He tried to kill you three times?" If that was true—which it probably was—Phil/George may have to dig up a grave in the near future, just to also have a chance to kick that man's ass. Maybe his father could help. No one hurt Phil/George's sons and got away with it.

"Asshole arranged for the kidnapping," Laurens/Rhodes explained. "Paid for Tony to get killed, actually."

Yup. Grave digging had just been added to his to do list….Maybe he could even do both bodies, if he had the time. The MIB had several helpful gadgets for a plan like this.

"Back to the point, what should I call you?" he said out loud.

"I'd say just stick to our new names," Eliza/Pepper proposed, always a reasonable one. "This probably shouldn't get to the media in the near future—sooner or later it will happen, we all know that—but if we stick to the names we were given this time around, it should take longer."

"You're right." Phil/George nodded and turned to leaved. "I'll be back with paperwork tomorrow," he promised, because he knew that SHIELD has to has some for this situation. They have paperwork for everything, after all.

Phil/George had learned that the hard way.

And hey, at least now he had a story that his father definitely couldn't claim happened to him as well, only weirder. There was no possible way that was possible.

cyndaquil: Thank you for your review! Yup, polyamory is a thing in this verse for pretty much the reasons you described.

Meow: Yes, he's gonna be here at one point, but I'm not telling when or as whom.

Guest (on Chapter 3): You may be onto something there. Someone should probably investigate that, to be honest.

Please tell me what you think!