Story: "Hairpins" Part 5
Feb. 28th, 2014 12:01 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. Skip to Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10.
"Hairpins" Part 5
Based on the correlation, several new fabric swatches appeared. Intrigued, Phil leaned forward. One sample near the top snagged his attention with ballerina and musician bears dressed in green and purple. Those colors matched Bruce-and-Hulk rather than Natasha. The thematic content was right on the mark, though.
"Close, very close," Phil muttered as he moved the musician bears up to the highest row. "Now if they just had a little more variety in the color ..."
A single image appeared in the top left corner, with a little 'Yes?' tag attached. On the white cotton, ballerina bears cavorted in outfits of pink, blue, and lavender. It was cheerful without being saccharine or overstimulating.
"Yes!" Phil crowed, tapping the tag for confirmation. "It's perfect. That is just exactly right. She'll love it." He was grinning, flush with the elation of a successful hunt, without the darker edge that his profession usually carried. It felt wonderful to use his skills for something positive instead.
From there it was a simple task to sort through the pajama companies. Phil examined the different kinds of footie pajamas available in adult sizes, then selected one that looked suitable. He wanted something comfortable, that wouldn't squeeze too tight or flap too loose, so that Natka could move easily. He placed a special order to make jammies for her out of the ballerina bear fabric. Phil imagined Natka's response. A rush of warm satisfaction filled him.
Search complete? the screen asked, followed by buttons marked (Yes) and (No).
Phil touched the (Yes) button.
Save search? said the screen. (Yes) (No)
Phil hesitated. The spy in him wanted to say 'No' and erase his tracks as usual. He knew that every bit of information created, used, and saved would carry a certain vulnerability with it. That data could be deployed in ways he might not always see coming. Therefore Phil preferred to flit through cyberspace unnoticed, no more than a ghost in the machine.
Yet the convenience of the search program and the security of the tower tempted him to say 'Yes' instead. The handler in him hated the thought of losing all that work, the fine-tuning that made the learning software more efficient the more he used it. Phil still had the harder task ahead of him, picking out pajamas for Tony. He could really use the boost from Natasha's round.
Besides, the chance of anyone hacking into Stark secure servers approached zero. That wasn't like scattering his interests all over the internet. It had been all he could do to break into the tower himself, back when he needed to reach Tony to deliver the information about Loki's attack.
Phil still recalled the dazzling firewalls that almost defeated him. He could imagine his data being safe behind those firewalls, or at least, as safe as any data could be once you let it outside the confines of your own mind. There hadn't been a single leak in his whole time here, better than SHIELD managed.
It's a risk ... but maybe, just maybe, that's worth it, Phil mused. He wavered between the two buttons, then settled on (Yes).
* * *
Notes:
See the musician bears and Natka's ballerina bears.
JARVIS in his role as search engine reminds me of this quote:
“Google can bring you back 100,000 answers. A librarian can bring you back the right one.”
― Neil Gaiman
Phil is trying to navigate the concept of pattern ease without having the experience or vocabulary to articulate the concepts of wearing ease vs. design ease. Based on canon, Natasha favors clothing with fitted, zero, or even negative ease: things that stay close or tight to her body so she can move without snagging them. But that doesn't work well for sleepwear, so Phil has to adapt accordingly. There are tips for buying your pajamas and for choosing the best family pajamas.
Working in espionage pretty much guarantees some trust issues for Phil. JARVIS has to be cautious due to how humans tend to perceive artificial intelligence. Shared vulnerability leads to deeper intimacy. You can see Phil and JARVIS delicately spiraling around each other throughout this story as they offer, consider, and accept little packets of risk and information. There are ways of building trust at work and at home.
[To be continued in Part 6 ...]
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. Skip to Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10.
"Hairpins" Part 5
Based on the correlation, several new fabric swatches appeared. Intrigued, Phil leaned forward. One sample near the top snagged his attention with ballerina and musician bears dressed in green and purple. Those colors matched Bruce-and-Hulk rather than Natasha. The thematic content was right on the mark, though.
"Close, very close," Phil muttered as he moved the musician bears up to the highest row. "Now if they just had a little more variety in the color ..."
A single image appeared in the top left corner, with a little 'Yes?' tag attached. On the white cotton, ballerina bears cavorted in outfits of pink, blue, and lavender. It was cheerful without being saccharine or overstimulating.
"Yes!" Phil crowed, tapping the tag for confirmation. "It's perfect. That is just exactly right. She'll love it." He was grinning, flush with the elation of a successful hunt, without the darker edge that his profession usually carried. It felt wonderful to use his skills for something positive instead.
