Story: "Hairpins" Part 14
Mar. 21st, 2014 12:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis story belongs to the series Love Is For Children which includes "Love Is for Children," "Eggshells," "Dolls and Guys,""Saudades," "Turnabout Is Fair Play," "Touching Moments," "Splash," "Coming Around," "Birthday Girl," "No Winter Lasts Forever," "Hide and Seek," "Kernel Error," "Happy Hour," and "Green Eggs and Hulk."
Fandom: The Avengers
Characters: Phil Coulson, JARVIS, Clint Barton, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanova, Bruce Banner.
Medium: Fiction
Warnings: This story is mostly fluff, but it has some intense scenes in the middle. Highlight for details. These include dubious consent as Phil and JARVIS discuss what really happened when Agent Coulson hacked his way into Stark Tower, over which Phil has something between a flashback and a panic attack. They also discuss some of the bad things that have happened to Avengers in the past, including various flavors of abuse. If these are sensitive topics for you, please think carefully before deciding whether to read onward.
Summary: Uncle Phil needs to pick out pajamas for game night. He gets help from an unexpected direction.
Notes: Service. Shopping. Gifts. Artificial intelligence. Computers. Teamwork. Team as family. Friendship. Communication. Hope. Apologies. Forgiveness. Nonsexual ageplay. Nonsexual intimacy. Love. Tony Stark needs a hug. Bruce Banner needs a hug. #coulsonlives.
Begin with Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13. Skip to Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19.
"Hairpins" Part 14
Not long after that, Tony brought Bruce into game night with no real warning to anyone. Natka balked immediately. Bruce would have withdrawn, and Tony looked utterly stricken by the development. Tony had so few friends, it was hard on him when they didn't get along.
Uncle Phil managed to adapt, gently mediating between Bruce and Natka. A few careful accommodations helped both of them feel more secure in each other's company. The establishment of safe space was a fundamental part of game night.
God knows they need it, after the ghastly way they met, Phil thought. He still felt guilty about that. It would take time and care to repair the damage to their relationships so that the team could mesh properly. Game night was a work in progress.
Naturally this meant that Bruce needed jammies of his own. The next day, Phil took out his Starkpad and set to work. He opened a search page, retrieved his previous pajama searches, and cued them to correlate. Then he pulled up images involving Bruce to use for color chips. Clothing. The furniture in Bruce's apartment, which Tony had designed as a comforting refuge. The knickknacks that Bruce had added himself.
Phil stirred the resulting squares with a fingertip. A majority of them were medium neutrals, browns and grays with an occasional foray into black or ivory. Some of the South American souvenirs were more vivid, though. The brightest colors were purple and green. Hulk was green, of course, and he seemed to like purple. I'm not sure if those would really be diplomatic choices, Phil mused. Maybe something in a twilight blue, like that comforter he has ...
Next Phil tried to figure out what themes might appeal to little-Bruce. Phil didn't know the man very well, because Bruce spent so much time hiding in his lab. There was the SHIELD file, of course, but it wasn't meant for this kind of personality extrapolation. Phil tried digging up other resources. Bruce had spent so much of his life in disadvantaged positions that there wasn't much to go on.
"He grew up in the southwest. He loves Betty Ross. He works with astrophysics and gamma rays," Phil said. He found some pajamas with stars or spacescapes on them, but those were either too boring or too busy for a child as young as Bruce played. Plus stars were really more of a Steve motif. Phil didn't want to set up confusion or competition there. He cleared the page with a sweep of his hand. "Hmm ... what else is Bruce into?"
"Perhaps botany?" JARVIS suggested. "That is a more recent interest."
JARVIS is so helpful and attentive, Phil thought. He does a lot for us. I wonder what we could do for him in return. "Let's take a look at plants, then," Phil said aloud. "If nothing else, finding pajamas with leaves or flowers should be easy."
It was. The drawback was that almost all the leaves were green, while the flowers tended to be loud or girlish or both. The brown and tan leaves looked like mud splatters. Olive was right out, too close to camo. The autumn leaves blazed in shades of red and orange that Bruce usually avoided. The flowers that weren't super-saturated were pastels.
