ysabetwordsmith | Story: "Coming in from the Cold: Monday: Memorial Day" Part 3

"Coming in from the Cold" is the next big piece in its series, dealing with Bucky and his continued issues with that piece-of-crap prosthesis. I'm posting each day within the story as a section unto itself, broken down into post-sized parts.

This story belongs to the series Love Is For Children which includes "Love Is for Children," "Hairpins," "Blended," "Am I Not," "Eggshells," "Dolls and Guys,""Saudades," "Querencia," "Turnabout Is Fair Play," "Touching Moments," "Splash," "Coming Around," "Birthday Girl," "No Winter Lasts Forever," "Hide and Seek," "Kernel Error," "Happy Hour," "Green Eggs and Hulk,""kintsukuroi," "Little and Broken, but Still Good," "Up the Water Spout," "The Life of the Dead," "If They Could Just Stay Little," "Anahata," "Coming in from the Cold: Saturday: Building Towers," and "Coming in from the Cold: Sunday: Shaking Foundations."

Fandom: The Avengers
Characters: Phil Coulson, Bruce Banner, Betty Ross, Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanova, Tony Stark, Clint Barton, Happy Hogan.
Medium: Fiction
Warnings: Mention of past trauma with lingering symptoms of PTSD. Kitchen fail. Tony being a brat. Description of past deaths. Current environment is supportive.
Summary: The Avengers celebrate Memorial Day by going to Washington, D.C. for the festivities. Emotional roller-coasters ensue.
Notes: Hurt/comfort. Family. Fluff and angst. Emotional overload. Coping skills. Healthy touch. Asking for help and getting it. Cooking. Comfort food. Holidays. Medals. Veteran issues. Nonsexual intimacy. Caregiving. Competence. Gentleness. Trust. Emotional confusion. Hope. Crowds. Memorials. Mourning. Letting go. Moving on. Photography. Parades. Storytelling. Nostalgia. Hand-feeding. #coulsonlives

Begin with Part 1, Part 2. Skip to Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9.

"Coming in from the Cold: Monday: Memorial Day" Part 3

"Food truck ahead," Happy announced presently. "Anybody want some Rito Loco?"

"Yeah, pull us up alongside," Tony said. "Steve, Bucky, you guys want to try the Rib Rito, it sticks with you. Bruce is going to regret missing this."

"We can bring him another time," Betty said. She poked at her phone. "I'm having the Fruit Rito. Anybody else need to see a menu?"

"Nah, I'm good with Tony's advice," Bucky said.

"Same here, but if they've got fruit then I want one of those too," Steve said.

"O.G. Rito for me, please," said Phil. He loved the colorful local flavor of the D.C. food trucks and tried to catch one every time he came to town.

Clint hesitated. "I don't want to eat so much that I'm heavy on my feet ..."

"You can share mine. I feel the same way," Phil said.

"I'll share too," Bucky offered at the same time Steve said, "You can have some of my fruit."

"Okay. Thanks," Clint said.

"Add the usual Mojito Rito for me and whatever you want, Happy, that's a wrap," Tony said.

Happy relayed the group order and soon passed back piles of fragrant food.

Phil smiled as he watched Clint alternate nibbles from the O.G. and the Rib Ritos. This is so much better than stakeout with other agents picking on him for his 'funny' eating habits, Phil thought.

When Phil first brought Clint in from the cold, the wary and traumatized young sniper had tended to gorge in private but refused to fill up while on the job, a relic from his circus days. He'd been beaten for poor performance too often to risk it. Phil had finally resorted to squeezing into the hawksnest alongside him and hand-feeding Clint bits of smuggled sushi. Clint's appetite had leveled out with time and care, so that the old habits rarely showed now, but he still lowered his eating if he needed to stay alert and agile.

It was all Phil could do not to laugh when Steve started picking strawberry slices out of the burrito and hand-feeding them to Clint.

They showed up a little early for the parade. This time it was Phil's connections that had procured a prime spot. The Avengers wedged themselves in beside several representatives of the World War II Veterans Committee that sponsored the National Memorial Day Parade. At first Bucky and Steve were breathless in the company of men who had been their contemporaries but were now separated by a gulf of time and experience. Eventually they relaxed enough to start talking again.

"Steve and I, we never really got our homecoming like the other fellas," Bucky said as they waited. "It's kinda sad. He's a hero, he should have a parade."

In the distance, Phil could hear the crisp military music approaching. Heads turned as everyone watched for the front line to appear. "Well, maybe this one will help serve that purpose for both of you," Phil said. They'd been offered the opportunity to march but had both declined. At the edge of Phil's view, the crowd rippled as seated people stood up.

"Somebody tell me when the flag comes into view. I can't stand up for long," grumbled the nearest veteran, who was sitting in a wheelchair.

"I have the lookout," Bucky said.

"You don't need to stand up at all, sir," Steve said. "I'm sure everyone would understand."

