#A throat that causes anxiety | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ghostly-writers · 21 hours ago

Text

Self Care time!

A gift for @eggyboyo-here, I'm so sorry for the such late request I hope it is to your liking! Please let me know about any spelling or grammar checks! Also please note this is not a Nicky x ted story and this is Ted being lonely!

RUSTLE

CLANG

SMASH

Theodore could hear something digging through his trash making him deeply regret not getting a lock for the trash cans, he sighed heavily, rubbing a hand over his face and pulling at his skin just a little too long feeling it grow taunt under his hand, the skin under his eyes starting to ache before he let it go, allowing his hand to fall to his side. It was probably racoons digging through his trash again, he had heard some of the neighbours talk about locking up their trash because they kept managing to get in and go through it, slipping through the small holes. Theodore didn’t mind wildlife but he preferred that it stayed in the forest where it belonged and didn’t wander into his backyard. He huffed loudly, this time, it was a long drawn out breath that he sucked in harshly before letting it out slowly just like his wife told him to do whenever he felt frustrated and wanted to hit something. Nice and slow just like she said-

CRASH

“OH FOR THE LOVE OF-” Theodore had hit his breaking point, marching over to the door he threw it open not caring that it bounced off the wall with a loud SLAM and marched down the porch stairs. Those little demons, why his trash? Why not Mrs Tillmans?! Tho, she would probably befriend them since she was crazy like that and believed that ‘they should be entitled to our trash’, she was the kind of women who would preach to anyone who would listen about how crystals could solve all illnesses and you should buy twenty dollar bread flour because it could heal broken bones or some horseshit like that. He walked to where his trash cans were (tucked in a little corner round the back of the house that was often overlooked) grabbing the broom while he was at it ready to smack whatever was in his trash and chase it from his property.

Oh…

A pair of legs were sticking out from his trash flailing around with vigour clearly trying to get out from the mess they were in. Theodore’s nose wrinkled at the foul smell as the trash can fell over and the person rolled out bringing with them everything that had previously been contained. Theodore saw a head of brown hair and pale, freckled cheeks that were smeared with old pieces of banana and other grime. Nicky groaned from the sudden tumble onto the floor and was now wiping his hands on his clothes making a noise of disgust while he realised he couldn’t get it all off and was only spreading it. Theodore stood with his arms crossed, the broom now discarded on the ground as he stared down unimpressed, slight frustration began to boil up as he watched the kid continue to try and clean himself, not looking up once having clearly not noticed him.

Theodore let out a loud grizzly cough making the kid freeze for a split second, he watched as slowly the gears in the kids head turned and he looked up at him. Theodore saw the Adam apple bob, the sweat pour and the shiver run up the kids spine “u…um…” he choked out his brain finally catching up and realising the scenario he was in and also the amount of trouble he was about to be in when his parents inevitably found out. Nicky scrambled backwards back into the pile of trash on the ground “h…hello?” He managed to stutter out, the colour had now drained completely from his plump cheeks as if someone had turned on a tap and let all the blood run from them.

“You’re not a raccoon” Theodore concluded, taking a step forward taking a sense of satisfaction as he watched the kids eyes widen in fear, “n..no I’m not…” he replied looking up at his neighbor much like how a doe looks at the hunter, Mr Peterson smirked and grabbed Nicky by the back of his shirt, hauled him up onto his feet and began marching him through the his yard and onto the street. He could drag the kid home, dump him in front of his parents and let them deal with the consequences of their idiot son…but Jesus did the kid stink.

“Get off!” Nicky cried out clawing at Theodores hand, attempting to bite down like some sort of feral kitten. Theodore groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose… damn this brat was a tough one and also a stinky one, being upside down in someone's trash for god knows how long had made the kid reek, rotten milk wilted compared to this kid's stench. He decided there was going to be a change of plans before he dropped the kid home. He needed to be cleaned properly, so making a short turn he began to walk back towards his own home. “No!” Theodore snapped, dragging Nicky behind him since the kid decided he was suddenly going to go limp and try to use his body weight to his advantage but it was unfortunate he was so scrawny because it would have worked, he was no heavier than a sack of potatoes.

