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suallenparker · 8 years ago

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Philinda Fanfic: Behind the Scenes, Chapter 4

RATING: T

SPOILER: This is set in a Universe where Phil quit his Tony Stark babysitting duties after the first gig and returned to active field work. So, basically their backstories stay the same until after the first Iron Man Movie.

SUMMARY: After her former partner Phil Coulson almost got killed in action, the traumatized SHIELD agent Melinda May returns to duty. She and Phil go undercover as contestants of the celebrated TV show “Forever Love” to catch a stalker and to trip a traitor.

NOTES: See Chapter 1.

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o0o

Chapter 4: First Dates in which Eric goes on his first date

The room smelled amazing, like waffles and bacon and freshly brewed coffee. Though Melinda despised the taste of it, she always had liked the scent of it. Coffee, that was. There was nothing she disliked about waffles or bacon. Those things were perfect in her eyes!

Hailey, the caterer and her team had set up a great breakfast buffet right in the middle of the big dining room of the mansion. They had everything, waffles, pancakes, bacon, sausages eggs, toast and fresh fruit. But best of all, they even had decent tea! A water boiler stood on a small side table, next to it were little containers with loose leaf teas. Milk and different sorts of sugars were available too. They even had thin slices of lemon and those fancy small metal lemon presses!

The white linen on the buffet tables matched the ones on the dinner tables perfectly. The white walls and the big windows kept the room light and airy while the dark wooden furniture grounded it. The colorful abstract art gave the room a modern freshness.

All in all it was a wonderful environment for breakfast.

She fixed herself a plate and brewed a cup of Assam tea with just a splash of milk before she carried everything over to one of the tables.

The room was mostly empty; it was half past seven and most of the women were still in bed. So far it was just her and the catering people. None of them posed a threat as far as their research had shown. No priors, no weird backstories connected to the show, nothing. And Hailey and her two co-workers were really friendly.

Yesterday had been a long night, five women had already left without even unpacking their bags. Of course Melinda had been up since five. Two hours of sleep weren’t much, but nothing she couldn’t handle. She always woke up at five. And like always, she got up straight away, went to the gym and went to her routine of kickboxing and Tai Chi before she took a shower. She dressed in jeans and a loose comfortable knitted dark green sweater.

Now she was hungry.

She hadn’t even bitten in her first piece of bacon, when Grace sat down on the chair right next to her. The hairstylist was already perfectly styled; her hair fell down in loose curls and her eyeliner was perfect. She wore jeans and a fitted blue shirt with lace details around the neckline.

“Morning,” she said and smiled a perfect white smile.

Melinda chewed and swallowed before she smiled back. “Morning.”

“Oh my God.” Grace closed her eyes as she chewed on her first piece of bacon. Melinda could relate to that.

She grinned and kept eating.

Grace forked up a piece of waffle with syrup and strawberries and sighed happily. “Eric is amazing but if he decides I’m not the one for him, this breakfast alone was all worth it.”

“You think he’ll send you home?”

She shrugged. “He’s gonna keep you around, that’s for sure. I saw how he looked at you when he asked you to come with him for the first impression rose.”

Yeah, because that was part of the narrative they had decided on with Maggie beforehand to establish their love story.

“You doubt that?” Grace asked. “You’re stunning. You’re beautiful and smart and I’m just … me.”

God, the self doubt in her voice … Knowing that Grace would indeed go home without Eric’s love, broke her heart. They were dealing with real people here. And some of them would get hurt, because that’s what lying does. It hurts people, especially in the long run. Which was why she hated undercover work.

“I think you’re amazing,” Melinda said.

Grace smiled. “Thank you.”

“Good morning!” Lorelei, the red haired physicist said as she entered the room. The rest of the women followed her. Some were dressed, some were still in their pajamas.

They all wished each other a good morning.

Someone from production probably woke all of them, which meant something was about to happen. Melinda had been wondering when the cameras would be back in her face. - Not that she had been missing them.

