#i'm not saying i would've stayed in public school longer if i hadn't had to ride the bus bc i really physically needed to gtf outta there

[confinesofmy]

fun fact: i sat backwards on the school bus with my feet braced on my seat, knees against my chin, and my back wedged up against the back of the seat in front of mine every school day for over a year

[imagining-in-the-margins]

Hello! I don’t know if this is an ask per se, but I’ve been thinking a lot about this concept lately. Imagine how different Spencer would’ve been with different parents, like don’t get me wrong, Diana did the best she could considering her illness and the fact that her husband left, but imagine if things had been differently. Little Spencer who loves Halloween not because “he gets to be a different person for a day” but because his mother used to watch scary movies with him piled under a blanket fort. He knows every The Beatles song by heart but he also manages his way around Madonna and Britney, his mom wanting him to have a diverse taste in music. He’s still just as smart but his parents didn’t want him to skip grades, wishing for him to get the normal (as normal as possible for a genius) high-school experience. Being among peers his own age, attending school wasn’t as torturous, sure, he was still considered a nerd, but he had friends, he maybe even dated a couple people. Give me a Spencer who still got his 3 PHD’s and joined the BAU at a young age but without having to suffer in order to achieve these things. Give me a Spencer who’s got just as much knowledge about pop culture as he knows about serotonin in peas. I don’t know if this makes sense!

I totally get what you mean. It's always interesting to think about how different characters would be if you changed some small part of their life. But I will say that I think Spencer would turn out to be pretty similar, honestly.

I'm so sorry, you definitely didn't sign up for this, lol, but I'm about to go on a rant about Autistic children that you are totally free to skip if you prefer to keep your AU headcanon!😂

Also, as a brief aside, phenylethylamine (PEA) is not actually found in significant amounts in green peas, it's just the acronym! While it is found in large amounts in some parts of the Leguminosae family, it's mostly found in soybeans and nuts. I get so fired up about that error, lmao.

Back to Spencer though -

As an Autistic person who grew up with very supportive parents who did everything right, I was still heavily bullied, and I still ended up skipping grades (just did so later, of my own accord). If I hadn't skipped grades, I would've been forced to stay in public school longer and suffered a lot as a result because of the bullying and the fact that I was doing so much extra credit work that I was starting to annoy my teachers (I would literally invent more creative/difficult versions of their assignments because I would lose interest otherwise).

His parents definitely couldn't have stopped the bullying no matter what. Being among peers your own age doesn't really help when they can still tell you're different. I actually had better luck with older kids than I did kids my own age.

Considering the masking required of Autistic people, I actually think Diana did the right thing for him. When you are a savant, you are not as required to mask for the comfort of others because there is no earthly way for you to appear "normal." People will know immediately that you are "weird" and will treat you accordingly. So the idea of heavy masking is pointless.

For the same reasons, I think he would still like Halloween for getting to be a different person for a day (i.e., his true self rather than the mask he usually wears). Autistic people are often compared to robots, monsters, animals, and faeries (changelings), so it makes sense that many of us feel a kinship to mythical creatures/cryptids and enjoy an opportunity to blend in for the day.

But you are spot on about him being exposed to more pop culture if his parents were more interested in it. I think it would've been funny to see, for sure. While I'm not interested in most traditional pop culture things, I know plenty of Autistic people who were.

In the end, I'm a firm believer that to be Autistic in this day and age means that you suffer as a child. Not because it is inevitable, but because our society allows it to happen.

Whether or not you were traumatized by it is obviously dependent on your support system (so, like you said, with better equipped parents). But from where I'm sitting, Spencer would've ended up about the same, if not slightly worse off for being forced into environments not suited for him (like Gen Ed).

Obviously, we are all allowed to have different opinions on it, though! It's a fun thing to think about!

[rikumorimachisgirl]

Watching You (Shinsuke Kita x Reader)

Fandom: Haikyuu!!

Genre: Fluff, Post-timeskip

Word count: 1164

A/N: This kinda feels unfinished, but I just wanted to get it out of my head while I had the inspiration. Also, cross-posted on AO3.

Disclaimer: I do not own Haikyuu!! nor its characters, but I own the idea of this fic.

From your bedroom window, you watched him park his small truck in front of his home right across the street. With only the thin fabric of your draperies to hide you from the outside world, you proceeded to gaze out as you always did to catch a view of him. Him - your neighbor, an old schoolmate in high school named Kita. You hadn't intended to, but the lockdown was taking longer than you had imagined, and you had to look for ways to stay sane while waiting for a chance to resume your life in Tokyo. 

