So, doing a smidgen of research for a fic I'm working on, I discovered a detail so specific it's practically an Easter egg, which delighted me, so I thought I'd share in case other authors find it as interesting as I did.
In DS, Sam has a fear of being touched, referred to as aphenphosmphobia. However, a phobia that's specifically only a fear of physical touch is actually called haphephobia, while aphenphosmphobia is a fear of intimate touch, and also encompasses a fear of emotional connection.
Given his entire raison d'etre in DS is to connect America's cities via the chiral network, and then in DS2 to connect all of Mexico and Australia. . . I imagine he had some mixed feelings about all this connecting, or of allowing/forcing others to make connections when he himself is/was unable to connect due to his phobia. And although caring for sweet baby angel Lou seems in DS2 to have "cured" (or least significantly lessened) his phobia of physical touch, it's possible he has lingering fear of certain kinds of interpersonal connection. I imagine it took a lot for him to even make the leap from carrying BB/Lou in a pod to carrying Lou in his arms, to accepting that she would need him to connect with her, constantly, for a long time. There's a lot for an author to look at.
And, I mean. Choosing to identify his fear as "aphenphosmphobia" rather than "haphephobia" is not an accident. Brilliant little detail.
