#My adhd is fighting so hard

[galadrail]

Okay but why the fuck did rick riordan wrote so much books like yeah it's good but man stop, take some rest it's okay I swear

[alchemiclee]

😺🐧🐱snuggly siblings~⭐️✨️

[sidesteppostinghours]

I need to stop finishing fics when i have to sleep. but anway. heres 1.3k words of f!chentega, plus a bit of unnamed sidestep for funsies.

Chen is cutting Ortega's hair.

They've both settled into her living room, a bottle of beer set on the table. She's buzzed, not drunk, just enough alcohol in her system to get the words flowing easier. Chen, ever responsible, hasn't touched a drop. He focuses on cutting and brushing, mechanical hands careful not to get the comb tangled in her wavy hair. Julia, meanwhile, is talking, but about what, she couldn't tell you. Half of her thoughts are elsewhere, eyes closed as she lets Chen work.

Cutting Ortega's hair has become their own little ritual. Every few months or so, whenever her hair became long enough to bother her, she would call Wei over to cut it down to length. Sometimes she returns the favour, though that mostly entails grabbing a razor and shaving until it was completely cropped. Not like this, where skills actually mattered to make the results look good.

It was suggested to her, uncharacteristically, by Chen. About a year or so after she first cut her hair, she was lamenting to him about how she missed having short hair. She was just talking– she didn't expect him to take it seriously, but about ten minutes into her rant he had looked up from where he was typing on his computer and asked, "Do you want me to cut it?"

She had given him a look. "You can do that?"

He shrugged. "I know some styles. I can make it look decent, at least."

"Are you sure?" she'd asked, still skeptical. Not that she wouldn't be grateful, but-

"You don't have to deal with the stylists anymore," he pointed out, and that had been that. She found out later on that he learned how to cut hair from his siblings. He would mostly do it on his brothers, though sometimes his sisters too, when the money was tight or his family didn't feel like heading to the stylist.

It's nice, sitting here and talking to him like nothing else matters. A moment of reprieve to catch their breath in the pressure bomb that is their lives. Julia cracks a joke, and Chen huffs in amusement, though he doesn't stop cutting. She takes another pull from her bottle.

Maybe one day she'll ask the questions she's been meaning to. They still haven't talked about whatever this is. Neither Chen nor Ortega are good with their words, and there isn't much that isn't already said by the pocket moments they spend watching eachother navigate the world. The look in other people's eyes when somebody calls Wei "he". The way the stylists purse their lips whenever Julia walks into the studio. The understanding was unspoken but mutual, though Ortega could never place what. Chen might be able to, but until she decides to ask, she wouldn't know.

She will. Someday. Just not today, sitting in front of her TV, talking about God-knows-what and content to let him work till he finally steps away.

"Finished."

She opens her eyes, not bothering to look at herself in the mirror though its propped up on the table next to the beer. They've done this enough times already that she knows it will look good. Instead, she watches as Chen puts everything away, combs, clippers, the works. She nabs the scissors from the table, spinning it on her finger. When he goes to grab them and finds nothing, he looks up and sighs, the corner of his lip twitching at her antics.

"Julia, you're going to stab someone's eye out."

"Hey, I can dodge scissors," she insists, looking at him innocently. "Can you, Marshal?"

His face is caught halfway between exasparated and unimpressed. She chuckles and acquiesces, handing the scissors for him to pack into his bag.

It's not often nowadays that Julia gets to spend time with Wei outside of the Rangers. He was always busy as the Marshal dealing with the mess she left behind, and when she wasn't busy at the HQ or fighting villains, she was twelve balls of yarn deep into her own investigations. The quiet moments were rare enough that it feels precious to watch him like this, walls down, for once without the furrow in his brow as he worked. It makes him look softer.

It makes him look handsome.

"Hey, Wei?"

He turns to face her, still holding the scissors. "Yes?"

Julia could be completely wrong about everything, of course. He could recoil the minute she cups his face, or push her away as she pulls him in. He could, but he doesn't, and his lips are warm when they meet hers. His breath tastes better than she thought. She doesn't know why she would think otherwise– Julia was the one drinking beer the whole time. She traces her thumb over one of the scars on his cheek, rough yet soft, and a part of her wonders what it would be like to run her tongue over it.

