#edit bc i forgot to add: feel free to tag this as ship if you like! platonic or romantic i just enjoy these two a lot

[hear-that-music-in-the-air]

Helping Hand

My first RD fic! I haven't written proper fanfic in a hot minute but the little pixel people grabbed me by the throat and opened my google docs

Also shoutout to @nightmun for helping me visualize Ian's silly little mug

Summary: After seeing Ada struggle with the rhythm treatments, Ian comes up with a way to help her out.

Fic under the read-more :)

—

Dr. Edega loomed over her, his eyes boring into her back over the top of his clipboard.

"I expect better from you, Dr. Paige. Times are changing. If you can't keep up, then maybe you're not cut out for this job after all,” he said lowly.

Ada couldn't meet his gaze. Instead she stared down at her hands, balled into trembling fists, as her heart pounded in her ears. Burning tears pricked at the corners of her eyes, and she immediately felt ashamed, like a child being scolded.

She had messed up. She had been treating a patient with the rhythm defibrillator and started to panic as soon as she lost track of the tempo. Ian had frantically swooped in to take over and finished the treatment smoothly, while Ada had watched, feeling numb.

She was distantly aware of Ian pushing past her, positioning himself between her and Edega.

"D-Dr. Edega, sir—this is a very new, experimental treatment method. We're still working out the kinks and—and no one's going to be perfect at it right away."

"That's no excuse. There's no room for mistakes when lives are on the line. You both know that."

"N–Not every case we get is life-threatening," Ian said, and she was faintly surprised at the edge of anger creeping into his tone. "And she'll practice. She can—"

Edega pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

"I don't care what she does as long as her performance improves. See to it that she receives more training as soon as possible. And keep looking for any bugs in the program in the meantime."

Ian opened his mouth to say something else, but was silenced by a single look from Edega. He shrunk into himself.

"Y–Yes, sir. Of course."

Edega turned on his heel and strode out of the room, leaving a heavy silence behind him. Ada didn't realize that she was still shaking until Ian placed a tentative hand on her shoulder.

"Ada?" His voice sounded so far away, as though he were speaking to her from underwater. She attempted to pull herself back, focusing on the warmth of his hand as a grounding point. She placed her own fingers unsteadily over his and gave him a tremulous smile.

“I’m…okay.”

Ian watched her face, brow furrowed in concern.

"He—he shouldn't speak to you like that. I—I hate it."

She sniffled and quickly swiped at the tears that were threatening to spill under her glasses. She took a deep breath and straightened, attempting to look professional instead of pathetic.

"No. He's right. We can't afford to make stupid mistakes in this line of work. And it’s not…it’s not just him.” She remembered the way the patient’s heart rate had spiked on the monitor when she missed a beat, and let out a shaky sigh. “I just...can't stop thinking about what might have happened if you weren't here."

Ian frowned.

"Ada. You can't go beating yourself up over what might have happened."

"Sure I can," she joked weakly. Ian didn't laugh.

"We're—we're all trying our best here," he continued. "And Edega doesn't see how much you do for the patients every day. He barely comes out of his office, and when he does it's only to—to reprimand us for something or other. Everyone else in this hospital loves you. You—you're a good doctor, Ada."

As she stared at him, all of the tears that she had swallowed came rising back up in her throat. She let her head fall against his shoulder with a soft thump, and a quiet sob escaped her. She felt Ian freeze for a moment, uncertain, before he awkwardly wrapped an arm around her. She leaned into the warmth.

"Sorry," he whispered. "Not really a hugger."

Ada let out a watery laugh.

"I know, doofus. Thank you."

She pulled back and tried in vain to wipe the tear stains from his coat.

“Ugh, I’m sorry. I’m crying all over you. This is gross.”

“Yeah, a little bit,” Ian said. “But that’s okay.”

Ada collapsed into a nearby chair, suddenly feeling indescribably exhausted. She pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes before letting out another long sigh. Ian sat down next to her, awkwardly rubbing the back of his hand.

"Personalized care, comforting patients, that's what I'm good at,” Ada said. “You're the one who’s amazing at all the technical stuff.” 

She stared up into the harsh light of the overhead fluorescents, letting her vision go blurry. 

