#like in cu donnie isnt fed up with the cuddling at all he just wants to work

[qoldenskies]

Question! if the curse in "coming undone" happened in post-cw canary continuity, how would you imagine it going? ik its unlikely donnies brothers would even let him be placed in such a position, im just curious how the hiding would pan out differently

i think he wouldn't get to keep it to himself as long, because a big part of the misunderstanding in CU is that they really just assumed everything was,,,, fine. donnie wasn't a good liar but his habitual self-destructive behavior never crossed the line into A Big Fucking Deal until he locked himself in his lab for three days, the concerning ways he was acting before were typical, especially because they know well enough that a ton of work and a whole move when he struggles with change is already going to be difficult for him. they feel guilty for not understanding that this was always a bad thing

^^ and mind you in CU i think both all the work he had to do and the grief of feeling responsible for karai and shelldon's death is a GIGANTIC factor when it comes to him keeping it to himself. i think if he'd been cursed before any of it happened he would have eventually folded, but he still would have taken too long to and probably just gotten an earful about it because they would've assumed it was an "i have an image to maintain" thing and not something built from him deeply fearing he is undeserving of love when he's not materially useful lmao (which would be a really upsetting misunderstanding because donnie would go along with it. because he'd rather die than talk about the actual problem)

ANYWAYS

in canary continuity they watch over him a lot more and intentionally keep a close eye on him compared to each other, but i still think it would slip past them for a little too long. i dont think it would get to the point it did in CU, but they'd be worried when they watch donnie fall back on concerning coping mechanisms because it does mean SOMETHING is wrong, but that can mean anything

like in CU its more of an "i am going to keep this from them forever and i am more okay with it killing me than i realistically should be" but i think cc!donnie in that position would be preemptively, DESPERATELY making up for the fact that he KNOWS they're going to find out (and he's scared they're going to be upset). that's the kind of mindset that gets him doing shit like doing chores in secret, even if its strain on his stiff wrist or when he's coming down with something which is dangerous with his chest issues, etc.

cc!donnie would start out with not wanting to be a burden on them further and wanting to make up for it because he knows they're going to be worried about him, but as the pain progresses he'd fall back on that old instinctual mindset of "they are going to find out and they're going to HURT me", either for him not telling them in the first place or just because that abused dog part of his brain is screaming at him that taking up too much space and being "annoying" makes that an inevitability

i think it would break his brother's hearts. they know donnie is struggling, this really shouldn't be a surprise, of course something like this would happen, but every reminder of it still hurts like a physical blow. i think he'd still get to the point where he's in too much pain to move or function properly, and its especially hard for them to watch especially knowing what they've gone through.