"Day I can't stand for the flag, you can nail the box shut and throw me in the ground," the old man said. "And I'm pretty sure that captains don't 'sir' sergeants."

"You still have seniority," Steve said, but he was smiling as they teased each other a little.

"Here comes the flag," Bucky announced, then in a lower voice, "Got your brakes on?"

"Yes," the old man said, bracing himself against the arms of his chair. "Just need some leverage ..."

"I make a fine fencepost if you want one," Steve offered. He waited for the nod, and then he and Bucky carefully helped their fellow veteran to his feet. They closed ranks around him, propping him between the two of them so snugly that he couldn't have been holding much of his own weight. Phil leaned back a little. Sure enough, both of the super-soldiers had their inside arms wrapped behind for extra support. From the front, though, it would look like they were all standing at attention.

The flag passed by, its proud colors rippling in the warm spring breeze. Bright music streamed alongside. The parade spooled out behind.

"Flag's out of view," Clint called from the far side of the team.

"Care for a ride back down?" Bucky asked. The veteran nodded again. In perfect unison, Bucky and Steve knelt in slow motion to lower him into the wheelchair. The move was so practiced that Phil wondered how many times they had done this for injured teammates in the war.

The old man patted their hands as they let go. "There are fewer of us every year," he said. "This is the first time we've ever gotten anyone back."

"It's good to be back," Bucky said.

The parade included marching bands and veteran units from all fifty states. All of the wars with surviving veterans were represented. Along with them came patriotic floats and huge helium balloons. Steve frowned at the balloons. Then the old man said something that Phil couldn't catch, which made Steve and Bucky both chuckle, lifting their mood again. It took a long time for the parade to go by. The route ran from the corner of Constitution Avenue and 7 Street, along Constitution Avenue to pass in front of the White House and end at 17th Street.

At last the crowd began to break up. "Hey, Tom, you want to join us for lunch?" Steve said. Evidently they had exchanged introductions while Phil's attention was on the parade.

"What in the world for?" the elderly veteran said, his tone pleased but surprised.

"Catch up on old times," Bucky said. "Steve and I, we missed a lot."

"Sure, why not," Tom said. "I don't have plans until later."

"Need a push?" Steve asked.

"No I do not," Tom said. "Nothing wrong with my arms yet." He spun his chair neatly in place and rolled down the sidewalk as the Avengers shuffled into motion. "Thanks for the offer though."

They made their way to a deli from which delicious smells emerged, but it was crowded and all the tables were full. "Do we stick with the line here, look for another place, or bribe our way in?" Tony asked.

"I can wait ..." Steve said, but his stomach gave an ominous growl.

Phil looked at his watch. It had been over two hours since brunch from the food truck, and Steve hadn't eaten as much as usual. "Bribe," Phil said.

"Hey mister, do you need a table?" asked a voice.

Phil turned to find a table crammed with teenagers who were hastily gathering up their sandwiches. "You're veterans, right?" said the tallest girl. "We saw the uniforms. If you want the table, it's yours. We can eat standing up."

"Thank you, miss, that's very kind of you," Phil said, motioning for the team to settle in. Bucky whisked one of the chairs out of the way to make room for Tom's wheelchair.

"I know the waitresses here. I'll send somebody over to take your order, so they know there are new people at the table," said one of the boys.

It happened so fast that even Phil was impressed. The waitress arrived with water and a basket of breadsticks, most of which went to Steve and Bucky. She managed all their orders. Phil could see Tony mentally tallying the tip as she recited the entire list from memory without missing anything, even though Bucky had ordered brisket on rye with mustard and Steve wanted the same thing without mustard.

The Avengers chatted casually as they waited. Tom filled in anecdotes from planning the parade and solicited everyone's opinions. He explained his personal feelings on balloons -- that they kept the little kids entertained so the older folks could focus on the main attraction. Even Steve had to admit that helped.

When the food and beverages arrived, though, everyone went quiet for a moment. Phil looked at Tom. The oldest veteran raised his glass of iced tea and solemnly intoned, "To absent friends."

"Absent friends," everyone chorused, clinking their glasses together. For a moment the air seemed full, pressed close with ghosts and memories. It always hit Phil this way, and stronger in the company of people who had lost so many to the swift fire of war and the slow tide of years. Then it was gone again in the next instant, folded away back into the corners of the mind where it waited.

While they ate, the stories came out. Phil opened with one from his early days in SHIELD, when he'd been young and cocky enough to get shot down in enemy territory. Nick Fury had gone in after him and carried him out. "I didn't realize until he collapsed beside me in the safehouse," Phil finished softly, "that he walked the entire distance on two broken ankles."

"I helped run a Navy landing ship on D-Day," Tom said. "I took five boatloads to that beach. Maybe one guy from each made it out of the water alive, except for the fourth trip. By then it was bad, you could see what you were getting into, like wading through hamburger. There was this kid ..."