Your gaze shifted to the clock at your bedside, and you smiled. It was the same routine every morning - he'd come home in his truck at exactly seven in the morning and then leave again an hour later. You always wondered what time his day started and where he'd come from, but never bothered to ask. After all, it wasn't like you were friends - you only went to school together and he was two classes ahead. 

But you knew him. Oh, how you did! You knew he'd leave his house for volleyball practice at five in the morning, and wouldn't be back until six or seven at night. You knew he adored his grandma and doted on his younger brother. You also knew that he wouldn't exactly give any girl the time of day because he was busy studying. Sighing, you set aside your high school memories so you could shift your focus back to him. 

Today seemed like a happy day, you thought silently as you watched more members of his household step out to meet him with big smiles on their faces. One by one, they unloaded boxes and trays from the small white truck. As you moved to get a better view of the boxes, you suddenly felt strange, as if someone's eyes were on you. As you scanned the neighbors you were spying on, you realized the person you were looking at had moved away from his family. And that he had somehow moved to the right side of the truck, where he had an unobstructed view of you. He squinted, as he tried to make out your outline, and you gasped. Panicked, you quickly dropped to the floor, and inched your way far from the window. 

"That was embarrassing," you said as you tried to calm your pounding heart. "Okay. That's enough spying on Kita-san starting today."

With that thought in mind, you tried to go through your day by writing a featured article for the lifestyle publication you now worked for. Though tempting, you stopped yourself from going to the window to peek at your neighbor even when you heard his truck arrive, or when you heard him joke around with his brother. A flush crept up your cheeks at the thought that he saw you watching them earlier for the first time. 

'If that even was the first time he caught me watching! Ugh, I can't believe this pandemic turned me into a peeping tom," you thought, as you pound your fists on the sides of your head. Before you went into full anxiety mode, you suddenly had another thought. 

'What if he didn't see me?' You thought as you looked out the window from your workspace in your room. It was possible after all - the sun was facing my room's direction, so the light would've reflected on my window, keeping me from view. 

'Yeah.' The thought relieved the anxiety you were starting to feel. He was just probably looking at the reflection of the sun. There was no way he would see you. 'Let's go with that.'

Your relief was short-lived when your mom knocked on your door and announced that you were going to accompany her and your dad to a birthday party. Right across the street. Where the Kitas lived. 

This was a nightmare. You sat with your parents and some other neighbors at the Kita's residence, with a fake smile plastered on your face. It was his grandmother's birthday, and they thought of inviting your family to celebrate. The atmosphere was jovial, but all you could think of was that you were nosing around in their business from your bedroom window a couple of hours back. 

"(Y/n)-chan looks so out-of-place in this table." You heard the birthday celebrant say. You tensed up, surprised. You didn't know the old woman even knew who you were, and suddenly there she was standing right beside you. 

You shot up from your seat awkwardly. "Happy Birthday, Obaasan," you said, bowing low to greet her. 

"You are every inch as pretty as he says," the old woman continued, as she peered into your face and smiled. 

'He says,' you thought silently. 

"But you shouldn't be here with the older guests. Why don't you join the younger ones instead?" She said, picking up your hand, and tugging you along with her.

"Uhm, the younger people, Obaasan?" You asked, marveling at how strong the elderly Kita was despite her age. 

"The younger people," she said and came into a full stop in front of the one person you dreaded to see. Dressed in a collared maroon shirt that complemented his brown eyes, and trousers, he looked more like a model than the rice farmer he grew up to be. As you finally fixed your eyes on your former schoolmate, you saw that he was already doing the same for you. 

"Isn't it nice to finally see each other face-to-face, instead of staring at each other through the window?" The old woman teased and squeezed your hand before letting it go and leaving you both on your own. 

"So, uh…," you started. 

"Shinsuke," he offered, as he pulled out a chair for you to sit. "My name is Shinsuke."

"I'm (y/n)," you responded while playing with your hands-on your lap. "Uh… we went to school together before…"

"Yes, I know. You were two years below me in high school," he started matter-of-factly as he gazed at you calmly. 

"Right. After that, I went to Tokyo. I've been living there since," you said, hoping to make the conversation less awkward. Meeting people like this wasn't your strong suit, but you knew you had to try. Looking wistfully at the flowers in the centerpiece of the table you both occupied, you cleared your throat again. "I only came here to visit but with the pandemic and all, my parents aren't so keen on sending me away." 

"Hmm. It must be hard adjusting back to life in Hyogo after being away for so long," the former Inarizaki men's volleyball team captain said. "So, what have you been doing since April?"

You cocked an eyebrow and looked at him quizzically. "How'd you know I've been here since April?"

A blush started sweeping across his face as he smiled. "Truth is, (y/n)-chan, while you were watching me, I was kinda watching you, too."

The end.