Jackie having a meltdown over something small and inconsequential and wanting to peel off her own skin with the shame of it: she's had enough affirmations from Nat and the others that she accepts that it's Ok To Cry because yes! Sometimes things are hard or stressful or scary and it's absolutely ok to react to them!
Except this is something that REALLY doesn't matter- she wasn't able to finish some little task she'd set herself in the timeframe she'd assigned it, she wasn't able to remember something she was trying to learn, something went very mildly not as she expected it to- and she KNOWS logically that it doesn't matter, no one is mad, no one but her has even noticed, and yet she's burning hot and her eyes are prickling and her throat is all tight and it's as if she's six years old again, being scolded for crying because she went over the lines in her colouring book.
Except this is WORSE because even six year old her had the excuse of being scolded- adult her doesn't even have that and yet she's STILL crying? Seriously? What's WRONG with her?
Part of her perversely almost wants people to see- to raise their eyebrows and shake their heads at how pathetic she's being- because maybe that will snap her out of it? It at least would be what she deserves.
The other part of her though? That part of her just wants to curl up and stop existing all together.
Jackie’s staring at the new cardboard cutout in the living room, eyes opening wide as he freezes in place. He’s surprised by it because it’s a life-sized cutout of Deadpool. Jackie had always wanted one, but never had the time to sit down and purchase one, plus he hadn’t been sure the others would appreciate it as much.
“I wanted to surprise you later,” Chase says sheepishly. “I wasn’t expecting you home so soon, but...it was Marvin’s idea. We all know how much you wanted one, so we all sorta chipped in and...” Chase trails off when he realizes not a word is getting through to Jackie.
Jackie’s rubbing his hands together excitedly, with a sort of nervous excitement. He’s also rocking back and forth on his feet, giggling quietly to himself as he stares at his favorite hero, right there in their living room.
“Chase, I-” Jackie finds it almost hard to talk. He has to pace around, running his fingers against the smooth cardboard, muttering to himself. “You didn’t-” He’s not on the verge of tears, but he’s trying to hold himself back, for Chase’s sake. He doesn’t want to weird him out or anything-
“Take your time, Jackie,” Chase says patiently. He can’t help but smile. It’d been so long since he’d seen Jackie stim like this, and it makes him happy that such a simple pleasure can bring Jackie right back into that mindset. “You’re alright; keep going if you need to.”
“You don’t mind?” Jackie shoots him a grateful look. Of course Chase knows what he’s thinking, the two are practically one mind.
“No, of course I don’t mind. I love seeing you happy!” Chase moves closer, resting a hand on Jackie’s shoulder. “Take all the time you need, and when you’re ready, I’ll help you move him to your room, okay?”
“...’kay.” Jackie giggles to himself as he starts rubbing his hands together again, bouncing happily on his feet. He has Deadpool in his house, who wouldn’t be elated over it?
He flaps his hand and snaps his fingers, unable to stop grinning or stop staring at the cutout. This is definitely the best day ever!
Autistic JackieNat headcanons (for wisteriaoverbarefeet)
-Nat being really careful to communicate clearly with Jackie. Like Jackie struggles with social cues but ALSO she gets very, very anxious that people are hiding how they’re annoyed with her. So Nat tells her RIGHT away if anything bothers her so she isn’t blindsided. Like Van says it seems a bit mean that Nat tells Jackie that she can’t use her jewelry in her Sylvanian Family stories bc like just let it go this time and if she does it again, say something?? But nat knows if she does jackie will remember that she’s done it before and was nat mad then and why didnt she tell her and what else is she doing nat is mad about???? So this way is really kinder and easier on them both.
-Nat getting really good at deciphering sensory issues. Like Jackie can sometimes just FEEL that x or y is Wrong if she’s getting overwhelmed but Nat can gently probe to find out what the issue is and fix it, like is she too hot? Or is it that this particular sweater is too prickly? Is the food wrong bc the texture is wrong or is it the way it’s cooked or has her brain just noped out on whatever it is?
