Dan Vs. Autism

Dan vs. Fidgeting

It has been a few days since the Autism diagnosis, and Dan was still confused about some things about being Autistic

"Dan, you keep complaining about all of your shirts being messed up because you keep chewing on them, we should get you a Chew Necklace" Chris noticed, while Dan was chewing on his shirt.

Dan takes his shirt out of his mouth for a brief moment "well it was either my shirt or my fingers, and these shirts are only 2 dollars a shirt anyways."

"But how many have you gone through?" Chris questioned.

".......62." Followed up Dan, hesitantly

"Chewlery it is!" Exclaimed Chris, a little too loud.

"Ah! Don't yell that loud, it makes me wanna do that thing where I don't wanna talk!" Said Dan, covering his ears and going to bite his shirt again.

"Luckily there's an Autistic owned store an hour or so away, I just checked on my phone!" Chris said, happily.

"What will be at this so-called 'Autistic Owned Store' anyways?" Dan said, curiously.

"Well, you'll find out when we get there!" Said Chris, in a giddish tone.

30 minutes after this conversation, they got into the car and before they knew it they were there!

"Alright Dan, try not to go over budget, I have 70 dollars and we can't go over that, Elise said I could only spend a little bit because she knows I'm not doing too well on cash after the divorce" Chris advised.

"OK, but only because its Elise's money, if it was yours I would just buy whatever." Dan chuckled, snarkily.

Dan picked out a few things, a chew necklace in the shape of a Cat, a weighted blanket, a Fidget Spinner, a few zipper bracelets, a few spinner rings, and some Ear Defenders, they were just like his noise-cancelling headphones at home but they were way better quality and you could still hear a little bit, just not loud things.

"Alright your total is 75.87" said the cashier.

"Chris, you said 70.00 Dollars and the total came out more than that" Dan said, but Chris couldn't really tell how he was feeling, because he's not good with expression of voice.

"Come on, Dan just put a few things back and then-". He noticed the sad look on his friend's face, Chris wasnt very good with tones, but he does know faces, his friend definitely felt horrible about having to put the stuff back.

"Hey Dan, it's not a big deal if we go a few dollars over budget, ill just tell Elise that the Ear Defenders were a bit more than expected, im sure she'll understand, she knows what happens when an Autistic person doesn't have Ear Defenders with them."

Dan was expecting something like "but Dan, I can't go over budget because Elise will kill me when I get home" or something like that, but he actually got the answer he wanted.

Dan was so excited that Chris was gonna let him get all of the things he picked out, so excited that he did that thing where he flailed his hands around.

That was the first time he's done it in public before, and it felt way better then just compressing it.

They both left the store, Dan carrying the weighted blanket, Cat Chew Necklace and ear Defenders, while Chris carried everything else.

"Chris, thank you for this stuff buddy, but, these toys seem a bit embarrassing to use in public, people are gonna think im a little kid or something." Dan explained "I just wasted all of your money in there, considering I'm only ever in my apartment when its nighttime or whe-"

"Thats fine Dan, it took me a while to start bringing that stuff in public too, and you can do it when you're ready". Said Chris, with a caring tone "besides have you ever noticed me Fidgeting with my wedding ring before? Me and Elise got matching ones, her's spins too, she has Anxiety so she only uses it in really bad situations, but its still nice to have around!" Chris told happily.

"Wow......thank you Chris". Dan said, it being so quiet it almost seemed like whisper.

That was the first time anyone was ever that nice to him really, his parents were horrible growing up and made fun of him for the way he rocked back and forth and flailed his arms around when he was happy or stressed, he couldn't take the bullying anymore, so he just stopped one day, his parents forced him into masking.

But today, he would start to do it more, even if he's just alone with Mr. Mumbles or with Chris, it's a good start for masking for almost 19 years.

(Credit to aviatorCannibal#5235 on Discord for giving me the idea for this part!)