#nick in his book canon age of 40 something: adhd - w h a t -

[otherwoofsarch]

nick sorrentino + adhd

like many people with adhd, nick has had it since childhood. when he was a young boy, it presented mostly as hyperactive. he talked a lot, moved a lot, butted into conversations. he was bullied by some of the other young pack. 

he didn’t do too greatly with school. since he went to a fancy-ass private school, it was likely the teachers noticed something and potentially brought it up to is parental guardian, who in the human world was his GRANDFATHER, Dominic Sorrentino. However, Dominic is a very traditional man, who also didn’t like the suggestion of sending nick to a doctor ( werewolves don’t get involved with human doctors. ) so he likely came up with a lie that everything was sorted and the school went along with it. He didn’t tell Nick about it. If he told Antonio, he would have said that it wasn’t anything to worry about and he had it sorted. But there’s also a good chance he didn’t tell Antonio.

During high-school, nick struggled academically. He didn’t fail any classes, but came close to some. Dominic didn’t care, as he didn’t think schooling was that major of a thing anyway. Most Sorrentino's only had a high school education, and college wasn’t something Nick was aiming for anyway. However, Nick did care about what his peers thought of him. He liked to be liked, and when people didn’t like him, he tried to make himself even more likable. This was a big issue during his teenage years. As he grew older, he grew out of it - but he still cares about other peoples opinions of him, even if he knows he shouldn’t.

As an adult, ADHD affects him more inattentive. He’s still hyperactive but that is displayed in a different way than as a kid. He gets bored of projects easily, and doesn’t really focus as much as he could on some tasks (which is partly why many of his business start-ups fail.) Of course, when he gets onto something that he REALLY wants to do and enjoys, he excels at it. It just so happens that Business related things are not that. (and graphic design is. he saw the customer website for his fathers company, and was appalled. he worked on a better version in an allnighter and absolutely hyperfocused on it, and suggested it to his father.) Though he is still is easily distracted and can forget things. And when he does, and it’s important things - he’s VERY harsh on himself. In Framed, he forgot to take these two business contacts out for a lunch (which he absolutely was dealing with a bigger issue) and when his father called him to ask what’s up, Nick reacted like this after the phone conversation:

God, he couldn’t believe he’d done that. He didn’t even want to imagine what Antonio was thinking right now. Shaking his head, seeing Nick backsliding, all the hopes he’d built up in the last couple of years, seeing his son finally growing up and playing a role Trying not to feel a pang of disappointment. Telling himself it was a one-time slip . . . and knowing it almost certainly wasn’t. Nick reverting to being Nick. As immature and unreliable as ever.   

there’s a lot to go into how he thinks antonio is thinking of him, but that’s a headcanon for a different time lol. he sees himself as unreliable. immature. and no matter how hard he tries, he’ll never change. this ofc is not true. he doesn’t know that his brain is working against him. that it’s not his fault. he doesn’t know about his ADHD, his executive dysfunction, hyperfocus, rejection sensitive dysphoria. And once he does know, things start just going “oh - huh.” for him. which is relatable.