Summary: As the title says! This will be specifically post Tender Treats, so if anybody wants a version of him before that, then just let me know. (Also these took me forever OMG. They've been in my drafts for months-)
TW: Trauma/PTSD, Depression, Agoraphobia, Night Terrors
🦇 Chances are, you'll start out on the wrong foot when meeting him. You spot him sitting outside during the winter, looking sort of out of it and forlorn, so you decide to ask him if he's okay. As in, is he okay mental health wise? Is he in a crisis? He ends up taking it the wrong way, thinking that you're approaching him because of his missing arm and not his mood, and gets upset with you about it. He's already gotten enough stares for it, and the idea that people might start approaching him about it is something he is both very afraid of and very irritated by, even if they mean well.
🦇 Needless to say, it takes him a little time to warm up with you after that miscommunication. As I said, regardless of the fact he knew you meant well, it still really bothered him. However, that doesn't mean he completely closes off. He just put up like... 15 puzzles you need to solve before he'll open the door for you. The best way you can get closer with him is to just avoid the subject of the obvious (his arm) and try talking about other things. Like his interests, something revolving around what you two are doing or where you both are, or maybe even your interests.
🦇 He might not say much, at first, but what he does say might be a bit interesting. If you both start talking about food, he might casually slip in how he no longer eats meat. Though, he has been struggling to rebalance his diet after cutting out meat, so he'd appreciate any tips you might have on how to get the nutrients he needs. If you bring up the idea of costumes or engineering, he might mention offhandedly that he worked at a haunted house, and built something for it. He won't go into a lot of details, though. Streber won't say what his costume was, what he built, or even how nearby it was.
🦇 Truthfully, it's because he doesn't want you to possibly recognize him from the news. With who the guy that took his arm turned out to be, he wouldn't be too surprised if he was mentioned in some way on the news. He doesn't know if he was on the news, because the thought that he might've been is too much to bear, much less check if he was, but he wouldn't be surprised. He loves attention, don't get him wrong... but the thought that the one thing he might be known for is his arm getting brutally torn off and eaten?
🦇 Once he starts to warm up to you, though, he'll become more open. He'll talk about his college degree more, how he worked at a haunted house once, and even his little inventions. He's still very quiet about it, though. Literally quiet, as in his voice sounds more like he's murmuring or mumbling. Streber isn't exactly enthused at the thought of talking about these things, but he's no longer against it. As long as it's with you, or any of his friends.
🦇 Speaking of his friends, a few of them still visit from time to time. They're pretty enthusiastic when they hear he's made a new friend, one of them unintentionally dropping that he spent a long time locked away in his house, having expected you to already know he was a shut-in for a while. They didn't really understand how much Streber has changed after the attack, and because they all became friends with him before that, they thought he still over shares with new people after meeting them.
🦇 Streber is pretty salty when he figures out they accidentally told you about his... time spent inside. However, he's quick to understand that they didn't mean to. Maybe not quick to forgive, but at least understand. The same will go for you if you do anything on accident. It'll take a while to forgive, but understanding you didn't mean any harm? He'll get that quickly, and with time, he'll forgive you.
🦇 Once he decides you're a friend, expect to learn a bit more about everything that happened. He won't go into the gory details about everything, but he'll explain a bit of what happened with Bob. He'll mostly only do this if he sees a reason to, though. Partially because he's used to people somewhat brushing off his concerns until he tells them. So, it won't be unprompted.
🦇 Say you are trying to think of something to eat while visiting, and you get onto the subject of why he doesn't eat meat. That's when he'll explain that Bob was the one to attack him, and everybody knows the guy was a cannibal, so you'd hopefully get the memo that he really doesn't want to eat meat. He won't mind if you eat meat, but if you're getting a pizza, maybe you could buy two so your pepperoni pizza doesn't touch his cheese pizza? He'll pay for both.
🦇 The most he really asks is to be patient with him.
🦇 It'll take a long while for your friendship to move into a a relationship. To the point where I can imagine a long while where you and him are somewhat acting like you're in a romantic relationship despite neither of you making things official. Somewhat like an unlabeled relationship. Hell, if you decide that that's enough for you, and you don't need a label to what you are, Streber is just fine with that! You both can just be, and if anybody asks what you two are, he'll just go with whatever you tell him to say. It's especially easy because Streber wouldn't really be the one to ask you out. You'd be leading the charge to make any sort of romance label official, and if you're fine with what you two are without it, you wouldn't need to do anything.