“All Edega seems to care about is getting people in and out of treatment as quickly as possible. Seems like if he has his way, pretty soon everything will be done remotely. I guess I just feel kind of useless,” she muttered.

“You’re not useless,” Ian said quietly.

Ada made a noncommittal sound.

“Like you said, there’s so many other things you’re good at. Trust me, Ada, we—we’ll always need you. You’re everyone’s favorite doctor. Otherwise, they’d all be stuck with me,” he joked.

She attempted to muster a smile, but she knew it didn’t quite reach her eyes. Ian frowned again and fell silent for a long moment, seemingly lost in thought. Then he stood abruptly, nearly startling her out of her seat.

“Oh! I—I might actually know a way to help you!” he cried, pacing excitedly. “M–Meet me in the basement when you come in tomorrow.”

Ada blinked up at him, baffled. “Oh…um…okay? What—?”

Ian was already gone, scurrying down the hallway towards the door that led to the basement. Ada shook her head bemusedly, before scooping up her clipboard from the nearby table to see which patient she needed to check on next. She took a moment and closed her eyes, mentally preparing for the rest of her shift. 

Deep breaths.

She heaved herself onto her feet, and set off in the other direction towards Cole’s room.

—

When she came down to the basement the next morning, Ian looked haggard, yawning and rubbing at his eyes under his glasses. When he saw her, however, he lit up in a smile and eagerly waved her over.

“Ada! Hey! C-Come here, I have something to show you.”

On his desk was the rhythm defibrillator device, and attached to it was a new button that she didn’t recognize.

“...What’s this?” she asked as she slowly descended the stairs.

Ian spun around in his chair to face her, gesturing enthusiastically.

“I was up all night testing this, but it—it works! Basically, it modulates the detected heartbeats to—to simplify them on our end, and then it translates the button input back to the original complexity to match the patient’s heart pattern. S-So you’ll still be administering the same treatment, but it should be easier to—”

Tears welled in her eyes all over again, and Ada practically fell forward to pull him into a hug, grinning from ear to ear. Ian stiffened uncomfortably, and she suddenly remembered herself.

She stepped back and laughed sheepishly as she wiped away the tears.

“Right. Not a hugger. Sorry, I really need to be better about that.”

Ian looked at her for a moment, sighed, and then smiled. He stood from his chair and wrapped her in another hug, tighter than before.

“I’m willing to make exceptions,” he mumbled into her shoulder. Ada’s heart swelled, and she squeezed him back just as tightly. Then Ian let out a yelp as she lifted him off his feet in her excitement, and she quickly set him back down. 

“Too much?”

Ian laughed weakly, smoothing down his rumpled coat.

“Too much.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

She returned her attention to the new button, running her fingers over the smooth surface. It looked fairly similar to the standard one, though slightly bigger. She gently pressed it down and it made a satisfying click.

“Thank you, Ian, seriously. This is…incredible.”

Ian scratched the back of his neck bashfully.

“It’s the least I could do. You already work so hard. H–Hopefully, this’ll make your job a little easier.”

Ada suddenly remembered his words from yesterday. You’re everyone’s favorite doctor. Otherwise, they’d all be stuck with me.

“You’re doing a good job, too, by the way,” she said softly. “Edega’s an idiot if he doesn’t see that. I know that a lot of your work is behind the scenes, but it’s just as important.”

“Oh. Thanks.” Ian looked away, embarrassed. “Y-You don’t have to say that.”

Ada smiled fondly.

“Just want you to know that you’ll always be my favorite radiologist.”

“I’m quite literally th–the only radiologist that we have.”

“Still.”

Ian finally broke into a smile, too. “Okay, okay. H-How about we test this thing?”

—

A week later, Ada told him that she had a gift for him, and produced a small white coffee mug from her coat pocket. Ian burst out laughing when he saw it.

“Wait, d-does that say ‘number one radiologist?’”

It was a “Number One Dad” mug from the dollar store that Ada had drawn over with a permanent marker. She had added two lines under the first D to turn it into an R, and had scribbled “-iologist” underneath, along with a little smiley face at the end. The mug soon became a permanent fixture on Ian’s desk, and she grinned to herself every time she passed by it.

