"LATE AGAIN, LEGACY?"

It was a quip that Leo had heard many times ever since he joined S.H.I.E.L.D., and it had gotten old the minute it had been made; having been given a place fresh out of high school for no reason other than he was a direct descendant of a long line of incredibly influential S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, the young man had had a chip on his shoulder ever since word got around that he completed his field agent training in half the time commonly allowed.

"My parents had prepped me since I was twelve," he had tried to explain, but no one was willing to hear him out once they heard who his parents were; while his parents were beloved, that didn't mean he had to be.

The young man in question sighed as Agent Madsen smirked at him from where he was seated a few computer screens down, all of them trying to go back to their work, having much more to do now that their numbers had been cut by over half.

After the HYDRA Uprising, in which already many non-HYDRA agents were flushed out—Leo had nearly been, but his contact had been too great, apparently—many agents had refused to return back, too disillusioned and shook up, such as Maria Hill and Sharon Carter who had gone to work for Stark Industries and the CIA respectively. Some, like Leo himself, had chosen to stay with Director Coulson and be a part of his newly reformed S.H.I.E.L.D., but many agents bitterly joked that S.H.I.E.L.D. was now filled with C-list jokes.

"There are still a few good ones," Leo had argued, but even he had heard the uncertainty in his voice.

Leo had been so caught up in his thoughts and staring blankly at his computer screen that he didn't hear the voice calling his name until the agent next to him sharply nudged his chair, causing him to jump.

"Agent Oberholt!"

Whirling around, Leo found himself staring up at Director Coulson who was looking down at him from the platform by the door he had entered in, raising an eyebrow at him with a mixture of concern and slight annoyance.

"Y-yes, sir," Leo replied, jumping to his feet, the chair tripping up behind him, "I'm sorry."

Coulson ignored his apology, jerking his head towards the door. "Walk with me. Take your things, you won't come back today."

Leo frowned in fear and grabbed his bag and jacket, turning off his computer swiftly before stumbling towards the stairs, trying not to bump everything, feet tripping over themselves. He could hear some comments about how they knew there was something up with him, and he cast them unamused look before leaving the room entirely.

"What's going on?" he asked, now much more relaxed without all the eyes on them, jogging to catch up with Coulson who was at the other end of the hallway.

"You know what happened in Sokovia?" Coulson asked, in lieu of a response, and Leo nodded, frowning; everyone knew what happened in Sokovia, it had rocked every person on the earth, there was no escaping the buzz.

"Do you know about the newest members of The Avengers?" he asked, glancing over towards the young man, and Leo licked his lips, nodding.

He had been in enough contact with certain people when he first started that he knew quite a bit about The Avengers, and subsequently did more digging than was necessarily allowed when they all reunited to fight HYDRA without S.H.I.E.L.D.'s involvement.

"They've been reunited since the HYDRA Uprising, and after what happened in Sokovia, Captain America's now training the newest recruits in the forms of Colonel James Rhodes alias War Machine, Sam Wilson alias Falcon, Vision, a humanoid android, and the Maximoff twins aliases unknown."

Coulson nodded for him to continue, looking silently impressed; it was quite unlike the man to not have any comment to say, but who was Leo to tell him how to react.

"We have also lost contact with Thor and Bruce Banner, Clint Barton is currently in retirement, but only in title not necessarily action, and Tony Stark has separated himself from the team for the time being, but is still in contact and remains on good terms. Everyone else who was previously on the team is still the same. At least in rank and status."

Coulson nodded again with clear respect. "Good. I'm surprised, but at the same time, I know about your little peruse through the files."

Leo ducked his head, blushing in embarrassment and almost shame. "Am I in trouble?"

The older man shook his head, and Leo had heard about how the man had once oozed pure professionalism and had never once cracked a smile while he was on duty, but it was clear things had changed; he had read the files on that as well.

"Your uncle wants to see you."

Leo furrowed his brow. "I don't have an uncle, I only have aunts and most of them aren't married."

Coulson smirked at that. "Not that kind of uncle. You know where to meet him."

º º º

Leo approached the small hole-in-the wall restaurant that he hadn't been to since his father passed—which was, coincidentally, the last time he had been in New Jersey. He used to be taken there all the time, if not by his father, then by someone else whom he had the exclusive pleasure of knowing was not, in fact, dead.

He stepped into the small room that had no security cameras to speak of—part of the appeal—and looked towards the small booth in the far back that he had sat in so many times that it might as well have been his home.

He had always sat with his back towards the door, as light paranoia ran deep and no man with any form of self-preservation would turn his back towards an exit; Leo was always a little more trusting than that, but he understood why.

He couldn't help but smile when he caught sight of a familiar face who was currently looking over a menu that he had no doubt memorized by this point. He made his way towards the man, trying hard to remain nonchalant, as he had been taught all those years ago, though all he wanted to do was stumble over his feet or skip over.

He slid into the seat across from him and picked up the other menu, pretending to scan over it while looking at the man over the edge, waiting for him to speak.

Without looking up, Nicky Fury mumbled, "Work on that, if we were on an actual mission, you can't by any means look at me, especially if you think we're surrounded."

"Wouldn't it be strange if I didn't look at you, since I'm sitting across from you, implying that we know each other and eating together?" Leo countered, forcing himself to read over the menu, bringing up a point he had been beating to death for years at this point.

Fury rolled his eyes—or eye, rather—and set down his menu, giving Leo an unamused look for all of ten seconds before he gave in, his lips tugging into a small smile as his hand reached out to swipe fondly at the redhead's hair.

