tasernanny | Dream of Californication

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[with: pissant]

Dream of Californication

It’s a gorgeous California spring day. The sun is shining, the air warm and softly scented with flowers. And fresh produce. The farmer’s market sprawls across the lush manicured lawn of a city park. There’s a gazebo in the center with a live bluegrass band. Honestly, it’s a perfect morning straight out of a movie.

Phil has a travel mug of coffee in one hand and Scott’s in the other, fingers laced together because Phil is a sap. He likes holding hands. And after putting Scott through his sexual paces last night it’s nice to be sweet and gentle with him.

“You know,” he says, studying the market through the lenses of his sunglasses. “I should bring something back for the team.”

They were very curious when he said he was taking leave for the weekend but he also refused to say where he was going and what he was doing. He imagined it was driving them all crazy back at base.

They’d better not use the satellites to spy on him. Phil’s told them not to abuse the tech. He’ll worry about that on Monday. When he goes back.

He smiles at Scott. There are a lot of stalls to see. Somewhere someone’s selling bread. He can smell that in the air but they only just got here and Phil doesn’t want to rush.

“You’ve got to have a vendor you always visit.” Phil’s guessing but he has a good read on Scott. The man would absolutely pick favorite vendor who’s fruits and vegetables were better than anyone else’s.

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And get him out he shall. Scott never lets a moment pass him up anymore. Down for whatever, whenever. If there's an event? He'll go. If there's a band? He'll be in the front row. And if there is a farmers market he'll indulge in just about everything.

But Phil is probably right. Best to tone it down, so maybe sharing is the best route and stay away from the stuffed. Maybe another time. He asks the man for one of those and then grabs a couple of the roasted corn cobs. All he'll have to do is cut it from the cob, easy peasy. One of the nicest things about making soup is most of it is prep and leave. It's great.

"Oh man Indian food is the best. Especially goat curries. Though I have to say I've never actually made one, best to leave it to the experts." He nods offering up Phil the first bite of the roasted chili.

"Alright so we just need a couple more veggies, the chorizo, and of course the coffee cake. Just wait til you have a bite of this Phil. It'll make you weak at the knees." He teases leaning over to place a kiss to the others cheek before stealing a bite of the green chili before starting their journey.

"Curries aren't that hard." Phil's surprise over Scott never having made one shows in his tone and expression. "I can walk you through making one. And naan. With the right ingredients and a good sauce pan you'll do fine."

The roast chili is the right amount of heat and sweet with the smokey flavor of the fire burned in. It's actually a great contrast to the strawberries they've also been snacking on. Phil grabs one right after his bite of chili to mix the flavors even more. It's perfect.

"I have to go back to meals cooked on an airplane after this," he sighs wistfully. "It's going to be really, really hard."

His life as Director really isn't that glamorous. The Bus is nice, yes, but a full kitchen and easy access to a farmer's market are so much better. Or maybe that's just being at a farmer's market with Scott. He does improve the scenery a lot.

He doesn't claim to be a total expert, not yet. He has plenty of room to grow and he sort of likes the idea of learning something from Phil. It means eventually they'll have to just come back here and pick out dinner another night. "Naan bread huh? I've never even dreamed of attempting."

He teases before watching the other dabbling in blending savoury and sweet around. But that's coming from the man who made mango salsa so he has to smile. Their tastes are not so dissimilar.

"That just means these moments together will be so much sweeter." He offers, happily taking a few greedy bites of the green chili with a contented moan. Scott isn't just a vocal lover, he's a vocal everything. It's a bit of a thing when he has good food he tends to hum to himself, only Scott can just be so chuffed by eating a meal. "Fuuuuck that's so good today."

They have to do what they have to do for work. They're both very good at what they do, and there's a certain level of duty and responsibility to their roles. But that means that means when they do get the rare chance to escape they best enjoy it fully.

And thus far they had been.

A few people do glance over but a guy moaning over a roasted chili is typical for a farmer's market. After seeing it's nothing more than someone enjoying food they look away and go back to their business. Phil slides his arm a little more around Scott, smiling.

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself." He really is. Phil feels like he hasn't stopped smiling since they got here. If he has it doesn't feel like long. It's not just the lingering satisfaction from the night before. It's definitely Scott and who he is, shameless and warm and fun.

"Or just enjoying the food," he teases.

Scott's love of food is pretty well known even before this point. He talked about it freely enough. Phil did get to try the famous mango salsa and it was great. This soup is going to be the same even with the few ingredients they've gathered.

He probably should have a bit more shame, but that’s not really how Scott works. He leans into the touch and offers up the rest of the chili to Phil as he answers in earnst to the others statement.

"I am enjoying this." He smiles leaning in to place a kiss to Phil's cheek. "And maybe a little bit the food."

The sex was great and all, fantastic really, but the best part over the last few weekends had been just been spending time with the other. It was incredibly satisfying.

Phil takes the chili and finishes it with two bites. The taste and burn of it stays with him but in a pleasant way.

The sweetness of Scott's words makes him imagine May, for some reason, scoffing and rolling her eyes. She'd be pleased, though, to see him happy. Probably hiding a smile. And she would absolutely threaten Scott with horrible bodily harm if they met.

Yeah, he would make sure to warn Scott before he met the team. Just to be safe because Avenger or no, his team was protective.

"That's good to know because I am wildly out of practice when it comes to dating," he feels compelled to admit. "I actually had no idea how to flirt with you at first. I think I did it by accident."

His subconscious was apparently much better at this than Phil at first.

The dating thing causes Scott to smile. He is, admittedly, a huge flirt. Which is unlikely a surprise depending on who you talk to. He'd learned as a little kid that being charming got you out of trouble as much as it got you into it. It was just a part of who he was admittedly and half the time he almost didn't see he was doing it.

So when Phil Coulson turned on a bit of that simple charm, even if he didn't really know what he was doing anymore, Scott picked it up and ran with it.

And Phil was so easy. He was firm with his desires, factual about his wants and needs, and most of all caring. He wanted to take care of Scott in ways that no other relationship he'd had before had previously contained. It was so nice. "As a wise man once said; Life is full of happy little accidents."

He finds the others hand and gives it a firm squeeze. "You were a little hard to read at first. Admittedly, I'm glad I kept pressing those buttons though." He teases with a playful little wink.

Phil hums softly for a moment.

"I default to the boring, unemotional, special agent when I'm not sure what I'm doing." He shrugs though the tips of his ears are a little pink. "I wasn't quite sure what to make of you at first. I didn't think you were serious."

Because he also noticed Scott tended to flirt with everyone at the drop of a hat. It was almost breathing for him. More genuine than the sort of flirting Stark did though. There's a warmth to Scott that Stark lacks.

"I figured out eventually the continuing to flirt meant you were, at least, willing to sleep with me." The dating is still a surprise. A very pleasant one. Phil feels lighter than he has in awhile. And happier too, not just because of regular orgasms.

There's a lot to be said about that admittance, but that's too deep for the farmers market, but it's just one more thing that makes Phil so, endearing.

"Secret Agent Phil?" He sing-songs out with a wink at the end. It's likely not helping the ears, which he has 100% noticed but wont call out. He can see how it's a little hard to read on his end. But he's an open and honest person, he makes no apologies for that because he loves to love. Maggie was hard, in so many different ways. After that it felt more comfortable to just, love to be loved and love in return. It's why as much as Hope and him were awful together they were also great because no one really wanted to define rules at any point in their relationship.

It was sort of nice though that Phil was different. The flirting worked and the feelings caught a little as they ran out ahead of maybe their common sense. But they were there and Scott really liked them and as they tootled around the farmers market with Coulson things felt perfect. And he was glad he kept on flirting and Phil kept making it clear that he liked Scott and actually wanted him, and maybe only him, to stick around.

"When has there been sleeping?" And still he flirts, because Phil is worth it. "To be honest it's probably good we keep having to go back to our real jobs every week cause if we had a week of together we might have to be aware of just how long we've been at our little play sessions."

While Phil has a rebellious streak sometimes he also has a very soft, romantic heart. When he is with someone Phil commits rather... hard. He wants a relationship with Scott and that means just the two of them. Defined and clear about what they both want and need. He can be a little intense at times.

"We're both only human. I think we would exhaust ourselves before we reached the second day." And they're both a little older, comfortably so. As intense and active as their sex life together was they burned themselves out eventually.

Which was good because it allowed them time to do fun things like visit a farmer's market and cook together.

"This was a really fun time out." He smiles warmly at Scott. "I'm very jealous of your easy access to this farmer's market."

It's a comfortable intensity that Scott can 100% work with because if he knows the rules he will do his best to follow them, especially when it comes to relationships and especially when he's fallen a bit in love, not just lust, with someone.

Though he has to put on his best offended face at the suggestion of the fact that they'd only last 48 hours. Phil Coulson for shame. "Why I never. I spent months building stamina so that I could stay big. It just about killed me but I found other uses for that extra stamina I'll have you know, so it was totally with it." And that was true, it took a lot out of him to get big. He spent months and months pushing himself to his limits so that he could take that physical drain.

But it worked for other things. He wasn't super human but all that hard work coupled with an enjoyment of edging meant he'd gotten pretty good at lasting. Especially if they took their time...

But then they're talking sweet nothings again and Scott forgets his pride and noses himself into the others shoulder. "The joys of San Francisco, it's a beautiful place."

"You have worked on your stamina. I am human." Phil is willing to correct himself. Scott does have much better stamina than him. His only advantage is control. Phil has fantastic control that can outlast Scott in the right situation. "So, two and a half days."

Phil turns and kisses the top of Scott's head, hiding his smile against his hair. This sweetness is addicting. "It is. More beautiful than Tahiti."

God, Phil hates Tahiti.

"We should grab that coffee cake because while your city is beautiful we've probably only got about forty minutes left on parking." Phil knows no one can tow Lola but he doesn't want a ticket. Those are just annoying to make disappear. It's only two minutes of work but it's still work and he could spend those two minutes doing more important things.

Like saving the world. Texting Scott. Bidding on ebay items. Very important things.

"There you go, that sounds a little better. At least give me my half I earned it." They walk leaned into each other for a moment, mismatching steps before they pull apart just enough to link arms. The sweetness is addicting. But not as addicting as this coffee cake will be. So he'll lead them to it, because he's both still hungry and excited to share. The one they grab for themselves will be promptly sliced, warmed, and buttered as they do up the soup for later.

"Is that a thing? That can't be a thing." He teases, sometimes company can make all the difference in the world when it comes to being in a space that's less than ideal. Traditionally beautiful or not. "She ain't perfect but damned if I don't love her. Glad you've been enjoying, theres a lot more to California to show you." And she doesn't deserve the glaring ticket either, she's too good for that.

Besides Scott's finding it harder and harder to behave himself anyway so best to quit while they're ahead. They make a quick detour at someone who has on offer a lot of fresh veggies, Scott picking up a few handfuls to finish off what will likely be their late lunch, early dinner, before beboping over towards the baker. They have a lot on offer but the coffee cakes look divine. It's clear they're popular because they have to wait their turn to grab one but they're there early enough that there's still plenty to pick from.

He lets Phil pick the two of theirs and Scott grabs an assortment of muffins for easy breakfasts for the week as usual. Once they've picked and purchased they disappear into the thrall of people again, arms hooked and paces matched. Perfectly coupled. It's nice to pretend that they're normal for a morning. As if both of them don't have huge world saving responsibilities looming just beyond the weekend. "Alright, I think that covers everything. And hey we should do this more often." Scott admits with a chipper tone. "I didn't end up with like four bags of stuff, look at you making me all mission orientated." Usually he ends up incredibly distracted and picks up things for about seventeen different meals because he can't decide what he wants. It all gets used, because Scott doesn't waste a thing having been pretty broke up until fairly recently. But it does get questionable towards the end of the week. Thank god for his cast iron gut.

While they're waiting for the coffee cake Phil wraps his arms around Scott from behind to hold him close to his chest. People aren't looking at them. They're busy with their phones or trying to see what's still available. He takes the chance to lightly drag his teeth along the side of Scott's neck and bite down softly at the the skin peeking out from the collar of his shirt.

He then rests his chin on Scott's shoulder like he's being sweet as any of the baked goods ahead of them, his expression perfectly innocent and pleasantly interested in the world.

Because secretly, Phil Coulson is a son of a bitch.