From there it was a simple task to sort through the pajama companies. Phil examined the different kinds of footie pajamas available in adult sizes, then selected one that looked suitable. He wanted something comfortable, that wouldn't squeeze too tight or flap too loose, so that Natka could move easily. He placed a special order to make jammies for her out of the ballerina bear fabric. Phil imagined Natka's response. A rush of warm satisfaction filled him.
Search complete? the screen asked, followed by buttons marked (Yes) and (No).
Phil touched the (Yes) button.
Save search? said the screen. (Yes) (No)
Phil hesitated. The spy in him wanted to say 'No' and erase his tracks as usual. He knew that every bit of information created, used, and saved would carry a certain vulnerability with it. That data could be deployed in ways he might not always see coming. Therefore Phil preferred to flit through cyberspace unnoticed, no more than a ghost in the machine.
Yet the convenience of the search program and the security of the tower tempted him to say 'Yes' instead. The handler in him hated the thought of losing all that work, the fine-tuning that made the learning software more efficient the more he used it. Phil still had the harder task ahead of him, picking out pajamas for Tony. He could really use the boost from Natasha's round.
Besides, the chance of anyone hacking into Stark secure servers approached zero. That wasn't like scattering his interests all over the internet. It had been all he could do to break into the tower himself, back when he needed to reach Tony to deliver the information about Loki's attack.
Phil still recalled the dazzling firewalls that almost defeated him. He could imagine his data being safe behind those firewalls, or at least, as safe as any data could be once you let it outside the confines of your own mind. There hadn't been a single leak in his whole time here, better than SHIELD managed.
It's a risk ... but maybe, just maybe, that's worth it, Phil mused. He wavered between the two buttons, then settled on (Yes).
* * *
Notes:
See the musician bears and Natka's ballerina bears.
JARVIS in his role as search engine reminds me of this quote:
“Google can bring you back 100,000 answers. A librarian can bring you back the right one.”
― Neil Gaiman
Phil is trying to navigate the concept of pattern ease without having the experience or vocabulary to articulate the concepts of wearing ease vs. design ease. Based on canon, Natasha favors clothing with fitted, zero, or even negative ease: things that stay close or tight to her body so she can move without snagging them. But that doesn't work well for sleepwear, so Phil has to adapt accordingly. There are tips for buying your pajamas and for choosing the best family pajamas.
Working in espionage pretty much guarantees some trust issues for Phil. JARVIS has to be cautious due to how humans tend to perceive artificial intelligence. Shared vulnerability leads to deeper intimacy. You can see Phil and JARVIS delicately spiraling around each other throughout this story as they offer, consider, and accept little packets of risk and information. There are ways of building trust at work and at home.
[To be continued in Part 6 ...]
(no subject)
Date: 2014-03-01 07:34 am (UTC)Want ad time?
-kellyc
Hmm...
Date: 2014-03-01 08:08 am (UTC)A bunch of readers have mentioned wanting someone like Uncle Phil.
>> because I am having -feels- here <<
*hugs*
>> and I just... having someone to let me and help me chill out for a while would be damned nice, especialy if they'd go to 1/50th the effort of Phil for the team-family. <<
Sooth. There are folks like that. I have known some pretty serious nurturers, including male ones. Best place to find them? The "friend zone."
Alternatively, if you're looking for people with a high investment in friends/family of choice, check the intentional community subculture. I've borrowed some ideas out of there in terms of how to make a household work.
I have to wonder, though, if anyone is reading this series and thinking, "Gee, I wish somebody would LET me take care of them."
Re: Hmm...
Date: 2014-03-04 09:37 am (UTC)I certainly hope so. I can't guess percentages, but probably a lot? of the readers are reading this and identifying with all of the characters in various ways, to certain degrees, at different times, and I know I'm identifying with the 'kids' because I see how someone else fixes things, the solutions Uncle Phil uses to ease things along, and that those could apply to my life; I know, from my end of things, I'm not reading this as from the POV of 'caregiver' or potential one first-read-through, as objectively as someone thinking of what you said above.
-kellyc
(Am I the only one using your work as a sort of catharsis/therapy? Words are failing me, argh! Ah well, I'm brave enough to admit it)
Re: Hmm...
Date: 2014-03-07 05:04 am (UTC)That's true, people have mentioned identifying with multiple characters, although most folks seem to have one or more favorites.
>> and I know I'm identifying with the 'kids' because I see how someone else fixes things, the solutions Uncle Phil uses to ease things along, and that those could apply to my life; <<
That makes sense.
>> I know, from my end of things, I'm not reading this as from the POV of 'caregiver' or potential one first-read-through, as objectively as someone thinking of what you said above. <<
Fair enough.
>> (Am I the only one using your work as a sort of catharsis/therapy? Words are failing me, argh! Ah well, I'm brave enough to admit it) <<
You're not the only one. Quite a number of folks have mentioned doing this. I'm glad it helps.