Phil tried hard not to laugh. It was really a concerted effort, but with all this serious discussion and both of them feeling hurt and Clint being apparently starving and sleep-deprived, the mental image he was having now of Stark looking for a random cellist in Portland... god, how had he even gone about looking for her, there had to be multiple female cellists in the city... he just couldn't stop himself and he started chuckling, which turned into full-on laughter as he pictured Tony bursting into the rooms of various cello players, demanding to know if they'd slept with a man named Phil Coulson, maybe even waving a photo in their faces. God, he could never go to Portland now, or at least not the district where the musicians lived.
He tried to collect himself enough to speak. "There... there never was a cellist. That was a misheard rumor that somehow grew into something much larger than I'd anticipated and then..." He shrugged, still laughing a little. "I just let it go on." Then he sobered a little, shaking his head. "I never imagined anyone would go looking for her. I'm going to have to apologize to Stark when I get back."
He sighed heavily, that bringing an end to his amusement completely. "I'm going to have to apologize to everyone. I know that. I am sorry, Clint. If it counts for anything, I didn't really have any part in the decision to do it. I wasn't planning to get stabbed, or be out for a few days, or become part of some... secret Fury was keeping." He wanted to reach out, to put his hand on Clint's arm or squeeze his shoulder or do something, because that urge for human contact was returning and he hated the look of betrayal that had been lurking on Clint's face this whole time... but he couldn't do it. It didn't seem right.
"But then he told me what you'd done together, the six of you, and how thinking I was dead had brought you together..." Coulson shrugged, then grimaced in annoyance because that hurt, damn his body. "The Avengers Initiative is going to work, but he said the team still needed more time with a common purpose, a common anger before there was good cohesion, and if I stayed dead longer, it would provide that, at least through Phase Two." And now he was parroting back Fury's words and he couldn't even be sure if there was something beyond Clint's clearance level, because suddenly he felt about as tired as Clint looked. "I... I think my pain medication just started kicking in."
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timeasmymeasure
lol this is kind of teal deer, oh well
Date: 2012-05-11 06:50 am (UTC)He tried to collect himself enough to speak. "There... there never was a cellist. That was a misheard rumor that somehow grew into something much larger than I'd anticipated and then..." He shrugged, still laughing a little. "I just let it go on." Then he sobered a little, shaking his head. "I never imagined anyone would go looking for her. I'm going to have to apologize to Stark when I get back."
He sighed heavily, that bringing an end to his amusement completely. "I'm going to have to apologize to everyone. I know that. I am sorry, Clint. If it counts for anything, I didn't really have any part in the decision to do it. I wasn't planning to get stabbed, or be out for a few days, or become part of some... secret Fury was keeping." He wanted to reach out, to put his hand on Clint's arm or squeeze his shoulder or do something, because that urge for human contact was returning and he hated the look of betrayal that had been lurking on Clint's face this whole time... but he couldn't do it. It didn't seem right.
"But then he told me what you'd done together, the six of you, and how thinking I was dead had brought you together..." Coulson shrugged, then grimaced in annoyance because that hurt, damn his body. "The Avengers Initiative is going to work, but he said the team still needed more time with a common purpose, a common anger before there was good cohesion, and if I stayed dead longer, it would provide that, at least through Phase Two." And now he was parroting back Fury's words and he couldn't even be sure if there was something beyond Clint's clearance level, because suddenly he felt about as tired as Clint looked. "I... I think my pain medication just started kicking in."