Story: "Little and Broken, but Still Good" Part 7

[ysabetwordsmith]

This story belongs to the series Love Is For Children which includes "Love Is for Children," "Hairpins," "Blended," "Am I Not," "Eggshells," "Dolls and Guys,""Saudades," "Querencia," "Turnabout Is Fair Play," "Touching Moments," "Splash," "Coming Around," "Birthday Girl," "No Winter Lasts Forever," "Hide and Seek," "Kernel Error," "Happy Hour," "Green Eggs and Hulk," and "kintsukuroi."

Fandom: The Avengers
Characters: Phil Coulson, Nick Fury
Medium: Fiction
Warnings: Minor character death. Bullying. Fighting. Suicide attempt (minor character).
Summary: This is the story of how a little boy named Flip grows up to save the world a lot.
Notes: Hurt/comfort. Family. Fluff and angst. Accidents. Emotional whump. Disability. Sibling relationship. Nonsexual love. Parentification. Manipulation. Coping skills. Asking for help and getting it. Hope. Protection. Caregiving. Competence. Toys and games. Comic books. Fixing things. Martial arts. Gentleness. Trust. Role models. Military. BAMF Phil Coulson.

Begin with Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6. Skip to Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12.


"Little and Broken, but Still Good" Part 7


The next time Flip gets into a fight, it's even worse. There are three bullies against him and his sister. Alexa yells at them, but it's harder for her to fight back now. So Flip puts himself between her and them. The bullies beat the snot out of him.

Flip comes home with his clothes torn and bloody. They can't afford to replace a lot of things these days, even with Mom working again. He can mend the rips, and if he's lucky, then maybe the bloodstains will come out in cold water. Flip has a black eye and a split lip. Alexa is fine, though, and that's what matters to him.

Mom is quiet, but not silent, as she gets out the first aid kit. Flip can tell the difference. Her hands are gentle as she cleans the blood off his face. She uses mouthwash on the split lip, and it stings like blazes, but Flip knows this is a good trick because it's safe to lick and the regular stuff for cuts isn't. Mom puts him on the couch with an ice pack for his sore eye.

Then she says, "Flip, we need to discuss what's going on."

Flip heaves a sigh of relief. He can take anything, as long as she talks to him instead of pretending that he doesn't even exist. Mom will know what to do about this mess; she always does. "Yes, ma'am," he says.

Mom has a way of getting all the details out. Before he knows it, Flip spills the beans about the bullies and what they want to do to him and to his sister. He goes through the whole list of solutions he's already tried, from avoiding them to ignoring them to asking the teachers for help. But nobody cares, nobody stops them, and they just keep coming. If the bullies don't jump the two of them at school, they wait until afterwards, catching Flip and Alexa somewhere else. Nowhere is safe.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. You deserve to be safe, you both do, but it's not always that easy," Mom says as she hugs him.

"Yeah," Flip says. He hates how some people make the world a meaner place than it needs to be. It makes him want to punch them in the face, but he's not very good at that, and it doesn't seem to help much anyhow.

"First of all, I want you to tell me when something bad happens. No more of this trying to deal with it by yourself," Mom says.

Flip forgets and nibbles his lip, which makes it hurt again. "I don't want to be a bother," he says.

* * *

Notes:

Heroism can be defined in many ways, but the core concept simply entails risking yourself to protect someone else. Know how to be a hero in everyday life.

Bullying makes people feel threatened.  helgatwb has written a post about what it feels like to be bullied.  There are ways to defend yourself from bullies and protect yourself in a school fight.

Difficult conversations happen in any relationship. There are gentle ways to get someone to talk to you, and ulterior manipulation, and then interrogation.  This is Mrs. Coulson on a day when she has enough spoons to do the job right.  Now think about the soft touch that Agent Coulson used with Thor, for example -- and he didn't even need to question Loki in order to pull out enough information to gut the poor kid.  He comes by it naturally.

Help-seeking behavior is learned. Here's a lesson plan and cartoon video about telling a trusted adult when there's a problem. Know how to tell if someone is trustworthy.


[To be continued in Part 8 ...]

Comments

I like this

[dialecticdreamer]

I like this a lot, especially as Flip has already TRIED the "usual things"- ignore them, get away, go to a trusted adult (in this case, at school) and NOTHING has helped. He's been backed into more than one fight, and his mother /acknowledges/ that.

I'm wondering how she's going to handle the bigger bombshell- that Flip "doesn't want to be a bother". That shows that her focus on Alexa /has/ caused some damage to her relationship with Flip.

Another wonderful section, thanks for posting it!

[yamx]

I love that Flip already tried all the things most adults tell you to do in this situation, and has found, as most children do, that they don't work. His not wanting to be a bother breaks my heart. :(

[book_worm5.livejournal.com]

This is an interesting one so far. I'm glad you decided to try this exercise; it's neat to see the seeds of the Phil we've come to recognise being sown in this story. I remember the Cap-in-the-ice bit from a previous part, so it was nice to see that unpacked more. It's too bad I've caught up to the past few months though - pretty soon I'll run out of series! Not that there's any shortage of other stuff to read, but still. :-)

On another note, at one point you have a "Phil says" in this chapter - is that a moment when he starts to think of himself differently, or did you mean to say Flip?