#disabilitymercs

[a-scary-lack-of-common-sense]

BOO hey girlypops, I'm back

[coffee-writesthings]

I made a headcanon about Scout and Spy both having EDS, soooo here's a fic i wrote expanding on it a touch. Warning for some internalized abliesm but it's dealt with pretty quickly

WC: 1k

MannCo recently sent a shipment of a variety of things: food, weapons, ammo, and a large roll of tape which Scout ordered specially for himself. It was sticky, and would look very similar to his skin-- the perfect thing to hide his slippery joints with.

He went to look through the boxes the moment he heard that the truck left. It had to be in there, and he had to get it before anyone found out. There was no way he'd be allowed to stay on the team in this sort of condition!

With a little searching, he found the right box. It was marked in large, egregious letters, "DISABILITY STUFF". He cringed at how the words glared up at him, practically shouting out to the world how 'broken' he was.

Broken or not, he needed the help, so he dug into the box-- with the help of a pocket knife. Though, what he found wasn't just his tape. There were braces of various kinds, pairs of glasses, and several bottles of what he assumed were medication.

He was dumbfounded, and at the same time wanted to kick himself-- of course his other teammates were also disabled. Medic needed glasses, Pyro needed stuff for their burn scars, Demo only had one eye for gods sake! Had he really just not considered that at all?

Really thinking about it as he dug through the boxes to find his tape, he realized that, no, he'd never thought of his team as disabled-- and they probably didn't either. They were just living life and had found things to work around whatever they were struggling with.

Underneath a sort of brace he'd never seen before lie his tape. It was a massive roll, far larger than what he'd ever used before, maybe as wide across the circle as his forearm?

With new complaints from his hips starting up, he abandoned the boxes and got to work 'fixing his life with duct tape'.

Under the dim light in the bathroom-- jeez, they really need to change that bulb out sometime-- he was able to put down some strips of tape where he felt it was needed most at the moment. Two strips starting just above his hip and trailing down to his inner thighs already helped so much. But with that out of the way, he started on his knees-- he made a sort of x shape from a little above his knee to the side of his calf with a strip of tape for each side, for each leg.

"Thank fuck, my joints are actually jointing now--" he muttered before bumping into Spy.

"Merde, what are you doing up at this hour?"

"I should ask ya the same thing."

"If you must know I'm looking for my new brace. Medic suggested it specially for my Ehlors-Danlos. Tell no one. Please."

"Oh hey, I have that same problem! Yeah, my joints are all wonky, I basically tape em together."

He winced in a way that was almost unnoticeable.

"Somethin' wrong?"

"No, nothing."

"Alright then. Make sure you get some sleep for your old bones then!"

It hit him in the face when he woke up, Ehlors-Danlos is inherited... They'd be around the same age, right? 26 and late-40s, early 50s. It's not unreasonable. He would've been... Somewhere between his age and somewhat younger.

It's not... uncommon for someone to have a kid at that age.

And there were other things too, other things that were shared between them. Their faces were incredibly similar, now that the thought about it-- one thing that the Director's visit helped with.

Something his Ma talked about once or twice came into the mental conversation with a steel chair-- his dad was french. Like, it was significant enough to warrant having a favorite french thing to watch on tv.

Damn, stuff like this had him feeling like an idiot for never noticing.

"But, what about Tom Jones--" he muttered to himself, "No. No wait. Hang on." He cursed loudly, remembering that Spy can use disguises.

That warranted a knock on the door from Engineer, "Everythin' alright in there?"

"Spy's my dad."

"Huh?"

"Spy, the 10,000-euro-suit-wearing asshole, is my dad."

"Have you... Considered talking to him about this, perhaps?" The voice that came out of that mouth was patiently off, too French for Engineer's Texas background.

"Your accent is slipping."

In a cloud of smoke, Spy dropped the disguise. "You caught me."

"So you admit it? You're my dad-- how freakin' long did you know?"

"About a year after you joined the team."

"Y'know the hell of it all? I can't even blame you, it's not like you were there most of the time. Didn't even get you for the big moments."

"I am sorry, I couldn't be around in ways you were aware of-- it would have put you in more danger than it was worth." his gaze moved downwards with his frown, "The few times I was able to, I had to be invisible. I didn't want you to become entangled in any of this."

He held back the insult, thinking better than to kick a man while he's down. "I'm still angry, but.. I guess it's at least good to know. Thank you."

Silence hung in the air for the next few seconds, not quite tense, not quite calm, but a third unknown thing. Spy broke the silence, "Do you want to see what I use for my joints?"

"Sure, maybe I can teach ya something."

"Don't get too cocky, I don't see anything you can teach me when it comes to your post-battle scores," he took a gulp of his cup of coffee.

"Oh you ass. Hey, why'd you dress up as Engineer by the way, you planning on taking him out sometime?"

"Who's to say I'm planning?"

"Well damn-- does this mean I'm getting an extra parent out of this?"

He choked, taking a few seconds to regain his breath, "You heard nothing."

[a-scary-lack-of-common-sense]

How do you feel being the rightest person ever because they absolutely would race each other down the hallway

y'all ever think about how 4 out of the 9 classes in tf2 are disabled??

