How would Morris treat an autistic partner?
:OOO!! Hey there Anon! Thank you so much for asking! As someone autistic I've been waiting for the opportunity to write something like this! You've absolutely got the gears in my brain working.
Note - I'm going to be basing these primarily on mine and some friends experiences with Autism. These may not align with everyone, and that's alright.
Word count: 1,013 TWs/CWs: Small mention of gagging!
˖ ✵⭒Morris with an Autistic S/O
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For starters, this man would do absolutely amazingly with a neurodivergent partner. I'm partially saying this because I think he has a touch of neurodivergence himself, but also because he seems like he'd be willing to be accommodating once he's sat down and talked to about some of your issues. He'd be confused at first, but he'd realize the two of you have more of a common ground than he first assumed.
He'd do a significant bit of research once being told you're autistic. He doesn't want to seem ignorant, and he wants to better understand how to accommodate for your needs. Of course, he'd probably just ask you upfront since he understands everyone's different with different needs and whatnot.
For starters, he completely understand getting so interested in something it's all you talk about. He'd be more than willing to hear about your fixations and interests. In fact, he'd be the type of man to buy you things pertaining to some niche topic you brought up then be like "oh. I just happened to remember you liked this character! Consider it a lucky surprise?" He also enjoys casually bringing up things related to your interest and watching you go off about it.
If you're not a fan of large crowds, that's cool. He enjoys large gatherings, especially since they're good for business! But he can absolutely understand how easy it is to become burnt out by them. He can recall countless times at Joja Block Parties in which he had to step away due to the commotion. He'd be sure to keep track of short-cuts in busier parts of Zuzu City so that you don't have to deal with tons of people.
Loud noises absolutely overwhelm him, even if he doesn't want to admit it. It's a weak point of his. He much prefers the quieter things in life, and being somewhere too loud and boisterous can offset his thoughts, leaving him all disoriented and disgruntled. He completely understands having to walk away from somewhere due to it being too loud and will absolutely surprise you with noise cancelling headphones.
One thing I feel he'd have some difficulty getting used to is if you're clingy. I've mentioned this in a prior post, but he reminds me of a cat in terms of how he warms up to others. It'd take some time for him to get used to you wanting to be against him or wanting to cuddle him or anything like that. But once he's warmed up to your physical advances, he'd be more than happy to allow you to lounge against him while he does his work/while he reads. He'd also be more than happy to hold you against him while he does things, or carry you around if he's able to.
Once he's used to being physically affectionate with you, he'd be so down to laying on top of you if you like that sort of thing. Free weighted plush!
If you don't like affection? That's perfectly fine with him. He's more than capable of being affectionate in other ways, as his main love language pertains moreso toward gift-giving and quality time. Plus, it's hard for him to warm up to physical affection as well, he understands.
He is the world's loudest advocate for parallel play. He would love doing productive while you're doing something else and hearing your input/giving his own input on what you're doing. He finds it one of the nicest ways of bonding with you. Silent acknowledgement of one anothers presence...
He would 100000% understand not liking touching certain textures. Just looking at store-bought slime brings shivers up and down his spine and makes him break into a sweat. Hell, he couldn't even stock those towelettes Joja stocked back when he was a mere grunt due to how horrible they felt to him. He'd take careful note of what you do and don't like touching and then be sure to buy gifts and things that fall under positive textures for you only.
One thing I think would also confuse him would be food aversions. He's never experienced issues with any sort of food. He's had a few dislikes, but he isn't particularly picky. (Not to mention he's been desensitized by microwaveable joja meals) He doesn't quite understand the whole unable to eat something due to the texture thing, nor does he understand gagging due to the scent of something. But he'd try his best to accommodate to you. He'd start carrying your comfort foods in his home, and he'd try to eat food that set off your aversions away from you. That way, you both would be able to eat together and he'd still be able to eat what he wants.
He doesn't get stimming at first but he'll try his best to accommodate for your needs. Joja sells stim toys! Look at that cute clicky worm thing! He can get plenty! Once they end up breaking after barely any use, he buys ones from actually refutable brands. One benefit in you stimming is him realizing just how relaxing it is to sit down and do similar.
He can find himself getting a little easily irritated over things being said poorly, but once you explain to him that its hard for you to control your tone or the way you phrase things, he starts asking for clarification when he's confused.
He can be very passive aggressive or sarcastic toward others. But toward you, he'll keep himself and his mouth in check. Especially if you don't pick up on either well.
Schedule changes do not happen with this man. You never have to worry about being put off track unless it's something out of his hands. He is always on time, no sooner, no later. This man adores daily routines too, and knowing you like predictability leaves him the ability to continue following his usual routine without much issue. If and when he can't stick to the usual, however, he tries to give a heads up.
If and when you go mute, he entirely understands and tries not to force you to talk. Though, I imagine the first time it happened he was absolutely startled. He was worried he did something and that he was being given silent treatment. Or that something had happened to you. Once you explained it to him later, however, he understood. If you're able to, he often hands you a board to write with. If you're not able to, he just sits with you and does whatever you want to, or just does his work and lets you lean against him.
If he notices you're overwhelmed he does everything he can to take you out of the situation, even if you end up dejected over the fact he left for the sake of you. If the two of you are at a company wide party and you start to get noticeably burnt out he'll find an excuse to leave. If you two are at a restaurant or something and you're starting to get more jittery he'll ask if you'd like to make your meals take out and head out. If ever you voice you're worried you're ruining your outings together due to this, he'll cup your face with his hand (if you like physical touch) and reassure you otherwise.
He loves you to bits ultimately, and he wants the absolute best for you. He'd probably check in constantly to make sure you're alright.
