ysabetwordsmith | Story: "Hairpins" Part 15

This 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, Part 14. Skip to Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20.

"Hairpins" Part 15

Phil sighed. He picked out a handful of least-unlikely botanical patterns and saved them. Then he cleared the page again. "How about ordinary kiddie things," he said.

JARVIS obliged by calling up a fresh set of images. Unfortunately the selections here tended to be overly gendered, something that annoyed Phil in general when shopping for his littles. The prevailing blue palette was fine, but not the endless array of soldiers, cowboys, and knights. The subtle implication of conflict undercut the desired sense of comfort. Phil did not think that Bruce would like pajamas decorated with trains or backhoes any better. Judging from the sluggish rate of suggestions, neither did JARVIS.

"This doesn't feel right," Phil admitted. "Bruce doesn't have many positive memories of childhood. I'm not sure reprising that would help."

"It may be that we are approaching this from the wrong angle," JARVIS said. "What does Bruce get out of game night?"

"Safety," Phil said at once. "It helps him feel more secure about his place in the team. He's learning to express his emotions, now that people respect them. He likes being allowed to hide if that's what he needs."

"Protective camouflage," JARVIS murmured.

Phil shook his head. "No, Bruce hates the Army. We can't put him in camo."

"I was referring to cryptic coloration as it appears in nature, allowing animals to blend into their environment," JARVIS clarified. "For example, female birds often have drab plumage to disguise themselves while nesting."

"Bruce likes to blend in," Phil said. "He dresses to deflect attention from himself. Sometimes he acts as if he wants to sink into the carpet and disappear."

"He also avoids observation as much as possible -- not just on a physical level, as with shying away from cameras, but also on a psychological level," JARVIS said. "Bruce dislikes it when people try to read him. Sir is the only person who seems able to coax him out of his shell."

"At least they have Candyland," Phil said. Not long after the team moved into the tower, Tony had redesigned part of the lab space so that he and Bruce could share it. He also printed out an enormous sign with the title in classic candycane font, which he hung above the main door. It dated all the way back to some in-joke that Tony and Bruce had shared on the Helicarrier.

Phil flipped back to the collection of images he had of Bruce's clothes. Most were solids, but there were some with subtle patterns of stripes or dots, along with several soft plaids.

"Plaid is a traditional pattern for sleepwear," JARVIS remarked. "Children tend to dress in bright colors, but Bruce would probably prefer something quieter. The lines of a neutral plaid would blend into an indoor environment rather well."

"Good idea," Phil said. "Pull me some samples." The screen filled with fabric swatches in shades of brown and tan, similar to clothes that Bruce had worn in the past. Soon Phil found a nice mellow caramel. "Given Bruce's tendency to go through clothes quickly, we should probably pick more than one."

* * *

Notes:

Gendered clothes for children are a fairly recent phenomenon. This can restrict gender fluidity and cause problems for children. At this stage, Phil does not know what potential landmines he just avoided, but Bruce has some serious and deeply buried gender issues thanks to Brian Banner's A+ parenting, as seen in "Dolls and Guys" Part 10. Several of the Avengers are a little gender-variant in certain regards.

Gendered toys raise similar issues, hence Uncle Phil's resentment. They illustrate and enforce gender roles, causing difficulties for boys and girls alike. Note that Uncle Phil stocks the toy cabinet primarily with gender-neutral toys such as blocks and board games. Where there are gender-associated toys like dolls and trains, he encourages everyone to play with all of them, not split up by gender. There are only two girls in the group, and Natka isn't very girly; Betty is more likely to wind up playing girl things with Steve, Bruce, or Tony who all have different feminine aspects. Browse some good choices in gender-neutral toys.

Blending into a crowd is a useful skill for travel and survival. There are tips for blending in, avoiding attention, and not getting picked out of a crowd. (Notice the repeated advice on wearing drab, plain clothes.) This is what allows Bruce to thrive in foreign lands, as well as locally, and to elude capture most of the time.

Camouflage lets creatures to fade into their environment using multiple techniques. Here are some examples of protective camouflage in animals. Birds can adapt their camouflage, and often the females have dull colors for nesting safety.

Candyland is a game with editions in 1949, 1978, and other years. This box for the 1978 game shows the candycane font. Tony and Bruce would probably recognize this version, hence Tony's reference to it in The Avengers.

Plaid is a popular pajama pattern for children and adults.

Read about the symbolism for the color brown.

[To be continued in Part 16 ...]

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From: (Anonymous)

Immediately and gratefully, thank you for the 'problem area' content warnings WELL in advance of the actual scenes.