-Genuinely grateful when Jackie can use HER own (carefully studied and learnt) knowledge of What Is The Right Thing To Do to help Nat out. Because like….nat has spent a lot of time saying fuck this to stupid fitting in bullshit but sometimes its helpful that jackie can just…smooth things over and make people happy. And she lets Jackie know shes grateful too.
-She knows Jackie can get embarrassed looking at toys in the store so she buys like five different sylvanian families and lays them out on the table so jackie can take time choosing the one she wants and then returns the rest (or secretly only returns 3. She saves Jackie’s second favourite as a surprise present)
-Reads outloud to Jackie to help her calm down sometimes: like she’ll be reading out articles from the NME about the latest punk band and Jackie is just listening and sucking her thumb like its the coziest bedtime story. Sometimes Nat ends the article shes reading with ‘and they all lived happily ever after’ to make Jackie laugh (‘-the band have vehemently denied all accusations that their recent photoshoot at an aquarium was in any way related to the rumours of unorthodox sexual appetites. And they all lived happily ever after.’ and Jackie dissolves into giggles.)
Jackie taking a long time to get ready/pick an outfit because she needs to make sure all the textures are right and sometimes a thing FEELS ok for a minute but then once shes got her bag and done her makeup, she needs something else. Or she'll tell Shauna she's fine, she isn't going to shower before they go, she'll shower tonight, and then as she's brushing her hair suddenly be like 'this feels Wrong omg' and needing to rush to shower anyway.
Everyone gets annoyed and thinks its Jackie being a selfish princess but it's not, or at least not intentional.
We’re over a week into autism acceptance month, so of course I had to draw my most favourite autistic headcanoned character! I’m not sure what to say, I just love him 💚
Half infinity sign/half superhero mask design from this post!
A/N: This is completely unedited, I’ve been working on it alongside ego whumptober for the past week and just got fed up—but the idea was good so I finished it. If it gets bland at the end, I’m sorry XD
The knock at the door came early in the morning, but Jackie was already awake and roaming the house absently. For once, he was the only one home; Chase was, surprisingly, over with his kids, watching them after Stacey had to go somewhere last minute; Henrik was probably at the office working himself out (Jackie made a note to retrieve that poor man later); and Marvin had taken Jameson out for a nature trip to learn how their magic interacted with each others’. It was quiet aside from that knock, but that just meant it was that much more noticeable.
Jackie wasn’t expecting anything, like a package or delivery of any kind… for once. He waited until the knocks stopped, but checked the window just to see.
A man was standing at the end of the driveway, his face cloaked in shadows coming seemingly from nowhere. His clothes were long and flowing like a calm river. A grin shone through the shadows, then Jackie blinked and the man was gone. He swallowed a lump in his throat, peeking further to see why the man might have been there.
A package was left, after all, but now Jackie was more hesitant. It was big, and his mind was racing with the possibilities of what could be held within. The most horrific idea of which, due to the size, was a whole–or chopped–person. He shot down that thought process quickly, opting to wait until anyone else got home.
The stress made him restless, and he found himself plucking at the hairs on his arms and gnawing on his cheeks. He decided going upstairs and away from the situation might be better, finding his way up with weakened balance and a lack of coordination. His breathing was coming out in sharp puffs against his better judgement, now imagining someone was watching him.
The moment he touched foot in his room, a weight was lifted off his chest. It felt like immediate safety, but with his heart rate spiking, and his hands still pick, pick, picking at his own skin, hair, nails—all of it triggered his robot helper, Sam. Sam’s tail wrapped around his wrist gently to stop him from continuing and Jackie snapped out of it with a sudden breath. He nodded to Sam, furthering into his room and snatching up a fidget toy to calm himself down safely, then beginning to pace the misshapen cube that was his room. His toes dug into the fuzzy carpet, the necklace settled around his shoulders, giving a comfortable weightedness, and the toy in his hand, all the textures becoming familiar again, as well as doing their jobs. Sam was cautious floating around, it’s tail shifting almost organically.
