Smiling indulgently, Phil leaned into Clint just a little more. There was not way Phil would turn him in, just like there had been no way that Phil would really just forget him. Silly as it was, Clint drew him in like a moth to a flame. Phil was kind of resigned to being a little doomed now that Clint was here. Still, he was going to skirt the issue as long as he could. Clint was upset. He was going through trauma and Phil wouldn't take advantage of him. Clint needed to focus on himself and Phil needed to help him, not give him more to worry about.

"I'm not so sure that you could pull off that 90s hair, Clint. Maybe just stick with what you've got." He ruffled Clint's hair affectionately.

He liked Clint. Of course he did. He also knew that the idea of Clint he'd built up in his head could very well not be anything like Clint. He'd set himself up for so much disappointment. He wanted to push that off for as long as he could. And so he'd sent post cards instead of the long letters he'd wanted to send.

He'd stayed away and written instead of showing up, even though he really had considered just showing up at the address he was mailing the cards to. He'd considered it more than once, including right before he'd joined the army. Had he known that Clint had been hospitalized at the time, he likely would have shown up. He hadn't known. He'd had no way of knowing, of course.

He settled on an old zombie B movie. "This looks promisingly terrible."