Frankly, your writing engrosses me well enough that, so far, every difficult concept has been MORE than amply "rewarded" by the wonderful portrayals of the characters. You write not to simply show "hurt/comfort," but to show (and hopefully,subtly tinker with) the psychological, emotional, and mental underpinnings of the universe where the story takes place. That's a million worlds away from writing... gore, of any stripe, with the primary purpose of shocking the audience. (It may have other purposes, but I'm not sure, as my tolerance for that kind of "entertainment" is so low as to be measured with a microscope. An electron microscope.)

Phil and Jarvis are beginning to communicate, to truly collaborate. I am delighted! They will NEED that trust, however tentative, when they begin to communicate about more personal topics.

I think Phil's "superpower" is his insight into human psychology. So far, I'm not seeing hints that he survived an abusive or traumatic childhood (quite the opposite, in fact, given how naturally he acts as caretaker, both as Agent Coulson and as Uncle Phil). Did you set out intentionally to make him a "model of preferred adult interactions"? Really, one can pick a psychological skill and place any other character (save Nick Fury, who is conspicuously absent in any meaningful way, thank you!) in a spectrum from "least able to deal with it," to Coulson's "sane and competent, fully adult" mindset.

That doesn't mean he isn't strongly emotional, or strongly affected; it's his resilience and confidence (in most definitions of the word) that I find engrossing.

For example,if the topic is "physical touch and emotions," Tony is probably the least able to cope with ANY element thereof. In canon he is either wildly inappropriate and "handsy", overly sexual and promiscuous, or so touch-phobic as to refuse any object being handed to him in CASE there might be skin-to-skin contact. He's, quite frankly, "a bit nuts" and definitely all over the map -- as it relates to THIS aspect of life. The other Avengers are portrayed with differing amounts of comfort/need for physical contact, and each employs SOME primary form of touch interaction, with Steve being the least noticeably affected (I argue that Clint uses his high perches to avoid casual touch, and that it is still a default behavior for him, long after it would've developed as a survival skill.) Phil can adjust and interact with each of them in ways that imply that he is most aware of his needs and preferences, the other person's needs and preferences... Then he takes it a step farther and ADJUSTS his interactions accordingly. That implies a great deal more self-awareness than just "typical adults". Then you take things a step farther, and imply that he is aware of dozens of different subcultures and how those elements change an individual's reactions. Superpower, in a nutshell! I see him in your stories as an extremely thoughtful, proactive person, and have a chuckle at his apparent mental checklist, "Hm, assess, plan, test, measure results, review, repeat as needed."

You've done one thing that keeps him from being a flat, useless Mary Sue: he makes mistakes. Things go wrong, even with his arsenal of skills and his many years dealing with increasingly unusual situations with cool aplomb, neither he nor the universe you draw for us are perfect.

We, the readers, are about to be front row center for the element of Coulson's personality I think is largely overlooked by Marvel canon: integrity. I don't want to speculate "aloud" yet, but I will readily admit to trying to predict how the "hacking" discussion between Jarvis and Phil will play out. The one thing I can easily predict is that Coulson IS an adult; he will face the results of an earlier mistake with integrity. Nick Fury is horribly aggravating to me in part BECAUSE he tends to blow off other people's reactions to HIS behavior as THEIR problem, and not evidence of exactly how callous, militant and ruthless he can be.

From:

ysabetwordsmith

>> Immediately and gratefully, thank you for the 'problem area' content warnings WELL in advance of the actual scenes. <<

I'm glad that works for you. Most of this story is adorable fluff, but the angst parts are downright intense -- and that's coming up very soon now.

>> Frankly, your writing engrosses me well enough that, so far, every difficult concept has been MORE than amply "rewarded" by the wonderful portrayals of the characters. <<

Yaaayyy! That's always gratifying to hear. I try to make sure that the payoff is well matched to the climb.

>> You write not to simply show "hurt/comfort," but to show (and hopefully,subtly tinker with) the psychological, emotional, and mental underpinnings of the universe where the story takes place. <<

Yes, exactly. It's not just about the what, but the how and the why. It's like the difference between the formulaic plot of a mystery, and the storytelling. With something like superhero fic, the worldbuilding is an essential part of that. I got some wonderful new bits of that for Polychrome Heroics this week.

>> That's a million worlds away from writing... gore, of any stripe, with the primary purpose of shocking the audience. <<

Some people like to be shocked that way, much as some people enjoy electrical play, riding rollercoasters, or going into haunted houses. Not my cuppa.

>> (It may have other purposes, but I'm not sure, as my tolerance for that kind of "entertainment" is so low as to be measured with a microscope. An electron microscope.) <<

There are many reasons for reading and writing. Catharsis is another, for most intense topics. Also some people watch goreflix to desensitize themselves, which is useful in certain occupations.

