Phil Coulson

Most people that meet Phil Coulson (and even some that have known him for years) don't know that he has multiple tattoos.

All they see is the suit and their mind jumps to the immediate conclusion that he's a stick in the mud who has never done a rebellious thing in his life because he's so tied up in SHIELD's bureaucracy to have time for those things.

To be honest, Phil Coulson actually has a bit of ink.

All of it has meaning.

Every tattoo carries weight.

On his left bicep there is a tattoo of Captain America's shield.

Coulson had always been a fan of Captain America, ever since his childhood. The shield symbolized the courage to stand up for what was right, even if it meant you were seemingly alone in the fight.

It was a throwback to his fairly happy childhood when he would go running off into the woods with his friends to imagine that he was the Star Spangled Man With A Plan and that his friends were his Howling Commandoes.

His neighbor and childhood friend was a brown haired girl about his age that always wanted to play with the boys. Her name was Lisa Smith and one day she told Phil that she was tired of having play dates and tea parties with the other little girls in the neighborhood. Phil, being raised as a gentleman, invited her to play with the boys. Phil's friends scoffed at the idea of letting a girl play their game of make believe, insisting that there weren't any girl heroes in their games and that Captain America didn't fight alongside girls. Lisa was heartbroken until Phil grabbed his Captain America guide and flipped to the chapter dedicated to a very special girl that the Captain knew before he even became the Captain; Peggy Carter. From that day onward, Lisa played pretend that she was Peggy Carter. Up until Phil's "death", Lieutenant Lisa Ryan (nee Smith) of the United States Navy kept in touch with her childhood friend. He was there at her wedding as her "man of honor" and she even named her first son after him. The shield is a nod to Lisa and her achievements as well as Phil's love of all things related to Captain America.

A small heart formed from a bass clef and an upside down treble clef is on his right pectoral, the scar from Loki's spear running beside it.

The heart is for Melinda May, who he was engaged to at one time. She was his cellist who was in Portland for twenty two years since their intimate relationship came to an abrupt end. He never stopped feeling for her, even after she hid herself in China for a year and a half after breaking off their engagement and telling him not to come looking for her. That had hurt him the most, but the fact that she was still willing to go out to have the occasional dinner or drinks at The Richmond and actually speak to him after their falling out was proof that she was still his friend. She even admitted that she still had feelings for him after all of what they had been through together. He knew that Melinda was a changed woman after what they had been through, especially after Bahrain, but even more so after her time in China.

She still won't tell him everything that happened in China and the most she's ever told him was that she needed to take a break from SHIELD and go back to her home country to clear her head.

The reasons for ending their engagement were clear and understandable. She wasn't ready to get married and the thought of committing to someone scared her, especially when she knew that they could be targeted and used as a bargaining piece to force sensitive intel out of her. He understood that and respected her for it.

His third and final tattoo was embarrassing and the story behind it was just as bad.

It was a tramp stamp version of the SHIELD emblem that he got after his graduation from the SHIELD academy.

Two other people had matching tattoos (but they were damn sure never to speak of it) and they were Felix Blake and John Garrett.

Blake and Garrett were Phil's roommates at the academy back in the late 70's and early 80's when they had been rookies there.

All three of them had drank way too much in those days, then again, they were in their early twenties at that time and all of them were under the impression that they were invincible.

After their graduation from the six year academy, all three of them got drunk off their asses and John Garrett (being the one who could hold his alcohol better than any of them) dragged them to Victoria Hand's dorm.

Victoria, although a no-nonsense boss lady today, had been a second year rookie during their graduation days.

Her former occupation had been as an apprentice for a professional tattoo artist who had done work for John before. She was the one who took advantage of the three drunken men and gave them all tramp stamps, hoping that their tattoos would be lessons about just how badly they could be compromised and taken advantage of if they were careless in the field.

It was a harsh lesson, but Phil, Felix, and John had never forgotten about it.

Victoria was gracious enough to never mention the tattoos to anyone, but that didn't stop her from giving the three of them a knowing look whenever they stopped by the HUB.

His tattoos, like his scars, reflected stories, memories, and lessons.

They made him who he was today and he wouldn't trade those things for anything.

"AC?", asked Skye, standing in the doorway.

Her presence was what brought him back to reality.

"Yes Skye?", he asked, noticing a confused look on the young agent's face.

"I need to tell you something that may shock you a little...", she replied, closing the door to Phil's office behind her and sitting down.