He gets two of the large sized coffee cakes because his team can be ravenous when they're given food that's not cooked in the Bus kitchen. If he's lucky they'll last a week.

"I know how to handle my assets." Phil has been described as goal oriented most of his life. "And letting any of this go to waste feels like it would be a minor crime."

There's a brief moment where he considers offering his services to distract Scott when he's shopping over the phone even when he can't be there in person. But if he can't be there in person he can't promise he can be on the phone either. Work.

"We should. There's a distinct advantage to you being in California where it doesn't snow and get bitterly cold half the year. Farmer's markets are less seasonal." Yes, he's thinking that far ahead in their relationship. It's what Phil does.

The act came as somewhat of a surprise. Not that he was complaining, in fact subconsciously he leans into that playful little nibble. Coulson is so good at taking him by surprise, he honestly should be mad about how many times he catches him so off guard but he's far from it.

He's impressed, mostly because that's usually his job.

It takes about everything he has not to let out a little moan. Everyone is busy doing whatever it is they're doing but you could almost bet money on the fact that if he were to give in and do something of that nature all eyes would be on them and as much as that thought is so damn appealing he knows, he knows they both need to be professional here.

"I have no doubt that you know how to handle your assets." He chirps out his voice low, only loud enough for Phil to hear. And then their conversation is a little more able to be openly spoken about. "Exactly, any time you're looking for that little escape." He doesn't mind that Phil is already envisioning them together further than just the now. It might be a little 'fast' to some people, but the thing about their line of work is that tomorrow they might not be here. So why not enjoy everything to their fullest. "You know you're welcome here."

The nature of his job and the nature of who he was made Phil jump into this head first. He didn't think too much about how fast things were going or how intense his affection for Scott was. There'd be time to examine it later when he felt like being a serious secret agent. This morning he was content to enjoy the warmth in his chest and the smile on his face.

"You've made it very clear exactly how welcome I am." Phil takes Scott's hand for the walk back to where he parked Lola. He's certain she's gotten plenty of admiring looks, maybe even a few pictures taken while he's been gone. She's a beautiful car.

Phil puts his things in the back seat then climbs into the driver seat. He slides his sunglasses on as he waits for Scott to get in.

Once he's settled Phil starts the car and drives them towards Scott's place.

"Good. Cause there is plenty of room in my bed too." He teases as they walk back to the car. Giving Phil's ass a playful little squeeze before they place their loot in the back of the cherry red muscle car. Scott would really have to introduce Phil to the powder blue mustang square body he'd inherited from Hank.

He'd probably enjoy it, Scott was more a fan of the CJ-5 himself, but he might be bias because he'd spent a few summers rehabbing it while he was working on his book. It kept him focused and helped him think. But that's how he got into engineering in the first place; taking things apart and fixing them up.

But it wouldn't quite be the same as Lola, Lola was a different kind of special.

It takes them about a half hour or so to get back to the house. They settled all odds and ends first before Scott brought everything to the kitchen and started setting things out to do his prep work. Settling into his element. "Feel free to free up some space in the pantry for the cakes to keep them out of the sun. I should have a paper bag in there too to make life easier."

They should talk cars one day. Phil helped build Lola. He likes working on cars and understands the mechanics of them, especially the older models. Somehow it hasn't come up but Scott respects his love for Lola and that's all that matters.

"I have to put them out of sight or we're both going to eat them before I can get them to my team," Phil says with a small chuckle as he opens the pantry and starts moving things around. Things are better organized that he expected but it's still a bit of Tetris to make room for the coffee cakes.

With them tucked away Phil moved to the sink and washed his hand. "Consider me your sous chef. Tell me how I can help you."

Scott can handle the cooking himself but Phil wants to help. There's a quiet intimacy to cooking together. They'd get to talk and know each other better outside of sex. Phil's looking forward to doing something so simple and domestic. He was a sucker for domestic moments.

That's how Scott started his whole career in crime, admittedly. Hot-wiring cars in Miami.

He's come a long way.

"I'm telling you, once they get a taste they'll be begging you to grab them all the time." He chuckles as he starts pulling things from where they sat nestled in the homey kitchen. It wasn't big but Scott made it functional. It's easier to grab what he needs than to explain where it is, but he does it in a way that if Phil is paying attention he'll realise where things are soon enough. "If you want could you grab the stock, should be right in the freezer on the left hand side."

