A/N: It's a bit late, but here's a Valentine's Day story involving Coulson and May, back just before the mission in Bahrain. Friendship, pre-ship feels. Enjoy!

The ringtone Melinda had assigned for Andrew – or rather, the ringtone he'd assigned for himself, on her phone – pulled Melinda from her work. Her lips turned up in a smile. "Hey," she greeted.

"Melinda, hi."

There was hesitation in Andrew's voice, which stole Melinda's smile. A bad feeling crept up on her. "We're not going to have dinner tonight, are we?" It was barely a question.

He sighed, confirming her belief before he even spoke. "I'm so sorry, Melinda. Gregson is calling me in on a 911. Apparently one of his men is in a bad place, and it can't wait until tomorrow." He waited for her to say something, then continued. He knew her too well to wait long. "I'll make it up to you," he promised in a lower voice. "You know I'm good for it."

Melinda breathed out low. That was true enough. "Okay."

"Love you. Happy Valentine's Day."

Melinda bit the inside of her lip and hung up. So much for the plan of finishing this file and getting home to start cooking. She'd had her heart set on making Andrew a special dinner her dad had taught her how to make, years before. Andrew didn't even know. He probably expected to make them his signature Valentine's Day scampi. Which was why she'd gone to the trouble of sneakily getting the supplies she would need to make her dinner instead.

She looked down at the file she was halfway through reviewing, suddenly much less intent on finishing quickly. If she was honest with herself, she didn't want to finish at all, and return to an empty apartment. Melinda wasn't big on Valentine's Day, with all its expected flashy romantic gestures, but since being with Andrew… it made a difference, having someone close to her at this time of year. She liked their quiet Valentine's together, with a homemade meal and time curled up on the couch. Maybe it was stupid, but she didn't want to go and sit on her couch by herself.

She'd rather stay in the office and work by herself. At least that way she would be productive. Deskwork was her least favorite part of being an agent, yet it was definitely a necessary part. Maybe she could get a jump on it and eliminate the deskwork for the next week.

One by one those in the office around her left for the day, heading home. Most cleared out quickly once five o'clock hit. One stayed, their light and hers the only bright spots in the office space. It was seven o'clock before the other agent's light flicked off, and Melinda looked over her shoulder to see who else had stayed late. Phil.

He blinked at her. "I thought Krasky stayed. Guess I counted wrong." He walked up to Melinda's cubicle. "Strange to see you so hunched over a desk. You usually spend as little time in here as possible."

Melinda tapped her pen on the desk. "Someone has to review old mission files."

"But not usually you," Phil insisted. He seemed amused. "Fury has a soft spot for you, letting you do 75% fieldwork, 25% deskwork. Which doesn't require staying late with files."

May set her pen down and turned her head to look at him. "If Fury has a soft spot for anyone, it's you," she corrected him. "Letting the Comms guy go into the field so much."

Phil leaned over the edge of her cubicle, letting his hand dangle on her side. "Maybe he just knows we make a good team. I'm really not sure what his motives are sometimes. He can be as unreadable as you."

Melinda fought back a flicker of a smile.

"Why are you still here?"

"Why aren't you with Andrew?"

Their questions overlapped, and Phil chuckled. "Fine, I'll go first. I don't have any plans tonight and wanted to get a head start on tomorrow. I thought you and Andrew had plans?"

Melinda felt her mood sour again. "We did. He's stuck at work."

Phil pressed his lips together. "So you're avoiding the holiday."

"It's a stupid holiday anyway."

She could see Phil attempt to choke back his laugh, even if he didn't succeed. She appreciated the effort. "Do you have any food here?" he asked.

Melinda opened a desk drawer and produced a granola bar. "Emergency stash."

Phil was frowning at the granola bar when she looked back up at him. "I'll be right back."

Melinda watched him walk back in the direction of his office with slightly narrowed eyes. She read a few more lines of the mission file, not absorbing anything as her attention remained on wondering what Phil was doing. Was he not going to go home now, in some sort of act of solidarity? There was no reason for them both to act like workaholics.

Phil returned with his arms full, and showed her each item he carried as though he were Vanna White. "Seltzer water – black cherry," he said. "Cool Ranch Doritos. A Hershey bar. And for entertainment purposes, drum roll please, a documentary."

Melinda quirked an eyebrow. "You keep all that in your desk?"

Phil grinned abashedly. "You never know when you might need junk food. Like tonight, it's working out perfectly. Come on."

Melinda's wariness increased. "Where?"

"The op center. It's got the biggest screen."

Melinda felt tempted to make an excuse that she had too much work to do. Phil would see right through that. Actually, he would completely call her out on it, like he had before. She stood and followed him into the op center, leaving the broken granola bar in her desk drawer.

Phil went to put the documentary into the computer. Melinda retrieved plastic cups from the water station and popped open the bottle of seltzer, dividing it between the cups. "So what are we watching?" she asked.

Phil grabbed the remote before pushing one of the swivel chairs over next to Melinda's. "It's a story about a guy who stands up for those who can't stand up for themselves. He puts himself in harm's way to protect the people and country he loves, and makes the ultimate sacrifice to save billions of lives."

Melinda sat down and popped open the bag of chips, a wave of affection going through her. "Captain America again?"

Phil didn't waver. "He's one of the best heroes the world's ever seen, May. And this is supposed to be one of the best documentaries about him."

She was sure Phil already knew everything about Steve Rogers, but admired that he wanted to learn about his idol. Of course she would be receiving a detailed analysis of the documentary from him for the next week, essentially viewing it twice… it still beat looking at mission files.

Phil raised his cup and tapped it against Melinda's, and the documentary began. As the two sat in the op center, watching possibly the driest documentary in existence, Melinda was pleasantly surprised to find she was enjoying herself. It wasn't the evening she had planned. It wasn't even the evening she'd planned to make up for the original evening she'd had planned. Still, it was a nice Valentine's Day with a friend.

And she could look forward to another Valentine's Day with Andrew, the following night…

For now, she looked over at Phil and watched him absorbing every fact in the documentary with a calm, geeky excitement. She grabbed a few more chips and broke off half the chocolate bar and leaned back to really watch. It looked like action footage now.

"Thanks Phil," she said under her breath.

She wasn't sure if he heard her, but she thought she saw him incline his head, just a touch. And that was that.