6. Chapter 6

Phil simply had not planned to go back to Stark's. He told Fury there was no point, and he meant it. When Fury tried to muscle him into trying again, Phil suggested that it was about time for him to use up some of his cumulative vacation time on a long, out of country trip to someplace far away and off the grid.

Fury caved, although he didn't admit it, and stopped trying to push Phil back to Stark's. Phil suspected that things were not over but he was glad it was all back in Fury's lap where it belonged.

Then Pepper texted him, asking him to come to the bar on a quiet Wednesday night. While Phil could (eventually) say "no" to Fury on a number of issues, there was no denying Pepper Potts. Phil ended up pulling into the seedy parking lot behind Stark's Bar at around 8 pm that evening.

Unlike Thursdays, Wednesday was a regular bar night and the place was busy but not hustling. It was mostly business people avoiding their home lives, perpetual drunks, some freelancers pretending to work on their laptops and a few college kids who didn't have early classes the next day. Phil liked it; part of the charm of Stark's (that Phil would never admit aloud) was the variety of customers, who made the place a little more interesting and a lot more classy than the exterior would suggest. For all his money and time, Tony did not seem the least bit interested in repaving the parking lot or repainting the front entrance. Phil suspected it was his way of being sentimental (not that he would ever admit that aloud either).

He was not really surprised to find Clint at the bar talking to Pepper, after what Tony had told him. He settled one seat over while Pepper finished making his drink.

"Phil Coulson, right?" Clint tipped his head.

"Yes, how did—"

"You walk like a soldier. Army?" Clint took a swig out of the bottle in front of him.

"Rangers." Phil answered before he could catch himself. In general, he did not like talking about that part of his life because most people tended to get weird about it, not understanding the personal satisfaction that he used to take from brutal missions gone right.

Pepper looked at him in surprise. "You never mentioned that before."

"You never asked," Phil said sharply, trying to push the conversation away.

"Woooowheee, just a little sensitive, huh, Phil?" Clint grinned.

Phil was glad the guy was being an asshole, because that made it easier to forget just how damn attractive he was and fire back. "IED?"

Pepper froze mid-drink. Clint nodded slowly in acknowledgement. "Something like that."

"I guess we both have pasts we don't want to talk about."

Clint saluted in his direction with his beer before facing front again. Pepper squinted at Phil in what was either chastisement or pity before setting down his drink and going to the back.

Phil sat quietly while he waited for Pepper to return, sipping on his drink and ignoring Clint, who was ignoring him.

"Phil!" Tony announced as he walked out with Pepper. She shadowed him over to the bar. Phil turned around and set one foot on the stool's cross-bar, leaning backwards against the bar.

"So this was your idea."

"It was so much my idea that Pepper told me not to do it."

"I did," Pepper said, although she stood next to him.

Phil studied them for a moment, and just as Tony opened his mouth, Phil spoke. "I already told you once that I'm not changing teams. I work for Fury."

"And you're one loyal dog, I get that. You two served together, right?" Tony asked, pleased for the chance to show off how much he knew.

Phil noticed Clint tilting his head towards the conversation out of the corner of his eye. "Yes, we did. Not that it's your business."

"It might be my business. Or, our business. I have an offer you cannot refuse." Tony smirked and bounced on his toes.

"No."

"Haven't even heard the proposition yet, so your refusal is invalid."

Phil turned to face Tony directly. "And?"

"I have half the talent Fury needs to make his little dream soar. He has the other half, and a business plan. I have experience putting on professional productions, he has the reputation as a reliable businessman whom people trust."

Phil shook his head. He should have known that Tony would come up with the perfect solution. "No."

"Oh, yes!" Tony smiled broadly. "You know I'm right. So this is where I browbeat you into agreeing to present the idea to Fury by reducing you to tears with my unassailable logic, or you can save yourself the pain and humiliation and just agree."

Pepper rolled her eyes again, but fondly this time. She left him to walk around the bar again, and gave Phil a fresh drink while he was still thinking. He took a sip then looked at Tony.

"We put them all on the line up together; you handle the production end of the show—props, costumes, music, DJs, lights, crew, promotional material—while Fury and I manage the business end of setting up a tour, merchandise, and handling logistics. Proceeds after payout split 50-50, equal investment, and fair shares of merchandise sales for everyone based on points." Phil knew his voice was flat, but it was a long-standing habit of his to fall back onto military blank-face when presenting a deal. "Is that about right?"

Tony actually looked impressed, which Phil found only slightly insulting. Tony distractedly waved a hand around as if miming a puppet and Pepper slapped a bottle of Coke into it. He stared at his hand in surprise before facing Phil again. "That's pretty much exactly what my legal team drafted out. I can send copies of the contracts to you and Fury for fine tuning as soon as you give the word.

Phil looked at Tony, and for the rest of his life he could not explain to anyone why he said what he said next. "I think that might be a workable deal, Stark, but only if you throw Hawkeye into the lineup."

Down the bar, Clint's head tipped towards him again.

Tony twisted the cap on his bottle of Coke as he glared long and hard at Phil. "Not my call to make. The rest are on payroll, they go where I tell them to; Clint's not. He's a free agent."

Phil leaned back against the counter. "Paying your people under the table? Don't think the IRS will take kindly to that, do you?"

Tony smiled grimly. "Try it. The only bouncer on staff at Malibu is Happy; the rest are as under the table as Barton is. You blow the whistle on me, I'll blow Fury's operation to hell."

"Nobody's blowing anyone." Clint stood up, turning towards Phil. "The reason Stark keeps me off the books is so the VA can't start arguing my disability percentage based on my routine, and slash my check. If you can pay me more than what I get between that and dancing here one night a week, I'm in."

Phil glanced between Tony and Clint. Tony looked like he was trying not to look surprised, while Clint was very obviously waiting to be told to piss off. Phil nodded. "I'll have to go to Fury for the details, but I'm in a position to make a gentleman's agreement." He held out his hand. Tony grabbed it and shook it once, hard, putting his arm into it.