Theodore lifted him up, walking him up the porch stairs and brought the kid into his home before slamming the door behind him. Depositing the kid on the ground and mentally reminding himself to crack open a window later. “Look” he started trying to calm himself so he didn’t start yelling at the kid “I won't tell your parents about your…adventure” Nicky nodded and he took that as a sign to continue “but…you have to agree to let me give you a bath” he watched the kids eyes narrow in suspicion “why?...” Nicky asked scooting away on his bottom, giving a small yip when his thigh caught against a loose piece of wood. Theodore sighed and rolled his eyes “because you reek! It’s like you’ve just rolled in soured milk, rotten peaches and old tomatoes” Nicky huffed and crossed his arms jutting his chin out in a rebellious sort of way. “Maybe that's just my natural scent!” he argued back “Damn the kid is stubborn” Theodore thought to himself. He squatted down staring the kid in the eyes, an almost menacing look creeping its way into his gaze. “Well then, sounds like I need to call CPS” he said slowly, smirking in victory when he saw the kid panic slightly and let out a hasty “no no there's no need to do that!” Quickly standing up and deciding he would rather look at the ground than at the man in front of him. Theodore smiled to himself and stood back up, stretching his back out and inviting the kid upstairs. “Right then…Once you're in the bath I’ll wash your clothes” he stated, watching the kid slowly climb the stairs as if he was walking to his own execution, his eyes darting around as if trying to find an escape route. ‘This is going to be fun,’ Theodore said to himself, opening the bathroom door and letting the kid inside.

It had taken just under half an hour for the bath to run and Theodore was now standing outside the locked door with an extra towel if needed since he knew he was low, he listened to Nicky splash around and blow bubbles in the water, he had told the kid to be quick but it had been twenty minutes now and the kid still wasn’t out. “Nicholas…” he called out when he heard the tap running “out the bath” he had encouraged the kid to use some of the fancy soaps since he was pretty sure the kid only rubbed himself with deodorant to be clean “but it's cold now!” Nicky whined, shutting off the tap. Continuing to splash around as he scrubbed under his nails with a brush. Theodore sighed and rolled his eyes “that's because you're splashing around, if you’re clean then you need to come out now!”

Silence

“Nicholas” Theodore growled out “you’re pushing it” he counted down from sixty in his head, rubbing a finger against his own skin that was soft since he regularly moisturised, but when the kid had given him his shirt and their fingers briefly touched he couldn’t help but grimaced at the dry texture, he reminded himself to smother the kid in moisturiser after. “Three…two..” He gave the kid one more chance to open the door but when he heard no movement he decided to act “one!” he called out, bursting through the door startling the kid in the process, making some of the water splash out of the bath.

Despite the fact the kid had been in the bath for almost half an hour, his hair was still filthy, looking more like a matted down bird's nest than anything. “God damn it” he whispered “do you need help with your hair?” He watched the kid nod nervously making him let out a long, deep sigh and grab a bottle of shampoo. “Ok then, turn around and wet your hair” the kid did as he was told, long brown strands now sticking to his forehead. Theodore shook some of the shampoo out onto his hand and started to scrub it into the kids hair watching the suds fall into the water “close your eyes” he instructed when Nicky gave a little cry as soap made its way into his eyes. It took about five minutes of scrubbing and two more healthy squirts of shampoo to get the kids hair completely clean.

“Come on then…out” the kid seemed to think it over before deciding it wasn't worth the fight and got out, Theodore closed his eyes and turned around only looking when the kid was wrapped in a large fluffy towel “right… your clothes should be dry now so once I’ve done your hair you can go if you want” he tacked on that last bit hastily trying to stop desperation creeping into his voice. Honestly? He didn't want the kid to leave. He missed having a child around the house sometimes and this kid had filled that small hole in his heart, even just for an hour.

“Ok” Nicky replied and followed Mr Peterson into the master bedroom sitting down on the bed and pulling the towel tighter around his shoulders “Right, everything is washed and dry and on that chair there” he said, gesturing to the clothes neatly placed on the stool. He left the room only re-entering when he heard the kids' quiet voice say “I’m finished”.

Theodore nodded and patted a small stool inviting the kid to sit, grabbed his wife's hair dryer from her vanity and switching it on pulling the comb through the kids hair until it was completely dry ignoring the small “ow” Nicky made when he tried to get a particular hard knot out “shouldn't have went through my trash!” He replied. Once he was done, Nicky jumped up from the stool his hair was now light and puffy and fell over his face slightly making Theodore chuckle. “I’m going to let you in on a little secret” he said grabbing a small pot of cream of the dresser “this stuff is great for dry skin and you definitely need some of it” he heard the kid make a small noise of protest before Theodore began rubbing the cream all over his face walking the kid through his nighttime routine (shower, moisturise, curlers and bonnet) he heard a very loud snort come from the kid as he imagined his scary neighbour dressed like that for bed.

Theodore stopped rubbing the cream into the kids cheeks allowing it to dry naturally on its own. “You know..if you want to stay a little longer you can…” he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. Nicky smiled up at him as the wall he previously had built around him broke, staring at Theodore with confidence and trust “yeah…my parents aren't back yet so I can if you don't mind…” Theodore smiled and shook his head “Course not” with that he grabbed a facemask and his dressing gown “I’ll make us some camomile tea and then we can do face masks!” He seemed like a little boy and Nicky couldn’t help but smile.

