#Brother is neurodivergent too and he said it was the same for him

[amnesiamilk]

my mom when her two neurodivergent children don’t want to spend 4+ hours in a overcrowded building that hasn’t been cleaned in years and has lights flashing every five seconds and noises playing over eachother :

[disillusioneddanny]

Welcome to the Family DPXDC

And yes, he was thankful for that space, honestly, he needed it more than he could even explain. Every time he closed his eyes he saw his parents strapping him down to the operating table. To his sister finding him when she came back for spring break three months later and trying to rip Jack away from Danny’s broken body, only for her to be thrown back. They said that she had hit her head on in just the right spot on the corner of the table. That her death had been painless. Danny had waited, hoping to see his sister come back as a ghost but she never did.

The anger had welled up inside of him, though, enough for him to break out of his bindings and run to Sam’s house for help. From there it had been quick. The Fentons had no proof that Danny was a ghost, Jazz was dead in their lab and Danny had a large vivesection wound held together by pins and needles.

From there it had gone by fast. Bruce Wayne had heard his story and opened his doors to him, an offer that Danny was quick to accept considering his only other option was Vlad and that was a major no for him. Danny had gotten stitched up rather quickly and the Fentons had been taken to trial where they had both been found incompetent by the courts and were sent to some prison for the mentally insane in the midwest. Thank the Ancients it wasn’t Arkham.

But things were starting to settle now. Danny was healed up. They had finally held a funeral for Jazz. And he was set to start school at Gotham Academy with his new little brother, Damian. Things were finally starting to settle.

Things were starting to settle and Danny was finally able to really look at his new family and notice the strange things about them. Honestly, coming from a weird family himself, he was more able to spot the bullshit from others. The first he had noticed was Damian. Apparently he hadn’t ocme to live with the Waynes until he was ten and Bruce had discovered he had a biiological son he had never known about.

Damian was fourteen now and he wasn’t normal, if Danny was going to be honest. Danny knew that the teenager had at least four weapons on him at all times. He had thrown a knife at Danny’s head one of his first nights here when Danny had made a joke that the kid didn’t like. He also struggled to understand common cues and comments, but not in a neurodivergent way. In a way that he had genuinely grown up without ever hearing about those things and it had Danny curious.

The others were strange too. Tim seemed like he had never slept, like he barely operated at all. Duke always looked at Danny like he had seen a ghost and tended to keep his distance more than their other siblings did. Cass looked at him the same way some of Danny’s rogues did, like she was watching his every single move. Jason reeked of death every time Danny saw him. The souls that latched onto him showed that he had taken quite a few lives. And not only that, but everyone in this family smelled and felt like they had all died and come back. He had never met a family so liminal outside of Amity Park.

Even Dick, the most normal of the siblings was liminal. It was throwing Danny for a loop because no one else in Gotham seemed to feel this way. So what were they hiding? Was this why they wanted Danny to join their family? Because like called to like and they knew Danny was something different?

Or was Bruce telling the truth when he had said that he had seen a teenage boy lose everything in a day and decided he couldn’t not help out?

It had been two months now and if he was going to be really honest, Danny was starting to grow bored. No more ghost fights, no more running from the Fentons, hell Bruce had even decided that he was going to go after the GIW and the Anti-Ecto Acts because even though he didn’t know Danny was actually a ghost, he found the acts ghastly and problematic. Danny nearly hugged him when he had said so. But the more bored he got, the more curious he seemed to get as well, he needed to know what was going on with this family.

“It’s not like they would know if I decided to take a look around. I live here,” he murmured to himself, staring at the fire crackling within the fireplace, still chewing on his thumbnail. “All I’m doing is seeing what kind of fruit loop my new dad is. All billionaires hide something and Bruce is definitely hiding something,” he reasoned to himself.

The halfa shook his head, the curiosity was going to drive him absolutely insane if he didn’t go and snoop. He stood from where he laid curled up on the couch and trekked back up to his bedroom. A room that was literally through times the size of his old bedroom.

It was still hard to believe that this was his life now. He carefully locked his bedroom door and felt the familiar rings of light wash over him before he transformed into his ghost form. The sixteen year old smiled at the familiar feel of intangibility wash over him and he slowly sunk through the floor, staying invisible as he went through each room of the house that was not a bedroom, looking through each one carefully to see if anything jumped out at him.

Then he made it to Bruce’s office just as Bruce himself stepped out of a door hidden behind an old grandfather clock and that’s when Danny knew he had caught him. Of course this was too good to be true! Bruce was far too perfect to not have something hidden deep inside.

He flew through the wall and found himself in an elevator and frowned before continuing down, down, down until he found himself in a large cave underneath the cave.

“Holy shit Batman,” he whispered as he started to fly around the stalacites, taking in the Batcomputer, the weird prizes the different vigilantes had one in their countless rogue fights. His eyes widened as he found Tim typing furiously at the Batcomputer, bags deep under his eyes and Danny took a look at what he was working on and held back a gasp.

When Bruce had said he was going to get rid of the GIW and the Anti-Ecto Acts he hadn’t really thought too much of it. It was Bruce Wayne, the playboy extraordinare who cared about all social causes that came across his desk.

But to know that the Bats were investigating it? With the Justice League? Danny’s mind was blown. He watched as Tim fought through the firewalls that Danny, Tucker, and Technus had set up to keep Amity Park a secret from the rest of the world and glanced down at his new older brother before back up at the screen and let out a sigh.

He could at least make their job easier.

He flew into the computer and started to break through each of the firewalls that they had put in place one by one before Tucker and Technus zoomed in on him.

Tucker had become just liminal enough to learn how to go into technology. He gave Danny a disapproving look as Technus stared at all the hard work they had done be ruined by Danny.

“What are you doing in here?” Tucker demanded, his eyes bright green as he stared Danny down.

“Red Robin is trying to get rid of the acts,” Danny said with a small smile. “Let him learn everything he can. I trust the Bats.”

Tucker and Technus scowled.

“Fine, Ghost Boy. Now get out of our territory before you destroy it even more,” Technus said, glaring at Danny over his sunglasses. Danny just grinned and flew out of the computer once more to find Tim dialing a number on his cellphone furiously.

“Babs! I finally got in! I don’t know what happened but all of the firewalls fell and Jesus Christ it’s worse than I thought. The Fentons recorded their experiments on Danny,” he said and Danny shuddered as he looked at the scream, hearing his screams fall on deaf ears. He had Tucker hide all of the video tapes as soon as he could to make sure that no one would see proof that Danny was more than just a human. But if they were going to get rid of the Anti-Ecto Acts then they needed all the proof that they could get that ghosts were sentient creatures.

He flew out of the Batcave quickly and made it back to his room where he turned back into his human form. Now he needed to decide. Did he tell the Waynes that he knew their secret? Or did he leave it alone?

He pursed his lips and fell back onto his bed as he fell into thought about it. Once Tim got through all of the videos, he was going to know that Danny was different, that he wasn’t just a normal human boy. Especially when he would get to the part where they cut Danny’s arm off and it grew back just a few days later.

Right now the ball was in his court, though. He knew that the bats were going to know that he was different, but he didn’t know if they were going to say anything about it. He could play with this. He grinned to himself.

He could have some fun with this.

…

“Danny! Dinner’s ready!” Duke called through his door and Danny grinned and headed out, already having come up with a plan for how he’s going to fuck with the bats.

He wanted to see how far he could push them until they admitted that they knew his secret and and that they were the bats. He wondered how long his new family could hold out before giving in and saying something.

So with that, Danny opened the door and grinned at Duke, who he now realized was the day time hero signal and explained why he not only kept his distance but looked at Danny like he had a second head most of the time. Now that he thought about it, Duke probably could see his true form and wouldn’t that be fun to mess with.

While Phantom was technically tucked away in Danny’s core, he was visible for those who could see beyond the veil. Duke was someone who could see beyond that veil and if Danny focused just enough he could alter his ghost form without even being in that form.

“Hey, thanks for grabbing me,” Danny said, imagining Phantom with ecto dripping from his eye sockets, his fangs grew longer and longer and his eyes turned pitch black. Phantom was looking like he came straight from a nightmare from what Danny could see in his mind’s eye and he smiled as Duke cringed away from him slightly.

“Of course,” he stammered out nervously. “Are you doing okay?”

Danny grinned, perking up slightly. “Yeah, I’m doing great actually. I’m really excited for school tomorrow. Why do you ask?”

Duke just shook his head and shuddered lightly. “No reason.”

The two continued down to the dinner table and took their seats. Tim trudged in just a few minutes later and his eyes immediately fell onto Danny’s form. His eye twitched slightly as they raced up and down Danny’s body, taking in all of Danny’s limbs and noting that his facial features were all there.

“Are you okay, Tim?” Danny asked with a frown, his lips twisting up slightly.

Tim just stared at him warily and nodded once. “I am, are you? Doing okay, that is?” He asked, nerves apparent in his voice.

Danny just smiled and tilted his head to the side. “Yeah, as far as I can tell I’m okay. It’s funny, Duke was worried about my wellbeing too. It’s really nice, though. I wish I had someone asking if I was okay when my parents had removed my eyes during one of their sessions with me,” he said just as Alfred set a plate before him, the porcelain clattering against the table as he tried to recover from shock.

“You mean like, blindfolded you, right?” Dick asked hesitantly, looking up from his own plate of food and Danny just grinned and shook his head.

“Nope,” he said, popping the P. “I’m pretty sure my da-Jack used a melon baller to remove them, it was very painful and weird experience,” he said with a slight shudder. It was the frist time he had mentioned out loud some of the trauma he had experienced at the hands of the Fentons. And if he was being honest, it felt rather cathartic for him to actually talk about the torutre he had endured. Sure, judging from the horrified expressions of his new family members, it might not be hte most comfortable conversation but for him, it was nice to just say it, out loud.

His parents had tortured him. Had ripped him apart molecule by molecule and his body just forced him to regenerate, the electric ectoplasm that brought him back that fateful day in the portal continued to live inside of him, continued to bring him back from death over and over. It had made him realize that there’s a good chance that he was immortal. That his human half may never actually die.

And that was a terrifying thought.

Danny just happily continued eating his dinner, ignoring the horrified stares all around him. Oh yeah, this was going to be so much fun, he could feel it in his core.

….

It was a few nights later when Danny woke up to his stomach growling at like three in the morning. And of course, that mean he needed to go down to the kitchens and rifle through the refrigerator to find something to eat.

In all honesty, he had a major hankering for some fruit loops. Which led to him digging through the pantry that Alfred kept stocked up on all of Dick’s favorite cereals since he was the one who primarily ate them. He let his eyes glow in the dark as he searched, too lazy to turn on the lights and not particularly wanting to have the light ruin his post sleep glow. He dug around until finally find the box of sugary, fruity goodness and silently cheered to himself. Now he just needed to get some milk and a bowl and he would be a very happy ghost.

Danny allowed the box to float to the kitchen counter before he skipped towards the fridge and hummed. Did he want oatmilk, almond milk, whole milk, ancients there were so many options for milk.