* * *
Notes:
It's better to tell people before doing something momentous, rather than just dropping a bombshell on them, but Tony's social skills aren't fully developed. There are tips for dealing with bombshells and coping with change.
Neutral colors are soothing, and appear in many of the Avengers' apartments.
Latin American art is famous for using super-saturated colors, among other features. Translating colors across cultures can pose interesting challenges, because the connotations vary.
See the too-busy space pajamas and too-boring star fabric.
Botanical motifs often appear in fashion. See examples of green, brown, and autumn leaves on cloth. Flowers come in vivid and pastel shades. Not bad, but not quite Bruce.
[To be continued in Part 15 ...]
Fandom: The Avengers
Characters: Phil Coulson, JARVIS, Clint Barton, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanova, Bruce Banner.
Medium: Fiction
Warnings: This story is mostly fluff, but it has some intense scenes in the middle. Highlight for details. These include dubious consent as Phil and JARVIS discuss what really happened when Agent Coulson hacked his way into Stark Tower, over which Phil has something between a flashback and a panic attack. They also discuss some of the bad things that have happened to Avengers in the past, including various flavors of abuse. If these are sensitive topics for you, please think carefully before deciding whether to read onward.
Summary: Uncle Phil needs to pick out pajamas for game night. He gets help from an unexpected direction.
Notes: Service. Shopping. Gifts. Artificial intelligence. Computers. Teamwork. Team as family. Friendship. Communication. Hope. Apologies. Forgiveness. Nonsexual ageplay. Nonsexual intimacy. Love. Tony Stark needs a hug. Bruce Banner needs a hug. #coulsonlives.
Begin with Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13. Skip to Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19.
"Hairpins" Part 14
Not long after that, Tony brought Bruce into game night with no real warning to anyone. Natka balked immediately. Bruce would have withdrawn, and Tony looked utterly stricken by the development. Tony had so few friends, it was hard on him when they didn't get along.
Uncle Phil managed to adapt, gently mediating between Bruce and Natka. A few careful accommodations helped both of them feel more secure in each other's company. The establishment of safe space was a fundamental part of game night.
God knows they need it, after the ghastly way they met, Phil thought. He still felt guilty about that. It would take time and care to repair the damage to their relationships so that the team could mesh properly. Game night was a work in progress.
Naturally this meant that Bruce needed jammies of his own. The next day, Phil took out his Starkpad and set to work. He opened a search page, retrieved his previous pajama searches, and cued them to correlate. Then he pulled up images involving Bruce to use for color chips. Clothing. The furniture in Bruce's apartment, which Tony had designed as a comforting refuge. The knickknacks that Bruce had added himself.
Phil stirred the resulting squares with a fingertip. A majority of them were medium neutrals, browns and grays with an occasional foray into black or ivory. Some of the South American souvenirs were more vivid, though. The brightest colors were purple and green. Hulk was green, of course, and he seemed to like purple. I'm not sure if those would really be diplomatic choices, Phil mused. Maybe something in a twilight blue, like that comforter he has ...
Next Phil tried to figure out what themes might appeal to little-Bruce. Phil didn't know the man very well, because Bruce spent so much time hiding in his lab. There was the SHIELD file, of course, but it wasn't meant for this kind of personality extrapolation. Phil tried digging up other resources. Bruce had spent so much of his life in disadvantaged positions that there wasn't much to go on.
"He grew up in the southwest. He loves Betty Ross. He works with astrophysics and gamma rays," Phil said. He found some pajamas with stars or spacescapes on them, but those were either too boring or too busy for a child as young as Bruce played. Plus stars were really more of a Steve motif. Phil didn't want to set up confusion or competition there. He cleared the page with a sweep of his hand. "Hmm ... what else is Bruce into?"
"Perhaps botany?" JARVIS suggested. "That is a more recent interest."
JARVIS is so helpful and attentive, Phil thought. He does a lot for us. I wonder what we could do for him in return. "Let's take a look at plants, then," Phil said aloud. "If nothing else, finding pajamas with leaves or flowers should be easy."