He offers the other the dutch oven so that once he finds the cubed, homemade, stock he can load it up. It was nice how they could easily become so wrapped up in something so simple. Scott doesn't mind that Phil is a sucker for the domestics. Because he wants nothing more than this right now. "After you get that sorted if you wanted to make some dough should be everything we need in the island." Scotts not a huge baker, but everything the other should be on the end.

"They might also descend on mass to that farmer's market and get some for themselves." Phil takes the dutch oven and sets it carefully on the stove before he goes to get the stock.

It's not hard to understand why Scott likes fresh food and keeps what he needs stocked up. Phil's not experienced with long prison stays, just the occasional capture by enemy organizations. The food was terrible every time. Home cooked meals always tasted better afterwards. And they still do.

"I'll try to warn you if they do show up. They're intense," he says with a fond chuckle as he broke up a few cubes to drop into the dutch oven. "One or more of them will also threaten you. May, especially."

With the stock handled Phil digs into the island to find what he needs to make a simple bread. It really doesn't take much to make a good bread, just time and patience and the arms for kneading.

It was one of the most important things he wanted to do for Cassie, real food. Then various jail stays and his prison stint just solidified that fact. Hell even the Raft had better food than San Quentin and Scott's not even 100% sure how that worked.

"Is that how they show love huh?" He teases he is somehow not surprised, given what little he knows about the crew. Most of what he's heard comes from Phil but there is always an admiration when he speaks about his team.

Scott leaves them both to do some prep work him cutting up various veggies and pulling out the chorizo from its casing to roll it into little meatballs for the soup and Phil to mix, fold, and knead. Every now and then he catches himself getting distracted watching the other work quietly. Getting wrapped up in how this is just, so nice. The two of them working skillfully together to make something grand.

There's something to be said about that.

It takes them both a good forty minutes or so to sort everything out, the bread set aside to rise and the soup put on low and slow to start its multi hour journey to perfection. Scott will set timers on his phone to periodically come out to stir but aside from that there isn't much babysitting left to do which is the great thing about soup.

It leaves them time for coffee and conversation. So Scott does his due diligence on that front and starts another pot, deciding this time to go a bit fancier pulling out one of his fresher ground options and his press. He doesn't get to break it out often but this lazy afternoon calls for it he thinks. "So your team. Am I gonna get the full gambit when I meet them?"

"My team." Phil can't keep the fondness out of his voice when he thinks of them. How to explain them or prepare Scott to meet them is a bit of a challenge though. They're all going to have different reactions.

He relaxes back in his chair, both hands around his coffee cup. Under the table he rests his ankle against Scott's. "You're going to get a lot of questions about Pym from FitzSimmons. That's Fitz and Simmons but they've basically been partners since the Academy so we tend to refer to them as one unit. They're both brilliant scientists and will want to know everything about your suit and the particles even though they have access to Pym's research while he was part of SHIELD."

Those two will probably be the most annoying to Scott. They aren't the best at social cues and their curiosity can lead them into trouble pretty easily. He trusts Scott won't be a jerk to them but he feels it necessary to warn him about that.

"Daisy is the hacker I mentioned before. She's probably going to ask you about every single crime you've been arrested for. Especially the big one." He smiles fondly again. Daisy is the closest thing he's had to a daughter. She's his favorite even if he won't admit it to anyone out loud. Everyone knows.

"And May has known me since we were rookies at SHIELD. She will threaten you with bodily harm if you hurt me and carry it out. Sorry."

"That's ironic, considering that they'll find more through that than me." Scott is not a stupid person, though he might act like it quite a bit. But when it comes to the science behind the particles he's really at a loss. He's figured out the gear, how it works, and how he can better it. But the particles themselves? That's better left to Hank. But with a whole book and everything he's not entirely shy about sharing. Though most people don't get into the grit of it, nor does he offer.
That'd be different.

But it's better than if they were to go straight to Hank god bless his soul but he's a real ass if he's honest. But then again he and Hope are a little bit on the shit list right now thanks to giving his daughter a suit without even consulting him first. So he might be bias in that thought process currently but he spent a lot of time trying to purposefully keep Cassie out of that world only to have them suck her right into it.

