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After the agreement is set and sealed, Steve reports back to Agent Coulson. Both of you are expecting him to be angry (in that calm, quiet, vitally dangerous way he has), because this is against every protocol S.H.I.E.L.D. has and probably a number of others they’re going to implement because of this.

Instead, all Coulson does is give Steve a single brief warning, and when he does, he calls him ‘Captain Rogers,’ instead of by his code name, which means everything at once.

When you and Steve arrive at the meeting point, Coulson speaks up just one more time, to say, “Don’t do anything stupid, Barton.”

Both of you know that what he really wants to say, what he should say, is, don’t do anything else stupid. But he understands why you’re doing this, the same way Steve understands, and though he could try to stop you, he doesn’t.