It was. The drawback was that almost all the leaves were green, while the flowers tended to be loud or girlish or both. The brown and tan leaves looked like mud splatters. Olive was right out, too close to camo. The autumn leaves blazed in shades of red and orange that Bruce usually avoided. The flowers that weren't super-saturated were pastels.
* * *
Notes:
It's better to tell people before doing something momentous, rather than just dropping a bombshell on them, but Tony's social skills aren't fully developed. There are tips for dealing with bombshells and coping with change.
Neutral colors are soothing, and appear in many of the Avengers' apartments.
Latin American art is famous for using super-saturated colors, among other features. Translating colors across cultures can pose interesting challenges, because the connotations vary.
See the too-busy space pajamas and too-boring star fabric.
Botanical motifs often appear in fashion. See examples of green, brown, and autumn leaves on cloth. Flowers come in vivid and pastel shades. Not bad, but not quite Bruce.
[To be continued in Part 15 ...]
brief but important
Date: 2014-03-21 06:06 am (UTC)A total LACK of recursion to Bruce's original childhood (where at least 80% of the "official Marvel canon" back stories show increasingly horrible levels of abuse and neglect, spousal abuse, and homicide). Introducing "Uncle Phil" as a NEW person in Bruce's world with NO connection to his factual history will likely mean that Bruce will have difficulties more related to trust and replicating learned responses, BUT will also give Bruce the opportunity to "meet" an adult who relates to his child-self without the expectations that Bruce is a monster because of his biological father, his environment, or will inevitably repeat those patterns, so why waste effort, et cetera.
Bruce, however, is probably going to need a LOT of time to trust that Phil genuinely believes him to be equally as good, competent, complicated and patched-together as the other "children" are. I really want to see the hints as the series develops... and wish a thousand times over that the comic writers had any interest in exploring the issue of adult survivors of childhood abuse/neglect beyond cookie-cutter stereotypes and the inevitable 'tragic reunion' or 'crisis of conscience' cliches.
From my perspective, showing a wider range of reactions both to the particular forms of abuse, and to the process of coming to terms with the events, is FAR more engrossing than "foil Doom's latest plot, quip wittily while bashing robots to scrap, and snark until Fury's remaining eye twitches during the debriefing". Yet, which do the majority of paid writers jump toward, even given the expected audience and length of a graphic novel? Frustrating.
Thanks for the quick post, but thank you especially for all the detailed links. I love following a 'rabbit trail' of ideas, and set aside a long break to do just that on the second read-through of the post.
Re: brief but important
Date: 2014-03-21 07:04 am (UTC)Excellent! There is a bit more buildup of this as Phil and JARVIS figure out what would suit little-Bruce.
>> A total LACK of recursion to Bruce's original childhood (where at least 80% of the "official Marvel canon" back stories show increasingly horrible levels of abuse and neglect, spousal abuse, and homicide). <<
Well, that does match the bottomless pit of rage that created Hulk. I suspect that eventually someone asked, "WHY are Bruce and Hulk so angry all of the time?" or maybe even got to wondering what kind of things create a split personality. And they nailed it.
This is an aspect of Bruce-and-Hulk that I really enjoy exploring, because the usual tendency is for writers to wallow in their misery, but I like to shore them up instead. So there's a lot of that in this series.
>> Introducing "Uncle Phil" as a NEW person in Bruce's world with NO connection to his factual history will likely mean that Bruce will have difficulties more related to trust and replicating learned responses, <<
Yes. It's extremely difficult for Bruce to trust anyone. In particular he has a hard time holding still around people associated with institutions that have hurt him in the past. This is a barrier to his relationship with Phil and Natasha, among others.
Really the only reason Bruce stayed in New York is because Tony puppy-dogged him until he caved in. Bruce uses up all his willpower quashing Hulk, and has little left over for resisting other things. It was easier to give in, and hide in the lab -- at least until Tony dragged him out.
>> BUT will also give Bruce the opportunity to "meet" an adult who relates to his child-self without the expectations that Bruce is a monster because of his biological father, his environment, or will inevitably repeat those patterns, so why waste effort, et cetera. <<
See now, this is where it gets interesting. Clint and Natasha both know how gentle and patient Phil can be. Bruce hasn't really seen that side of him before. Plus Bruce tends to see everything through a thick layer of preconceptions.