He let out a hiss as the lights flickered on in the kitchen and slowly allowed his head to spin around on his neck to glare at whomever was evil enough to turn on the lights in the middle of the night. An ear piercing scream shook through the manor as Dick scrambled away from Danny and oh what a sight Danny was to see. His hair was bird’s nest on his head, his eyes were glowing bright green and he had twisted his head around his neck one hundred sixty degrees and let out an inhuman hiss.

Dick slammed his back against the wall as Danny allowed his eyes to turn blue once again and his head spun back around to normal just as Bruce and Tim came running into the room.

“What is it?” Danny asked innocently, cocking his head to the side, blinking his eyes owlishly at Dick. The poor vigilante was white as a sheet as he stared at Danny in horror. Bruce looked between his sons curiously.

“Three am cereal?” He asked, the corners of his eyes crinkling slightly as he smiled at Danny. “I think I may make myself a bowl as well. How about you, Dick? Tim?”

“I-I think I’m going to go home to Bludhaven,” Dick stammered out, unable to look at Danny.

“Oh, well I hope you get home safe. Text me when you get home so I know you made it safely,” Bruce said cluelessly as he walked over to start making his own bowl of cereal. Tim gave Danny a wary look before he shook his head.

“I’m heading back to bed,” Tim muttered and Danny smiled to himself as he poured himself a large bowl of cereal.

“How are you doing, Chum? Are you getting settled?” Bruce asked, looking Danny over for a moment. Danny nodded and took a bite.

“You know that I know that you know,” he said simply as he chewed his cereal.

“I do,” Bruce said simply. “It’s pretty entertaining to watch the others.”

Danny swallowed his bite of cereal and grinned. “Glad you think so because this is the most fun I’ve had since you adopted me.”

“It will be good training for the others,” Bruce said as he poured himself a bowl of–

“You have your own brand of cereal!?” Danny exclaimed, looking at the cereal called Batman Crunch.

Bruce smiled. “Unfortunately, I don’t get any of the royalties for it. But it’s cookies and cream flavored,” he said before looking at the milk that Danny had pulled out, and poured some into his bowl. “Oatmilk, good choice.”

“I like the flavor,” he said with a shrug.

“Just so you know, if you ever want to join the nightlife, you’re welcome to it. But from what I understand, you never wanted it in the first place,” he said and Danny nodded his head.

“Too much work. For now, I just want to focus on school. Maybe when I graduate high school I’ll join you guys. But for now, I just want to focus on recovery and graduation. I appreciate all the space you’re giving me,” Danny said softly, stirring his spoon around in his bowl. Bruce just smiled and leaned his arms against the counter as he took a bite of his cereal.

“Of course. And when you’re ready to talk about it, without trying to scare your siblings, we can talk about it,” he said.

“You’re not mad?” Danny asked, glancing up at the older man. “That I didn’t tell you about me being, being dead? Or that I was a hero or how bad the Fentons,” he stopped and shuddered slightly. He couldn’t say the words out loud. It was one thing to joke about them removing body parts, it was easy to call them sessions. But to say out loud how badly he had been tortured? He couldn’t do it.

“Of course I’m not mad, Honey, you went through a very rough and traumatic time. Take all the time you need and we’ll be here for you as you heal and recover. And if any of your brothers or sister give you a hard time, I’ll tell them I was in on it.”

“How’d you know about me?” Danny asked before he took a bite of his fruitloops.

“Phantom disappeared the same time Danny Fenton allegedly ran away. Not to mention just taking one look at Phantom you can see the resemblance.”

“Phantom has blue skin!” Danny argued.

“And the exact same facial structure, Phantom just has a more prominent lichtenburg scar that you also have, just not nearly as noticeable.”

Danny hummed. “Guess they don’t call you the world’s greatest detective for nothin’,” he muttered before he picked up his bowl and started to drink the milk.

Bruce just chuckled and patted Danny’s back once he finished. “Get some sleep, Kiddo,” he said softly. Danny gave him a salute, a milk mustache on his face as he floated up in the air and through the ceilings to get back to his room.

…

Danny was bored again. He found himself haunting the manor late in the evening. Most of the bats were prepping for their night out on patrol. They were all under the impression that Danny was upstairs doing homework. He soon turned invisible and made his way into the Batcave where he found his siblings gathered around the Batcomputer watching one of the videos of Danny being tortured.

“Danny’s not fully human,” Tim stressed. “I’ve watched his parents remove his limbs and they just grow back in a few hours. Like good as new, no scar or anything! He wasn’t kidding when he said they removed his eyes!” He exclaimed.

Jason let out a hum. “It’s possible that the Fentons did it to him,” he reasoned. “Like their experiments turned him into a meta that let him regenerate.”

“How does that explain the fact that he was able to twist his head a hundred and sixty degrees?” Dick asked, shuddering slightly. “Or the way his eyes glow Lazarus green?”

“Or the monster that’s constantly floating behind him,” Duke whispered, looking like he had seen absolute horrors. Danny held back a snort, he still hadn’t even let Duke see his full eldritch horror form. It had been child’s play so far.

“He died in those experiments,” Dick said softly. “You can see him flatlining multiple times. Being killed and brought back so many times probably fucked up his body a lot. It probably did a lot to him.”

Danny hummed, that was a good theory. Wrong but made sense where they were coming from.

Bruce walked forward in his Batman suit and looked at Danny’s siblings. “Regardless of what you think is wrong with Danny, he’s our family and maybe one day he will feel comfortable telling us what happened to him. And if he doesn’t, that’s fine too. But until then, give him space and quit trying to investigate him. We’re trying to get rid of the anti-ecto acts, not investigate Danny,” he said seriously.

Danny smiled to himself and flew back up to his bedroom.

…

Jason sucked in a breath when he saw Danny asleep on the couch. He didn’t know why he was nervous. Sure, there was something slightly unsettling about Danny but he wasn’t a bad guy. The kid was insanely sweet and funny. He handled his trauma the same way Jason did, with constant jokes about his vivisection the same way Jason joked about his death.

But between the stories from Dick, Tim, and, Duke and watching the videos of what the Fentons had done to his newest littler brother, something about Danny just unnerved him. But Bruce had asked him to wake Danny up so that he can come down for dinner. It was simple, he just had to wake him up. What was the worst that could happen?

He padded over to Danny’s sleeping form and alost immediately realized something majorly wrong with the image in front of him.

Danny wasn’t breathing.

Jason rushed forward, shouting out for help, help from anyone really. He knelt beside Danny’s prone form and pressed his fingers to the pulse point on Danny’s wrist and frowned when he didn’t feel anything. He cursed before moving to start doing chest compressions, desperate to get him to open his eyes and breathe.

Dick and Bruce skidded into the room and ran over just as Danny sucked in a deep breath and opened his eyes.

“What are you doing!? Ow!” Danny shouted, slapping Jason’s hands away from him. “I think you broke my fucking rib,” he whined, rubbing at his side.

“What happened?” Bruce asked, looking between them concerned.

“He wasn’t breathing! He didn’t have a pulse!” Jason spluttered out, pointing at Danny who was frowning and pulling up his shirt to see if he was bruising yet or not. Beside Bruce, Dick let out a squeak, taking in the vivisection scar that still marred Danny’s chest. For some reason, all of Danny’s wounds from getting his body parts removed had healed just fine but the scar from being cut open over and over again stayed with him forever.

Bruce had given him scar cream to see if it would help but Danny had told him it would do nothing to help him.

“Oh yeah, it’s gnarly,” Danny said offhandedly. “The joys of having mad scientists for parents,” he said and sucked his teeth before he dropped his tshirt. “It’ll heal in like thirty minutes. Thanks for trying to save me I guess, but don’t stress, my heart just does that.”

“I thought you were dead!” Jason shouted, running a hand through his hair, utterly distraught.

Danny laughed and stood up, stretching as he did, his back popping a few times with the stretch. “Because I am,” he said simply.

…

Damian watched as his brother walked down the hall, texting on his phone as if he didn’t have a care in the world. He was not even bothering to raise his head to watch where he was going as he walked and Damian smirked to himself.

The idiot teenager was about to run face first into the wall and it would serve him right to break his nose for not paying attention to his surroundings. His smirk turned into a look of dismay, though, as Daniel walked straight through the wall without ever looking up.

There was something strange going on with his newest big brother and Damian was going to get to the bottom of it. It was clear that his siblings were not unfounded in their theories that Daniel was something other.

…

Danny grinned as he walked in on his final victim. He had managed to scare each of his siblings so far with his shenanigans and now he was finally going to get Cass. He had been trying to think of ways to throw her off kilter for a while now, but he had finally come to the perfect idea.

His family were gathered in the family room preparing to watch a movie together. Cass was curled up on the couch beside her girlfriend, the two talking quietly to one another. No one had noticed Danny walk in yet, which was rather typical.

He was lighter on his feet than any bat could ever dream. Even in his human form he had a sense of weightlessness to him that could only be attributed to his ghost form. Something that Danny had thought was interesting and also insanely thankful for considering it made it so much easier for him to sneak around when he was still living with the Fentons.

Danny creeped up behind Cass and Steph, a wide smile slowly growing on his face as he leaned down. “Mind if I sit with you two?” he asked, taking joy in the way both girls jumped in surprise, the rest of the family reacting similarly before giving Cass a shocked look of their own.

She turned to stare wide eyed at Danny and silently nodded once, unable to say a word.

“Sweet,” he said before hopping over the back of the couch and settling into the seat beside his sister. He reached over and grabbed a handful of popcorn from Tim’s bowl and looked at the large screen. “What are we watching?”

…

Danny took his seat at the dining room table for dinner a few nights later and looked around at his siblings. Each one looked to be on edge, sending Danny worried, concerned looks every now and then. Danny had upped the hauntings in the manor, feeling more and more comfortable with changing to his ghost form and giving in to his ghostly behaviors. He had never really been able to do it in Amity, too much of a risk to haunt the house when his family hd weapons to destroy him at every corner.

But in Wayne Manor? He was free to roam the halls, to stare at dark shadows and just do what ghosts were meant to do. Haunt the manor. And the fact that his siblings would catch him every so often and get the life scared out of them was honestly just a nice bonus.

His core had never felt so content in his life. He was finally getting to give in to all of his ghostly behavior and now it was time to make it known to the others that he knew.

“You know,” Danny stated, taking a bite of his oatmeal. “I wasn’t expecting you all to be so chill about the whole dead thing. I thought you all would be more on edge with my weirdness. But considering you all are vigilantes it makes a lot more sense now why you were okay with a dead guy moving in.”

Tim choked on his coffee, drips splattered onto the table. “I’m sorry what?”he wheezed out.

Danny sat up and grinned. “What?” He asked before he took a sip of his chocolate milk. “You’re telling me that you watched all those tapes of my parents having their fun with me and never once realized I was dead? No living human being can endure the things I did and live to tell the tale. I’m dead.”

“But you have a heartbeat, you breathe,” Dick breathed out and Danny looked over at Jason.

