shamefully failing to come up with recs for this non-trope when asked............ but I've spent all day noodling about it, trying to nail down exactly what I mean so I can maybe dredge up some story from my faulty memory that matches that description.
it's M/M hurt/comfort (heavy on the hurt before the comfort) + dissociation. okay, sounds simple enough so far. but more specifically it's something along these lines:
A and B know each other, but are not romantically involved. they don't have to be friends; they don't have to be particularly close. in fact, the less intimate they are at the beginning of the story, the better, generally speaking.
A, usually but not always offscreen, experiences an Adverse Event. the event is very psychologically distressing and destabilizing and may or may not include physical injury.
B encounters A - no strong preference for whether he interrupts the Adverse Event or comes across A after the Adverse Event is over. if it's over, it's recent. that part's important.
A is not doing so hot but trying very hard to hold it together. B sees some sign of this distress (this is where physical injury usually comes in) and approaches A, entering his personal space or even touching him.
A either freezes or has an outsize physical reaction to being approached/touched and it becomes clear to B that A is hanging by a thread.
and, most important of all: A will dissociate to some extent during the scene. vacant stare, slow to answer questions if he speaks at all, blank affect, that sort of thing. B is nearly always the POV character, at least during this scene.
B feels like he has to help. he does his best. he does not feel like he knows what he's doing. actually, I think this part is pretty crucial. no one's having a good time here. (except yours truly.)
there's a lot of ways to go about this and a lot of ways to go from point seven. and, like, I've read this fic. many variations. I know I have! so why can't I pinpoint a single one of them?
stormborns
baratheonpilled
titsay