Phil already had an inkling of Bruce and Hulk as hero material. He's quite good at spotting diamonds in the rough, and he can be quite open-minded. Plus Phil knows about their awful past, and feels guilty about railroading them onto the team. Now add the ageplay, and Phil has reason to be far more tender with Bruce than Bruce has any clue to suspect. It's going to knock Bruce for a loop, poor guy.
>> Bruce, however, is probably going to need a LOT of time to trust that Phil genuinely believes him to be equally as good, competent, complicated and patched-together as the other "children" are. <<
Yes, that's true. It's harder for Bruce to believe any of that, because he has a negative view of himself and Hulk. On the other hand, Hulk has some positive feelings toward Bruce which make it easier for him to see the good in other people.
By the end of "Love Is for Children" you can see that Bruce has made it as far as reliance, while Hulk -- being the emotional genius of the pair -- has made the leap to trust.
>> I really want to see the hints as the series develops... <<
Oh yes. It's a major theme throughout. In "Splash" and "Coming Around" you can contrast how far Hulk has come, with Bruce still struggling. If I have time to keep going far enough, one of the storylines I want to wrap up is healing the relationship between Bruce-and-Hulk. They can't keep going as they are, because everything is changing, both inside and out. The team won't tolerate Bruce abusing Hulk much longer.
>> and wish a thousand times over that the comic writers had any interest in exploring the issue of adult survivors of childhood abuse/neglect beyond cookie-cutter stereotypes and the inevitable 'tragic reunion' or 'crisis of conscience' cliches. <<
I agree!
This is why I explore such things in my original writing. In my superhero series Polychrome Heroics, I have a variety of characters with a miserable childhood, along with some who were perfectly okay until their life went haywire later. So for example, Dr. Infanta from "Lifeyears" was sold into mad science torture that gave her superpowers. Conversely the Rescuer from "A Seasoned Fighter" survived neglect and sexual abuse; instead of developing superpowers, he trained himself to be able to compete on a super level.
Catch me in any relevant prompt call, and you can ask me to write about the kinds of characters and situations that interest you. I like covering stuff that other writers have ignored, because there's less competition and it attracts new readers who are unsatisfied with the mainstream.
>> From my perspective, showing a wider range of reactions both to the particular forms of abuse, and to the process of coming to terms with the events, is FAR more engrossing than "foil Doom's latest plot, quip wittily while bashing robots to scrap, and snark until Fury's remaining eye twitches during the debriefing". <<
Yes, exactly. There are so many more stories to tell than people are telling! Overcoming abuse/neglect is a lengthy process, but it travels over a lot of territory that is useful to many other life challenges. It's something I've written about repeatedly.
But I have to admit, I like making Fury's eye twitch, because he is a gigantic dick in canon and deserves to be taunted.
>> Yet, which do the majority of paid writers jump toward, even given the expected audience and length of a graphic novel? Frustrating. <<
Agreed. I think part of it is greed (they think that will sell more copies), part is a low view of readers (they don't think people want anything more complex), and part is sheer laziness (they already know how to write that stuff). Of course, this may simply be the kind of story that a lot of writers love to tell. But sheesh, we've read this a thousand times already. It's hard to find anything new to say about it.
>> Thanks for the quick post, but thank you especially for all the detailed links. <<
You're welcome!
>> I love following a 'rabbit trail' of ideas, and set aside a long break to do just that on the second read-through of the post. <<
I'm happy to hear that. I loved detailed comments that spark discussion, too.
Re: brief but important
Date: 2014-03-22 07:43 pm (UTC)-kellyc
Re: brief but important
Date: 2014-03-24 05:48 am (UTC)I really enjoy exploring Bruce-and-Hulk. There is more about their evolving relationship in the big story I'm currently writing, although it's not the main focus. More like, that rattling sound the vent on a pot makes before it boils over.
How much time I can reasonably play with fanfic for experimentation and attracting new readers depends in part on how well my paid projects are going. So one thing you can do to help is read and support my original writing. While this is the only place I've done ageplay so far, other themes are common in my work -- family dynamics, teamwork, trauma recovery, and I've even got a superhero setting.
