The Wordsmith's Forge

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.

This story takes place long before The Avengers and "Love Is for Children." It shows how Phil acquired a lot of his skills and interests. It's based in large part on a discussion between myself and dialecticdreamer about why Phil has the particular types of abilities that he does. Because it spans a long time, there are segments, and those are all different lengths. The shorter ones can stand, but the longer ones will need to be divided, so it's going to wind up with posts of different lengths too. This story fills the "original characters" square on my 12-8-13 card for the genprompt_bingo fest.

I also have a list of photogenic scenes from the whole series for fanartists to consider, a series landing page, and an archive of images.  The perk story "Brotherlove, Brotherlust" Part 2 is still open for participation.

A note on feedback: While it's not necessary to comment on every post I make, remember that I don't know who reads/likes things if nobody says anything. Particularly on long stories, I've discovered that I get antsy if there's nothing but crickets chirping for several posts. So it helps to give me feedback at least once, even if it's just "I like this" or "This one doesn't grab me." First and last episodes are ideal if you rarely feel inspired to comment in the middle.

Anonymous commenters: You don't have to specify exactly who you are, but it helps to have a first name or a username from some other service, so I have some idea of who's saying which and how many different "Anonymous" folks there are. You can just type some kind of identifier at the end of your comment.

Warning: The first chapter is a sad one.

Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24, Part 25, Part 26, Part 27, Part 28, Part 29, Part 30,Part 31, Part 32, Part 33, Part 34, Part 35.


"Little and Broken, but Still Good" Part 1


When Flip is seven, his world comes to an end. A trip to the movies on a rainy night ends in disaster. A truck skids into the left side of their car. Flip's father is killed instantly; his mother breaks a few bones but survives mostly intact. Flip's older sister Alexa curls herself over him the moment before the crash. The firemen have to cut her out of the wreck, and her skull is cracked. At first nobody knows if she will live or not.

Flip doesn't have a scratch on him. That almost hurts worse than the rest.

When his mother explains what has happened to their family, Flip tries to be brave about it. He tries not to cry. It hurts too much, though, and the tears leak out. Sobs shake his small frame.

Mom isn't very good at hugging right now, with her left arm in a cast, but Flip doesn't care. He clings to her anyway as he cries.

The funeral is awful. Flip's mother wears a black velvet dress with a pearl necklace, and a stupid little hat with a veil that doesn't really hide her face. She goes through a whole box of kleenex. Alexa is still in the hospital, so she can't even come say goodbye to their father.

Flip sits stiff and straight on the hard wooden bench. He imagines that he is a knight, and knights don't cry. He doesn't have a suit of armor, but he does have a suit. It is black and scratchy. Flip imagines that it is really armor, and oddly enough that works. He feels a little less awful. He remembers this. It may come in handy someday.

* * *

Notes:

"This is my family. I found it all on my own. It's little, and broken, but still good. Yeah -- still good."
-- Lilo & Stitch

Emotional trauma may affect anyone, but childhood trauma and traumatic grief can be worse because children feel just as bad as adults but have less ability to work through it. It's hard on families to face the loss of a parent. There are ways to help children deal with death or to cope with your parent's death.

Survivor guilt often affects people who escape a terrible event. Know how to handle survivor guilt.

Coping skills allow people to withstand challenges. Imagination and visualization are useful techniques. People sometimes stumble upon them by instinct, as Flip does here. The psychology of dress is complex, and people may use clothes to armor or hide themselves. There are ways to teach coping skills to children or build better coping skills yourself.


[To be continued in Part 2 ...]