ysabetwordsmith | 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 ...]

Threaded | Flat

JARVIS knows! He always knows. I do love that he's like, "Mmm, no." I hope you continue soon! I love this universe. <3

~RageQueen89

So, an appropriate line to read on Monday would be, "What are the right questions?"

Poor Jarvis! Conducting a reference interview can be SO difficult!

I can't wait until Phil truly puts the pieces together. Hacking into an AI (librarian - I hate having my books rearranged on the shelf, I don't want to imagine having bits of ME rearranged!) is poor form, Phil. Ok, I know this is the realization for Phil that JARVIS isn't just a sophisticated program, but a person.

Ah, JARVIS, you've seen enough to see Phil's method and his motives are right (same attention that he's given to 'one of his own') but are about to hit Tony's minefields. So, time to risk a little (and that's his risk and a risk of Phil's equilibrium) for Sir and this delicate new relationship that may help Sir in ways JARVIS doesn't have the resources to manage.

If so, Phil has made it; he confused what Tony is known for with what Tony LIKES, especially LIKED, when he was a child. He may have LOVED robots from the time he'd first seen or imagined them, but Phil should keep his focus not on Tony at seventeen, but on Tony-at-Four. His whole mindset would've been different but his whole REASON for creating Dum-E, You, Butterfingers, and JARVIS would've been firmly entrenched. That child really needed a Coulson to read the adults in Tony's life the complete Riot Act. With addenda. And visual aids.

Jarvis HAD to speak up; he'd let Phil come to the end of the logical sequence, but I view the slow (reluctant) responses as the human equivalent of grinding one's teeth. I also imagine that Jarvis was calculating the probability that Coulson was slipping closer to Jarvis' list of 'People Who Failed Tony'.

Now, they're both facing the same question: "Will he help me take care of Tony?" HOW they each answer that will reveal an incredible amount about themselves, and lead to the less important question (to their current ways of thinking) -- "Is this person my friend, too?"

I was waiting for this to happen. I was thinking: There's no way Phil's gonna find the right route by himself, JARVIS is going to have to reveal himself to help Phil help Tony.

Poor Tony. I just want to huggle him so much.

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.

Lol

no subject

Asking questions

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Is there such a thing as a "perfect mistake"?

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Thank you!