It's a beat or two before anything happens, long enough that she worries she really did misjudge. Then, ever so slowly, Chen settles a hand on her face, careful, almost afraid. Not even touching the hair he spent the past thirty minutes working on. His hand moves from her cheek down to her chin, gently tilting her head upwards to make it easier from where he's standing. Julia wraps a hand around his neck and brings him down lower, and he obliges like putty. No trace of the hard edges she'd come to see as his staple, just a tenderness she never remembers seeing in him before.

It's harder to break the kiss than she would like. Wei doesn't resist. He's still holding the scissors. She half expected him to have dropped it, but instead he's gripping them tight enough that she wonders if they'll break.

"Julia?" Brittle. Out of breath. Still looking at her lips at first, but then his eyes flit to the side of her face, and with a breath that's not quite a huff, he tucks a stray strand of hair she hadn't even noticed behind her ear.

"Thank you," she whispers, barely loud enough to be heard in the silence of her apartment. For being her friend. For being the only goddamn woman left in Los Diablos that really got her. For caring enough to keep her hair out of her face.

She says none of this. She just turns back around, not looking to see Chen's face as she takes another pull from her bottle.

———

"I think Chen has a crush on you." 

"Oh." She stops, looking at you with an expression you can't quite interpret. "You do." The words are careful, hesitant. It's not a question, but it's not not one either. 

"I do," you say, frowning at her reaction. It's not the explosive confusion you were expecting, more a quiet "oh, shit" moment as the ball drops. She hasn't even raised her voice yet. "I'm pretty sure he has for a while." 

"Did he...tell you that?" 

"Not in so many words, but he has his tells." 

"He does," she mutters, running a hand through her hair. There's a sigh punctuated by a string of quiet curses. 

"Did you already know?" you ask, narrowing your eyes at her. She didn't react the way you thought she would. Did she pick up on it? Has she just been ignoring it the entire time? 

"In a way," she admits, looking away to the coffee machine like she wants to make herself another cup. 

"Why haven't you done anything about it?" Knowing Ortega, she should've ambushed Chen the moment she suspected that was the case. 

"It's complicated." She shakes her head, dispelling whatever thundercloud was brewing behind her static shielded mind, then turns back to you with a smile. "Don't worry, I'll talk to him. In the meantime, you can tell me why you're here?" 

You can't help but frown. She's taking this too well for something to not be going on, but from the look in her eyes, you're not getting any answers right now. 

You'll find the time to pry one of them about it. Later. It's not a secret those two can keep away from you forever.

[writingtraumaforever]

The word count for this chapter is oVER 9000–!!

[kiwibirb1]

A thing I've noticed about my media consumption habits is that I kinda go through phases of either reading a lot or playing games a lot. Like when I'm in a "reading phase" I still play games but just less, and vise versa. But, when I'm in a "gaming phase" most of the stuff I tend to read is stuff like comics. So I think it's more words vs graphics? Anyway ADHD says it's time for a "gaming phase" so who knows maybe Calamity in Hyrule will get picked up again because I started playing Ocarina of Time again!

[bluestjayy]

Maybe I'm just cursed 🤪

[eddiethehunted]

falling into old Very Bad Habits sucks so bad bc i know im doing it but my brain will not allow me to fix this

[an-attempted-poet]

hello this is a rant/vent abt my final, you can ignore it

okay. my spanish teacher is amazing, she’s great at her job and is super good abt my accommodations-she’s fantastic. absolutely no hate to her whatsoever.

but. i have auditory processing issues. and they’re bad. bad to the point that on average if im not looking at you and face to face, i will not understand what you’re saying to me. bad to the point that my friends are so used to having to repeat things that sometimes they just say it twice without me having to ask. bad to the point that (and this is important) i cant listen to podcasts or anything like that (not music) without a transcript because i will hear it, yeah i can hear it, but fuck if i know what its saying.

so. please. for fucks sake. don’t give me a 6 minute long listening exercise that you can only listen to once followed by 15 questions.

that would be hard in english, but it was damn near impossible for me to do in spanish.

and i asked for a transcript, not from my teacher but from the guy who was monitoring my test (i take them in different classes) because i was not told in advance that i would be given this part of the test. and if i had known i would have asked a week ago.

and he said he didn’t want to call and ask bc it would be disruptive. yes i agree with that and im sorry but also, i need my accommodations. i dont just have them for fun. so we can find a non disruptive way to call the class, but i need to know if i can have that transcript, and guess what?

i can’t. bc it doesn’t exist.

so i’m like. hm, 80? 90% sure i failed that part.

