Sorry sorry, I had a midterm to take! thank you for asking i love phil headcanons i'll talk about them forever
smells like: it really depends. If he's been running missions in foreign countries, he picks up smells kind of like a sponge. He smelled like coffee and soft cotton when they were holed up in Afghanistan for a month, and they were in India and he smelled like saffron and curry, and so on and so forth. When he's just home, back on the base or Helicarrier, he smells like the coffee he brews in his office for anyone who needs to drop off paperwork or sleep on his couch or have a drink and talk about having to shoot someone in the face on their last mission and like vanilla; worn out paper. Trading cards and old files have made his hands smell almost permanently like vanilla.
sleeps: Phil, unlike most agents, is very good at splitting between his 'agent persona' and his 'Phil Coulson' life/identity. When he's on as an agent, he sleeps tight, hugging himself, weapons nearby, and springing awake at the drop of a pin. He's very alert when he sleeps when he's in his agent mode.
As Phil Coulson, however, he's a heavy sleeper; the Avengers have come home, made dinner, argued over dinner, watched a movie together, and bickered over bedtimes while he slept, content, on the living room couch nearby. He sleeps completely relaxed and at ease, and with a surprising lack of nightmares. The nightmares only come when he's in agent mode again.
music: old big band stuff, which is canon; what is less canon is his enthusiasm for jazz and more specifically, female jazz queens. Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, et al. He prefers a woman's voice in his music; the grace and power appeals to him.
On a completely unrelated note, he fucking loves Nicki Minaj. Why? Coping mechanism, basically. When it's blasting out of an armored car for sixteen hours straight while he runs a mission with Maria and Nick for "old time's sake," you adapt.
morning routine: Phil's a morning person. Up at seven, enjoys the sunrise, and then gets right to breakfast. He starts it all up before he bothers to dress; even so, he regards his suit and tie like armor. He doesn't really wear them around the house as much as others would assume; to him it would be like Steve wearing his Captain America uniform around the house. Or Tony sitting down for breakfast in the suit. So he wears a button down and slacks, (or sometimes tee shirts to the shock of everyone else) and cooks breakfast for himself and everyone else. He makes coffee first so it can brew while he cooks. After it's all done, he makes a plate for everyone and sets them on the counter before settling in with his own and reading the paper. If he has to go to work after that, he'll get his suit on and leave, briefcase packed night prior. And if he doesn't, then he'll go for a walk. By the time he gets back, everyone else is awake and eating breakfast, so he'll make another cup of coffee and settle in with them.
collects: well, the cards, but also all the other merch. everything. all of it. his collection rivals Tony's, and Tony has billions of dollars and a father who worked alongside Steve. He does not fuck around with Cap merch. Also, he collects the mission files of Clint and Natasha and keeps them catalogued for himself. Just to keep them safe. He's started collecting the Avengers files as well; he keeps them close.
A minor thing; he collects rosaries. His grandmother was an old school Italian catholic, and rosaries and statues of the virgin mary remind him of home, even though he himself is not particularly religious.
Sports: He doesn't really have time to settle in and watch, but if he does, baseball. He at least tries to watch the world series.
tourist habits: he goes to restaurants by himself because if he takes any of the avengers they complain it's not as good as his cooking, and the ego boost is appreciated but it does make things a bit difficult. He's less interested in seeing the sights, as the job sort of allows him to do that without much fuss. BUT, when the team is, he sure as hell has to follow them around and manage them and make sure everyone gets to go where they need to go and he basically turns into the exasperated teacher on a field trip.
weather: clear skies with a few clouds; he likes them. He prefers fall and spring; he doesn't really like extreme heat. and winter brings bad memories for him. All except christmas. He's lost a lot of what made him love Christmas, but having the Avengers has brought it back again, and he bakes cookies and cakes and sweets like he used to with his gran when he was younger.
fear: he will never speak of this because they need him, but he worries he can't be enough. He's still human. He's almost died before. He worries he won't be enough to support them, because they are lost and dangerous and tortured creatures, the lot of them, and he is a strong man, but he is not a shield. He cannot do everything, and he worries his image has gotten away from him; he worries someday his humanity will betray them, will let them down, after the team has given him so much. He's very human and very frightened. He can only do so much and he's spread so thin and getting older and it scares him he won't come home from a mission and then what sort of home will his team have?
fair games he's good at : claw machines and water gun games and arcade games; simple ones with routines he can memorise and organize a strategy for.