>> Phil and Jarvis are beginning to communicate, to truly collaborate. I am delighted! <<

Yes, they are. One fun thing about writing the two of them is how well their skills match up. Despite JARVIS finding human emotions a little challenging to parse at times, and Phil having no prior experience with AI people, they are two of the best communicators on the team. Thus they tend to mesh well.

>> They will NEED that trust, however tentative, when they begin to communicate about more personal topics. <<

Absolutely. They're about to fall into the deep end, too.

>> I think Phil's "superpower" is his insight into human psychology. <<

I don't know if that one is officially listed, but yes, he can do far more than an ordinary person so I'd say it qualifies. Phil's handling insight is on par with Clint's archery aim.

>> So far, I'm not seeing hints that he survived an abusive or traumatic childhood (quite the opposite, in fact, given how naturally he acts as caretaker, both as Agent Coulson and as Uncle Phil). <<

As with Bucky and Steve, Phil's childhood was about as good as the Avengers get. Not perfect, but positive. Given his extreme competence and reserved bearing, I suspect that Phil grew up in a family with very high expectations. He probably had a lot of responsibilities, perhaps taking care of younger siblings or cousing, which he seems to enjoy. That can be stressful in its own way. Phil doesn't have a lot of damage -- but I'd bet his aversion to silence predates losing people off the comms, and goes back to the silent treatment as a childhood punishment. It's not violent, but for some people it's devastating.

>> Did you set out intentionally to make him a "model of preferred adult interactions"? <<

Yes. It's based on his calm competence in the movies. Most of the places where Phil seriously fucks up can be linked to orders or information routed through Director Fury, either directly or implied by context. I also draw heavily on the fact that -- despite some poor choices on Phil's part -- Tony chooses to trust him. There must be something powerful going on if someone as damaged as Tony can clock Phil as trustworthy.

>> Really, one can pick a psychological skill and place any other character (save Nick Fury, who is conspicuously absent in any meaningful way, thank you!) in a spectrum from "least able to deal with it," to Coulson's "sane and competent, fully adult" mindset. <<

Yes, that's true. The Avengers vary in their strengths, weaknesses, coping skills, and how much headwork they've done. Steve is in pretty good shape because, despite being dropped on his head several times, he has both innate resilience and a sturdy foundation. He'll hurt, but he'll heal from it. Betty is also coming on strong since she took years of therapy to fix the mess her father made of her life, and that worked.

Nick Fury, as portrayed in the movies, is barking mad. He does needlessly cruel things much the way villains do, yet is purportedly a good guy. He's supposed to be smart, but his actions are often stupid. This dichotomy between show and tell poses a literary problem. I had to come up with a logical way to explain that godawful mess, and eventually I found one I really like. But I still dislike Fury as a character, so I tend to avoid him as much as practical.

>> That doesn't mean he isn't strongly emotional, or strongly affected; it's his resilience and confidence (in most definitions of the word) that I find engrossing. <<

Sooth. I always strive to write balanced characters, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. The hints we have in canon -- for example, telling Black Widow what happened to Hawkeye -- imply that Phil has deep, powerful feelings that he keeps under control and rarely expresses in overt displays. He is calm and capable because people need an anchor. But nobody's invulnerable.

I like exploring the exceptions: how a weak person can gain strength, where a strong person breaks down, the one thing someone can't do well, etc.

From:

peoriapeoriawhereart

I think Tony is responding to Phil's calm, Phil's expertise, and Phil's persistence.
"I need you on this project, I've scaled your wall and I'm going to see you have a look over it and get your 'onboard'."

Obie was till dipping and he couldn't be bothered to either keep Tony on, or pay properly for his killing. Pepper and Rhodey at times don't 'get' Tony (and that's fine, friends don't have to be 'perfect')

Regarding Steve, yes. He's had bad set backs, but he knows what's right, and he can do what it takes all day, everyday.

Fury I can just squeak out him playing on a very constrained board, so his bad moves are the least harm he could manage across multiple vectors. The wallpapering is only soso, not leading me to put it front and center.

From: (Anonymous)

Re: Fury

I agree with the constrained board theory. The WSC was willing to nuke New York. <.< I always read Fury as ruthless/practical. If the WSC is strong enough to get one of Fury's people to launch a nuke against Fury's orders wheger by subverting the pilots'(2 of them) loyalty or by trickery then Fury's options are limited. He isn't the type to quit on principle. I can totally see Fury following orders to the limit in order to separate the avengers from SHIELD/WSC. This doesn't mean Fury is a good guy just that he is being a bastard on purpose to split people away and create motivation for internal oversight. Someone has to be willing to fire thd rocket launcher to stop the nukes and Fury won't always be there. I can see him saying Sorry I hurt your pretty princess feelings but I need to go save the world now. Main problem with "The needs of the many override the needs of the few or the one."

Ameera

PS I love this series. :)

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