*please note i take my spanish final in a different classroom bc i use papers and other things and it’s so the rest of the class doesn’t get weird abt it and ask why i get it and they don’t (happens a shockingly large amount of times)

[notdeezy]

I am not getting emotional over our immune system.

I am not getting emotional over our immune system.

I am not getting emotional over our immune system.

I am not getting emotional over our immune system.

DAMMIT im emotional over our immune system :'(

[ghostzzy]

anyway it kinda sorta feels like my life is just now starting.

[bruh-anator3000]

Me on 15 mg Adderall: this isnt working, im doing the same shit still, the voices are still loud and proud.

Doc: okay, i don't wanna fill out extra paper work to split the meds, we'll give you 30, its common dw

Me, on 30: cant... stop... shaking

[void-tiger]

Right. I need a nap. I’m feeling resentment about friends getting to do Cool Things again. And I’m old enough to know I’d feel less jealous about it with my leaky batteries recharged a bit.

(it’s not their fault I live far away, and have disabilities affecting getting to do Neat Things On My Own at least.)

[dogtiber]

Tiber had some really nice dog interactions this morning!

we met another whippet and I let him off lead in the public park for the first time!

Tiber was going absolutely berserk about having a friendly sighthound running circles around him and play bowing. I didn’t have his harness on him this morning, only his collar, and I couldn’t get him to calm down all the way and was worried he’d choke himself. he’s been getting to a good place with his recall lately and we’ve been discussing trying him off lead in the smaller quieter park anyway, and the other whippet seemed really well trained and responsive to her owner so I figured if I let him off he’d want to stick close to play with her.

he did really well! got some nice zoomies out and was really good about coming back to me. I usually ask him to tap his nose on my hand for recall and he was a little too distracted to follow through completely with that, but he was very very good about running by me to check in and reorienting towards me when called. I think we have a little more work to do, but I’m very proud of him!

I kept it short and got him back on leash once they were done running their circles.

a little later on our walk we ran into a very old lurcher. they both wanted to greet each other very badly, and Tiber was being very polite about it, so I walked him over. she was 14! he was very gentle with her, but was also play bouncing a lot lol just giving her some extra space when he did so. she bounced around back at him a little, but I think she was too old and wobbly to really go for it. but it was very cute watching them bounce at each other. her owners were very sweet and we chatted a bit and that was very nice.

and then we had a nice passing by greeting with a little daschund on the way home. as always with daschunds he was entirely enamored with her. they had a little cute happy sniff session.

those were the big exciting ones today, but he’s been doing better about dogs on our walks in general lately too! I’m very proud of him. I am thinking tho that I want to try to find some more opportunities to give him outlets for his dog friend excitement.

the other day, he was very good about waiting for the ok to go greet a little terrier-thing while we asked his owner if they could say hi. and he was being so self-disciplined but ALSO soooo excited. he literally plonked his ass down and just sat there vibrating in place until he could go up.

it was very funny and cute to witness and he’s being so good and trying so hard. but I’m worried he’s getting amped up too much trying to hold back and worried about him going over threshold? Idk I gotta see if I can find any info on excited reactivity I guess.

here he is passed out on the couch after exciting walk^^

[chalkeater]

not wanting to switch bc i like my discord icon too much. smh 😔

[genderfluid-druid]

dissociating at the gym is a great way to cope when you have a lot of nervous energy and/or emotions to process, but watch out bc sometimes the processing you need to do is cry

[dana-chan-the-control-brain]

I'm watching My Hero Acadamia with my brother and Eraser Head reminds me of dadler lol

Was that the.... the dude... the guy....?

YEAH! THAT'S THE GUY! THATS THE GUY I WAS THINKING OF!

YOU'RE RIGHT.