“Did the letter arrive yet?” Anisa, the personal trainer asked.

“You mean the first date card?” Grace shook her head. “Not yet.”

Katherine, the dentist sat down at their table too, holding just a cup of coffee. “Who do you think will be on it?”

“I think the first card is gonna be a group date invitation,” Anisa said.

Grace straightened up. “What if it’s a one on one? Who do you think he’ll take on that?”

“There are two this week, right?” Audrey asked and joined them. She had only waffles and strawberries on her plate.

“There are two every week,” Katherine said.

Grace raised a brow. “Someone read up on the rules! No need to be snappy.”

“I’m sorry, I just …” Katherine sighed. “I need a coffee.”

“You need a waffle,” Grace said and smiled. “They’re amazing.”

Shia, a wine seller with beautiful black skin and short black hair looked at them over her shoulder while she put scrambled eggs on her plate. “I think Diane will get a one on one, would make sense.”

“I could really need one.” Kristen, a teacher from Indiana with blonde hair and warm brown eyes sighed. “I didn’t have much time with him yet.”

“Yeah, me too.” Grace nodded. “He just seems so … so amazing. Like a dream. A war hero who’s also sensitive and sweet.”

Katherine looked at Melinda. “You got to talk to him more, how is he?”

“All those things.” And more. Melinda took a sip of her tea while the other women stared at her.

“He’s great,” Melinda said. Though, truth be told, Eric couldn’t hold a candle to the real Phil.

“Someone’s smitten!” Katherine said.

Melinda felt herself blush. Damn, this was stupid!

“I’m smitten, too. Aren’t you?” Lorelei asked and joined them.

“He’s sexy.” Shia said. “God, he’s really sexy …”

Kristin grinned. “Yeah, that doesn’t hurt either.”

Then Peter and two camera people walked in, one of them was the woman that had followed her and Phil around yesterday.

“Good morning, ladies!” Peter said and stepped into the middle of the room.

“Peter!”

He looked dashing in dark jeans and a simple white button up.

The camera people quickly set up. One focused on Peter, the other stayed at the doorway, probably to get the best shot of the whole room.

Peter waved a white envelope and smiled brightly. “I’m bringing you a little something!”

“The card!”

“Is it a one on one?”

“Is it a group date?”

Peter kept smiling. “Why don’t you look and see?”

Anisa was the one who reached Peter first. She took the card from him and clutched it to her chest.“Oh my god, my heart’s racing!” She took a breath and opened it. “Diane, Audrey, Shia, Phoebe, Kirsten, Grace, Renee, Elizabeth and Anisa, life is a rollercoaster; come and join me – Eric,” she read.

So no one on one for Diane. Melinda shouldn’t feel disappointed.

o0o

“Were you disappointed that you had to go on a group date?” Javier asked, standing next to the camera. They had set up the camera in front of a rollercoaster at the amusement park Eric had taken them to.

Melinda tilted her head and put on her best Diane smile. “Of course I would’ve loved a one on one with Eric, but this …” She shrugged. “I’m just glad to spent time with him at all. He’s a great guy.”

“Why don’t you tell us about today?”

“Driving auto scooter with him was just so fun!” Melinda said and tried to look dreamy. “He picked me to be on his team and it’s such a great team to be on.”

That much was true. He was a great partner. The very best. It was way too easy to play Diane falling in love with Eric. She shouldn’t feel jealous that though he had spent those five minutes in the auto scooter with her, he had spent more time with most of the other women. He had taken Shia for ice cream, he had shot at flowers with Phoebe and now he was on a Ferris wheel with Audrey …

“The group date rose went to Audrey, how do you feel about that?” Javier asked.

“She is a great person.”

Javier titled his head and raised a brow.

“I think Eric tries really hard to be fair with all of us. Audrey is lovely.” Phil gave her the rose and had taken her away to the Ferris wheel …Melinda had no reason to be jealous. She had no reason to feel small.

“You know you don’t have to be so polite all the time, right? It’s okay if you’re upset.”