“Sure I would like that.”

#hello neighbor #hello neighbor au #hn au #I swear if someone thinks this is ted x Nicky I will go for your throat #Ted is lonely!#self care cause Nicky is a filthy child!#please enjoy #might delete this tho if I get anxiety

16 notes · View notes

allthingswhumpyandangsty · 5 months ago

Text

HOW TO WRITE A CHARACTER WHO IS IN PAIN

first thing you might want to consider: is the pain mental or physical?

if it’s physical, what type of pain is it causing? — sharp pain, white-hot pain, acute pain, dull ache, throbbing pain, chronic pain, neuropathic pain (typically caused by nerve damage), etc

if it’s mental, what is the reason your character is in pain? — grief, heartbreak, betrayal, anger, hopelessness, fear and anxiety, etc

because your character will react differently to different types of pain

PHYSICAL PAIN

sharp and white-hot pain may cause a character to grit their teeth, scream, moan, twist their body. their skin may appear pale, eyes red-rimmed and sunken with layers of sweat covering their forehead. they may have tears in their eyes (and the tears may feel hot), but they don’t necessarily have to always be crying.

acute pain may be similar to sharp and white-hot pain; acute pain is sudden and urgent and often comes without a warning, so your character may experience a hitched breathing where they suddenly stop what they’re doing and clench their hand at the spot where it hurts with widened eyes and open mouth (like they’re gasping for air).

dull ache and throbbing pain can result in your character wanting to lay down and close their eyes. if it’s a headache, they may ask for the lights to be turned off and they may be less responsive, in the sense that they’d rather not engage in any activity or conversation and they’d rather be left alone. they may make a soft whimper from their throat from time to time, depends on their personality (if they don’t mind others seeing their discomfort, they may whimper. but if your character doesn’t like anyone seeing them in a not-so-strong state, chances are they won’t make any sound, they might even pretend like they’re fine by continuing with their normal routine, and they may or may not end up throwing up or fainting).

if your character experience chronic pain, their pain will not go away (unlike any other illnesses or injuries where the pain stops after the person is healed) so they can feel all these types of sharp pain shooting through their body. there can also be soreness and stiffness around some specific spots, and it will affect their life. so your character will be lucky if they have caretakers in their life. but are they stubborn? do they accept help from others or do they like to pretend like they’re fine in front of everybody until their body can’t take it anymore and so they can no longer pretend?

neuropathic pain or nerve pain will have your character feeling these senses of burning, shooting and stabbing sensation, and the pain can come very suddenly and without any warning — think of it as an electric shock that causes through your character’s body all of a sudden. your character may yelp or gasp in shock, how they react may vary depends on the severity of the pain and how long it lasts.

EMOTIONAL PAIN

grief can make your character shut themself off from their friends and the world in general. or they can also lash out at anyone who tries to comfort them. (five states of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and eventual acceptance.)

heartbreak — your character might want to lock themself in a room, anywhere where they are unseen. or they may want to pretend that everything’s fine, that they’re not hurt. until they break down.

betrayal can leave a character with confusion, the feelings of ‘what went wrong?’, so it’s understandable if your character blames themself at first, that maybe it’s their fault because they’ve somehow done something wrong somewhere that caused the other character to betray them. what comes after confusion may be anger. your character can be angry at the person who betrayed them and at themself, after they think they’ve done something wrong that resulted in them being betrayed, they may also be angry at themself next for ‘falling’ for the lies and for ‘being fooled’. so yes, betrayal can leave your character with the hatred that’s directed towards the character who betrayed them and themself. whether or not your character can ‘move on and forgive’ is up to you.

there are several ways a character can react to anger; they can simply lash out, break things, scream and yell, or they can also go complete silent. no shouting, no thrashing the place. they can sit alone in silence and they may cry. anger does make people cry. it mostly won’t be anything like ‘ugly sobbing’ but your character’s eyes can be bloodshot, red-rimmed and there will be tears, only that there won’t be any sobbing in most cases.

hopelessness can be a very valid reason for it, if you want your character to do something reckless or stupid. most people will do anything if they’re desperate enough. so if you want your character to run into a burning building, jump in front of a bullet, or confess their love to their archenemy in front of all their friends, hopelessness is always a valid reason. there’s no ‘out of character’ if they are hopeless and are desperate enough.

fear and anxiety. your character may be trembling, their hands may be shaky. they may lose their appetite. they may be sweaty and/or bouncing their feet. they may have a panic attack if it’s severe enough.

and I think that’s it for now! feel free to add anything I may have forgotten to mention here!

15K notes · View notes