[butterflies-and-roaches]

Stuff about stuff

(Please read if you want to interact!!)

Edited 08.04.24

Who are you?

Call me butterfly 🦋 (or jules), legal adult, gender has no meaning to me and i prefer any pronouns except she/her, probably 'tistic (but my rizz is on the negative hehe), aroace spec and certified lesbian (but for the sake of rp let's consider i'm pan on this blog lol + will not hesitate to simp over fictional characters of any gender)

Main: @timeladix (from which follows ensue)

My art: @julesdraws (rn full hellaverse but keep in mind it's still multifandom)

Wtf is this?

Started off as a butterfly🦋 anon on @/nunalastor 's blog and soon got married to @/lu-lus-duckies so i felt like i should show some face in whatever this has become :>>

Also married to @/lucifersruberduck

And i'm the one that came up with the #nunwhiskers ship name :3 (kinda accidentally lol)

Anything else?

This will sometimes be a role play sideblog (bulshiting around - meaning half the stuff i say or do is exagerated or purely joking bc it's fun) and other times i'll be serious if there is need for me to be

(Just keep in mind i'm autistic and my tone recognision skills are lacking immensly)

Asks always* open, as long as you're not mean i'll probably respond (tho maybe not always right away), feel free to talk ab anything and everything i love engagement :33

Queer and neurodivergent friendly 🫶

*Alright babes, ask box related, these are my HARD NOs (if you won't respect this you'll get blocked and the ask will be deleted sorry): gore, explicit imigery, hate talk (this includes transphobic/homophobic/albeistic/racist etc etc talk), polotics related, horror related, SH and su/i/cide (if it's not said as a joke or it's excessive), ra/pe, violence, abuse, and maybe other stuff that is v extreme or hard to process and doesn't come to mind rn.

(Don't take it personally please, this is me protecting my mental health🦋)

Not a native english speaker!!

Oh and I can actually make pancakes :>>>

(and yes i loooove butterflies)

Wanna add smth you forgot?

Oh yeah i'll update this post as this blog evolves (idk what to expect from this tbh but i'm here for the funsies)

TaGs:

#lore stuff (anything hazbin lore related or unhinged head canons that i find interesting)

#silly wifey stuff (anytime i interact with lulu cuz she's special bc she's my first wife from the polycule)

#silly hubby stuff (anytime i interact with lucifersruberduck aka theo, my first husband :0)

#cursed polycule (everything related to the rest of the polycule - lulu has a chart in their pinned)

#cursed cursed worms (anything worm related)

#butterfly talks (anytime i talk in reblogs or post stuff on its own)

[chansaw]

idk and another thing i’ve been thinking about! since i’m feeling so free-tongued on this monday night! is that i just feel so disillusioned with the concept of fandom. i used to be so passionate about the stuff i loved but now i just feel… blah??? like maybe it’s just because there are so many insane people who stan six i’m just beginning to realize how abnormal the concept of “stanning” is.

join me under the jump for a ramble if you want.

edit: there is no jump because i forgot how to add read more on mobile. sorry

today for the first time in a while i decided to jaunt through the heathers tag on tumblr, maybe bc i’m feeling nostalgic/reflective what with graduation coming up. and it’s just the same thing over and over again: ship art. incorrect quote that doesn’t even gel with canon characterization. incorrect/inaccurate surface level analysis of the musical (ignoring the movie!). jd thirst post. ship art. ship art. ship art. rinse and repeat. and i’m like… is this all there is? same with six. it’s just wild mass guessing about costumes, alternate order, mildly offensive “sixsona-fications” of other historical figures, XD chaos goblin anne boleyn XD, grossly intrusive speculation about the personal lives of the actors - and that’s what gets me the most! people stalk these girls and it’s so disturbing. sam talked about an incident with her abusive ex-boyfriend where he hurt her in a particular way, and then a “paulynator” wrote RPF about sam that included this exact detail. like how dare you? what is wrong with you? why are these people documenting the names of their families on the six wiki? how is that relevant to six? these actors are human beings with private lives!!! god! i don’t know where i was going with this. maybe the reason im not getting that serotonin rush out of participating in fandom is because im [gasp] growing up?? evolving as a person? what a radical notion