ysabetwordsmith | Story: "Hairpins" Part 8

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Story: "Hairpins" Part 8

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. Skip to Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13.

"Hairpins" Part 8

The timer went off, and Phil headed into the kitchen to collect his clam chowder. He brought it back to the couch. The rich, creamy food helped warm him from the inside out. The stress of the day faded a little farther away.

Phil managed his supper with one hand and his Starkpad with the other. More pictures filled the screen. He sighed. They were no help either. "Surely there must be some images of Tony Stark that aren't depressing," Phil muttered. A single picture flicked to the top of the page, Tony at seventeen kneeling beside the brand-new DUM-E. He looked so young, scrawny underneath a too-big sweatshirt probably stolen from his father's closet, but he was smiling.

"Okay, so Tony loves robots," Phil said, tracing a fond finger along the edge of the picture. "I can work with that."

He opened a new search page and put in 'robot fabric.' The first example that appeared was an awful shade of mauve. Many of the others were a confusing jumble of colors. Phil sorted them out much as he had the bears before. This time there were fewer suggestions, even though the general selection seemed better. None of the new images got inserted into the top row, despite Phil moving several there himself. I wonder what's gone wrong with the Intelligent Search function, he mused.

Despite that, it didn't take long for Phil to find cloth in a nice rich blue with multicolored robots zooming across it. Some of them were even red and gold. He smiled. "This should do nicely," Phil said. "I think Tony will like this." He went to open the custom order page --

-- only to have the Starkpad freeze up on him.

Phil frowned and gave the side of the frame a gentle tap with the heel of his hand. No response. "What is going on here?" he wondered.

"That's wrong," JARVIS said softly.

Phil's eyebrows climbed. "I noticed that the search function is glitchy tonight, but I managed to find what I was looking for anyway. I don't see a problem here."

The fan in the nearest air vent sped up with a faint whuff, blowing more warm air into the room. Phil finished the last of his clam chowder and set the empty bowl on the coffee table. He waited for an answer.

"Your search has reached its logical conclusion, but I believe you are looking in the wrong area," JARVIS said.

"I thought StarkSearch was supposed to be an intuitive program. If that's true, then why am I getting off-center results now instead of excellent ones like before?" Phil said. He was stiff and sore, and he did not need this right now.

"I am StarkSearch, or rather, StarkSearch is a part of me," JARVIS said. "I am programmed to assist authorized users in their efforts. This includes the option of answering direct questions."

"I asked the wrong questions," Phil realized.

"They were good questions. You simply did not dig deep enough to find the right ones. In your defense, those are quite deeply buried," JARVIS said.

* * *

Notes:

Tony made DUM-E when he was 17. This is the newspaper picture of them. Here is a video of DUM-E.

See the mauve, rainbow, and blue robot fabrics.

Asking the wrong questions leads to looking for answers in the wrong places. Phil has the right general concept and process, but he's missing some crucial pieces of information.

[To be continued in Part 9 ...]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Thank you for pointing out that being 'smart' or 'gifted' is NOT easy on kids.

Where I grew up it was ok to be smart, if you came from the right family. Otherwise your test grades were a fluke, or other smart kids should have be granted the attention/notice you earned.

Children can be incredibly vicious when no one reins them in. I think if Tony had to attend a regular school in his early years he might have ended up even more leery of human interaction. Some kids take to dumbing down ( the Buffy tactic) Some find a niche to hide in ( I'm a tomboy/car nut/ etc etc) and some just withdraw ( leave me alone in my geekdom). But in the end, it almost always leave scars.

It's hard even with accepting parents, because they don't always see the social pitfalls. And the trite reply of 'it's just elementary school/high school it won't matter in the real world' does no good to a child suffering from isolation or bullying.

When you're in it, it feels real and that's the only measure that matters. The mind/body 'dualism' is a forced 'choice'.

Not just doesn't rein in, actively stirs them up. Encourages them to hunt difference, to lay it open to them, contrast it with conformity.

I referred to it as the lobotomy choice, as smart girls took to protective coloring least they have to take the less traveled 'third path', neither man nor woman.

>> When you're in it, it feels real and that's the only measure that matters. <<

Yes, that's true. And of course, what people learn (or don't learn) in school will affect what they can (or can't) do later in life.

>> The mind/body 'dualism' is a forced 'choice'. <<

The mind and body have a reciprocal influence, where either can affect the other.

>> Not just doesn't rein in, actively stirs them up. Encourages them to hunt difference, to lay it open to them, contrast it with conformity. <<

Sadly so. This contributes to much of the violence, hostility, and oppression in the world. It actively undermines a healthy, sustainable society.

>> I referred to it as the lobotomy choice, as smart girls took to protective coloring least they have to take the less traveled 'third path', neither man nor woman. <<

Too true.

Of course, I'm genderqueer so I took a different route, playing down gender cues to discourage people from relating to me primarily based on gender. That helped a lot.

>>Thank you for pointing out that being 'smart' or 'gifted' is NOT easy on kids.<<

You're welcome. I'm glad I could help.

>> Where I grew up it was ok to be smart, if you came from the right family. Otherwise your test grades were a fluke, or other smart kids should have be granted the attention/notice you earned. <<

0_o Creepy.

>> Children can be incredibly vicious when no one reins them in. <<

Yes, that's true.

>> I think if Tony had to attend a regular school in his early years he might have ended up even more leery of human interaction. <<

I agree. Going to private boarding schools at least let him be around other smart people. *ponder* I think what went wrong for Tony is that by that time, he'd already been trained for PR performance and had grown up in a dysfunctional family. Those habits would have made it hard for him to make friends, even in a target-rich environment.

>> Some kids take to dumbing down ( the Buffy tactic) Some find a niche to hide in ( I'm a tomboy/car nut/ etc etc) and some just withdraw ( leave me alone in my geekdom). But in the end, it almost always leave scars. <<

Too true.

>> It's hard even with accepting parents, because they don't always see the social pitfalls. <<

Yes. Even if they see the pitfalls, though, there's often nothing they can do. You can't make good friend candidates appear out of thin air. Parents may not be able to move somewhere better, or the family might be attached to their current locale. They might not be able to afford special clubs or camps for smart kids, or a school with decent gifted programming.

>> And the trite reply of 'it's just elementary school/high school it won't matter in the real world' does no good to a child suffering from isolation or bullying. <<

People forget that school is pretty much a child's whole life, and primarily determines their happiness, in the same way a job does for adults, until they leave school. So if school is a torment, as it is for many children, they often develop mental injuries -- and sometimes that damage is permanent. Isolation and bullying can create measurable biochemical changes in the brain, indicative of those injuries: in other words, brain damage.

As someone that went to a private college I've a passing knowledge of former boarding school kids. While Tony would have classmates with all sorts of advantages, and thus performing better than plenty, money won't make you gifted. And, Tony is 'new money', as I think Grandfather or Greatgrandfather 'arrived' (Howard just reads as someone that's not done much scrambling except for shaking down physics for spare electrons.) Add to that being younger and smaller...

>> As someone that went to a private college I've a passing knowledge of former boarding school kids. <<

That's useful, thanks.

>> While Tony would have classmates with all sorts of advantages, and thus performing better than plenty, money won't make you gifted. <<

True. I just assumed that Howard would put Tony in a school for gifted kids, preferably one focused on engineering. But then again, Tony was a wild thing and probably got kicked out of school repeatedly, so he may have attended a wide range of them.

>> And, Tony is 'new money', as I think Grandfather or Greatgrandfather 'arrived' (Howard just reads as someone that's not done much scrambling except for shaking down physics for spare electrons.) <<

I kind of got the impression that the family built its fortune over the generations -- that Howard started well off and became rich, so Tony started rich and outstripped the GNP of a small country. But yeah, new money compared to the fussy aristocrats. I don't think Tony likes them. He can fake it, but he's too upstairs-downstairs to take that shit seriously, and sometimes it shows.

>> Add to that being younger and smaller... <<

I suspect that's where Tony got his size issues, his dirty fighting skills, and his habit of punching up.

Many schools for gifted are expensive, but they aren't in the same league as the schools for scions of potentates. Now, my hope is that Howard started Tony in a better match than he would have if fronting was more important, but there is also the security situation. Once Tony has gone a few rounds, then it becomes a matter of which schools will take him. I doubt he got stuck in the most hardcore boarding schools but, yeah.

