Atlas Gym, Saturday

[so_hawkward]

Clint had listened to Tony's radio, and certainly noticed there was more than one of him - ah, the stuff of nightmares - but somehow that hadn't translated to anything in Clint's head until he got to the gym and noticed there were a lot more people than usual, and he didn't recognize most of them.

"Oh, it's one of those weekends," he muttered, shaking his head and moving behind the main desk. Hopefully, more people wouldn't turn into more complaints, and he could do his paperwork in relative peace.

Comments

[firstnameagent.livejournal.com]

As long as Coulson was making the rounds, he couldn't resist stopping in to check up on one of his favorite operatives.

"Barton. Nice to see you're still around," Coulson said. Take THAT, paperwork.

[so_hawkward]

Clint looked up at the familiar voice and broke into a grin. "Coulson? Uh, it's good to see you too, sir. What are you doing here?"

[firstnameagent.livejournal.com]

"A portal brought me," Coulson said. "And I figured if I was in town anyway, it couldn't hurt to check up on people. Personally, not for business."

"Probably."

[so_hawkward]

"I have a feeling you weren't the only one dealing with a portal today," Clint said. "But I'm glad you came by. I have news you may or may not believe."

[firstnameagent.livejournal.com]

"We're well past the point where much is going to surprise me," Coulson joked.

[so_hawkward]

"I'm engaged," Clint said. "To get married." Like there was some other kind of engaging he could do.

[firstnameagent.livejournal.com]

"Congratulations," Coulson said. If he was at all surprised, he wasn't showing it. "Of course, since I've been gone I do have to ask who the lucky woman is."

[so_hawkward]

"Kitty Pryde," Clint said. "I think she exists in our world, because I exist in hers, although I'm kind of a jerk. Even more than normal," he added, because he wasn't going to let Coulson be the one to make the joke.

[firstnameagent.livejournal.com]

"I was still here when you started dating," Coulson said. "I'd joke that she's too good for you, but you always made a good pair."

[so_hawkward]

"She is absolutely too good for me. I still can't believe she agreed to marry me," Clint said. "I have to wonder if Fury knew something like this might happen when he sent me here."

[firstnameagent.livejournal.com]

"I don't think he did. I think he just put you where he thought you needed to be and trusted that you'd work out what that means for yourself," Coulson said. "Because if there's two things I've learned about Fury the past few years, it's that he regularly takes stabs in the dark, and those stabs hit their mark often enough to make it look like he knows even more than he does."

[so_hawkward]

"I think he's maybe a little psychic, and just hides it really well," Clint said, smirking. "How have things been going for you, sir?"

[firstnameagent.livejournal.com]

"Busy as always," Coulson said. "I don't know where you are in the timeline at this point or I'd give more information. But I did get a promotion."

[so_hawkward]

"I'm not surprised by that. You're one of the best agents SHIELD has," Clint said. "If Fury ever retires, I expect you to run the place. And give me and Nat the best assignments, of course."

[firstnameagent.livejournal.com]

"So you're pretty far behind me in timelines," Coulson realized. "Never mind me. I said nothing."

[so_hawkward]

Aww, don't worry Coulson, someday Clint's SHIELD would implode too.

"Yes sir, you said nothing. Especially about how it would be wrong to give Nat and I better assignments," he said with a smirk, before shaking his head. "It's all right, I get it. There are like, five Tony Starks running around right now - different timelines are a thing I can grasp, as long as you're doing okay."

[firstnameagent.livejournal.com]

"I'm not going to say everything's perfect," Coulson said, holding up his left hand. It was black, and it looked like it might either be mechanical or just have a really shiny glove on it, the promo image wasn't clear enough on that point. "But fortunately I'm a righty."

[so_hawkward]

Clint winced sympathetically at Coulson's hand. "I hope whoever did that got what was coming to them?"

[firstnameagent.livejournal.com]

"He did. I gave him a promotion," Coulson said. "It's a long story."