“Do I, though?” He asked and Jason swallowed harshly as he remembered the way Danny’s chest didn’t move, how he felt no pulse no matter how hard he checked. “I thought a family of detectives would figure it out pretty quickly.”

Bright rings of light surrounded him for a moment and he showed his ghost form. “I’m Phantom,” he said with a sharp smile. He changed back to his human form and looked over at Bruce. “Bruce had me figured out before he even adopted me. I thought you all knew as well.”

“How did you know about us?” Duke asked.

Danny hummed. “Got bored, decided to explore the manor and imagine my surprise when I found the Batcave in the basement! From there it was easy to put together and I decided well, if I’m going to be living in a family of vigilantes there was no point in me hiding who I was. If anyone was going to accept the half dead kid, it would be you guys.”

“This family just keeps getting weirder and weirder,” Dick mumbled, massaging his temples.

Bruce just smiled. “Danny, did I ever tell you that you have an alien starfish for a brother? His name is Jarro.”

I don’t plan on continuing this. Feel free to add if you want 💚💚

[dr-flipflops]

OOC: Will's Lonely 18th Birthday people, as per Cresent's request. - @permetutotheworld @the-eclipse-is-in-me @fukurouonthesea Here we go :) Its sooooooo long, I got so bloody carried away, sorry guys.

*Will left another tray in front of Nico's door, a yellow sticky note on the side*

(what the note said is in italics)

*I hope you've been eating all the food I'm giving you Neeks. Ew- I'm 18 today, EW!!! I'm oooooold :( . I don't have to be a functional adult now do I? Surely, I get a pass for being neurodivergent. I hope you have a nice day INSIDE, please come out. I miss you*

*It had been a week, and Nico was still holed up in the cabin. Will had been denied access, but he'd seen Cresent and Noa go in just fine, heck even CLARISSE gained entrance. It broke something inside Will, but he shrugged it off. They were his family, of course he'd let them in. Will was just an inconvenience he had to put up with, and take care of. He'd known Clarisse for years, Cresent was his sister, and Noa was like his little brother*

*Its fine Solace, come on. Its your birthday. Cheer up. Its fine. Everything's okay.*

*Will's siblings had given him a lovely morning, and the campers who remembered and were the ones who still looked him in the eye had wished him at breakfast. It was nice. But it wasn't the same. Chiron had given him the full day empty, but he had no-one to celebrate with. His siblings all had duties, and they refused to let him work on his birthday. Everyone else was busy too. Will would usually go back to Texas for the week to be with his mother, but with Nico holed up he wanted to stay here*

*Besides, it wasn't like he wanted to celebrate it anyways. The only thing good about it was that he was another year closer to the grave. He didn't know what to do, he wished he could work, that way at least he wouldn't feel so lonely and useless. At least healing gave him a purpose and he felt good after saving someone. At least he'd feel something*

*Will lazily walked through the woods, kicking his feet, cupcake with candle in hand. He made it to his special spot on the coast, where he had the shade of the trees, and a view of the sparkling lake, but could still bask in the sun's rays without it bothering his eyes, not that it had ever in the first place. Wind whistled past, and birds sang, the sun shone golden rays that illuminated the rocks, slick with crashing waves*

*The day was undoubted perfect. Will knew it was curtesy of his father, his way of saying "happy birthday". Will was grateful, but he didn't really feel it*

*The candle glowed bright, Will cupped the cupcake in his hands and held it close*

Happy Birthday to me, happy birthday to meee.

*Will blew it out gently, and wished that today would be the day Nico would come out, even if it was to just say a simple hello. Tears stung his eyes and he laughed a little*

Guess I'm an adult now. huh. Never thought I'd get here.

*Will leaned back against the rock behind his perch, face tilted up as one or two tears down*

But you always knew, didn't you Lee? You said I'd make it Micheal, you were right it seems.

*Tears choked his throat, he looked up at the trees shadowing him above, and the sun softly shining through the canopies. It was like they were here, he could almost hear their voice. Almost feel the laughter of the younger ones. Gracie would've loved to meet Fay*

I wish you were here. I wish you all were.

*Something shimmer past his head and he looks to see his mother's smiling face*

*Will jolts upright*

MA!!?

Naomi: Hi Billy!!! Aw, my little William has grown up so much, 18 now! I thought you were coming home for your birthday?

Will: You-you remembered?

Naomi: no, I just happened to throw a drachma into the lake on accide- OF COURSE I REMEMBERED WILLY!!! You're my favourite son, I can't believe expect so little of your mother.

Will: Ma, I'm your only son.

Naomi: Even better! No competition. Anyways, how come you aren't home?

Will: Sorry Ma, things happened, and I got caught up in camp.

Naomi: Aw, I wanna see my son! You're officially an adult!

Will *small laugh*: Still can't drink though.

Naomi: You can drink water.

Will *groans*: Maaaaa

Naomi: Oh pish posh. Those Americanos *tuts* we're Spanish William, they don't have to know *winks*

Will *laughs fully for the first time all day*: Maaa!

Naomi *grumbles about Americans, then gives Will a stern look* : You better come home for Christmas William Andrew Solace, and you can tell that Chiron of yours to stick it where the sun don't shine if he says otherwise

Will *laughs again*: Alright, alright ma!!!

Naomi *smiles*: Seriously. Oh look at you my sweet boy. When you were taken from me, you couldn't even tie your laces, now you're 18, all grown up. *sighs*

Will: I'm still your little boy Ma, always

Naomi: Damn right you are! Don't you change a bit Billy. You've got a big heart, you dare lose it and your Abuelo will roll in the grave, and your Abuela will storm over from Spain

Will: Don't worry! I won't :) Even if the reason is my fear of Abuela's ladle.

Naomi: That woman, when she has her hands on a cooking utensil, y'all better run away or run towards the table ready to be stuffed like a Christmas hog.

Will: Yeah.

Naomi: Well, you're only 18 once Willy, I hope you have a good day!

Will *tight smile, hiding the loneliness*: Yep, terrific, look! I got the cupcakes you sent me!!!

Naomi: Aw, *someone gestures off-screen* uh huh, *back to Will* Billy, I'm so sorry, but I'm gonna have to go, there's something wrong with the sound systems, I'm so sorry. I want to talk to you more, after all, my baby is only gonna turn 18 once, its a special day! *bites lip and looks conflicted*

Will *his heart breaks. He was gonna be alone again. He makes a smile*: Its alright Ma, I've got a cupcake to eat after all! *huffs a laugh*

Naomi *blows him a kiss*: Love ya Willy! Happy birthday sweetheart.

Will: Bye-

*Naomi cuts the message*

-Ma.

*Will swallows. He was alone again. His mother had more important things to do, OF COURSE SHE DID SOLACE, SHE HAS A LIFE, grow up Will. Will took the burnt out yellow candle from the cake, and bites into it*

*It tasted like home. Tears brimmed on Will's eyes and warm memories flooded his brain at the chocolate melting in his mouth*

*Memories of Spain- the brightly coloured streamers everyone would hang around. Abuela would be cooking a feast in the kitchen , so Will would wake up to the scents of heaven filling the house and smooches from Ma. He'd bound down the stairs and promptly be told that even though it was his birthday he still had to brush his teeth. Will would get it done as fast as possible, then go and help Ma bake cookies and cupcakes. He'd go outside and immediately be pelted with shouts and cries, hugs and noogies from the neighbourhood kids. Then, after being fed like a king, at night, the family would gather and Will would blow out the candles, and cut the cake to find the clue at the center*

*He'd use the clue to find others to find his gifts, which only then he'd be able to open. The whole procedure from the candles, to the singing, to the cake, to the hunt, to the opening would be filmed. Will's beaming face photographed on his birthday every year*

*Will finished the cupcake, and found a note in the centre. Hollowness that had filled his heart swelled. It was a little heart with a smile, and a "happy birthday Billy". Will smiled through the tears, and he was almost home in Texas with his Ma. But he looked up and the empty lonely came back. He smiled a bit through the tears. At least his Ma had sent him these. Will knew he was going to find other notes in the other cupcakes, he turned the paper over and found another message: "Brush ya teeth Billy"*

*Will laughed, and no one heard*

-----

*That night, Will came back late, his siblings already fast asleep*

*He felt vacant again*

*Nico had decidedly NOT come out. He didn't see Aria's smile all day, and Noa never even said hi. Cresent, as per usual, avoided him*

*Will collapsed into bed, and curled up. Emotionally exhausted*

*He missed home. He missed his Ma. He mourned his life. He mourned the Will Solace he used to be, the one everyone sees, the one everyone wants. Campers look at him, but its not him they see, they see the Will they knew, the Will he'll never live up- hell he doesn't even remember the memories, HE DOESN'T KNOW THAT WILL. He missed Nico. He missed being loved. He missed so much. He hated this overwhelming, all consuming loneliness. It's like his life has been reset, and everyone is treading on eggshells, and he was deserted by those he loved most all over again*

*For his "special day" he sure as hell didn't feel it- DON'T BE SELFISH SOLACE. he felt nothing at all, and while that may be a blessing some days, today he hated it. Hated himself. Hated living*

*When he had gone to pick up Nico's tray he saw that Nico hadn't taken the note. He always took the note. Will didn't bother placing another one with the next tray*

*Something consumed him*

*That night, Will cried himself to sleep*

[eriexplosion]

ND Tech Week Day 1 - Cadet Batch

Rating: General Audience Word Count: 630 Summary: Wrecker takes the quiet part out of Tech's peace and quiet, but Tech can't say he's upset about it. For @neurodivergent-tech-week

For once, the Kaminoan sky was clear. As clear as it could be, at least - Tech had been watching clouds gathering on the horizon since he first settled onto the narrow ledge to work, aware that the weather could shift towards a storm at a moment’s notice. But with his back tucked up against metal, goggles settled onto his thighs waiting for their upgrade to be installed, and calm waters far below, things were as close to peaceful as Tech had ever seen them.

Until his comm, set between his boot and the wall to ensure it didn’t fall from his perch, came to life.

Wrecker’s voice rang through in that hushed shout that passed for a whisper. “You still doing okay?” Even with the comm so far from him, Tech could hear breathing coming through, and he could just imagine Wrecker in his bunk, curled up and leaned in far too close as he waited for his answer.

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” Tech said idly, raising his own voice to compensate for the distance. He could have retrieved the comm, of course, but that would mean putting down the recording device currently occupying his hands, and with its fragile inner workings exposed at that. Turning it over, Tech briefly inspected the wiring as he waited for another response, only for none to come.

Wrecker was likely lonely then, looking for company rather than having anything to relay to him. Tech’s eyes flicked to the comm, listening to the breathing for a few seconds before asking, “Where are Hunter and Crosshair?”

“Shooting range.” A hint of crackling distorted the reply and Tech frowned. He wasn’t so far from their barracks that it should have interfered with the signal. The first hint of a brewing stom perhaps. He would need to keep a closer eye on the skies then, to ensure that if the weather did turn he - and more importantly, the recorder - wasn’t caught up in the downpour.