Yeah, what Javier wanted was drama and tears. Melinda got that it was part of his job to deliver that, but she hated it nonetheless.

She sighed dramatically. “The whole situation is just so weird. We all want his attention and … He’s a great guy, I look forward to getting to know him better.”

o0o

He would have to send more women home tonight.

It was already getting late and he was again surrounded by beautiful women in cocktail dresses that fought for his attention. For Eric’s attention.

It had surprised him how seriously all of them were taking this. He had been on a single date with Lorelei yesterday and she had been so sweet and shy, talking about how it was hard to her to open up to people …

A week of first dates had passed and he knew what he would do. One of the ladies had little kids. How could he string her along for this? He wished he could just propose to Melinda immediately and get this all over with.

Nope. Propose to Diane. Not to Melinda. Eric must fall in love with Diane. That was the game, and that was all it was. A cover to get what they really wanted, which was Garrett’s racist evil connections on a silver platter and that stalker.

That was the reason they were here. That was the reason he was standing in this beautiful garden, holding Melinda’s hand.

She wore a classic little black dress tonight, that complimented her legs. Her hair was pinned up and exposed her long neck.

God, he wanted to kiss that neck!

“I’m sorry we didn’t get to spent much time together today,” he said and squeezed Melinda’s hand. He was pretty sure the camera woman zoomed into that moment.

Melinda smiled and squeezed his hand back. “You don’t have to apologize.”

“I just … This is all a bit crazy.” He tilted his head. “Everybody just keeps pulling at me and I -” He stopped himself. Complaining about having to spent time with wonderful people; very charming! “It’s really good to see you now.”

“It’s good to see you, too.”

“This just feels so very different from real life.”

She raised a brow. “You mean you usually don’t spent your Thursdays at an amusement park?”

“Nah, that’s usually Wednesdays.” He smiled. “So I know what you do for work. What else are you up to.”

He expected her to tell him about how much she loved sports, but instead she nibbled at her lower lip, looking a bit ashamed.

“Workaholic?” he asked. “Yeah, me too. There’s just something about my job, about protecting people and keeping them safe …”

Now she pressed her lips together. Was that Melinda or Diane? What was wrong?

He squeezed her hand. “Do you miss it?” Maybe this was too much for her. Maybe they should just stop. She hadn’t been in the field for almost two years and this was a lot! Of course she was stressed!

“Since the six days I’ve been here?” she asked and snorted. “That wouldn’t be a good sign.”

He grinned. “Yeah, probably not.” That was much better.

Melinda raised her chin. “I don’t miss it,” she said. “Not one bit.”

“That’s good to know.”

o0o

MORE NOTES: Oh my GOD that chapter took forever to figure out! I had like six different plot plans of this until I could finally figure out what scenes I needed! I hope you enjoyed this! Please, if you have the time, leave me a comment! They help me survive this story. :)

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#philinda #phil coulson #melinda may #agents of shield #philinda fanfiction

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birthright-magic · 5 years ago

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July 21st (Packers Tank, Express Shorts, Bow Flops)

