Hi bee!! Okay so ever since you posted those bg sick headcanons I’ve been thinking about MUNA sick headcanons as well…
I think if Katie is the one caring for someone sick she’d be so doting. Lots of cooing and “aw poor baby”. I feel like she’d spoil a sick person and go to the store for medicine and come back with every other comforting item she could possibly be find. You know she’s getting a little witchy with it too. She’s like “here’s some Advil, also here is some tea I made with herbs from my garden, and here are my crystals that I just charged under the moon.” And Naomi and Jo are like 🤨 but humor her anyway
If Katie is sick I feel like she’s so pouty and clingy. She needs princess treatment! Draping herself across Naomi or Jo’s lap and saying “I don’t feel gooood” until they stroke her hair. I feel like if she’s really sick she could get a little emotional too. Like just pouting with tears in her eyes when she has a fever so Jo and Naomi have to cuddle her even though they’re complaining that she’s radiating so much heat… she’s just too princess for people to say no to
When Naomi is caring for a sick person I think they’d be a little anxious, worried that something is seriously wrong, worried that they aren’t doing a good job taking care of said sick person, etc. but I also think they’d be able to read and adapt to the needs of the sick person pretty quickly. Katie needs a hug? On it. Jo wants to be silent and watch tv? Say less.
When Naomi is sick themselves I feel like they’d try to downplay it or maybe insist that they can take care of themself just because they don’t want to inconvenience anybody. And Katie has to remind them that just because they CAN take care of themself doesn’t mean they have to! So eventually Naomi admits how miserable they feel and they let Katie fuss over them and Jo make them some soup.
You know Jo basically becomes a doctor when someone else is sick. I feel like their medicine cabinet is basically an arsenal and is very well-organized. They have every solution for every ailment possible. She’s checking temps and administering meds like she’s an expert. And you know she’s making a big vat of homemade soup. I think she could a little Too Doctor Like sometimes lol and need gentle reminders to also be more caring. when she goes in to check Katie’s temp again Katie frowns and is like “you have to give me a hug first.” Or Naomi is like “just come sit with me for a bit.”
When Jo is sick they want to be left the hell alone for the most part. She’s grumpy and wants to be bundled under blankets watching tv and spacing out. If she’s feeling really miserable she’ll accept some company and some help but she doesn’t wanna be touched more than necessary and she doesn’t really wanna talk. But they are grateful for the silent companionship and someone bringing them food and drinks and meds.
Okay I think that’s it for now… thoughts? Hehe
YES
This is all so accurate oh my God
Katie WOULD get witchy with it but also be giving them the Advil! She’s definitely a home remedies type of guy but recognizes that Jo and Naomi are not, and she’s not going to force them to be in pain.
And yeah obviously Princess Katie gets what she wants when she’s sick. Like they’re bringing her a cup of tea or something and she just looks up at them with the biggest eyes and says “stay?” And who are they to say no? She’s also definitely falling asleep on them both throughout the day.
Naomi being anxious makes so much sense. They’re in the corner looking up symptoms and trying to decide whether they should go to the hospital yet.
And yeah, definitely an “I can do it myself” type of guy. I’m imagining that Katie finds them trying to wipe off the toilet seat they just threw up on while actively gagging and is like “okay, that’s enough. Let me do it. You’re just gonna make an even bigger mess.” And Naomi just starts crying because they feel so rotten and thank God Katie’s there.
Josette 🤝 Julien - autism rizz when someone is sick
No but for real, Jo’s like setting timers to remind Katie to take meds and when the timer goes off she’s going to get the Tylenol without even asking Katie if she needs another painkiller first. And Katie just tugs on their arm and says, “hey, I’m good. Come cuddle.” And Jo’s like “but I already reset the timer???”
Jo is me about being sick. Leave us tf aloneeee. Like they will text Naomi asking them to bring her a fresh glass of water and Naomi comes in all “heyyy, how you feeling?” And Jo just. Glares. But if they wanna sit and watch the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy in silence with her? Sure.
if you posted 8 million sickfics I'd name my firstborn after you they are my all time fav of any fanfiction EVER especially as a girly with a bad immune system (I've had covid 6 times even tho im vaccinated for it)
This is so real of you I am the Same.
To be real only one of the 8 million is actually complete to the point of being postable (below the cut 😉) but mayhaps if it gets enough love I'll consider posting some of my favourite snippets from the others...
Tuesday
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
Julien’s in the kitchen washing dishes and dancing around to some Shania Twain song on her Bluetooth speaker when Mackenzie texts her.
Hey, new song for your consideration! This one’s heavy so I won’t even be a little upset if you’re not comfortable putting it on the album. Think it fits the vibe, though.
Julien taps into the attached file, titled, simply, “Tuesday.”
She presses play.
