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Phil Coulson ran his hand through his hair as he sat back in his chair. He was putting off even looking at the paper that he should have looked at weeks ago. He didn’t though and was saved from having to do so for a little longer by someone knocking on his office door.
“Come in!” He called as he sat upright in his chair.
Melinda May entered his office taking one look at the paperwork sitting there before leveling a look that would have most people rushing to get their unfinished work done. Phil was undisturbed though, “What brings you here?”
“Agent Barton’s medical retirement paperwork.”
Phil took a measured breath before responding, “I thought Fury said there was going to be a delay in that as Agent Romanoff is with Captain America looking into a way that Agent Barton can still go back to the field.”
May hummed, “Something that even Stark had not found?”
“There’s been some whispers that the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen may be blind.”
May hummed. “And you think he would be willing to help Barton?”
“I hope so.”
“Alright, you think Barton will take to being trained like that at this point?”
“Yes. We’ve talked about this. He said he would try at least.”
May nodded before leaving the office. Phil looked down at the paperwork on his desk. It was a mostly filled-out Form 1870-50A. This had been a form he had been dreading filling out for two years, ever since Clint Barton, his husband, had been blinded after taking a nasty fall during a mission. His sight had never recovered, and so he couldn’t return to the field.
He had tried to move into the office work, but Clint had found it boring and couldn’t stay focused long enough. That combined with his general distaste for the screen readers that were used by the other visually disabled agents, caused desk work to not work out for Clint. They had tried any other job at SHIELD that Clint showed any interest in, but nothing could keep him occupied and out of trouble.
The only thing that was missing from the form was Phil’s signature next to Clint’s sloped and shaky signature. Phil had been delaying signing it until every possibility to get Clint back into the field was exhausted.
This was the last thing that they had any leads on and only maybe would there be any chance of helping Clint find a way to get back to fighting without his sight. There had been some rumors of a blind man who was fighting some type of criminal organization going back to the nineties at the least. SHIELD had never been able to track him down, but it was why Phil was willing to believe that Daredevil was blind as well.
So he spun his wedding ring on his finger as he waited for Natasha and Steve to reach out to him, hoping that this would be something that could help Clint. So Phil waited. Talked to Clint for a bit about their plans. And waited some more. It was almost 1 am when his comms went off in his ear telling him that they had managed to get Daredevil to agree to meet with him.
Phil grabbed a few things before heading out to the address in Hell’s Kitchen that Natasha had given him. When he made it there Steve let him into the building and led the way to the roof.
“Daredevil, thank you for meeting with us,” Phil said as the man turned to face them.
“They didn’t give me a lot of information on why but assured me it wasn’t a recruitment thing. I hope I wasn’t misled.” Daredevil stood tall and Phil could tell why people thought he was blind, the lenses on his mask didn’t seem like they would let light through.
“You were not. I have a few questions and depending on your answers a possible favor to ask of you.” Daredevil tilted his head before nodding. Phil continued, “The first and biggest question has to do with a rumor that has been going around for a while, but are you blind?”
Daredevil thought for a few moments before answering, “What if I am?”
“Hawkeye was blinded a few years ago. We thought for a while that his sight would come back. It hasn’t.”
Daredevil nodded, “You want me to teach him how to see without his eyes.”
“If it’s possible, yes.” Phil crossed his arms as he felt his heart start to pound.
Daredevil stood still for a moment, “You won’t try to reveal my identity?”
Phil shook his head. “There is no need. If you decide to help Hawkeye you can do so with the knowledge that we will not try to force you to do anything that you don’t want to do.” Phil’s voice was sincere and it seemed that Daredevil could tell that.
“I’m not sure I could teach him the same thing I was, but I can try.”
Phil’s body relaxed as he let out a breath. “Thank you. I’ll give you our address and you can come by as early as later today if you want.”
Daredevil nodded and they flushed out the last few things before heading their separate ways with a promise that he would come around the next night.
Phil thanked the other two before making his way to his and Clint’s apartment. When he opened the door he was greeted by Lucky, Clint’s guide dog. “Hey boy, where’s Clint at?”
Lucky led the way through the apartment to where Clint was lying on the bed listening to something through his hearing aids. Lucky jumped up on the bed causing Clint to turn off what he was playing in his ears. “What is it, Lucky?” Clint asked as he gave the excited dog some pets.
“I’m back, your medical retirement has been delayed a bit.” Phil sat down next to Clint.
“Why?”
“Remember a few weeks ago when Natasha brought up how there were rumors that the Daredevil is blind?” Clint nodded and Phil continued, “She and Steve found him earlier tonight, and I talked to him. He agreed to try to teach you how he sees without his eyesight.”
“You think I can learn it?”
“I think so. At the worst, it can’t hurt to try. He’s coming by tonight.” Clint nodded again and they turned to talking about other things while Phil got ready for bed. They curled up together with Lucky at their feet, his head resting on Clint’s legs and where he would stay until Clint got up.
The next day Phil felt like the day just slowed to a crawl. What would normally only feel like hours felt like days of waiting for Daredevil to show up. As it got close to sundown they headed up to the roof to sit and wait, Lucky running around as Clint and Phil took turns tossing the ball they had brought up.
When Daredevil landed on the roof next to them Lucky ran over to him first. “Lucky come back here,” Clint called and after getting a few pets from Daredevil he came back over to Clint who slid his harness on. Daredevil followed Lucky over to the other two, “Thank you for meeting me, Daredevil.” Clint said as he looked towards where he could hear Daredevil walking up to him.
“No problem.” Daredevil sat down next to Clint, “What caused you to lose your eyesight if you don’t mind me asking?”
Clint shook his head, “Fell off a building and struck something hard. It caused swelling and by the time I got to medical, there wasn’t anything that could be done to save my sight. What about you?”
Daredevil thought for a moment before answering, “A chemical spill destroyed my eyes when I was a kid.”
Clint hummed. “Do you think I could learn what you’re doing?”
Daredevil nodded, “My teacher, as far as I’m aware, was a normal human, born blind and taught to fight somewhere along the way.”
Clint nodded and they started work on some breathing exercises. Phil left them to it, keeping an eye out and generally keeping Lucky interested when he got bored of laying around Clint. The two continued to work until it was almost daylight out, with Daredevil giving Clint instructions to continue to practice what he had shown him that night until he came by again in a week.
Phil watched as Clint took to the training in a way that he had never seen him do when it didn’t involve his bow. But then again Clint hadn’t been able to shoot regularly in the two years since the fall and this had the chance to have him back in the field. Back using his bow.
Over the next few months, Daredevil taught Clint everything he knew, and after a bit Clint started to be able to tell where things were again. It would still be a while before Clint would be able to go back into the field full time but it was a start. He was able to see things navigate without Lucky or Phil. With the true test being that he managed to make it down the street without running into anyone.
That night Phil brought home the paperwork that had been sitting on his desk since the day that they first met Daredevil. He handed it to Clint who looked at him curiously, “You know I can't read this right, darling? What have you just handed me?”
“You’re medical retirement paperwork. I thought you would like to tear it up.”
Clint’s face broke into a smile. “Fury agreed to let me stay?”
“Yes, you’ll need more practice of course, but Fury agreed that you have functionally regained your sight. You can return to the field as soon as you pass all the field exams.”
Clint let out a whoop as he ripped the papers in his hands into shreds before reaching up and pulling Phil into a kiss. He had made it; he had found a way for his love to do what he loved.