#and also into portraying generational poverty without the cinematic sad face bs

[tophat-69]

Me the moment I start reading, excitedly agreeing that I do headcanon Silco curling up protectively to sleep …and then realizing my story is quite literally the first example paragraph so obviously you know that!

Like you wrote in your own story, I have Silco sleeping very much like a child curling into fetal position while being kicked, trying to keep as much of himself safe as possible. The story is being told in Vander’s limited perspective, so at first he first thinks that it must have been because it was a brutal day of Silco literally being kicked while he was down.

Because Vander’s from the Sumps. And especially before the two of them carve out the Lanes, they’re not just broke there—they’re impoverished. Media tends to focus on huddled figures in the streets asking for money as sort of the catch-all image of ‘this is what poverty looks like!’ But that’s not necessarily what generational poverty looks like. In impoverished communities, who are they imagining folks are sitting there begging for help from when everyone is struggling?

We’ve seen in flashbacks that Vi and Powder shared a bed when they were younger, and later Jinx and Isha are a cuddle pile, and it got me thinking about ‘bed poverty.’ Not enough beds for everyone to have their own, so babies often share with parents and kids with each other. That’s not a tragic image to throw out there about ‘look how sad and poor they are!,’ it’s folded in as a part of the culture and probably has something to do with how close-knit these communities become.

So Vander’s casual about it. “Cool you’re here, you need sleep, you can have whichever side of the bed you want.” And it’s not because he’s flirting with Silco (he is, but not with this) it’s because he doesn’t really think anything of it.

Silco does. Because he’s not part of the community, he’s an outcast and he sleeps protectively. And he’s startled as hell to wake up curled around the giant heated teddy bear that is Vander, who he’s unconsciously coiled himself around by the time he wakes up. Whereas Vander would see puppy-pile sleeping as safety.

So, that’s my Vander sleep headcanon and my Silco sleep headcanons, all rolled together!

I was reading this fanfic and I came across this line

While Silco let himself be pulled to Vander’s bed, he immediately claimed the spot against the wall and faced away from Vander so he could curl into himself, even his hands tucked to his chest as he protectively closed himself off. Vander didn’t take it personally. Silco sure as hell should know now that he can trust Vander to watch his back, and if that’s what makes him feel safest after a pretty screwed up day where he easily could have been killed… that makes sense. 

It made me realize that I also headcanon Silco sleeping curled up. (this is from a fic I once tried to write:

They don’t know of the way Silco’s features slacken or the way he furrows his brow in his sleep. They don’t know that every night, Silco starts out determined, fists clenched and on his back. That however, as long as sleep lasts long enough Silco always ends up curled up inwards on himself like a scrawny boy trying to protect against a kick. They don’t know what it felt like the first time Silco curled towards him and how Vander spent all night barely breathing, afraid that the smallest movement would make his wiry comrade jerk up from his sleep.

)

So, what's your Silco sleep headcanon? Is he a hugger? Somebody who sprawls out possessively all over the bed? Somebody who sleeps stiff and regal and poised? Curled up into himself?