Title: Vigil
Author: misslucyjane
Fandom: The Avengers – Marvel Cinematic Universe
Characters: Phil Coulson, Steve Rogers
Warning/Spoilers: None
Word Count: 290
Rating: G
Summary: “I sort of met you. I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping.”
Notes: Inspired by Coulson’s line from the movie, used as the summary.
Coulson came every day he possibly could.
At first he brought flowers, like to a sickbed, thinking Captain Rogers would be awake, finally, today would be the day. But then more days passed and the flowers died, so Coulson brought other things like you do to a coma patient. Benny Goodman, Bing Crosby, the Andrews Sisters. The Little Prince. Maugham and Steinbeck and E.B. White.
The Captain slept on.
Coulson brought his trading cards and flipped through them, describing the panels on front. He told the Captain, “There are some collectors who have all your newsreels and films, but these are enough for me.” He doesn’t mention the old comics he has at home, carefully stored in polypropylene bags and packed into cardboard boxes, though the most precious ones are the copies stained with chocolate and worn around the edges, because those are the books he read under the covers with a flashlight, the books that made him paint a shield on the lid of a trash can to defend captured soliders (usually his little sister and her cat and a few of her dolls) from the evil HYDRA, that made him want to be just like Captain America when he grew up.
He agreed with Director Fury that the transition should be slow when the Captain finally did wake, though he wondered at the wisdom of something so unique as a baseball game. Wouldn’t music be better? His suggestions were overridden. (Though they liked his idea of making the new uniform modern and sleek.)
Meantime there was the Tesseract to study. It became harder to get out to New York, and Coulson was only updated on the Captain’s status every few days.
Still sleeping, Agent Coulson. Still sleeping.
End