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Dottore doesn't care that Pantalone objectifies human worth and assigns a monetary value to every being he interacts with because Dottore has never felt valued in his entire life. How wonderful would it be to hear "Your research can make me profit" after a lifetime of seeing everything single thing you've done be rejected completely and instantly?

Pantalone doesn't care that Dottore fundamentally uses everyone he interacts with because Pantalone's entire sense of self-worth is tangled up in his distorted concept of "value": If you are being used, that means you are useful, and so long as you are useful, you will not be discarded. The greedier Dottore becomes, the deeper his debt to Pantalone grows, and then--only when the scales are so heavily weighted--can Pantalone feel secure in his relationship to another person.

The very same traits that would be deeply toxic flaws in any other relationship instead fill mirrored, gaping holes in the other person's psyche, creating a cycle of validation that is ultimately comforting and beneficial for both parties, despite being deeply cognitively twisted in all other contexts.

Imagine being so written for each other that even the silhouettes of your mental illnesses fit together like mated puzzle pieces.

🎨mememe_illust on x