After-action report

[agent_coulson]

Phil laid out on his bed, looking--he hated to think it, but it was true--a little pathetic. One of his toes was in a splint from when he'd flown backwards and hit a fire hydrant with his foot, there was an ice pack on his knee, where he'd been slammed by the guy's metal armor, there was a bandage wound around one forearm that concealed a long, deep gash (he wasn't even entirely sure when he'd gotten that, he hadn't noticed it until the fighting was over), and the rest of his body was covered in bumps and bruises. A scrape on his left cheek gave him a rough-and-tumble kind of look, but it conflicted with the rest of him, which looked more tough meat than tough guy.

The only upside was that he'd officially been given the rest of the day off, and SHIELD Medical had given him a few Vicodins, one of which he'd popped when he got home. Now at least he wasn't in much pain, and he felt a bit floaty, which was pleasant. He closed his eyes and tried to just be glad they'd gotten the guy. Stark had gotten to the scene a little late--Phil shouldn't really have been taking this one on alone, and he knew it, but he'd had to keep him occupied somehow--but he'd gotten there eventually, and that was the important thing.

Comments

[ladyofmarvel]

"You don't have to wake up. Go back to sleep. I'll put the milk in the fridge." Reaching out, she stroked a hand gently over his head, still smiling.

[agent_coulson]

"Will you come back?" He yawned a little, still feeling impossibly sleepy for how excited he'd been about doughnuts just a little while ago, but he didn't want to just pass back out. He wanted to have Carol beside him for a while, to feel her soft warmth against him.

[ladyofmarvel]

"As wonderful as your kitchen is, Phil, I don't see it capturing my attention for hours on end," she teased, getting up with the bag and going to put everything away.

Coming back in the room, she slipped off her boots and shrugged out of her jacket, crawling over him and stretching out beside him. "You know, you might hate me for saying this, but you're sort of adorable when you're tired."

[agent_coulson]

He groaned. "SHIELD agents are not supposed to be adorable." He turned and put an arm around her, nestling close. "You do understand you're sworn to secrecy about this night, don't you? Serious, level five classification." He yawned again, a bit smaller, and kissed her neck. "If it gets out, I'll say you drugged me and fed me sugar."

[ladyofmarvel]

"Mmm, but you're off-duty, so technically, you can be whatever you want. Because the last time I checked, SHIELD agents also weren't supposed to be naked and doing dirty, dirty things together. But, that might just be me. I haven't completely memorized the rule book yet."

Her hand came up to cup the back of his head, stroking through his hair as she snuggled closer. "I haven't fed you anything yet, but I did grab some Red Vines for myself, along with your necessary munchie food."

[agent_coulson]

He grinned, despite himself. "Red Vines, huh. Interesting. Is that what I should get for you if you're ever on painkillers?" Then he frowned, because the idea of her being hurt enough to legitimately need them was not pleasant. "Never mind, let's just hope that never has to happen. I'll buy you some anyway."

Then he laughs, the first thing she said registering, along with a shiver down his spine from her hand in his hair. "There's no explicit code of conduct that covers sexual interactions. I checked. I think unofficially it's frowned upon, but if we're off-duty, no one can get too upset at us."

[ladyofmarvel]

"Hey, Red Vines are delicious. And I wouldn't say no to any you might happen to procure and then offer to share with me." Her being seriously injured wasn't something that happened often - if at all since she'd woken up. She was seriously hoping it would stay that way. She had a feeling she wouldn't make a good patient.

"See, now that just tempts me to see about doing it on-duty. There's a utility closet on the fourth floor that everyone seems to have forgotten is there. Might come in handy." She grinned, fingers playing lightly in the short brown strands.

[agent_coulson]

"Mmm." Phil pushed back against her fingers a little. "We can't... not at work." He smiled, though--it was an arousing idea, even if he could never follow through with it. "Anyway, I need more room than that to do everything I want to do to you. A closet isn't enough space."

[ladyofmarvel]

"Don't think I won't be fantasizing about it some days." She smoothed her other hand over his shoulder, wondering just how bad his injuries were. The office hadn't told her the particulars, of course, so she'd only had a glimpse before she'd ushered him off to bed.

His insinuations, however, had her grinning. "Not for a marathon event, no, in which case we'd be using every available flat surface we could find, vertical or horizontal -- but maybe just to take the edge off when you're being particularly arousing? Mmm... it could come in handy."

[agent_coulson]

"Stop, you're convincing me..." he murmured, shaking his head. He lifted his leg instinctively, to slide it between hers, then hissed in surprised pain when his knee and toe twinged angrily. "Damn. Forgot about that."