The demo is just Mackenzie’s soft voice backed by a quiet acoustic guitar, as most of the demos she’s sent have been, and Julien pauses her work as the first verse begins, giving the song her full attention.
It’s sweet. At first it’s a song about falling in love, about being grateful for those who choose to love you in return, and Julien smiles softly as she thinks about Mariah. Her mind drifts briefly to Lucy, though she shakes the thought before she has a reason to feel guilty.
The chorus hits like a gut punch. “Now I wish that I hadn’t stepped down and lied,” Mackenzie croons, and Julien sucks in a deep breath. She grips the counter behind her to steady herself, a little dizzy with how blunt her friend’s words are. They hit like daggers as Julien psyche drudges up memories of her teenage self, trying desperately not to read into the feelings she had towards her female friends. By the time the second verse starts, she’s already fighting back tears.
Of course, verse two is somehow even more raw. It feels like Mackenzie is inside of fourteen-year-old Julien’s brain, and the emotional lyrics make Julien’s chest ache. Mackenzie continues, “instead of backing me up, Tuesday melted right down,” and Julien lets out a small whimper as her stomach clenches, because that was her. She was the one begging her girlfriend to lie to her parents.
Mackenzie says, “to emphasize how much I loved Jesus and men,” and Julien feels sick.
She grips the counter behind her with one trembling hand as the second chorus starts, the other coming up to press against her mouth as she tries to process the words she’s hearing. Bile sprays into her throat as she realizes that what Mackenzie’s recounting is a suicide attempt, and she shudders, half-gagging into her palm at a line about ‘paper-thin’ skin.
Tears track steadily down Julien’s cheeks as she listens. Part of her is upset that her friend went through something so awful. Part of her is horrified and disgusted at the possibility that she’d ever caused pain like this.
Oh, God, what if she’s someone’s Tuesday?
Her fist flies up to her head and knocks harshly, and as the verse comes to a close Julien spins, grips the edge of the sink not currently full of soapy dishwater, and throws up. The sound of it splattering into metal rings in her ears in time with Mackenzie’s voice starting in on the next verse.
“Oh, my God,” Mariah rounds the corner at a jog, and Julien is silently grateful that the next line is drowned out. “Did you just throw up?”
Julien can’t bring herself to meet her girlfriend’s concerned eyes, so she reaches for her phone with violently shaking hands instead, and pauses the demo just in time to hear the word ‘shame’.
Mariah seems worried and confused as she washes Julien’s vomit down the sink, and Julien soon finds herself being pulled close, Mariah running a hand through her hair and asking, “what happened, JB?”
Julien swallows against the lump still sticking in her throat, and croaks out an astonished, “Mackenzie’s a fucking good songwriter”.
It’s another week before she can convince herself to listen to the song again, and this time she makes it all the way to the end. She cackles at the last line - telling Tuesday’s mom to ‘go suck an egg’ - and shoots Mackenzie a text.
We have to put this on the album.
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
Inspired by this moment from the JBTorres virtual listening party last April:
I am currently plagued by a stomach bug so I did the logical thing and projected my feelings onto boygenius
mild tw for emetophobia
Headcanons below the cut :)
How I think they'd each act when the others are sick + how I think they'd act when sick themselves:
Phoebe:
if Lucy or Julien are sick, Phoebe is right by their side through the whole thing
probably with wayyyy more meds than necessary
she fusses in a way that’s sweet but a little overbearing: “are you sure you’re warm enough? I can get you another blanket. Or two. Or three. How about I just bring them all?” and “Let me just check your temperature again. I know you already took the Tylenol, but what if it hasn’t come down? I feel like if your temperature doesn’t come down with Tylenol, you’re supposed to go to the hospital or something.”
she’s somehow a clingy caregiver
however, the second that there’s even a chance someone might be vomiting?
she’s as far away as humanly possible as fast as humanly possible
big emetophobe vibes
she has definitely called Lucy mid-panic attack like “Julien threw up and I think she’s fine but I need you to come home because I can’t breathe”
and being stuck on the tour bus overnight with a concussed Lucy was basically her worst nightmare
it’s not even that she’s scared she’ll get sick, it’s just that another person’s vomit is the biggest sensory ick on the planet
but once it’s over she’s right there to reassure them that she still loves them and she’s sorry they aren’t feeling well
if Phoebe is clingy when she’s caring for the others, it’s nothing compared to how she is when she’s the one who’s sick
she will tuck herself into Lucy or Julien’s laps and say, “I don’t feel good,” more times than they can count
she also just gets really pouty and whiny
within a day of getting sick she will take over the entire living room with tissues and a blanket nest and various meds and thermometers and probably a trash can “just in case”
she’s also throwing the used tissues halfheartedly at the trash can and not bothering to pick them up when she misses
Phoebe only ever naps when she's sick
I can see her being the type of person to take medical advice from Tiktok, but only half remember it and then refuse to look it up to fact-check
she also seems like someone who would drag it out, and a simple cold can mean not leaving the house for a week
basically, she takes being sick as an opportunity to be babied
however, if she has a show to play? That shit is getting done, no matter how sick she feels (case in point: shitting herself onstage because of food poisoning once, and having a trash can in the wings just in case she needed to vomit another time)
Phoebe's "I don't feel good" pout / going to Julien for cuddles and to mumble about how gross she feels:
Julien:
Julien basically has a “sick person checklist" in her brain that she follows whenever the others are sick
like she’s gonna make one trip to the pharmacy + grocery store and come back with absolutely everything they could possibly need
including ingredients to make homemade soup
she’s going to make sure that whoever’s sick keeps their food and fluid intake up
she also double and triple checks everything - thermometer batteries, med schedules, the most effective way to treat each and every symptom…
she’s also very realistic about what is going to go away on its own in a couple days and what is hospital-worthy
she might still panic a little if someone starts throwing up (mostly because there’s really nothing she can do or say that will make it feel better) but even then, she’s prepared
because Julien is the type of person to have a stack of hospital-grade emesis bags stashed away in the back corner of some closet (it’s the acid reflux)
and at night she’ll do the whole glow-stick-in-a-trash-can hack to make sure nobody makes a mess
she takes cleaning duties very seriously - both in the aftermath of someone throwing up and with germs in general
as soon as a person starts to feel better, things are getting sanitized
she’s not always the best at empathizing - a lot of her script is just, “I’m sorry”
but she’s going to make sure they have what they need at any hour of the day or night.
and physical touch is absolutely her love language
like she has definitely toted around a sick, sleepy Phoebe in a piggyback before
and she’ll drop 100 kisses to Lucy’s forehead no matter how high her fever is
Julien just genuinely loves taking care of her boys
but when she’s the one who’s sick?
she refuses to even acknowledge it until she runs herself to the ground
case in point: trying to return to the stage after fully throwing up at Webster Hall
first of all, she has the worst immune system of the three, so if either of the others are sick, Julien is pretty much guaranteed to catch whatever they have
second, she has an uncanny ability to make a little cold into something that leaves her bed-ridden for a solid week and a half just because she didn’t want to accept that she was sick.
like she’ll try to push through a sore throat and end up losing her voice completely
or she’ll make herself physically sick before she bothers to take a break from whatever’s stressing her out
part of it comes from feeling like a burden if she asks for help
part of it is a lack of interoception leading to a genuine struggle to realize that she’s starting to feel sick until it’s too late
for example, despite her stash of emesis bags, she’s the king of thinking she doesn't need one until it's too late and she's already throwing up on the floor or in bed or on herself
vomiting inevitably makes her panic about making a mess and try to apologize, which usually has Lucy and Phoebe gently reassuring her that it’s okay, they’re not mad
being sick also brings out her mean streak
she’ll get upset about feeling weak and try to tell Lucy or Phoebe that she doesn’t need their help, but it comes out as “I don’t want you here, leave me alone”
which Phoebe will react to with something equally snarky, and Lucy will shut down with an arch of her eyebrow and a “that’s not very kind”
but if she’s really feeling awful, Julien seeks them out for cuddles
she’s known to tuck herself into either of the other's side and bury her face in their neck, because she feels the most safe when she’s being held by them
skin-to-skin to bring a fever down is peak no matter who is sick, in Julien’s opinion.
The exact way Julien tucks herself into Lucy when she finally admits that she's sick:
Lucy:
Lucy’s a very involved caregiver
she’ll sit and read to whoever is sick, make them cups of tea and chicken soup, and of course come up with an elaborate way of keeping track of which meds they can take and when
she’s also very good at tailoring her caregiving to whoever is sick
if it’s Phoebe, she’ll sit and snuggle her for as long as Phoebe wants, and if she needs to get up to do something, she’ll leave a bell so Phoebe can call for her
Phoebe also thrives on verbal reassurance and words of comfort, so Lucy makes an effort to coo over how miserable she looks and how uncomfortable she must feel
if it’s Julien, Lucy’s settling herself in the same room because Julien will try to get up and do things unless Lucy jumps in to do it for her
Lucy has also discovered that some gentle empathy paired with an offer of tangible help is the most effective in dealing with Julien’s stubbornness
she knows that Phoebe wants to feel cared for, and Julien wants to feel capable of caring for herself. Phoebe wants to give up control, Julien very much does not.