Still, the thought was unpleasant and he let out a short sigh, glad that the comm was too far away to pick it up. Wrecker didn’t need to think him disinterested when already searching for connection.

Tech plucked the smallest of his soldering irons from beside him, beginning to carefully fuse the ends of the wires into place within the new recorder. As he worked, he raised his voice again. “Have you listened to the audio recording I acquired for you?”

Wrecker had never been much for reading, but the blast that had taken sight on his left side had taken what little attention span he had for it along with them. Luckily, though he could only hear on his right now, audio processing seemed to have dodged the same fate, as long as the recording was suitably slow paced. He may not have been able to keep up with many of Tech’s explanations, but audio novels were a different story.

His investment in stories that could generously be described as tawdry was beyond Tech’s understanding, but understanding wasn’t necessary. They made his brother happy, so he would fight his way through as many layers of Kaminoan security as necessary in order to provide a continuous supply.

Instantly, the tone changed and brightened, Wrecker’s false whisper dropping and voice rising as eagerness overwhelmed any restraint. At first it made Tech wince to hear the sudden increase, but he adjusted quickly and soon enough the words became a comforting backdrop of their own.

Eventually, the clouds would gather and force him back inside, Wrecker would run out of Twi’lek pirate adventures to poorly relay back to him, and the moment would pass. But, for now, it was peaceful.

Perhaps he would even finish his work in time to record some of it.

[wonder-farm-hc]

Hi J, nice to meet you!! I saw your Shane's headcanons post and I tought it were SO CUTE!!! I love it!!

anyway, could you make some Sam headcanons? He's one of my fav bechelores (right after Shane)

Omg thank you so much, and yes ofc!! He's actually one of my favorites too, I find his character amazing, as well as his family dynamic so compelling and well thought-of.

Anyway, here's some headcanons!

As always, some stuff is under a "read more" banner, bc it was longer than I anticipated. And also, requests are still open for anyone!

-☆-☆-☆-☆-☆-☆-☆-☆-☆-☆-☆-☆-☆-☆-☆-☆-

🧡 Sam and Vincent get along very well, despite there being a bunch of years of difference between them (I headcanon Sam in his early 20s, whereas Vincent is around 8 - 10)

🧡 He and Vincent do a lot stuff together: play videogames, watch movies, catch bugs...they have fun! They care about each other a lot

🧡 Vincent has a slight pronunciation problem: he doesn’t say words super clearly, and he tends to talk fast and/or in a lower tone

🧡 For this reason, Jodi sometimes can’t understand what Vincent says, whereas Sam understands all of it (he spends more time with Vincent, so he’s accustomed to it)

🧡 Everytime Jas and Vincent hang out, Jodi used to say “Oh is she your little girlfriend?” despite Vincent getting embarrassed and Sam telling her to stop. One day it was too much, and Sam just blurted out “Hey I spend all the time with Sebastian, why don’t you ask if he’s my boyfriend?”

🧡 The next day Sam avoided Jodi and went straight to work, when he came back he closed himself in his room. Ultimately, he emerged late at night and Jodi was in the kitchen, seated at the table. She looked at him worriedly, asking where he’d been all day and if he’d eaten anything, and Sam just started crying and apologizing. In the end, Jodi hugged him, Sam came out to her mid-breakdown and apologized for being rude. Jodi apologized too for making the same joke over and over

🧡 Sam is bi (preference for boys)

🧡 Upon his big brother coming out, Vincent tried to think of that too, for Sam to then go “It’s ok you don’t have to answer right now, or ever really”. Vincent was relieved

🧡 Sam likes horror movies: it’s one of the reasons why he, Abigail and Sebastian became friends in the first place

🧡 Sam has ADHD. He struggled with it in school, but Jodi was always there for him

🧡 He likes to annoy Shane at work, but in the beginning he was actually kind of scared of him. He wanted to get his approval, as it was his first job. One particular day, he annoyed Shane so much that he snapped at him. Sam didn't want to make it show, but he was almost crying, and for a week after he barely spoke to Shane

🧡 After said week, Shane approached Sam after work in the locker room. He silently showed him a frozen pizza he had snuck out, and passed a slice to Sam. After a quiet “thank you”, Sam proceeded to eat it and the two of them passed the break mostly in silence. That was the start of their friendship, and Sam was grateful for the second chance

🧡 Of course he's best friends with Sebastian and Abigail, and one time Abigail convinced him to dye a chunk of his hair orange (like a tiger’s eye gemstone!)

🧡 He's also pretty good friends with Penny, as she looks after Vincent, and he thinks she's cool for knowing so much about history! (He goes to pick up Vincent from the museum from time to time, and he listens in to the explanations)

🧡 He finds Maru to be pretty cool, too! At first, Sebastian didn't want to include her in their outings, but little by little he opened up to her, and so Sam came to know her well. He finds the science experiments she does so cool and awesome

🧡 Actually, he's curious and eager to learn by nature. But being neurodivergent, he didn’t have the best experience in school

🧡 When his dad came back, he of course was very glad, but…it felt strange, at first. They didn't know how to properly talk or converse. But then, one night when Sam came home late from a DnD session with Sebastian and Abigail, Kent was still up, and asked him what he was out doing. Turns out, Kent used to play DnD with his friend group, and he's more than glad to discuss it with his son!

☆-☆-☆

Ngl, I could develop the one headcanon about him coming out into a little draft, or something. I just really like exploring dynamics like these!

[shunnedmorlock]

Hi! What are your opinions on each of the greens ?

Have a good day/night!

Otto: I think he gets a bad rap, not in absolute terms but relatively to the people like Viserys and Daemon. If you hate Otto for pushing Alicent to marry Viserys, you should hate Viserys much, much more. Otto is "merely" complicit in what happened. There was no one Vissy could've said no to more effectively than Otto. It just goes to a double standard you see a lot with these farcical black-green debates where people change their opinions on whether it's ok to judge people by in-universe standards depending on what "team" they're a part of. He has a habit of telling unfortunate truths that get him in trouble, but most of the things he says are just, like, objectively true, but people don't want to hear it. Daemon is actually a danger to the realm and his brother, Rhaenyra does actually have to give the scions of great houses a hearing, Daemon did actually groom Rhaenyra to claim the throne, Alicent's children do pose an inherent threat to Rhaenyra by their mere existence.

From a Doylist perspective, like many other things, I think episode 9 really butchered Otto's character. All of a sudden the guy who has been working hand in hand with his daughter for the past few episodes didn't tell her about the plot to seat her son on the throne??? And now the guy who got fired by Aegon for being too slow and measured in his war planning is pushing to kill Rhaenyra immediately? And he wants to send the Kingsguard to do clandestine assassin work? And he's reluctant to ban child fighting pits for like no reason? I'm sorry, you don't have to be a feminist to not like that!

Alicent: I have talked about her at length. Nixonian Queen. I kneel. The war will make her worse, and I enjoy it. One of the characters I think on-balance the show improved.

Criston: Not a good guy by any means, but dismissing him as just a resentful incel is just boring. It's very clear he was, at best, conflicted about his tryst with Rhaenyra to begin with - he liked her, they had a lot of chemistry, but he does genuinely believe in his vows. The marriage thing is obviously silly and naive, but from his perspective it's him trying to do right by her (and also preserve himself and his soul), which puts him a step above many other Westerosi men who canonically often feel no obligations to the women they sleep with outside of marriage or the children created. There is a real difference in values between him and Rhaenyra that goes beyond him hating women, even if his values aren't strictly speaking good. I'm sorry, but the fact that a Westerosi man is as sexually repressed as an average Westerosi woman is genuinely a point in his favor! I sincerely hope he and Alicent make each other worse. Substantially improved by the show.

Aegon: This is going to be controversial, but baffling/over-the-top/ill-thought-out decisions like Dyana and the child fighting pits aside, I much prefer this version of Aegon to F&B. I don't care that he's kind of pathetic, that's fun, that's drama, that gives room for character development and growth into the king he ends up becoming. It's clear the writers do want Aegon to be kind of sympathetic, but it seems they didn't consider what stuff like Dyana would do to that, which to me indicates they meant the focus of that scene to be Alicent and her behavior, not Aegon. Which is stupid. One of the worse victims of inconsistent characterization, switching between vaguely sympathetic drunken frat bro to outright sex criminal every episode, or even in the same episode.

Helaena: I like what they've done with her. It's more interesting for her to be a doomed neurodivergent prophetess than just a little dumb, even though she hasn't done a ton so far. Similarly, in an RP I was a part of, Jaehaera was depicted as not simple, just autistic and it was much more interesting.

Aemond: BORING! Don't care about this guy, sorry. Maybe I'll like him more when he is pathetically down-bad for Alys Rivers, but right now he's just like budget Daemon to me, who I also find boring. He was more interesting as a bullied teen.

Larys: He's a tough guy to adapt because his motivations are kind of nonsensical behind a vague idea of getting back at Rhaenyra (?) for dishonoring his brother (??) by putting his children in line for the throne (???). The foot thing is kind of gross and I do wish they'd have given him an actual motivation but whatever. The actor's good and I do like him and Alicent on balance. Improved by the adaptation.

Tyland: We love our little bureaucrat don't we folks? Hope he gets more screen time later on.

Jasper Wylde: FUCK YOU SHOWRUNNERS WHY IS THE GUY WHO HAS HAD ONE LINE THIS ENTIRE SEASON PART OF THE COUP BUT NOT ALICENT FUCKING HIGHTOWER??????

[n1ghtcrwler]

When I first got my autism diagnosis a few months ago, a handful of people in my family asked if I was okay or how I was taking the news, and that confused me. "This is just data," I told them, "I learned something that is true and can give me information on aspects of myself, there's nothing to feel about that. It simply is." And I meant that, I really did. But it was also very, very new, and I don't tend to respond with snap emotional reactions.

See, this hadn't been a real consideration before. When my brother took his first college psychology course back in, would have been somewhere around 2005-2007, he went to my girlfriend (who was at the same college as him) and told her he'd learned about a thing called Asperger's and that aspects of it reminded him of me. So she told me, and we looked it up, and based on what little info we could find we determined it didn't really fit, and I dropped it there. I later learned that autism existed, and its relationship to the Asperger's I had read about back then, by meeting and befriending a number of autistic people. But because I had ruled it out already, no amount of connection to those people, or visible similarity between us, made me wonder. So I didn't have years of wondering and considering and researching under my belt. I didn't start wondering and then slowly learn it was true of me, as seems to be a commonality in other stories I hear. I only got a neuropsych test because Carol noticed during her ADHD assessment that I sounded neurodivergent, and asked me to get an assessment as well. Then the pre-assessment showed that I should get a more broad-spectrum test instead of an ADHD assessment. Then the pre-assessment for the neuropsych showed that they wanted to focus on a couple things, one of which was autism.