This was a memorable day, for sure. It was the day things started to change, mentally and spiritually, for me. We had breakfast at the hotel, then checked out so we could get going to Har Herzl - the memorial cemetery. It was deeply moving, and I honestly tried not to get weepy, but I did. The soldiers shared their stories in broken English, holding back tears, talking about friends they’d lost and tragedies they’d experienced. It was very intense and made me think that maybe I am not doing enough with my life (and fucking Jacob had the audacity to share a story about how 9/11 personally effected him.... UGH). We were here for a while and heard a few interesting stories and saw interesting graves and memorials. After this, we got on the bus to go back to the Old City. Elishay sat next to me on the ride and said he was tired, that he was going to put his head on the seat in front of him. I was like “uhh, you can lay on my shoulder” and he did, and it was sweet. He eventually got hold of my hand and played with it super gently and it’s not like I was turned on, but it was so gentle and unexpected that I definitely felt something. Neither of us made a big deal, but we got to the Old City and went separate ways. I pretty much wanted to be alone and explore all the quarters by myself. As soon as we walked in, some white guy was like “Go Pack Go!” and I noticed he was wearing a Badgers shirt! (I was wearing my hat and tank top so I looked like a huge fan, heehee.) I walked alone for a while, then somehow ended up walking with Aaron - he was sweet but just not interested in me at all, and a little awkward to be honest. We were walking in the Arabic quarter and I was getting a lot of attention from the vendors - I’m sure that made Aaron uncomfortable but I clearly loved it and just ignored it. I ate a nasty ass bagel with avocado and hung with Crystal most of this time. She let me hit her cool strawberry weed Juul and I bought jewelry for Corrie in this little shop where I got RIPPPPPED the fuck off. We had a tour of the underground tunnels of the Kotel, which was not that interesting and everyone in the group was complaining about it and sounding like typical disrespectful Americans. I tried to keep my mouth shut and find something interesting or memorable to hold on to but... the only thing was that silly video about how the wall was built back in the day. After this, we got dressed conservatively - in my long beige dress - for more time at the wall. This time I had way more time and space by myself at the wall - to touch, silently pray, and reflect on my life and my blessings and my wishes. I wrote a note to tuck inside the cracks and was glad that I had little to ask for and so much to be grateful for. After we left the wall, we went to go check in to our new hotel! It was right outside Tel Aviv and sat literally on the Mediterranean Ocean! I believe we ate dinner here, and the sun was setting absolutely perfectly indescribably beautifully on the ocean, and we had a perfect view. I sat with Illana, Sukey, Aaron, Nir and Elishay. Elishay asked to sit next to meee! I offered to do Sukey’s makeup for the night our in Tel Aviv. After dinner we started getting ready, I was wearing like whatever and first went to take care of Sukey. It was the first time we really connected and it was like mehhhhh. She had a weird vibe but I had fun doing her makeup and testing my skills. Illana was there with Greenberg doing her makeup (which ended up SUCKING and Illana said she wished I’d done her makeup that night, haha). Sukey looked CAKED and had her titties out and it was nice that she felt all cute and people complimented her look and she told them I did it 😊. So I got myself tarted up, put on my wine bodysuit, floral denim skirt and bow flops. Straightened the hair as much as I could and wore my heart hoop earrings and put on lashes and lipstick and posed for pictures with friends in the lobby before we left! Okay get ready, cause this is going to be the long and detailed part of this post. 😈 We got to Tel Aviv and walked in the street to this little strip of bars. Mind you, it was a Sunday night and it was still pretty boppin’! We started off all together at the busiest bar we saw. We went inside and found it difficult to get service. I hung with Raven for the first time (she was wearing THE cutest top and that’s how the vibe started) and she was trying to order shots, so I waited with her and had a shot with her. We took a snapchat together! I think I had one more shot here, then somehow wandered off with Molly and Alex. These girls were the SHIT - they hung with me all over town. We walked up and down the strip, checking out different bars, popping into interesting ones and having tequila shots for 10 shekels a pop wherever we went. I think at some point I must have made it obvious that I wanted to walk around alone (to hit my pen maybe? Who knows why drunk Hailey does anything...) So I told em I’d meet them later? I think I’m mixing this part up but I’ll fix it later. I was walking near the other bar, and Elishay came up to me. We were talking and walking together for a while I think, and he eventually asked me “Are you dipsy?” I couldn’t help but laugh and pretend I had no idea what he was saying. I was like “dipsy?” And he said, “you know like a dipsy?” Hahahaha