Bucky and Steve both looked up at that.

"... maybe fourteen, fifteen years old, had to have lied about his age to get in. He kept saying that he needed a shave, I think to throw off suspicion that he wasn't old enough. Came to about here on me," Tom said, touching a hand to his chest. "He asked me how bad it was, and I said hell on Earth. So then he said, 'If that's how it is, best I go out first,' and squeezed through to the front." Tom fell silent for a long minute.

"What happened to him?" Bucky asked.

"Soon as the ramp dropped, he was struck by machine gun fire. Dead before he hit the water," Tom said. "But the three soldiers behind him, they all made it to the beach alive. Took out a machine gun nest, I saw that much before I had to turn back for another load. That kid may not have made it to the beach, but he sure as hell made a difference."

"Thank you," Steve said.

"For what?" Tom asked.

"For telling me how it would have happened," Steve said. "I know you recognized me. Well, before this --" Steve swept a hand down his powerful body "-- I was tiny. I lied my head off trying to enlist anyway. I knew I was going to die young; I just wanted it to mean something. If I'd never met the man who made me who I am today, that story you just told, that would've been me, or something like it. I'm really grateful. It feels good to know that somebody that size managed to do his part."

* * *

Notes:

Rito Loco is one of the more famous food trucks of Washington, D.C.

(Some of these eating links may be distressing.)
Disordered eating refers to unhealthy food habits that are not as severe as eating disorders. Many of the Avengers have or had a troubled relationship with food. It helps to understand food disturbances. There are resources for coping with disordered eating if you are ready. Know how to help someone with food disturbances. Focus on lowering stress related to food. Sometimes tracking/weighing helps but other times makes it a lot worse. A casual approach works better for some people. We had a great discussion about disordered eating and other food challenges on my blog.

(Some of these feeding links are cute, but others may be stressful in various ways, and not necessarily the same for all readers.)
Food sharing and feeding convey intimacy. Hand-feeding is associated with infants, disabled or elderly people, lovers, and submissives. It is also used for raising hawks and other birds, and adult hawks may be hand-fed as well. It was actually the bird references that inspired Phil to try that with Clint. Steve does it because he simply doesn't realize that most people don't. To him it's perfectly normal, because he was so sick so often growing up that Bucky or someone else often had to help get the food into him.

Developing a healthy relationship with food typically shows a pattern of traits in good eaters.

The Memorial Day Parade is one of many celebrations in Washington, D.C. for that holiday.

Traditional flag protocols are very conservative. Few people follow them anymore, but some people remain extremely serious. The main point is to convey respect. Steve and Bucky justifiably vary the rules a bit because they're holding someone up.

Wheelchair etiquette includes offering help and then letting the rider decide what to do.

Tom's remark about veterans is a paraphrase of sentiments from "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda."

Washington D.C. has many fine sandwich shops.

A toast is often offered by the senior or ranking member of a group. Steve has the highest moral and military rank, but has made it very plain that he considers Tom's lived seniority more important. "To absent friends" is popular throughout a wide range of military organizations including the U.S. Marines and the Royal Navy. To Absent Friends is also an entertainment trope about remembering those lost or distant.

(These war-related links range from morally painful to downright gruesome.)
Veterans may waffle over whether to tell their stories, but many of them find it helpful to relate their experiences to a sympathetic listener. Here are some sample war stories. There have been projects to connect veterans with listeners. Understand how to talk with veterans and how to listen to them. The main ideas are 1) don't pry, and 2) be gentle with their memories, because many of those memories still hurt. If someone is telling you war stories, it usually means that they are trusting you a great deal. Occasionally it means they're so numb that they can't tell where their boundaries or morals are, so keep an eye on where those lines are.

The invasion of Normandy during World War II, also known as D-Day, remains one of the more horrific battles in history. For Steve in particular, this story provides a sense of closure, because he has spent a lot of time wondering "what if" he hadn't met Dr. Erskine.

[To be continued in Part 4 ...]

Current Mood: busy

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

thereaderofthings

This chapter has a lot in it. I am not quite sure where to begin. I guess I will start with the happy feels. I love how Steve was feeding Clint. It really speaks that he watches and cares for his team. I love how everyone was readily willing to share food. Bucky and Steve who went through the depression really hit home.

I love how Steve and Bucky helped Tom without bringing attention to it. They let him have his dignity. I really love how the youngsters gave up the table they were at. I love how you put that shining light on the fact that there are people who care even young ones.

The sad feels come from Tom's story. I love how you put a light on the harsh side of war. I believe (and Helgatwb can correct me if I am wrong) that one of our uncles lied to get into the army as well. It is sad that the kid died, but that is the way it happens. Not every story has a good ending.

There is probably more I haven't quite processed, but this chapter to me, was the best one so far.

From:

The Writing & Other Projects of Elizabeth Barrette

Links

Page Summary

Active Entries

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags