It's always Barry Allen loving hours here

Buddie | M | Chapter 2: I Never Let Myself Down So Bad

Sorry about the accidental cliffhanger, y'all. Might wanna check out the content warnings in the notes on this one.

preview:

Eddie is never going to forgive himself for as long as he lives. But he can't think about that now. He just has to keep doing, like always. Eddie's all Chris has — like hell is he letting his parents anywhere near his son again — and now more than ever, he needs a father that has it together. That can put it all aside and be there, strong and patient and loving and worthy. And he will be. He just needs a minute.

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weeks or months pass and maddie misses a week of school, and then a small moving truck pulls up her driveway and you see it from your front yard. maddie helps carry some things out, and when her parents disappear inside you jog over and ask her where she’s moving to. she says she’s not supposed to tell. you ask why, and she changes her answer to “i don’t know where we’re going,” and you instantly know something’s wrong. you’re 11 years old and there’s not anything you can do to help. you ask why they’re moving, and she says because of daniel. you ask what she means and her parents come out onto the lawn carrying bags. mrs buckley shrieks at you through tears and mr buckley gives you a stern and broken look, cracked open with pain, while he urges you to go home.

seeing maddie buckley when you move to los angeles was not on your 2026 bingo card, a girl you used to walk your dog with, a girl you think about only every now and then and feel a pang of concern for. but there she is, laughing with a familiar looking man, and you smile wide, calling out and waving them over.

maddie looks confused, and then pleasantly surprised.

Wanting something requires dopamine signaling, but liking something doesn’t.

If you have a mental illness/disorder that affects dopamine, you might feel that you don’t want to do the things that you like. You do still like them. You will appreciate having done them.

Let your likes guide you.

(If you want to read more, here’s one experimental paper about it. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5171207/ This theory called the incentive-sensitization theory was originally created to explain behaviors in addiction but can be applied elsewhere as well)

Shane, shoving a butt plug up his ass: