#autistic!Declan

[clotpolesonly]

Six Of One

welcome to another episode of "Jess projects her experiences onto fictional characters" 😂 it's been a little while! (i strongly suspect that this experience of mine is the 'tism somehow, hence me subjecting my autistic king Declan to it) anyway, the title is a truncation of the phrase "six of one, half dozen of another" which means that two options are equal in value and, thus, it doesn't actually matter which you choose. one is as good as the other. | Jordeclan | Gen | 2.3k | Established Relationship | Verbal Shutdown | Accommodations | Fluff | (also on AO3)

The new studio space was spacious, well-lit, and blissfully free of vegetable-esque breasts. This one also had an elevator instead of three flights of stairs, thank God. Declan stepped out of it and into the familiar scent of turpentine and canvas, strong even though all the doors along the hallway were currently closed. A small, private smile tugged at his lips, despite his mood.

Perhaps it wasn’t right to call it a mood. By all accounts, Declan felt fine. His day had gone well so far, with a number of business transactions handled smoothly and efficiently, a phone number attained for a frustratingly difficult to track down associate-of-an-associate-of-an-associate, and several texts exchanged with Ronan with hardly any insults involved. It was breezy outside with just a hint of chill in the air signaling the incoming cold snap. The barista at the café had called him Derek again, but she’d finally gotten his coffee order just right. Matthew had only been five minutes late to soccer practice instead of his usual ten.

Declan had had far more stressful days than this one—he could practically see the look Ronan would give him for the sheer magnitude of that understatement—and yet he couldn’t help the tightness in his shoulders as he let himself into the studio.

Jordan was at her easel, engrossed in whatever she was working on today. Music spilled from her laptop, as it often did when she painted, and her voluminous cloud of curls jounced with every enthusiastic bop of her head. The baggy jean overalls she’d taken to wearing had been released from her shoulders, straps instead tied haphazardly around her waist to leave her in a mildly paint-splattered sports bra instead. She was barefoot.

Some of Declan’s tension eased.

The Artist Unbound, oil on canvas, he thought. Or perhaps pastels, to capture the soft haziness of the feeling that grew in his chest to see her like this. Not for the first time, he considered taking Jordan up on her offer to teach him how to actually make art himself, instead of only appreciating others’. It was always said with a teasing lilt, but she meant it. Every time, she meant it.

It wasn’t until one track flipped over to another less to Jordan’s liking that she noticed his presence. She immediately rerouted from the laptop to dance her way across the room, smiling, until she was close enough to kiss him.

“About time, Pozzi,” she said, arms sliding around Declan’s waist. “I was beginning to think you’d fallen down a manhole or slipped through a sewer grate or something equally cartoonish and ridiculous. Not because I thought it likely—I mean, let’s be honest, if anyone is going to fall prey to cartoon physics in this, the real world, it would definitely be Ronan—but I’ll admit, I did get a certain amount of schadenfreude from the mental image. Hope you don’t mind, love you lots, anyway, what took you so long? Did Matthew lose a fight with his cleats again?”

Declan opened his mouth to tell her about the Masshole who cut him off right when he needed to change lanes to catch his exit. He was going to tell her about the lady’s flowery “Choose Kindness” bumper sticker and make a quip about irony. “If only I could be that lacking in self-awareness,” he planned to say, “it’s probably so much easier to live that way.”

He didn’t say any of it. He thought it. He thought it clearly and fluently, all the words lined up and ready to go. Then he opened his mouth and nothing came out.

His shoulders inched back up toward his ears. Jordan’s fingers dug into his back, no doubt feeling the tension creep in there as well, and she pulled back a bit to look at him.

“Alright, bruv?”

Declan closed his mouth. He nodded. It both was and was not the truth.

Jordan tilted her head to the side, lips pursing. She didn’t look concerned, which Declan appreciated, but the scrutiny brought more color to his cheeks than he would’ve liked.

Tone light and easy, she said, “Hand-Cat got your tongue with its weird little hands?”

That mental image, every bit as cartoonish as Ronan falling down a manhole and twice as disturbing, yanked a laugh out of him. Jordan’s smile was smug, like it always was when she managed to make Declan laugh in a way that would embarrass him if he’d done it in public, but she was still watching him carefully. Looking for clues, maybe, or for an explanation.

Declan wanted to tell her, It’s fine.

He wanted to tell her, You don’t need to worry, it’s only that my mouth has spontaneously developed a dysfunction where it refuses to produce sound.

He wanted to tell her, This happens sometimes. No, I don’t know why.

He wanted to tell her, All the words are still in here, I just can’t seem to get them out.

Instead, he fished his phone out of his pocket. He opened up their text thread and typed out a message, turning it around for her to read instead of sending it.

[Do you mind if I talk like this?]

Jordan had to pull back further to squint at the small screen, tightening her grip on his waist to keep from tipping over backwards. A crease appeared between her eyebrows, lips pursing again. Her eyes darted to his face for a mere second, assessing, and then her face cleared. She shrugged expansively.

“Doesn’t make any difference to me, Pozzi. Words in air, words on a screen—six of one, if you know what I mean. Call it a baker’s dozen if you throw in emojis. Did Matthew teach you about those yet? The silly little pictures the kids are using these days?”

Declan rolled his eyes. He typed out another message.

[I’m acquainted with the concept of emojis, yes. I didn’t even need Matthew’s tutelage in them.]

He included a little old man emoji to punctuate the statement. It might have been the first time he had ever actually utilized an emoji in a text message, but Jordan didn’t need to know that. It made her laugh, anyway, which was the important thing.

She stepped back out of their embrace, her hands taking a brief detour to squeeze his ass before letting him go completely, and dug her own phone out of one of her overall pockets. She held it up with a jaunty little shake.

“Mind if I respond out loud?” she asked, walking backwards in the direction of her half-finished painting. “Only, this shit’s messy, and touchscreens and fingerpainting don’t get along very well. Though I suppose I could make something avant garde out of it. Statement about the sanitization of the internet and corporate whatever-you-like killing the creative spirit and whatnot. You’d have to buy me a new phone after, if I sacrificed this one to the art gods, but I know you’re good for it.”

[You can talk normally.]

Declan sent this text, since Jordan had retreated too far to read it from his screen. She checked the message and nodded. Then she spent a minute fiddling with her phone, humming along to the laptop’s next selection. She propped it up on the edge of her easel, far enough away from the canvas to not be in danger of getting splattered, with an air of triumph.

“Futzed with the settings,” she explained. “So it won’t time out and turn off as fast and I won’t have to keep trying to unlock it with messy fingers. If you say something and I don’t notice for too long, whistle or some shit.”

Declan watched as she picked up her abandoned brush, loaded it with paint, and set about her work without further ado. It took him a moment to recalibrate. He wasn’t certain exactly what reaction he’d expected, but an absence of questions, comments, or concerns apparently had not been it. Eventually, he shucked off his jacket and took up his usual position on the couch, angled just so to have the best view of Jordan herself and also a glimpse of her piece as it came together under her deft hand.

Normally, this was the part of the evening when Declan would talk. Well, he spent a lot of every day talking, but this was when he would actually say things. Things that mattered to him, stories he wanted to tell, jokes too inappropriate to make in a business setting, anecdotes no one else in his life would’ve cared to hear but Jordan always did. Now, he turned his phone over in his hand a few times before typing out, [Missed my exit. Some Masshole with a “choose kindness” bumper sticker cut me off in traffic, if you can believe that.]

Jordan’s phone buzzed with the incoming text. He watched as she finished a careful stroke of the brush before glancing down at the screen, still lit up. She snorted.

“Choose kindness? The irony’s killing me, mate. D’you think she takes selfies sipping $18 frappuccinos and captions them with Love Is Love and #positivity?”

[Almost certainly.] He added a peace sign emoji. It made Jordan laugh. [But Matthew was very nearly on time today, I’ll have you know.]

Jordan’s gasp was theatrical. “Really? He does learn!”

[Miracle of miracles. He didn’t even bitch when I said we didn’t have time to stop for McDonald’s. Truly, a day of firsts.]

Part of Declan thought that maybe Matthew had chosen to let it go on purpose—one of those rare moments of perceptiveness that were growing less rare with time, now that Matthew was making an effort toward, as he put it, “learning how to think better”. On the way to soccer practice had been when Declan’s mouth had started to betray him. He’d had to think “Matthew, put your seatbelt on” six times before he’d managed to actually communicate it audibly. The McDonald’s question had been met with a curt “no time for that”, forced out with far more effort than made any kind of sense for four very simple words that Declan said on a regular basis. By the time they’d reached the school, it had been a true struggle to muster up a goodbye, and once he had, he’d known there would be no more verbalizing tonight.

Matthew hadn’t seemed upset or like he thought Declan was mad at him, which was a relief because he wasn’t. There had been nothing wrong. Declan wasn’t even anxious about anything, beyond his general baseline. He’d thought plenty of perfectly amiable thoughts in Matthew’s direction on that trip. He’d told himself to say them instead, over and over. The rest of him just hadn’t cooperated.

He wondered now if, had he not been driving, Matthew would have minded him texting instead. Matthew wasn’t text-phobic like Ronan. He probably would’ve been over the moon about the opportunity to introduce emoji usage into their conversations, regardless of whatever malfunction of Declan’s speech capabilities had provided it.

Jordan certainly didn’t seem to mind. She chatted away the same way she always did, with only a slight delay when her eyes were too busy to spare. Text wasn’t a particularly expressive medium for conveying tone, but she knew him well enough to infer when he was being wry. She did send him an amused look for how long it took him to type out several paragraphs’ worth of commentary on the Henry Wallis wannabe from down the hall, but she put down her brush to read it all eagerly enough that he didn’t feel judged for it.

Despite the alteration to their routine, it felt just the same as it always did.

Declan wanted to tell her, I love you.

Instead, he texted, [You’re really not going to ask, are you?]

He’d been quiet—so to speak—for long enough that Jordan had to double-tap at her screen with the back of her cleanest knuckle to access the notification. She didn’t need clarification or context. She just wiped some carmine paint onto the thigh of her overalls and said, “Is it something that needs asking about?”

Declan turned that question over in his head. He would have asked, if he’d been in her position. He’d been asking himself for hours. Hell, he’d been asking himself for years, what this was and why it happened and why he couldn’t just spit it out when he got like this. He’d yet to find an answer or a solution.

But Jordan hadn’t needed one. All she’d needed was a way to keep hearing him.

I love you, I love you, I love you.

He couldn’t say it right now, but he could wrap his arms around Jordan’s waist and press a kiss to her shoulder. She set down her brush in favor of reaching up to bury her fingers in his curls, cupping the back of his head to keep him close. She was undoubtedly getting in his hair. He decided that he didn’t care very much. They stayed like that for most of a song, swaying gently, Jordan humming along contentedly despite this particular track not being of a genre that easily lent itself to humming.

On the easel, Jordan’s phone screen dimmed, sleep mode impending. Declan picked it up before it could go fully dark. He typed in a text and held it up for Jordan to see.

[Thank you.]

Jordan wiggled around to face him properly, settling her arms around his neck and somehow managing to trap the phone between their chests. She kissed him, sweet and slow.

“Anytime, Pozzi,” she murmured against his lips. “Six of one, know what I mean?”

Declan thought, I’m starting to.

[shitpostingkats]

Not to sound like a victorian, but the most vital part of Declan Akaba’s character design is his bare-ass ankles.