And that was the first time I was aware, in nearly two decades, that this was a possibility, though it was one among many. And I didn't put too much thought, or any research, into it at that point because I didn't want to get a notion in my head and then act that notion out and get misdiagnosed with anything. So the results were a bombshell that just didn't fully explode right away.

Because now that I've had a few months to think about it, and learn a little bit, I find myself sad and angry. I went 41 years of my life with no knowledge of this, and no support, and no real answers. And maybe I could have put more effort into it in 2007, maybe I should have tried to get assessed then, but I didn't have money for that! I could barely hold down a job unless it was pizza delivery (I wouldn't realize until THIS WEEK how much my love of that job hinged on my systematic understanding of plotting courses on the fly and the literal hours of my day I spent alone in my car interrupted by brief, largely scripted, social interactions), I didn't have insurance, I was in my early-to-mid 20s and heavily self-medicating. But then my parents are telling me they wish they knew, that if they had known they would have maybe understood what was going on with me better and things could have been different. And I get them not understanding! What, really, could I expect two teenagers in the 80s to have known about autism? I don't think they need to beat themselves up for not recognizing it for what it was. But Carol, talking about her ADHD diagnosis, said something shattering. She was talking about the mockery and the lack of support for her needs, and said that, while it is nice to know she had a reason to be the way she was, it didn't really change the fact that other people had no reason to be cruel. And it really highlighted the question for me, "if things could have been different, why weren't they?" Did you need a diagnosis to see I was struggling? Did you need a diagnosis to know it was cruel to mock your child? Did you need a diagnosis to want to accommodate needs that made me stand out as weird?

Why did it take FORTY ONE YEARS for you to think things could, maybe should, have been different?

We sat down with the younger two kids this afternoon. Our youngest has been formally diagnosed with ADHD, and we wanted to help him understand a little of what that means for him and how much he shares that with his mom. Our daughter, it's obvious to us, has some form of neurodivergence, but since it isn't affecting her grades or her ability to keep out of trouble in school, they haven't noticed it; and without the school noticing it, it is prohibitively expensive to get her tested. So we wanted her to know what to look for, and that she doesn't need a diagnosis to come to us. We don't need a diagnosis to try our best to accommodate her needs. And this will involve breaking some habits, because we learned how to be parents from our parents, and our oldest already lost so many years of possible support to our lack of understanding, and we can't get those back. And I understand, to some degree, why it took a diagnosis for my parents to reconsider the ways they were taught to parent; because, while I tried to break the habits I inherited, it took a diagnosis for me to find a path toward success in that.

Everyone in my household is still learning what all these things mean for us, and how to handle them. And I guess there's a degree to which I'm mourning what my life could have been if I had known, or at least had some kind of help. It isn't just data, it turns out. It's also a history, and a set of needs, and to an extent, permission to meet those needs. I started wearing sunglasses indoors more. I've always wanted to, because the light hurts, but when it was just a stupid thing that's weird, I couldn't justlfy dealing with the fallout and assumptions from others about it. But now that it's an accommodation to a sensitivity, I can maybe get comfortable with it. I feel like there's a long road ahead, and a lot of baggage to unpack, but at least that's possible now. And who knows? Maybe, among my family, things will finally be different.

[astridthevalkyrie]

so idk how mha is gonna end but obviously the moral of the story we’re going for here is that everyone deserves to be saved and heroism is about saving people no matter what. that’s great! i’m guessing some or all of the league is going to survive and be put into some kind of rehabilitation center (toga and spinner seem the most likely to me for now but who knows). and i’m fine with that i like the overall message of it.

but how are they going to deal with the fallout from the league’s victims? i get the feeling that they’re not, or it’ll be a one-off like “some ppl were upset we didn’t jail or kill the villains but the heroes calmed them down” or something like that. i mean. whoever in the LOV it is would have to show remorse eventually, for one thing, for them to be any different than the corrupt hero system. but even then, all the families of whoever machia trampled on during the war arc, are they just gonna be cool with this? mind you I don’t think that anyone in the LOV should be killed or jailed rather than rehabilitated, but i wonder if the show is going to bring up that anyone who dabi or toga killed won’t get a second chance. they won’t get rehabilitated, they’re just gone. how are their families and friends going to deal with what society deems as an appropriate punishment for them?

i think this message also could’ve been conveyed better if we had more prominent “corrupt” heroes aside from endeavor and hawks. the top ten minus them and the irrelevant guy who retired after the war arc are all portrayed narratively as good people. iida’s brother is attacked by stain for no real reason at all aside from not being all might. all might’s heroism ends up being bad for society overall yeah, but so much of that is because of who toshinori is as a person rather than hero society (which does play a part but if toshinori just hadn’t pushed himself to be the best and number one savior for everyone there wasn’t necessarily any society forcing him to until after he’d already showed them he could do it).

PLUS the existence of afo offsets this message. everyone can be saved…..besides the real super evil people?? if, and I’m not saying they do, shigaraki and afo had the same kill count, is the lack of a sad childhood the only thing that makes afo beyond redemption? i mean he might not be gone gone if he’s still inside shigaraki’s mind or whatever, but that doesn’t change the fact that the heroes were trying to kill him too. narratively, why was all might in the right for killing him all those years ago when hawks was in the wrong for killing twice? because twice was kinder? because twice was neurodivergent??

mha also a little bit contradicts itself because. hero society is exposed post war arc. civilians have every right to be mad that their current number one is an abuser and that the heroes failed and couldn’t protect them. but theeeen, we have ochako’s speech in which she yells at scared civilians that “the heroes are the ones who are getting dirty!” which is like. yeah. they are. but during and post the war arc civilians also very much died. i feel for izuku but at first glance if someone promised you a safe haven from being attacked and then said oh never mind we’re actually going to bring the one guy shigaraki can absolutely track and hunt down here because he’s tired of fighting, getting upset with that is not totally unreasonable.

and I get that civilians are supposed to get mad at heroes for being corrupt, but not for failing, because heroes should never have been put up on such a high pedestal. they should be seen as humans who are as fallible as everyone else. that doesn’t change the fact the average innocent person would be rightfully scared, because it’s not just the heroes who are getting dirty. people are getting attacked. the heroes are not saving everyone. they shouldn’t have to and there’s no way they realistically can, but picking and choosing which aspects of hero society people are allowed to criticize feels…meh. if there’s gonna be fallout, fallout that endeavor and hawks if not the rest deserve, there should be proper fallout.

i don’t think the UA kids should be treated as full-fledged heroes because they’re not, but their age should not be the one thing that makes them better than the current heroes. they’re liable to the same mistakes and the same fallings. or they would be had they not all been portrayed from the beginning as one big happy hopeful crowd who just wanna save the day! there was opportunity to show who was in it for the right and wrong reasons and somehow ochako who has been so poorly written for several seasons actually had the most relevant arc (besides bakugo) about being in the hero business for the right reasons. ochako should have interned with hawks ochako should have interned with hawks ochako should have interned with there should’ve been more students in it for the glory, for the money, for the fame, but even monoma from class b and mineta are apparently true heroes! is being a high schooler all it takes??

anyway this is all jumbled and a mess but mha should’ve made hero society far more corrupt to justify its dismantling is my point. right now we’re getting a vibe of “the heroes are just as bad as the villains if they don’t save them too” and that’s just like. objectively not true. if hawks was supposed to be an assassin for hire for the hero commission, we should’ve seen him kill people aside from the guy who could’ve turned the tides of the war, at the very least actually kill best jeanist to finish his mission. if toga wanted to preach about how the heroes are just as bad because they killed jin, it falls flat when she’s on machia’s back stomping on people and then killing an old lady to talk to ochako. the heroes should try to save everyone including the villains because that’s what heroism is, but they are not equally as bad as the villains for trying to stop the villains.

the hero commission in general is just like afo, a vague villain we can blame so that we don’t have to blame the underlings. if people discriminate against animal quirks we should’ve seen it way earlier with shoji and tsu and tokoyami, maybe really expanded on it once mirko and hawks and even the dog cop were introduced. if sooo many heroes were in this for the wrong reasons, where are they? the current “failings” of the hero system are all might, endeavor, hawks, lady nagant and bakugo. everyone else is fine! there was a chance to show that someone like mount lady isn’t a real hero because she only cares about fame. there was a chance to show that aizawa is a good hero compared to others because he doesn’t try and seek glory. but these points are only halfway done and then kinda left there.

[beanghostprincess]

audhd monster trio anon here - i just wanted to give them all the same number of traits but make them all different, so there have some i also considered or forgot at the time:

sanji - issues with fabric textures, which is part of why his non-suit clothes are like that, also stimming (the hair tugging is both a coping mechanism and stim, the twirling when happy is stimming too), having routines he doesn't like disrupted (more order of doing things than time of them tho, "if you start this thing, then you also have to do that other one", also things having specific places they need to be when not in use, cause looking for them is a disruption too)

zoro - bad at directions, liking things to be in patterns of 3 or multiples of it, sensitivity to strong tastes (especially sweet ones)

luffy - also texture issues (shoes in general and the frills on amazon lily vest are nightmare cause they have parts with different textures, the flowy post timeskip shirt is fine cause it's one texture that took some time to find), disregard for rules or social conventions he thinks are stupid or don't make sense, lack of object permanence (which is why he didn't talk about ace or the beetles until he saw them or something reminded him strongly of them) and face blindness; the audioprocessing disorder was most strongly seen in fishman island when franky said "this is my master tom's brother, he's coating the ship" and luffy heard "he's coating franky's brother" or something like that? but also in lots of other places too

These are all so real,,,, No because-- These make so much sense for their characters I swear 😭💖 My beloveds. You literally said everything I had in mind when thinking about them being neurodivergent,,,

Sanji's stimming, Zoro's awful sense of direction, and Luffy's lack of object permanence I think are the most obvious ones when referring to their characters and canon behavior. Like it's just so clear they struggle with these things. And tbh I am so happy the crew's whole deal is to find a home and a place to fit in because they're all different from the rest but understand each other so well-- Going insane. I love them.

Thank you so so much for these headcanons <33 If you have some more about other strawhats I'd be so so happy to hear them!!! Because,,, Y'know,,,, Robin and Usopp and Nami and literally everybody else are so neurodivergent too 😭 Not a single neurotypical person in this crew.

[erinelliotc]

Talking about "Ed, Edd n Eddy" outside of Tumblr with (probably) heterosexual cisgender neurotypical men is just... frustrating. I feel like I'm talking to a door. The guy got mad just for stating the simple fact that what the Kankers do to the Eds is sexual harassment. I mean, how can anyone deny that? I thought it was, like, obvious to everyone lol. I made it very clear that it's my favorite cartoon and that admitting that what the Kankers do is sexual harassment doesn't mean it's bad or that it should've been canceled, and the guy just said he wouldn't read my text. It's ridiculous.

