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aroaceleovaldez · 9 months ago

Note

in your most recent tyson post, you said something about leo being distinctly autistic-coded and I was wondering if you could elaborate on that? it sounds really interesting (sorry if you've already posted something on this, I couldn't find anything though)

Of course! I do have a specific tag for talking about Leo's autistic-coding/traits - [here], and [one for Nico as well].

The main aspects with Leo being autistic-coded actually have a lot to do with Nico being autistic-coded, because it's the comparisons between the two that most clearly indicate Leo is autistic-coded rather than it just being his ADHD or etc.

So with Nico being autistic-coded, it's very clear in the Titan's Curse that he's intended to be autistic. First, the first series has a repeating pattern of secondary characters being very distinctly neurodivergent-coded in different ways (Annabeth's adhd/dyslexia, Tyson's down syndrome-coding, Nico's autism-coding). With Nico's introduction, he's pretty stereotypically autistic and we're given a lot of descriptors about him that are notably not attributed to him being ADHD, like it would be for other demigod characters. He doesn't register social cues such as people getting annoyed at him, he's asking/making inappropriate or impolite questions/comments, he gets particularly upset about change (such as Bianca joining the Hunt) and generally gets emotional, and one of his most notable traits he's introduced with is the fact that he has a special interest (MythoMagic) - and we're shown that this special interest particularly colors how Nico navigates the world. While ADHD has hyperfixations, we don't really get much acknowledgement of hyperfixations with demigods usually - Annabeth gets a little, but most others don't and it's not nearly as focused-in on as Nico's is.

Then as the series continues we see these traits stick with him and him start to show or voice more traits that similarly indicate he's autistic: He regularly mentions how he doesn't understand living people and prefers the company of the dead (social issues). He has more notable stims than other demigods (twisting his ring, fiddling with bones, etc). He's indicated to have strong sensory preferences (usually wearing mostly black/aversion to bright colors, usually wearing layers/his coat, multiple times he's described as wearing loose/baggy clothing or clothes too big for him). He has specific comfort items (his ring, likely his jacket(s) as well). We later get even more information about his special interests (Mythomagic/mythology/history and an older interest in pirates - the latter he specifically notes likely heavily influenced his feelings towards Percy). He struggles with emotions and facial expressions and tone. He struggles particularly with ostracism and feeling like he doesn't fit in and has something distinctly different about him from the people around him (who notably, all have ADHD, which indicates it isn't the ADHD that's making him feel that way), and other characters regularly describe him as being off-putting because of his strange behaviors - again, different from specific ADHD traits they recognize. And that last point is kind of notable because we have Hazel and Bianca for comparison - we know people are off-put by both Nico and Hazel because of being children of Hades/Pluto and their powers/aura, but other characters get past that general feeling of discomfort way faster with Hazel. And even after characters get past the death stuff with Nico, there's a second thing that they aren't moving past that isn't a factor with Hazel (Nico's autism).

So that brings us to Leo - Leo is paralleled to Nico a lot. And there's some very specific traits about him that we know are autistic-coding because of how they're used with Nico: He similarly struggles with social cues/etc, and in a very similar parallel to Nico describes how he prefers the company of machines to people because machines make more sense to him. He has similar types of clothing/sensory preferences (again some stuff with layers but also - pockets! He likes having pockets and things to put stuff in! He's even introduced as having a jacket with lots of pockets), and he has a distinct special interest (machinery) that we specifically know heavily influences how he views and navigates the world (constantly comparing things to machinery, describing things with machinery metaphors/terminology, etc etc). He even describes his entire general worldview to Hazel and it's a machine metaphor. He also similarly struggles with ostracization like Nico does, the only difference being that Leo specifically puts on a persona to compensate for areas he knows he's lacking in and very explicitly describes it as a means to make people like him, because without it he normally struggles to fit in (He's masking!). We also see notes of characters describing that similar discomfort with Leo's behaviors that they do with Nico, except without the aura of death this time. And when we're in Leo's POVs we see a very stark difference between his masking and his actual personality/behaviors such as his internal dialogues or how he behaves when he's alone. Also, like Nico, he stims more than other demigods, though for Leo it's more attributed to his ADHD. Leo also, more often than most, similarly struggles with tone and reading the room, such as making misplaced jokes/comments or etc.

But yeah! It's really interesting. Also it's just a fun thing that ADHD/dyslexia and autism have comorbidity, so it makes sense that we see demigods who are also autistic. It's also really fun to look at how other characters are coded in the series, what coding looks like in the riordanverse specifically (usually it's tied into the mythological stuff - like Chiron being in a wheelchair but he's actually a centaur, Grover being introduced as having a muscular disease but he's actually a satyr, demigods having adhd/dyslexia, Tyson being coded as having down syndrome but he's a cyclops, etc etc - it's a lot of specific metaphor stuff that I've talked about a bit before), and to look at how characters are compared to one another.