Re: brief but important
Date: 2014-03-23 03:18 am (UTC)Like Batman, ¿sí?
Re: brief but important
Date: 2014-03-23 03:23 am (UTC)There are several supernary characters in Polychrome Heroics, each with their own special interests and skills. The Rescuer is the same kind of hero that Clement is in the Damask collective -- more the kind who cleans up after a disaster, than a frontline fighter. It was important to me to find an abuse survivor who made something of himself instead of having special powers, and who's in good shape not a fucked-up mess.
I also have several characters, both heroes and villains, with only a minor superpower who have built their impact using ordinary qualities instead of relying wholly on superpowers. It's not so much what you have, as what you do with it.
Or as Tony says: "I am Iron Man."
Re: brief but important
Date: 2014-03-23 03:40 am (UTC)The entries for Capery and Dexflan include the sentence fragment "This retro-engineered tech." Is that a typohaplology for "This is…", copied and pasted as boilerplate?
(For that matter, I'm not at all clear on what "retro-engineered tech" means... though I probably shouldn't expect to, having read so little of that setting. There's no entry for that, hint hint.)
Re: brief but important
From:D'aww!
Date: 2014-03-21 07:27 am (UTC)~RageQueen
Re: D'aww!
Date: 2014-03-26 06:35 am (UTC)I'm happy to hear that.
>> All your stories make my feels twinge a bit, but this one's just adorable. I'm excited for more! <<
It's mostly fluff, but there's a very sharp piece in the middle, which is just now breaking open.
an idea for Bruce jammies
Date: 2014-03-21 12:51 pm (UTC)How does my guess compare with what you're constructing? :-)
Re: an idea for Bruce jammies
Date: 2014-03-25 06:45 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-03-21 05:24 pm (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2014-03-24 06:08 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-03-21 10:36 pm (UTC)Yes, I think someone stepped up and thought about where he got to, and thought hard about how that might come to be. Plenty of other writers, aren't prepared for whatever reasons to deal with that past creatively.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-03-23 04:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-03-23 05:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-03-23 06:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-03-23 06:23 pm (UTC)<3
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Date: 2014-03-25 06:15 am (UTC)Re: *laugh*
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Date: 2014-03-25 06:15 am (UTC)Re: *laugh*
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From:Yes...
Date: 2014-03-24 05:43 am (UTC)Thoughts
Date: 2014-03-24 06:07 am (UTC)Paisley might be a little fussier than he'd like. It's a favorite of mine, though, and I happen to be wearing some right now.
>> Yes, I think someone stepped up and thought about where he got to, and thought hard about how that might come to be. Plenty of other writers, aren't prepared for whatever reasons to deal with that past creatively. <<
That makes sense. I love it when people enrich characters that way. It's one of the things I enjoy most about writing, too, so you can see it in a lot of my work. I'm disinclined to hit characters and walk away. I hit them -- and then watch how they react.
I got a wonderful poem about bullying and intervention during this week's fishbowl, too. "The Tallest Poppy" features two recurring superheroes, Savoir Faire and the Rescuer, and it's summarized here. The Rescuer is one of my sexual abuse survivor characters, who grew up to be a hero.
triggers included Re: Thoughts
Date: 2014-03-30 12:33 pm (UTC)Spirograph.
I still need to find those long 'nib' ballpoints in colors, the old spirographs don't have the bigger holes to fit regular bics and papermates.
Re: triggers included Re: Thoughts
Date: 2014-03-31 07:15 am (UTC)Very possible. I really tend to read Avengers!Bruce as genderqueer, if not wholly, at least a little. His body language was just so feminine in some ways.
>> Maybe Betty and Steve can get a more mathematical low contrast 'paisley' worked for him? <<
That might do. *ponder* I could see Bruce wearing one paisley, like fractals are sometimes printed on a t-shirt.
>> Spirograph. <<
Love it.
>> I still need to find those long 'nib' ballpoints in colors, the old spirographs don't have the bigger holes to fit regular bics and papermates. <<
Art ballpoints sometimes come in wider or narrower sizes, and many colors.
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