People outside of Tumblr are so lazy and this scares and saddens me because I love writing and I can hardly summarize my thoughts. I mean, it's okay if you don't want to read it, but then at least keep quiet and don't give your opinion on something you don't know about or assume what the other person said. People simply leave discussions with a simple "I won't read it" and feel victorious for it, even if the person in question is agreeing with them, agreeing more than disagreeing, or only partially disagreeing. They treat "writing too much" as having already lost the argument itself and that doesn't make any sense. The worst part for me is that being lazy to read and having the inability to formulate a counterargument has already been widely normalized on the internet as winning an argument, and it totally pisses me off.

Why are people so lazy to... think, discuss and reflect? To use their fucking brains!? They just want to attack people for no reason and be right at all costs! They act stupid and others agree with them! Ugh, I should just stay on Tumblr. I've already accepted that this is the only nice and safe (or at least the nicest and safest) place for neurodivergent / autistic people.

Anyway, about what happened:

It was in this Instagram post:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Millennial & 90's Content (@paraeden90s)

Comments started here:

I replied emir.d95 with this text:

I mean, it is sexual harassment. Admitting this isn't the same as saying that the cartoon is bad or that it should've been canceled (far from it, it's literally my favorite cartoon of all time), it's just stating a fact. It's like denying that Ed has an intellectual disability and is bullied because of it, or that Kevin is a bully (at least in the initial seasons), these are things that aren't explicitly said in the show, but are obvious and don't make it bad (furthermore, it was the 90s/2000s, it was a cartoon within what was considered normal for the time). Problematic things and complications happen, they are part of life, showing them in a cartoon isn't the same as agreeing with them. It was very clear that the Kankers were a bother to everyone and nobody liked them. Danny Antonucci said the Kankers were based on a group of girls he knew during his 7th grade school year. In his words "they're based on a pair of Grade 7 girls who true to form were always on the lookout for potential boyfriends. They frightened us with their intensity and attitude yet they always wanted to play the innocent with the older guys whom they wanted to date". They were based on real girls who were actually scary, cynical and a nuisance to Danny and others. The Kankers are supposed to be creepy, problematic, a pain in the ass, and disgusting. One of the biggest features of this show is the gross things, disgusting the viewers, and the Kankers and them abusing the Eds and sometimes others is one of those gross things. And before anyone says something like "It's just a cartoon, it's not that deep bro", we're talking about "Ed, Edd n Eddy", a show that literally addresses domestic violence, shows the main character's redemption arc and how his brother's abuse influenced him to act the way he did, and consequently teaches about friendship, forgiveness and acceptance. It's not just a silly cartoon, it also touches on serious subjects when necessary, sometimes in a more shallow, light and humorous way, or in a more explicit and profound way, like in the movie. The Kankers are abusers, just like Eddy's brother, and his punishment in the end is precisely being abused by them. Like it or not, "Ed, Edd n Eddy" teaches us, even if unconsciously and subtly, that girls can also be abusers and boys can be victims of sexual abuse. It's a great show for a laugh, but also for learning some valuable lessons every now and then. The movie was supposed to have even more serious and touching scenes, but unfortunately they didn't fit into the available time and budget.

Then I got these:

So, yeah... The lesson is: Don't expect a healthy in-depth dialogue about "Ed, Edd n Eddy" with people outside of Tumblr xD

[scarlet--wiccan]

Just out of curiosity but do you read/ hc pietro as neurodivergent? I know it’s a popular hc among fans and there’s certainly some moments that lend to that interpretation (plus I see a bit of myself and my brother in him so personally I hc he has mild autism) but I was wondering if you had any of your own thoughts on it, or for Wanda for that matter?

Yes, but it's complicated. Pietro and Wanda are both characters who spend a lot of time grappling with complex trauma, generational trauma, mental illness, and what are clearly meant to be read as neurological differences. I struggle with many of those things myself, and as a Romani person with an immigrant background, I get a lot out of reading these characters through that lens. It's an intrinsic part of what makes them so human and compelling to me, especially as part of a larger, intergenerational tapestry of mixed-race immigrants and survivors. These issues are a part of our heritages and histories, so I want that to be reflected in the characters who represent me.

I think it's hard to talk about neurodivergence or mental illness-- which, of course, are not the same thing, I just mean that the conversations tend to overlap-- with Wanda and Pietro because this is already, textually, part of the characters, but it's been implemented in really messy ways.

For both of them, their primary mental health challenges and neurological differences are treated as extensions or results of their powers. There is an allegorical element that gets in the way of literal representation. This sort of thing is very common in superhero comics, and I've written about it before regarding transness and genderfluidity. It's entirely possible to still write meaningful and resonant representation, but I don't know if I feel comfortable saying "Pietro is autistic"when the text is saying he doesn't have autism, he has a super-speed-mutation-brain. Does that make sense?

The other problem is that the material that introduced these elements to the characters is really problematic. I'm sure I don't have to explain why House of M is an ableist and sexist narrative, but a lot of people seem to overlook the fact that the depiction of Wanda as a person with specific mental illnesses is rooted in a harmful, ableist storyline. Specifically, the way that schizoaffective disorders are defined and pathologized in Disassembled is cruel, inaccurate, and just unacceptable. That tone is still echoed in a lot of modern comics when Wanda's mental health is addressed.

In addition, I really don't like to put too much stock in the whole "Pietro Maximoff Syndrome" thing from X-Factor. For one thing, Peter David is a hateful, vocal anti-Romani racist, and it is reflected in a lot of his choices with Pietro. While this direction did humanize and justify some of Pietro's personality flaws, I do feel that the tone was overall very derisive towards him.

In Scarlet Witch (2016), Wanda talks about going to therapy and taking antidepressants, and in Quicksilver: No Surrender (2018), Pietro talks about his complex trauma responses in a way that's specifically grounded to the reality of being a severely marginalized person of color. These are the best examples of how their mental health has been addressed-- they bypass the powers and allegory and just allow the characters to inhabit real experiences that actually deserve representation.

That said, it doesn't really represent neurodivergence the same way. I think that's a subject that superhero comics have been dancing around for a long time, but haven't quite figured out how to reckon with. I really hope its something we'll see more positive growth towards, in the future.

[garciafamlover500]

Javier Garcia HC's because why not? (Some things are most likely OOC)

Bisexual (Canon), Transmasc and Polyamorous (both HC).

Autistic + c-ptsd + hard of hearing (My man shot a gun right beside the same ear TWICE)

Dating Tripp and Jesus (Tall, big muscles, beards, this man definitely has a type-)

Cat person all the way, can and will adopt any stray cat he sees

He has a massive sweet tooth and his favorite dessert is pudding. But he also loves latino cuisine with his favorites being nachos, Ropa Vieja, Arroz con pollo and Tamales

Can't cook for shit, never let him inside the kitchen

Lets Clem and Mariana (YES SHE'S ALIVE BC I SAID SO) paint his nails, and sometimes he even lets them doll up his face a little, some men wanna look pretty too, y'know?

One time, he lost a bet to Tripp and Conrad during a card game and had to wear a dress for the entire day. At first he felt embarrassed as hell, but as time went by he actually grew to enjoy wearing it, heck some people (including David surprisingly) actually complimented him about it! Needless to say, this was when Javi realized he was GNC

(Pre transition) Javi used to bind with ace bandages for awhile because he didn’t have enough money to buy a proper binder until David bought one for him

Started taking HRT when he was 16

Hates hot weather and prefers the cold, he loves snuggling up by the fireplace while drinking a nice cup of hot chocolate with his two giant boyfriends

used to hate his freckles because when he was younger some asshole kid called them ugly. However, after a little reassurance from David he started to grow fond of them. Tripp and Jesus love planting small kisses on them whenever they get the chance

Had an emo phase when he was in middle school

Has a tooth gap

Taught Gabe and Mariana how to play baseball when they were little

Infodumps about baseball A LOT, stims in multiple different ways, and whenever he feels overstimulated Mariana would usually lend him her headphones and tape player so he could cool off for awhile

Since he’s HOH, they’ll be times when he has difficulty hearing certain things, so he communicates through sign language sometimes

He also uses sign language to communicate whenever he feels over/under-stimulated, this is due to him going nonverbal when overwhelmed or underwhelmed

Does NOT fully forgive Eleanor, and probably won’t be anytime soon

GARCIA BROTHERLY FLUFF TIME!

He and David are slowly staring to rekindle their relationship, they’ll be times when they meet up on one of the rooftops of one of Richmond’s buildings at night and just talk about random stuff, be it from current events or past memories, while staring up at the stars and enjoying each other’s company

One time, some random douchebag kept bothering javi about his past with gambling, and David just walked up to the guy and fucking decks him in the jaw

David tended to tease Javi from time to time whenever Javi would gush about Jesus and Tripp. And when Javi announced he was dating them, David couldn’t help but feel a little overprotective

He and David would randomly speak spanish when having a conversation somtimes

David was the classic older brother when they were growing up: Pranking Javi, putting things out of reach for him, calling dibs on everything first, you name it!

I HC that David was actually pretty good at baseball as a kid, that’s one reason why Javi really got into it as well

David was the first person Javi came out to as trans, bi AND neurodivergent

After the whole new frontier fiasco, David started to have nightmares about nearly killing Javi back at the water tower and would wake up screaming his name with tears in his eye. One night Javi caught him having one of these nightmares and when he was able to wake him up, David just broke down in his embrace while apologizing over and over again and Javi would just hold him and encouraged him to let it all out.

(possible part 2! Let me know what yall think)

[shirefantasies]

do you have a fave member of the company and of the fellowship? if so, who and why?

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Oh ho ho! Well I’m glad it isn’t too overly obvious 😉 as far as the fellowship goes I’m a big Pippin girlie! From the company I love Ori so much, such a sweetheart and I love non traditional masculine characters every single time! And innocent cinnamon rolls are my kryptonite. I just love him! Bofur, he’s just so adorable and heartwarming and goofy and ahhh! Plus his early exchange with Bilbo is so iconic. “Think furnace with wings.” To quote what my personal blog @spacemanxpaninis has on its page about all my favorite characters:

On Pippin-

“My childhood fictional character crush! …that kinda carried into adulthood… I’m a sucker for humor and adorable innocent dorks, plus Pippin is extremely neurodivergent-coded and it does my clumsy screw-up heart good to see a clumsy screw-up type character. But you know what? Pippin is a hero. He overcomes so much and matures a lot and he’s not perfect, but that’s part of why I love his character. He’s different from all the other unique figures and has a heart of gold, but doesn’t always know how to use it. He wants to help and it breaks his heart that people around Pippin think otherwise and that in turn breaks MY heart. He’s just the cutest, sweetest man and I want to make him happy forever. Plus PLEASE that scene at Sam’s wedding I WILL maintain that is the funniest thing that happens in those movies darnit he is HILARIOUS. That and mission…quest…thing. Iconic. Who is doing it like him.”