🦇 Streber wouldn't be the one to ask you out, partially because doesn't feel the need to have a romantic relationship. He sort of feels he doesn't need a partner at this time in his life, but a good friend to provide the correct emotional support he needs. His current support system, the friends from the haunted house, wasn't really built to help him with something like his PTSD and trauma from the attack. Of course, he doesn't fault them for not knowing what he needs, since who really would in this situation? They've stood by him in this situation, and he's grateful for it. However, they aren't the best at helping him when he's in a panic or trying to comfort him, simply because they don't know what to do.
🦇 However, if you've gotten this far into a friendship with him, you know how to do just that. He doesn't want to rock the boat by making your friendship a romance, even if he feels it could be more. So, he's going to wait for his pre-existing support system to somewhat catch up a bit in adjusting to everything. Then, once you've asked him out, he'll gladly give it a shot.
🦇 Streber depending on if you got to that aforementioned point in your friendship where he acts somewhere between platonic and romantic, he doesn't act much different as a romantic partner then he would as a platonic or unlabeled one. So, these upcoming headcanons can be taken as either romantic, queer platonic, or an unlabeled relationship.
🦇 Streber likes engaging in your hobbies. It serves as both a comfort, entertainment, and depending on what it is, even practice for using his right hand for everything. If you love painting, then he'll watch you paint. If you're willing to show him how to paint, he'll try his best, despite not being used to doing things without his dominant hand. If your hobby is something more complex, like making videos, he'll be more likely to just watch. If you're something like a movie/show reviewer, though, he'd probably try watching the movies/shows with you. He might even give his own input about his thoughts, as somebody who tends to not think critically on things he watches.
🦇 Streber finds it a lot easier to go outside alongside you, but he does want to be able to go outside on his own without his fears and anxieties taking over. This results in times where you can find him sitting on the front steps of his house (or, if you're living together at this point, your house). I'd imagine it'd start out with the both of you sitting together, people-watching and counting the cars as they go by to try to distract Streber from his intrusive thoughts. Then, as time goes by, he'd eventually get the confidence to try doing so on his own while you're inside, because he knows you're nearby if he needs you. Then, it'd culminate in you getting to his house to see that he got the confidence to wait for you on the front steps, despite knowing you wouldn't immediately be available if needed.
🦇 Despite not listening to music anymore, he will buy you merchandise of your favorite bands and music artists. He'll also gladly listen to you describe why you like their music. He's just not interested in listening to any music, anymore. It brings up too many emotions, both good and bad, and he doesn't want to risk accidentally finding a song that stirs up bad emotions.
🦇 If you two were to ever move in together, he'd prefer to move into your house, rather than you to his. That, or maybe you both can buy a new house or apartment together. He sort of just wants to get out of his place, since it'd feel like moving on from everything that has happened. Streber has spent so much time in his house, and now that he's gotten comfortable enough with leaving it that he's seriously considering moving in with you, he can't stand the thought of living in the same house any longer. His brain needs something new, and with you there, he knows it'll be safe. He'll insist that you both stay in Spooky Town, though. He's too attached to this strange, suburban neighborhood to ever truly leave it.
🦇 Don't be upset if he wakes you up in the middle of the night by accident. Or on purpose. Unsurprisingly, he gets pretty bad night terrors from time to time. So, he might accidentally wake you up from thrashing about, or purposefully wake you up to either ask you for comfort or because he feels the need to ask if you're alright. It honestly depends on what exactly the contents of his night terror was, since he both has dreams about himself getting hurt by Bob, or those around him getting hurt by Bob.
🦇 If you're living together, there's a few things that might surprise you. One thing that might, depending on what your expectations going in are, is that he doesn't really want an arm prosthetic. His main reasoning is that it's really expensive and that he wouldn't really have the patience to keep up maintenance for it. That, and he's noticed that his weight has been fluctuating a bit since the incident, which would mean he'd need to keep getting it refitted or just buy new ones... Plus, he's heard that they can be painful if they aren't fitted right or the lining wears out. He doesn't really need anymore pain in his life, so he'll just go without one.
🦇 Another thing is that he's kind of meh on vampires, actually. By that, he just means that he likes every type of Halloween creature equally. He mostly just talks about vampires because his friends prefer them. The only one that he's really stopped liking is the idea of zombies... Mostly because he's started associating zombies, a vaguely human shaped creature that eats people... with Bob. Werewolves get a pass because they look wolf-like, though.
🦇 Overall, I can see the two of you living a relatively peaceful life together. You just have to be a bit patient with him. It's also important to note that you shouldn't really expect him to be all "happy happy joy joy" with you. He's become a bit more solemn, so he's going to show his love and appreciation for you in more reserved ways, like gifts or kind words. If he's ever feeling down or depressed, he hopes that you know it isn't your fault.