I’m dying just thinking about it. But I said yes, I was dipsy. We must have been alone on the back streets because I remember him pulling me closer to him by my waist and kissing me. Uhhh, he was literally the best kisser I’ve ever met. He touched me, but not too much, used good tongue, moved his head, didn’t bump teeth, made the tiniest noises of appreciation, moved kinda fast, stroked my hair, cupped my ass, pulled me close to him... wow. And this was just the first time. We pulled apart at some point and I told him I NEEEEEDED more weed. I told him to ask people for carts and this was my favorite part of the night. We walked down these little back streets, me giggling next to him as he showed my empty cart to people on the street and asked in Hebrew where he could get one. Most people just started at him or said no... haha. My favoirte was one group of girls who looked at him and said “ew” - HAHA. We stopped on a darkly lit corner and I can’t remember who leaned in this time, but we kissed again, a little hotter, a little heavier this time. He pulled back and said “you’re really good, you know?” That was a massive ego boost... I haven’t made out with anyone like that in a loooong time. Not even Morgan likes to kiss that much, so. Anyway, at some point Dakota joined us... he was third wheeling it so hard, and Elishay and I were kind of playfully figuring out how to get rid of him. I think Elishay told him that there were some people at the other bar waiting for him - and he went over and E said “good, he left us” and kissed me again. I’m sure I was definitely making some kind of noise and I’m pretty proud I didn’t do anything too slutty. I really thought his beard would bother me, but it really didn’t. We sat down on a bench near the bar we sent Dakota to, and we kissed one more time there - God it was so good. I had not been touched or kissed like that in.... um. Literally ever. We eventually got up cause I said I wanted another shot, and I think I ran into Molly and Alex again. Molly was like “uhhhh Hailey what happened to you?” and she told me my lipstick was all messed up - so I told them and they were like EEEE!! And yeah, we went walking and bar hopping again. We went to the tree bar, where I talked to some man who was sitting alone at the at the bar. No one has ever smiled that big at me. I love being drunk enough to be super cute and friendly, but not drunk enough that I act stupid and annoying. I had this perfect cute buzz going, and the guy at the bar loved me and so did the bartender. We remembered we liked tree bar, then went on to the next one. I can’t really remember the order of these places but there was one place we went where there were three girls behind the bar. We came in, they looked at us, we walked to the bar and they ignored us. We walked out pretty quick. I think the next place was the Mexican style place. There was another guy sitting alone at the bar that seemed interested in us - we chatted for a while, cheersed with him, then ran to the bathroom. The bathrooms were the CREEPIEST thing I had ever seen. Mine had a giant pink panther statue in it, was totally dark, and had creepy classical music playing it it. I initially ran out of it, like, almost unable to go in and shut the door, but the girls were peeing and I had to piss so.... I ended up taking a selfie with the pink panther statue thing. After this, we said bye to the guy at the bar (I think there was a mega cute guy in the back bar of this restaurant...) and went down the street to this convenience store - don’t know why. We had fun in the perfume section (we all sprayed ourselves with Moschino!) and went down the street to the fountain where we took cute pictures and talked about Elishay a little more. After this, we passed by these cute guys who were drinking wine in the park and had their cute dog with them. I was pretty sure they were grilling me... couldn’t be sure. We stopped in some bar where we literally waited FOREVER for service, and the guy was a giant dickhead and I can’t remember why... we were being cute and sweet - no idea why he had an attitude, but. Oh well. We shot it and left, vowing never to return. We walked past those guys with the dog again and I told the girls we should go say hi. I lead the way and said hi to the dog, talked to the guys (about birthright? I think?) and then were on our way back again. I think the night was over at this point, and we walked back to the bus. We drove back to the hotel and all went our separate ways - I went with Lily, Anna, Crystal and Laurie to smoke a J together, then went walking on the beach! I dipped my toes in the Mediterranean, danced around, played with the girls, spied on Lior talking to Ayelet, watched as Elishay hung around waiting for me and ended up talking to Aaron in the hopes that he had some bud or wanted to hook up or something. We talked for a looong time - I don’t know why, I think I honestly expected him to smoke me up somehow. Elishay was texting me, telling me he went to the hotel and then Molly texted me telling me he was hanging out on the 3rd floor. Eventually, Aaron and I walked inside at about 3am and he told me bluntly that there would be no smoking. WOMP. I think I went to bed right after this... how could I have slept!?

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