more thoughts about codependent tozer/collins because I have more to say! i wrote about them a little bit here and here as well (in case you also care deeply about tozer/collins and need to gobble them up like i do.
recap: despite the fact that solomon and henry have been essentially living inside of each other's skin for a couple of years, they still aren't calling each other "boyfriend" or "partner"! they rarely talk to anyone outside of their respective workplaces now (obviously because the world sucks and all they need is each other!) but if they must discuss what the other one is to them, they say, "my friend, henry" or "my roommate, solomon". they both have severe trust issues and some homophobic trauma so it's just easier to both figuratively and literally live inside of a closet! not only that, but solomon is agoraphobic and it's at his absolute worst after he's endured trauma or when he's triggered or really stressed out.
they're so dependent on each other that they start thinking of themselves as two halves of one whole. henry is too anxious to drive after he was in an accident. so solomon can drive everywhere! solomon doesn't like being in public spaces. so henry can do the grocery shopping! henry hates cleaning but loves to cook - so solomon can clean the house and henry can make all the meals! henry gets decision paralysis trying to decide on tv or a movie - so he just watches solomon play video games! solomon has a difficult time remembering to feed himself and shower - but henry reminds him! henry has night terrors - but solomon will always roll him a blunt and bring him a glass of water!
is it codependence if they're actually a well-oiled machine? beat your psychiatrist at his own sick and twisted game by actually having a loving and healthy relationship where you simply don't even need to be an entire independent person!
so when solomon is called back home to take care of a family crisis, it's when things start completely unravelling. solomon is on the phone (while henry eavesdrops of course) in their kitchen going, "i can't come. im sorry i can't come. it's super busy at work right now. i just can't make it." but his family members wheedle him down until he has no other option and he has to leave henry and his job. their home. and all of england. to go take care of his family in Scotland*
*note = I know that Sol isn't Scottish and neither is DWalms. but this is my AU and i make the rules
at first, it's very cute. solomon actually likes driving and being on the open road and calling henry from payphones. he thinks it's sort of sexy and romantic. but by the time he arrives in scotland and it hits him. he's home. in a house FULL of his family members. who are giving him constant critcism and interrogation into how he's living his life. and he has to sleep ALONE. without henry. and he starts unravelling.
Henry, at their home in England, simply cannot sleep. He really tries, honestly. and he tries to keep the house clean and keep himself fed and keep going to work. but it is so hard without Solomon there. He gets anxious at work, but when he comes home and sees Solomon sitting on the couch, he is instantly soothed. and now Solomon isn't home and instead of being soothed, his anxiety just keeps growing. and now he isn't sleeping.
(also ive decided it's the 90s so walk with me about payphones and tech and so on)
Solomon does NOT want to come out of the closet. not to his family. not now or ever but especially not during a family crisis. so he can't use the home phone to call Henry and tell him he misses him so much and wishes they could snuggle and then fuck and then snuggle. also i think that sometimes when they are really pathetic they do that whiney baby talk "i meesss you sho much baby bear" and it's disgusting. solomon doesn't want anyone to ever overhear him calling Henry "baby bear". he would probably start killing.
so he tells his family that he has to go out for a walk to smoke a cigarette or to run an errand or to pick up groceries....three times a day. minimum. and he's just walking to the nearest payphone and complaining to Henry about the one million things that his brothers and aunts and parents have done that irked him.
And Henry is also miserable. he's only able to take micro-naps and he's started vomiting almost daily. i think he doesn't really understand that he's essentially sick from anxiety. he thinks he's coming down with something. he thinks he might even be seeing things now.
Solomon is so worried. but he can't get away from his family. he keeps trying to, but he can't. he tells Henry that if he isn't better in two days, that he's going to just sneak out in the middle of the night and just GUN IT for home. damn what his parents think.
but the next day a fierce storm causes a power outage. there's no power at all at the house. and Solomon walks in the storm to the payphone to check on Henry. but that payphone is also out. he tries to tell his family that he needs to go into town to use a payphone but they tell him not to drive in the storm. they ask why he even needs to use the phone so bad and point out that when the power comes back on, he can just use the house phone. he tells them to drop it.
henry starts flipping out. he's convinced that Solomon has forgotten all about him. he met someone up in Scotland and he's never coming home. this is how he gets broken up with, he's sure of it. he's seeing shadow creatures in the house.
solomon is starting to lash out. he really can't drive because of the storm but he's trapped with his family. which is its own hell. he can't get to Henry which is worse. it takes two or three days for the power to come back on and he hasn't even had a good shower in that time. he gets extremely paranoid that Henry has gotten bored and annoyed with Solomon and wouldn't want his phone calls anyway. he's probably out on the town meeting a new guy.
when the storm has passed, and he simply cannot take another day. he leaves in the middle of the morning in full daylight and drives all the way back home. he stops at a payphone as soon as he can and is able to tell Henry about the power outage. Henry is still upset because he isn't sure what or who he can trust, especially now that he's having insomnia-induced psychosis. but they both know that they just need to be back together again.
Solomon races home. they spend a full 36 hour block in bed. they're snuggling and sleeping and telling each other that they will never leave each other ever ever again and what they REALLY need is to just check on each other MORE often, actually. because this whole thing went badly because they were AWAY from each other for too long (five days)
so now they have a system. they both take their lunch break at right at half-past noon and go to the nearest phone and one of them has to call the other one. they don't do anything seperately anymore. and if they are gone from each other for hours and hours, the one who has gone away has to call the other who is at home and tell them where they are and who they're with and when they will be home.
and they are so emotionally exhausted! but that's okay!!!! because they can just live inside of each others SKIN !