#pjo #riordanverse #leo valdez #nico di angelo #autistic nico #autistic leo #autism #analysis #Anonymous #ask #long post //#woof sorry that got long #im very passionate about this topic #re: characters being paralleled #Ms. ''Constantly Neutral - No Emotions'' Reyna looking at Nico stimming in the exact same way she does (twisting ring)#and internally going ''We have a lot in common. I don't know how I feel about that.'' is one of my favorites.#like. reyna. ma'am. you might be autistic. good luck with that.#with the pattern of coding in the first series i do suspect Rachel has some coding as well but i haven't been able to pinpoint what it is #I think it may be the whole seer thing and the fact that she could see the future #even before becoming the oracle/despite being a mortal rather than a demigod (who just get rare prophetic dreams normally)#and in BoTL her entire thing is that she's able to see things that no one else can and that's how they navigate the maze #particularly also with how the labyrinth is treated/how it affects people within it (see: Chris)#and how the only other seer in the first series - May - is characterized and her coding compared to Rachel's #also something something the seer traits become more prominent once Rachel meets Percy #something something metaphor about only being able to recognize neurodivergency traits once you're familiar with them #so Rachel meets Percy = introduction to the community > Rachel recognizes her own traits/symptoms > gets a support system (oracle)

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sabbathbloodysabbeth · 7 months ago

Text

Zombie Stomp

You guys remember how I said I should probably wait, well I couldn't help myself. Heres the first part to Zombie Stomp! And have some more Wayne acting like Eddie’s actual father!

Ao3 link

Prologue: Virginity Rocks!

Eddie moves his body awkwardly to the record player, his hands are sweating as he sends a nervous smile to the most breathtaking boy on his bed. Sure, Eddie’s standards were low it was just a new line cook that got hired at Benny’s. He could still smell the grease coming off the other man's body, but it wasn’t like Eddie could be picky. He was a gay man in the middle of Hawkins, Indiana. How many opportunities like this was he going to get? Not many. Gays flocked out of here faster than they came in. Eddie would be doing the same if it weren’t for his Uncle.

Wayne was on shift right now, thank god. The stars seemed to be aligning for Eddie to get laid, finally. At twenty years old he was going to lose his virginity at last. Thank fuck. ‘86 really was going to be his year. He was sure of it.

He quickly searches through his cassette tapes, biting his lip as he realizes he doesn’t have good music for this. “You like Black Sabbath?” He asks. His voice comes off rougher than it normally was. He was extremely nervous he was going to fuck this up somehow as he twisted his body at a slight angle to look at the other man. Who was looking around his room curiously? Eddie wasn’t sure what the other man was doing.

“Uh.. who’s that?” The guy asks in a tone that nearly turns Eddie off. But Eddie has to quickly bite his tongue to prevent himself from being a dick because once again this was most likely his only shot to lose his virginity before he was of legal drinking age. And he was going to be damned if he went to his first gay bar as a virgin.

“Uh.. a metal band, the lead singer used to be Ozzy the guy that bit that bat’s head off?” He rambles out. He hopes that may ring a bell for the other. But if anything it makes the other more disinterested.

“Never heard of her,” Robert says, beginning to chew on his gum obnoxiously. The longer Eddie hung around him the more annoyed he was getting. “Hey man, I don’t care what you put on. It’s not like I’m listening to it anyway.” He chuckles gently.

“Yeah, alright- alright yeah no. No music should be fine then. Probably better than what I have here.” He jokes, hoping to break the awkward tension that was slowly beginning to fall over them. No matter how hard he tried he couldn’t stop bouncing around or rambling. He knew it was his nerves, his anxiety was high and his typical cure for that was weed. But his gut told him it would be a bad idea to get high before this.

Robert doesn’t even laugh in response he just makes a soft grunting noise and it's only making Eddie feel more tense. The longer he pays closer attention to the other, the more he starts to believe Robert doesn’t even want to be here even though this had been entirely his idea in the first place.

Eddie was about to question him, ask if he even wanted to do this in the first place but before he gets his chance the other has begun to pat his lap suggestively. A dark look in his eye sends a shiver up Eddie’s spine. Whether it was a good or bad tingling Eddie was yet to decipher.

“Why don’t we get this show on the road, huh?” Robert hums out, beginning to lean back a bit with what could only be described as a cocky smirk as Eddie walks closer.

Eddie nods as he begins to doubt if he wants to do this still. But another part of him tells him to just get it over with. Eddie doesn’t like that side but listens to it anyway as he carefully places himself in Roberts's lap.

He chuckles awkwardly as he realizes he doesn’t know what to do with his limbs. The guy doesn’t even bother telling him what to do before he’s reaching for his belt.