On Sweet Ori-

“It kinda kills me how little screen time we got of each dwarf from The Hobbit because of sheer numbers and how much screen time they wanted to give to bigger names mostly the line of Durin. Because here we have dear sweet Ori, canonically in the movies the youngest company member and one of the most polite, this young scribe finding his courage alongside his big brother on a quest to reclaim a homeland he’s never even been to. Yes, more patterns, another cinnamon roll. I never said I had no blorbo type ok? I just adore Ori’s innocence but also the way he balances having traditional dwarf interests with other things like his art, writing, knitting, and such. He doesn’t entirely conform to his people’s standards, but seemingly isn’t too outcast for that either and I find that to be a high word of the dwarrow. Ori is just a little sunshine character for me that always makes me happy :) I wish others appreciated him more too!”

On Bofur:

I mean come on, everyone loves Bofur right??? If not THEY SHOULD! Like, his whole thing is being lovable come on. One of the most unique designs among the dwarves, Bofur looks far different from the stereotype and that’s a wonderful element of ‘not all of any given people look the same’ plus it makes him stand out even more. Bofur is such a comfort character- you know he gives the warmest hugs EVER and he holds you for as long as he can. Bonus points for being one of the first to really welcome Bilbo because he’s just that kind and accepting of a person, someone who would take a lot to really dislike somebody. Beyond being kind he’s also a great listener AND a great party companion, the epitome of ‘get you a man who can do both’ as equal gusto goes into dancing and singing and being with the people he loves and being there for them too. I just know he would be the best dad too ugh.

Lomls fr thanks for letting me rant and plug my personal blog anon 😉🥰

[spencerfuckngreid]

· T H E A R T O F G E T T I N G T O K N O W | S P E N C E R R E I D · PT 1

I'm sorry if some jokes don't make much sense in English, as they were originally written in Spanish. I'm not very good at English either, so this might not be the best translation. Sorry! This fanfic is just an experiment, so please don't be too harsh... I'm not a writer; I just want to have fun. Thanks, and I hope you enjoy it!

· Pairing: Spencer Reid/OC · Category: Fluff · Warning: None · Words: 2650 · Parts: Pt 2 · Pt 3 · Pt 4 · Summary : Eli, a psychology expert and old friend of Luke's, joins the UAC as a consultant and quickly bonds with Spencer Reid. As they delve into a complex case, Eli and Spencer find themselves drawn to each other on a deeper level. · Note about Eli: Her neurodivergence (She is autistic) is implied but it's never really said. · Spanish on Wattpad. English isn't my first language, be kind!

· Masterlist

· P O V E L I ·

Eli was sitting on the backrest of the bench. She took a sip of coffee and looked at her friend.

—Hey, give me a pastry, Luke. Are you going to eat them all or what? We always have the same fight over breakfast… if I didn’t love him… well, and if I wasn’t so sleepy…

—Haven't you already had one? —the dark-haired man protested.

—Hey! I really hate you sometimes. Don’t move the box away again! —Eli complained as she pulled the hood of her sweatshirt over her wavy, black hair. It was quite cold, especially this early.

Sometimes we had breakfast together before work. I work as a professor at the university; I studied psychology and forensic sciences. And Luke… well, he's a criminologist, working in the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit.

—Seriously, give me a damn pastry. I’m hungry, and you’re such a glutton! —She jumped off the bench and tried to grab them.

—What the…? What do you mean by glutton? What’s that? AHAHAHA

—It means you eat a lot, that you eat everything, smartass… —Eli commented, narrowing her dark eyes.

—Really? Now you’re part of the Royal Academy of Language?

—Since when are you so sarcastic? I hate it when he makes me grumble… seriously, pff… By the way, aren’t you supposed to stay in shape for the FBI, oh “super smarcle agent ”?

—“Smarcle”?

—It’s a play on words, little brother. Do you know what that is? Smarty + muscles —the girl smiled mockingly.

—Uh, you’re so funny, shorty… If you keep laughing, you’re going to choke…

—You love it when I give you nicknames. Smarty is my favorite —she smiled broadly, tilting her head to look at him.

We’ve known each other since we were kids, we’re like siblings. I know he adores me, though sometimes… Well, our relationship is like that. I guess we love each other, but we can’t help it.

—Stop calling me that… I hate it…

—Oh… I’m sorry… did I hurt your little pastry-filled heart?

—Seriously…? hahaha you’re the worst… —Luke shifted and gave her the last pastry.— I knew he would do that… This idiot always makes me smile in the end. —Hey, changing the subject… have you thought about what I told you? Let me talk to my boss, seriously, your help would be great on this case.

—Seriously, Luke, I’m swamped with work…

—Eli… I know it scares you, but on the other hand, you’re motivated to try new things. It’s an opportunity to help a lot of people, and me… come on…- That pouty face… ugh…

—O-Okay… Yeah, yeah, I can do it, but if I get overwhelmed with work, I’ll have to drop it, you know that, right?

—Yes, yes, a thousand thanks, babe! I love you! —And I…

—I know —she said, raising an eyebrow before taking a sip of her coffee, as if it didn’t matter.

—Stop acting tough, dummy…

· P O V L U K E ·

Luke arrived at the BAU and greeted his colleagues, who were already working in the bullpen. He was a little late because he got held up with Eli.

—JJ, his blonde friend, greeted him quickly and commented—: Hey, I hope at least you brought something for breakfast, slowpoke.

—What’s up with all of you today? —Luke laughed—. Stop giving me a hard time for a bit, will you? Sometimes a guy has a heart —he said, pouting.

—All of you? —JJ’s eyes widened—. Uh, who’s the girl giving you a hard time…?

—Very funny, JJ… I wish it were that kind of thing —Luke joked with a smile.

Spencer chuckled, watching the scene, and Rossi held back his own jokes.

—I’ve been with Eli. She’s like my sister, so cut it out with those kinds of comments, will you? It’s… ugh, almost incestuous —his friends reacted with some laughter; they’d heard of her before but didn’t know her—. Anyway, I have to go talk to Emily, see you in a bit.

—Yes, sir… and he dodges work again… —Rossi commented.

—How’s that crossword coming along, Rossi? —Spencer couldn’t resist adding with a grin.

· P O V E L I ·

The hustle and bustle of the UAC headquarters was more overwhelming than I had anticipated. I accepted Luke's offer, but now that I was here, surrounded by strangers in an environment that seemed so alien to my world, I was starting to have doubts. "What kind of mess have I gotten myself into?"

—Eli, come here! —He greeted me with his usual carefree smile, the one he wears so well and that always made me feel a bit more at ease, but that also had the power to get me into trouble from which I didn’t know how to get out, because the truth is I’ve never been good at saying no and Luke tends to be very persuasive, he’s always been like that since we were kids. "Okay, Eli, you can do this. Just hold on a bit, meet the people, and then go back to your safe zone."

—Guys, this is Eli —Luke said, placing his hand on my shoulder.

I nodded, trying to appear calm and confident. "Okay, breathe, smile, and greet. Everything will be fine..."

—Hi, it’s a pleasure. —I tried to smile warmly, but meeting new people isn’t exactly my strength. So I’m not quite sure what my face looked like at that moment... I’m not too fond of having my personal space invaded and suddenly find a blonde girl 10 cm away from me... I almost died...

—Hi! I’m Garcia, Penelope. Oh my God, are you really friends with Luke? Do you put up with him? —I liked that she had a lot of decorations in her hair and wore so many colors. It was like she illuminated the room.

—Well... actually no, not much.

I tried to joke, but I think I was more serious than I intended, although she laughed. "Damn Luke, I shouldn’t have let him talk me into this. I think I’m having a panic attack right now, there are too many new people here..."

—Haha... so funny, Eli... I think what Eli means, Garcia, is that I put up with her. Let me introduce you to the others. Rossi, JJ, Matt, and... Where’s Reid?

—He said he’d be late today, he’ll be here in a bit —JJ, the long-haired blonde with clear eyes, added—. Let’s start without him.

"Great... come on Eli, take it step by step... Be cordial, do your job, smile, kill Luke, and go home. Not necessarily in that order."

Luke took me around, introducing me to the rest of the team. I tried to keep my composure, but my mind was a mess. "I’m smiling, right? Touch your face subtly and check... Okay, no, damn it, smile, your serious face is scary. Okay, good, now yes. Be beautiful, be a damn Disney princess."

Finally, Luke led me to his desk, and I sat down, grateful for a moment of rest. The atmosphere was pleasant, yes, but also overwhelming in a way I hadn’t anticipated. I need a lot of preparation, and new environments overwhelm me too much. Just at that moment, I heard Luke’s soft voice breaking the silence.

—Don’t worry, Eli, you’ll do well here. Besides, you haven’t met Reid yet. I’m sure you’ll like him —he said with a reassuring smile.

—Yeah... It’s not that... Too many people all of a sudden... All unknown... —I replied with a somewhat forced smile, though I was starting to feel a bit more comfortable. Hopefully, I could handle the situation without seeming like a complete rookie.

—Come on Eli... You can handle this and more. I trust you, so trust yourself too. I love you, okay? —I smiled at him, trying, in part, to feel better about myself.

· P O V S P E N C E R ·

I arrived later than usual, and when I walked into the office, the first thing I noticed was the new presence in the room. Luke was talking to a woman who, by her posture and the way she looked around, seemed a bit out of place, but still maintained a smile on her face, a smile that looked forced.

As I approached, I could see that she was making a visible effort to fit in. Luke spotted me immediately.

—Reid! —he called out, pointing to the new arrival—. Come here, let me introduce you, our new external consultant. My friend Elisabeth Jackson.

Elisabeth looked at me, and for a second, our gazes met. I don’t know what happened in that moment that threw me off completely. She smiled shyly, and something in her expression made me smile too.

—Hi, Elisabeth. It’s a pleasure to meet you —I said, trying to sound as friendly as possible. Her dark, intense eyes sparkled with an intelligence that seemed to want to analyze every little detail. But also a hint of nervousness that made me smile, recognizing in her someone who, like me, might prefer to be in a quiet library rather than in the midst of a group of talking people.

—Hi, Reid. —She said with a friendly tone, though I perceived a slight tension in her voice. —Eli is fine... —she hesitated.

—Okay, Eli... yeah, sorry... —I don’t know why I got nervous, suddenly felt like an idiot for apologizing.

We stood there for a moment, exchanging tense but cordial smiles, until Luke broke the silence to continue with the introductions, and we went back to our daily routine. However, I couldn’t help but glance at Eli a couple more times during the morning, curious, not knowing why she intrigued me so much.

· P O V E L I ·

Spencer Reid's arrival jolted me out of my reverie. The prodigy in his field, well, in many fields, I knew who he was, and of course, I was familiar with his work, but I didn’t recall his eyes, and that they would impact me more than his publications. "Girl, what are you thinking...?"

Yes, I knew him from college, just from a couple of classes; we crossed paths occasionally, though he doesn’t seem to remember who I am, to be honest. Understandable, on the other hand.

We sat together during the meeting, and although I spent most of the time in silence, feeling like an outsider in a new environment, Reid made the atmosphere a bit more bearable. He didn’t talk much, but when he did, his words carried a weight that made them seem more significant.

He looked at me with his brown, curious eyes, as if he were trying to decipher who I was. *He did this repeatedly throughout the day and I tried not to seem too nervous; I didn’t want them to think I wasn’t up to the task. "He’s uncomfortably kind, analytical, looking for something... and my abilities drop to -1000 when someone is watching me, damn it..."