"How's it going Uncle Nick?" Leo asked, giving him a tooth-gapped smile and Fury graced him with a similar small one, tooth gap and all.

"Being dead's given me a lot of time," he quipped mirthlessly, and Leo gave him a pursed smile; there was no rest for the dead, at least when there was work to be done.

"Why'd you call me here?" Leo asked, when they descended into a silence, glancing over to the waiter who hadn't spared a glance to them once.

Fury sighed softly and leaned forward, lowering his voice. "Coulson and I've been talking and we need you to do something for us."

Leo's eyes widened and he licked his lips, nodding carefully. "O-okay. What is it?"

"Pietro Maximoff," he said softly, "You know him?"

Leo nodded. "I read his and his sister's files, it's terrible what they went through, and then what they endured. What's wrong with him?"

Fury shrugged. "We don't know. We trust him and his sister for the most part, because it's clear that they were manipulated, but he nearly died. During the battle he had been shot. Near fatal, but Rivendell was able to stop the machine gun enough to get them to safety."

Leo's eyes widened even more; he hadn't heard that. Arabella Rivendell was about his age and had was as much of news as he himself was. She had been an agent back when she was still a teenager, which was something unheard of in their line of work, but with mutant powers and a willingness to find belonging, S.H.I.E.L.D. was willing to make an exception. She had joined the Avengers after being called to help, but he hadn't done as much research into her as he would like; it would be like looking into Clint Barton's files, it was a little too close to home to feel comfortable.

"So what are you thinking?" Leo asked, leaning forward, "Why is this any reason to call me, I'm not a medic or a therapist in any capacity."

"I know," Fury said, "But you're about his age, have extensive training, and have a presence about you."

Leo blinked, scoffing and looking around. "A presence? What-what are you doing, am I getting pranked? Are you even you, is this just some jab at the legacy?"

"Lower your voice, Leo," Fury said sharply and the young man immediately clammed up, nearly glaring at him and the man sighed, "Leo, this is under the table, Coulson can't spare any more agents, but this is your chance to get out of that desk and do something."

"I'm fine at my desk," Leo mumbled, glancing down at his arms which were folded over the table, dropping his chin onto them, "I like where I am."

Fury scoffed. "You think your parents would be happy with you wasting away at a desk? You think your dad would be proud?"

Leo sat up at that point, staring at him with wide eyes, shaking his head. "Don't do that. You don't—why would you say that?"

"Because you know I'm right," Fury shrugged, and Leo wished that he would just talk to him the way he used to, not as one agent to another, "You're an Oberholt, Leo, you took your mother's name for a reason. Because you're just as strong as her, you just need to prove yourself."

"Why do you need my presence, I don't see how that's even a qualifying factor for an agent to go on a mission," Leo grumbled, looking towards the wall, smiling softly when he saw the etches he had made in an attempt to live on the edge back when he was fifteen.

"This isn't a conventional mission," Fury explained, "This is a more calm form of reconnaissance. Just insert yourself into the situation and report back. We want to know if he's going to be safe to go into the field."

"Why don't you have someone interview him, get him a psychiatric evaluation," Leo asked, "That guy that Romanoff knew, he put a psychologist into the system for us to monitor, his last name's a color..."

"We tried that, but we don't know how he is on a day to day," Fury replied, "And he tenses up whenever there are any doctors around, you can imagine why."

Leo winced, shuddering. "I don't really want to. But okay, you want me to be your fly on the wall? Fine, that's fine, just use me, let me emotionally manipulate this guy, that's fine."

"Leo," Fury said, "Use your brain. I'm not asking you to toy with him, I'm just asking you to be yourself and tell me if you think there's a problem. He'll be well aware of your reason to be there, there's nothing hidden."

Leo raised an eyebrow. "You never do that, why would you do that now?"

Fury sighed and ran a hand over his bald head. "Because I know you, and that would be the only way you could do this job effectively. Don't think I've forgotten you growing up, I watched it happen. That's why I told Coulson to choose you, you know what to do, you have a natural ability to make people happy."

Leo smiled widely at that. "Even you?"

Fury laughed softly then, shaking his head. "In all my years of living, I have tried not to get close to anyone. Your parents understood that, so even though we were all close, we had a clear understanding that if any of us became compromised, emotions weren't allowed to cloud judgement."

"But..." Leo pressed, raising an eyebrow.

Fury smiled. "I'm your uncle, aren't I?"

Leo's heart fluttered and his smile only grew wider; he would be the first to admit that it felt nice to be appreciated and even cared for, especially when he came from a family that was more reserved emotionally, and when he worked in a place where people either loved or despised him because of his family; being known only for himself was something he liked to hear.

"So," he said, splaying his palms, "When do we start?"

Fury motioned for the waiter. "After we eat."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

( 05.12.18 )

I know ya'll probably hate me for the "cliche" OC-is-connected-to-Fury trope, but you know what? It works really well, because Leo's family is closely connected to S.H.I.E.L.D., so it's not entirely out of the question to have the OC have connections with Fury, and it'll show how the man was willing to have a semblance of connection despite never wanting to be compromised (it shows human condition because his need for connection contradicts his self-preservation)

So meet Leo. I didn't get to mention his candy addiction, but I will next chapter, and this guy is just the cutest thing, like, I love him, and I hope you do too, because he's kinda sad, but he's mostly small and living his life with only about 40% spite.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!