[ladyofmarvel]

"Oh, I'll do more than convince you. I'll corrupt and coerce you into it one day, Phillip Coulson."

At his hiss of pain, she frowned, moving to sit up as though she could see through the blankets. "How bad is it, Phil? With that kind of reaction, you're not going to be back at work tomorrow."

[agent_coulson]

"I have to be, there's a budget meeting, and if I'm not there, we're going to end up allocating millions of dollars to new toys for Stark or something equally unhelpful."

He looked down at his knee and toe, grimacing. "It's not too bad. Just one broken toe. And... my knee's a little banged up. But that's nothing new, just an old college injury that flares up whenever someone hits it with a solid chunk of indestructible metal." He gave her a small, wry smile.

[ladyofmarvel]

"I could always just lock him in a trunk for a day. I doubt anyone would miss him, and they wouldn't allocate him any funds if he couldn't open his mouth to ask for them."

She tsk'd again, hand sliding carefully around his waist. "How're your ribs? Anything bruised or dinged up I need to worry about?" She tried to picture him in college, and just couldn't manage it.

[agent_coulson]

"Nothing the Vicodin's not taking care of." Phil grinned at the mental image of Stark in the trunk of her car. "Don't take this as approval of your plan, but that is something I would pay money to see."

He sighed. "Unfortunately, he doesn't have to be there to ask for them, he's already submitted the requests and Miss Potts will apparently be on hand to follow up."

[ladyofmarvel]

"I'll keep that in mind for if I'm ever short on cash." The thought of Stark bound and gagged in her trunk was something she thought of frequently. Generally, whenever he opened his mouth.

The last had her nose wrinkling. "Yeah, Pepper's usually on the ball and more than capable of finagling whatever Stark wants for him. I don't know why she does it."

[agent_coulson]

"She's in love with him." Phil shrugged. "And maybe she's actually bought into his ego-maniacal, power-hungry vision of populating every square inch of the planet with Stark tech." Just talking about this is making him irritated, he realized. He could feel his frown lines deepening.

[ladyofmarvel]

"I don't know which you're more irritated with; Stark taking over the world or Pepper being in love with him." She lifted a hand and stroked the center of his forehead, smoothing the lines.

"It'll never happen, so don't worry about it. Worry about getting better. Think about the ridiculous sugar high you're going to get when you get around to your munchies."

[agent_coulson]

He leaned into the feel of her hand stroking him, then blinked at the mention of a sugar high. He'd... forgotten about the doughnuts, just a little. It was hard to keep a lot of things in his head right now.

"Oh, that's right..." he murmured, his voice vaguely reverent. "You went and got me doughnuts and chocolate milk, didn't you?" He smiled at her. "You're a goddess, you know that? You're too good to me."

[ladyofmarvel]

It wasn't often Phil was this easily distracted, and she'd be lying if she said it wasn't leaning towards being adorable. Leaning in, she kissed the spot between his brows, then drew back.

"You feel up to your munchies now, or you want to save them for later?" High or not, it was still nice to hear little endearments like that directed at her from him.

[agent_coulson]

"I'll take them now, if that's okay." He tilted his head up and caught the lips that had just been pressed against his forehead, kissing her back with less precision than her normally managed. Then a thought occurred to him and he started laughing. "God, I really should go out there to eat them, I'm going to get powdered sugar all over the bed, but I'm too comfortable here."

[ladyofmarvel]

"You shouldn't be moving," she said, voice quiet as she nuzzled his cheek. "But I can fix that."

Crawling back over him, she folded the covers back and carefully slipped her arms under him, cradling him as she lifted him. "I'll pop you on the couch so your brain doesn't have to explode later from sleeping with crumbs."

[agent_coulson]

"Oh God." He laughed, but his cheeks were turning red. "This is embarrassing. I don't think I've been held like this since I was five."

[ladyofmarvel]

"I promise not to tell anyone," she grinned, giving his temple a kiss before moving him out and setting him gently down on the couch. "There, see? That wasn't so hard. No man-points lost."

[agent_coulson]

"I don't know, I think maybe I lost a few in the transfer." He put his arms around her neck, though, pulling her down for a real kiss. "It's okay, though," he murmured. "I think I get some kid-points for the chocolate milk. That's what all women want, right? Less man, more child?"

[ladyofmarvel]

She was gentle when she kissed him back, but that didn't stop her from giving his lip a small nip before drawing back. "Well, we'll keep an in-house tally, and the results aren't available to anyone but us, hmm? Now, behave while I go get your treats."