Another fail at the attempt to write Steve/Maria as engineered by Phil Coulson.
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Maria blames Phil for putting the idea in her head in the first place.
"You know," Phil remarks one evening after the armchair quarterbacking is done, "I think Rogers rather likes you."
She looks up from the brief she's signing off, not quite sure she heard him correctly. "Excuse me?"
Phil smiles - that secretive smile that he taught her to use when the circumstances called for an enigmatic expression. "I think Steve Rogers likes you."
"That's what I thought you said." Maria isn't quite sure whether to be horrified or dismayed. Not so much by the thought that Steve Rogers likes her, as by the thought that Phil is playing matchmaker. "Except you couldn't have, because we're SHIELD agents, not back at high school."
"I could pass him a note during study hall," Phil says, looking rather less the stern instructor and a lot younger and more impish. "Or is that too old-fashioned these days? Sending him a Twitter message doesn't feel quite the same..."
This is probably the most prominent of the changes in Phil since Loki nearly killed him. Not that Maria minds; he's alive, which is better than dead. And it's good to see him relax a little more. Except, perhaps, when he goes on like this. Then it's disturbing.
"Considering Rogers' memories include the Great Depression," Maria notes dryly, "I doubt there's anything we could think of that could be too 'old fashioned' for him."
--
--
Maria blames Phil for putting the idea in her head in the first place.
"You know," Phil remarks one evening after the armchair quarterbacking is done, "I think Rogers rather likes you."
She looks up from the brief she's signing off, not quite sure she heard him correctly. "Excuse me?"
Phil smiles - that secretive smile that he taught her to use when the circumstances called for an enigmatic expression. "I think Steve Rogers likes you."
"That's what I thought you said." Maria isn't quite sure whether to be horrified or dismayed. Not so much by the thought that Steve Rogers likes her, as by the thought that Phil is playing matchmaker. "Except you couldn't have, because we're SHIELD agents, not back at high school."
"I could pass him a note during study hall," Phil says, looking rather less the stern instructor and a lot younger and more impish. "Or is that too old-fashioned these days? Sending him a Twitter message doesn't feel quite the same..."
This is probably the most prominent of the changes in Phil since Loki nearly killed him. Not that Maria minds; he's alive, which is better than dead. And it's good to see him relax a little more. Except, perhaps, when he goes on like this. Then it's disturbing.
"Considering Rogers' memories include the Great Depression," Maria notes dryly, "I doubt there's anything we could think of that could be too 'old fashioned' for him."
--