Daisy gets an eyebrow pop. "As long as it doesn't go in some permanent record or something. There is a lot of stuff I left out." Which he probably wont get away with hiding from people like Phils team, hell he's exceedingly aware that what they know alright might fill whole case files.

But one of the reasons Scott did the tell all is that he's found misinformation to be rampant. Easier to tell your side than let people make up shit about him.

Not that, that really stopped it entirely.

"So May is the most important." He settles, from the way the other man speaks it's clear every single part of his team is so much more than that, they're family. But the ones who are more apt to kill him are the ones he really has to keep an eye out for. Although...

"I don't have any intention of harming you." Scott says in earnest, that being said no one can make the promise that he wont. But he will never intend on it, and truth be told if he has his way it'd be far from it. "So I think I'm safe." He offers returning the game of footsie under the table that he's gotten so damn used to over the past few weeks.

"Though I can only imagine what kind of bodily harm a SHIELD agent can do to me. After the whole 'Baba Yaga Incident'." Granted Ava was a LITTLE bit different, but still.

"They might also ask to draw your blood for study." Phil's completely serious about that. FitzSimmons would absolutely be fascinated and happy to study Scott's physiology and what Pym particles are doing to him. He can all too easily imagine the conversation. "You can tell them no. They will eventually back down."

And if they don't Phil will make sure they do. Scott doesn't need to be studied like a 408 specimen. No one does.

He chuckles and shakes his head. "She'll want to trade methodology with you is more likely. When I first met her she was a "hacktivist" calling herself Skye."

Out of all his team Phil imagines Scott and Daisy will get along best. She's grown up and changed a lot in the last few years but she's never really lost that sense of right and wrong that drove her to develop her skills and her heart.

Phil can't really argue that. May's his oldest friend from SHIELD. Since his resurrection she's been his minder and his confidant. "She's the only one who already knows about you. I've kept who you are quiet from the others but not with May. She's sort of my Luis."

"There are a few others I work with too but they're not inclined to follow me to San Francisco for coffee cake and spying on my boyfriend." May wouldn't be either except she has to fly the Bus.

He might draw the line at blood draws, even if it would be sort of interesting to know exactly what they are doing to him. Cause he knows it's something. Despite being from Florida oranges had never been on his radar prior to the suit. Plus the absolute amount of food he can put down, he'd never been a bad eater but there is a part of him sometimes that wonders where the hell it's all going.

But he is not a fan of needles.

"Well she should meet Kurt then. I'm good, but he's fantastic." Scott had spent a lot of time programing and building security systems even before X-Con, it's how he got the job at VistaCorp in the first place, but Kurt brought it to a whole new level. But if she's a 'hacktivist' then she might actually get more out of how he discovered the coding for what started the whole chain of events that lead him down the path of becoming an Avenger. Something he holds on to very dearly even now.

"That makes sense. Everyone needs a Luis. Hopefully yours doesn't talk as much." He teases, albeit affectionately. He can only imagine now the absolute amount of words that'll come out of Luis mouth when he finally meets Phil. He'd thus far, not kept him a secret because he did admit to the other he'd be 'busy'. But meeting a whole 'superhero cop team' might be a bit out there for him quite yet. "Naw? Well that's a bummer on their front because they'd get a hell of a show if they did." He teases leaning over to grab one of Phil's hands. "Though you better warn them if they try and do the whole cameras and tracking stuff they're gonna have a bad time. I built a whole business on being able to find and mitigate that sort of shit." Not that he thinks anyone would try that on, but his house has been bugged before thanks to Woo and His Crew and he'd gotten very good at sniffing that short of shit out, and sometimes using it to his advantage to cause absolute chaos and annoyance.

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i am so sorry for my delays hardcore this weeks been like a cosmic bitchslap LOL

*snorts this tag to get a fix* I'm fine. Don't worry.

i had a jonesing bad for these bois~ hoping we're at tail end of craziness now LOL

fingers crossed for you!

full moon + mecury in retrograde = craziness

come here and let these two dorks sooth your soul

*salutes* hell to the yeah~

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snorts this tag to get a fix I'm fine. Don't worry.

salutes hell to the yeah~