The day went on, and despite my initial anxiety, I gradually started to feel more comfortable. Garcia was a whirlwind of positive energy, and although she intimidated me at first, I soon found that her enthusiasm was contagious. Spencer, on the other hand, was a calm and constant presence, someone I knew I could share deep conversations with without feeling judged.

The first day was going quite well. "I need a break..." I went to the common room and sat down to eat something, not before getting distracted by making little paper balls with a napkin and scribbling in my small red notebook. Spencer walked in just as I was stacking several objects on top of each other, trying to see if I could balance them. Me and my brilliant mind.

—Sometimes, a break is just what you need to think clearly. —He said as he pulled a sandwich from his bag, looking at Eli with amused curiosity and sitting down across from her.

—Eli jumped and knocked everything over, not without letting out a small scream first. —Oh, crap... —She turned beet red as she looked up and began to pick everything up.

—Spencer chuckled quietly. —What are you doing...?

—I... uh... n-nothing... It’s just how I am. —She opened her eyes wide. "What are you saying?! How are you like this?! Are you dumb or what?"

—He couldn’t hold back and let out a small laugh. *—*He seemed entertained, certainly... an improvised 3D puzzle.

—Well... yeah... —He cleared his throat, biting his lip, fiddling with the napkin. —I like puzzles.

—Yeah, I can tell. —The brunette gave a smile, leaning a little toward her, almost instinctively. —I guess this job, like psychology, has something to do with puzzles.

—Eli smiled softly, feeling more at ease and forgetting the previous incident, then hesitated before continuing. —I’ve always been interested in human behavior, patterns... Since I was little, I’d observe how people acted. In fact, when I was in college... —She paused for a few seconds, hesitating. —I had a class in criminology with you. You were... well, like you are now: brilliant.

—Really? —He asked, furrowing his brow slightly as he tried to remember, looking up. —What was the class?

—Advanced Psychology. —She murmured uncertainly. —You were always at the front.

—Advanced Psychology... —he repeated, then his expression changed as if something clicked in his memory. —Row four, seat six... was that you? You always had a notebook... yes, like that one, red, and you sat near the window.

—Oh! —She exclaimed, surprised and a bit flushed. —Yes, that was me... I can’t believe you remember so well. "Don’t get too excited, friend, he has a super brain, it’s not because of you."

—I have eidetic memory, but... —he smiled slightly, somewhat embarrassed. —It’s not always so clear with people. What seems odd to me is that you noticed me, I mean, hmm... well, you know... that you specifically remember me... —Spencer trailed off, unsure of how to finish.

"I need to scream and process everything he’s telling me. Are there any hidden messages here? Can someone translate all this for me?!" —Uh... Well, it’s that I’ve always played at that, really, I like observing and learning. I memorize what people do, how they are, how they might be... So I remember weird things at absurd moments, I suppose —she admitted with a soft laugh, now feeling more at ease. —You always seemed so focused, so... in your own world.

—It’s funny... —he said, looking directly into her eyes, with a sincere smile. —I always thought I was completely alone in that world, but maybe that wasn’t entirely true.

—I’m glad to know I wasn’t so invisible after all. —She said, holding back a sigh.

—Definitely not. —He said softly, smiling —And now, I’m really happy that we’re here, sharing something more than just a class.

—And I... —she replied, feeling the conversation flow naturally, though she felt like running through the halls screaming and completely red. She wasn’t sure if she had a kind, panicked, or clownish expression. "Oh God, I’m losing it. What’s happening? He’s adorable and I want to die!!"

The case would continue its course; Luke provided me with constant support, he knows my difficulties, and for me, the most important thing at that moment was to adapt, to find my place among them. With a bit of luck, I might feel settled in this new environment. "Come on, Eli. Just one step at a time." · Requests via DM ·

----

Well, the first chapter. I had an introduction, but I decided to combine it with the first chapter since it felt too short. I hope you like it; I'll try to update soon. I'm really enjoying writing the conversations, to be honest. There’s still quite a bit to go, I don’t know how many chapters there will be, but my idea is for this to be very FLUFFY, you know, kisses, intimacy, cuddles... we'll get there. If you have any comments, contributions, or questions... you know where to find me. That will come soon, I’ll speed up to get to the important stuff, I promise.

Kisses!

[lucaonthropy]

I feel like there's a case to be made about how Airplane's trauma not only was projected into LBH (and a bit into MBJ) but bleeding to other characters, too.

No other character in PIDW has a healthy and/or present man presence in their life after everything is said and done. And yeah, his excuse is that PIDW is a power fantasy straight harem novel but I've (been forced to) read some novels with similar premises and the genre doesn't insist every man to get wiped out just for existing, so this is a choice made by Airplane (though if it's under duress of his fans not wanting male characters to muddy the porn, I don't know).

Sha Hualing's grandfather (Or was it her father?) gets killed and while I don't think she's close at all with him, she still loses her clan's territory to LBH and ends up powerless. Liu Mingyan loses her brother early on, never gets revenge, and loses her sect. Ning Yingying loses her teacher (yes he is not a good one, but he never raises a hand against her. Despite everything, I'd say that counts in her POV), her friends, and her sect. Qiu Haitang loses her family early on and her fiance is tortured to death. Xiao Gongzhi loses her father and the sect she's supposed to inherit.

Even after that, they all marry ("saved by") the same man that, while never hurt them directly (and some of them actually love), also definitely is not a good man nor a good husband.

I don't know. My brain isn't good enough to make an actual meta and this whole thing is just a realization I got while in the shower. But, as a neurodivergent author whose self identity bleeds all over her work almost every time I write, I feel like there's something in this.

Though if this is already a common understanding or someone has already said it or if I get something wrong (my memory is rancid), then I'm really sorry about that.

[stormblessed95]

I know a lot of jikookers are absolutely certain about jikooks relationship but I just don’t see it. I don’t ship them but there are things that will always I guess reassure that they aren’t in a relationship for me personally. I wanted to state them to see your opinion on it.

I want to start with jimin calling jungkook his younger brother, I think this is very telling on why it causes me to believe they’re probs just friends. I don’t usually see jk saying he’s my brother and my older brother as much as jm and it seems as though jimin is trying to like push a point if that makes sense but it could just be me perceiving it as that. No one who’s dating someone is gonna call them their sibling unless they have some crazy incest kink lol and we see jm do that. Another thing was jungkook saying Jimins girlfriend would be lucky this was prob in relation to jimin being a giving and kind person and I was like would anyone in a relationship ever say that even if they’re trying to hide a relationship.

Another big thing for me was the physical affection the members still all show each other (especially tae and jk I’ll explain further) and that’s not a problem of course but I would’ve thought there’d be some boundaries set and enforced considering jikook are in a ‘relationship’. Like receiving the same level of physical affection from them kinda said a lot but also didn’t. Like for example in life goes on at ptd las vegas jungkook grabbed jimins butt and everyone went crazy as they should but namjoon did kinda did the same and cupped jungkooks butt so I was kinda like? But that maybe something they’re okay with within their relationship. But other moments of physical affection that stood out with me are all regarding tae and jk. For example when he sat on taes lap which could of course be platonic but why would you do that on a stage with thousands of people and your so called boyfriend right there? And another was in the soop when jk sat on taes legs/thighs while he was laying down and they were both wearing shorts (this is kinda important because I feel like presence of clothing changes the level of intimacy of this moment) it made me question a lot. And a really big one again was when tae rubbed jungkooks upper thigh while jimin was right there which was very intimate considering it was yk bare skin and it seemed kinda normal for them. There are probably more moments like this regarding them and probably even other members but these rlly stood out and said a lot. There was also a time where jk kissed Jin’s leg or I think jm kissed hobis neck in hobis bday live.

And once in a run bts episode where jk succeeded in a game and he was really happy and jm n tae were there watching and he wanted to celebrate by hugging tae and jm also tried to hug him but it was awkward bc he only hugged tae n jm was kinda just left out it could’ve been that he just didn’t see him/register it(that he left him out). Or when namjoon commented on his live that he wanted to go on a date with jungkook and jungkook was like how can u say that here n a giggly tone (I mentioned this because flirting with smn who’s in a relationship) or a time where v kept telling jm he liked him n flirted with him. Like all these moments of intimacy wouldn’t be a big deal with me and my friends but we are all straight so I kinda can’t see it from the point of view of someone who’s attracted to the same sex and has physically intimate relationships with the same sex while being in a relationship with someone of the same sex I hope that makes sense. And im not an incel if my confusion comes off as that please understand im a bit special (neurodivergent)😭 and I do flirt with my friends iknow those are jokes so it could be the same for them too and me and my friends do all the same as I’ve mentioned here.

I think I’ll stop there. And I am in no way saying that because of all this their relationship isn’t as cute and intimate and special as before but this is just in regards to them being in a romantic one which could still be true because those theories of their relationship are all plausible. But I think you can kinda understand my confusion with the topic. Please share your thoughts

(I’m watching jungkooks 30/6 live right now 😭 he’s singing and working out i love him)

You are free to think whatever you want to think. My opinion doesn't matter more than yours. Although perhaps some advice, as a straight person, don't make comments and assumptions about how queer people interact with each other 😅 I'm bi, I'm married, I went out with my best friend the other day and we called it a "date" and I'm touchy with my friends all the time. I've sat on my friends lap at the pool before too and I promise I didn't even want to sleep with her at all. Even though I am also attracted to women as well as men. Soooo.... where do we go from here? Lol not to mention how queer people often have way different kinds of boundaries than straight people do. And how PERFORMERS and people in that kinda industry as a Job or hobby ALSO have way different types of boundaries and generally are happy being touchier together.... like these are straight people and they are dancers and they are dancing together and both are married to other people and you even see the girls husband get *jokingly* upset but never actually really bothered

Also please don't send me giant essays like this where you say you want my opinion unless you've actually gone through my masterlist first. Because I've literally already made posts about everything you've brought up. And I label it all so nicely and make it so easily to find if you wanted to go find it. If you would like help finding specific posts for specific topics. DM me. I'm actually really nice, promise. I've held conversations about my posts with non shippers and even tkkrs (which you lowkey sound like btw, no one other than tkkrs are usually so focused on taekooks skinship, which isn't as high or even as "sus" as many other member duos) and those conversations have gone just fine. My DMs are open.

My masterlist. If you really want my opinions here they are. You'll find posts over your specific topics mentioned under the Important Posts topic and the Jikook Posts topic. Happy reading from one ARMY to another.

And come back if you do read it and don't want to DM me and rather be anon. I'd be interested to see if you took me seriously (I'd be nicer in my replies then) or were actually just here to troll. I have posts about "younger brother" I have posts about relationship boundaries, I have posts about skinship. I have posts for tkkrs. I have posts about taekook being cute, I have posts for why I think jikook are a couple, I have posts for lgbtqia education, I have posts for practically everything. You just need to go looking for it.