Mans wearing patent leather Beckett Simonons with NO SOCKS. He has cuffed his pants so everyone can see this crime against footwear. He is flaunting his rebellion and his wading-bird-ankles that could be snapped like a twig.

[ianluvsmickey]

God this is a completely secret account from the host’s crazy strict parents. If I go inactive, pray for me.

[searchingforglendowerwithleah]

This is going to be a story about the Lynch brothers

Actually this is going to be a story about:

- A guy having a three book long anxiety attack

- A guy having a three book long depressive episode

- A guy boy having a three book long existential crisis

[stinkvinsky]

greywaren diagnosed Declan with autism

[witchwhaat]

guys. GUYS

[squash1]

ronan shouldn't slut shame declan for the ashleys they were his special interest as a autistic teenager

i have never laughed harder at something than while reading this.

but i have to say i REALLY wish declan had ended up with an ashley. like i wish jordan’s name was ashley. nothing about her would be different, nothing about their relationship would be different, her name would just be ashley. because can you IMAGINE the shit not only ronan but gansey and adam would give declan for marrying an ashley. i just think it would be perfect. and hilarious. and what i need in life.

[hondayota]

i don’t have main character syndrome i’ve got declan lynch in trc syndrome. nobody really knows what i’m about but i seem boring and strange. i’m a dick and overly professional and probably autistic but i’ve got too much going on to worry about it

[theravenkin]

this is gonna be me projecting (and also losing my FUCKING MIND over finishing greywaren five minutes ago) but is it just me or was everyone in that goddamn book autistic

first of all: the declan childhood flashbacks...that boy is autistic as SHIT. i'm giving maggie the benefit of the doubt here and telling myself that she was implying that and not just making a joke about "haha guy is uptight and no fun as an adult he only sorted things and enforced rules and structure as a kid cus that's funny" because oh my god?? also as an adult he has "declanisms"- phrases he uses for certain situations like categories...scripting... declan baby. he is the most autistic babygirl i have ever seen holy shit oh my g

i've also always related to ronan and a big part of that is because i've always read him as autistic. i mean i've always read all the original trc characters as autistic, to be fair. but i mean? are t they? (yes, they are, because i said so. it's my special interest, i get to assign the autism)

now i understand that the larger metaphor is about chronic illness, and i'm in love with that. i don't think autism is the main thing there. but i don't think it's not there, just as depression and bpd (imo but thats another post) aren't not there. (it's art, it's literature, it's open for interpretation.) but what i keep thinking about: chronic illnesses like epilepsy, hypermobility disorders, mitochondrial disorders, and several others mt end to be comorbid with autism. and as someone who is both autistic and deals with chronic illness/chronic pain (and who has several friends who are in the same boat), autism and chronic illness often seem intertwined to me. idk, just thoughts

ALSO. y'all heard people comparing being autistic/neurodivergent to speaking a different "language" than allistic/neurotypical people? THE WHOLE THINF ABOUT THE DREAM WORLD SPEAKING A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE THAT COULDNT BE TRANSLATED INTO ANY HUMAN UNDERSTANDING. thinking also about how autistic people so often feel like (and are compared to) aliens or otherworldly beings. how changeling children in folklore were probably just autistic kids but were etched in canon as erdrich creatures. how sometimes i wanna become that eldritch creature that others seem to think i am...

also, also: the theme of masks and "other selves" running throughout the entire series, even in trc. declan is the most obvious masker as an adult; he has to create a persona and STICK TO A SCRIPT OF THW SAME WORDS ALL THE TIME in order to feel like he's functioning and got his shit together. and then hennessey and jordan--hennessey creates a version of herself that she feels is more palatable, more socially acceptable, and that's who does all the soft skills of their operation early on. adam creates a false version of himself. ronan lies to himself about who and what he really is. matthew discovers that he's just been acting like who others want him to act like all along--that he's been suppressing his emotions and wants and needs in order to make others happy. and i know that this whole theme can translate into a lot of things, but what i've read it as since cdth is masking with autism/neurodivergence.

anyway. this has been my greywaren manifesto. i am sorry. (i'll be back later.)

[kcuf-ad]

*Slide in you ask box again(sorry) like a fucking worm*

What's a HC from any Yugioh anime that you like/ Love a lot?

Jaden can only bake cookies. Anything else, he burns down the kitchen.

Declan is the most AroAce person alive

Kaiba had to be checked if he was sane after doing that commercial from GX

Basically everyone is in love with Jaden due to his Autistic Rizz

[mexicocitywildwings]

anastasia isarobot :)

Ohhh Anastasia my beloved

I don’t know if I’ve said this anywhere but to me her full name is Anastasia Rosana Haley Rodgers. Rosana pulling from the trio of Rivers, Lou & Dec having rose names, & Haley after José Haley.

For as much as her extended family is rooted in Chicago, she was not cut out to be a Firefighter at all. In fact it actually surprised her dad when she went on her first call & they both discovered her phobia of fire.

I think this is also how she got close to Declan initially because she’s go out with EMTs & support crew on the non-fire based tasks.

One more because I’m autistic. Her ideal night out away from sports, work, & her family is a night at the orchestra. She was a regular at Chicago Symphony Orchestra performances before everything went down.

[blockbusterclosed]

Dude I'm absolutely devestated about blaseball because I'm so fucking autistic and because I am I Am still Going to Draw Declan Suzanne until I am Not the System host

[carcrashgf]

common autistic Declan Lynch W

[haunted-house-heart]

the raven boys (blue included) & gender headcanon, random headcanon, and also your favorite headcanon about each of em

edit i just realized i misread this so favorite and random are all piled into one 😌

mags i owe you my LIFE i've been trying to get asks all day 😭

also love this one bc you know i have gender hcs for all of them

ok so!

for blue:

gender: i saw a fic once where blue was amab but her moms like, knew psychically that she would be trans and just raised her very like neutrally gender-wise and i love that. anyway i hc blue as nonbinary transfem

favorite hc: ok i have my many mental health hcs for all the gangsey including! all of them are autistic but blue was the only one raised in a house that was 1) also nd 2) knowledgeable about autism and 3) like, positive, about it? like accepting and encouraged stimming and helpful coping mechanisms and such. yknow. like decent parents would. related to this i think she would teach the rest of the gangsey healthy coping mechanisms and how to like, embrace their autism. and like makes/finds them little fidget toys and such.

ALSO i think she takes them all thrifting. (i'm """writing""" a fic about that but it's uhhh. not goin alsksls)

OH OH ALSO she uses forearm crutches she's hypermobile (like me) :3

gansey:

gender: i think for a while gansey is the Token CisTM friend of the group before having a HUGE gender crisis and figuring out he's genderfluid.

favorite: i think that when gansey, blue, and henry go on their roadtrip gansey grows his hair out. i also think that blue lets him try out one of her chew necklaces and he ends up always having one with him to chew on when he's reading

ronan:

gender: oh you just KNOW this boy's trans. he's full of rage, secrets, AND he shaved his head. he's transmasc. and i know 100% that niall was shitty about it and aurora was so accepting but very confused. declan pays for his hormones/top surgery but other than that they don't talk about it. matthew always finds little trans colored things to give to ronan.

favorite: as always, he's autistic. i think when blue first brings it up he gets really upset (so do adam and gansey when she talks to them but ronan gets particularly riled by it) but blue just starts listing out all the symptoms and after stewing in it for awhile ronan goes and talks to her about it. or OR maybe noah calms him down and tells him he's also autistic and helps hin come to terms.