My headcanon is that some Stark surfaced in a mine or mill eyes glinting in joy of pumps and driveshafts. Howard was raised rich but expected to work 'apprenticeship' (I favor him patent hunting during the dustbowl, some people write his father overexposed in the Crash.) and he became RICH. Tony sweats his way to Personal Country Rich (aka Obie points him at things that will be cash cows) In Old Money/New Money, that's New. It's just not the same as Nouveau. Tony would be aware that Old Money wants his liquidity but doesn't want him.

Yeah, I was amazed at just how Big some people run. Working back to twelve, without a good self-compass they'd be a real problem. Tony at least would have the school run the calculus of how to distribute the blame so they could keep both $$$.

>> Many schools for gifted are expensive, but they aren't in the same league as the schools for scions of potentates. <<

Yes, that's true.

>> Now, my hope is that Howard started Tony in a better match than he would have if fronting was more important, but there is also the security situation. Once Tony has gone a few rounds, then it becomes a matter of which schools will take him. I doubt he got stuck in the most hardcore boarding schools but, yeah. <<

Tony would have had a history of kidnapping incidents before entering boarding school. *ponder* But he was probably in boarding school only for a few years, because he entered college in his mid-teens. Most boarding schools won't take very young children, usually starting with pre-teens.

>> My headcanon is that some Stark surfaced in a mine or mill eyes glinting in joy of pumps and driveshafts. <<

That would make sense.

>> Howard was raised rich but expected to work 'apprenticeship' (I favor him patent hunting during the dustbowl, some people write his father overexposed in the Crash.) and he became RICH. <<

Plausible.

>> Tony sweats his way to Personal Country Rich (aka Obie points him at things that will be cash cows) <<

This matches my perception.

>> In Old Money/New Money, that's New. It's just not the same as Nouveau. Tony would be aware that Old Money wants his liquidity but doesn't want him. <<

Tony seems very aware that people rarely care about him as a person; it's all about what they want from him. A contract, a gadget, a quick fuck, whatever. He knows that almost none of it is real, and that bothers him, even though he covers it up. So when a few people really do care about him, it's difficult for him to distinguish that from the previous examples -- which often ended in devastating betrayals -- where people claimed to care about him but lied.

>> Yeah, I was amazed at just how Big some people run. Working back to twelve, without a good self-compass they'd be a real problem. Tony at least would have the school run the calculus of how to distribute the blame so they could keep both $$$. <<

That's true.

So probably nine to fourteen (at which point he headed to MIT) Five years could be ten schools if he was a hellion, though some of them might have wallpapered to keep Howard's money coming.

Frankly, those are the better examples. Then there are the Hammers that want what they want, at less than market, and to spit in your eye for the privilege. The hangers on that are there for the good liquor and are charming for it, Tony doesn't much mind.

>> So probably nine to fourteen (at which point he headed to MIT) Five years could be ten schools if he was a hellion, though some of them might have wallpapered to keep Howard's money coming. <<

Not a fun ride. I suspect both Howard and the schools would push for a half-year or a year if possible. So it's probably somewhere between five and ten, figuring Tony would've gotten kicked out in the middle of nowhen once or twice.

>> Frankly, those are the better examples. Then there are the Hammers that want what they want, at less than market, and to spit in your eye for the privilege. <<

Sadly so.

>> The hangers on that are there for the good liquor and are charming for it, Tony doesn't much mind. <<

This is part of why I figure he had sex with a bunch of older women in college. Maybe not quite sexual abuse, since he would have been enthusiastically willing for most of the encounters, but it wasn't altogether good for him and the earlier incidents probably would have qualified as statutory rape. Children of alcoholics often become sexually promiscuous due to poor boundary control, which Tony also had from growing up in the public eye. Canon has Tony sleeping around more or less indiscriminately as an adult.

I feel sorry for JARVIS in that. He must hate getting groped by the one-night-stands, he was so frosty to that one chick. But you know he'll never ask Tony to take it elsewhere, because JARVIS would rather it happen where he can protect Tony if necessary, than somewhere farther out of sight and reach.

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Story: "Hairpins" Part 8

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