I think that's great!! but if we put our mind to it I'm sure we can also disable the other 5

[a-scary-lack-of-common-sense]

My joints have been hurting me these days so I’m expressing my suffering through these guys for catharsis.

Ignore the fucked up look of Medic’s wheelchair, I’m redesigning it entirely so it makes more sense and so it resembles those mountain terrain wheelchairs because holy shit those things slap and I didn’t even know they existed.

Old design (left) & what I’m aiming to implement into the future design (right):

I’m trying to make it a more all-terrain kind of wheelchair but also have it motorised? Since if I’m going to try and combine the medigun into the wheelchair as well, Medic ain’t going to have the hands free to push the wheels more than steer it. Then again, this might be an impossible task and I might be unable to make a battle medigun/wheelchair, but who knows.

[a-scary-lack-of-common-sense]

You know what, fuck you, I'm not listening to your bullshit anymore *takes out my hearing aids*

[a-scary-lack-of-common-sense]

HI i’m personally a crutch user and i love scout with crutches but consider

pyro or engie crutch user(s)

im a big enjoyer of my comfort characters being just like me i hope this is ok 👍

Pyro or Engie crutch users? ❌️

Pyro AND Engie crutch users ✅️

Hopefully these cane personalisations don't look too weird?? I have no idea where I was going with Pyro tbh, I think I was trying to make it a mini lighter but kinda failed miserably :')

Edit: FUCK, YOU SAID CRUTCH NOT CANE I'M SO SORRY I GOT IT MIXED UP

[a-scary-lack-of-common-sense]

Handle spikes that would actually kill you

I am in... incredible knee pain... help...............

[a-scary-lack-of-common-sense]

consider: scout tf2 but with a cane instead of a bat. good at running but can't stand still for very long because legs ouchie

giving this to you because you are the only tf2 artist who is cool about disability and it makes me so extremely happy and i am so glad you exist

bestie, you are on some BIG BRAIN shit rn, holy crap. I especially approve of this idea because I also don't feel my knee pain until I'm standing still (for some reason??) And the bat/cane combo is peak brain fr, multi-use mobility aids my beloved <3

ANYWAYS, have this neat little tf2 cane user doodles I whipped up <3

You guys can send me more mobility aid hedcanons for the mercs if u want!! I'd love to hear more, or even just design ideas for weaponized mobility aids >:) or how the mercs would personalize their stuff. ALTHO take everything I say with a grain of salt because other than some chronic joint pain I don't actually use any mobility aids :')

[a-scary-lack-of-common-sense]

"You oughta be more careful, boy"

Did I forget about Engie's gunslinger? Abso-fucking-lutely

[a-scary-lack-of-common-sense]

Imagine; Scout with prosthetic legs! Bro can zoom around at the speed of sound!

Prosthetic legs go NYOOOOOM but remember to give your poor legs a rest from time to time!!

[a-scary-lack-of-common-sense]

Falls on my face. Explodes. Screams. Cries. I'm disabled and use a cane. I LOVE YOUR DISABLED MERC STUFF. IM ACTUALLY SOBBING AND CRYING IM JUST SO AHWHEAUUEUEEUIWIWIRTUEI HAPPY!!!!!!! i actually headcanon Spy to have EDS and fibromyalgia (I'm not projecting whaaaaat) and Sniper to have chronic back, knee, and shoulder pain. And I have other hcs but sniperspy are my blorbos

Anyway i just wanted to say that I really really like your stuff. Made my day tbh

Chronic pain and shitty joints aside, Spy would forever continue to slay and serve absolute cunt

"You better not be slaying cunt when I come back"

Spy:

[a-scary-lack-of-common-sense]

Miss Pauling she is my wife <3

[a-scary-lack-of-common-sense]

Just discovered your tf2 mobility aid drawings and I'm absolutely obsessed ‼️ would you mind drawing a wheelchair user medic? Babygirl probably keeps horrors beyond comprehension in the chair's backpack

GOING INSANE OVER WHEELCHAIR USER MEDIC, he would totally do wheelies and flex on the others with his tricks

Reference

[a-scary-lack-of-common-sense]

A wild Pyro appears! He wants you to accompany her for trick or treating! Do you accept?

[Yes] or [No]

[a-scary-lack-of-common-sense]

okay so hear me out, engie having his sentry be like a wheelchair(like on top or just straight up the sentry as a wheelchair) so he can move around in the battle while also having a level 3 sentry at all times blasting everyone

- @sillyteamdoodles

He is a THREAT that will SHOOT your KNEECAPS but also get stuck at stairs :(

BUT, he'll probably find a way to give his wheelchair legs like a spider so he's STILL A THREAT

[a-scary-lack-of-common-sense]

Medic's medigun/chair concept design!! Based off a lovely conversation I had with @froggy-lully about weaponized mobility aid ideas for the mercs (if you don't want me to tag you just let me know!)

Disclaimer: Unrealistic and very impractical wheelchair design!! But this is for the funsies, so let's just roll with it and ignore logic :)

Version without the medigun: