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In the end, it’s Mack who asks everyone’s question. “You sure about this?
“It’s what he would have wanted,” Coulson hedges, sparing a glance at May. “Well, okay, real me already had the perfect ending with the woman he loved by his side — which, by the way? Much preferable than being killed by a Norse god. Or an explosion on a Chronicom ship.
“This is just… fan service.”
His humor achieves the desired effect, the quip cutting through the weepy despair in the room and making them laugh. Coulson chuckles fondly, his gaze lingering on each member of his team longer than he normally would, committing them to mind. He doesn’t really need to, of course — they’re saved in his internal drive, all but an endless paragraph of 1s and 0s so irreverently unremarkable to their real-life counterparts.
Without really thinking, he plays a memory from file. It’s one he had no personal recollection of, just lines of code written into him, and it’s the perfect soundtrack to a montage he’s experiencing right here, right now in this very room.
I've lived a life surrounded by heroes. None bigger than all of you.
Mack, leaned up against one of the counters next to Elena, her arms loosely wrapped around him, fingertips barely meeting each other near his bicep. He eases her down, she lights him up, and together they’re ready to start anew.
Since the day you joined, same as anyone in the line of duty.
Daisy and Agent Sousa, the gentle hesitation of blossoming love keeping them a respectful distance from each other, though he swears they could be holding hands under the table. He’s glad — Daisy deserves to be happy, and he’d like nothing more.
Heroes, because you, because we sign up to lose each other.
Fitz and Simmons rightfully reunited, and while she’s merely perched on the stool leaning back against him standing behind her, Coulson could feel them clinging onto each other. He can’t blame them — they’ve conquered time and space and memory, but at what cost.
To get close to good people and have them taken away.
Deke on another chair next to them, savoring the feel of Bobo’s hand on his shoulder while one of his was affectionately on Nana’s knee, a grounding force in their triumvirate.
We've all suffered losses. Never lose sight of that.
And Melinda, beautiful and battle-worn, tenderly tucked between Jemma and Daisy like they were protecting her, like she’s been protecting them all these years. If there’s anything making him hesitate about going, it’s leaving her behind — he’s always leaving her behind.
You don’t have to forget. But you have to move on.
His team. His family.
Coulson takes a deep breath he doesn’t really need and smiles at all of them again, codes of regret and guilt processing in his software. He’s going to miss them and already does, but he wants to go. It’s beyond any programming, no matter how sophisticated — this comes from the man he was created from, his memories and desires ingrained in his artificial psyche.
Perhaps he’s being selfish, he muses. Here he was, able to live longer than anyone here, yet he’s taking the easy route by going first and inflicting pain on the ones who have to stay. But he also knows that’s not going to be fair — not for the team to settle for a synthetic version of the man they all cared for, and not for the real Coulson himself who never wanted any more life extensions than he’d already had.
He just wants to be laid to rest.
That doesn’t mean the real guy doesn’t want to have fun and actually get a dying wish fulfilled.
It had taken a lot of coordinating — the man was surprisingly hard to find in this new timeline. There’s still so much they have to figure out, he knows, but he can only be so grateful that Fitz and Simmons taking the time to do this for him.
Agent Sousa respectfully bowing out of being involved. He says it was to field any questions about him being alive when he shouldn’t be (just like him, in fact), but it took one look at May’s face to confirm there was more to it.
Daisy accompanying him in exploring this new world for a day, with a lightheartedness she hasn’t felt in a while, one that could only come from finally choosing to open herself up to chances.
That same day, Yo-Yo and Deke holding down the fort at the base, a budding friendship fueled by a shared passion for changing the status quo and nurtured by actually having time to get to know each other, to breathe.
Leaving May and Mack to do the most difficult job of all — explaining everything, from Project T.A.H.I.T.I. to the Theta Protocol, the real Tahiti, and everything in between and everything since.
All of them, teaming up for the last time, all for him.
All that’s left to do is to actually just go.
He knows he needs to go. It’s saying goodbye that’s difficult — it’s never gotten easier no matter how many times he’s had to do that.
So this time, he lets the words go.
Coulson starts with the FitzSimmons three, folding them within his arms easily. Daisy and May immediately understand and move close, always finding their place next to him. Agent Sousa lingers on the edges, hesitant and wanting to be respectful without really being too sure how, when Mack and Elena pull him in. There’s a space where Enoch is supposed to be, too, so they hold on tighter to each other around it.
It’s awkward and perfect all at once.
“No more, okay?” he addresses the room once they let go. “I love you all, but I’ve had enough of coming back to life.”
Everyone promises in watery laughs and heartbroken eyes, beautiful in its humanity that he could never have in this form.
With one last smile, he walks towards the lab where the man is waiting for him.
“Hello, Agent Coulson.”
“Captain Rogers, it’s an honor.”