No You Guys Don't Understand. I May Have Ranted About This Fic Before But I'm Fucking Doing It Again.

No you guys don't understand. I may have ranted about this fic before but I'm fucking doing it again. Knowledge is Power (But Love Won't Hurt) by SupposedToBeWriting has fixed me. Trauma? Gone. I'm gonna call my therapist and tell them no need for any more sessions because I've found the answer. And that answer is Jonathan "single father to autistic little girl" Sims. Yeah you heard me right. Get ready for a 31 chapter, 156K words slow burn wherein Martin Kartin Blackwood dresses like the straightest gay man at the family barbecue, Finding Nemo is a really emotional plot point and Gerry Keay and Martin bond over Mommy Issues. Get your "Jon Is The Most Stressed Man Ever" fix here. It's got everything that tma is too cowardly to do - healthy communication, trans Jon and Martin and aroace Gerry. Please go read it, I promise it will change your fucking life.

public service message that thinking "Maybe speaking up about Palestine is too controversial/political for me to do" or "maybe mentioning good aspects about Palestinians while they're suffering so much is not okay" is exactly the kind of mindset zionists want you to have and have been hard at work for years for people to develope. thank you.

"children need all the support and protection and thus have no right to make any of their own decisions for their own safety"

and

"adults have the right to do whatever they want but also if they still live with their families or uses government support, they are freeloaders and lazy"

leads to

"people with cognitive disabilities are all actually children trapped in adult bodies"

and

"people with cognitive disabilities' imput on decisons about their medical care, living situations, and future isn't actually what's best for them because they don't know what is good for themselves"

disabled adults are not children, but the rights and freedoms of abled children and disabled adults are intertwined

I stopped masking last October because I saw my community stop masking. I also figured I was at low risk because I had a flexible WFH job and rarely left the house anyway. Besides, I reasoned, I was fully vaccinated and had already survived three years of the pandemic without catching it.

I caught COVID anyway, probably on a routine trip to the pharmacy.

It was the only time I had left the house in several weeks because I had gotten used to getting most of my goods delivered. I had a few pre-existing conditions and was already struggling with my mental health, so some COVID-era developments made life a lot easier for me.

I have long COVID now. I get breathless when I take the kitchen trash out to the curb. I get fatigued and faint while standing for too long in a line in a public location or even while cooking or washing dishes at home. My cognition has taken a sharp decline. I am constantly fatigued and weak, yet I can't sleep without sedative medication.

I'm uninsured, so I can't afford (or can barely afford) the things that would help me, like cognitive rehab, physical therapy, or a walker.

This is my life for the foreseeable future -- possibly forever.

Don't be like me if you can help it.

Wear a mask.

People like to pretend I will "get better" so they do not have to think about the deadly lie they are living. Abandoning disabled and high-risk people to preventable death is eugenics.

To clarify, this is NOT just an American issue -- think of the "pan" in pandemic.

The MSKCC Library

The People's CDC (weekly weather reports on COVID in the U.S.)

Image IDs available in Alt Text and written out below:

Image ID begins. A black and white cartoon comic titled Pandemic Year 4. This is panel 1. A boy with short hair — Joey, the author of the comic — is holding a Christmas wreath and handing it to his boyfriend, a boy with long hair and a beard, who is standing in a window while decorating. The text reads: This year, my boyfriend and I got fresh pine wreaths from the farmer’s market — our fist big Christmas decorations together!

Panel 2. A hand holds pine needles. Cartoon stink clouds radiate off of the pine needles. The text reads: I break pine needles between my fingers and it smells hideous. Pain shoots through my head.

Panel 3. Joey stands in front of a table on which there are various foods. He looks disgusted and is covering his nose and mouth with his hands. The text reads: This is how I have lived since my February 2020 COVID infection. COVID caused brain and nerve damage, making everything smell and taste like rot. The condition is called parosmia, and it has no cure. Eating is a nightmare.

Panel 4. Joey’s boyfriend, a taller boy with long hair and a beard, puts his hand on Joey’s shoulder. They are shown from behind and are both wearing backpacks and winter coats. The text reads: Last week, my boyfriend walked me home from work midday after I had a near-fainting episode. I wear a heart monitor full-time. Doctors say I’m “too young”.

Panel 5. Joey is shown from behind, sitting sadly and gazing out a window. The text reads: I’ve literally been isolated from the rest of the world for four years. One COVID infection destroyed my life, and I can’t risk another. How can I get you to understand? After becoming disabled by COVID at 19 years old, I have been completely shut off from the outside world.

Panel 6. Joey stands in between two maskless and anonymous figures. Joey looks uncomfortable and is crossing his arms and gazing at them. He is wearing a respirator mask and goggles. The figure on the right is holding a bag labeled “food Joey can’t eat”. The text reads: “Friends” and family who have seen the depth of my suffering for four years have stopped masking and can’t be bothered to care. Family Christmas meant that I had to reiterate daily that I would not and physically could not eat at restaurants.

Panel 7. A drawing of an open laptop, next to which lays an N95 mask. On the laptop, a headline from the Washington Post is displayed. The headline reads: Covid kills nearly 10,000 in a month as holidays fuel spread, WHO says. The comic text reads: This winter has been the 2nd highest peak of the pandemic, with at least 10,000 Americans dying of COVID in December. Playing pretend at “normalcy” is profoundly violent and deadly. Under the comic frame, a citation reads: The Washington Post, January 11, 2024. This is an undercount, as there is no more COVID tracking in the U.S.

Panel 8. A drawing of Joey gesturing at an educational chalk board with a pointer. He is wearing a respirator mask, goggles, and a sweater vest. The text reads: COVID is a virus that causes long-term damage to your organs and nervous system. It’s also a Biosafety Level 3 pathogen, like tuberculosis, meaning that is can be lethal upon inhalation and requires special and serious PPE in Laboratories. The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center has a digital library of research on COVID impacts. https://libguides.mskcc.org/CovidImpacts/Home

Panel 9. An anonymous figure behind an oration desk is trying to cover a pile of bones behind them. On the pile of bones is a flag that says: Just keep buying and working! The text reads: You are being led to enact violence on your community members by a government who is sacrificing you on the altar of capital. You should be terrified.

Panel 10. A drawing of Joey’s head from the side. he is wearing a respirator mask. The text reads: There is no neutrality in a mass-death and mass-disabling pandemic. Wear a mask or forever be complicit. The comic is dated February 3, 2024. Image ID ends.

#he is such a feral black cat#who gets himself into Situations but covers up the fear with assholyness#hissing

How do you leave this in the tags?

obsessed with hurt/comfort fics where martin attempts to comfort jon like how someone would try and coax a spooked cat down from a tree