ALSO ronan and blue are absolute besties but they'll NEVER admit it. i also think blue ronan and noah have a groupchat for memes and making fun of gansey and lusting over him and adam. any time blue mentions henry ronan starts spamming the murder squash song

oh ALSO blue gets him a chew bracelet and he thinks it's so stupid until he finds himself just gnawing on it constantly

adam:

gender: either transmasc or amab nonbinary <3

favorite: oh he def has trauma related to being an autistic child in an abusive home. he's so fucking repressed oh my god this boy has not stimmed openly in so fucking long. he would take five minutes before school in his room to stim like mad and then that was it for the day (this isn't what i used to do i'm not projecting what-)

also he has chronic pain related to nerve damage <3

also he's bipolar and ocd because i said so <3

noah:

gender: nonbinary!!!!! agender!!!!!!!!! also not gender but!!! aro! ace! noah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

favorite: oh god ok. he's my favorite so. he's committed to the bit first and foremost. i think he loves cats and that a stray starts hanging around monmouth and noah just LOVES them. when he was alive he was a red and black flannel, red converse, and backwards baseball hat kinda guy. buttons everywhere. he loves glitter (canon but still). i think he loves thrifting w blue and picking out the ugliest clothes to make her laugh. i think he's the only one besides her that already knew he was autistic and i think he family was kind but not very informed so they just paid for fancy tutors and shit. he loves stimming esp vocally and anything that clicks. he's a cuddler even though he's so so cold. he loves cheese but is lactose intolerant. he FREAKED when he heard mcr came back like i think he prolly busted all the lights in monmouth. he's the friend that's always cold (ik he's cold bc hes a ghost but he was always cold when he was alive too). he loves stimming with crunchy glitter slime. also i think he prolly had to wear a knee brace from a skateboarding injury

ok i have been typing since i got the notif about your ask so i'ma wrap this up and i'll prolly rb and add henry onto this later

ily and thank you so so SO much for the ask <3333333

[gutsfics]

Meet My MC - Dr. Baxter "Babs" Lucafont

Pronouns: They/Them Birth Year: 1989 Book: Open Heart LI: Ethan Ramsey

More info below the cut!

Height: 5'5 Favorite Color: purple Favorite Food(s): pancakes, peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches, uncooked instant ramen with hot sauce on it Special Interest(s): insects, weird and unusual medical mysteries

Baxter is the adopted younger sibling of Charlotte St. Yves, although they changed their name when they started medical school to distance themself from Panacea, partially due to a general disdain for profiting off of people's medical problems, but also because they have a rare genetic autoimmune disease and spent most of their childhood bouncing around various Panacea-run hospitals to try and cure them. They were never fully cured, but thanks to those tests there is now treatment for the disease. Unfortunately, despite their best efforts using their leverage as The Child Of The Founder As Panacea And Also A Very Valuable Human Guinea Pig, it's expensive as hell. They absolutely hate that.

Due to most of their childhood being spent in a hospital, they were mostly "home"schooled until their immune system was stable enough they could convince their parents to let them go to high school. They graduated late and didn't decide to become a doctor until they were 22. If they hadn't become a doctor they would have either been an artist for medical textbooks or studied entomology, as they love both drawing and bugs.

As well as their autoimmune disease, they also have chronic pain which they tend to ignore/muscle through so they can do their best in their field, despite everyone in their field telling them that doing that is stupid and will only hurt them more in the long run. They are also autistic.

They've met Ethan twice before their residency, once while they were children, and again as young adults when Ethan punches Declan Nash, although they didn't actually meet him so much as see him punch Declan right in the face.

Speaking of Declan, they and he were very briefly in somewhat of a relationship for a short period of time in their early 20s, but it was toxic as hell and neither of them actually liked each other. Declan was using Baxter to gain good standing with their parents and get a better spot in Panacea, and Baxter was using Declan to rebel against their parents as they mistakenly thought that they would dislike him due to him (at the time) being very, very low on the Panacea corporate rung. They broke up shortly after Ethan punched him.