A few minutes passed before Jackie was calm enough to give the softball sized robot a command, though his voice was shaky when he said, “Sam, deploy house shield. Allow voice passcode access to Chase, Marvin, and Henrik, and use visual identification if anyone else comes near.”
Sam vibrated as it calibrated the instructions, and as Jackie sat on his bed, he could see the house being washed over in a green tint. He let out a whole different breath of relief, letting his chin fall to his chest. Sam settled on his lap, nestling in as much as it’s metallic body would allow, it’s eye wide open to project a movie for Jackie to enjoy.
Several hours passed, when finally there was a rap on the door. Through Jackie’s now open window (only to let in fresh air to further calm him down) he could hear Marvin’s distinctly higher-pitched voice talking to someone else. When he got no answer from the door, he rang the bell, finally triggering the passcode entry.
“Something must be wrong,” Marvin said quietly toward Jameson, his eyes scanning the house. They’d gotten past the shield easily enough, just by walking through it, but he knew that was only because it was his own magic that was programmed into the robot’s security deployment feature. Marvin’s eyes spotted Jackie’s open window, his brows furrowing when he saw no light or movement inside. “Jackie? Hey, it’s Marv and James. We’re coming in.”
He spoke the password to the small microphone jutting out from the doorbell, and the door clicked open to let the two inside. They jumped. Jackie had already made his way downstairs and was waiting with a slightly impatient bounce, a pair of headphones around his neck and a different necklace around his throat, pulled up to his mouth so he could focus his chewing habit on something else.
“Hey, Jackie,” Marvin said slowly, letting Jameson close the door behind them so he could approach their brother. Jackie dropped the toy from his mouth, tears taking shape in his greying, fear-filled eyes. Marvin backed up a step, bringing his hands up in front of him. “It’s just me.”
Jameson set down their limited luggage, sitting on the floor behind Marvin and calmly urging Jackie to do the same, which he did. “Good, good,” Jameson said, his words slow so Jackie could catch up easily. “Deep breaths now.”
They followed along together, Marvin finding himself joining in with them and sitting on the floor too. Jackie finally opened his mouth to talk, but the words couldn’t find their way out. He resorted to signing also, albeit clumsily. “Man outside. Package- door.”
Marvin breathed out, standing to go look out the window. He shook his head. “There’s nothing, Jay. We’d have seen a package coming home, someone must have stolen it.” He turned around when he felt a hand on his shoulder, finding Jackie peeking over him. “Why’d that freak you out so much? You’re safe. No one got in, man. I promise.”
There was a crash in the kitchen not even a second later, causing Jackie and Marvin both to jump. Jameson was gone, so the noise must have been him. Marvin ran, leaving Jackie to decide on his own if he wanted to follow.
The scene in front of Marvin was startling to say the least, shreds of cardboard littered the floor, and Jameson’s hat was right by Marvin’s feet. There was blood, but Jameson didn’t seem hurt, just scared himself, underneath the frail body of an ego neither seemed to recognise. Thinking fast, Marvin whipped out his wand, focusing a beam of magic toward the men, but aiming at the one currently trying to bite into the other. The beam was strong, pushing him off quickly and disorienting him enough to be able to pin him down himself and block off his mouth so he couldn’t cause anymore harm.
The ego came back faster than Marvin had expected, and was strong for how he looked. His body was tearing itself apart it looked like, and specks of blood were getting over both them and the floor as he continued to fight despite his instincts being subdued.
Even as Jackie walked in to see what the commotion was, Marvin just told him to stand back, but the way his eyes widened told Marvin there was some information Jackie couldn’t get out.
“Help me, Jackie. Just spell it, please,” he begged, nearly losing his grip on the violent ego in his exasperation.
Jackie fell to his knees next to Jameson, whispering something to him, to which Jameson spelled toward Marvin, “zombie?”
“Fuck! Okay, call Schneep. Tell him he needs to get home immediately. I think we finally got our hands on Robbie. Somehow.”
