Poem: "Taken"

[ysabetwordsmith]

This is today's freebie. It was inspired by prompts from siberian_skys, siliconshaman, janetmiles, and Anonymous. It belongs to the LIFC series.


"Taken"


What Clint loved about JARVIS
was not having to spell out
everything in words.

JARVIS was good at
observing what Clint liked
or wanted or needed, and
then providing that without
Clint having to ask for it.

His favorite snacks were
just always there, and if he
ripped a shirt, a replacement
would appear within hours.

JARVIS even noticed that,
while Clint wore T-shirts too,
he preferred tank tops.

A few new ones had
shown up unexpectedly.

One read, Sorry, I'm taken.
Please fuck off forever.

Then there was a matched set,
one of WALL-E, the other of Eve.
Clint wore WALL-E, while Eve
hung on wall from a metal hanger.

That said everything that needed saying.


What JARVIS loved about Clint
was Clint's generosity in sharing
his understanding of emotions
and human body language.

JARVIS could feel well enough,
he just couldn't always interpret
what other people were feeling.

Clint was a spy, and before that,
a performer, and quite good
at pinpointing emotions.

He never seemed to mind
if JARVIS suddenly sent him
a clip from a security camera
or a teleconference or whatever.

Clint just typed, He's discouraged,
or She's unsure, and once, He's
got a plastic knife up that sleeve.

He even explained how he
knew all that stuff, if JARVIS
wanted the further details.

Clint saw everything, but
most of all, he saw JARVIS.

That made all the difference.

* * *

Notes:

This is Clint's "Taken" tank top.

Here are the WALL-E and Eve tanks. Couple tops are almost always framed as male/female, unless you go out of your way to find a queer supplier. In this case, both Clint and JARVIS are male, but they share a love of the same movie and agree on their respective character matches. JARVIS is sufficiently secure in his masculinity that he doesn't mind wearing Eve.

Comments

[fuzzyred]

:) This one was really sweet. It was nice to see how well Clint and JARVIS know each other, and how good they are at taking care of and caring for each other. <3

Yay!

[ysabetwordsmith]

I'm glad you liked this. It's subtle, but it's really deep. I like watching how they fit themselves together. And they're doing it without the kind of map that ordinary couples have.

Re: Yay!

[fuzzyred]

I like seeing this dynamic, *because* they don't have a map like everyone else does. Being non-standard myself, seeing examples like this is really helpful when I'm trying to tease apart the differences between friendship and something more when the "something more" *isn't* sex.

Re: Yay!

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> I like seeing this dynamic, *because* they don't have a map like everyone else does.<<

That's good to hear.

>> Being non-standard myself, seeing examples like this is really helpful when I'm trying to tease apart the differences between friendship and something more when the "something more" *isn't* sex. <<

I'm so happy I could help!

I would look at two things: layers of intimacy and levels of commitment.

Relationships typically progress through stages of conversation, moving from rote through casual to intimate. Boundaries can be viewed as nested circles, gaining intimacy toward the center. This is about how much people know about you, and how much you trust them. Because if they blab sensitive information, it doesn't just hurt, it can cause serious problems. Do you have people you can shop for without having to ask, or people you can trust to make decisions without your input? That's intimacy.

Commitment is actually about how tractive someone is, or wants to be -- or not. Some people don't really do long-term, committed relationships with obligations. Others feel isolated and miserable without a close network of people around them. Commitment is about what you can ask of each other. Do you have people you could wake up in the middle of the night to help with an emergency? Do you have people for whom you'd drop everything? That's commitment.

From there, it's really just thinking about what you put in which circles, because not everyone is the same. Consider what you regard as casual or intimate. Once you create that progression, you'll know where your relationships are.

And you should probably talk about this process with other people in your life, because there are standard (if not always accurate) maps for M/F sex/romance but nothing much beyond that. It's like how queerfolk have to decide who pays for a dinner date. My partner and I talked through a lot of things because, while we look M/F at a casual glance, our dynamic is a lot more complicated than that, so we needed to build from scratch not take a relationship off the shelf.

Re: Yay!

[fuzzyred]

>>I would look at two things: layers of intimacy and levels of commitment.<<

This is helpful information.

Your whole comment was really helpful and if I had more brains I would comment more, but I wanted to let you know I appreciate the information. I will take a look at the resources in the morning, and it seems like I need to do some serious thinking about what I want and need. If not now, certainly before starting a relationship with anyone.

[siberian_skys]

Thank you. I love this. When I saw the theme for the month it was the first thing I thought of. The t-shirts that JARVIS gifted Clint were awesome. You always find the most perfect things to incorporate into your stories and poetry.

You're welcome!

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Thank you. I love this. <<

Yay!

>> When I saw the theme for the month it was the first thing I thought of. <<

It is a great match.

>> The t-shirts that JARVIS gifted Clint were awesome. You always find the most perfect things to incorporate into your stories and poetry. <<

I actually started out looking for the "taken" shirt, then when I spotted WALL-E and Eve, I couldn't resist adding them. :D

[(Anonymous)]

"...unless you go out of your way to find a queer supplier."

I wonder how much of that has to do with representation in media? Offhand I can think of more queerplatonic same-sex dyads than gay couples. (Well, discounting fanfic.)

>>JARVIS is sufficiently secure in his masculinity...<<

I wonder what Jarvis' concept of masculinity is, and how it might differ from a human / embodied person's gender identity.