They are intersex! They themself didn't realize until they hit puberty as their parents thought it would be better if they didn't know. They struggled with their gender for a bit as a teenager, but as an adult they are perfectly fine with their body as-is. Depending on the day and how they're feeling, they will either refer to themself as "cis and nonbinary" as they feel their body fits their gender identity, or as transfeminine, as they were AMAB and quite like being feminine.

They tend to dress more masculine while at work (they wear a corset vest for support/flattening) and more feminine in their daily life. They love being cute as hell, but masculine clothes are more comfortable to wear for a job that keeps them on their feet all day.

About their name- the name their parents gave them was originally something biblical, but they never liked it. When they were first trying on names, they tried a few Indian names, as they were born in Faridabad, India, and wanted to feel more connected to their place of birth, but due to them being raised by white christians it just felt... wrong. They wanted to connect with that part of themself, but they just didn't know how to without feeling like they were appropriating a culture they didn't belong to anymore. So they went with Baxter Lucafont.

Tobias is the first person to call them Babs! They actually don't realize he's talking to them at first, but they genuinely love the nickname.

[squash1]

THANK YOU FOR ALSO LOVING GREYWAREN that book made me go from slightly obsessed with this whole little universe to being VERY obsessed, and I suspect I'll never stop being a menace about it <3 it did THINGS to my psyche

i know u just said some favorite scenes from greywaren, but as a fellow lover of that book, I just have to know: what are some other things u really love about it?

THANK YOU FOR ASKING. FINALLY. SOMEONE ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS

declan lynch autistic child core. as a child i was exactly like child declan and it warms my heart.

jordan and declan are the best couple and if anyone tries to say they’re not u should shut up. (i love all the couples equally but i love them more).

hennessy is so fucking funny like what an icon. her hatred of pennsylvania is so special to me. i don’t even hate pennsylvania i just admire her commitment to the cause.

the thing with declan’s moth. enough said

also declan and adam bonding and (this is mister impossible but whatever) meeting up to have a Ronan Lynch Support Squad Consultation….yes.

THE MATTHEW-BRYDE DYNAMIC. “YOU ARE THE SADDEST DUDE IVE EVER MET!”

the juxtaposition of niall and ronan in the chapters at the barns. aghhhhhh. and the glimpses into niall’s past like…..i wouldn’t call it a redemption arc but the careful way he is humanized WITHOUT being redeemed. and seeing what ronan saw in him. but also what declan saw

DECLAN LYNCH GANGSTER ERA

on the seventh day the lynch brothers became friends again. BECAME FRIENDS AGAIN

but basically. if trc is a coming-of-age series where you see these kids delighting in and struggling with the magic on the edge of adulthood. the dreamer trilogy is like the loss of childhood innocence. cdth and mi are ROUGH at points. it’s much harsher feeling than trc, more heavy and sad and action-packed and suspenseful. and greywaren is like…the tentative peace you make at the end of the transition to adulthood. ronan’s finding his feet, seeing old friends, proposing. declan is settling down, letting go of his childhood wounds. it’s not an ending really but it’s where things start to be okay. and that’s how it feels. and that’s why (for all the plot holes and rushed pacing blah blah blah) it’s so. fucking. good.

AND CAN I JUST SAY. all the ppl who say that post-TRK pynch became “bad” and “toxic” and “isn’t as good as in trc” and “they shouldn’t be together anymore”……..i hate those ppl w my whole heart bc. i’m sorry, but if you read the scene in greywaren where their, like, celestial soul energies found each other in dreamspace and reconciled and apologized and forgave (in. disembodied dream soul form…whatever) and WERE WANTED THEY WERE WANTED THEY WERE WANTED and decided to love and help and heal one another and you STILL think that???? i just don’t know how to help you!!! sorry u can’t enjoy mature healthy relationships where people have gone through bad periods and so the relationship suffered for a while and then they recalibrated and decided to continue to grow together, but i’m built different :))