This is when they both realize Eddie isn’t hard. He had been earlier when Robert pulled him behind his van and started to whisper about tonight in his ear. But not now. His dick wasn’t even showing any sign of life even with the other's mouth against his neck, completely unbothered by the fact Eddie wasn’t turned on. That doesn’t sit right with Eddie and the longer he sits in this man’s lap the more he begins to convince himself that he wasn’t gay and that he was just making it all up in his head for attention.

“Gotta relax baby,” The other chuckles gently. Robert was still awkwardly kissing up his neck and using too much tongue. It felt disgusting.

Eddie has had enough and is about to tell the other as such when his bedroom door flies open.

“Eddie pack your shit we-” Wayne Munson was in his doorway and Eddie Munson was frozen in another man's lap having one of the worst experiences of his life.

Wayne Munson, as in Eddies Uncle and the only person he cares for in this world just caught him being a faggot.

Eddie’s eyes have grown wide, his already fast-beating heart goes even faster and possibly even skipping a few beats here and there. Eddie freezes while Robert shoves him off his lap with no hesitation. He’s buckling his belt just as fast as he pushes past Wayne Munson to get out the front door.

Neither Eddie nor Wayne breaks eye contact. Eddie’s ears were ringing and his hands were shaking. All that he had processed from the man before he came barging in was “... pack your shit…”

Eddie Munson was getting kicked out again and he was having a stupid panic attack over it like some little bitch. He had prepared for this moment for years now, and now that it was finally here he was frozen like a little bitch.

Eddie doesn’t even process standing up, let alone throwing himself to grab the bag he’s kept hidden for exactly this purpose. Moving and frantically adding a couple more things, he thinks he may be going into shock.

He doesn’t feel the tears running down his face, he doesn’t hear his Uncle moving closer to him and isn’t expecting to feel the gentle touch of his uncle's hands on his shoulders. Eddie tenses up and freezes again as he feels feeling snot running down his face.

He jumps startled, flinching away from his uncle's hands when they grip his shoulders softly. Eddie finally looks up from his bag to meet Wayne's eyes as he repeats Eddie’s name for what was most likely the numerous time.

“Eddie, boy. I don’t give a shit who you fuck. I don’t care who you love, I could give a rat's ass what you do romantically just as long as you are being treated right. But what I do care about is getting you to a safe shelter somewhere west.” Wayne’s voice is rough as he moves both his hands to Eddie’s face to get him to focus. Something he hasn’t done since he first got custody of the boy.

Eddie had to process everything the other was saying, looking more confused than anything because this was not going the way he expected and it was happening way too fast.

“Wait, so you don’t care that I’m gay?” He clarifies.

“Kid, I couldn't care less,” Wayne says bluntly. “Now pack your shit, we have to go.” Wayne lets go of Eddie's face as he moves to Eddie’s doorway to head into the living room to grab his things acting as if some relationship-altering thing didn’t just happen to them.

“Wait- why?” Eddie asks even more confused than before. He feels as if god was purposely putting him on an emotional roller coaster.

“You remember that disease they brought up on the radio the other day? The one that has been hitting the south and east hard?”

“Yeah, but that isn’t supposed to hit us?” Eddie follows his uncle into the living room not packing like he was supposed to.

“Well they are and were wrong, and it's taking Hawkins up by storm right now, now boy I will not repeat myself. Go pack your shit now.” Wayne raises his voice. He’s pointing in the direction of Eddie’s room. Eddie has never seen his Uncle like this before and that scared him more than anything else in this world.

Eddie doesn’t waste a second after that. Quickly stumbling back into his room to grab everything he cared about.

“Uncle Wayne!” Eddie raised his voice, wanting to make sure he was being heard. He becomes more panicked as he watches a person stumble from the woods. Slowly moving into the light with bloody hands, clothes, and was that blood on their face?

Eddie and Wayne had escaped Hawkins hours ago and were now on their way to god knows where. Not even Wayne knew. The only reason they had stopped was for gas. Wayne wanted to have some extra gas stored in the red containers he had purposely kept for emergencies just in case they ran out in the middle of nowhere. But it seemed as if they weren’t the only ones to have this idea as most gas stations on their way here had empty signs on their pumps.

“Yeah kid, I see him,” Wayne says. Pushing the top back on the container as he lifts it up and over and sets it in the bed of his truck. His eyes never leave the stumbling man in front of them. Neither does Eddies.

Wayne slowly moves to the driver's side of his truck, carefully reaching in to grab the shotgun he had purposely propped up between him and Eddie.

“Wayne, what are you doing?” Eddie hisses, shifting his eyes from the injured man to his crazy uncle. “He needs help, not a shotgun shell,”

Wayne doesn’t say anything to him, instead, he raises his voice. “Hey mister, you alright?”

And oh fuck. Eddie thinks he's seen this in a movie before. It feels as if someone hit fast forward and suddenly his ears were ringing from the loud gunfire. His Uncle jumps in the driver's side to quickly drive away, just as the cashier from the gas station runs out.

“Oh my god, you killed him,”

“Son, that thing wasn’t alive.”

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