either way, whoever is sick feels very cared for and loved by Lucy
Lucy has the best immune system of all of them, so she doesn't get sick very often and recovers quickly when she does
when she does come down with something, she accepts that she’s sick with little fuss and doesn’t make a big deal out of feeling under the weather
where Phoebe will complain until someone gets her what she needs and Julien will try to get it herself, Lucy doesn’t hesitate to ask for help when she needs it
this extends to like, bringing her another cup of tea, or a fresh box of Kleenex, or a bucket if she’s really feeling awful
but for the most part, she’s perfectly happy to spend a couple of days curled up in bed with a book and a mug of tea, and won’t ask for anything she’s genuinely capable of handling herself
for example, she’s organizing her own meds schedule and probably managing to haul herself to the kitchen for cheese and crackers or a bowl of soup every now and then
she’ll even clean up after herself if she has a stomach bug - though she’ll probably call Julien in for cuddles in the aftermath
plus, Lucy prides herself on never having thrown up anywhere other than a toilet, trash can, bowl, or bag, so it’s not like there’s ever much to clean up
just like Julien, it’s when she’s really not feeling well that her clingy side comes out
fevers are the absolute pinnacle of discomfort to Lucy, and her favourite thing is when someone sits with her and gently rubs a cool cloth over her forehead and cheeks and across the back of her neck.
she likes being read to when she's sick, too, and will fall asleep with her head in Julien's lap given the opportunity
The slump that says she really doesn't feel well / the "I just threw up again, please come cuddle me" selfie she sends to Julien:
on the not-so-odd occasion that they're all sick at the same time, Lucy generally tries to take care of herself as well as she can in order to take the best care of her boys
Julien and Phoebe can easily get on each others' nerves but as soon as Lucy admits to not feeling well they're both doting on her too much to care how gross the other one is being
they often end up either cuddled together in bed, or sprawled across opposite ends of the living room and tossing bottles of cold meds + boxes of Kleenex to one another because none of them want to get up
in all, they're really good at taking care of each other in the ways that count
“I think, for me, this is more than just playful experimentation. The term boy feels right, even outside of the group dynamic. I don’t know exactly what that means yet, but I… I don’t think I’m cis.”
I just saw that you responded to my anon message and I don't wanna throw like other people under the bus but I like asked dog fangs about the fallon situation and like they turned asks off cause of it and I like didn't mean to do that I just didn't know anything and I feel like bad so I don't know. I've been thinking of leaving the fandom for a while now
And I realized I said young but I'm like technically an adult cause I just turned 18 the other day
I totally get it; sometimes an innocent question can be taken the complete wrong way. I think everybody has had an experience where they've unintentionally asked a question in a way that gave people the wrong idea.
I don't know if you were the "why don't we like him" anon or the "he doesn't control who is on his show" anon (and I don't need to know), but let me offer some reassurance either way:
The first anon was not the reason they turned off anons. That was a genuine curious question and they answered it with neutral fact.
As for the second anon, that statement came from a place of misinformation, because F*llon definitely has at least some control over who he interviews. However, the reaction to it was maybe a little over the top (and I take some responsibility for that; I sent an ask condemning the F*llon defender too). I think it's fair to correct people when they say something that is inherently wrong / potentially harmful, and dogfangs has every right to be upset about that ask, but I'm sorry that nobody spent the effort to educate the anon in a respectful, non-reactive way.
Does that make sense?
Anyway, I hope you don't leave the fandom over this. People move on quickly.
Also Happy Belated Birthday 🥳🥳 Welcome to adulthood lol
Also also, did you want to claim an anon emoji? I can understand not wanting to out yourself after people blew up but if you ever wanna claim one feel free :)) (this goes for all anons)
She watches a speck of dirt on the glass and purposefully ignores the dull greens and dusty browns of late summer that rush by behind it as Lucy drives. She blinks at a chip in the light blue paint on the wall in the waiting room outside her therapist’s office, Lucy and the secretary buzzing in conversation just beyond her notice.
“I’ll pick you up in an hour,” Lucy tells her, and Julien nods.
She picks at a crack in the leather couch in the office as her therapist goes through the formalities of greeting her, hating the waxy feel against her skin and picking all the more diligently because of it. She traces the square-ish pattern of the carpet into her thigh and is nauseated by the lack of perfect corners.
“That sounds really scary,” her therapist empathizes when Julien recounts her God-awful spiral in her office the next day. “Do you usually find it hard to stop those looping thoughts?”
The clock on the wall ticks loudly as her therapist waits for her to answer.
“It wasn’t ‘scary’,” Julien eventually grumbles. She rubs at her ear where the ticking is the harshest. “It was fucking disturbing.”
She exhales, and her chest shudders a little. “I don’t wanna be in my head when it does that shit.” It’s a confession that comes with tears, her already fragile ego taking another harsh licking as her fist comes up to knock against her skull, and her other hand joins it, pressing in on the opposite side like she can squeeze her conscience out through her ears. The next admission is whimpered, small and pathetic, “I don’t wanna be in here anymore.”
Her therapist asks her to think about a stay in the psych ward.
For the first time in a long time, Julien takes her seriously. “I’ll think about it,” she promises.
